Airtel ads

this blog is about the latest airtel ads??

here's my take on this.

the recent trend of airtel seems to be; to make ads which are very titillating, and 'touch the hearts' of the Indian junta. I'm not saying they are doing a bad job. in fact even i liked them. the recent one where a small child asks her father to help her to make a drawing; i thought was very good myself.

but see here's the problem. their campaign obviously seems to be, to make airtel the most popular telecom operator in India. and what is the best way to do it?
easy. through the soft power route.

1. make ads portraying that airtel is good(the ad where a grandson comes home to meet a lonely grandfather; who is unhappy that no one cares about him. then suddenly this guy pops up a cell and makes daddy talk with grand-daddy. then all's cool etc etc etc).

2. show airtel as though it can make a difference( possibly the most famous ad in the campaign where two boys from different side of the border play a football game)

3. make ads showing airtel is closer to heart than it looks like it is( the ad where a number of arbit people for some godforsaken reason put a hand on their heart and stare at the camera which plays the trademark tune; then suddenly music changes and all arbit junta take out cellphones from thier shirt pocket and talk in it. classic 'close to heart' tactic).

4. make airtel look as though its helping you( the recent one where the little girl wants to draw a drawing etc etc etc).

5. (possibly the next in this series) make airtel and india same( what better way to finish off the campaign than to make the company's name synonymous with the nation's name in a country where people are fiercely patriotic).

so in short what the campaign does is
1. emotionally grips the nation.
2. make people think airtel is good subconsciously
3. brand trust, popularity etc are vastly improved.

P.S. I'm not making a ppt FOR airtel.

so the problem is CHOICE. now if u ask a guy from the roadside and ask him which is a good telecom brand; he might mostly say airtel. see, when i make a decision or for that matter any one; it should be a cold and brutal decision looking at only the benefits involved for self and others concerned. it should NOT be made by popular sentiment. unfortunately, this ad campaign doesn't make this very simple. its not a bad campaign from the company's point of view( hell if i was on the board i would have signed for it). but it is quietly and quickly eating away into our heads and effect our decisions. I'm predicting that with this campaign and competitors not doing anything, in 5 years airtel will definitely be the biggest telecom operator in India far exceeding the nearest competitor.