Performance marketing network Miva has launched a platform to place pay-per-text ads on directory assistance messages from a mobile operator in the U.K.
The TXT//AD product was launched on Friday via an exclusive deal with The Number, a British directory assistance service. The Number operates what it says is the largest directory assistance service in Britain, providing both landline and mobile users with phone numbers plus other data, such as movie times, train departure and arrival times, and hotel information and ratings over the phone.
Mobile users can opt to receive their information as an SMS message, and Miva’s TXT//AD platform will be able to insert targeted text ads into these messages. The ads will be sold by business or service sector and will include advertisers’ phone numbers and special offers.
The new platform will give marketers access to the tens of millions of directory enquiries that 118 188 responds to each year, Miva director and CMO Seb Bishop said in a release.
“A car hire company, for example, could now buy space in every text message sent in response to 118 118 enquiries for companies in the ‘airlines’ ad group,” he said. “We believe this is an incredibly powerful and highly targeted new ad model.”
