Pekao launches two-phase campaign to promote unified image

The 60-second spots that appeared at the end of last year picturing Cape Canaveral-like images ended with cryptic information such as "2 + 2 = 1." But the ads had a rather simple meaning.
At the beginning of 1999, the four banks that comprised the Pekao group - Bank Depozytowo-Kredytowy of Lublin, Pomorski Bank Kredytowy of Szczecin, Powszechny Bank Gospodarczy of lodz and Warsaw-based Pekao finally melted into one entity - Pekao.
The first stage of the advertising campaign, which was supported with print ads and 1,330 billboards placed around Poland, will last until Jan. 18. The point of these ads is to inform Pekao's 3 million customers and about 25,000 employees that the merger is complete.
The second stage will run Jan. 19-Feb. 15 and will be visual, rather than informative. "During the first stage our goal was to inform the audience that one bank was established from four," said Jacek Kozlowski, public relations director at Pekao. "In the second stage we will focus on the claim 'first today, first tomorrow.'"
The visual spots will try to reinforce the idea of Pekao being a pioneer in the banking sector, Kozlowski said, displaying its role as the first bank to launch credit cards, Euro accounts (zloty-denominated accounts to be used abroad), ATMs, electronic banking, phone banking and a housing society.
Kozlowski refused to detail spending for the ad campaign, which was prepared by Ammirati Puris Lintas. In addition, Pekao's newly opened call and mail marketing center in lodz sent about 3 million letters to customers explaining the change.
As part of the information campaign, Pekao was quick to tell customers of the now non-existent banks that they don't have to worry about checkbooks or credit cards with the old bank names not being valid. All such instruments will be valid until their official expiration date, Pekao said.
Web television
When it comes to accessing the internet, Telekomunikacja Polska (TPSA) still remains the ultimate gatekeeper, or depending on your point of view, deterrent to high-speed access.
This situation is unlikely to change even if digital television providers later this year or early next year begin to offer access through their services.
Although a link through a digital television platform would significantly decrease download times, the return path for data would still have to run through TPSA.
Canal+ Polska, through its Cyfra+ platform, seems to be taking the lead in the race to provide internet access through a digital platform. Boxes needed to access the company's service already include a modem, said Jakub Brzeczkowski, project manager for digital development at Canal+.
Since launching Cyfra this fall, the company has sent out about 65,000 boxes equipped with modems, he said. Rival Wizja TV, owned by @Entertainment, has sent out nearly double the number of boxes, but these are not equipped with modems.
"The next generation of box will have a modem in it," Donald Miller-Jones, @Entertainment's chief financial officer said.
The lack of a modem may give Canal+ a slight edge with its boxes, but developing digital television web access is still in its infancy in Poland, Brzeczkowski conceded.
Canal+ is currently looking at a system where a Cyfra subscriber, equipped with the modem box and a personal computer, could access the internet, receiving downloads from the digital, satellite-based system. This would increase download times by "15 to 20 times," Brzeczkowski said.
But to transmit information back to the web, the data would return via regular phone lines, meaning the slow crawl that usually accompanies net users trying to surf over TPSA's lines.
This problem could possibly be averted if the return path was via cable television. Both Polska Telewizja Kablowa (PTK), which is owned by @Entertainment, and its competitor Aster City, have been running pilot internet access programs for several months now. Still, even running over cable, it is not possible to bypass TPSA.
The cable connections speed up download times within Poland, but for international connections there is a delay because the cable companies must also connect through TPSA, which causes a bottleneck and slower download times.
However, not all digital television users will have cable, seeing as the platforms give satellite access to channels.
Brzeczkowski said his company is exploring the cable option, but that will follow any launch of the satellite-pc-phone system. "For now, we're trying to simplify the system and get our offer out," he added.
Brzeczkowski said the system will roll out at the earliest by the end of this year, adding that early in 2000 is more likely.
While Canal+ is also working out the technical details, it has yet to determine how to price such an access package. "The only question that appears with the system is the cost," Brzeczkowski said. "The internet is very satellite-band consuming and this is very expensive."
And both Canal+ and @Entertainment will have to be careful not to over price access offers, even if they do prove faster than digital connections. Eventually access speeds will improve and making money from providing access will be extremely difficult, analysts said.
"Five to seven years down the road internet access (in Poland) is going to become a commodity," warned Georg Hotar, an analyst at ICE Securities, which follows @Entertainment's Nasdaq-listed shares.