NETWORK HANGS UP ABC PHONE-HOME ADS.

Byline: Stuart Elliot Staff Writer

ABC has backed away from a controversial plan to use sitcom stars like Norm MacDonald to promote its fall lineup by leaving taped messages on the home answering machines of viewers.

The decision came after the network, known for aggressively seeking unusual new ways to promote its programming, outlined the plan this week to reporters at an annual fall-season briefing in Pasadena.

The network's plan was to hire a company specializing in what is known as voice-mail broadcasting technology to call viewers at home in the 10 largest television markets and leave messages promoting a new lineup of four sitcoms on Friday nights. The messages would have been prerecorded by actors including MacDonald, for his series, ``Norm,'' and Gabriel Byrne, for his sitcom, ``Madigan Men.''

Voice-mail broadcasting is just one novel method being used by giant marketers to capture the attention of pitch-weary consumers. Already, ABC, part of Walt Disney Co., affixes stickers to bananas, prints ads on pizza boxes and festoons the wrappers of after-dinner mints at restaurants with network logos.

But the about-face by ABC's top marketing executives on the voice-mail broadcasts, which met with widespread skepticism from reporters at the briefing, is emblematic of the tug of war as advertisers test the limits of what consumers will deem acceptable.

``Our plans for the fall include a lot of unusual media forms to get 'buzz' for some of our shows,'' Alan Cohen, executive vice president for marketing, advertising and promotion at ABC in Los Angeles, said in a telephone interview Friday.

``If you had Norm MacDonald call you and remind you his show was on, we thought it would be fun, the type of thing people usually tell their friends about,'' said Cohen, who supervises a department at ABC that develops ideas to promote the network's programs.

``But the reaction in that room caused us to think about the possible down side,'' he added. ``Maybe people would think it's a little bit intrusive.''

The cancellation came despite procedures outlined by the company ABC hired, Voice Mail Broadcasting Corp. in Irvine, to minimize potential complaints from consumers about the telephoned commercials, which were to run for 10 seconds.

``This company makes calls during the day, when most people aren't around,'' Cohen said, to increase the odds that answering machines would pick up the calls. And if a person answered the phone, he added, ``they'd get a busy signal'' rather than hearing a hang-up or having to listen to the recording.

``But maybe people would get alarmed,'' Cohen said, ``and we do respect our viewers. So if there's any risk associated with these alternative media forms, it's something we're not going to do.''

ABC is, however, sticking with a plan for the 2000-2001 season to have restrooms in bars or restaurants fitted with digital audio chips that deliver spots promoting ``Norm,'' also using recordings of MacDonald, when they sense people moving around. Cohen said that plan ``makes sense for 'Norm'; it's such a 'guy' show.''

Politicians, car dealers and sports teams have long used the telephone as an advertising medium, but most corporate users of voice-mail broadcasting have been local marketers. ABC would have been one of the first national advertisers to join their ranks.

Voice-mail broadcasting uses a technology known as voice recognition to leave the digitally prerecorded messages. In many instances, the voices are familiar: actors like MacDonald and Byrne, athletes like Grant Hill, business executives like Donald Trump, and even President Clinton, who record the messages so they can be delivered to anywhere from 10,000 to 7 million homes at a time.

Voice-mail broadcasting turns topsy-turvy the notion of traditional telemarketing, which strives to sell directly to a potential customer. But now, after years of alienating people with barrages of badgering calls read from scripts, advertisers believe someone is generally more likely to listen to a brief commercial than put up with a peddler.