BT broadband office

A new way to reach the young

Posted 5 February 2008 at 12:44PM by Ian Betteridge in Doing business online

Would you be prepared to have cheap or even free mobile calls in return for receiving adverts on your mobile phone? You might be surprised to find out that, for some young people, that's a deal they're prepared to make.

Blyk, a mobile phone service open only to 16-24 year olds, does exactly this - and despite hardly being adverstised yet, it has already amassed tens of thousands of users, receiving ads from high-profile companies like L'Oreal and McDonalds. What's more, the response rate to the text and picture message ads that Blyk serves up to its users is, the company claims, an astonishing 29%. This is helped by the nature of the ads, which are largely promotions which give you discounts and exclusive offers, rather than simple messaging. But even so, a 29% response rate is exceptionally good in a demographic which can be hard to reach.

For older customers, this approach may be less effective. As any trip down the average high street on a Saturday will tell you, young people are used to a constant barrage of interruptive text messages - so what difference does it make if you get a few ads amongst them? When you only get a handful of text messages, as is more common amongst older demographics, you may find the interruptions more annoying.

But what the Blyk experiment indicates is that reaching your customers is now a more complex business than ever, and experimenting with non-traditional methods of advertising and marketing may be effective, particularly when you're trying to reach young people.

Tags: advertising, bt, bt broadbandoffice, marketing, mobile, sms, texting

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