In it to Win it with Budweiser

It feels like a lot of play and little work at Waterfall as we’ve been generating several Anheuser-Busch sweepstakes that are anything but dull over the past few weeks. With a fantastic partner and great creative, implementing campaigns has never been so interesting: A-B has been doing everything from bringing fans closer to the Stanley Cup to getting people to the red-carpet premiere of Adam Sandler’s upcoming comedy “Funny People.”

In all of the eight summer sweepstakes users spot the call-to-action at supermarkets, bars, convenience stores or online and are urged to text the specific keywords to the short code 23377 (BEERS).

All of the contests utilize age-gating and (sometimes) zip code verification to determine eligibility. The first initial text message that gets sent to consumers is the age gate, which asks consumers to reply back with their date of birth. Those who make the age cut pass through to the campaign content and those who don’t are directed on a separate path of messaging. Considering the content, age verification is a very important campaign component to get right.

Tens of thousands of people have been engaged in Anheuser-Busch’s summer sweepstakes thus far, with some of the contests still running. The campaigns utilize many different approaches including scheduled IVR (Interactive Voice Recognition) blasts and sweepstakes running in both English and Spanish.

Prizes for the sweepstakes included:

• Tickets and travel to the Hollywood red carpet premiere of Adam Sandler’s upcoming movie “Funny People”
• Tickets to summers best concerts including Nas, The Roots, Big Boi and Common
• Five Harley-Davidson Motorcycles
• Tickets to the UFC 100 including travel to Las Vegas
• Four passes to the NHL Poker Challenge in Las Vegas
• An opportunity to see the Stanley Cup and meet NHL players and celebrities
• Island cruise and a private island concert with the Dave Matthews Band

Two of the eight campaigns are still running. For a chance to win:

• An island cruise and private Dave Matthews Band concert, text CRUISE to 23377 (BEERS)
• A meeting with some of your favorite soccer players or to win autographed jerseys, text FUTBOL to 23377 (BEERS)

I was joking about the little work around here (we’ve yet to hit any summer lull) but with a client like Anheuser-Busch and these great campaigns, we’ve managed to have a bit of fun along the way!

(Jacqueline is Client Services Account Manager Extraordinaire at Waterfall and loves her clients almost as much as their products.)

IVR: Not Just for Call Centers Anymore

IVR has been around for years. But when marketers think of IVR, they often think first of the automated phone lines that handle calls to the bank or the local cable company, rather than the incredible mobile marketing opportunities surrounding the technology.

According to Wikipedia, AT&T first used Dual Tone Multi-Frequencies in the 1960s and by the 1970s, companies began automating their call center tasks with the technology. In the 1980s and 90s, real costs savings materialized alongside the increases in computer processing power and introduction of Voice XML, which has made IVR a necessity for most corporations. Today between movie listings, bank balances, and voicemail, most consumers interact with IVR systems at every turn.

So when did IVR overcome its automated call center origins and become a hot mobile marketing tool that is still gaining traction with entertainment clients and brands? Automatic dialers for political campaigns and opinion polls brought awareness of non-traditional applications for IVR in the late 90s and early 2000s but I would argue that the first mainstream consumer marketing use of IVR incorporated customized messages from Samuel L. Jackson in 2006.

New Line Cinemas mounted an amazing marketing campaign that year, tied to the August ’06 release of “Snakes on a Plane” that included a brilliant IVR component. More than 1.5 million people sent personalized messages from Samuel L. Jackson to friends telling them to get out and see the movie. From the movie’s website, consumers could enter their friends’ phone numbers, select personalized options including jobs, physical features or car type, and then their friends received a call incorporating the information.  People loved it.  And a new marketing tool was born.

In today’s world, musical artists and movie studios use IVR extensively to interact with fans. Celebrity talent frequently interacts with IVR technology to deliver messages to thousands of fans regarding pre-releases of songs, tour dates, and venue information.  IVR has fans feeling connected and engaged, and as a bonus, the marketing technology is incredibly cost-effective.

When you are realizing your mobile marketing strategy, be sure to think about incorporating an IVR component or you might miss out on a fantastic and fresh way to interact with your customers.

Best Practices: Mobile Improves Healthcare Marketing

Mobile Marketer

“Today, SMS messaging is really the only viable, interactive means of reaching people on a massive scale around the nation. The mobile channel also represents an enormous untapped potential for changing health behavior on a massive scale.”

“(Mobile marketing) has the opportunity to help make the healthcare system more efficient, to help agencies make better use of existing data, to help reduce costs and to help consumers improve their health and their lives through a medium they understand and embrace.”

The healthcare industry is beginning to leverage the advantages of mobile marketing. Healthcare professionals and marketers look for innovative ideas to increase communication and enahance relationships with loyal patients. With text, voice and WAP mobile marketing, healthcare marketers can extend branding reach, create two-way relationships with patients and provide interactive customer support and follow up.

For more information on text, voice and WAP mobile marketing, please contact your account manager or email sales@msgme.com.

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6 Effective Mobile Tactics, by Matt Silk

In a recent iMedia Connection article, Matt Silk, senior vice president, Waterfall Mobile, highlights effective mobile marketing tactics savvy retailers and marketers need to consider.

6 Effective Mobile Tactics
A Waterfall Mobile article by Matt Silk

To draw consumers into brick-and-mortar stores, you need to engage them — and no channel makes it easier than mobile. Here are a few methods that are proven to work.

Santa Claus should not text while driving his sleigh, but this holiday season, smart businesses should be focusing on mobile to drive results. Many retailers kicked off their holiday selling season on Black Friday by opening their doors before dawn and spending millions on advertising campaigns to publicize incredible deals at bargain-basement prices for one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

Yet, despite heavy national TV, print and online pushes for the country’s biggest retailers, many major brick-and-mortar retailers have not begun to implement even the simplest forms of mobile marketing to expand engagement with their customers. They should take a cue from the few mobile-savvy retailers this holiday season.

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Waterfall Mobile Advances Industry Leading Platform

Msgme Version 2.3 has been released!

Msgme continues to enhance and expand on its industry leading mobile marketing platform.

Msgme Enhancements Include:

Msgme Developer Portal – Fully integrated, secure and intuitive web-based developer environment designed for clients to build enterprise applications. Powerful developer tools, technical resources and account support.

Subscriber API Enhancements – Clients can integrate directly with existing CRM systems and synchronize all data in real-time for enhanced targeting on all mobile campaigns. Subscriber metadata fields enable the creation of optimized mobile campaigns and segmentation of audiences.

IVR (Interactive Voice Response) – Clients can create robust interactive campaigns using voice messaging for standalone campaigns or enhance existing SMS messaging.  Add a layer of personality with celebrity voices, music and IVR menus to drive consumers to sign up for lists, purchase mobile content, preview audio files and receive mobile offers.

Msgme Private Label Customization - Ideal for interactive agencies or brands with multiple accounts, Msgme now delivers customizable client interfaces, including account login, brand header, logo and more to enhance mobile brand marketing efforts and experiences.

For more information on Msgme upgrades or mobile text and voice marketing campaigns, please contact your account manager or email sales@waterfallmobile.com.

Industry Case Study: Johnson & Johnson’s IVR Mobile Campaign

Campaign Overview
Pharmaceuticals giant Johnson & Johnson wanted to engage the mobile savvy youth market and promote its Acuvue contact lens brand.

Campaign Objective
Create a targeted mobile campaign that combines Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and mobile web (WAP) to build customer subscriber lists, extend its branding reach and enhance its two-way relationship with consumers.

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Faith Hill’s Mobile IVR Campaign

Mobile Marketer

Five-time Grammy award winner Faith Hill wanted to use mobile to generate early excitement about her new Christmas album “Joy to the World” and give fans exclusive previews and the chance to offer feedback on tracks.

Fans can listen to the tracks and call Faith’s mobile number, 615-823-5605 and leave feedback messages on her music.

Creating a mobile two-way relationship between Faith and her fans, the country singer provides immediate access to music content and engages with mobile audiences.

View article.