MG 6304 - Market Research Report

8/3/2019 MG 6304 - Market Research Report

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MG6304 Market Research

Market Research Report: E-Mobile

MBS Management and Marketing

Philippe Vancell - Student No: 110222323

David Shanley - Student No: 110223130

Mark ODonovan - Student No: 106571921

Date: 07/01/2011

Word Count: 4,786

Executive Summary


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This report was written in conjunction with a Market Research Project carried out on Eircoms

newest mobile brand e-mobile, and what are the perceptions of the brand in general with

consumers.

In order to understand the e-mobile brand, we gathered data about Eircom since it is the mother

company. We also did a comparative analysis of the other mobile brands existing in Ireland and

came up with a SWOT analysis of the e-mobile brand. This was summarized as part of our

secondary data in the first part of the report.

In order to get a hands on experience and grasp the meaning of e-mobile more intensely we

embarked on analysing the brand personally by conducting various research exercises. As part of

our market research we conducted the following:

2 one-hour observations in order to record the gender and generation of people entering

the E-Mobile Store situated in St. Patrick Street Cork.

1 Focus Group in which we analysed the peoples perception upon viewing e-mobiles

television adverts. We wanted to see what their opinions and impressions of the brand

would be after viewing the adverts e-mobile had used since their launch in October 2010.

40 Surveys which dealt upon the perception consumers had of Eircom and E-mobile. And

also to see if there was a correlation between them.

Once our research was done we did an analysis of our findings. The results of our findings relate

with our research question, since the peoples perception of e-mobile is effected by the advertising

of e-mobile and also by Eircom as its mother company.

Concluding we gave recommendation on how e-mobile can actually change in a positive way the

consumers perception, in order to attract a vaster target market.

We will start this market research report with a brief introduction on Eircom, since it is e-mobiles

mother company

Introduction


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The Eircom Group plc is an Irish telecommunications company established in 1984 and was in the

past owned by the state. It is currently the largest telecommunications operator in the Republic of

Ireland and operates primarily in the republic and Northern Ireland, with a small presence in the

UK. Eircom currently has 6,073 employees and generates about 2.602 billion in revenue. Eircom

has a number of subsidiaries which include meteor and Eircom Phonewatch both of which are

established recognisable organisations within the communications market.

Eircom operate the largest fixed-line telecommunications network in the republic, under license

from the commission for communications regulation. Most homes and businesses in the state are

connected by this network. Eircom currently operate a fixed-line telephone network, a mobile

telephone network (Meteor) and act as an internet services provider amongst other things. Prior to

the privatisation of Eircom in 1995 the organisation had a monopoly in the Irish market. During this

time the organisations market share of Irish landlines was as high as 82%. This figure has

decreased in recent years to72% in 2006, however it is still a significantly large market share and

underlines Eircoms position as a market leader in Ireland. Additionally Eircom broadband had a

49% share in the Irish market in 2006 and the meteor subsidiary had a 19% share in the Irish

market with 1,032,000 cellular subscribers on the network.

Eircoms strength in todays market is largely down to its success during the initial years of its

inception. As the organisation was a state owned organisation with a monopoly in the

communications market there were no rival organisations competing for market share. As a result

Eircom or Bord Telecom Eireann as it was know at the time could envision the mass market, thatbeing land line distribution to the hole of Ireland. Tellis and Golder (1996) suggested that tapping

into the mass market provides economies of scale and allows an organisation to exploit the full

potential of a new product/service. The concept of envisioning the mass market is evident in the

development of the land line telecommunications sector during the early years of the organisations

development. By the time the organisation was privatised in 1995 it had secured 82% of the market

making it almost impossible for competitors to compete. Additionally having been a state owned

organisation the financial resources were available for rapid expansion, resources beyond which

most private limited companies can access.

Having been a market leader since its inception Eircom has developed a high level of brand

loyalty. Soloman et al (2009) suggest that one of the most common heuristics which effect

customers decision making is brand loyalty. Customers who have strong brand loyalty feel that it is

not worth considering alternative options. Jones (2007) suggests the first to market approach

establishes a level of brand loyalty, it is then up to the organisation to be innovative and creative

enough to retain these customers. In relation to Eircom the high levels of brand loyalty evident

during the early years is largely due to the monopoly which they had on the market at the time. In a

market where the competitive climate is nonexistent the only viable option is to go with the

available product/service.


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Another area to consider when discussing brand loyalty with particular relevance to Eircom is

cultural receptivity. The Eircom brand having been a government owned organisation may have

been perceived as a very safe and credible organisation thus effecting brand loyalty. Erdem et al

(2006) suggest that brand receptivity is largely driven by risk aversion, considering this idea

customers may have felt a false sense of security due to Eircom being a government owned

organisation.

In the current market enviroment do it has changed high levels of brand identification and brand

loyalty remain. The association with the current Eircom brand may be as simple as why change

now, the organisation has a track record of being effective, efficient, reliable and above all Irish.

There are few Irish people if none that cannot relate to or who havent dealt with the Eircom group

at some point.

Market Research Question

In this market research project we will be discussing E-mobile the newest mobile brand launched in

the Irish market. The main question we are analysing is as follows:


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Do customers views and perceptions of Eircom and the E-Mobile brand translate and correlate

with Eircomss method and approach in advertising E-mobile as the newest entry to the mobile

market?

In order to answer our research question we have decided to establish our findings by focusing the

consumers views and perception of both Eircom and E-mobile and correlating these responses

with the advertising messages and channels Eircom is using in order to promote the E-mobile

brand.

We will be collecting data, by using both primary and secondary data as follows:

Primary Data Structure:

Perception of Eircom by consumers

Knowledge about Eircom as the mother company owning E-mobile

Are the consumer perceptions of E-mobile influenced by their perception on Eircom as

Irelands largest telecommunication provider?

Independent perception of the E-mobile brand in general.

Secondary Data Structure:

Literature on Eircom and E-mobile

Comparisons between mobile brands in the market.

SWOT Analysis on the E-mobile brand.

E-Mobile Package and Comparison:


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As part of our secondary data for this market research project, we did an analysis of the services

being offered by the main mobile brands in the Irish market. There are 6 main mobile operators

within Ireland mainly Meteor, Vodafone, 3, O, Tesco and E-mobile.

E-mobile is the newest entry to the mobile market, however when analysing telephony services its

packages match with what other mobile networks are offering. Moreover it distinguishes itself by

having a unique pre-pay option weekly plan as opposed to the usual monthly plan, which other

mobile companies are not offering at the moment. E-mobile offers an exclusive weekly plan called

the 7 day plan. This plan is further subdivided into 2 different packages, you get the 7/10 plan,

where you have the option of getting unlimited calls and texts to all networks by topping up with 10

euros per week, and you also have the 7/15 plan, where you have the option of getting unlimited

calls and texts to all networks plus 250mb of data download by topping up with 15 euros per week.

This new tariff plan may be seen as quite innovative, however a little bit on the expensive side. Onanalysing e-mobiles adverts in the media, one can see that they are clearly advertising their

packages to innovative high end professionals in a corporate work environment. This is clearly

seen in these adverts by calling the main protagonists during the advert such names as Head of

non-complication, Director of simplicity, thinking ahead and Head of doing things differently.

Moreover these protagonists are being portrayed to be E-mobile employees, hence making

consumers associate E-mobile as being a fresh innovative no worries alternative in the mobile

market, with forward thinking individuals working for you.

Following is a clear description of all services which are being offered by all mobile networks in

Ireland in comparison with E-Mobile. Mobile networks have been analysed on the following plans: -

Pre-pay option, Standard Rates, Bill pay, Add-ons, Broadband and Roaming. (see appendices for

all Mobile network services)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

E-mobile:1

Pre-pay options:

Weekly

7 day plan 7/10 all the calls and text to all networks for 10 euros per week

7/15 all the calls and texts to all networks and 250 mb of data for 15 per week

Monthly

30 day plan - Free texts to any network for 20 per month

Free e-mobile talk and texts for 20 per month

1 Intouch eMobiles free quarterly magazine Autumn Issue 2010


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Standard - Irish landlines and networks for 25c per minute

Texts to Irish networks 13c per text

Voicemail 15c per minute

Bill Pay: 6 plans from 14 to 94, Sim only or monthly contract, all including free minute calls

and text to any network, 3 plans offer free data allowance up to 5 GB and Eircom

customer discount (landline)

Add-ons: Data, International Minutes and any network texts.

Broad Band: Bill pay, monthly at 19.99, 12 month contract, 10 GB

Pre-pay, daily at 2.99 (500mb), monthly at 19.99 (7.5 GB), no contract

Roaming: Call 47c, receiving a call 18c, text 13c,

Customers for less than 2 months - 60 to setup and enable roaming.

E-Mobile SWOT analysis:

We are outlining the Swot analysis from our research into the brand E-mobile and how it can

improve the brand in the future and where also it could meet in its end. As E-mobile is entering the


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mobile market it meets experienced competitors head on. How can they make themselves unique

in this market?

E-Mobiles Strengths:

Wide market base in terms of customers.

They are marketing to an older more experienced customer with better bill pay options than

competitors.

Have the popular and credible brand name of Eircom to back up their products.

Use the Eicoms brand trademark underneath the E-mobile brand offering reassurances to

the customer.

Offers customers in-depth knowledge of the mobile industry.

Weaknesses:

Dont put enough energy marketing to customers in the age barrack 12-25 year olds.

The Eircom brand being associated with the E-mobile can have both a positive and equally

a negative effect on customer interest.

Competing with O2, Meteor and Vodafone for market share- major organisations who offer

cheap rates to customers and have been operating for a number of years, thus developing

consumer loyalty

From our research we feel E-mobile hasnt established itself yet in the market and needs

time to develop the business and to develop their market strategy.

Advertising needs to be more widespread and on every medium (radio, newspapers and on

Eircom website- there is only a quick link option, this needs to advertised more effectively

on the website, heighten awareness.

Word of mouth aspect- Meaning people are not talking about the brand and little is known

about the brand.

Opportunities

A major opportunity is to advertise to the students 12 to 25 year olds and go head to head

with other brands, under-cutting their prices so E-mobile will look attractive and

approachable to students. This will help develop customer loyalty and word of mouth

advertising.

Increased awareness of the brand through marketing- sponsorship of a team or an event

has always the potential to increase awareness.


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The opportunity to increase customers by making the E-mobile and Eircom connection

more widespread. It mentioned on the E-mobile website that Eircom has a customer base

of 2.5 million people; this in itself offers many opportunities to target this market.

Exploring the idea of a combined network connection Eircom. .i.e. If Eircom has a

connection/network deal with an organisation then offer a deal with company mobile

phones and incorporate the idea that way.

Opportunity to take E-mobile into the European market and compete in the euro market.

More ambitiously to make E-mobile a global brand by development of networks throughout

Europe.

Threats

As mentioned above the threats such as Vodafone, Meteor and O2 in the Irish marketmakes it very difficult to compete against.

Being a new brand means facing difficult challenges against the top 3, how can E-mobile

price their products and with the emergence of Tesco mobile this is another threat to their

company and adds pressure to compete.

Mobile market is open to additional competitors and this leaves the option of other major

co-operations like Tesco competing in it.

The threat of Eircoms reputation being undermined by other competitors and having aknock on effect to E-mobile.

The threat that their effect will be not enough to establish a market share and thus ending

the company as it is not producing profits.

Observation Analysis

Observation No. 1 - Saturday 6th November from 12:00 to 13:00 near E-Mobile Shop.

Aim: Recording gender and generation of people entering the E-Mobile Store.


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Observation No. 2 - Saturday 27th November from 12:00 to 13:00 near E-Mobile Shop

Aim: Recording gender and generation of people entering the E-Mobile Store.

MALE FEMALE

YOUNG

(UP to 30)

MIDDLE

(30 to 60)

OLD

(61+)

YOUNG

(UP to 30)

MIDDLE

(30 to 60)

OLD

(61+)

5 10 2 3 20 0

MALE FEMALE

YOUNG

(UP to 30)

MIDDLE

(30 to 60)

OLD

(61+)

YOUNG

(UP to 30)

MIDDLE

(30 to 60)

OLD

(61+)

12 20 6 10 26 4


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Analysis:

As part of our primary data collection, we decided to carry out 2 one-hour observations in front of

the E-mobile shop in St. Patrick Street, in order to analyse which age segment the E-mobile brand

is attracting in general. The E-mobile shop is situated approximately in the centre of St. Patrick

Street and confines with a high standard fashion clothes shop like Tommy Hilfiger on one side, and

a coffee shop/pub on the other.

Observation Techniques were useful in order to be more flexible in our research approach and also

to avoid bias from respondents that would act differently if they knew that they were being

monitored for research purposes. In this case we were recording individuals on their free will in

entering the E-mobile shop without them being affected behaviourally by our observational

research.

The first observation was done in early November, on a Saturday afternoon. Our observation

showed that since E-mobile had been just launched approximately around a month only; a lot of

individuals did not know much about this new mobile brand. This was evident in the low number of

people actually entering the shop compared to a much superior number of people just walking by

the shop on St. Patrick Street and not taking any care of the E-mobile shop in general. In fact

during our first observation 17 males and 23 females only entered the shop.

What was more striking is that out of the 40 consumers who entered the shop in order to enquire

on E-mobile the 30 of them were middle-aged individuals. This correlates with the advertisementsthat are being showed in the media, in which their main highlight is middle-aged professionals

The Second observation was done in late November, as well on a Saturday afternoon. Numbers of

people entering the E-mobile shop had increased, even though it was only 2 months since their

main launch. This can be due to 2 factors:

1. The highly competitive environment which is found within the mobile industry especially

when people become knowledgeable on the various packages mobile companies offer.

2. A period closer to Christmas time, aided by the advertisements E-mobile launched about

their Christmas offers.

During this observation 38 males and 40 females entered the E-mobile Shop on St. Patrick Street,

increasing the total number to +38 customers from our first observation in the beginning of

November. This shows that the E-mobile brand was becoming more recognised and followed by

consumers; also people walking by were sometimes giving furtive glances to the Christmas

promotional posters attached on the shops showcase in the front. The interest between middle-

aged individuals was consistent throughout the second observation as well; out of the 78customers entering the shop 46 of them were middle-aged individuals.


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The recordings from both observations, shows that the approach the E-mobile brand is advertising

its services and products in order to attract middle-aged consumers in particular is actually being

reflected. Also the increase in the number of individuals enquiring shows that the E-mobile brand is

becoming a recognised brand within the Irish mobile industry,

Focus Group Analysis (transcript is found in the appendices)

Jobber (2007) highlights that the strongest type of media for promotion would be television. During

our Focus group we wanted to analyse the peoples perception upon viewing e-mobiles television

adverts. We wanted to see what their opinions and impressions of the brand would be after viewing

the adverts e-mobile had used since their launch in October 2010.

Three adverts and a small documentary on e-mobiles launch were shown and the floor wasopened for discussion after each viewing. The video clips that where shown were as follows:

1. Advert Meet the Team 2

2. Advert Seven/Ten (7/10)3

3. Advert Making Christmas Easier4

4. Documentary e-mobile launch Documentary5

The first advert to be shown to the participants also happened to be the first advert that was aired

after the launch of e-mobile. After showing the advert the main perception by most of theparticipants was that e-mobile wants to be portrayed totally different from other competitors by

giving a very simplistic non-complicated feel to the brand. The participants also felt that its trying to

give a friendly appeal where there are forward thinking people working for you. Even though the

participants felt that this advert was very comforting, they still thought that the target they are

aiming for would not be students, but middle aged business people. This is made clear when

2 http://www.youtube.com/user/emobileIreland#p/u/11/RKy9xMIPEHg

3 http://www.youtube.com/user/emobileIreland#p/u/10/CxX6Scx5GEQ

4 http://www.youtube.com/user/emobileIreland#p/u/9/qeMAb2HYAvA

5 http://www.youtube.com/user/emobileIreland#p/u/24/H3Dis4txebs


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participant 1 says I mean the younger generation just want the cool stuff when it comes to mobile

services. Definitely they are not really directing it to the younger generation.

The second advert which was shown portrayed one of the packages that e-mobile was offering to

its clients. After seeing this advert the participants looked uninterested in the brand. They found the

package to be quite expensive and useless and to be more targeted to middle aged businesspeople. They even noticed that there was a part of the advert which had small print about

regulations of the package and the video had to be shown again in order for them to recheck what

it said and reconfirm that the package was quite expensive.

The third and last advert shown was a Christmas time advert, named Making Christmas Easier.

After seeing the advert the participants emphasized again that e-mobile is trying to portray this

friendly image in order to relate more to the brand and their adverts are innovative and nice to

watch. On the other hand when seeing the prizes and the people portrayed in the adverts, their

perception was that e-mobile is targeting the older generation.

The last clip to be shown was a short documentary on the launch of e-mobile, as Eircoms newestmobile entry. The Participants were quite positive in their comments after being shown this clip.

They though that this clip showed how Eircom with the help of e-mobile wants to promote their

network and their progression in the communications industry. Participant 4 highlights this by even

regarding their efforts as a means to the future of technology. It was also noted that by making

such a clip with the actual people that have worked for the launch of e-mobile, it makes it more

credible in the eyes of the consumers and they should have used the same strategy in their

adverts.

After showing these 4 clips we asked the participants on which network they were currently, and

none of them was with e-mobile, making it clearer that e-mobile was not targeting the student

profile but the more professional middle aged profile. Naturally when asked if after what theyveseen they would change to e-mobile, all participants were reluctant to change to e-mobile all of

them being comfortable with the network they were on and most of them seeing e-mobile as quite

an expensive option to move to.


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Survey Analysis (survey copy found in appendices)

The following analysis is based on stastical information gathered via Survey Monkey, the survey

was completed by 38 participants. The age range of participants who completed the survey is 16-

60, there were no surveys completed by anyone in the age bracket of 60+. A statistical break down

of all participants can be seen in figure 1 below.

Figure 1

The largest percentage of participants who completed the survey were aged 16-24 and account for66% of the overall number of participants. The 25-35 age bracket account for the second highest

number of participants, approximaly 24% of the total number. Combining both age groups, the

number of participants amounts to 90% of the total number of participants. The high percentages

of participants evident in the younger age catagories may be a reflection of the method utalised to

deliver the surveys. The online method of surveying may not have given a fair representation of the

different age brackets, people aged between 16 and 45 are more likely to utalise and online

method of surveying where as people aged 45+ would be more likely to complete a survey in a one

to one setting.

Therefore the statistical information based on this survey may not be an accurate reflection of the

older age groups. The gender representation was almost identical with the male participants

accounting for 52.7% of the surveys and the female participants acounting for 47.3%. The even

representation of both male and female participants strenghtens the validity of the results gathered

from the survey and allows for an accurate statistical representation of both genders in the survey

answers.

The first question which was asked in the survey was whether participants had a positive ornegative perception of Eircom, this question would allow us to gain a better understanding of how


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Eircom is perceived in the current market place. Figure 2 below highlights the varying perceptions

of Eircom.

Figure 2 Figure 3

The perceptions of Eircom based on the survey results are mostly positive with 63% of the

participants selecting either good or very good and only 37% selecting bad or very bad. This is an

important aspect to consider when marketing the E-mobile brand using the strength of the mother

company Eircom. If people in large had negative perceptions of Eircom it may have been

detrimental to associate E-mobile with Eircom. The positive perceptions evident in the surveys

however suggest the opposite that E-mobile would benefit for the recognition of Eircom as its

mother company. Additionally figure 3 shows the Eircom services utilised by the participants, all

participants avail of one if not both of the services offered by Eircom and so its clear that the

Eircom brand is widely used amongst the participants.

The awareness of E-mobiles connection to Eircom maybe a reflection of how new it is to the

market, people have no relationship with the brand as of yet and therefore cannot identify with E-

mobile and its connection to Eircom.

Figure 5

The next aspect of the survey was to discover the mobile network each participant used and why

they chose their particular network, this would allow us to compare and contrast E-mobiles strength

in the market to those it is competing with. Nearly 40% of the participants said they used Vodafone,

most common answers for their choice were value for money, cheap, good deals, effective

and popular. Vodafones

appeal seems to be

value for money and the offers which they give to customers. The second most popular choice of

network was Meteor with 30% of the total number of participants choosing this network. Most

common choices for picking Meteor include cheap, for students, value for money, cheap texts and

for teenagers. Based on the participants answers the Meteor service appeals to teenagers and

students by offering value for money and special offers, similar to that of Vodafone but aimed more

toward the younger generation.

E-mobile had the least amount of users along with Tesco Mobile with only 1 participant availing of

each service, participants views on E-mobile included expensive, dont know enough about them,

for older markets and new/untested. Peoples perceptions of E-mobile are almost the opposite of

Figure 4: Represents

participants awareness of E-

mobile as a subsidiary of

Eircom.

The number of participants

that are aware of E-mobiles

connection to Eircom is almost

identical to those unaware of

the connection.

Figure 4


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that evident in the comments left for Vodafone and Meteor, the fact that the brand is new and

participants knew little about E-mobile suggests that the advertising campaign is not working.

Having identified the different Networks used by participants, the next question was to determine

whether they would be willing to change to E-mobile. The results are represented in figure 6. 84%of the participants stated that they would not change to E-mobile, the reasons given by participants

included too expensive, no value for money, poor top up options, need something more cost

efficient, deals are not beneficial and happy with my current network. From the analysis of the data

participants feel there is nothing to be gained by joining E-mobile, additionally most participants

seemed content with their current network.

Of the 16% who said yes it was based on the premise that they would receive a better offer than

they are currently getting, some of the responses in favour of switch included if I got a better offer I

would switch, if it was better value for money, if the offers were good and if it was better than my

current network. Those who stated they would switch didnt seem to know any of the offers

available with E-mobile as almost all stated if something were different of better etc. The final

question was whether the participants perceptions of Eircom would affect their decision to switch

to E-mobile; the results were quite similar however the responses in relation to the question varied

quite a bit. The main responses associated with those who said it would affect their decision

included Eircoms customer service is terrible, Eircom are too expensive, Eircom offer poor value

for money and Eircom have poor internet spend and call out service. The negative aspects of

Eircom's reputation would therefore affect some of the participants decisions when considering a

switch to E-mobile. Those who stated that Eircom wouldnt affect their decision to change to E-

mobile suggest reasons such as Eircom is a reliable and reputable and makes no difference in

their decision.

Reccomendations

After getting our primary data and doing its analysis we can conclude that the consumer perception

of e-mobile is in a way affected by Eircom as its mother company and that even though it is the

newest mobile brand on the high street market, its not getting the widest market segment.

Hence in order for e-mobile to get a more positive consumer outlook we suggest that:

The marketing of e-mobile should focus more on e-mobile as a particular brand.

The adverts although innovative in style need to give the consumer a more direct

understanding of the offers and deals available.

A better comparison of e-mobile packages with packages offered by other mobile

companies in the Irish market.


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Their adverts should feature actual people working at e-mobile so the company is viewed

as more credible, however at the same time keeping the warm simplistic and friendly feel of

the other adverts

Include packages which would target a younger generation who maybe are put off by such

expensive packages that e-mobile is offering at the moment for a more professional

audience.

Offering a multi-deal package, including Landline, Broadband and Mobile telephony at a

discounted rate.

Bibliography

Erdem, T., Swait, J., and Valenzuela, A., (2006). Brands as signals: a cross-country validationstudy. Journal of Marketing Research, 70 pp.34-49

Jobber, D., 2007. Principles and Practice of Marketing. 5th ed. Berkshire: McGraw-Hill Education.

Jones, G. (2007). Organisation Theory Design and Change. 5th ed. New Jersey, USA: Prentice Hall

Kapferer, J.N. (2001). Strategic brand management: creating and sustaining brand equity long

term. 2nd ed. London: Kegan Page Limited

Kotabe, M., and Helsen, K., (2010), Global Marketing Management. 5th ed. John Wiley & Sons:Danvers

Soloman, M.R., Marshall, G.W., Stuart, E.W., Mitchell, V., and Barnes, B., (2009). Marketing realpeople, real decisions. Prentice Hall: Essex

Tellis, G.J., and Golder, P.N., (1996). First to market, first to fail? Real causes of enduring market

leadership. Sloan Management Review


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Appendices

i) Survey

MG 6304 Market Research, E-Mobile Survey:

1. Gender & Age

Male

F emale

-----------------------

Under 16

16 - 24

25 35

36 45

46 60

61+

2. What is your general perception of Eircom?


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Very Good

Good

Bad

Poor

Other: ____________

3. Do you use any of the services offered by Eircom?

Landline

Broadband

Both

4. Do you know that Eircom is the mother company owning E-Mobile?

Yes

No

5. Which mobile network are you on

E-Mobile Meteor

Vodafone 3 Mobile

O Tesco

6. One word that come to your mind to describe the network:

E-mobile __________

Vodafone __________

O __________

Meteor __________

3 Mobile __________

Tesco __________

7. Would you consider changing to E-Mobile?

Yes

No

8. Why?


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___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

9. Seeing that Eircom owns E-mobile, would your perceptions of Eircom play a part

when thinking about E-mobile?

Yes

___________________________________________________________________________

No

___________________________________________________________________________

10.What are your general perceptions of E-mobile?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

ii) Mobile Comparisons

E-mobile:6

Pre-pay options:

Weekly

7 day plan 7/10 all the calls and text to all networks for 10 euros per week

7/15 all the calls and texts to all networks and 250 mb of data for 15 per week

Monthly






Bill Pay: 6 plans from 14 to 94, Sim only or monthly contract, all including free minute calls and text

to any network, 3 plans offer free data allowance up to 5 GB and Eircom customer discount

(landline)

6 Intouch eMobiles free quarterly magazine Autumn Issue 2010


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Add-ons: Data, International Minutes and any network texts.

Broad Band: Bill pay, monthly at 19.99, 12 month contract, 10 GB

Pre-pay, daily at 2.99 (500mb), monthly at 19.99 (7.5 GB), no contract



3:7

Pre-pay options:

30 day plan - 10 top up, 35c all services to all networks

20 top up

Unlimited free calls, all weekend, any network

Unlimited free texts anytime and network

Unlimited facebook, google and twitter and more (500mb per month)

5 extra credit every month.

Best of Both: Mixing Bill with pre-pay, 3 plans 15, 25 or 45 Euros (Bill), 15, 20, 40 Euros (Top-up)

Pay bill monthly, with the option of topping up like a prepay mobile if you want more.

Unlimited texts to all networks and unlimited 3 to 3 calls.

Bill Pay: 4 plans on a 12 month contract from 25 to 75, 4 plans (smartphone) on an 18 month

contract from 40 to 95 all include 2 GB data, flexi units (call [1min] text [2texts] or surf

[500kb)

Add-ons: 1free, 8 offered in all,

Unlimited landline calls

Downtime calls (evening and weekend calls)

Call N.America

Call down under

Call Europe

Text all

Internet mini

Internet Max

Broad Band: Broadband

Bill pay, 3 plans, monthly 9.99[1GB] 19.99[15GB] to 26.24[30GB],

Pre-pay, daily at 5 (500mb), weekly 10 (2GB) monthly at 15[1GB] 25[7.5GB] to

35[20GB]

7 Discover 3- October 2010


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0:8

Pre-pay options:

Monthly


Free 0 talk and texts for 20 per month

Standard - Irish landlines and networks for 30/35c per minute


Bill Pay: 4 plans from 15 to 80, Sim only or 12/18 month contract, all including free minute calls

and text to any network,

3 plans from 20 to 80, Sim only or 18 month contract, O talk and text, O calls and

landline, O talk and text and landline.

Add-ons: Texts, MMS, Broadband, Data, Mobile Internet.

Broad Band: Bill pay, 18/12/6 contract monthly at 19.99, 15 GB, free stick

Pre-pay, daily at 3.97 (500mb), monthly at 19.90 (5 GB), no contract stick 19.99



Vodafone:9

Pre-Pay Options:

Monthly


Free Vodafone talk and texts for 20 per month

Free mobile internet and Vodafone texts for 20 per month

30 top-up, free mobile service with either of first 2 plans.




Bill Pay: 3 choices:

8 Connect Your O Magazine October 2010

9 Your Vodafone Guide


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Perfect Choice [5 plans from 19 to 89], 12 monthly contract, all including free calls and

text to Vodafone and set amount of minutes and text to other networks.

Perfect Choice Access Plus (Smartphones) [5 plans from 35 to 100] 18 month contract, all

including free calls and text to Vodafone and set amount of minutes and text to other

networks, data package.

Simply: 30 day contracts [3 plans from 20 to 60] all including free calls and text to

Vodafone and set amount of minutes and text to other networks.

Add-ons: Texts, Minutes, Data, Insurance, International minutes

Broad Band: Bill pay, monthly at 19.99, 12 month contract, 10 GB free modem [new customers]

Bill pay, monthly at 9.99, 12 month contract, 1 GB; Modem 29.99 [existing customers]

Pre-pay, daily at 3 (500mb), weekly at 10 (2 GB) monthly at 20 (7.5 GB), no contract,

modem for all three plans is 49.99

Roaming: Call 79c first charge than normal rate per minute, receiving a call 79c any length, text 13c,


Meteor:10

Pre-pay options:

Monthly



Free mobile internet and Meteor texts for 20 per month/

Standard - Irish landlines and networks for 29 per minute


Voicemail Free

Bill Pay: 3 smart plans from 30 to 85, Sim only or monthly contract, all including free minute calls

and text to Meteor, Free data allowance up to 5 GB. Other network calls at 25c and texts at

10c

3 bill pay plans from 10 to 85, 30 day/12 or 18 month contract, various offers for talk or

text.

Add-ons: Mobile Internet, International Calls, Text

Broad Band: Bill pay, monthly from 16.99, 12 month contract, 5 GB and 29 for stick

Pre-pay, daily at 2.99 (500mb), monthly at 19.99 (7.5 GB), no contract, 49 for stick


10 Get on to Meteor


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Tesco Mobile:11

Pre-pay options:

Monthly

30 day plan - Anyone Anytime plane for 10 Euro,

Anyone Anytime Plan for 20 Euro, Free Tesco-mobile talk and texts

Anyone Anytime Plan for 30 Euro, Free Tesco-mobile talk and texts

All plans have Bonus double value credit.

Irish landlines and networks for 20c per minute





Roaming: Call 47c to 2.29, receiving a call 18c to 2.19, text 13c to 39c.

iii) Focus Group Transcript

Focus Group One

Location: The Boole Library, UCC.

Date: Wednesday 1st December 2010

Time: 17:30 18:30

Speaker: Philippe Vancell

Participants: 6 college students

Speaker:

Hello Everyone,

Ok first of all I would like to thank you all for coming, we really appreciate it. My name is Philippe Vancell and

I am going to be directing the questions during the focus group, these are my other colleagues; David and

Mark who are going to observe the group.

We are doing a research on e-mobile and we would like get your opinions and impressions of the brand. We

will be focusing on e-mobiles adverts. We will show you the adverts they have used since their launch and

we will discuss them.

Share your ideas and your perception upon seeing these advertisements. We would really appreciate it if you

could answer them as honestly as possible in a group environment.

(Before starting this focus group we asked how many knew that e-mobile was owned by Eircom and all

participants knew that it was owned by Eircom)

11http://www.tesco.com/mobilenetwork/
http://www.tesco.com/mobilenetwork/http://www.tesco.com/mobilenetwork/http://www.tesco.com/mobilenetwork/


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1stAdvert: Meet the Team

Speaker: What are your views after seeing this advert?

Participant 1: To be honest I think they are trying to make the e-mobile brand look simplistic, with the

headings they are giving in the advert.

Participant 2: Yeah I think it has a forward thinking appeal

Participant 3: I agree with that it gives the impression that they are trying to portray a forward thinking appeal.

However I dont think so this would attract me, I mean the younger generation just want the cool stuff when it

comes to mobile services. Definitely they are not really directing it to the younger generation.

Participant 2: It also gives a friendly appeal to the whole organization. It gives me ease to know there are

forward thinking people working for you.

Participant 4: I also think they are trying to give a simplistic outlook in general. I feel customers in general will

be at ease when they see this ad. Its simplistic and not complicated, like they are saying in the advert.

Participant 5: I think they are definitely targeting middle aged business people with their advert; definitely as

student it would not really attract me.

Participant 1: Yes I definitely agree.

Participant 6: I think the advert in general is quite friendly and personal. It does attract me.

Speaker: That is a very good analysis of this advert, actually this was one of the first adverts they used when

they launched e-mobile.

Well now move onto the second advert, and see if you perceptions about e-mobile start changing.

2

nd

Advert: Seven/10

Participant 1: Whats the use of having all free, what am I going to use at the end of the day. I would be

putting 10 euros every week in my mobile and just piling up credit.

Participant 3: Well at on point during the advert theres the small print, so you have to take that into

consideration.

Participant 2: I did not see that can you show us the video again.

Video is replayed another time

Participant 2: Oh now that makes sense, it is a bit too expensive, especially for a college student

Participant 5: My perception definitely did not change, 10 euros a week that is too expensive. Now Im more

sure they are targeting middle aged business people.

Speaker: Thanks for your contribution, so now lets pass onto the third advert. This ad is quite recent; you

might have seen this on your TV lately, as it is specifically for the Christmas period.

3rd Advert: Making Christmas Easier

Participant 1: Definitely its not making Christmas easier for me. Not when you have to top up 10 euros every

week. Im not buying that.

Participant 6: I am very impressed about the way they are really stressing the friendly personal side of e-

mobile. In the adverts we have seen so far they are trying to generate a friendly environment so you canrelate more to the brand.


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Participant 3: For me it definitely seems it is for older people

Participant 4: I just think the ads are really nice to watch; they are very innovative and are giving a new

dimension to the mobile sector. But thats all I barely understand their meaning.

Participant 5: I think they might be targeting older people. After all the mother company is Eircom and has

been offering landline forever.

Participant 6: Well Eircom honestly is quite useless and expensive, they do not want to expand, and they

provide very poor customer service. So I am not interested in their mobile brand.

Speaker: Now were going to show you a small documentary about the work behind e-mobiles launch.

E-mobile Launch Documentary

Participant 1: This clearly shows they are not just simply about phones, but they have a range of services

and they want to promote their network.

Participant 4: It also shows the progression of Eircom from landline, to mobile, to the future of technology.

Participant 2: I think they are investing a lot in resources; there are a lot of people in customer service.

Participant 6: I liked the fact that they did not utilize anyone popular to endorse the e-mobile brand, they at

least show the faces of the people that make e-mobile, making it more credible.

Participant 3: I think it was just boring and long. They should compare with other companies not just showing

what they offer.

Participant 5: it would have been better to use people from their company for their ads.

Speaker: Can I ask what networks you are all on?

Participant 1: Im on the Meteor network

Participant 2:O2, I get great deals there

Participant 3: Meteor

Participant 4: All my mates are on meteor so it just makes sense to be with that network.

Participant 5: O2

Participant 6: My girlfriend bought me the Iphone4 for my birthday and its on the O2 network, I was meteor

before though.

Speaker:Would you be interested in switching to e-mobile after you saw their advert messages?

Participant 5: Id have to see if my friends would move too because its cheaper texting them when we are all

on the same network. If its cheaper then I might but it again depends who moves over to the network

Participant 1: Eh, I probably wouldnt, meteor gives me free texts and calls like so I dont see the point in

switching over to a network Ive no idea about.

Participant 3: A Simple no. Ive no interest in switching networks because I get a great deal with meteor.

Participant 4: As I said there, all my friends are with meteor so changing over just wouldnt make much

sense. You can buy nice phones in meteor and even though Ive never been in the E-mobile shop Id say my

phone is still the best out there.


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Participant 6: Well Ive just had to move networks recently because I got the IPhone but normally I wouldnt

move or even consider it unless someone offered me cheaper calls and texts like and even if I did get that

offer, the hassle of changing over is stressful!

Participant 2: As I said Im happy with the offers O2 give me.

Speaker: Well that concludes our focus group, thank you to everybody for coming; we really appreciate yourhelp. Thanks again.

MG 6304 - Market Research Report

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