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Kiwi mobile marketing firm targeting US digital signage space

A New Zealand-based DIY mobile marketing firm is targeting DOOH to help its entry into the U.S. market.

June 12, 2011 by Christopher Hall — w, t

A Kiwi company is invading U.S. markets and taking aim squarely at the DOOH media sector.

TXT2GET, a New Zealand-born mobile marketing company that specializes in do-it-yourself applications, announced today its market entry in the United States – and the company's president says it is specifically targeting the digital signage marketplace to help it grow.

Peter Hewitt, the president and COO of TXT2GET Inc., the American arm of the company, said in a recent telephone interview that his company sees the digital out-of-home sector as an important growth opportunity rife with partnership possibilities.

TXT2GET representatives have attended recent digital signage-centric trade shows, he said, and have seen that "most every digital signage technology vendor is trying to integrate mobile as a call to action and as a mechanism for engagement." The company already has started exploratory partnership discussions with several, he said.

Finding a way to integrate mobile with digital signage has been a hot topic for some time now in the space, and TXT2GET has an impressive track record in New Zealand and Australia, working with brands like Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Toyota.

Mobile marketing, Hewitt said, "is really quite simply the most effective call to action." Twenty-five years ago it was 800 numbers, which are still used, but many consumers are leery of calling and talking to someone in a service center in India, he said. And then a decade ago marketers transitioned to URLs and WWW addresses, but while they may increase unique visitor traffic, they don't necessarily translate to real engagement, he said.

"Really in the last few years here in America, and certainly in the last decade in other countries, the text keyword to shortcode has become the preferred call to action because it's immediate and people are much more willing to text somebody knowing that they'll get a response when they opt in. And that's really what we're all about," Hewitt said. "Lastly, the real-time analytics engine for measuring traditional effectiveness with advertising is part of the system."

And the implications of having a simpler way to incorporate mobile marketing into digital out-of-home could prove intriguing to digital signage firms. Sean Matthews, president of digital signage software provider Visix Inc., said in an email that "the use of QR tags and SMS response in digital signage campaigns are effective tools for determining audience involvement."

"You can embed QR tags in your digital signage messages to prompt action from viewers — send them to a website, have them vote in a poll, or offer a downloadable coupon. It is a great way to measure return on objective and the effectiveness of your message design. Quite simply, viewer response to an SMS poll can give you a clear indication of whether or not your message is resonating with your audience," Matthews wrote. "Institutions are already using SMS-based mass notification to alert audiences to emergencies. Why not use this widely-accepted medium to enrich the daily digital signage experience with personal interactive responses to messages designed to solicit a reaction?"

TXT2GET differentiates itself in the marketplace, Hewitt said, by integrating its SMS text messaging and email functionality into its DIY platform. The DIY functionality allows marketers to use the TXT2GET platform to set up and manage the mobile marketing plan themselves through the company's site. The marketers or campaign managers buying or setting up digital out-of-home advertising campaigns can then embed the text-message call to action or a QR code in the content playing on digital signage screens.

According to the announcement the company put out today, TXT2GET "makes it fast and convenient to activate and manage SMS messaging and Quick Response (QR) code marketing campaigns that transform traditional advertising and promotions to achieve higher consumer response rates and one-to-one engagement."

The company's self-service platform automates both text and email, and push and pull opt-in interactions with consumers, so advertisers can deliver marketing content to both mobile phones and PC email inboxes while measuring campaign effectiveness with real-time analytics.

TXT2GET recently opened its first U.S. office in San Francisco.

"Small businesses and big brands alike are looking for new ways to elevate their game when it comes to both advertising effectiveness and mobile marketing, but it really shouldn't be as hard as it sounds to build these automated mobile marketing machines," TXT2GET CEO Peter Barrett, said in the announcement. "TXT2GET makes it easy and affordable to increase advertising response rates and leads while activating a mobile marketing program that customers readily embrace."

TXT2GET's platform provides a variety of features to manage mobile marketing campaigns:

• A Campaign Manager console for automated broadcast and pull SMS text message + email responses
• Keyword selection/management tool
• Built-in QR code generator
• Shared and custom short codes
• Real-time campaign analytics and reporting
• Online billing system for customers
• Flexible pricing systems and revenue share policies for partners and clients
• Sales commission module for media sales teams, agents and franchisor/franchisee models
• A Real Estate Module for real estate listings with text and email responses
• Competition/Coupon campaign generator that creates millions of unique codes
• Third-party application interfaces (CRMs, eMail Marketing platforms, Call Centers, Digital Sign systems, Marketing Automation tools)
• 24/7 customer support, online videos and daily webinars

The announcement also makes clear the company is looking for partners, particularly media companies, agencies, franchisors and associations: "The platform enables flexible billing and partner sales force commissions, as well as partner access to campaign measurement and effectiveness data. Partners can offer added value to clients, including enhanced advertising packages and consulting and creative services."

While he was unfamiliar with TXT2GET, digital signage expert Graeme Spicer, the general manager of digital media at NEC Display Solutions, said his company sees the "clear and important linkage of mobile and digital signage, and is looking at solutions to integrate the two platforms from both the technology and advertising media standpoints."

Spicer nodded to the value of a more "low-tech" solution like the one initially offered by TXT2GET, such as putting SMS or QR codes on digital signage screens and inviting passersby to photograph the QR code or text a shortcode via traditional SMS technology for coupons, customized product offerings or product information.

But a deeper and more high-tech integration, Spicer said in an email, "requires specific technology at the digital signage player boxes that provide for direct connection between the digital sign and nearby mobile devices using Bluetooth, NFC (near field communication) or other wireless technologies to provide direct, real-time interaction."

That kind of digital signage/mobile integration, he said, has been used effectively to allow consumers to play games, download product info and even conduct transactions from their mobile devices at the screen.

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