Many view advertising as the bane prevalent in almost every entertainment medium, but the reality is that it is a necessary evil. How else would competition in any sector actually be facilitated?
The mobile telecommunications industry is no exception to this rule. One only has to consider Vodacom's lovable African dictator or Cell C's new “customer experience officer”, Trevor Noah. MTN has even harnessed a word, “Ayoba”, in its campaign, while 8ta has simplified it all into a single pink dot.
But past all the marketing fluff, at the crux of these campaigns, is the message: Choose us - because we are better, and this is why...
For the most part - the “this is why” element to any advert is what it all comes down to. The “this is why” component of any advert is what makes advertising and marketing in today's world a business imperative.
It is exactly the component that competing enterprises must respond to - because, ultimately, the adverts must reflect a better deal than the competitor, be it lower call rates, better data bundles or more attractive handset deals.
But instead of responding to competing offers - SA's mobile operators have taken to slandering each other at the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), often with the goal of expelling their competitors' multimillion-rand campaigns from circulation.
Meanwhile, consumers - now the bystanders to these adverts instead of the target audience - watch as the costly squabbles get priority over better deals for the consumer.
No value
While the mobile operators have fought it out previously at ASA, things really came to a head when Cell C unveiled its new corporate identity, along with its brand new nationwide HSPA+ network and subsequent advertising campaign.
MTN and Vodacom led the attack against Cell C for associating the term 4Gs with its brand. The authority ruled that Cell C was ordered to remove the term from all of its branding material. Cell C promised to contend the ruling.
But the fights did not stop there, as MTN continued to slam the validity of Cell C's network speed claims made in new adverts, laying two new complaints with the authority. ASA dismissed the majority of MTN's complaints as being misleading and unqualified.
Cell C retaliated against MTN with its own case at ASA and successfully disproved MTN's marketing claims of delivering “world-class Internet” to SA.
SA's mobile operators have taken to slandering each other at the Advertising Standards Authority.
Leigh-Ann Francis, telecoms editor, ITWeb
Meanwhile, Vodacom has had its own run-in with the advertising authority, when it was ordered to remove the term broadband from all of its advertising material.
However, most recently, Vodacom too, through its parent company Vodafone, took on Cell C. Vodafone recently lodged a complaint with the ASA against a Cell C advertising campaign, in particular, for its use of the payoff line: “Power to you”.
Vodafone claimed it has been using the tagline: “Power to you” in its global marketing campaign, which included SA, since 2009.
Cell C explained that the slogan was a spin-off of the operator's campaign slogan: “The power is in your hands.”
ASA ruled that Cell C's use of the slogan exploits the advertising goodwill of Vodafone and it constitutes unlawful imitation.
While the legal battles have been playing out, competition has stalled, as mobile telephony rates in SA remain among the highest in emerging economies.
Most expensive
In SA, where mobile penetration is the highest in Africa at 98%, prepaid users pay up to R2.85 per minute, or more than 33 times the Airtel Kenya rate.
Even on special packages, where South African prepaid users can pay rates of as little as R1.50 per minute, Airtel's tariffs are still less than 15% of that amount.
Overall, tariffs in Kenya are now running at around 20% of the equivalent rates charged by Vodacom, MTN and Cell C locally, and often at a lot less than that, it was also established.
The only flickers of hope in the local market have come from Cell C's low mobile data rates and 8ta's lower voice tariffs and innovative introductory offers.
The two smaller operators have continued their momentum, including Cell C's recent unveiling of Red Bull Mobile and 8ta's coup at being the first operator to offer exclusive iPad data deals.
And instead of responding to these competitive offerings, Vodacom and MTN have rather focused on how these two operators have marketed the offerings.
So much so that Vodacom announced a R200 million investment in “customer experience” and brand identity as key to its strategy to defend against the two smaller players.
Meanwhile, high mobile tariffs remain the order of the day, with the need to compete being trumped by glamorous marketing exercises.
The conundrum of the entire situation is that, while infomercials may prompt consumers “to call now” for special deals, the reality is that it may be too expensive to follow the instruction.
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