IDG Contributor Network: Lowe's, Bloomingdale's take wacky approaches to mobile marketing

The retail mobile challenge today, especially when trying to interact with the youngest of consumers, is not merely what a message says or even how it looks. It's giving shoppers concrete reasons to interact with the messages, preferably in a pleasant, sometimes humorous way.

Granted, when a marketing department tries too hard to make something go viral, the result is often forced, awkward and ineffective. But sometimes, it all works. Two retailers that covet young shoppers, albeit for very different reasons, are Bloomingdale's and Lowe's. And each has just launched very different, and quite effective, mobile compaigns.

Lowe's wants to furnish every new homeowner's house and millions of first-time apartments. It created a series of commercials — including this one — that depict lawn ornaments coming alive and commenting on the lawn and other house elements. They are mildly amusing, but that's not the clever part.

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