Just before the weekend I wrote that they’d inked a deal with Vodafone in Holland.

Remember Blyk, the ‘yoof’ ad-funded mobile service? Last thing we heard they were rumoured to be shutting up shop – but it turned out they were merely changing direction towards an operator partnership model.

And here we are, a mere two days or so later, and they’re leaving the UK. Here’s a little excerpt from their blog post by co-founder Antti Öhrling:

For now, stick with us for the last month – you’ll continue to receive your free credit until midnight on 26th August and we’ll be bombarding you with great offers, brand messages, competitions and music exclusives.

Though Blyk will no longer be an active network operator in the UK, together we have re-shaped the future of communication and we hope you’ve enjoyed the journey. We certainly have. Blyk will continue to operate in other markets, providing the unique experience to members there in the same way we have in the UK. Thank you for your support over the last couple of years.

So that’s it then folks – move along, nothing to see. If you’re a Blyk customer you’ve got a month to get your PAC code and shift elsewhere. Alternatively, Reuters is reporting Orange (Blyk’s O in the MVNO acronym) have bagged the rights to the customer base – and will be launching a range of tariffs which’ll give you discounts for receiving ads and other marketing blurb.

If you’re tearful farewells, or this is the first you’ve heard of the soon-to-be-dead ad-funded mobile operator, you can re-live Blyk’s greatest moments on MIR here.

With the course set towards that destination, Blyk announced yesterday they’ve inked their first operator deal – an exclusive with Vodafone in the Netherlands. The two companies will work together to, amongst other things, co-develop the consumer proposition and manage the audience. At least that’s what it says on the press release. Here’s a couple of soundbites:

“We’re extremely pleased to be extending our relationship with Vodafone. For Blyk, the partnership is part of a global strategy to bring scale and speed to our operations, while continuing to provide an innovative and valuable proposition for both consumers and advertisers. Together with Vodafone, we intend to build a game changing engagement media in the Dutch market.” says Blyk co-founder and CEO, Pekka Ala-Pietilä. “Our relationship will include a co-development of the consumer proposition for the Netherlands and audience management.  Blyk will have responsibility for the advertising sales and technology.”

Eric Kip, Managing Director Blyk Netherlands, says: “The Netherlands has the third highest advertising spend per capita in Europe and is a hub for many global companies and ad agencies, so it is an obvious territory for Blyk’s expansion. The advertising market, whilst both creative and dynamic, is also cluttered and we believe youth brands will welcome a highly engaging communication channel like Blyk. We are confident that both Dutch advertisers and global advertisers will make use of Blyk’s unique ability to connect them with an important consumer segment.”

Strangely there’s nothing there from Vodafone. Not a peep. So is it ‘just’ another MVNO deal, like their arrangement with Orange in the UK – or something a bit more substantial? There’s been no announcement of a launch date as yet, or even exactly what they’re planning to launch. Whether this is the start of something bigger – a possible purchase of Blyk by Vodafone and/or roll-out across other Voda countries – is also unknown.

Blyk frustrated me; in return for receiving adverts matched to my preferences, and and every other user received 217 texts and 43 minutes per month. No data. No data AT ALL. The regular readers of Blykwatch will know I complained a lot about the lack of some kind of inclusive data along with competitive data rates ‘out of bundle’.

Well, to my delight this evening I received a SMS from Blyk;

You asked, Blyk listened. Blyk will be changing to a free monthly refill of £15 for you to use however you like.

*Fantastic* a company that listened to what the users want! Of course, having ‘a balance’ means you can use it on voice, sms, mms and data. The quid pro quo is immediately a lot more credible in my eyes.

However it comes at a price. At the same time prices on Blyk will now increase with call charges rising to 24p a minute from 15p. That’s STEEP. However text messages fall from 10p to 8p.

Now while this is fantastic for me — I can use my balance just on calls, or data — since I use Blyk as my secondary sim, for those using Blyk as a primary operator of choice, they’re now getting a bit of a raw deal.

The old system gave every user £28.15 credit (which made up the 217 texts/43 minutes). So if you’re used to using 217 texts and 43 minutes each month, that will NOW cost you £27.68.

But now, you’re only getting £15 ‘credit’ as thanks for receiving ads. If you wanted to maintain that same level of minutes/texts, you’d need to spunk out £12.68 extra per month.

That is a 46% percent decrease in credit and in return you get flexibility. I think the 46% is rather expensive for the value that flexibility brings. I understand that for a flexible plan you would expect to lose some credit ie 10 – 20% but certainly NOT 46%.

To me this suggests Blyk simply do not understand their user base. If you use the credit all on minutes you are better off than before the changes, however if you are a SMS user you lose out big style. Blyk is a MVNO only available for those who are aged between 16 and 24, users in this bracket (which I am part of) Text, MSN and Facebook each other. They are prolific texters, not callers.

As soon as I got the message concerning these changes I did a search on twitter to see if anyone had said anything (Ewan if you are reading this twitter IS useful).

Here’s what I sent out to my followers:

“You asked, Blyk listened”: 43 min 217 txt -> £15 +data,mms possibility.43min 217 txt=27.68.Cost of flex: 46% for mms, data. More flexible?

I received many responses — I don’t want to list them all so here’s a good summary one:

Am annoyed Blyk has decided to give £15 credit per month instead of free calls and minutes. It’s basically a guise for giving less.

I also jumped onto the forums, and I realised that Blyk had not sent this message in one go but had done a phased roll out, as a result the forums were very active on this topic. The main bulk were contained in two topics one was ‘bring back the old Blyk’ with 150 replies and a petition as well with 104 posts.

Not only that there are also two online petitions on sites on the internet:
http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?217_43
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/no-blyk-bo.html

The first has 92 names, the second has 99 names.

Checking the posts on the forum the first post on the change was on the 15th January at 4pm, so in less than 5 days this has been the response. I have been a user of Blyk for more than a year and a half and have never seen so much response on the forums. I think it clearly shows the opinion of the Blyk members.

I dropped an email to both Jonathan MacDonald and Alistair Crane (both part of the team who set up Blyk) to hear get their views on the changes.

“Businesses change their offerings. All of them. Blyk know more about what people want than all other mobile networks, in my opinion. I hope that that opinions about an offering change don’t cloud, remove or replace the fact that, for the first time ever, a media channel was built upon conversation rather than broadcast. We can and should have an opinion and it is more common for negativity to out-shine the positive. It is the way of the world sadly.”  Jonathan MacDonald

Fair point, but how much conversation was going on when they changed the game plan?

Let’s hear from Alistair:

“In January Blyk launched a comprehensive content portal and will be marketing the service heavily to members based on their profile information. By giving users monetary value to spend on whatever they want Blyk will drive content consumption, offer members an additional free service and most importantly, create increased inventory and another avenue for advertisers to access the profiled member base through traditional WAP formats (banners, text links etc.) as well as more creative pre-rolls, interstitials and ad funded content experiences (games, wall papers, ringtones).

Members will place a MASSIVE amount of value around flexibility and will love the fact that they can now access facebook, maps, email etc. using their free allowance. 

User created MMS will still probably stay low but is a good option to add to the mix.” Alistair Crane

I also got some words from fellow Blyk User and MIR Contributor Samanatha

“When I first heard about this, I’ll admit I was excited and happy. And then the reality of Blyk’s inability to comprehend the needs and desires of their customers finally sank in again. I don’t like moaning, and in fact I’m pleased they’ve finally realised that listening to their members is the right way to go about their business; but when there’s such a loss being made by each individual member, questions have to be raised.”
 

Blyk my final words to you are these, your idea is fantastic and it will work well however you tell me you listen BUT do you really?

Do you *really* understand your member base?

- – - – -

A word from the Editor: Hi there, Ewan here. When you go live and tell your customers that it’s all about the conversation, that you’re listening, that you care, it’s good news. If you mean it. But then I suspect it’s a lot larger to wield the happy stick when you’re running a mobile operator. But… if you’ve asked your users for feedback — and they give you feedback, it gets rather challenging when, for whatever logistical reasons, you can’t necessarily deliver.

Over the months we’ve delivered some rather inspiring commentary on Blyk — chiefly from Ricky, the author of today’s post, and more recently from Samantha. Both are exactly in Blyk’s target range. Both are considered, smart, intelligent individuals, misled by the Blyk concept.

We stopped the BlykWatch coverage a while ago because it began to turn into a broken record. Despite the readers from all across the world — I reckon that a good 20-30,000 tuned in regularly for BlykWatch — when we were continually publishing news about forum posts not being replied to and lax or bored customer service, I thought that was it. Time’s up. It’s an operator. Their job is to deliver as many eyeball conversions as possible for their advertisers. It is not to ‘listen’ to their users and it is most certainly not to react to what users want unless there’s a direct profit. There is nothing whatsoever wrong with this as a business practice. The disconnect is the users — such as Ricky and Samantha and a lot more besides — getting far too passionate about the service. At one point I think I said to Ricky to go and get a T-Mobile account and stop worrying about Blyk. That’s difficult when you feel passionately engaged by the company and when the company simply does not reflect that back. I’m sure Jonathan MacDonald — in his Every Single One Of Us guise — will have something to say about that. It ain’t good. But it makes cash. The Blyk customer is the advertiser. The user is the gateway to cash for Blyk.

Now, here’s is a viewpoint that I doubt will be received well by Ricky, Samantha and the array of Blyk fans they’ve spoken to about the news: It’s free so you have no rights and your opinion doesn’t count. Despite what the marketing tells you.

The only opinion Blyk want to know is whether you liked the Coca Cola or the Pepsi MMS ad better. If it’s a service level you want — you’re much better off demanding service from a traditional offer and wielding your own cash in return, rather than your data/opinions.

Swapping around the credit structure perhaps indicates at a challenge with the Blyk model. According to a BBC stat, there are about 7 million 16-24 year olds in the UK.

200,000 of which have got a Blyk sim card. Or, let’s be generous — let’s call it 300,000. I don’t know the current stats. No one from Blyk has contacted me with an update for years. So let’s work on the basis of 300k ‘penetration’.

Let’s now get real.

Ricky — one of the world’s most passionate Blyk users doesn’t actually use them as his primary account. He uses T-Mobile. So let’s strip a load out.

Let’s assume 300k sim cards activated. Let’s assume 20% converted to become regular Blyk users? I dunno if this is accurate. Let’s keep with it.

20% is 60,000 regular Blyk users.

How many of them are PRIMARY Blyk users — i.e it’s their ONLY mobile operator? That’s a difficult stat. Let’s say…. another 20%? Let’s be kind?

So 12,000 regular, primary users.

Assume 1% of them can be arsed to care about their ‘billing structure’.

Text them and tell them the credit structure is changing and about 100 of them hit the forums complaining. That sounds about right. Now, once again, these stats could be hugely incorrect and I’m happy for us to be corrected by Blyk.

But if they’re anywhere accurate, they’d explain why the company isn’t necessarily screaming about it’s successes and why it may well become necessary for them to shift around the credit structure to reduce their costs by 40-odd percent.

The value with Blyk is surely in the concept. The concept that — all things being equal — the brands are LOVING the ROI. They’re actually getting returns on their investment. Measurable and high percentages. Just, not with millions of teenagers. So I think the concept of Blyk is a success. Whether the MVNO will prove to be so? Well I don’t know. Let’s keep watching and wish them all godspeed.

(And swap to T-Mobile, Samantha.)

The iPhone 3G! This was bound to appear somewhere, and so I thought it’s best to get it out of the way sooner, rather than later. Personally, I’m not a fan; and from what I’ve read, seen and heard accounts of, it hasn’t been all too great for Apple too. However, as much as I insist that it’s a pile of rubbish (feel free to beg to differ); it sold once again in its thousands.

Apple has conquered another market, and whether it’s because they found monopolising the MP3 market too easy, they’ve certainly made a statement. And even though the 3G came out way back in June/July the device still makes a regular appearance here on MIR. I do not doubt for a second that Apple have something lurking up their well-tailored sleeves, and if the rumours of an iPhone Nano are anything to go by… Then 2009 will be dominated with more Apples than your doctor can prescribe!

Secondly, Blyk! Hmm, well, me and Ricky between have more than enough to say on Blyk. For me, I was so hopeful that Blyk could be that turning point, especially here in the UK – where we ever so often fall behind in the world of technology and thought – and I was so disheartened with what eventually happened with them, it still annoys me now.

It can’t all be bad, and as much as I say I don’t like them and that their bound to fail… They haven’t yet. In fact, Blyk is over one year old now, and it still seems to be maintaining momentum. I think in 2009 we’ll either start to see how incredibly flawed Blyk’s aims and business model is; or dare I say it, it still surviving and the European expansion working out for the better for the company.

For me also, as I’ve begun to really take note and interest in the world of the Mobile Phone, I’ve seen certainly more usability on the rise, and a better use of SMS and mobile communications from businesses and services.

The “Knife Crime” Crime Stoppers text in service has to be, for me one of the single best things I have come across. It’s been implemented correctly in schools (well, at least in my school), without making itself appear too formal, and scary to use. And it’s using basic innovation, which as I know I have repeated many-a-time over the past few months; is severely lacking.

Slowly though, I’m beginning to see more and more use of mobile communications, for example my local hospital texting me when I have an upcoming appointment so I can’t forget; or my School using a system to ensure parents know if you’re not in school – when say you’re meant to be.

Hopefully over the next twelve months more of this good thinking and logic will be applied to other aspects of our general lives; and maybe with that, we might even get some more innovation out of that… And surely, that can only be a good thing?

Finally, my favourite mobile application… Well this has to go to MusicStation, which is available to Vodafone users. When I was first introduced to it by Ewan, I’ll admit I was majorly sceptical; I’m a music lover in every sense of the word. I don’t like the idea of being sold half-hearted 96kps versions of a song, or only having a minute and pointless library of music to download from; and this is all I expected to get.

I was wrong, and I loved the service. I haven’t yet seen it used by anyone I know on Vodafone, in fact, I’m not even sure if any of my friends are even aware of what they can get on their mobiles for a small fee per month; but if they did, then I do not doubt that it would be highly used by all of them.

Nokia I suppose are heading out in a similar direction, although I can’t comment on how the “Comes with Music” service works; I don’t doubt for a second that music services like the ones Vodafone and Nokia are offering are going to stop or end here.

—

I look forward to the next year, and I look forward to the new technologies developing, and being released, and being pleasantly surprised as I have been this year. I also see that as much optimism that I have, one cannot forget the looming “recession” and what impact will that have? I dare not speculate, but for more than one reason I’m pretty sure next year will be interesting and something to look forward to!

Anyway, I wish you all a Happy New Year!

Samantha.
samantha@mobileindustryreview.com

from newmediaage

Ad-funded MVNO Blyk is rolling out a portal in January to direct its 16-24-year-old audience to relevant content.

The mobile operator, which offers free SMS and voice calls, will launch the On Blyk portal with content from providers such as Heat magazine.

Sean Gregory, UK CEO of Blyk, said the move was a response to demand from its 200,000 subscribers.

“We’re launching to provide a unique web experience to put our members directly in touch with the content they want,” he said.

As one of those 200,000 subscribers this will work only on the basis that the portal is free to browse and explore!I look forward to seeing this being rolled out in January!

Which is fantastic except there are not doing a very good job advertising it to us. In fact this year all the networks and retailers have generally been pretty rubbish at trying to get student customers. I attend Salford University which is located within about 8 miles of another 2 universities in Manchester. Manchester has one of the largest student populations in the country. I have seen nothing, well pretty much nothing from anyone. Are these companies stupid? Students around the country are sitting with about £1000 (I know it may not sound that much however for a student it is) in their bank account in the form of their student loan. I am not saying that students should be ripped off at all, but you would of thought the mobile industry would have thought about having a presence at freshers fair across the country?

In the last two years there was one network that got advertising to students during freshers week correct and they were Dot Mobile, OK they are in administration but they worked on wholesale, just reselling Vodafone airtime at a discounted price. I think they survived as long as they did because of being linked with the NUS.

This year I was looking forward to seeing who would be there in Dot’s place linked up with the NUS and heavily marketing their services, I thought 3 (pushing mobile broadband) and Blyk would be there. I was VERY wrong. Orange was there and I ran over to their stand (yes I am that sad), and I asked what offers they had and the free stuff they had. The reply I got was that the tariffs were the same as I could get in the Orange shop and I could enter to win a blow up orange animal.

I stood there shocked, your kidding me right a blow up orange animal?

Nope I am being 100% serious they had one to give away if I gave them my email address. No special discount if you signed up on the day, no sample handsets real or fake to be seen on their stall. Nothing, except their booklet for this month. No hard sell, in fact they did not even ask me if I had a phone at all or If i wanted a new phone. No mention of Orange Wednesday’s nothing.

I can sum this post up in pretty much one word FAIL.

If you are reading this and work for one of the network operators you really need to do much better at reaching your target audience, you need to use tools like facebook and prize giveaways and get freshers stall stands to sell your products. If you act quickly some freshers week are this week and next week but you failed miserably at getting any customers from the 20,000 students Salford has.

Standby for more posts about freshers week from Dan Pullen, who will be telling us what has been happening at his university, hopefully he will have a better expierance then me.

Eric Samson, formerly of advertising agency, Carat Belgium, has accepted the role of CEO of Blyk, Belgium.

Ever since Jonathan MacDonald quit Blyk to work for Ogilvy I’ve had to wonder about the continued success of the MNVO. I think they’ll continue to do ‘ok’ — the ROI for advertisers is still very impressive. The challenge with advertisers/media buyers, however, is that whilst they’re very keen on ROI, they like big numbers.

Rare is it that you’ll find an ad executive happy that he’s managed to talk to 10,000 people and there was a 28% response rate. The executive’s ego takes a big big dive when he’s forced to think, ‘shit… only 2,800 people?’

It’s a lot more ego-friendly when you’re dealing with unknown big numbers. Like television advertising. We all know the viewing figures are absolutely rubbish. But it’s nice to dream that you’re ad was seen by 6.8 million folk. Who might have been in the toilet, making a cup of coffee, switching over to another channel or simply ignoring your message. But you don’t quite know. And you can hire a media surveying agency who can be counted upon to stand in the street a lot interviewing folk and, since you’re paying a lot, deliver you a more-or-less decent answer for your client.

So numbers are a challenge for Blyk. I read recently that 400,000 students are set to descend upon Universities this year in the UK. 400,000. If that stat is anywhere near accurate… actually, let’s make our own stats to be sure. 325 universities in the UK reports UCAS. Assume that they’re taking in 1,000 students each?

325,000 students entering education this year. This year. Blyk UK is on, what, 200,000 sign-ups? (We don’t know the exact regular user figures as these, wisely, aren’t public knowledge).

If we do a ready-reckoner back-of-fag-packet calculation and assume that from this 325,000 figure, there are 200,000 16 year olds in the country, 200,000 17 year olds and so on.. Blyk are targeting 16-24 year olds so that’s 8 (or 9, depending on how you look at it) different age groups.

8 x 200,000 = 1.6 million students ‘in’ or just left education. They’re the easy ones. They’re the ones you can easily target with your university street-teams.

There must be, what, 2, 3 or 4 million 16-24s in the country?

200,000 sign-ups sends you a message that the Blyk concept is sort-of interesting. It’s got the attention of SOME.

But the rest? Well if they’re not signed-up now… Surely most folk are aware of the ‘free but not really’ ad-based mobile service?

How many of them are doing what our old BlykWatch correspondent, Ricky, was doing and just staying with a mainstream operator? Ricky was actually a Blyk ‘customer’ — he used their service, but only up until his paltry 43 minutes (“it’s what our research says our audience use”) and his 200-and-something text messages are used up. But his primary number? T-Mobile. Like the vast majority of the youth.

Blyk wasn’t attractive enough for Ricky to swap to them, to make them his primary service provider. How many other of the register Blyk users are doing the same? And how many have looked at the concept, smiled and continued to pay for their service?

Anyway back to Belgium. It’ll be interesting to see what Eric Samson, the new CEO, makes of Blyk Belgium.

Here’s a little bit more details about Eric:

Eric Samson will oversee Blyk’s official entry into the Belgian market, expected in the first half of 2009, and will be responsible for the overall strategic direction for Blyk in Belgium. In cooperation with Blyk’s Chief Operating Officer Leif FÃ¥gelstedt, Samson will also lead Blyk’s day-to-day operations.

Prior to joining Blyk, Eric Samson was Managing Director of leading media agency Carat Belgium. His responsibilities included management of the agency and its more than 50 employees as well as the strategic client counsel.

Commenting on Samson’s appointment, Blyk’s Co-founder and global CEO Pekka Ala-Pietilä said: “Eric Samson has almost 20 years of relevant experience. His know-how within advertising and new media is an important asset and added value for an innovative company like Blyk. We are very delighted to have Eric on board.”

Impressive figures, but the figure I would be much interested is how many of those users have topped up their account!

Still they are getting good response rates 25 percent of those who receive ads respond to them, costing advertisers 50 pence per response. With the likes of Coca Cola, L’Oreal and Sky on board I am sure the business will continue to grow here in the UK and abroad.

I’m interested to say the least, because although the idea is very similar to Blyk, the essence of a complete “free network” is not there. And I’m thinking because of this, could SMSpup actually work?

I’m hoping that because SMSpup: Mobile is not completely free the service, reliability and customer care is actually a lot better than what is offered by Blyk in the UK. I also hope that they get the infrastructure working properly before opening their virtual doors to mobile consumers.

It also appears that SMSpup: Mobile will be available for everyone (not just 16 to 24 year olds), which means everyone can get in on the money saving action… Well as long as you’re in Australia.

I’ll be following SMSpup: Mobile, I’m interested to see how it compares to the (success) Blyk has had over here!

I learnt yesterday after a meeting with the Blyk Manager of User Experience that it isn’t just poor customer service I’ve had, it’s plain ignorance. Blyk don’t want to accept any wrong-doing, even if it’s as simple as human error.

A simple analogy of Blyk would be they want sheep. They want a member base of “lazy students” who jump to their every beck and call, and to be perfectly honest; I’m not a sheep.

So, I end all coverage of my experience with Blyk right here, and right now. I’m joining another network, quite possibly my old one Virgin Mobile, but I’ll shop around to compare prices and stability. The best thing though is I’m not even sorry it’s had to go this far; Blyk don’t want me as their customer, they’ve told me that, and I don’t want them.

Thus the end of my Blyk coverage.

Well, to be honest it hasn’t been going good. Yesterday I “celebrated” my six week anniversary of Blyk not working; not much cause for celebration really, but milestone nonetheless. So what has been happening?
Well, not a lot. After a lot of phone calls, and complaining, laughing, and mild shouting Blyk have now come to the up-most conclusion that they are not at fault; it must be my phone. Their answer to my astonishment (and fact I don’t own a selection of phones to choose from) “buy a phone from the Blyk store.” – Excuse me? They are charging £91 for a Samsung J600 – I can buy that for forty-ish pounds in Woolworths.

They’ve also sent me my third Blyk SIM card – lucky me – and I was told to try it in another phone. A lot easier said than done, when all the phones in my house are locked, broken, or five years old. I want it to work, but then again, if it does work, that means it’s my phone, and in short, I’m buggered. I cannot, and will not use a Motorola L6, and why should I have to buy a new phone, when according to Blyk my Sony W810i is completely compatible?

As for the Membercare Team! Communications came to an end on Tuesday after the team manager decided she would “terminate the call”. I fear that Blyk have absolutely no idea how poor their service is, and the fact that they keep insisting that their service is the “best” that they can offer is truly laughable.

So in all, it’s not good. I don’t know what to do with myself, whilst I want to leave Blyk (I have a PAC code and everything now), I wanted Blyk to work for me. I mean, who wouldn’t turn down the chance for free texts and minutes? It’s just a horrible shame that such a good idea has been coupled with appalling service, and lack of response.

Well, it all hangs on whether Blyk works on the L6 now – if it doesn’t it’s actual proof Blyk are at fault, but it also means, having to phone up Blyk again, and talk to people who obviously haven’t the faintest idea on how anything works.
Ahh!

* – I promise, I will actually not moan at least once a week, for the rest of my remaining weeks here at Mobile Industry Review.

Way back in 2002 I got my first mobile phone, at the age of eleven. It was on T-Mobile, and I thought it was bloody brilliant to say the least; finally, I had a communication method. Along with T-Mobile, I also found I also received quite a few adverts; and for the most part, I remember them being totally useless (holidays, ringtones, or “Adult Services”), so I didn’t like them.

Then, I changed to Virgin Mobile, and it was much of the same. Except, Virgin are a little more concerned with what they said out to eleven/twelve year olds, and even up to this year, sixteen year olds. I got more ringtones offers, Virgin related offers, and quite a few other promotions too.

In all, they were pretty dull, pointless, and quickly deleted. They were nothing interesting, and they tended to be sent at some of the most inappropriate times (the middle of School, or something), and they would end up getting me into trouble.

Then, as I’m sure quite a few of you know, I joined Blyk. I had previously been asked about a new network being opened in the UK, and it would be funded by mobile advertising; and I was completely against it. I hate adverts; and I’m pretty sure everyone else does too. Yes, they make things free, but they are annoying, and tend to have really catchy jingles – which aggravates me beyond belief.

When I was told about Blyk, I forgot about my past resentment, and joined them. “Yay, free texts and minutes for adverts, and you never know they might actually be good!”

That’s where I think I was wrong. So far, nothing has been remotely inspiring, and I haven’t been keen to like new bands, or go to buy new products, or even existing ones. I’ll admit, I’ve got Sun Burn text alerts (I’m in dire need of them), but have I spent any money as a result?

No.

Have I gone out to the shops and looked up a new brand or something I haven’t look at before?

No.

And when I was being sent constant repeat reminders from Blyk to watch “Britain’s Next Top Model”, did I watch it?

No.
I’m not going to say here that just because it hasn’t worked for me, it doesn’t work for others. I know, we’re all individuals in this crazy little world, and we all have the choice to be drawn into the marketing that is sent our way, no matter what medium was used to do so.

What I’m saying is that marketing is something the majority of us try to avoid. I have Ad-Block Plus installed onto FireFox, and before that, I had Norton block the ports I knew advertising was sent through.
Then on the TV, do I sit around and watch them? No.
On the radio do I listen to them? No.

And the same can be said for a lot of young people. No one I know sits around and enjoys or even watches TV adverts – the channel gets changed for four minutes. On the radio, they’ll change the station.

On-demand TV, and the internet has revolutionised the way we watch TV, and yes, this isn’t mobile, but on-demand shows have none of that advertising attached to it. Is then, a coincidence that more and more people are turning to these services to watch their TV?

Now I’ll say this, all the adverts I’ve got from Blyk, I’ll read, and then delete. If they require a response, I’ll respond, but that’s it. I honestly couldn’t care less about their content.

What’s worse is that Blyk knows my interests and age, yet I still get sent offers which are totally out of reach with who I am, and what I like. I still get the occasional offer for a Holiday, or I get informed about competitions they are running which I can’t enter due to my age.

As all advertising is, it’s a multi-million pound industry, and it will make money, and I’m sure it’ll become more overt to the different age groups as it expands. But at the same time, we don’t like them. Many of us use a combination of tools and methods to steer clear of the ghastly things. Therefore I don’t see how it can be that effective.

I can’t say for sure, but I would be shocked if a number of Blyk members, or even normal mobile users, who receive adverts, don’t open and delete as I do.
A lot of people I know are reluctant about joining networks supported by adverts, because they don’t like them. They don’t want to be bombarded with promotions and marketing which will only every annoy them.

Before you debate about how I may wrong, which I accept I may just be, think about this: have you ever heard someone say that they bought or did something because of an advert they received on a mobile?

Earlier on I tried phoning up Blyk to find out what is going on with my phone (you may want to read this and this), and not only was I told I should “wait”, and that the staff who I have been in communication are not in, I was repeatedly assured Blyk are doing their best. Why do they think that is a) good enough, and b) even the right thing to say.

I got angry, (no swearing mind you), just a loud voice, and some rambles about how companies work with customers, and staff existing because of me and so fourth. So there I was trying to get it into this person, that after five weeks, I don’t want to wait and that I when I phone up Blyk, I don’t phone up to have to wait until tomorrow, otherwise I would have phoned up tomorrow. And then silence, and that annoying little noise Sony’s make at the end of a call.

Yes, I was cut off.

Now I was angry, so I sent a complaint to Blyk Membercare, and then remembered that I hadn’t actually e-mailed some more important figure-heads behind Blyk, so I’ve written two e-mails. Luckily for you though, my second e-mail was a combinaton of my first complaint, and the one I sent straight after my phone call. It did though, turn out to be a little long. So if you’re interested in reading a ridiculously long rant about Blyk, and their stupidity, feel free to read on, otherwise, I warn you, be prepared, or go and watch Ewan’s Video Podcast (which is very funny by the way)

“Hello,

I’m writing to you today, because to be honest I’ve had enough.

I’ve been a Blyk member since February/March of this year, and for the most part I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time at Blyk. Recently however I’m lost for words; the inability to fix problems, rude staff members, prolonged delays in fixing anything, and general lack of experience, it has infuriated me, and numerous other Blyk members, and I’ve had enough.

I’ve informed the Membercare staff in a previous complaint to them that I will be passing my concerns up to more important figures in Blyk, and this is exactly what I am doing.

Apart from now wasting the majority of my minutes on having to phone up Blyk, because of an issue which has obviously been caused at Blyk’s end (the forums are filled with repetitive threads, many of which either unanswered, or responded to in the least effort made possible), and for me, has been on-going for five weeks this Wednesday. My account has been made inactive because I’m unable to retrieve MMS messages from Blyk, due to no fault of my own. Now, despite not being able to have my refill, I should also point out, I’m still receiving your “Brand” messages – also known as the advertising that funds the whole system.

I’m amazed at how Blyk can even get away with sending me the adverts, when they at the same time are denying me my refill! Surely these are illegal tactics to play, and ones I don’t accept or adhere to. If I’m going to be sent Brand Messages, I also want my refill, which I will remind you, I haven’t had.

Then there is the issue of rude Membercare staff. Now, where exactly should I begin? I presume it’s best to post the e-mail I sent to Membercare last week; I think it sums a lot up.

“Hi,

I phoned up Blyk Membercare today after having troubles with my mobile phone on Blyk for nearly four weeks. I’ve been speaking to the Membercare staff for the past week trying to resolve this issue (although it took over two weeks for Blyk to respond to the vast amount of threads or concerns on the Forums). However, today I was greeted with a rather rude and loud *******.

I will expect the staff at Blyk to be aware that young people (the people you are dependent on for business), have the lowest tolerance for rudeness, customer services, and when things go wrong. I myself believe I have been very tolerant with Blyk, seeing as my problem still persists over three weeks. But, when I phone up and ask for help regarding any matter, issue, error or query, I do not expect to be shouted at down the phone.

I made it very clear to ******* that I had already visited the Blyk website, and that I’ve spoken to other Blyk Membercare staff over the phone regarding the issue; however she was insistently rude that I should return to the website, and that she wouldn’t help me over the phone.

I should add that this isn’t the first occasion that I’ve had a bad experience with Blyk Membercare people; and whilst on the whole my experience whilst talking to them has been good, I’m shocked to find that some of the Membercare staff believes that they have a right to be moody, agitated, or rude. I should remind you that the staff at Blyk Membercare are paid, and are answering phone because it’s their job, and they’ve chosen to do it. Therefore with that in mind, they should not be rude when talking to their customers on the phone.

I do not tolerate being spoken to in any manner that I perceive as rude, agitated, unwelcoming or harsh from anyone; this rule applies to the Blyk Membercare staff too. As I have already said, this isn’t the first occasion of rudeness, and on these occasions, I’ve forgotten about it, and did not complain; this though is the final straw. Blyk Membercare should not be directing their members to the forums (which I’ve read quite a lot about), they should listen, and when I made it clear that I had already visited to the Blyk site, and still the matter persisted, they should try and help me resolve the issue, and when the Blyk Membercare put me on hold, or mute their microphones, I do not expect them to come back on the line complaining that I’m still being rude, even though it’s obvious I’m not speaking to them.

Blyk seriously needs to sort out this matter, but as I have said numerous times in the forums you need to address a whole range of other issues too. The fact that Blyk expects to expand itself into Europe later this year, and next year is laughable. You can’t even get the basics right, or even offer the basic of services (Message Reports, outgoing MMS, Free Data included), yet somehow you can expand?

I can assure you too, I will also be passing these concerns onto the higher people behind Blyk; because I’m aware some of these issues don’t directly reflect the Memebercare, but it needs to be highlighted.

Thank you for reading this,

Samantha Kidd.”

If that’s not bad enough, I’m sent a response from an e-mail that I can respond back to, and has to be the least reassuring piece of literature I have ever come across.

Then there is the Technical Team. What exactly is their point, when they obviously cannot fix errors with the Blyk service? Five weeks I’ve had this issue, and this issue was followed around a week or two after another crisis at Blyk. Everyone had their messages sent, and delivered multiple times, and it ended up costing members their texts. Once again the Membercare Team were slow to respond, and didn’t assure anyone, or use any of the tools in their presence to at least acknowledge that they are aware of the issue. I posted multiple times, and even on the phone I’ve asked so many times, why isn’t the Blyk Blog made to more use, why isn’t the “Announcements” section used, and the use of e-mail? Apparently, this never occurred to Blyk, when they were hit with a big problem, and it didn’t occur to them this time.

I’m also horribly frustrated with the fact that I can’t get in touch with the Technical Team myself; and it is this, which I believe has partly caused such a delay with addressing any issue, or resolving it quickly. It is because of this, I’ve had to wait five weeks, and yet, nothing. Can you tell me this good enough? Would you accept that? I’m even surprised I’ve accepted it for this long, and why I haven’t complained earlier, just goes to prove how much I want Blyk to work.

I would love to know why Blyk forces its members to spend their minutes phoning up Blyk, for rude, terrible, poorly informed response. I would also love to know why; I have to wait for certain Staff Members to be “in”, in order for me to find out anything. I’ll post a complaint I’ve just sent to Blyk Membercare, just so you can see the extent of my frustration with this.

“Hi ***, or whomever may be reading this.

I’ve just come off the phone from Blyk, and once again I’m left feeling angry. It has now been nearly five weeks since I was last able to receive MMS messages, and therefore have an active account. I’m fully aware of the efforts going into having this issue resolved, but it’s not good enough.

Firstly, why is it taking five (and probably more) weeks to resolve an issue?
Secondly, why can’t I get an answer?

The fact I have to use the minutes which I got in June to phone Blyk up, and reserve them purely for that reason is horrendous. Why should I not be able to use my phone the way I like, because you can’t make anything work? Then, when I do phone up Blyk, why am I always feeling like I know nothing still! The reason I phone up, is because I want to know what is going on, and so when I do phone up, I expect that answer – seeing as I’m having to use up my remaining minutes to do so.

It’s not good enough to be constantly reminded about the efforts going into this, or the fact that the “Team Manager” is working on this issue. To be perfectly honest, I don’t care. All I care about is being able to use my mobile phone, during the time of year I need it most – which right now I’m totally unable to do. Shall I remind Blyk, I am your customer, you are the employees of a company, and you wouldn’t have a job if your shareholders weren’t seeing any money made? Now, if I, and a lot of other Blyk customers were to leave, where would that leave your advertisers? And more importantly, where would that leave you?

You’re there, to answer me, and the numerous other Blyk members who have issues with their phone service. You have an additional duty to ensure that when you’ve messed up, we’re not the ones feeling the pain; and right now that is exactly what I am feeling.

I want to know what is going on with my phone, and I want to know when this issue is going to be resolved. The fact I can’t do that over the phone, unless I phone according to when specific people are in is ridiculous. Also, not having the ability to talk to the technical team? How is it, I can phone up a number of companies where they have specific departments for issues and services, and I’ll get passed on, but with Blyk I can’t? If I were able to speak to someone at the Technical Team, eradicate the middle-men, and have someone who knows what they are talking about to me, then we might actually be getting somewhere. I urge you to ensure that this happens in the near future, because it is once again, ridiculous.

I shouldn’t have to be waiting for Blyk to respond to me, I want to know what is going on, and considering the length of time I’ve had this issue I believe I have been more than patient. I don’t want an e-mail of reassurance back to me, I know that, and I don’t want to hear it. I want to know what is going on, when I can expect my refill (seeing as I should have had it on Friday, but due to your incompetence I don’t), and whatever else Blyk will be doing to ensure I stay happy with them. I also don’t want a response from a noreply address. I think you owe me a little more than that, so please ensure it doesn’t happen.

I would also like to point out, I was cut off on the phone whilst speaking to someone, I believe his name is *****. Yes I’m angry, but considering the circumstances, and the lack of any movement with this issue, I think I have that right. Please ensure that doesn’t happen in the future either, because you’re not making this any easier on yourself.

Please phone me up as soon as you read this, because believe me, I haven’t been phoning up or writing to you to have a response delayed by a couple of days.

My mobile number is (my number) it is always on, and therefore, I don’t care what time you phone, as long as it is sooner rather than later.

Samantha.”

I’m angry, not only because Blyk insist on sending me adverts all the time, not only because I have waste my minutes getting no response, not only because I can’t talk to the Technical Team myself, and not only because I’ve been denied my refill because Blyk are incompetent. I’m angry, because I’m being reassured all the time that this is somehow good enough. I’m being told that the staff are working hard to resolve this problem. I haven’t seen any improvement, I haven’t been able to phone up my friends this summer, and I have to waste so much time, effort, energy and everything else that comes with not being able to use your main method of communication.

Blyk is a mobile phone network, and therefore they should be able to provide a service, and to be perfectly honest, I’m not seeing this, I’m not feeling valued, and I feel like the response to any issue with Blyk is slowly getting worse. I’ve left my previous network for Blyk, I’ve accepted that there will be glitches, and a few minor issues, but what Blyk are offering isn’t what I bargained for. And what’s worse, is that I’ve convinced friends to join to.

Do you have any idea of how embarrassing it is to persuade your closest friends to join Blyk, for them to come back and say “Samantha, Blyk doesn’t work?” Or seeing them post on the forums complaining after they’ve spent £15 to have their phones unlocked to find out that they are being sent an error message that their phone is compatible, despite being on the compatible list? I feel like I’ve been lied to, and I feel like a cheat, because I have persuaded anyone to join this farce of a service.

How Blyk can even begin to think about expansion is way beyond me; you can’t even handle the basics (Message reports? I’ve been receiving them since 2002, yet in 2008, Blyk can’t handle them), I can’t send picture messages; I’m not even offered Data. I can’t text numbers Blyk doesn’t like (even if they are free), Blyk isn’t signed up to any of the Social Networks (even though every teenager is on at least one), and even the Blyk Staff seem a little bemused by their experience of Blyk as members themselves.

I really hope I get some level of response from this, and that something is done about your current manner of operations. I’m not the only person is annoyed, and I’ll be urging others to write to Blyk Membercare or yourselves similarly. You may also want to be made aware that I’m updating my view of the service with Blyk on SMS Text News; and I can assure you now, that this will be added.

Please feel free to e-mail me back to this address (personal e-mail address) , or even phone me up (number here). I would love to hear what the people, who run Blyk, have to say about this level of service.

Thank you for taking the time to read this e-mail, and I look forward to your response.

Samantha Kidd.”

I sent that to the head of Membercare, the UK CEO and the head of User Experience. I’ll send it on to more if I get no response.

I’ve had enough of this, and winding me up when it’s hot, I want to use my mobile, and when I’m feeling generally relaxed and happy, just isn’t good.

I’ll post the response if I get any!

(Oh, and sorry for the length, I get a little carried away with my rambles!).

Well it seems, they’ve finally gotten around to reading my complaint (it took them nearly a week), and as I suspsected I got a standard response.

“Hi Samantha
Thank you for your email.
I am sorry to hear that you are continuing to experience problems activating your replacement sim card.
Firstly I would like to acknowledge your frustration and concerns over the way in which you say you have been treated by some members of the Blyk Member Care Team. We take your comments seriously and I can assure you that the points you have raised will be investigated and any findings will be dealt with in accordance with our internal policies.

With regard to the activation of your sim card; I understand that you have been speaking to *** and he has been trying to help you get active. I can also confirm that as these actions have not be successful, the information has been escalated to the technical team who are investigating it further.

I will monitor you account closely and I hope it will not be too much longer before you can start to enjoy using Blyk.
Kind regards
****
Team Manager
Blyk Member Care Team”

The thing is, they aren’t sorry. It was only yesterday I was informed my problems regarding my account activation were being passed onto the “higher technical team” – what? Isn’t a technical team, a technical team?
Well, apparently not.

Also, even some of the staff (who are nice), express concerns or frustration about the service. I was once told that it was “annoying how the service goes, and as a Blyk member I share your concerns”. Yes, Mr. Staff member you may be a Blyk Member, but you’re there, you can shout at the people without having the call disconnected, you have direct access to the Technical Team (and the higher one too). Whereas there is me, and the other hundred-odd-thousand members left just sitting here like ducks in a pond.

I cannot even remember the number of times I’ve asked to speak directly to the Technical team. Any other company, phone network, or whoever will do this. If I phone up my ISP, they have specialist departments for computers, broadband and the like. I can speak to the technicians, I can cut out the middle man. Blyk don’t want to do this, and this has delayed the process so much more.

Should I even mention, that Blyk now does not recognise mobile phones that they have on their compatiable list?

Why is this happening to a company who should be good? And more importantly, why isn’t Blyk stopping their plans to move overseas, and start getting the service here working properly. I mean, not having message reports? I remember having those on my first phone way back in 2002; it’s 2008, there is no excuse for being so poorly organised and equipped.

- Rant over -

Oh, I should also add… It was a noreply@ address. It seems they don’t want my response.

Somehow, some Blyk membercare staff have got it into their heads that shouting to me down the phone, or telling me to go to the forums, compensates as Customer Service. I beg to differ!

On quite a few occasions now I’ve had the luxury of speaking to such staff, and to be honest I’m fed up of it. Now, I should also make you aware that since June 25th I’ve been unable to open any MMS message that Blyk sends me; this naturally means my Blyk account is “inactive” resulting in my refill being delayed. I’ve been trying to get this sorted since this date, and as of yet, nothing has successfully worked. Plus, my refill which is due on Friday, will not be arriving, because Blyk are inapt.

I should also point out, that some of the Blyk Membercare team who have worked with me for the past weeks have been good, but then again, it’s their job isn’t it?

Anyway, Ewan asked me to post my complaint. For obvious reasons the name of the person I was complaining about has been deleted, and I am in the process of writing an e-mail to the CEO of Blyk, because to be honest, it’s a joke.

—

Hi,

I phoned up Blyk Membercare today after having troubles with my mobile phone on Blyk for nearly four weeks. I’ve been speaking to the Membercare staff for the past week trying to resolve this issue (although it took over two weeks for Blyk to respond to the vast amount of threads or concerns on the Forums). However, today I was greeted with a rather rude and loud *******.

I will expect the staff at Blyk to be aware that young people (the people you are dependent on for business), have the lowest tolerance for rudeness, customer services, and when things go wrong. I myself believe I have been very tolerant with Blyk, seeing as my problem still persists over three weeks. But, when I phone up and ask for help regarding any matter, issue, error or query, I do not expect to be shouted at down the phone.

I made it very clear to ******* that I had already visited the Blyk website, and that I’ve spoken to other Blyk Membercare staff over the phone regarding the issue; however she was insistently rude that I should return to the website, and that she wouldn’t help me over the phone.

I should add that this isn’t the first occasion that I’ve had a bad experience with Blyk Membercare people; and whilst on the whole my experience whilst talking to them has been good, I’m shocked to find that some of the Membercare staff believes that they have a right to be moody, agitated, or rude. I should remind you that the staff at Blyk Membercare are paid, and are answering phone because it’s their job, and they’ve chosen to do it. Therefore with that in mind, they should not be rude when talking to their customers on the phone.

I do not tolerate being spoken to in any manner that I perceive as rude, agitated, unwelcoming or harsh from anyone; this rule applies to the Blyk Membercare staff too. As I have already said, this isn’t the first occasion of rudeness, and on these occasions, I’ve forgotten about it, and did not complain; this though is the final straw. Blyk Membercare should not be directing their members to the forums (which I’ve read quite a lot about), they should listen, and when I made it clear that I had already visited to the Blyk site, and still the matter persisted, they should try and help me resolve the issue, and when the Blyk Membercare put me on hold, or mute their microphones, I do not expect them to come back on the line complaining that I’m still being rude, even though it’s obvious I’m not speaking to them.

Blyk seriously needs to sort out this matter, but as I have said numerous times in the forums you need to address a whole range of other issues too. The fact that Blyk expects to expand itself into Europe later this year, and next year is laughable. You can’t even get the basics right, or even offer the basic of services (Message Reports, outgoing MMS, Free Data included), yet somehow you can expand?

I can assure you too, I will also be passing these concerns onto the higher people behind Blyk; because I’m aware some of these issues don’t directly reflect the Memebercare, but it needs to be highlighted.

Thank you for reading this,

Samantha K.

—

Maybe they’ll get their bums into gear now, then again, like with everything they could just ignore it, and think nothing of the issue.

—

Patrick broke the news yesterday that Blyk was expanding into Europe and it seems that the model looks to be taken up round the work! Last month Ewan reported that U-Mobile in the Philippians to Blyk had just started up and it seems that over in United Arab Emirates a company called Gulf Integrated. A spokesman for the company has said that;

“We are looking at the option of either tying up with Blyk or a totally independent network after seeking permission from local authorities,” said Hussein.

It seems like Blyk has found a partner into the Middle East. Not only are Gulf Integrated looked at starting up in the UAE but also later cover the rest of the Gulf countries and eventually the entire Mena region.

Full details of the article can be found here. It seems that currently Gulf Integrated are currently in the just planning stage and it seems like if they do start up it will be another MVNO, not an actual operator.

I think it’s great that the Blyk model is spreading! Good Luck to them!

The exact details haven’t been announced and the company says that it will make more country-specific announcements in the “near future.”

Avid readers of SMS Text News will have been well-prepared for this news however, as when Ewan bumped into Leif Fagelstedt, Blyk Chief Operating Officer at the Blyk one-year party, he hinted at European expansion. This is what he told Ewan:

“We’ve got a very clear vision,” he shoots, “We’re the fastest growing youth media in the UK at the moment. By the end of the year, we want to be the biggest. Then we want to do it in Europe.”

So well done to Blyk, they’ve done as they promised. If they can take the advertisers over to these markets with them then they are onto a winner. I presume that’s what the choice of territories is partly based on: advertisers who are getting an average of a 29% response rate in the UK have looked at other markets and asked Blyk to get out there. Apparently all three countries have big advertising markets, so it looks like there is room for Blyk to be successful out there.

Blyk’s CEO and Co-founder, Pekka Ala-Pietilä said of the move:

“There is a great opportunity for Blyk in these markets. Our research shows that young people in Germany, Spain and Belgium are interested in the Blyk proposition because they want to interact with brands they like in exchange for free communication.”

If you’re between 16-24 and you live in Germany, Spain or Belgium then look out for more and let us know if you sign up and what your experiences are like.

Obviously Ricky will still be updating us with his BlykWatch articles on a regular basis about what Blyk is up to in the UK. In the announcement Blyk says that it still expanding in the UK and expects to have upto 200 brands on board by the end of the year.

They know their stuff, do Blyk. Their events are always well orchestrated and organised. Here’s a QIK of me arriving:

I was a little bit late so I missed the first part of the speeches, but I did manage to get a good lot of UK CEO Shaun Gregory‘s introduction. Clearly speaking to the advertising executives in the house, he made a very direct point to them, offering not only ‘free Blyk Breakfasts’ (excellent idea) but also personally guaranteeing that he’ll help them see the light. And it won’t be difficult. Not with 29% response rates.

Here’s a bit of Shaun’s speech. Highly recommended if you’d like to see just how direct Blyk are being with their customers (in this case, the advertisers). I like it:

Just after Shaun’s speech, I was talking to one of their PRs.

“Who was that?” I asked.

“You’re, er, kidding, right?” she replied.

“No. I, well, no I don’t know. I took a video and want to put his name on it. Who was it?”

“Are you JOKING?” she asked, astounded.

“I only just arrived!” I explained, I didn’t get his name.

“That’s Shaun! Shaun! The UK SEE EEEEE OHHHH!”

Ah hah. Haven’t met the chap. But I liked how he came across. I liked his directness.

I hunted high and low for Commercial Director, Geoff Morely. I wanted to slap his back and say good work.

I did bump into Leif Fagelstedt, Blyk Chief Operating Officer.

“Ah hah,” I thought, “He’ll know a thing or two about Blyk, won’t he?”

“How are things going,” I asked him, “My readers want to know all!”

Leif knows his stuff. “Over 900 campaigns,” he says, firing stats at me so quickly that I started making notes on his business card, “And our average response rate is still on 29%.”

That’s a bit of a coup for Blyk. Quite a few in the industry didn’t think they’d be live and kicking a year on. Pooh to them, eh?

Time to get Paxman, I reckoned.

“What about free data then, Leif? When are we seeing free data for the customers?”

“We’re the biggest provider of free data,” Leif began. You what? Oh. What? I didn’t notice that one. Then Leif continued, “relating to our successful advertising campaigns.”

Ahh. Good one I had to ask him twice. I thought maybe he misunderstood but he got me. I wonder if that signals that the Blyk top people have been considering free data for their customers? If so, how much free data? Difficult one when Voda’s chucking their (monthly) subscribers 500mb inclusive.

“What can I tell the analysts and investors reading, Leif?”

“We’ve got a very clear vision,” he shoots, “We’re the fastest growing youth media in the UK at the moment. By the end of the year, we want to be the biggest. Then we want to do it in Europe.”

Nice.

“What about Umobile, the ad-funded MNVO in the Philippines?” I wondered if Leif and his team had been paying attention to the market.

You betcha. He knew exactly who they were.

“We welcome the competition,” he said, smiling.

“And what phone do you use?” I asked.

N95. Leif’s an N95 man. Good man.

Alphabeat, the band for the night, was playing, big time, so it was difficult to ask Leif any more questions. I thanked him for his time then went to film a little of the band and pretend that, just for a moment, I was a bit cool:

(The Alphabeat video is worth a look)

I bumped into Geoff Wright and stunned him, momentarily, with a live QIK. Social media master that he is, he jumped straight in and delivered. Here he is:

I then proceeded to buttonhole Geoff about unlimited Blyk texts, minutes and data (a pet subject of mine). He stood up well to the barrage.

Then I spotted a 63336 tshirt. Smart man. I yelled across at the guy when I saw him, startling him somewhat, “Are you from AQA?”

“Yeah!” the guy replied.
“Wossyername?” I yelled, still about 6ft away from him. In retrospect I think I could have chosen a more dignified approach, but, well, I was excited to see someone from AQA (Any-Question-Answered), one of Blyk’s partners.
“Steven [or Stephen],” he answered.
“Where’s Paul then?” I asked, surmising that Paul Cockerton, Marketing Director, wouldn’t be far away. He wasn’t. I stuck the phone in front of him and pressed stream:

Nice one Paul!

Nice one Blyk!

It’s a smart step toward reaching out to advertisers. It’s the average 29% response rate that snares immediate interest, though, I reckon.

If you’re looking for more information on Blyk and their model, their media site is a good place to start.

Ü is the first ad-funded network in Philippians, and is very similar to the UK MVNO Blyk. Ewan broke the news on SMS Text News last week and since then there has been lot of talk within the blogging community about the new service. This is where Ü Watch comes in, as you know I currently write the Blykwatch Column every two weeks and I will now also write about Ü Mobile as and when more information and news is released. Unlike Blykwatch it will not be regular, I will be posting when more information is made public.

Below are some of the facts about the network;

• Age limit is 15-35
• Invitation only
• Long survey required to be filled in, to join the network
• Mobile VOIP and Messaging with Fring(http://www.fring.com/)
• Ability to change and choose your number for 50 Pesos (£0.58)
• There are no fixed limit about the number of adverts you can receive
• Paid for each advert you receive and reply to
• 3G Network

U Mobile is obviously new, whilst in comparison here in the UK Blyk is much more established. Ewan hinted that they will have looked at what BLYK was doing here, I agree with him however there are some aspects that I believe they have actually (in paper) improved in comparison to BLYK.

The first of these is 3G, BLYK is only 2.5g and although their MVNO partner Orange is 3G they do not use any offer any 3G services at all. Big thumbs up to the people at U Mobile! The second thing is that they give you credit not x amount of texts and minutes, that is something that is great. I hate the restriction on Blyk that they choose what I get for free, I would much prefer the ability to choose what I want, whether that be data, SMS, or calls. On the subject of data not only is it potentially available as part of your allowance but for once a mobile network that is not scared of VOIP services like Fring, ( I know that is an entirely another debate/ discussion) However none the less it is a massive tick in the box. The other cool feature is the ability to change your number and there seem to be no restrictions on how many times you can do this, from my reading this is a new concept that currently none of the other Philippine Networks offer. I again thing this is wicked service; however some issue of safety that concern me (ie if you like to annoy/stalk people you can easily change your number), I am sure they have mechanisms in place to stop that from happening.

The drawbacks I hear you ask well there are a few of them as well, the first one is the age that U Mobile has at its upper band 35. Can I really see a 35 year old using this network to get some credit, in my opinion probably not however if this the case, simply people towards the upper limit will simply not join the network. The only real negative that I could see is that maybe advertisers may not be interested, as it not quite a specific target market like Blyk’s which is 16-24 olds. The second is the long survey that many of their customers have reported of having to fill in, this for me is a massive no. It’s not a good thing to put people off your service before they even join. A much better way (which is what BLYK does) is to profile its customers and learn what they like and dislike once they are a member.

Mike Abundo’s has done some financial comparison’s with BLYK here, basically for the deal to be a similar offering to BLYK customers should receive no more then 4 adverts today, however the model that U Mobile is offering is different to BLYK. On U Mobile you receive a small amount of money for each advert you receive (50 centavos) and they have a monthly cap of 350 Pesos more details here, in comparison BLYK offers a monthly allowance whether or not you respond or not and has a limit of 6 adverts a day. To reach the monthly cap Mike Abundo has calculated that you would need to receive 23 ad’s a day! That is a lot of adverts a day, hmm I am not sure anyone would want to receive that many.

We must look at the Philippine Market which is completely different to that of the UK and although at the top level it seems that U Mobile is not offering as such a good deal as BLYK, I still genuinely believe that there will be people who will see the benefits of advert funded networks and untimely reduce their mobile costs.

Good luck to the U Mobile team, and hopefully look forward to blogging about them in the future!

Ricky

Blyk have moved out of their city offices and into prime Soho territory, taking up residence in Great Marlborough Street to be right slap bang in the middle of UK ad-land. Smart, sensible. Makes sense. They can all start wearing black tshirts and Nikes instead of pinstripes.

What’s more, they’re having a summer party next month. And I shall be there with bells on.

They’re fast becoming one of the marketing and mobile industry’s uber success stories, Blyk. Whilst subscriber numbers don’t quite match the giants as yet, the only figure that matters when it comes to marketing is ROI and that’s where Blyk are leading the pack. If they can compound their success and move towards the half million or million mark in the next few years, the future looks rosy. Their challenge will be keeping their subscribers locked and content.

That notwithstanding, I’ll be doing some live QIKing from the party and reporting the gossip.

Every success Dean!

Ewan is currently a test-subscriber named Antonio, and has been testing the service out, with good opinions thus far. The company says they’re on target for 50,000 subscribers by March, and 100,000 by the end of the year.

That’s an interesting move, eh? One one end of the scale you’ve got Blyk addressing the youth… now in Italy, an MVNO for the oldies in the country? Cool! I don’t think Saga, the UK company specialising in services for the over 50s, has yet launched Saga Mobile… I wonder, if pitched just right, a mobile service aimed at oldies could be successful.