Vodka brand Grey Goose is engaging US Open fans and rewarding them with prizes via an SMS promotion.

Consumers can opt-in to receive messages and enter to win prize packs of Grey Goose products. The campaign runs through Sept. 11.

?Most people in the US Open audience have a mobile phone and SMS is a great channel to leverage on-site promotions,? said Scott Rogers, vice president of sales at Mogreet, Los Angeles. ?SMS creates a dialogue with consumers.?

Mr. Rogers is not affiliated with Grey Goose. He commented based on his expertise on the subject.

Grey Goose did not respond to press inquiries. 

Targeted drinks
The Grey Goose campaign marks the company?s fifth year as a promotional partner for the US Open.

At the tournament, the company is promoting its Honey Deuce cocktail, a name influenced by the tennis event, with an eight-foot tall souvenir cup filled with tennis balls.

Of-age consumers can enter to win prizes by texting the keyword GUESS to the short code 446673.

Consumers will then receive a series of messages and can guess how many tennis balls are in the cup for a chance to win.

The Honey Duce cocktails can also be purchased at venues in the tournament.
Additionally, consumers can also learn how to make the Honey Deuce cocktail.

?The audience at the US Open seems like a good fit for Grey Goose,? Mr. Rogers said. ?It?s already a targeted audience that is sports-minded and meshes with their upscale demographic.?

Brand leverage
This is not the first time Grey Goose has used SMS as a call-to-action for sports fans.

The brand recently sponsored the Golf Channel?s ?19th Hole? program and used SMS to target the network?s affluent demographic (see story).

By partnering with the US Open for the fifth time, Grey Goose has clearly found their audience and is tapping into them via mobile.

Despite the reach that SMS provides, there are other more interactive ways that Grey Goose could have used for the campaign, per Mr. Rogers.

?I would recommend brands like Grey Goose to leverage the power of MMS instead of basic SMS for these types of programs,? Mr. Rogers said.

?Consumers could then make the drink at home and unlock other pieces of bonus content by sending more text and a video,? he said.

?By expanding the program, Grey Goose could also gain more insight into their consumers by building their database and acquiring more eyeballs to the brand.?

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York