Mobile Commerce Daily reports this week that Walgreens pharmacy has seen success with its mobile offerings, claiming that 40% of online prescription refill transactions happen through mobile devices. According to the article, “Enabling consumers to refill prescriptions via SMS text messaging as well as an app is a key way that Walgreens is tapping mobile to make filling prescriptions more convenient.” The article also states that over 2 million people take advantage of Walgreen’s SMS program.

Walgreens promotes its SMS program online, in stores, and through email. An email campaign that advertised the advantages of pharmacy text alerts saw an 18% daily increase in opt-ins.

Walgreens offers a variety of mobile options for consumers, and the store is even testing an experimental mobile program in select markets whereby customers can go online to submit shopping list of items to then be collected by a store associate. Customers are notified via text when the order is ready for pick-up.

The Walgreens site has sign-up information for their prescription text alert program as well as information about how to sign up for special offers via text.

American Airlines has three types of mobile notifications that users can choose from. Passengers can send a text to 35922 with a flight number to receive back a text with pertinent information including gates, times, and baggage claim. Passengers also have the option of setting up a one-time notification regarding a specific flight and then can get the gate, time, and flight status texted to them when necessary.  Finally, frequent flyers who are members of the AAdvantage program can use their account to sign up for flight status notifications for all upcoming flights. AAdvantage users can also save up to ten contacts who will be notified of the flight information including gate and arrival time.

Family Dollar offers its Family Savings Club via mobile as well as through email. Opt-ins agree to receive up to five texts per month with details about ongoing promotions, coupons, sweepstakes, giveaways, and other offers.

Interested users can enter a mobile number and set up a profile on the Family Dollar website.

Dollar General, another popular discount chain, allows consumers to opt into its mobile offerings by texting “SAVE” to DGTXT (34898). Users can also sign up online to receive information about deals and specials, in-store events, and instantly redeemable mobile coupons.

The City of Atlanta Jobs Platform is free to use and connects people with jobs of all levels across all industries. In addition to connecting job seekers with opportunities, the platform will deliver analytics to city officials to help plan and foster future job growth. A press release about the service is available on Business Wire.

The website for the City of Atlanta Jobs Platform offers a sign-up page where users can enter their preferred type of job in their preferred industry, and then select the means by which they want to be contacted with job alerts: email, mobile, or Twitter. Media Bistro points out, “The platform is especially useful for anyone who doesn’t have access to a smartphone, because SMS job alerts can come in at any time.”

Analyzing the mobile trends of teens, Nielsen’s report, titled “New Mobile Obsession: U.S. Teens Triple Data Usage” (Dec. 15, 2011), found that “In the third quarter of 2011, teens age 13-17 used an average of 320 MB of data per month on their phones, increasing 256 percent over last year and growing at a rate faster than any other age group,” and that “[m]essaging remains the centerpiece of mobile teen behavior.  The number of messages exchanged monthly (SMS and MMS) hit 3,417 per teen in Q3 2011, averaging seven messages per waking hour.”

Adults aged 18-24 showed the second biggest increase in mobile data consumption since the previous year.

The study also revealed that teens prefer text messages to voice calls; voice usage declined the most among the 13-17-year-old age group.

The Nielsen report is available online.

A news release on the Bell Aliant site explains the campaign: “For every text message sent and every long distance call made by Bell and Bell Aliant customers on February 8, Bell will donate 5 cents to programs dedicated to mental health.”

The 2012 Let’s Talk effort follows a successful fund- and awareness-raising campaign in 2011 that resulted in millions of dollars in donations. “In 2011, Bell and Bell Aliant customers answered the call in support of mental health. With a total of 66,079,236 text messages and long distance calls made by Bell and Bell Aliant customers on Bell Let’s Talk Day, Bell’s donation of 5 cents per message and long distance call meant the company gave $3,303,961.80 in addition to the $50 million already committed to Canadian mental health initiatives.”

The Bell Let’s Talk Day is part of a larger mental health initiative that provides grants and funding directed toward mental health care, access, and research.

By texting SIGNUP to 727272, users opt in to receive up to two messages per week and one promo code good toward a free or discount DVD rental each month. Free promo code texts are sent out between 8 and 10 am, cannot be redeemed online, and are only good that day. (They can also be applied to the rental cost of a Blu-ray movie or video game.)

Users can also sign up for the text club on the Redbox site. Redbox operates more than 28,000 locations across the country.

According to a recent article on Mobile Commerce Daily, 50 % of Fandango moviegoers utilize mobile ticketing, and 2011 saw a 73% year-to-year increase in mobile ticket sales; furthermore, Fandango claims that 40% of the company’s traffic comes from mobile devices.

Mobile ticketing is currently offered at 1,200 theaters, with another 1,000 to be added this year. The article describes the program:

“Once users buy a movie ticket, they are sent an email with a link that they can use to have a mobile ticket sent to them via SMS. Consumers can also sign up for mobile ticketing by checking an option when they purchase tickets.

To redeem the mobile ticket at theaters, consumers need to tap on the link that is included in the SMS message.

The link takes users to a mobile landing page with a mobile bar code on that users show to an employee at theaters.”

Fandango also offers movie alerts via SMS. Users can text a zip code to “FNDGO” or enter a mobile number on the Fandango site, and they will receive back a text with local showtimes.  Users can also sign up to receive text message alerts for promotions and advanced ticket sales.

This week Mobile Commerce Daily published an interview with Janet Roberts, the chief marketing officer of Syniverse, about the future of mobile communication for advertising and marketing. In her interview, she discusses the performance of mobile marketing in 2011, predictions for 2012, how to increase investment in mobile marketing, and which business sectors are likely to maximize mobile communication opportunities for advertising and marketing.

Roberts speaks to the important role played by SMS and QR codes in particular, and predicts their continued effectiveness in 2012.

“I am confident that both SMS short codes and QR codes will remain viable engagement channels in the foreseeable future for a few reasons.

First, in both developed and developing markets, the installed base of feature phones will remain high for at least the next few years, and short codes are an effective way for brands and agencies to reach that segment.

Second, QR codes provide additional opportunities for consumers to interact with brands.

Finally, both technologies integrate very nicely with other channels to support cross-platform campaigns.”

Roberts also predicts that with growing popularity of smartphones, mobile video will play an increasingly important role in the future of mobile marketing.

The interview is available on the Mobile Commerce Daily site and may by helpful to marketers trying to navigate their mobile options in order to budget and plan their 2012 campaigns most effectively. Roberts provides several short examples of campaigns that have been successful using SMS and suggests more possibility for its continuing evolution:

“[W]e have barely scratched the surface of what SMS can do to enable interactive campaigns, highly targeted promotions and the kinds of self-service options that consumers expect.

SMS usage is high across virtually every demographic, making it an effective way to reach a target audience based on how it prefers to receive information.”

The latest news, as posted on the NBA website, shows results of recent ballot returns and the players currently leading with the most votes. The article explains that fans can enter their votes through the website or the mobile site; fans in the U.S. and most of Canada can also enter via text. “Fans also can vote through mobile phones by texting the player’s last name to 6-9-6-2-2 (“MYNBA”) in the U.S. and to 3-8-6-5-7 (“DUNKS”) in Canada.”

The article further details the expanded SMS options for voters:

“2012 NBA All-Star Balloting presented by Sprint also includes expanded SMS voting. Fans can now vote for 10 different players per day, per phone number, via SMS voting by sending 10 separate SMS messages, each one with a different player’s last name. Fans can vote for All-Stars via SMS at any time by texting from their mobile phones. Message and data rates may apply. Previously, fans could cast one SMS vote for one player per day.”

Voting will conclude on Jan. 31, and starters will be announced on TNT on Feb. 2. The All-Stars game will be played in Orlando on Sunday, Feb. 26.  The NBA site has complete rules.