Objective

With the cellphone – and all its accoutrements – en route to becoming all but essential to Western life, it is also emerging as a godsend in the world of direct marketing. In the case of Universal Music Canada’s campaign promoting the launch of Kanye West’s new album, Late Registration, the one-to-one access, the ability to opt in to join a mailing list and the guarantee that a majority of recipients will actually read the message, were all appealing, says Mike Brown, VP mobile marketing services at Toronto-based MyThum Interactive.

Strategy

In March 2005, Universal first began building its urban music database with an on-pack promotion offering a chance to meet rapper 50 Cent. The SMS response rate was 8% and also allowed fans to opt into future contests. Using the growing list, in September 2005, Universal promoted the release of West’s album, with a simply worded SMS highlighting the offer to download an exclusive ringtone of the first single ‘Diamonds from Sierra Leone,’ at a cost of $3.50.

Results

Despite the price tag, an impressive 7.5% of recipients opted to download the ringtone. While the medium is so new that benchmarks have yet to be set, Brown says the element of exclusivity and the fact that the offer was sent directly to a very targeted group of fans also resulted in the strong response rate. ‘In any DM environment to have

7.5% people buy something would measure up well…. [It’s] pretty encouraging.’

Credits

Janis Nixon, senior marketing manager new media, Universal Music Canada

Dean Tseretopoulos, VP interactive mobile solutions

Chris Tang, software developer

W-Mode: responsible for the ringtone delivery