So I finally broke down and got a cell phone. After weighing my options for ten years I found a plan that makes sense . Since I can’t use a phone at work, and I don’t often get calls requesting my assistance with open heart surgery, it was hard for me to justify a lengthy contract. I was almost ready to sign a 2-year Sprint contract when a friend of mine suggested that I consider a prepaid plan.

Virgin Mobile it is

For those of you even less familiar than I was, a prepaid phone requires no contract – you buy a phone, then pay into an account from which your usage is deducted. The terms surrounding pricing and expiry of minutes vary with each provider. I checked out the reviews on prepaidreviews.com, and concluded that Virgin Mobile had sufficently favorable reviews and a decent pricing structure — by default 18¢ per minute, 5¢ per text. If you pay $6.99/month, the voice price goes down to 10¢ per minute. This is not cost-effective for a heavy user, but it’s much cheaper for those of us who only use a few hours a month. Virgin Mobile also allows you keep everything you put into your account as long as you contribute $20 every 90 days.

I proceded to check out the web site, which is clearly geared towards the Generation Z set, and found a decent phone. I headed to Best Buy and found that the retail packages, which start at $20, continue the “I can’t believe it’s not a megacorporation, dude!” motif. The selection is decent enough, although it doesn’t compete with the high-end phones subsidised by contracts. It only took a few minutes to activate, a few hours to charge the phone, and voila — this blogger now wielded circa ‘95 connectivity!

Interactive Marketing

An interesting side-note – in the same vein as much of the rest of the prepaid marketing, Virgin Mobile’s Sugar Mama program allows you to earn free minutes. Just watch ads online and answer questions (ADTIME), take text surveys (TEXTTIME), or complete questionnaires (QTIME). I gave it a try for kicks and was treated to a Navy ad and a trailer for The Messengers for an easy free two minutes. I think I’ll stick with my day job… Digital50 has a more serious analysis of this service:

“What really attracted us to the Sugar Mama program is that it is truly a pull vs. a push tactic,” explained Stacy Doren, director, media and online, Levi Strauss Signature(R). “The audience is electing to receive the message and interact with the Levi Strauss Signature(R) brand in order to receive the bonus air time. It provides a new and innovative way to reach our consumers and provides us with the assurance that our message is being heard.”

Stupid TXT Tricks

I happened upon Google’s SMS service. Send a query to “GOOGLE” (466453) for weather (“w 90210″), movie times (“m 90210″), a dictionary (“d geek”), and more. You can give it a try using Google’s demo. Google also offers a web form and Firefox extension from which to send text mesasges to numerous networks.

It was also news to this newbie that mobile users can seamlessly send text messages to e-mail addresses. This is a compelling reason to send text via e-mail rather than web form when texting from a computer, so the recipient can respond. It’s easy enough to find the correct e-mail address for the big carriers or the obscure carriers.

Microsoft is taking a decidedly muted marketing approach with Zune, their potential iPod competitor. We’ve been inundated with ads for the incrementally improved iPod Nano and Shuffle, but there doesn’t seem to be an equivalent Zune campaign, despite the imminent November 14 release. Zune Insider offers a peek at some TV ads, and my opinion is mixed.

Apple’s stylish product-focused iPod ads have transformed their white earbuds into an iconic, self-propelling fashion statement. The initial batch of Zune ads try to pose an organic contrast to Apple’s polished ads, replete with deep earth tones, dancing crowds, and possibly more dogs than is healthy. While I recognize they are trying to establish the product’s “Welcome to the social” tagline, these high-concept ads are easy to mistake for a Levi’s commercial. Or worse — an iPod® commercial, since the iPod® is now the Kleenex® of MP3 player brands.

Of the inital bunch, I think the Lion vs. Gazelle is the best. Product-centric, and featuring a catchy tune and a memorable concept:

The rest of the ads feel left field. Take a look at Picnic. It’s basically a 20-something Sesame Street cast dancing and hugging to a folk song. And dogs. Lots of dogs:

IMHO

While technology doesn’t tend to win markets, Zune features compete favorably with the iPod. The 3″ screen is .5″ larger than the iPod, and the ability to wirelessly share audio/video is exciting. It will play nicely with an X-Box 360, and I expect it to interact with Microsoft’s Soapbox video sharing site when it’s out of beta. But if Microsoft is to compete with the Apple juggernaut, they’ll need to ramp up their branding. Thanks to Zune Insider for sharing the TV spots.

Tangent: New XP “Zune” Theme

After several months with the Energy Blue theme (aka Royale) for Windows XP, I was interested in a replacement for this bright blue theme. I came across Royale Noir on Istartedsomething (via John’s blog), which includes the original blue as well as a black iteration. The latter is nice, but inactive Windows are a bit too dark on my LCD. A comment on Istartedsomething referred me to my new theme on Zune.net (lower right image), which is basically an updated version of Royale Noir.

Earlier today I came across a Chartreuse editorial that likens Paris Hilton’s fame to that of YouTube and Digg. Ironically, several hours later, I found a Forbes.com article describing a deal between Warner Music Group and YouTube that manifests the comparison.

The basic premise of the Chartreuse post is that YouTube, like Paris, is a vessel. More important than their respective assets, both YouTube and Paris attract a large “user base”. Details of the YouTube-Warner deal are vague, but apparently in addition to traditional packaged video licenses, YouTube users will receive implicit license to use Warner Music properties in their homegrown creations. In return, Warner will receive a portion of the ad revenue from said content.

Internet phenomena attract free buzz by their very nature – from the old-school Dancing Baby to “All your base are belong to us” to Shoes. If the YouTube-Warner deal goes as planned, Warner’s content and YouTube’s popularity will prove lucrative for both parties.

In order for such an agreement to be successful, YouTube must offer copyright holders assurance that they are able to control their content. The Forbes article alludes to audio/video fingerprinting technology that will allow Warner to (dis)approve of certain uses of it’s content, but it is not clear whether this technology is in place.

Paris is clearly a successful marketing platform. With any luck, YouTube/Warner can enjoy the same success, providing benefits to consumer and copyright holder alike.

When perusing Microsoft’s Coding4Fun community site I came across a blog entry from the VS Express Lead Project Manager describing the Made in [SQL Server] Express contest: “like American Idol, *you* get to choose who wins the Community Award! See below for more information on these fun, cool, and useful applications!”. Pop culture references? Contests? Get your XXTreme flair today, dude! Microsoft is clearly making an all-fronts Web2.0-enabled marketing push. Even the Word Team just started a blog!

How do you compete with “free”?

The open source movement has proven that a critical mass of enthusiasts can not only constitute an agile workforce, but can also create a feedback loop that attracts more talent and mindshare. Corporation and community are strange bedfellows, but it behooves Microsoft to foster such enthusiasm. Were it not for the numerous open source development tools, we wouldn’t see the free Visual Studio Express. And without the availability of open source databases, we would have neither the free SQL Server 2005 Express nor the $50 SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition.

3000 names you can trust

Church of the Customer blog suggests that Microsoft is capitalizing on the trend that consumers are shifting their trust from experts and towards people they can relate to, as measured by the Edelman Trust Barometer. The president and COE of PR firm Edelman says:

“Companies need to move away from sole reliance on top-down messages delivered to elites toward fostering peer-to-peer dialogue among consumers and employees, activating a company’s most credible advocates.”

Microsoft’s army of bloggers is a testament to this marketing approach. With so many of them I have to wonder whether blogging is simply strongly encouraged or is actually compulsory.

Win-Win

Hard to say how successful these new marketing efforts will be, but if the submissions to the Made in Express contest are any indication, Microsoft’s early efforts are attracting talent that might have otherwise sought open-source solutions. And this, despite the awkward corporatized graffiti-laden “flair”. The consumer benefits from grassroots development, regardless of whether it begins organically.

Update: The Made in Express winners were announced, with the grand prize going to Ernie Hall’s All-terrain self-maneuverable robot. Some cry foul, but the bigger picture remains that such projects might have chosen another robust, free platform were it not for that offered by Microsoft.

Apple’s marketing has effectively garnered mindshare for over twenty years. GUIdebook posted an early Macintosh ad campaign from a 1984 Newsweek wherein Apple bought all 39 pages of the advertising space. Here’s an Apple to Apple comparison to today’s ad campaigns.

Enter 2006, and Apple’s continues their brand of relatable marketing in a way that WIntel players cannot touch, from the Switch campaign to the Mac Mini. Below are several amusing excerpts from the Newsweek compared with excerpts from modern campaigns:

Apple’s marketing wouldn’t be successful if it wasn’t advertising backing solid hardware and software. Apple ads are exciting and inspirational where many WIntel ads often evoke boredom or confusion. Kudos to Apple for keeping it up for all of these years.