Palm Kicks Off Worldwide Treo Smartphone Marketing Campaign

Palm, Inc. has launched a $25 million worldwide marketing campaign to generate mainstream awareness of and attract new users to the Treo smartphone line. The six-month campaign highlights Palm's new Treo 680 smartphone and encompasses a fully integrated media mix consisting of print, out-of-home, online, mobile and viral-marketing components.

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Palm Kicks Off Worldwide Treo Smartphone Marketing Campaign

Palm, Inc. has launched a $25 million worldwide marketing campaign to generate mainstream awareness of and attract new users to the Treo smartphone line. The six-month campaign highlights Palm's new Treo 680 smartphone and encompasses a fully integrated media mix consisting of print, out-of-home, online, mobile and viral-marketing components.

AKQA, a leading interactive marketing agency, developed the campaign, which combines non-traditional marketing approaches with tried and true media.

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Palm believes that accessing the web while on the go is the next killer application. The popularity of web services, such as eBay, in combination with a Treo smartphone means that, for example, eBay fans can watch for products they want and monitor auctions of interest while away from their desktop or laptop PCs. The new campaign helps people who aren't necessarily early adopters see how their personal and work lives can be enriched with a mobile computer that also is a great phone.

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Over the next few months, consumers and businesses can expect to see the following:

• Advertising - Palm is working with like-minded passion brands - such as Fandango, Google, The Onion, Orbitz and Yahoo! - in its new ads to demonstrate what makes a Treo smartphone so unique and provide proof behind the category-defining tagline "Not just a cell phone. A Treo." The co-branded ads will run primarily in the United States and Europe in select print and online lifestyle publications, some of which include GQ, Lucky and Real Simple.

• Interactive Kiosks - The campaign includes Palm's first-ever SMS-activated kiosks, which enable people to select and view category-specific content on larger-than-life Treo smartphones. The kiosks contain a live monitor in place of the Treo screen and displays canned and dynamic content. The interactive kiosks are located at bus stops and window fronts in major metropolitan cities, including Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco.
• Microsite - The new microsite, www.onTreo.com, is designed to be an engaging and entertaining interactive website that allows users to catch a glimpse of what's possible with a Treo smartphone. Users also have the option to learn more about specific Treo features and related partner content within the microsite. The advertising campaign is tagged with the new URL to give new customer prospects a better understanding of the Treo experience in an interactive, virtual environment.
• Viral Marketing - Palm street teams wearing bright-colored Treo clothing will be deployed in major metropolitan cities to stimulate buzz and excitement around Treo smartphones. The street teams will interact with passersby and offer services such as making a dinner reservation; checking their eBay accounts; ordering tickets to a show; and getting the weather, news and directions, among other things - all on a Treo smartphone.

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"By aligning with passion brands such as Amazon, Orbitz and Yahoo!, we're demonstrating that Treo smartphones do much more than the average cell phone," said Scott Hancock, director of marketing communications, Palm, Inc. "We're showing people how easy it is to interact with these sites while mobile. For instance, one ad might simply say 'Buy tickets on Fandango' or 'Orbitz and go' with the corresponding logo appearing on the home screen of the Treo smartphone."

The Palm Treo marketing campaign will show people what life is like with a Treo smartphone and remind them that they don't have to look for an Internet cafe to access the information they want while on the go.