“I am very happy how the SMS texting service
worked, a good addition to the broadcast and worthy
of inclusion. We are sure we would like to do the same
in '04!!"
Joseph Wheeler, Account Director, Haymarket Publishing
Objective
Radio Le Mans (91.2FM),
the official race radio station at the legendary Le Mans 24-hour motor race,
wanted to interact with its audience – both those who were trackside and
those tuning into the station back in Britain – during the course of the
race.
Solution
Broadsystem set up an
interactive text messaging service for all UK-registered O2, Orange, T-Mobile
and Vodafone customers.
Broadsystem
also set up a live web link for the Radio Le Mans DJs at the track. This
provided a live feed of all messages received from UK-registered mobile
phone holders.
Results
The
SMS service transformed the coverage the radio presenters gave to the
24-hour race, as the crowd – and even marshals – supplemented
the station’s limited camera coverage of the race with trackside
updates by text.
Hundreds
of text messages flooded into Radio Le Mans. These ranged from trackside
updates on crashes and breakdowns, to play list requests and lost property
announcements.
On
air for three days over the weekend, the SMS service proved invaluable
as race fans could report on the action from anywhere around the track
and could inform the radio studio faster than the race screens covered
the action.
With radio presenters
needing to fill airtime, the contributions also created valuable radio
content.
