Three's text your msg/pic to a London Lite's centre pages
For YEARS – literally YEARS – I have been talking to newspaper companies about setting up a
YEARS man! I was even invited to a meeting with a totally disinterested business development chap at Associated New Media to discuss the concept in about 2004 if memory serves. I can still remember him staring through me for the whole meeting. He wasn’t bored out of his skull, he was, I gather, worried for his job. I was a bit irritated that all he could think about was his career when a simple nod would have got the technology out into the marketplace. I kept on talking at him though…
Got no where. Talked to the local press. Talked to the national press. Talked to advertisers. Talked to mobile companies. Considered taking out a full page ‘PICTURE PAGE’ in The Sun and charging folk £1.50 a go to send in their pictures with little messages like ‘hi mum’ and only published the best.
WON’T SOMEBODY PLEEEEEASE THINK ABOUT USING THE TECHNOLOGY?
In the end, I just stopped talking. No one cared, it seemed — such as the universal opinion that ‘picture messaging was shit’ from all and sundry. Don’t get me started on the UK networks introducing ‘MMS’ and ‘picture messaging’ to an excited audience — only for us all to find out that, yes, er, actually, it was shit. Never worked. Hardly worked. Crap quality…
So, imagine my delight when I got on to the train this evening with my London Lite (coincidentally, also an Associated New Media publication) and found that Three had taken out a centre page advert, ostensibly to promote their MSN message capabilities.
(It’s working, by the way. Non geeks are telling me about Three and their ‘MSN stuff’.)
Three are encouraging Londoners to text into their shortcode or email address (at standard rates, no less!) with things they like about London. At least that’s this week’s topic. You can send pictures or text. And they publish them in their advert.
Ultra smart.
REALLY smart.
Now the jaded amongst us will realise that this isn’t anything special per se. However, the logistical realities of making this happen — well, I’m impressed. There’s a lot of people who’ve had to get off their fat arses to make this work. Advertising buyers who really couldn’t give a stuff about anything except their comission will have had to make a special call to the London Lite team. Three’s designers, no doubt on a wickedly good rate, will have had to also get off their arse and design something that’s more or less live (in the context of national ad campaigns that are planned months and quarters in advance).
I’m impressed at what it say’s about Three. KUDOS to the team at Three who put this together.
This direct involvement is definitely the way ahead. More pictures coming.
