To find out how to get your client’s message into the hands of cell phone users, read on.

This is one in a Media Life series on buying the new out-of-home venues. They appear weekly.

Fast Facts

What
Using cell phones to advertise.

Who
For this article we interviewed Enpocket, a Boston company that provides clients with a combination of technical and creative services to utilize mobile networks for marketing.

How it works
Advertising on cell phones is primarily in text messaging format in the U.S., says Steven Siegel, Enpocket's director of sales and marketing. “Right now the focus is on bringing people from a SMS text message into a mobile web environment.”

Carriers use text messaging to reach their own customers. The initial step for an advertiser is registering a five-digit code that will work across all the carriers and then to have each network approve it for use. There are exclusive carriers. For example, “American Idol” responses only work with Cingular.

There is usually a promotion involved in mobile phone marketing. “There has to be some type of interaction that provides value to the consumer,” says director of marketing Diana LaGattuta.

Recent campaigns include Dunkin Donuts using radio to invite listeners to text in to get a coupon displayed on their phone. A&E sends out “dogisms” to viewers an hour before “Dog The Bounty Hunter” airs.

A traditional out of home venue often carries the initial invitation to participate in a mobile program, Siegel says. “The message is on a billboard or Jumbotron and the phone is a response mechanism, like a virtual click through.”

Advertisers can make other mechanisms available for response, including URLs or toll-free numbers. Cell phone advertising is much more common in European countries with graphics as well as text used to deliver messages. Print ads usually include an advertiser’s short code as well as their URL.

Local advertisers as well as national brands are using text messaging to promote their products.

Markets
While advertising using text messaging started in large urban markets, it is now available in most markets, LaGattuta says.

Numbers
According to the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, a wireless trade organization in Washington, D.C.:
-There were 207.9 million wireless subscribers in the U.S. at the end of 2005
-Currently it’s estimated that there are nearly 213 million U.S. subscribers, which represents 69 percent of the total U.S. population
-Subscribers used 1.5 trillion minutes of cellular service in 2005, up 36 percent from 1.1 trillion in 2004.

How it is measured
Responses to an advertiser’s promotion via text messaging are used to measure participation.

Research
According to an October 2005 study conducted for Enpocket by Harris Interactive:

-One third of respondents access content (music tracks, mobile internet, ringtones, games, programs, screensavers, television, video clips) on their mobile phones. Use was higher in younger age groups, with 49 percent of 18-34s reporting that they accessed content. Male use was at 36 percent and female at 29 percent.

-Messaging usage came in at a total of 36 percent reporting using SMS text messaging and a total of 21 percent using MMS picture messaging. Text messaging was used by 39 percent of the males and 32 percent of the females and 55 percent of 18-34s. Picture messaging was used by 24 percent of males, 17 percent of females and 32 percent of 18-34s. 

Information Alliance, a research group in North Logan, Utah, conducted a 2005 study for Enpocket to measure the impact of event sponsorship on brand recall and affinity. It's findings:
-In terms of recall 50 percent reported unaided recall of event sponsorship while 62 percent reported aided recall of sponsorships.
-Of the respondents who recalled the campaign, 47 percent reported feeling more positive about the brand.
-Additionally, 62 percent said they were more likely to buy the sponsoring product as a result of the campaign.

Respondents attending the sponsored concert could respond to posters, flyers and street teams inviting them to text in the five-digit short code on their cell phones to enter a contest. Winners were notified by cell phone at the event. Half of the participants reported sharing information about the contest with a friend.

What product categories do well
“First and foremost are companies selling mobile consumables,” LaGattuta says. “Ring tones, games, mobile content. They use a call to action to download a piece of content on the phone.”

Next are products that benefit from time and location targeting like a fast food restaurant running a lunch special or a retailer offering a discount.

Text messaging is opening up to automotive, retail, media and entertainment as well, LaGattuta says.

Demographics
A campaign can target a general audience, but respondents are often younger cell phone users. The language used in the text message can be used to target a demographic group, LaGattuta says.

Making the buy
Lead time for registering a short code and developing creative for a text messaging campaign is six weeks.

Who’s already on cellular phones with text promotions
McDonald’s, Pepsi, Panasonic, Clear Channel, Bravo, and A&E

What they’re saying
“Advertisers are using mobile to make outdoor advertising interactive. If you walked through Times Square right now, there’s an Absolut billboard that invites people to text in a short code to download a free Lenny Kravitz MP3 track. Restaurants invite you to text in for a 99-cent latte, and the coupon is delivered to your phone. A perfume company has a fragrance launch, and you can text in to get a free sample. It takes the analogue form of advertising and makes it actionable and measurable.” – Diana LaGattuta, director of marketing for Enpocket

Web site info
Enpocket at www.enpocket.com