The success of any brand’s marketing strategy hinges on their ability to stay ahead of industry trends and reach their target audience.
With the versatility of mobile platforms, MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) campaigns are gaining momentum. By utilizing MMS, brands can explore marketing solutions beyond the text-based limitations of SMS and distribute multimedia content such as pictures, music or video.
Drawing on combinations of various brand elements, MMS campaigns with rich content enhance customer engagement.
Over the last few years, the biggest challenges to disseminating video over MMS was two-fold.
- Platform bandwidth. Most servers weren’t powerful enough to process and distribute videos to thousands of users’ phones simultaneously.
- Device fragmentation. The variety of smartphone brands and models means there are 8–16 different screen sizes to accommodate when creating content.
Be sure your SMS messaging software provides device detection and adjusts the video / image automatically based on the device prior to sending the MMS. This makes it easy for brands to distribute dynamic content via MMS seamlessly.
Here are 4 really creative ways brands are using MMS in their mobile marketing efforts.
1. Pretty Little Liars
Imagine your favorite TV show. You wait on the edge of your seat every week for the latest episode and cringe when the season finale leaves you hanging from a cliff. Now imagine getting an MMS from the main character with exclusive previews before each new episode airs. ABC did just that with their show, Pretty Little Liars, and managed to garner the mobile phone numbers of over 100,000 loyal fans and boost viewer engagement by 20%.
2. BMW
Winter tires aren’t sexy, despite sporting a hefty price tag. Name-brand, luxury vehicle winter tires go for $500–$1000 a piece. So how do you influence drivers to make the investment? BMW tackled this challenge head on and reminded their customers that a better tread on snow-covered roads is a necessity, not a luxury. With a targeted campaign, BMW sent personalized MMS messages to customers depending on the specifications of their particular vehicle. With a 30% conversion rate on 1,200 messages, BMW made $45MM in revenue.
3. Pizza Hut
Do you know what you’re going to eat for dinner tonight?
Most people don’t. In the late afternoon as texts like “What do you feel like having?” are traded between couples and friends, Pizza Hut wants to join the conversation and the deck in their favor.
Distributing timely, targeted mobile messages to hungry customers with local promotions and coupons drives online orders and increases traffic through the door.
MMS allows Pizza Hut to be in the right place at the right time.
4. T-Mobile
Nothing is more personal or endearing than someone’s first name.
If any brand is going to leverage the power of MMS, it makes sense that a mobile communications company would test the waters.
Industry rebel child, T-Mobile created a simple, personalized campaign to send MMS messages including a video that inserted a user’s first name at the beginning. Customers received individualized videos and T-Mobile enjoyed strengthened brand loyalty.
The writing is on the wall, most brands will start using MMS more frequently and in creative new ways. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box. The ability to edit MMS messages and create custom images on the fly is getting easier.
If you’d like to learn more about insanely creative MMS campaigns, check out a quick demo of Waterfall’s mobile marketing platform.