Fenercell, the first ever sports MVNO in the world, was established in 2009. We provide mobile and internet services to the fanbase of the football club Fenerbahçe.
Bundles for fans of the team have always been at the heart of our offering. If people subscribe with us, we offer them the likes of priority tickets – a chance to purchase them ahead of the general public – as well as season ticket bundles. Fans can buy a new phone with a Fenercell tariff plan, and the service is combined with a season ticket.
As was the case with huge numbers of organisations, the pandemic hit us hard. Over 18 months, we dropped by 30,000-35,000 subscriptions. So we had to come up with ideas to gain at least what we had lost.
Our game plan was to feverishly run after dealers to get their attention. For example, when the stadium reopened, it couldn’t do so at full capacity. So, we used the scarcity of tickets and boxes as incentives for the deals. We said, ‘if you can come up with a certain number of subscriptions for us, it’s going to be free for you to use this privilege’. And this actually worked – we gained all the subscriptions that we lost in a three-month period.”
Crucially, Covid gave us an opportunity to reassess our campaigns and bundles. It reminded us starkly of the need to be flexible and not to rest on our laurels. It forced us to assess if and how we were providing customers with what they needed from us. Yes, our offering is unique, but consumers are fickle. At that point in time, the additional benefits that they were receiving from us had diminished dramatically because they were unable to watch live sports, because games simply weren’t taking place.
So, we had to stop, take stock and evaluate what they needed from us at this point. We knew, for example, that our customers needed to talk to friends and family more because of lockdown restrictions, so we provided them with more gigabytes and minutes.
We knew that sitting idly simply wasn’t an option. Instead, we pivoted and spent time developing campaigns for when things returned to normal.