Tele2 focuses on good deals instead of promotions
Tele2 is advertising a new cell phone subscription with a devil as an anti-hero and wants to move away from promotional advertising. The telecom company timed the teaser campaign to coincide with the schedules of cell phone retailers. The campaign came from the kitchen of new lead agency Euro RSCG.
Tele2 is advertising a new cell phone subscription with a devil as an anti-hero and wants to move away from promotional advertising. The telecom company timed the teaser campaign to coincide with the schedules of cell phone retailers. The campaign came from the kitchen of new lead agency Euro RSCG. The "devil campaign" caused a sensation, but it was dissolved prematurely by a glitch at the post office. The advertising campaign had come under criticism in Christian circles because of its religious implications. The resolution now shows that Tele2 is not advertising with the devil, but rather making him look like an anti-hero offering consumers bad deals. "The devil stands there as a loser," Tele2 marketing boss Christian Bärlocher told Werbewoche. The message the telecom company wants to get across is that if you want to cheat Satan, choose its new offer, which lets you make calls to all networks for 39 centimes an hour. The campaign is the first that Euro RSCG had realized for Tele2. Bärlocher was very satisfied with the agency. "We had conducted a big pitch and were very convinced by the agency's ideas. It came up with a whole package of measures in a short time." The new campaign includes advertisements, posters, TV and radio spots, and online placements.
More mobile, fewer promotions At the same time, the telecom company is turning away from the promotion-heavy advertising it has cultivated until now, because it is strategically focusing more on mobile communications instead of fixed networks and the Internet. "When it comes to mobile subscriptions, most consumers get their information at the POS," Bärlocher explained. "So it makes little sense to rely on street promotions or telephone sales."
Tele2 chose a teaser campaign because they wanted to communicate the new offer as quickly as possible. "The channels to communicate such offer are open only once a month, for example, the inserts of the relevant retailers in the daily press. We didn't want to wait until the beginning of May," the marketing chief continued. Because all these channels were simply not ready by the beginning of last week, they first launched a teaser campaign. "Besides, we wanted to play a different card than purely price-oriented advertising."
Critics are taken seriously The timing of the retailer channels also resulted in the launch date of the appearance. However, this was met with criticism from some quarters: Christian circles found it offensive that the satanic appearance was launched in the Sunday press on Easter of all days. "We had not chosen this time consciously; it resulted from the timetable of the Retailer", so Bärlocher. The reactions from the Christian environment are taken very seriously: "I answer corresponding complaints personally by phone or e-mail," said the marketing manager. Of course, the company has weighed up in advance what reactions such an advertising campaign might trigger. But Tele2 is convinced that the resolution puts the campaign in the right light: "After all, we're not giving the devil a platform, we're portraying him as an anti-hero".
With the campaign, the company wants to appeal to a young target group that is always on the lookout for the best deal. The teaser was inadvertently dissolved because corresponding brochures were already available at the post office, which the Abendzeitung Heute discovered. How can such a mishap happen? "If I only knew! But with an appearance of this magnitude, so many companies are involved that an error can simply happen - where people work, mistakes sometimes happen," explained Bärlocher. This does not significantly overshadow the success of the campaign: "I was still able to sleep peacefully over the weekend," the marketing manager smiled.
The company is also not impressed by the prophecies of doom in the Sunday press that the new offer is not profitable for Tele 2. It has clarified exactly what consumers want. The offer is based on a mixed calculation that also includes services such as SMS or MMS, CEO Mats Tilly explained to Werbewoche. This makes the subscription profitable for Tele2, and it is also expected to attract many new customers. Tele2 will continue to have a broad advertising presence, Bärlocher announced. With a good dose of humor, the devil will also make an appearance again.
More mobile, fewer promotions At the same time, the telecom company is turning away from the promotion-heavy advertising it has cultivated until now, because it is strategically focusing more on mobile communications instead of fixed networks and the Internet. "When it comes to mobile subscriptions, most consumers get their information at the POS," Bärlocher explained. "So it makes little sense to rely on street promotions or telephone sales."
Tele2 chose a teaser campaign because they wanted to communicate the new offer as quickly as possible. "The channels to communicate such offer are open only once a month, for example, the inserts of the relevant retailers in the daily press. We didn't want to wait until the beginning of May," the marketing chief continued. Because all these channels were simply not ready by the beginning of last week, they first launched a teaser campaign. "Besides, we wanted to play a different card than purely price-oriented advertising."
Critics are taken seriously The timing of the retailer channels also resulted in the launch date of the appearance. However, this was met with criticism from some quarters: Christian circles found it offensive that the satanic appearance was launched in the Sunday press on Easter of all days. "We had not chosen this time consciously; it resulted from the timetable of the Retailer", so Bärlocher. The reactions from the Christian environment are taken very seriously: "I answer corresponding complaints personally by phone or e-mail," said the marketing manager. Of course, the company has weighed up in advance what reactions such an advertising campaign might trigger. But Tele2 is convinced that the resolution puts the campaign in the right light: "After all, we're not giving the devil a platform, we're portraying him as an anti-hero".
With the campaign, the company wants to appeal to a young target group that is always on the lookout for the best deal. The teaser was inadvertently dissolved because corresponding brochures were already available at the post office, which the Abendzeitung Heute discovered. How can such a mishap happen? "If I only knew! But with an appearance of this magnitude, so many companies are involved that an error can simply happen - where people work, mistakes sometimes happen," explained Bärlocher. This does not significantly overshadow the success of the campaign: "I was still able to sleep peacefully over the weekend," the marketing manager smiled.
The company is also not impressed by the prophecies of doom in the Sunday press that the new offer is not profitable for Tele 2. It has clarified exactly what consumers want. The offer is based on a mixed calculation that also includes services such as SMS or MMS, CEO Mats Tilly explained to Werbewoche. This makes the subscription profitable for Tele2, and it is also expected to attract many new customers. Tele2 will continue to have a broad advertising presence, Bärlocher announced. With a good dose of humor, the devil will also make an appearance again.
Responsible at Tele2:
Christian Bärlocher (Head of Marketing/Sales Switzerland), Ursina Jeuch (Communication Manager). Responsible at Euro RSCG Zurich: Frank Bodin (overall responsibility), Axel Eckstein (Creative Director), Michael Rüegg, Alexander Fuerer, Gregor Juritz, Alain Picard (Copywriter/Concept Designer), Chris Eggli, Martin Stauch, Roli Hofer, Claude Schaub (Art Direction), Isabelle Buehler (Graphics), Peter Schäfer (Planning Director), Andreas Sedmak (Group Account Director), Dominic Hoegger (Account Director), Sarah Gianesi, Desiree Guzman (Consulting), Caroline Webb (Head of Art Buying). Responsible at Pumpkin Film AG: Sonja Brand, Claudia Brand (Producer), Martin Werner (Director), Peter Brandt, Sascha Haber, Martin Gardeler (Post Production), Varhan Bauer, Lars Daniel Terkelsen (Music). Sound studios: Hastings AG, NJP Tonstudio AG: Daniel Wuethrich, Nadin Hadorn, Thomas Pfeiffer, Leos Gerteis (sound engineers). Photo production: Tina Aich, Serge Hoeltschi (photographer), Patrik Rohner (retouching). Text: Carole Scheidegger
