Disney, Verizon to turn the cellphone into a theme-park visitor's tool

Wireless software promises to help mobile phone users navigate the parks and make the most of their visits. But there are privacy implications.

Los Angeles Times, November 12, 2008 — The Happiest Place on Earth will soon know where in the world you are.

Walt Disney Co. has struck a deal with Verizon Wireless that will allow it to remain in wireless contact with its theme park visitors — even when they step outside the turnstiles in Anaheim and Orlando, Fla.

Disney and Verizon bill it as a way to enhance the "theme park experience," enabling parkgoers to use their mobile phones for tasks such as saving a spot in line at a popular ride and zeroing in on where Cinderella can be found signing autographs.

Life Takes Visa in New Marketing Direction†

CMO Antonio Lucio on How It Plans to Keep Consumer Confidence Up and Use Media to Get Results

Advertising Age, October 20, 2008 — Visa's first global chief marketing officer, Antonio Lucio, joined the company last November after 12 years at PepsiCo. In less than a year, he's overseen both a global-media-agency search and a global-creative-agency search and consolidation of the marketer's $600 million account. Now he is preparing for next year's review of interactive and direct agencies and is helping Visa navigate the transition from private to publicly traded company after an $18 billion public offering in March. He's also consolidating messaging and marketing processes around the world.

Marketers Cut Back on Digital Media†

Budgets for Videogames, Cellphones, Other New Formats Fall Victim to Downturn

Wall Street Journal, October 15, 2008 — Financial woes likely will derail the growth of a slew of advertising technologies that until recently were being hailed as the next big thing.

In recent years, marketers have set aside a portion of their ad budgets to experiment with digital technologies such as Web video, mobile phones, gaming and virtual worlds. But with broader economic turmoil reaching Madison Avenue, these "experimental" budgets are among the first to hit the cutting-room floor.

For Mobile Users, Texting Tops Talking†

Nielsen: Number of Messages Eclipses Calls for Second Straight Quarter

Advertising Age, September 23, 2008 — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — The typical U.S. mobile subscriber sends and receives more text messages than phone calls. The trend toward texting has several roots, not the least of which is an inundation of new devices with integrated keyboards, like Nokia's N810.