I don’t think anyone could have predicted the massive scale of the ringtone business, even though it seems stalled now, but here’s another completely unlikely success story. The Rejection Hotline is a service for people being pestered for their phone numbers on the dating scene. You simply give out the hotline number and when they call….they’re let down gently.
So, a nice little idea methinks. But then check out the numbers involved. To date, it’s had over 77 million calls and is up to 2 million calls a month.
Moderati, a leading US ringtone provider, has launched a spin off product, the Rejection Ringtone. So just in case you get so flustered and give away your real number, so can still tell unwanted callers to take a hike.
It’s so often the dirt simple stuff that makes the Big Time isn’t it? How long do you think it took to put the Rejection Hotline together? (2 months? 3 before the ink on the business cards was dry?) How much cash up front? (advertising costs, sure, but if there was ever a service that would sell by word of mouth once the ball was rolling, this is it!)
Simple, but brilliant.
Nice to finally have a face to associate with your name, Russell! By the way, how did you learn about the Rejection Hotline?
Who pays for the call? The rejecter or the rejected? Cruel if the rejected does :).
Is the message fixed or does it contain a recorded message from the rejecter?