Airtel Rebranding – Why on earth?
Statutory Warning – This highly opinionated article you are reading is from a man deeply hurt by the recent exercise undertaken by Airtel. To me Airtel is about everything that is great about Indian marketing. It is about us getting it right, making all the right noises and building a brand over the period of 15 years brick-by-brick. As a student of strategy, finance and brands what has been done to it in the name of rebranding as I see it is nothing short of blasphemy towards an iconic and “youthful” Indian brand. Reader discretion is strongly advised. 
I was flooded by thoughts when I sat to write this. So much that I ended up spending more time organizing this article so that it makes some sense than the time I needed to write it.
Why I am writing this? – At the end of this article I intend to leave you with a few questions. Let us not leave this exercise as a case of The Emperor’s New Clothes – something everyone sees, no one understands but everyone just ends up praising because they think speaking up against it would make you sound like a fool. Indeed all I have heard from my friends in the past few weeks is – I think the reasoning behind the exercise is sound and their attempts make sense. Two hoots!! 
What did they do? – Airtel has a new logo. It has a new positioning statement – Dil jo chahe pass laye and what’s more it even has a new jingle which is of course made by tweaking the old one and making it more techno. And let me say something – the old jingle was miles ahead. Melodic and pleasing.
Old Airtel Logo
Why did they do it? – Well in the course of expanding internationally Airtel has acquired a whole lot of companies like Zain in Africa and Warid in Bangladesh. Now as these entities transition to the brand Airtel the company is trying to gain an international image – a “new, modern, more friendly and accessible” image in the minds of all the users in these various countries.
Other elements in the logo –
The lowercase is to signify humility. Red colour is for heritage, energy and passion. The font wants to showcase a dynamic force of “unparalleled energy”.
Airtel New Logo
Let’s ask a few questions shall we? –
1) Why the new logo? - Why did they have to go for a new logo? Was the old one not working? Why could they not do what Vodafone did in India? Vodafone came in and overhauled Hutch. And mind you they were entering a huge market which is still pretty allergic to foreign companies. But they felt pretty comfortable in their skin. After all – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!!
2) Logo looks similar? – Isn’t the new logo very similar to Vodafone? As in it does not stand out generally does it? Even the colour and the background makes it eerily similar.
3) What’s with the foreign connection? – Why do the commercials feature foreign models and why are all of them shot in foreign locales? Even a lot of the posters have people not from India in them. It is a global brand. Very good. But when you finally come to my door – I just like to get connected to someone who is like me. Also, this usage of stuff which is foreign is a transition for Airtel. I don’t remember them doing it before very often (of course there was the beautiful football ad). The new ads have no element of “Ah!! That must be an Airtel ad!!” Somehow an ad shot on Indian roads with Indian cabs and Indian people around could have been done!!
4) Lowercase for humility? What?? – Ok such things do operate at a subliminal level. You may not know about it but feelings may be triggered in you. But it surely should have occurred to Airtel that most people in the 3 places – India, Bangladesh, Africa can’t even read English. All they look for is a similar symbol. And the old one would have worked as well. Do you really think there would someone in interior Karnataka in India or on the outskirts of Chittagong or in some small village in Africa who would go for a mobile phone connection, look at the Airtel symbol and think – “Hmm!! Now there’s a brand with humility if there was ever one!! I think I should buy it!!” Are you kidding me??
5) Don’t you have anything new to say? – Dil jo chahe paas laye!! The ads are all about staying connected with your loved ones when you want to and wherever you want to. Hmm now who else claims that – Vodafone maybe (in India it is associated with Hutch which said “Wherever you go our network follows!!”), Tata DoCoMo is all about friends, Idea Cellular shows a group of friends breaking language barriers (at least they said it differently huh??). Was there nothing else Airtel could tell us? Look at Uninor – it talks about Uninor users being themselves. Surely there could have been something else they could promise like superior customer service – a common complaint from cell phone users in India.
Just throwing ideas – Just think of the opportunities that were not capitalized on here. This is the story of an Indian brand going out to the world. Look at this ad –
What was wrong with just building on this? One thing is in India this would have worked like magic but outside it may lead to Airtel’s rise being seen as an Indian onslaught – trouble especially with our neighbor Bangladesh having the feeling India dominates the region too much. But again think about this – here are countries which have had close relations with India historically. Could not have something been weaved around the lines of as India grows, we invite you our friends to join us, make our bonds stronger and together build a beautiful world?? Done in a youthful way, with young people across the borders – and who knows…..in today’s World 2.0 this may just be the kind of thing people are looking for.
Finally, this may end up being one of the best marketing and rebranding exercises the world has ever seen. This campaign may also herald a new future for Airtel and prove me completely wrong. I however still stand by my opinion as I hold it today. For me it just does not work. What about you??
As always ayes and brickbats are welcome. Just write in to themarketers.iimc@gmail.com.
(Harish Seshadri Sarma is a PGDM (2011) student at IIM Calcutta. Apart from having utopian thoughts and cracking jokes which can make anyone sick, Harish kills his time reading about whatever he can lay his hands on and thinking about varied topics like strategy, marketing, finance, HR and how these different disciplines interact. Write to him at harishs2011@email.iimcal.ac.in).
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