A Wider Net

This is a “three-fer” post covering a three SMS solutions of note.

First, Airquake, a small incubatee of Atlantis Tech, has been offering SMS solutions for years now with a particular focus on large event SMS communications. Now they have added some great mini solution examples to their website (example shown). Each is interactive and I recommend giving them a try. They illustrate the use of SMS messaging for marketing better than any examples I have seen. You can also see through their demos, and the other examples below, how the use of SMS can establish a relationship with your customers. They become connected to you from a data perspective (you capture their phone and email information) and from an access perspective (they have access to information, products, and services anytime, anywhere). You can provide them with value on the go, thus creating the mobile component of the experiential marketing continuum.

Another example is Pangolin SMS – another SMS marketing veteran who offers solutions around everything from SMS interactivity at nightclubs and events to interactive television.

SMS Messaging is being used in all sorts of interesting ways now, especially in Europe. At a bar, you can order drinks without leaving your seat. At a conference, you can use text messages to send questions to the presenter, participate in polls, and check your agenda.

But the most intriguing use of SMS I have seen lately is the cool way that Finland has used SMS messaging to unlock public toilets. By capturing the phone number of the person unlocking the door, they cut down on misuse and vandalism by being able to identify who was there when the bad deed occurred. Well, they can identify whose phone opened the door, anyway. They also have found a way to restrict use of the public toilets to their own population – you have to know how to text message “open” in Finnish. Maybe it’s written on the door somewhere. I suppose if you stay in there too long, they probably charge you rent. I did some quick math, and I discovered that if they charged you by the minute, at a typical cell phone plan overage rate, it’s still way cheaper than a hotel. And you thought math would never come in handy.

Tags: Mobile

This entry was posted on Friday, February 15th, 2008 at 11:25 am and is filed under Marketing Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.