The campaign started with an entry on Wikipedia in late 2005. Building on the initial momentum generated by this entry, ads were placed on highly influential blogs. These ads, and the conversations they started, began driving people to the Doctor’s Web site where they downloaded free Pherotones. As the campaign unfolded, research videos were posted to the site that showcased Pherotones in action. The Doctor also brought her research to college campuses via live lectures.

The nascent mobile phone content category is one characterized by clutter: lots of companies spending lots of money trying to convince people to buy stuff from them. With little money to support the OasysMobile launch, we wanted young adults to find us and then spread the word amongst their peers.

Entries on Google approached 100,000. More than 150,000 people hit the site, spending over two minutes per session. Pherotones were reported in The International Herald Tribune, NPR and The New York Times, among others. Importantly, traffic to oasysmobile.com increased by 400% the day the partnership was announced.

Because we used young adults as the medium and the story they passed along as the message, medium and message were essentially one and the same. When we did use 'paid media' to increase the volume of chatter, we focused our efforts in places known for starting and/or spreading conversations: blogs, online community sites, college campuses, etc.

Relying on a great story to intrigue and delight our prospects, we introduced the world to Dr. Vanderhood and her stunning discovery of “pherotones,” ringtones that actually attract the opposite sex. Using her Web site (pherotones.com) as the platform for seeding the story, word quickly spread among young adults. As interest and engagement in the story peaked, we announced that OasysMobile was now the exclusive distributor of Pherotones, driving anyone interested in downloading Pherotones to oasysmobile.com.