Wireless Watch for November 17, 2003

NetInformer Powers Local Text Promo

[November 17, 2003] NetInformer has enabled a live text poll for World Records, a music store in Bakersfield, California. The “Eye Street” entertainment section of The Bakersfield Californian newspaper is sponsoring the live text poll, calling the promotion “Eye on Five.”

Eye Street readers are asked to vote for their five favorite CDs from a list of ten CDs in World Music ads. To vote, readers send the text message “Eye5” plus the two-letter CD codes to a designated 800 number. The poll will also be featured in cable TV spots that will run on MTV, VH1 and Comedy Central in the Bakersfield area. The winning CDs from the weekly poll will go on sale the following week.

Each participant will also be entered to win weekly prizes and a grand prize. The promotion starts in mid November 2003, and will run for six weeks. NetInformer said the poll allows text voting across all U.S. and Canadian carriers.

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YellowPepper Unveils Demographics Tool

[November 17, 2003] YellowPepper has developed a demographics tool that lets marketers chart the billing zip codes of mobile phone users who respond to their wireless campaigns. YellowPepper gets the zip code info from an all-carrier public database of customer data that allows wireless operators to share billing info under roaming agreements.

YellowPepper CEO Mark Theerman said his company’s offering is an improvement over the more common practice of tracking telephone area codes to measure campaign results, since these can cover quite a wide geographic area. He said accessing the industry database to report on marketing campaigns is not a breach of privacy, since the information is already public and consumer names and addresses are not released.

Theerman also described the service as ideal for packaged goods marketers who want to hone their reporting on consumer response in local markets.

“It can really help marketers know exactly where consumers are using their products,” he said.

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Thumbworks Builds Branded “School of Rock” Game

[November 17, 2003] Thumbworks has developed a musical puzzle game for mobile devices based on the film “School of Rock.” Called “Audition” and distributed on Verizon Wireless’ Get It Now service, the game poses users with four challenges, the completion of which unlocks free ring tones and wallpapers from the movie.

“Currently, ring tones and games are the most frequently downloaded Get It Now applications,” said Jim Straight, VP of wireless Internet and multimedia services for Verizon Wireless. “We expect this game to become very popular, as it combines both types of applications into a single download.”

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m-Qube Wins $8 Million Investment Round

[November 17, 2003] Wireless marketing firm m-Qube has won an $8 million round of financing led by Sigma Partners, with participation from original investors General Catalyst Partners and Bain Capital Ventures. Proceeds from the financing will be used to expand m-Qube’s sales, business development, marketing and client services functions. Robert Davoli, managing director with Sigma Partners, will join m-Qube’s board of directors.

“After looking deeply into m-Qube’s strategic vision, executive group, internal operations, and network of external relationships, we believe it is the team to beat in this space,” Davoli said.

For more wireless marketing news, please visit WirelessAdWatch.