Time Inc.?s Entertainment Weekly ran a custom content program to bolster awareness for the HTC One X device and used print, mobile and its Web site to help spread the word.

The multi-platform program brought together HTC as this year?s sponsor of the 24 Hour Film Race, an amateur filmmaking competition. Additionally, film director Frank Hannah shot an entire short film, ?The Last One? on the HTC One X.

?Our strategy was to position the HTC One, with its exceptional camera quality and shooting capabilities, as the ultimate smartphone for both established and emerging filmmakers,? said Beth Jacobson, senior director of Public Relations at Entertainment Weekly. 

Mobile awareness
Through the partnership with Entertainment Weekly, HTC became the presenting sponsor of the 2012 24 Hour Film Race ? where directors compete to make a short film in a single day. 

Entertainment Weekly created custom print, digital and video content to promote HTC?s sponsorship of the 24 Hour Film Race and to showcase Hannah?s filmmaking process using the HTC One. 

The content was live across multiple media channels and helped the publication reach a broad audience.

?We secured an established filmmaker to shoot an entire short film using only the HTC One smartphone, further positioning the One as the ideal smartphone for filmmakers,? Ms. Jacobson said.  

Past efforts
Entertainment Weekly has been ramping up its mobile efforts over the past few years.

In 2010, the company brought its annual summer movie preview issue to life with Microsoft 2D tags.

Consumers were able to view the official trailers of 16 of the films featured in the issue directly on their smartphones (see story).

Last year, Entertainment Weekly rolled out a series of mobile rewards for its loyal readers who checked in to items featured on the publication?s Must List.

The company partnered with GetGlue to let readers unlock virtual and physical stickers, which rewarded users with exclusive content from the editors of Entertainment Weekly (see story).

?For this new campaign, since HTC is primarily a mobile company, this was a program designed to showcase their newest device?s capabilities to consumers and to sell more phones,? Ms. Jacobson said.

Final Take
Rimma Kats is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York