VODACOM : ANNOUNCES NEW BRAND POSITIONING STRATEGY

As part of Vodafone's global rebrand, Vodacom today announced a significant evolution of its brand positioning strategy, tagline and visual identity worldwide - the first changes to one of South Africa's best known brands since the introduction of 'Power to you' in 2009. Vodacom's new brand positioning strategy focuses on the theme of optimism about the future, using the new tagline, "The future is exciting. Ready?"

The strategy - to be implemented across all 36 countries in which the Vodafone brand is present - is designed to underline the belief that new technologies and digital services will play a positive role in transforming society and enhancing individual quality of life over the years ahead.

"Our new brand positioning reflects a fundamental shift in the way that Vodacom does and will do business. It also aligns to our 2020 vision and strategy of becoming a leading digital company. We aim to be the customer champion when it comes to customer experience using big data and IoT to better connect and service customers. This makes the future exciting but can also create some anxiety for customers because of the rapid rate in which technology changes. Our brand promise to our customers is to be the mobile technology partner that will assist them in making the transition by benefitting from new and exciting technologies" says Nyimpini Mabunda, Vodacom Chief Officer: Consumer Business Unit.

From a branding perspective, Vodacom have refreshed their iconic logo and tagline to align with the company's purpose - to connect everybody to live a better today and build a better tomorrow. "We will aggressively focus on innovation in the digital space to improve our products and services", adds Nyimpini.

The related advertising campaigns were developed after a period of extensive research and concept testing, including quantitative and qualitative inputs from nearly 30,000 people in 17 countries of which South Africa was a key market.

On 6 October 2017, Vodacom will commence its advertising campaign with a series of 15-second TV commercials, specifically targeted at various segments. The commercials focus on how human interaction remains constant while technologies evolve over time.

Grounds for optimism about the future

Vodafone commissioned opinion research among almost 13,000 people in 14 countries including Germany, India, Spain, Italy, South Africa and the UK to mention a few. The groups were assessed as to what extent they were optimistic - or pessimistic - about their future prospects. The research conducted by YouGov found that:

• 41% percent of South Africans surveyed believe the standard of living in the country will be better in 20 years' time - proving more optimistic than respondents surveyed in Germany, Italy and the UK.
• People of all ages believe that technology innovation will have the most positive influence on the future over the next 20 years.
• 18-24 year olds are the most optimistic about the future: 62% of younger people surveyed believe that living standards will be better in 20 years' time compared with today.
• And respondents overall in all age groups, believe that their own living standards, and those of children, will have improved 20 years from now.