May 2007
Monthly Archive
Case study – selling concert tickets by SMS
MattE 07 May 2007 | : Marketing, SMS
This is a good case study of using SMS to help kick off ticket sales for a concert. It demonstrates immediacy, cost effectiveness, viral marketing, word of mouth and a great value proposition for the recipients.
Of course, an opt-in database is needed. The following is edited for length.
How can a major venue get the word out about upcoming events?
Advertising is a given. But even the best TV and radio saturation buys running in tandem with full-page newspaper ads can’t always reach that all-important target demo. With hundreds of channels on cable and literally millions of choices on the Internet, there’s always a distraction, something that will grab your customers’ attentions first, thereby causing them to miss your vital announcement.
Which is why Portland, Oregon’s Rose Quarter (entertainment venue - ed) is making news with text messaging. In fact, when the Rose Quarter was mulling over text messaging, one of the major issues wasn’t the cost, but the size of the database, and whether to wait until the database had fattened up before management moved forward.
“We started with 3,000 people,” Eric Blankenship, Global Spectrum Director of Marketing at the Rose Quarter, told Pollstar. “That was what we wrestled with. Do we want to wait until it’s 10,000? Do we want to wait until it’s 15,000? And we didn’t. We have 3,000 people who want our message via text messaging. Let’s give it to them.”
The Rose Quarter launched its first round of text messaging with a ticket presale announcing the June 13th Faith Hill / Tim McGraw Soul2Soul date at Portland’s Rose Garden Arena. All 3,000 participants received a password and Web link to purchase tickets before the general public.
How did it go?
“Through text messaging alone, we sold $25,000 worth of tickets on the first day,” Blankenship said. “Again, it goes back to, ‘Should we do something with the 3,000 people or should we wait until its bigger?’ If we had waited a little bit we wouldn’t have sold $25,000 worth of tickets. So, for us it was good.”
The Rose Quarter maintains both an e-mail and cell phone list of customers who have opted in to receive venue announcements. But one advantage texting has over e-mail is that e-mail’s effectiveness depends on how often people check for messages. However, texting is almost instantaneous.
Then there’s the viral potential. Like e-mail, a person can forward a text message to friends. “If it helps to sell more tickets, that’s great,” Blankenship said.
Forrester Research: Interactive Marketing Channels To Watch In 2007
MattE 06 May 2007 | : Marketing, SMS, Web
This is the executive summary of Forrester Research: Interactive Marketing Channels To Watch In 2007. The bolding is mine.
Email and search marketing eclipse online display ads as the most prominent elements in the interactive marketing mix, while social media — like blogs, podcasts, RSS, social networks, and online video — are strong up-and-comers. But mobile and game marketing are relatively ignored. Why? Marketers won’t adopt until they see proof that emerging channels work. Our advice? Start adopting now to keep up with your customers who already actively use emerging technologies. Advanced online ad targeting, RSS, and blogs provide the easiest entry points.
What this is saying is try to adopt a proactive approach. It is the early adopters who secure the strongest foothold. With these new technologies, adopting now is NOT too soon.
Do Not Call Register – statistics
MattE 04 May 2007 | : Communications
I am in the process of discovering statistics for uptake of the do not call register.
Having failed to have a phone call to the ACMA media man, I explored the rest of the website.
The register must be run by machines, as there are no contact details on the site – just a web form. I have submitted this form with my request. I will hopefully bring you news as they respond:
Pepsi launches America’s biggest bluetooth campaign
MattE 03 May 2007 | : consumer engagement, Marketing, SMS
The mobile marketing sphere is evolving at a rapid pace and bluetooth marketing is really beginning to take off.
When the really big guns like Pepsi start to use it, one can only assume it will be a limited time before smallercompanies start to use the technology.
In Australia bluetooth marketing has been used on a number of occassions – to great effect. The ability to deliver mobile content from promotional displays means some really cool marketing and branding creatives can be delivered free to the consumer.
If you have an interest or application for bluetooth marketing let us know! Continue Reading »
Do Not Call registry opens in Australia
MattE 03 May 2007 | : Communications, consumer engagement
At last Australia’s Do Not Call registry has opened in Australia.
Hopefully this will severely curtail annoying telemarketers who call at inopportune times (for me any time).
Sadly there are some exemptions:
Politicians – Why? They have traditional media channels to communicate their vews
mobile media 2.0 arrives
MattE 02 May 2007 | : consumer engagement, Marketing, SMS
This press release from hypertag in the UK caught my eye.
Just as web 2.0 has revolutionised the internet with user interaction, it was only a matter of time before realtime user generated content made it to the mobile sphere.
While interaction is possible with SMS, it is still clunky and does not allow the broad scope of media made possible with today’s phones.
Proximity marketing company Hypertag (www.hypertag.com) today announces the launch of the Upload Hypertag, a new device that allows consumers to upload user generated content from their mobile via Bluetooth. The Upload Hypertag will be used by brands to capture user generated content for marketing campaigns – for example, visitors to a gig or festival could be encouraged to upload their pictures or videos to an Upload Hypertag where they could then be fed onto a big screen display.
