Thursday, March 24, 2005
Virgin Mobile's untapped market
I have a Virgin Mobile cell phone, and I'm part of their growing untapped word of mouth market. Other than the ones I've seen while shopping at Target, I don't think I've ever seen a Virgin Mobile TV ad. I think they usually play on MTV & other such channels that I don't watch because, as a 42 year old dad, I'm not in Virgin Mobile's youthful target demographic.
I first discovered Virgin Mobile because my father in law asked me to look into pay as you go cell phones for him. Most of the ones I found you had to buy time every 30-60 days or so, there were extra roaming & long distance charges, and you lost unused minutes if you didn't use them within a certain period after buying them. Virgin Mobile was different.
Their pricing structure is far simpler, there's no long distance or roaming, & unused minutes stay in your account as long as it is active & never expire. The other pay as you go cell providers were much more complicated, & could possibly be as expensive per month as the minimum $25 contract cell plans. With Virgin Mobile I pay $20 every 90 days, which works out to under $7 per month!
After my father in law got his I got mine, then my best friend ditched his contract plan for a Virgin Mobile phone, then he got Virgin Mobile phones for his mom & sister, then my mom got one, then a friend of hers got one, then my sister in law got one... You just can't argue with under $7 a month.
I understand why Virgin Mobile doesn't target us with their ads, after all a 74 year old grandpa doesn't fit their image, but word gets around. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Virgin Mobile is the best deal in pay as you go cellular. Now I want that camera phone they have!
I first discovered Virgin Mobile because my father in law asked me to look into pay as you go cell phones for him. Most of the ones I found you had to buy time every 30-60 days or so, there were extra roaming & long distance charges, and you lost unused minutes if you didn't use them within a certain period after buying them. Virgin Mobile was different.
Their pricing structure is far simpler, there's no long distance or roaming, & unused minutes stay in your account as long as it is active & never expire. The other pay as you go cell providers were much more complicated, & could possibly be as expensive per month as the minimum $25 contract cell plans. With Virgin Mobile I pay $20 every 90 days, which works out to under $7 per month!
After my father in law got his I got mine, then my best friend ditched his contract plan for a Virgin Mobile phone, then he got Virgin Mobile phones for his mom & sister, then my mom got one, then a friend of hers got one, then my sister in law got one... You just can't argue with under $7 a month.
I understand why Virgin Mobile doesn't target us with their ads, after all a 74 year old grandpa doesn't fit their image, but word gets around. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Virgin Mobile is the best deal in pay as you go cellular. Now I want that camera phone they have!
