West Beach Music Festival mobile callout on TV yields 700 participants
October 16, 2009
The crowd at the West Beach Music Festival
The West Beach Music Festival’s attempt to build awareness about the festival through a mobile sweepstakes resulted in 700 consumers that texted in for a chance to win tickets to the show.
The festival teamed up with Cox Media and ran spots that encouraged consumers to text the keyword BEACHFEST to short code 269411. The mobile promotion was meant to drive ticket sales of the event and to build a database of names for future marketing.
“The West Beach Music Festival successfully incorporated a cross-platform media campaign with Cox Media that included cable television, online and the mobile text advertising to promote ticket sales,” said Lynn Bolton, client services manager at Cox Media, Atlanta.
Not only did 700 people text-in for a chance to win, but 70 percent (490 people) double-opted-in to receive future marketing communications from the festival.
Entering its fourth year, the West Beach Music and Arts Festival brings romping, fun-in-the-sun, rock, reggae and pop festivities at this fun-for-all event.
For three days, Twiin Productions transforms the twelve acres where sand meets ocean west of Stearns Wharf into a rock 'n' roll beachfront, complete with a main stage and performances by young up-and-coming artists, and at the center of the party, a bamboo-shaded "Oasis" where special guest DJs spin the night away.
The challenge for the West Beach Festival was to promote their summer event in a way that would engage their target audience and keep them interested all season long.
Consumers that texted in for a chance to win tickets received the following initial offer: “Congrats! You're now entered into the VIP Sweepstakes! Go to www.westbeachfestival.com and use promo code SUNSCREEN for ticket savings!”
Participants were asked to double-opt-in to receive future promotions from the festival.
That message said, “Reply YES Now & be entered into a weekly drawing to WIN tickets to West Beach! max4msgs/mo std msg & data rts apply. Reply YES Now!”
Those who opted-in got the following message: “Success! You are subscribed! STOP 2 quit. HELP 4 help. Std msg & data chrgs apply. Look 4 exclusives on your Mobile Phone!”
“Mobile was the perfect tool for this client’s demographic and offer,” said Shira Simmonds, president of Ping Mobile, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. “It enabled the West Beach Music Festival to engage with their target audience in a relevant and convenient way.
“Through the use of the sweepstakes, the client was able to reach out to their core, and then further engage them all season-long with weekly promotions for discounted tickets,” she said. “The results of this campaign provided further evidence that the mobile channel was one that really spoke to the festival’s audience.”