The Las Vegas Tourism Bureau’s slogan of, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” isn’t going to apply to the CTIA Wireless event. The CTIA is coming to Vegas and so is 3Cinteractive and we’re telling (almost) everything). Want to find out what we know? Then you should text “3CTIA” to 59495 to schedule a meet-up with us.

3Ci is at this week’s show along with other industry leaders from across mobile marketing, among them Microsoft, T-Mobile, and Research in Motion, all of which are taking the keynote stage to talk about “Mobile Life”.

Also attending will be former US Vice President Al Gore, who will be talking to the attendees about conservation and social responsibility within the tech community (by the way, since we’ve mentioned the Honorable Al Gore, did you know that mobilizing coupons and palm card offers is a great way to go green? Yes, not only can we extend your marketing reach, we help reduce litter).

Besides going green, you might want to check out the latest innovations in the mobile marketing sector, including our SwitchBlade™ interactivity platform, our ShoutBox™ interactive mobile application, as well as how you can become more efficient during the downturn, the present economic climate, or, let’s face it, the recession we’re in.

But don’t just take our word for it. Mike Wehrs, president of the Mobile Marketing Association (who is taking part in the conference), has said that more innovative mobile marketing campaigns could potentially make 2010 a “breakthrough” year for the sector.

Over a 6 week promotional campaign, Cricket Wireless will drive consumers to the Cricket website to increase their subscriber base.  Each week listeners will be given a different keyword to text in to win one of many grand prizes including cell phones, prize packages and gift cards. The consumer will then immediately receive a text message back informing them if they are an instant winner.  Even participants who are not instant winners will still be directed to the Cricket website to download free digital content and be entered to win one of the grand prizes.

3Cinteractive is providing complete technology fulfillment for the promotion including website integration, the mobile application, registering winners, and redemption tools. “3Ci’s comprehensive involvement in the campaign allows Cricket to focus on their clients and branding,” says Mark Smith, 3Ci’s COO. “It was really exciting to  work on such an extensive project where we not only designed the mobile application, but also the web component of the promotion.”

Global advertising agency McCann Erickson has teamed up with 3Cinteractive to launch a mobile marketing campaign for the US Army.  The campaign, which targets high school and college students, will help the Army identify potential recruits and converse with those interested in serving the Army.  The mobile program will provide information on their 40k scholarship, skills and training, and other benefits of joining the Army.

Students will see the call to action in their school newspapers prompting them to text a keyword to be entered for the chance to win a Nintendo Wii and receive information about the benefits of joining the Army. In order to be entered in the contest, they will be required to respond via SMS with their name and birth date.  To help the ARMY compile a list of interested people, 3Ci will post the information received from the text messages to the Army’s recruitment database.

“For the US Army’s target demographic, there is no better way to create a conversation than by using SMS,” said Chris Field.  “We feel that this mobile campaign will increase the effectiveness of the Army’s advertising strategy and will ultimately generate an interest in a career in the US Army.”

- Karly

In-Stat has reported that the trend of US wireless users going without a home phone is growing.

But even the expected “young, single, living alone, or sharing quarters” are not alone: 24% of landline owners considering moving entirely mobile. These cord cutters are big spenders, as they represent the highest penetration of family or group mobile rate plans (In-Stat) resulting in the highest spending at $111.41 p/ month.

Current cord cutters respondents use 22% more cellular minutes than the average survey responded, and 40% more than those loyal to their landlines (In-Stat).

This is the same generation that is spending more time interacting with online content and moving away from traditional wired mediums such as TV and Radio. As the content generation continues to evolve the way brands deliver their message, the opportunities in mobile marketing are just beginning.

Tomorrow I’ll explain a bit more why SMS is the channel to Generation Y.