Getting it together with TelstraClear

By IRENE CHAPPLE

TelstraClear's new advertising campaign focuses on sport and the feel-good theme of togetherness.

The merge of TelstraSaturn and Clear to create the country's second-ranked telco is being promoted in a campaign which started this week.

TelstraClear has about 11 per cent of the market, or about 300,000 customers. Its campaign - "Together. A Better Way" - has been launched with 15-second television commercials and billboards at "super sites" in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington.

Marketing chief Anna Gordon says customer research found TelstraSaturn had a reputation for innovation, and Clear had strength in its customer relationships.

The campaign, created by Publicis over seven weeks, aims to promote the merger of those strengths.

"We don't believe business today is a transaction," says Gordon.

"We believe it's a relationship."

The campaign pushes this, featuring, for example, weightlifters working together to lift a huge barbell and soccer goalkeepers joining forces to prevent a goal.

Gordon says this is stage one of the extended campaign, which will run over the year.

Stage two, which will begin soon, involves fresh takes on the theme.

"It will take the concept and demonstrate it to the marketplace," she says, but will not be drawn on how it will be demonstrated.

The first stage budget is believed to be well under $1 million, and Gordon is happy to admit that TelstraClear cannot compete with Telecom's epic campaigns.

"We haven't worked out exactly how much we are going to spend, but every dollar is being spent in the most effective way," she says.

"We can't compete with Telecom, and we don't really want to.

"Its campaigns are done on much bigger budgets, and take a much different approach.

"Our approach is cost effective and high efficiency."

TestraClear employs GeneratorBates for its strategic planning and Singleton Ogilvy & Mather for direct marketing.

Gordon says that since the merger all contracts have been under review.