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The Treo 680, recently delivered by Cingular Wireless in the U.S., is supposed to draw a more mainstream audience to Palm's popular line of smartphones. To help generate interest in not just the new device but all Treos in general, Palm this week launched a six-month $25 million worldwide marketing campaign consisting of print, out-of-home, online, mobile and viral-marketing components. The company also launched a new flagship store in New York City.

So in addition to traditional print and online advertising, the campaign, for example, features interactive SMS-activated kiosks that enable people to select and view category-specific content on larger-than-life Treo smartphones, a new Treo-specific microsite, and so-called 'Palm street teams' wearing bright-colored Treo clothing. The purpose of this last component is to attempt to stimulate buzz and excitement around Treo smartphones in metropolitan areas.

The main tagline of the campaign, which was developed by interactive marketing agency AKQA is 'Not Just A Cell Phone. A Treo.' "Because a Treo does more and gives you access to all the things you really care about," Palm CEO Ed Colligan said at the October press conference introducing the Treo 680.

Palm will co-brand ads with partners like like Yahoo!, eBay, Google, and Flickr. They will include the tagline plus text that says "go places, google things." or "do you yahoo! like this?" or "flickr this" or "winning feels good on eBay," for example.

Palm's Colligan said the point of the advertising campaign is to "make sure people understand not only can they use this to manage their lives, but they can also get access to all the things they care about wherever they are. And it's that kind of power that this product will do."

As for the new store, it is located in busy Rockefeller Center, facing Radio City Music Hall, and it is Palm's largest retail location yet. Palm now has 30 stores (some also known as Cafés - no coffee or lattés, sorry to say) across the country.

They are located mostly in airports and malls. For example, Palm's two other New York establishments are situated in JFK and La Guardia.

The Rockefeller Center store (at 74 W. 50th St) offers Palm's complete product portfolio of smartphones, handhelds, mobile managers and accessories. It features live demonstrations and activations on three major U.S. carriers.

Palm told PDAStreet this past spring that its the stores are a great way to draw in new customers, not only to itself but to handheld computing in general. They said 43 percent of customers at these locations are new to PDAs and smartphones and many go high-end when deciding to buy Palm products for the first time. For instance, 56 percent purchase Treos.

"New and loyal customers can experience simple, mobile computing up close, in-depth and across our full product line at Palm Retail Stores,” according to Palm VP Tim Roper. "Specifically by opening a retail store in Rockefeller Center, we have the opportunity to capture the attention of pedestrians who frequent this famous location - especially during the holiday season - so they can see for themselves how powerful yet easy to use our products are. We even have a Palm Treo street team directing customers to the new store.”

To help attract customers to the new Rockefeller Center store, Palm is giving away a free Palm Z22 handheld with the purchase of any Treo until December 17th. Buy a smartphone for yourself and get a gift for dad thrown in gratis. That's one less person to worry about this holiday season.