In our 5 minutes with profiles, MEF members talk about their business, their aspirations for the future and the wider mobile industry. This week Elken Calleja, Head of Marketing introduces Fortytwo Marketing.

What does Fortytwo Marketing  do?

Fortytwo Marketing is in itself a start-up that was launched in 2013. Nevertheless since its inception it has taken over Messito, a bulk SMS marketing platform, to enhance it with new features and re-launch it into the market as an easy, cost-effective and intuitive tool for customers around the globe. Messito isn’t a new player in the mobile messaging arena and has been active from 2004. However, over the past year we’ve focused on expanding Messito’s retail potential and we’ve also made some major changes to the platform as well as the brand itself, which we’ll unveil in the very near future!

These enhancements, combined with recent reports expecting SMS messaging markets to reach EUR 631.5 billion in 2015, will continue to contribute to Messito’s growth over the next months.

Another product line which we have in our portfolio is the Bulk Voucher Printing System. These bulk vouchers are a cost-effective and more eco-friendly alternative to traditional, plastic scratch top-up cards that are used by Mobile Network Operators and international calling cards suppliers, to mention a few. These vouchers are printed on NCR paper and are fully customisable from a design point of view, hence making them another tool for branding and marketing purposes. This means that from now on, Mobile Network Operators can actually generate revenues from bulk vouchers through marketing incentives.

What are your main goals?

The ultimate goal for Fortytwo Marketing is to offer a portfolio of solutions that exceed our clients’ expectations. With Messito, our aim is to provide a stress-free online platform that enables enterprises of any size to talk directly to their customers though their mobile phones wherever they are based in the world. It is also an opportunity for anyone who wants to enter the messaging world without having to spend any capital expenditure and start reselling marketing messages, in a matter of days, if not hours.

The goal of our bulk vouchers product line is to offer an attractive alternative to traditional scratch cards which is more cost-effective and which constitutes a revenue opportunity with the re-sale of advertising space.

Where do you see yourselves in three years’ time?

In three years’ time, I’m confident that we’ll be reaping the benefits of the constant development that we’re making to Messito which will place us in a very good position in the mobile messaging industry.

Furthermore I am looking forward to the roll out of new projects that we have in the pipeline for the coming years which will continue to broaden our product portfolio. Amongst such projects we are looking at SEO, tailor-made websites for clients and assistance with marketing and brand building at telecommunications events around the globe.

What aspect of mobile is most exciting to you right now?

The untapped potential of mobile marketing is a topic that I find particularly exciting right now. With statistics showing that there are over 7 billion active mobile phones worldwide and that on average, we look at our mobile phone 150 times a day, there’s a huge potential here for a large range of industries that can benefit from deploying a well-structured mobile marketing strategy.

 What’s the most critical issue that will hit mobile within the next 12 months?

Privacy issues look like they’re here to stay and so as to maintain mobile marketing’s legitimacy, it’s crucial that as marketers we ensure that people have knowingly opted-in to a database before sending promotional text messages. Practices such as these serve to strengthen mobile marketing’s appeal with consumers and reduce the probability of SMSs being perceived as an annoyance or spam.

Apart from your own, which mobile companies are the ones to watch in the year ahead?

Instead of focusing on any particular company I would keep an eye on the mobile market itself. I’m really keen to see the mobile marketing industry figures hit estimated predictions for the years to come. Such figures would mean good news for all operators in the bulk SMS business and hence a larger and healthier market for us to thrive in.

Elken Calleja is Head of Marketing at Fortytwo Marketing. Find out more on LinkedIn.