Orange UK
Orange UK is a mobile phone operator in the United Kingdom which is owned by Orange SA a brand of France Télécom
History
Orange (founded in 1994) is a British telecommunications company specialising in mobile phones and subsequently Broadband Internet. After a period of 3 Years it was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1997 it had gained 1 Million customers in the UK. It is now owned by France Telecom. In 1999 the Company was sold to Mannesmann AG. The company headquarters are located across Europe.
Service
Orange currently has two mobile phone option, Pay As you Go (PAYG) and Contract service plans.
Pay As You Go service allows customers to Top-Up using a Orange Swipe Card, using a Debit or Credit Card as well as Topping Up online via the Orange website.
Contract Service plans allow customers to enter into a 12 month as well as the more heavily advertised 18 month contracts. These contracts enable customers to pay per month in advance for Minutes, Texts, Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS), and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS). Using this method customers are eligible for a small discount on the amount of time used on the network, compared to PAYG services which are charged at standard network rates.
Price Plans
Recently (as of June 2006) Orange has changed their price and adopted lifestyle Plan theme in which they state will allow potential customers the opportunity to understand what they require in an easy to understand way. Their are 4 packages to choose from: Canary, Racoon, Dolphin, Panther.
However with the change in plans their has been a notable increase in service plan charges with an increase of an average £5.50 per plan, It has been suggested this is a marketing method designed to persuade potential customers to upgrade to a higher talk plan. Attention should also be given to the contract Terms and Conditions in which Orange have stated that once a contract has been agreed to the user cannot lower the contract monthly charge or increase to an offer that is advertised on their website, thus limiting the user to upgrading in price to an offer of the new lifestyle (increased monthly cost) plans. This limits the availability to customize a service which other providers such as O2, Vodafone and the 3 network allow.
Image in Britain
In the UK, Orange has come under pressure from customers to improve the Customer Services department due to many reports of poor existing customer services and expensive mobile contract upgrades compared to previous years, other mobile phone networks and Orange's deals for new customers. The deteriorating customer service and increased customer dissatisfaction has coincided with the takeover by France Telecom.
In response, an advertising campaign was run to re-enforce the company's commitment to customer service, although many existing customers are still not convinced, which has lead to many moving to other mobile phone service networks. Orange has now fallen to third place behind O2 and Vodafone in the UK share market share. Campaigns have also been run to advertise the new 3G service and featured public faces such as Elton John and Stephen Fry. Jane Copland has been one of the voices of Orange since the company's early years.
At the cinema
At many cinemas across the UK, advertisements for Orange are shown directly before the film, normally after any other adverts and film trailers - the so-called "gold spot". The adverts feature short sketches involving various celebrities (including the current advert with Steven Segal and previous adverts with Sean Astin, Patrick Swayze, Carrie Fisher, Roy Scheider, Spike Lee, John Cleese, Alan Cumming, Verne Troyer, Daryl Hannah, Ewan McGregor and Darth Vader) all pitching their crackpot film ideas to the imaginary Orange Film Funding Board.
Throughout the sketch, the orange Executives (including Brennan Brown and Steve Furst) manipulate the idea into film which promotes Orange through product placement; the catch line is "Don't let a mobile phone ruin your movie. Please switch it off.".
On television
The ongoing campaign to improve Customer Service now takes the form of Brennan Brown's Mr Dresden, as well as Steve Furst's character working alongside a Japanese wise-man. An ongoing joke is the wise-man offering little advice at all, and in fact insulting Mr Dresden, while it is Steve Furst's character giving the ideas, as a supposed translation of the wise-man's words. Though recently the duos commercials have not appeared on television, and have been replaced by a rather different commercial identity to try to create a more personal link with the customer. The duo will still appear in the cinema. This has resulted in a better image for Orange recently.
Broadband
Orange has lately offered a broadband service to its customers in which through the use of the Wanadoo (previously owned Freeserve) Broadband Internet Service Provider (ISP). Using this service customers can get up to 8 megabit Wireless Broadband, although their are restrictions on the availability of this service.