Data services have not yet proven to be as profitable as was previously hoped. Operators continue to concentrate on increasing subscriptions and ensuring customers make as many calls as possible. "If you have 80-90 percent of your revenue through voice services, 80-90 percent of your marketing budget goes to the voice services," Sjölin says. "Data services are still a new concept and the market is in a bit of a transition period at present."

When it comes to music portals for example, Martin Sjölin, strategic programs manager at Ericsson Global Services, says despite great potential, active measures had to be taken. "The service was there, the content was there and it just needed a kick to get it going," he says.

Pernilla Oldmark, from Tele2's marketing department, agrees. "We already had the mobile music service and we knew it had potential," she says. "We also had a great opportunity to reach out to customers because Tele2 was sponsoring one of the summer's biggest music events."

Ericsson's idea was to adopt a guerilla marketing approach, employing the services of young demonstrators to approach the concert crowds and create more interest in the music portal. The operator was surprised yet enthused by the concept. "We were a bit taken aback that Ericsson wanted to take this initiative," Oldmark says. "It wasn't something we thought they would choose to focus."

The project entailed following a summer concert tour that was sponsored by Tele2 and included some of the country's top pop acts. A five-person demo team was on hand to circulate in the crowds and target an audience of mainly 16 to 30-year-olds. "Their brief was to arm themselves with a phone, a good knowledge about the services and go out and spread the message," Sjölin says.

Demo team member Mia Christenson, from Stockholm, says the response from the public was enthusiastic. "A lot of people were excited and amazed about the possibilities and had lots of questions," she says. "We asked them what kind of phones they had and what kind of music they liked to listen to. We showed them how to download music and gave them a free ringtone."

However, the reaction was mixed between generations. While teenagers were already adept in using music portals they were keen to learn more. Meanwhile, many of their parents who also showed interest had no idea they had a phone that could be used for much more than voice calls and SMS. "I think the project definitely worked and had a positive effect," Christenson says.

The demo team had a mandate to make 500 quality contacts at every concert, which had a noticeable effect. As Sjölin says: "There was ten times more traffic during the project and that was partly due to the fact that we were present and actively engaging people."

Tele2 also reports an encouraging response and expects to use similar marketing methods in the future. "We received lots of positive feedback," Oldmark says. "We are already doing more of these projects and we will need to continue as we launch more sophisticated and advanced services."

According to Sjölin, the success of the project means that Ericsson will continue to work hands-on with operators, helping them to market and make better business from their services.