EE branding guru points to 5G perception issue

INTERVIEW: Despite the operator’s rapid progress in rolling out 5G, EE branding expert Kelly Engstrom highlighted challenges in communicating the immediate benefits to users while they were only able to receive the technology intermittently.

In an interview with Mobile World Live, the operator’s brand and demand generation communications director said in its marketing EE had highlighted immediate improvements brought by 5G while also building excitement for future use cases.

However, she conceded it had faced barriers. Initially, she noted the lack of a compatible iPhone had cut out a significant proportion of its customers with the second major challenge due to the fact the technology was still in the rollout phase.

“We’re super proud of the speed of the rollout we’ve managed to achieve at EE, we are aiming for 50 per cent coverage of the country by 2023 … and ultimately aiming for nationwide coverage by 2028,” she said.

“That’s amazing, but it [5G] is still very much on a rollout programme so that does mean not every customer can get it, but also as they are using it they move in and out of 4G and 5G zones so convincing people of the benefits it has on their everyday lives can be less clear,” she added noting it was “a real challenge communicating what they can expect from it in their lives today.”