Vodafone is a leading international telecommunications brand with operations in 25 countries and its services covering several more.  Apart from being a well known telecommunications player, Vodafone is also a leading marketer. The global success of Vodafone can be attributed to a very large extent to its consistent marketing. In the recent years, while it has grown its range of services for individual and enterprise customers, it has also grown its focus on innovation and customer engagement. Digital technology is playing a central role in its marketing strategy and the brand is using several channels to reach its customers and to grow its market penetration in its existing and new markets. In terms of marketing, Vodafone has proved itself excellent. Its famous zoo zoo ads and another ad involving a cute puppy with the strapline ‘wherever you go our network follows’ helped it achieve very high market recognition. As the level of competition in the market has grown, Voda has also increased its focus on marketing to retain its leadership position in global market.
Customer engagement through digital technology:-
Customer experience has grown more central than ever to marketing in this hyper-competitive era. In any and every industry, now companies focus on customer experience more than ever. Vodafone has made it a core pillar of its marketing strategy. In the recent years, it made several changes to its marketing strategy to grow its customer engagement and strengthen its connection with consumers all over the world.
Vodafone has started a programme which it calls CXX and whose central focus is to improve customer experience. The full form of CXX is Customer Experience Excellence. Through this program Vodafone aims to aim to deliver an outstanding and differentiated user experience for its customers, building further on its network leadership position. The focus of these programmes is on four key aspects of customer experience that are summarized by the acronym CARE.
C – Connectivity; secure and smart.
The ‘Secure Net’ proposition of Vodafone is live in ten markets offering the customers extra security layers. Mobile network guarantees in 17 markets offers a full refund if the network fails to match customer expectations.
A – Always excellent value
Through its Big Data platform (in 15 markets) the company offers its customers notifications for personalized solutions targeted at specific needs. 35% of the customer communications of Vodafone in these markets are supported by Big Data analytics.
R – Real Time Relevant Rewards.
Loyalty and reward programmes are available in 18 of Vodafone’s markets either through the Vodafone app or through the vodafone website. In 14 of these markets, customers can redeem reward points by shaking the phone or another similar interesting gamified technique.
E – easy, personal Instant access.
To make the Vodafone experience more personal and smooth, the company has offered the Vodafone app across all market so that the customers can easily manage their services.
The next phase of the group’s strategic development and an extension of the CXX programme is the Digital Vodafone programme. Vodafone aims to deliver the most engaging digital experience for its customers, which is a blend of the digital and physical assets of Vodafone for making personal, instant and easy interactions possible. The group aims to increase its focus on digital customer management. It aims to increase its use of data analytics for predictive, proactive and personalised offers to its customers, optimising the efficiency of its marketing spend, improve ARPU and to improve its direct channel mix. The My Vodafone app and the digital marketing channels being used by Vodafone will, over time, become the main customer acquisition and management platform for the company. In this era, the better the customer experience, the lower will be the churn rate and the larger the customer base. Vodafone is working on digitizing more and more of its operations and marketing in the coming days for higher efficiency and effectiveness in these areas.
Branding and advertising:-
Vodafone has created the image of a customer friendly image and that has been made possible through consistent focus on customer service, excellent branding and creative marketing. Its creative marketing techniques are meant to engage customers and to drive user loyalty high. One of the most famous ads tha Vodafone used to grow its popularity and which successfully helped it grow its recognition internationally is the zoozoo ad. The zoozoo ads were full of fun and targeted users of all ages. However, the most important thing was their uniqueness which made them stand out. Vodafone has traditionally used sports marketing and other similar techniques for promotion. The zoozoo ads helped it gain remarkable exposure. These ads have been received remarkably well by various audiences. While they are fun, the creativity behind the ads often leaves you feeling thrilled and satisfied.
Another creative ad used by Vodafone is some markets is the one about its global network. The ad with the strapline ‘Wherever you go our network follows’ was also popular and successfully drove user engagement.  While Vodafone’s use of digital technology for customer engagement has grown in the recent years, social media is also playing a role in its promotional strategy. ZooZoo ads are quite popular and shared widely on social media platforms. Vodafone does not use social media extensively for promotions and instead engages its users directly from its own app and platform. However, still, its ads and promotional material are frequently shared on facebook and Twitter.
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