Is Partner a new multi-player? Not yet.

Partner

Today Partner officially launched commercially its ISP and fixed telephony services. The launch was long expected and the question was what would be the proposition Partner would market. I personally thought that Partner will leverage its advantage over the competitors – the ability to bundle fixed services with mobile packages. It seemed obvious that this way the operator would be able to provide greater discounts and present more attractive offer. Moreover, there is one very important difference between fixed and mobile markets: in the mobile market consumers are used to a long term contracts (at least 18 months) while in home telephony and broadband long contacts are rare. So, IMHO, bundling all the services together may help Partner to educate the market to long contracts in fixed services too.

Two thoughts on mobile in Israel

It’s quiet a busy time, so no posts for a long time. But I’ve two things that I fill I must share with no further delay.

As in many parts of the world it’s holiday time in Israel now. It’s not about Christmas, it’s about Hanukkah. So yesterday, while biting a Sufgania (a traditional Hanukkah doughnut) I though to myself that Israeli MNO’s don’t have the nice tradition to offer special promotions for holidays. They offer a minor bonus or either don’t offer anything at all. For example, Pelephone offers its customers to enjoy free SMS messages for the Hanukkah week. Another example are Partner’s and Cellcom’s roaming offers during the Passover vocation. But I couldn’t remember any promo of a call plan or any other thing designed specifically for holidays. Looking on discounts and lucrative offers which are running now across Europe makes me envy

Pelephone interactive UMTS campaign

Pelephone

Pelephone has launched a new online ad campaign called “Sim- TaSim” (put the Sim in hebrew), targeting teenagers and promoting its new UMTS network.

The campaign is the second initiative to promote Pelephone’s new pre- launched UMTS network, following  the previous “Renewing twice a year” campaign featuring the popular singer Ninet Tayeb.

The new promotion features an on-line interactive game inviting customers of all operators to register to a contest. Participants are required to find sim card numbers hidden in ads appearing on several websites every day between 16:00-21:00 PM.

 

Each round hour Pelephone will distribute 20 handsets (Sony Ericsson W760) to the winners, a total of 1,000 handsets to be given away.

Winners would be obligated to sign an 18 months contract with Pelephone in order to receive the prize… a smart move for Pelephone but also a small disappointment for customers applying to the contest.

The interactive game reminded me of something similar (but much bigger and more successful) Orange UK did a few months ago… check it out here  and let me know what you think

enjoy

ZmanIsMoney Results

cellcom

I’ve put my hands on a brochure issued by Cellcom for advertisers. The brochure lists the advantages of the ZmanIsMoney platform. The key message Cellcom tries to convey is that the platform enables advertisers to pay only for “proved views” of their commercials. Two additional points state that TimeIsMoney uses Pull marketing – consumers choose to watch an ad clip by their own will and moreover, the platform provides the ability for a accurate segmentation and therefore precise targeting.

Pelephone starts the build-up for GSM

Pelephone

Pelephone is running an interesting device promotion campaign. Pelephone offers to buy now a new handset, sign a contract for 18 months and after one year to get a a new, more advanced device for free. A TV spot showcases the first “A Star is born” (the Israeli version of the American Idol) diva – Ninnet. She buys a new phone, a year passes and she returns to Pelephone store to get a new one. The spot is a bit strange. In order show that a year has passed copywriters used a creative presentation of four seasons. That’s OK but… there is no snow in Israel and other seasons don’t look Israeli too…It seem more like Romania. Oh what a surprise the commercial was actually shut there.