Half-price calls focus of Meteor campaign

Meteor's strategy is to get would-be customers to register so that when 085 numbers become available those who registered would get half-price mobile calls for two months.

Meteor starts its first advertising campaign today before the introduction of its mobile phone service on February 22nd. According to Meteor's advertising agency, Chemistry, £200,000 will be spent on the three-week print and radio drive.

The firm's initial marketing strategy is to get would be customers to register so that when Meteor's 085 numbers become available those registered who buy a Meteor phone or SIM card get half-price mobile phone calls for two months.

It sounds complicated to communicate - particularly given that Meteor will most likely try to build market share by appealing to the younger end of the mobile phone market. "The pre-launch campaign is a good spoiling tactic," says Mr Fintan Cooney, account director at Chemistry. As well as encouraging preregistration, the drive aims to persuade would-be phone buyers to hold off until Meteor arrives.

A more elaborate brand-building campaign, which will have a significant television outlay, begins closer to the February 22nd launch date. Industry sources put a £2 million figure on its likely advertising spend.

In just about any other industry that sort of budget would be considered large, but not in telecoms. In the past 12 months, Eircell is thought to have spent about £29 million on advertising and marketing activities, which include its £7 million spend on its sponsorship of the television game show Who Want's To Be A Millionaire?

Its main competitor, Esat, is more coy with its figures and will only reveal its media spend, which falls short of £5.5 million. Its advertising and marketing spend, which includes significant belowthe-line activity, is likely to be more than twice that. Eircell and Esat are highly competitive, each responding almost immediately with matching products and services to whatever the other offers. They also enjoy very high brand awareness - Eircell puts its brand awareness at 96 per cent.

Without the support of such consumer awareness, it is likely Meteor's post-launch marketing strategy will concentrate on undercutting competitors while appealing to the text messaging generation. Given the growth of the pre-paid sector - which now accounts for 70 per cent of all new mobile phones bought - it is further likely that Meteor will offer strong deals on high-spec pre-paid phones.

"Launching any brand takes time," says Mr Cooney, "and this three-week period before the service is actually introduced gives us time to build awareness."

Given the knee-jerk reaction of Esat and Eircell to any market movement, it is likely that the next month will see an increase in mobile phone advertising as both operators hit back immediately with offers of their own.