Paid content has become little more than an oxymoron as far as most Web publishers are concerned. In the US, a few adventurous types including Forbes.com are exploring the uncharted wireless waters where consumers are willing to dish out the dough for info on the go. Forbes.com’s latest expedition will enable cell phone users to access its financial data, stock quotes and business news through interactive branding and wireless entertainment firm, YellowPepper’s Dartzz Short Message Service platform. The deal follows partnerships between the publisher and several wireless carriers including AT&T, Cingular and Sprint PCS by which subscribers can view Forbes.com content via SmartServ’s wireless application. Forbes.com content is also distributed through Compaq and Palm handheld units. “We see these as the first steps towards true understanding of how to stay in touch with our audience throughout the day, both in terms of technology and information,” says Jim Spanfeller, president and CEO of Forbes.com. As yet, the text messaging space is relatively uncluttered, although the potential customer base is large. There are currently over 130 million wireless subscribers in the US according to the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, and most cell phones are text message enabled. Users appreciate the immediacy of text messaging, especially when the value of the information is dependant upon its timeliness; sports scores and stock quotes come to mind. Forbes.com visitors are willing to pay for its frequently updated business content. As found in the company’s November 2002 Wireless Phone Usage Study of Forbes.com users, “Nearly 20% of those who are interested in receiving business news through their cell phones indicated that they would be willing to pay more than $1 per month for such services.” The YellowPepper offering, which is due to launch in March, will eventually allow subscribers to receive customized information and articles based on keywords they’ve entered or pre-set segments like Mergers and Acquisitions or Terrorist Alerts – “anything that’s really disruptive to the market or can influence your portfolio,” explains Marc Theerman, CEO of YellowPepper. Also through the YellowPepper service, subscribers will be able to hear full Forbes.com articles as read by computer by dialing toll-free numbers imbedded into text messages sent to their phones. In the future, sponsorships and active response driven promotions could be made available to advertisers; however, Spanfeller doesn’t see an ad-based model as viable in the current climate. Regardless of the possibilities and huge adoption numbers in Europe, Jupiter Research’s December 2002 Wireless Paid Content study finds that “Although nearly every major wireless carrier in the US had launched a mobile billing system suitable for supporting paid content as of late summer 2002….US wireless content is only slowly emerging.” Spanfeller sees Forbes.com’s wireless venture as a learning game that shows potential down the road. “I wouldn’t go to the board and say it will have an impact on the bottom line this year,” asserts Spanfeller, “but maybe in a year or two it will.”
A report in yesterday’s LA Times said more TiVo users watched and replayed the commercials from the Super Bowl than the game itself. You will recall that many broadcasters are convinced TiVo technology could kill advertiser-supported television by encouraging viewers to skip ads. Not replaying the game may be apt commentary on the Raider’s offensive punch and 500,000 homes does not a national sample make, but doesn’t this speak volumes about advertising creativity and the American public’s secret fascination with advertising? I say “secret” because if you were to poll most folks on their attitudes about advertising you’d get the usual thoughtless responses like “I watch them but they don’t affect my purchase decisions…” or “Can’t they sell beer without half naked women?” or “My kids ask for food and toys by their brand names, this has gone too far…” But. History has proven that truly creative advertising can not only move product, it can capture the imagination of the nation and even become part of its culture. Two decades after seeing that Apple commercial just ONCE, people still talk about it. My son greets his friends with “What’s up?” with no knowledge of where he came up with that phrase. I will probably go to my grave able to hum commercial jingles from my childhood like “See the USA in your Chevrolet,” or “I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony…” In the LAT story, a TiVo spokesperson said "Viewers watch the content that they find most compelling, even when the most compelling content is the commercials.” Nowhere is creativity more important than on the Internet. It is clearly the medium of the future. It has become indispensable at work and nearly so at home. And before long it will converge with television and be the ONLY medium mass enough to serve most national advertisers. But. None of this will happen if we don’t put a little (no, a lot) more effort into online advertising creativity. By that I don’t mean more and better ways to trick or annoy users into seeing our ads. I mean by creating ads that users save, replay and email to friends. Ads that are so poignant that people talk about them or use their copy lines in their conversations. Or hum their tunes. Or save their imagery as desktop wallpaper or screen savers. We can do it. We must do it. We will do.Adam Guild is President of Interep Interactive