My good friend Ken Bank’s from Kiwanja.net has written a phenomenal article for publius.cc, the syndicated project of Harvard’s Berkman Center For Internet & Society. You may remember the name because we first wrote about Ken’s FrontlineSMS mobile solution here on PDF several years ago. The article, titled One Missed Call, examines the mobile development world as it relates to the grassroots, NGO’s and non-profits of the world.
Paralleling Aderson’s “Long Tail ” Bank’s discusses our tendency to aim for the big and sexy when it comes to mobile solutions. According to Bank’s this type of cutting edge technology is therefore only available to the resource rich NGO’s. Bank’s sees a Mobile divide on the horizon. His solution? Look toward the Social Mobile Long Tail

I strongly believe that we need to seriously refocus some of our attention there to avoid developing our own NGO “digital divide”. To do this we need to think about low-end, simple, appropriate mobile technology solutions which are easy to obtain, affordable, require as little technical expertise as possible, and are easy to copy and replicate. This is something I regularly write about, and it’s a challenge I’m more than happy to throw down to the developer community.

The rest of the article discusses how as a result of this developers tend to ignore the “low hanging fruit” of using technology to enhance communication. This of course brings up, as an example, SMS.

I do not want to give away the entire article here but its very well written so I wanted to draw it to your attention.

Ken understands and taps the true nature of mobile technology. That its not about this or that campaign sending SMS alerts. The true power of the mobile medium rests in the people that use that medium and the developers that develop it for that.

Read Here: One Missed Call?:

Technorati Tags: ken banks, kiwanja, frontlinesms, berkman center, flyscreen, publius, sms

New mobile startup Smart Touch which launched at TechCrunch 50 today wants to offer information services to your phone (such as twitter updates and google searches), but without requiring the use of a data plan.

How, you ask?
By using SMS.
Now, many basic featured cellphone users are already familiar with the concept of using SMS for information instead of data. You can ask Google a question by texting 466453 (spells google) or even search and purchase a product from Amazon by texting 262966 (spells amazon). MoPocket’s own Justin Oberman regularly discusses how texting is used for marketing and campaigning, so this shouldn’t be news to anyone here.
Clearly, this is a popular and useful technology that Smart Touch is tapping, and hopefully taking a step further.
Their product, which just launched at Tech Crunch 50, states the following in their literature:

SmartTouch is a FREE mobile application that gives you access to branded contents and services without having to pay for a data plan. Our powerful, mobile widget-platform uses text messaging to provide you with a seamless, graphic and intuitive user-experience, creating richer interactions with the brands you know and trust.

After reading this, I was very excited by the concept… deliver a graphic and intuitive interface to an otherwise text-only medium?
I suddenly had flashbacks of the way MIME introduced file attachments to emails (which are inherently text only), and became a seamless standard for email clients in the mid 90s.
I began to picture a mobile delivery system that encodes content, such as images or applications, into short bursts of 160 bytes at a time and delivers them to the phone via your less expensive SMS plan.

Well, I guess I started getting ahead of myself. Despite how Smart Touch’s marketing sounds, it does not do any kind of content encoding. Rather it does something much more simple and elegant-

Smart Touch uses regular SMS services such as Google, Amazon, Twitter, etc (as mentioned earlier), and slaps a more user friendly GUI onto it. Each service has its own customized look and appropriate options which Smart Touch calls Widgets.

While not as ground breaking as I had imagined, this could prove very useful to people who use such SMS services regularly. You don’t need to remember the names of commands because the application presents you with the possible choices. All you need to do is select the service and follow the prompts. It also intercepts the message before it appears in your SMS inbox, thus keeping your inbox clutter-free.

The problem?
Right now this software is Windows Mobile only. While SMS information services are popular amoung standard phone users, a vast majority of smartphone owners also subscribe to data plans.
The SMS information platform may be useful, but a full blown html browser is far more powerful. If given the choice between the two, I think most people would prefer straight-up data.

Another possible problem I found is that it automatically intercepts these incoming service messages whether you sent the request from their application or not. For example, lets say that instead of opening up the Smart Touch program, I just opened my SMS composer to send a message to Google (466453) directly. The response comes up as a prompt to open the Smart Touch program, not in my messaging inbox. I suppose if you want to use this application for everything, this is fine, however sometimes I’d like to have the choice to do it the old way.

Also, I found the interface doesn’t follow the standard Windows Mobile window layout in regards to scroll bars. The result is that finger-scrolling add-ons such as ftouchlo or HTC’s bio-touch do not work.

The Good: If you are a fan of SMS information services and happen to be using a WM phone, Smart Touch can make the experience a little more user friendly by offering a graphical menu-driven environment.

when I heard about this story, I immediately thought of MoPocket’s creator, Justin Oberman. This sort of thing is right up Justin’s alley, and I’m sure he would have blogged about it had he not been overseas on vacation at the moment.

So, in his absence, I’ve decided to post this bizzare use of SMS technology.

According to an article in the Irish Times, a malfunction in a small aircraft carrying 5 people caused it to lose all onboard electrical power, communications and weather radar.

The pilot, who was unable to communicate with the air traffic controller using the plane’s equipment, decided to try using his cell phone to call and inform traffic control of his problem and intention to land “blind”.
However, the signal was not strong enough to maintain a voice connection, and the call was dropped shortly after describing his situation.

The air traffic controller, thinking fast, switched over to SMS texting to continue their conversation instead of trying to initiate a new call. Since SMS only needs a very brief moment of signal to deliver its message, the pilot and air traffic control were able to communicate even though the in-and-out signal made a voice conversation nearly impossible.

Using text messages, the air traffic controller was able to guide the twin-engined Piper plane to a safe landing.

Now THAT’s cool!

My post last week about Chase Banks Mobile Text-2-Win campaign has created a bit of conversation on and off the web.
Its a text message campaign to win US Open Tennis tickets.

For those of you that do not remember I praised Chase for stepping up to the mobile marketing platform but criticized the campaign for its lack of interaction and conversation.

After sending the text message “WIN” to “CHASE” and loosing you basically reached a dead end. No mention of Chase’s mobile services are even mentioned. My past post is much more informative.

Well looks like someone from Chase read the post. The text message reply which once read

Sorry, try again tomorrow. No purch reqd. For a sure way to get tkts go to chase.com/tickets. Quit? Txt STOPWIN. Help? Txt HELPWIN. Other chgs may apply.

Now reads

Try again tomorrow. No purch nec. Quit? txt STOP WIN. Help? Txt HELPWIN. Other chgs may apply. Chase Mobile - Text UR account. It texts you back. Chase.com/mobile.

Now they got my attention! What is this Chase Mobile> If I have a Chase account I may try this out? But what do I text? My account number? hmmmmm I do not know how I feel about that. But anyways, its goo to know people are listening.

Would have been nice if the website they provided was linkable to a mobile webpage.

And why did they get rid of explaining the other way to win tickets? I still that they should have added a “text back your zip-code to find out where the nearest Chase bank is and ask them how else you can win tickets.” That would be cool. And would justify a two text return. And also a good way to collect information.

Technorati Tags: chase, sms, text messaging , us open, marketing

This post is about a company that has used Mobile Marketing in a wonderful way. Its also about pushing the envelope. Chase Bank has long been a sponsor of the US Open (Tennis not Golf). Last year they had a very interesting marketing campaign in which you could win free tickets by simply using their ATM Machine’s (I know the ‘M” in ATM stands for “machine” and I am being repetitive). Anyways, a lucky withdrawer simply needed to pay attention to his or her receipt. If there was a blue tennis ball in the logo then you just one free tickets. If it didn’t then you just won your own money (and a surcharge if Chase was not your bank).
From a marketing perspective Chase was ingeniously tapping “incentive marketing” while creating an interaction with Chases most used service, that being ATMs. It forced people to GO TO a Chase location, possibly even walk into a bank, possibly even converse with a Chase employee and possibly even see all the things that Chase has to offer.

This year Chase is going the incentives marketing route again but this time via what appears to heavy mobile play. An interesting choice do to all the hype around mobile technology and commerce as of late and Chase’s advertisements showing text message account alerts. But thats just my way of telling you that Chase has a functional mobile play for a latter point. As I was saying, from June 9th to August 9th all over New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, ads on top of taxi cabs, on bus shelters, on payphone kiosks, on billboards and in the subways Chase advertisements are drawing your attention (in text speak) to send the text message “Win” to the shortcode “CHASE (24273) for a chance to win free tickets to the Open. The exact reading being something like “Tennis ne1?” or “Cu @ the Open” followed by a much smaller print saying

“You could win US Open Tickets.
Text ‘Win’ to Chase (24273) Now”

Chase will immediately text back entrants to notify them if they’ve won or lost.

First off, I have to tell you that I have seen these advertisement for a while now but for some reason the text speak threw me off and I ignored them. I thought it was an advertisement for technical data base enterprise solutions mumbo jumbo. Nevertheless, adding the numerical value to the Shortcode “Chase” is a sure sign that the interactive marketing people at Chase have done their homework. The numbers without what they spell-out no would not be remembered. And just saying “Text ‘Win’ to CHASE” would have been to confusing. Text win to Chase what, I might ask? What am a chasing? A leprechaun? An Elephant on safari? The American dream? But they did it right and they deserve a bravo for that.

As to where these ads appear I found it a little troublesome. The first place I saw this add was while driving down the NJ Turnpike at 70 miles an hour. This is where I first ignored the signs as a tech advertisement. When I began to realize what they were saying (my interest sparked by catching the word “Text” and the semblance of a shortcode) I did not have enough time to take out my phone and remember what or how to text even though I slowed down to 60 miles an hour to try and do so (do not try this, I am a texting expert). Simply put, put these banner adds where there is a lot of standstill congestion. In NY its not to hard to fine. And it will give people something to do.

The adds on top of taxi cabs work for the most part, when you are standing in front of a parked one that is. But by the time I saw the advertisement and told myself ‘lets do it this time,’ the cab was already 5 blocks away. Once I got into a cab that had the advert on top and I stopped to take a minute to text but, in typical New York fashion, the cab driver told me to more or less get in or out of the cab. I was hoping to see an advert for it on the new TVs they have in the back of cabs now-a-days but no luck. Thats when I would have time to do this.

Finally I began to come across the ads on the subway platforms and trains. Finally I whipped out my phone, opened the text message app…entered the short code, entered ‘Win” but alas no cell found cell signal underground (a problem soon to be solved).

The subway stops and payphone adds work just fine although… if you have a cell phone that you are going to send the text message from what do you need a pay phone for
Chase also is also providing information about the ticket giveaway on ATM screen messages, in brochures at bank branches and with statement inserts. So, advertisements at Chase banks do exist but I have not noticed as many and, unlike like last years ATM campaign, there is nothing about the text messaging incentive campaign that drives me to a Chase bank to look at them.

And that is what I am getting at here. My main wonder about the campaign has nothing to do really with the placement of their advertisements. Although if they used more keywords other than “Win” they could track which ads were more effected, and that would be interesting. Nevertheless, for the most part they work, eventually. My wonderment is what, beyond product placement, does this text message campaign do for Chase?

Its important to point out that the text-to-win campaign does not stand alone. There is a chance to win Open tickets by opening a Chase Free Checking account with direct deposit with a minimum $500 deposit or depositing $15,000 into an existing savings account or brokerage account. Additional tickets to the Men’s and Women’s finals, semi-finals and quarterfinals are also available for larger deposits. But that is a far cry more demanding than the from the ATM withdrawal of yesteryear.

The mobile medium and text messaging are part of the New Media way of marketing… its about using the tools to create conversations and interactions that in the end draw people toward your brand physically and/ or digitally.

According to Chase spokesman Michael Fusco the promotion is a great way “to highlight our mobile banking service, Chase Mobile.”

Other than the fact that it is a mobile campaign that uses the shortcode “Chase” lets see what he means.

When I texted ‘Win’ to CHASE (24373) I got the following message:

Sorry, try again tomorrow. No purch reqd. For a sure way to get tkts go to chase.com/tickets. Quit? Txt STOPWIN. Help? Txt HELPWIN. Other chgs may apply.

Lets break down this text message for a second.

“Sorry, try again tomorrow.” - Ok I get it, I lost.

No purch reqd. - Purchase what? I do not have to purchase a ticket to win a ticket? Thats good.

For a sure way… - By the time I am in front of my computer I have already forgotten this and probably just went to the US Open website to get tickets. The webpage in the text is not even linkable (which is a good thing since I doubt it will bring me to a mobile webpage. And there is nothing about the making a deposit way to win…. get me while I am out an about and near a Chase bank. Not when I am home on my computer… unless I can open a checking account online and get free tickets that way. Winners, by the way, will also be directed to Chase.com/tckets to redeem their prize.

Quit? - Now, I know that they have to put this in their text as part of Mobile Marketing Guidelines but still it begs the question What am I quitting? I thought I was just entering a text and win contest are you going to send me more information (aka SMS spam) on what Chase can do to my phone? Damn straight I will quit.

Help? Again I realize that this is needed to comply with MMA guidelines. So I was curious. I did it. I texted ‘STOPWIN’. Here is what I got [my comments in brackets]:

Chase: Reply text to enter.[Didn’t I already do this and was told to try again tomorrow?] Questions? See Rules/FAQ’s at chase.com/tickets. [Again, not linkable] Quit? Txt STOPWIN. Other charges may apply. [What? To quit?]

The point here is not to chastise their use of text space, which is not perfect but gets by ok. Hey I understand that 160 characters is a limited amount of space. The point here is to express wonderment at how Chase is using a tool with such great possibilities of marketing interaction-ability without any other types of interaction or conversation concerning Chase products or banks. While they are creating conversation in the sense I am talking about how many people are really going to make the connection to Chase’s mobile offerings? The only web reference has no mobile web link and the reply text message provides no opportunity for any other Chase goodness to come about where I am standing with the phone in hand. After texting in to win nothing about it is, in a sense, mobile.

A text message campaign should always be interactive and ubiquitous. It should always have something to do with where I am and the fact that I am mobile. In the end it should pull me into a willing and deeper interaction and conversation and tie in together the brand and brand product. It it must do this organically.It must be organic. It must not be about the company or the product but about the user and the product. It must let me share, interact and act upon or comment upon if I want to. If it is not something that I can act on or follow through on immediately wherever I am with my phone then it is a dead message. And text-to-win will soon become a novelty that that will ware off.

While the campaign itself is a hint or, as Fusco put it a “highlight” of Chase Mobile service, no other mobile tie in is apparent and their is no mention or pull toward a conversation of Chase’s Mobile Banking offerings. The bank is, however, promoting its mobile banking options through a $70 million campaign begun this year that includes television commercials pitching Chase Mobile and texting for balances and transactions. Perhaps I do not watch enough television but its has bin a while since I have seen one of those ads. Hopefully, from now till August they have a more than just 3 second announcement at the end of the text to win campaign.

Do not get me wrong, I think its wonderful that Chase is using a Text-to-Win strategy. And they are doing a great job of getting me to text them wherever I am for the chance to win something. I am just disappointed that that is all it is. That after that nothing happens. The the return message is static.

Unlike their ATM-to-Win campaign (which included anyone who could use an ATM machine and did not require a deposit of 500 dollars to a free checking account) the Text-To-Win message does not draw me into Chase. It seems more like a dead end product placement for my phone, a sort of “hey look at us, we are hip, we get the new technology sort of play.” Which is fine and a step in the right direction. But, with the ATM campaign I had to walk into a Chase. After getting the (loosing) text message I simply put the phone in my pocket and go about my day. A missed opprtunity.

I just wish it could have been more and better tied in all that mobile marketing and the wonderful stuff that Chase Mobile has to offer (its really is a great and innovative product).

This post is already to long but if anyone asks in the comment section bellow I would be happy to share some thoughts as to how else they could have leveraged this. How about, for example, texting in your zip code to get the nearest Chase branch to inquire on more ways to get a free ticket. Or better yet allowing people to reply to the short code via a mobile devices many upload-able media ways.

In the meantime I will leave it with this: Mobile marketing is not a good stand alone strategy… as an always on technology it works best when it is tied into other new media and social marketing plays. Its not about putting all of Chase services on a phone or Chase using a phone. Its about how Chase can best leverage the mobile medium for an already existing product or campaign in order to drive more interest and interaction with Chase. In this case Chase leveraged the mobile phone for their already existing US Open Product placement. After that the conversation and interaction stops, which is a shame since Chase has so much more, on the mobile end, to offer.

By the way, if you are a winner then everything I just said above goes right out the door. With the exception of winning, I am not pulled into Chase any deeper. When I unscrewed a Coke cap to look underneath it to see if I am I winner at least I got to partake of the refreshing sugar water beverage if I was not. With my loosing text message I am only left with a kind of negative feeling since I did not win and was left with nothing else to do but the sterile assurance that I can by tickets or get more info at Chase.com/tickets if and when I get in-front of a computer. With that the campaign ends. Doomed to the static product placement grave that is the “erase this message” option. Not a good place to end a “conversation.”

More info from Mobile Marketer

UPDATE 7/28/08 Chase Responds (Well, Kinda)

Technorati Tags: chase, chase bank , marketing, mobile marketing, sms, tickets, us open, win

Ever see someone do something bad but have no way to anonymously report it silently without drawing attention and danger to yourself. Well, now for than 100 communities (led by police departments in Boston, Cincinnati and Louisville) are allowing people to text in their eye witness crime tips, anonymously of course.

The Internet-based systems route messages through a server that encrypts cell phone numbers before they get to police, making tips virtually impossible to track.

Human rights organizations like Witness have been using a similar concept in allowing people to use their always on mobile devices to report and archive human rights abuses around the world. While WItness relies mostly on video, other groups have taken the concept beyond text messaging to the extent that they allow people to document the abuse any way a phone can: pictures, video, sound or text.

The police program is not there yet. Nevertheless an institution that has been thwarted time and again by the “text generation” and lost in the analog world appears to be realizing how the technology can work for them.

The campaign is set up to recruit teens and 20 somethings who in this day of age wont go out of there way t report a crime. But I think, provided the service becomes well known, that such a service has the potential to spill over into the general user age as well.

As I have seen time and time again, adults are apt to pick up new technologies very fast when it comes to issues that are important to them and crime certainly is one of those issues.

It seems to be working to some extent. Since the beginning of the year, cities such as Tampa, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Indianapolis, New Orleans and Detroit have started their own text-based tip systems, according to Texas-based Anderson Software, a leading providers of the technology. Many cities are adding the text messages to a system that already accepted anonymous tips through a Web site.

Police in the 1970s urged citizens to “drop a dime” in a pay phone to report crimes anonymously. Now in an increasing number of cities, tipsters are being invited to use their thumbs — to identify criminals using text messages.

There is no limit to what the mobile phone can be used to report. They key now is making people aware that they can use what they are already using to report the latest gossip for a higher purpose. Thats the challenge. [via SF Gate]

Technorati Tags: crime, sms, text message

A month ago my friend Ken Banks of Kiwanja launched a competition that encourages grassroots NGOs in developing countries to submit ideas on ways they could use text messaging in their work. This can be in health, human rights, the environment, activism, education or whatever. The best four entries will win laptop computers, Nokia phones, GSM modems and $1,000 in cash, courtesy of a range of sponsors which include Hewlett Packard, Nokia and Wieden+Kennedy. I think its a worth wile cause on many fronts. Visit www.ngomobile.org for more info via http://www.saidia.org/2007/09/18/ngos-going-mobile/ http://whiteafrican.com/?p=748

Technorati Tags: kiwanja, mobile, mobile, ngo

The handsome boys over at the search engine company Prodege (the first search engine to custom brand and incentivise search) have have created an image search site called YOWGO, a search engine dedicated to the concept of searching for images to send to your phone.

The “send to phone” service is being provided by Mixxer, the former ringtone turned multi mobile media company. “Prodege is the first engine company to utilize this tool and offer this free service to users,” says Scott Dudelson COO of Prodege.

Its really simple actually. Say, for example, I wanted to put Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney as the wallpaper on my phone. But the campaign does not provide this service. Well as simple search for Romney on YOWGO provided me with a plethora of material to use… now how do I get it on my phone. Underneath its picture is a little link that says ‘Send To Phone.’ This opens up a Mixxer site that allows you to enter your phone model and number and send away (it even lets you edit the picture). In no time you receive a WAP Push SMS with a link to a mobile website where your phone will then prompt you to download the picture. Thats it, your done.

I think the implications for this are pretty huge it terms of making it easier to deliver user user generated content to the mobile phone… but it also makes such things are mobile viral delivery more viable.

Of course there are some possible legal implications to all this but for now its a really fun and obvious idea.

Prodege works with bands to create a network of branded and incentivized search engines. They even let you download a search toolbar of your favorite band. Prodege currently provides this unique type of search service to bands, artists and organizations as Maroon 5, Drake Bell, Shinedown, Hinder, Wynonna, Meatloaf, Andrew Dice Clay, A Change Of Pace, K Fed, Prize Wish. Plus also check out there very own Search Win Merch engine.

Technorati Tags: 08 election, romney, prodege, yowgo, search engine, k fed, meatloaf

Thats a good question and a really great article over at the Techpresident blog that I wrote explains it all. A couple of days ago I wrote that Hillary Clinton announced a text message initiative for her campaign, the first implementation of text messaging for a presidential campaign. In her announcement Hillary pulled out all the usual bells and whistles telling people to take out their cell phones and text the word “Join” to 77007 (listen to it here). So far its less impressive than the PR its receiving.

Visit TechPresident.com for more!

Technorati Tags: 77007, clinton, hillary clinton, interlinked, mma, mobile commoms, mobile marketing assosacion, politxt, presence

Today, the Buckinghamshire Council is launching a new SMS service aimed at improving communications links for young people. 

The scheme will enable safe and secure two-way communication between young people - individuals as well as groups, such as youth clubs - and the County Council’s extensive range of youth services. The SMS text message system was chosen because, while some young people do not always have access to email, most have access to a mobile phone.

Source: SMS Text News