Issued by: Wayin


Having established itself as the country's leading mobile ticketing provider, Wayin is now set to become a force in the retail coupons and voucher industry. Barcode SMS and MMS are easy-to-use unique identifiers that can be applied to any coupon, voucher or club card concept that was previously only available on paper or plastic. This makes it far more convenient for the customer and more efficient for the retailer or brand.

Virgin Mobile was looking for a new and innovative way, to not only interact with their customers via the most personal
medium available today, but also to create some hype around the opening of their store in the new Maponya Mall in Soweto. The campaign consisted of two separate elements - the first of those being a mobile marketing element and the second a mobile ticketing element.

The mobile marketing element was built around an “SMS & WIN” mechanic, with a slight twist though. Customers were prompted to SMS the word “TRUTH” in to a shortcode to stand the chance of winning great prizes from Virgin Mobile. Upon entering the competition, customers were sent back an m-Coupon by SMS, containing their “Unique Truth Code” together with a WAP link which WAP users could follow to retrieve a unique barcode image. Entrants then had to take this m-Coupon along to the new Virgin Mobile store at Maponya Mall where Wayin had setup one of their stand-alone barcode scanners. Participants effortlessly scanned their barcodes at the scanner (or punched in their unique codes) to win instant prizes which ranged from caps and t-shirts to HTC phones and a Hummer for a week! Other prizes included VIP tickets to a prestigious party at a nightclub.

The second part of the campaign was a party at the Backroom nightclub in Soweto for the entrants that won VIP m-Tickets! These were sent as barcode SMS'es in the same way that m-Coupons were sent. At the entrance to the Backroom, VIP's simply scanned their barcodes and entered the party. There was no chance of losing paper tickets and no delay in printing and distributing paper them. m-Tickets could be stored safely on the customers phone, just like any other SMS, for use at a later stage.

m-Coupons are an ideal way for brands and retailers to drive feet through doors and increase sales, and Wayin's Personalization Engine (built into its back-end software) can offer customers many more advantages than simply ‘sending a text message':

• Based on demographic data, individual preferences and past consumer behaviour, dynamic customer profiles can be built
• Target audiences that will be most responsive to a particular campaign can be selected
• Low distribution costs, well selected target audiences and the subsequent elevated response rates guarantee high ROI
• Relevance is the key, if a message is relevant to its recipient then that makes it that much more powerful!

Wayin hopes many more brands realise the power of the mobile phone not only as a tool to distribute ringtones and games, but as a way for brands to communicate and interact with their target consumer on a more personal level. The cell phone is an untapped marketing and brand communication channel that needs to be included in a brand's overall marketing mix. Holding a clear advantage over traditional marketing media, the mobile phone is the only medium that can go beyond basic brand exposure and actually deliver on brand engagement!

Visit our PRESS OFFICE: Wayin Mobile Media Solutions offers modern marketing and ticketing solutions to retailers and events organisers. Combining mobile marketing consulting, barcoded SMS technology and databasing software, we provide a truly unique solution. Wayin's focus is on introducing barcode SMS technology to the South African market through mobile tickets, vouchers and coupons. These solutions eliminate the need for consumers to carry paper, whilst allowing for quick and flawless redemption. Consumer profiling and database facilities are added benefits for the clients of Wayin. Wayin's goal is to turn passive consumers of products into active consumers of digital services. More information can be found at www.wayin.co.za.- more....

[23 Oct 2007 00:42]

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