Vibes Celebrates 10th Anniversary of the First Text-2-Screen Mobile Experience in the U.S.

CHICAGO, Aug. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Vibes, a mobile marketing and technology company, recently celebrated the 10^th anniversary of the country's first Text-2-Screen campaign, putting the company on the map as an innovative player in the early days of the mobile marketing revolution. Since then, Vibes has unveiled numerous new features for its proprietary, multi-channel mobile marketing platform Catapult^TM to leverage the power of mobile. The company is now focused on paving the way for the country's top retailers, helping them deliver mobile coupons, drive in-store activation and build opt-in mobile databases.

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Pioneered by Vibes, the first ever Text-2-Screen event was held July 27, 2002, at a Paul Van Dyke concert. Vibes developed an application, which later evolved into the On-Screen module, for the event that allowed text messages to pass through a filter before appearing on an overhead screen. With 621 messages received and posted to the screen at the event, the Vibes' team helped clients envision the possibilities mobile presented to engage with their existing and potential customers. Today, the average concert or event brings in more than 25,000 interactions a night. Since 2002, Vibes has seen more than 6 million participants -- 2 percent of the U.S. population -- interact with text messages, pictures and tweets at concerts such as the Jonas Brothers, Britney Spears, Black Eyed Peas, Justin Timberlake and Linkin Park and events for national brands such as Verizon, Honda and WWE.

Once Vibes mastered how to create meaningful in-venue experiences, the natural evolution of the first product was to create Catapult, the company's cloud-based mobile marketing platform that arms brands with intuitive, data-driven tools to engage consumers across multiple communication channels, including text, MMS, push, QR codes, mobile Web and more.

A Decade's Worth of Best Practices
Using best practices gleaned from billions of mobile interactions, Vibes has led the evolution of in-venue interaction with its On-Screen module for more than 10 years. While other companies have followed in its footsteps, Vibes is the only company using both human monitoring and proprietary filter technology to manage incoming text messages to ensure the content is appropriate for the large screen. Messages that are cleared through the filtering process are projected to a giant screen at the venue; the entire process takes less than seconds from mobile phone to message broadcast.

"At Vibes, our goal has always been to stay ahead of the mobile industry curve," said Alex Campbell, co-founder and chief innovation officer of Vibes. "We have been developing technologies that anticipate the wants and needs of brands since 1998, and our On-Screen product is no exception. 10 years ago, we were the first to recognize that downtime at concerts -- before an artist takes the stage or in-between acts -- was valuable time for audience engagement from advertisers, brand marketers, event organizers and the artists themselves. Today, this engagement extends beyond the venue, expanding the conversation even after the audience leaves their seats."

On-Screen Enhances Audience Experience and Creates Memorable Moments
During the past 10 years, Vibes has not only enhanced audience experience by allowing attendees to interact with their favorite bands and brands, but the company's technology has powered some of life's most significant moments. Since 2002, Vibes has powered more than 225,000 marriage proposals and 2 million admissions of love, demonstrating the true impact this kind of engagement has with consumers.

The Future of On-Screen Technology
After experimenting with many different engagement tactics during the years, it became clear that brands, marketers and their consumers wanted to choose their favorite channels through which to engage. As a result, On-Screen evolved into an interactive, multi-channel tool for both in-venue, on-air and in-store engagement that has included games, text messaging, picture sharing, social media integration, promotions and contests -- while reinforcing key brand messaging to drive loyalty and engagement.

About Vibes
Founded in 1998, Vibes is a mobile marketing and technology company that helps some of the world's biggest brands acquire, engage and deepen relationships throughout the customer lifecycle. Vibes' Catapult platform enables brands, agencies and media companies to launch a wide range of mobile solutions from SMS, to MMS, QR Codes, On-Screen, alerts, mobile Web, mobile incentives and integration with social platforms. Using Vibes' Mobile Relationship Management (MRM) approach, companies forge immediate and long-lasting customer relationships by tapping into the uniquely personal nature of the mobile phone. The Company has delivered billions of mobile experiences on behalf of customers that include Verizon, Allstate, The Gap, Tribune, Fox, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Gannett and the Chicago Bulls. Vibes is one of only nine Tier 1 aggregators with secure, direct connections to all the major carriers. To learn more about Vibes, visit www.vibes.com or connect on Facebook.com/VibesMedia or Twitter.com/Vibes_Media.

Contact:
Kristin Parran Faulder
InkHouse (for Vibes)
781-966-4100
[email protected]

SOURCE Vibes