HONG KONG: WorldCom - the world's second-largest
tele-communications company after AT&T - has rolled out a regional
campaign to shift the market's perception of its operation away from
voice to data and internet services.
The company had spent the past two years quietly building its Asian
operation.
The series of television and print ads aim to differentiate the company
from its rivals by featuring staff members who are comfortable with the
technology. WorldCom Asia-Pacific corporate communications manager,
Rowena Kwok, said: "Technology is advancing at such a fast pace that it
could be overwhelming to people. So conveying a message that we are at
the cutting edge and comfortable with it is extremely important."
In seeking to establish brand differentiation amid the crowded telecoms
category, WorldCom has hooked its campaign around the "generation d"
idea - the so-called digital generation.
"We really need to differentiate ourselves. The objective is to draw a
line to separate ourselves from our competitors and at the same time
position ourselves as a next generation company," Kwok said.
Last year, WorldCom, which is part of US long distance company MCI,
merged with UUNET, a leading internet protocol company, to create the
new organisation.
Reflecting the merger, Kowk said the execution of the campaign also
merged the old with the new; "a question of combining versatility and
reliability with knowledge and know-how".
Aimed at management and IT managers involved in making data decisions
for their companies, the campaign was produced by New York-based
Messner/Euro.
The ads, which rolled out last week, are running on the internet and
pan-regional television and print media.
