Introduction:
Sunday Communications Ltd which is a mobile operator in Hong Kong came on the scene in 1997 and immediately started with an aggressive advertising and marketing campaign which saw it grow to one of the largest mobile companies on the island. It used an aggressive marketing strategy mix from direct TV and print media adverts to other channels which included special offers and a branding strategy.
This resulted in a considerable advancement for Sunday’s mobile telephony market share where it was the third largest mobile phone company by the year 2000 and also had a considerable customer base which was also very loyal and stuck to it for a longer period of time.
Analysis:
Although Sunday had a very strong branding strategy, it did not have much market direction although it did not spend as much as its competitors with eventual mixed results. With some top executives at the company however, this meant that there was substantial expansion due to aggressive branding strategies which also ‘brought in the bacon’ so to speak. The hugely successful advert called ‘Feels like Sunday’ was instrumental in increasing the attraction of the mobile phone brand which continued to expand and to win over new customers. The price Sunday had to pay was an obvious increase in aggressive marketing from its much larger rivals who heavily outspent it in advertising and other marketing strategies thus winning them more clients. The strengths of Sunday Communications lay in the talent of its top marketing executives and its capability to plan a brand strategy accordingly while its weaknesses lay in the not so deep pockets it had and the deeper pockets of its rivals. However the opportunities for Sunday included hat of consolidating its market share due to more aggressive yet subtle advertising while the weaknesses essentially remained the same as before.
Problems for Sunday
Although the initial advertising campaigns were hugely successful, Sunday Communications eventually began to suffer from the more aggressive marketing of its rivals. The problem for Sunday was that its style of advertising was no longer deemed as cool and after 2004, the company saw a huge drop of around 80 per cent in net profits. Its rival CSL came up with an integrated marketing strategy which saw a huge jump in its data usage. With Sunday not really promoting this side of the coin, it appeared slightly passe’ and out of the touch with the way that the mobile phone market was changing. It has now become clear that Sunday must diversify its efforts to attract new customers or else convince existing clients that it has the potential to move forward in the data field which is something that is required for any mobile phone company to survive.
Solutions
Sunday Communications has now been acquired by PCCW, one of the largest media groups in the world. Although it has seen a substantial drop in revenue and profits from 2000 to 2005 it issurely well positioned to win over the market with a new strategy. This should include the aggressive marketing of data services which include social media which is what is being offered by several large mobile phone companies and which is essential for survival in today’s day and age. Sunday can come out with an innovative marketing campaign and heavy discounts for the provision of data services. Colorful adverts which could attract the younger generation are crucially important. The emphasis should be on the ‘Feels like Sunday’ theme as this attracts the younger generation who are more disposed to leisure than their older generation counterparts. With a subscriber base of over 700,000 users, Sunday is well positioned to start eating away into its competitor’s market share with an aggressive marketing campaign.
Alternative courses of action:
Sunday has to begin attracting the younger generation of mobile phone users with a wider application of data services. Although voice and text messages are still important, the future lies with the provision of data. With Sunday’s reputation for using taboo breaking advertising, the task to sell these data services should be much easier. This strategy will undoubtedly appeal to the younger generation and will enable Sunday to chip away at the market share of its larger competitors. Although the branding methods used date back over 10 years, the sense of coolness associated with the Sunday brand still remains.
Recommendations:
A good branding strategy is always important in such situations when market conditions are not as good as they were before. The provision of data services would be an important cog in the wheel and could be the direct solution to solving Sunday’s woes. With highly skilled marketing communicators already part of Sunday’s team, this new social media strategy should be hugely successful and take the market by storm in every sense of the word. The brand goodwill built up over the years by Sunday should also not be discounted.
