Call it a Win!

It reads like a familiar script by now: AT&T Wireless dialed up its American Idol sponsorship by letting subscribers vote for show contestants via text-message.

That prompted AT&T Wireless customers who don’t use text-messaging to try it; a Live Like an Idol sweepstakes (every text message equals one entry) helped make it a habit.

It’s familiar because the February-June 2003 campaign won a PRO Award in November (Best Campaign Generating Brand Awareness and Trial Recruitment) and a PMA Gold Reggie in March (National Consumer Promotion over $5 Million).

But the campaign is famous mostly as the watershed moment that made text-messaging commonplace in the U.S. It was the largest text-messaging event by a single carrier, and it defined the role of cell phones as a promotional medium.

This campaign gave the industry its first look at how marketers will now use TV — and how TV programming will incorporate marketing. That may be the strongest message yet from AT&T Wireless and Fox Television: Such symbiosis makes programs and marketing more compelling for consumers — and more lucrative. The key is a logical fit, and a starring role for the brand.

Noteworthy, too, is the fact that AT&T’s campaign is the first Broadcast TV EMMA winner to take Best Overall; past Best Overall winners have been feature films. (The first EMMA Awards in 1999 didn’t include a Best Overall; see sidebar for past winners.) Even small screens can deliver on strong strategy. In fact, that’s AT&T Wireless’ endgame: To become a promotional medium for other marketers.

“Wireless phones are the small screen of advertising,” says Jeremy Pemble, AT&T Wireless VP-public relations. “As companies look to expand visibility for their brands, what better place than the hip pocket of millions of consumers?”

Packaged goods marketers are starting to tap AT&T Wireless for text overlays to U.S. sweepstakes, a common practice in Europe. “Text messaging allows people to respond on the spot,” Pemble says. “That’s very powerful for contests.”

AT&T Wireless sponsored Fox’s first American Idol season in 2002. AT&T subscribers could register to get show updates, trivia and polls via phone — but they couldn’t vote via text. Yet.

That was a crucial part of negotiations when AT&T Wireless re-upped its sponsorship for 2003. The Redmond, WA-based telecom told Fox and American Idol producer FremantleMedia North America that it could host text voting to complement American Idol’s phone tallies. Freemantle’s U.K. show Pop Idol used text voting, so Freemantle and Fox were game. That put AT&T Wireless in front of the camera, with host Ryan Seacrest demonstrating text messaging in each episode. “Voting was the killer app — for viewers to be able to really impact the outcome of the show,” says Fox senior VP-content Lucy Hood.

Only 12% of cell phone users had ever sent text messages before the promotion — but 80% of AT&T Wireless subscribers had text-enabled phones. And “texters” are more likely to use their phones frequently and to upgrade equipment, both lucrative revenue opportunities for AT&T Wireless, whose data business (phone use beyond calls) is a significant and fast-growing segment of its $15.7 billion in revenue.

AT&T and Einson Freeman, Upper Saddle River, NJ, set a two-pronged strategy to spur trial and frequency among new and “light” texters who averaged fewer than five messages a month. Viewers watched American Idol broadcasts, which aired a short code that AT&T subscribers could dial to vote for their fave contestant. (Viewers also could vote via an 800 number; polls were open for two hours after each broadcast.) That spurred trial, and showed newbies how easy texting can be.

The Live Like an Idol sweepstakes encouraged frequency. Subscribers registered (via phone) for the promotion, then each message they sent (to anyone, for any reason) doubled as a sweepstakes entry. Grand prize was an Ultimate Idol Experience: A trip for 10 friends to New York City or Los Angeles with first-class accommodations and a shopping spree. Lesser prizes ranged from trips to an American Idol taping (awarded weekly) to American Idol karaoke parties at a local restaurant (five in all) to American Idol CDs and T-shirts.

Registrants got “Idol Alerts,” trivia and polls on their phones. Idol fans who didn’t have AT&T Wireless service could get an American Idol Party Kit when they signed up for service at retail; current subscribers who upgraded to a frequent text-messaging plan got party kits, too, with a Kelly Clarkson CD, voting scorecard, popcorn and party guide with recipes.

Einson’s sister shop OgilvyOne, New York City, was lead agency on AT&T Wireless’ Idol sponsorship and handled TV, print, online and direct-mail support for the campaign.

The promo struck a chord with viewers: AT&T Wireless subscribers cast about 2.7 million votes each week (15% of the average 18 million votes American Idol garnered). At its height, AT&T Wireless processed more than 2,3000 text votes per second. Wireless media firm Mobliss, Seattle, handles text voting, on-air polling, and wireless content for American Idol.

The cash register ring

One-third of AT&T’s promotion registrants were texting for the first time ever. (Seventy percent of text voters cast more than one vote.) “Fox built a new audience for the wireless market with that,” Hood says. Participants sent an average 23 messages during the promotion. In all, AT&T customers sent more than 7.5 million Idol-related messages during the show’s run — a tidy $750,000 at 10 cents per message. Text voting was 50 times higher for the last episode than it was for the first. The show averaged 40 million viewers per episode.

“Our sponsorship of American Idol has inextricably linked text messaging with American pop-culture,” said Andre Dahan, president of AT&T Wireless Mobile Multimedia Services, at the time. “Television viewers now expect to be part of the action — and there’s no turning back. The wireless phone has earned a permanent place alongside the television remote.”

The encore

AT&T Wireless followed up in December/ January as sponsor of World Idol’s two global broadcasts (with a performance by Sir Elton John). This spring AT&T Wireless took it up another notch, adding “Fan Text” that lets subscribers send messages to their fave contestants. Fans also can text answers to on-air polls; results are broadcast during the show.

Off-screen, Cingular Wireless is buying AT&T Wireless for $41 billion; the deal is expected to close by yearend, and Cingular is likely to drop the AT&T brand name.

American Idol’s high ratings gave AT&T Wireless a broad platform to take text-messaging mainstream. But AT&T didn’t let Idolatry overshadow its own brand: The phones got a crucial supporting role that made the product the real star. It made the glam tangible, and put the hit show at viewers’ fingertips.

AT&T Wireless has proven its marketing talent on its own, small screen.