'Celling' school spirit to students - Cingular offers tattoos
You'd have to be a pretty rabid football fan to
pay extra for a fashionable phone, then plaster
a maroon-and-orange turkey on it.
But cell phone carriers looking for even the
smallest edge believe college sports loyalties
can be a reason to choose one wireless company
over another.
Just in time for the Nov. 25 Virginia Tech vs.
University of Virginia football game, Cingular
Wireless has come out with Hokie Phone Tattoos
for its trendy Motorola RAZR V3 and Motorola SLVR
handsets.
Tech is the only Virginia school for which Cingular
is offering tattoos, which are essentially decal
covers for cell phones. The carrier also is introducing
Marshall (W.Va.) University tattoos. Cingular
has sponsorships at both schools. The tattoos
are available at participating Cingular stores,
free with the purchase of a Motorola RAZR, Motorola
SLVR or Motorola Bluetooth headset.
Meanwhile, Verizon Wireless is offering similar
new "V Skins" for its phones for Virginia
Tech, U.Va., the University of Maryland, the U.S.
Naval Academy, Georgetown University and George
Washington University. The digital image decals
are available through SkinIt.com. College decals
are $14.99, and delivery time is 10 days.
"Personalization is really what is driving
the mobile phone market right now," said
Paul Buss, CEO for SkinIt.
With the Tech Gobbler tattoo, "you can take
an already cool phone and essentially make it
cooler," said Chris Penrose, vice president
and general manager of Cingular Wireless in Virginia
and West Virginia.
Regional Cingular spokeswoman Alexa Kaufman noted
that Verizon's Tech tattoo has only the letters
"V" and "T." "No fighting
gobbler," she said.
But coolness is in the eye of the beholder, and
Cavalier fans may be telling Tech fans to stick
that turkey in their ear.
Maybe "gobble, gobble" ring tones will
be next.
