MobileVerbs has launched mobile marketing program Jack-in-the-Box restaurants. The restaurant guests can provide their feedback and redeem coupons via their cell phones.

Jack's guests follow 'call to action' instructions on table tents and send a SMS message to the MobileVerbs service. The mobile service delivers a series of survey questions to guests' cell phones. Once the guests complete the survey in couple of minutes, they are provided with a secure mobile coupon on their cell phones.

Click here for the full story.

We hear that Midwest retail giant Meijer Super Center has launched an iPhone Web application called Meijer Mealbox, to help consumers save money during the current economic crisis.

Meijera - a Grand Rapids, MI-based retailer that operates 181 supercenters throughout Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky - tapped widget-based advertising network Qponix to develop the Meijer Mealbox web application. Meijer Mealbox helps consumers plan meals, find recipes and save money.

“The big deal is this application allows the shopper to build a meal plan and the planning process helps you organize for when you go to the store,” said Corbin DeRubertis, president of Qponix, Seattle, WA.  “The application is tied to the store’s inventory and sales and actually finds recipes based on ingredients that are on sale.”

This year’s the McDonald’s® Monopoly game included a mobile component for the first time in the history of the popular game. It was such a success that Telescope, the same company who handles the infamous American Idol text message voting and who partnered with The Marketing Store to build the McDonald’s SMS campaign, disclosed that it was the largest SMS promotional game by far ever run in the U.S.

Read on here.

Arby's, the popular national fast food chain is offering its customers mobile coupons:

Fast food franchise Arby’s is using mobile to complement its existing marketing strategy, reach consumers and enhance customer interaction with the brand.
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Consumers who sign up will be eligible to receive buy-one-get-one-free beef ’n cheddar sandwich coupons, discounts on Jamocha shakes and free Chicken Filet Sandwiches with purchase of medium fries and a medium drink.

The coupons are redeemable now through Aug. 30.

Read more at Mobile Marketer, or head over to Club Texting to read about Mobile Coupons for your business.

OnlineMediaDaily has  an interesting story today about a new text messaged-based mobile couponing campaign from Papa John's.  Here are the details:

Fans sign up at papajohns.com or text "POINTS" to 47272 (4Papa) ahead of the game, and can get super deals on pizza throughout the season based on the number of points scored on the field.

During the wild-card and divisional rounds, fans will get a texted promo code worth 25% off a large, three-topping pizza ordered online the following week IF the game totals 25 points or more.

For conference championship day on Jan. 20, the discount goes to 50% if the teams score a cumulative 50 points.

Finally, on Super Bowl Sunday, if the cumulative score is 75 points or more, registered fans get a 75% discount, taking the regular $15.99 price of the pizza to $3.99.

We also learn that Papa John's is quite the text-savvy business:

 

Papa John's is at the forefront of text-ordering, having launched it in November. Rival Pizza Hut is about to follow suit, and Quiznos, Dunkin' Donuts, McDonald's, Starbucks and Subway are all investigating text-ordering.

Various industry executives as well as academic observers are predicting that text-ordering's potential is huge, and will become as commonplace as online ordering is now within a few years. Some say it could account for a quarter of all such orders within 10 years.

 

Read more @ OnlineMediaDaily

Thrillist reports on an exciting new tool for hungry texters:

GoMobo's a free, NY-based service that uses text messaging to remove human error/annoyingness from the ordering process -- like a SkyNet for your stomach, but decades away from self-aware falafel. Just pick your favorite spot and input your go-to meal (e.g., Atomic Wings burger, medium rare, American cheese, bacon, onions, ketchup, mustard, no mayo, side salad, side o' ranch, fruit cup) and Mobo will assign it a code (e.g., "1"). Whenever you desire said feast, simply text the code to Mobo, which'll notify the restaurant, charge your card on file, factor in tip, etc, and make note of any special instructions -- like "Don't pack cold Coke with hot pizza", or "If mugged, protect Lo Mein with life".

Find out more at GoMobo.com

Here in the States we can only hope for the day that services like this make their way across the pond:

Good news for junk food junkies - Dominos is offering pizza by via SMS.

Yes, if you get a passion for pepperoni when the pubs throw out, just go to your phone and send a message. Your pizza will then arrive from one of Dominos' 470 outlets just as you've dozed off in the armchair. There are a couple of safeguards - firstly, you'll need to register your full details online beforehand and you'll need to set up a 'favourite meals' list, which you can text to the shop. So texting 'hammered' could lead to a large pizza with extra cheese arriving at your door.

(More info @ Domino's via intomobile via Tech Digest)

Today we hear over at the Indianalopis Star that Hardee's has been experimenting with a new kind of coupon:

Hardee's customers in Indianapolis and St. Louis can download coupons to their cell phone for free and then show the phone to a cashier for a discount.

There are a lot of important things going on here, the first of which is, that the decision to roll out this new promotion was predicated on who Hardee's hoped to reach, and how they hoped to appeal to those customers:

   

There's something that just seems wrong about a 45-year-old woman clipping coupons so she can inhale two 1,410- calorie Monster Thickburgers for the price of one.

At least that's what the executives at Hardee's thought.

So the fast-food chain turned to technology to get its coupons into the hands of its core customers -- young men who aren't exactly watching their weight.

It's too early to draw conclusions, but "We've gotten some positive feedback from a couple of restaurants. It's too early to talk about redemption," said Steve Lemley, vice president of marketing for St. Louis-based Hardee's. The whole idea of electronic couponing was new to us."

Indeed, it's still new to many companies. However, the more that companies like Hardee's dabble, the more the cell phone is becoming a popular tool for marketing and advertising.
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Currently, the most popular methods of engaging customers involve text messaging, to enter a sweepstakes, to get alerts about products or to vote for something, like your favorite American Idol.

The most important gem is buried at the bottom of the article:

Overall, about 42 percent of cell-phone users are open to advertising if it's relevant, if they asked for it or if they will get coupons or free services, according to the market research firm Yankee Group.

Put that figure in context--email inboxes are overrun with spam, more and more people are using their Tivos and DVRs to fast forward through commercials, newspaper circulation is declining, and savvy web surfers are blocking pop-ups and ignoring banner ads in greater numbers every day.

Source : IndyStar