Give me a holler: MCI tries to get kids on the phone

Children, until they hit puberty, are really not phone users. The average kid phone conversation consists mainly of, "Can I come over to play?" But parents of children-children old enough to go places on their own but still young enough that their whereabouts should be known-want them to make calls. They want them to check in. They want the peace of mind that comes with knowing their youngsters can contact them at any time. Or so says MCI.

"This is a new market that people haven't been targeting," an MCI spokesman said. "MCI is known for creating new markets."

Whether or not this market was "created" by MCI, the interexchange carrier will soon address it with Shout! prepaid calling cards, designed specifically for use by children. With heavily market-tested colorful designs to make them appealing, along with several security features, the cards will be advertised as a way to keep kids in touch. Unique to the cards is a preprogrammable speed-dial feature that lets parents enter up to six numbers that their kids will call most frequently.

The cards were born from analyzing trends, said Tom Hollihan, product manager for MCI. "If you take a look at overall lifestyle trends, people are living increasingly hectic lives. It's hard for people to keep in touch."

The company also looked at the trends that kids are interested in right now in an effort to combine the usefulness of the cards with the attractiveness of a fun kid product, he said.

"It gives kids a sense of style, while it gives parents peace of mind," Hollihan said.

MCI did several rounds of focus groups and tested the product on hundreds of kids to achieve both the utility and marketing goals, he said. The final product offers a choice between sports and "retro" motifs. To make sure kids hold onto the cards, MCI offers key chains with hidden compartments to preserve the child's privacy.

"We wanted to tie into the key chain craze, but we didn't want the [personal identification number] to be exposed," Hollihan explained.

The card has security features programmed into it, including a passcode, which is needed to program and update the speed dial numbers. This way, if the child loses the card, the passcode "takes away the bully factor," he said.

In addition, if a zero balance is reached, the child's call will automatically be routed to a customer service representative instead of being disconnected. The child will also hear a verbal notification when the card is near expiration.

"Typically when people run into problems marketing to children, it's because something is labeled in some negative way," said Debra McMahon, vice president of Mercer Management Consulting. "These cards seem to be sending the right message."

She said there is a "huge potential" in the market to sell communications devices to children, and believes that when PCS devices come down in price, we will see them being marketed to children as well.

"There's big potential for low-priced products in this area because people's lives are so busy," she said. "If you stay in the $5 to $10 per person per month range, what you'll help people potentially create is a family area network, and that's a big growth market."

McMahon said this is a good brand-building move for MCI, which is already strongly promoting its Friends and Family services. Plus, kids will think the cards are cool because they look like their parents' credit cards, she said.

"Children are not very good with money, but their parents want them to stay connected," she said. "So this sounds like a great idea."

The cards will be displayed in Wal-Mart stores across the country in time for the back-to-school season, the MCI spokesman said.

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