Metamorphosis can at times be so drastic that the original form when traced back seems so rather shockingly under developed and basic. They say a true marketer is a born opportunist and never ceases being one irrespective of his or her environment. And a keen marketer will always eye a potential even with a naked eye. Therefore it is no surprise when the average consumer lets out a little grunt every time he or she is caught unawares by a marketing message at the most unexpected of places such as bathroom mirrors, door knobs, floor mats, changing rooms, et al. Advertising and marketing messages are everywhere.



It is no wonder that with the growing popularity and mass acceptance of the mobile phone ring tones, this feature, initially meant to serve a basic purpose of notification, has been evolved over and over again to serve different purposes. With the advent of MP3 ring tones, marketers have resorted to roof ? top screaming strategies of their 'new entertainment on the move' offering. Mobile phone ring tones just got snazzier with scores of websites dedicated to this new development. One can upload full length songs on to the websites, and then go on to splice certain exact sections of the song desired as a ring tone, before transferring it back on to the phone using one of the options available. Wireless enabled mobile phone handsets, which have become more than ever popular today, primarily because of ring tones, allow the user to use Infrared, Bluetooth, WAP, and GPRS systems to transfer their composition on to their phone. At times these sites charge a fee for directly sending the ring tone on to the user's mobile phone. These websites also have pre - composed ring tones and popular ring tone charts that are updated on a weekly basis, which provide the user with an opportunity to make multiple choices from the wide variety available. The amassing popularity of these websites and the new craze amongst the users has led to ring tone composition being looked upon seriously by music professionals. Music artist's are now investing resources in composing ring tones in polyphonic and MP3 format for mobile phones and charging separate royalty fees for it. Ring tone DJ's are no longer being scoffed at owing to the popularity of remixed ring tones.

There have been recent reports of roughly 30 million American mobile phone users having downloaded some sort of entertainment content on to their phones, and quite understandably a large chunk of that is said to have been mobile phone ring tones. The audio characteristic of this medium has led to it becoming a very vital communication tool for the marketing message. Earlier, advertisement jingles and signature tunes, were played out in television commercials, and reinforced through radio. But with mobile phone ring tones happening in a big way, campaign jingles are being composed as ring tones. Media planners have been reported to favouring this medium because of less wastage of the advertising message. It is possible to identify the target audience and send out the ring tones to them thereby generating a recall in their minds.

The film industry's obsession with this new found audio medium is neither a secret nor a surprise of sorts. Along with the film's music release which happens a couple of weeks prior to the film's release, mobile phone ring tones of the film's OST and other popular songs are also composed and released. Industry reports are touting this tool as a vital one in the film's marketing and promotions, which ultimately decides the fate of the film.

Surely mobile phone ring tones have come a long way from being just a functional feature to being a fad and now being on their way to becoming an extremely pivotal marketing tool.