 Vinaphone,
Vietnam's largest telecom. firm, has launched
an above-the-line campaign to communicate a new prefix code and woo a
younger consumer audience. The newly-introduced code -- 094 -- was
given to new subscribers, as the old code had run out of unique number
combinations. With a shoestring budget of just US$12,000, incumbent
Saatchi &
Saatchi was tasked to produce three commercials that expressed the new
prefix "in a memorable way",
said Saatchi & Saatchi Vietnam's creative director, Sumesh
Peringeth. "We had very little money to do a proper shoot, be it for
print or TV," said Peringeth.
"So we had decided to make use of what was available to us, and use it in an interesting way."
The result is a series of claymation spots. Each storyboard features
characters engaged in an everyday scenario -- a man fishing, a couple
playing on a see-saw, a guy taking a photo of his girlfriend -- who are
suddenly struck by the falling new numbers.
The campaign is part of the telco's bid to tap into younger
generations of mobile users. The company began an image revamp last
month, which aimed to rejuvenate the brand's appeal among young
Vietnamese.
The state-owned company has also had to defend itself against
looming competition. With a base of 3.5 million subscribers as of
mid-2005, Vinaphone narrowly overtook Mobifone's base of three million
subscribers last year.
Meanwhile, a new player in the form of S-Fone, a service from Korean
operator SK Telecom, doubled its Vietnamese subscription base this
year.
Vietnam's mobile penetration is relatively low --18.5 per cent --
but it has more than tripled since 2004, when it hovered at 5.8 per
cent.
(source: Media)
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