A new marketing campaign by 3, which has traditionally concentrated on being the cheapest operator in the UK market, will instead focus on the quality of its network for mobile internet services.
The campaign starting on May 8 will push the new message through cinema, TV and outdoor advertising, as well as a refresh of the operator's logo. It is a major departure for 3, the smallest UK operator, which as a late entrant to the UK market has traditionally pushed low prices as the reason that users should switch to its service from its four bigger rivals.
With so much of the growth in the UK coming from smartphone sales and data usage, 3's change of tack makes sense. The operator is adopting a new strapline, "Bringing you an even better network."
"We are going to show all the effort that is going into the network," said Marc Allera, 3 UK's sales and marketing director. 3 is not the only operator to have seen which way the wind is blowing.
What's striking is that 3's new line follows a recent marketing campaign by rival Vodafone in which it too put a major emphasis on its network quality. Some of the claims in the Vodafone campaign prompted a fierce debate with rival O2. At the end of last year O2 had to apologise to iPhone users over quality of service headaches. O2 was formerly the exclusive provider of the iPhone in the UK.
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New Media Age
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