Have you ever lied to your boss to avoid going to work? Or lied to your wife to attend a late-night office party? Lie no more, says Intex mobile’s latest television commercial for its handset IN 4470 N. It is the first handset in the country to offer the facility of video chatting on a 2G platform, a feature that was thus far associated with 3G phones. To highlight the unique offering, the company’s new campaign tells the viewers “Ab jo bolna hai muh pe bol.”
The company’s last campaign for the same phone carried the tagline “Ab baat karo face to face.” The latest campaign, created by Grey Worldwide, takes the message forward. “We wanted to infuse our ads with an attitude while highlighting the video-chat feature,” says Vinayak Lal, general manager, marketing of the Rs 733-crore (2010-11) Intex Technologies. The three advertisements that are part of the new campaign show three different situations that most people face at some point in their lives.
One ad shows a man informing his wife over video-chat that he’ll be home late as there is a party at his office. The other shows a boy telling his lady-love’s father his intention to marry her. The third ad in the series has a middle-aged man informing his boss that he wouldn’t be coming to work as he wants to stay home and enjoy the weather. These are instances where people hesitate to speak the truth, and the campaign in a way dares people to speak their minds.
Video chatting on a 2G platform is new for the market, but it raises an obvious question. Why use the service on 2G when 3G services are already available, guaranteeing higher speed and better quality? “Yes, 3G services are available but they come at a premium,” says Lal. “Our handsets are cheaper, so many more people can afford them. Quality and speed do not matter to many of our customers — the first-time users. We are targeting the B and C category socio-economic groups, who will be satisfied with the feature,” counters Lal. Also on target is the youth, which is driving consumption in the segment. Intex is focusing on the 18-25 age group — people who want feature-rich, low-cost phones.
Intex, which started its innings in 1996 as a marketer for computer peripherals, is present in a number of segments including mobile phones, consumer electronics and security software. Justifying its decision to enter the crowded mobile handset market, Lal says, “Our peripherals business is doing well, but we needed new verticals for growth. The mobile phone market is huge, but not saturated. There is still a lot of opportunity to grow.”
Currently, Intex’s share of the handset market in India is around 1.5 per cent; its share in the low-cost handset segment is close to 3 per cent. The company is focusing on strengthening its distribution network and after-sales services to improve its share. Lal adds, “We are working at both external and internal visibility. Every outlet that has Intex phones will have a high visibility. We are also planning to set up informational kiosks to spread the word.”
So how does the current ad campaign align with the company’s overall growth strategy? Says Lal, “Our slogan has always been ‘demand more’. Now we are taking it ahead by saying ‘demand more technology from us’. It is in line with what the company stands for.” The company’s advertising budget is around Rs 5 crore.