Ambush Marketing

Waka Waka fever has gripped the world and people from across the globe are tuning in every day to see who would go on to raise
the FIFA World Cup trophy on the 11th of July, 2010. Given the magnitude of the event and the global reach of every game, it is a
marketer’s delight. In any such event, the coveted ‘official tournament sponsors’ position usually draws stiff competition. However,
every tournament of this magnitude also draws a number of so-called ‘unofficial’ sponsors – the ‘ambush marketers’. Call them
smart or call them dirty, ambush marketing is a reality and has been going on for quite some time now in the international arena.
And it’s not just the small players who indulge in this, some of the biggest brands in the world use ambush marketing as their core
strategy.
What is ambush marketing? Imagine you are the official sponsor of a major tournament like the World Cup. You’ve pumped in a lot
of money and have the official right to associate your brand(s) with the tournament – advertisements, marketing campaigns etc.
Now suppose your rival manages to air an ad campaign with all the elements of the World Cup in it, minus the actual name of the
tournament. Or say he airs a campaign featuring some of the star players from the tournament. His brand also gains association
with the mega event and effectively hijacks mind space, air time and recall among consumers for free whereas you’ve put in a ton of
money for the same! Welcome to the world of ambush marketing. Take a look at these examples.

 Reebok was the official sponsor of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. However, Nike managed to steal the show by
sponsoring press conferences for the US basketball team and needless to say, benefited tremendously in the process.
 At the same event, Michael Jordan, who was sponsored by Nike, covered the Reebok sign on his kit while receiving the
gold medal for the US basketball team, in spite of Reebok being the official sponsors.
 During the 1996 Cricket World Cup in India, Coke shelled out Rs 40 crores to be the official sponsor of the event.
However, Pepsi managed to gain more mileage through their “nothing official about it” campaign.
There have been numerous such instances in the past. From time to time, we come across controversies involving sponsorship
deals with stand offs between players, sponsors and the boards concerned. Attempts to prevent ambush marketing may have been
one of the major culprits behind this.

Is it legal? Well, that depends on the contract involved. Remember, the people involved in ambush marketing are very shrewd and
smart people. This form of marketing succeeds primarily because of loopholes that exist in contracts signed between the official
sponsors of the event and the event organizer. Marketers should be cautious while framing sponsorship deals and must look to
block out competitors.

The ethicality of the practice? Well, that is for all of us to debate. However, given the steep prices involved in officially sponsoring a
mega event and the consumer reach it offers, ambush marketing is certainly here to stay.

You can find this article at http://www.themarketers.in/ambush-marketing/

Out of Sight, out of mind – The intricacies of BTL

Below the line marketing is well established as one of the most effective ways of communicating with the customer, and particularly
important in a field like FMCG, where customer loyalty is lower than other areas. The final purchase decision of a consumer is a
direct result of the consideration set and his preference list. In case of FMCG, a substantial amount of change can be injected in his
consideration set and subsequently in his preference list. Factors like marketing communications in shop, presence of a promoter
and retailer opinion can result in a brand-switch by the customer, at least in 30-40% cases. It lies close to the concept of “proximity
marketing” which emphasises the fact that the closer you influence a consumer to the point of purchase, the more effective it is.

BTL activities can essentially be divided into three types.

 Consumer Offers
 Activation
 In-store advertising
Consumer Offers
Many kinds of consumer offers are widely used in FMCG sector. Consumer offers printed on the packaging are clutter breaking and
have been observed to have a great effect in impulsive purchases. Each of them serves a specific purpose. They can be used to
influence the consumer in different stages of the purchase cycle. While awareness is mostly addressed through ATL activities, BTL
can be effective in all the others. Examples of promotions and the purpose to which they are used are as follows:

 Flat Discounts – Increase trials. These kind of offers work well in the case of high ticket items.
 Free products – Cross Selling or to increase trials of the product given free. Care must be taken however that there is
some kind of synergy between the two products. Otherwise the brand equity of both the products will be damaged. Usually
complementary products are given out as gifts. This is very proficiently used in skin care industry as it is an effective way to
cross sell across the portfolio of products and thereby increase the regime of consumers.
 Discounts on other products – Its utilization is more or less similar to the above kind. But its effectiveness is low. It is not
the easiest offer to communicate through packaging and is usually used by organized retail outlets and special counters set up
by companies at a micro level.
 Discounts on next purchases – It is used to increase the repeat purchases. It is again not easy to communicate and
requires using coupons or other such mechanisms to keep track. Moreover unlike other offers this does not result in instant
gratification for the consumer
 Contests – Used to create a buzz around the product. Especially used during high demand season to aid brand recall.
They are usually supported through ATL campaigns as well.
To successfully grab the attention of the consumers, FMCG firms come up with innovative ways of designing and delivering the
offers. A recent practice has been to send out offers through SMS to consumers.
Activation
Brand activation is essentially communicating the features of the product to the consumers by recreating its experience. Cases of
skin care brands conducting makeover sessions, automobile brands conducting test drives, distributing free samples, etc are
different techniques employed for brand activation. With the advent of shopping malls FMCG companies have the requisite platform
and flexibility to activate their brands.

Activation is especially used when consumer is suspicious about the effectiveness of the product and the veracity of the claims
made in ATL advertising. By recreating the experience the products can speak for themselves.

There are multiple channels through which this can be conducted and each brand has its own optimum mix of channels. Some of
the channels are as follows.

 Activities in malls and stores – Several brands conduct special activities to increase awareness about the brand. In case
of products which are new to the market or tough to use, consumers can also be educated through these activities. It is usually
very expensive but the most effective way of brand activation
 One to one Sampling – It is usually used for a new product launch. Apart from just distribution of samples, the benefits of
the brand can be communicated in brief. It is employed at point of sales but there are other channels that can be used too.
Door to door sampling, setting up of counters in areas where the target group can be found, etc are also found to be very
effective.
 Mass Sampling – This is usually done through magazines and newspapers. Recently some brands have also used
internet to reach out to many consumers at once. It is the cheapest channel and can be used for maximum reach but its
effectiveness is accordingly low too. However not all products can be distributed through newspapers and magazines as some
of them do not pass the “burst test” or will be damaged when the magazines are stacked above one another.
In-store advertising
People may come into a store with only a few key items to buy; in-store advertising aims to induce these customers to buy more
with well planned advertising and marketing inside the store.

In-store advertising can be used to:

 Trigger recall: A consumer is much more likely to recall an item upon seeing it again.
 Promote sales items: An “one day only” ad in a newspaper or in a leaflet can bring consumers to your store. But when you
place those lower prices in front of your customer, you can induce them to buy more, especially through impulsive purchases.
 Provide more information: Placing a plasma TV or a sign to highlight your  featured merchandise can be very effective.
Normally  TV commercials and radio are considered an irritating factor. However, in a store, the consumer is more active and
receptive, and thus the information will also be better accepted.
Of course, nothing can work without strategy. You have to be sure where to place racks, cubes, platforms, and most important your
signage in order to have maximum impact on the customer. High-traffic areas — doorways, cash registers, fitting rooms, for
example — should be the first consideration. A case in point is Procter & Gamble. It has employed a full focus on in-store marketing
and is increasingly driving home this concept, known as “store back,” with all its agencies.

You can find this article at http://www.themarketers.in/out-of-sight-out-of-mind-the-intricacies-of-btl/

The OOH Experience!

Mumbai monsoons 2009: another season of harried people wading through flooded streets. But there was one junction where
people were using a raft to ride over their problems. All thanks to Aircel! In its one of a kind campaign, Aircel put up a raft on one of
its billboards which could be used in case of flooding. Billboard by itself did not attract anything more than curious looks, but once
the raft came into use, it made its way to the front page of a lot of local dailies. Apart from winning brownie points, Aircel was able to
able to earn viewership worth millions for the price of just one billboard and a rudimentary raft!

This is just one of the ways in which brands today are looking to stand out amongst a horde of others vying for buyer’s attention.
Out- Of-Home advertising, as the name suggests, is aimed at catching people’s attention when they are out and about. It mainly
comprises of, but is not restricted to, billboards and posters. Neon signs, sky writing, walls painted with logos are other forms of out-
of-home advertising.

Billboards, of late, have been known to create more clutter than serve their intended purpose, but Volkswagen was able to utilize
that very clutter to come up with something that was really eye catching. It bought a collection of big and small hoardings right next
to each other. It then used the large, central signboard to display a full sized Beetle and the surrounding small signboards to sport
only parts of it; creating a whole new kind of experience.

Coca-Cola went one step ahead by placing a “Happiness Machine” in one of the campuses in US. It looked like any other coke
vending machines, but it doled out free pet bottles and other goodies, delivered by a mysterious human hand. Cameras captured all
the fun moments and YouTube took care of the rest.

Ten years back, if you happened to pass through a small town or a village, it was not uncommon to see lines of houses painted in
the colors of soft drink brands. It was a beneficial arrangement for both the house owners, who got their otherwise dilapidated walls
mended and painted; as well as the marketers who got a cheap and effective medium for promoting their brands. This space is still
in demand; only this time, it is mobile operators who are painting the town red, white and blue.

As our markets and shops change, so do modes of advertising in them. Most of the malls today are riddled with TV screens solely
dedicated to advertising. This has many applications and the ultimate goal of marketers would be to implement dishing out
extremely targeted ads based on who is passing by; something similar to what we saw in the movie, Minority Report.

Billboards have also been utilized by competitors to attack rival company’s ads. So when a certain airline announced in one
hoarding that they had changed, one of its rivals promptly put a hoarding above the previous one stating “We made them change”.

There have been a lot of innovative use of outdoor media, but one that really took my breath away was the ‘World’s Biggest
Signpost’ by Nokia. A campaign launched in London to promote its Ovi Maps application, Nokia put up a huge arrow shaped
electronic display board, whose content was generated by the people through SMS and internet.   So when people fed it names of
places through SMS, the signboard rotated and pointed in the direction of that place with the distance and any personal message
that people wanted to see up there!

You can find the videos referred to in this article at http://www.themarketers.in/the-ooh-experience/

Taboo Marketing
What products do you consider to be tabooed? What do you consider forbidden or sacred? Given that such products may affect
one’s sensitivities, how should a marketer go about marketing them? Put simply, how would you sell a condom or a contraceptive
pill in a conservative society like ours? It’s been done before, successfully. Let’s find out how.

In 1991, Kama Sutra took India by storm. Ads featuring Pooja Bedi and Marc Robinson became instant hits because of their sensual
imagery and the outrage that they managed to provoke. As expected, the moral police was against the campaign and cried foul.
However, the brand managed to prevail, at a time when sex was considered taboo, because of its novel positioning and willingness
to experiment. Targeted at youngsters, the campaign was bold and it succeeded as it was a clear break from the other players in the
field. The brand chose to play on the ‘pleasure’ factor, rather than branding itself as a family planning measure.

However, as competitors caught on, the sensuality tag began to pale, necessitating a shift towards humor. Humorous references to
men always having sex on their minds were used to target the youth. Post 2006, another variant of the sensuality tag was played
out involving fantasies between couples.

‘Moods’ is another major player in the condom market and was a precursor to KS. Again, their initial strategy was one of shock and
awe, with ads featuring a young man boldly asking for a pack of condoms. And once again, for all the outrage these ads provoked,
they managed to establish the brand in fine style.

Condoms were not the only products that our society was hush-hush about. Take the case of emergency contraceptive pills. While
the initial condom ads sought to provoke the audience into paying attention, Cipla’s i-pill ads depicted situations which could occur in
anyone’s life. With the tagline ‘Get Back to Life’, they were portrayed as a fallback mechanism meant to soothe worries of an
unwanted pregnancy and allow people to get on with their lives. Although this campaign did lead to outrage from some sections, it
only added to the brand’s popularity, with the targeted urban class lapping it up.

Sanitary napkins. This was another so-called tabooed product in our society. Talk of ‘those days’ was always hushed, with a worried
look and a few concerned whispers to boot. J&J launched Stayfree in the 1980s and managed to create and capture a major share
of the market. However, they were challenged and pushed to the limit by P&G’s Whisper, which was launched in 1989. This battle
between the two heavyweights yields interesting insights into the mind of the Indian consumer. It shows how people’s perceptions
have changed over time. During their initial promotions, these brands were careful and tread lightly, with mild references to ‘woh din’
(those days). The ads were meant to reassure and comfort the target customers, thereby attracting them to the brand.

A couple of years back, however, Whisper launched the ‘Have a Happy Period’ campaign in India. The success of this campaign
throws light on the increasingly liberal mindset among Indian consumers. Although the word ‘period’ was used for the first time,
consumers accepted it without batting an eyelid.

What does all this tell us? What it means is that the Indian consumer is finally mature enough to accept frank and bold commercials
for these products. In a society with growing awareness of health and its related issues, straight talk is preferred to subtle hints. The
Indian consumer today prefers frank and open communication from marketers. We find this reflected in ads today, which seek to
entertain frank conversation on sensitive topics. A touch of humor is also being used commonly to lighten the mood and get the
message across. This certainly indicates the beginning of a new age in marketing, one in which marketers can afford to be direct
and frank with Indian customers. A truly liberal society is taking shape, with forthright promotional campaigns holding the potential to
dispel unwanted taboos from our society.

You can find this article at http://www.themarketers.in/taboo-marketing/

Content Marketing
Content marketing involves sharing useful content and information with customers, in an attempt to interest and engage them. It
involves providing them with useful information which would help them make informed purchase decisions. The idea is to find favor
with the consumer through non-intrusive means, by helping and supporting his decision making, rather than forcing it. This
‘benevolent’ form of advertising, coupled with repeated exposure to the brand will help develop deeper ties and improve brand
loyalty and recall.

The scope for this form of advertising is immense. And it is about to get even bigger. Your objective is to deliver content to the
customer for free. What better way to do this than through the internet? Blogs, newsletters, videos, podcasts are just some of the
ways to reach out and create value for the customer. Social media and networking sites provide the perfect platform for providing a
steady stream of useful content to the customer.  The advent of 3G and advanced mobile computing also bodes well for this form of
marketing.

Suppose you wish to market engine oils. Imagine sending out a tweet every 2 -3 days about good engine maintenance practices,
about how performance is affected by the oil used and providing tips and tricks to tweak the engine. Refrain from mentioning any
aspect about your product. Stick to providing quality content to your customer. An automobile enthusiast will lap up this content and
will begin to eagerly await your next tweet. He may even re-tweet your content and slowly, your expanding customer base will begin
to associate your product with high-quality performance.

All you had to do was come up with quality content which benefited your target customers. The rest just happened. Behold the
power and potential of content marketing!

However, it is important not to get carried away. A certain level of moderation is required to succeed with this form of marketing. It is
important not to bombard customers with content. The objective is to draw out the customer and  make him an active participant in
the marketing process. Excessive content will again become akin to traditional, intrusive means and the very idea behind content
marketing will be lost. At the risk of sounding clichéd, I will emphasize, “It is the quality which matters, not the quantity”.

The differentiating factor will be the ability of the marketer to keep a tab on the pulse of consumers and design quality content that
benefits them. High-quality, relevant and useful content will be the key behind a successful content marketing campaign. And
remember, moderation pays!

The above is a snippet of the original article. You may read the complete article at http://www.themarketers.in/content-marketing/
Jet Lite vs Jet Airways Konnect
Last week, I read in the newspapers that Jet Airways is planning a brand consolidation, reducing currently used 3 brands,  Jet
Airways, the full-service airline, Jet Lite & Jet Konnect, both low-cost airlines, down to two. It was mentioned that the brand to be
killed was Jet Lite, and if the plan goes through, Jet Lite’s operations would be run under the brand Jet Airways Konnect. Let us see
the merit in this decision.
The first point here is the issue of brand consolidation. Jet had been operating two similar, low cost services under two different
brand names, Jet Airways Konnect & Jet Lite for quite some time now. Both of them offer similar low cost no-frill air travel. Before
going deeper in the discussion, let us take a look at history, when both of these brands were created.
Jet Lite was created after Jet Airways realized the need for a low cost carrier and consequently, took over Air Sahara. The assets of
Air Sahara have since been used under the brand Jet Lite. Soon after the take-over, there were some legal hassles regarding the
deal. Then during the slowdown, when air travel demand reduced drastically, and the flights were operating with abysmally low seat
utilization, Jet Airways wanted to shift some aircrafts to its low fare operation. However, due to the legal hassles with Jet Lite, it
could not do so. Thus, they decided to come up with another brand Jet Airways Konnect, and started operating a total of three
brands.
It obviously does not make much sense spending for 2 brands when they offer more or less, the same value to the customer.
Further, multiplicity of brands & sub-brands mostly leads to confusion among the customer. Thus, the decision to consolidate the
brands makes total sense.

Now that we’ve decided that one of the 2 brands must be killed, let us see which one it should be.

Jet Lite has created a distinct position for itself in the mind of customers. Customers realize that Jet Lite is a low cost carrier from
Jet Airways. Jet Lite’s brand elements do a successful job in driving home the point, “different, yet same” while communicating its
relationship to Jet Airways.

The first thing is the name itself. Further, it bears a slightly modified Jet Airways logo, with significantly different crew uniforms and
interiors. All these factors combine to promise the customer the quality levels & trust of Jet Airways, but in a no-frill environment.
On the other hand, Jet Airways Konnect uses nearly the same imagery everywhere, with exactly same crew uniforms and other
elements visible to the customer. Because of the high similarity with its parent brand, there have been cases of passengers
purchasing Jet Airways Konnect ticket when they intended to buy a Jet Airways ticket. This has often led to cases of unhappiness
among the customers flying Jet Airways Konnectover the lack of service they were expecting from a Jet Airways flight.

When a brand tries to exist in different segments, especially when one of them is inferior to the other in terms of the total value
offered, there should be a distinct difference in the two brands for people to not confuse between the two. There are many examples
of companies launching a new brand altogether when they try to come up with more premium, or less premium products. For
instance, Toyota has always been a popular brand for small cars. But when they wanted to enter the luxury car market, they chose
to launch a new brand Lexus. This phenomenon is all the more popular in the FMCG space. Surf, Rin & Wheel are all become
iconic brands in their own right. However, all three of them are detergents from the same company, HUL; the difference being the
premium-ness of each of them.
In a counter-argument, there is the widely popular & aptly justified argument of leveraging an existing brand’s equity while launching
a new product category; what we call ‘Brand Extension’. That is where the delicate art of “different, yet same” comes in.

Clearly, the combination of Jet Lite and Jet Airways seem to be a better fit for Jet’s portfolio rather than Jet Airways Konnect & Jet
Airways, as the branding of Jet Lite is adequately distinct to not be confused with full-service airline, and significantly similar to Jet
Airways to leverage the established brand.

You can find this article at http://www.themarketers.in/jet-lite-vs-jet-airways-konnect/

Campaign Extension- Wasting Jaago Re
Nearly everybody fell in love with the Jaago Re campaign of Tata Tea. The campaign showed simple aspects of our daily life,
highlighted on how we have forgotten our basic duties as citizens of India, and urged the audience to ‘wake up’. These set of ads
stood out of the crowd, who mostly focused on the functional aspect of tea. There have been some attempts by other players to
build emotional associations; one that comes to mind is by ‘Bagh Bakri’ Tea, which claims to revive family ties. However, they seem
to be either too farfetched, or too lame to create any major impact. Waking up, in a literal sense is deeply associated with tea. The
campaign Jaago Re, very smartly leveraged that connect, and took it to a whole new level of social responsibility.
By picking up issues so close to the averages consumer’s average day, Tata Tea was able to connect with the audience, and by
bringing in an emotional angle to the whole experience of tea, the campaign was hugely successful. Here is one of the ads from that
campaign.

Tata Tea tried leveraging the same concept of ‘waking up’ to sell its latest offering, Tata Tea Premium, whose core differentiator
seems to be the ‘balance of the large & small leaves’, which gives the optimum taste, smell etc.

While watching the ad for the first time on TV, based on the setting of the ad, I was able to guess that it’s another one from
the Jaago Re campaign, and was looking forward to the climax. However, as one can see, it was a big letdown. They tried to marry
the goodwill created by the emotional appeal of the existing campaign to the functional communication required for the new product.
I believe this is terribly wrong, as now Tata Tea is doing what any  xyz brand is also doing, talking about the functional benefits. Yes,
there might well be some extensive consumer research which may have showed that tea drinkers want to have a ‘balance of large &
small tea leaves’… but then, that should have been communicated with a different campaign.
Thinking about it now, it just struck me whether there is something called ‘Campaign Extension’. Just like brand extension, where
one decides to launch a new product under an existing brand name, a marketer decides to launch another advertisement under an
existing campaign. It is not very difficult to relate the two based on the benefits & risks associated with both.

Major benefits of brand extension include leveraging existing brand’s equity to gain trust, cost saving & continuing on a trusted
formula (in terms of brand elements). The biggest risk of brand extension is the fit between the new product, its target segment,
usage behaviour etc with the existing brand. Similar is the case with ‘campaign extension’. Where brand extension leverages the
tried & tested branding formula, a campaign extension benefits from the tried & tested campaign formula. Where brand extension
helps build trust among the consumers, campaign extension ensures that people would be interested in viewing the campaign (as
happened with me in the above mentioned case of Tata Tea Premium; as would have happened with you in several Fevicol ads).
These were the benefits. The risk of mismatch between the product & brand is, if not more, equally high in case of campaign
extension; just that it becomes the case of mismatch between communication idea and campaign theme in case of campaign
extension. This is where an emotional campaign should not be used to communicate functional benefits of a product.

A really successful example- Airtel. Airtel has always had more than one campaign going on air simultaneously. While one
campaign would be aimed at brand building, the other one’s purpose is to communicate the functional aspect, schemes etc.
Corresponding to the two different communications, the theme of the two campaigns is different. While there have been some AR
Rehman ads (and some others shown below) high on emotional appeal, there have been others, especially the Madhavan -- Vidya
Balan series focusing completely on the functional benefits being offered.

You can find the videos referred to in this article at http://www.themarketers.in/campaign-extension-wasting-jaago-re/

The Cinthol Story
Vinod’s body confidence soap”- that was Cinthol’s tagline in its iconic 80s ad. It featured Vinod Khanna riding a horse on a beach
and exuding confidence in a smart tux.

Cut to 2008 and the brand had Hrithik Roshan pull off breathtaking stunts for the same product with the same positioning. Cinthol
has come a long way since its launch more than 50 years ago and it is one brand which has proudly stood the test of time.

Among the oldest soaps in India, Cinthol was first launched in 1952 by Godrej Consumer Products Limited. One of the first things to
set it apart – Cinthol was India’s first toilet soap to be made purely from vegetable oils; most other soaps contained animal fats.
Cinthol’s positioning was based on the twin benefits of freshness and deodorancy. It was targeted at Indian males and provided the
assurance of good smell and protection after bath. In spite of all the changes that it has undergone over the years, Cinthol has
managed to stick to this core offering. This has helped establish a firm connection with the Indian consumer.

In 1989, Cinthol Lime was introduced, in an attempt to reinvent and strengthen the brand. Vinod Khanna and Imran Khan were
brand ambassadors at this time and they added to the brand’s masculine image. Cinthol Lime was a runaway hit and was very well
received by consumers. Since then, Cinthol has constantly innovated and introduced newer variants at regular intervals. Cinthol
Fresh and Cinthol Cologne were launched in the early 90s and Shah Rukh Khan was appointed as the ambassador. Again, the
icon’s personality was in sync with the brand’s positioning and complemented the brand’s freshness and energy quotient.

More recently, Cinthol Deo Soap was launched in 2004. Deo Soap focused on tackling body odour and strengthened Cinthol’s
association with colognes and deo sprays. In 2008, Godrej roped in Hrithik Roshan to endorse its gamut of products marketed under
the ‘24-hour confidence’ umbrella. The TVC features Hrithik performing some high-energy stunts in an effort to re-emphasize the
brand’s energy and freshness. The core target group for this promotion comprised of young Indian males who lead or aspire to lead
an active outdoor lifestyle.

The Cinthol story offers some important lessons. The brand has consistently managed to adapt to changing consumer preferences
and stay in tune with the times. Cinthol has remained spot on with its products and its brand ambassadors. Think about it, for all the
changes in its packaging and promotion, Cinthol has shrewdly retained its original line – the green bar of soap in the simple red
pack. With its unique Fougere scent, this product has remained a favourite among consumers and Cinthol has been careful not to
kill this golden-egg laying duck. And for all the variations it has introduced, it has always stuck to its original positioning – freshness
and protection for the Indian male.
  

The idea is to identify a brand’s key strength, the reason behind its success and look to sustain and replicate it. In a highly
diversified market offering a host of different options, Cinthol has managed to unwaveringly stick to its original positioning and thus
create a unique identity for itself. This has helped establish Cinthol as one of India’s most favored and cherished brands.

You can find this article at http://www.themarketers.in/the-cinthol-story/

Airtel Rebranding – Why on earth?
Why I am writing this? – At the end of this article I intend to leave you with a few questions. Let us not leave this exercise as a
case of The Emperor’s New Clothes – something everyone sees, no one understands but everyone just ends up praising because
they think speaking up against it would make you sound like a fool. Indeed all I have heard from my friends in the past few weeks is
– I think the reasoning behind the exercise is sound and their attempts make sense. Two hoots!! 
What did they do? – Airtel has a new logo. It has a new positioning statement -- Dil jo chahe pass laye and what’s more it even
has a new jingle which is of course made by tweaking the old one and making it more techno. And let me say something – the old
jingle was miles ahead. Melodic and pleasing.
Why did they do it? – Well in the course of expanding internationally Airtel has acquired a whole lot of companies like Zain in Africa
and Warid in Bangladesh. Now as these entities transition to the brand Airtel the company is trying to gain an international image --
a “new, modern, more friendly and accessible” image in the minds of all the users in these various countries.
Other elements in the logo –
The lowercase is to signify humility. Red colour is for heritage, energy and passion. The font wants to showcase a dynamic force of
“unparalleled energy”.

Airtel New Logo

Let’s ask a few questions shall we? –

1)      Why the new logo? - Why did they have to go for a new logo? Was the old one not working? Why could they not do what
Vodafone did in India? Vodafone came in and overhauled Hutch. And mind you they were entering a huge market which is still
pretty allergic to foreign companies. But they felt pretty comfortable in their skin. After all -- if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!!
2)      Logo looks similar ? -- Isn’t the new logo very similar to Vodafone? As in it does not stand out generally does it? Even the
colour and the background makes it eerily similar.
3)      What’s with the foreign connection? – Why do the commercials feature foreign models and why are all of them shot in
foreign locales? Even a lot of the posters have people not from India in them. It is a global brand. Very good. But when you finally
come to my door – I just like to get connected to someone who is like me. Also, this usage of stuff which is foreign is a transition for
Airtel. I don’t remember them doing it before very often (of course there was the beautiful football ad). The new ads have no element
of “Ah!! That must be an Airtel ad!!” Somehow an ad shot on Indian roads with Indian cabs and Indian people around could have
been done!!
4)      Lowercase for humility? What?? – Ok such things do operate at a subliminal level. You may not know about it but feelings
may be triggered in you. But it surely should have occurred to Airtel that most people in the 3 places – India, Bangladesh, Africa
can’t even read English. All they look for is a similar symbol. And the old one would have worked as well. Do you really think there
would someone in interior Karnataka in India or on the outskirts of Chittagong or in some small village in Africa who would go for a
mobile phone connection, look at the Airtel symbol and think – “Hmm!! Now there’s a brand with humility if there was ever one!! I
think I should buy it!!” Are you kidding me??
5)      Don’t you have anything new to say ? – Dil jo chahe paas laye!! The ads are all about staying connected with your loved
ones when you want to and wherever you want to. Hmm now who else claims that – Vodafone maybe (in India it is associated with
Hutch which said “Wherever you go our network follows!!”), Tata DoCoMo is all about friends, Idea Cellular shows a group of friends
breaking language barriers (at least they said it differently huh??). Was there nothing else Airtel could tell us? Look at Uninor – it
talks about Uninor users being themselves. Surely there could have been something else they could promise like superior customer
service – a common complaint from cell phone users in India.
Just throwing ideas – Just think of the opportunities that were not capitalized on here. This is the story of an Indian brand going
out to the world.
What was wrong with just building on this? One thing is in India this would have worked like magic but outside it may lead to Airtel’s
rise being seen as an Indian onslaught – trouble especially with our neighbor Bangladesh having the feeling India dominates the
region too much. But again think about this – here are countries which have had close relations with India historically. Could not
have something been weaved around the lines of as India grows, we invite you our friends to join us, make our bonds stronger and
together build a beautiful world?? Done in a youthful way, with young people across the borders – and who knows…..in today’s
World 2.0 this may just be the kind of thing people are looking for.
Finally, this may end up being one of the best marketing and rebranding exercises the world has ever seen. This campaign may
also herald a new future for Airtel and prove me completely wrong. I however still stand by my opinion as I hold it today. For me it
just does not work. What about you??

The above is a snippet of the original article. You may read the complete article at http://www.themarketers.in/airtel-rebranding-why-
on-earth/
All the above articles are written and published by members of TheMarketers on
http://www.themarketers.in/, IIM Calcutta’s Official Marketing blog, as well as in national newspapers
such as the Business Standard.

Some other articles that may interest you or may simply serve well as food for thought:

1. http://www.themarketers.in/do-we-need-a-line-extension/

2. http://www.themarketers.in/cult-brands-in-india-a-sociocultural-view/

3. http://www.themarketers.in/the-country-of-origin-effect/