Super Bowl Ads to Include More Cross-Platform Calls to Action, By Matt Silk

In a recent Mobile Marketer article, Matt Silk, senior vice president, Waterfall Mobile, speaks with Dan Butcher, predicting Super Bowl XLIII will provide consumers more mobile marketing calls-to-action.

Super Bowl ads will include more cross-platform calls to action this year, according to Waterfall Mobile.

Mobile Marketer’s Dan Butcher interviewed Matt Silk, the company’s Los Angeles-based senior vice president, who predicts that this year’s Super Bowl will have more calls to cross-platform action, via Web site URLs and text messaging short codes. Here is what Mr. Silk had to say:

Why does Waterfall Mobile expect the number of SMS call-outs to increase during this year’s Super Bowl?
Waterfall Mobile predicts that brands will look for more accountability in their 2009 ad spends because of several contributing factors including a down economy and a trend away from pure branding and toward more cross-platform initiatives incorporating mobile, web and even direct response marketing.

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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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Msgme Campaign Spotlight: Red Light Management

Red Light Management

Campaign Overview
Red Light Management artist, Dave Matthews Band has over one million fans in the general email subscriber database and paid online memberships. The management company wanted to continue its fan-centric philosophy and create a direct-to-consumer mobile marketing channel. For Red Light Management, creating innovative ways to deliver its artists’ music to their fans has always been a key marketing initiative.

Mobile Objectives
Create and build Red Light Management mobile subscriber lists and drive the label’s direct-to-consumer marketing strategy with mobile.

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2009 Waterfall Mobile Industry Event Calendar

Billboard Digital Music Live! at CES
January 7, 2009 – Las Vegas, NV
Website

Digital Hollywood at CES
January 7-10, 2009 – Las Vegas, NV
Website

CES
January 8-10, 2009 – Las Vegas, NV
Website

Tech Crunch Cruchies 2008 Awards
January 9, 2009 – San Francisco, CA
Website

OMMA Social
January 26, 2009 – San Francisco, CA
Website

NATPE
January 26-29, 2009 – Las Vegas, NV
Website

IAB Networking
January 28, 2009 – New York, NY
Website

AlwaysOn OnMedia NYC
February 2-4, 2009 – New York, NY
Website

iMedia Connection – Brand Summit
February 8-11, 2009 – Coconut Point, FL
Website

Ad Age Marketing 50 Awards
February 11, 2009 – New York, NY
Website

Association of California Community College Administrators
February 18-20, 2009 – New York, NY
Website

American of Association School Administrators
February 19-21, 2009 -San Francisco, CA
Website

Gartner Wireless and Mobile Summit
February 23-25, 2009 – Chicago, IL
Website

Billboard 8th Annual Music and Money Symposium
March 5, 2009 – New York, NY
Website

SXSW
March 13-22, 2009 – Austin, TX
Website

Campus Technology Innovator Awards
March 14, 2009
Website

Mobile Content and Marketing Strategies
March 18-19 – New York, NY
Website

Digital Hollywood Media Summit
March 18-19, 2009 – New York, NY
Website

iMedia Breakthrough Summit
March 22-25, 2009 – Florida, FL
Website

OMMA Global Hollywood
March 23-24, 2009 – Hollywood, CA
Website

Billboard Mobile Entertainment Live!
March, 31, 2009 – Las Vegas, NV
Website

CTIA Wireless - Las Vegas
April 1-3, 2009 – Las Vegas, NV
Website

Ad Age Digital Conference
April 7-8, 2009 – New York, NY
Website

California College University Police Chiefs Association
April 8-10, 2009 -Lake Tahoe, CA
Website

eMarketing Conference
April 21-22, 2009 – San Francisco, CA
Website

ad:tech San Francisco
April 21-23, 2009 – San Francisco, CA
Website

Digital Out of Home
April 23, 2009 – New York, NY
Website

Forrester’s Marketing Forum 2009
April 23-24, 2009 – Orlando, FL
Website

Campus Safety Conference
April 26-28, 2009 – Tampa, FL
Website

iMedia Connection – Driving Interactive
April 27-28, 2009 – Huntington Beach, CA
Website

AlwaysOn – OnHollywood
April 27-29, 2009 – Hollywood, CA
Website

Interactive Media Conference and Tradeshow
May 6-7, 2009 – New Orleans, LA
Website

iMedia Connection – Entertainment Marketing Summit
June – 2009 – Los Angeles, CA
Website

iMedia Connection – Brand Summit
June 10, 2009 – Colorado Springs, CO
Website

Prove It or Lose It: Mobile Matters Now More Than Ever, By Matt Silk

In a recent Mobile Marketer column, Matt Silk, senior vice president, Waterfall Mobile, discusses surviving a slowing economy with mobile marketing.

Prove It or Lose It: Mobile Matters Now More Than Ever
A Waterfall Mobile article by Matt Silk

In virtually every direction, there is a storm on the horizon.  Prices are up, credit is scarce, revenue is down, consumers lack confidence and marketers are being forced to fiercely defend their budgets.

When times are uncertain, our survival instinct tells us to pull back. Duck and cover. Make ourselves small to avoid being hit hard. If all you want is to survive, this is likely good advice.

However, in the competitive media and advertising marketplace for consumer mindshare and discretionary dollars, if you are just trying to survive, chances are you will not. There are too many players trying to expand their businesses while you are just trying to protect yours.

So, to survive, you need to focus on deepening your engagement with existing customers and profitably finding new customers.

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The Waterfall Mobile Price Guarantee

Many clients have expressed concern over the uncertainty introduced by recent mobile industry news on Thursday, October 9, when Verizon Wireless announced it would charge an extra $0.03 cent transaction fee for each SMS message sent to Verizon subscribers. On Monday, October 13, Verizon then clarified the charge would not be imposed at this time, citing the announcement was intended to be an internal Verizon discussion only.

We are committed to providing a cost-effective, interactive service for marketers to create and enhance two-way mobile relationships with loyal customers. Waterfall Mobile’s Price Guarantee provides customers fixed platform costs and allow marketers to focus on launching effective mobile campaigns, building brand excitement and increasing marketing ROI in 2009.

Below are details on the industry’s first mobile price guarantee program:

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Verizon Wireless Responds to SMS Fee Hike Announcement

Verizon Wireless denied it has plans to introduce a $0.03 cent transaction fee for all mobile-terminated messages delivered on its network.

Verizon issued the following statement:
“We have not increased the per-message cost to aggregators since our messaging service began in 2003, and we have never envisioned a cost to consumers or content companies, but rather on content aggregators themselves. That draft was intended to stimulate internal business discussions and in no way should have been been released to the public and represented as a final document.”

Although Verizon Wireless indicated it will not increase fees in the near term, the announcement has clearly created uncertainty in the mobile marketing industry.

View Article.

Recently, Waterfall Mobile’s Price Guarantee, addresses mobile industry uncertainty and will secure clients against possible fee increases in 2009.

For more information on mobile marketing, Waterfall Mobile or the Price Guarantee, please visit www.waterfallmobile.com or contact sales@waterfallmobile.com.

Verizon Wireless Announces a $0.03 Cent Transaction Fee for Subscribers

Verizon Wireless today announced that it will begin charging an additional $0.03 cent transaction fee per text message sent to its subscribers effective November 1, 2008. This will triple the cost for marketers to create mobile marketing campaigns.

Verizon Wireless would increase fees to the aggregators, who would essentially pass along costs to its customers. We will keep you updated on Verizon’s significant industry decision to raise its fees and the response from the mobile marketing marketplace.

View Article.

Recently, Waterfall Mobile’s Price Guarantee, addresses mobile industry uncertainty and will secure clients against possible fee increases in 2009.

For more information on mobile marketing, Waterfall Mobile or the Price Guarantee, please visit www.waterfallmobile.com or contact sales@waterfallmobile.com.

Msgme Campaign Spotlight: Nebraska Book Company

Campaign Overview
Leading North American textbook distributor, Nebraska Book Company, Inc., (NBC) wanted to integrate mobile marketing into its national college bookstore marketing strategy.

Campaign Objectives
1. Provide NBC’s 280 college bookstores with mobile marketing solutions
2. Drive traffic to its retail locations and strategically increase sales
3. Appeal to a younger interactive mobile demographic
4. Build exclusive NBC mobile subscriber lists to send promotions and discounts

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AlertU Best Practices: Increase Subscriber Adoption

Proactive mobile subscriber list building is an essential component to every college emergency alert notification system. Communicating the availability of AlertU to your college campus community will increase subscriber adoption. The following are recommendations on effectively promoting and marketing emergency alert notification sign up.

Online Sign Up Widgets
Online sign up widgets provide a quick and easy opportunity for students, faculty and staff to subscribe to AlertU. Place an online sign up widget on the school website home page. Also, widgets should be placed on school registration, student services, campus security and the student activity websites.

Here are a few examples of schools effectively integrating online sign up widgets:

Cuesta College
Hancock College
Napa Valley College
Hartnell College
Las Positas College
Orange Coast College
Copper Mountain College

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