Etisalat has joined hands with and Alcatel-Lucent to launch the first permission and preference-based mobile advertising services in the UAE.

The opt-in mobile advertising service provides a very smart and unique advertising model that will allow advertisers and brands to have an engaging dialogue with their target audience via Rich SMS/MMS Dialogue Ads, said an Etisalat statement.

Moreover, it gives mobile customers access to a wide range of exclusive and relevant offers from leading brands in the UAE that is tailored to their personal interests and lifestyles, it added.

The service will match customer’s voluntary preferences and deliver exclusive promotions and discounts accordingly. As such customers interested in sports, will get the latest on offers and promotions from sporting brands.

The mobile advertising platform from Alcatel-Lucent Optism is also a monitoring tool for customers’ behaviors against the ads and promotions that they receive in a way that detects their registered interests and their interaction levels with the received offers.

This type of intelligence, behavior monitoring and updating will get advertisers and brands to customize their offers to best suit their targeted audience and for customers to receive the best defined promotions that fit their likings.

The new service will give the entire mobile advertising ecosystem in the UAE exactly what they need; targeted ads, personalized ads, engaging ads and most of all very well defined tailored ads that will increase their sales, enhance their ROI, enable them for more intelligent campaign planning and provide them with real time reporting.

At the same time it will increase targeted audience satisfaction  as customers will receive offers that are tightly linked to their lifestyles and tastes, it added.

Matthew Willsher, chief marketing officer of Etisalat, said, 'There is a new wave of demand for deals, discounts and offers in the UAE. As part of our mobile strategy, we are constantly innovating to delight our customers.'

'The UAE’s first mobile advertising service ensures that customers who choose to receive targeted messages get better value as well as a richer mobile experience,' he added.

Amr El-Leithy, head of Alcatel-Lucent business in the Middle East & Africa, “We are very enthusiastic about working with Etisalat to bring a more personalized and compelling experience to their customers.”

All mobile advertising with Etisalat is 'opt-in' for customers, giving subscribers the freedom to choose. It ensures privacy of customer’s information and contact details through Etisalat’s ‘Personal Information Identifiers’ system.

Maha Muraish, director of Online Channel and Portal at Etisalat, said, “It’s not about spamming our customers with numerous ads; it’s about providing preference-based content. You will only receive offers from Etisalat that is relevant to you, at the time of day that suits you best and not more than 5 ads a week.”

'To sign up for this service, customers need only send an SMS – ‘JOIN’ to short code ‘1551’ and respond to an invitation message from Etisalat with their age, gender and interests,' he noted.

They can also choose to pause and resume or completely stop the service by using appropriate commands. The service is for free and customers who register for the service do not pay for any advertising messages that they receive or respond to, Muraish added.-TradeArabia News Service