Zoove, a provider of StarStar Numbers for the largest wireless operators in the United States, announced a partnership with T-Mobile to enable T-Mobile (News - Alert) customers to connect with their favorite brands while on the go.
With this announcement, Zoove's StarStar Numbers are now available across all four of the major U.S. wireless carriers. The company also expects that major advertisers and brands will begin promoting StarStar Numbers as part of their existing marketing campaigns, such as billboards, print and online ads, TV and radio commercials, consumer packaged goods, and more this year.
StarStar Numbers, for example **BRAND (**27263), allow customers to call the StarStar Number of the brand being promoted or advertised. For example, SUZUKI is currently using **SUZUKI (**789854) to promote their 2011 GSX (News - Alert)-R sports bike.
When a customer calls this number, he/she gets the brand's mobile app, Web page, coupon, videos pushed directly to their mobile phones – without the need to use 2D-bar code readers or cross-carrier text messaging short codes, company officials said.
With StarStar facility, T-Mobile customers can engage in immersive interactions with their favorite brands, said Brad Duea, senior vice president of value added services at T-Mobile USA. It also provides brands with mobile assets with an easy mechanism to reach consumers' phone screens.
“Zoove's StarStar Numbers are a compelling and intuitive way to meet the needs of our customers and the brands they love,” Duea added.
“Our StarStar Numbers enable T-Mobile customers to engage with brands on their own terms, on the one device they carry everywhere,” said Joe Gillespie, president and CEO of Zoove, in a statement. “By promoting memorable vanity numbers as part of existing ads or commercials, brands now have a simple way to deliver their mobile apps, contests, coupons, and more to reach today's ‘anywhere’ consumer.”
Zoove’s StarStar Numbers are compatible with both feature phones and smartphones, across all major mobile operating systems.
For T-Mobile customers, there is no additional charge to call a StarStar Number. After the initial phone call, consumers will receive a text message or voice mail prompting them to engage further, and at that point they can opt in, based on their phone's capabilities, to view Web sites, download apps, and the like, company officials said.
In June 2010,
Verizon Wireless selected the Mobile Dial Code Services Platform from Zoove to manage the leasing of certain dial codes and campaign management for those dial-codes.
Rajani Baburajan is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Rajani's articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by Jennifer Russell