Voice, the (Often) Forgotten Media Channel

Editor’s Note: Welcome to Reality Check, a feature for RCR Wireless News’ new weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. We’ve gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile content industry to give their insights into the marketplace. In the coming weeks look for columns from Tom Huseby of SeaPoint Ventures, Mark Desautels of CTIA, Seamus McAteer of M:Metrics, and more.
My phone rings, it’s Alec Baldwin from “30 Rock.” He’s calling to tell me to watch his new show, but the message contains personal information about me-my interests, where I live-all delivered from Mr. Baldwin himself. After the Alec personalized message, an announcer then comes on with more information about the show as well as providing details on when it is aired. Wow! Ok, I am in the mobile space so I have been sent a bunch of these from my friends in the industry, but every time it makes me laugh and I generally will pass it along to others.
For the past few years, the majority of interest around mobile marketing has been mobile data. text messaging, mobile video, mobile web. all great opportunities for the brands to extend their reach and their message to the consumer-but let’s not forget about voice. Voice applications are growing in popularity and are often the forgotten media channel when a marketer looks to offer mobile as part of their cross-media initiatives. According to Gene Keenan, VP of mobile strategy for Isobar, “Voice is still the killer application. As an agency, we use voice because it has the largest audience and has the ability to entertain, engage and inspire in ways that text messaging can’t.”
The excitement and growth of voice is also reflected in statistics from Telephia, which shows the average number of calls sent and received monthly was 208 during the first quarter of this year, as compared to 198 in the same quarter a year ago. The average monthly total voice minutes used per subscriber are also increasing from 738 last year to 780 in the first quarter of this year. (Date based on information from post-paid, non-corporate liable customers from top four national U.S. carriers.) Another interesting fact that we have seen in the Telephia data is the difference between voice and SMS calls sent and received as illustrated in the table below from first-quarter 2007 figures. As the graph illustrates, younger mobile subscribers are heavier users of SMS as opposed to older demographics who tend to be heavier users of voice. Voice creates an opportunity to target these older subscribers.

Voice provides an opportunity to hook the consumer and then possibly have them engage in more advanced services via text, video, Web, etc. Voice is easy for the consumer to interact with based on their current experiences with their device, so there is no learning curve. A few agencies I spoke to told me that some of the most successful campaigns to date have been voice campaigns. “The numbers are staggering,” said Keenan.
A typical voice campaign can generate upwards of 200,000 consumer engagements in one campaign. The viral aspect is also significant-with an average pass-along rate of six to one. Today, voice is a great way to engage the consumer and build brand awareness; it is not so much of a revenue-generating opportunity. Voice is an important part of the mobile media mix.
Voice applications allow consumers who are not familiar with data services to interact with their favorite brands to buy mobile content, send greetings to their friends or engage in other types of mobile services. One fun campaign that I participated in recently was from VariTalk for the Virginia Tourism Board (http://dev.crookedroad.varitalk.com). The consumer enters information about themselves or the person they would like a voice call to be made to-and the application creates a country song for the targeted recipient based on information provided by the consumer. I have already passed this off to at least 10 other people (note the above the viral pass along rate). Other voice applications have parents signing up to send pre-recorded calls to their kids from characters or celebrities. Elmo could soon be calling you to say, “Wow, you tied your shoes today.” Imagine how that would make a consumer feel about their favorite character. Talk about brand awareness!
Opportunities for further growth of voice services come from companies like SingleTouch Interactive who have perfected the vanity code or Abbreviated Dialing Codes (ADC) for mobile. The programs provide an easy means for consumers to access mobile content through voice services-either downloadable content or streaming audio. Tom Hovasse, SingleTouch’s general manager and EVP, tells me, “Our founder, Tony Macaluso, wanted his mother to be able to download a ringtone as simple as 1-2-3, hence our ADC service. We have been able to capture a much larger audience with voice.”
The opt-in requirements for these programs are the same for voice as for data (as defined by MMA Consumer Best Practices at http://www.mmaglobal.com/bestpractices.pdf) in order to protect the privacy of the consumer and ensure repeatable experiences. If you want to try an ADC service, try #BET or #MTV for downloadable content and #FOXN for streaming audio. Interestingly enough, ringtone downloads are doing the best today-but for the older demographics, streaming audio feeds, like the news, are doing well as well.
“Voice programs like the Pound Program from SingleTouch have been very successful in programs like #BET, #MTV and work with Univision (#323). Voice provides an easy and effective way for the consumer to get desired content without having to learn text. The services hit a different demographic and teaches the consumer how to access content through the mobile device, and will translate into greater usage of more advanced data services,” said Chris Black, director of mobile marketing and interactive media at AT&T Mobility.
Mobile advertising is also making itself known through the mobile voice world. Companies like Jingle Networks through their 1-800-FREE-411 service are reaping the benefits from the consumer’s familiarity with voice services. 1-800-FREE-411 is a free, directory assistance service where the consumer listens to a 10-12 second ad on the front end of the service and then a 15-second ad just before the number is delivered to them. The service currently generates about 21 million calls a month. The viral effect has also been a significant for the 1-800-FREE-411 service to raise consumer awareness around their service. The mobile directory assistance services also help educate consumers on voice search. Lyn Chitow Oakes, SVP of marketing for Jingle tells me, “Pay-per-call lead is perceived as more valuable than a pay-per-click lead” by the advertisers who are interested in leveraging their services. The reason is that consumers are interacting with the service when they are looking for a specific product, and usually when they are ready to buy. The service also offers the ability for consumers to receive the information through text and multimedia messaging. Again, using voice services to raise awareness and ultimately educate those consumers who are not familiar with mobile data services.
Andrew Osmak, senior VP at Lavalife Corp, and I spent some time talking about how they use voice services in their dating applications today. Lavalife will publish in print and television (an important cross-media element) local voice numbers for its customers to access the profiles of Lavalife users through Interactive Voice Response (IVR). Customers are able to listen to the profiles, leave anonymous messages, etc.-all through voice. The business model works by consumers buying buckets of minutes to participate, which today, will appear directly on the carrier’s bill, i.e. Sprint. “Voice is a great smooth way to offer our set of services to subscribers who do not know how to use data,” said Osmak.
What does the future hold for voice?
–Premium IVR is one of the topics that the industry is currently discussing. Conceptu
ally similar to premium text messaging, premium IVR would provide the enhanced voice services for a fee. The MMA has recently launched an IVR Committee, currently chaired by mBlox and Cellfish, to focus on issues and opportunities like these.
–Single short code for both voice and text, where services can be accessed according to how the consumer would like to access and be available across all programs.
–Integrated Voice & Video Recognition (IVVR) could provide the opportunity for consumers to “hear it, see it and buy it-one call does it all.” The services are deployed in Europe today but not something we have seen yet in North America.
George Rogerson, EVP at Cellfish Media, tells me, “Voice can be more entertaining than text and can tell more of a story for the consumer. Voice should absolutely be a part of the multi-media equation for mobile entertainment.”
You may contact Laura directly at laura.marriott@mmaglobal.com. You may contact RCR Wireless News at rcrwebhelp@crain.com.