Savings galore!
Amid much fanfare O2 has announced the launch of Priority Moments, which it claims will take on the ‘deals market' currently dominated by Groupon and Living Social.
O2 is claiming Priority Moments ‘goes beyond current voucher schemes' by offering extra stuff to users, but it seems to be pretty similar to the sort of stuff you would expect from the likes of Groupon - i.e. sales promotions.
In addition, while it's being presented as something new, Priority Moments just seems to be a combination of O2's location-based marketing initiative, which was launched last October, with parent company Telefónica's also long-established opt-in push messaging service.
"Only O2 can do this," insisted O2 marketing and consumer director, Sally Cowdry. "No other companies in this space have the direct, loyal relationship with the customer." While Telefónica does seem to have a more developed mobile advertising offering than the other big operators, claiming the other operators are incapable of sending a few voucher texts to their customers seems a bit cheeky.
"O2 is a trusted brand and through Priority Moments we have established long term partnerships with well loved and respected brands that people want to engage with regularly. You will consistently find offers and experiences from O2 and these companies over a long period of time."
Priority Moments is both an app and a WAP service, which offers location-linked electronic vouchers for price promotions to customer who opt into the service. It will be supported by an advertising campaign and, to illustrate why consumers should give it a try, O2 claims it could save you £105 per month. Here's the breakdown.
- 2 trips (1 in a week) to an Odeon cinema - £9.70 saving (based on standard adult ticket price at the Odeon Kingston)
- 1 canvas Tote bag from Harvey Nichols - value - £25
- A single trip on National Express from London to Edinburgh - £36.90 saving (based on cost of journey of £36.90 on Tuesday 18th July)
- 1 haircut at Toni & Guy - £11.40 saving (based on mid-range stylist cost of £57)
- 1 meal at Zizzi - £6.10 saving based on the combined cost of a starter (£6.15) and main course (£9.95) at £16.10
- 1 book purchased at WH Smith - £4 saving based on the average price of a paperback at £8
- JJB Sports - £12 saving - based on purchasing a pair of Nike air running shoes at £59.99
Total - £105.10
Of course you could save even more by not embarking on a month-long retail frenzy, but that's beside the point.
