The encyclopedia · Product & Design · Product decision · 2023–2024
Singtel's GOMO turned expiring mobile data into a bankable asset
Leftover mobile data now 'deposited' into a Data Bank and spent on roaming — an expiring subscription asset reborn as savings, winning Effie Golds.
Singtel (GOMO)
The solution
Mobile plans in Singapore expire data monthly, so heavy-use quarters and light-use months cancel out — most subscribers lose unused megabytes they paid for. Singtel's digital brand GOMO attacked that dead value with a product invention: the Data Bank, which converts leftover data into usable future credit in the form of roaming and value-added services.
The launch campaign made the abstraction tangible. With Publicis Singapore, GOMO ran a social-first push: influencers demonstrated real-world data waste in street interviews, audiences shared screenshots of leftover data through an 'Add Yours' Instagram sticker, and GOMO pledged to match anyone's leftovers into a Data Bank when they switched over. Bus stops became interactive game stations where waiting time could win rewards.
The mechanism is the message — saving rather than wasting — and juries backed it: the campaign won Gold at both Effie Awards Singapore 2024 and Effie APAC 2024 in Customer Experience and Telecom categories, alongside the product's permanent availability in every GOMO plan.
The Data Bank turned a telecom commodity nobody could see into a balance everyone could feel, without Singtel giving away a single extra gigabyte.
Why it worked
- The ledger reframe is free for the operator: stored data costs the same network capacity whether consumed or expired, but the perception jumps from 'I lost it' to 'I saved it'.
- Roaming was the perfect payout: a service users rarely buy because of price became payable exactly when they need it, driving a high-margin add-on sale.
- The campaign showed the product instead of explaining it — influencers, bus-stop games and share-your-savings mechanics trained the behavior the product depends on.
- Making it a standard plan feature rather than a promo removed the expiry on the marketing idea too: the utility keeps compounding customer value every billing cycle.
What can be applied
If your subscription commodity expires unused each cycle, turn the expiry into a ledger — customers who can bank the residue see more value at zero extra network cost.
Aftermath
The Data Bank remained a pillar of GOMO's offer after the launch push, with the double Effie Gold providing the evidence case for Singtel's wider digital sub-brands. In Singapore's telecom market the product is now cited as the template for 'data rollover reimagined' — and as proof that low-cost digital carriers can lead on product innovation, not just price.
Sources
- Singtel's GOMO goes with social strategy to promote new data bank
- Effie Awards Singapore 2024 announces winners (GOMO Data Bank, Publicis Singapore – Singtel)
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