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Infobip celebrates 30 years of texting, raising visibility in a crowded communications market

Infobip is a global cloud communications platform that enables businesses to build connected experiences across all stages of the customer journey. Accessed through a single platform, Infobip’s omnichannel engagement, identity, user authentication, and contact center solutions help businesses and partners overcome the complexity of consumer communications to grow business and increase loyalty. Infobip’s ultimate PR goal is to increase visibility and name recognition in North America, where its competitors such as Twilio and Vonage dominate media coverage and share of voice (SOV).

Challenge

 

“Full-stack, omnichannel, cloud communication platform-as-a-service” doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. Despite having a highly innovative and unique solution that consumers and enterprises loved, Infobip’s offering was hard for most journalists to understand. Infobip needed help standing out from a crowded field of omnichannel communications solutions attempting to gain exposure in vertical publications and top-tier media. While Infobip did have success with the vertical and trade publications, where industry experts could easily differentiate and appreciate its solutions, breaking into mainstream outlets proved far more difficult. However, mainstream outlets are a “must” to stand out, and Infobip needed a solution fast.

We delivered with a campaign that made Infobip’s technology relatable and accessible to a broad audience and raised visibility on a national level with tier-one broadcast hits, including placements on Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Today Show.

 

Strategy

 

We implemented a multi-faceted approach to maximize coverage and offset the challenge of a field crowded with competitors with far greater name recognition. First, we reevaluated and repackaged our narratives and claims to make journalists’ jobs easier and help us stand out. We accomplished this by creating unique yet credible messaging.

Our PR media strategy included:

  • PR worked with Infobip to make its offering easier for journalists to understand.
  • We mined their proprietary data and analyzed more than 153 billion communications interactions on its platform and the opinions of Americans when it came to their text preferences.
  • We conceived a campaign centered around the 30th anniversary of the text message – December 3, 2022 – leveraging the inventor of the SMS, Neil Papworth.
  • To add an element of scientific gravitas, we designed a survey that yielded surprising statistics about when, where and how Americans are texting.
  • We drafted a press release to highlight the survey results: Infobip Releases 30th Anniversary of the SMS Report.
  • We reached beyond traditional media to greatly expand opportunities for engagement and coverage, such as podcasts, an essential hub for tech and communications industry information, especially for the sector’s decision-makers on which new technologies to implement.
  • To create a sense of timeliness, we recommended that Infobip celebrate the 30th anniversary of the text with a livestreamed LinkedIn fireside chat.
  • The day before the milestone, we were ready with an exclusive Today Show story!
  • We also worked with Jimmy Kimmel Live to create a segment tracing the evolution of texting that was informative, funny and on brand

Campaign Results

183 Online Media Placements
2 Major Network Broadcast Placements
3.41 Total UVMs

Success

 

Strategy Highlights Included:

30th Anniversary of the SMS Report: New data from Infobip’s “30th Anniversary of the SMS” survey sheds light on how, where and when Americans are communicating with each other.

Virtual Media Tour & Fireside Chat, Featuring Neil Papworth, Sender of the First Text Message: Leveraged the first person to send a text message, Neil Papworth, as the ultimate OG influencer and harnessed the 30-year milestone to create a campaign highlighting Infobip’s dominance in communications.

 

Coverage

Bospar secured 73 pieces of coverage on behalf of Infobip, amounting to 483 million combined total of publication-wide audience through November of 2022.

In December 2022, Infobip was featured in 206 pieces of coverage, amounting to more than 1.15B UVM.

The main driver of coverage in December 2022, Infobip’s 30-Year Anniversary of the SMS initiative, helped to increase share of voice over competitors, such as Nexmo/Vonage, Plivo, MessageBird and Sinch.

For total combined coverage in 2022, PR secured 447 stories reaching an audience of 3.41B.

Coverage included:

In November, Infobip only had a 4.5% share of voice among its six competitors. In December, its SOV grew to 36.9%.

 

Business Impact

Within the omnichannel communications space, sales cycles can often have a long tail, but to open the door and become a serious contender, vendors must have third-party validation. Bospar’s successful campaign led to several existing clients being impressed with Infobip’s media traction as representing company credibility. Perhaps most importantly, it opened doors to new clients and served as an important touchpoint for potential customers by providing legitimacy and buzz that set Infobip apart from competitors.

Infobip celebrates the anniversary of SMS technology on the Today Show.

“With more than 75% of the world’s messages running through the Infobip platform, we felt we were uniquely qualified to help herald the 30th anniversary of the world’s first text message sent by Neil Papworth on 12.3.1992. Thanks to Brett Larson and our amazing PR partners at Bospar, they were able to secure a top-tier media opportunity for us on the NBC Today Show to speak to the history, current state and future of SMS! To say that we are over the moon would be an understatement. Thank you, Brett and Team Bospar! Amazing opportunity for Infobip!”

— Janet Lennon, Head of PR & Communications, Infobip

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