Farm Journal Media and U.S. Cellular Launch RCS Business Messaging

Farm Journal Media, the nation’s leading business information and media company serving the agricultural market, announces the launch of RCS (Rich Communication Services) messaging utilizing the nativeMsg platform and leveraging the award winning wireless network of U.S. Cellular. U.S. Cellular, the fifth-largest full-service wireless carrier, has now launched RCS Business Messaging on the Google RCS Platform, signalling the mounting demand by brands for the next generation of enterprise messaging.

“RCS stands to upgrade today’s business messaging experience by powering communications that are more interactive and engaging than ever before,” said Todd Parker, Head of Business Development, Carrier Messaging, Google. “We are pleased to have CLX and nativeMsg working in conjunction with Farm Journal Media to provide new ways for U.S. Cellular customers to get timely, useful agricultural information via RCS.”

U.S. Cellular is highlighting the power of RCS Business Messaging with Farm Journal Media. Farm Journal Media reaches the rural America audience with more than 44 million touchpoints each month driven from a collection of 23 websites, 10 publications, three radio programs and three television shows. For many years, Farm Journal has leveraged both SMS and MMS messaging to communicate with their customers. Now with RCS, they can better engage, notify and support their customers with more rich, personalized messaging in the future.

“We're excited to be first to bring this new technology to our agricultural audience. It greatly enhances our mobile messaging offerings while supporting our advertisers with new communication options and advanced metrics," said James Arnold, vice president of digital for Farm Journal Media.

“Technology is revolutionizing agriculture in many ways,” Arnold said. “Communications is no different. Enhancing the clarity and creativity in how we are reaching our farmers and ranchers helps them do a better job feeding the world.”

Farm Journal is using RCS to make it easy for their users to opt-in to specific information services, such as local weather, market reports, or USDA news reports, and to personalize those services to their individual needs. This innovative RCS campaign logic was developed by nativeMsg, a Chicago-based technology provider, on their automated, omni-channel messaging platform, coordinated by CLX Communications, the leading provider of global CPaaS solutions, and delivered by U.S. Cellular, the Chicago based carrier that brings industry-leading innovations to their customers.

“We are excited to transform Farm Journal’s messaging experience to RCS and allow them to increase engagement with subscribers offering a richer content experience,” said Brian Stafford, CEO, nativeMsg. “RCS is an integral piece of the media industry playbook going forward and we are thrilled to see Farm Journal as an early adopter.”

RCS business messaging promises enterprises and brands next level engagement with their customers by boasting a rich and highly dynamic toolkit that will allow businesses to be more innovative in their customer communications. RCS enables a truly branded messaging experience and simple touch suggested responses to drive real-time conversations and a host of rich image, audio and video media files that can be used to create unique and personalized messages for consumers. RCS messaging offers an app-like experience without costly app building and on-going maintenance requirements.

“Farm Journal and NativeMsg’s use of RCS is a great example of how a menu of suggested replies and a carousel of visual choices can simplify otherwise complex personalization choices into an intuitive user experience”, said Petter Bengtsson, Head of Americas from CLX.

About Farm Journal Media - (http://www.farmjournalmedia.com)

Farm Journal Media is the nation’s leading business information and media company serving the agricultural market. Started 141 years ago with the preeminent Farm Journal magazine, the company serves the row crop, livestock, produce and retail sectors through branded websites, eNewsletters and phone apps; business magazines; events; nationally broadcasted television and radio programs; a robust mobile text marketing business; and an array of data-driven paid information products. Farm Journal Media also is the majority shareholder of the online equipment marketplace, Machinery Pete LLC. In 2010, the Company established the non-profit, public charity Farm Journal Foundation dedicated to sustaining agriculture’s ability to meet the vital needs of a growing population through education and empowerment.

About U.S. Cellular – Visit (http://www.uscellular.com)

U.S. Cellular is the fifth-largest full-service wireless carrier in the United States, providing national network coverage and industry-leading innovations designed to elevate the customer experience. The Chicago-based carrier offers coverage where the other carriers don't and a wide range of communication services that enhance consumers’ lives, increase the competitiveness of local businesses and improve the efficiency of government operations. For the fifth time in a row, U.S. Cellular has the Highest Wireless Network Quality Performance, according to J.D. Power’s twice-annual U.S. Wireless Network Quality Performance Study, and 99 percent of customers have access to 4G LTE speeds. To learn more about U.S. Cellular, visit one of its retail stores or http://www.uscellular.com. To get the latest news, promos and videos, connect with U.S. Cellular on Facebook.com/uscellular, Twitter.com/uscellular and YouTube.com/uscellularcorp.

About nativeMsg – (http://www.nativemsg.com)

nativeMsg is an omnichannel, intelligent conversation and messaging experience company. The Chicago-based company’s next generation messaging platform connects directly into consumer messaging channels and allows businesses to design, build, deploy and monitor conversation-based applications. nativeMsg’s connected channels include SMS/MMS, RCS, web chat, Facebook Messenger, Twitter, Alexa and many more. With the use of natural language processing and machine learning, nativeMsg can deploy solutions to collect data, automate customer questions and requests, conduct commerce and distribute content.

Conversational interfaces are the future in customer communications and nativeMsg is positioned to be the leader in omnichannel messaging. Working with some of the world’s leading companies to bring these solutions to life, clients are experiencing higher engagement, increased brand lift and an overall more satisfied customer. To learn more please visit: http://www.nativemsg.com

About CLX Communications - Visit (http://www.clxcommunications.com)

CLX Communications (CLX) is a leading global provider of CPaaS solutions to enterprises and mobile operators. CLX's mobile communication services enable companies to quickly, securely and cost-effectively communicate globally with customers and connected devices - Internet of Things (IoT).

CLX's solutions enable business-critical communications worldwide via mobile messaging services (SMS), voice services and mobile connectivity services for the IoT. CLX has grown profitably since the company was founded. The Group is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, and has presence in a further 20 countries.
To learn more please visit: http://www.clxcommunications.com

Media Contacts

Farm Journal: Stephanie Gable, VP, Content Services sgable@farmjournal.com 913-461-2290
nativeMsg: Tricia Mool, tmool@nativemsg.com 888-566-2848
CLX: Tim Banks, Giant PR; tim@giantpr.co.uk
U.S. Cellular: Katie Frey, Communications Manager, Katie.frey@uscellular.com, 773-355-3275

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