Kroll Direct Marketing launches Mobile Source file

By Mickey Alam Khan

December 7, 2007

Leland Kroll is president of Kroll Direct Marketing

WASHINGTON – Kroll Direct Marketing will next month introduce a new enhanced file of 90 million names with mobile phone numbers among 150 characteristics unique to that consumer database.

The file, called Mobile Source, will contain 23 million opted-in mobile consumers who can be pitched marketing offers. The rest of the database is ideal for non-marketing purposes.

“With so many people not having land-based phones, mobile is a touch-point and it’s not easy to obtain because where do you go – there’s no directory,” said Leland R. Kroll, president of Kroll, Plainsboro, NJ. “You’re depending on online registrations and non-traditional sources.

“List owners can make a lot of money by providing us with a name, address and phone number,” he said. “It’s not just sitting on the shelf doing nothing. Because the government needs it for homeland security, you’ve got credit tracing, credit collection and you have law enforcement.”

Kroll sources data from online registrations and companies getting applications for mortgages. The list costs $300 per thousand for up to 20,000, going down to $175 per thousand on a sliding scale as quantities increase. The rental includes a deployment fee.

The idea behind Mobile Source is to have marketers use parts of the file for postal outreach efforts, or mail campaigns.

“Building a mobile database is not just about texting and the preconception that these are only teenagers and in their early ’20s,” Mr. Kroll said. “But these are households in need of all types of products and services integrating postal, land-based telemarketing and online channels.”