PRWEEK: DTAC lines up Bangkok PR on Happy card brief

Bangkok PR will work with ad agency Dentsu Young & Rubicam on the 200 million baht (US$4.8 million) project, which launches this month.

The bright red Happy brand, with a smile as its visual signature, replaces the purple-hued D-Prompt brand, and represents a strategy of keeping customers content, says Bangkok PR managing director, Hasan Basar.

"Last year, the market exploded from 3.1 million users to 13.2 million users - that's 1,100 new users per hour per day for a year," he said.

"That has transformed the market, and you need to ensure that you have the products to meet needs better."

The new brand is a "mass customisable product", and will be launched with a service platform which allows subscribers to choose one of four time-blocks during the day when he pays only half the regular five baht rate. In the pipeline are other activities to build customer loyalty and allow for further customisation.

"This is in line with market trends," says Basar. "With a maturing market, the focus has to be on taking better care of your customers and letting them feel that they have a product that better meets their needs than any other offering."

DTAC has a large stake in keeping these customers happy, with its pre-paid service accounting for 77 per cent of its business in terms of subscriber numbers. DTAC had 4.19 million pre-paid users and an average revenue per user of 210 baht in the first quarter of the year, up from 180 baht in the last quarter of 2002.

Along with building customer loyalty, the company hopes the promotion will lead to an increase in the average revenue per user, and the sale of an additional DTAC handsets over the next three months.

Telecom analysts estimate DTAC's stake in the pre-paid sector at 32 per cent. Market leader Advanced Info Services' 1-2-Call brand has a 62 per cent share of the market, with TA Orange's Just Talk service at number three, holding most of the remaining six per cent. Last year, AIS spent 454 million baht advertising 1-2-Call, compared with DTAC's 175 million baht for DPrompt, and Orange's 127 million baht for Just Talk.