NEW YORK -- Representatives from Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility touted Burger King and 1-800-Flowers on-deck mobile initiatives where the carriers played a key role in the campaigns' engagement and response.

Panelists at the Mobile Marketing Association's Mobile Marketing Forum explained the benefits of campaigns served on-deck as opposed to off-deck. They said that carriers know who their customers are, what they are doing on their mobile phones and what their interests are.

"We've got great inventory, reach and targeting capabilities," said Jordan Berman, executive director of media innovation at AT&T Mobility. "And, at the end of the day we have a tremendous view of who these customers are and can really help advertisers get the message to the right consumer, driving response rates and targeting capabilities."

Burger King ran a mobile campaign on the Verizon Wireless deck, promoting the fast-food chain's popular Whopper burger. The campaign, "Burger King Whopper Freak Out," also ran on television.

In the TV spot, customers walked into Burger King restaurant and ordered a Whopper and freaked out when the cashier said the burger was no longer being made.

Verizon made the comical commercials available to its V Cast subscribers. The commercials were also served to Verizon Fios customers.

Additionally, there were banner ads on Verizon's deck that drove subscribers to a WAP site around the Whopper Freak Out.

"Carriers have to be very careful with customer information, as it is private," said Stephanie Bauer-Marshall, manager of mobile advertising for Verizon Wireless. "The benefit of doing a campaign like this on-deck is there is a significant increase in awareness on-deck and purchase intent is better on than off.

"Some sites are questionable and sites on a carrier deck are part of a well-lit environment - you know what you are getting," she said. "On-deck means one very important thing: reliable."

Also, from an on-deck perspective, advertisers are hitting a lot more users because everyone who goes on the carrier's deck sees the banner.

The campaign worked out well for Burger King, with lots of people viewing the videos on V Cast.

Verizon also conducted a survey regarding the campaign. Subscribers showed good brand recall.

Ms. Bauer-Marshall claimed that the engagement level worked for Burger King, too. There were lots of click-throughs via the banner ads on Verizon's deck.

Meanwhile, AT&T's Mr. Berman trotted his case study out: a recent mobile campaign that 1-800-Flowers conducted on the AT&T Wireless deck.

The campaign, "Cupid Goes Wireless," was meant to drive bouquet sales during Valentine's Day.

AT&T helped 1-800-Flowers create a WAP storefront, virtual bouquets, special occasion SMS reminders and a Valentine's Day mobile sweepstakes.

Subscribers could access the on deck 1-800-Flowers WAP via mini portals. They could buy a bouquet via credit card, check their order status and sign up for SMS special day reminders.

AT&T subscribers could access the virtual bouquets from the messaging storefront. They could personalize the message and send the bouquet for free to email or via SMS.

Additionally, AT&T ran a banner ad on its deck pushing subscribers to the WAP storefront. There was a 20 percent response rate from recipients who got virtual bouquets sent to them. In other words, one fifth of the recipients became interested and followed a link to the WAP storefront.

AT&T subscribers were urged to text FLOWERS to 4848 for special-day reminders to stay out of the dog house. A hundred consumers who texted in were selected and notified via SMS that they won a $50 1-800-Flowers gift card.

The call to action for the alerts was publicized on http://www.1800flowers.com, via email and over radio.

"It's important to note that with mobile, its more than just the Web," Mr. Berman said. "Carriers are in the process of figuring out how to infuse an ad-supported business model and bring the voice of the advertisers into the business."