On great. What next...

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
> Date: Sat, 08 Nov 2003 12:13:17 -0500
> From: Gary Johnston <johnston () NKU EDU>
> Subject: On great. What next...
> To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
>
> http://www.msnbc.com/news/990920.asp?0cv=CB20
>
> New ad frontier: Cell phones
>
>
>
> Marketers bet consumers will ask for text messages
>
> By Yuki Noguchi
> THE WASHINGTON POST
>
> WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 ­ They’re not supposed to call or send a fax to your 
> home. E-mail may soon be off limits, too. So, spurned marketers are now 
> training their sights on cell phones. But they won’t call you. They’re 
> betting you’ll call them to participate in sweepstakes, get coupons or 
> answer surveys.
>
>        THEY’VE STRUCK a deal with the nation’s 12 largest providers of 
> wireless phone service to set up a five-digit call-in system. Consumers 
> dial a “short code” promoted by the company on its products and 
> advertisements to get the company to send them back a text message that 
> appears on their cell-phone screens.
>        More than 150 companies have applied to register short codes ­ 
> numbers from 20000 to 99999 ­ in the two weeks they’ve been available.
>
>        Consumer advocates fear that once a customer uses a code to snag a 
> coupon, that cell-phone number could go on a list and be sold to 
> telemarketers, making the cell phone just another target for junk 
> solicitations.
>        There are no “white pages” with cell-phone numbers so they have 
> remained relatively free of come-ons. Because most users pay extra to 
> send and receive text messages, unwanted promotions could be not only 
> annoying, but also costly.
>
>        Many of the companies that have registered for short codes so far 
> have pledged not to share cell phone numbers with others or use them to 
> market products unrelated to the original promotion.
>        Procter & Gamble Co. is using 3-2-7-3-2 ­ DARE2 ­ to promote its 
> Clairol Herbal Essences hair-color products. The Weather Channel has 
> registered to secure 4CAST, STORM and RADAR for on-demand weather 
> updates. Coca-Cola Co. already is inviting people to call COKE for a shot 
> at winning prizes. (It set up its four-digit code before the five-digit 
> standard was established.)
>
>
>
> TEXT MESSAGES CHEAPER, LESS INTRUSIVE
>
>
>        Marketers don’t plan on having people return messages. The 
> marketers will just send text, which they can do for much less money. 
> Also, they say, text is less intrusive.
>        Coca-Cola last month launched a trial by printing its 2-6-5-3 
> short code on posters and cardboard displays at stores to promote its 
> sweepstakes. Customers punch the code into their cell phones and are then 
> prompted to type in the numbers printed on the inside of their drink 
> caps, which indicates the number of points they’ve earned.
>        Coke keeps track of a user’s points in a digital account 
> associated with that cell phone number. The customer then uses the 
> cell-phone number to register on Coke’s promotional Web site and redeem 
> points for prizes.
>        Coke wanted to tap the growing audience of teenagers who use cell 
> phones to send text messages, said Doug Rollins, associate brand manager 
> of the Coca-Cola trademark. If the trial succeeds, he said, Coke might 
> use the codes more broadly in other advertising and promotional programs.
>        Coke asks those who register on its Web site for permission to 
> send additional messages to their cell phones. But it is treading 
> carefully on what it knows is now private space. Coke has pledged not to 
> sell its list to other marketers, or to send unwanted messages. “We’re 
> not going to push a bunch of messages,” Rollins said. “Consumers are 
> paying for each text message we send. We can’t lose that confidence.”
>
>
>
> MARKET COULD BE $5 BILLION IN 2 YEARS
>
>
>        Other marketers agree and say the messages will be sent only to 
> people who request them. But they think they will be a bonanza. The 
> business of marketing to cell phones could be worth $5 billion in two 
> years, said Peter C. Fuller, president of the Mobile Marketing Association.
>
> [snip]

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