SMS deal with MacLaren McCann puts broadcasters, advertisers on notice

A new deal announced February 24 between Impact Mobile and giant ad agency MacLaren McCann should give notice to other firms and broadcasters that text messaging - or SMS - is a credible and important platform for reaching consumers. The two companies inked a deal that will see MacLaren use Impact’s services and advice when dealing with large clients to integrate mobile technologies into traditional advertising mixes. While a media release announcing the deal notes that "traditional media channels are losing value, especially when we are targeting the young adult market," Impact head Gary Schwartz tells Canadian NEW MEDIA that broadcasters should embrace, not fear, SMS and wireless platform advertising. "I think if I was a broadcaster, I would say all this means is that I’m going to potentially look at my media differently. If I continue to do what I’m doing without altering my strategy based on the times, eventually what I’m doing will become outdates, and that applies to any media, any philosophy, any business. I think it’s a huge opportunity." Schwartz cites MuchMusic as an example of how SMS can be integrated into multi-platform campaigns, calling the broadcaster’s use of the technology an example of "extreme interaction." Let the user participate "You have to allow the user or the viewer to become a participant in the process. That doesn’t necessarily have to be as crass as the Much formula. It can just be as simple as allowing them to interact and engage with, for example, a news program to allow them to input polls on the fly using the mobile as a remote control in that process. "If you do that, then you can also bridge your brands. You can say, hey, ‘I’ll give you a plug here, but I’ll also upsell you because I realize that that piece of the media buy is only one piece of the puzzle, and we can offer a bridge from the TV set into retail - from the TV set onto online…’ "At the end of the day, what I do is not a standalone. If I run a promotion, it has to have the three Cs. It has to have the call to action, the content, and a carrot. I’m always looking for a call to action partner. My call to action partner is traditional media. I’m nothing without them. Likewise, I think they should see me as value add to what they do." 360 degrees media purchase Schwartz illustrates how an integrated campaign might work: "I think it becomes more of the 360 degrees media purchase that uses interactivity as a glue where I say, ok, what do I want my consumer to do? I say that I want them to see the visual in the TV ad and then potentially bridge to an online property through mobile where I get a (coupon) to redeem online, and then the online property can get into, for example, a mobile CRM relationship where that mobile CRM relationship can push them into retail. You can have billboards pushing to retail which will get them tuned in, gets them back to the TV. "It doesn’t have to be complicated. Each time you engage the audience, you have to respect that they’re going to want to engage on their own terms. And you’re going to have to offer them things that are going to allow the interaction to be exciting. So, mobile communities, mobile blogs - places that they can participate beyond just seeing your impression." Broadcasters and others should also see the McCann/Impact deal as positive for the entire mobile industry, representing as it does the partnership of an old-school ad agency with cutting-edge technology thinking. Unlike some other agencies - Schwartz mentions Cossette Communication Group - and small marketing shops, McCann’s buy-in is encouraging. "It’s easy to get a small agency to buy into text, because they’re always looking for an edge to sell up to the brands. ‘Hey, we’re small, we’re doing funky stuff,’ right? That’s easy. But it’s hard to get a mainstream large agency to buy into text and say, ‘look, we’re committing to mobile because we feel that mobile is a part of our future.’"

SMS deal with MacLaren McCann puts broadcasters, advertisers on notice

Broadcast | March 3, 2004

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