AT&T Web TV: coming to a party near you
June 29th, 2006
The front page of today’s Marketplace section of the Wall Street Journal includes an article entitled “Selling TV like Tupperware” about AT&T’s strategic launch of the Web-based television service U-Verse. They are beginning in San Antonio, TX (currently Time Warner Cable territory) and getting the word out through a series of house parties where guests can view their service and Time Warners side by side on 50″ TV screens.
The first round of parties were held by enthusiastic employees (a good place to look for evangelists who are both passionate and credible) and have produced strong results - some folks signed up for the service on the spot. The next strata of these parties, however, will be thrown by what the company is calling “Navigators”. Here’s a quote from the article:
“AT&T’s local marketing teams are burrowing deep into communities to find neighborhood leaders to pitch its new service. They have come up with a list that includes Sunday school teachers and other “navigators” or trend-setters whose opinions are sought out and valued by neighbors”.
And who, you ask, is laying out the strategic blueprint? Republican strategist Matthew Dowd who used this tactic for Bush in Ohio for the 2004 election. The article goes on to state that the navigators will get some sort of compensation for holding the parties but the exact form of that has yet to be decided.
Our question to you, gentle reader (or Mr Dowd if he is reading): Do you look to the same types of “navigators” to get information about television service as they do how to vote? I could be jaded from working in the tech industry for so long, but I tend to think that I wouldn’t lend much credence to what my kid’s Sunday School teacher tells me about technology service. Especially if that isn’t in his or her background and I know they are being compensated. This might also make me de-value other types of advice they may try to offer me.
Keep your eyes peeled for how adoption of this new technology spreads. Or doesn’t.
Other posts by Virginia.
Matt says:
This is what I have been doing (without being asked) for Tivo for the past 5 years. I’ve got a pretty high conversion rate (most preachers would be proud to have it).
And… I really like the technology that AT&T is pushing here to be honest. Of course, I’m an engineer and can answer just about any question about Tivo. So your point is valid…
I’ve considered moving to San Antonio several times just because they ALWAYS get the cool products first…
June 30th, 2006 at 12:09 pmVeeDub says:
Being a former Time Warner customer myself, I would definitely consider ANY option to doing business with them.
Tivo is definitely the type of thing you need to experience to understand the value and they understand this and have leveraged it by rewarding their evangelists for WOM referrals with Tivo Rewards.
But, take a look at all of the unbranded DVRs in market now. Did the evangelism create the brand or the category?
June 30th, 2006 at 12:45 pmjbelkin says:
I think with “IPish cable TV” it’s ultimately going to backfire. With Tupperware or lingerie or whatever else people peddle around - people pretty much know what they get and if it’s poor or bad quality, chalk it up to experience - the purchase has been made, not buying it again, etc … but AT&T is an ongoing expense - though you can quit anytime but when you peddle that to your neighbors, their going to come to YOU when AT&T raises rates in 18 months, or they drop a channel, or there’s some technical glitch*, YOu the neighbor is going to hear the grumbling about being a shill and much better off they’d be with their other cable company or one of the Dish’s … It’s not a winning pproposition because it’s a near guranantee there will be a sour experience and some resentment because as they point out, it’s not easy to switch … so your evangilists are going to bail fast because most people frankly think Tv should be free or around $20 bucks a month … this will work as well as selling health club memberships from your neighbors.
* Sidebar- if you’re AT&T, you really want to depend on MS to supply your “revenue lifeline? … a couple thousand homes might work okay but scale up - I would not want to be the customer service VP or the Tech guy.
If the cable companies who tested this out and passed … not a good sign for AT&T.
On the other hand, they’ll have a lot more data to hand over to the NSA
July 4th, 2006 at 6:01 pm