Schaumburg, Ill., and Irvine, Calif., Oct. 13, 2008 — Experian Marketing Services, a part of global information services company Experian, today announced a new alliance with North America’s leading mobile and voice marketing solutions provider, SmartReply, Inc. This alliance adds SmartReply’s mobile, voice and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) marketing channels to Experian’s existing online and offline marketing capabilities to help multichannel marketers expand their options for reaching consumers at the best time to drive a purchase or response.
For the first time, marketers working with Experian can add mobile and voice marketing to their multichannel marketing strategies. The partnership allows Experian’s clients to add any or all of SmartReply’s services, including Short Message Service (SMS) Mobile Marketing, Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) Mobile Marketing and turnkey Voice Messaging, and IVR to their existing direct mail, e-mail and online marketing strategies. By combining these services with Experian’s analytical and database marketing capabilities, Experian clients can more effectively identify, target, reach and measure campaign results across an even wider range of traditional and emerging marketing channels.
“To maintain a competitive edge, marketers must constantly utilize emerging marketing channels, such as mobile, to maintain the best level of communication with their customers,” said Mark Zablan, group president of Experian Marketing Services. “Experian Marketing Services helps clients invest their marketing dollars more effectively across channels by providing deep consumer insight and analytics. The partnership with SmartReply allows us to include mobile and voice marketing in our client offering.”
Through the partnership, SmartReply now can utilize Experian’s list services, data hygiene and append capabilities to improve phone number and address accuracy, correct invalid or incomplete records, and identify additional marketing segments for campaigns conducted by their customers. Having these capabilities is especially critical for SmartReply customers issuing product recalls because they ensure that important communications reach as many potentially impacted customers as possible.
“We are thrilled to be working with a company with the reach and reputation of Experian Marketing Services,” said Eric Holmen, president of SmartReply. “We are confident that our mobile and voice marketing solutions and results-driven strategies will complement the existing marketing services Experian offers its clients. Consumers and businesses alike are evolving into a more permission-based marketing environment, and these are two key channels in which to reach the targeted market and deliver measurable ROI.
Additionally, SmartReply is excited to integrate Experian’s data hygiene and data appending services and expertise into our offering to provide our clients with clean, up-to-date and accurate data that helps them identify, segment, target and reach their end customers more effectively and efficiently.”
Experian Marketing Services provides marketers with the consumer insight, data management, analytics and measurement capabilities they need to better understand and communicate with their customers while measuring the success of their marketing efforts. SmartReply delivers voice and mobile marketing services to a growing list of more than 200 leading retail, financial services and health care clients.
For more information, please visit www.experianmarketingservices.com or www.SmartReply.com.
About SmartReply
With over 120 major retailers and financial services organizations as clients, SmartReply is the largest and most trusted provider of mobile marketing and voice messaging services in the United States and Canada. As the only mobile and voice services provider that is Payment Card Industry (PCI) Certified, SmartReply’s clients and partners are uniquely positioned to utilize the latest in new marketing technologies combined with the added benefit of receiving the protection of the industry’s highest data security and compliance standards. The end result is that SmartReply’s clients have the proven ability to dramatically increase revenue, lower overall marketing cost and strengthen brand affinity. Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., information for partners and clients can be found at www.SmartReply.com or by calling 1 800 785 6769.
About Experian
Experian is a global leader in providing information, analytical and marketing services to organizations and consumers to help manage the risk and reward of commercial and financial decisions.
Combining its unique information tools and deep understanding of individuals, markets and economies, Experian partners with organizations around the world to establish and strengthen customer relationships and provide their businesses with competitive advantage.
For consumers, Experian delivers critical information that enables them to make financial and purchasing decisions with greater control and confidence. Clients include organizations from financial services, retail and catalog, telecommunications, utilities, media, insurance, automotive, leisure, e-commerce, manufacturing, property and government sectors.
Experian plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Experian has corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, and has operational headquarters in Costa Mesa, Calif., and Nottingham, UK. The Group employs approximately 15,500 people in 38 countries worldwide, supporting clients in more than 65 countries around the world. Continuing sales for the year ended March 31, 2008, were in excess of $4 billion.
For more information, visit www.experianplc.com.
Contact:
Christopher Fielder
Experian Public Relations
1 224 698 8628 Telephone
christopher.fielder@experian.com Email
Tania Eckweiler
SmartReply Public Relations
1 949 340 0714
teckweiler@smartreply.com