A Maryland company is offering free long-distance service called FreeWay to people willing to listen to ads on the phone first.
For every 10-to-15-second ad callers listen to, they get two minutes of long-distance time for calls within the United States. The more ads a person listens to, the longer their actual phone call can be. There is no provision for billing users of the service for excess talk time, so each call is automatically cut off 30 seconds after the caller hears a warning beep indicating their time is almost up, said Jennifer Polansky, spokeswoman for BroadPoint Communications of Landover, Md.The service is the first of its kind on a national scale, said Polansky, unique in the highly competitive world of long-distance companies. The marketing strategy resembles that of radio and television: Consumers get broadcasts paid for by advertisers whose pitch is mingled with the programming. On the phone, the more ads you listen to, the more long-distance talk time you get.
Unlike broadcast, the telephone spiels are interactive. If callers hears an appealing ad, they can punch a button on the phone and be transferred to the advertiser for more information.
BroadPoint tested the service in Pittsburgh last year with 800 initial users quickly growing to 10,000, said Perry Kamel, president and CEO of the privately held company.
To use the service, customers have to register and answer personal questions about income and interests at the company's Web site http://www.BroadPoint.com. The information is used to direct particular advertisements to people with compatible consumer profiles.
Once enrolled, customers wanting to use the service call a 1-800 number and punch in a PIN assigned to them by BroadPoint and then enter the number they want to call. Advertisements and promotions targeted to them according to the signup profile follow.
Callers under 18 are requested to have a parent participate; and customers are required to have an e-mail address.
Polansky said the company keeps the e-mail addresses and personal information confidential. "No one will get additional advertising sent to them through e-mail."
Free enrollment is "the standard plan," Polansky said, "though we're not promising that forever."
Advertisers are given the option of paying each time someone listens to their ad, each time a customer acts to get more information from the advertiser or each time the phone pitch results in a sale.