Orange Launches Animal-Themed UK Tariff Structure

LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Orange, the mobile telecommunications arm of France Telecom, Monday launched a new marketing campaign in the UK contract market that links customer behavior with animal characteristics.

The new tariff structure, which is backed by a GBP10 million advertising campaign, will run until the end of 2006 and further ups the ante in the competitive U.K. mobile phone market.

Orange competes against the likes of Vodafone Group, Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile International and Virgin Mobile Holdings in a market where penetration rates have exceeded 100% and price and service competition is growing.

Orange said its new campaign emphasizes simplicity and is the result of the company's focus on customer segmentation - targeting certain types of customer with tailored packages.

Orange's Neil Macgeorge, director of pay monthly services, said the company considered food types and fabrics before settling on animals to promote its new tariff bands, which "really resonated with consumers across the board."

Orange will offer four new tariff structures; Dolphin will appeal to sociable types who want bundles of minutes and texts; Canary will appeal to those who prioritize voice bundles; Raccoon is for consumers who view their phone as a tool rather than a toy; while the more pricey Panther package is for users who expect extra features.

Each package has different tariff bands. Macgeorge said that Orange will maintain its other tariff packages but expects the animal-themed packages to also attract existing Orange users.

Company Web site: http://www.orange.com

- By Nic Fildes, Dow Jones Newswires; +44-20-7842-9264; nicolas.fildes@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires "

Posted to the site on 6th March 2006