ATLANTA, Oct. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Mobile Web advertising is a highly effective channel for influencing brand perception and increasing purchase intent according to July 2007 research by Dynamic Logic commissioned by The Weather Channel Interactive (TWCI) for Hampton Hotels. The innovative study demonstrates statistically significant increases for mobile ad awareness, message association, brand awareness, brand favorability and stay consideration, (which measures the likelihood of respondents to purchase the brand, or in this case, to stay at a Hampton Hotel, in the future) in part as a result of the campaign on The Weather Channel Mobile Web.

"Mobile advertising is increasingly something that advertisers are asking us to evaluate," stated Kara Manatt, research director at Dynamic Logic. "Early results, such as these, are encouraging because they show that mobile WAP campaigns are being noticed and can have a positive impact on key brand measures. Historically, new formats often perform well at the outset since they are fresh to the eyes of the consumer. As we develop norms over time, we expect to have more detail on the staying power of mobile display advertising."

"While we've seen strong growth in Mobile Web usage and advertiser interest over the past year, these results are a concrete statement of how effective the platform is," said Louis Gump, vice president, mobile at TWCI. "With the number of new ad products and the increasing availability of research and metrics, we're going to see the Mobile Web emerge as a basic line item in marketing budgets."

According to Dynamic Logic's research, the Hampton Hotel's advertising on weather.com connected with its two main target audiences - 72 percent of respondents traveled for business or leisure within the past year. Nearly two-thirds use their mobile phone to access the Internet more than once a day, and 42 percent visit weather.com on their mobile phone more than once per day.

The Hampton Hotel case study shows positive brand impact using advertising on TWCi's Mobile Web. The advertising campaign raised message association with Hampton Hotels versus other hotel brands. Respondents' overall favorability toward Hampton was higher for those exposed to the ads (62%) than for those not exposed to the ads (48%). The campaign also showed an 11.4 percentage point increase in consideration to stay at the Hampton for their next trip after ad exposure.

The Weather Channel Mobile Web provides users with access to hourly forecasts, current conditions, severe weather warnings and radar maps for thousands of cities worldwide. It is consistently one of the top 3 sites on the mobile Web and offers innovative ad products including geo targeting and weather-triggered ads. For more information, visit http://www.weather.com/mobile and advertisers interested in learning more about opportunities with The Weather Channel mobile may contact Rebecca Barnett at 770-226-2419 or email her at rbarnett@weather.com to advertise

About The Weather Channel Interactive

The Weather Channel Interactive is the leading provider of broadband and wireless weather products including weather.com, Desktop Weather by The Weather Channel, and The Weather Channel Mobile. weather.com, the Web site of The Weather Channel, is the ultimate source of weather on the Web helping users plan their lives by delivering timely current conditions, expert forecasts and relevant lifestyle content for 98,000 locations worldwide. The Weather Channel reaches more than 35 million unique users online each month and is the most popular source of online weather, news and information according to Nielsen//NetRatings. The Weather Channel Interactive also provides consumers with unique and customizable products such as Desktop Weather and a full lineup of mobile services including downloads, messaging, mobile Web, and mobile video. Other TWCi sites include forGetaway.com, a vacation home rental site, Forecast Earth, a site dedicated to the discussion of climate change, and a series of international sites, including http://www.weather.co.uk/, http://www.meteo123.com/, http://www.wetter123.com/, http://www.canaldotempo.com/ and http://www.weather.com/espanol.

About Dynamic Logic

Dynamic Logic (http://www.dynamiclogic.com/) is a leading research company with expertise in measuring marketing effectiveness. Dynamic Logic's research includes: AdIndex(R) to test and analyze online advertising, CrossMedia Research(TM) to evaluate multimedia campaigns, MarketNorms(R), a syndicated ad effectiveness planning and benchmarking database, and Link(TM) for Digital, an online copy-testing solution developed jointly with Millward Brown. Founded in 1999, the company is headquartered in New York City with offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, Providence, San Francisco, London, and Tokyo. Clients include leading marketers, advertising agencies and media companies. Dynamic Logic is a Millward Brown company, which is part of The Kantar Group, the information and consultancy arm of WPP.

About Hampton Hotels

Hampton, which includes Hampton Inn and Hampton Inn & Suites hotels, is a mid-priced leader in the lodging segment. Hampton is part of Hilton Hotels Corporation, the leading global hospitality company, with more than 2,800 hotels and 500,000 rooms in 78 countries and territories, including 105,000 team members worldwide. The company owns, manages or franchises a hotel portfolio of some of the best known and highly regarded brands, including Hilton(R), Conrad(R), Doubletree(R), Embassy Suites Hotels(R), Hampton Inn(R), Hampton Inn & Suites(R), Hilton Garden Inn(R), Hilton Grand Vacations(TM), Homewood Suites by Hilton(R) and The Waldorf=Astoria Collection(R). The Hilton Family of Hotels adheres to founder Conrad Hilton's philosophy that, "It has been, and continues to be, our responsibility to fill the earth with the light and warmth of hospitality." The company put a name to its unique brand of service that has made it the best known and most highly regarded hotel company: be hospitable(R). The philosophy is shared by all brands in the Hilton Family of Hotels, and is the inspiration for its overarching message of kindness and generosity. Hilton Hotels Corporation's sponsorship of the U.S. Olympic Team will extend through the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing, China, and includes the 2008 U.S. Paralympic Team(s) and the 2007 U.S. Pan-Am Team. For more information about our company, please visit http://www.hiltonworldwide.com/, and to learn more about our be hospitable philosophy, please visit http://www.behospitable.com/.

CONTACT: Dana Mark of Trevelino Keller Communications, +1-404-214-0722
x113, dmark@trevelinokeller.com

Web site: http://www.weather.com/
http://www.dynamiclogic.com/
http://www.hiltonworldwide.com/