NorthPoint DSL Education Tour

When it came time for San Francisco-based data CLEC NorthPoint Communications to turn up the heat on marketing its DSL services, the company saw a golden opportunity to improve on what some of its competitors were doing.

"We saw a lot of confusing messages that we didn't think were really getting the idea across to our target consumer and small business markets," says NorthPoint spokesperson Caroline Howell. "There was a lot of talk about the technology, about the features and the speed of DSL. But we felt they kind of missed the point."

So NorthPoint and its ad agency, Grey Worldwide of San Francisco, crafted a national print and radio campaign that focused instead on what the company calls the broadband lifestyle. "We wanted to say, that this is about more than speed and features," adds Howell. "What we wanted to focus on was applications and how broadband actually improves how you live and work." 

The resulting campaign, estimated by an ad industry analyst to cost $30 million, created a compelling brand presence for NorthPoint. For example, in one ad that ran in USA Today in April, headlined "Living Broadband," we see a head-and-shoulders shot of a happy young man wearing stereo headphones – no computer in sight. 

The copy underneath reads: 

"James - Music Enthusiast. Orders new sub-woofer while watching streaming video of last night's game." 

"Downloads four MP3s in the time it takes to feed his dog Miles. Burns a custom jazz CD and instantly e-mails copy to the new woman in apt.3." 

"Hears knock on the door."

"With one reliable, high-speed DSL Internet connection from NorthPoint." 

The ads were just the first salvo in NorthPoint's campaign to prime its market and create a distinctive brand presence for itself. Now the company is targeting local and regional media outlets with an "education" (read, media) tour featuring broadband guru David Angell, author of IDG Books' DSL For Dummies. 

Angell, now a NorthPoint employee with the delightful title of DSL Evangelist, is traveling to 20 of the 37 cities in which NorthPoint offers service to meet with local print and electronic media – and in some cases NorthPoint's ISP partners and local sales personnel. He has also written a 20-page booklet, Living & Working Broadband With DSL, subtitled "Your guide to experiencing the Internet like never before." It's available for download at the NorthPoint site (www.northpoint.net/theguide). The tour is targeting both technology/telecom and lifestyle reporters. Even many technology writers don't understand some of the basics of DSL, Angell points out. 

"The industry tends to make assumptions about how much prospective customers know about this stuff already," says. Angell. "But those estimates are often way high. One of the things we're trying to do is slow it down and get back to talking about the basics." He notes that lots of reporters – and end customers – don't even realize there are multiple vendors of DSL services in their communities. For a company like NorthPoint that is competing with ILECs, some of which have a long head start in the DSL market, that is a fairly crucial message to get across. 

"We're talking to them about giving something to readers in terms of what things to look for if they go shopping for DSL – to check on different speeds, to think about shopping around for a service provider," adds Angell. 

Another message Angell tries to get across is that for some customers DSL may be a no-brainer. It they have two regular phone lines now, one primarily used for dial-up access, they could have DSL Internet access from NorthPoint for not much more than they're already paying – and have all the benefits of broadband, always-on access.

When CLEC-Planet spoke to Angell and Howell, the tour was still in its early stages. It kicked off in hometown San Francisco. The only tangible result the company could point to so far was one article in Business Times which could not have had much impact on prospective customers. But that doesn't faze Howell. "We don't want to tip everything to our competition," she says. "But we've had very good response so far from radio, TV and print."

"And that proves one of our points," Howell says. "That there is a need out there for education, and that broadband is hot right now. Readers are interested." 

Angell ends up staying about two days in each city – he'd hit San Francisco, Cleveland, Dallas and Boston at the point we spoke to him – and does anywhere from a few to a dozen one-on-one interviews with media. But why a tour, we asked? Why not target media outlets by phone and e-mail and try and set up telephone interviews?

"This is actually a pretty cost effective way to get into local media," Howell says. "It's important that we get out and have time in these local markets, that we meet people face to face. And of course for radio and TV you often have to be on the spot." The costs are minimal: basically it's just Angell's travel expenses and salary.

Could you learn from NorthPoint's experience? Clearly, the notion of selling a lifestyle rather than a technology makes a lot of sense in the case of DSL. It's really technology marketing 101 – sell benefits not boxes. Bagging a reputable and credible spokesperson such as Angell was a coup for NorthPoint, and one that may be difficult to duplicate, especially for smaller CLECs.

Still, there may be someone within your organization you could promote to – and as – a guru. Then it's a question of getting on the phone to editors and producers in your target markets and pitching your spokesperson, or the lifestyle-vs.-technology story angle. Just don't bother hitting the markets NorthPoint is in – it's already been done there.