Koodo gets back to basics

Telus is working up an advertising sweat with the full launch of the marketing campaign for its new Koodo Mobile discount brand yesterday.

Koodo is being positioned as the “fat free alternative” to other services because customers don’t pay for excess features they don’t need or want, said Kevin Banderk, chief Koodo officer.

Unlike its competition—Solo Mobile, Fido and Virgin—Koodo doesn’t even offer video calling, e-mail and music and instead “focuses on talk and text in the most flexible way we [Koodo] could,” he said.

Koodo is aimed at consumers interested in simple talk and text features or home phone replacement, and not just youth, said Banderk. “There’s a large segment of the population that was really looking for a straight-forward approach without breaking the bank,” he said.

Telus started promoting its new brand with a teaser campaign—including five-second TV spots—last week. The full campaign launched yesterday with outdoor, print, radio, online, 15-second TV spots, and a one-minute “infomercial” and the website KoodoMobile.com. The launch campaign is expected to run for eight weeks in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton.

The Koodo advertising effort uses an ’80s-era exercise theme with leotard clad “Koodosizers”—a la exercise show 20 Minute Workout.

Big-banged aerobics instructors stretch and text their way through the TV spots, encouraging consumers to “shake off that system access fee,” and “karate chop that activation fee” to trim cellphone bill fat.

The trainer theme, developed by Taxi 2, is a fun and refreshing way to ensure that the “fat free” message resonates with consumers, said Banderk.

The Koodo website has been designed to inform consumers of the brand’s products and plans, and uses nutrition labels to do so. The label is a key branding component and will be used across all of the creative executions and product packaging, said Banderk.

“It’s very clear on what you’re getting and what you’re not getting on a nutrition label and that’s the approach we wanted to take,” he said.

Cover wraps will run around commuter dailies like Metro this week and most of the creative will use the brand’s signature colour: fuchsia. Retail partners will be running flyer ads by the end of the week.

Koodo Mobile is being sold at major retail outlets including Best Buy, Future Shop, Wal-Mart, Zellers, London Drugs and through TheBrick.com as well as at Koodo Shops in some shopping malls.

Strategic Objectives in handled the PR efforts, while Media Experts in Toronto executed the media buy.

–Kristin Laird


This article appeared on The Marketing Daily PM Tuesday April 1, 2008.

Virgin spins Spitzer woe into advertising gold

Virgin Mobile moved quickly this week to produce an Eliot Spitzer print ad as part of its “You call the shots” campaign.

To promote its dedication to a more personalized approach to customer care, Virgin will run a full-page ad this week in Metro and 24 commuter dailies in Toronto featuring the now-former Governor Spitzer with a thought bubble above his head that reads: “I’m tired of being treated like a number.”

The ad copy reads: “At Virgin Mobile, you’re more than just a number. When you call us we’ll treat you like a person, not a client. Whether you’re #9 or #900, you’ll get hooked up with somebody who’ll finally treat you just how you want to be treated.”

On Monday, news broke that Spitzer had at least seven or eight liaisons over the last several years with prostitutes supplied by an international call girl ring. Spitzer was identified as “Client 9.”

Virgin began the new campaign last week with a full-page ad featuring Hillary Clinton and a thought bubble above her head that read “I wish my bill wasn’t so out of control.”

“We’re looking for this series of ads to be topical events that people are interested in,” said Nathan Rosenberg, chief marketing officer, Virgin Mobile. “[Spitzer] was on the front page of pretty much every Canadian newspaper [yesterday].”

Virgin is discussing plans to take the ad national with its media buying partner, Wills and Co. A Barack Obama ad, rolling out next week, will be the last in the political series, with Virgin moving on to other newsworthy people after that, said Rosenberg.

“We have the licence as a brand to do things that are more edgy, interesting and engaging than probably some of the other brands do,” said Rosenberg. “That’s why we feel like we really want to keep doing this.”

–Kristin Laird

This article appeared on The Marketing Daily PM Wednesday March 12, 2008.