Start-up ponders marketing spend

by Catherine Woods - Thursday, 17th January 2008 -

Exradia CEO David Schick is faced with a dilemma: how should the company spend its budget to promote Angel, a battery that neutralises the potentially harmful effects of mobile phone radiation?

“The challenge for any small company is marketing. It’s critical but it’s very expensive so we have to decide where we’re going to put our advertising dollars,” he says.

“Our focus is on launching a word-of-mouth campaign using Wildfire. It's had a lot of success working with other companies to promote consumer awareness through their community of influencers.”

Schick says promoting consumer awareness is vital for Angel’s success. “I think we have to continue to do that very effectively so that people truly understand what the issue is and how our technology addresses that in a very effective way.”

The issue is a contentious one: do mobile phones cause health problems? For years studies indicated that they don’t, but some recent research papers suggest otherwise.

Schick says: “The French Ministry of Health has recently issued a warning to all people saying they shouldn’t use their mobile phones to excess, and it has put out a specific warning to children.

“What a lot of people don’t know is that the UK Department of Health has put out a caution for young people under 16. The department says that if they have to use phones, they should do so in small doses.”

Related article: It's all about word of mouth

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