NEW YORK—Mobile marketing and advertising may not reach huge audiences but it does deliver high-value consumers, according to the man in charge of a successful mobile campaign for Adidas.

Chris Murphy, director of digital marketing for Adidas, told the opening day of the Mobile Marketing Forum that mobile advertising and marketing has to be an integral part of any campaign. If it is, he said, mobile advertising drives dramatic increases in the interest consumers have in purchasing products.

Murphy detailed an Adidas “Brotherhood” campaign that ran at the start of the National Basketball Association season last fall. It focused on traditional media like TV and print, but the ads encouraged consumers to interact by sending a text message to an Adidas short code.

The SMS was answered with a response in the form of a voice message from Boston Celtics star Kevin Garnett talking about the importance of team play in basketball. For the next 5 weeks, participants received similar messages from different NBA players. The messages didn’t push Adidas products specifically but did send users to the Adidas Website to download ringtones with the players’ voices.

The main thing in setting up a campaign like this, Murphy said, is to make sure mobile is integrated as part of the broader effort. He said mobile doesn’t work as a standalone delivery method but can deliver a high-value consumer because of the user’s interest.

“We get quality participation from key consumers with relatively low spending,” Murphy said, “but don’t tell that to our competitors.”