The PunchLine Expert

Vodafone Make the Most of Now!                                                                                                        The Pug: It’s said that a dog is a man’s best friend. Vodafone is using the Pug as symbolic of its strong customer service. Earlier during the days of Hutch, a possible differentiation based on strong network was possible. Now when having a strong network is perceived by consumers as almost of point of parity, the role of the pug has also changed from a symbol of a strong network to a symbol of superior customer service. This superior customer service would be there to help you in every possible way, at every possible place and at every possible time. Hence, you would be able to make the most of your time and mobile connection. This is how connect the pug connects with Make the Most of Now. In the days of Hutch, people found the pug adorable. What Vodafone does is that it retains and pug and at the same time to distance itself from Hutch, it changes

Telecom Brands "A brand image is typically the attributes one associates with a brand, how the brand owner wants the consumer to perceive the brand - and by extension the branded company, organization, product or service." Telecom sector brands like Airtel, Vodafone and IDEA are amongst the brands having highest recall and awareness in India. They are also amongst the most likable. Some of them like IDEA and Airtel have a clearly defined identity which remains constant across all their communication. Through his post I seek to examine the common thread which is apparent across some of these brands and also seek to lay a base to go deeper into a common thread which is not so apparent in one major telecom brand. What is IDEA? The IDEA brand is represented in essence by the punch line "What an IDEA!". It seeks to convey that here is a brand which would strive to find out innovative ways in which the mobile can positively enhance the life of the consumer.

Challenging Unilever: Santoor Soap Santoor is now the number one soap brand in South India (Market Share of 15.1% by value) At the all-India level, Santoor continues to be the third largest soap brand with a 7.5% value market share in the first quarter of fiscal 2009-10. Target Audience: Women, over 25 A typical Santoor woman is someone who is between 25-35, is married and has a young daughter. She is aspirational towards her career and is typically shown as an achiever. Despite being married and having a daughter, she is someone who still wants to look good and young. "Mistaken Identity" is a common theme in Santoor Advertising, where the 30+ female protagonist is mistaken by others as someone in her early twenties because of her younger looking skin. She is shown as someone who is modern, confident, forward looking and at the same time a believer a Indian values and traditions. Benefits Sought: Wants to look young Consumer understanding : The key

Game Changer: Mobile Number Portability Mobile Number Portability (MNP): Starting from Sep' 09, MNP would be possible in a phased manner across India. That means, customers can change their mobile operators while retaining their number after paying a fee to designated agencies who would be managing the process of number portability. With that, the biggest barrier people had while changing connections is gone. The nightmare of changing mobile numbers was the biggest defense markets leaders like Airtel and Vodafone had against new players of the likes of Aircel, Reliance GSM and others. With the coming of MNP, the customer would be benefited because now an Airtel or a Vodafone would try harder to retain him and at the same time, he would have the option to shift to an Aircel if he finds their schemes attractive. New Players: These would be looking at giving customer value propositions that make them shift from existing big players like Airtel and Vodafone. These would have to

Iconic Brands...Dettol! Here is a video of how Reckitt Benckiser celebrated 75 years of its most trusted and iconic brands in India. http://www.ndtv.com/video/ player/events/dettol- protecting-india-for-75-years/ 47421?curl=1424674378 (The site has embedded an ad before the actual video. This can not be forwarded. Just let it play for about 15 seconds and then the actual video will play.)

Selling a Concept...Voice SMS The concept of Voice SMS has not taken off in India. There is a lack of awareness regarding Voice SMS and how to go about using it. Further when call rates are so cheap and the Indian user is comfortable sending text messages, where is the context for sending Voice SMS? There can be three broad contexts for sending a Voice SMS over a text SMS: 1. The first is for those who are not comfortable in typing out text messages. People like the elderly would come into focus here. Also people who are constrained by the English language key pad and would be far more comfortable in sending messages in their local languages. This has not been exploited by marketers till now. 2. The second context which Airtel tries to exploit is about adding “emotion to messages”. The campaign which Airtel come out with showed Saif recording a Voice SMS for Kareena who is upset with him. The “emotions” conveyed by Saif when he says "I miss you so much, it hurts",

PunchLineExpert above Airtel and afaqs.com! According to google, PunchLineExpert's write-up on the "Impatience is the new life" campaign is ranked higher in page results than both Airtel's official site for the campaign and also the review on afaqs.com. Click the screen shot below for a better view.

Adding on...mood of the youth! The more you try to analyze this campaign, the more you realize what kind of effort the agency has put in to make it "in sync" with the youth today. • A line in the ad says... and " they " say " we " are impatient! : making a clear distinction between those who come within Airtel's target group and those who do not. The fundamental element of marketing is the STP-Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning. In that Airtel succeeds by not only picking out its target segment, designing its product (fast broadband) according to the needs of that one segment and finally positioning it for them as the answer to the emotion their target group identifies most with- Impatience . This is different from the usual telecom ads which “are meant for everyone”. • The ad talks about an attitude which has become synonymous with India’s youth. The youth have an individual identity of their own which they are proud of and can defend it at an

Impatience is the new life! Core TG: A group IMRB calls “ funsters ”. It is between 16-25 years old and basically consists of college students and young professionals. Research Inputs: 11 million Internet connections in India of which five million are home broadband connections. Also, almost half of the 81 million Internet users in India are below 25 years of age Implication: A huge majority of youth are net users but are not using internet or broadband connections. This is the group Airtel is trying to target, apart from upgrading those with "old world" slow broadband connections. Creative concept: that today’s youth is impatient and that this impatience is a virtue that propels them to strive for and achieve more in life Being on the verge of being out of the "Funster" TG, as defined by IMRB, I can vouch for the fact that being impatient was a trait which was looked down upon. " hamesha jaldi main rehte ho/ek saath bahut saare cheezen karna chahte ho/ha