Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Carriers Jump on Walkie-Talkie Bandwagon

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2003 13:28:48 -0500

Carriers Jump on Walkie-Talkie Bandwagon

Wireless carriers are competing like Olympians as the wireless number portability
(WNP) deadline approaches. As part of the battle to draw customers, carriers are
promoting walkie-talkie features. Nextel, the first to come out with push-to-talk
technology is being followed by other carriers. Verizon came out with its Push to
Talk service, which allows users to connect with the push of a button. Sprint is
also expected to hit the market with its version by the end of the year.

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Cell phones go walkie-talkie
Mon Oct 27, 9:41 AM ET

By Theresa Howard, USA TODAY

Just as federal regulators prepare to let consumers keep their phone numbers when
they change wireless (news - web sites) carriers, marketers are ramping up
walkie-talkie features that can operate with a code rather than actual telephone
numbers.
The number portability rule goes into effect Nov. 24. As it does, wireless
carriers are trying to mimic Nextel's walkie-talkie
technology.

The service makes an immediate connection to others on the network by eliminating
wait time for dial tones, voice mail navigation and travel through a local
network. Verizon. In recent weeks, RadioShack has begun ads that feature Vanessa
Williams and husband Rick Fox demonstrating Push to Talk technology. In the ads,
Williams reminds her husband to pick up the dog and checks on a rehearsal time all
with the press of one button.

Sprint. The fourth-largest wireless carrier will begin to offer a push-to-talk
service by year's end, says Dan Wilinsky, Sprint spokesman.  "We see great demand"
from businesses and consumers. Nextel. The No. 5 carrier introduced Nationwide
Direct Connect this summer. Until then, it had been a regional service. The
push-to-talk feature was already popular, representing 60%, or 5 billion calls,
made monthly by Nextel's 12 million customers.

"We were aware of portability and of competing walkie-talkie imitations, and we
wanted to get it out ahead of both things," says Mark Schweitzer, Nextel's
executive vice president of marketing. "We believe the service will be helpful in
customer loyalty and make it attractive to new customers when they don't have to
give up their cellular number."
Since the service and ads to promote it were introduced in July, Nextel has added
646,000 customers, its biggest quarterly net gain. "It's the best in the company's
history," says Schweitzer.

Ads to promote Nationwide Direct Connect, polled in USA TODAY's weekly consumer Ad
Track survey, outperformed Nextel ads last year that featured NYPD Blue (news - Y!
TV) star Dennis Franz . The new ads are a humorous, over-the-top bunch by Mullen
of Wenham, Mass. They show, in pseudo-documentary fashion, spoofs of faux
engineering techniques that make the coast-to-coast walkie-talkie service work.
One ad shows the construction of the world's tallest radio tower, a 400,000-foot
"marvel of engineering." Another ad, designed to look like a Discovery network
program, shows "antenna-lopes" roaming the countryside to provide coverage. In a
third ad, a man claims the service operates using homing pigeons with leg band
transmitters.

Of those familiar with the campaign, 20% like the ads "a lot," statistically
matching the Ad Track average of 21%. The Franz campaign garnered 16% vs. the Ad
Track average at the time of 22%.

But only 10% consider the Nationwide Direct Connect ads "very effective." The
number is unchanged from. the Franz ads but below the 21% Ad Track average. "TV's
role was to generate interest and a wow factor and was not expected to have a huge
take-away on exactly what the feature is and how it's priced," says Schweitzer.

Though one-third of its customers are using the nationwide feature, Nextel has
left additional advertising on the service up to another ad agency. After
introducing Nationwide Direct Connect, Nextel hired ad agency TBWA/Chiat/Day. The
change was part of a strategy to focus more on the Nextel brand, broaden its
customer base from business, which represents a majority of Nextel subscribers,
and to help the brand capitalize on a 10-year exclusive deal as title sponsor of
the NASCAR (news - web sites) Nextel Cup Series.

"We were looking to drive an emotional and practical connection with a broader
audience than might be attracted to advertising about a particular feature,"
Schweitzer says.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=711&ncid=738&e=8&u=/usatoday/20031027/tc_usatoday/11922879

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