Hipcricket announced that Journal Broadcast Group has selected the mobile marketing provider to be its exclusive partner corporate-wide. The companies have done business since 2007 with six stations currently employing Hipcricket to drive sales, engagement and time spent listening and watching. The group has 33 radio stations and 13 television stations in 12 markets.
Hipcricket has conducted more than 50,000 mobile marketing campaigns for some of the world’s biggest brands—including Rite Aid, HBO, Coca Cola and Staples—as well as hundreds of radio and television stations nationwide. Hipcricket equips clients with superior technology and services that enable them to create mobile advertising and promotional campaigns in minutes. The Hipcricket platform includes powerful analytics tools that allow stations to comprehensively monitor campaigns, measure and analyze results and make campaign or program changes in real time for the best possible results.
Milwaukee’s WTMJ-AM and WTMJ-TV (NBC) use Hipcricket to power their School Closure Alerts program. More than 18,000 audience members currently receive text and e-mail alerts when schools close due to inclement weather.
“Hipcricket really sets the standard for mobile marketing by generating new revenue and engagement with an opted-in audience via mobile phones,” said Steve Wexler, EVP of television and radio operations at Journal Broadcast Group. “It’s so much more than just sending out text messages—it’s truly changed the way we communicate with our audience, one that can be easily measured to ensure the successful use of our marketing dollars and those of our advertisers.”
Journal Broadcast Group’s Knoxville operations utilized some of the features that Hipcricket mobile marketing software and advertising strategies afford to develop considerable revenue during a one-day sale window.
“Journal Broadcast Group is one of the country’s most respected ownership groups for the autonomy it provides to each of its local stations. By equipping them with Hipcricket’s mobile marketing platform and superior customer service, they take this to the next level,” said Ivan Braiker, Hipcricket’s CEO and himself a three-decade veteran of the media and broadcast industry. “Hipcricket will further partner with the Journal Broadcast Group stations to increase audience loyalty, heighten sponsor satisfaction and improve non-traditional revenues. At a time when the broadcast industry is looking for new ways to bolster the bottom line, mobile marketing is a true game changer.”
“We’re excited to partner with Hipcricket across our Journal Broadcast Group markets. This is another tool to provide an option for our listeners and viewers to engage with our core brands along with the new media opportunities we’re creating at our stations,” said Jim Thomas, vice president, marketing, programming and interactive media at Journal Broadcast Group. “Our partnership with Hipcricket means we can offer our advertisers real interactive touch points with users.”
