Hipcricket Named "Mobile Marketing & Advertising Agency of the Year" Finalist in the GSMA's Annual Global Mobile Awards

KIRKLAND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Hipcricket, the one-stop mobile marketing and advertising brand owned by Augme Technologies, Inc. AUGT, today announced that it has been named a finalist in the GSM Association's (GSMA) 17th Annual Global Mobile Awards. Hipcricket was selected as a finalist in the “Mobile Marketing & Advertising Agency of the Year” category from a pool of more than 600 entries. It honors firms that are “spearheading the growth, adoption and evolution of mobile advertising”.

The award will be announced during Mobile World Congress to be held in Barcelona, Spain on February 28, 2012.

For seventeen years, the GSMA Global Mobile Awards have showcased cutting-edge mobile products, services and initiatives around the world. The “Mobile Marketing & Advertising Agency of the Year” category is new to this year's competition.

“This news comes at an exciting time for our company, as we recently surpassed the 150,000 mobile campaign milestone and recorded a 76 percent increase in campaigns year-over-year,” commented Eric Harber, Chief Operating Officer of Hipcricket. “We're honored to be named a finalist in such a prestigious competition where we are recognized for such accomplishments.

“Mobile advertising is a rapidly growing and important part of Hipcricket's business. Key to our offering is our post-click engagement platform. Rather than looking at mobile advertising as a one-off, an increasing number of Hipcricket clients use our mobile advertising solutions as a means to move product and build awareness, but also to re-engage the user. Several have employed our Software as a Service (SaaS) platform and advertising solutions to grow their opt-in databases. An opted-in consumer is extremely important to our customers and commands higher premiums.”

As a full service mobile marketer, Hipcricket offers its technology platform and leverages all mobile channels to help brands engage with consumers anywhere at any time. The company creates multi-channel SMS and MMS campaigns, mobile websites, QR codes, and branded apps for its clients, which include Nestle, Macy's, Miller Coors and The American Cancer Society.

“Reflecting the intensity of competition and innovation across the mobile ecosystem, we saw a record 600 entries and an exceptionally high quality field of contenders vying for this year's Global Mobile Awards,” said Michael O'Hara, Chief Marketing Officer, GSMA. “It is a significant achievement to have made the shortlist, and our warmest congratulations go to all the nominees announced today. We look forward to the unveiling of the winners at the Mobile World Congress next month.”

About Hipcricket

Hipcricket, a brand of Augme Technologies AUGT, is the one-stop mobile marketing and advertising solution for brands, agencies and media properties to engage customers, drive loyalty and increase sales. Hipcricket's customers connect with consumers across every mobile channel, including SMS, 2D/QR codes, mobile websites, advertising networks, social media and branded apps. Its proven technology, strategic and marketing services and experienced account management teams have provided measurable successes across an industry-leading 150,000 campaigns for such clients as Macy's, MillerCoors, Nestle, KFC, and Clear Channel. Hipcricket has also created the first comprehensive permission-based mobile ad network that taps into the buying power of the mass market with industry-leading capabilities to target customers via location and highly-specific demographic information across SMS, display, rich media and video.

Hipcricket is based in Seattle, Washington, with operations in New York, Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Tucson. For more mobile marketing and mobile advertising information, please visit www.hipcricket.com.