Virgin Mobile syncs with Burger King, Warner Music for $1 ringtone

By Mickey Alam Khan

May 9, 2008

The king rings

Virgin Mobile USA has partnered with Burger King Corp. and Warner Music Group to make ringtones available for $1.

The alliance extends Burger King’s BK Value Menu concept to mobile under the Virgin Mobile Ringtone Value Menu name.

“Burger King saw an opportunity here to provide value and entertainment that’s beneficial to both brands and our consumers,” said Bob Stohrer, chief marketing officer of Virgin Mobile, Warren, NJ.

The deal comes soon after Burger King launched its first mobile game in conjunction with mobile game developer Mobliss Inc (see story).

For the ringtone effort, consumers can visit the VirginXL WAP deck or online at http://virginmobileusa.com for buying dollar ringtones of featured Warner Music artists.

The artist selection includes James Otto, Plies, Mana, Flo Rida. Group 1 Crew, War, Estelle, Danity Kane, Casa De Leones and Buckcherry.

Virgin Mobile USA is a virtual mobile network operator in a highly competitive wireless carrier market where content offerings, new all-you-can-eat plans and better handsets are de rigueur for acquiring and retaining customers.

The company in June 2006 launched Sugar Mama, a mobile advertising platform that currently lets more than 700,000 customers “earn airtime in their spare time” to watch customized ads online from sponsors such as the U.S. Navy and Levi Strauss.

“It starts with Sugar Mama and we build out a program that’s customized to the advertiser from there,” Mr. Stohrer said.

“Some advertisers want a text program,” he said. “Other advertisers want to be aligned with content that’s relevant to our base.”

Burger King, Miami, is the nation’s No. 2 burger chain. The company has used the Internet to engage with its audience, including the “Subservient Chicken” campaign that quickly became a posterchild for viral online marketing campaigns.

Now, Burger King is looking to use mobile to reach out to its core audience and younger consumers.

Warner Music’s partnership with Virgin Mobile on this ad-supported ringtone promotion is indicative of the trends in the music download market. The record label is now looking to actively court other advertisers to leverage its music content through ad-supported deals.

For Virgin Mobile USA, the Virgin Mobile Ringtone Value Menu powered by Burger King falls in line with its goals to generate more revenue from mobile advertising and branding.

Burger King, for example, will sponsor WAP banner ads and SMS text messages to Virgin Mobile USA customers.

Virgin Mobile USA will also push the effort on its site.

“This was one of the perfect storms, where we had a label and we had a brand like Burger King,” Mr. Stohrer said.