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Getting the msg across
January 19, 2004
In a cramped office in Evanston, Jack Philbin is trying to turn cell phone-toting 35-year-olds into text-messaging teenagers.
Mr. Philbin, 28, and nine other employees of Vibes Media, an advertising agency he co-founded, run campaigns for wireless companies that want to boost text-messaging traffic on their cellular telephone networks.
Verizon Wireless, the nation’s second-largest carrier, is currently offering one such effort, a trivia contest, to half its 36 million subscribers.
“This hotel heiress can be seen on everyone’s TV. . . . What’s her first name?” asks one question sent out as a text message to the cell phone screens of Verizon subscribers.
The answer — Paris (Hilton) — is easy. And that’s the point.
Easy-to-answer questions elicit more responses. More responses means more people learning to type words on a cell phone’s tiny keypad — an alien concept for most Americans over the age of 25.
“We have to make every message perfect,” says Alex Campbell, 27, who co-founded Vibes with Mr. Philbin. “It has to be entertaining. It can’t be 'Sorry, you’re wrong. Goodbye.' ”
Mr. Philbin and his colleagues must tread carefully: Messages meant to intrigue can just as easily irritate busy consumers.
But at 10 cents per text message, New Jersey-based Verizon and other wireless carriers are willing to take that risk. So, they’re peppering subscribers with text messages on everything from scavenger hunts to opinion polls at sporting events.
Vibes and a handful of other wireless advertising agencies cater to this highly specialized niche. The Evanston agency has run about 200 campaigns over the past 18 months, and generated just under $1 million in revenues in 2003.
New York-based Upoc Inc., a 30-employee agency, has signed up 1 million people to share text messages. Members of one subgroup, New York Celebrity Sightings, alert each other when a celebrity like Harrison Ford is spotted in Union Square.
New source of revenue
Carriers are counting on data services, such as text, camera and instant messaging, as incremental revenue that can help offset the increasingly tight margins for basic cell phone service.
“This is a highly profitable business,” says Linda Barrabee, senior analyst at Boston’s Yankee Group, a market research firm. “It’s very cheap to deliver,” since it runs on existing cellular telephone networks, which have vast unused capacity.
While text messaging has been popular in Europe for years, American consumers have been late to the party. The service only began to attract large numbers of users in the United States in mid-2002, when the nation’s wireless carriers hammered out agreements that enable users on different networks to trade messages.
Boosting users, market
From 2002 to 2003, the number of active users doubled to 31.5 million, while revenues generated from text messaging in the U.S. increased fourfold, to $995 million, according to Yankee Group estimates. This market is projected to grow to $2.4 billion by 2007.
“Everyone industrywide has understood that text messaging is going to be important in the business,” says Michael McCann, Midwest regional director of marketing at U.S. Cellular Corp., a wireless carrier based in Chicago. “It appeals to the youth segment, and that’s very important to our business.”
This segment tends to adopt new technology before their parents, and sending text messages from one cell phone to another is the digital equivalent of passing a note in class to a friend.
Nearly half the 1,000 18-to-24 year-olds surveyed say they use their text messaging at least once a month, according to Yankee Group, compared with 13% of older adults. What’s more, nearly three-quarters of adults surveyed weren’t aware that this service exists on their cell phones.
One problem is that text messaging isn’t easy to find, or use, on many handsets. Users have to triple-tap — hit some keys three times — to get the correct letter.
“For me, it’s easier to call somebody,” concedes Richard DeRoche, 40, a technology consultant and sporadic user of the service.
That’s why carriers like Vibes’ proselytizing efforts. The agency’s more complex games generate more than 70 text messages per user.
“This is a chance to get in and see what text messaging is all about,” says Nikki Learakos, Verizon Wireless’ product manager for the Midwest.
