HBO, Harley-Davidson, Rite Aid, Arby’s and Cheetos Use HipCricket’s Hispanic Mobile Marketing Network to Most Effectively Reach the Burgeoning, Highly Receptive Hispanic Market
HBO Pay-Per-View Campaign Yields 13 Percent Click-Through Rate and 70 Percent Mobile Opt-in Rate, Providing Brand Ability to Re-Market To Engaged Consumers

Kirkland, Wash. – Nov. 10, 2009 – Working with mobile marketing leader HipCricket, major brands and retailers are uniquely and effectively reaching Hispanic customers through permission-based offers and advertisements sent to their mobile phones. As part of the only comprehensive Hispanic Mobile Marketing Network, HBO, Harley-Davidson, Rite Aid, Arby’s, Cheetos and others are reaching a market that is overweighted with mobile phones, has a desire to interact with brands, and has buying power that is projected to exceed $1 trillion in 2010.

Since creating the network in 2008, HipCricket can point to significant successes seen by major brands and retailers, including:

• HBO PPV used HipCricket to drive awareness and purchases of the Mayweather-Marquez fight, and to generate opt-ins for its mobile VIP club. Consumers were asked to text “PELEA” (“FIGHT”) to a shortcode for a chance to win a signed boxing glove and received an SMS message back inviting them to join the VIP club. An impressive 12.9 percent clicked through, and of them, nearly 70 percent opted into the club, giving HBO a valuable database for re-marketing purposes.
• Rite Aid saw a significant increase in store traffic by providing coupon offers when consumers texted “MARCA” (“BRAND ”) to a specific shortcode: a coupon for $3 off a purchase of $15 or more produced a 7.6 percent click-through rate; 2.5 percent clicked on an offer for a $25 gift card given to those who transferred their prescriptions to Rite Aid.

“Without HipCricket, we would not have reached these Hispanic customers,” said Angela Poe, online marketing, promotions and social media manager for The Gary Group, the agency behind the HBO campaign. “We’ve seen firsthand the tremendous benefits of this network, and the large database of opted-in consumers means that we have a valuable asset for remarketing purposes as we look to increasingly reach the important Hispanic market.”

The domestic Hispanic market is fast-growing—four times the rate of the general population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau—and highly lucrative. Like most populations, however, it has increasingly eluded mainstream advertisers using traditional, broad-brush media to reach its members with culturally-relevant messages. The answer has been mobile. Key indicators show mobile, and in particular, SMS, to be the ideal medium for marketing to Hispanics: 32 percent of Hispanic mobile subscribers are interested or highly interested in receiving offers (Mobile Marketing Association); 87 percent of Hispanic households have multiple mobile phones (Mobile Marketing Association), more than half regularly text (Mobile Marketing Association), and text messaging has increased nearly 60 percent year-over-year (comScore).

HipCricket tapped into this market when it launched the first Hispanic Mobile Marketing Network in 2008, and expanded its operations through HipCricket de Mexico, in Mexico City, earlier this year. The network involves more than 70 radio and television stations and brand distribution partners. It reaches Hispanic Americans in more than 40 markets, including 14 of the top 15 Hispanic markets.

The company offers a quick-to-implement, easy-to-measure turnkey solution that empowers marketers with reply-based SMS ads, click-to-call messages, click-through-to-mobile-Web messages, brand messages, and 40-character ad injections into existing content delivery. Unique to the market is HipCricket’s 140-character push messages, which provide 3 ½ times additional creative real estate for marketers to provide compelling mobile messages. Real-time key-performance indicators allow marketers to test, measure and optimize their campaigns on the fly to achieve optimal performance objectives.

“Since we launched the Hispanic Mobile Marketing Network last year, it has delivered tremendous value to our brand as well as retail and broadcast partners, by providing them with a conduit to reach very valuable, loyal customers who are ready to engage,” said Eric Harber, HipCricket President and Chief Operating Officer. “These results represent just the beginning of the capabilities of the network which will continue its rapid growth in the weeks and months to come.”

About HipCricket
HipCricket, Inc. drives new revenue and customer loyalty for consumer brands, broadcast stations, and media companies through strategic, creative and measurable mobile marketing interactivity. Recognized as a pioneer by CTIA, the preeminent wireless association, the mobile marketing software and solutions company has delivered more than 45,000 successful campaigns for customers including Coca Cola, Staples, Hershey’s, Jameson, Clear Channel Radio, Premiere Radio Networks, Sandusky Broadcasting and NBC. With its unique technology and experienced, customer-focused team, HipCricket produces interactive campaigns through SMS, Mobile Web/WAP, and mobile advertising and now connects brands with audiences they desire to reach via the first comprehensive Hispanic Mobile Marketing Network. The company is based near Seattle with additional operations in New York and Mexico City. More information can be found at www.hipcricket.com.

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Contact:
Ed Harrison
fama PR
617-758-4144
[email protected]