Orange holds pitch for PAYG promotion

by James Quilter Promotions & Incentives 06-May-08, 10:30

LONDON - Orange is holding a pitch for a promotional agency to handle sales promotion for its pay-as-you-go (PAYG) mobile offer.

The review follows a number of moves by Orange to improve its share of the highly profitable PAYG market. The pitch is being overseen by Orange PAYG director Pippa Dunn.

Orange has made a number of changes to its PAYG offer. Last year the company revamped its pay plan and launched its Speak Easy package. The talk plan set a flat 15p rate per minute to call any number and allowed an "overdraft facility" of £2.50 for customers who run out of credit.

Orange has also been seeking to bolster the use of the free sim cards it offers for use with an existing phone. In January, Orange estimated it had 300,000 sim cards in circulation that had not been activated.

The telecoms company hired digital agency Positive Thinking to launch a promotional drive involving an instant-win mechanic to encourage the use of these cards. When the card is switched on, a text message is received informing the customer that they have won one of a number of gifts. These include free texts, cinema tickets or phone minutes.

Orange has a rich history of promotional marketing. Its Orange Wednesdays offer, giving free cinema tickets to customers via text, allowed Orange to place itself under the movie umbrella in a similar fashion to O2 aligning itself with music through sponsorship of the O2 Wireless Festival.