Mobile librarian -- "cellarian?"

NY Times

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December 30, 2005
Advertising
When Answers (With Ads) Are Just a Phone Call Away
By JULIE BOSMAN

THE new technology start-up company AskMeNow hopes to play concierge to business travelers who have a cellphone or BlackBerry but no access to the Internet for hotel recommendations, weather forecasts or stock quotes.

The service works like this: After registering at www.askmenow.com and downloading the free software onto a cellphone or BlackBerry, users can call a toll-free number any time, leave a question and receive an answer in a text message, usually within a few minutes.

A 49-cent charge appears on the user's cellphone bill for each question. (The questions are answered by English-speaking employees from a data center in the Philippines.)

It is too early to tell whether AskMeNow, which started in November and began full service this week, will lure large numbers of subscribers. (So far, it has signed up about 35,000 users.)

The company also gives marketers an opportunity to expand their reach in mobile advertising. The answers sent by AskMeNow carry a line from an advertiser at the bottom.

For instance, a call to AskMeNow for a recommendation of a Mexican restaurant in Brooklyn was answered with three text messages, each with the name, address and phone number of a restaurant. At the end of one text message, a line read: "Still searching? Call U.S. Search, 800-877-3272."

AskMeNow, a division of the Ocean West Holding Corporation, has signed up about 50 advertisers so far, including Hotels.com, 1-800-Flowers and the Progressive car insurance company.

Part of the appeal for marketers is the opportunity to choose who receives their advertising messages. When users sign up for the service, they provide information like their name, age, ZIP code and occupation. AskMeNow gradually compiles a detailed profile of each user by recording each question asked, to determine preferences. When advertisers sign up for the service, they can select recipients based on those preferences.

Companies can also choose who receives their ads based on keywords - for instance, the Internet ticket company StubHub, which advertises on AskMeNow, can deliver its ad to anyone who uses the word "ticket" in a question.

Darryl Cohen, the chief executive of AskMeNow, said the company was introducing the advertising slowly so users are not overwhelmed by it. (Not every text message answer contains an advertisement.)

AskMeNow fields questions of many types, though it makes no promises of accuracy.

When asked what movies were playing at the Film Forum theater in Manhattan, AskMeNow responded with four text messages in rapid succession, listing accurate movie titles and times.

It also tackled thornier questions that go beyond the needs of business travelers.

When asked, "Does Franklin Delano Roosevelt deserve credit for ending the Depression?" an extensive but noncommittal response followed, beginning, "President Franklin Roosevelt's 'New Deal' fought the Great Depression on a number of fronts."

AskMeNow can be stumped. The question, "Who was a more influential leader, Malcolm X or Martin Luther King Jr.?" received a response of, "Your request returned no exact results. The closest results are as follows." (That message was followed by brief biographies of both men.)

Since AskMeNow was created with travelers in mind, it has joined with Avis to offer three months of free service to Avis customers at the 100 busiest rental locations in the United States.

Michael Caron, the vice president of product and program development for Avis, said the company's partnership with AskMeNow was intended to expand its competitive services for customers.

"If you're on the road and you're not able to access information, and you need access to a restaurant or whatever it might be, this service makes a lot of sense," he said.

This week, AskMeNow introduced free automated information like weather forecasts, stock prices and directions, available by calling a toll-free number, 1-888-EZ-ASK-ME. The company has also created an advertising campaign, which includes television commercials that will begin appearing on national cable channels at the end of January.

Eventually, AskMeNow may expand its advertising to include a sponsor at the top and the bottom of each text message.

"We'd like to do it right away, but we think it's a little over the top now," Mr. Cohen said.



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