Advertisers eye Starhub's Coufon; Reynolds for President

Singapore - StarHub has started trialling a new advertising service - created by mobile media agency Affle - enabling marketers to send out discount coupons to its subscribers.

80,000 coupons from nine advertisers are available for download, they include, Central Restaurant, Courts, Essilor - Transitions, Mary Chia, Maybelline and The Therapy Place. The trial is open to StarHub's entire base of 1.6 million and is available on a limited basis with possible additions in subsequent weeks depending on the turnover rate. It will allow the network measure how viable the service is as a targeted advertising platform.

"The concept is both convenient and non-intrusive to our mobile customers. It is entirely user-triggered so our customers are empowered to use the relevant discount coupons only when they want to," Anil Nihalani, VP StarHub Mobile Service said.

Raymond Kam, group director, Optimedia, said, "This opens up a new channel for advertisers who want immediate access to a targeted yet large pool of mobile customers. Singapore has a highly-penetrated mobile market hence advertising reach is broad and the platform is flexible enough to accommodate a wide range of advertising and promotional activities. It also represents a medium which can differentiate an advertiser's message from the general promotional clutter."

Anuj Khanna, founder and CEO for Affle added the draw for consumers is ease of carrying and redeeming a catalogue of attractive merchant discounts on their mobile phones, and for merchants it is compelling because it manages the full life-cycle of a coupon from issuance to redemption.

Subscribers with a Java-enabled mobile phone can download an application which allows them to select and redeem the mobile coupons.

In other related StarHub news, starting next year, head of integrated product and marketing Mike Reynolds will be promoted to president. Responsible for the execution of StarHub's operational plans, he will report to CEO Terry Clontz.

With StarHub since 2001, Reynolds was formerly at BellSouth for 24 years and his last position was President of BellSouth China.

"Mike has been a key member of the StarHub leadership team since I asked him to join us in 2001. He is an all-rounder, with seasoned business judgement, underpinned by a broad set of skills and 30 years of industry experience. With Mike's new role, I know I can count on him to help me, and the rest of the management team, tackle the next wave of opportunities and challenges in the years to come," Clontz said.