Mobile silly season offers a 'loaded Claro-rific Christmas on the remix'
Published:Sunday | December 19, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Mark Titus, Business Reporter
So Christmas is almost here, but few are feeling the 'retail magic'. But there is one group - entertainers - cashing in on the season courtesy of hyped mobile campaigns by the top telecoms. Oh, but you might just win a house.
This year, more than $50 million of prizes are on offer so that Jamaica's saturated mobile market can squeeze more business from the 'talk and text' crowds.
The lips of the top mobile companies' usually accommodative spokespersons remain sealed on the precise Christmas-marketing spend and the cash-register turnover relative to marketing investment.
Claro Jamaica is offering Jamaicans loads of winnings each week for 10 weeks, promoted through a high-energy campaign that, kudos to the company, has the old, young, and babes alike going "Cla, Cla" to the very catchy jingle of dancehall artiste Mr G.
'Claro-rific Christmas'
Some $20 million in cash is on the line, with a lucky Claro subscriber being able to win $1 million each week over 10 weeks, leading up to a grand prize draw of $10 million and a 'Claro-rific Christmas'.
The trail to all these millions is littered with free phones and call credit, with every minute of talk time used qualifying as an entry, the promoters say.
Weeks ago, top dog in the Jamaican mobile market, Digicel, rolled out its 'loaded Christmas' promotions, parading young dancehall artistes Tifa, Ding Dong, and I-Octane in its pitch for the younger shoppers who all three mobile firms seem to be trying to attract.
Demonstrating no lack of cash, Digicel is promising subscribers who top up with $200 or more, as well as postpaid customers who talk for up to 20 minutes, a share of $26 million.
Having recently rediscovered its marketing marbles, LIME Jamaica is packing a heavy Christmas promotional punch here as well as elsewhere in its "one-Caribbean" market.
The company, which has been on the offensive since the appointment of Chris Dehring as Jamaica chairman and marketing guru, and most recently, a young CEO, Garfield Sinclair, has an all-star Christmas cast of Ce'Cile, Beenie Man, Mavado, and Elephant Man on its promotional wagon.
The blitz was extended to its launch a week ago of Mobile TV, brought to market in time for the high-sales season.
LIME's 'Christmas pon the Remix' involves more than $20 million in cash and prizes, with a two-bedroom house as the top giveaway. This is on top of a medley of favourite Christmas carols superimposed on a real jiggy dancehall rhythm, and street parties that have probably, finally, placed LIME on the lips of the Jamaican and Caribbean people.
Respite from the courtroom
Known in recent times for protracted legal sparring, the three mobile firms appear to have taken a respite from the courtroom, engaging entertainers rather than lawyers in a direct high-energy pitch for customers this Christmas.
But the Yuletide market offensive is not new, with rivalry among the companies having markedly intensified since Claro entered the fray in 2007.
Promise of a $10-million payday, or a house, is pretty enticing; but those giveaways - notwithstanding the celebratory high-energy, mobile marketing mania - does not match up to the US$1 million cash, 14 Mini cars, and the nine Mercedes Benz that were given away two Christmases ago.
The rivalry is so intense among the three, however, that in 2011, they may very well 'wheel and come again'.