Text marketing- where the bloody hell are ya?

An AUS$180 million advertising campaign launched in 2006 by Tourism Australia featured a bikini-clad Australian woman asking television viewers from around the world... ‘where the bloody hell are ya?’ The infamous advertisement was aimed at generating an interest in Australia’s wildlife, and presumably its women. The advertisement also featured a website address and a local toll-free number to dial for more information. Having taken the time to watch the Australian bombshell in the advertisement, viewers were then encouraged to respond to the ad. However, this would involve people on the move- on buses, trains, in cars, walking dogs- to remember the website address and visit the site later for more information. Research suggests that this doesn’t happen very often, if at all. It turns out that knowing where the bloody hell your customers are when they see your billboard, or hear your radio ad, is actually quite important. Ironically, the Australian advertisement may have missed the point. By failing to engage consumers with text marketing, Tourism Austrlia has missed a significant opportunity to receive specific and personalised responses to their advertisements. Recent reports have found text marketing can be up-to 3 times more effective in encouraging responses to advertising than tradional forms of communication. This was certainly the case for New Zealand financial firm Spicers who received a total of 550 responses to their radio advertisement. Of the 550, 103 used a toll-free number, 140 preferred to use the [Spicers] website, but the majority of respondents (307) preferred to txt. Text marketing is about the now. When advertising through any medium, it pays to offer a a response mechanism which can be used by anybody, anywhere. That's exactly what text marketing empowers businesses to do- communicate with their customers via a personal medium and ensure that they never miss a business lead.