Out There Media’s CEO and co-founder, Kerstin Trikalitis, joined Bandwidth’s Sr. Director of Product Management, Caitlin Long, onstage for Reverb25.
- Netflix RCS demo: Out There Media’s CEO showcased recently built RCS for Netflix, featuring verified sender branding, rich cards, interactive carousels, and seamless in‑app webviews.
- The future of messaging: Get a closer look at how RCS for Business enables rich, two-way conversations right in your native messaging app. Imagine getting a flight delay alert, instantly rebooking, choosing your snack, and receiving a new boarding pass—all right from one messaging thread. That’s RCS in action.
- Out There Media reveals “Why Bandwidth?”:
They’re leaning on Bandwidth’s scale & reliability for Fortune 500 brands, world‑class customer service and culture of trust, and innovation and co‑creation to drive RCS growth in the U.S..
Caitlin: We’re at the edge of a major shift in how brands engage with their customers. RCS for Business is redefining what it means to connect—moving us from static, one‑way updates to rich, fully conversational experiences right inside the native messaging application.
This goes beyond MMS. This is about fundamentally transforming CX into a seamless dialogue, blending the best of digital, mobile, and in‑person interactions into an actual conversation.
Now, story time. As a frequent traveler, I’ve had my fair share of flight delays. And in case you haven’t traveled recently, I’ll tell you—it’s very difficult to find out about said delays.
So imagine: you get a message about a delay. Instead of searching for information, standing in long lines, or navigating apps, you receive the flight update directly on your phone—in the same messaging thread, you can rebook your seat, select a meal or drink from a carousel of options, and get your new boarding pass instantly.
But the real question is: how far away are we from this reality? The answer is…the future is already taking shape.
And I’m super pumped to make it real with an actual demo from Kerstin, Out There Media. Kerstin, come on up!
[Applause, Music]
Kerstin—welcome.
Kerstin: Thank you so much, Caitlin. Thank you so much for having us here. We’re honored and super excited.
Caitlin: The best place to start is always the beginning. So, let’s start at the top.
Would you walk us through a little bit more about Out There Media—what you do, and why the global brands you serve care so much about rich messaging?
Kerstin: We created Out There Media a little more than 10 years ago and have become one of the global leaders in mobile advertising—bridging the gap between carriers and big brands. We’re the technology in the middle.
Especially in the last four to five years, we’ve been deep-diving into RCS, which we call the game-changer the industry has been waiting for. In this RCS space, we work closely with Fortune 500 brands such as Netflix, Porsche, Unilever, Coca-Cola, and McDonald’s. And we’re excited to showcase a few of those experiences today.
Caitlin: Kerstin, would you honor us with a demo? I have something for you—would you like an assistant?
Kerstin: Yes! And as I always say, a demo says more than a thousand words.
Caitlin: I’d love to assist you with that.
Kerstin: What we have here today is what we recently built for Netflix—at the start of a new season—to see what’s up, showcasing some of the many interactive and conversational capabilities that exist with RCS.
Caitlin: Let’s get it. This is my actual personal phone.
Kerstin: So first and foremost, we’re looking at a verified sender—the logo of the customer with a verified tick mark. Speaking of trust and verification, this indicates it’s really Netflix behind the message. If you click on it, Caitlin, you’ll get info about the brand—like their website, customer care phone numbers, and you name it.
Let’s go back and start our RCS campaign with a rich card. As the name suggests, rich cards is rich media—videos, carousels, images. This specific one, since it’s netflix is a video trailer giving us a glimpse of the new season, if you’d like to play it..
Let’s give it a play.
[Netflix trailer plays – applause]
Caitlin: Very dramatic! One of the cool things about that—we didn’t actually leave the native messaging application.
This is my messaging app on my Samsung phone.
Kerstin: You’re in your good old SMS tray, in your good old native messages application. You haven’t needed to download anything or sign up anywhere. It’s all a rich experience inside that same SMS tray.
Now let’s see what’s more.
Caitlin: Should I (click on) “Show me what’s new”? Let’s give it a shot
Kerstin: Here’s when we start a carousel—up to ten cards. You can swipe left or right, you’re still not leaving your messages tray, giving you a glimpse of what’s new. Caitlin, is there anything that catches your eye?
Caitlin: (Clicks on the House of Guinness card)Yes—I’m going to park it right here because this does look interesting, let’s give it a gander.
Kerstin: That’s The House of Guinness. Here’s a little more information about it. You’re seeing what we call a WebView—a browser opening inside the messaging app. You still haven’t left your messages tray. Are you interested in watching that show?
Caitlin: Yes, I am genuinely interested!
Kerstin: The bad news—it’s not out yet. So, what would you want to do?
Caitlin: Let’s remind myself.
Kerstin: Perfect. If you click “Remind Me,” your calendar opens, and you can set a reminder for when the show is up.
Caitlin: That is such a compelling experience. I’m excited for our customers. I am curious—as you decided to bring this experience to the U.S. market, why did you choose Bandwidth to help?
Kerstin: Three very obvious reasons:
- Scale and reliability. Fortune 500 clients need it, and you have it.
- World-class customer service. Look at all you’re doing for your customers—it’s incredible. Combined with culture and trust. I haven’t seen this kind of culture in a long time.
- Last but not least—innovation and co-creation. Together, I believe we’ll write history here in the US, creating an RCS powerhouse where 1 + 1 = 3.
Caitlin: I love that—my very favorite “improper math.” Now, to prove this isn’t a recorded demo, let’s take a selfie together! Like the Oscars selfie, but better—because it’s here with this audience.
[They take a selfie – applause]
Big round of applause for Out There Media and Kerstin! Thank you so much.
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