February 26th, 2003
Business Brief -- General Electric Co.: Consumer Group, Others Fight `Patient Channel' in Hospitals
Wall Street Journal
Two street musicians playing acoustic guitars no doubt make for a common sight
at San Francisco’s Embarcadero station during the morning rush. The notes to
the Rolling Stones’ "You Can’t Always Get What You Want" might make
for a familiar sound.
But these lyrics? "You can’t always answer your phone / But if you try
voice mail, you just won’t fail / To get what you need."
What passersby didn’t know was that these two seeming minstrels, accompanied
by an actor in a grandmotherly get-up, were part of a group of operatives also
sent to sing at transportation hubs in Chicago, Boston and New York City. All
the artists were working for AT&T Wireless as part of an effort to highlight
cellphone manners, and—perhaps—get potential customers thinking about
the company’s products and services.
Commuters who lingered might also have heard "Ooh I love my voice mail
/ Yes you know it’s true/ Hope you like the voice mail / That I just left for
you," part of a tune that sounded like the Beatles’ "Eight Days A
Week." Or "Hello text mail my old friend / I see you’ve come for me
again," in a ditty that owed much to "Sound of Silence" by Simon
& Garfunkel.
Music lovers at AT&T Wireless say they weren’t trying to hoodwink anybody.
They were trying to engage consumers during the course of their usual day, says
James Peterson, a vice president of public relations who helped design the effort.
"We really wanted in no way to be confrontational, but interesting,"
he says. The company rejected using an "etiquette patrol" on the grounds
that the method might prove negative and disruptive.
Consumers are likely to see more such street theater as marketers opt for a
subtle touch over sledgehammer tactics. "People don’t want to get pounded
over the head with a message," says Jonathan Ressler, chief executive of
Big Fat Worldwide Inc., an independent New York marketing firm that specializes
in what it calls "real-life product placement." He adds: "You’re
using something that’s already in my world. You’re not asking me to work to
hear your message."
Some find the approach off base, not offbeat. "Buskers have since the
Middle Ages made people smile. Instead of playing some music or just getting
a dollar or two, they are being co-opted into the grand marketing machine,"
says Gary Ruskin, executive director of Commercial Alert, a nonprofit group
founded by consumer activist Ralph Nader. Mr. Ruskin expects to see more such
techniques as marketers seek cheaper alternatives to TV advertising. AT&T
Wireless is estimated to have spent just tens of thousands of dollars on the
street singers in each city, compared with $664.3 million on media in 2002,
according to TNS Media Intelligence/CMR, an ad-tracking firm.
Mr. Peterson of AT&T Wireless says the promotion, which ran for a week
earlier in July, worked well, and the company would consider using it again.
If so, consumers might remember the words of a Buffalo Springfield 1960s-era
protest hit: "It’s time we stop, hey, what’s that sound? / Everybody look
what’s going down."