RIGHTS GROUP

You've got a call on your cell phone -- it's from Britney
By Eric R. Danton
The Hartford Courant
Published July 7, 2002

You've probably accepted by now that Britney Spears is never going to call, even if she actually had your number.

That doesn't mean, however, that she won't leave you a voicemail -- for a price. (No, not your soul.) For $19.99, you can purchase a three-month subscription to Britney's wireless fan club, which entitles you to "surprise" voice and text messages delivered right to a mailbox you can access from your mobile phone.

It's the latest in the marketing of Brand Britney (didn't she used to be a singer?), this time under the guidance of WFX, a New York wireless network working to marry technology and entertainment fads.

"Lots of people were thinking about how to sell content and how to deliver content and how to make the wireless device, the cellphone, into a medium for entertainment," Jed Alpert, president and chief executive officer of WFX, said in a recent phone interview. "A celebrity's voice is a very powerful thing, intimate information about a celebrity is a very powerful thing and a cell phone is a powerful thing that everyone has with them."

Available for the past two months exclusively at Best Buy stores, other retailers will soon stock Britney WFX, Alpert says. Fans who buy the Britney kit get kitschy goodies, including a replica all-access backstage laminate and a static cling decal. They also get a phone card-size piece of plastic with a sultry picture of Britney on the front and an access code on the back that allows them to receive pre-recorded voice and text messages from the pre-packaged singer and her retinue.

"Britney was a very natural first one to start with, because she has a very dedicated fan base," Alpert says. "She is enthusiastic about communicating with people who consume her product."

A sample access code provided by WFX yielded a voice message from a woman who identified herself as Sonya, the head of wardrobe for Britney's tour. Sonya talked on the scratchy recording about shopping for new outfits for the performer and her dancers and mentioned that they'd go shopping again in a few days. Not exactly a peek into the wild backstage world of Britney Spears, but better than nothing.

Alpert and WFX aren't stopping with Britney. He says the company has plans to create wireless fan clubs for other entertainers and expand into the sports world too.

"It doesn't require a lot of technology or technological expertise. Your phone becomes, in the case of Britney Spears, kind of a fan club in your pocket where you have direct access to the artist," Alpert says. "That kind of commitment and loyalty from fans is rewarded, because in addition to information, you get first crack at tickets, first crack at merchandise."