Air2Web debuts Mobile Marketing Solution Series

By Mickey Alam Khan

April 18, 2008

Music to fan's ears

Air2Web Inc. has officially introduced a suite of packaged mobile marketing services targeting brands, marketers and advertising agencies.

The Mobile Marketing Solution Series, as the suite is called, will encompass campaign, promotion and transaction services to marketers using the mobile channel.

"The idea was hatched after hearing the market's frustration with the perceived complexities of mobile marketing -- the time it takes to get a campaign approved, the nightmare of creating an experience that works on more than a handful of devices and, perhaps most importantly, the variability in costs from one vendor to the next," said Mark Emery, director of agency relations at Air2Web, Atlanta. "We thought we could make it easier."

The suite has two components.

Under the promote side, Air2Web will offer promotional messages to generate interest in new products and services. The company will also offer coupons to track the effectiveness of the promotion with in-store redemption codes. And it will also enable voting to let consumers offer feedback.

On the services side, Air2Web will send alerts to generate customer loyalty by keep them in the loop. The company also will create a store locator to drive traffic to the store and run surveys or handle call-center requests.

Recent clients include Starbucks Coffee, Procter & Gamble Co.'s Charmin, Foot Locker, Vans and Airtel.

Starbucks used the Mobile Marketing Solution Series to promote the Starbucks National Coffee Break Day and increase store traffic. Users opted in to receive a mobile reminder on the day of the promotion thanks to a short code promotion on flyers.

Charmin's goal was to promote the brand and its line of toilet paper rolls. Another goal was to drive customer loyalty by letting users offer feedback on favorite products.

The process was simple. Users opted in to get a series of questions regarding which set of prizes to win and to receive free weekly reminders.

Charmin customers were also offered a chance to win tickets to the Super Bowl.

For its part, Foot Locker wanted to create brand loyalty through on-demand mobile discounts. The footwear chain also sought to drive store traffic during new product launches.

With the help of Air2Web, users could opt in through email, Web and in-store to get mobile coupons or notifications of celebrity shoe sales and promotions.

All these mobile marketing campaigns took seven business days to implement and lasted one month.�

Simplicity is what drove the Mobile Marketing Solution Series' creation.Air2Web charges a flat $15,000 fee for a 30-day program with unlimited messages. Extra features can be added and charged accordingly.

"Through our experience in the space, we've built the Mobile Marketing Solution Series to elegantly mask the complexities associated with implementing mobile technologies across a colorful landscape of disparate networks, devices and protocols, instead allowing marketers to focus on what has always been the hardest part of marketing -- coming up with the right offers and services, and good creative," Mr. Emery said.

"Mobile infrastructure -- connecting to carriers, optimizing content at the device level and handling throughput -- is complicated stuff," he said. "The Mobile Marketing Solution Series insulates marketers from worrying about it."