Piaras Kelly PR – Public Relations in Ireland

iReach is an Irish research firm that publishes really interesting insights about IT and consumer behaviour on a regular basis. I’m always left scracthing my head because some tech companies in the country obviously haven’t done a simple situation analysis since it’s plain to see that they haven’t read this freely available information.

Here’s a great tidbit of information they published recently about mobile phone use during the word cup:

You might be interested to know that in the countries playing in the World Cup, Voice and SMS revenues ‘go through the roof’ just before, during and just after a match in which they were involved – without the massive marketing spend that the 3G providers are pumping into the market.

There’s a number of things mobile operators should take from this when outlining their future marketing strategies. For example, they could use this analysis of consumer behaviour to:

• Offer new promotional packages: My mobile operator texted me yesterday to inform me that I will receive twenty free texts if I send four texts daily between 19th June – 3rd July. iReach’s research shows that consumer mobile activity has ramped up around the World Cup. My mobile operator should have announced this package for the World Cup and tailored it around it.
• Run advertising campaigns which strike a resonance with the consumer: Mobile operators can look at the iReach research to see how consumers are using their phones during the World Cup and launch an advertising campaign which reflects this.
• Seek sponsorship opportunities which promote the use of voice or SMS services: For example, 3, Ireland’s newest mobile operator, has teamed up with Setanta Screens are to offer music fans a live, interactive TV experience at festivals this summer.

Mobile penetration in ireland has reached 102%. This means than rather than simply trying to attract new consumers, the focus of mobile phone operators has shifted to stopping subscriber churn. As a result they are beginning to offer new services and packages in order to cherry pick competitor’s customers and keep existing subscribers.

I’ve already highlighted some recent commentary by Jeff Boortz, but think it is worth doing so again:

The Tescos of the world are first, to understand new segments which means that they are discovering new pockets of the “demand curve” — which allows them to capture value other can’t.

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