Mobile firms bring festive cheer to ad industry

MEDIA&MARKETING:NO ONE SEEMS to have told the mobile phone companies about the recession. You can't turn on the television or open a newspaper without being blitzed by advertising come-ons to load up your Christmas stocking with a new mobile, writes Siobhán O'Connell

While most big brands have been reining in their marketing budgets, trade body IAPI estimates that the rate card advertising spend by Vodafone, O2, Meteor and 3 amounted to €47 million from January to September.

As Meteor and 3 continue to nibble at the market share of the big two, Vodafone's advertising spend increased by 80 per cent year-on-year while the advertising outlay by 02 and 3 was up by over 40 per cent. Only Meteor's ad budget has remained fairly steady, with a relatively modest 5 per increase.

But what's behind the massive spend when mobile penetration in Ireland is well in is excess of 120 per cent of the population?

Competition is the main reason, but there is always a newer and trendier phone, particularly as far as young people are concerned.

Vodafone has been highly visible with its television commercial showing skaters gliding around Grafton Street.

The ad was filmed by DDFHB on an ice rink in Prague, with props like Dublin dustbins, street lamps and cobbles flown over for the occasion. The shopfront imagery was added by Screen Scene in Dublin using computer-generated imagery.

According to Maurice Cullen, marketing director at Vodafone: "Christmas is about remembrance of the past, togetherness of the present and hope for the future. Vodafone as a brand is all about connecting people and this idea of togetherness is central to that. The ad gives people a nice warm feeling of Christmases past."

Included in Cullen's marketing plan is wrapping two Luas trams in Dublin with Vodafone's festive ad pitch.

As a challenger brand, Meteor's television advertisements have traditionally relied on humour. This year the centrepiece of the commercial, devised by agency QMP, is talking reindeers.

The downside for some Meteor staffers is that they will have to dress up as reindeers in the shops.

Conor Carmody, marketing director for Meteor, says: "The last quarter accounts for about 40 per cent of our annual phone sales. The market has reached saturation point so we have to attract customers from other networks, as well as retaining our own customers."

Meteor also chose Prague as the location for its shoot.

"We looked at Ireland, Prague and one other European location," says Carmody. "On the basis of talent availability relative to the overall cost, we went with Prague."

Mobile operator 3, whose market share is in single figures, steers clear of television in the run-up to Christmas. Susan Branchflower, 3's head of marketing, says: "The Christmas market is important because of the sheer volume, especially in pre-pay, but the Christmas customer can be quite low-value. We want the longer-term, higher- spending mobile user who pays monthly."

Maurice Cullen is confident that all the advertising will pay off. "We don't believe the downturn will have a big effect on our seasonal sales. Mobile communication is at the core of people's lives. The cappuccino which costs more than the daily cost of your mobile is more likely to be given up first."

Live advert forced to change script

Media planner PHD and creative agency The Hive had the unusual idea of doing a live commercial on RTÉ television and radio for 11850, the directory assistance firm, at the half-time break of the Munster versus All Blacks match on Tuesday. The idea was that actors Paul Reid and Feidhlim Cannon would natter on for 90 seconds, talking about how the match was going.

Ahead of the match, three scripts were prepared. But the scripts all assumed that New Zealand would be leading the match at half-time, when the reverse was the case. Cue some quick rewrites by Jason Hynes, creative director at The Hive. "I was writing the script minutes before the ad was due to air," he says. "The client was next door in the control room and the door was locked, so I had to slide the script under the door to get approval." When the ad was broadcast, Hynes was on his knees in front of the actors holding up the script. Would he do it again? Not in a hurry, though he thinks the effort was worth it. "The point of the whole exercise was to show that 11850 is a brand that supplies up to the minute information," he says.

PHD's managing director Jason Nebenzahl adds: "This type of innovative campaign is the way forward for brands challenging to get cost effective cut-through during key times in cluttered environments."