Vodafone hires ad agency as it readies to battle Telstra

Vodafone is preparing to launch a marketing offensive against rival telcos Telstra and Optus as its parent company TPG pushes ambitious growth targets.

Vodafone is ready to take on its bigger rivals to win telco share

Vodafone Australia has appointed a new creative advertising agency, Howatson+Company, as the telco readies to take on Telstra and Optus to grow its share of customers.

The move is part of an ambitious growth strategy by the No.3 telco, which aims to boost its popularity and share of the market with a return to its playful challenger brand positioning.

The appointment follows a comprehensive pitch process, as revealed by The Australian in May, which has been led by TPG Telecom chief marketing officer Bec Darley.

Ms Darley, who joined the business in January, is tasked with driving a resurgence for the brand as part of the overarching business strategy to take on Telstra’s dominance in the category.

Vodafone currently has 5.5 million mobile subscribers and two million broadband subscribers.

However, following its network expansion into regional and bush areas, it claims it has doubled its coverage and it is keen to leverage this expanded reach to attract new customers.

TPG doubled down on its claims earlier this year and accused Telstra of overstating its own mobile coverage claim by around one million square kilometres.

TPG analysed coverage maps that Telstra provided to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the brand’s long-held argument that it provided “unrivalled” coverage of three million square kilometres was grossly inflated.

While Telstra chief executive Vicki Brady claimed in an opinion piece published in The Australian that the coverage claims were correct, a government audit revealed areas of the country where a Telstra signal can only be accessed with an external antenna.

The activity is indicative of the high-stakes competition within the telco market, where the businesses are battling against declining revenues as they lose ground to tech companies.

Telecommunications analyst Paul Budde told The Australian that the telcos have failed to grow “revenue-wise” in recent years.

“The only way that they can keep the profit up is by cutting and technologies such as cloud and AI allows them to cut costs,” he said.

“The telcos are not winning in the new digital economy. They are being relegated to being the pipe and infrastructure operators.”

Vodafone’s new agency appointment comes just weeks after Optus appointed Accenture-owned creative agency Droga5 and Accenture Song Media to manage its advertising and marketing accounts as it also prepares to take on Telstra to grow its share.

Optus is currently the second-largest telco for mobile customers, however it is the third-largest for broadband, where it sits behind TPG.

Telstra remains the outright market leader across the sector with more than 50 per cent of the mobile market and about 45 per cent of the broadband market.

The brand has been enjoying a largely unopposed market voice recently, with its latest marketing campaigns dominating billboards, TV and cinema screens around the country.

Its most recent brand ad has also sparked a viral trend on TikTok, with users uploading videos on themselves doing the “whistle walk” from its TV ad.

The new agency appointments signal both brands are poised to launch new marketing activity in a bid to connect with audiences and drive brand consideration.

A statement from Ms Darley regarding the appointment said: “Vodafone is a brand that thrives on challenging conventions, and we’re excited to partner with the Howatson+Company team to push boundaries.”

Howatson+Company will replace Vodafone’s previous agency Saatchi & Saatchi.

“I would like to thank Saatchi & Saatchi for their commitment and creativity over recent years,” Ms Darley said.