Getting Teens In The Loup

A teen chat-line service and community targeted to 13- to 18-year-olds is gaining interest from the music industry as a new way to promote artists and events to adolescent consumers.

The service—known as the Loup—offers voice mail, live voice-chats, and instant messaging, as well as local event news, entertainment reviews, and contests geared to teens. The kids dial in, get a prompt to add their user number and password, and then add various asterix and number combinations for different user options.

"We really have found the ideal teen connection to the entertainment marketplace," says Loup president/CEO Bob Botch.

In the latest deal between the Loup and a music-related company, the Loup is partnering with Ticketmaster to explore cross-merchandising opportunities targeting teens. Under the alliance, which was finalized last month, Loup members in the Los Angeles area will be offered the latest concert-date and ticket information, with special access to ticket details for popular events.

Through weekly updates, the new service provides callers with the latest breaking news on what tickets are going on sale for the upcoming weekend's concerts, sporting events, etc., as well as access to Ticketmaster's nationwide calendar of events. Promotions will feature contests to win tickets to the hottest events in each market, with Ticketmaster providing the tickets as its contribution to the partnership.

"The Loup approached us on the cross-promotional opportunities," says Greg Schmale, Ticketmaster Internet marketing and sales director for the Western region. "We looked at the exposure to that group that the Internet offers as an information source, and it made sense to connect their members to Ticketmaster, using our Citysearch site as a portal to event information and ticket purchases."

He observes that Ticketmaster can now go to such a client as House of Blues and come up with targeted marketing programs, like special pre-sales to Loup members. "We get to approach the 13-to-18 crowd to look at us as their resource for this information and use Citysearch to find restaurants near a concert site, for example."

Schmale expects to expand the program to other cities in the Loup network later this year if the L.A. test works out. In addition to L.A., the Loup network can be accessed in Phoenix, Seattle, Philadelphia, and Chicago, with San Francisco coming this summer.

"Our membership has grown at a phenomenal rate," Botch notes, "and as we gain more Loupsters, we want to be the source of the coolest and latest information that interests teens."

Launched in Phoenix in the fall of 1999 by parent company VoiceWeb—a venture-funded, privately held firm now based in L.A.—the Loup now claims more than 500,000 registered members. (Registration is free.)

In terms of advertising, what makes the Loup appealing is that companies can direct their messages to the teen community—now more than 31 million—by gender, age, region, zip code, area code, and chat-room subject. And research indicates that each member spends an average of 26 minutes on each network connection, according to Botch. As a result, the Loup has already attracted such sponsors as Virgin Records America, RCA Records, and Priority Records.

"We know how prevalent phones are with this demographic of high school kids who also buy a lot of music," says Brad Fox, Virgin director of artist development. "It's very hard to pin a kid down, as they're always on the phone with their friends. This way, we got to them while they were calling and were able to get them behind our whole program on a local basis for the group."

Virgin, which used the service to promote the group Outsiderz 4 Life last fall, is focusing on the latest releases from its newest artists in key markets across the country, to set up support for both singles and debut albums. The label also supplies promo product to the Loup network as giveaways, including CDs, posters, and other merchandise.

"We've held phone chats with Outsiderz that worked out real well with the kids," Fox says. "[We] already are looking for the next group we hope to promote through the network later this spring."

For Verizon, another sponsor, the ability to target a segment of the Loup membership was what was most appealing. "We won't approach anyone under 16 for our mobile service," says Lucy Bridges, youth marketing manager for Verizon's Southwest area. "The ability to slice and dice the information any way we needed to really was a bonus."

The company offered members a special Audiovox cell phone with 1,700 minutes a month at $10 off for the first three months. The plan focused on night and weekend minutes, which is when the kids talk the most.

"[The Loup] is an interesting place for us and a great market because they have all those kids in there chatting up a storm," she says. "Radio would have been a waste for a program like this, and since Orange County [in L.A.] tends to be a trendsetter area, if the program works, there are a lot of things we can launch off that in other network markets."

Botch sees nothing but expanding revenue from what he calls "V-commerce" (voice commerce). No one under 13 is allowed on the network, and kids must get parental permission to sign up. While the Loup notes each member's gender, age, and zip code, the information is only used "in aggregate" for various sponsors and advertisers, he emphasizes.

By early summer, the Loup will have links to advertiser/telemarketing destinations on the network, so members can call to get details on special offers and to enter contests.

Going forward, Botch sees more revenue opportunities from referral fees, so that every sign-up with the likes of a Verizon through the Loup would bring in a small bonus to the network.