The other day I posted Checking in on the Health of Vonage and commented about Vonage founder Jeffrey Citron's recent statement “You can walk into any room, do the ‘Woo-Hoo’ song and people know it’s Vonage.”

I questioned the wisdom and validity of that statement, in part because I had no idea what Who-Hoo song he was talking about. Now that's branding! My post did generate a couple fo comments. The most helpful to me came from colleague Paul Kapustka who said:

The “Woo-Hoo” reference is to their omnipresent TV and radio commercials, which play only on mainstream channels like NFL games… think this is where there is a disconnect between the industry insiders and the general public. I believe Vonage has built a strong consumer brand. Ask your non-VoIP friends & family if they know what Woo-Hoo is. Lots do. But is it enough to build a business that scales? Those are the questions Citron & Co. can only answer over time.

Will they get that time? Adding 800,000 customers over the last half-year may be a “drop in the buckey” but remember it’s done without legacy/monopoly claim on that copper wire…

At least Paul gave me fodder to think about. And some research fuel too. First I went off to Google to find the Woo-Hoo song because I didn't know what the heck it sounded like. Quick research showed that Vonage was intsrumental in reviving the Swedish band, the Rocketeens, Woo-Hoo song from years ago. Apparently it was re-used in a movie, Kill Bill (sung by the 5678's), that I never watched. I'm so deprived (some days depraved). Other opinions indicate that it's really a cover of the Revillos song "Yeah Yeah" off off their 1980 album Rev-Up! My favorite is the theory that it's the Beatles - We All Live In a Yellow Submarine...played in reverse.

Further research proved that locked within the recesses of my brain, I did recognize the song, but I still didn't associate it with Vonage. This necessitated further investigation, so I played the song for a statistically inaccurate sample of 18 people. One did recognize it as the Vonage commercial. Most recognized it as familiar but didn't know what it was.

So I asked a number of friends and family (non-tech/VoIP people). None were customers. About half heard of Vonage, but never tried it. Of those who knew the name Vonage, four didn't know Vonage had anything to do with telephone service.

Back to Paul's real question - I believe Vonage has built a strong consumer brand. Ask your non-VoIP friends & family if they know what Woo-Hoo is. Lots do. But is it enough to build a business that scales? Those are the questions Citron & Co. can only answer over time.

Paul and I differ here, but that's a good and healthy thing. Yahoo can build a brand and reinforce it with the Yahoo yodel. Budweiser already has a strong brand and can use gadgets and gimmicks like Wazzup to entertain and maintain their audience mindshare. Certainly for brands that last, sight and sound are powerful tools.

I don't agree that Vonage has "built a powerful brand," I still see them as a peripheral bit player in telecom. Maybe large in the sector they created for themselves, but it's still the rapidly dying business of commodity dial tone and nothing more. The question isn't for me to answer, but I don't see a sustainable business model, a powerful brand, or the kind of name recognition it takes for a business to thrive. I still see nothing but a dark outlook for Vonage.


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