Imagine calling a company and being placed on hold, only to be trapped listening to annoying music and advertisements about special offers until the customer service representative picks up the phone. Now, picture the same advertising being played in your ears when you place a call to your family, friend, or significant other. Think that it's a far-fetched idea? It's not.
A patent was awarded...
On March 13, Google's talented Ronald Ho and Jennifer W. Lin were awarded a patent that was filed back on January 15, 2008 for
Ringback Advertising. In plain English, the patent states that this technology uses a "computer-implemented method" to track your calls. When a call is made, the software analyzes both the caller and the person being called in order to find and play a targeted advertisement instead of the default dial tone. Advertisers, on the other hand, would be billed according to how long the advertisement played before the call was answered. It would also most likely require a method to differentiate advertisements when similar people are called multiple times (rather than advertisers being stuck with the same customer base).
What does this mean for consumers?
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Turkey's ringback tone ad platform:
TonlaKazan |
While this patent was awarded, Google may not be intending to bring it to Android phones in the near future. Google gave no indication of launching the technology, saying the company files "patent applications on a variety of ideas that our employees come up with. Some of those ideas later mature into real products or services, some don't. Prospective product announcements should not necessarily be inferred from our patent applications." However, an analyst from
JupiterResearch, LLC estimated the market for ringback advertisements to be worth $780 million by 2015. In the past, cell phone companies in India and Turkey have launched ringback advertising programs. These programs also reward customers with perks for listening to the advertisements - including an amount of free voice time, product samples, and games. With Google earning
billions each year in advertising revenue, it may be profitable for them to enter the market. Until then, many of us will be gritting our teeth and hoping that possibly the most annoying "innovation" in mobile advertising stays away as long as possible (or at least offers some awesome perks).
What do you think about this?
Of the over 330 comments on
Engadget's post about this patent, many of the viewers expressed outrage for the technology. On the other hand, there were others who seemed quite open to the change - saying that advertising is already encompassing our lives and that they "don't see this as a shocker". Got an opinion? Let us know in a comment.
I know that when I call Comcast to complain about my bill the last thing that I need is an advertisement in my ear. I think this type of mobile advertising could be effective if it is leveraged correctly. For example, if I was calling a sports team's main office for ticket information, I would not mind listening to bud light's "Real Men of Genius" commercials while holding. On the other hand, if I am frustrated with the lack of service a company has given me, the last move they should do is put you on hold and make you listen to ways on how you can save on your cell phone bill. All that does is fuel the fire. Whatever company decides to pursue ringback advertising will just need to do a thorough job with focus groups before they launch ads onto their calling customers.
ReplyDeleteBrandon
Agreed, Brandon. I don't think that ringback advertising is a good route. I can see how from a business perspective this may seem like the answer because consumers aren't going to stop making phone calls, but I also feel like this would be very distracting and annoying. I hate calling customer service lines because of this exact reason. I don't want to hear 5-60 minutes of the same horrible and obnoxious commercial/advertisement while waiting on hold, let alone when I'm making a phone call to a friend or client.
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