Cell phone advertisers target teens

What to wear for the prom? What’s hot and what’s not this season? How to say no to alcohol on the prom night? Well; teens can get all this info and more right on their cell phone.

Since teenagers are the ones who spend a lot of time on their cell phone, cell phone advertisers have started target them by offering lots of cool stuff through text messages, WAP links, and more. Now, they can subscribe to ad campaigns and have lots of cool tips, offers, and other things delivered right on their cell phone. They could get fashion tips, news about the latest model jewelry, WAP links to cool mobile sites, discount coupons on famous beauty products, and more. Cell phone advertisers say that teenagers don’t mind getting relevant ads that they find useful and respond to them pretty regularly.

Advertisers find it easier to create a following for their products through cell phone advertising. As these text alerts and ads are delivered only to people who are interested, they are most likely to respond to them. So, the response rate is pretty high in this kind of interactive advertising.

I think it’s a nice arrangement. Teens get what they want and the advertisers get what they want. However, I think advertisers should not send a gazillion ads to their teenage subscribers just because they’re open to it. They could easily get fed up. Also, a lot of teenagers don’t have a regular disposable income and depend on their parents for their cell phone bill. As an advertiser, you sure don’t want to make these parents see red when they come to know how much their son or daughter is spending on text messages. So, a small number of relevant, useful ads at regular intervals could be the perfect recipe to attract a lot of teens.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

2 comments.

On why experts shouldn’t talk for people

When I read this post, I almost had an impulsive urge to ask the writer to read this post of mine. But, I decided against that. After all, if I did that, I would be considered “yet another desperate mobile advertiser”, which I’m not by any stretch of imagination.

One of the problems of being an expert is that you start thinking on behalf of people. Like the writer, who has already decided that cell phone advertising is going to be a big turn-off for consumers and has warned them against it. It’s like telling people, “Listen up people; you don’t have to think about anything. You don’t have to analyze anything. After all, we’re here to tell you what’s right, what’s wrong, what’s good, what’s bad, what amounts to intrusion of privacy and what doesn’t, and everything else you need to know. So, let’s do all the thinking. You just read what we write and make a decision.” Nice work fellas.

Categories: Rant.

2 comments.

Make free international calls from your mobile phone

This is easily the most sensational news for mobile phone users all over the world in the recent times. You can make International group conference calls right on your mobile phone FREE OF COST. How about that? You couldn’t have asked for a better Christmas gift; right?

Talkster is a company renowned for their innovations in making long distance calling cheaper and simpler than ever. They have come up with a new mobile based service wherein you’ll be able to make international calls free of cost.

Apple iPhone Users:

Let’s face it; with all due respect to the iPhone, it’s really difficult to make group conference calls. You can add a second caller while you’re talking to one, but adding the third, fourth, fifth callers becomes very tedious, as you have to hold the call, merge the steps, and so on. Now, it has become easier than ever, thanks to Talkster.

1. Check out http://i.talkster.com from your iPhone and set up your group conference call.
2. Enter the name and the phone number of people that you want to call and click the Invite option available there. You can add up to five people for the call.
3. Immediately, a local phone number is generated by Talkster and it’s distributed to the people you’ve mentioned in your call setup via a text message.
4. Call your friends through the Talkster number and ask them to call you back on your Talkster number and wait on the line till they call you back. Once they call you, you can talk to him as long as you wish, without spending a penny for the call rates.

Mind you, this is a one-time process and you don’t have to go through this process every time you want to make a call. You and your friends can simply store the number in your phone book and use it whenever you want to place a group conference call among you. And here comes the most important news – you can even add international numbers to this group conference call and talk to them for free. So, you get to hit two birds in a single shot – your group conference call process gets simplified to a great extent and you get to talk to each other for free. Doesn’t it sound simply great?

Other Mobile Phone Users:

1. The process is almost the same but for the fact that you have to check out the site http://free.talkster.com/ from your mobile phone.
2. You’ll have to enter the name and phone number of people that you want to call and click the Invite button. You can add up to five people.
3. Once you do, a local Talkster number will be generated immediately and sent to you and your friends.
4. If you want to talk to them, you have to dial the Talkster number and ask your friends to call you back on your Talkster number, and wait on the line without hanging up. Once they call you, you can talk to them for as long as you wish without spending a penny for the call charges.

As I already mentioned in the case of the iPhone, this is a one-time process and you can store the local number that you get from Talkster for future use and use it whenever you want to, free of cost. Not just that, the service can be accessed from your mobile phone, computer, and text messaging.

NOW THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF ‘EM ALL

You must be wondering how these guys are able to afford this; right? Well; isn’t the answer too obvious? Yep; you guessed it right; it’s the good old cell phone advertising. All you have to do is, listen to a ten second targeted audio ad and voila; you’re good to go. This ad helps Talkster break even and provide you with the free international calling service.

What are you waiting for? I think this is the best gift you can get at this time of the year. Pick up your mobile phone and convey your Christmas and New Year wishes for friends and family around the globe. Let the party start.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

4 comments.

Innovative text messaging campaign does the trick

Trust me; I tried hard to be serious, but this one really cracked me up.

While internet giants like Yahoo and Google are trying hard to come up with some kind of cell phone advertising model that will attract the customers the most, an outdoor goods retailer in Michigan has done that effortlessly. Moosejaw Mountaineering is a retailer in Madison Heights, Michigan and has surprised quite a few people in the market by its out-of-the-box cell phone advertising campaign. It has a text messaging service in which customers can sign up. Some time back, the retailer started sending text messages to customers who had opted for the service. The messages conveyed were wildly innovative and they soon caught up with a lot of people. A lot of people started sending messages back to the retailer, for which they received points as part of a reward program.

Sample this - One of the messages sent recently to the customers was regarding Robert Wolfe, one of the founders of Moosejaw Mountaineering. The text message informed the customers that one of Robert’s friends told him that he resembled Ben Stiller and it asked the viewers what they thought of that. It went on to add that those who gave the right answer will get points in the reward program. Believe it or not; more than 65% of the customers replied.

Now it’s time to unveil their next text message campaign. Which Kelly do you like the most – Beverly Hills 90210 or Saved by the Bell? When asked about these successful text messaging campaigns, Robert Wolfe had just one answer. “We try to be as dumb as you possibly can be.” Is anyone listening?

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

0 comments.

Innovative cell phone advertising model in India

I just came to know about this news from India and am sharing it with you guys right away.

A startup company in India called mGinger has come up with a revolutionary model for cell phone advertising. I mean, it’s revolutionary in every sense of the word. It actually pays you to receive ads in your cell phone. It has come up with a cell phone advertising service called AdGinger which pays you to get ads in your cell phone. The interesting part is that you not only get paid for the ads you get in your cell phone, but you can also refer your friends and family to this service and can get paid for the ads that they get in their cell phones.

This has created a buzz in the Indian market, considering it is a booming one. For those of you who don’t know, India is one of the fastest growing cell phone markets in the world and cell phone major Ericsson has estimated that there will be more than 200 million cell phone users in India by 2008. With this kind of figures, the company is positive about making it big in the world of cell phone advertising.

Now; if they only could come up with something of this sort in our country…   

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

0 comments.

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