MediaFLO and Branding

I had the occasion in the past several months to visit Qualcomm in San Diego.  I met with several executives in the MediaFLO group which provides the underlying video distribution platform for the VCast service of Verizon Wireless and the Mobile TV service of AT&T.  Did you know this fact?  Probably not.  You see, Qualcomm's deals with the mobile TV providers prevents them from co-branding the service on the phone or any literature.  Think "Intel Inside".  Understandable from Verizon and AT&T's perspective since they own the customer relationship.  But if Qualcomm desires to enter the market with its own consumer device, or to use its impressive network to deliver content to other viewing environments, like automobiles, commuter trains or even airplanes, money spent on a branding or consumer awareness campaign is money well spent (think "Powered by MediaFLO!").  Especially after spending upwards of $1.0B to build the MediaFLO operation and infrastructure.  Another value of a branding and awareness campaign would be to create a "push" sales initiative.  Let me explain.  If I were to visit a local Verizon Wireless store in the nearest mall do you think the sales person will be effusive in telling me about the VCast service if he is being spiffed to upsell the new Real Rhapsody service, which already has name recognition with digital audio fans?  Both cost the same amount of money on a monthly basis so if you purchased phone service, data service, SMS, mobile video AND Real Rhapsody your mobile phone bill now looks like your cable TV bill!.  Creating buzz around the brand and the service may help consumers discover the value of the offering, prompting them to ask about it when they visit the local VZW store.  It would make sense to spend money on more than co-op advertising with VZW or AT&T if you plan to expand the scope of the media distribution to other environments and markets.

The other thing that would drive buzz and awareness is breadth of content.  But that's for another post.