No Idea? ....then 'all are welcome'...!!!

Once upon a time, when idea just meant idea , life for folks in advertising was much more simpler...Now when idea is not JUST idea but IDEA life has gone a bit tough for sure..

The MNP (mobile number portability) advertising brouhaha that Idea has launched with its “ No idea?,…then get idea” campaign and the Vodafone response(?) with the “All are welcome” ad is the point of discussion today……

Vodafone ads always meant class and this time as well they lead in class and style.. Simple stuff, inviting everyone, PLUS the pug making a come back…. I am sure there are many people who would any day love to sit and watch this one than the Small B cheekily asking people to get IDEA if they have NO idea why their existing network is not good….. Having said all that one should also state that it wouldn’t be sufficient enough reason for people to stick on or change to Vodafone…

Idea and Lowe should however be given the credit ( for pioneering, for being mischievous and funny , for this IDEA and idea linking up, and for making the whole MNP important ) 

Its campaign of four ads highlighted :-

1. Idea’s strong network connectivity even inside lifts and buildings;
2. Customized tariff plans to ensure affordable mobile communication;
3. Transparent balance notification ( which again is questionable , but then,,,,,)  
4. Available and gentle customer care where one doesn’t need to wait for long to talk to an agent

I would be glad to get one person to disagree with me if I say that each one of the above point shows the worries of mobile consumers in India….hence the request to Switch to Idea is completely cool and hitting them there, right at the spot…!!!

See one here and the rest there…

Before the national launch of MNP service on January 20^th (tomorrow that is) another series of Idea ads (launching a Toll Free Number 1800-270-0000) are on air to guide the multitudes of mobile subscribers on various aspects of number portability…. …

Again the first mover advantage is guaranteed and sure shot this direct action ad, as per some industry sources is again making waves…

Vodafone on the other hand wants people to join them for what they are and not for what some one else is not... Now it is a good idea by IDEA to compare and contrast but too much of it can be giving annoyance to the TG .In case of idea the 4 ads and the constant bombardment of them on the TG (also from the  micro site www.getidea.co.in) makes people squirm in discomfort, when we do not have an IDEA connection..Vodafone scores for being positive but is that enough?

It is still debatable whether the MNP will change the backdrop of the industry. My humble reading is that there will be noticeable churning in the beginning but with time it will wane and die down...The players seems to have realized this... grab the cream as much and as soon as possible seems to the mantra ..One thing is sure- the customer may get better service centers and better service, now that this is a reality that -if I am happy only I stay with you, if else… Hmmmm !!!

Now to end this,I am amused that other major players are silent……. Airtel, Reliance and the likes….

Is it that they are happy with what they have?

Is it that they don’t have space for OTHERS? Others are UNWELCOME?

Tail piece:-  

When you’re right, very few remembers. When you’re wrong, no one forgets.

Midweek Musing !!!

There is no such thing as a permanent advertising success ,famously said Leo Burnett . That is amongst a host of other things that legends like him have left over as food for thought for the succeding generations of advertisers.

I was addressing a group of young Wanna be ad professionals at a media workshop last week when some one asked me this question..

Why do ad makers make seemingly stupid mistakes...?

Seemingly stupid is an excellent usage....... I told the guy ( with his specs and skepticism flowing out through his large eyes he looked like an odd man to be in advertising )

I knew he didnt get his answer... he waited and so did the crowd,,,,!!!

I was there as the subject expert and couldnt give an anser like.. if only we had an answer, all marketers would have made excellent ads.... I had to give them a more believable answer...

Can you give me an example.. I asked him...

Ohhhh........ he exclaimed... very well sir.. here we go.... Liril for instance... the zoo zoo's for instance...?

Oh... noooooo....... the crowd echoed in rejoinder..... the zoo zoo and bad ad??....... no one would agree....

The guy didnt give up... I do not mean that the zoo zoo was bad.. but why it has dissappeared and why the pugs and girls are back?

Can I answer? .....I asked the guy....

Liril I agree the flip flops but the brand and its agency will have a reason... making the brand contemporary or something like that.. may be they dont want the ghost of the past and the waterfalls to linger.. it is their baby.... I said even as the large specs went up and down .....and the zoo zoo's were created only for the IPL season and with IPL over the cute white creatures have gone too.. That is the information I have....

In that case ... he asked again... who decided the quality of ads... the agency or the client?

I smiled and quoted Leo Burnett again .....You can't have good advertising without a good client, that you can't keep a good client without good advertising, and no client will ever buy better advertising than he understands or has an appetite for....

Every client gets the agency and advertising that it deserves and every agency ends up in the kind of client that it desreves as well..

Amen !!!

Vodafone- Happy to help....

Amazingly simple and as usual to the point.. Now I love Vodafone ads more after seeing the empty vessels and noises in their market....



It is a different thing whether they are actually so happy to help... I beg to differ here as a vodafone customer but still it is great ,,,this communication ....



and this one........



and another one which makes us smile...



and this one which is truly cool...

Airtel to Bharti...Jingoism rules !!!

When you stand for what you believe in you can change the world ......says the new Airtel ad….



It is a cool ad to watch no doubt and bit tickling the INDIANNESS in all of us but a closer analysis gives a feel of jingoism with which a brand, facing competition ( Airtel is still the market leader with a major percent of the share and closely followed by Reliance and Vodafone) launching a tirade ,proclaiming its Indian tag with a clear hint that the others are foreign or videshi and hence un trustable. Jingoism is good to hear and even wonderful to live in but odd to take on in your life. The implication that Vodafone is a videshi and so to keep away from it is simply a deplorable concept, not only because the ad comes in English (a videshi language) and the tie up with Wal-Mart (videshi again) that Bharti is so proud of but also because of the fact that old style, Ambassador car like be Indian, buy Indian nonsense will not make brands, any longer.

“Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it” said George Bernard Shaw, and even that is not evident here where the typical Indianness to feel proud of the golden past because the present is bad, is evident… and in any case what did Airtel and Bharti for that matter give back to India and to its people to be proud of? To stand for and change their world?

It is good that big brands and first movers in a market slowly change their communication from we are also there to totally owning up their category. Heinz when it says have ketch up the world knows what they mean, they don’t have to say Heinz ketch up, same with Maggi… owning up the category is but a risk and you need to have the confidence of the category leader to be doing that, not just the fear and fright of an also player who is afraid of the other players and hence resort to jingoism. Airtel did start that journey but novelty suddenly gets lost to no mans land... ( see them here) with the famous “Deewarein gir jaati hain, faasle mit jaate hain, jahan do baatein ho jaati hain (Barriers break when people talk).” campaign which all said an done made some impact but lost that sheen with its agency change and this new one (Percept…. I am told) is nowhere taking the brand to the category leadership and that too when history is full of blood bath of leaders (read it as first movers who created the category) but lost out battered and badly bruised when others over ran them with innovation and better communication.

To quote Samuel Johnson, “Patriotism is the last resort of a scoundrel” and I seem to with difficulty agreeing with that statement when I see this ad. I agree that it is just my viewpoint and there may be many for whom this ad had engulfed them as a tour de force and evoked the Indian in them, for many this ad is would have been simply marvelous, still some would be completely taken over by patriotic emotions but for me it is plain jingoism born out of celebrated ignorance and a confused brand in the crossroads of its journey to leadership. Alas the agency, who should be the parent who should take the kid to the path, seems to be more confused.....

The confused PUG !!!

Adformula and its obsession with the Hutch pug..rrrr... the Vodafone pug continues... its as cute as ever but this time more meaningful in this brand transition communication.I love the way the color change happened, with traces of pink remaining ,when he comes back home,the perplexed face of the pug and like my two daughters at home, the more I see, the more I love this advertising...

Orange ..pink and now red !!..Hutch is now Dead !!!

Orange,pink and now red
hutch to vodafone,set is the bed,
will the dog be now left dead?

Its an infeeling that I have when Vodaphone takes over Hutch, in a cruel tale of corporate takeover, merger or aquisition, whatever it is , a gonnabe case for the strategy sessions in business schools, the colour change is what bothers and amuses me. In fact regular readers of this blog would have got irritated by my scathing atttacks on the ever changing colours of Hutch and my admiration and fascination for its communication which I feel was one of the best that Indian advertising has been able to give us in the last ten years or so....







The history of makeovers in Hutch is quite interesting....From the initial MaxTouch over a decade ago, the brand was converted into Orange in 2001 (one may recall the ‘Hi!’ campaigns). Later, it was made Hutch elsewhere and Orange in Mumbai. Following this, in 2005, Hutch moved away from its orange-coloured logo and went all pink (simultaneously, Orange, too, was integrated into Hutch in Mumbai). well ! the brand identity changes vs the continuity of good services and network is what the questions is ,now......it seems people dont mind the color or the panting dog as long as the service is there.... but Hutch is now red is a bit unimaginable(Red is strongly synonymous with India’s other largest telecom provider Airtel)..even other wise this change is colours from an academic perspective is a bit odd, but so was orange to pink.....

Vodafone, it is learnt, will come in with innovative and discounted plans. So, if Reliance can do a 777 handset, Vodafone is slated to launch a 666 handset at the lower end. This will fit in perfectly with the company’s plans to try and capture the mass market.Whether it is going to confuse the already embattled Indian buyer or is it going to make things easy, is to be waited and watched while the pug runs around still, as the new bosses have promised to retain the now almost legendary brand symbol along with the cartoon charectors of the boy and girl, whenever a new service is announced.....

Now the oft praised and well applauded client agency relation, between Hutch and O&M may be reviewed and changes desired by the new team...The global advertising agency of Vodafone, Weiden and Kennedy, has also entered India last week, raising some speculation in the ad industry about a future shift in creative responsibilities from Ogilvy and Mather to Weiden.well that is bad news for O&M but one hopes that the brand and its communication continues with the same charm and be in touch with us for ever.... While the business and marketing part seems to be bright with the entry of this global giant, and with the deep pockets they seem to be having ostensibly as the media plan that they have made and touted as the first time in India, when the new change is going to there everywhere, from this night, in the entire star network and even others(a full-fledged launch across television, print, outdoors and the Internet is coming up ..) my worry is the dog, less due to the animal lover that I am, and more becuase of the ad guy that I am... Hutch ads was a revolution as well as a revelation..... the rest is history...

And the future, is simply unpredicatble...!!!