commercialized phone calls

Posted on December 30, 2006
Filed Under Thoughts & Ideas, uncategorized |

I got this idea when I was calling one of my friends the other day. When the phone was ringing and I was waiting for him to pick up, a song started playing. I never knew it was possible to play any kind of audio during this “moment of waiting”. I don’t know exactly how it works, but it’s probably a feature on my friend’s phone, or controlled by his operator. Anyway, the basic idea is that if you can play a song during this moment, you can play any kind of audio you wish, commercials for instance.
One important factor of marketing is to get your message out to the right people, your target group. This is done in many ways, and seen both on TV, in magazines, internet etc.
How about commercialized phone calls? Every time someone calls you, waiting for you to pick up, they hear a commercial. You might think that would be pretty annoying, right? I agree, but what if this could pay your monthly phone bill, or even more? Would you do it then? I don’t know but I think it’s an idea worth considering.

First of all, this won’t be anything like commercials on TV, radio, internet or in magazines. People have the option to turn off the TV or skip to another channel, the same goes for the radio. A typical problem with advertising is that people simply just don’t pay enough attention to them. This is of course the reason why it is so important to make something that really connects with your target, right away!
How often have you not switched the channel when the commercials were coming, after switching back when they were over? Reading an article without paying attention to the ad in the middle of the page? Closed popup´s before they even loaded the content? Lots of times, right?! But are you going to hang up the phone before reaching the person you are calling, because you have to listen to a commercial? Honestly I don’t know, because I have never tried. But I don’t think that would be the main problem. Of course, there is such a thing as listening while not paying attention. Still, during this moment you are expecting your friend to answer which will cause you to be at least somewhat attentive.

Secondly, this is a perfect way for the company to reach the right target. Operators have detailed information about their customers (address, sex, age, etc.).
This way, I think it somehow should be possible to set up a system that makes your phone play specifically targeted commercials when someone calls you.

Maybe the system could even be turned around in a way, so it’s the one calling and listening to the commercial who will get paid. However, this could cause problems which could be called something similar to “spam calling”.

No matter which way it would be done, there would surely be problems to be solved. But that’s just how it is, when starting up something new, right?

Anyway, it’s just a thought. Probably because I really like the idea of getting paid, every time someone calls me.

Please feel free to comment.