Circles.Life jumps on Suez Canal news with latest jab at competitors

Circles.Life has unveiled a tongue-in-cheek social media post on its Facebook and Instagram pages that drew reference to the recent Suez Canal situation. The incident which happened last week, saw a huge cargo ship operated by Evergreen Marine Corporation diagonally stuck in the middle of Egypt's Suez Canal, causing a hold up for other cargo ships looking to pass.

According to news reports, the ship was stuck after a gust of wind caused it to veer from its original position as lack of visibility due to the weather conditions ensued. However, last night the cargo ship has been unlogged allowing for traffic to resume. 

Jumping onto this piece of news that made international headlines is Circles.Life, which quickly put out a social media post saw the same Evergreen cargo ship lodged in the middle of a canal, with a tiny boat at the side unable to pass through. The telco cheekily captioned a tiny boat as "me",  and the lodged cargo ship as "two year contract with with 6GB per month", insinuating that telco users are stuck with contracts with less data.

The telco's Facebook post was accompanied by the caption "Don't get stuck like that. Refloat yourself with the most flexible no-contract plans here", linking to Circles.Life's official website. Meanwhile its caption on Instagram came in the form of a poem: "The ship hull is red, Circles.Life is blue, we've got data minus the contracts, tap our link in bio, we'll be waiting for you."

The posts drew various responses from netizens, with some commenting that the telco is "savage" (which means it isn't afraid to take jabs at others) and another saying this was "advertisement done right". However, there were also some who took the opportunity to voice their displeasure with the telco. One netizen played on Circles.Life's word "stuck" and responded that existing users were "stuck to the same price while new users always get to pay lower". A couple of other Circles.Life users also mentioned that they have been experiencing poor connection under the telco. MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Circles.Life for a statement.

Well-known for its witty posts with references to current affair, Circles.Life is no stranger to eliciting laughs from its consumers with such posts. Two weeks ago, the telco jumped onto the bandwagon of memes following the royal interview between the Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle, Prince Harry and Oprah Winfrey. The telco placed its own subtitles under a shot of Markle and Prince Harry that said "Then my telco asked me to recontract for another two years and I said yes", and added Winfrey's looks of disbelief below it. It also included a pun in its caption that said "Now that's what I call a royally messed up decision". 

Earlier last month, Circles.Life also made a reference to Disney+'s Marvel series Wandavision, when it was just released then. Spotting its main character Wanda Maximoff, the social media ad told consumers to "join a reality where contracts and hidden fees are a thing of the past", playing on key elements of the series. 

Besides engaging its consumers with its social media post, Circles.Life is also on the lookout to elevate its consumers' experiences through new features. Last October, it launched a gamified rewards platform named "Quests" within its app. Users are encouraged to "complete quests" and win rewards such as bill waivers and data bonuses. Additionally, there is also a mystery quest where the condition is a surprise. According to Circles.Life, the mystery quest is a way for it to generate community engagement, as users will need to solve a puzzle, with hints available on the telco's Instagram page. The new gamified platform is aimed to increase engagement with the telco's users, and encourage them to try out new features within the platform.

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