Brand Health Check - Dec07

We've only just begun

How should SingTel kick-start its brand for the coming year?

Based on the year SingTel has just had, it would be safe to say that interesting times lay ahead for Singapore's telco giant. The launch of the highly publicised and hyped pay TV service, mio TV in July, proved that the brand was taking serious steps to try and topple rival StarHub.

Brand StarHub is well received throughout the market as an info-communications company able to provide a full range of information, communications, and entertainment services over fixed, mobile and internet platforms. It remains to be seen in 2008 whether mioTV will manage to dramatically skew consumer perception towards such attributes but it is early days still, and the full potential of its pay TV service has yet to materialise. New channels are in-line to be launched and SingTel hired a PR company, Red Dawn Communications to help perform strategic communications and media relations outreach for mio TV.

A new approach to the brand might be the right catalyst and in late October, 20-year incumbent for SingTel, Young & Rubicam, declined to pitch for the business citing new business and the agency's desire to start fresh as reasons - meaning brand SingTel will start next year with a new creative agency.

2008 will be an important year for the brand to fully realise its ambitions but what direction and strategy should the brand take? Our branding experts have their say.

 

Diagnosis

Competition is always healthy and welcome because, among other things, it reduces the monopolistic tendencies of dominant players, spurs innovation and ultimately delivers customers more for less. StarHub Cable TV has had its own way for long enough. The jury is out on whether it has, during this period of unchallenged dominance, delivered both quality and value. So theoretically, the entrance of SingTel into the cable TV space is appropriate, perhaps even overdue.

How it goes about it is going to be interesting to see. Its initial efforts for mioTV were lacklustre. They failed to communicate clearly what differences they provided. In fact some would argue that they failed to clearly explain the proposition leaving many people wondering what this new thing was all about. This kind of development is generally the result of either one of two things or both: (1) "the agency screwed up"; or (2) the brand proposition - which is the responsibility of SingTel - was not sufficiently well crafted. In the blame game, clients tend to gravitate to the first option. Experience generally confirms the second. 

Cure

SingTel talks of the need for ads to be more creative or ‘innovative. This is nonsensical if these are ultimately not based on a solid platform that is differentiated from that of StarHub - in a relevant and sustainable way. For mioTV to succeed it is going to have to:

• to review and ensure that it has a clear, differentiated proposition
• demonstrate that this value proposition is better - more unique and more compelling
• recognise that innovation will need to emerge from within, not third party providers.
  

Joseph Baladi

CEO

BrandAsian

Diagnosis

With the launch of sub brand Mio it appeared to me that SingTel was aware that it was falling behind in its relevance to the younger/youth/cool market - a market that should be No.1 on the radar for a telecommunications company with long term ambitions.

The fact that it has done so establishes its awareness of its current brand positioning problems. But Mio (by the way has anyone told SingTel they have a competitor with almost exactly the same name?) is an obvious tactical "lets follow the competition" reaction to the current market situation. It has effectively positioned itself as followers as opposed to leaders.

SingTel enjoyed a positioning as the only telecommunications company in Singapore for along time and competition inspired it to get serious - its time for them to do so again. Also as a patient long term customer, SingTel has a very poor customer relations programme/strategy. For a communications company, communication with both loyal existing customers and potential customers is weak, even hostile.

Got to be cruel to be kind.

Cure

• Brief your agency to position yourselves as THE leader not as a follower. The leader with inner substance, true values not a facade.
• Get in touch with the people whom have kept you going for years, your customers and shareholders by a) getting a good customer relationship marketing agency and b) enable easy smooth 24hour telephone one to one communication between you and your customer.
• The logo. It's time to move on.

 
Peter Dean
Creative Director
Write Angles