Archive for the ‘Text Message News’ Category

Not everybody was a winner at Super Bowl 46, but AT&T Mobile certainly was.  In a post from John Donovan, senior executive vice president, he reported what happened at Lucas Oil Stadium, in addition to the Giants 21-17 victory.

AT&T customers attending the Super Bowl made a lot of phone calls — 75, 204 to be exact.  But, the number of calls was a small fraction of the total text messages that were sent and received by the fans at Lucas Oil Stadium.  Super Bowl fans attending the event sent and received 722,296 text messages during the game.  And, that’s in addition to all of the mobile marketing events at the Super Bowl.

No doubt, a lot of fans at the stadium wanted to share this event with as many friends and family as possible.  The numbers tell the story of just how integral sending and receiving a text message has become in our lives.  And, the importance of mobile in general.

Total customer usage of data was equally impressive: 215 GB were used–the highest data usage ever seen from a single sporting event.  Fants were posting lots of video and sending pictures to those of us watching in our family rooms instead of in Indianapolis.

AT&T’s efforts to enhance the user experience in Indianapolis were impressive.  It launched a Wi-Fi Hot Zone with 15 access points and added capacity to 200 cell sites throughout the Indy market.  It also deployed 9 COWs (Cells on Wheels) around the stadium.

At 84444.com, and Advanced Telecom Services, we hate SPAM text messages as much as you do.  A business or organization that sends SPAM text messages is not only violating the law, but also making text message marketing in general much less effective.

Therefore, as a public service to our readers, we are providing an easy online method for contacting the FCC about unwanted text message SPAM.  Please click here to report text message SPAM to the proper authorities in the United States.

You will be doing all of us a favor.

The history of the new ubiquitous text message is portrayed in this infographic from Advanced Telecom Services.

If you thought that the text message juggernaut had leveled out, think again.  Mike Snider’s story in USA Todayshows a very different story.

In 2009, just 18% of Americans owned a smartphone, but today that number has bolted to 44% that own a smartphone.  Younger Americans are even more likely to own smartphones:

• 65% of 25-34′s own a smartphone.
• 53% of 18-24′s own a smartphone.

Usage of text messaging continues to grow also.  Of mobile phone  users, 81% have sent or received a text message in the past 30 days; in 2009, that number was 75%.

When it comes to texting, women sent an average of 802 in the past 30 days versus just 604 for men.  The numbers from 2009 were 593 and 420.

And, here is Snider’s point as to why texting is replacing talking.

• Women talked for 771 minutes in the past month; that’s down from 861 in 2009.
• Men talked for 605 minutes in the past month; that’s down from 679 in 2009.

That should help alleviate some global warming.

My daughter just recently turned 18-years-old.  She’s as old as the text message.  Given the number of text messages on her cell phone bill, she literally has grown up with texting.  And, embraced it like ex-Phillies’ outfielder Jayson Werth.

Though there are several claims to being the first to text, wireless engineer Brennan Hayden sent what many consider to be the first commercial text message on June 7, 1993.  The profound text said: “burp.”

While sending text messages was flourishing in Europe in the early ’90′s, there was not a universal protocol among carriers in the USA.  Therefore, most text messages between carriers were being lost.  That is, until the burpers got involved at meetings in Tampa to establish guidelines for inter-carrier text messaging.

The text message really took off in 2004 with the birth of QWERTY cell phones, then reached new heights when it played a major role in the election of President Barack Obama who had an extensive mobile marketing campaign while John McCain had nothing.

But, there also has been a dark side to text messaging.  In 2008, a train crash killed 25 passengers when the engineer was texting.  In 2009, Michael Jackson’s death spread by text message and in 2011, the killing of Osama Bin Laden spread through the country via text message. 

Although less catastrophic, Brett Favre probably wished he’d kept his cell phone in his pocket, as does a Congressman with an interesting name that is now in the news with his “Weiner-gate.”

In case you are wondering, 72% of USA adult cell phone users now send and receive text messages.

We’ve come a long way since the burp 18 years ago.

A May, 2010, study by Pew indicated that 72% of Americans use text messaging.  That was a 4% increase over the year before.  What do you think it will be up to this year?

North Pole – Who’s the greatest businessman of all-time? 

No, it’s not Henry Ford, nor is it John D. Rockefeller.  Bill Gates?  Donald Trump?  Richard Branson?  Mark Zuckerberg?

Give me a break.

The greatest businessman of all time is, without a doubt, Santa Claus.

Think about it.  His customers return year after year.  He has a factory that churns out toys 24/7 with little overhead.  He has loyal employees; of course, there aren’t a lot of jobs in the world in this tough economy, so imagine how hard it is for elves these days. 

Santa Claus has a promotions department that secures prime visibility in crowded malls and gets him grand marshal positions in parades all over the world.  He also has a public relations staff that writes songs, poems, and even produces movies and television shows with him as the star.  His stamina is amazing and there are no banned substances in his body, unless you count thousands of chocolate chip cookies!

He’s an advertising genius.  Just watch TV in December and see how many commercials he’s on.  I’ve seen him drinking Coca-Cola for years now and am still amazed how he can balance himself on that Norelco razor after all the junk food he eats!

And talk about customer service.  It’s the best in the world.  No waiting on hold to talk to his telemarketers with an Indian accent named “Bobby.”  He knows what you want, often without your even telling him.

But, sometimes I think Santa Claus is slipping a bit the past few years.  He hasn’t really embraced html5, smartphones, social networking, or any new technology very well.  I think he’s one of only about 15 Americans that don’t have a Facebook account. 

His workers still use basic tools from the pre-Industrial Revolution.  His mode of transportation still involves harnessed livestock that takes a treacherous route around the world.  Call the ASPCA!

And, don’t tell me one animal with a light bulb on his nose is innovative.  His ordering process is downright archaic.  I mean, who writes letters any more? 

What Santa Claus needs is mobile marketing.  Worldwide, 5 trillion text messages are sent each year, but how many of you have ever received one, or sent one, to the North Pole?  Even Verizon can’t hear you now at the North Pole. 

Did you know that 18% of those 5 trillion text messages are considered commercial text messages?  Don’t you think a broadcast text message would be a great way for Santa to get rid of some of his closeout inventory?  I hear there’s a warehouse at the North Pole that still has half a million eight-tracks and cassette tapes in it!

Did you ever watch the late news on television on Christmas Eve?  There’s usually some cheesy graphic there with a picture of Santa flying over some other country.  In the eastern United States, I think he’s usually in the Czech Republic during our 11 o’clock newscast. 

Well, I’m an insomniac and I often stay up late multi-tasking on my laptop while watching the History Channel or ESPN—even on Christmas Eve.  I would love to get a text message to know when Santa is getting close to my hometown so I can get to bed on time.  If Southwest can notify me of its flight arrivals by text message, I would think Santa could announce the progress of his reindeer with all those clever little engineers he has on staff.

Ordering is another issue.  How many of you still have envelopes and stamps in your house?  It’s been so long since I sent a letter that I have no idea how much it costs to send a letter.  How much postage do you need to put on a letter to the North Pole anyway?  It’s not even on the USPS.com web site; I checked.  Plus, there’s the issue of the post office losing your snail mail which happens an awful lot this time of year. 

By the way Santa, I’m still waiting for the Benz I asked for last year.  I knew I should have sent my Christmas list by Fed Ex.

With text messages, we could send in our Christmas lists to Santa Claus through a short code, say 72682 (S-A-N-T-A).  With an easy-to-use mobile marketing solution like this, Santa could confirm receipt and even tell you if you’ve been…bad or good. 

Maybe that’s what happened to my Benz.

Bob Bentz is president of Advanced Telecom Services which provides a do-it-yourself mobile marketing network 84444.com to advertising agencies.  He is a father with two children and he still believed in Santa Claus until last year when his Benz never arrived.

If you are looking to traditional American values, the Hispanic market may be the equivelant of the 1950′s in America.

The median age of Hispanics is 28 — the same as it was for America in 1955, right after the post-war baby boom. 34% of Hispanics are children. Hispanics more often live in large, traditional, married-with-children families with participation from grandparents in the family unit. The average Hispanic family has 4.0 members compared to 2.9 members in the average White family. Only 4% of Hispanics live alone, compared to 15% of Whites.

Hispanics now make up 50 million Americans; that’s one in six residents! Since 2000, the Hispanic population in the USA has increased by 42%! That compares to the non-Hispanic population which increased by just 5% in that time period. In fact, Hispanics have now replaced African-Americans as the second largest consumer market in the USA.

What’s more important is the continued Americanization of the Hispanic population. Today, 91% of all Hispanic children were born in the USA, as compared to just 47% of their parents.

The market is also easy to reach, similar to the neighborhoods of ethnic groups in the past. 76% of all Hispanics live in just 8 states — California, Texas, Florida, New York, Illinois, Arizona, New Jersey, and Colorado. In fact, half of all Hispanics live in California and Texas.

We’ve previously discussed how Hispanics tend to have cellular phone bills that are larger than non-Hispanics. This is because Hispanics are more likely to not have a landline phone. Not surprising, given the young and urban concentration of Spanish-speaking adults and children.

The American Hispanic population is split down the middle in terms of the language that they prefer to speak.  About half actively speak both English and Spanish, but often speak Spanish at home with family.  On the other hand, half prefer to speak Spanish. 

Reaching Hispanics with Spanish speaking advertisements is definitely the preferred method.  While the ethnic group will speak English, its important to also offer them marketing and advertising in Spanish.  It will also help make your marketing message stand out from those brands that don’t bother to market directly to this important market segment.

That’s why 84444.com believes that you should target your mobile marketing to Hispanics as well…with Spanish messages.  To not do so, means you are missing out on an important and growing segment of the US population.

One of the things that Advanced Telecom Services’ president Bob Bentz does in his personal time is coach baseball.  Bentz is also a regular user of the 84444.com mobile messaging product to reach his youth baseball players.  In this blog post, Bentz wonders why every baseball coach doesn’t use text messages to reach their players when a rainout occurs.

The best way to notify baseball players of a rainout is by text message.

I have been coaching baseball for 16 years.  It has been a big part of my life.  Sure, it takes a lot of time, but perhaps I’ve made a small impact on young men in our area so that makes it all worthwhile.

My first opportunity to coach was in Little League.  One of the most fun evenings of the year was when the coaches got together for the preseason draft of talent.  In the early rounds, it was all business, with coaches monitoring spread sheets of ratings of pre-teens generated by their previous season coach.  The strategies used by the local coaches were not much different than the ones utilized by the general managers at the Major League Baseball winter meetings.

The later rounds were met with a much different rating system.  In the later rounds, the players were all inept so coaches were more apt to rate their selection based on GLM’s — good looking Moms.  But, no matter how good looking their Mom was, there was one kid that would never get picked until the final selections.  These were the ones that didn’t have email!  There’s no way a coach wanted to add to his work by having to make a phone call to notify the player’s family that practice or a game was cancelled due to rain.  Email was just so much…easier.

This weekend, my Junior Legion baseball team had a home and home series against another local opponent.  My club was home on Saturday and we were to play away on Sunday.  After the conclusion of the Saturday game (we won 5-1 by the way), the other coach and I talked about the impending rain storm predicted to hit the Philadelphia area on Saturday night.  We agreed that the outlook for playing the Sunday game was not promising.  The opposing coach lamented about how he dreaded having to call 18 players if the game was rained out!

“What year was this guy living in,” I thought.  I hadn’t been calling players for over a decade, or at least since every player on the team had email.  And, a few years ago, I even gave up email, preferring to send a broadcast text message instead.

Email is so yesterday with today’s teens.  If I were still sending email to my baseball players, they’d find out a week from now about the cancellation, because that’s about as often as teenage boys check their emails today.  That’s why I communicate with my players on the medium of their choice–text messages.  Moreover, a text message reaches the player immediately no matter where they are.  94% of all text messages are read immediately upon receipt.  Email certainly can’t make that claim!

If Little Leagues, Cal Ripken leagues, American Legion baseball teams, or travel baseball teams are looking for the best way to reach their players, then the only way to do that in today’s fast moving society is with text message broadcasts.  

I can’t imagine coaching a baseball team and having to make 18 phone calls when a game or practice was rained out.  

Perhaps, that other coach is still having his team use wood bats too.