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How Circles Life is taking on Australia’s dominant telcos

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By Danielle Long | Acting APAC Editor

February 22, 2023 | 6 min read

Digital telco Circles.Life is positioning as a truth-telling challenger brand as it attempts to shake-up Australia's telco market and steal share from the big guys.

Circles Life

Circles.Life is taking on the big guys in Australia

The Singapore-owned business, which launched in Australia in 2019 with a mission to provide a "genuine alternative", is targeting consumers who are fed-up with the tactics used by "the big guys" - Telstra, Optus and Vodafone.

Genevieve Brock, head of marketing and customer experience for Circles.Life Australia told The Drum, the company aims to appeal to young, savvy consumers who want an efficient, fast and affordable service, without unfair rules.

“We are not your parent’s telco, we’re the telco for the digital generation," says Brock.

In a bid to attract this audience, Circles.Life has launched a campaign promoting a 'Pay What You Want' offer for consumers. The offer, which Brock claims are a first for the market, does exactly what the name suggests by enabling consumers to pay what they want - from $5 upwards.

"It’s the first of its kind in Australia, offering customers ultimate flexibility and control over what they pay for their monthly phone plan, at a time when consumers are doing it tough. It’s about how we offer a solution to their problems, and not the traditional form of marketing where you might create a ‘fake problem’ then solve it. We are solving genuine customer problems."

Australia's $33.7bn telco market is a highly competitive category and a very mature market. The annual growth in the sector is minimal - forecasts predict 0.6% this year - so the battle for customer retention is fierce, as in luring customers away from the competition. However, the three big-guys don't offer a lot of difference, leaving room for new innovative offerings to chip away at their heels.

Circle.Life's sim-only offering is positioned to appeal to younger consumers who don't want to be locked into contracts, as well as appealing to those feeling the pinch in uncertain economic times.

Brock says the brand strategy is pretty straightforward. "We do the right thing by customers and point out how the big guys don’t."

Part of that strategy is a focus on "digital excellence and efficiency". Circles.Life does not have stores or even call centres with the entire business run digitally. Customers manage their accounts via the app including payments and customer service. Brock says this has enabled the company to create "one of the highest-rated telco apps in the country".

"We have focused on enabling customers to manage their accounts and ensured they have the power in the palm of their hand. Additionally, we don’t have a call centre, no one likes them and they’re inefficient - by ditching them altogether, we save a lot of money which we pass onto our customers in the form of more affordable plans."

"We also don’t prescribe to all the tactics that the big guys do either. We treat customers fairly and actually reward their loyalty. For example, our existing customers aren’t excluded from ‘new customer’ offers which are traditionally better than the offers telcos give to their loyal base."

This customer-centric approach extends to marketing as well, says Brock.

"‘Brand telling’ is dead. Consumers are much smarter than to believe a brand just because they tell you they value their customers. We’re all about ‘brand doing’. That is, showing customers that we value them, and are on their side, with real and tangible examples that translate directly into demonstrable benefits for consumers."

"We don’t sell products at a brand level - ‘price and device’ marketing is only ever going to get you the customers already in a buying cycle. The reality is, there are very few ‘new’ customers in telco, so it’s about how you demonstrate a genuine alternative with tangible benefits. Our Pay What You Want campaign is a great example of this," says Brock.

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