Of its three brands - GOTone, Easy-own and M-Zone - China Mobile
has made M-Zone the most distinctive.
The brand's distinctiveness has made it popular with college and
university students, but in secondary and third-tier cities with
fewer universities, the number of M-Zone users is trivial compared
with the other two brands.
Under the trend of lowering fee rates, M-Zone introduced a
"music package" for its users in February, an attempt to associate
the brand with youth culture. Its biggest selling point was the
preferential fee policy.
The campus promotion of M-Zone was indeed successful in building
the brand. Its promotion was once selected in the top 10 marketing
cases of 2003.
But the fee rate that targets different groups of consumers was
the real factor affecting users' choices. And the introduction of
M-Zone's music package, breaking the brand-fee barrier, will help
M-Zone gain a larger market share, especially in the second- and
third-tier cities.
As early as 2005, when M-Zone was still trying to expand, many
of China Mobile's local subsidiaries already realized the problem.
Its promotion strategy outside of campuses was ineffective in
markets with underdeveloped economies and few university
students.
Compared with their foreign counterparts, China Mobile's three
brands do not have full coverage and a specific market
division.
Take South Korea's mobile operator SK as an example. The
operator set up a TTLTING brand targeting middle-school students
aged 13 to 18, a TTL brand targeting university students aged 19 to
24, a UTO brand targeting professional workers between 25 and 35,
and a CARA brand targeting married women.
Lacking brands
China Mobile lacks brands specifically targeted at teenagers and
women. Teenagers, in particular, are a coveted market, and it
appears China Mobile still does not have a brand strategy for that
segment.
Therefore, the M-Zone brand should be extended to cover the new
market. The brand should also be used in a transitional role for
M-Zone users to GOTone users. It is impossible for students to
change mobile phone numbers immediately after they graduate.
M-Zone should therefore not limit itself to university
campuses.
The M-Zone brand, on the one hand, has long been restricted as a
campus brand, and on the other hand, market development and change
of fee policies require the brand to extend its coverage.
It's a delicate balance. The solution lies in transforming the
brand.
There are two key points for the transformation.
First, the premise for transformation must be to maintain the
M-Zone brand's advantages in the campus market, even as it aims to
expand its market share.
The second point is that the transformation is actually a return
to its original intention. China Mobile has defined M-Zone as a
brand targeting young and fashionable customers between 15 and 25
years old, building a telecommunication zone, an attractive space
featuring fun, fashion and discovery.
It is clear that the launch of M-Zone was client-oriented - to
cover 15- to 25-year-old customers. But its promotion later
deviated from its original intention.
Of course, I am not challenging one of the top 10 marketing
cases. It is like the Chinese saying, "looking for a bone in an
egg" - which means looking for a flaw where there is none.
Since the launch of M-Zone in March 2003, China Mobile has
achieved great success. Statistics show M-Zone attracted nearly 20
million clients between March 2003 and September 2004 - or one new
customer every three seconds. It is a miracle in China's mobile
communication market.
But the wonder in the past does not mean we do not need to do
more, as the campus market is limited.
Exploring the markets of middle-school students and youngsters
outside the campus will be key for the brand's further development,
and the brand will return to be a youth brand, rather than a campus
brand.
The author is a director at Executive Media Organization and one
of the top 100 brand consultants in China
(China Daily August 23, 2007)
