July 22nd, 2000
ABC Backs Away From Using Voice Mail to Promote Lineup
By Stuart Elliott
New York Times
ABC has backed away from a controversial plan to use sitcom stars like Norm MacDonald to promote its fall lineup by leaving taped messages on the home answering machines of viewers.
The decision came after the network, known for aggressively seeking unusual new ways to promote its programming, outlined the plan this week to reporters at an annual fall-season briefing in Pasadena, Calif. The network’s plan was to hire a company specializing in what is known as voice mail broadcasting technology to call viewers at home in the 10 largest television markets and leave messages promoting a new lineup of four sitcoms on Friday nights. The messages would have been prerecorded by actors, including Mr. MacDonald, for his series, "Norm," and Gabriel Byrne, for his sitcom, "Madigan Men."
Voice-mail broadcasting is just one novel method being used by giant marketers to capture the attention of pitch-weary consumers. Already, ABC, part of the Walt Disney Company, affixes stickers to bananas, prints ads on pizza boxes and festoons the wrappers of after-dinner mints at restaurants with network logos.
But the about-face by ABC’s top marketing executives on the voice mail broadcasts, which met with widespread skepticism from reporters, is emblematic of the tug of war as advertisers test the limits of what consumers will deem acceptable.
"Our plans for the fall include a lot of unusual media forms to get buzz for some of our shows," Alan Cohen, executive vice president for marketing, advertising and promotion at ABC in Los Angeles, said in a telephone interview yesterday.
"If you had Norm MacDonald call you and remind you his show was on, we thought it would be fun, the type of thing people usually tell their friends about," said Mr. Cohen, who supervises a department at ABC that develops ideas to promote the network’s programs. "But the reaction in that room caused us to think about the possible downside. Maybe people would think it’s a little bit intrusive."
The cancellation came despite procedures outlined by the company ABC hired, Voice Mail Broadcasting in Irvine, Calif., to minimize potential complaints from consumers about the 10-second telephoned commercials.
"This company makes calls during the day, when most people aren’t around," Mr. Cohen said, to increase the odds that answering machines would pick up the calls. And if a person answered the phone, he added, "they’d get a busy signal" rather than hearing a hang-up or having to listen to the recording.
"But maybe people would get alarmed," Mr. Cohen said, "and we do respect our viewers. So if there’s any risk associated with these alternative media forms, it’s something we’re not going to do."
ABC is, however, sticking with a plan for the 2000-2001 season to have restrooms in bars or restaurants fitted with digital audio chips that deliver spots promoting "Norm," using recordings of Mr. MacDonald that begin playing when people move around. Mr. Cohen said that plan "makes sense for ‘Norm’; it’s such a guy show."
Politicians, car dealers and sports teams have long used the telephone as an advertising medium, but most corporate users of voice mail broadcasting have been local marketers. ABC would have been one of the first national advertisers to join their ranks.
Voice-mail broadcasting uses a technology known as voice recognition to leave the digitally prerecorded messages. In many instances, the voices are familiar: actors like Mr. MacDonald and Mr. Byrne, athletes like Grant Hill, business executives like Donald J. Trump and even President Clinton, who record the messages so they can be delivered to anywhere from 10,000 to 7 million homes at a time.
Voice-mail broadcasting turns topsy-turvy the notion of traditional telemarketing, which strives to sell directly to a potential customer. But now, after years of alienating people with barrages of badgering calls read from scripts, advertisers believe someone is generally more likely to listen to a brief commercial than put up with a peddler.
"It’s less intrusive than having a live telemarketer on the line," said Jesse Crowe, president of Voice Mail Broadcasting, the company ABC had hired.
"You can always hit ‘delete,’ " Mr. Crowe said of the answering machine message. "It’s no different than when you have a commercial on television."
But critics are denouncing voice-mail broadcasting as another exploitation of technology, like installing video screens at checkout counters to display ads or fitting restrooms with audio chips.
"It certainly doesn’t spare the sanctity of the home from those who would intrude," said Gary Ruskin, director of Commercial Alert in Washington, an advocacy organization founded by Ralph Nader. "It’s another example of how advertisers and marketers respect no boundaries."
Needless to say, voice mail broadcasters take issue with that charge.
"When companies first developed automatic dialing capabilities in the 1980’s, marketers jumped on it and drove people crazy," said Rob Tuttle, chief executive at Broadcast Team in Ormond Beach, Fla., which offers voice-mail broadcasting services under the brand name Real Call Message Delivery System.
Widespread complaints led to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act in 1991, "which stopped a lot of unsolicited junk calling," he added, by clamping limits on telemarketers.
The Federal Communications Commission has been scrutinizing voice-mail broadcasting because some practices could run afoul of the law. For example, the law stipulates that prerecorded pitches cannot be used to complete sales over the phone. Voice-mail broadcasters respond that there is no sale being made when, say, Dick Clark Productions has calls placed with a message by Mr. Clark urging people to watch the American Music Awards, one of his annual TV specials.
Consumers can have their names and telephone numbers removed from the calling lists used by telemarketers by contacting the Telephone Preference Service of the Direct Marketing Association, an industry trade organization.
Voice-mail broadcasting, "like any technological advance, has its upside and its downside," said Bill Pascoe, press secretary at the Republican National Committee in Washington, which along with its Democratic counterpart has used the tactic to encourage voting.
"You can reach a lot of people a lot faster because you don’t have to wait to talk to a real live person," Mr. Pascoe said. He said he believed complaints about voice-mail broadcasting were minimal: "I defer to the experts. If they’re using it, they’ve tested it."
One aspect that irks consumer advocates is what happens when a person picks up the call. The broadcast systems are usually programmed to hang up when the call is not answered in three or four rings. But errors can cause hang-ups on callers who answer before the machines do, something that the consumer advocates say can be disturbing.
"At one point, we did do that," Mr. Crowe at Voice Mail Broadcasting said, "but we shifted over to a busy signal. When people hear that, they don’t think anything of it."
Critics remain unmoved by such explanations.
"Respectable people will do to people they don’t know what they wouldn’t do to their worst enemies," said Bob Bulmash, president of Private Citizen Inc. in Naperville, Ill., a consumer privacy advocacy organization. "Voice mail broadcasting is another example of the clear disregard of our right to be left alone."
When asked if ABC would ever consider voice-mail broadcasting again, Mr. Cohen said: "It’s something we’re putting aside. Our comfort level was just not there, and I don’t think that’ll change."
And when will the harnessing of technology for commercial purposes end? Mr. Bulmash was as sanguine as someone whose dinner was interrupted by a telemarketer.
"As long as capitalism is what drives the United States," Mr. Bulmash said, "it will not end."
Being Delisted
More than 3.3 million people have registered with the Telephone Preference Service of the Direct Marketing Association to be removed from calling lists used by telemarketers. That is almost as many as the 3.8 million people who have registered with the Mail Preference Service administered by the association to have their names and addresses removed from mailing lists.
To be taken off the lists used by telemarketers, send your name, home address and telephone number to: Direct Marketing Association, Telephone Preference Service, P.O. Box 9014, Farmingdale, N.Y. 11735-9014.