'Free Talk Time for Ads' firms plan UAE entry

If the cost of mobile phone calls is bothering you, then fear no more: advertising is coming to your rescue. A new service could not only subsidize your phone bills but give you free call time on your mobile phones.

“We are intending to bring this unique mobile service where subscribers agree to agree to receive advertisements and other community messages and in exchange get free talk time, “said Danish Hussein of Gulf Integrated, a telecommunication company specializing in alternative means of communication and advertising.

“The advertisements beamed on the mobiles will be contributing to your call time, “explains Hussein.

For this purpose, subscribers will have to agree to receive and accept a pre-defined number of advertisements, which can be simple text messages or MMS driven video clips.

The formula is successfully working in UK and operated by Blyk.

It is a free mobile phone serviced launched less than a year ago in the UK and is entirely funded by advertising. Users receive up to 6 commercial messages a day and in turn are given 43 minutes of talk time and 217 free text messages free every month.

“We are looking at the option op either tying up with Blyk or a totally independent network after seeking permission from local authorities” said Hussein.

Commenting on their expansion plans, Hussein said initially the service will be restricted to UAE and later cover the rest of the gulf countries and eventually the entire MENA Region.

In the United Kingdom, Blyk has been so successful that it reached its one-year target in seven-months after its launch and is aiming to reach a one-million mark in 3 years.

Considering the appeal of commercials on mobile phones, Blyk is aiming to target 16-24 year olds and has received very encouraging response from the target audience.

However, Gulf integrated is confident that the appeal of free or subsidized mobile phone calls will attract users beyond this age group.

Hussein said: “Dubai is a booming economy and mobile usage is not limited to age here. There are potential advertisers who would like to reach out to the mature market and in fact we wish to complement our service by adding relevant and useful information beamed on mobile phones for business and executives also, “

The stock markets and real estate sector are some of the industries that stand to gain from regular flow of information right to the end-consumer on hourly basis. With consumers subscribing to such services, companies will have a very effective hit rate and cost per person to hit the target audience is expected to be very reasonable, said industry experts. “The service offers a very targeted method of reaching out to consumers with minimal wastage, “voiced Sunil Sivarajan, account director at mediaedge:cia, in support of the service and added that “since the consumers have consented to receive promotional messages, they are more likely to be receptive to the messages and hence this will lead to better response”.

Sivarajan, who is employed with one of the largest media buying units in the country, suggested with such a possibility of engagement with consumers, advertisers could filter consumers who are most receptive to such activity and eliminate those who do no respond over a period of time. This model is being used by a few companies as word of mouth marketing.

Companies offer selected consumers their products free of charge to turn them into brand ambassadors who in turn will chat, write and blog about these offerings to the wider community.

A recent study in the US has also shown that only 7 per cent of the mobile phone users were very interested to receive promotional text messages. With an offer to provide incentives, the willingness to accept commercial content increases to 25 per cent if in return the user gets some free mobile applications.

Hussein is very confident of the Blyk formula, but intends to improvise on that. “The demographics of the region are different and keeping in mind we will make necessary changes to look after the sensitivities of the region and our client’s “said Hussein.

“The project is at initial discussion stages and after proper research and home work, we will roll out the project, “said Hussein

This article was published in UAE based business tabliod Emirates 24X7, dated 24 June 2008