Posts filed under 'SMS'
Trendhunter Magazine recently published a great list of their favorite 40 Text Message Innovations. The article is a comprehensive round up of some truly amazing text message news, alerts, and services; from referencing last week’s popular story of a British surgeon who saved a 16-year-old Congolese boy’s life with text-messaged amputation instructions to giving nods to Domino’s for enabling pizza delivery via SMS (which Codespotter caught onto a few months ago. Trendhunter’s article is a fun look at some of the more creative uses for SMS text messaging and directs readers to all the services via an onscreen slideshow. It can be found here.
-JPK
December 9th, 2008
With the opening of the Summer Olympics less than 3 weeks away, NBC has offered a generous assortment of mobile alerts for the Beijing Games. There are two ways to sign up:
Online: Services require free registration through www.nbcolympics.com under the mobile tab. There you can sign up for mobile alerts, but also video clips and mobile web. You are then able to customize your alerts (as described below) and format (email and/or SMS text messaging).
Mobile: You can also sign up for services directly from your phone. NBC offers the following alerts:
Daily Alerts
- Top Stories: Text “OLYNEWS” to 51515
- NBC Primetime Alerts: Text “OLYTV” to 51515
- NBCOlympics.com Livestreaming Alert: Text “OLYLIVE” to 51515
- Daily Medal Recap: Text “MEDALRECAP” to 51515
Real-time Alerts
- Breaking news: Text “OLYBREAK” to 51515
- Gold Medal alerts: Text “MEDAL” to 51515
- U.S. Medal alerts: Text “USMEDAL” to 51515
Media Alerts
- Video Highlights: Text “OLYVIDEO” to 51515
- Photo of the Day: Text “OLYPHOTO” to 51515
I will soon be reviewing NBC’s mobile alert services, but the full range of customizable alerts is promising. With the 12 hour difference, real-time alerts should satisfy the thirst for Olympic news for those who cannot wait for time-delayed Primetime coverage.
Upon registration, you will need to send a confirmatory text, ‘OK’. Text STOP to quit, and HELP for support. Again, alerts are free, but carrier charges may apply.
-BMS
July 21st, 2008
Jeff Kohn, president of Dizgo (short for “discounts on the go”) proudly describes his company as the world’s first 100%, completely self-service mobile advertising platform. Kohn explains “it allows brick and mortars to create real time demand for products and services and instantly get customers into the door. For consumers, we are a service that is free and allows shoppers to find nearby discounts using their mobile phone.” Codespotter met with Jeff and asked him about his company, as well as it’s plans for the future.
Can you explain to me what Dizgo is?
There are multiple components to it. The first component is a web-based portal where an advertiser or retailer can log on and set up “actionable advertising”. We provide three different ways for them to distribute that offer. The first is called Deal Search, which allows consumers to use their mobile phone’s SMS to do the equivalent of a Google search. They can search specifically what they’re looking for. We have a patented ontology-based search engine that maps that key word back to a category that the retailer associates their offer with. We figure out all of the different keywords that someone might type into an SMS search and then map it back, so it’s very quick for someone to find an offer. The second component is called Deal Alert, where a consumer can opt in to receive alerts from their favorite retailers at specific times, and we have an interface for that called my.dizgo.com. They can log on to our site and they can see all of the different stores in a certain geography. Currently, we’re launched in Downtown Boulder, Pearl St Hall in Colorado; a collection of probably 500 different retailers in a walking area. They can opt in to receive offers from specific stores at specific times. There’s no spam, because we make sure that they select the exact times to receive alerts. The third distribution model is called Syndication. Here, we allow partner websites and partner mobile platforms to reach into our database of real time offers via a web service so that they can display localized actionable advertising around their content.
So you’re based out of Boulder now, but you have plans to expand?
In next month or so, we’re going to be rolling out our reseller and national brand platforms. The reseller platform allows traditional media companies or entrepeneurs in a different location. We would host the platform, while they’re in charge of the marketing. It allows us to expand much quicker than it would be if we built our own national sales force. We’re also in conversations with a lot of yellow page companies to augment their existing products, as opposed to selling paper or traditional media advertising. Our national brand platform is for national brands. For example, TGIFridays or Applebee’s could roll this out so that people could receive alerts regardless of their location. That will also give them the ability to do a business search, where they could text the word APPLEBEES and it would tell you all of the offers that Applebee’s is running then and there.
When you make this expansion, how are you going to expand Dizgo’s technology and ontology system that covers Boulder currently?
For food and beverage retailers, the ontology is essentially built, because the same key word someone types in Boulder would work in Madison, as far as searching for specific types of food and beverage. As far as expanding into new geographies, we are looking at ways to do a location based search, to identify the directory locations. We’re working on an iPhone application that taps into the iPhone’s API that gives geolocations, so that people don’t need to self identify where they are. We’re also working on an Android application for other brands of cellphones. It’s also a hosted service, so regardless of where someone is looking for deals, on the consumer side, it is all coming back to our datacenter, so we can scale there using our shortcode and our branding.
What do you feel the benefit is of using SMS coupons and mobile marketing?
I think what we have here is of course the cliché that it’s the one device that you have on you at all time and that you’re connecting at eye level with the customer. The reason we decided to go with SMS initially, though we do have plans to look at other mobile technologies, is that its part of the culture of our target demographic. A lot of forms of advertising don’t work with that 16-35 year old demographic. They’re on iPods and not listening to the radio, they Tivo past television commercials, and they don’t necessarily read print media. Here you have an opportunity to communicate with that consumer with something that is part of that culture.
How do you feel that Dizgo best utilizes that benefit?
People ignore advertising unless there is some sort of immediate benefit. The difference between this advertisement and any other form of advertisement is that this is an advertisement that the consumer is requesting. If you drive past a billboard or see a banner on a webscreen, you don’t want to see it. You want this advertising because it helps you; it helps you make a purchasing decision.
- JPK
July 16th, 2008
Recently, we came across news of a San Francisco-based mobile messaging company that is looking to revolutionize the way that you send mobile messages and keep in touch with your friends and contacts. MogoTxt offers group messaging capabilities that provide a glimpse into the future of conventional text messaging. Codespotter interviewed Nadia Michalak, MogoTxt’s Assistant Vice President of Marketing.
On your website, you call MogoTxt “mega mobile messaging”. What makes MogoTxt “mega”?
My favorite MogoTxt feature is the ability to group text. You can set up groups of people, and you can have up to 100 people in a group. From your phone or an Ipod touch, you can send a message to the entire group for the cost of one text message and they can all reply back to you.
How does MogoTxt enhance a user’s texting experience? What is it that you can do with MogoTxt that you can’t do as easily with another service?
Definitely group texting. The really cool feature about that is, once you start a chat, anybody who was initially in it when you started can then reply to everybody in the group, so it’s like a big chat room. Also, you can switch back and forth [from sending and receiving messages] with your phone, or whatever WiFi device you’re using, and the web. You don’t want to be getting messages on your phone all the time, so this way, you can tune them out. We want to make it as easy as possible to stay in touch with people and to come up with a cool tool for people to use if they have a soccer team, a work group, or people that they always need to be in touch with. We’re trying to make a tool for them so that they can keep a communication line open.
MogoTxt has received a lot of attention for being able to send and receive information with an iPod touch. Can you give me a basic explanation of how it works?
You start out by signing up for MogoTxt. We want everyone to be able to send messages to each other, but unfortunately right now, whoever you want to send a message to must also be a MogoTxt member…It is basically initiated with starting an account.
Are you taking steps to prepare for the Iphone’s launch next month?
It is definitely a challenge since we’re trying to open the service to people who don’t have phones, but it does work for iPhone as well. Opening the browser on any WiFi device and going to MogoTxt.com is just like going to the website, opening MogoTxt and using it…It’s compatible with both, but I see the advantage of using MogoTxt on an iPod touch if you don’t have an iPhone.
What is one feature of MogoTxt that isn’t the iPod touch capability that you feel should be getting more attention?
We’re trying to open up to more devices. We’re working on developing programs for Nintendo DS and Sony PSPs. We’re also trying to find people who will use MogoTxt for its business capabilities. [Businesses] who don’t already have shortcodes can build customer relationships through text messaging. We’re trying to explore different uses for our group texting abilities.
Do you have any examples of the uses that you’re exploring?
We are really tied into the San Francisco music industry and we’ve been going to a lot of concerts and helping people stay in touch with each other at the concerts…We also have a relationship with Amie Street, which is a service similar to iTunes. We’re releasing a new promotion this week where, if you sign up for MogoTxt, you can get $2 of free music from them. They have a bunch of up-and-coming bands like Vampire Weekend and Cat Power.
Are you trying to branch MogoTxt away from group chatting and bring it to new places?
Yes. When we started out with our service, we didn’t consider music as a powerful bond between people and communities. It’s not only a great topic of conversation, but people want to be on the cutting edge of new music, and we want to use MogoTxt as an arena where people can come together and talk about shared interests.
What has been MogoTxt’s greatest challenge?
The greatest challenge has been the restriction that we’ve had from carriers. We work with all carriers, but they don’t like people jumping into their service and creating something free. We have a parent company in Holland that was extremely successful, mostly because they don’t charge for incoming text messages in Holland, so it was a completely free service. We use standard text messaging rates for incoming messages, which is annoying, and we’re trying to solve that with carriers and make our service free. Also, the issue of sending messages to non-MogoTxt members is a challenge, which was not an issue in Holland. Those have been the biggest barriers, but we are really trying to come up with ways to get around them and we have some very good ideas.
Does MogoTxt have any cool plans for the future?
One feature that we’re working on now is our join feature. Someone can create a group and instead of asking their friends to sign up for MogoTxt, they can just give them the shortcode MOGOME. Then, their friends text message the name of the group can instantly join. They don’t have to register, and can join a group right off of the bat. It will be a lot easier for people to get their friends to join. We’re also doing a lot of cool stuff with music and concerts.
Any closing words?
MogoTxt is something to look out for. We’re up-and-coming and still in the development phases, but we’re trying to make this an awesome service for people. We’re trying to bring community together and make a service that is fun and interactive.
to find out more about MogoTxt, visit http://www.mogotxt.com.
- JPK
July 8th, 2008
Want to find out what’s on sale at your local mall and/or your favorite mall store right now? NearbyNow has linked up over 200 malls around the US to its SMS based sales finder and product search. Shoppers can text the 2-letter code of their favorite mall to 632729 and get a listing by reply text of what stores have a specific product (like that hard-to-find hot video game) in stock or get a more general list of all the stores in the mall with sales going on. Or just text the local mall code and the word DEALS to 632729 for the list of sales and special deals.
NearbyNow founder and Director of Integration Technoloy Josh Schaefer describes the service this way, “You can search for the particular product or item you are looking for, find the variety of stores that have it, browse through, find the item, fill out a form, request for our concierge service to call the store, see if the item is available, and put a hold on it.”
“Think of it as a true mall concierge service. If you walk in, things are waiting for you.”
Schaefer details, “we have the ability to have consumers search the mall by texting in the mall’s short code, but also allow consumers to do the reserve process…We treat it as a claim check of sorts” NearbyNow shoppers can use texting for effortless, mobile shopping and can augment their mall trip by knowing the exact location and price of what they are looking for. Shoppers can also subscribe to weekly shopping alerts that they receive each Friday afternoon (1PM PST).
The text search is an innovative idea, but in practice I found that it requires too many text exchanges to satisfy my impulse shopper instinct. I found my local mall code with no problem (see how to find yours below), and requested a list of all the deals available by texting NM DEALS to 632729. Nearby Now sent back a list of all the Natick Mall stores with sales (23 of them!) in 3 text messages. To get the actual details on sales at a specific store, I had to text back the number of that store. Some stores responded with a list of items (more text messages, but at least I could see the details and prices right away). Others like Gamestop responded with a general message “Save up to 50% off selected games. See store for details” Not much of an incentive to get in the car and drive to the mall there. A suggestion for NearbyNow — how about including the direct phone number of the local store in the text message response and including a “click to call” feature?
A full list of NearbyNow-affiliated malls and their codes is available at http://www.nearbynow.com/sms/
June 16th, 2008
While Codespotter does not express any particular political allegiance, Barack Obama’s innovative use of text messaging in his campaigning is definitely newsworthy. One of the tenets of Obama’s campaigning is finding creative ways to appeal to youth voters, and the SMS options on his website attempt to use modern technology to bridge the gap between voters and candidate.
Obama offers mobile alerts and campaign updates to those subscribers who text GO to 62262 (OBAMA). Obama followers can expect news about upcoming campaign events, as well as periodic news. For specific campaign-issue related messages, users can text HEALTH, EDUCATION, IRAQ, JOBS, or REFORM to 62262, where they can recieve alerts and news about the topic of their choice.
“Obama’s SMS information service is a quick, concise way to identify his stance on key political issues”
For those who are particularly interested in constant updates about Obama’s activities, texting FOLLOW BARACKOBAMA to 40404 will access the candidate’s personal Twitter feed (As of this posting, Obama has 37,558 followers on the site and is currently “Kicking-off a two week tour focusing on the current economic crisis & the need for new economic policy”). Obama’s SMS site also includes multiple ringtones and screen wallpapers that promote the candidate. Supporters, for example, can text “ringtone6″ to 62262 and receive an alternative rock version of the candidate’s 2004 DNC speech.
Obama’s SMS options are clear attempts to inform his younger, hipper supporters about his views and beliefs. His SMS information service is a quick, concise way to identify his stance on key political issues. His Twitter feed gives him a personal quality that politicians can easily lose in their final months of candidacy. Although the real indication of his success lies in the nation’s voters, one thing is for certain: through his SMS service, Obama has made a clear attempt to take one of many different, creative roots in campaigning.
June 10th, 2008
