Vodafone goes on the defensive

Vodafone is being forced to launch a £2m advertising campaign to dispel what it calls the “myths” about the level of service it offers its customers, after its own research showed a perception of “poor” service levels within the UK.

Vodafone is being forced to launch a &£2m advertising campaign to dispel what it calls the “myths” about the level of service it offers its customers, after its own research showed a perception of “poor” service levels within the UK.

The company says the research suggests that it is considered to offer poor service to business customers. A Vodafone spokeswoman says that the new campaign will attempt to counter that view.

The campaign created by J Walter Thompson breaks next Monday and will also aim to cut the company’s churn rate. The mobile phone operator will run a series of outdoor, press and online ads featuring taglines including “our business customers have over 1,000 advisers working just for them”, “87 per cent of business enquiries are answered without being passed onto someone else” and “our business advisers train every fortnight because things change so fast”.

It was also announced this week that Vodafone UK chief executive Bill Morrow has been handed the task of reversing the fortunes of the company’s struggling Japanese business.

Morrow, who has only been in charge of the UK business for a year, will become the division’s president, sharing management responsibilities with Japanese executive chairman Shiro Tsuda, who joined Vodafone before Christmas. He will be replaced in the UK by New Zealand chief Tim Miles.