Heart Listeners say Hello to HowLo?

Million 2-1, which provides
interactive competition, lottery and SMS games, has secured the contract to
provide commercial radio company Heart Radio with its lowest unique bid SMS
auction game, HowLo?

3 million regular Heart radio
listeners across its commercial radio stations in the East and West Midlands and
London can now
play the game, in which they bid for high-value electrical goods such as plasma
TVs, games consoles, digital cameras and mobile phones.

HowLo? takes the
concept of an auction and turns it on its head, creating a game of fun and
skill which is accessible to everyone. Each bid costs 1.50, with Heart Radio making
a profit on the volume of bids that are accepted.

To take part in the auction,
entrants respond to regular radio reads from Heart Radio DJs to enter the
lowest unique bid for an item via SMS. Bidders that are too high or not
unique will be told so and prompted with tips via text message to have another
go. The winner is the person with the lowest unique bid at the end of the
auction, which is at a pre-defined time.

The most recent RAJAR report puts
UK radio listening figures at around 45 million per day, with new formats such as
DAB, Internet radio and radio-enabled mobile phones helping to stabilise and
grow the listening audience. Against this backdrop, advertising spend on radio
is experiencing a decline, leading commercial broadcasters to look to new
channels, such as premium rate mobile services to bolster their revenue streams.
Given that the last
HowLo? auction for a Ferrari attracted more than 500,000 bids

, the
format looks to have serious potential.

Heart
Radio supplies its audience with an eclectic mix of music and entertainment
says
Million 2-1 Director
Scott Davies. Adding HowLo? to this mix will provide
its listeners with a fun and dynamic way of interacting with their favourite
radio programmes, and the opportunity to win a great prize for a low stake.”