An integrated marketing communications campaign on Globe GCash

Gone are the days when the use of mobile phones was confined to sending a text message, making a call, downloading games and applications, listening to music or browsing through the Internet. In this day and age, where competition has become increasingly more pronounced in the telecommunications business, players find ways more than one to stay in shape and be profitable despite the blooming effects of global economic crisis and the maturing mobile market. This revolution knocked at Globe Telecoms doorstep the company knew it. Globes business roadmap has changed over the last decade with strategies revised and plans revisited. As the pioneer of SMS technology, Globes growth was at its finest during the late 1900s when the industry saw two major players who were then starting to increase its subscriber base while introducing innovative SMS and call offers, including other value-added services such as tones, applications, games and text alerts. Mobile phone consumers were at a high and penetration rate for this new media was surprising especially for a third world country like the Philippines. The dynamism of the mobile industry continued to evolve, dubbing the country as the official texting capital of the world, with an average of more than two billion text message sent and received in a day. The market continued to be saturated, given the entry of third player Digitel Philippines, which gave birth to unlimited call and text giant Sun Cellular. Globe and Smart were faced with the challenge of protecting their position in the market, exploring new business in the field of broadband, corporate data and mobile commerce. In 2004, through its wholly-owned subsidiary G-Xchange Inc., Globe launched GCash, an internationally-acclaimed micro payment service which transforms a mobile phone into a virtual wallet for secure, fast, and convenient money transfer at the speed and cost of a text message. The service provides Globe and Touch Mobile subscribers with a cashless and cardless method of facilitating money remittance, donations, loans settlement, disbursement of salaries or commissions, and payment of bills, products and services, via text message. Customer access GCASH through an SMS syntax, or a menu from a SIM Tool Kit integrated in the SIM, or by a menu that can retrieved via an over the air facility that pushes the menu to the to the subscribers SIM. This marketing communications plan aims to enhance awareness that is expected to drive usage, retention and loyalty among existing and new GCASH subscribers. According to researchers conducted by GCASH, there is a pressing need to educate the users to establish a behavior and culture in facilitating financial transactions with the use of the mobile phone. The campaign is designed to inculcate the habit of using ones cellphone in sending and receiving money through a medium that is easy, relevant and fast. Banking on the products value proposition as a cafe, secure, convenient and affordable platform with its promise to be the next big thing in mobile money, the campaign will focus on two phases that will ensure awareness, understanding and continued usage and patronage of the brand. It will make use of both above-the-line and below-the-line communication strategies to reinforce the message of its product features that will respond to the consumer insights revealed in researchers. Further, the communications campaign will position GCASH as a premium brand, and not just an option to do financial transactions by highlighting its ultimate benefit to the consumer that is, a revolutionized way of sending and receiving money at the speed and cost of a text message