Tag: Airtel

  • While on contextual reputation…

    Though I don’t answer much on Quora, I am quite a gawker and vote up answers too. One feature of Quora that I found extremely interesting and useful (and tweeted about) is the way Quora gives contextual ‘reputation’ (while reading answers) using the person’s topic bio. The interesting coincidence (because he also RT ed this tweet) is that I noticed it thanks to Mahendra‘s answer to a ‘Google Reader’ based question, and right next to his name was “Daily, dedicated user. Subscribed to over 200 feeds, followed by over 700 people on Reader/Buzz”. I must admit, before I realised that it was a topic bio, my first thought was why Mahendra was ‘wasting’ his Quora bio on Reader when he had such a huge list of phenomenal things he could say about himself. 🙂

    But yes, coming back to ‘contextual reputation’, I liked it because it gives a lot of relevance and credibility and adds a layer to an answer – you can better understand where this  answerer and his response is coming from, for example. Another nuanced way of helping the reader weed out noise. I also thought this was a good way for brands/organisations to develop credibility in their domain, and involve their users, using function specific spokespersons, (brand, HR, operations etc) since “brands are currently not supported on Quora“.

    And now we can go off on a tangent and check out a few brand experiences I had last week, all with oblique connections to contextual reputation, though lycra like they might seem 🙂

    When Airtel changed its logo sometime back, though there were infinite debates on the need and quality of the new logo, their on ground management of the logo change was almost unequivocally appreciated. However,

    To their credit, the ‘everything’ search, though has the old images, has the first link pointing to the new logo. But from an image perspective, ‘contextual reputation’ for logo change online gets a thumbs down.

    Cleartrip, quite a favourite brand for their ‘no nonsense. clear talk and action’ way of managing their product and online presence, has a new campaign ‘Every trip has a purpose‘. But favouritism unfortunately doesn’t stop me from wordplay and I tweeted

    Just as i was chided for provoking a brand, and was replying that I trusted Cleartrip to have a sense of humour, they replied with a ‘laughing hard’. Contextual reputation thumbs up. Hopefully they weren’t being sarcastic.

    The last experience was from Tanishq, whose new Blush campaign I came across last week. Like I tweeted then, immediately after the Quora tweet, I found it quite interesting and worth an applause that a brand was experimenting with a Firefox/Chrome plugin. Instead of me explaining how it works, I will, in my new found enthusiasm for imagery, give you a screenshot.

    As you can see, the plugin gives you, in addition to the ‘Like’, ‘Comment’ options you see after a Facebook status, a ‘Blush’ option, which when clicked, adds a comment with a link to the ‘Blush’ page. Hmm. I won’t get into a ‘app within FB vs outside website’ debate (there must be some reason, I assume). But unfortunately, boring that I am, I’ve never seen a jewelery that has made me blush. I can’t even see it in the Tanishq collection, assuming that I have the ‘where to wear it’ right. Maybe girls/women see it differently. So, why didn’t Tanishq just have a ‘Gold’ button, which would actually add to their ‘contextual reputation’ more than blush, and tie it to some sort of action that would actually get something tangible for all involved.

    For example, I install the plugin and start using it just because of the ‘show off’ value. What if they tied in an offer linked to the number of “Golds” I gave/received on statuses, and then communicated that in the comment that appears after I have ‘Gold’ed a comment. Or how about virtual gifts, a way to showcase the gallery, and then an easy app to add the virtual gift to a profile pic? I have an inkling that women are likely to have a “nice earrings/pendant. where did you get it from” conversation. They could even make this Like based contest i.e. if you virtually gift someone and get them to add it to their profile pic, and they get maximum likes (make a leaderboard) we’ll let you actually gift them for free. Do that on Valentine’s day, and it just might work.

    Meanwhile, I have a ‘reputation’ for longish posts, so I’ll just stop here.

    until next time, add to the context?

  • Bigg Loss?

    At the beginning of this season of Bigg Boss – Bigg Boss 2, I had wondered how many brands would involve themselves in the reality show. I was hoping that they’d not stick to obvious brand placement and make themselves a part of the story. I noted about eight brand plugs, though there might be more, since my viewing waned towards the end. I had some uncomfortable introspective moments when I caught myself watching four guys in a reality show. Now, its difficult to figure out whether brands got a good value out of these associations, since we don’t know the kind of financials involved. So, I’ll restrict myself to my takeouts as a viewer.

    • Airtel – Airtel gave away tees for the Delhi Half Marathon, a very clear case of ‘Here, wear’, but salvaged a bit by making a task out of it – all the inmates asked to run (combined) a distance of 21 kms without stopping. I think there was a charity link too. 175 comments generated here for the episode, I didn’t see Airtel there. Airtel also had its ringtone as the wake up tune on many days. But the one that worked best for me was the scroller that happened whenever two inmates who were sulking with each other started talking to each other. It read ‘Barriers break when people talk’. Of course, when Sambhavna and Payal were involved, it usually led to more fights, but I wouldn’t take it against Airtel.
    • Fevicryl – I remember Fevicryl only from one episode, but it left a mark. As a task, the inhabitants of the house were asked to make gifts for their fellow inmates, using some basic items and Fevicryl. The interesting part was how the inmates made stories out of the various things they made for each other. A few of them still remain with me like fevicryl decorated diyas being given to “light up someone’s world”, and a very ethnic design made to ‘remind someone about India’ always. The offering of Fevicryl was weaved into the narrative of the show, and it resulted in some good conversations. Impressive stuff, Fevicryl.
    • Dettol – sigh, ‘what can you do with dettol’ was the question asked as part of the task. How imaginative! The task fizzled out even before it started. The ‘babies’ track was boring as it is, using Dettol to wash the nappies was a force fit.
    • Vanish – Hey, someone actually came up with the idea that I’d proposed for Tide, starring Rakhi Sawant. The task was to wash clothes with vanish, and Monica mentioned the dirt removing capacity of Vanish. Actually, they should’ve got Payal and Sambhavna to do this, they washed the maximum dirty linen in public. Not bad, not great.
    • Kinetic Pleasure – With a generous sprinkling of ‘Why should boys have all the fun’, this task had the girls riding the vehicle around inside the house. Impossible to miss, but depends on how much was paid. If visibility was the agenda, consider it achieved.
    • Max New York – I’d already mentioned their good use of the ‘Shandaar Budget’ board. Since everyone ends up wanting more budget, the line ‘Karo zyaada ka iraada’ fits well there. There was also a task, based on the line, in which the inmates had to give a speech on how they were best suited to win, and what they’d do with the prize money. In fact, I noticed that later, when the inmates discussed their plans (after they got outside) they invariably mentoned the line too. One of the better usage in the show. Good work, i thought.
    • Mainland China – A few days before Diwali, they sent dinner for the housemates. It was a pity that one of the inmates (forget who) complained about the food. Ouch!!
    • Chevrolet – Chevrolet gave away an Aveo U-Va car for the ‘Bade Dilwala’ of the house. Turned out to be Rahul Mahajan. Since this was given away only in the end, but was discussed on every eviction day, they did get some good visibility. The product connect (Saif’s Chevrolet ad focuses on the interior space) was decent.

    In this context I have to also commend in.com for the exclusive online tieup. While some of the efforts were decent, there is still a reluctance on the part of brands to refrain from one way communication of their message. Tang (in the first season) was just there, the story and the communication happened organically. I would have liked to see brands weave themselves into the context and have their communication as a result as opposed to the start point.  But I wouldn’t be surprised if all the brands were happy to just ride on the popularity and viewership of Bigg Boss, and just have themselves seen in the show. So, what did you think of the product placements?

    until next time, karo zyaada ka iraada? 😉

    PS. If you can remember any more brand placements, please let me know via the comments section.

  • Remote Control

    It would’ve been a big shock to Airtel, having their entire teaser campaign hijacked by BIG. Painstakingly created, their four ads conveyed four different aspects of the service and had the ‘See you at home’ and the red couch in common. Though I missed the ads, I read this report about Airtel’s launch of their DTH service on a particular day, told my wife that it was Airtel’s DTH service, only to be given a look of scorn when BIG ‘revealed’ the couch and the service’s key features. From my reaction, I can imagine the sheer rage and frustration that JWT and Airtel must’ve felt after spending time, money and energy on the teasers. I can also imagine the Mudra guy devilishly grinning with a ‘Yeah, see you at home’ mutter when the guerilla idea struck him. I wonder of this will be a strong case against teasers and will go down in history as the most quoted example against brands which want to do a bit of teasing.

    Airtel can take solace in the fact that at least Reliance sees them as a threat. This should prepare them for the long battle ahead. Of course, sometimes I think nothing is preparation enough for Reliance (check out my ‘vision‘ of BIG). Sadly, the final Airtel launch ad, though interesting for a couple of watches, is not exactly engrossing after that. 

    But Reliance has also to be complimented on the extremely devious but smart thinking, that just took the steam out of Airtel’s campaign. It was quite refreshing to see someone other than the colas going for a head to head battle. Meanwhile, I simply loved their latest TVC for showcasing their 32 movie halls. Amitabh’s ‘Mere paas maa hain’ dialogue from Deewar has been mothered by brands across categories. Its plain irritating usually and forget me, I bet even Big B would be cursing them with a different ‘maa’ reference!! So this one was a welcome change with a new twist. What i liked best was the way this single dialogue was used to showcase the offering, almost like “with 32 movie halls, you can get more movie dialogues” 

    Meanwhile, I expect some star wars to happen in the DTH space. Aamir endorses Tata Sky, i think it will be only a matter of time before the Big B steps in for Reliance (in spite of Big B fatigue, I think ‘Ho to big ho’ will sound perfect coming from him). Airtel already has a plethora of stars – Kareena, Madhavan, Vidya Balan, Saif Ali Khan, A R Rahman etc endorsing them. I like the little connections in this – Madhavan and Vidya were paired first in Guru, which was supposed to be a take on Dhirubhai, and Reliance owns Big TV. The ‘tragedy’, meanwhile, is that SRK, who is Airtel’s biggest brand ambassador, is ‘santusht’ with Dish TV. Well, maybe he is not, but i wonder if he has a choice. Is that a lesson for brands to have a bit more ‘vision’ while signing contracts? Anyway, we should see some interesting wars ahead for control of the remote. 

    until next time, the telecasting couch 🙂

  • Sab Kuch Mobile main?

    A few days back, it was announced that Airtel and Google had come together to launch Airtel Live.  Since I’ve not been there myself, I’ll take their word for it in terms of quality and the value for customers. Sometime back, the launch of  Google search on Airtel had helped a lot of TV channel sales guys meet their targets. 🙂

    Around the same time, there was also the news of Yahoo and Reliance continuing their association with oneSearch being made available on Reliance. Yahoo Mail and Yahoo messenger were already available. Other services that users can avail of are financial news, Yahoo Answers, Flickr, Wikipedia etc. Its relevant to note that Yahoo also has deals going on with Idea, BSNL among others. At this stage, I’m guessing that this is only applicable to GPRS sets. Meanwhile, its also interesting to note that Reliance’s IPTV dreams will be powered by Microsoft’s platform, though with the dismal broadband penetration, this is a very long term game.

    So, what we’re seeing is good old convergence, not just of content and platforms, but the providers also.  AOL, Rediff- anything happening yet? Reliance has been releasing its blog ads for sometime now. Its quite a neatly made ad, which keeps the message simple. And for the last couple of days, I’ve seen a new ad being aired (damn page refuses to load, though), one thats co branded- Reliance and Yahoo, and thats for messenger. Its again a very simple, neat ad, which clearly succeeds in communicating the message. There’s also some (though not very large) push being given by Yahoo online though a contest where you can win Moto handsets by logging on to YM through your Reliance mobile.

    So Reliance will blog on its own and use Yahoo for services, for which Yahoo has already made a name for itself. Smart. I wonder where all this is going though? Moblogging has been on for quite sometime, without any of these guys being involved.  While this may help broaden the base of bloggers (thanks to the Reliance reach), is there a value add that I get by choosing Reliance blogs over say, blogger? The SMS, MMS also cost a bit, anyway. So, I wonder… Anyone care to educate?

    until next time, a digital maze

  • Dotty

    There was this nice game we used to play as kids – join the dots. The context? Unless you’ve been living in a cave without a cable connection, the new Airtel ad should be coming out of your ears by now. No, not the ‘Having a ball at the border’ one, the new one where Papa is getting laid, sorry, getting the tracks laid, and the daughter just can’t do without his help in joining the dots.

    So papa dearest excuses himself and concentrates on the task at hand, going dotty. Its a wonderful insight on why Indian Railways is the way it is. This is what they do when they’re supposed to lay the damn rails. I have a few questions – why can’t mommy help? Why does poor daddy, who is anyway having to work at night, get to do child care also? What kind of stupid dad asks a young daughter to go to the balcony alone? Unless the kid is an astronomer’s reincarnation (with full knowledge of her previous birth), how the h*** did she manage to understand the exact stars her daddy was talking about? Most importantly, what the h*** was this ad trying to say?

    Kuch bandhan atoot hote hain, you can bet they weren’t talking about the damn rails!!

    until next time, dotted for extra pleasure? 😀