A quick take on the brand launch campaigns by the new mobile service providers in India.
Virgin Mobile:
The launch of Virgin mobile brand in India stayed true to its tagline – “Think hatke”. Unveiling the logo in mid flight to Richard Branson’s stunts to its witty ad campaign targeting the urban youth, the brand launch was a great success, capturing the minds of its target audiences quickly. Not everyone liked their advertisements though, I’ve heard people commenting negatively about the virgin mobile ad campaigns and even going to the extent of hating the brand itself. Of course these comments didn’t came from their target group, urban youth. Overall it was one of the most talked about brand launch in 2008. However it’s another story whether that visibility translated into healthy subscriber base for Virgin mobile.
MTS:
After their teaser ads, with their egg shaped symbol and vada with the tagline “Ini ellam marum” (Everything will change hereafter), came their stunning limited period offer – One million minutes of free talk time. “Change your Life’s plan” – That’s their tagline for the offer. Yes, they are not only interested in getting their brand to new customers but also want those already own the connection to switch to MTS. It definitely had the impact on the customers and MTS grow at a healthy pace during their launch period. This is one plan, customers would’ve loved to see from other telecom players also, but no one joined this race to offer million minutes of free talk time.
Tata Docomo:
No Zoozoos, No Hrithik magic, yet it was one of the successful brand launch in 2009, thanks to its ‘Pay as you use plan’ or simply 1 paisa/sec plan that changed the Indian mobile tariff market forever. When life changes in seconds, why pay in minutes? – That’s the Docomo question and it was answered by every major telecom player in India – Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance, Idea, Aircel by launching their own pay per second plan. But Tata Docomo was in no mood to give away the first mover advantage by launching another ad- “Do the New and the World will follow. Like other mobile operators did. Or atleast tried to.” Other leading Indian mobile players are now clearly worried, Tata Docomo as it claims itself is not only the leader in the ads, but also in the new subscriber additions. Great launch!!
Uninor:
“Ini en number” or “My time is now” – From TV advertisements to print ads to hoardings in buses, banners in roads, Uninor’s tagline is screaming everywhere. Thanks to its marketing blitzkrieg, Uninor’s brand launch is not missed by anyone. Their USP – 29p/min for local calls. They could have taken on this 1 paisa/sec fad more boldly with their 29p/min scheme, as it doesn’t matter if you talk for a second or for more than an hour, at the maximum one can save only 59 paise with 1 paise/sec plan. By aggresively marketing against the pay per second plan they could have gained more media and public attention than with a plain 29 p/min communication. Again this 29 p/min scheme is not something new or cheap to the customers as even before Uninor’s launch, MTS and MTNL are offering 1 paisa for every 2 seconds or simply half a paisa per second tariff plan. Not a great launch will wait and see how they fare in this crowded Indian mobile race.
With tariffs so low, it’ll be interesting to see how the new players like Datacom and STel differentiate themselves from the established players and launch their mobile services in India.
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