NEW YORK, NY — Unicast has debuted a new mobile SMS technology designed to help marketers tie their mobile and online efforts together into a seamless, rich-media experience.Called Unicast Rich Media Mobile Suite, the technology comprises a hosted delivery and tracking solution for optimized rich mobile Web-page content. The platform offers tools for advertisers and agencies to create, deliver and measure the effectiveness of rich media mobile ad campaigns, allowing marketers to bridge online advertising and mobile marketing channels.

Unicast’s RMMS combines rich media minisite capabilities and a robust reporting interface to enable marketers to create a continuous branding experience for their audience on the Web and on mobile devices. With the new Rich SMS feature, users can send real-time text messages from an online ad to a mobile device, directing the recipient to a rich mobile minisite that displays videos and other downloadable content. For brands, this creates message consistency across devices and provides a connection between Web and mobile marketing campaigns, a Unicast representative said.

With a branded minisite, advertisers are able to utilize features like data capture, video streaming, interactive store locators, movie show times, wallpaper and ring tone downloads.

According to Unicast, the product is compatible with many devices and U.S. wireless carriers, including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon.

“Mobile phones are quickly becoming the most personal, all-inclusive technology devices for users, so it is no surprise that today’s marketers are trying to harness the potential of mobile marketing to more effectively target consumers,” said Patrick Vogt, Chief Executive Officer of Unicast parent company Enliven Marketing Technologies Corporation. “What’s more, according to Gartner research, we can expect 2.3 trillion text messages to ride the airwaves in 2008. [Consequently,] mobile carriers and brands are looking for ways to deliver a richer and more relevant content experience.”

Relevance is a continuing problem for mobile marketers, according to Jupiter Research. Although there was much hope that mobile coupons would be a marketing ploy that would attract consumers’ attention, a recent Jupiter report indicates that’s not the case: Seventy-six percent of consumers surveyed said they had no interest in receiving mobile coupons even on an opt-in basis. Of the 24 percent who expressed interest in mobile coupons, preferences were split almost evenly between restaurant offers, selected retail discounts, local businesses and drinks (all at roughly 15 percent). Event tickets, CDs and DVDs, travel and airfare discounts, new handsets or wireless service packages, sweepstakes and contests and snacks rounded out the list of preferences, each garnering 11 percent or less of the interest.

“Twenty-four percent of cell phone owners are interested in receiving special offers and coupons on their cell phones, yet barely one percent of cell phone owners have used text messaging for the purposes of obtaining a coupon or discount,” Jupiter Research Director Julie Ask said. “Cell phones offer advertisers the opportunity to serve highly targeted, just-in-time coupons to their customers, but opt-in requirements require a mindset that more closely resembles e-mail marketing than traditional coupons.”

According to the study, 37-percent of advertisers who employ mobile marketing techniques target short-term product-sales increases, emphasizing small-ticket items and highly emotional spot purchases. Those who have been successful with their efforts cited time-of-day and day-of-week factors, geo-targeting and forward-to-friends features as contributing factors.