Disclaimer: This work does not represent the direct or public views on the brand by their PR or any external communications division. This is a purely academic work with no intention to misrepresent the brand.
The Contact Planning process is a very detailed process outlining how to plan for customer brand experience points. Customers use all their senses to experience brand contact points, including sounds, smells (orders / aromas) the look and feel of shapes and colours. There is an English expression “failing to plan is planning to fail”. Presented different but with the same meaning proper planning prevents poor performance 5ps. This planning process is no different.
According to Klopper & North (2011: 168) the process involves various points of contact with varying impact on the customers. Their identified contact points include first, last, frequent, Impact and resonate contact points. The duo also identified brand contact cohesion strategy, managing brand contact cohesion by the leadership, management and employees as essential to the overall success of the process.
Orange Botswana brand contact points are listed on their websites and the benefits available at each point of contact. They can be broadly divided into two categories, the online transactional brand contact points and those involving the physical human contact. The product services provided are nonetheless same but only different means of delivery. Customers can contact the Orange Call Centre for queries or access an online platform for the same. Orange customers can buy virtual airtime, quick recharge or use Orange Money, or their First National Bank account to purchase airtime both voice call or data bundles and more. There are various contact call service numbers example *129# for Mpharanyetse quick loan airtime. The brand has however place all their online product service solutions under Orange Yame platform for easy access with one number to remember and dial instead of several different numbers for with each for every product service. Orange has shops in strategically selected areas.
Orange customers can buy virtual airtime, quick recharge or use Orange Money, or their First National Bank account to purchase airtime both voice call or data bundles and more.
As on how internal marketing shapes a brand Papasolomou & Vronits ( 2006: 185) gives us a good foundation and structure to work with involving brand culture , brand values and the value that the brand actually delivers to its clients. The duo identified aspects relating to employee engagement as delighting of customers, employee motivation, influence on training and development programs for employees who are internal clients. The internal marketing is summed up by other scholars as the recruitment, training and retention efforts of a brand to implement its brand mission programs.
If there is one brand that I know that used the above aspects to the highest levels of engagement and inspiration is Orange Botswana. Orange Botswana had to transit from the Vista days and establish itself in the Botswana infancy network operator market as the third registered mobile network operator after Mascom Wireless and Vista respectively. Orange at the time was a subsidiary of France Telecom. Orange is a French company and brand. It is widely found in French speaking countries. That is why its remarkable success in Botswana with a strong English speaking background and English cultural influence may point to a powerful brand contact planning process, internal marketing and a brilliant strategy execution.
The brand used internal marketing efficiently and effectively in shaping its presence, effeminacy and effectiveness in the mobile network operators’ landscape of Botswana without apology. The internal marketing involved not only the origins of Orange but also the revolution of the brand.. The details involved the name Orange that it represents the colour and not the fruit.
Brand abossordors per departments were selected to join the whole HR team who were brand ambassadors too. The principle and corporate value of “Dynamic” was very influential and crucial in the early days of establishing the brand in Botswana. Orange is Orange and lives and operates by its brand values. Internal brand teams were created to compete against each other in best representing the brand and in jealously guarding against any brand misrepresentation. This promoted the spirit of “patriotism” amongst all internal customers they became staunch evangelists of the Orange brand to the external market. The competing teams would during strategic times be issued with varying brand merchandise; this enhanced the spirit of internal competition in best representing the brand inside–out. The Orange Botswana strategy is efficient and very effective and has lead the brand to what it sis and where it is today.
The contact planning process played a pivotal role in the growth of Orange Botswana transformation to the brand Orange Botswana we can all witness today.