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Circles.Life’s polarising approach to marketing will help telco go global – says brand’s campaigns chief

Encouraging people to either love or hate you is the only worthwhile marketing approach in a world where mediocrity gets lost in the crowd, the marketer driving Circles.Life has claimed in advance of her session on the topic at the Mumbrella360 Asia conference in Singapore this November (5-7).

Speaking to Mumbrella in a video interview before the event, brand and campaigns senior regional manager Megan Yulga said: “Circles.Life has global domination in its sights. Just this year, we have launched in Taiwan and Australia in a matter of two months. 

“We are the first telco ever to do that. It normally takes two to three years to launch in a new market. But because of our technology, we can plug in and get going in a matter of months. The other telcos are playing on price, rather than experience.

“It’s in the DNA of our brand to be a disruptor. If you look at the superhero character matrix, we are the chaotic good. We are the guys that mean well, but might not do it in the way that you expect or the way that others have done it before.”

Explaining her marketing approach, she added: “Our founders tell me ‘we want you to scare us’. Our whole motto is to ask for forgiveness, rather than permission. I rate my campaigns on a level of one to five. If I ask 10 people what they think of our campaign, I want five of them to say they hate it and five of them to love it. I don’t want any threes in the middle, I want polar opposites. This is how you get people talking about you. 

“That approach was reflected in the vandalism campaign at the [Singapore] MRT station where influencers vandalised a fake ad. It was extremely fun because nobody had thought to do it before. In another campaign, we put a person in a cardboard box on the street and he was giving out $50 bills when people were putting in $3. We wanted to get on the news for a product you typically wouldn’t care about. It’s about finding loopholes and doing things differently. 

“You have to know your why. Why do you exist? Why should customers give a crap about you? Why should they pay attention to you? For Circles.Life, the why is about providing power to the customer. It’s nothing to do with data or talk time, or SMS. We stand for something bigger than that.”

It is the second time the conference will be held. Back in 2017, the first event saw more than 1,100 delegates attend 70 sessions. Some of the industry’s most prominent speakers from across Asia and the rest of the world will feature on the programme. The format also includes one-to-one networking, a large exhibition zone, Speaker’s Corner and masterclass workshops as well as the four main content stages.

The annual Mumbrella Asia Awards ceremony will also take place during the same week as Mumbrella360 Asia – November 5 to 7 – meaning that those coming from outside Singapore only need to make one trip to attend both events at the Marina Bay Sands convention centre. 

Tickets can be purchased on the event website. The conference is targeted at client-side marketers, ad agencies, media owners, adtech players, consultancy firms and related segments like recruitment and executive education.

“This year, Mumbrella360 Asia is going to be even bigger and better than 2017,” Carroll said previously. “Without a doubt, this is again going to be the region’s, if not the world’s best media and marketing conference this year.”

Already onboard as sponsors are Bonsey Jaden, IPG Mediabrands, Wunderman Thompson, PHD, Unruly, Brave Bison, Verizon Media, Getty Images, Mediacorp, MediaOcean, Moving Walls, Shutterstock, Taboola, WarnerMedia Entertainment Networks, Hong Bao Media, CNBC, Tickled Media, RhythmOne, Qualtrics, Shootsta, Reuters, Acquia, AnyMind Group, Moove Media, Exponential and The Code Co – with Singapore Tourism Board also supporting the event financially.

For further information on the conference and to buy tickets go to the Mumbrella360 Asia website here. In addition, for information on the remaining sponsorship and exhibition opportunities at the event contact the partnerships manager Wilfred Wong on wilfred@mumbrella.asia – and for content inquiries you can reach out to the Mumbrella Asia general manager Dean Carroll on dean@mumbrella.asia 

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