The energy division has been one of the foundations of Appco Group.
As many governments have deregulated their utilities sectors, Appco has been a key player by providing major energy companies with unrivalled customer acquisition volumes.
Appco Group has acquired more than 10 million new customers over 15 years in 11 countries and has added billions of dollars in value for our clients.
Appco specialises in face-to-face new customer acquisition in the energy sector and offers a range of channels of communication, including residential door-to-door, business-to-business, in-store, shopping centres and events.
Appco is also an industry leader in terms of quality and has comprehensive sales training and development programs, a state-of-the-art straight-through processing solution, as well as our unique sales integrity program which includes a third party verification/validation direct to the client at point of sale.
Appco Group Telecommunications
The telecommunications sector is serviced by one of our longest–running divisions - one which has seen great success since the global introduction of telephony deregulation. Founded in 2000, telecommunications giants have been represented by Appco Group in many areas around the world including Australia, UK & Ireland, Poland, Greece, Sweden, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore. Appco Group Telecommunications has acquired in excess of 12 million new customers on a global basis and it's widely recognised that Cobra Group of Companies (parent company of Appco Group) founder and chairman Chris Niarchos pioneered the face-to-face customer acquisition industry in the services sector with a telecommunications program.
Appco Group Telecommunications also pioneered electronic data processing, straight-through processing and a number of quality assurance initiatives including our unique sales integrity mechanism that has led to industry recognition as the premier acquisition agency in this space.
The advent of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), broadband and evolving broadcast technologies has presented Appco Group with the challenge of educating the private market on the benefits of a consolidated platform. With the help of feedback directly from its customer base as part of Appco's Human CommercialTM, major Telcos are now designing products with the individual needs of its customers in mind. Appco Group has been instrumental around the world in helping telecommunication consumers have a fast, professional and quality mechanism to choose a better and more cost-effective service.
Appco Group Pay TV
The digital revolution is in full swing across the globe and Appco Group has embraced this by providing many of the world's leading pay TV companies with a new and very effective sales channel – the face-to-face channel.
Appco Group's expertise in delivering new customers via its Human CommercialTM is now widely recognised as not only the most cost-effective channel but also the favourite way for customers to decide to subscribe to a pay TV package.
A major research program conducted in the UK in 2010 with new and existing pay TV customers found that customers preferred the face-to-face option. More specifically, four out of five would not have subscribed if the company did not visit them in their home. Most customers had more trust in the face-to-face sales process over joining online or over the telephone and found the personal touch had more integrity. In addition, customers liked the fact they could ask 'what's the catch' which they felt they could not do effectively if buying online or over the telephone.
This research program was conducted on Appco Group's sales force and is testament to its expertise and leadership in the industry.
Appco Group Pay TV has expertise in single play, double play and triple play as well as high definition and up-sell and cross-sell on content packages.
Appco Group is currently working in the pay TV division in the UK, Republic of Ireland, Australia, India and Italy, and is helping to bridge the digital divide through the introduction of hundreds of thousands of new customers to the exciting world of digital entertainment.
Appco Group Support
Appco Group Support is the largest face-to-face donor recruitment agency in the world.
Having commenced fundraising in Australia in 1997, we now operate in 19 countries, across Europe, Australasia and the Americas and have a network of 3,200 fundraisers.
Each month, Appco Group Support acquires well in excess of 130,000 new donors who we can conservatively expect to donate for an average period of three years. This means that Appco Group Support generates well over $US33million in donations each and every month for our charity partners. At Appco Group Support we enable charities to speak directly to potential donors at their homes, their place of work, on the street, in-store, at private sites and in public venues. With our expert approach, insistence on quality and passion for the causes we represent, Appco Group Support can turn interested observers into dedicated supporters. With a constant focus on attracting quality, committed supporters, we have become the first-choice donor recruitment agency for non-profit organisations.
Appco Group Financial Services
Appco Group's Financial Services Division has a demonstrated track record of delivering high-volume quality customers for many of the world's leading banks and financial services institutions across a range of products and services, including credit cards, prepaid debit cards, insurance and personal loans.
It has extensive experience across a number of channels including in-branch, in-store, events, shopping centres and airports.
In this highly regulated environment, Appco Group Financial Services is an industry leader with its adherence to the relevant compliance requirements in each country and zero tolerance to any non-compliant behaviour or processes. Appco Group is recognised as an industry leader in terms of quality and has comprehensive sales training and development programs, a state-of-the-art straight-through processing solution, as well as our unique sales integrity program, which includes third party verification/validation direct to the client at point of sale.
Appco Group Insurance
The Insurance Division is the newest and perhaps most challenging yet rewarding in the Appco Group.
More than half a million Britons have since benefited from the various products Appco Group has offered through a range of household insurance names.
Off the back of this success, the Cobra Group of Companies decided to diversify into the insurance business and started Get Covered - an innovative provider of smart insurance products for British households. You can visit them at www.getcovered.com or via www.cobragroup.com.
Appco Group India has also been active in the insurance industry and is heavily involved in the development and testing of a number of innovative insurance products that are being very well accepted in the India market.
The insurance division has worldwide potential and will be introduced in a number of regions in 2011 and beyond.
Appco Group Prosales
Appco Group Prosales is the oldest and the original division of the Cobra Group of Companies.
Appco Group Prosales offers consumers the opportunity to purchase an exclusive range of products through two channels. The original business-to-business channel - servicing customers in their workplace, and onsite/event marketing. These channels allow us to provide the customer with three key features:
- high-quality consumable products
- outstanding value for money
- convenience – direct access to products from the workplace or while in transit, without the inconvenience of high street shopping.
In March 2006, FW1 – a waterless cleaning wax was introduced in Australia and later New Zealand. Appco Group Prosales provides a retail demonstration for the product, showing potential customers at petrol sites and shopping centres, how to clean, wax and polish their car, motorbike or truck with no water and in less than 30 minutes. FW1 is exclusively sold at demonstration sites and through a retail demonstration, educating consumers on how to save water by using our product and ultimately driving traffic back to our site partners every week for future purchases.
Today, FW1 is at 40 plus sites per week, with more than 800,000 units of merchandise sold each year with more than 51 million litres of water saved annually in the Australian and New Zealand markets.
In 2008, FW1 was awarded the Smart Watermark and is an approved water-saving device and later, in April 2010, was awarded by respected business publication the Business Review Weekly in Australia (BRW), No.20 on the 'Fast Starters' list.
In January 2008, Appco Group Prosales launched the celebrity-designed cosmetic range from makeup artist 'Victoria Jackson' and the alliance with this international supplier has led to adding the skincare range 'Avani' made from the Dead Sea in Israel and an accessories range 'ME'. All of these brands are available under Appco Group Prosales brand called 'The Beauty Group'. The Beauty Group brand utilises both the business-to-business and event marketing channels of distribution with a strong focus of engaging consumers through demonstration at point of sale.
Appco Group Prosales is now exploring the European and Asia Pacific markets with a strong focus on the FW1 brand and its potential for growth in the regions that are affected by water shortages.
Appco Group Sports
Appco Group Sports commenced trading in 2000 as Allsports Direct (Australia) Pty Ltd and has earned a reputation as a professional, cost-effective means for sporting organisations to achieve their revenue- raising objectives while raising their brand awareness in the community.
Appco Group Sports specialises in creating results-oriented and actionable relationships between the sporting organisation and their target market. Appco Group Sports provides sporting organisations with access to resources to promote and sell its products in existing target markets, as well as new markets, outside of the organisation's captive audience. Appco Group Sports primarily does this through six avenues:
- Major Lottery/Raffle Program
- Match Day Lottery/Raffle Program
- Scratch & Win Program
- Pin & Win Program
- Fundraising Voucher Program
- Membership Program
Today, Appco Group Sports represents many well-known and popular sporting organisations across a variety of sporting codes such as cricket, football, rugby league, rugby union, Australian rules football, basketball, netball and charitable sporting groups (The Australian Paralympic Committee and the Surf Life Saving Foundation).
The Australian Paralympic Committee was able to send the biggest Paralympic teams ever to the Beijing and Vancouver games due to the support of Appco Group Sports and the monies raised through the lottery/scratchy programs.
The relationship between Appco Group Sports and the Surf Life Saving Foundation in Australia has now extended to more than six years and has been a fantastic relationship for both parties. Appco Group Sports expanded into New Zealand in August 2009 with great success and is on track to open in the United Kingdom in the first half of 2011.
Appco Group Security
Appco Group Ireland has been successfully informing thousands of new customers each year about the importance and benefits of home security. Coming up to its seventh year in operation, since 2003, the security division is the most consistent in its growth.
Launched in October 2003, Appco has since delivered and installed more than 21,000 home security systems on behalf of eircom PhoneWatch, one of its longest-standing commercial business partners in Ireland.
As a result, eircom PhoneWatch has risen to become the market leader in monitored home security in Ireland today.
Appco Group Ireland together with eircom PhoneWatch deliver a high-quality home security solution that includes a wire-free system with a state-of-the-art monitoring control centre to watch over customers' properties, be they residential, homes or businesses.
Appco is the leading face-to-face sales and marketing agency in Ireland and provides new customer acquisition through the residential, events and our unique mobile trailer channel. This division is recognised for its approach to quality and has comprehensive sales training and development programs, a state-of-the-art straight-through processing solution as well as our unique sales integrity program, which includes a third party verification/validation direct to the client at point of sale.
Appco Group Media
Appco Group Media was first launched in Australia in 1998 with Fairfax newspapers. The program objective was to achieve 5,000 new subscribers to boost the circulation of the Group's newspapers.
Appco Group utilised both the residential and business-to-business channels to reach the desired demographics of circulation. During this campaign, we promoted The Sydney Morning Herald and the Financial Review, as well as the Sunday papers.
Over the last 12 years, Appco Group Media has sold subscriptions for magazines and a variety of newspapers throughout Australia and New Zealand for Fairfax, News Corporation and APN media. The offer to market is primarily a discounted rate for a longer-term subscription and/or a unique offer to the subscriber.
Appco Group Media has promoted some of the most well–known and widely read newspapers in Australia and New Zealand.
Appco Group Media has an ongoing subscription campaign for The New Zealand Herald, which has produced some fantastic results. New Zealand also pioneered local newspaper subscriptions in Christchurch. Appco Group Media is currently working with APN in Cairns in Australia and has been approached to work in other capital cities and regions.