If Ufone were to put up a comedy show and charged a ticket of Rs500, I would definitely have paid more. But If, I were to buy a Ufone sim for more than the actual price, I would probably think twice.
Ufone advertisements have been the talk of the town for more than two years now. Truly, Ufone has set a perfect example of how simple and tasteful humour can catapult an advertisement into the realm of entertainment. Who can forget the popular ‘Teri mehrbani’ advertisement that made headlines and even took over ‘Zubaida Apa’s’ jokes. However, the point to ponder is that even though, we all have a brand recall for Ufone, does that really matter? Has it stimulated the majority of us to change our networks or brand loyalties?
The statistics are indeed startling; with Mobilink still leading the market and Ufone ranked as third among the telecom service providers. When you come to think of it, no connection has a comparative advantage over the other. Trust me, there is no special difference between charging Rs3 per minute or Rs1.5 per 30 seconds. Even if a connection is charging less for a call, it will somehow manage to suck the blood of its customers through the Value Added Services or an asterisk at the top of every call rate, which would require reading glasses to notice.
Are Ufone advertisements merely comic enactments or are they actually increasing the brand’s sales and market share? Ufone advertisements have a lot of viewership without a doubt. They are also one of the very few Pakistani advertisements whose print advert does not need an explanation; just a screenshot of the electronic advertisement actually speaks a thousand words for the print ad. Their popularity is such that everyone has already seen the electronic advertisement for the same ad. In fact, one of the paint companies has also started to follow their lead by stealing Ufone’s main men.
According to results of a recent customers’ perception survey result (September/October 2011) based on the performance of their respective cellular mobile operators by Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA), Ufone finished in at the last position among its competitors. So yes, we do need ‘quality’ advertisements (like everybody says), but are they actually needed to alter perceptions of the audience?
Likewise, a typical answer to the impact of advertisement on sales is that advertising enables an organisation to enhance sales. Similarly, advertising is used to persuade and drive consumer behaviour with respect to a commercial offering i.e. products, ideas, or services. Advertising is certainly not a social service and I am sure, Ufone did not promise to keep the nation happy by feeding them with an entertainment package every now and then. Therefore, the million dollar question is, are Ufone advertisements really effective? If we take feedback as a measure of the advertisements’ effectiveness, then not only the target audience i.e. youth, but majority of the nation is responding positively towards Ufone advertisements. My grandmother does not remember her date of birth, but she proudly recalls a famous Ufone commercial.
But that is just one side of the story; the measures of advertisements’ effectiveness not only include recall, but also attitude change, and brand choice at the same time. Persuasion is there, but it does not move, affect, or determine a purchasing decision in Ufone’s case. Feedback is also there, but that is in terms of viewers’ demand for more and more advertisements from Ufone.
What we need to know is that humour in advertising does not work alone, because advertising is only a part of the total marketing effort. A product that is poorly positioned or inadequately distributed in comparison to its competitors, may not make it to the top even though, the advertising itself is well-conceived and professionally executed e.g. Mobilink does not spend much on advertisements, but has a large customer base because it reaches out to almost every town of Pakistan.
The writer is Sub-Editor, Profit. She can be reached at [email protected]
Wow! I'm a Ufone subscriber but had never really looked at things this way. Very well thought out 🙂
Thank you, Faez. Ironically, I am a Ufone subscriber too, but the advertisements never drove me to choose the network. I am just a loyal customer :).
what my experience as U-fone subscriber is that its service is just average.
Brilliant one! Thoroughly loved reading your article. This phenomenon always seemed to surprise me….. I am glad someone wrote about it and actually did a great job.
Superb stuff !! and I agree with your notion 100%…
well done! i am a ufone customer too but the advertisements never forced me to stick to it ..
A very comprehensive analysis, I totally agree that consumers cannot be persuaded through just a humourous ad…. but I did buy the Rs 999 Ufone cellphone…which is quite mutifunctional these days…. 😉 🙂
it wax awesme maheen 🙂
well done maheen!
Thank you so much everybody for appreciating my work.
i work for Ufone and i know it's true, it's not just ufone every networks has the same story in this case.
You are right, but specifically in Ufone's case, the advertisements have a lot of brand recall which other networks do not enjoy as much as Ufone does.
Ufone is like an 'attention seeker kid' competing against the 'big bad boy' and 'Mr Caring'. And your analysis on their advertisements is right on spot.
Good piece of work Maheen. Its with both the companies of the same group, PTCL and Ufone. service of both are below average despite their unlimited resources.
Mobilink spends billions on advertisement. Its just that their advertisement is on a different tone, a corporate tone. I believe when it comes to perceptions people view themselves as serious business like individuals who actually want to dress/act like the models in the Mobilink ads. The Ufone ads are a good laugh but no one wants to be one of the models they use, like how many of us would want to fall for the 'teri mehrbani girl" or the guy who gets kicked out by his wife all the time ??
Waseem Ullah Memon Tera Favorite Commercial ..:D
so true
Am switching my iPhone sim from Mobilink to Ufone because browsing speed and Internet accessibility on my iPhone sucks royally when i use my Mobilink sim… However, Im making this switch based on feedback from friends who also use the iPhone and also made this same switch and experienced a noticable improvement… not switching because of an advertisement, but I suppose it I did see such an promising the best possible speed and possibility of being able to use my Skype and FaceTime apps on my iPhone without looking for wifi I would maybe have tried it without friends' recommendations.. If these promises didn't come through though, I'd likely have lambasted the ads and discouraged others from doing the same.
Don't know if this is relevant to your write-up but thought to mention it.
With these advertisements, Ufone targets the pre-paid customers however, what they forget is that pre-paid customers are all about costs and as funny as theTVC's sound or look, the advertisements might not necessarily attract people towards buying at least a cellular phone connection.
Moreover, the bulk of the pre paid customer might not even get the humor that they put into their ads (since more than half of our population is illiterate). Its usually a literate mind that can grasp such humor (except for the teri meharbani ad).
So focus is more on lowered costs being given to people and while presenting those costs to the customer through a TVC, its the simplicity that matters more keeping in mind the target market in Pakistan e.g. Zong and their simplistic TVC's, which has earned them a position above ufone in the leadership position even though they have entered later than Ufone.
VERY WELL WRITTEN AND CAN'T AGREE MORE…………!!!!!!!!
BUT I CONVERTED MY TELENOR SIM TO UFONE 😛
Nice one… and you've got it spot on!
I agree to everything you've said but then I would ask how else can you advertise better, I mean back in 90s getting an ad on people minds and tongues was the best achievement of an advertiser… but now I think it's because of the 'other' factors that Ufone is still not being able to get more customers even after getting into the heads of the general public…
I am a ufone user for the past 10 years. I never bothered changing the connection in 10 years 😛 . Ufone made awesome advertisements to be honest, may be the best in the market isnt it? they bombarded every channel with their ads but lets face it no one bought a ufone sim due to those ads because its Pakistan 😛 things dont work here the way they work in the West plus they didnt offer anything extra ordinary.
Ufone or anyother company out there in Pakistan should realize that at the end of the its about WHAT YOU GIVE TO THE USER.
Ufone need to update its service, just advertisment doesn’t work. I always preferred Warid and Mobilink.
I used Warid for 4years and nt even single time my call has been dropped or bounce back.
the only thing that made me switch from ufone to telenor was that i had to pay to recieve an mms.. that is really pathetic.. hope you ufoners know about this.. I find telenor far better than ufone's service. atleast my spare messages are rolled over when i re subscribe to an sms package..
Looking for free mobile recharge load? Try Free Mobile Recharge Load SMS android app. <url>
Install the app and start earning free mobile call packages for Zong, Warid, ufone, telenor etc. No need to pay for internet packages and sms packages. Earn free with Free Mobile Recharge Laod SMS app. Win lots of coupons just by completing simple offers.
download app click here :- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com…
Comments are closed.