Entercom Communications, the nation?s fifth-largest radio broadcaster, has tapped Vibes Media to help it develop and strengthen consumer relationships through engaging listeners with mobile sweepstakes and text-alert programs, designed to increase brand awareness.

Using the Vibes Mobile platform, Entercom stations create interactive mobile campaigns, including text-to-vote, text-to-win and text-for-offer, which engage listeners through sweepstakes, prizes and special offers. Additionally, Enercom has implemented the mobile alerts program, including Last Played feature, so stations can send timely and relevant updates to their mobile opt-in listener databases. The alerts consumers sign up for are for news, weather, traffic and sports updates.

?Entercom uses our self service messaging product to engage their audiences and drive revenue through advertisers,? said Steve Levy, director and head of the radio vertical at Vibes Media, Chicago.

?They?re doing a really nice job of both incorporating it in the radio stations themselves and going out into the local markets and positioning themselves as offering a mobile local strategy,? he said.

?Mobile has become more and more of a push for them, they see 2011 as a really strong year and the types of things they can do in their markets.?

Who's who?
Entercom is one of the five largest radio broadcasting companies in the United States, with a nationwide portfolio of 110 stations in 23 markets, including San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, Denver, Portland, Sacramento and Kansas City.

As one of North America's largest mobile marketing companies, Vibes delivers hundreds of millions of mobile messages for a wide range of clients in the marketer and publisher categories.

The Vibes three-year deal with span 75 radio stations.

Why SMS?
Approximately 72 percent of American adult consumers send and receive text messages, according to Pew Internet Project. Virtually everyone is text messaging, making it a convenient way for brands to communicate with consumers.

Research Hipcricket conducted last year shows that 83 percent of consumers are still waiting for a favorite, trusted brand to market to them via their mobile phone.

SinglePoint found that 90 percent of text messages are read within three minutes of delivery, and that the recipient eventually reads more than 99 percent of all text messages.

This year has seen enormous growth in the use of SMS and mobile in general ? a recent Peninsula Strategies report found that 64 of the Fortune 100 have a mobile strategy.

?The ability for listeners to engage with a radio station in real time makes it a natural fit, the portability of both mediums, really are a marriage made in heaven,? Mr. Levy said. ?We?ve seen over the past few years that radio is the perfect medium for text because it allows users to be that much more connected to their favorite radio stations

?SMS gives radio stations the ability to create opt-in database specific to clients and push out offers and information,? he said. ?Brands are beginning to monetize campaigns that incorporate mobile in a meaningful way.

?They are driving people into retail locations and creating scale.?

Dan Butcher reported for this story.