Dial #250 for the Next Wave in Mobile Advertising

Jan. 3, 2011 - PRLog -- SEATTLE -- A partnership between two growing mobile technology and digital media advertising firms has established a strong lead in consumer ease-of-use and effectiveness in the global mobile advertising market, which is forecasted to exceed  $16 billion* by 2011.

SinT Mobile, Inc. (Stay-in-Touch), based in Seattle, WA, is a location based service (LBS) provider serving mobile users worldwide. SinT enables proactive delivery of permission-based, location-specific, offers to mobile users – a “push” model.

One of SinT's key differentiators among LBS providers is the ability to extend this functionality to virtually all mobile phones, not just smartphones.  

Example: A consumer happens to drive within a half-mile of a Starbucks, and a coupon for a raspberry green tea pops up on their handset – causing them to pull in for a purchase.

Kansas City-based Mobile Direct Response (MDR) provides an easy-to-use voice platform that allows the mobile consumer to simply dial "#250" and say a keyword to “pull” coupons, promotions and information--or connect directly to a human representative.

Example: A consumer dials #250 on their cell phone and says CARSIDE DINING -- and is connected to the nearest Applebee's location, ready to order a take-home dinner.

"From gaming clients in Las Vegas to hospitality patrons in Hawaii to people calling for a taxi in Kansas City, SinT Mobile and MDR offer easy-to-use solutions for companies of any kind, any size to entice customers to receive real-time offers and promotions targeted to a specific geographic area," said Raj Karan, CMO & founder of SinT Mobile Inc.

Karan added that besides the United States, they have growing operations in Canada, India and Latin America.

"Our services are designed to help global partners reduce communications costs and provide a one-stop solution for SMS, geo-location, and IVR. The targeted messaging can be deployed as a stand-alone solution or be integrated with existing infrastructures," he said.

This geographic functionality, combined with easy voice access via #250, has positioned the partner companies for explosive growth.  

CTIA-The Wireless Association® said in a recent press statement, “With mobile phone subscriptions topping 5 billion globally, and an explosion of new smart devices, it’s clear that mobile branding campaigns will continue to command a greater share of marketing spend.”  

Voice access, via  #250 (“pound two-fifty”) is a game changer, said Dave Robinett of Mobile Direct Response.  

"We are the first company to provide a single dialing code that works across major wireless carriers in the US and Canada," he said. "What this means is that consumers will no longer have to remember random phone numbers or text shortcodes in order to respond to advertising.  All they have to remember is the brand or product name in order to connect. Naturally, this means higher response rates, sales and revenue.”

"Mobile apps, mobile websites, mobile display ads all have their place, but none have the reach of our solutions," Robinett said.  "In partnership with SinT Mobile, we offer location services for virtually all mobile handsets, not just non-smartphones. Most other location services are limited to smartphones, which comprise only one-fourth of all mobile handsets in the U.S. Why should advertisers ignore three-fourths of the market?"

#250 Features

•   Unique voice response method works across major wireless carriers, and uses spoken keywords to route the call or send an appropriate text reply (or both).
•   Provides an easy to remember and consistent response method with higher response rates.
•   Dialing #250 plus saying a brand or product keyword eliminates barriers to response. No more having to remember random phone numbers or SMS shortcodes (both of which have brief exposure in TV, Radio or Outdoor ads).
•   The #250 dialing code encourages immediate action, making it superior to referring prospects to a website (which means later, which often means they never get around to it)
•   Dialing #250 is also safer than texting a keyword to a shortcode.  Once connected to the speech recognition platform, the entire interaction is voice-based –freeing the users hands and visual attention (e.g. while driving).
•   Saying what you want is simpler than navigating menus on mobile websites or mobile apps--you don't have to type anything.

Geographic and targeting flexibility, combined with easy-to-use consumer access has positioned the partner companies for continued growth. For more information, visit http://www.sintmobile.com or http://www.mobiledirectresponse.com/.

*Source: http://www.ctia.org/media/press/body.cfm/prid/2000