Vibes operates as a privately owned enterprise specializing in

mobile marketing Mobile marketing is a multi-channel Online advertising, online marketing technique focused at reaching a specific audience on their smartphones, feature phones, Tablet computer, tablets, or any other related devices through websites, e-mail, SMS ...

, encompassing text message marketing (

SMS Short Message Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile phones exchange short text messages, t ...

and MMS), mobile wallet marketing,

push notifications Push technology, also known as server Push, refers to a communication method, where the communication is initiated by a server rather than a client. This approach is different from the "pull" method where the communication is initiated by a client ...

, and mobile web experiences. The company is headquartered in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Technology

In 2013, Vibes initiated the deployment of Wallet Manager, a platform enabling enterprises to develop and oversee mobile wallet campaigns utilizing Apple's Passbook and

Google Wallet Google Wallet (or simply Wallet) is a digital wallet platform developed by Google. It is available for the Android, Wear OS, and Fitbit OS operating systems, and was announced on May 11, 2022, at the 2022 Google I/O keynote. It began rollin ...

. The company was introduced at the 2013 Google I/O developer conference as an early integration partner for the Google Wallet Objects API. In 2014, the company introduced Vibes Connect, broadening access to Tier 1 mobile messaging aggregation services to a wider audience. In February 2015, Vibes unveiled WalletAds, a product facilitating advertisers' integration with Apple's Passbook and Google Wallet. This functionality empowers consumers to save branded coupons and offers to their Passbook and Google Wallet apps directly from a mobile

banner ad A web banner or banner ad is a Online Advertising, form of advertising on the World Wide Web delivered by an ad server. This form of online advertising entails embedding an advertisement into a web page. It is intended to attract web traffic, tra ...

History

Vibes was established in 1998 by Jack Philbin and Alex Campbell. Initially, the company operated as a free

pager A pager, also known as a beeper or bleeper, is a Wireless communication, wireless telecommunications device that receives and displays Alphanumericals, alphanumeric or voice messages. One-way pagers can only receive messages, while response p ...

service sustained by advertisements. As mobile phones gained prominence in the early 2000s, Vibes transitioned its focus to serving as a marketing platform, facilitating instantaneous interaction between customers and advertisers.

AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...

became the first carrier to enter into an agreement with Vibes in 2001. In 2002, the company successfully executed 100 Text-2-Screen events, marking the inception of this type of campaign within the United States, across multiple professional sporting venues. In 2008, the company secured a $15 million Series A funding round, with Fidelity Ventures serving as the lead investor. In 2010, the company achieved the milestone of sending its 1 billionth text message. In March 2015, Vibes and

Adobe Adobe (from arabic: الطوب Attub ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for mudbrick. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is use ...

revealed a collaborative partnership aimed at integrating mobile wallet technology into the

Adobe Marketing Cloud Adobe Experience Cloud (AEC), formerly Adobe Marketing Cloud (AMC), is a collection of integrated online marketing and web analytics products by Adobe. History Adobe Experience Cloud is a comprehensive suite that encompasses analytics, social ...

. This integration facilitates digital marketers utilizing the Adobe Marketing Cloud to incorporate mobile wallet offerings seamlessly with Passbook and Google Wallet, alongside SMS and Push messaging, into their marketing campaigns. In June 2016, Syniverse, a company headquartered in

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

, specializing in

mobile technology Mobile technology is the technology used for Cellular network, cellular communication. Mobile technology has evolved rapidly over the past few years. Since the start of this millennium, a standard mobile device has gone from being no more than a s ...

for telecommunications firms and other enterprises, made a $45 million investment in Vibes, thereby acquiring a minority stake in the company. Later, in December 2016, Vibes acquired Red Fish Media, based in

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

. Red Fish Media specializes in mobile marketing, with products tailored to the healthcare industry.

References

{{Authority control Mobile marketing Text messaging Companies based in Chicago