I can finally come out with the mobile advertising exclusive I have been hinting about since I spoke at a Knowledge & Networking Seminar (an excellent event organized by the Association for Interactive Media and Entertainment - AIME) focused specifically on mobile advertising and social networking. During the evening I had the opportunity to connect with Eric Mugnier, Product and Innovation Director at InsideMobile, a mobile marketing agency that understands the importance of offering people more of a say in their advertising experiences. It was refreshing to hear an advertising executive (other than Jonathan MacDonald and, more recently, WPP's Mark Linder) provide reasons why the individual(!) sits at the center of a newly- emerging (and ever-evolving) mobile advertising value web. But now we have proof that what many suggest is idealism can actually provide the basis for an ideal business model. The news is today's announcement by Reebok that it has launched Your Reebok, the world's first iPhone app that allows us to customize our sneakers (an app created by InsideMobile). Your Reebok launches initially in the U.S. and the U.K. but the service will go live in Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, Austria, and Ireland in the coming months. But the real news for me is the sea change in mobile advertising/marketing thinking this made-for-mobile app represents. I caught up with Dusan Hamlin, InsideMobile Managing Director, to talk about what the app does now, and what we can expect next. At first glance, the cool factor is how this app uses the features and functionality of the iPhone, such as the accelerometer, to take mobile interaction to another level. In addition to being able to customize up to 23 areas of the show with a choice of 19 colors, people can also shake the iPhone to mix and meld colors in truly one-of-a-kind random designs. Do you like what you see? Then share it with a friend. But this time we're not talking about just another app that lets us show stuff to people in a one-way (one-to-several broadcast) exchange. Dusan made a conscious choice to enable mobile community collaboration. "You share the sneaker with friends and say 'what do you think?' They edit it [your design], make some changes and send it back, saying 'it was cool before, but I like it more now.'"