MALVERN technology company Textlocal.com has set-up a competition with five Worcester pubs to offer punters a chance to win an England T-shirt during the Euros tournament in a bid to show the power of instant communication.

Five local clubs are taking part, The Portobello in St Johns, The Pheasant in New Street, The Pavilion in the Park in Tybridge Street, The Vue Bar in Newport Street and The Talbot in the Tything.

Traditionally the landlords at these pubs and bars have used Facebook and Twitter to promote offers and events. But Textlocal aims to demonstrate how text messaging can cut through the clutter and noise of social media to reach customers with promotional offers in an instant.

Jemma Redden, regional marketing acquisition manager at Textlocal, said: “Social media is often mistaken for a sales channel but it should be used as a space to engage with customers and build relationships. Yet many businesses still only push out sales related messages on their social media.

“When there are 293,000 Facebook status updates every 60 seconds, it’s hard for a business to fight against the noise to get noticed. By texting customers who have opted in to receive messages, landlords can be sure it will reach them. In fact, more than 98 per cent of text messages are read, most within the first 90 seconds of being received.”

Frank Vurden, owner operator at The Pheasant, said: “We decided to go back to basics with using text messaging to attract new customers and to keep our existing customer base up to date during the Euro tournament. I currently use Facebook and Twitter to promote what’s on but it can be very generic, whereas I can see that receiving a text can make a customer feel special.”

Pub customers are being enticed to enter the competition to win an England t-shirt on promotional posters and beer mats. The competition will close on Sunday, July 10 and each pub will pick a winner.