Theme for a dream

TELECOMMUNICATIONS: Three telecom majors unveil innovative ad campaigns to lure customers.

Vodafone's takeover of Hutch was followed by revamped advertisements that retained the much-talked-about celebrity pug but acquired a new colour, the background changed from pink to red.

This also led to a sudden spurt in the creative thinking of ad gurus. Idea Cellular and Reliance Mobile followed suit and recently launched new ad campaigns, different from the usual bit of advertising that the telecom industry has seen so far.

Reliance Mobile's new campaign talks about how talking has become simpler. "For this campaign, we used common observations that occur in day-to-day life," KV Sridhar, national creative director, Leo Burnett, says.

The ad features an old man advising a youngster on how to change the spark plug of his motorcycle, and a friend advising another on how to lose weight.

"Even if the plank is unlimited talktime, we want to show it in a way that it connects with the common man," Burnett says.

Idea's campaign talks about people being addressed by their numbers rather than their last names. The ad, created by Lowe, has more mass appeal and is aimed to connect with the man on the street.

In an industry where offers and services keep on changing at the drop of a hat, differentiation becomes really tough. According to Sridhar, the category is diverse yet players have to talk about similar things. "While an Airtel ad talks about availability of the network anytime, anywhere, Reliance has clubbed food, water and the network in its promotions," Sridhar says.

The telecom industry has one of the highest ad spends in the country and this is because of its diverse nature and too many services.

According to Santosh Sood, brand consultant and ex-COO, Rediffusion DYR, companies offer similar value-added services from time to time.

"The category is so diverse that you have to talk to people about various aspects. So, if you say that in Rs 2,000 you can have a colour handset, then on the other hand there is a Google service for people who use Internet on their cellphones," he says.

Sridhar, however, feels that innovation plays a major role in executing an idea. "You might have ads talking about similar things, but if it touches the right points, it would go down well with the customers," he says.

Sood says that as the category will mature, advertising too would see a lot of change. Agrees Sridhar: "It's like 20 years ago when television came, all that people talked about was picture clarity. But now there are so many things to talk about."

If Airtel introduces a new value-added service, Vodafone would make a similar or better offer within a week or so.