Both offerings are based on the SMS platform of the company's , which processes yearly over 2 billion SMS and MMS messages that pass between subscribers on different mobile carriers.
And both offerings leverage the wide and growing use of SMS and the interactivity that the abbreviated phone numbers called SMS shortcodes create. Nielsen Mobile, a unit of The Nielsen Company, in December that there are 116 million U.S. regular SMS users, 57% of all mobile subscribers. A dramatic example of how mainstream SMS has become was , of his choice for vice president, part of an aggressive shortcode-based campaign strategy. Nielsen estimates that 2.9 million mobile subscribers received the announcement over 3 days.
The new SMS Locator Service is now available, initially for customers of the Sybase mBanking 365 software. The goal is to let banking customers use the SMS service to get detailed directions to their bank's nearest ATM or branch office. And unlike , you don't need to download client code to your phone.
The service combines two elements. One is the Sybase natural language middleware, called iAnywhere Answers Anywhere. A phone user can key in plain text, without having to worry about grammar or spelling or about memorizing keywords or 5-digit shortcodes, such as those used in the mobile phone voting on the popular "American Idol" TV show. The second element is the geographic information and mapping service from ESRI, which can take an address, determine its coordinates, and then associate directions with it.
A mobile user sends an SMS message with his current location (address) to his bank. The ESRI GIS service identifies one or more nearby ATM locations, for example, the 3 nearest, and returns this data in an SMS message. The user types in "2" or the name of the street associated with an ATM to get its precise position in another message, along with the option of also receiving turn-by-turn directions to the ATM from his current location.
The second new service is the SMS Ad Exchange, which lets an advertiser or content provider insert an ad or promotion or other marketing message at the end of selected SMS messages. Keeping with the above example, the ATM directions might have a link to information about a new certificate of deposit or other offer from the subscriber's bank.
The service is currently in beta test, with availability due by the end of March.
Enterprises, rather than ad agencies, are in the forefront of applying SMS advertising in practical ways, says Marty Beard, president of Sybase 365. "They're using it to communicate to customers and users information about [such things as] promotions, customer service, upgrades," he says. The new Ad Exchange service will let them track, target, and execute different messages to different groups at different times and frequencies.
According to Nielsen, SMS advertising is something mobile subscribers actually appreciate. Among text messaging subscribers who recalled seeing some form of advertising in a text message, 45% say they responded, according to Nielsen, an astonishing response rate. The most popular response in Q2 of 2008 was to send a text message: "25 percent say they responded at least once by sending another text message--emphasizing the interactivity and engagement this medium presents," according to Nielsen.