News

Velti selected by Johnston Press to deliver mobile marketing campaigns

Velti, global provider of mobile marketing and advertising technology, today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Johnston Press to supply and manage premium mobile services including SMS applications. Velti won the contract following a competitive bid. It is the second major UK publisher to select Velti as a partner for premium mobile SMS services and other mobile features that are essential to retaining reader loyalty.

Johnston Press plc. publishes 18 daily newspapers, 253 weekly newspapers, 297 local websites and a huge range of related specialist, locally focused print publications. Velti will supply the technology to support mobile premium rate interactions across the publisher’s portfolio including The Scotsman and The Yorkshire Post. These interactions will include SMS applications for competitions, paid promotions and opt-in information alerts such as local information bulletins.

Velti’s mobile CRM platform will enable Johnston Press plc. to fully monetise these mobile interactions. The platform will manage all SMS traffic from the many promotions, puzzles and comments pages and allow Johnston Press to add to its opt-in database of valuable customer data and improve customer service for its readers.

Leila Palmer, Head of Enterprise Revenue Development at Johnston Press, said, “Our readers are increasingly consuming their news across a diverse range of media platforms. Our partnership with Velti will enable us to interact with our readers and build and develop new revenue streams.”

Stephen Upstone, VP Sales and Business Development across Europe for Velti, said, “Our work with Johnston Press plc will not only serve to provide benefits for the publisher’s readers, but also increase loyalty and generate new revenue streams for the company itself. Velti has been operating in the mobile industry for over a decade, and this experience enables us to develop bespoke campaigns for our clients that benefit their bottom line.”