A METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR INCENTIVISING TELEPHONE USAGE

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a method and system for incentivising telephone usage by a subscriber by providing a credit, based on telephone usage, which may be used to enable a subscriber to participate in a promotional competition.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Telephone operators, whether fixed line or mobile telephone operators, are continually looking for new ways to increase their subscribers and to get their existing subscribers to increase their telephone usage. Similarly, organizations are always seeking ways to increase awareness of their products/services, and thus their brands.

It is therefore an aim of the present invention to provide a method and system that combine these two objectives. In particular, the aim of the present invention is to create a potential product/service as a brand for a telephone operator by using discount pricing to amalgamate the 'augmented' telephone usage (typically, prepaid airtime) and the 'expected' organization's products/services. The sponsorship of this brand by organizations from different industries is known as co-branding, with the telephone operator thus co-branding with products/services from other organizations.

The ultimate goal of this concept is to amalgamate a telephone operator with other organizations such as hotel groups, fast food retailers, car manufacturers, soft drink bottlers, SABMiller etc. in order to maintain a market leader status quo in their operations within South Africa and across the world by maximizing shareholders' wealth. It is envisaged that this will be achieved by:

> Retaining existing subscriber base

> Attracting more subscribers from other networks including the late majority and laggards

> Increasing sales by taking business away from competitors since it is difficult to get new adopters in a saturated market, thereby maximizing the Market Value Added (MVA)

> Structuring and monopolizing new benefits by promoting other firms' products

> Enforcing long term customer loyalty

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a method of incentivising telephone usage, the method comprising: determining a value amount associated with a subscriber's telephone usage or anticipated telephone usage over a defined period of time; determining a credit amount, based on the value amount, for the subscriber; and if the credit exceeds a predetermined minimum, entering the subscriber into a promotional competition in respect of a product or service of a sponsor organization.

In an embodiment, the defined period of time used to determine the value amount is one month. The present invention is thus based on the core idea of rewarding subscribers of the telephone operator and the loyal customers of other organizations which will be sponsors to the telephone operator in a marketing promotion that will be launched via the telephone operator's platform.

In an embodiment, the step of determining a credit amount, based on the value amount, for the subscriber comprises accumulating a plurality of value amounts over the defined period of time.

In an embodiment, the value amount associated with a subscriber's telephone usage corresponds to an airtime amount purchased by the subscriber.

In an embodiment, the method comprises sending a message to the subscriber, in response to the subscriber purchasing airtime, the message informing the subscriber that he/she has entered to participate in the telephone operator's promotional competition.

In an embodiment, the method comprises allowing the subscriber to send a message to the telephone operator indicating his/her desire not to participate in the promotional competition.

In an embodiment, the message sent to the subscriber informs the subscriber of the credit amount earned by the subscriber.

In an embodiment, the method comprises setting up a subscriber competition account in which the accumulated credit amount can be accounted for.

In an embodiment, the promotional competition will be grouped into four categories comprising student, employed, unemployed and pensioner. ln an embodiment, within each of the four groups, subscribers based within a particular geographical area will compete against one another in the promotional competition.

According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a system for incentivising telephone usage, the system comprising: means for determining a value amount associated with a subscriber's telephone usage or anticipated telephone usage over a defined period of time; means for determining a credit amount, based on the value amount, for the subscriber; and if the credit exceeds a predetermined minimum, means for entering the subscriber into a promotional competition in respect of a product or service of a sponsor organization.

In an embodiment, the system comprises means for accumulating a plurality of value amounts over the defined period of time.

In an embodiment, the system comprises means for sending a message to the subscriber, in response to the subscriber purchasing airtime, the message informing the subscriber that he/she has entered to participate in the telephone operator's promotional competition.

In an embodiment, the message sent to the subscriber informs the subscriber of the credit amount earned by the subscriber.

In an embodiment, the system comprises a subscriber competition account in which the accumulated credit amount can be accounted for. In an embodiment, the system comprises means for determining the geographical location of the subscriber, so that subscribers based within a particular geographical area will compete against one another in the promotional competition.

According to a third aspect of the invention there is provided a system for incentivising telephone usage, the system comprising: memory storing computer readable media; and a processor to run the computer readable media, the computer readable media being arranged to: determine a value amount associated with a subscriber's telephone usage or anticipated telephone usage over a defined period of time; determine a credit amount, based on the value amount, for the subscriber; and if the credit exceeds a predetermined minimum, to enter the subscriber into a promotional competition in respect of a product or service of a sponsor organization.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A method of incentivising telephone usage is provided. The method comprises determining a value amount associated with a subscriber's telephone usage or anticipated telephone usage over a defined period of time. The method further comprises determining a credit amount, based on the value amount, for the subscriber. If the credit exceeds a predetermined minimum, the method further comprises entering the subscriber into a promotional competition in respect of a product or service of a sponsor organization.

In an embodiment, the defined period of time used to determine the value amount is one month.

The present invention is thus based on the core idea of rewarding subscribers of the telephone operator and the loyal customers of other organizations which will be sponsors to the telephone operator in a marketing promotion that will be launched via the telephone operator's platform.

In an embodiment, the step of determining a credit amount, based on the value amount, for the subscriber comprises accumulating a plurality of value amounts over the defined period of time. This concept is a marketing incentive product that will reward the telephone operator subscribers and customers of the sponsors with a loyalty reward every year. These subscribers/customers will be rewarded through accumulated discounts from the purchase of the operator's airtime.

In an embodiment, the value amount associated with a subscriber's telephone usage corresponds to an airtime amount purchased by the subscriber.

In an embodiment, the method comprises sending a message to the subscriber, in response to the subscriber purchasing airtime, the message informing the subscriber that he/she has entered to participate in the telephone operator's promotional competition. Significantly, this competition is SMS-free i.e. the subscriber does not need to send an SMS to a particular number in order to enter the competition. The message that is sent back to the subscriber is in addition to the standard notification of the balance of the total airtime the subscriber has as well as the value of the newly purchased airtime.

In an embodiment, the method comprises allowing the subscriber to send a message to the telephone operator indicating his/her desire not to participate in the promotional competition. Typically, this may be achieved by allowing the subscriber to sms "stop" to a dedicated 5-digit number that does not cost the subscriber anything.

In an embodiment, the message sent to the subscriber informs the subscriber of the credit amount earned by the subscriber. Typically, a x% of the purchased value has been given for the x-amount of airtime that the subscriber has just purchased, as will be described in more detail further below.

In an embodiment, the method comprises setting up a subscriber competition account in which the accumulated credit amount can be accounted for.

For example, if a subscriber with a telecom operator (Z) purchases airtime worth R12 from certain stores, the subscriber will be given a discount of 4.25% (i.e. 51 -cent) each time the subscriber purchases R12 airtime from the GSM telecom operator etc. The entry fee into the promotional competition (i.e. the predetermined minimum to enable the subscriber to enter the promotional competition) is R3.57 per month. This means that if a subscriber always purchases R12 airtime, the subscriber will need to buy R12 x 7 (times) worth of airtime per month in order to qualify for the draw of the promotional competition. That means the minimum amount of airtime a subscriber can purchase in order to enter for the draw of the promotional competition is R84 per month. Thus the entry fee of 12 x 4.25% x 7 = R3.57 per month.

The more airtime a subscriber purchases will increase the subscriber's chance of winning as winners will be determined partly by the total number of points they are able to accumulate per month. On every R12 airtime purchased within a month, a subscriber will earn 10-points on his/her promotional competition account within the same month. Therefore a subscriber will only qualify for a draw in the promotional competition of the GSM telecom operator if he/she has accumulated a minimum of 10 x 7 (times) = 70 points per month.

In an embodiment, the promotional competition will be grouped into four categories comprising student, employed, unemployed and pensioner. In an embodiment, within each of the four groups, subscribers based within a particular geographical area will compete against one another in the promotional competition.

The essence of grouping the subscribers in this manner is for a subscriber to be given a fair opportunity of competing with only subscribers that fall within the subscriber's category and within their district only i.e. if a subscriber by name Sifiso Khudu is a student in grade 1 1 , he will be grouped to compete along other students in the same grade within his district. An employed worker earning between R5, 000 - R10, 000 per month will be grouped to compete with other subscribers earning between R5, 000 - R10, 000 per month within his/her district etc. An unemployed subscriber will be grouped to compete along with other unemployed subscribers within the same district. Pensioners will be grouped to compete with other pensioners according to the pension payout to each pensioner within the same district etc.

The revenue for the promotional competition will be based on the accumulation of the various discounts that the telephone operator will be giving its subscribers on purchase of the different airtime units available from the telephone operator (e.g. R12 attracts a discount of 4.25%; R29 attracts a discount of 3.83%; R55 attracts a discount of 2.75% etc. The telephone operator will implement this concept by collecting the discounts each time a subscriber purchases airtime within each month (unless if the subscriber has sms'd "STOP" via the dedicated 5-digits number, as described above).

The discounted amount will accrue each time a subscriber purchases the telephone operator's airtime. At the end of each month, the telecom operator will send the subscribers that are participating in their promotional competition to go to the nearest telecom operator's shop and submit a copy of their ID/Passport, status and utility bill in order to register their name on the database of the telecom operator (RICA) so as to stand a chance of becoming a winner in the promotional competition. Failure to register their details at the nearest telecom operator shop will nullify their chances of winning in the promotional competition.

The essence of including the subscribers status (i.e. student, employed/unemployed or pensioner) is to know the group of other subscribers that the subscriber will be competing against in his/her district (i.e. if Sifiso is a student in grade 1 1 , he will be grouped to compete along other students in the same grade in his district etc).

The winners in this promotional competition will be selected utilizing global positioning system (GPS) to locate the coordinates of the prospective winners in each of the 52-districts in South Africa for each month. There will be three winners per category within each district. This means that every month there will be 624 winners (3 x 4 x 52) across the country. The coordinates of the prospective winners in each district within each province will be programmed to be at 30 ^° from each other e.g. if Sifiso is living in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, and he happens to be a winner, then the remaining 2-winners that will emerge within the same district (City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality) and in the same category as Sifiso will each be 120 ^° from each other in that district.

In the following month, the telecom operator will adjust the programming of the GPS by a certain degree so as to get another new batch of winners across the 52-districts in South Africa. This is how winners in the promotional competition will be selected each month.

The three winners in each category comprises subscribers that have the highest, medium and lowest amount of discounts (accumulated points) in each of the four (4) categories (i.e. if Sifiso is in the student category and he happens to accumulate the highest points (discounts) as a student in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, then it means he is the 1 ^st prize winner in that category for that month. If Senzo accumulates the lowest amount of discount (accumulated points), then it means he is the 3 ^rd prize winner in that category. If Flora accumulates the medium amount of discount (accumulated points), then it means he is the 2 ^nd prize winner. The same rules apply to the winners that will emerge from the remaining three (3) categories.

The telephone operator will immediately notify all the 624-winners from the 52- districts in South Africa via sms and the terms and conditions as applied to the promotional competition will be posted on the telecom operator's website and on posters that will be displayed throughout the country. Any winner(s) that lie about his/her category will be disqualified from the competition.

It is envisaged that the telephone operator will have to create a special database for this promotional competition so that there can be easy exchange of subscribers (and winners) information to the database of the sponsors for the promotional competition. There is no limit to the number of sponsors that the telecom operator can exchange information of subscribers with. The GSM telecom operator can change sponsors during the course of the promotional competition depending on the agreement that will be reached and signed with the various sponsors.

The sponsors that will be assigned to be responsible for the prizes of any particular month must guarantee the promotional prizes ahead of the competition so that all the 624-winners in all the 52-districts across South Africa will be rest assured that the promotional competition is genuine and transparent. The news of the prizes that will be available for any particular month will be send via sms to all the subscribers that has agreed to participate in the promotional competition prior two weeks before that month's promotional competition commences.

This concept will also indirectly be serving as a new guaranteed marketplace for the sponsors' product and advertising platform. Sponsors will enjoy the opportunity of having their products marketed to over 20-million subscribers/customers with guaranteed monthly sales. It is believed that more potential subscribers will join the network of the telephone operator once they see how effective and transparent the promotional competition is and the fact that subscribers do not have to sms to any dedicated number gives subscribers the ease and prospect that they can win at anytime in the operator's promotional competition and also get free information about the products of the sponsors of the promotional competition prizes. Also the ease of entry into this promotional competition and access to first hand information about products from the sponsors will attract more potential subscribers from other networks to switch over to the network of the telecom operator utilizing this concept. This will boost the telephone operator's market share (as well as that of its sponsors) across South Africa with emphasis on the performance/reward of/for subscribers in all the districts in each province across South Africa. ln a world where customers tend to be value-maximisers, customer perceived value (CPV) is the difference between the prospective customer's evaluation of all the benefits and all the costs of an offering and the perceived alternatives. Total customer value is the perceived monetary value of the bundle of economic, functional, and psychological benefits customers expect to incur in evaluating, obtaining, using, and disposing of the given market offering.

The customer value is a representation of the idea that benefits have positive and negative effects costs on value i.e. benefits must always outweigh costs. In other words, customer value and satisfaction influences customer's future buying decisions, with one of the key factors of the present invention is to create value by making the promotional competition sms-free.

The design of the concept is such that its operation will ensure efficient business operations in terms of using as little resource as needed, and effective in terms of meeting customer requirements. More generally, the operation of the concept aims to increase the content of value-added activities in any given process i.e. each time a subscriber loads airtime there is a value- added to the subscribers as the subscriber will always enjoy information access about the various products of the sponsors. This will increase the subscriber's perception of the telecom operator's product as well as that of the sponsors.

The sponsors can be any organization that wants to increase the public's awareness about their products and create a market database for their product via the relationship with the telephone operator. These value-adding creative activities may be aligned with marketing opportunities for optimal performance of the operator thus increasing the operator's market share and retainership of subscribers on their network as well as boosting the market share of the various sponsors that will be participating in the promotion. The concept and promotional competition will also be extended to the telephone operator's contract subscribers. The contract subscribers of the telephone operator will be encouraged to also have a pay-as-you-go cellphone in order to ensure that the telephone operator maintains a position of a market leader in the telecommunication industry in South Africa and within the continent.

To achieve this, the telephone operator will send sms to all their contract subscribers to go to the nearest shop of the telecom operator and subscribe for a pay-as-you-go cellphone. Contract subscribers that subscribe to this offer stand a chance of getting a special birthday gift voucher worth R500 in the market and also a 40% discount on any hotel of the contract subscriber's choice in any part of South Africa. The gift voucher will be redeemable on the birthday of the subscribers that win in this offer. These contract subscribers can transfer this particular pay-as-you-go offer to any person of their choice). The person using this pay-as-you-go sim-card must always purchase airtime worth at least R84 per month to qualify for the R500 gift voucher on his/her birthday as failure to comply to this term and condition will nullify the subscriber from getting the gift voucher on his/her birthday. The gift voucher will only be redeemed on the birthday of the subscriber using the pay-as-you-go sim-card in any part of South Africa where the sponsors of the gift vouchers has outlets (sponsors of the birthday gift vouchers must have outlets in all provinces in South Africa).

The only condition all contract subscribers of the telecom operator must agree to is to always purchase a pay-as-you-go airtime of at least R84 per month so as qualify for a draw in the promotional competition of the telecom operator and also enjoy a free gift voucher worth R500.

This monthly airtime target of R84 is set based on the on-going discount that is already applicable each time a pay-as-u-go subscriber purchases an airtime from many sales outlets across South Africa. This minimum target per month (R84) is set such that it will comfortably boost the average revenue per user (ARPU) of the pay-as-u-go and subscribers on the long run within a year.

There will be various sponsored prized for this category (pay-as-u-go) of subscribers. The prize ranges from new cars to smartphones and free grocery vouchers in any of the accredited outlets nationwide. In this category (pay-as- u-go), these prizes will be won every month.

This concept will boost both the contract and pay-as-you-go subscriber base and ARPU of the telecoms operator that will be using this concept. Using this concept will boost the subscriber base of the telecoms operator by an average of 2.5-million subscribers within one year.

The hotel group will sign an agreement to give the telecom operator a 40% discount on all their hotel rates for the contract subscribers that will be coming to spend their birthday night at the hotel. The 40% discount will be shared in 50:50 ratios between the telecom operator and the hotel group i.e. the hotel group will give 20% and the telecom operator will provide 20% through the revenue that will accrue from the competition revenue per month.

This will assist in boosting the hotel industry's dwindling customer base and revenue. The remaining 60% of the hotel bill will be paid either before arrival or on check-in by the contract subscriber who has subscribed to the pay-as-you- go offer and must have been actively using the pay-as-you-go sim-card for at least 10-months.

The sponsors for this concept i.e. a South African car manufacturer, food retailers and Smartphone manufacturer will all get a return on investment (ROI) for ensuring that the prizes are 100% guaranteed throughout the duration of the promotion. The return on investment (ROI) will be worked out and agreed upon with the telecoms operator so that all stake holders are happy (a maximum interest of 15% may be given as ROI to all the sponsors in addition to their investments). The telecoms operator will get 65% of the income and EDMNO Investments cc will get 25% of whatever income is left after all expenses have been deducted and all sponsors paid accordingly by the telecoms operator. The telecoms operator will be responsible for the payment of the developed software.

There will be an exchange of customers' data between the telecoms operator and the sponsors. This will allow both parties the opportunity to increase their customer base and retain loyal customers.

There will be an exclusive agreement between the sponsor groups and the telecom operator on the sharing of customers' data through data-mining as this will protect information about the developed software and marketing strategies that will be adopted. This is aimed to add value to the customer growth and eventual profitability of both sponsors and the telecom operator. The operator and the sponsors will be integrated through product augmentation and discounted pricing, using available data-mining, a very high customer value will be created and a 'potential product' developed.)

The ultimate goal of this concept using data-mining will assist the developed potential product to:

> Identify prospective customers from the telecommunication operator's database

> Identify which customer should receive a particular offer

> Deepen customer loyalty

> Reactivate customer purchases

> Avoid serious customer mistakes This indirect marketing relationship is value-driven and a competitive strategy that can work in any country worldwide. The augmentation of the telecommunication product with the discounted pricing of the hotel product will produce a "potential product" that will revolutionize the two industries worldwide. This way the telephone operator/hotel group will benefit in the following:

(1 ) Increased brand equity

(2) Increased loyal customers

(3) Increased revenue

(4) Perceived quality

(5) Gain a competitive advantage

(6) Subscriber retention.

This concept can be applied to work with various telecommunication operators and hotel groups worldwide to periodically review and audit marketing plans, strategies, and research for better ways to deliver superior value thus keeping this partnership on the competitive advantage in the telecommunication and hotel industries.

A system for running the method described above is also provided. The system may be run either by the telephone operator, the sponsor organization or by an independent third party. In essence, the system comprises means for determining a value amount associated with a subscriber's telephone usage or anticipated telephone usage over a defined period of time, means for determining a credit amount, based on the value amount, for the subscriber, and if the credit exceeds a predetermined minimum, means for entering the subscriber into a promotional competition in respect of a product or service of a sponsor organization.

In an embodiment, the system comprises means for accumulating a plurality of value amounts over the defined period of time. In an embodiment, the system comprises means for sending a message to the subscriber, in response to the subscriber purchasing airtime, the message informing the subscriber that he/she has entered to participate in the telephone operator's promotional competition.

In an embodiment, the message sent to the subscriber informs the subscriber of the credit amount earned by the subscriber.

In an embodiment, the system comprises a subscriber competition account in which the accumulated credit amount can be accounted for.

In an embodiment, the system comprises means for determining the geographical location of the subscriber, so that subscribers based within a particular geographical area will compete against one another in the promotional competition.

Since it is envisaged that the system will be computer implemented, in one version, the system comprises memory storing computer readable media, and a processor to run the computer readable media, the computer readable media being arranged to determine a value amount associated with a subscriber's telephone usage or anticipated telephone usage over a defined period of time, determine a credit amount, based on the value amount, for the subscriber, and if the credit exceeds a predetermined minimum, to enter the subscriber into a promotional competition in respect of a product or service of a sponsor organization.

The present invention thus provides a unique link between the needs of telephone operators, namely increasing subscribers, and the needs of sponsor organizations. In particular the present invention is a marketing incentive product that will reward the telephone operator subscribers and customers of the sponsors with a loyalty reward every year. These subscribers/customers will be rewarded through accumulated discounts from the purchase of the operator's airtime. Some of the key unique features of this concept include the following:

> Subscribers of the telecom operator do not have to send any sms to any dedicated five (5) digit number to participate in the promotional competition from the telecom operator.

> Subscribers' accumulated discounts will be used to pay for entry into the competition.

> Serves as a guaranteed new marketplace for sales of sponsors' products.