Who is the world’s best texter? We bet if you tried, you could surely think of someone in your life deserving of the title. However, did you know that there was recently a texting championship that gave this prestigious title to an official winner?
That’s right; the LG Mobile World Cup has turned text messaging into an internationally competitive sport. Participants from around the world gathered, stretched out their fingers, and texted their little hands off for a grand prize of $100K. The participants were from 13 countries and texted in 7 languages. Before the event, LG spent a lot of time researching the stroke value of words in different languages to ensure that the games were fair for all.
At the event, which looked like it could have taken place on the same set as American Idol, the crowd watched how well each team of two performed via a monitor that depicted teams as cars going down a race track.
The 2010 Worlds Champions were Christina and Jennifer Sales of Team Panama, who took home the grand prize of $100,000. In 2nd place was team Korea, and in 3rd place team Brazil.
These days, there are numerous studies being conducted regarding our population’s technological usage. The vast number of studies regarding this topic is an indication in of itself of the popularity of technology in today’s world for communication.
The most recent study by Pew Research Center entitled “Generations and Their Gadgets” offers new, ever- growing insight into the gadgets that people use. Now 85 percent of American adults own cell phones, while 90 percent of them live in households where someone owns a mobile phone. In general, cell phone usage amounts depend on a person’s age. Ninety-two percent of 18-34 year olds own cell phones, and this number goes steadily down until you look at the 75+ age group, where 48 percent own cell phones. This number is astonishing- almost half of all grandmothers and grandfathers have cell phones. Five years ago this would have been a joke, but today it’s a reality; one that keeps evolving.
In terms of cell phone functionality, the younger generation uses its phones for a variety of functions that go far beyond just calling and texting. However, across the board, calling and texting are the two functions for which all age groups said they used their phones.
Comparing the cell phone to other gadgets, the technological tool that came closest to the 85 percent ownership of the cell phone was the MP3 device, which 74 percent of the American public own. At 70 percent, the laptop computer is in third place as a chosen tool for the general population.
The cell phone is the single most used and widespread device in the hands of the American public. It’s definitely worth a shot to deliver your important marketing message to it.
The contents of a database are truly priceless, which is why many companies back them up on more than one server and why keeping the contents up to date and correct is essential. A mobile database, compiled of cell phone numbers, names, birthdates, zip codes, and personal interests, is extremely valuable and can help you reach your customers in a more effective way.
So how do you ensure you’ll get loads of people into your database and ensure the information you receive is valuable and correct? Great question. The answer is, by getting all of your employees on board with the initiative. They not only have to understand the process of taking the information, they also need to understand the VALUE of it.
Steve Madden’s recent mobile database success is a great example of this. They had a mobile campaign that encouraged consumers to text in JOINSTEVE to the Madden short code for the chance to win $100 Steve Madden gift card. When joining, consumers were prompted to answer questions regarding their interests.
For the average American man, the Super Bowl is a symbol of athleticism, team work, and also a great time to make some side cash betting on whether the Packers will beat the Steelers. For the average American women, the Super Bowl is a great excuse for a party that everyone is sure to attend, and a chance to swap cheese dip recipes. For marketers, the Super Bowl exists solely as a basis for the wonderful commercials and ad campaigns that go along side it.
Pepsi understands this, and had developed a multichannel mobile campaign for the event in order to capitalize on the number of eyes glued to the game. According to Mobile Marketer, the campaign included a mobile website, an application for smart phone users, a scan able QR code for a Pepsi coupon, and an SMS experience. All of these initiatives were publicized on all pieces of advertisement.
A key target group for Pepsi throughout this campaign was Latinos, a group that is accustomed to using digital media on their phones. Pepsi’s goal was to engage them in the Pepsi Super Bowl experience as much as possible. There was actually a specific site made for Latinos in Spanish, and a call to action keyword labeled “FAMILIA”. For those that opted in to the keyword in Dallas, six had a chance to win tickets to the Super Bowl.
New findings from a Nielsen & Yahoo study find a previously undiscovered, strong connection between the mobile phone and eating out. The facts are quite interesting and important, particularly for popular restaurant chains, and they also shed light on the amount of distance that people will travel for a good deal on a meal.
The demographic used within this study was 34 million Americans who seek information about restaurant deals on their mobile phones. This population is skewed with a majority falling within the ages of 13-34. A surprising 58 percent of these people live in the suburbs, highlighting an opportunity for restaurants outside the city limits. Incomes for this population were on average $87K USD, and the majority is classified as married. Forty-one percent have one or more children in their house. (Mediapost)
The positive finding within this study is that 34 percent of respondents saw a dining ad or coupon on their phone, and 77 percent of these people sometimes or always looked at it.