"Our goal is to bring more value to our wireless customers by providing more attractive data options, but above that, what we really want to do is educate the industry that these options are available to them," says Charlie Payne, director of media for Cingular Wireless.

As part of an upfront buy last season, Cingular boosted its spending on CNN and in exchange, CNN began providing news, sports and business content to Cingular customers starting in late December.

"Very seldom do we present a one-dimensional media deal. We include content or news gathering services to enhance creative and technological developments for select advertisers, and obviously Cingular is a great partner," says Greg D'Alba, executive vice president for CNN Sales. "Cingular takes advantage of our content to enhance their service while we get their media message and creative out there. It works well for both of us."

Cingular got its feet wet promoting its text messaging service through television by enabling NASCAR viewers to participate in interactive polling during three televised Winston Cup Series races last July. One third of all participants voted via cell phone, according to Cingular. The SMS promotion will continue this year during Fox and FX race telecasts.

The company is also currently working on new content deals with several other cable networks, careful to match the right brands in the right format. Cingular marketers feel relevance is more important than quantity in these crucial early days. "It's just so new; we don't want to take just anything and turn it into wireless data," Payne says. "We're trying to look at all of our resources and assets and find what is relevant and meaningful to consumers."

Also it is not easy to convince cable networks to give away their content for ad dollars. As the wireless infrastructure improves, more robust services will be deliverable like games and streaming video, and networks will expect additional revenue streams from the medium. For now, it's a chicken or egg equation, say buyers like Friedman, and swapping media dollars for content is an excellent way to build a base of users.

Advertisers are finding that cable's premium brands extend naturally to other media, because they deliver more highly targeted audiences.

Cingular's new product, a wireless application protocol (WAP), allows customers to access CNN, CNNSI and CNN Money To Go websites, for an additional fee, starting at $3.99 per month. Much of the text updated hourly on the web is adapted for viewing on handhelds. Customers can also receive branded short messaging service (SMS) news alerts in their message boxes, if they sign up for them at Cingular.com.

John Friedman, associate director of Omnicom's OMD group in charge of Cingular's national TV buys, says that deals like the one Cingular forged with CNN are growing in popularity, particularly where cable networks are concerned. "Cable is a more natural fit [than broadcast networks] in some ways," Friedman says. "Cable content is more focused, so it's a natural brand extension. If you want sports you buy ESPN, if you want news you buy CNN or Fox."

It's too soon for Cingular to have tabulated any meaningful results form the campaign, but both parties are bullish because both are promoting their services and expanding the reach of their products among relevant segments of the population. For instance, Cingular gets to reach business travelers who watch CNN religiously, while CNN gets in front of the wireless world's early adopters (only 20 percent of Cingular's 22 million customers have data capability so far).

Cingular will run a total of five different spots on CNN highlighting different pitches, from rollover minutes to family plans. Although none of the spots will refer directly to the data deal, Cingular is confident CNN's branded content will entice more subscribers to utilize data features.

Customers can browse CNN websites for updates on news, sports, finance and other topics

"The barrier is looking past the bulk commercial time deals and recognizing that media dollars can be used to secure these kinds of properties," Friedman says. "It takes vision on the part of my network counterparts to take advantage of these opportunities. The natural reaction is that we should pay for the content, but if Cingular was going to pay, it would be tough to move forward."

CNN, for one, promises to be flexible, and is actively looking to strike more such partnerships. The network has undergone "lengthy" discussions that should come to fruition in 2004, according to D'Alba, helping to further extend CNN's brand.
"It boils down to how we can help each other," D'Alba says. "When you know you have the service, technical capability and product, you know you're going to get there."


"Cable content is more focused, so it's a natural brand extension."
— John Friedman, associate director, Omnicom's OMD group

Reprinted with the permission of Adweek Magazines.

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