Situation Motorola historically focused on securing premium placement within AT&T Wireless’s direct sales channel (company owned stores). Unfortunately, the portfolio did not align with the feature or price point required to secure the premium position and thus perpetuated Motorola’s poor account performance. The opportunity for securing increased share came from finding different market segments or carrier channels that Motorola could qualify for or negotiate.
Leadership To discover new opportunities within a carrier it was essential that I researched and monitored their programs to determine how competitive products were being featured (which marketing sales channel and what price point).
Through this competitive research I identified several key insights and an unexpected opportunity was discovered:
AT&T Wireless was the largest direct marketer in the United States (their mail volume was larger than any other company in 2002
The volume of pre-paid phones sold by AT&T Wireless through this channel was significant (enough to justify Motorola repositioning and repackage an entry tier product)
Typically, the phones positioned for the direct mail offerings were not new models and were frequently changed (indicating there was end-of life discounting to clear inventory levels)
Result Since the direct mail group was managed by an extremely analytical marketing group that was continuously testing, measuring and optimizing (and price sensitive), there was a unique opportunity for a marketer to engage them with a proposal to conduct a pilot program. After several meetings and discussions about historical program data, AT&T Wireless agreed that they would be interested in conducting a study that offered a controlled test with two prominent brands (Nokia and Motorola). Unfortunately, Motorola was not able to hold share in this channel due to the price sensitivity of pre-paid products, but learning’s were applied to other carriers to generate new opportunities and the product management team agreed to integrate entry tier pre-paid phones into the global roadmap.