congstar

congstar GmbH
legal form	GmbH
founding	November 11, 2004 as congster GmbH, Darmstadt
Seat	Cologne , Germany
management	Peter Opdemom Christina Kiehl
Number of employees	approx. 200
sales	EUR 1.02 billion (2011)
Branch	telecommunications
Website	www.congstar.de

congstar is a subsidiary and secondary brand of Telekom Deutschland GmbH , which offers wireless and internet tariffs. The brand is managed by the independent congstar GmbH. According to its own information, it now looks after over 5 million customers (as of December 2019).

Since 2004, the company has been selling Internet access based on T-DSL resale as congster GmbH . Internet connections based on LTE have been marketed since 2016 , the congstar Homespot tariffs.

history

The T-Online subsidiary congster, which had marketed broadband access via T-DSL resale, was merged with the congstar brand in 2007 . In the same year the first prepaid offer was introduced and the sale of cell phones began. Since September 2007, Congstar has also been selling mobile phones, especially smartphones, with and without a contract. Tablet PCs are also offered.

As a mobile communications and DSL provider, Congstar offered prepaid and postpaid products as well as complete DSL and VDSL connections, consisting of telephone and Internet access. This made congstar Germany's only telecommunications discounter with a complete product portfolio. From mid-2008 prepaid cards were also offered at petrol stations. In July 2008 the company had half a million customers. In August 2008, congstar offered bundled internet and telephone tariffs for the first time; In December 2008, prepaid tariffs including cell phones were also offered.

The sales cooperation with GRAVIS started in November 2010 . After the introduction of special smartphone tariffs (August) and savings packages with mobile phone internet flat rates including smartphone (November), congstar recorded 2 million customers in December 2011. In March 2012, the company introduced tariff options that can be added to existing tariffs. From April 2012, congstar prepaid was offered in all Telekom shops. The company headquarters moved to the Deutsche Telekom site in Cologne this year. From May 2012 congstar became a mobile communications partner of the Rewe Group and in October 2012 the company started its cooperation with ZTE Deutschland GmbH. There has also been a cooperation with OnePlus since 2019.

At the beginning of April 2012, congstar moved from the former headquarters in Cologne's Rheinauhafen to the same building complex as the parent company Telekom. The Congstar customer service, however, is still located in the Hessian city ​​of Kronberg . After moving within Cologne, congstar has been based in the Rheinauhafen again since October 2019.

congstar headquarters, Bayenwerft 12–14, Cologne

The then managing director Martin Knauer stated in an interview that congstar is not pursuing the goal of being the price breaker on the market, but rather wants to position itself as a brand discounter in the future . This differs congstar of pure no-frills offerings , which will differentiate on price from the competition.

In July 2013 the company had three million customers. From April 2014 the entire product portfolio was also available in all Telekom shops. In 2015, Congstar was ranked 45th among the 50 most valuable brands in Germany according to a study by the market research institute Interbrand. In February 2016, Congstar had a customer base of 4 million. In May 2016, congstar was the second most popular mobile phone discount store in Germany, just behind the market leader Aldi Talk .

congstar has received several awards from magazines such as Focus , Connect , Handelsblatt and others.

Managing Director was Alexander Lautz from 2007 to 2011, and Martin Knauer from 2011–2016. In 2016 Peter Opdemom took over the management of congstar. The successor to long-time managing director Guido Scheffler (2008–2016) for the areas of finance, IT and human resources was taken on by Christina Kiehl at the beginning of 2017.

The e-mail service for customers was discontinued on July 1, 2018 (@ congstar.de addresses).

Telekom Deutschland has been the contractual partner for all Congstar customers since April 1, 2019 and it appeared as an addition in the imprint congstar - a brand of Telekom Deutschland GmbH . There was no special right of termination because the contracts were taken over in full and nothing has changed for the customers in the daily dealings with Congstar.

Market strategy

With a product portfolio and service that deviates from the no-frills concept of classic mobile phone discounters , such as discoTEL or winSIM , congstar, as a branded discounter, would primarily like to target a younger group of people between 18 and 39 years of age, who may be reserved about the main brands of Telekom. Therefore, from the very beginning , the marketing was deliberately not associated with Telekom and a completely new advertising concept was developed. Specific advertising plays an important role at congstar. The result is therefore, according to the responsible advertising agency , a young, loud, lively and urban brand image, which content and visually stand out in a highly competitive market. Blogs and social networks such as Facebook or Twitter are used in particular to target these consumers . Video and photo platforms such as YouTube and Instagram are also used extensively for target group communication and branding .

The benchmark study Fanfocus the magazine Focus brought the end of 2013 to light that congstar with 30% to # 1 a list of the most extremely satisfied and emotionally committed to the company is customers. According to the results of the study, they belong to the premium customer category of fans . The parent company Telekom came in 9th place with 11% fan share among the customers. In the study, customers were divided into fans, sympathizers, mercenaries, prisoners and terrorists ( called opponents in follow-up studies ). In the same study, congstar was in second place in 2016 behind Aldi-Talk. At the beginning of 2017, congstar took 3rd place.

With the annual Connect customer barometer, congstar has also achieved outstanding or very good results in recent years , with the image factor playing a significantly greater role than with other providers. The top grade was achieved in 2015. In 2016, the study participants again rated the brand as extremely likeable, with almost 85% recommending congstar to others. The result was confirmed again in 2017. Even the lack of LTE was not perceived as negative by the study participants.

advertising

The strikingly colored comic style of congstar

Unusual for a company in the mobile radio discount sector, congstar denies an elaborate advertising strategy with a high recognition value . Even interactivity is an essential feature of congstar advertising.

Special feature of the Congstar- advertising campaigns is that occurring in characters in pop art - comic style , similar to Warhol and Lichtenstein appear colored. The rotoscopic optics are used here . Bright colors are used on a black background. The color black, which is unusual in advertising , also dominates the company's website.

The congstar campaign was launched for the 2007 market launch : Light as Fast Food , which emphasized how easy it is to put together an offer or a tariff according to your own needs. Also in the campaigns Prepaid as I want and Set? Never! In each case, the focus was on the flexibility of the modular system of the congstar prepaid tariffs.

In the past, congstar used the advertising character Andy in its campaigns , which was embodied by the Berlin actor Jakob Renger . During the interactive advertising campaign Andy wants to change , customers were able to suggest different styles in which Andy presented himself in TV spots . The styles were representative of the flexible congstar tariffs. Other campaigns with Andy were Andy on Tour and Andy's Friends Tour. For a long time, congstar also provided Andy with a microsite on congstar.de. Andy still communicates with the users on the congstar Facebook page.

Apart from Andy , the advertising characters Jana, Alex, Michi, Mike and hipster Horst appeared regularly . According to the advertising agency responsible, the Jana figure was introduced in order to attract more female customers to the congstar products.

Suitable openers, reminders and closers were filmed for television series such as Monk , The Simpsons , Futurama , or the television program Galileo in order to increase congstar's profile.

The trade press paid close attention to the fact that congstar and other mobile phone discounters deviated from the usual advertising concept and no longer just focused on the low prices and the flexibility of their tariffs in their commercials and advertisements, but more and more often on the quality of their offers. Until now, this was reserved for the parent companies.

Products

The portfolio includes mobile communications products in the prepaid and postpaid area, as well as complete DSL and VDSL connections as well as regional high-speed Internet offers. In the cellular area, congstar only uses the cellular network of Telekom Deutschland. In the fixed network area, congstar has also been using the QSC network for DSL connections since 2008, in addition to the parent company's network . In the meantime, the DSL offers have been taken out of marketing, the company relies instead on the Congstar Homespot - stationary WLAN routers for the Telekom network. In contrast to the comparable offers at Vodafone and Telekom, these are tied to one location and also have no access to 5G. Since 2013 congstar has also been offering mobile phone insurance. The entire offer is addressed exclusively to private customers, commercial use is excluded.

The congstar product portfolio includes a. Mobile phones, tablet PCs as well as LTE and WLAN routers.

The product portfolio is marketed via the company website and the Telekom Shops. Furthermore, prepaid cards and mobile phone contracts are also offered in free specialist shops. Due to the low profitability, the store opened on November 2, 2010 at Hohe Strasse 96 in Cologne was closed again on January 28, 2012. To this end, the mobile communications company is increasingly relying on partnerships with regional telecommunications service providers such as NetCologne and ITC distributors such as Michael Telecom AG or einsAmobile GmbH.

Since March 2018, congstar has offered tariffs with LTE as part of the contract for the first time as part of a high-speed option that can be booked. Previously, only Internet access in the 2G and 3G networks was planned and LTE could only be used unofficially in some older existing tariffs. Since the end of 2019, it has been possible to convert the SIM cards from eSIM - but initially only via customer service.

LTE has been an integral part of all prepaid tariffs since July 2020 and no longer needs to be booked as an option.

Prepaid

Since the end of 2007, congstar's product portfolio has included a prepaid offer that has been repeatedly modified and expanded. From mid-2008 to spring 2010 there were tariff variants that enabled free access to the respective mobile Internet portals from eBay and RTL . One of the first sales channels in the free trade was the sale of prepaid cards at petrol stations (start May / June 2008). Since the end of 2008, congstar has also been offering prepaid tariffs in combination with cell phones. The latest prepaid tariffs have been available under the name “Prepaid wie ich will” since July 2015 and, in addition to ready-made packages and Prepaid Allnet Flat, also offer a “tariff kit” again.

In addition to prepaid cards for cell phones or smartphones, congstar also has corresponding offers for tablets. There is also an internet stick for notebooks, PCs and Macs.

Postpaid

In addition to the modular tariff system, congstar offers three basic tariffs for cell phones and smartphones, as well as congstar FairFlat, a flexible tariff in which customers only pay for the data volume they actually use.

Sponsorship

congstar is the main sponsor of FC St. Pauli

Since July 2014 congstar has been the main sponsor of the football club FC St. Pauli, and the company was a sponsor there from 2007 to 2009.

Trivia

In 2011, make-up artist Boris Entrup filed a lawsuit against congstar because he believed that the advertising character Andy looked too similar to him. He accused congstar of "deliberately" exploiting his fame with the testimonial Andy . The Hamburg Regional Court dismissed the injunction as unfounded.

Web links

• Congstar

Individual evidence

1. ↑ https://www.golem.de/news/discounter-4-5-millionen-congstar-kunden-wechsel-zur-telekom-1903-139826.html
2. ↑ de.statista.com: Sales and employees in 2011
3. ↑ https://www.inside-handy.de/news/congstar-kunden-haben-automatisch-zu-telekom-kunden
4. ↑ congstar is "Mobile Operator of the Year 2012"! Article at press portal fair-NEWS.de.Retrieved on March 21, 2018
5. ↑ Congstar is moving - and getting closer to Telekom . Article in Basic Thinking from April 2, 2012
6. ↑ Interview: Congstar is thinking about saying goodbye to DSL . Article at onlinekosten.de.Retrieved on June 17, 2017
7. ↑ http://www.bestgermanbrands.com/en/45/congstar
8. ↑ congstar milestones. Retrieved January 19, 2017 . 
9. ↑ teltarif.de: Aldi Talk and congstar dominate the discounter market
10. ↑ Congstar managing director changes to T-Systems . Article at TelecomHandel.de from March 15, 2011
11. ↑ Martin Knauer becomes Congstar boss . Article at TelecomHandel.de from May 12, 2011
12. ↑ Peter Opdemom is the new managing director of Congstar . Article at TelecomHandel.de from September 13, 2016
13. ↑ Congstar appoints new head of finance . Article at TelecomHandel.de from March 22, 2017
14. ↑ Congstar.de: Imprint
15. ↑ connect.de
16. ↑ Conversation: Martin Knauer from Congstar . Article on Connect.de from September 12, 2011
17. ↑ Congstar boss Lautz "We are young at heart and don't need a T" . Article at faz.de from July 22, 2007
18. ↑ congstar advertising . Article at Online-Rabatt.de from February 9, 2017
19. ^ Interbrand - Creating and managing brand value . Retrieved June 16, 2017
20. ↑ Prepaid strikes a contract - cheap and serious: Congstar and Aldi are the best mobile operators . Article on Focus.de from December 17, 2013
21. ↑ Satisfaction with mobile phone providers This discounter is the most popular mobile phone provider in Germany . Article on Focus.de from February 10, 2016
22. ↑ Vodafone and O2 have no chance against cheap cell phone operators . Article on Focus.de from February 9, 2017
23. ↑ Customer satisfaction mobile communications customer barometer: Congstar and Alditalk ahead of Telekom . Article on Connect.de from August 28, 2015
24. ↑ connect customer barometer mobile communications 2016 - satisfaction at Congstar, Otelo, Simyo and Alditalk . Article on Connect.de from March 11, 2016
25. ↑ connect customer barometer mobile communications 2017 - Blau, Base, 1 & 1 and Congstar . Article on Connect.de from May 26, 2017
26. ↑ Interbrand: Congstar. ( Memento of May 22, 2014 on WebCite ) Retrieved November 4, 2013.
27. ^ The new Congstar campaign from DDB . Article at W&V from August 6, 2015
28. ↑ Congstar website in the test - overall grade 2+. ( Memento from September 27, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Article at DSL-Stadt.de from November 2, 2011.
29. ↑ Congstar: As light as fast food. Article at W & V.de from July 17, 2007.
30. ↑ New spot from Congstar: Jana without Andy in front of the altar. Article at W & V.de of July 13, 2012.
31. ↑ "Andy wants to change": Telekom subsidiary Congstar hires users for advertising. Article on Horizont.de from January 14, 2010.
32. ↑ Congstar on Facebook. Retrieved November 4, 2013.
33. ↑ Congstar Spot Premiere: Why Testimonial Andy gets female support. Article on Horizont.de from July 14, 2011.
34. ↑ Mobile phone price war - when discounters advertise quality. Article on Horizont.de from November 14, 2014.
35. ↑ Handelsblatt: Congstar uses the network of the competitor QSC
36. ↑ teltarif.de: congstar also offers DSL via the QSC network
37. ↑ homespots.de: Congstar Homespot - experiences, speed and costs for the D1 Homespot
38. ↑ http://www.onlinekosten.de/news/artikel/46730/0/Der-congstar-Shop-in-Koeln-schliesst
39. ↑ heise.de: Congstar: LTE option costs 5 euros
40. ↑ heise.de: eSIM - the future of the SIM card
41. ↑ Congstar: LTE is now included in the price for all prepaid customers. Retrieved on July 17, 2020 (German). 
42. ↑ Because of "Double" in the spot: Boris Entrup sues Congstar . Article at W & V.de from May 19, 2011
43. ^ Judgment in the Congstar case: "Andy" is allowed to stay . Article at W & V.de from August 10, 2011