[3g-g]

A couple of items from The Register...


Reports that Orange's laughably misguided “Animals” campaign is to be binned after just two months are not true, according to the operator.

The story is being carried by industry newsheet Marketing and mobile news outlet Cellular News. An Orange spokesperson said the campaign would run, as originally planned, until the end of the year.

"Animals" marketing tries to get customers to identify themselves with one of four animals; a dolphin, a panther, a canary, or most improbably, a bin-foraging raccoon.

The high-profile campaign has apparently set Orange back getting on for £10m.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/04/28/animals_not_endangered/


Orange is to overhaul its pay monthly tariffs and services as of 1 April.

Details of the new range of packages were released today, each with its own animal theme (see below).

Orange is cutting the minutes new and migrating customers get from lower-priced tariffs. From April, £19 a month will buy 50 rather than 60 minutes, and £25 gets you 100 minutes - 20 minutes less than the current amount. Mid-range bundles will stay the same and high-end customers will pocket an extra 100 minutes for their £75.

The text bundle range will be revised to introduce something called a "digressive pricing structure": the more you buy as part of your plan, the less you pay per text. The standard out-of-bundle text rate will be upped from 10p to 12p under the plans, as will a minute's talktime to a landline, and to another Orange phone.

There will also be proverbial carrot-dangling to encourage 18-month contracts in the form of what Orange calls "Magic Numbers".

The blurb put it thus: "The customer will be decremented [sic] one minute for up to an hour call to the Magic Number."

This seems to mean that you get an hour's worth of talk time to a nominated number for the price of a minute.

An internal document seen by El Reg reveals when the new structure comes in, Orange will start hitting up customers for £1.50 a month for itemised billing. Not paying by Orange's preferred direct debit method will now set you back £3.50 a month too, and delivery reports on texts will cost a penny a pop.

It's just left for new Orange customers and those migrating to the new rates to decide: are they a dolphin, a panther, a canary, or a raccoon?

The 'Dolphin' package - "For people who like to text a lot". Curious pick, given a dolphin's digits are captive within its flippers and it lacks the requisite opposable thumbs - thnx a lt ntrl slctn. Trade in some minutes for some texts.

The 'Panther' package - "For people who like all the extras". Not in a massage parlour way, one presumes. Comes with inclusive 3G minutes. They would give the most expensive package the coolest name.

The 'Canary' package - "For people who love to chat". The superior vocal skills of the parrot family must've been too piratey for Orange's lawyers. And the tarrifs aren't even that cheep. Sorry. Comes with Orange to Orange off-peak minutes.

The 'Raccoon' package - "For people who want no nonsense basics". People who can only afford to live out of bins? And as for no nonsense...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/06/orange_animals/

*shakes head* deary deary me... disaterous eh?

[solo12002]

Oh go on be a snake and bite one of their CRAP plans

[Hands0n]

Rearrange the following words into a well known expression ....

The Entirely Plot Have Lost They (or perhaps leave it as Yoda originally said it!)

[Ben]

I think had Flext not happened then Orange's tariffs might have at least been classed as endearing. They just look far too complicated next to the simplicity of Flext or the established and extensively advertised offers from Vodafone (STC).

I think the new tariffs will be culled.

[Hands0n]

Yes, by comparison Orange's tariffs are extraordinarily difficult to comprehend without a concerted effort at studying them. Very many Orange diehards will, I suspect, just accept what is on offer. Those that are a bit more flexible in their approach will shop around and no doubt wander off to other networks with more appropriate offers.

For the life of me though, I cannot understand what Orange are up to by not only obscuring the tariffs behind this menagerie of theirs but also by reducing the value of the tariff. They cannot hope to get away with this with any degree of success, surely!

I wonder if Vodafone and T-Mobile will not have [finally] esablished a pattern of transparency and understandability that will extend into the rest of their tariffs. I would like to see all the existing tariffs scrapped in favour of the likes of Flext. If T-Mobile can make money on it, then they all can despite their pleadings of overheads and abject poverty!

[@NickyColman]

Orange have completely lost the plot. I think they are trying to be quirky and fun like they used to be a number of years ago.

The Animals campaign is fundementally flawed as its virtually impossible to catagorise every Orange customer, especially with 4 categories.

[3g-g]

The Animals campaign is fundementally flawed as its virtually impossible to catagorise every Orange customer, especially with 4 categories.

I completely agree, although all the networks do this, you're all in one catagory or another dependant on your spend, I don't think you need to let the subscriber know this! One of the things Orange were very good at, back in the day, was making you feel like you were the only person that mattered if you needed to call. To an extent they still do, their CS, IMO, is still great, however thinking that you're just one of the school of Dolphins or part of the Panther pack (if that is what those groups of animals are collectively called?!) is a step in the wrong direction.

Even if they'd still brought out 4 packages and just called them something else other than particular animals it might of been OK...

How about:

Orange Simple - the no nonsense one
Orange Talk - The lots of minutes one..
Orange Text - The text one, strangely enough
Orange Premier - Which they still have, in addition to Panther I think..

Some nice fresh clean advertising, no balloons (God save us, whoever thought of that) and some clever, funny, memorable advertising a la "good night" send a text message one, Ben will know what I'm talking about.

[miffed]

I think it is all far too simple

How about using latin names ? and rare breeds ?

Come on Orange ! it's what we want :)

[Ben]

Right, that's it, I've heard enough...

*Starts the Help Us Buy Orange donations page*

I like the 'straight talking' tariff names you suggest, 3g-g. They'd be working better, too, removing the layer of code that currently obscures what each package actually is. By that, I mean that currently an average customer would have to ask which of the animals is appropriate for them. If they'd just been given clear names from the start, like you suggest, then the customer is more empowered to make the choice for themselves.

Perhaps this isn't such a big deal in Orange shops, where staff are dedicated to describing the various deals available to their somewhat captive audience. It's when we look to the independent retailers that the problems start - with T-Mobile's Flext selling itself and Orange's Animals selling themselves down the river.