The voices of young people are getting louder in the paging industry.
Paging manufacturers and carriers have discovered just how “cool” teenagers and young adults think pagers are, and are beginning to pump money into products and marketing campaigns to make sure the market segment continues to think that way.
The teenage and young adult market is a “very viable place for growth,” said Scott Hoyt, vice president of marketing for Arch Communications Group Inc. “Given the fact that the consumer segment is growing, the teenage market makes up a good portion of that.”
Bubble-gum pink and electric green pagers are nothing new to the paging industry, but this year some manufacturers for the first time are developing innovations that are primarily aimed at the young market. NEC America Inc. has introduced three models of its MessageMaker numeric pagers that feature nine different graphic symbols such as a house, heart, phone and exclamation points that convey common messages like “I love you,” or “urgent.” The pagers come in a variety of colors including traditional black, steel blue, translucent cool mist, arctic blue and real teal.
“The entry-level product is designed for younger users and is targeted at those as young as 11 years old … The intermediate is for slightly older users,” said Beth Anderson, manager of marketing communications for NEC’s wireless message terminals division. “A lot of younger people have different messages, and they can create their own codes” using the symbols.
NEC also has unveiled a line of paging accessories that include a leather pager case, a pager holster available in multiple colors (allowing the user to coordinate his or her wardrobe), coiled or straight bungee cords and pager chains in regular or heavy duty sizes.
Standard Telecom has recently introduced its Nixxo Pop, a numeric pager that also is an FM radio and comes with pre-sets and optional headphones. The product is designed to appeal to the youth market, especially those between 17 and 23 years, said the company.
“In the studies I’ve done with teenagers, the cool thing is to have a pager on your belt. A pager with a radio is even more exciting,” said Karen Schoen, sales manager for Standard Telecom.
Along with the attractive pagers and accessories comes attractive marketing. In May, MobileComm, a wholly owned subsidiary of MobileMedia Corp., partnered with Pepsi-Cola, parent company of Mountain Dew, to launch the Mountain Dew Extreme Network promotion, the largest wireless marketing initiative yet aimed at young people. Consumers can join the Extreme Network by sending in $30 and 10 proofs of purchase seals from Pepsi products. In return, they receive a Motorola Inc. Renegade numeric pager and six months of free airtime from MobileComm. The pagers facilitate normal messaging and allow members of the Extreme Network to receive messages every week from Mountain Dew, notifying them of special offerings and giveaways from companies like Sony Corp., Subway and In-Line Skates. Once paged, members call the toll-free number displayed on the pager and gain access to Extreme Network “insider information” delivered via popular sports and entertainment celebrities.
Consumers can still purchase pagers until the third week of October and the special pages will continue until the end of December. Users can keep the pagers after the promotion by paying a certain amount in advance. The cost varies in each state.
Mountain Dew kicked off the marketing campaign by featuring 30-second commercials throughout the summer. It has continued to push the effort through point-of-purchase promotions and radio spots.
Mountain Dew wouldn’t release how many members were part of the Extreme Network, but said “a few hundred thousand” have signed up.
“The average age of users used to be 25, now it’s about 23,” said Karen Aidem, senior vice president of marketing for MobileComm. “These folks are very dedicated to their paging service. There has been tremendous response to the different companies” that are involved with the promotion.
But other paging companies aren’t ready to jump into the deep end and begin marketing directly to teenagers because of ethical issues surrounding pager use. Many high schools have banned the use of pagers in the classroom.
“You have to be careful about how you market to that group,” said Hoyt. “There’s controversy on how you market to that group. You really need to make sure that your communication devices have clearly created a demand that is consistent with the rules. You create a need so that the teenager needs a pager for family, safety and security.”
Motorola, for example, is running a commercial spot on ESPN featuring a teenager explaining to his father why he needs a Motorola Bravo pager. He tells his father, among other things, that he won’t bring it to school, and that he would respond immediately if his father pages him.
