Most of the time, they're doing marketing surveys. Like, we sell more batteries in this ZIP code, so we'll stock more at this store. It's not really a bad thing. Where it becomes a problem is when they carry it a little further.

They don't need it. Most of the time they ask for it because at one point in time, it was a common thing to do. Back in the '70s, Social Security numbers were often used as ID numbers. Now, it's not as common. Anyone who gets access to that number can rip off your identity.

I still think a worldwide marketing services group could work. It brings something very different than integrated agencies that started with advertising.

A March event from a PR and marketing standpoint would have a shelf life that would lend itself to your summer market, which is not nearly as lucrative for us as an October date. Now do you get a little more publicity? Do you get a little more exposure? Do your ratings nationally go up? I think maybe they all offset each other, but at the same time it is not an equal transition from October to March if you look at it strictly from PR and marketing.

The effect was overnight. Traditionally in the marketing world, it takes weeks or even months to generate acceptable awareness and traffic. Here we saw traffic spike overnight.

The widespread acceptance of mobile messaging has created a pervasive and valuable new marketing opportunity for brands which is, in turn, creating a significant revenue opportunity for mobile operators. With reliable infrastructure in place and a means to control and measure campaigns, the starting gun will have gone off and it will be a race to create and deliver the most effective mobile marketing initiatives to subscribers that are more receptive than ever.