Friday, February 29, 2008

New Mobile Services from Clear Channel Interact Will Transform Outdoor Advertising

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Clear Channel Outdoor UK is launching a suite of ground-breaking mobile services which will enable clients and agencies to interact directly with consumers through the outdoor medium. The new services, branded Clear Channel Interact, will allow consumers to opt-in to find out more information about an advertiser, download mobile vouchers for special offers, access mobile websites or find the nearest store, gym, cinema or other desired location.

The number of adult mobile phone owners in the UK has reached 88%, according to the Mobile Data Association, while Clear Channel Outdoors 70,000 outdoor advertising opportunities reach 84% of the population every week*. Advertisers will now be able to book outdoor advertising campaigns that include a call to action for consumers to use their mobiles and text a Clear Channel operated shortcode number which provides access to a world of bespoke mobile information, selected by the advertiser.

These services will include: Find out more, Mobile voucher, Mobile website, Find my nearest, Consumer feedback, Voting service, Text messaging, Voice messaging, Picture messaging and Directory listings.

The Mobile voucher service, for example, will allow an advertiser to send vouchers direct to a mobile handset which can be redeemed directly in-store or by entering a unique code online.

The Find my nearest service can be used to drive footfall and facilitate the call to action of a particular campaign. Clear Channel Interact will be able to triangulate a consumers location and search its database for the nearest locations according to keyword. The matching destinations, for example retail outlets, gyms or cinemas, can then be sent to the users handset including addresses, telephone numbers and maps.

All of these services will be supported by a back-end system that will provide tracking and data profiling facilities for advertisers, in accordance with the Data Protection Act, further enhancing the accountability of specific campaigns, and the outdoor medium as a whole.

Clear Channel Outdoor UK CEO, Barry Sayer, said: We see the launch of Clear Channel Interact as the perfect marriage between the worlds oldest and newest media. While outdoor advertising provides clients with penetration at the heart of relevant environments and communities across the country, mobile technology closes the marketing loop by directly linking the consumer to the advertiser, initialising two-way communication.