Disney's 'The Incredibles' Uses Extensive Mobile Device Marketing

In addition to saturating the planet's TV screens, magazines, newspapers and fast food outlets, it looks like Disney and Pixar are hitting mobile devices hard as well. According to the latest issue of Forbes, mobile device marketing has become integral to the studio's marketing took kit:

Pick up your phone or log onto Disney Mobile, the company's cell-centric Web site, and you can download two dozen Incredibles wallpaper graphics, two new video games and three dozen custom-made ring tones--including one of villain Syndrome growling, "What, you expected a cute little ring?"

However, Disney isn't just interested in marketing movies to kids via cellphones -- they're looking to get into the cellphone game themselves a la Virgin Mobile:

Disney is so enthusiastic about the mobile market that it is getting ready to launch its own cell phone company. For more than a year, company execs have been discussing becoming a "mobile virtual network operator," or MVNO, a model under which a company skips the expensive process of building a national phone network, instead signing on with an existing provider and rebranding its service. A Disney mobile network would allow the company to sell cheap phones, branded with its characters, and provide them with a dedicated, direct marketing channel to kids.

Meanwhile, for all of you movie marketers with a shoestring budget looking to get in on the mobile game, you might want to try the SMS messaging route with a company like Textgram or Phonecaster.

Have a programmer on staff? Maybe you can get them interested in developing some simple content, wallpapers or ringtones using Mobile BASIC, a simple development environment.

Forbes.com: An 'Incredible' Marketing Ploy