WKRBC Utilizes Text to Notify Donors of Shortages and More

The Western Kentucky Regional Blood Center has begun using SMS to target donors by type during shortages. Now, through Agent511, during shortages of specific blood types, WKRBC can send text messages requesting donors. For example, if there were a shortage of type AB- blood, WKRBC can sen a message to just donors with type AB- blood requesting their help. WKRBC will also be utilizing text messages to notify donors of upcoming local blood drives and events. To sign up for notifications and updates from the Western Kentucky Regional Blood Center visit http://www.wkrbc.org/.

Chevron/Texaco Partner w/ Agent511 to Rollout Mobile Strategy

Chevron and Texaco are now sponsoring the Owensboro TextBlast services offered by Agent511. New Chevron / Texaco customers who sign up for a Chevron / Texaco credit card will receive up to $0.30 on every gallon of gasoline purchases at any Chevron or Texaco gas station. Chevron/ Texaco credit card holders will also receive a 9% discount on any purchases made inside Chevron or Texaco convenience stores. For more information regarding cardholder advantages and money-saving opportunities visit http://www.owensboro511.com/ct.php

Monopoly at McDonald’s Game wins Best Mobile Campaign

Last year marked the addition of the first-ever mobile component to the Monopoly at McDonald’s campaign, which has been named the Best Mobile Campaign in the 2009 ad:tech Awards.

McDonald’s marketing agency The Marketing Store and mobile marketing partner Telescope were the joint recipients of the award, which recognizes the mobile campaign that best illustrates areas of branding and direct response.

“Each year we look for new and innovative ways to reach and entertain our customers with the Monopoly at McDonald’s promotion,” said Douglas Freeland, director of U.S. marketing at McDonald’s, in a statement. "Mobile game play enables customers to join the fun anytime and anywhere."

McDonald’s created a massive on-pack short code program that enabled consumers to enter the Monopoly at McDonald’s game anytime, anywhere. The game garnered the largest online game response in the history of the promotion, with almost 2 million game codes being entered by mobile users. With a pre-promotion launch on Sept. 23 and full launch on Oct. 7, the game reached millions of consumers nationally via the on-pack promotion.

The new mobile mechanic played a significant role in the pre-promotion, with nearly 15 percent of all codes entered via mobile, proving the value of immediate gratification and entertainment to the McDonald’s customer base. Players could text in their code or enter it online to collect properties. Those who collected an entire property set could win cash and prizes up to $100,000.

This was the first time in the industry that a collect-and-win game could be played across online and mobile simultaneously. McDonald’s has used the mobile channel before. In October, the fast-food giant launched an integrated Web-to-mobile campaign to promote its McRib sandwich. The campaign ran on Myxer's new Bullseye targeted advertising service. The service let McDonald's target Myxer's audience by criteria such as geography, gender, age, music genre and mobile preferences.

“The successful integration of brand creative and tailored technology is what makes this campaign unique,” said Jason George, CEO of Telescope. “The overall strategy was to drive signups and registration and drive people back in-store.”

Join Agent 511 and the Rest of the Owensboro Community for Police Awareness Day- Sat. May 2nd

Saturday, May 2nd, 2009 the Owensboro Police Department will be hosting Police Awareness Day at their Owensboro Police Department Headquarters. Take a tour of the OPD headquarters and check out the cruisers and equipment, while meeting OPD officers. The fun filled event will also provide many children's activities as well as free child I.D. kits.

Aside from these events Agent 511 will be in attendance to teach you how to TXT in a Crime Tip and help you sign up for important OPD TXT Blasts!

The event will run from 10 am til 2 pm. Free burgers, hot dogs, drinks and more will be on hand at the event so stop by and support OPD for Police Awareness Day!

Making short codes the call to action in ads

Steve Leonard is general manager for off-deck at Motricity
By Steve Leonard

CNN’s Rick Sanchez stands before you on television, encouraging you to text-in your feedback during his interactive news program. Feeling inspired to contribute, you send your two cents to short code 44546: “Mickelson’s got this one in the bag.” The cable network then thanks you for your contribution and offers to deliver you breaking mobile news alerts from its fellow Time Warner Inc.-owned sibling magazine, Entertainment Weekly.

Seldom attuned to the latest in pop culture, you opt-in. After the third SMS update on the Lindsay Lohan/Samantha Ronson scandal, Entertainment Weekly prompts you to visit its mobile Web site and subscribe to the publication. Realizing the text alerts just aren’t enough, you deem it a worthy purchase and your relationship with these media powerhouses continues to grow.

Where am I going with this? Mobile marketing is evolving. According to Nielsen, 71 percent of current users are using data services to connect to the Internet. Among non-users, 49 percent anticipate using mobile Internet services in the future. The growth of the mobile Web brings the opportunity to enhance text message marketing with a level of fulfillment that previously did not exist.

Earlier this year, Motricity predicted that the short code would become the go-to call to action for advertisers. Remember when every commercial or print advertisement started to include a URL for more information? Mobile marketing is ready to claim that spotlight with short codes. Fulfillment is the key driver for the growth of SMS codes being the call-to-action in advertising.

A targeted SMS message sets the stage, but by presenting the chance to continue the engagement through the mobile Internet, the opportunity to provide fulfillment is there.
If the SMS message also includes a discount code or segmented microsite that appeals to the preferences of that mobile phone user, the consumer/marketer relationship is deeper and more rewarding than other static efforts.

Mobile marketing is not siloed like other types of marketing, which require a billboard, television, computer, phone call, physical visit to a store or a combination of these to complete the cycle. Mobile marketing doesn’t just create an interaction that begins and ends – the response is measured and the brand can drive consumers to engage elsewhere or more often.
Furthermore, those engagements are personal and take place on a device that’s usually run by one person.

Put yourself in the consumer’s shoes: If I see a Web site URL in a magazine and I go to that site and browse it one time, that’s great. But it’s not measurable. Will the advertiser or company ever know that I browsed that Web site based on me seeing it in that magazine ad? But if I respond to a text message – you know where it’s coming from.

We are still hardwired to view every single text message that comes through to us. Once I, as the consumer, have given that company or brand permission to interact with me, there is an ongoing, measurable relationship. A Web site can’t reach right back out to you. An SMS can.

The first step for marketers is to embrace the short code as their call-to-action in all advertising materials. From there, embrace the growth of the channel and give your audiences new opportunities to discover all you have to offer in a dynamic new channel.

Mobile voting could become reality by 2012: VeriSign
By Mickey Alam Khan

LAS VEGAS – Voting by mobile devices could become a reality nationwide by 2012, according to one of the leading mobile messaging companies. Mobile voting was No. 1 in a list of five mobile messaging predictions newly released by VeriSign Inc.’s messaging and mobile media division. The success of the Obama presidential campaign last year using a combination of television, grassroots and the Internet with last-mile support from mobile is proof of the channel’s potential.

“There has been a new movement toward the acceptability of mobile,” said Michael Campbell, senior vice president of sales and marketing for VeriSign Messaging and Mobile Media. The company sees trials of mobile voting gaining ground on the local level. By 2012, the end of President Obama’s current term, VeriSign expects the mainstream use of SMS to exchange information and opinions, promote accountability and transparency. At least 10 percent of the U.S. population will use mobile to interact with government by2012, according to VeriSign.
Mobile usage will include applications to include status information pushed by government or pulled by end-users for activities such as tax filings and refunds, library books, driver’s license, passports and driving tickets.

VeriSign had similar optimistic predictions for mobile’s increase use in banking and payments, location-based services, social networking and nonprofit fundraising. Mobile bankingMore than 1.5 billion standard and premium application-to-person messages will be delivered monthly nationwide this year, almost double the volume from 2008. Financial institutions will account for a chunk of this SMS activity.

VeriSign estimates that 75 percent of the top 20 U.S. banks will this year have launched SMS mobile banking. More than 25 percent of the tier one financial institutions will next year offer SMS-based notifications for payments and remittances.

Location-based services
The adoption of location-based services is currently estimated at 7 percent, per industry data. Major U.S. wireless carriers in the past 12 months have launched on-deck, user-initiated pull location-based services such as navigation or search. With the cooperation of all the major players in the mobile market over issues such as spam protection, service monetization and consumer privacy, VeriSign expects to see an increase in new location applications and services within 24 months.

For example, carriers will debut new on- and off-deck services that push pertinent information to subscribers based on their location and preferences. This will increase the demand for messaging using WAP, SMS and MMS for push applications such as mobile ads, coupons and promotions based on a consumer’s location and inclination to buy at that moment.

Social networking
This will be the breakout year for carriers and social networks to work together, VeriSign claims. Integration of user-friendly applications into smartphones and a teardown of the walls between different social networking Web sites will offer ubiquitous access to such services on mobile. Mobile will also enhance the natural strengths of social networking by offering real-time relevance to messages shared between users and their social networks.

Nonprofit fundraising
In the final prediction, VeriSign and the Mobile Giving Foundation expect that more than $5 million will be raised this year via mobile charitable giving.

Microdonations – the American Red Cross asked for $5 donations during recent hurricane relief operations, with charges listed on the subscribers’ bills – will resonate more with the mobile-savvy Generation Y audience.

Nonprofits will also encourage donors to opt into mobile programs to receive alerts, updates and news of events through SMS messages. Personalized messages will also improve the relationship between nonprofit and donor, especially in these hard economic times when charities normally struggle for funds and attention.

Brands offer biggest opportunity
That said, and while not one of its five listed predictions, VeriSign still believes that brands will account for mobile’s optimal use. “I definitely believe that the biggest opportunity lies with the brands,” Mr. Campbell said. "The brands are now feeling that if they don’t do something [about mobile], they’re behind the times,” he said. “That’s where it’s actually moved. That’s where the companies are moving – they don’t want to just show that they’re technically savvy, but they’re customer-friendly. “The interesting thing about this is that mobile has become for a brand not just about how to reach their customers, but how to reach the right customers at the right time in the right place.”

Wireless industry will help reverse recession: CTIA keynote
By Dan Butcher
April 2, 2009

Steve Largent is president/CEO of CTIA -The Wireless Associaton
LAS VEGAS - T-Mobile and Verizon believe that the wireless industry will continue to grow indefinitely and will even contribute to turning around the economy as a whole.

The two carrier keynote speakers at the CTIA Wireless 2009: Mobile Life conference were introduced by Steve Largent, president/CEO of CTIA-The Wireless Association, who was also bullish on the state of the industry. He also announced the launch of Mywireless.org, a national grassroots organization that educates consumers and lobbies to fight wireless taxes and fees.

“The wireless industry is vibrant and we’re seeing continued growth,” Mr. Largent said. “It is a shining light in unfortunately troubled times, and we are playing a role in our nation’s economic recovery.”

Mr. Largent discussed industry statistics and the results of a Mywireless.org survey of wireless consumers.There were more than 270 million total wireless subscribers in the U.S. at end of 2008, which represented an increase of 15 million.

T-Mobile's Robert Dotson is the new chairman of the board for CTIA U.S. consumers logged 2.2 trillion minutes of mobile-phone usage in 2008. U.S. carriers saw an incredible spike in SMS traffic, with 1 trillion text messages sent last year, almost triple the 2007 figure. 620 billion of those were sent in the second half of the year.Wireless revenue totaled $148 billion.

The Mywireless.org survey asked thousand people how they felt about their wireless services, and 94 percent said they were satisfied with it. Seventy-four percent said that their wireless service was either an excellent or a good value, while 85 percent say cell phones make their life easier.

CTIA-The Wireless Association is backing a Congressional bill to impose a five-year moratorium on new discriminatory state and local wireless taxes (see story). Mywireless.org was formed to support that initiative.

T-Mobile USAThe first keynote address was a general overview of the industry, with plenty of plugs for T-Mobile USA products and services. The carrier’s outlook is, not surprisingly, sunny.
“Today we as an industry are at a crossroads, with the rapid emergence of wireless data and every element of life looking to mobilize, from banking and shopping to gaming and entertainment,” said Robert Dotson, current chairman of CTIA and president/CEO of T-Mobile USA. “I feel fortunate to work in truly vibrant industry with so much promise before us.
“While the global macro-economy is facing serious challenges that the wireless industry has not dealt with before, and suffice to say that these are tough times, the good news that the industry’s continued growth suggests a brighter, more prosperous tomorrow, and we know it’s coming sooner rather than later,” he said.

“I am incredibly optimistic about the future of our industry, regardless of good or bad headlines, because ours is an industry that shapes tomorrow, and wireless embodies America’s can-do spirit, which will move our nation forward.” Mr. Dotson quoted a speech by President Obama calling on all Americans to meet our challenges head on, and he suggested that there is no one better to answer that call than the wireless industry.

“We can play a key role in helping our country and our world emerge from the current economic circumstances, using the entrepreneurial spirit of the wireless industry to innovate,” Mr. Dotson said. “We have to demonstrate how much we truly care for individual customers and show the benefits of a ‘mobile life,’ which is the theme of CTIA 2009.”

By year’s end, wireless data will be a $40 billion market, according to a study cited by T-Mobile
The U.S. ranks as the largest wireless data market in the world, largely due to the prevalence of text messaging and the growing popularity of smartphones. Mobile applications are a new, important area of growth, and mobile applications stores will drive content to 300 devices by 2013, according to Juniper Research.

ShopSavvy is a comparison shopping application for the T-Mobile G1 with Google that can read UPC codes. More than a million customers have downloaded it, according to T-Mobile.
“Open OS platforms like Android make it not only possible but easy to work with the biggest players in the industry,” Mr. Dotson said. “We’re both collaborating and competing at the same time, and this represents the single biggest period of innovation in our industry since the launch of the very first Motorola handset.

“We want to foster an environment for open mobile innovation to create value-added services, and entrepreneurs and garage geniuses will drive that innovation,” he said. ”There is tremendous demand for 3G smartphones like the G1, and 80 percent of G1 customers browse the Internet on a daily basis and consumers 50 times the data of a typical subscriber.”
Mr. Dotson touted the impending impact of HSPA Plus technology and the LTE next-generation mobile network. He stressed that the government needs to use a light regulatory touch for the industry’s success to continue. Mr. Dotson was supportive of a piece of President Obama’s stimulus program dedicated to expanding wireless broadband coverage to make sure everyone can experience it, even in rural areas.

“Wireless broadband is the great economic equalizer, allowing small businesses and consumers to instantly connect regardless of the device at their fingertips,” Mr. Dotson said. “We are one of the few good news stories when we keep hearing about all of these industries in turmoil.
“People are cutting back in so many areas, but one area they’re not cutting back is staying connected via their mobile phone,” he said. “The future is bright, and the opportunity is before us to hold fast to the courage of our convictions and take a step forward together as an industry of innovators.”

Verizon CommunicationsVerizon Communications partners with Vodafone to run Verizon Wireless. Its keynote focused on trends in the wireless industry. “The wireless industry is innovating around new products, services and applications to grow and increase the value proposition for consumers and meshing wireless ever more deeply into people’s lives,” said Ivan Seidenberg, chairman/CEO of Verizon Communications. “Mobile is a way of life, and the wireless device is the most ubiquitous communications device and a third screen for entertainment.

“The next wave of innovation is complete broadband, and here in the U.S. wireless companies have invested more than 20 billion in its development, and our partners billions more on operating systems, software, chips, handsets and applications to deliver to our customers,” he said. “We are a vibrant $800 billion global industry, and a new business model is evolving to make the next 25 years every bit as dynamic as the first 25.

“We are big believers in broadband, which will transform the old analog model.”
A Nielsen study found that the average American spends more than five hours a day watching TV and one hour a day surfing the Internet, but only uses their mobile phone an average of 26 minutes a day.

“If we can move even a modest amount of that usage to mobile, we’ll have lots of headroom to grow,” Mr. Seidenberg said. “Mobile phone connects people, and wireless will connect everything—people to people, people to machines and machines to other machines.”
Data already accounts for $1.4 billion in wireless revenues. Sales of smartphones are growing 30 percent each year and will account for one out of every three phone sales by 2011.

“That challenges the conventional wisdom of the growth potential of wireless industry, which caps it at 100 penetration, meaning everyone has a phone, but you can go beyond 100 as people use more than one device,” Mr Seidenberg said. “Wireless Web next-gen technology will bring about the opportunity to explode penetration to three, four or five hundred percent.

“It is not only possible, it is probable,” he said. “4G networks such as LTE, which is emerging as the global standard, will increase speed by 8 or 10 times, driving exponential growth of data traffic and take the industry to next level of growth.”

Verizon plans to roll out LTE to between 25 and 30 markets in 2010. Verizon’s vision for the future? TVs, PCs and mobile devices will be able to interact, sharing applications and moving content seamlessly between devices. Verizon shared its competitor’s optimism regarding the current economic climate. “The mobile phone is becoming less like a product and more like an extension of our everyday lives,” Mr. Seiderberg said. “We’re approaching a tipping point that will unleash the next wave of wireless growth."

“One study estimates that productivity and improvements from wireless services that exist today will be $900 billion, and we hope to prove that estimate conservative,” he said. “We all know that wireless innovation has been part of the foundation of our country’s prosperity for 25 years, and we need to take the lead as we put our economy back on the path to growth.
“We are a very fortunate industry, offering products and services that are indispensible to our customers’ lives—we offer technology that can make our society more productive, equitable and richer with possibilities.”