Wireless Watch for February 6, 2004

The Thumbs O’ the Irish

An Irish-themed SMS campaign supporting Murphy’s Stout will immigrate to U.S. shores on St. Patrick’s day, courtesy of mobile marketing firm Enpocket. Star Brand Imports, the American distributor for Irish beer brewer Murphy’s, tapped Enpocket to launch a “Take the Murphy’s Challenge” campaign on March 17 that calls on participants to complete a limerick.

The cross-carrier text-in campaign will be publicized on 2,500 posters in liquor stores and 1,000 banners in pubs, and printed on 250,000 collector cups that will be distributed on St. Patrick’s Day in bars nationwide. The 10 most original conclusions to the limerick will be posted to a Web site.

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Verizon Brings NBA All-Stars to SMS

The NBA and Verizon Wireless have launched an SMS package with MVP voting, trivia questions and a fan poll. Dubbed the “2004 NBA All-Star TXT Play,” the promo is available to Verizon Wireless customers with two-way TXT messaging capable phones. MVP votes count towards the 2004 NBA All-Star Game and the 2004 “got milk? Rookie Challenge” in mid-February.

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New Platform for Text Sweepstakes

A new cross-platform SMS sweepstakes platform has been launched via a partnership between Sweepstakes Online, a provider of sweepstakes and incentive programs, and Smart SMS, a text messaging company. Called TEXTin2WIN, the platform lets users participate engage promotions via a single word or phrase sent by SMS to a designated short code.

“For companies, this means instant call-to-action, much quicker than with Internet sweepstakes,” said Caroline Saint, director of sales for Sweepstakes Online.

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Ipsh! Names a VP of Ad Sales

San Francisco-based mobile entertainment firm Ipsh! hired Barbara Read as VP of ad sales. Read held the same position with mobile marketing firm SkyGo prior to accepting the post, and she also served a stint heading up sales at LookSmart.

“Barbara has already started to connect the IPSH suite of products to the Fortune 100 brand sector. Her track records within this nascent market… will accelerate our growth,” said President and Co-founder Nihal Mehta.