WiredWomen: Britney Spears Calling?
Dec. 19, 2002 -- Hang on to your cell phones.
The woman who brought new meaning to the term "navel gazing" is about to deliver her petulant purr to the masses, one wireless connection at a time. We're talking fashion tips, backstage voice journals, concert updates, and contests to win backstage tickets.
Yes, folks, it's everything Britney, directly to your cell. For a reasonable fee.
And if that sounds like progress, you're either prepubescent (and what are your parents thinking giving you your own cell phone?) — or you need to get a life. Really.
JCOR Entertainment, the media company responsible for this technological breakthrough, is banking on the fact that there are enough of you in both categories to make Britney a big-bucks proposition, wireless-wise.
Cell Phone-Toting Teens
And statistics support that optimism: Nearly 128 million Americans are wireless subscribers, according to the Strategis Group, a Washington-based technology research firm. About 3.5 million American teens own a wireless telephone, Strategis reports, and they got them at an average age of 14.9 years (what are their parents thinking?).
That leaves another 16.9 million current teens and 52 million "budding teens" — kids under the age of 12 — who are ready and waiting to be added to the wireless subscriber rolls. It's a market made in cellular heaven.
Even better, 29 percent of teens without cell phones say they plan to get one this year, Strategis reports. And 83 percent of those cell-less teens say they'd be more likely to go wireless if they could download music or other "add-on features" into their phones.
Add-on features like Britney, for example.
Britney, the Person
Steven Lux, spokesman for JCOR Entertainment, says Britney is just the beginning. The company has also signed her beau, Justin Timberlake of boy band 'N Sync fame, and rapper Jay-Z to develop their own wireless fan clubs.
Lux, who spent 12 years working for video game maker Acclaim Entertainment, is the man who brought you Mary-Kate and Ashley video games, one of the biggest sellers ever to hit the gaming market. The father of three daughters, Lux says it dawned on him one day that his house was littered with Mary-Kate and Ashley paraphernalia — everything except video games.
"It just hit me," he says. "It was the next big market push."
It's that kind of push that Lux is bringing to bear on wireless fan clubs, a project he says blends technology with celebrity.
"This is a state-of-the-art opportunity to communicate directly with Britney," Lux says. "Our program is more comprehensive than anything out there: a solid combo of voice and data. It's about Britney the person, of which music is a component, rather than just being about her music."
Delivery of "Britney the person" is still a work in progress, Lux says. He knows the program will be subscription-based, meaning you'll sign up for a limited membership — say, three months, for example — and then have the option of re-enrolling. He knows it'll be a "retail operation," meaning you'll buy your membership in a store rather than online. And he knows it'll be "permission-based marketing," meaning kids will need an adult's signature to enroll.
Beyond that, the details — including the price — are yet to be determined. "If there are hurdles to be leaped, we'll leap the hurdles," says Lux.
Hurdles Galore
It's been a month of hurdle-jumping, technologically speaking.
December brought us the side-loading automatic dog washer ("Just hold your breath, Fido"); the diamond-studded, 18-carat gold cell phone; and Ginger, the motorized scooter that's supposed to Change the World (despite looking more like a lawn mower than a revolution).
Gimme a break.
A year from now, we'll still have dirty dogs (you're welcome, Fido). Our cell phones will still be standard issue. And as for Ginger? Puh-lease. Who has time to zip around on the transportation of the future?
We'll be expecting a call from the Bellybutton Queen.
A teacher and a journalist, Dianne Lynch is the author of Virtual Ethics.