Telkom resumes anti-Neotel taunts

This article was posted by on Aug 24th, 2010 and filed under News, Top. You can follow any responses to this entry using RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Telkom's hoarding, visible from the northbound carriageway of the N1

Telkom has resumed its high-profile anti-Neotel taunts on Gauteng billboards, this time erecting a giant sign just metres in front of its rival’s new head office in Midrand, north of Johannesburg.

In a clear reference to Neotel’s orange corporate branding, the Telkom hoarding says: “Remember, exercise caution when you see orange.”

TechCentral spotted the billboard this week, though it’s understood it’s been up for some weeks already.

It’s not the first time Telkom has used billboards to take a swipe at its fledgling competitor. For more than a year, the company rented space on a big billboard outside Neotel’s old offices in Woodmead, at the high-trafficked confluence of the N1, the M1 and the N3 in Johannesburg, and used it to make fun of its competitor.

It’s not the first time telecommunications operators have taken aim at each other. MTN has long had a giant logo on a building facing Vodacom’s head office across the N1 highway through Midrand. And both Cell C and Vodacom have had at various times had giant billboards outside MTN’s head office in north-western Johannesburg.  — Staff reporter, TechCentral



  • Pierre

    One of SA’s most awarded creative directors once taught me that leader brands (like Telkom) should never stoop to taunt their competitors in this manner. All it does is show that they’re threatened.

    I think this billboard is a cheap shot that’s extremely insensitive to the current telecoms climate in SA, which is still for all intents and purposes monopolised by Telkom. You can’t build a likeable brand by bullying the little guy.

    That said, it’s a good lesson for all corporates – make sure you book out the billboards around your headquarters!

  • Daleen

    I do not think one should underestimate the public in being quite capable of making up their own minds. For years the billboards of Oracle and Informix entertained the motoring public along the 101 in Silicon Valley, CA and the mere fact that Oracle carried on was a testimony to the fact that Informix was/is by far the superior product even though it could never out-market the 800lb gorilla. Telkom has ripped off the consumers for too long and deserve to be outmaneuvered by the likes of Neotel and MWeb

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