1to1 Magazine - November/December 2008 - (Page 13) Patriots.mobi Satisfies Fans Between Online Sessions a s recent three-time Super Bowl winners, the NFL’s New England Patriots enjoy a large fan base eager for information about the team, its players, and its opponents. To satisfy the increasing amount of information fans expect—everything from injury reports on their fantasy players to the name of the third-string receiver in the depth chart—the team created a mobile presence, Patriots.mobi, to complement its Patriots.com site. “We decided to create a mobile site, but we didn’t want something that required a lot of extra work on top of our online presence,” says Fred Kirsch, digital content publisher for the New England Patriots. “What we have now on Patriots.mobi is photos, all the main sections from the website like news, roster, and schedule, and the very popular cheerleading section.” Fans who access the mobile site see a page configured for their model handset or smartphone. That’s one reason Kirsch says the team chose Quattro to supply the back-end technology for the site. “One of my biggest concerns was functionality for the users,” he says. “The content on our site is automatically configured for hundreds of different phones. We want people to have a positive experience even if they don’t own an iPhone.” Fans can also use the mobile site to access the team store and buy apparel, souvenirs, and collectibles. Overall Kirsch admits that it’s early for “m-commerce” (mobile commerce) to take hold in America, but he’s hopeful that the mobile traffic to the store “This is something fans have been asking for, and it’s a function we owe them.” increases. He’s also exploring advertising to support the mobile site, and expects to have sponsors within the next year or so. Even if that avenue doesn’t materialize, though, he says the mobile experiment is worth the effort. “I justify the site even without any increased revenue because of all the in-house promotions we can run through it and the information we get out to our fans,” he says. “This is something fans have been asking for, and it’s a function we owe them.” The team is now working on adding audio and video to the mobile site, but needs to redevelop the content available online so it makes sense for mobile use. A 20-minute daily show or an hour-long radio broadcast— content now available online—wouldn’t appeal to fans using their handsets. “We’re working on finding what the sweet spots are for mobile content, and now that there’s more demand we’re reaching a critical mass where we can do that,” Kirsch says. “America is catching up to Europe and Asia in smartphone use, so as a brand we really had to get in the game.” > Jeremy Nedelka Clear Channel Gives Listeners the VIP Treatment l os Angeles-based KIIS-FM morning show host Ryan Seacrest is just now. The opt-in clubs may only have a few hundred or a few thousand about everywhere—hosting entertainment news programs, modermembers, but they are highly engaged,” Woodbury says. ating singing competitions, and even ringing in the New Year. And his The company has used tools from HipCricket for the past 18 months latest endeavor may involve texting a message to your mobile phone. to enable its mobile messaging strategy. Listeners can text song requests KIIS and other Clear Channel radio stations in the Los Angeles area or enter contests by sending a message to Clear Channel’s short code. have integrated a mobile component into their audience communicaIn addition, Clear Channel offers its advertisers the opportunity to use tion strategy, and the results are off the charts. its short code within the advertisements. Most people listen to the radio in a very portable setting—their cars. “It’s about providing the interactions people want to have,” A different song plays almost every three minutes, so the content is everWoodbury says. “In some cases we may get 5,000 texts in a five-second changing. With that combination, a mobile option was a perfect choice period of time for a contest.” She adds that the company tracks the to interact with listeners, says Eileen Woodbury, director of marketing for number of texts it receives, and while she doesn’t have the exact statisClear Channel Los Angeles. Listeners of Clear Channel’s five local radio tics, there is significant growth in adoption. stations—KIIS, 98.7, KOSD, MyFM, and Hot 92—can opt in to join one Woodbury says that mobile doesn’t drive people away from other of three clubs to receive text alerts when a celebrity calls into a show, channels like online and voice phone calls, as some feared. In fact, she when a new song is being played, or when new says increases in text messages correlate to increases in concerts are announced. the stations’ website traffic. The one challenge is finding Listeners to the KIIS radio For example, KIIS-FM secured an interview with a balance so the stations don’t hit their audience too station in LA can opt in to world champion swimmer Michael Phelps soon after often. “We’re still trying to figure out that threshold,” receive text alerts when a celebrity calls the station. his historic Olympic run. The night before the she says. For now they track the opt-out rates of each interview, and again a few minutes prior to the campaign, to see if people are turned off by a certain actual interview, KIIS producers sent text messages number or type of message. She declined to give actual to members of the station’s “celebrity club” to numbers, but says the opt-out rate is very low. remind them to listen. “Mobile is about hitting For the future, Woodbury says she and her staff smaller groups of people who have said, ‘I want to continually look for new ways to use the mobile interact with you.’ It’s much more personal, and channel. “It’s in our nature to try to be creative and much more effective. That’s the way marketing is try new things,” she says. > Elizabeth Glagowski November/December 2008 13 http://Patriots.mobi http://www.Patriots.com http://www.1to1media.com/view.aspx?ItemID=29293 http://www.1to1media.com/view.aspx?ItemID=29293
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