Network provider Cell C has declared a preference for the United States’ marketing law which, unlike the current South African regulations, allows operators to advertise using comparative fees of other networks.
“It’s a real shame we can’t do comparative advertising in South Africa,” Jose Dos Santos, Chief Operating Officer said at the launch of its first marketing campaign of the year today (February 4).
Aimed at informing South Africans about the unnecessarily high rates they have to cough up for cell phone services, the Wake Up SA advertising campaign will be launched later this year, with Cell C believing it has the right to challenge subscribers of rival networks Vodacom and MTN to enquire from their network providers why they are not paying lower rates, despite the marketing law prohibitions.
“The kind of ad we are producing should be: ‘[Other operators] have ripped off consumers for the past 20 years, this is what you’re paying [them]. You now have an option, which is 99c/minute. But you can’t say that. The agency and marketing team had to spend many hours trying to figure out how to get this message across without contravening South African laws,” said Dos Santos.
According to Santos some callers are charged by up to R3.75 per minute under some conditions, which is highly unfair towards the consumer.
“We believe that Cell C has a compelling value proposition for South African mobile users, with low call rates and excellent data rates, not to mention simple and transparent offerings. With this campaign, we want South Africans not already on our network to question why they continue to pay exorbitant rates,” says Dos Santos.
The initial new marketing campaign consists of three strands: The power is in your hands, 99c education and the new Supacharge Cell C offer.
