Voodoo Ad-onomics?

I’m perusing the press releases this morning, and just couldn’t help sharing this with fellow ClickZ-ers. My eye was caught by a release from VoodooVox, an ad tech firm that serves audio ads during phone call waiting periods for high call volume industries (mostly radio stations, it seems). They’ve just signed Univision and ABC Radio to their In-Call Network. It’s an interesting concept, and I guess you can think of it as an extension of the over-the-air ads played on radio station call holding lines. The company has served in-call spots for Microsoft, Virgin Mobile, Showtime, Sony, Lionsgate Films, and the US Navy.

Be that as it may, I found the first half of this quote from Spencer Brown, CEO of Dial Global, another broadcast outfit that will use the in-call ad service, pretty delusional: “Radio was the first and remains by-far the most interactive of all media, and the interactive device of choice is overwhelmingly the phone.” I don’t doubt for some, the interactive device of choice is indeed their (cell)phones; however, the notion that radio is still the most interactive of all media is a fantastical one. The fact that I need another device to interact with the radio is the primary reason it’s not the most interactive medium, but readers of this publication could rattle off dozens more, too.

The remainder of his statement plants Brown back in the realm of reality: “A rich phone experience that includes in-call advertising and outbound SMS marketing will be a vital component of the radio programming and revenue enhancement services we deliver daily to our client stations nationwide.”

Let’s hope VoodooVox has a feature that allows folks to dial up the advertiser after they make that request for Rick James‘s Superfreak, otherwise the promise of mobile/in-call interactivity is moot.