8 April

Australia-based eHound Launches New Location-based SMS Service with Partners including Multimap

eHound, an Australian owned and developed wireless location software company, today announced a partnership with mobile marketing service provider, 5th Finger; leading online mapping services provider, Multimap; and web development and content management services company, Komodo.

The eHound platform is designed to assist multi-site retailers in their marketing to consumers, either in the context of a mobile marketing campaign or general search activity. It gives retailers the ability to direct prospects to their nearest outlet (or stockist) via their mobile phone using a simple SMS message. The partnership means that retailers and brands can now effectively deliver location information as an adjunct to mobile marketing and other channels (such as print, billboard and radio).

“eHound will take mobile marketing to the next level in terms of consumer interaction,” says eHound Founder, Ashley Porter. “It is easy and cost effective to use, both for the brands implementing it as part of their traditional marketing, and for consumers accessing information via their mobile phones. We chose to base our initial service around SMS because it is the only application which has widespread consumer acceptance. As penetration rates for 3G handsets improve, we will develop more sophisticated applications for these networks.”

The eHound service is supported by innovative mobile marketing service provider, 5th Finger, which has worked on major interactive campaigns. “Mobile marketing has delivered great results for brands. We have presented the eHound service as part of a mobile marketing campaign to various brands, who have been impressed with the benefits it can deliver,” says Matthew Costello, Sales Manager, 5th Finger.

The service works by comparing the location of a store with the postcode input by the user. Because the consumer “opts in” by responding to an advertisement, there are no privacy concerns as with aggressive push messaging.

Commenting on the deal, Chris Warrick, Managing Director of Multimap Australasia, said, “The Australian market is ripe for SMS marketing campaigns, particularly when they can deliver geographically relevant information to consumers. Geo-targeted marketing campaigns are significantly more cost-effective than campaigns that don’t target by location, hence the steep rise in demand for proximity searching we’re currently experiencing. We are delighted to that our ‘Storefinder’ service can meet this surging demand not only on the internet but via mobile devices and beyond.”

By way of example, a consumer sees an advertisement for the latest high fashion shoes. Instead of a long list of store locations or worse, no information at all, the print advertisement includes a number to SMS for further information on store locations. The customer simply sends an SMS with his/her postcode to the number, and immediately receives a return SMS confirming the closest outlet / stockist to that postcode.

The brand or retailer can also customise the return message with additional promotional messages related to that specific store, as well as travel directions, opening hours, staff names and contact numbers. The service also allows brands to manage their store data via the eHound website, and provides detailed reporting on search activity. As a consequence marketers will be able to measure the effectiveness of campaigns in real time, and in a manner which has never been available before.

About Multimap

Multimap is Europe's leading provider of mapping and location-based services. The company delivers more online maps, point-to-point driving directions and geo-spatial ("where's my nearest?") searches to more companies than any other supplier in Europe. All services are offered on mobile, PDA, kiosk, and interactive TV platforms and in multiple languages.

The public website, www.multimap.com, provides a range of free, useful services to assist with everyday life. Key features include street-level maps of Europe, USA, Canada and Australia; road maps of the world; door-to-door travel directions; aerial photographs; weather forecasts; links to location information; and services such as hotel, restaurant and entertainment booking. The public site attracts over 7.3 million unique users, registers more than 140 million page impressions every month, and is one of the top 10 most visited websites in the UK. Multimap recently featured in The Sunday Times Fast Track 100 league table of fastest-growing unquoted UK companies across all sectors.

About eHound

eHound is an Australian-developed content platform designed to facilitate wireless location services through the aggregation and geocoding of location information for delivery over mobile phones. The platform offers brands and retailers the opportunity to unlock the potential of permission-based mobile marketing, while providing consumers with relevant information in an easy-to-use SMS format.