The Hartford Civic Center Veterans Memorial Coliseum and Exhibition Center used the mobile channel to drive ticket sales for its "Walking with the Dinosaurs" show.

Television spots on the Cox Media cable network encouraged consumers to text the keyword DINO to short code 269411. Ping Mobile powered the campaign.

"The strategy for this client was twofold -- promote the Walking with the Dinosaurs show thereby driving incremental ticket sales and reminding double opted-in local residents that the exhibit was now live, and enabling them to purchase tickets via their mobile devices," said Shira Simmonds, president of Ping Mobile, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.

Consumers that texted in received the following message: "Congrat's! You're entered to Win a Family 4-Pack of Tickets to Walking with Dinosaurs & a $100 Gift Certificate! Winner notified via phone call on 7/27."

Participants were asked to double opt-in: "Reply YES for 10 more entries 2 Win & B sbscrbd 2 XLCenter & Cox+ptnrs Xclusives! mx4msgs/mo. std txt rts aply. Reply YES Now!"

Those who double opted-in got this message: "Success! You have 11 entries 2 Win & are subscribed! STOP 2 quit. HELP 4 help. Std msg chrgs apply. Look 4more chances 2Win on Your Mobile Phone!"

The challenge that the XL Center faced was reaching out to its target demographic with an offer that was both meaningful and compelling.

"The text campaign for Walking with Dinosaurs delivered an incredible response rate," said Jennifer Marozzi, a Cox Media account executive. "Besides delivering great results, it also generates a buzz in the market through non-traditional advertising."

XL Center leveraged the popularity of a (historically) successful show in order to build a double-opt-in mobile database which could be used to increase future event and show ticket sales.

Mobile was a great tool for the center because it hopes to promote the XL Center and build a robust mobile database that could be used to remarket future events.

XL Center chose a great event to promote -- one that had a broad appeal (families and people of all ages) and offered a great prize as an added incentive to participate and double opt-in.

Mobile has been used to drive ticket sales in the past.

Disney's Tony Award-winning musical "The Lion King" at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas used mobile to drive ticket sales.

Commercial spots on the Cox Media cable network encouraged viewers to text the keywords NALA or MUFASA to short code 269411. Ping Mobile powered the mobile aspect and The Lion King and Mandalay Bay were able to build an opt-in database of locals interested in receiving promotions in the future (see story).

Also, Las Vegas' Orleans Stadium Hotel and Casino used mobile to promote a Steve Miller Band performance and create a database of concert-goers for future communication.

The calls to action for the sweepstakes campaign built around the concert were in TV commercials and on promotional flyers at the musical festival. Consumers were asked to text keywords STEVE to 74642, a Ping Mobile short code (see story).

"A trend has emerged in the number of arenas utilizing mobile marketing services as a tool to spontaneously and successfully drive ticket sales," said Isaac Naor, regional client services manager at Ping Mobile. "XL Center was able to capitalize on this trend through the use of mixed-media including targeted 0:30 spot cable advertising with the mobile enhancement, the click-to-call function in SMS messages, as well as the Web."