Dennise Willliams, Staff Reporter 
Cable and Wireless Ja's Grant Mercer, senior vice-president for marketing and communications (centre) chats with bmobile spokesman 'Pressa' (left) and president Rodney Davis at a concert at Emancipation Park, New Kingston in December. - WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
"I AM amazed at how quickly people have taken Pressa to heart," Grant Mercer, Cable & Wireless Jamaica (C&WJ) senior vice president of marketing and communications for the Caribbean region said.
Pressa, the ubiquitous taxi driver is part of a $125 million advertising campaign launched by C&WJ in September 2005. The platform for Pressa to speak is the Anyone $10/$8 campaign whereby C&WJ charges one rate to call any cellular network.
In less than six months, the company says it has seen significant return from this investment.
GROWTH
"We estimate that there has been a 20 per cent growth in market share since the launch of the Pressa campaign," Mr. Mercer explains. "Additionally, we found that since the Anyone price change, persons take the opportunity to speak longer on their cell phones."
The changes has also lowered the barriers to communication as customers are not penalised for calling another network.
Of course, this growth in market share and increased call time translates into added revenue, Mr. Mercer said. "I feel comfortable that I have taken market share from Digicel."
As a result of the 'Pressa' campaign, he said, "we are now a strong number two behind Digicel."
But exactly how did Pressa come about?
"When I was hired by C&WJ in August, I spent my first two weeks immersing myself in the market place. What I realised was that the company had disengaged itself from the community.
PEOPLE SPOKESMAN
"So I thought the best way to re-engage the community was to have a character that would be a spokesman for the people and not C&WJ.
The thought was that taxi drivers have a great deal of interaction with the community and this would make an ideal spokesperson.
The key thing is that Pressa talks about life and that's why we expanded the campaign to introduce his friends and family."
Although the point was to drive revenue and challenge Digicel, Pressa has had an interesting side effect.
Mr. Mercer says, "We commissioned a survey and they asked people who was the one favourite Jamaican character of all time. The results were surprising - 55 per cent said Pressa followed by seven per cent pointing to Oliver Samuels.
Plus, Pressa has an over 90 per cent awareness amongst the average person on the street."
Mr. Mercer points out that Pressa will continue to be associated with bmobile for the foreseeable future and a new Pressa advertising campaign will be launched in two weeks.
TAKEN FROM THE FINANCIAL GLEANER - FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2006
