Starbucks continues to reign in the mobile advertising space, this time with a rich media campaign that promotes its new bottled iced coffee beverages and highlights them in an interactive way.

The company is running the campaign within Us Magazine?s mobile site. Starbucks has used mobile advertising quite a bit in the past to drive awareness for its recent beverage additions.

?Starbucks? mobile ad campaign promoting its new bottled iced coffee includes many of the crucial elements of running a successful mobile ad campaign,? said Shuli Lowy, marketing director at Ping Mobile, Beverly Hills, CA.

?The banner is well-designed including a telling image, a clear call-to-action, and a reasonable amount of text,? she said. ?The landing page incorporates a fun interactive component ? inviting consumers to break the ice to graphically imbue the freshness of the drink.
 
?The Learn More page includes a coupon to give consumers one more incentive to buy the drink. Additionally, the mobile site begins with a video at the top.?

Ms. Lowy is not affiliated with Starbucks. She commented based on her expertise on the subject.

Starbucks did not respond to press inquiries.

Mobile interaction
Using rich media, the Starbucks mobile ad comes to life.

The ad first features an image of the new Starbucks bottled iced coffee as it fills up.

Ad creative reads ?Now perfectly bottled? and ?New bottled Starbucks Iced Coffee. Good to go. Tap to Expand.?

When consumers tap on the mobile ad it expands and is covered in ice. Consumers are encouraged to tap on the ad to break the ice.

From there, the ice breaks to reveal the new beverages, which include vanilla iced coffee and coffee and milk.

Consumers can then tap on the ?learn more? button where they are redirected to the beverage giant?s mobile site to watch a video about the new iced coffee beverage. 

The campaign is a smart move for Starbucks. Rich media changes everything and really takes any mobile campaign to a whole new level.

Past initiatives
Starbucks is becoming a mobile powerhouse.

Last year, the beverage giant Starbucks ran a mobile campaign that promoted its hot beverages (see story).

Earlier this year, Starbucks enticed consumers to try its Blonde Roast coffee via a marketing effort that centered around mobile and social (see story).

Most recently, the company took its mobile messaging to new heights with an effort that leveraged SMS and MMS to engage and surprise customers, while also tying into its larger marketing strategy (see story).

?In recent months we are beginning to see many more mobile landing pages begin with a mobile video, which traditionally was not the case,? Ms. Lowy said. ?Mobile video has come a long way in recent times.

?Two years ago most marketers avoided using mobile video because the load time took forever,? she said. ?Consumers obviously had no patience to watch their phones be overtaken by the word buffering for a couple of minutes and would most often exit out of the videos.
 
?Starbucks begins their mobile site with a video which, in 15 seconds, tells a pretty complete story of what the new product is all about.?