On The Border

How do you make a branding sponsorship come alive? Activate it with Mo7 mobile. That's what Dallas-based Mexican restaurant chain On The Border did.

Using a single 20-second in-game announcment in Dallas Mavericks basketball games, On The Border told people to text in for a chance to win tickets to an upcoming game. Those who did were given an entry code and a url to a custom-made landing page where they registered for the ticket giveaway.

More than 40% of all texters ended up going over to register for the contest. And everyone who texted received a mobile offer that they could bring in and redeem at On The Border.

The program was a huge success and helped drive increased sales across the market.

U.S. Army Uses Mobile to Find Recruits

Mo7 has launched a second mobile recruiting effort along with the U.S. Army and McCann Erickson. The campaign, which spans 102 college campuses on the East coast and throughout the Southeast, uses text as it's primary direct response vehicle. The text-to-win campaign is driven by posters and ads in campus newspapers. Texters are immediatly entered into a bi-weekly contest for an iPod nano. They also receive a WAP link to register to win a Nintendo Wii game console. Opt-in leads are tracked throughout the process and delivered back to their corresponding Army recruiter for follow up.

This is the second mobile campaign that Mo7 has produced for the Army. The previous effort included 80 campuses and 20 cinemas.

Wii-a-Week Giveaway

Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits, a Mo7 client, is running a market-wide mobile campaign in the Austin, Texas. The Wii-A-Week Campaign includes a text-to-win contest. Texters can win a Nintendo Wii console is given away each week, and a 42 inch Flat-panel plasma HDTV is the grand prize at the end of the promotion. The contest is being promoted in Austin Popeyes locations.

Popeyes is also sending mobile coupons to drive repeat business. In fact, the combination of sending value-laden coupons, which can be redeemed immediately, to a database of self-qualified Popeye's fans has produced a startling statistic: virtually none of the consumers receiving weekly Popeyes coupons on their cell phones has opted out of the process.

Text "Popeyes1" to 777111. Go to www.PopeyesWiiContest.com.

Is the Cellphone the Next Great Marketing Frontier?

By: Scott Forrest, Managing Partner of Mo7

With 250 million wireless subscribers in the U.S. and more than 3 million in Houston, the short answer is "Yes." The potential is there to draw big numbers. And a cell phone is, by nature, the most personal communication device a person owns, so it also has great potential to elicit a response. But because it's so personal, marketing on a cell phone needs to be done with great care and consideration.

The cell phone is probably the last spam free place on earth. Effective mobile marketing isn't spam, but relies on a simple opt-in technique. Consumers reach out, using text messaging, to indicate they want what is being offered. The key is that they can do this the moment they see or hear an advertisement. It's an instantaneous direct response vehicle that lets them download information, offers, incentives or digital products in real time right to their cell phones, and every communication after that must include an opt-out function.

The mobile marketer always has a living, breathing database of people who are interested in what he's offering.



Published in the Houston Business Journal during the Week of January 11-17, 2008.

Mo7 is a member of the Mobile Marketing Association!

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) is the premier global non-profit association that strives to stimulate the growth of mobile marketing and its associated technologies. The MMA is a global organization with over 500 members representing over forty countries. MMA members include agencies, advertisers, hand held device manufacturers, carriers and operators, retailers, software providers and service providers, as well as any company focused on the potential of marketing via mobile devices.

Mo7 Mobile Interactive Marketing was the sole text messaging provider for the 2007 Army Navy Football game in Baltimore, MD. The Army used in-stadium LED board messaging, as well as display ads in the Game Program and a pre-game flyer program to drive opt-ins. Texters were told they could receive $2,000 for referring a recruit, plus given a url to an Army web site where they could learn more about the referral program.

Who Is Surfing the Mobile Web?

Research on mobile web demographics is still in its infancy, but the picture is slowly emerging like a Polaroid being waved in the air. And the picture bodes well for traditional TV advertisers who have been frustrated by diminishing audiences of young adults.

Nielsen recently reported that 25% of 18-34 year olds used mobile web technology earlier this year. That number, it's assumed, is larger now. And it outpaces, by a wide margin, all other demos.

Among the 12+ population, only 14% used the mobile web. What's surprising is that virtually the same number of teens (15%) reported mobile web use.

And the skew is decidedly male (55%). Not overwhelming, but significant.

What's not apparent is how these people accessed the mobile web. Did they go through their carrier's deck? Did they log onto a site on their own? Or did they click on an SMS-delivered link as part of a text promotion?

The details will emerge as to the best way to facilitate mobile web engagement. But for now, the signs are very encouraging. Especially for advertising who are seeing their target 18-34 demo slip out the back door and leave traditional media sitting alone at the table.