The deal follows two highly successful campaigns with The Walt Disney Company Africa and McDonald’s, with OTM being the first company in the world to trial this technology with both these major brands.

Using the Vodafone network to facilitate the all new 2019 Lion King release and McDonald's Rewards program RCS projects, the campaigns were said to have seen a 72% and 73% Read Rate (RR) respectively with a conversion rate of approximately 3%. Engagement Rates were 44% with the McDonald's campaign and up to 82% with the Lion King campaign, without the need for subscribers to leave the native messaging app on their phone.

“Our proprietary technology platform, Mobuck, produces a level of RCS experience not yet seen in the marketplace and a viable alternative to current over-the-top (OTT) apps,” explained OTM CEO Kerstin Trikalitis. “By joining forces with Vodafone, we have created a unique, end-to-end, cloud-based and fully-managed RCS solution, taking full advantage of the channel’s ability to allow users to interact with brands without leaving their native messaging app.”

Vodafone Group principal product manager Liz McCord added: “The Disney and McDonald’s campaigns run by Out There Media and Vodacom demonstrate the first large scale commercial RCS campaigns by big brands on the continent. The results were spectacular and prove the value of this new messaging channel for mobile customers and brands alike.”