Positive Options Text Campaign Wins Global Award

The Positive Options text service conquered opposition from across the world to claim the award for “Best use in Government/Public Services” at the Global Messaging Awards held in London in May (11th). Leading Irish Mobile Data Company, Txt4Info – who partner the Crisis Pregnancy Agency in the delivery of the highly successful “Positive Options” campaign – were awarded the prize for the innovative use of text messaging as response mechanism.

The free text service enables women, experiencing a crisis pregnancy, to receive information in confidence about who they can contact if they think they might be pregnant. The service has dealt with over 160,000 text requests since its establishment just over a year ago.

The awards are part of the Global Messaging Conference where the Mobile industry come together from all parts of the world to talk about all things SMS. The awards are considered to be the most prestigious awards for the industry worldwide due to their international appeal.

“The free text service, managed by Txt4Info, is critical to the success of the Positive Options campaign as it allows women from any age group and in any part of the country to access information quickly and in total confidence,” according to Caroline Spillane, Programmes and Communications Manager, Crisis Pregnancy Agency.

Using TV, outdoor and radio advertising people were made aware of the service and if they felt they needed information they were invited to send a text reading “List” to a FreeTXT shortcode – 50444. The use of the FreeTXT number is an integral element of the campaign, as it breaks down another access barrier to the information.

Speaking after the ceremony Mr. Dawood Ghalaieny, Director of Txt4Info said, “I’m delighted with the award, and for the Crisis Pregnancy Agency. They have shown themselves to be very forward thinking and have given us a lot of licence to make the campaign as strong and connected as it is. We developed this idea with the CPA and we have worked to perfect it as a system, and if it’s helping people who need advice and help then that’s more important than any award.”

Continuing on Mr. Ghalaieny said, “SMS is a very engaging method of communication. We have the research to prove it works, but the difference between us and our competition, both home and abroad, is our willingness to be exponents of FreeTXT. Well now we have an award to prove it works as best practice.”