The Power of the Surprise Punch

If it has become increasingly difficult to grab the attention of your customers and truly make them care about your service, you may need to take matters into your own hands and just punch 'em between the eyes. Or so says, Andy Nulman, the father of Surprise Marketing and self-proclaimed "Prince of Pow!", in his new book, "POW! Right Between the Eyes: Profiting from the Power of Surprise".

In POW! Right Between the Eyes, Nulman discloses his secret tactics of successful surprise marketing to generate word-of-mouth and strengthen relationships with customers. Definitely looks like a fun read.

Andy, I would be very pleased to receive a copy of your new book for my library.

Surgery by SMS Saves Boy's Life in the Congo

When a British surgeon volunteering in the Democratic Republic of Congo faced a daunting and complicated surgical amputation of a 16 year old boy, which he had never before performed, he texted his colleague in London for "How-To" help.

Dr. David Nott, a vascular surgeon, explained the boy's arm had been ripped off and was dangerously infected. He knew the boy would die within days if he did not have a forequarter amputation to remove his collar bone and shoulder blade.

Nott's collegue sent step-by-step text message instructions to successfully complete the surgery, which is only performed in the U.K. a handful of times per year.

Read full story here.

Text 2HELP Campaign Deemed Most Successful Text Funraiser

According to sponsors of the Text 2Help SMS campaign, wireless subscribers pledged nearly $200,000 to the American Red Cross through Text 2HELP(TM) Program, making it the wireless industry's most successful charitable, non-profit mobile text fundraiser in the history of such endeavors.

Wireless carriers participating in the program include AT&T, Alltel, Sprint, T-Mobile USA, U.S. Cellular and Verizon Wireless.

The Text 2HELP program was initially created to aid Hurricane Katrina relief assistance, and is initiated whenever a disaster occurs and a Red Cross assessment determines its relief efforts will require a substantial level of support. During the Red Cross response to disasters, including the recent hurricanes, the Text 2HELP program was promoted across many channels to help provide donors with an easy way to support those in need.

Text 2HELP donations, which go to the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to the victims of thousands of disasters across the country. Subscribers of participating wireless carriers can donate $5 up to five times simply by texting "GIVE" to 24357 (2HELP). The charges for these donations appear on the subscriber's monthly bill, or are debited from prepaid account balances. Standard text messaging rates may apply.

Full story here.

Elephants Sending Text Messages?

Kenyan Farmers Rely on Text Messaging to Track Elephants

In the "old days" during harvest, villagers near the the Ol Pejeta conservancy in Kenya would bang pots and pans and wave burning sticks to ward off the invading elephants, which would easily destroy half a year's income.

Crop-destroying elephants are now a thing of the past. Elephants are fitted with a GPS collar and mobile SIM card, which sends a text message to rangers when GPS boundaries are approached. When rangers receive the SMS warning, they race to the site and drive away the elephants.

Read full story here.

Verizon Wireless Customers Send and Receive 20 Billion Messages in a Single Month

In Feb 2008, only eight months after Verizon reached a milestone of 10 billion messages sent and received during a single month, they double the number of texts to 20 billion!

And to think basic text messaging was launched only seven short years ago!

http://sev.prnewswire.com/telecommunications/20080331/NYM03731032008-1.html

Brits Love Texting! Sending 1 Billion SMS per Week

The Mobile Data Association (MDA), in their latest reported figures, show that the British are sending more than one billion text messages every week.

These figures reveal an unexpected, but significant 25 percent rise in SMS usage among the British population, shattering all previous forecasts.

Predictions for total British SMS in 2007 now are now estimated around 52 billion, far more than the 42-48 billion previously predicted.

In September 2007 reports show 4,000 text messages were sent every second.

According to Mike Short, head of the MDA, there are a number of reasons for the rising popularity of SMS in Britain:

1. It’s convenient, comprehensive, cost effective, and it’s on every handset and network.

2. The assurance of successful delivery was perfect for many messages that may not merit an entire conversation or that people did not want to trust to voicemail.

3. Many people were also happy to get news and updates about topics or teams they follow via text messaging.

One of the primary reasons for SMS growth in the UK is the increased use of text messaging by businesses.

4. It’s much more convenient for businesses to notify many employees with an urgent message using a text message.

5. Managing customer relationships is more efficient with SMS when communicating deliveries, appointments or house calls.

The United Kingdom is among the top six countries sending text messages, and there are no signs that this growth trend in the UK will end any time soon.

US Mobile Subscribers Now Over 243 million, Sending 1 billion SMS per Day

As the opening keynote speaker at the CTIA Wireless IT and Entertainment show, Steve Largent, CTIA President, reported from his recently released semi-annual report on the US mobile market, that there are now 243.4 million mobile subscribers in the US, which represents 81% of the population.

Texting continues to rise. Users sent 28.8 billion SMS in June, and are now sending more than 1 billion text messages per day.

Also, revenues from wireless data service for first half of 2007 rose to $10.5 billion, a 63 percent increase over the first half of 2006. Consumers are spending more on non-voice services, as wireless data revenues now amount to 15.5 percent of all wireless service revenues.

You can view selected stats from the report here.