A weekly roundup from May 28th to June 3rd of the most important articles from all around the world that have a direct impact on text message marketing, and a couple that are just awesome!
SMS Marketing Industry News:
Why your cell phone is ripe for spam texts in 2012
In 2003, Congress passed the CAN-SPAM Act. Outside Congress, the bill was largely derided, partly because it formally validated some of the practices email users found most bothersome. More to our point, Congress once again exempted political communications from even those restrictions. So, if our spam texts are really emails, then, well, you can see how they slip through both congressional attempts to protect citizens from messages they’d rather not get.
Where Text-Message Spam Comes From
Text-message spam rose 45 percent, to 4.5 billion messages, in 2011. Cloudmark, a security company, analyzed spam texts and found that most originate on the coasts. It’s likely the senders live there, do business there, or both, according to the company.
Pittsburgh Penguins Fan Sues Team Over Excessive Text Messages
When Fred Weiss signed up to receive weekly text messages from the Pittsburgh Penguins he was told through the teams promotional agreement that he would receive up to three texts per week, when he received five messages the first week then four texts the second week rather than simply unsubscribing he decided to file a lawsuit.
O2 Provides the Biggest Slice in Pizza Hut Campaign
Mobile proved 142 per cent more efficient in delivering incremental sales revenue than the measured campaign average, 4.4 times more efficient than TV, and 2.6 times more efficient than online.
Jim Beam ramps up summer promotion with SMS
Consumers can text the keyword LMSVIP to the short code 66937. To participate in the campaign, consumers are asked to opt-in to the brand’s SMS program for a chance to win.
Mobile Proves an Important Touch Point for Retailers
Further data from the eDigitalResearch survey reveals that 1 in 5 smartphone owners would be very interested in having special offers sent to their devices, and 16% would be very interested in sale information. More than one-quarter also said they would be happy to receive personalized recommendations, offers, and notifications from retailers when entering their stores.
San Diego Chargers tackle fan engagement with pumped-up SMS strategy
“We are seeing more and more brands decide that they need a mobile relationship strategy,” said Jack Philbin, co-founder and CEO of Vibes Media, Chicago.
Sprint launches interactive cinema experience to create personalized dreams for mobile devices
During the user’s movie theater experience, Sprint’s 40-second public service announcement will direct users to text the keyword DREAM to the short code 60602 before putting their mobile phone to sleep. When users turn their device back on after the movie, they will find a text asking them to opt-in via Facebook. After opting-in, users are rewarded with a personalized 15-second video clip capturing what the device has been “dreaming” while it was ”sleeping.”
Tatango SMS Marketing News:
Mobile Marketing Association Infographic
The people at the Mobile Marketing Association recently conducted a survey of 310 U.S. mobile phone users. They took the results and created the following infographic. Enjoy!
What is the Average Cell Phone Bill?
Does it seem like your cell phone bill is always higher each year? Our good friends at the CTIA have released their results from their most recent semi-annual survey, showing what the average U.S. cell phone bill has been since all the way back to 1989.
SMS Marketing Coming to Canada!
Exciting news here at Tatango, we’re bringing SMS marketing to Canada! Tatango is currently in the process of approving its Canadian short code 68398. We’re expecting to turn on the Tatango SMS marketing service in Canada sometime in the next couple months.
SMS Messaging Increases 12% in 2011
Our good friends at the CTIA have released their results from their most recent semi-annual survey. The data collected reflects the results for wireless providers that serve 95% of wireless subscribers in the United States.
