In a volume-based business like telecom where wooing customers is key, operators have been pulling out all stops to increase visibility and create brand value. This includes increasing the amount they spend on advertising. Over the years, the ad spends of telecom companies have shown an increasing trend. Leading advertising agencies talk about the best telecom ad campaigns, the effort that goes into creating distinct brands, and much more…
Which is your favourite telecom ad campaign and why?
Mani Iyer: The Hutch network TV commercial featuring the boy and the dog is one of the most endearing telecom advertisements.The message is conveyed in a very simple and engaging manner.
Reliance Communications’ TV commercials on Netconnect and Reliance PCO are the two outstanding examples of insight-based storytelling. Reliance’s Netconnect advertisement has excellent sets and scale which convey the seamless integration of the product very well. The PCO commercial stands out due to its amazing lyrics.
Nitin Karkare: My favourite campaign is the current series of Tata Indicom’s TV commercials featuring actress Kajol. They bring alive the problems that consumers may face with their current service, be it in terms of clarity, connectivity, coverage or talktime, and portray Tata Indicom’s services as the right solution to deal with these problems.
Piyush Pandey: My choice for the best telecom advertisement campaign would undoubtedly be the Hutch network “boy and dog” campaign that was launched in 2004 by our agency, Ogilvy & Mather. The campaign is a great example of how a simple and intuitive message can stand out amidst the clutter of advertising we see today. The simple metaphor of a dog’s undying loyalty that depicts the network is a universal symbol, and even today, three years after the campaign started, it stands for the omnipresent Hutch network. At the brand level, the campaign for Hutch was able to bring alive the essence of the brand in a gentle yet memorable format.
Added to this, the campaign gave the most recognisable and endearing symbol for Hutch ?? the adorable pug. Who would have thought that a humble dog, considered by many to be not as good looking as Labradors and Golden Retrievers, could have everybody eating out of it’s hand!
Amitesh Rao: Amongst the Indian telecom campaigns, Airtel’s Express Yourself campaign is a personal favourite for more than just great execution. It is one of the very few advertising campaigns, in telecom or otherwise, that are iconic in their execution, yet inspirational and empathetic at an individual level.
The beauty of the campaign is that the feeling of inspiration that gives viewers goosebumps does not come from the iconic images of Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa or Churchill, but from a realisation that each viewer holds the same power to make a difference. That’s a powerful feeling for a brand to evoke amongst its consumers.
With similar products and services offered by telecom operators, how do agencies or ad makers create distinct brands?
Mani Iyer: It is obviously very important for a brand to first decode its DNA/essence and then try to communicate that essence through advertisements. The quicker the brands recognise this, the more distinctive the communication will be.
Brands need to be seen as speaking in individual voices despite what the communication proposition is. Tone of voice is the biggest differentiator and will set seemingly similar brands apart from one another. Unfortunately, except for a couple of brands, there seems to be more cacophony than real distinction being created.
Nitin Karkare: Products reside in shops; brands reside in the consumer’s mind. It is therefore very important for the agencies to be constantly in touch with consumers, and to keep looking for insights that might help create a connect that goes beyond the products and services offered by the companies. According to me, brands like Tata and Amul have managed to create such connects.
Piyush Pandey: Products are made in factories, strategies in boardrooms, and brands in the heart of the consumer. The challenge for agencies and ad makers is to add value to products through advertising. Products and services are products and services only for those who create them. What consumers want to receive is value, connectivity, comfort and adventure ?? all rolled into one friendly package.
In the information-heavy telecom world, the basic idea behind any communication should be to enable and empower the consumer to swim through all the available information. The commercial should make it easy for the consumers to make their choice. And this can be done by understanding the role that the product or service plays in their lives.
Also, a commercial should explain the product’s benefit as simply as possible to help the customers make a considered decision. And while doing so, the ad maker should not forget to entertain them and make the advertisement light and enjoyable. The effort should be to surprise consumers with every campaign, make it memorable.
Amitesh Rao: While this is true for a lot of product categories, what probably marks out telecom is that competitors can almost instantly replicate offerings. The challenge here is to stay true to a brand’s core without losing out on flexibility and response speed. In this scenario, telecom brands use a variety of executional devices to ensure distinctiveness, from design aesthetics and colour palettes (Airtel ?? red, Reliance ?? blue/green, and so on) to celebrity endorsers (Airtel’s Shah Rukh Khan, Hutch’s Irrfan Khan, Tata Indicom’s Kajol, etc.). Telecom brands also attempt to create differentiation through a product strategy that allows for a continuous stream of value-added offerings that help brands stand out as innovations. This is an important criterion for brand differentiation in a future-facing industry like telecom.
However, in the larger scheme of things, what really creates long-term differentiation is a unique worldview of a brand that defines its aesthetics, tonality, propositions, promotions, and its media vehicles.
Are the telecom sector’s ad volumes displaying an increasing trend? If so, what are the reasons behind it?
Mani Iyer: The mobile segment is a growing one, with new consumers across more and more towns getting into the category. Moreover, existing consumers are upgrading both the services used and, more importantly, the handsets. Hence, there is a clear increase in ad spends.
Nitin Karkare: India is the fastest growing telecom market in the world. There is a race to acquire as many consumers as quickly as possible. Given the size and diversity of the market, mass media advertising is the only way to reach consumers, which explains the increasing trend.
Piyush Pandey: The ad volumes of the telecom sector have seen an increase of 60 per cent in 2007 compared to 2006. In addition, 62 per cent of the total ad volumes in the first half of 2007 were contributed by telecom services ?? of which cellular service companies contributed 84 per cent. So, the answer definitely is that volumes are on the rise.
The reason is simple. With over 200 million subscribers contributing to a mere 17 per cent penetration in India, cellular companies are tripping over each other to grab new subscribers. Competition is fierce, with five to six service providers operating in each cellular zone, and more expected to be added. The metros are saturated and the big numbers lie in the tier II cities and Category C towns. In such a scenario, advertising on TV and other media is essential to reach out to the masses.
Amitesh Rao: Yes, ad volumes are increasing, and the reason is obvious ?? there is no other product category that is enjoying the kind of explosive growth that telecom is. Moreover, the industry is in an aggressive “land-grab” race where no operator can afford to lag behind.
That being said, advertising is likely to play an even more vital role as the telecom sector’s intrinsic growth momentum tapers off. Due to the immense growth seen thus far, brands could enjoy a fair share of success even with sustenancelevel investments in advertising. This, however, is already a dying phenomenon. Brands are now playing increasingly definitive roles, and the entry of names like Vodafone and Virgin will only accelerate that trend.
Is there a shift towards unconventional handling of advertising for telecom brands?
Mani Iyer: I don’t believe there has been a shift towards unconventional advertising for these brands. Most of the communication is still in the conventional space.
Nitin Karkare: Given the current clutter levels, the need to stand out and be noticed is driving some telecom brands towards unconventional creatives. In my view, it is better to be conventional and connect with the consumer rather than be unconventional and disconnect with the consumer.
Piyush Pandey: Of late, the trend in telecom advertising is towards more brand-led than offering-led campaigns. What is interesting is that these offerings are now being couched in a more emotional brand-led message.
Communication in the telecom environment is slowly maturing; companies are now more comfortable with their brand’s standing and therefore are more open to experimenting with newer formats and ideas. So, when we wanted to communicate good value for Hutch, we didn’t shout price but did “SML” ?? small, medium and large ?? and thus engaged the consumers.
Amitesh Rao: The answer depends on how one defines unconventionality, but at some level, the trend towards unconventional handling of advertisements is true across categories. The fact that conventional advertising in mass media is no longer adequate is well known. One of the interesting things to note here is that mobile telephony is on the cusp of a product being advertised and the medium it is being advertised through. The field is still nascent and advertisers and telecom operators are looking to find feasible, nonintrusive ways of exploiting this medium.
Research shows that a large chunk of subscribers find mobile advertisements intrusive. Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of brand building? How do advertising agencies overcome such conflicts?
Mani Iyer: Since most of the offerings are similar, the communication often may seem intrusive. The challenge is and will be to say the same thing in the most unexpected and endearing manner. TV commercials should not attempt to chase consumers, but rather invite them to be part of a journey of storytelling in the most compelling manner. The Reliance Netconnect and PCO commercials are fine examples of this.
Nitin Karkare: If advertising emanates from a consumer insight it will always be well received. If you keep bombarding consumers with advertising that they do not relate to, it will be seen as an intrusion. Therefore, advertising agencies have to keep in mind the likes and dislikes of the consumer segment to be targeted.
Piyush Pandey: Consumers are not waiting for our products and services ?? and thrusting these down their throats in a functional and unexciting communication format only adds to their woes. Communication has to be made to work harder ?? the consumers should be excited and delighted, they should be made to laugh and cry. The message should be endearing, refreshing yet relevant. That’s the way in which the advertisement should be set. Referring again to the Hutch network campaign, I doubt there is a single person who has not smiled on seeing the endearing boy and his loyal pug in the commercial.
Another good example is Hutch’s recent tariff campaign for small, medium and large tariffs. It used common people and situations that were recognisable and heartwarming. In Hutch’s caller-tune advertisement, the Hindi film idiom not only connected but revealed a new facet of the Hutch brand. These are universal messages, identifiable by all.
The reality is staring us in the face, and we have no choice but to work much harder to connect effectively with present and prospective subscribers.
Amitesh Rao: If we talk about advertisements that are delivered on mobile phones, they are bound to be intrusive when indiscriminately used. In fact, advertisers and operators are today grappling to find models that are effective, financially and technically viable, and perhaps most importantly, sensitive to the presence or absence of the consumer’s requirements.
I believe that certain kinds of advertising ?? those delivered via highly personal media like mobiles ?? will gradually have to approach things from a utilitarian and value-driven perspective. Certain commercials will be useful to certain kinds of people at specific points of time, and only those brands that can segment and target consumers more precisely will have any chance of success. Those are the brands that will be the powerhouses in coming times.
