Maxis in driver's seat for SMS ad campaign

<p>KUALA LUMPUR: Telecommunications provider Maxis has rolled out a </p><p>television campaign in a loose alliance with its four main rivals to </p><p>promote the lifting of barriers which allow digital mobile phone </p><p>subscribers to use short message services on each other's networks. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The BBDO-developed TVC, titled "Laps", is part of a broader campaign </p><p>aimed at giving the Maxis brand a more human feel to it. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The spot features five swimmers racing against each other in a </p><p>competition before the lane floaters are removed and the contestants </p><p>come together to perform a synchronised swimming movement. The other </p><p>telecom operators which joined Maxis to remove the barriers were TM </p><p>Touch, TimeCel, Celcom and Digi. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>BBDO Malaysia chief executive officer Jennifer Chan said: "The ad </p><p>highlights the fact that before Maxis customers could only use the Maxis </p><p>network for SMS. Now they can use the networks of all five </p><p>providers." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Maxis has also launched another TVC, called "Surprise" to convey the </p><p>message that it can enhance people's lives through the integration of </p><p>its range of services and technologies. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>This spot, which has a more frequent run than Laps, shows how family </p><p>members can communicate with each other and conveniently look up </p><p>information via mobile phone, with voice to text features, and tablet </p><p>PC, which has phone to PC, video call and MP3 technologies built into </p><p>it. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Chan said visuals of a family were used to drive home the message that </p><p>high-tech communications products and services could enhance everyone's </p><p>lives, not just business people. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"Technology on its own is cold. The campaign departs from the </p><p>conventional method of just showing the technology. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"We show how the technology fits into people's lives and how they can </p><p>benefit from it and we have accomplished this within the environment of </p><p>the family." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Hence the TVC's tagline: "Life will change because of technology. But at </p><p>Maxis, we don't think technology is all that special. Life is." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>BBDO won the Maxis account a year ago in a five-way pitch. Maxis also </p><p>recently gave the agency the Hotlink pre-paid telephone card business, </p><p>which Chan describes as a vote of confidence from the client. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Competition in the telecommunications industry is intensifying; in the </p><p>first seven months of this year, Digi led marketing communications spend </p><p>with US$5.7 million, compared with more than $8 million </p><p>for the whole of last year. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>TM Touch wasnext at $4.8 million from about $5 million in </p><p>2000, and Maxis was at $4.7 million, compared with $8 </p><p>million last year. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>However, the cooperation in the SMS segment among the top telecom </p><p>providers is seen as an attempt to offer the best service to each of the </p><p>players' customer base. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>