America Untethered

American Demographics, March 1, 2003

* Making the Pitch

Opportunities for businesses exist because of these new habits, as countless marketing firms have realized. Never before have businesses had a chance to reach so many people individually and in context. Unlike idle Web surfers, cell phone users are out in the real world. And their increased tendency to be spontaneous could lead to sales when they're near a store, for example.

There's been a lot of dabbling with wireless marketing schemes, such as sending customers coupons and offering special wireless promotions over their cell phones. Stores and theme parks have experimented with wireless ordering and payment systems. At one golf course in Georgia, golfers can order food and beverages using their mobile phones and have it all caddied straight to them. At some Schlotzky's Deli locations, cell phone users can order and pay for food directly over their phones using "digital wallets." And AvantGo, a Hayward, Calif., provider of mobile software, is hoping to turn its successful PalmPilot city guides into wireless portals supported by advertising. "Wireless allows a more targeted approach to reaching people," says Scott Searle at Lockstream, a Bellevue, Wash., developer of security software for wireless services. "But it's a different way of thinking."

So different that so far, it has been a nonstarter for most marketers. For all the opportunity, businesses continue to search for ways to reach wireless customers without annoying them. That, in part, has to do with the fact that Americans pay for calls they make as well as receive. Understandably, most consumers have resisted the idea of paying for messages from marketers.

Still, some firms think they have an answer to this dilemma. New York-based Upoc has focused on the community aspect of cell phones to let marketers tap in to various demographics. The company builds subscription communities, allowing users to instantly contact each other through their phones, primarily through text messaging. People can sign up for communities like Killer Mike, about the latest happenings in music, or the Alias Channel, for the latest scoop on the popular TV program ##em##Alias##/em## and to keep in touch with other fans wherever they go. Customers can also vote in polls and take part in special offers. They have been known to immediately contact each other whenever they spot stars or to get together with each other at events. Upoc offers up the agreeable communities to marketers for targeted messages.

Meanwhile, a service called Zingy enlists companies to advertise in an unusual way: by sending jingles as ring tones for mobile phones. Pepsi, Atlantic Records and Columbia Pictures have all used the service. In one instance, Zingy released rings based on singles from Wu-Tang Clan's Iron Flag and Mobb Deep's Infamy albums some weeks before they were released, to build buzz. According to Zingy, several hundred thousand fans chose the sound bites from these artists for their cell phones.

To be sure, there is a risk in going for gimmicks. But at least one critical lesson can be learned from marketers who have been successful on the Web: Give people what they want. "All this means that now's the time to create what people need," says Context-Based Research Group's Blinkoff. "People need mobility in their lives and are willing to accept certain sacrifices to get it."