Bell Mobility's Youth Marketing Misguided

Call me a prude but Bell Mobility's efforts to get jiggy with the youth market appears to be confused and misguided. The National Post has a story today that the country's second-largest wireless carrier is selling ringtones called PimpTones that feature references to “hoes”, “skanks” and “bitches”. Bell claims it's acceptable language because “there are mainstream TV shows and products that use that language. It's a big part of the culture these days”. It's a sad world when TV is used to justify societal behaviour and cultural norms. Then again, Bell's strategy to court the fertile youth market smacks of desperation. After failing to attract young consumers with its Solo brand a few years ago, Bell turned to Virgin last year for help. Shortly after the joint venture got off the ground, Bell launched an ad campaign that borrowed many of the elements used by Virgin. Last week, the Bell-Virgin relationship got more complicated when Bell relaunched Solo with free text-messaging. It's hard not to get the idea Bell may be having second thoughts about inviting Virgin into a market with lots of growth given Canada's wireless penetration rate is only 46%. Perhaps Bell feels the only way to correct its strategic “error” is to go head to head with Virgin rather than allowing its joint venture partner to court the youth market on its own.