Hershey mixes gum, chocolate, karaoke and ringtones

ORLANDO, Fla.-In a first for a major, mobile-centered national advertising campaign, The Hershey Co. plans to soon offer one-in-three chances to win a sing-it-yourself ringtone for customers who purchase their Ice Breakers Sours Gum.
The Karaoke Tones promotion comes in partnership with Interop Technologies, which is probably better known for providing messaging solutions. The company enables the American-Idol-esque application, which allows the user to choose a song snippet, record themselves belting it out using their mobile handset as the microphone, and then show off their talent (or lack thereof) as a ringtone.
Hershey will begin selling the Ice Breaker Sours with the included codes later this summer. Interop did not give a specific number of packages which will include the codes, but said distribution will be national and number in the millions.
The product and campaign are aimed at the youth market-although Interop execs said that the application’s appeal goes beyond any single demographic.
In a demonstration provided by the company, the user is guided through a series of screens with various branded and custom elements for advertisers. The advertiser can select from a list of songs available for karaoke ringtone. Interop said that it takes care of the necessary licensing as well as protecting the content by allowing streaming tests and previews, but no actual downloading of the content until it has been purchased.
Users of most major U.S. wireless companies and mobile virtual network operators will be able to use the service. In order to compensate for network latency, the application requires a “timing check” to make sure that the user’s singing will be in-sync once the recording begins. Users can re-record their ringtone if they aren’t satisfied, and ultimately it is sent to their phone. Users can also choose to e-mail a link to, say, their blog, or a friend who can stream the ringtone and choose to purchase it themselves (the ringtones will be priced like premium content, according to Interop representatives). At a community level, users can post their songs to a “gallery” of performances, which fellow singers can rate positively or negatively.
John Bickford, vice president of carrier and consumer content for Interop, said that the launch of the Hershey promotion will be comparable to the level of usage that would be expected from a tier-one carrier. Bickford and Damian Sazama, Interop’s vice president of marketing and product development, said that the company is also in discussions with unspecified carriers to offer the service on-deck, and plans to make a direct-to-consumer, off-deck offering of the application.
“We think consumers will have great fun surprising, delighting and exasperating their friends and family with personalized content,” said John Dwyer, president and CEO of Interop.