Wireless number portability? What wireless number portability? Judging from their marketing-or to be more precise their lack of it-Canada’s big three wireless providers see number portability as a non-event. WNP (a mandate from the CRTC that allows cell subscribers to retain their phone number if they switch carriers) took effect in most parts of the country March 14. One might have expected the major carriers to use the event to launch an all-out assault for each other’s customers, but that didn’t happen. There were no WNP-specific campaigns by Rogers or Bell and Telus barely mentioned it.
The exception was Virgin Mobile, which kicked off its advertising last year and ramped it up in recent weeks with TV, radio, out of home and the prerequisite stunt by Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson. On March 14 he escaped from a cage suspended by a crane above Toronto’s Yonge-Dundas Square to symbolize the new freedom of the country’s “mobile prisoners.”
When Marketing interviewed senior management at Canada’s three big wireless firms last August, they unanimously said that based on experience in the U.S., there wouldn’t be a lot of churn (industry talk for switching providers) and consequently they wouldn’t spend marketing dollars to court consumers. Seven months later, they’re still talking the same line. “(We’re) continuing to focus on our products and services,” says Taanta Gupta, VP of communications for Rogers Wireless.
That might be a smart strategy for now. A survey by TNS Canadian Facts conducted the week after March 14, shows that only half of those surveyed had heard of WNP, and only 19% with a current contract would “probably or definitely” switch when that contract expires. With 65% of wireless consumers locked into two or three-year contracts, according to the Yankee Group’s 2006 Mobile User Survey, even those who want to switch may not get the opportunity for some time.
A Telus Mobility advertising campaign launched March 12, and although related to WNP, it is so subtle that even those aware of number portability might not make the connection. The TV ad features a monkey packing up bananas to the “We’re Moving on Up” theme from the 1970s The Jeffersons sitcom. Only at the end is the tag line (“Pack your number and move up”) shown, but there’s no further explanation. “It’s a challenge to advertise number portability because it’s not a product, it’s an enabler,” says Telus spokesman Jim Johannsson. It’s also more cost effective to spend advertising dollars promoting the company’s value-added services, he says.
Kevin Restivo, an analyst with Toronto’s Seaboard Group, says a relatively low 58% cellphone penetration in Canada may offer another explanation for ignoring WNP. “It costs a lot to get a customer to move,” he says. “They don’t want to get locked into a price war.”
Virgin, however, used March 14 to attack its rivals. The multimillion-dollar WNP campaign by Toronto-based Zig includes TV, billboards, and a Youcanswitch.ca website. “We want to let people know WNP is there and that they now have freedom of choice,” says Nathan Rosenberg, chief marketing officer of Virgin Mobile Canada, though he declined to reveal how many consumers have made the switch since the campaign launched.
Despite the lack of outward interest among the big three providers, the TNS survey shows the portability issue does resonate with consumers, says Richard Jenkins, VP at TNS. And telcos shouldn’t forget that while most customers are locked into contracts now, those plans will expire. “A lot now depends on which players effectively embrace number portability and are successful at winning the hearts and minds of consumers,” he says.
