Despite its damaging impact, Ehrlich described the price war among Hong Kong's six mobile telecom players as "a necessary evil". But the stabilising situation means that Sunday is now able to earmark more resources back into the kind of campaigns that helped build and differentiate the upstart brand from its competitors. Irreverent images of a man breaking wind, a diner plucking a human eyeball from a bowl of noodles and a taxi driver being chased by a ghost along a lonely country road are just some of the off-the-wall visuals Sunday has used on the road to branding itself. Its bizarre and in-your-face approach has propelled Sunday to becoming one of Hong Kong's best-known brands in a matter of five years. Its most strategic tool has been differentiation, crucial for one of Hong Kong's smaller operator to survive in a crowded market where product features and attributes are largely similar. Ehrlich says the idea behind the ads has never been to shock people. "As part of its brand personality, Sunday is innovative and irreverent - not just in technology and applications but in everything else, including how we treat our employees and customers. As an example, we were one of the first companies in Asia to give employee stock options."
When Sunday launched in 1997, it was seen as an upstart operator with little future when stacked against bigger rivals. Which is where its brand strategy of showing its uniqueness in as stark and vivid a manner possible has paid off. Despite the rough year for telecom stocks, Sunday pulled off a successful IPO in Hong Kong and on the Nasdaq last year. It was also among the group of four winners which picked up the coveted 3G licences on offer in Hong Kong. Sunday is the fourth and fifth biggest player of the six mobile operators in terms of revenue and subscription respectively.
Ehrlich says that differentiation through the creation of a consumer name has been key to Sunday's success. That plus the fact that it has always shouted louder than its rivals. "We've always been the underdogs. We're still the underdogs. People want to crush us and they want to have a drink on our grave but we have other ideas."
Meanwhile, Ehrlich says that Sunday is not reviewing its advertising contract with BBDO. There had been intense speculation in the market that the brief would be put up for pitch after Paul Chan and K. C. Tsang quit as the agency's top creative directors to set up their own creative hotshop.
As of this month, Ehrlich will be relinquishing the day-to-day responsibilities of running of the company, although he will participate in top-level board meetings to decide strategy, financing and mergers and acquisitions. But he is quick to stress that he is not leaving Sunday and that he will continue to contribute to its ongoing viability. Underlining the point, he says: "My passion, money and stock options remain in the company."
