Back in the day, people used to send each other messages using something they called the telegram. For the singing telegram, a real person actually used to call you up or come to your home and sing to you. Money transfer giant, Western Union, is bringing the singing telegram back and plans to get users involved: karaoke-style.

The old days of the singing telegram were actually quite special. The first singing telegram was delivered in 1933 when George Oslin, then public relations director for Western Union, decided he wanted to break the usual “bad” news association telegrams had and make them fun.

The system took off well and was in operation until 1974. Then, in 1980, Western Union re-launched the service and got external companies to send out employees in costumes, to sing, dance, deliver balloons. Even strippers were part of the service.

That service was finally suspended in 2006 when the company focused more of its efforts on the money transfer business.

As of today, the service will resume again, with a twist: receivers will now hear the voices of the senders, and artists like Snoop Dogg, from a chosen template format that gets delivered via email.

While some of the professional performers will be American, Western Union will also continue to focus on their other target markets like India and parts of Africa.

With the advent of other technologies, and the existence of other social networking platforms, Marc Audrit, Vice President for Global Creative Excellence, remains optimistic people will use the service:

If you’re a 22-year-old fan of Timbaland, you may not have a clear idea of what a telegram is. That’s OK, because when something that may sound dusty, unknown, is presented with something fresh, up to date, there’s a very interesting tension, an electricity from a storytelling perspective that’s intriguing.

The service will be free to use up until the end of the year, after which Western Union will begin to charge for it.

It’s also expected that the company will find a way to incorporate its primary service – money transfers – into the new service.

[Source: NYTimes]