Beyond marketing and ubiquitous communication, SMS has become a centerpiece in campaigns that go well beyond simply promoting a product or service, as evident in two new text-based campaigns centered around the charitable organization “All Stars Helping Kids.”
The charity has entered a partnership with the Jefferson Awards for Public Service to recognize top athletes who have uplifted their community. Over the last few months, teams and leagues from across the sports world have nominated thirty-six professional athletes who have an outstanding track record of community outreach. Through an SMS voting campaign powered by mobile marketing provider mobileStorm, fans have the opportunity to vote for their favorite player by texting their athlete’s Jefferson Awards number to 99158.
Five finalists will then be chosen in each of two categories, including Outstanding Athlete in Service and Outstanding Athlete as a Newcomer in Service. One athlete in each category will be awarded a national Jefferson Award for Public Service. In January, 10 finalists will be named to the “Dream Team for Public Service” and for the next three months, fans will have the opportunity to donate to each athlete’s preferred charitable organization through a text‐to‐donate campaign powered again through mobileStorm’s SMS platform.
Each finalist will then be honored at the “All Stars Helping Kids’ Sports, Business & Philanthropy Luncheon” in March and each will receive a check for the sum of their fans’ donations via text message. In the summer of 2011, two winners will receive the prestigious Jefferson Award for Public Service at the Jefferson Awards National Ceremony in Washington, D.C. and one recipient will be named “Outstanding Athlete in Service,” while the second will take home the award for “Outstanding Athlete as a Newcomer in Service.”
SMS provides a powerful link between charitable causes by facilitating the two main aspects; voting and text-in donations. We’re seeing this use-case a lot more these days and for good reason. SMS provides an easy-to-use, ubiquitous mechanism for people — and in this case, fans — to interact with an organization. For more info on these particular campaigns and to see the names of the 36 finalists, check out the press release.
