With teens getting loads of cellphone-campaign love these days, Rogers has its sights set on seniors, with a new campaign for its Essential Connect package.
Following the success of previous Essential efforts, Rogers is launching a new volley of ads today for the service that includes a handset and billing package directed at Canadians 65-plus.
According to data provided by Rogers, the percentage of Canadians between the ages of 65 and 79 will increase by 20% in the next two years. That adds up to more than 5 million people.
Shelagh Stoneham, vice-president marketing communications at Rogers Communications (which also owns Marketing), said typical handsets and rate plans aren’t always well suited to seniors. Older Canadians haven’t widely incorporated them into their professional and personal lives, but Stoneham said this generation wants to be engaged.
In response, Rogers launched its Essential Connect package in October. It combines an ergonomic flip phone with a 100-voice minutes plan.
“This group wanted only what was needed. They weren’t interested in fancy features and even less interested in having to pay for them,” said Stoneham.
The upcoming campaign will focus on the service’s simplicity and affordability, said Stoneham. Driven largely by print and out-of-home, the creative uses a bullet-point style to explain the package’s key features and low cost, “focusing on the ‘essential’ details. The simplicity of the creative mirrors the experience of using the Essential Connect package,” said Stoneham.
She added that initial feedback to the offering was positive. “With a super-targeted media buy resulting in a media spend equivalent to only 25% of a typical spend for a similar launch, we were able to achieve 104% of our projected sales in just two months,” said Stoneham of the October launch.
This campaign will add a direct-response TV component later in the spring.
The agency of record on the DRTV campaign and a direct mail piece that was distributed in January is Rosetta. The agency of record for the mass marketing is Publicis. OMD handled media buying and planning.
