Look carefully at who's on the phone

Telecom The prepaid market is being shaken up almost simultaneously by the Coop and Migros retail chains. There was already a tussle at the launch of the campaigns. In an independent survey conducted by
consumer magazine K-Tipp, all three of the major
mobile operators - Swisscom Mobile, Sunrise and Orange - for their
Poor marks for pricing policy. Only with the SMS tariffs were their
Customers just satisfied. The European comparison, in which the
Swiss remain at the upper end despite rounds of price cuts,
underpins the poor level of customer satisfaction. The growth of the
However, neither this dissatisfaction nor the
registration requirement for prepaid customers.

Discreetly planned, quickly realized
IT analyst Gartner Dataquest therefore assumes that by the end of 2005 the
Market penetration of cell phones reaches the 90 percent mark
(May 2004: 84 percent) and that the proportion of
prepaid customers will amount to 40 percent. The decreasing
However, growth potential is still offset by high margins, which
for Coop and Migros are far above their traditional areas. The
Entry into the mobile communications business and even via a low-price label should
the urgent market need for cheap and slimmed-down products.
mobile communication.
Coop and service provider Orange carefully and very discreetly planned the
Market entry with a tight distribution network for appliances and
Call credit, which can also be paid for with loyalty bonuses.
can. That only
A few days between the press release and the first TV commercial broadcast
the time that has elapsed suggests that the
wanted to enjoy the surprise effect alone this time.
The fact that things turned out differently doesn't detract from the whole thing. After all
The Basel retailer is not alone in surprising customers with its prepaid offer,
but also with the humorous and, by Coop standards
decidedly quirky dramatization of the USP - telephoning with
Super points: The commercial from Lowe-CD Valentina shows entertaining
Herrmann's team on the phone to Coop customers. At their
ears, however, they are not holding cell phones, but items that they are currently
have purchased.

First a pause for thought
The fact that this gives the impression that the funny strip could be in the
Migros, on the one hand, has to do with the modern look of the
and feel, on the other hand with the fact that on the same day Euro RSCG had three
Advertisement subjects for the M-Budget Mobile in various newspapers
placed. Clients, makers and viewers were amazed at the
many similarities in the advertising idea and execution. Also with this
campaign, the protagonists speak in M-Budget products.
But that's not all: now that both new telephone service providers
to eliminate the involuntary perfect confusion, act
The responsible parties once again used the same tactics. Both had
announced an integrated campaign on various channels, and
Now they can be supplied with the replenishment of the print and
TV spot realization time. It would be a laugh if they couldn't do it again.
would succeed in achieving a congruent continuation of the campaign
on the same day.    

Luca Aloisi