Mobile marketing is finally going mainstream ñ well, kind of.

Trend Central reports that Nike Operation 6453 is took place last weekend.

This on-foot scavenger hunt takes participants through the streets of New York to find 16 different poster locations. Those interested send a blank SMS to short code 6543 (NIKE) in order to receive registration instructions. Over the course of four days, players send SMS short messages to Nike for poster locations, and in turn are sent coordinates. When players find the poster, they message a code on the poster to Nike; the shorter the time between the posting and the finding, the higher the score. Winners get a limited edition version of the Nike Air Force-X MID designed by NYC street artist Stash. Runners-up get a chance to buy the shoes at an exclusive pre-launch event.

At ZagMe we tried something similar and it worked brilliantly (remember, this was 3 years ago). We had a Treasure Hunt with the locations being off-the-beaten-track retailers in the mall. The promotion had a very high participation level and nearly everyone who started completed the rather arduous course, including a 70 year old and his Grandson! Itís actually a case study in the free White Paper Iíve published on Location Based Marketing. Drop me an email if youíd like a copy.