Altel, the first mobile operator in Kazakhstan, had completely lost its Kazakh identity by the year 2023.
Despite the growing demand for strong local brands, it was portraying someone else's glamorous life by the commercials shot abroad with foreign actors. Altel became totally disconnected from its audience, and Kazakhstanis stopped choosing it.
Approaching its thirtieth anniversary, Altel decided to change and return to its roots! We chose not to follow the conventional route of portraying Kazakhstan's identity using overused stereotypes (steppes, mountains, horses).
Instead, we decided that the people, which make the country unique, would take central stage in our advertisements, and not just a few, but many thousands at once.
During the pre-launch stage, we asked subscribers to share their photographs in exchange for a lifetime freeze on their plans. People shared their selfies on our promotional page and our platforms in shopping centers. As a result, we gathered over 16,000 images!
Using artificial intelligence, we've generated new brand personas. These are collective representations crafted from photographs of thousands of Kazakhstani citizens. Embodied in the Metahuman technology, they have become the heroes of all ALTEL communications. Like some other companies worldwide, ALTEL followed the trend of creating a "typical customer" using AI, but we stood out as the only ones who brought it to life and turned it into an authentic brand character! Our heroes are not the imaginative creations of designers and marketers; they represent the visualization of valuable, specifically collected statistical and anthropological data!
This creative approach fully revealed the new brand positioning and showcased that there's a piece of every Kazakhstani in Altel. These first campaigns have enabled Altel to reclaim its status as the leading national mobile operator while avoiding overused local stereotypes. This strategy has produced real results. The company achieved double-digit growth in new subscribers and revenue, leading to a significant increase in its market share. With a consistent media budget, ad awareness increased from 36 to 43 percent. The audience felt the brand had become closer - and reciprocated. We achieved double-digit growth of the Gross Intake (+26%), continued increasing our share in new subscriptions (from 10,77% in April to 12,75% in June), reduced the Churn by 12%. From June 2023 the Net Intake began to exceed the Churn significantly, reversing the negative trend of the previous years. Attractive product offers delivered in an emotional way provided an unprecedented increase in sales (+25%), which exceeded the market growth by more than twice!
Credits
Kristina Denina - Creative Director Alexey Pavlov - Associate Creative Director Elena Chernyuk - Senior copywriter Yarovikov Mikhail - Senior art director Alina Konovalenko - Art director Yulya Yugay - General manager Kseniya Zhanokova - Senior account manager Albina Bekmansurova - Client services director Anastasia Chulukova - Director of Strategic Planning Irina Ni - Senior Strategic Planner
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