Big brands are looking at providing mobile applications to people as a way to promote themselves rather than just go for advertising buys, the intent being to supply tools to help people perform tasks, rather than messages that simply interrupt, reports Ad Week. For example, Vicks is offering weather alerts sent to mobile phones to help people avoid head colds, AT&T (NYSE: T) gave spectators of the Ironman World Championship triathlon in Hawaii the chance to receive an SMS notifying them when contestants in the race passed a checkpoint, and the mobile social network The Yard set up to promote Sprite. It’s a good idea—promotion without the annoyance of advertising—but it does have to be something people want or need. For example, AT&T’s athlete tracker got more than 15,000 sign-ups and 100,000 brand impressions: It was attractive to people watching the race because it takes 8-20 hours to finish. In contrast is The Yard, which I haven’t seen any figures for but which seems to offer something that people are getting elsewhere with no real extra value—people use social networks to connect with their friends who also have to be on the network for it to be worthwhile, just chucking another social network out there isn’t going to do much. Coke is tempting customers with free music and video clips which may bring people in, but it’s likely to take a lot to get the critical mass required for the network to be successful in its own right.

The other question is where this leaves small content providers, whether the move by big brands into content and services will take away some opportunities that might have otherwise gone to a start-up. That’s just down to market forces, and the hope that the start-ups know more about the industry and are nimble enough to offer content and services more attractive to people without the big name support.