S5 pre-orders, Free data plans & Bonus talktime: Airtel Zambia Promo April Roundup

It’s Airtel Zambia’s turn to maximize the marketing space with acquisition campaigns everywhere you turn. Admittedly, there are some pretty good deals. It is usually very tempting to compare promotions to a competitor. However, one thing most customers miss is comparing the promotions with other products within the company. For instance, 800 MB for 10 days at K100. One could ask, among other things, is there currently a data package for 800 MB?

Let’s take a look at the current hyped campaigns. First off, the Samsung Galaxy S5 promo which could perhaps be the biggest promotion happening right now in comparison to, well Airtel first within itself, then other telecoms. The Airtel Zambia promo is offering anybody who pre-orders a Samsung Galaxy S5 1 GB of data for 4 months. Despair not if you already own an S5 because Airtel is offering you 1 GB for one month, if you register on their network.

At an attractive price of K4,945 compared to its sibling the S4 which retails around K4,999, this offer is indeed quite tempting. Even more enticing is the fact that for 4 months you could receive K131.25 worth of mobile internet data thus totalling K525. The only catch is that this offer is limited to the first 100 handsets. The loophole is whether the 100 handsets refers to those pre-ordered and purchased or those registered. Furthermore, it would be helpful if the dedicated pre-ordering website could have a tool indicating how many handsets are left before 100 is reached so that the race to the 100 handsets is more exciting.

It is left up to you to decide whether this is an agenda or a simple coincidence that one promo is giving away K131.25 worth of data while another has been created to charge K100. The 800 MB data plan has especially been created for the purpose of the marketing campaign as it did not previously exist. In fact, no other telecom is offering a 800 MB plan. Therefore the prices have been customised to match this offer. The catch is that the plan is only valid for 10 days. On the downside, the length of the promotion has not been determined yet as the terms and conditions do not contain any end date. Therefore, Airtel could decide to pull this at the moment when you’re beginning to enjoy it just like the time the “unlimited bundles” were unceremoniously killed.

We have become used to the hoopla during the launch of a promotion but is it too much to ask for a PSA (public service announcement) when it is coming to an end?

Additionally, there is the Chimwemwe deal which requires Airtel subscribers to stay awake from 23:00 hours till 8:00 hours in order to enjoy the benefits of the promotion. It would appear that this campaign was targeted at jobless teenagers but the promotions speak none of that language. Therefore, we assume Chimwemwe is directed to everybody. In fact, the couple in the advert look like middle-aged working class. So much for the KYC (Know Your Customer) initiative.

Lastly is the Airtel Money promotion. Just by using Airtel Money, you get 25% bonus talktime when you top up using Airtel Money. All you have to do is dial *778# to take advantage. 25% bonus talktime will definitely appeal to those who never got the chance to enjoy 100% bonus talktime once upon a time.

Of course the WINA Big competition is still on-going. To end on a social note, Airtel Zambia is asking you to follow them and they guarantee to follow you back if you hashtag #TeamFollowBack on Twitter… even #TFB would have worked. Anyway, kudos for that social media optimisation!