ZIPFones dials in a new media platform -- Pay phones

Namrata Singh

Mumbai, Aug 2: Are you a marketer who is desperately spending on getting the attention of the consumer through expensive hoardings, print media, and television channels-and still nervous that you haven't really got across to the target customer? Take heart. For, ringing in a new concept in advertising is ZIP Media Avenues, which through phone booths branded ZIPFones, is establishing a direct connection with the consumer.

Here's why marketing big-wigs like Hindustan Lever, Colgate-Palmolive, Titan and Coke are already tuning into the new dial-a-target-customer tone. The rates: Rs 150 per month per ZIPFone location. The promise: the ad will reach out to a 100 callers per day per location, who will be a captive audience for a 10-second ad which appears on the screen.

ZIP Telecom, formed in 1994 as Indus Telecom, has entered the Indian market to provide comprehensive Pay Phone and Phonecard management solutions for basic telecom providers. ZIP Telecom has introduced the state-of-the-art ZIPFone instruments that are installed at all the ZIP Telecom Franchise Locations. The company has expanded its reach to touch 1,000 ZIPFone instruments in Mumbai, Pune and Navi Mumbai.

``ZIP Media Avenues offers three unique advertising vehicles which offer an innovative use of technology to enable advertisers to get their advertising message across to their audience effectively,'' says ZIP Telecom vice-chairman Ravi Kailas. These are:

The LCD screen: This displays the usage instructions and tariff below the graphic advertising messages ensuring the attention of the caller-and giving the advertisers the benefit of a captive audience. The still ads of products like Dove, Coke and Colgate, come on the screen when the consumer dials a number. Each ad lasts for 10 seconds.

Backlit headers: These are amongst the first in-shop lit displays, placed at a uniform height to ensure a clear line of visibility.

One-touch button: Located on the face of the ZIPFones, the speed dial keypad has buttons that will be assigned to individual advertisers whose names will be printed alongside the speed dial button. This medium can be used to generate inquiries about product information, response point to record and handle complaints.

``The tariff details which appear at the lower portion of the screen ensure that the attention of the caller remains on the screen, thus providing the advertisers with the benefits of a captive audience,'' said Kailas. FMCG majors like Hindustan Lever, Colgate, ITC, Videocon and Titan have already started advertising their products through ZIP Media Avenue.

``We plan to continue with the ad charges of Rs 150 per month per location, for at least one year,'' said Kailas, who feels that the rates are down-to-earth as compared to other expensive media.

Roughly, the charges of Rs 150 per month per location would translate to Rs 1,800 per annum for an advertiser for one location. Since, ZIPFones have been installed in a thousand locations (and more to come in the near future), if an advertiser wants to highlight its products in all the ZIPFone locations, the total ad-spend will be around Rs 18 lakh per annum.

The company claims that this is the first Pay Phone business in the world which has provided a new avenue for advertising. ``We have applied for a patent on this,'' said Kailas. He added that the company plans to initiate a similar exercise in the US.

Within India, the company plans to expand its operations in other states through associations with other basic telecom service providers. In Maharashtra, ZIP Telecom has a partnership with Hughes Ispat to set up and operate the business of franchise locations, media avenues and phonecards.As to how an advertiser will measure the success rate of its ads, says ZIP Telecom controller (marketing) Kumar Subramanian: ``While we internally study these aspects, we have also hired ORG to track the reach, the aided and unaided recall. This is being conducted through a brief questionnaire to callers. As per our study, 3,000 people come in to make calls every month at a particular location of ZIPFone. This can roughly give an advertiser an idea of who he is targeting depending on the location.''

ZIP Telecom is planning to target locations like restaurants and cinema theatres for installing ZIPFones. The company has attempted to brand a telephone booth and the aim is to change the entire concept of telephoning from an impulse-driven one to attracting people to come into a ZIPFone to make calls.

``We want to attract people into a ZIPFone location to make calls. We have lined up promotions to give incentives to callers,'' said Subramanian. For instance, the company has kicked off a new promotion of giving a Coke free to those callers who make calls above the lower limit of Rs 50 at specific locations.

``The Coke promotion has taken people by storm. The number of walk-ins has gone up by 30-40 per cent. There has been an increase in the number of people making calls above the Rs 50 limit. On an average, people make calls upto a limit of Rs 25,'' Subramanian said.

In a city like Mumbai, there are in all 10,000 existing phone booths. The population of the city is 14 million people. Two years back there were 500 phone booths.

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