Interview: Mobile Messaging Marketing CEO Rich Begert of Singlepoint
When producers of the hugely successful Pop Idol brought the show to the US from the UK, the time zones of the larger country presented challenges to engaging audiences nationally to participate in the show’s real time story through voting. If Ea
st Coast audiences voted based on the live show they watched, and a winner was declared in that same broadcast, the show would likely create far less interest or interaction from West Coast viewers when it aired again three hours later on tape delay.
To manage the geographic challenges, shows like Idol, Dancing with the Stars and America’s Got Talent now air two different shows over two nights, enabling mobile customers nationwide to contribute to the results, and the “results show” forms the basis for a second night of television programming.
Rich Begert, CEO of Singlepoint, 
a Bellevue, Washington company that specializes in providing broadcasters and advertisers with interactive mobile marketing solutions, believes that American Idol is the case study that shows how mobile messaging campaigns have become the ultimate customer relationship management tool for engaging consumers. “Interactive TV is here, it’s just not happening on the big screen," Begert claims.
Begert’s passion for the effectiveness and efficiency of mobile messaging is at times counterbalanced with a dash of disappointment in the broadcast networks and digital agencies, which have not fully embraced the potential of his advertising platform. "Mobile messaging is opt-in, two way, and each customer can be uniquely identified through their mobile ID, or phone number. It should be a broadcaster's and advertiser's dream.”
Begert pointed to obvious metrics that should get any direct marketer excited about integrating interactive messaging campaigns into their mix: 60% of mobile users in the US subscribe to a text plan. And US consumers sent over 1 trillion text messages, according to CTIA, in 2008 (their official stats for 2009 have not been released yet).
He further highlighted the benefits of marketing to consumers through their mobile device. “A mobile phone number offers advertisers a way to locally target messages. And that helps deliver more relevant content to specific segments.” And, he continued, it enables immediate, direct response to comment, purchase or share because your mobile phone is always with you. The fact that a phone is inherently a two way communication tool, Begert maintains, makes it easier for the consumer to naturally interact with an advertiser’s message.
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