Motel 6 has launched a mobile marketing campaign to influence the buying behavior of Hispanics who are traveling.

The budget motel franchise and its agency Grupo Gallegos tapped Punchkick Interactive for the mobile aspect of the campaign. The call to action aired in regional radio ads asking traveling listeners to text MOTEL6 to 95495 to get a schedule of events for their destination city.

"When Motel 6's agency Grupo Gallegos approached us, they were already doing radio spots to target Hispanics," said Zak Dabbas, managing partner at Punchkick, Cleveland, OH. "They wanted us to help them integrate mobile into their existing radio campaign.

"They didn't want anything that was going to mean a whole new media buy or a new direction and were very open to creative stuff," Mr. Dabbas said. "The ultimate goal was to try and get Hispanics who are traveling to think of Motel 6 when thinking of where to stay."

The mobile aspect of the campaign launched last week and will go on for three months.

Once listeners text in to MOTEL6, they receive a reply message asking them to text VAMOS6 plus their destination city. Seconds later the consumers receive a confirmation message that says they will receive a text alert for the next three days with events in their destination city.

Messages sent out over the three-day period inform users of both Hispanic and non-Hispanic events taking place in surrounding cites.

Punchkick servers can guess the specific destinations Hispanic travelers are trying to reach. The system detects the closest major city when a request is made for a smaller city or suburb and provides the major city's event information.

For example, someone who texts in VAMOS6 Hollywood gets a reply with the events for Los Angeles.

Users who text VAMOS6 plus a city that does not have events in the database receive a generic text message stating there are no events in the area. But they may call a provided number to speak with an agent who could help them to find other fun things to do in their target city.

"Motel 6 is saying 'Text in and we will help you find enjoyable things to do,'" Mr. Dabbas said. "They want people to see they are more than just a budget hotel - they are clean, friendly and helpful,"

This campaign will run in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Sacramento, Bakersfield, Palm Springs, Stockton, Yuma, Fresno, Modesto, Riverside, Oxnard, Ventura, Monterey and Salinas -- all in California. It will also run in Dallas and Phoenix.

Punchkick is a design firm that focuses exclusively on full-service mobile marketing. The firm specializes in creating text-message campaigns, mobile games, Flash Lite content, branded mobile Web sites, custom BREW and J2ME applications, iPhone apps, mobile media distribution systems and Bluetooth proximity marketing campaigns.

Grupo Gallegos conducted research that found that Hispanics tend to spontaneously pick up and leave for a vacation, Mr. Dabbas said. Often times they don't make hotel reservations, he said.

The radio ads were geared towards these consumers.

"The reason why mobile works so well for a campaign like this is because people are on the go and traveling and what else do they have with them the whole way besides a mobile phone," Mr. Dabbas said. "Hispanics have a high mobile phone usage and they are a tech-savvy demographic."