Since its launch in 1997, the road for Sunday has not been easy. The company initially struggled to compete on price and service against much bigger rivals, and only broke even for the first time in 2001. But Sunday always maintained its plucky, playful image and appealed to a youth target market. Its MD wore a Mickey Mouse watch to work, and a series of big-budget ad campaigns meant it was always top of mind.
Sunday's launch posters were banned by the MTR rail network for being too risqué, a TV ad featuring ghostly apparitions prompted a flood of complaints from scared viewers, as did an ad showing an eyeball in a bowl of soup.
Problems early on with coverage were overcome, and Sunday has won awards for customer service. When it launched its 3G service in June last year, it was one of the last in Hong Kong to do so, but did it with the fastest wireless pass card on the market.
Sunday appointed TBWA and Tequila\Hong Kong as its ad agency in November 2004, but the partnership has yet to realise a major campaign for the brand. Since TBWA came on board, however, Sunday has been majority-acquired by home-grown telecoms giant PCCW, which quit the mobile phone business in Hong Kong in 2002. PCCW is now back with a 3G service marketed under the 'PCCW Mobile' name, but using Sunday's capacity and licence.
Sunday, meanwhile, is to focus on 2G technology, a sector that PCCW believes still has plenty of opportunity for growth. At the time of TBWA's appointment, Sunday said the agency would help take the brand into the 3G/multimedia era. Clearly, that task has now changed.
PCCW said Sunday gave it 'a youthful and energetic freshness', with Sunday maintaining that its brand experience is 'rooted in the belief that fun is good'. With its participation in the excitement of the 3G market now limited, however, and the bottom line still little to cheer about, it's becoming harder for Sunday to look like it really is having a good time. Unless it can convince consumers that Sunday is still cool and cutting edge, many wonder just when PCCW will tell Sunday that the party's over.
Sunday struggling to find 'fun' identity in HK
Hong Kong's most lively and, at one time, its most hotly talked-about mobile phone brand is no longer having as much fun as it used to.
