MTX Paging Display Educates Consumers

In September, Motorola's Paging Products Group and Timex Corp. announced the formation of a joint venture intent on integrating wireless communications and timekeeping.The firm, MTX Paging Products LLC, began shipping its first pager watch in December to three Southern California chains. The California test precedes a nationwide rollout scheduled for later this month.Called Beepwear, the pager watch uses Motorola's 900 MHz Flex pager technology. Retailing for $129, it is said to be the first pager watch with national reach and alphanumeric messaging.The Beepwear pager holds up to 16 messages and offers three information services. Watch features include the Indiglo night light, a stopwatch function, dual time zones and 10 alarms. The watchband can be removed, allowing the beeper to be clipped onto a holster that comes with it or worn on a neck cord.Victoria Durkin, director of marketing for Watertown, Conn-based MTX, says the complexity of the product demanded clear P-O-P. A small display designed by Visual Marketing Inc., Chicago, will enhance the product's introduction.Although it will soon be accompanied by a second display, the launch P-O-P promises to be the workhorse of the in-store merchandising program. The injection-molded unit can be used as a countertop display or against slatwall. "We're working on [developing] an on-counter glorifier that will take up a little more real estate," says Durkin, but the launch unit will be "our primary display because of its flexibility."Flexibility was key to the unit's design because the product will appear in a variety of retail environments targeting a range of consumers. Beepwear will be distributed through traditional pager channels such as consumer electronic, wireless specialty and audio stores, as well as mass merchants.Also, the display needed to be graphically versatile. "We wanted to be able to easily change the background graphics on the display depending on the venue and who we are targeting," says Durkin.The display tilts to accommodate different placements. The inwardly curving face adjusts to the best viewing angle depending on the unit's location, above or below eye level."The display also had to be able to give us a nice representation of the product on and off the wrist without having to mount real product or even mockups on the displays," says Durkin, "because they just tend to [walk away.]" Instead, two vacuum-formed representations of the product are mounted to a small acrylic shelf. One shows the product in its holster, the other in wristwatch form."This product requires information, it's not really simple," Durkin notes. "We need to make people understand that they can activate the watch via a toll-free number and be able to choose from multiple service packages. The display will also give them a brief update on the key watch functions and pager functions."

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