2019

Fonix powers mobile donations for Comic Relief for the 5th year running

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

Mobile payments company Fonix has announced that this year it processed mobile donations for Comic Relief for the 5th year running, raising more than £10.6m via text-to-donate. Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day campaign is a biennial campaign hosted by the BBC, raising money to help people in the UK and across the world to live happier, healthier, safer lives.

This year’s campaign featured the live show, held on Friday 15th March, as well as a series of driver programmes. Each of these shows promoted text-to-donate, which allowed donors to donate via text at a range of price points: £5, £10, £20 and, for the first time for Comic Relief, £30 amounts for both the live show and the Kilimanjaro challenge during which 9 celebrities climbed Africa’s highest mountain. Donations were added to entrants’ mobile phone bills, allowing for a seamless, easy payment.

During the live show and the Kilimanjaro climb, the money raised from the £30 price point alone accounted for over 30% of the total raised via SMS.

Another new initiative for the 2019 campaign was the introduction of a competition which enabled viewers to donate or to opt-out of a donation whilst entering the competition. This was featured on BBC’s Saturday Kitchen and was the first time that the charity launched a competition to drive donations.

Entrants paid £5 to enter and be in with a chance of winning a unique dining experience, cooked for them by celebrity chefs. Using Fonix’s delayed donation technology, entrants had the opportunity to opt-out without being charged within 60 minutes of entering the competition.

Clare Charles, Account Director for Media and Charity at Fonix commented:

“We’re proud to have supported Comic Relief in powering mobile donations for the fifth year in a row.  We’ve come so far since 2014, as we now work with the charity to provide a total of four price points and we’re also constantly innovating to allow the charity to roll out new features. The delayed donation, for example, raised a tremendous £576,250 across four prize draws via text.”

Catherine Cottrell, Executive Director of Fundraising & Partnerships at Comic Relief added:

“It’s been exciting working with Fonix to offer new experiences and donation mechanisms to supporters and we are delighted that year’s campaign was such a success.”

Fonix share their Top 10 takeaways from yesterday’s breakfast event: ‘Pick ‘N’ Mix TV.

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

Joanna Cox, General Manager at aimm, opened the event by explaining how TV habits have changed: the days of having only three channels seem a lifetime away now that we’re so spoilt for choice. She talked about how the payment methods offered for content consumption need to be as frictionless as possible — more purchases are being made than ever before.

Joanna was joined by EE, BT Sport and Twitter amongst others to talk about the ‘ Payment Mix for OTT Audiences’.

You can read the full Top 10 List from Fonix’s Blog.

PSA consultation on revised Special conditions for ICSS

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

PSA proposes extension of regulatory requirements to all call connection services and strengthens requirements

The Phone-paid Services Authority (PSA) has opened a consultation on revised Special conditions for ICSS – third-party services that connect or signpost callers to popular helplines via a premium-rate number.

The proposals are intended to improve the information about these services that is given to consumers, both in search results and on service websites, to make it clearer that they are third parties and that calls via an ICSS may be more expensive than calling the desired number directly.

These proposals follow changes in January 2019 to extend the scope of Ofcom’s Premium Rate Service Condition to include all ICSS within the definition of controlled premium rate services. This extended PSA regulation to all ICSS irrespective of the number range they are operating on. This consultation proposes that the PSA’s Special conditions for ICSS should apply to all ICSS, regardless of number range.

The consultation is open until 10th June 2019. Respondents are advised to use the new PSA consultations response form, available from the PSA website.

SLA Digital partners with Spuul to increase carrier billing coverage

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

             

 

 

 

SLA Digital has partnered with Spuul, one of the most popular Indian movie streaming platforms, to increase their direct carrier billing connections, enabling more customers to pay by mobile.

With more than 47 million registered users across the world, Spuul is a video on demand streaming service with more than 10,000 hours of Bollywood movies and TV shows in multiple languages for customers to enjoy ad-free.

“Video on demand services have seen a huge uptake in recent years. Through our partnership with Spuul, we are excited to help them grow via our carrier billing connections across the Middle East and Asia,” commented Ashley O’Kane, Head of Marketing at SLA Digital.

Carrier billing allows customers to use their mobile device and add purchases and subscriptions to their post-paid bill or use their prepaid credit, giving a truly seamless and convenient customer experience.

Commenting on the partnership, Rajiv Vaidya, Spuul India, CEO said, “We have partnered successfully with SLA Digital to enable us to access more customers through carrier billing across the Middle East. We expect to continue expanding our coverage into other regions, offering Spuul customers easier ways to subscribe.”

B2B Marketing Expo is nearly here!

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

Media Partnership Promotion


We can’t believe it but the B2B Marketing Expo will be opening its doors at the London ExCeL next month! That’s right, Europe’s greatest marketing event is very nearly here, and there is no better time to start planning those unmissable seminars into your schedule!

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