| 39716 | Telekom Austria Group |
Telekom Austria Group: Hannes Ametsreiter Award-Winner “CMO of the Year 2008” Across all Industries in Europe
Vienna, September 25, 2008: Telekom Austria Group today announced that Hannes Ametsreiter, CMO mobilkom austria and Telekom Austria, received the International Marketing Award by Booz & Company in Frankfurt, Germany on September 24, 2008. This recognition “CMO of the Year” is awarded to managers of European companies for their excellent and visionary marketing performance. This award highlights the central role played by marketing in strategic corporate management and stresses the increasing importance of the Chief Marketing Officer position. The international jury, comprising Hugh Burkitt, CEO of the Marketing Society, Olaf Göttgens, Vice President Brand Communications of Daimler AG, and Laurent Maruani, professor at the HEC Graduate School of Management, selected Ametsreiter among 38 nominated candidates across all industries in Europe. They stressed Ametsreiter’s longstanding performance as CMO of mobilkom austria, Austria’s mobile market and innovation leader and the only mobile provider in Western Europe to have continuously enlarged its market share against a background of intensive competition. Helmut Meier, Senior Vice President at Booz & Company said: “Hannes Ametsreiter makes a considerable contribution to a successful corporate and marketing strategy and to the excellent market positioning of mobilkom austria, consistently aligning the company and its product portfolio with customer needs. This is why mobilkom austria has continuously been able to win new market share with both the A1 and bob brands within a very saturated market.” Ametsreiter views this award as a confirmation of his course of action: “At a time when markets are experiencing turbulence, it is even more important to consistently orientate a company towards customer needs and meeting brand expectations.” The outcome is impressive. mobilkom austria is the only mobile operator in Western Europe to constantly strengthen its market leadership with significant market share net additions throughout its long history. Currently market share amounts to 42.5% and the A1 brand is the most popular, known and innovative brand in Austria with an aided brand awareness of 99%. This success is based on three main pillars: service, quality and innovation. According to market research by Triconsult (1HY 08), 84% of the company’s customer base confirmed that mobilkom austria has the best service quality, which is demonstrated by the high-performing network as well as the wide range of products and services. Moreover, mobilkom austria is one of the most innovative mobile providers in Europe due to its first mover advantage in introducing leading-edge technologies and its pioneering product portfolio including award-winning services such as A1 over IP, A1 Internet security, m-parking and A1 network.
