SAN FRANCISCO-Syniverse Technologies Inc. signed an agreement with LM&O Advertising, Arlington, Va., to provide its Mobile Marketing solution as part of an integrated marketing campaign for the Army National Guard. The two-way message broadcasting tool delivers time-sensitive information via text messaging.
LM&O Advertising created the Army National Guard’s current national recruiting multimedia campaign, featuring direct mail, print advertisements, radio ads, TV and movie theater spots, and sales support materials. LM&O plans to supplement the campaign with the use of opt-in short codes delivered by Syniverse’s short message service-based Mobile Marketing solution.
Prospective recruits will opt in to the Guard campaign via short codes prompted by other advertising media and then receive recruitment-focused messages from the Guard on their wireless device. “It is a way to reach out and touch the recruit directly on the hip,” rather than through the school or through the parent, said Brad Blanken, Syniverse director of mobile data. He explained that the military, like many other organizations, has realized that the best way to connect with their audience is to speak directly to them, and wireless is a perfect vehicle for that.
The company’s Alert Notification solution also is used by wireless carriers to distribute Amber Alert messages from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to wireless devices.
“Our agreement with LM&O to enhance their multimedia campaign for the Army National Guard using our short-code mobile marketing platform is an opportunity for Syniverse to expand our capabilities to wireless enterprise applications,” said Linda Hermansen, Syniverse vice president of business development.
“Short codes continue to gain popularity in North America as an additional way for marketers to ask consumers to respond to advertising. Based on the success of short codes in Europe, it is expected that short codes will drive SMS usage in the United States.”
The Guard campaign is expected to launch Oct. 1 across the country.
Syniverse also announced agreements with one Tier 1 and two Tier 2 CDMA operators to enable mobile data access while roaming. The CDMA Development Group late last year released CDMA Roaming Exchange guidelines for roaming on 1xRTT and 1x EV-DO networks. Syniverse’s CRX solution provides operators with secure network transport for access to roaming partners and connectivity to Syniverse’s complete Mobile Data Roaming service.
In addition, the company formed a sales and marketing alliance with Preferred Voice Inc. to offer ring-back services to mobile operators. Ring backs enable users to choose audio files that callers listen to while a phone is ringing, replacing traditional rings.
