BBC Radio 1s Free Picture Messaging Day on Friday 11 December has been hailed a success, after attracting the equivalent of five months picture message traffic in one 24 hour period.  Produced as part of the BBC Radio 1 Access All Areas week, listeners were invited to take pictures of their faces using their mobile phones, then send them to the Shortcode, 81199.
Coordinated by mobile trade body, the Mobile Data Association (MDA) and with the active support of UK Mobile Network Operators, O2, Vodafone, Orange, 3, T-Mobile, Tesco Mobile and Virgin Mobile, who all enabled all picture messages to be free for the day, message traffic hit record levels.
Over 42,000 MMS messages were received during the 24 hour period, equating to approximately five months of BBC Radio 1s usual picture message traffic levels.
Also supported by WIN plc, an enabler of interactive mobile media, entertainment and data services, images were moderated and then used to populate an online mosaic for listeners to view and share their images.
These figures demonstrate that when picture messaging is combined with a compelling and intuitive campaign through a simple call to action, people will and do respond, says MDA Operations Director, Martin Ballard. Mobile industry stakeholders collaborated in a unique way to ensure that the technical, functional and educational elements of this project delivered a seamless experience. Together with the DJs commentary and the MDAs settings information portal, a positive impression of the picture messaging experience has been produced.