Connecticut Post, Friday, September 27, 1996, page D1
Top Headline of the Your Money section:
CALLERS GAIN PRIVILEGE
Fairfield firm an innovator
Some lucky fliers on United Airlines can buck the long
lines at New York's popular Hard Rock Cafe.
"They can step right in and go right to a table" says
Daniel Murphy, vice president of investor relations for DCI
Telecommunications Inc. in Fairfield.
They can step right in, that is, if they have DCI's new
Privilege Card, a pre-paid telephone card complete with
perks that include preferential treatment at the Hard Rock
Cafe.
The card, which DCI hopes other firms will distribute to
their favored customers, comes with five minutes of calling
time and hundreds of bonuses. The Airline is the only
company currently offering the card to selected customers.
The Fairfield company unveiled its new product Thursday at
the TeleCard World 96 convention in New York.
The card is not available to the general public, but DCI
eventually hopes to sell stacks of them to big corporations
that will pass them out free to customers.
Industry analysts say they are impressed by a small company
putting out a pre-paid phone card with such distinctive
features. Murphy predicted the card will carve out a niche
for the company, but acknowledges the firm lacks the
marketing clout of the card giants.
"We're not out to compete with AT&T, MCI and Sprint on
this," he said.
This specialized card is best left to the small companies,
said industry analyst Bette Ann Massick-Columbo of Bear
Stearns & Co. in New York.
"It's sort of like David, fighting for market share with
the big Goliaths," Massick-Columbo said.
Call the card the latest ripple in the wave of new
telecommunications card products that have come out in the
1990s, said card collector Roger Van Vlissinger of Norwalk.
"There are cards that have come out in a similar vein, but
this is unique," he said.
The Privilege card comes with a brochure that explains the
privileges that about 200 different U.S. businesses will
extend, said William Lathrop, a sales representative for
DCI.
The perks include a 25 percent discount on rates at the
Frenchman Hotel in New Orleans and a 20 percent discount at
Resort World in Orlando Fla., among others.
(end of story)
Thanks to Colin Cody who originally posted this on Prodigy.
Roy |
