Marketing and all things related

When the cell phone rings, we answer. We do this because someone is trying to reach us, and because the sound of ringing phones is annoying. Yes, our LG phone comes with umpteen ring tones. Some tones are even snippets of famous classical music. But all of these tones--repeat all--are annoying. So we are clearly not the market for paid ringtones favored by the 13 to 21 year old set. But ringtone company Zingy wants to reach these teens enough to launch a $ 3 million advertising campaign with print and shopping mall point of sale. Look for Zingy ringtones in Cosmo Girl, and Seventeen magazines, and in malls from Detroit to Orlando. Of course, $ 3 million sounds reasonable for a company who scored $ 200 million in ringtone sales last year. The entire ringtone market is projected to reach $ 600 million this year, according to BMI, one of the licensing arms of the music industry. So, we applaud this advertising campaign—just don’t call us.