New Vodafone CMO takes fight to rivals in bid to break ‘monopolistic’ Australian market
Newly minted Vodafone marketing chief Loo Fun Chee has vowed to take the fight to Telstra and disrupt the “monopolistic” Australian market after insisting the telco has entered a new era of reliable service.
But Chee, who is five months into the role, admitted Vodafone still has work to do to convince a sceptical consumer that it has solved its network issues that dogged the company for so long.
In her first sit-down trade interview since taking over as CMO from Kim Clarke in January, Chee said she recognised not only the issues Vodafone had faced, and the challenges of rebuilding trust, but also the opportunities presented by a market dominated by one player.
She told Mumbrella consumers have effectively been “ripped off” with prices far more expensive than overseas territories.
Ms Chee may be wise to review why Telstra became so ‘monopolistic’ – because customers left Vodafone in droves due to continued underinvestment in their network.
I suspect much of the network improvement at Vodafone is as a result of so many customer leaving their network as much as it is with adding more capacity.
While Vodafone may like to talk about moving on from #Vodafail they will come to regret the constant focus on price, being cheaper than everyone else and the resulting inability to invest in network infrastructure.
If the Vodafone offer, network is so good why does it have to be so much cheaper.
These telco marketers just keep saying the same old things and they are all interchangeable. This ad could easily be a Telstra ad, it says nothing about Vodafone.
Correction: doesn’t seem to be her first trade interview as she’s been in AdNews. http://www.adnews.com.au/news/.....ill-follow
@i Wonder – Vodafone network is no longer crippled. And in metro regions where most people live, telstra, optus and voda all have fairly similar networks. So how do you market what is a highly interchangeable commodity product? Well if youre the laggard and with a (because of past issues) – surely you have to attract customers by lower price? then when you get more customers / more revenue you can lift the price slowly.
What else would you do, in their position?
Vodafone’s plans are simply not competitive – too expensive and inflexible – so their claim that Australians are being overcharged sounds a lot like crocodile tears.
Surprised to hear that their most recent ad is supposed to be a show of confidence, since the ad is quite remarkable for its timidity. It’s just a series of shots of people using the product. The equivalent would be a car ad showing some people driving around, or a beer ad showing some people drinking beer.
@hjt
1. Place: I’d start with significantly reducing their dealer network. There’s massive overlap and disjointed structures within the Vodafone system.
2. Marketing: If they truly believe their network is fixed I would do the equivalent of the Pepsi challenge. Vodafone can’t keep saying the past it behind them. They need actual real customers to do so – in huge volume. Perception is reality.
3. Product: I would choose one item to focus on and make that my 12 month focus to make sure everyone knew Vodafone = x. Perhaps it’s data, perhaps its data / family / SME sharing etc. Pepsi challenge is the overarching campaign and the product is a supporting point.
4. I would let Spotify, Stan, Netflix and Presto content plays sort themselves out and let the consumer decide for themselves who they prefer rather than trying to pick a winner or ending up with the scraps Telstra and Optus didn’t want.
5. I would seriously consider buying iiNet or M2 so I have an opportunity to sell Fixed Broadband / NBN and expand my relationship with consumers and business.
It’s all about customer service. After having been with Vodafone for four years I’ve probably spent around one week in total on the phone in direct contact with them. And I haven’t got one positive word to say.
What other type of companies do people spend so much time with? And they’re all people with a problem that needs solving, presenting thousands of daily opportunities to make a difference.
While Optus isn’t perfect, they sure are trying. Vodafone made me feel I was a character in a Kafka novel.
“Power to you” is the biggest and cruelest joke in marketing.
I wonder, who speaks for whom on this opinion page.
I wonder why carriers continue to bicker and squabble in a market where they are nearly all minor players.
I wonder why Telstra continues to “lord it” in an environment where it is clearly in the pink. I wonder why there is such greed, and such desire to dazzle and confuse the community. Must be something to do with easy money.