The campaign prompted mobile users to text in the keyword PELEA (Spanish for “FIGHT”) to a short code in order to enter to win a signed boxing gosclove. The entrants then received a follow-up text that prompted them to sign-up for the Golden Boy’s mobile VIP club, and garnered a click-through rate of 12.9 percent.

“There are now five billion texts sent every day, said Jeff Hasen, chief marketing officer of Hipcricket, Kirkland, WA. “There are four times as many texts as phone calls every day.

“Why not communicate with your customers the way they communicate with each other,” he said.
138 million consumers use SMS technology, including over 60 percent of every age group between 13 and 34 years old, according to a comScore study cited by the presenters.

And, younger consumers are even more likely to use SMS.

Mr. Hasen used the example of consumers aged 13-17 to explain how texting could be an effective tool for engagement.

“My niece texts 6000 times a month,” he said.

Golden Boy approached Hipcricket to promote the broadcast of a boxing match between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Juan Manuel Marquez earlier this year (see story), according to Angela Poe, online marketing, promotions and social media manager at the Gary Group, Los Angeles.

In addition to generating interst in the fight and getting consumers to opt-in to its VIP club, Golden Boy also had the longer-term goal of introducing a new, younger generation of consumers to boxing.

Consumers could sign-up for the chance to win prizes a signed boxing glove by texting the keyword PELEA (Spanish for “FIGHT”) to a short code designated in the call to action.

The campaign targeted Hispanic mobile users, a demographic that over-indexes in several categories of mobile use, Mr, Hasen said.

For example, 32 percent of Hispanic consumers are “Interesting” or “Highly Interested” in received offers and ads through their mobile phones.

Additionally, this demographic uses SMS with much greater frequency than mobile Web – by a count of 79 percent versus 46 percent.

The companies also found that over a third of consumers are interested n mobile loyalty clubs, yet only 17 percent had marketed on their mobile phones by brands.

Hipcricket worked to place calls to action wherever the target demographic might find them, and emphasized that exposing consumers to such calls wherever possible was vital to the process.

“Mobile does not sit on an island,” Mr. Hasen said. “What has kept mobile from advancing is that we have not done a good job of asking consumers to do something.

“There is not a call to action in every ad,” he said. “You have an opportunity to make passive activities interactive.

“As more calls to action get out there, the opportunity is there to make [mobile marketing] ubiquitous.

Takeaways
The presenters then issued a few final takeaways including:

• Use text for reach, to build databases and to measure advertising effectiveness
• Understand the mobile pyramid – SMS is at the base
• Incorporate mobile with other channels
• Segment audience by behavior, not by phone
• Use third-party research

And, Ms. Poe emphasized the importance of remaining informed in dynamic and constantly-changing space.

“Working on the agency side, we have a responsibility to remind brands what works and run tests and not be afraid to think outside the box,” Ms. Poe said. “Mobile gives the opportunity to reach consumer and collect data, without asking them to do anything more than signup to win something cool.”