Western Union has selected marketing agency TBA Global to develop a mobile strategy to promote the money transfer service in developing areas worldwide.

TBA Global will be the agency of record for Western Union's mobile business unit. The agency will focus on boosting awareness of Western Union's mobile offerings.

"Our goal is to educate, engage and turn these early adopters around the world into evangelists for Western Union Mobile Money services," said Kristin Kelly, media relations manager at Western Union, Greenwood Village, CO.

"We're trying to first build the association between Western Union and the mobile phone with services like SMS alerts that the receiver has gotten some money via Western Union, and then expanding to more robust programs like offers for discounts to frequent customers," she said.

Western Union is a leader in money-transfer services. The company also helps consumers send payments and buy money orders.

Western Union claims that TBA Global is a great partner in this initiative because of its expertise of new media and success in engaging customers.

The money-transfer giant has also announced that TBA will be heading up other initiatives within the mobile business unit scope.

"We'll be running a multi-channel campaign with TBA Global, but the mobile aspect will take up a bigger part of that," Ms. Kelly said.

"We've researched that 90 percent of senders and receivers of money transfers who work with Western Union have a mobile phone," she said. "Mobile is becoming such a big deal that we have to integrate it into our marketing campaigns."

Western Union expects that TBA Global's approach will not only elevate the company's brand value, but offer engaging programs to consumers.

Why developing countries?

"Thirty to 40 percent of people in developing countries have mobile phones," said Alison Jenks, vice president of marketing at TBA Global, San Diego, CA. "It's the channel that our users use most to communicate with one another.

"If you have a family member who moves overseas in search of greater opportunity, that family member has both the means and the desire to have a mobile phone to communicate with his family back home," she said.

"And with the explosion of mobile services, it's much cheaper -- not to mention easier -- to use a mobile to communicate -- even across borders -- than traditional means."

In many of these countries, people don't have convenient or regular access to a bank.

With Western Union, banks can let customers can do anything they would do with a bank account on their mobile phone such as pay an electric bill or settle a grocery bill.

"Unlike the Web or traditional broadcast, mobile can take advantage of location-specific and personalization strategies like no other medium," Ms. Kelly said. "It should be looked at as a new line item within a digital budget in much the same way email and social marketing have carved out their own piece of the pie.

"But unlike past tactics -- mobile presents real opportunities for new products and services and not just marketing," she said. "In many cases needing new business plans and revenue models defined specifically for the channel."