This announcement follows on from Blyk’s recent news related to its partnership with Vodafone to bring the Blyk brand and media model to consumers and advertisers in the Netherlands.
Said Pekka Ala-Pietilä, Blyk co-founder and CEO: “For Blyk, the MVNO enabled us to build an optimal user experience for young people while at the same time providing an engaged audience, accountability and overall media effectiveness for advertisers. The Blyk media model is now proven and we are accelerating Blyk’s growth through operator partnerships. We’ve had an excellent relationship with Orange UK in our capacity as an MVNO and our move to operator partnering naturally served to propel the evolution of this relationship. We see this as a major building block for Blyk’s international expansion and continued growth.”
Blyk members will continue to enjoy all the benefits of the service until 26 August, at which point Blyk’s MVNO operation ends in the UK. Since Blyk’s inception its members have freely aired their opinions and demonstrated their independence and individuality. Thus, as young people do, Blyk members will select the best alternative on the market to meet their individual needs.
At the same time, Blyk and Orange are in the final stages of integrating Blyk’s media capabilities and expertise, allowing Orange to enhance their own media initiatives by launching across a variety of mobile propositions in the UK.
Blyk has proven that sending timely, interesting and relevant messages to young people from brands builds high levels of engagement and illicits high response and action rates. Going forward Orange will continue to offer brands this direct communication but on a far larger scale.
Marc Overton, VP of wholesale, business development and partnerships, Orange UK said: “Orange has enjoyed a close working relationship with Blyk since it first entered the market in 2007. It is a progressive, innovative, and exciting company and one which matches a proven capability with Orange’s ambition to grow its media business in order to offer a portfolio of opportunities for consumers and media houses alike. Integrating Blyk’s capabilities into our own will allow Orange customers access to great brand offers, benefits and promotions in a timely fashion which are specifically tailored and relevant to them.”