Starting this week, viewers of Miss World will be able to participate in the first global text voting campaign by looking at pictures of contestants on the web.
The global audience text vote will account for half of the total votes in deciding the winners of Miss World 2002. The contest is not without controversy following the decision by finalists including Miss South Africa, Miss Spain and others to withdraw in protest at host nation's Nigeria's threat to stone a woman to death for adultery.
Nigeria now says Amina Lawal won't be stoned but has not yet taken any action to lift her death sentence. UK-based wireless marketing company Flytxt, which has a three-year agreement with Miss World, is looking at ways to display texted protests on a live website. Its main service, however, will let viewers vote for a contestant by sending a text message (SMS) vote.
In the UK, Germany, Italy, and France, viewers can text their choice to a short code (a short mobile number). For example, to choose Miss England, UK voters would text MW England to a five-digit num ber. French voters would text MW Angleterre but send the message to a different five-digit number. Viewers in 126 countries will also be able to vote by SMS. Such votes will cost around 25p in Europe, but much less in China, where mobile charges are lower.
Pamir Gelenbe, business development director of Flytxt, says: "SMS will increasingly be linked with global media properties, such as the Eurovision song contest or quiz game Who Wants to be a Millionaire."
Eurovision has done some localised trials of text voting, and is expected to adopt it more widely. Global SMS campaigns could also be linked to international sporting events. Big consumer brands are considering using text messaging globally, for test marketing for example.
Mars ran a vote for its M&Ms chocolates earlier this year. Customers were invited to vote via SMS for their favourite colour, which would be added to the standard colours. The winner was blue.
This campaign showed the marketing potential of SMS, says Andrew Jones, managing director of UK-based wireless marketer Aerodeon.
Global SMS campaigns could also help non-governmental organisations such as Amnesty International get a faster response to worldwide petitions, such as its campaign to stop Nigerian Amina Lawal's death sentence.
It will be some time before everyone can protest to a single global mobile short code. However, Mike Short, chairman of the Mobile Data Association, believes Europe-wide short codes will happen, as pan-European fixed-phone numbers prefixed 388 are being introduced.
"If a viewer in Ireland watches a UK programme with interactive voting, the instructions often say 'UK only' because otherwise the programme makers would have to clutter the screen with details like: 'Type +44 first if you are calling from Ireland - tariffs may differ'."
But setting up a global SMS platform is not without obstacles. Flytxt's platform has direct connections to all four UK mobile operators' SMS systems and to some overseas operators' systems. From these networks, SMS votes can be sent directly into its database. In countries where it does not have a direct link, SMSs are routed via another country.
The company also had a number of hurdles to overcome. For example, in some countries the texter must SMS a full mobile number, though these also tend to be the countries where premium rate text messages aren't allowed and only a standard SMS charge applies. Miss World typically attracts two billion viewers who will be able to vote from November 18 until December 6. The votes of a panel of judges will decide the other 50% of the outcome. It's a pity for Ms Lawal that so few judges are deciding her fate.
Links: ww.missworld.org
www.mertonai.org/amina
www.flytxt.com
www.aerodeon.com
