Welcome to the inaugural eHound Newsletter. We are planning a regular communication to keep you up-to-date on eHound developments, as well as bringing you insights into the latest trends in mobile marketing and wireless applications.

eHound a hit with BWS and preparing for a national rollout

eHound has been contracted to supply wireless location services to national liquor retailer, BWS. After a successful three month trial in Queensland, BWS has announced the national roll-out of eHound to support its national marketing efforts. BWS (Beer Wine Spirits) is part of Woolworth's Liquor Division, and has over 450 stories nationwide.

According to Matt Cole, BWS National Marketing Manager, "We were looking for an innovative but simple tool that our customers could use to find their closest store utilising today's mobile technology. The results of the trial showed that we had a strong response, with thousands of new customers in Queensland choosing to find their nearest BWS store via SMS."

BWS has plans to integrate the eHound service into future marketing and advertising campaigns, Mr Cole added: "The SMS number is now becoming an integral part of our press and print communications, and we are looking at trialing it in our electronic campaigns, including national TV and radio."

eHound's unique web-based reporting also means BWS is able to measure the effectiveness of individual marketing campaigns by monitoring SMS search activity, as well as identifying geographic areas where store coverage can be improved, all on a 24x7 basis.

Consumers warm to mobile content - snapshot of the Australian market place

The Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA) Mobile Content group recently released a report on how people use their mobile phones. The Australian Mobile Phone Lifestyle Index is the first survey of its kind to provide insights into Australian consumers' behaviour and preferences for mobile content and applications. The online survey of over 2,400 respondents highlighted some key statistics about the use of SMS in particular, as well as location-based services:

• Text messaging continues to be the medium of choice, with 97% of participants using SMS and over 50% accessing pictures, music and sounds on their mobile phones;
• 50% of respondents used text messaging to communicate with work colleagues, and over 20% to communicate with business contacts;
• SMS usage is higher amongst women than men, and (not surprisingly), amongst 19-25 year olds;
• In terms of expected future usage, the most popular request for content was for maps (47%), followed by timetables (44%). Notwithstanding the emergence of more sophisticated handset technologies, SMS continues to dominate future usage (64% of respondents).

For more information on the survey contact AIMIA.

Further increases forecast for premium SMS services

Premium SMS is the mechanic of choice for mobile marketing and other consumer interactions such as TV voting and competition entry.

While all the major carriers have announced their intention to progressively launch 3G services, the outlook for premium SMS is blue sky ahead. Vodafone predicts a three-fold increase in the number of mobile subscribers using premium SMS in the next 12 months to 6.8 million, rising to over 10 million in 2007 (Source: Vodafone Snapshot, Volume 1, August 2005).

These statistics - and the rapid adoption of mobile content services such as eHound - indicate that consumers are increasingly comfortable with accessing information via SMS at the standard charge of 55c.

Innovation on show at the 2005 MMA Awards

The 4th annual Mobile Marketing and Advertising Awards were held recently in Sydney, with a record industry crowd in attendance to see a showcase of the best mobile marketing campaigns and applications.

Innovative new mobile applications which were winners on the night included:

• MiTaste.com - a "mobile wine sommelier" which allows consumers to download wine reviews direct to their mobile phone while in-store;
• Aura Digital - for their involvement in the War of the Worlds promotion. This campaign was designed to drive awareness of the movie by allowing consumers to download ringtones and wallpapers direct to their mobile phones via an infra-red device built into outdoor advertising such as bus shelters;
• 5th Finger - eHound's SMS gateway partner also won the award for most effective business application for its proprietary mobile technology platform, air-cast Self-Serve.

You can find case studies of these and other award-winning entries on the MMA Awards website.

We trust that you have enjoyed your first edition of the Hound Newsletter. If you have any comments or questions, please don't hesitate to contact me directly at monique@ehound.com.au.

Kind Regards