Dublin SMS firm squishes Jamster


8 Dec 2006

A Dun Laoghaire-headquartered mobile messaging company called Red Circle has emerged as the largest spender on print advertising for direct to consumer mobile content in the UK, far higher than competing brands such as Jamster and Partymob.

The company has just sent its 50 millionth premium rate text message.

Red Circle claims that this is judged by print media spending analysis from Nielsen Media Monitoring.

The south Dublin company provides direct-to-consumer mobile media entertainment content to the youth market.

The company was established in 1999 by its CEO Ger Dowling and has since grown to establish offices in Dublin, London, Spain and the Philippines.

Organically grown, Red Circle says it has generated significant profits year on year with a turnover in excess of €25m in 2005 and expects to record continued growth in 2006. The company is chaired by Sean O’Neill, who retired from IBM after 30 years and went on to co-found CNG Travel.

Red Circle says its market differentiation is based on its ability to develop highly creative concepts that allow simple interaction between convergent platforms such as web, print, TV and mobile.

Typical brands Red Circle partners with include Honeyshot. Red Circle formed a strategic partnership with Saatchi & Saatchi’s Global Urban Media Division to launch the Honeyshot, a concept based on an up-and-coming R&B band, the project also features the world’s first urban mobile soap opera.

Another partner is Candy Content whereby both firms are working on a concept called Candy Crib concerning the antics of well-known UK glamour girls. The Candy Crib project includes partnerships with leading men’s magazines, Loaded, FHM, Nuts Magazine and Maxim.

Commenting on the 50 millionth premium text message milestone, Red Circle’s chief operations officer Cathal Fay said: “It’s a testament to the ability to identify new and innovative content and services coupled with our analytical approach to marketing that we have achieved this milestone.

“These skills have also brought success to our publisher partners by being able to effectively monetise print pages which otherwise may have remained unsold,” Fay added.

By John Kennedy