MARKETING & MEDIA
NEXT week, the telecommunications giant Eir will begin a substantial rollout of its new brand repositioning and marketing campaign. In his first interview since joining the company in November 2016, group marketing director Henry Dummer talks to John McGee about Eir’s latest marketing campaign.
What’s the background to the new brand positioning?
Almost two years ago, in the largest brand repositioning initiative Ireland has ever seen, we became Eir. This move reflected the journey that a truly iconic Irish brand had taken to becoming the modern and innovative communications and entertainment business we are today.
The new brand identity gave the company a confidence and freshness that was long overdue. We’ve been working hard over the last two years to demonstrate to customers that we are living up to the promises we made when we became Eir.
We have carried out extensive customer research in recent months and we have asked our teams across the business to push the boundaries and to look at ways that we can disrupt the market by bringing new, innovative and relevant services to our customers.
We have also explored ways to broaden the services we provide to customers — the acquisition of a new sports channel is a huge proof point of this — and in tandem with all of this, we continue to roll out high-speed broadband at scale and at pace to every community across Ireland.
We are now at a stage in the Eir story where we need to evolve the brand even further. Our network allows our customers to do anything anywhere and our new brand positioning ‘Let’s Make Possible’ allows us to bring that story to life.
It’s important for us, from a brand perspective, to remain both relevant and innovative. ‘Live life on Eir’ has simply run its course. It’s time for a new focus and “Let’s Make Possible” is a natural evolution.
Our business strategy is rooted in empowering and supporting our customers – regardless of their location, personal passion, or business focus.
In a competitive market, how do you build brand love and loyalty?
It’s a fiercely competitive market and each day consumers are bombarded with new offers and overly complicated pricing structures. It’s very easy to say the “customer comes first”, but for us it’s about putting that into practice every day.
Our focus is on providing relevant services to our customers — but also providing them in a way that’s personal to each customer. It’s very easy to get swayed by a headline price or a promotional offer. We offer value to our customers and we want to build long-term relationships with customers.
What do customers actually want from thEir telecommunications provider?
They want value for money, reliability and innovation — but most of all they want a provider who really understands their needs and who responds to those needs in a tangible way.
How is Eir Sport performing and how many customers has it signed up?
Our Eir Sport subscriber numbers have increased significantly, driven by exclusive content such as the historic Ireland versus New Zealand rugby match and the Conor McGregor UFC fights.
There are now over 200,000 customers watching Eir Sport across a range of platforms including TV, laptops, tablets and hand-held devices.
Underpinning everything we do with Eir Sport is a focus to provide the best possible content to sports fans. We do this by continually enhancing our live sports rights.
Since the rebrand, Eir Sport has secured new rights including Rugby World Cup 2019, the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2017 and additional GAA rights. BT Sport has just won the Champions League and Europa League rights, and tied up UFC rights. This depth of content is a game changer for a challenger brand like us.
What can we expect from the new marketing campaign?
Our campaign centres on remaking that well known iconic song Anything You Can Do — with a surprising cast from all over Ireland openly celebrating their skills, ambitions and confidence in themselves and the infinite possibility a truly powerful network allows. You’ll see some familiar faces, and some not so familiar, all with their own unique story to tell. A key component is that we use real people in our adverts. Real people who are using our services to make something possible every day.
The campaign launches tomorrow across all media channels, including TV, VOD, outdoor, radio, digital brand and digital DR with TV and digital being our heaviest weighted channels.