The joys of text

Texting is fast becoming a powerful marketing tool for pubs and drinks companies. Ben McFarland investigates.

The power of the opposable digit should not be underestimated. Without an opposable digit, more commonly known as a thumb, humans would find themselves a few rungs lower on the evolutionary ladder - shoulder to shoulder with less sophisticated mammals such as elephants, whales, dogs and er...lemurs to name but a few.

The ability to use tools, lift up food and gain that extra purchase when trying to prize open a jar of gherkins has given humans the upper hand in the game of life. Not content with boosting us to the top of the food chain, however, the opposable digit is now playing an equally important role in a marketing and social revolution spearheaded by SMS text messaging.

The growth in text messaging in recent years has been astonishing. Britons now send 44 million text messages each day compared to only 30 million sent in April 2001 and the trend is showing little sign of diminishing. More than 92 per cent of 18 to 34-year-olds own a mobile phone.

With each message sent costing between 10 and 12p a go, the likes of O2, Orange and Vodafone are making a tidy profit, but the money making potential of the textual revolution doesn't end there.

SMS texting is playing an increasingly important role in the marketing strategies of drinks companies and pub operators eager to win the hearts, minds and disposable incomes of young, trendy movers and shakers. Nightfly, a wireless media channel owned by drinks giant Diageo, is one of a number of SMS-based concepts looking to oil the wheels of communication between pubs, drinks brands and hordes of socially active, lifestyle-oriented 18 to 34-year-old drinkers.

Launched at the beginning of 2001, Nightfly has already recruited 1.3 million users to a bespoke consumer database that acts as a lucrative honey pot for brands from the Diageo stable and beyond.

"We have a database of consumers who have given us permission to text them about events and information that they have expressed an interest in - we text them about once or twice a week," said Nightfly managing director Dan Radice.

"If you combine the huge volume of users with the added precision, it's an amazingly powerful marketing medium and for brands to deliver that kind of information is priceless.

In conjunction with Smirnoff vodka, Nightfly recently embarked on the largest ever outbound text campaign. To raise the profile of the "Smirnoff Experience" - a programme of 300 club nights in 50 cities and towns - Nightfly messaged 175,000 18 to 24-year-olds with details of the events.

Pamela Bower-Nye, Smirnoff brand director at Guinness-UDV, said: "Smirnoff Experience drew in the right audience to the right venues at the right time, while the tracking website for the campaign enabled us to adapt the campaign instantaneously to increase sales and awareness in certain areas."

Flytext, a London-based wireless marketing company, designed a campaign for Carlsberg and Punch Pub Company during the World Cup qualifiers aimed at cementing the brand's links with football while at the same time driving footfall into Punch's pubs.

Posters urging football fans to ring the number adorned both the interior and exterior of participating pubs in the run-up to the big games.

Text messagers taking part were then sent unique SMS vouchers which they could exchange for a pint of Carlsberg, but only during the game.

Flytext's Lars Becker said: "What's really exciting for the publican and the companies is that unlike traditional media, which is largely unaccountable, text messaging closes the loop between awareness and sales.

"You can see which advertising is more successful than others and you can also find out when and where people are drinking your brand. What's more, we could also check which pubs were complying and putting the posters up."

However, publicans don't have to get into bed with a big brand to become more textually active. Licensees with something to shout about such as a quiz, promotion or ultra-trendy DJ can raise awareness in their local area by alerting customers via Nightfly's database.

In return for around £150, Nightfly will message 1,000 pub-goers with details of a particular night at a particular venue - a few days before the event as well as a reminder on the day itself.

"Nightfly can help licensees fill their pub and tell people about their events. There's no point putting on an evening if no-one knows about it - it's all about reaching out to the consumer who won't necessarily be walking past the pub," added Dan.

Nightfly also offers a service where publicans can add the mobile numbers of regulars to a database and send information to them via a special website.

Having coaxed drinkers into the pub via the power of text, licensees can then use mobile phones to keep customers on site. One of the fastest growing pub-based SMS trends is based on the age-old ritual of flirting. Pollen Mobile, a company which has worked with Brannigans, Luminar Leisure and Six Continents, operates a "Mamjam" concept that enables the shy at heart to become silver-tongued cavaliers at the press of a "send" button.

Participating venues are each given a unique venue ID, that is publicised on point-of-sale material. Customers then ring the number to sign-up to a virtual chat room where they can flirt and exchange details with other people in the pub without, at first, knowing who they are.

Pollen is also rolling-out Breadhead, a mobile quiz concept that is played in the pub. Similar to the traditional pub quiz in that it is played in-venue, Breadhead is played and run entirely by the mobile phone - the manager kicks off a quiz using his mobile, Pollen's server automatically delivers the questions via SMS, takes the replies and then makes a tally. To play, the customer pays £2.50 over the bar for a card, similar to a top-up card.

At the end of each month the weekly winners all go forward to a monthly play-off to win a cash prize - with a rollover mechanism that can mean serious amounts of dosh.

But while the potential for SMS texting has by no means been exhausted, there are concerns that consumers will soon tire of being bombarded by unwanted marketing messages.

Magnus Wood, marketing director at Pollen Mobile, said: "Consumers do expect that if they take part in a mobile service they will be sent other promotional messages. Our users have made it very clear that promotional messages are acceptable, so long as they aren't sent too many and they have the control to opt out if they want to."

Dan added: "Targeting is very important but it's got to be led by the consumer through permission. People don't like to feel like big brother is watching them - you've got to be very careful."

Despite much talk of mobile phone innovation, the high price of all-singing and all-dancing handsets is unlikely to encourage people to trade-up to mobile internet in the near future. According to Lars from Flytext, SMS is here to stay. He said: "We don't really think there's any revolution in the pipeline.

"The next big thing will be MMS - multimedia messaging service - which allows you to use colour, short video clips and polyphonic tones that will resemble real music rather than just bleeps - from a branding point of view it's a huge opportunity."