The campaign, developed by Pantarei, a Matari group agency, aims to entice Indonesians to try Hutchison's services amid heavy local competition. "The problem is that Indonesia is a mature mobile phone market among the AB economic segment," said Irawan Soemardjo, MD of Pantarei. "Most AB consumers already have one or two handphones."
Another challenge is to rid Hutchison of the perception that it only offers 3G technology. Given Indonesia's low 3G penetration levels, the services would only act as the backbone of the telco's offerings. "We know future growth will come from the C-economic class, or those whose average revenue per unit is about US$10 per month," Soemardjo said.
Phase one of Hutchison's campaign, launched earlier this month, focuses on emotional benefits such as being happy. 'There is no mention of telecommunications. It's about aspirations," said Soemardjo.
In the second phase, an integrated media approach will advertise Hutchison's pricing. Unlike other telcos, said Soemardjo, Hutchison's pricing approach is more about bundling products rather than slashing prices for individual services. "We want to be above the price war. Companies are offering so many different prices, which only confuses the market. We want to very simple - what is the value the customer gets?"
Indonesia is widely seen as one of the region's key growth markets, with mobile penetration under 30 per cent. The GSM market, which makes up roughly 89 per cent of mobile users, is fought between SingTel-owned Telkomsel, Government-owned Indosat and Telkom Malaysia's local offering, XL. Hutchison must also compete against growing interest in CDMA service providers such as Bakrie Telecom and and Telkom Flexi.
Pantarei won the account last June following a shootout between Ogilvy & Mather and Pratama (Media, 2 June 2006).
