Cellnet in 10m image relaunch

NEWS

Cellular telecoms operator Cellnet is changing its image as part of a 10m TV relaunch in September.

The UK mobile phone operator is axing its John Cleese and Ronnie Corbett comic sketches in favour of a branding campaign. According to a spokes-man, these portray Cellnet as heroic, showing how its phones can solve problems.

The new campaign will also drop the Net Man figure who appeared at the end of Cellnet’s TV ads casting a net. The endline “the big network” will be replaced with “the network that sets you free”.

“The Net Man was brilliant at conveying what Cellnet was trying to do, but he was also seen as being aloof and inaccessible,” says Cellnet head of marketing communications Paul Leonard.

Like rival mobile firm Orange, Cellnet is now trying to give its brand “a warmer look and feel” and a stronger brand image, he says.

The campaign breaks in time for the industry’s heaviest sales period in the run up to Christmas. Several operators are planning large-scale ad campaigns, including People’s Phone which will push its 99p phone offers through a poster campaign and Mercury One-2-One which starts a new TV campaign next month.

See cover story page Cellnet: Comic sketches axed