Scripps HGTV

"More than 300,000 total SMS votes were received during the three-day finale voting window."

 

The Challenge

In an effort to capitalize on its popular HGTV reality show 'Design Star', and to further engage its audience in the outcome of the program, Scripps Networks wanted to include a mobile voting component during Design Star's final week, through which users could determine the winner by voting via text message on their mobile phones. The solution needed to be easy to create, administer and track, as well as have 100 percent reliability.

Additionally, Scripps Networks and HGTV were looking for a way to monetize the expected high volume of SMS votes by incorporating one of the program's sponsors into the mobile portion of the program.

The Solution

HGTV knew that mobile marketing partner 2ergo had a proven track record of supporting high-traffic, live network voting to capture SMS votes from viewers. 2ergo's Mobile Messaging Manager was a perfect solution for HGTV's campaign needs. The network utilised the SMS Polling and Auto Response modules to set up the message flow and tally the mobile votes from viewers.

Show viewers could submit their picks for the Design Star Season 2 winner by texting A or B to HGTV's short code, 44881 (HGTV1). Mobile Messaging Manager then sent an SMS 'thank you' reply to each text voter that included a brief sponsor message and gave users the opportunity to opt in to an additional dedicated message from the program's sponsor. This created more impressions for Design Star's sponsorship partner and additional advertising revenue for Scripps Networks.

The Results

More than 300,000 total SMS votes were received during the three-day finale voting window, with each reply containing a mention of the program's sponsor and instructions on how to reply for a dedicated sponsor text message.

More than 67,000 unique viewers voted and saw the sponsor's message in their 'thank you' text replies.

Approximately seven percent of users who voted requested the additional dedicated sponsor message, creating nearly 5,000 additional SMS impressions for the program's sponsor.

By giving its audience a hand in the outcome of the Design Star finale, Scripps Networks and HGTV were able to incorporate marketing messaging into an SMS initiative that already had value to its audience. This created significant additional visibility for the sponsor, while simultaneously providing a fun way for viewers to participate in and engage with the program.