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- November 2008
PRESS RELEASE
Dating services proves popular for Daily Voice
An SMS dating column is one of the most popular services offered by Cape Town tabloid The Daily Voice - yet the service runs itself, according to Senior Promotions Co-ordinator Shafeeqah Isaacs. It takes very little staff input to operate from our side - everything runs very smoothly and automatically via the database.
The Daily Voice Hot Date service, which has been running for three years, was conceptualised by Harry Trisos of Mobilety and is operated by Strike Media. It's the most popular of all our data services, says Isaacs. We publish a full page of SMS personal ads every Tuesday and Friday, and if we had space we'd publish even more.
The service is successful because it brings the proven model of 'lonely hearts' concept into the 21st century, says Strike Media's Russel Stromin. Being SMS-based it is instantaneous and reaches a much wider audience among Daily Voice readers than more complex services like WAP or MMS.
Personal ads are placed via SMS, with Strike Media's servers stripping out cellphone numbers and replacing them with unique codes before sending them on to the Daily Voice editorial team. SMS responses sent to the codes get their own codes in return, so participants can exchange messages freely and securely.
The security of the system was important to us from the start, says Isaacs. The only way people can get each other's phone numbers is if they meet to exchange them.
The Strike Media system can also quickly end anonymous harassment if this occurs. We can stop messages to any code at any time, says Isaacs, but that hardly ever happens.
(Bizcommunity - November 27th 2008)
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- November 2008
PRESS RELEASE
Mobile marketing builds unique customer base
SMS campaigns are an excellent way to build databases of interested customers and prospects, says mobile marketing specialist Russel Stromin of Strike Media - but few companies are getting the most out of the opportunity.
Every SMS interaction with customers is a chance to learn more about them and their preferences, says Stromin. Yet so many campaigns gather pointless information such as barcodes - it's a real wasted opportunity.
Stromin cites a recent campaign in which Acer Predator gaming computers were auctioned via SMS as an example of a campaign which produced a tightly targeted database of keen gamers.
The campaign, a first for Acer South Africa, was developed by Strike Media and marketing services company Cubic Ice. Twelve Predator gaming machines, used during the Dreamhack gaming competition at the recent rAge gaming expo, were auctioned with a reserve price of R26,000, well below the R43,000 normal retail prices.
We sent gamers an email invitation to participate in the auction, which ran over two weeks, says Cubic Ice MD Megan Stark. Once they'd registered, we kept bidders up to date with what was happening in the auction as well as sending them info about the specs of the machine.
Stark says participation in the auction was good, with five of the Predator machines being sold for more than the reserve price. This is the first mobile campaign we've done, and we're very happy that we ran a unique campaign that raised the Predator's profile among gamers and built an excellent database for the future, says Stark.
We'd definitely run a mobile campaign again, says Acer's Nic O'Connor. Targeting the right people to start with is the biggest challenge, but we've used this campaign to build a good database for the future. We've also learned that the reach of the technology is fantastic. People get swamped by email and tend to ignore it, but SMSs get attention.
Stromin confirms the power of SMS as a communications medium. With an SMS, you know that if it's been sent, it's been read. It's very personal and very immediate. That means you need to be very careful only to market with permission - but if you do get that permission, you are dealing with a very interested audience.
Stark adds that having clear objectives is critical to success. In this case we wanted to build a database and we achieved that, she says. It's also shown us the power of mobile marketing. It's not just that everyone has a cellphone - there are also huge opportunities to run really innovative campaigns. Mobile is not just about competitions.”
The whole exercise was also not as complex as people might think, she concludes. Strike Media provided an excellent technology platform that was very easy for us to manage. We could log in via their web interface, create and schedule our messages and track the response very easily.
(Bizcommunity - November 25th 2008 & MarketingMix - November 19th 2008)
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- November 2008
PRESS RELEASE
SMS news keeps Moneyweb's audience in the loop
Moneyweb, South Africa's leading source of independent financial and investment information, has partnered with mobile marketing companies Strike Media and OptionAds to launch an SMS news service designed to keep decision makers in touch with key market news, wherever they are.
Every morning, noon and late afternoon subscribers to the service receive SMS messages with Moneyweb's current top three headlines as well as updated quotes for the JSE, gold and oil prices and rand exchange rates against the dollar, pound and euro. Each SMS also contains a link to Moneyweb’s mobile site for further information.
We realised that business people spend a lot of time in meetings and often don't have quick and easy access to market information, says MoneyWeb's Chris Buchanan. This way the information comes to them.
The service was implemented by Strike Media and OptionAds, specialists in mobile marketing. We wanted a system that would allow managing the content without any of the hassle of managing subscriptions nd billing information,” says Buchanan. “They’ve set everything up for us completely seamlessly.
We already manage large databases of SMS marketing information and our transaction platform can manage over a million messages a day, says Strike Media’s Russel Stromin. Our infrastructure will enable Moneyweb not just to deliver a great service to their subscribers with minimum fuss, but also in the longer term to develop a whole new channel of interaction. Mobile marketing enables us to collect very precise information about subscribers and their preferences, which we can use to tailor new and better services in future.
Vodacom and MTN subscribers can sign up for the service by SMSing the word alerts to 37780. The fee is R25 per week for 15 SMS updates, and subscribers can choose to opt out at the end of every week.
(Bizcommunity - November 18th 2008)
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- JULY 2008
Russel Stromin - CEO of Strike Media (Pty) Ltd, Presents Mobile Marketing to Fine Business Women Network Breakfast Forum.
(Cape Times - July 28th 2008)
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- JULY 2008
Russel Stromin - CEO of Strike Media (Pty) Ltd, Presents on his extensive knowledge and experience in online and web services and brings this experience to the mobile space.
UCT Graduate School of Business (30th -31st July 2008).
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