TVi Media (TVi) and mobile marketing firm 5th Finger International U.S. (5i), have formed a distribution relationship which will see 5i link its technical and marketing expertise with TVis current offerings to connect brands, media, and content with mobile marketing tools designed to engage consumers where, when, and how they prefer.
5i has run more than 5,000 mobile campaigns for marketers, media, and telecommunications companies. Air-cast, 5is proprietary online mobile marketing tool, enables media, entertainment companies, government, and corporations to quickly and easily set up and manage their own mobile marketing campaigns and services. Air-cast offers connectivity to 97% of mobile subscribers in the US for premium and standard rate SMS.
This summer, 5i worked alongside Verisign and the organizers of Live Earth 2007, a huge music event that brought together a global audience across seven continents to deliver a worldwide call to action to solve the climate crisis. The more than 10 million viewers of Live Earth 2007 were able to send in pledges via text, web, and interactive TV, which would then appear on the ticker broadcast alongside the show. espondents received an educational SMS reply and were signed up to receive regular SMS updates from Live Earth 2007 on how to fight climate change.
As the mobile phone continues to become a critical distribution tool for content, rich communications and advertising, TVi says it is looking to its relationship with 5i as a way to offer specialized skills and a world-class mobile marketing technology platform to clients, including leading professional sports leagues, and 25 syndicated programs and independently produced shows on NBC, ABC, and CBS Sports.
5th Fingers platform is unique in the market not only because it provides rich mobile marketing functionality, but also because it includes comprehensive onscreen TV capabilities, all in an easy to use package, says Jeff Norman, President,
Mobile & Interactive Technologies at TVi Media. This allows TVi to offer a complete mobile marketing solution to our media, sports, and FMCG clients, without the pain of managing multiple vendors.
According to Air-wide solutions, by 2010 over half of brands (52 percent) expect to spend between five and 25 percent of total marketing budget on mobile marketing, said Warren Billington, VP Mobile Marketing of 5th Finger.  The partnership with TVi Media is a natural fit and will bring seven-plus years of mobile marketing experience and an award winning, highly interactive mobile platform to a diverse base of TVi contacts.