Disney hires BuderEngel ad agency for $50 million MVNO campaign

RCRNews.com picks up an AdAge article that reports Walt Disney "has hired San Francisco agency BuderEngel & Friends for an anticipated $50 million-plus launch" of its MVNO this summer. According to the article, "Disney Mobile’s primary strategy is to target moms wanting to control cellphone use and access." The service will purportedly "include a number of exclusive control features, such as "control over the number of minutes used and when they are used."

Disney Mobile’s Web site bills it as “a phone that gives moms what they need and kids what they want.” Other selling points listed on the site include “simple, straightforward controls for ease of use; countless customization options for personalization; usage controls that let you tailor your phones to your family’s needs.”

Disney is targeting the service and handsets at "moms with kids ages from 8 or 9 on the younger end to about 14, perhaps a little older for girls." The article cites a July 2005 Harris Interactive study that finds "12 percent of 8- to 12-year-olds have cellphones, while 49 percent of teens age 13 to 15 have cellphones." According to NPD Group, "Of children 13 to 17, 62 percent are on family plans, while 15 percent are on prepaid plans and 23 percent are on standalone monthly plans."

Julie Ask at JupiterResearch said, "by the time kids are 10, they want the phone their parents have. Yet, "There are horror stories of parents with huge cellphone bills."

Maybe even younger than that, and I'd posit that they want the same handsets their older siblings or teens are using...