Promotions.com to Unveil High Wire(less) Act
Promotions.com tomorrow will introduce tomorrow a proprietary wireless technology in hopes of beefing up its database of cellphone, pager and other device users who are willing to receive targeted offers.The as-yet-unnamed technology will allow wireless users to sign up to receive targeted messages at Webstakes.com, which is owned by Promotions.com. Consumers can opt-in to receive up to seven messages a week. For every message they receive, they are automatically entered into the Webstakes Wild Wireless 100 sweepstakes.
"The promotion and the infrastructure behind the setup is not just for delivering messages to a consumer's cellphone," said Steve Krein, founding partner at Promotions.com, New York. "We're using the delivery of the message as the incentive. The technology counts the messages as sweepstakes entries. We can conduct promotions simply by sending messages."
Entrants will have the chance to win a daily grand prize of $100 and a grand prize of $1,000 through Oct. 5.
Promotions.com expects the Wild Wireless 100 promotion to motivate a healthy cross-section of wireless users among the company's 6.5 million-member iDialog database to sign up. Additionally, Webstakes.com will offer a link to Sundial.com, a wireless services reseller, where consumers can sign up to receive a device and thus participate in the contest.
To promote the campaign, the company sent 3.4 million e-mails last week to its database. The message linked consumers to a short Flash cartoon about the contest. Then they were asked to register their wireless devices and to specify the number of messages they would like to receive each week.
Krein has high hopes for the promotion as a teaser for the contest. The contest has been up on Webstakes.com since July and has received 130,000 unique sign-ups.
Sundial.com jumped at the chance to participate in this contest because "those guys have a database we believe will be effective in acquiring customers," said Jonathan Koch, CEO of Sundial.com, New York.
"The challenge you have is doing highly targeted campaigns to manage the cost of acquisition. You have to do it appropriately, not just send it out to blanket audiences. The ability to target a person interested in using wireless devices is key. Promotions.com can do that. That's why we pulled the trigger."
The technology will deliver offers using the Short Messaging Service, which delivers 90- to 200-character messages to digital mobile phones and pagers. Promotions.com expects to soon expand its offerings to include wireless application protocol devices.
