May 01, 2008

By By Kamau High, N.Y.

Burger King is subsidizing ringtones of Warner Music Group artists on Virgin Mobile phones in an effort to reach more tech savvy consumers, the company said.

Ringtones will be priced at $1.00, substantially less than the $2.50 most Virgin Mobile ringtones sell for currently. Artists include Buckcherry, Casa De Leones, Danity Kane, Estelle, War, Group 1 Crew, James Otto and Plies.

"We're constantly looking for innovative ways to provide value and entertainment to our Burger King guests," said Brian Gies, VP of marketing impact, Burger King, in a statement.

This is not the first time a fast food company has gotten into the ringtone business. In 2005 McDonalds reportedly began testing a service that would let customers download ring tones and burn CDs while they waited for their food.

Warner, which in 2006 announced that its master recordings would be available as ringtones to Skype users, is looking for other advertisers to partner with. "When the concept for an ad-supported ringtone promotion was first proposed, we jumped at the chance to participate with Virgin Mobile," said Perry Bashkoff, VP, digital sales and marketing, WEA Corp, WMG's U.S. sales and retail marketing company, in a statement. "We are always excited to experiment with our partners on new consumer offerings around our artists' mobile products. Hopefully more advertisers will follow Burger King's innovative lead so we can develop even more unique mobile music programs."

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