BT stalks Skype with Softphone campaign

The UK’s incumbent telecoms company, BT, is about to launch a major advertising campaign for its PC-based VoIP technology, BT Softphone.

Softphone is free to consumers making calls over broadband and will be positioned as a direct competitor to Ebay’s Skype.

BT has, reportedly, hired the advertising specialist Agency.com to market Softphone which will launch a campaign this month to encourage people to download the software.

Like Skype, Softphone requires users to download the software and couple it with a microphone and either a headset or speakers. Calls are free to other softphone users and a reduced rate is charged for calls to ordinary phones.

BT and Agency.com have agreed to launch the advertising campaign under the heading: ‘Get Closer’.

Advertising around Softphone will be heard on the UK’s Virgin radio and is, according to the companies, aimed at the 18-44-year-old age group who are already using VoIP.