Telepocalypse

Benefit concert

I was up in London earlier this week, and saw some billboard adverts from Three and O2 pushing their 3G video messaging services.

Oh dear, or deary me. When will this industry ever learn? You could see the shareholder value ebbing away in front of your eyes. Both were positioning themselves based on features or mushy coolness. But consumers don’t buy features. (And they certainly don’t buy technology, no matter how cool — “Now with Bonus UMTS! Double Spectral Efficiency, This Week Only!”.) They buy benefits, and none of the marketing communications illustrated a compelling situation where you would have used a video phone if you had one.

Astute readers will no doubt muse whether the promotional approach is a result of the lack of actual benefits of video messaging. Remember this isn’t real-time video — I can see what you can see — so there’s little sense of “being there” for the recipient.

I just don’t get it. And, judging by their approach, the carriers’ customers won’t be getting it either.