News & Events

Industry Collaborates on Mobile Advertising Campaign to Increase Awareness of American Red Cross Text Message Relief Campaign

NEW YORK CITY – January 25, 2010 – Mobile advertising industry leaders have joined forces to help the relief efforts for those impacted by the earthquake in Haiti in the largest mobile fund-raising effort.  AdMob, Eyeblaster, Jumptap, Microsoft Advertising, Millennial Media, Ringleader Digital and other networks were approached by mGive-Mobile Accord to develop the mobile advertising campaign designed to broaden the reach of the American Red Cross Haiti relief efforts via the organization’s text messaging mobile campaign.  These mobile partners donated their time and ad-serving fees to enable the campaign across multiple publisher sites that donated their inventory for the campaign.  The publisher sites, including MSN Mobile, Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger Mobile and E! Online featured banner advertisements allowing consumers to click on the ad to learn more about how they can donate to the American Red Cross, and providing the number (Text “HAITI” 90999) to make a donation.

“We are thrilled to be a part of this campaign and supporting the American Red Cross relief efforts,” said Charles Johnson, general manager of mobile advertising at Microsoft.  “By offering consumers the opportunity to donate to the relief fund via mobile advertising and text messaging campaigns, we believe we are enabling a faster and more direct option for consumers to donate to help those in time of need.”

The mobile campaign was designed exclusively for the convenience of consumers to donate via the device they carry with themselves at all times – their mobile phone.  In fact, Gartner, Inc. recently reported that by 2013, the combined installed base of smartphones and browser-equipped enhanced phones will exceed 1.82 billion units and be greater than the installed base of PCs.  This statistic highlights the increase in consumer use of the mobile medium to perform multiple tasks, including donating to a charitable cause.

“Through this targeted mobile advertising campaign, consumers are able to immediately act upon their will to donate via the same device they are using to keep up-to-date on the events in Haiti,” said Andrew Frank, research vice president at Gartner.  “By providing consumers with a convenient avenue to donate to this cause, this campaign is aiding in the relief effort via a medium that continues to grow as the dominant avenue when accessing the Web.”

“When I heard about all of the struggles currently underway in Haiti I knew that I wanted to help out any way possible,” said Peggy Traut of North Andover, MA.  “Through this mobile campaign, I was able to immediately act upon my will to donate via the same device that I was using to keep me updated on the events in Haiti.  It is this convenience that will help continue to drive additional consumer support.”

The mobile advertising campaign is currently underway and will run over the next several weeks.  This timeframe will provide consumers with the opportunity to continue to help donate to those impacted by the disaster.