(Video) Calling All Clubbers

In a first of its kind mobile marketing campaign, the mobile media company Srutonim (www.srutonim.co.il) is launching a novel telemarketing campaign, using video calls to engage and excite prospective customers. Based on made-for-mobile flash designs, the company specializes in funny, short clips that deliver the marketing message in a language that today’s youth find engaging rather than intrusive.

“SMS campaigns are so 2006” quips Niv, one of Srutonim’s founders. “People want to be entertained, to be told a story, rather than just receive a multitude of dry textual messages”. In the new campaign, based on DSPV’s technology, the opt-in customers receive an incoming video call presenting a comic history of the Clara Bar, one of Tel Aviv’s prominent night spots. Any owner of a 3G phone can receive the call without requiring any data plan, mobile phone configuration or even an understanding of what a video call is – the user just takes the call, and video technology takes it from there.

The campaign has been ordered by the team of the Clara Bar: “This is what we were looking for, a simple way to deliver a visual message to our audience, upper scale hip 20+ people who are always on the lookout for the newest trend.”

In the near future, Srutonim plans to add interactivity to campaigns, allowing users to record a video reply, join a service or participate in a prize-winning contest when taking the video calls.