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Tony Awards goes mobile with content, exclusive offers

BWYNOW (299669), the mobile gateway to everything Broadway, has partnered with the 2009 Tony Awards, providing theatre buffs with up-to-the-minute awards news and exclusive content.

Theatre fans who text JOIN to BWYNOW (299669) from any mobile device will receive Broadway and Tony Awards news and videos, special offers, promotions and exclusive made-for-mobile video
content about the hottest shows on Broadway and around the country.

"We have built a mobile community for Broadway theatre lovers and it has become a cost-effective tool for organizations to send offers and coupons to people who have opted in to receive them," said Richard Humphrey, CEO of RedCloud Mobile, the company that powers the mobile community.

"The immediacy is what is most attractive and of course the fact that the community loves the theatre," he said. "Also, there's a lot that you can do with this as a producer. And it's easy to create marketing that isn't really in the consumer's face."

BWYNOW is the mobile way to Broadway. It is a carrier-independent national mobile community of Broadway and theatre lovers.

The community provides theatrical producers and presenting organizations nationwide with integrated mobile marketing strategies and digital tools to engage and broaden their audiences and help drive ticket sales.

BWYNOW is a property of RedCloud Mobile.

The musical "Rent" ran a mobile campaign using the BWYNOW community. The show was trying to reach a younger demographic of theatre-goers. So it ran a promotion where consumers had a chance to win a free month's rent.

For this particular promotion, mobile was ideal because of the demographic. "Rent" was able to speak to a younger demographic "in their own language," according to Mr. Humphrey.

"Mobile marketing is exploding," Mr. Humphrey said. "I think a lot of marketers confuse SMS as a mobile strategy and it is actually just the first step.

"We have been using this personal medium to reach out to a viral community and we can really scale it all the way to GPS," he said.

BWYNOW lets marketers target by location, sex and age.

"We are proud to be a media partner for The Tony Awards and are honored to support our other Broadway and touring theatre clients who realize the importance of turning on marketing's third screen: the mobile phone," Mr. Humphrey said.

"Our value proposition as a one-stop mobile solution goes beyond text messaging campaigns and we are a complete 360-degree mobile solution partner," he said. "Now is the time for Broadway to build a mobile community of engaged theatre lovers."