GossRSVP Available to Publishers, Advertisers

By: E&P Staff After six months of pilot testing, Goss International is offering its GossRSVP program to U.S. advertisers and publishers to increase reader engagement and interactivity of print media.

GossRSVP allows mobile phone users to interact with print and other media through text messaging and bar codes. Users also may download to their mobile phone an application developed by GossRSVP and Upcode Ltd. that speeds the system's use. Advertisers and publishers can learn more, open accounts and download GossRSVP codes for use in advertising or other materials by visiting www.gossrsvp.com.

GossRSVP links cell-phone technology with print, "enhancing the already high ROI value of print by making it more interactive," Goss International Vice President Toby Clarke said in a statement.

Small GossRSVP 2-D bar codes and alphanumeric sequences included in printed materials prompt cell phone users to send them via text message or scan and send them to receive electronic coupons, enter contests, participate in loyalty programs, answer surveys or request additional information that can be sent directly to their phones. Advertisers can control or alter the responses dynamically and offer mobile phone users opportunities to "opt in" for future communications, such as text alerts.

Clarke said Goss manages the interactions and response data, and that because cost is based primarily on utilization, similar to clicks through for Internet advertising, getting started with the GossRSVP program is "a scalable low-cost and low-risk proposition."

Companies can buy GossRSVP codes to include in their own print materials and monitor and manage the program directly through the www.gossrsvp.com Web site. A Reseller Subscription Service also allows publishers, advertising agencies or other organizations to subscribe to multiple codes and then re-sell them to individual advertisers.

In the pilot programs, retailers ran "text-to-win" promotions and sent electronic coupons to phone users responding to print ads, real estate agents included the codes on for-sale signs for access to additional photos and information, a college paper conducted presidential election polling, and a manufacturer included GossRVSP codes with its product, allowing users to download an installation video.