M1 touts cost appeal with dessert visuals

Developed by M & C Saatchi, the idea is to underline the cheap cost of making an overseas call -- as cheap as the cost of an ice kachang, which usually sells for around S$1. Said Adeline Tiah, the assistant general manager for marketing communications at M1: "The objective of the campaign is to create a strong value proposition for the 021 service. "The brand philosophy revolves around the idea that calling overseas with IDD 021 costs as little as inexpensive everyday items such as ice-kachang." "We don't want to go head on to compete on rates and cheapen the brand. Instead we create a strong value perception by using everyday inexpensive items such as ice-kacang, an ice cream cone and a tissue box are used. These are daily items that people don't think twice of using or spending money on." The 021 service is the cheaper of M1's international call product; its 02 service is positioned as a premium product, which offers better voice quality but at a higher price. M1 has also started a campaign to promote its service called Bye Bye Ring Ring, which allows its mobile users to choose the sound that people will hear while waiting for phone to be picked up. Two 30-second TVCs were developed by TBWA\Singapore using the concept of a gameshow. M1 is running this campaign only in cinemas. Both the IDD 021 campaign and the Bye Bye Ring Ring campaign will run until the end of the year. The mobile operator has also signed up popular Taiwanese boy band 5566 to endorse it. M1 will leverage on this relationship to produce special greetings for its Bye Bye Ring Ring service, offer ring tones, music videos and use their images for its pre-paid cards and premiums. M1 is one of three major telecommunications providers in Singapore. However, M1 is the only operator that is focussed solely on the mobile and IDD market. Both StarHub and SingTel are full-service telecommunications providers who offer fixed, mobile, internet and broadband access to customers. Riding on its ability to provide multiple services, StarHub, which also offers cable television access, is currently running a campaign focusing on its 'Hubbing' concept, which promotes its mobile, broadband and cable offerings. At press-time, SingTel was due to extend its 001 IDD service campaign running in cinemas to television. The telcos spent S$7.5 million (US$4.4 million) to promote IDD services last year, with StarHub emerging as the lead spender at $2.5 million, followed by M1's $1.2 million and SingTel's $700,000. The remainder was spent by six, much smaller operators, according to Nielsen Media Research.