Urban Airship Streamlines Name And Unveils New Brand To Reflect Dramatic Growth Of Its Customer Engagement Solutions

By STS News Desk On Apr 17, 2019

Independent Research Firm Names Airship a Leader in Mobile Engagement Automation

Now known simply as Airship, the company enables enterprise brands to create innovative customer experiences that span any digital channel

Customer engagement company Urban Airship announced that it has simplified its name to Airship, reflecting the success of its new technology offerings and now dominant global market position. An early pioneer in mobile push notifications, Airship now allows businesses to precisely target and coordinate customer interactions across apps, websites, SMS, email, mobile wallets and other emerging channels. Today Airship’s digital customer engagement solutions are at the center of many of the most disruptive brands and digital transformation strategies.

Airship enables distinctive customer experiences for leading brands around the world — including AccuWeather, AMC Theatres, American Eagle Outfitters, BBC and Vodafone Group. Along with many recent awards, these partnerships signal a clear preference among enterprises for Airship’s expertise and unmatched platform speed, scale and flexibility.

“From 5G to internet-of-things and connected cars, Vodafone is focused on enabling a digital-first society. But where our mission really starts is with our hundreds of millions of customers, and ensuring superior experiences through highly relevant and personalized communications on the digital channels they prefer,” said Tanja Richter, director consumer products & services in technology, Vodafone Group. “Airship has played a key role in this digital orchestration for the past two years, and just recently proved its flexibility by powering some of our first RCS campaigns through its Open Channels API. These rich campaigns saw 40 percent click-through rates and also used fallback to SMS if the consumer couldn’t receive RCS.”

Aside from unveiling its new look, the company released a completely new website, highlighting how innovative customer experiences can drive growth throughout the customer lifecycle — providing a proven blueprint for customer-centric digital transformation.

“We’ve had the extraordinary experience of working with hundreds of the world’s leading brands for nearly a decade,” said Brett Caine, CEO and president, Airship, Inc. “We’ve kept our clients out in front of emerging consumer trends, connected to the newest digital channels and ahead of their competition. Now we’re racing ahead as the premier and proven customer engagement solution for the enterprise with a new name and identity that conveys our performance, expertise and innovation.”

Powering the World’s Favorite Examples of Digital Transformation

Airship has delivered nearly three trillion messages including digital interactions that have enabled shoe brands to build communities of hundreds of millions of customers, and allowed hotel guests to skip frontdesk check-in and unlock room doors with their phones. Airship ushered in some of the first mobile pre-order and mobile payment experiences, all while ensuring baristas got their tips. And each year, Airship eliminates anxiety for 250 million travelers by streamlining day-of experiences with digital boarding passes and real-time travel updates.

Leading enterprises using Airship’s Customer Engagement Platform include:

AccuWeather

“Airship perfectly complements the proven speed and efficacy of AccuWeather’s mobile data delivery to keep the public safe and informed,” said Kurt Fulepp, AccuWeather’s chief product officer. “As the world’s most trusted weather brand, dependability, performance and innovation are key. We set a high bar and Airship has proven to be a partner who is as committed to innovation and the integrity of its brand as AccuWeather.”

AMC Theatres

“Today’s consumers have screens wherever they are, so going to the movies is really about the experience, and digital engagement helps us deliver greater value and convenience all along the way,” said Kelly Hayse, director of push marketing at AMC Theatres. “Airship enables AMC to usher guests more quickly into the theater and to their seat, and the platform’s predictive analytics have helped create messaging campaigns that are growth drivers for our business.”

American Eagle Outfitters

“In this new age of retail, it’s essential to offer our American Eagle and Aerie customers exceptional digital experiences,” said Kristen D’Arcy, VP of integrated marketing and media. “For the past five years, Urban Airship has been a key partner as we’ve adapted to emerging customer requirements and implemented new engagement channels. Recently, we added Airship web notifications and in the first three months exponentially increased our addressable Android audience, achieving similar open and click-through rates as our app.”

BBC

“For media organizations, the speed and relevancy of mobile messaging at massive scale is paramount to our audience and our brand. It’s the quickest path to get people the information they want, and to drive greater online engagement and broadcast viewership,” said Mark Sheldon, head of product, personalisation, participation and data services, BBC. “After a competitive tender process, Airship was awarded the contract for BBC News, BBC Sport and Children’s BBC, which has enabled us to scale up audience engagement and gain award-winning recognition for customer-centric messaging.”

Recently, Airship won “Best Mobile Marketing Platform” at the Marketing Technology Awards. 2019 hosted by Scott Brinker (chiefmartec.com). Airship was named a Leader in Gartner’s 2018 Magic Quadrant for Mobile Marketing Platforms and was positioned furthest to the right in the Leaders quadrant on the completeness of vision axis overall. In Gartner’s 2018 Critical Capabilities for Mobile Marketing Platforms, Airship received the highest Product Scores in three of four Use Cases including Campaign Creation, Orchestration and Execution. In the fourth Use Case (Measurement and Optimization), it scored second highest.

Gartner “Magic Quadrant for Mobile Marketing Platforms” by Mike McGuire, Charles S. Golvin, Bryan Yeager, July 12, 2018
Gartner “Critical Capabilities for Mobile Marketing Platforms” by Charles S. Golvin, Mike McGuire, Bryan Yeager, October 30, 2018