Landmark Communications Launches Innovative Mobile Text Message Services in Major Newspaper Markets

Landmark Communications, a diverse organization with media holdings in broadcasting and publishing, including The Virginian-Pilot, Greensboro News & Record, The Roanoke Times, and The Weather Channel, recently began offering a variety of mobile services for readers, site visitors and advertising clients. Readers of Landmark's three major metro dailies can interact with editorial articles, receive text messages with breaking news alerts, be alerted to real-time traffic incidents and actively engage advertisements featuring text message calls to action for coupons and information.

Norfolk, VA / Richmond, VA (PRWEB) June 12, 2007 -- Landmark Communications, a diverse organization with media holdings in broadcasting and publishing, recently began offering a wide array of public services through text messaging for residents and visitors in the areas of their major newspaper holdings. OTAir, a national mobile marketing and media company, was selected from numerous competitors to manage Landmark's text messaging services and provide the applications necessary to implement innovative and engaging services and mobile campaigns.

Currently, Landmark has begun serving their primary newspaper publications in major metropolitan markets and their associated online websites. The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, The Roanoke Times, and The Greensboro News & Record have all started to utilize text messaging for marketing, promotions, news and more in their respective markets. Together, these three major daily publications reach an average of over 600,000 readers a day.

"We are truly excited to begin offering this level of service and interactivity to our readers of our three daily metro newspapers," says Geoff Langos, Project Manager at Landmark responsible for mobile initiatives. "The services and capabilities that we can now offer to our readers are exceptional, and OTAir is constantly creating new innovations and improving their system to create better functionality and flexibility that benefits everyone at Landmark."

One feature introduced by Landmark in all three markets is instant alerts for breaking news. Designated employees at each newspaper have controlled access to the OTAir system, allowing them to broadcast an urgent news headline to a list of subscribers. Subscribers can join the free news service by texting the word BNEWS to 74568 (PILOT), Landmark's short code for the Norfolk/Hampton Roads area. Likewise, texting BNEWS to 476669 (GSONOW) or to 784637 (RTIMES) subscribes the texter to breaking news from The Greensboro News & Record and The Roanoke Times, respectively.

For local drivers, Pilot-Online.com is offering a free traffic alerts subscription service that covers all the major interstates in the Greater Hampton Roads area. Subscribers can sign-up for specific roads, days of the week, or times of the day to receive timely notifications on their cell phones of accidents, debris, closures and more. OTAir's unique API gateway interface allows an easy integration with the Virginia Dept. of Transportation (VDOT) system. OTAir's web-based application pulls regular feeds from the VDOT server, processes each incident, and sends out notifications to the appropriate cell phones in just seconds.

Alongside text alerts, broadcasts, and traffic, OTAir also offers services that can be used in conjunction with more traditional marketing. Local advertisers with Landmark can offer their customers coupons, daily specials, concert promotions, jokes, giveaways, and contests. Landmark is also using mobile campaigns to promote real estate and apartment communities, local events, area restaurants, fitness centers, auto repair shops, and more.

In another offering designed for the mobile device, Landmark coupled their already existing local search capabilities for the Hampton Roads area with text messaging, creating an easy to use local search feature that's quickly accessible on the cell phone no matter where a person might be. Using OTAir's powerful API gateway, Landmark is able to search an established web-based directory of local advertisers and return the results to users as one or several text messages. Once initial results have been returned, users can get an address, phone number, request more results, or modify their search to find the exact information they are looking for.

Interested in giving these services a try or seeing how Landmark is using their mobile campaigns? Just text JOKE to 74568, text PIZZA to 476669, or text the WHAT and the WHERE to 757411 (example: text ITALIAN NORFOLK to 757411). The service from Landmark is free, but standard carrier messaging charges may apply for those without a text messaging plan.

Advertisers interested in extending and enhancing their advertising services with any of the three major dailies by incorporating mobile marketing are advised to contact their sales representative or Geoff Langos at (757) 446-2597.

About Landmark Communications

Landmark Communications, Inc. is a privately held media company with interests in newspapers, classified publications, television broadcasting, cable programming and online publishing, plus emerging interests in interactive marketing and broadband services. Based in Norfolk, Virginia, Landmark's businesses employ more than 12,000 people.

For wireless text message alerts:

http://home.hamptonroads.com/wireless/alerts/

http://www.roanoke.com/text/wb/112087

http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=NEWSREC0216

For local search using the mobile web:

http://757411.mobi

About OTAir, LLC

OTAir is a Richmond, VA-based mobile impulse marketing and media firm specializing in impulse marketing with mobile devices. OTAir empowers consumers to engage the promotion of a product, event, or organization they are interested in. OTAir's services extend the message of traditional marketing with instant information, coupons, and more directly to the user's cell phone. For more about OTAir, visit http://www.OTAir.com or call 1-888-898-8247.

###