Page 16 - Sphere No.9 (Sep 2003)

3 ’S MISSION HAS ALWAYS BEENTO
deliver the most useful and the most
entertaining content. In short, it adds fun
to functionality. Anyone who saw the
irreverent and “subversive” marketing
clips introducing the world of 3 to UK
consumers is bound to have had a good
chuckle. Who can forget the lager lout
“recycling” his beer, or the snow-skiing
enthusiast tumbling off his sofa?
If you missed these, there’s plenty
more to come.
In the land that gave us Benny Hill
and Monty Python, 3 UK has signed
Zeppotron, the come-
dy and entertainment
arm of Endemol UK, to
provide amusing con-
tent in video, audio,
text, animation
and graphics for-
mats. Video
highlights will
include How 2, a
series that offers
helpful advice in
topics like danc-
ing, flirting and,
(dare we say it?)
farting. Whatever
you want to say, you
can be sure to find an
amusing way to get your message across.
Sample animations include See & Know, a
tongue-in-cheek guide to the world
around us. The Doodles, a series of comic
shorts in the classic British picture-post-
card tradition, offers even more mirth.
“It’s like having a court jester in your
pocket without worrying that you’re
going to sit on his bells,” quipped
Zeppotron Managing Director Paul
Gilheany.
Video comedy clips are also available
in Australia, produced exclusively by pay
TV company The Comedy Channel.
Italian subscribers, meanwhile, are get-
ting their fair share of humour through
various content partners utilising their
unique M-site concept.
Austria offers its daily comedy clips
under the name “SchachMatt” (“Check-
mate”), a satiric illustration of daily life
provided by Gerald Matt. 3 Austria also
features Graz 2003 with short video
clips about events and exhibitions being
staged in the city, which is this year’s
European cultural capital.
In Sweden, 3 offers short stories
from one of the country’s most popular
comedy duos.They joke about just about
anything – from selling your body to sci-
ence to hawking Grandma’s paintings on
the open market.
3 UK HAS SIGNED UP MYMOVIES
to deliver a weekly update of
the latest movie information,
including the Top 10 Cinema
Box Office Charts, behind
the scenes features,
reviews, previews, and
celebrity interviews.
3 Italy has partnerships with
both Mediadigit and Cinemorfo,
allowing customers to get their
daily dose of the latest Showbiz
gossip, download a trailer from
the newest movies, search for
their closest cinema and
even book their tickets.
In the picture
Just for laughs
By switching to 3, consumers not
only get voice and SMS for a lower price,
but also gain access to a wide selection of
new multimedia content and advanced
capabilities such as video calling.
“Unbeatable value on voice is not a
marketing gimmick or a loss leader,” Jones
said.“We are passing the long-term sav-
ings of a more efficient technology on to
our customers.”
Adding to the momentum, the 3 UK
network was extended in June to cover
Northern England, Scotland, Wales and
Northern Ireland, completing the deploy-
ment of the 3 commercial service across
the UK.The network now covers 70% of
the population with services available in
over 50 cities, giving customers access to
video calls, news bulletins, market
updates, comedy, film clips and football
highlights, to mention but a few.
Coinciding with the extended cover-
age, 3 has completed the first phase of its
retail rollout – the most rapid to hit the
high street in recent years. Over 2,000
stores nationwide now offer 3 products.
These include the flagship 3Stores,“stores
within stores” in Superdrug shops and
traditional outlets, including Carphone
Warehouse, Phones4U and Dixons
Stores Group.
The Italian public responded enthusi-
astically to 3 from the very beginning.
The service went live on March 3 and
more than 100,000 early adopters signed
up in just 75 days.The network now cov-
ers 50% of the population and the figure
is set to hit 80% coverage by 2005.Along
with the 14 3Stores, which have been
consistently full of customers from Day
One, the company has approximately
1,900 point-of-sale outlets.
Prices have risen in Italy compared
with the Founders offer but, at E0.15 per
minute for voice calls compared with the
E0.25 national average, the offer repre-
sents a substantial discount for one of
Europe’s most connected nations.
Supported by a very popularTV cam-
paign, 3 Italy launched Estate 3.The pro-
motion enables customers to turn in “old
generation” handsets for a E250 discount
on the purchase of their UMTS “video-
fonino”. In a subsequent promotion that
has seen the daily activation rate triple, 3
Italy has introduced further attractive
incentives on the handset offers to
encourage customers to switch their per-
sonal numbers over to the 3 network. It
seems that in Italy, 3 (or tre) really is the
magic number.
Customers of 3 are already inventing
unique applications for the new technol-
ogy. The dermatology department at
Humanitas, one of the top private Italian
health care centres, is using the 3 services
to provide early consultation and progno-
sis to patients who use 3.
Italian customers were also given a
wider handset choice with the July intro-
duction of the NEC e808 to complement
the NEC e608 already available, a move
SPHERE
124
F ANCY A HOLIDAY IN THE
Bahamas or Berlin while heading
home in a taxi, walking in the park
or out on the town with friends?
Now customers of 3 UK can plan a trip
to anywhere from anywhere. 3 UK has
partnered lastminute.com, Europe’s
leading online travel agency, to launch
a unique service that allows customers
to use their handsets to search for
great deals on holidays and access
travel information.
Great Escapes
3 G U P D A T E S