One Month Old California and Washington Hands-Free Law Boosts ...

Tag : mobile telephone accessories
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Since July 1 when theCalifornia and Washington hands-free driving legislation becameeffective, Parrot has seen a three-fold increase in sales of itshands-free car kits. Parrot, the world's largest manufacturer ofBluetooth(R) car kits attributes the increase to an aggressiveadvertising and public relations campaign it launched two monthsprior to the law taking effect.

"The 28 million licensed drivers in California and Washington havehad plenty of time to prepare for the law since the measure wasadopted by the Legislature back in 2006 and I think that governmentagencies and manufacturers of hands-free products have done areally great job of creating awareness among consumers," says DavidWenning, senior vice president - sales and marketing, Parrot.

California electronics retailers also reported a large jump insales of hands-free cell phone devices leading up to the ban.According the NPD Research Group, California consumers rushing tocomply with the new law, purchased hands-free devices at nearlyfour times the national average in May of this year. San Francisco,Los Angeles, San Diego and Sacramento were the top four markets forhands-free devices in the country based on units per store.

"The July 1 deadline to go hands-free in California had asubstantial effect on Parrot-branded products," says John Haynes,Product Manager for Al & Ed's Autosound. "We experienced over180% unit sales growth in the 2nd Quarter of 2008 as compared tothe 1st Quarter. Having trained sales staff in place was extremelyimportant as consumers struggled to understand Bluetooth(R) andwhat their options were beyond headsets."

According to a California Highway Patrol spokesperson, 7,182 cellphone citations were issued statewide during the month of July andfewer than 50 motorists under the age of 18 have been cited underthe new law.

In Washington, where the hands-free law is a secondary enforcementlaw, which means that drivers only receive a ticket if they havebeen pulled over for another driving violation, a little over 100hands-free citations were issued in July.

As part of the campaign to encourage more drivers to comply withthe hands-free law, Parrot introduced a quirky but effective"Positive Parrot" campaign (www.parrotnotquail.com) to buildawareness for the various Bluetooth hands-free options available toconsumers. The campaign ignited a debate about the Parrot vs. Quailfor California state bird and offered consumers chances to win freecar kits, a $10,000 sweepstake prize or a free vacation to Turksand Caicos. Ultimately the campaign increased traffic to Parrot'swebsite by 30%. The linchpin of the campaign was a "Driver'sEducation" viral video that was viewed over 4 million times onvideo sharing sites such as YouTube.

Parrot offers several hands-free options, including portable carkits, installed car kits and a motorcycle helmet kit that providesuperior audio quality, comfort and freedom while driving. Moreinformation and educational resources are available here:http://www.parrotsafedriving.com

About Parrot:

Founded in 1994, Parrot has rapidly established itself as a pivotalglobal player for wireless mobile telephone accessories. Drawing onits tried-and-tested expertise on voice recognition and signalprocessing technologies, Parrot was one of the very first companiesto produce Bluetooth(R)-enabled wireless hands-free car kits,having identified this standard's vast potential as early as 1999.Determined to accompany the mobile telephone's irresistiblebreakthrough into our day-to-day lives, Parrot has been developinga new range of Multimedia products since 2006, including wirelesshi-fi systems and LCD photo frames.

Today, Parrot truly has a major international focus, both in termsof its client base, with 86.6% of sales generated outside ofFrance, and in terms of production, outsourced to carefullyselected partners, enabling it to achieve the best possible levelof quality and responsiveness. Parrot is now particularly wellpositioned to capitalize on the bright future opening up for mobiletelephone devices. Parrot has seen sustained growth in itsconsolidated revenues, which have tripled since 2005. In 2007,Parrot sold over 5 million product units and generated 220 millionEuros in revenues, up 32% on 2006.

SOURCE Parrot




Copyright © 2004 PR Newswire All rights reserved.