The PunchLine Expert

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...

Dettol: Instant hand Santizer Usage Contexts and Attributes of the Product: Possible Advertising Themes The product being advertised is an Instant Hand Sanitizer. A hand sanitizer’s value proposition is that it kills 99.99% of the most common germs that may cause illness. Its relative advantage compared to a normal soap is that it can be used anytime, anyplace, without water or towels. Its disadvantage is that though it is very effective at killing germs on the hands, but it is not effective at removing dirt. Conversely, soap and water are very effective at cleaning dirty or soiled hands, but are not good at killing germs. So, a result, communication for an Instant Hand Sanitizer must concentrate on two points: • 99.99 % Germ Killing Formulation • No need of water/towels, making it anytime, anywhere The Target Audience for usage of an Instant Hand Sanitizer must also be made aware of the need of using such a product. This need must be such where an ordinary soap and water combina...