Cellufun debuts virtual mobile mall

By Mickey Alam Khan

May 13, 2008

The new mall crawl

Cellufun Inc. has launched CelluMall, a mobile social gaming community with virtual mall stores that are a cross between Yahoo Games, Pogo and Second Life on the Internet.

A virtual mobile bakery sponsored by online confectionery retailer Geoff & Drew’s is the first store in CelluMall.

“Geoff & Drew’s is a premium online brand and their goal was to look for a way to differentiate themselves,” said Arthur Goikhman, cofounder and CEO of Cellufun, New York.

Cellufun gamers visiting the CelluMall Bakery can buy cookies, brownies and other virtually-baked gifts as presents for other gamers or themselves.

The bakery will also have click-to-call ads from the actual Geoff & Drew’s bakery, along with coupons for buying real cookies, brownies and other baked goods.

No half-baked idea

The Cellufun CelluMall is accessible on mobile Web-capable handsets by visiting http://wap.cellufun.com.

Founded in April 2006, Cellufun offers free, ad-supported mobile games on themes such as Sudoku, chess, casino, racing and space battles. The company claims to have delivered more than 4 million downloads.

Cellufun and Geoff & Drew’s were brought together by mobile ad network and design studio Mo’Jiva.
Mo’Jiva manages mobile ads and the click-to-dial order processing for the mobile storefront.

The Geoff & Drew’s store opened in time for Mother’s Day, June 11.

“What they were looking for was a new way to connect with a young, hip audience and they were also looking to see if mobile advertising will work for them with click-to-call and other capabilities,” Mr. Goikhman said.

“They were running a Mother’s Day promotion and the message was, ‘Try something different from flowers,’” he said. “It’s fun, it’s play and, at the same time, it’s a real-money saving opportunity for the player.”