The big Idea

CAMPAIGN LOGIC

If you have run out of ways to get a good bargain on your weekly veggies, try taking a Sumo wrestler along. Wait for the super-sized Japanese to speak in Hindi with the vegetable vendor and see the price drop "" in fact, the more he talks, the faster the price falls. That's the new 20-second television commercial for Idea Cellular's pre-paid cards.

An ad featuring a Sumo wrestler and no reference to size? That's the surprise element in the ad, created by Lowe. Still, the "big" message is subliminal.

The idea to use a Sumo wrestler stemmed from the company's brief to the agency "" "convey the extra features of the new pre-paid card". But the company needed a common connection through all the new features.

"Extra large (XL) was an idea that cropped up constantly through the brainstorming. And a Sumo symbolises XL," says Preeti Nair, creative director, Lowe.

The sabzi-wallah ad promotes EcoTalk "" a new feature in Idea Cellular's pre-paid brand Chitchat. Two other ads promote IndiaTalk, a roaming and STD service.

These ads show the Sumo performing dandiya and drinking lassi at a dhaba. More features are to be added to Chitchat in the next two or three months, and the Sumo wrestler will be the mascot for all the commercials.

The new campaigns are markedly different from Idea's communication in the past, for both post- and pre-paid. Says Arvind Mehmi, chief operating officer, Idea Cellular, "Earlier all the packaging and promotion of Idea Chitchat was in line with the overall brand campaign. It used to highlight the core brand values of liberation and stimulation."

The launch campaign in August 2002 was somewhat enigmatic, aimed at building the image of a brand with innovation. "An Idea can change your life" claimed the tagline of the commercial, which was devoid of dialogue. Shot in Malaysia, the connecting thread between disparate scenes was a morphed ribbon of numbers.

The abstract cinematography, visually appealing though it was, restricted the brand's appeal to the higher-end segment of cellphone users. Mehmi says Idea's post-paid product penetrated the SEC A category more.

Similarly, while the communication for Chitchat did promote the starter pack "" price and not image is the driver of purchase in this segment "" the creative execution rallied around the core brand values of liberation by using visuals of the sky as a background and people with vivid expressions .

But the communication targeted only about 20 per cent of the cellphone users in the circles in which Idea operated at the time (Maharashtra, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh). (Over 45 per cent of all cellphone users in those circles belong to SEC C, while 35 per cent are in SEC B.) Moreover, as competitors in this market started elbowing each other with price slashes and additional features, Idea had to sharpen its communication.

Which it did, as its footprints extended to five circles in 2003, up from two in 2002. In the same year, the company launched a new campaign with the tagline "Stay Connected", which emphasised Idea's coverage and roaming facilities.

Later, campaigns for Idea's music messaging services and M-coupons (a city-specific virtual discount card that could be activated through SMS) were also launched.

The imperative to stay ahead prompted Idea to relook its prepaid offering as well. Accordingly, it has rejigged Chitchat, adding five new features.

The first, EcoTalk, offers economy features such as lower tariff with higher call duration, compared to charging a flat rate for all calls. Moreover, the subscriber gets a further discount for usage beyond a certain value or for keeping a certain balance on his Chitchat card. For instance, if the balance is Rs 300, the customer will be charged Rs 1.99 a minute for usage under two minutes and Rs 1.75 for calls over two minutes. At a Rs 600 balance, the corresponding rates would be at least 25 paise lower. Then, there are other free services like lower rates for night calls and free SMS packages.

Naturally, the communication for an economy feature had to be different from the previous campaigns. "Pre-paid is at the lower end of the market. With an economy card you need to address SECs B and C too," agrees Mehmi.

So, the consideration this time was the need to be entertaining "" hence the Sumo wrestler. To ensure mass appeal, even the tagline is in Hindi: Prepaid ho toh Idea jaisa!

The Sumo wasn't the only option before Lowe. The alternative was a " cool dude", as Nair puts it. But that was considered too sophisticated and was junked in favour of the supersized Japanese, who also got higher recall in all dipstick surveys.

"The Sumo represents strength and personifies the new power-packed features of our pre-paid card," says Mehmi.

Idea has also learnt from past campaigns. Previous ads for the cellular service showed the SIM card-shaped logo at the end of the campaign. But, Mehmi points out, "the branding element was not strong enough". So this time, the ad begins with a clapboard bearing the brand name.

Even the media strategy for EcoTalk is different. Earlier, Idea focused on niche channels such as HBO and CNBC. The new campaign will air largely on more mass channels. The Sumo may have succeeded in getting the grocer to slash his rates, but will he get customers to buy his idea? 

A correction

In the article "The big Idea" (The Strategist, September 21), Idea Cellular's CEO Vikram Mehmi was incorrectly referred to as Arvind Mehmi, chief operating officer. Our apologies.