Berkshire Hathaway?s auto insurance giant GEICO claims impressive results following the first two months of a new branded mobile content campaign.

GEICO tapped mobile technology company Myxer Inc. to create custom PC and mobile Web storefronts for a range of GEICO ringtones, including those featured in commercials, as well as sound bites of the Gecko character. Overall, more than 350,000 downloads of GEICO mobile entertainment content were recorded in the first 60 days of the new campaign, leading to a spike in traffic to the storefronts, per Myxer.

?For GEICO, they are striving to offer their customers a branded mobile content experience and deliver this to them in a fun and engaging way that creates greater brand affinity,? said Jeff Sass, vice president of business development at Myxer, Deerfield Beach, FL.

?By leveraging Myxer's technology and large mobile audience, GEICO was able to extend a popular campaign from TV to people's pockets in a way that increased engagement and started conversations,? he said.

?Myxer was able to achieve this through tight integration and cross-promotion through multiple platforms to reach the widest audience possible.?

GEICO (Government Employees Insurance Company) is the third-largest private passenger auto insurer in the United States, according to A.M. Best. It provides auto insurance coverage for 9 million policyholders and insures more than 16 million vehicles.

Myxer gives consumers access to free media content for their mobile phone regardless of mobile device, operating system or carrier.

Its media catalog contains 6 million-plus pieces of free and premium licensed content including music, applications, images, games and video.

Branded mobile content
GEICO used its TV assets and creative to create the branded mobile content and keep a consist look-and-feel across its various consumer touch points.

One of GEICO?s key objectives for the campaign was to drive both downloads and sharing of the content, so Myxer integrated with Facebook, Twitter and included a send-to-friend feature.

All of the sharing features, for each individual item, are available from both the Web and directly from a user?s phone.

In addition, the campaign leveraged the custom SMS keyword ?GEICO? to deliver a direct link to the custom GEICO mobile content storefront on Myxer.

The call-to-action asked consumers to text the keyword GEICO to the short code 69937.

In all, 28 pieces of GEICO mobile content were created and are featured at http://myxer.com/geico on the PC Web and at http://m.myxer.com/geico on the mobile Web.

Approximately 65 percent of Myxer users are between the ages of 18-34, however the Myxer widgets and customized GEICO content will broaden that demographic even further, as customers will now have a direct relationship with the brand that they can share with a wide range of others.

The driver for the Myxer downloads was primarily the promotion on Myxer, which featured prominent placement and homepage takeovers.

GEICO and Myxer also promoted the content via social media sites like Twitter and Facebook.

?By partnering with Myxer, GEICO is able to put memorable GEICO content in front of a large and active mobile user base of more than 39 million users who download nearly 90 million pieces of mobile content every month,? Mr. Sass said.

?For Myxer, it adds another world-class brand to its list of partners, highlighted by one of the most memorable and successful advertising campaigns in recent history that truly leverages the best of traditional, mobile and social-media content,? he said.

Final Take
Dan Butcher, associate editor, Mobile Marketer