MEDIA & MARKETING:Customer profiles key to success of new brand as well as securing advertising interest

EIRCOM’S LAUNCH of the new mobile phone brand, eMobile, is the first time a mobile network has operated a dual brand strategy.

Eircom also owns Meteor and eMobile’s new director is Conor Carmody, formerly head of marketing in Meteor.

While Vodafone, O2 and 3 target young, old and business customers with the one brand, Meteor has focused its energy on the younger mobile user. But Carmody says that’s not just because Meteor came to the market after Vodafone and O2. “We adapted Meteor as it grew to the market circumstances. Meteor was set up to be young at heart.”

According to ComReg, the telecom regulator, Meteor’s average revenue in the second quarter of this year fell by 15 per cent year on year.

Initially eMobile will be pushing its pre-pay offer to general consumers with a “Seven Ten” offer which gives customers free calls and texts to any network for a week if the customer tops up €10 with eMobile in that week. Over the coming months it intends to build up its business offering to SME customers.

Describing the difference between an eMobile and Meteor customer, Carmody says: “EMobile will target existing landline and broadband Eircom customers.

“A typical customer will be responsible for the household budget and over 30 years of age. They will be different to the Meteor customer because they are older.”

When it comes to the challenge of implementing and managing a dual brand strategy without damaging Meteor, Carmody says: “It would be naive to think it will be an absolutely clean split down the middle. But we have carefully segmented the market.

“The way that Meteor is set up means its brand DNA appeals to a young segment and to move beyond that would have been quite challenging. Meteor has expansion left in its own chosen segments and it needs to focus on them, and Eircom mobile needs to focus on expanding in other segments.”

Eircom is investing €2.5 million in marketing support for the eMobile launch. Five eMobile retail stores opened yesterday in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Waterford.

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Independent Radio Sales boss Dan Healy is hoping new research commissioned by the company will prove to advertising agencies and big brand marketing directors that rural listeners aren’t just a bunch of country bumpkins.

IRS sells advertising on behalf of 18 local and regional stations. At the height of the boom, IRS was selling 40 per cent of advertising airtime for its member stations and was pulling in €20 million annually. In 2010, IRS is selling about 35 per cent of airtime for its members and revenue is down 18 per cent.

“Ad spends have shrunk dramatically,” says Healy.

“In the last number of months IRS stations have not been getting the amount of advertising revenue from advertising agencies that they deserve.

“There is an obsession with urban audiences.

“But IRS stations have a larger prime time audience than RTÉ Radio 1 and a larger audience than 2FM and Today FM combined.

“Our Red C research shows that there is absolutely no difference in consumption patterns between someone living in Malahide and someone living in Clonmel.”

IRS spent €60,000 on its lifestyle research and has put aside another €70,000 for more research in 2011. While Healy says September has been a good month and October is looking good too, most of the growth is coming in sponsorship and promotions activity from direct clients.

Healy wants advertising agencies to buy all stations in the IRS platform instead of cherry picking stations, which is what he says they currently do.

He is looking to introduce higher advertising rates for those agencies who pick and choose stations.

The problem for IRS and other radio owners is that there is not enough money to go around everyone. David Hayes, managing director of the advertising agency MEC, formerly Mediaedge:CIA, concedes: “It is true there is a degree of laziness in media planning.

“But the nub of the problem with IRS is that if you put all their stations onto a campaign schedule, you have got to start taking off national stations.

“The other problem is that IRS does not have a big station in Cork.”

Paul Moran, director of ad agency Mediaworks, says agencies do not favour Dublin stations over rural stations.

“If we are interested in advertising on a local radio station, we ring up the sales team and ask them to e-mail us a sample of the programming content to listen to.”