Best Buy has teamed up with Disney to give players a way to download free songs from Maroon 5, Train and Fun and enter a daily mobile sweepstakes as part of the retailer’s ongoing effort to drive back-to-school sales.

Disney’s Tap Tap Revenge: Tour mobile game is the centerpiece of the effort, with players able to unlock exclusive downloads by checking into Best Buy on foursquare. Players can also post their score from the game to Twitter to enter a daily sweepstakes.

“Mobile gaming is definitely growing,” said Michael Burke, co-founder and president of adtivity by appssavvy, New York. “Gaming is huge on desktop and a lot of those games are now moving to mobile and because of that, advertisers want to follow where the people are.

“If people are playing games on mobile devices, it makes a lot of sense to be there,” he said.

“There are opportunities in mobile gaming to reach consumers who are on the go, with many playing while they are commuting to work or while waiting for something. Advertisers can also leverage check-ins, as this promotion does, or do things with photos or adding stuff to a calendar that you really can’t do on the Web.

Mr. Burke is not affiliated with Best Buy or Disney and spoke based on his experience in mobile.

Disney did not respond to press inquiries by the deadline.

Exclusive tracks
Tap Tap Revenge: Tour is the latest in a series of Tap Tap Revenge free games on iOS.  The game enables players to tap along with whatever song is playing.

During the week of Aug. 23, players were able to unlock the hit song “Some Nights” from Fun by using redemption codes found on Best Buy’s social media channels, including Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Starting today, players can unlock an exclusive track from Maroon 5, “One More Night,” by checking in at a Best Buy store on foursquare.

There is also a sweepstakes campaign that players can enter by posting their Tap Tap Revenge: Tour score to Twitter directly from the game. This enters them into a daily sweepstakes for a chance to win a Best Buy Electronic gift card.

The three-week campaign from Best Buy and Disney kicked off on Aug. 16 and will continue through Sept. 6.

The campaign kicked off with Train’s “50 Ways to Say Goodbye” as the featured track of the week, available for free, in Tap Tap Revenge: Tour as well as in previous versions of Tap Tap Revenge.

The tweets will include a custom hashtag – #BestBuyTapTapSweeps – and consumers who tweet using this hashtag also have the opportunity to be entered into the sweepstakes.

Tap Tap Revenge: Tour is available for free download from Apple’s App Store on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices.

Reaching gamers
As mobile and mobile gaming grow, merchants are increasingly finding games an effective way to reach players.

For example, HSN recently teamed up with PlayFirst to roll out a new update to the Cooking Dash mobile game that incorporates chef Emeril Lagasse’s cookware and kitchen electrics line and lets players buy the products without leaving the app (see story).

Additionally, Taco Bell recently partnered with Sony to reward users who play a mobile game with a chance to win a new PlayStation device (see story).

“Mobile gaming allows a retailer to reach an audience who is playing a game and is engaged – they are doing something,” Mr. Burke said. “For a retailer who wants to catch someone with a call-to-action, it is important to reach them at the right time.

“Mobile gaming provides an opportunity for all advertisers, especially retailers, who have a bigger call to action, to engage these players,” he said.

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York