China Business

May 10, 2006

Ringback tones popular for business

BEIJING - Following huge increases in the popularity of mobile phone short message services (SMS), Chinese people have begun to exploit another feature of cell phones, special-purpose ringback tones, to promote business and help manage public affairs.

The so-called Coloring Ring Back Tone (CRBT) of cell phones, which comes in the form of melodious music or refreshing sound

effects, has recently been applied by Pinggu District of Beijing to promote its peach blossom festival this April.

After dialing the cell phones of Pinggu residents before and during the festival, people would hear a popular song praising the beauty of peach blossoms and a recorded message saying "The Eighth Beijing Pinggu International Peach Blossom Festival will open on April 16. We welcome you to join the joy. Pinggu is the world's largest peach growing base with 14,667 hectares covered by peach blossoms this season. Welcome to Pinggu!"

"The number of visitors to this year's peach blossom festival grew around 30% over last year. I believe this special ringback tone has played an important role," said Song Zhiguo, assistant to the director of the Pinggu District Information Center.

Li Mingsheng, who went to see the peach blossoms, said the song and the recorded message evoked in his mind a sea of peach blossoms. "I couldn't resist the temptation," said Li, who is engaged in research on the application of information technology in managing public affairs under a research center affiliated with Beijing University.

He praised the use of the CRBT to promote the festival as an ingenious act, saying this practice would also prove useful in the management of public affairs. Actually, Song said he had recently received many requests from other festival organizers to share the experience of the CRBT use.

(Asia Pulse/XIC)

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