RE: UKNM: Breathe.com

[Irakli West]

My tuppence


1) Advertising

In the case of a .com product it is imho best spent explaining the product


rather than trying to appeal emotionally (or at least a combination of

both), not the least as a web site and *especially* a mobile site come

nowhere near creating a compelling emotional experience.


Does breathe.com need explanation? yes - it's a service, use your on-air

time to explain the product. Does nescafe (arbitrary example, obviously)

need explaining? No - it's FMCG with little differentiation - sell the

experience. As an example and leaving quality aside, the ad tells me what

Lycos does, doesn't it?


My time in DRTV (direct response television) has taught me to use the entire

ad to display the telephone number and URL - 5 seconds at the end won't do.



2) Breathe

Problem product - there are quite a few other similar services out there

such as yourwap.de, iobox.com, genie offering 'comprehensive' personal

communication WAP- and SMS-based tools. Problem is, there are no WAP phones

out there and existing WAP services are 99% useless. Try a WAP phone, you'll

see what I mean.


Breathe might run out of cash long before any solid revenue stream or GPRS/

3G technology is in place, unless this consumer service is subsidised by

some other revenue or enough funding.


imho, the future in the mobile portals (also known as mortals :) belongs

either to established players of the 'old new economy' such as visto.com - I

use their WAP service all the time - or to genuinely useful applications/

features. Check out wap.adac.de for live traffic update in Germany.



In the end I find the kind of money spent on marketing necessary if you want

to build a brand from scratch but often in the wrong place. Quoting an

earlier mail in this list a mix of advertising and PR might make more sense.


as said, my tuppence


Irakli West

Mobile Digital Services

Syzygy Ltd.

Tel: +44 (0)20 7598 9930

GSM:+44 (0)7801 097 944

Mail:

i [dot] westsyzygy [dot] net

SMS Mail:

irakliwestsms [dot] genie [dot] co [dot] uk

> -----Original Message-----

>

From: Charles Linn [charles [dot] linntpd [dot] co [dot] uk (mailto:charles [dot] linntpd [dot] co [dot] uk)]

> Sent: Tuesday, June 06, 2000 2:12 PM

>

To: uk-netmarketingchinwag [dot] com

> Subject: UKNM: Breathe.com

>

>

> Who likes the Breathe.com add - fabulous!

>

> Who knows what it's for? - No-one (according to my survey of

> thirty 20 - 30

> year olds who drink in a bar in Islington)

>

> I am not very well versed in this TV advertising lark, but

> I'm sure someone

> can tell me whether this is money well spent or not.

>

> Cheers

>

> Chas Linn

> Producer

> TPD Interactive



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