Ever wonder how a mobile campaign is served to the multitude of different phone devices currently being used? SMS provides the gateway to these rich mobile media experiences. Here's how.
Zaw Thet, founder and CEO of 4INFO, Inc., started his sponsored presentation at the iMedia Brand Summit in Bonita Springs, Fla., by channeling his inner Dale Carnegie and focusing on using mobile to win friends and influence people. "Winning friends" is a big part of 4INFO's core messaging, since the mobile media company leverages its huge SMS platform (and relationships with print/TV/online publishers) to create engagement between consumers and brands. It's also in Thet's career DNA, as he was active in the early social networking industry at Spoke Software.
Everyone knows that SMS enables precise targeting with reputable platforms built from opt-in services provided by participating publishers. 4INFO takes that precision further by employing technology that can target campaign elements in SMS and WAP based on the capabilities of an individual user's phones. Ever wonder how a mobile video campaign is served to the multitude of different phone devices currently being used? SMS provides the gateway to these rich mobile media experiences.
Thet walked through the Coors Silver Bullet campaign that 4INFO managed during the NFL Draft, featuring first-round draft picks with a brand message via SMS, while another campaign had the iconic Silver Bullet train racing across the screens of some devices.
"We want to deliver value, content, and experiences, not just messages," Thet said, as he showed another interactive TV campaign. Keystone Light Beer wanted to build a database in six targeted markets, so it invited baseball fans through amusing television creative to send text to 44636 (4INFO's shortcode) and receive scores from whichever MLB teams they selected. By building this database and distributing this content, Keystone became a publisher providing value to its consumers, while at the same time building a database for future brand messaging.
Interactive television isn't the only integrated media campaign provided by 4INFO. Thet reviewed how a particular church employed short-code SMS to build their own database via old-school billboards. By asking users to text the word "Believe" to 44636, The United Methodist Church was able to send its own brand messages, mostly of the inspirational variety, to drivers who had opted in, while also providing a hard measure of the effective reach of their billboard advertising.
In his summary, Thet recommended to attendees that they think of mobile holistically, not just as an SMS segment or iPhone segment, but with a mind on the whole spectrum of mobile users and their interactions with traditional media. By thinking in terms of creating engagement with that entire spectrum, and then delivering that engagement in an ongoing fashion, brands can get the most from their mobile campaigns.
Mark Naples is managing partner for WIT Strategy.