2016 Winners & Shortlists

Brief Explanation

The world’s first invite-only luxury mobile plan. Vodafone London Edition – exclusively for Qatar, aimed at Ultra High Value Customers. The London Edition will never be available to the public. It is, and always will be, strictly invitation only. Not marketed – this brand will be built on personal communication, word of mouth and trusted recommendations. Highly selective – this is a brand that chooses its customers. It’s not for everyone, and it never will be. Proactive – much more than a concierge service, this brand will offer members exquisite, personalised experiences that matter. Budget: 690,000 QAR

The Brief

Vodafone is a successful mass-and-mid-market brand in Qatar, but has failed to reach the ultra-high net worth customer. In five years we have achieved zero penetration. There's a strong loyalty to Ooredoo, both emotional from being a national carrier, and functionally it's believed to have better network coverage in Qatar. There is also a stigma of Vodafone Association. The perception is that Vodafone is cheap and for the lower class. The target audience are cynical of “Premium Offers”. They have everything. They don’t care about valet… they have their own drivers. What they really want is to feel pampered.

How the final design was conceived

We wanted to establish London Edition as a world-class Qatari luxury brand, that is for the real inner circle. While functional attributes of service excellence, product quality must be reinforced, the difference will come emotionally from pride of association. We must present London Edition as a brand that chooses its customers, not based just on spending, but more importantly on influence and contribution to the Nation’s continued success. This is a brand that is surprising, distinguished and intriguing. What we learned: At one point we proposed elegant. Smythson-designed intelligent luggage tags that track your cases through the airport. We were politely informed: “When you own the plane, you don’t need tags on your luggage.” Yes, indeed, it’s a different world up there in super-premium.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

30 UHVCs were invited to the launch event and 45 showed up. The event was packed by royals, Lords, and VIPs from Qatar & the UK. This is by far the only event ever done by Qatar which had this number of royals in one place. There are currently 100 active London Edition Members, overachieving by 32% what was initially planned for. Vodafone actually slowed down sales of the membership to keep it exclusive and for the elite only. They are actually accommodating only 1 out of 3 requests now. The active 100 members are Chairman, Owners of businesses and CEOs of the biggest companies in Qatar. 80% of our 100 active members are Qataris (this is the first product done by Vodafone Qatar to have this number of Qataris), 30% of which are the Qatari Royal Family (this is the first product Vodafone have ever delivered that attracts the Qatari Royal Family).