Virgin Mobile Case Study
Steven Ton-Tho
MKTG 4400
Watson
5/1/13
Virgin Mobile USA Case Study This case speaks of Dan Schulman who has just recently taken the position as CEO of Virgin Mobil USA. In the summer of 2001, he assembled a team and set a goal of 1 million subscribers by the end of the first year, and 3 million by the end of year four. Virgin although a top brand in the UK had a weak following in the states at this time. They had success in the UK with the launch of their mobile network and devices, but did not fare well in the Singapore market. Despite their setbacks, they decided to launch a joint network with Sprint in the United States purchasing minutes from Sprint on an as-used basis. The mobile phone market in the US at this point was considered to be at its “Maturity” level in economic terms. However, consumers aged 15-29 did not use cells phones or have access to them as much as the segment above them. Schulman saw that this demographic was projected to be robust in the next five years, therefore he would target this segment that has not been targeted by the big players. Seeing that their target was pretty much the youth of America, Virgin mobile decided to include bonuses and extras such as access to the MTV network, phone face plates, ring tones, and online real-time billing. In an effort to set themselves apart from the big carriers, they packaged their phones in “consumer electronic” see through type packaging which would include all the information the customer needed to start using Virgin mobile that day, without the help of pushy sales people. Seeing that Virgin Mobile only has a small budget set aside for advertising, Schulman must focus on a pricing strategy that would attract and retain mobile phone subscribers. When looking at the options available to Virgin mobile and their small budget, they must tread carefully in order to grab this niche market away from the big carriers. As advertising comes, I believe that all of the information needed
MKTG 4400
Watson
5/1/13
Virgin Mobile USA Case Study This case speaks of Dan Schulman who has just recently taken the position as CEO of Virgin Mobil USA. In the summer of 2001, he assembled a team and set a goal of 1 million subscribers by the end of the first year, and 3 million by the end of year four. Virgin although a top brand in the UK had a weak following in the states at this time. They had success in the UK with the launch of their mobile network and devices, but did not fare well in the Singapore market. Despite their setbacks, they decided to launch a joint network with Sprint in the United States purchasing minutes from Sprint on an as-used basis. The mobile phone market in the US at this point was considered to be at its “Maturity” level in economic terms. However, consumers aged 15-29 did not use cells phones or have access to them as much as the segment above them. Schulman saw that this demographic was projected to be robust in the next five years, therefore he would target this segment that has not been targeted by the big players. Seeing that their target was pretty much the youth of America, Virgin mobile decided to include bonuses and extras such as access to the MTV network, phone face plates, ring tones, and online real-time billing. In an effort to set themselves apart from the big carriers, they packaged their phones in “consumer electronic” see through type packaging which would include all the information the customer needed to start using Virgin mobile that day, without the help of pushy sales people. Seeing that Virgin Mobile only has a small budget set aside for advertising, Schulman must focus on a pricing strategy that would attract and retain mobile phone subscribers. When looking at the options available to Virgin mobile and their small budget, they must tread carefully in order to grab this niche market away from the big carriers. As advertising comes, I believe that all of the information needed