A Swedish newspaper group has come up with the "SMS crossword." This is a newspaper crossword contest in which a successful solution produces a code that is sent by the reader via
SMS (cell-phone text message) to the newspaper, where the results are then sorted into a database and a winner is selected.
Speaking at last week's
international digital media conference in Prague,
Morris Packer and
Josefine Granding Larsson of the
Bonnier Group, explained that the SMS costs the sender €0.50 per message. Revenues are small but can be significant if there is volume.
They emphasized that SMS is a brilliant return channel for print, radio, and TV. Both Packer and Larsson expanded on another innovation which involves an SMS code inserted into stories that can't be resolved before print deadline -- for example: court cases that will be held later in the day after going to press. Readers who therefore want to know the outcome can SMS the paper and receive the story update on their phones.
