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story category Blyk Proves Ad-Based Phone Service Works
Mobile phone advertisers are keeping a close eye on the service
(old news - 01:01PM Saturday May 03 2008)
tags: business · wireless · alternatives · UK
Blyk is a UK MVNO with an interesting business model which a lot of other mobile phone companies have been eyeing. They require no contract for their service and also offer a set number of free minutes and text messages. People who stick within the minutes can have entirely free mobile phone service while those who don’t pay a fair as-you-go rate. Blyk is able to offer this because it’s an ad-supported service. Mobile phone advertising is relatively new and an area of great potential for marketers so companies want to know what works and what doesn’t. Blyk’s method of offering free service while specifically targeting a youth audience seems to be a method that works since they’ve just reached a milestone of 100,000 subscribers at a date six months earlier than their initial projections.

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Forums » Blyk Proves Ad-Based Phone Service Works
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RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
·AT&T Midwest

Proves?

How does such a limited customer base in the UK prove anything anywhere but in the UK?

I would hazard a guess that ad-supported cellular phone service would be viewed as something less than desired on this side of the Atlantic.
--
Toolmaster of La Grange.

LiamJunket
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Ocean City, NJ
·Comcast

Re: Proves?

said by RadioDoc See Profile :

How does such a limited customer base in the UK prove anything anywhere but in the UK?

I would hazard a guess that ad-supported cellular phone service would be viewed as something less than desired on this side of the Atlantic.
I would never use one. But someone with little income and who wants a cell phone for emergencies and very limited regular use might appreciate an offer like this.
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My BLOG .. .. Internet News .. .. My Web Page
RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11

Re: Proves?

You can pretty much bet a phone that isn't used, with ads that are never seen, would be dropped from the network pretty quickly.
--
Toolmaster of La Grange.

CocoaVanilla
I love oranges
Premium
join:2008-04-16
Tucson, AZ

Virgin Mobile

IIRC, Virgin Mobile has (had?) a feature like this, where you'd look at ads and things for prepaid credit.

netwire
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Mooresboro, NC
·RoadRunner Cable
·Millenicom
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Vonage

It has merit

I know people who could benefit from such offerings here in the states. Some of my friends are lower income and use prepaid services because contract service is too expensive for their budget, and something such as this would be perfect for them considering that they don't even talk much anyhow.
--
World of Warcraft - My anti-drug.
sokhapkin
Premium
join:2003-05-08
Somerset, NJ

Re: It has merit

Why do you associate prepaid with low income customers? I'm in relatively high income range, but use pay as you go cell phone service from T-mobile. PAYG model fits my needs the best.
--
»www.callwithus.com
benc
Premium
join:2007-06-17
Glen Carbon, IL
·Charter Pipeline
·Future Nine Corpor..
·Callcentric
·AT&T Midwest

Re: It has merit

How do you get that he means to infer that only poor people use prepaid?

Of course, a lot of people do think that way, even if it's not true.

That and it's a very easy, logical assumption to make. To just have a mobile, but not a lot of minutes, you can have a T-Mobile prepaid, and pay about $8.33/mo. ($25 refill card every 90 days).

Just the other day, I bought a T-Mobile prepaid because I wanted to evaluate T-Mobile's coverage before either using T-Mobile for myself or telling my parents to use T-Mobile (for the MyFaves plans). This wasn't because I couldn't afford a contract plan.

I could also tell that the salesman was almost looking at me negatively. Although it could've been because he wasn't going to get a commission.

You're a good example of how sometimes, people won't buy something even if they can.

Likewise, I don't think I would ever buy a Rolls-Royce or a Nokia Vertu, even if I could easily afford one (I can't).
sokhapkin
Premium
join:2003-05-08
Somerset, NJ

Re: It has merit

said by benc See Profile :

To just have a mobile, but not a lot of minutes, you can have a T-Mobile prepaid, and pay about $8.33/mo. ($25 refill card every 90 days).
Not true. After you paid $100 to t-mobile, any deposit lasts for 1 year. I just made $10 deposit to them, I expect it will cover my cell phone needs for 3-4 month. So it's about $2-3 per month only.
--
»www.callwithus.com

rebooted

@rootbash.de

Not a suprise

It was just a matter of time before somebody realized the potential of cellphones for directed advertising.
benc
Premium
join:2007-06-17
Glen Carbon, IL
·Charter Pipeline
·Future Nine Corpor..
·Callcentric
·AT&T Midwest

Re: Not a suprise

said by rebooted :

It was just a matter of time before somebody realized the potential of cellphones for directed advertising.
Hopefully the ads won't happen for people who are actually paying for the service.

Default_Uzer

join:2006-02-13
Springville, NY
clubs:

I wonder..

I use prepaid verizon, it saves me about $50/mo. compared to their contracts. Before each call however, an annoying voice says "the time available for this call is x-amount of minutes." or "unlimited" if its a mobile-to-mobile call. it's so damn annoying, I can only imagine what the ads would be like? and would the person you are calling have to hear the ads too? thats just flat out ghetto.
Raphion

join:2000-10-14
Samsara

.

If they're ads on the screen, I could go for that. If on the other hand, they're ads you have to listen through, forget it.

Cadarn

@nblnetworks.fi

...

Sorry to burst all your bubbles, but the US is actually quite far behind in terms of mobile adoption, pricing plans and what not, as compared to Europe.

The Blyk ads are not traditional media, mass-eyeball type disruption type fodder but rather customised according to the users impliit and explicit preferences, and based on a type of advertising called Engagement. You are mostly familiar of this type of advertisement from the web sites you most likely visit as you have commented here, but it is different, due to the different media vehicle, i.e. mobile which has a smaller screen and different behaviour model.

The ads are also message based because that is much more widely adopted in Europe as in the states, and is based on the fact that when you send someone a SMS, you expect to be able to reply, and get an answer, so most ads are infact dialogues that connect the brands to the consumer.
Forums » Blyk Proves Ad-Based Phone Service Works


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