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Hooters adds 50K consumers to mobile database with recent Super Bowl SMS campaign

Hooters of America is continuing to make SMS a focal point of its overall strategy and has significantly built up its mobile database through a Super Bowl initiative the company recently ran.

The company has been using SMS for years and constantly turns to the channel to drive consumer engagement. Hooters worked with State of Text on the effort.

?With the abundance of mobile technology apps, NFC, push notifications and new medium, it can be tempting to lose sight of the tried and true methods of what drives traffic and sales,? said Rachel Jensen, director of marketing at State of Text, Denver.

?Hooters has identified as a truly powerful marketing method in SMS technology and continues to use it in a way that boosts sales and increases loyalty,? she said.

Mobile campaign
Consumers were encouraged to text the keyword FOOTBALL to the short code 36832 in order to enter to win a trip for two to the 2013 Super Bowl.

Through the initiative, Hooters aimed to identify a core group of customers who were interested in football.

By segmenting the user database, the company was able to target those customers for future in-store football promotions to drive foot traffic.

Furthermore, Hooters was able to build up its mobile database by 50,000 customers.

Past campaigns
Hooters has continued to turn to SMS time and time again.

In 2011, Hooters proved that it was a force to reckon with in the mobile space via a campaign that used mobile bar codes and social media to further drive brand awareness (see story).

Most recently, the restaurant built up its mobile database with an SMS campaign that offered consumers a chance to win a trip to the destination of their choice (see story)

?The start of 2013 often brings discussion of the next big thing in mobile technology, but at State of Text, we believe that this year will be defined not by the technology, but by how well marketers make use the powerful technology that is already in existence,? Ms. Jensen said.

?The ROI lies in the implementation not the vehicle,? she said. ?We look forward to future campaigns with all of our corporate partnerships in the coming year.?

Final Take
Rimma Kats is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York