Open Source Content Management

What do you think of Vodacom's re-branding - changing colours to red..?

They're marketing this change with 'more choice, more value etc etc' - I just don't see it.

How about announcing the re-branding along with some (or even one) innovative new product that has on impact on the mobile telecommunications landscape in South Africa. (think mweb launching uncapped adsl)

Or how about some promotions that offer real value to the customer - not a measly 2GB free (that you can only use in the early hours of the morning) when you lock yourself into a 12 month data contract (which would be a really silly thing to do).

What do you think of Vodacom's re-branding to red? It cost in the region of R260 million!

You can not polish a turd... it doesn't matter if you have R 260 mil. Ps. Excuse my French.

haha. I take it you're not with Vodacom then..!

I see that with the Red re-branding they've introduced an 'internet starter pack' which gives you a modem and 100MB data per month for 12 months @ R399.

Ok deal if you look at the 3G market in SA, but really - you can't do much with 100MB.

I really think that if they're spending so much money on rebranding (emphasizing value and choice) they should stop with all the annoying, short adverts and give us MORE VALUE, MORE CHOICE!!

I agree. They should have done a small campaign letting everyone know that Vodacom is now Vodafone and be done with it... Then spend the rest of the cash, which should be round about R 255 mil., and upgrade their services.

Yeah! Me for President!

I had to see this forum to think about it. It really hasn’t given me any inspiration whatsoever, really didn’t get to me. So I guess I don’t think they targeted a wide enough demographic with the approach.
I have seen a lot of criticism about the campaign and, not to be too harsh on Vodacom, and with the buy-out in mind, I guess this was unavoidable. I’ll go out on a limb and say that it seems like a very international take on a local concern and that they underestimated the SA public. The messaging is really simple, and a bit mindless (Red is more? What does that really mean?).
I agree, launching something completely unique to the current landscape would have set them apart, but they have gone with promotions that are going to get them big numbers.
My question is- what would they have done if Cell C hadn’t rebranded?

Victoria Smith wrote:
Good question. I had also considered that. I like the way Cell C has been giving them a hard time about it!

Does anyone know if they would actually forced to re-brand due to Vodafone acquiring 51% (That's what a Vodashop sales rep said)

The initial explanation I read from the Vodacom CEO did not mention anything about this - just implied that it was purely a rebranding exercise. Gotta rush out, so don't have time to look it up now.

I must say, its something I have been thinking about for a while. One of my mates was tasked with redoing all the Vodacom signage, so I was expecting a massive arrival of new services, reduced costs, etc to accompany the signage and logo change....but nothing...absolutely nothing!

What I get from the change is that Vodacom is now advertising its ownership (Vodafone) and thats it. I agree with Victoria Smith that it seems like an international marketing ploy in a South African context, which I believe will not hoodwink us as well as it does the British or Americans.

I have been a vodacom customer since I arrived in South Africa in 2004, and vodafone has been a majority shareholder for some time now, but the change to red has really made me think about where Vodacoms profits will be experienced (Abroad) and whether or not there is any benefit to me, my company, or South Africa by staying with Vodacom.

I think that if I do not see any benefit associated with being a customer of a largely foreign owned service provider, I'll change all my contracts to MTN or 8ta (both largely South African owned). Its better for the country, which, lets face it, can do with all the help it can get!

Generally, South Africans need to think about where their hard earned rands end up. Will they be spent here? or abroad? even if they are spent here by a few filthy rich buggers, the trickle down effect will still be felt here in South Africa. If they're spent abroad, we don't benefit at all.

Im not an economist and I must state that I only did one economics subject at Varsity which I failed with 34% but my limited understanding of how money travels through this world says to me that sometimes, local is better because profits are experienced within the country. I may be wrong (refer to 34% mentioned above )

I'll be changing all my contracts to MTN if vodacom doesn't show me that their partnership with vodafone means service delivery and variety currently not possible on other networks.

Red is more! Really?

As I understand it, Vodafone bought ~15% of telkoms shares in Vodacom (giving it approximately 63% ownership of Vodacom) a while back (probably 2008 or 2009), so if they were forced to rebrand, it would have been done some time ago. There were talks of rebranding in 2008, but nothing came to fruition.

I think Vodacom rebranded to try and get South Africans to associate it with vodafone efforts globally (like sponsoring F1 racing, football etc).