Mobile MMS Video Marketing with Jay Goss of Mogreet
Mobile MMS video marketing delivered via SMS is growing in the United States.
Mobile users typically open, read and share SMS text messages within a few minutes of receipt, making SMS one of the most effective mobile channels to reach cell phone users.
But mobile MMS videos increase user interest and bost direct response rates despite many consumers who ignore other promotional messages.
Since the release of the iPhone and other smartphones with high resolution displays, mobile marketing and advertising firms, such as Crisp Wireless, have developed media-rich advertising. However, SMS text messaging still dominates.
Mogreet
Mogreet, a company with headquarters in Venice, California, bridged the gap in the text ad market by combining SMS and short MMS videos viewable on most phones supported by U.S. carriers.
The company claims it’s the first company to offer mobile MMS videos across all cell phone carriers in the United States and will offer its service in Canada as well.
Founded in 2006, the company raised $7 million in venture capital and built a platform capable of delivering SMS and MMS video messages to over 200 million mobile phones in the United States.
(As of mid-2009, they’re were 277 million mobile phones in the United States or 89% of the total population. 246 million people in the U.S. have at least one mobile phone.)
In 2007-2008, the company started its mobile MMS video greeting messaging service, using over 3,000 videos acquired through its partnerships with Paramount, Fox Mobile Entertainment and other movie companies. Mogreet compresses and then transmits MMS clips within SMS text messages. Mobile phone users can immediately view the videos.
After first focusing on consumers in 2007-2008, the company re-focused its business and now targets marketers who want more compelling, effective mobile ads than 160 character SMS messages. Mobile MMS videos, transmitted via SMS , produce higher click-through rates according to the firm.
James Citron, CEO, commented at Ad-Tech in New York in 2009:
“Rich media has raised the standard for advertising online and in mobile. Marketers want and are starting to expect the ability to deliver engaging, targeted and interactive experiences with their consumers across all platforms.”
The company offers complete end-to-end campaign management, including video production, compression, ad delivery and campaign analytics through its Campaign Manager. Brands and advertisers can view online, real-time campaign progress and fine-tune campaigns to maximize ROI.
Successful mobile MMS clients and campaigns include Reebok that achieved a 50% CTR, Summit Entertainment, the owner of “Twilight, ” running a movie trailer promotion, a hotel chain offering mobile coupons to guests redeemable for drinks and a successful Valentine’s day promotion.
Jay Goss
Goss, Mogreet’s SVP of Sales and Marketing, has over twenty years experience focusing on digital technology and innovation. As COO for Numedeon, Goss was responsible for introducing Whyville, a leading edu-tainment virtual world for tweens and teens to Madison Avenue.
Among the brands that Jay handled were Toyota, Disney, Scholastic, Fox Walden Media and Virgin Records. Jay also launched new businesses within Fortune 500 and Global 2000 organizations, including Disney, Reed Elsevier and UCLA.
Jay has spoken at numerous new media events including KidsScreen and YMME, and has contributed to articles in the New York Times, USA Today, MSNBC, The Wall Street Journal and Advertising Age.
Goss graduated from The University of California, Los Angeles with a B.A. in Economics and Business, and an MBA from the University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business.
In a podcast interview with Brian Prows, Jay describes the power of mobile MMS video, brand campaigns, the necessity of accurate mobile databases, unique characteristics of the wireless channel that complement Mogreet’s services, mobile commerce and more.
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With this “form” of marketing, one gets to be excited about two outcomes.
The first is “activating” traditional advertising. If the marketer “tags” the advertising they are already doing with the text-to-shortcode (no different than promoting the URL within the ad), then insofar as consumers text-in, the value of the impression is markedly greater. The consumer sees the “regular” ad, but then receives an “enhancement” in the form of a video message sent to their phone.
The second is what happens next. If the consumers is positively impressed, having seen the mobile video message, and choses to “opt-in” to an ongoing dialogue with the brand, than this is “marketing utopia.” The marketer now has a consumer who has *asked* to have information sent to them on a regular basis (“regular” is probably defined differently depending on the brand), and now the brand can engage the consumer anytime, anywhere, without the guess-work associated with typical media planning. I may or may not read magazine X, watch tv show Y or drive by billboard Z, but if you hit me on my mobile device, you know you will make an impression.
This is a very attractive proposition for marketers, and features incredible ROI.
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