Mobile entertainment community reaches million-member milestone

By Mickey Alam Khan

December 14, 2007

Limbo delivers more than 20 million messages monthly for clients such as Neste, Purina and P&G

Limbo, the world's leading mobile entertainment community, yesterday said it has attracted 1 million registered U.S. members, broadening the canvas for marketers to communicate with audiences in that channel.

The Burlingame, CA, company claims to deliver more than 20 million messages each month on behalf of clients such as telecoms giant Verizon, packaged foods maker Procter & Gamble Co., pet food producer Nestl� Purina and Japanese automaker Toyota Motor.

"I think brands are excited by mobile because their audience is using mobile," said Rob Lawson, president and cofounder of Limbo. "People are spending an increasing amount of time staring at the mobile screen. Marketers are fascinated by that.

"TV still accounts for the lion's share of marketing spend," he said, "but if you want to reach the 18-35 demographic, you can't just buy prime-time TV and expect to reach that audience."

Turning two next month, Limbo offers an integrated, full-service platform with SMS, WAP, mobile video, email and the Internet. Brands advertising with Limbo are integrated through its games, content and community.

The firm runs the Limbo Unique and Limbo Grab original games, the Limbo Show mobile video game show and social networking and self expression plays Limbo Mingle and My Limbo. Free text alerts via Limbo Lowdown are offered, too.�

Limbo has awarded 1,600-plus winners with more than $1.5 million in prizes since its founding.

"During the interaction with the games," Mr. Lawson said, "consumers get brand information that doesn't feel like marketing to the consumers. But it's a very deep dive into the relationship with the consumer."