Vodafone plans a new marketing message -UPDATED

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 22 September 2009 08:12

IT Industry - Strategy

"Make the most of now" has been Vodafone's global marketing mantra for some years. And customers will have to make the most of it now, because it's being dumped in favour of "Power to you."

"Make the most of now" has been the inspiration for some quirky Vodafone ads over the years, such as the dragonfly video (living only for one day a dragonfly has little alternative to making the most of now) but the UK's Sunday Times newspaper reports global CEO of Vodafone, Vittorio Colao, saying its days are numbered.

"Instead of dictating to customers, Vodafone wants to let them know that they, with phone in hand hooked up to the mobile Internet, are now in charge," it explains, adding that "For Colao, this is more than just a new marketing push. He has put polishing the company's brand and image, internally and externally, at the top of his in-tray. 'The centre of this company is marketing and human resources,' he said. 'It is not the brand talking any more and telling the customer what to do. It is the customer who will decide... It really means that Vodafone puts the customer at the centre of what we do." (How many times have we heard that before?)

In Australia Vodafone is now one half of Vodafone Hutchison Australia and, depending on which message you read, the Vodafone brand could become the only brand that the company takes to market. Greg Spears, head of corporate communications and public relations at VHA, told iTWire that the new marketing theme would be rolled out in Australia, "sometime in  2010," but was unable be give more precise information.