For a technology lauded by the mobile phone industry as something akin to the second coming, 3G has endured a spectacular fall from grace.
Of the finalists in the telecommunications category at this year's Effie Awards, only Hutchison's '3' promoted the technology itself in its advertisement for video calls.
The other two prize winners, Hong Kong CSL and New World Mobility, both dropped the tech-talk in favour of a more 'service-orientated' focus.
For New World, the reasoning is obvious - it does not hold a 3G licence - but in CSL's case the decision is far more revealing.
'3G should not be the core of our marketing strategy,' said Michelle Au, general manager of marketing communications and public relations at CSL. 'As the penetration rate of 3G handsets is very low, our focus should be on teaching users to use new mobile data services, no matter whether they are 3G capable or not.'
CSL's young and trendy brand One2Free has won gold at the Effie Awards for two consecutive years. Last year, the firm used a love story starring Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou to encourage users to send photos and MMS messages via their camera phone.
