Idea Cellular: It ain't Abhishek silly, it's Idea

The first advertisement showed two fictitious communities Purmis and Thumihars fighting each other in a village setting. The sarpanch of the village, played by Abhishek Bachchan, declares that, henceforth, no one will be known as a Purmi or a Thumihar. Everyone will be known by a number. The ad goes on to show every person being known by a nine-digit number that starts with 9 and it stops the fighting in the village as people forget their caste identities. Another ad shows Bachchan as the principal of a missionary school—who sets up distant rural education centres connected by a mobile phone. The teacher talks to students through the phone that is put on a loudspeaker and the school manages to teach many more students than its capacity.

The rural setting indicates where Idea as a brand comes from—“The Other India”, as its Managing Director Sanjeev Aga had said at its Mumbai launch. “Abhishek Bachchan does not play Abhishek Bachchan in our advertisements. He plays ‘Idea’. When one sees Lawrence Olivier playing Hamlet, it’s Hamlet one sees, not Lawrence Olivier,” he explains, adding that the ad campaign came out of the desire to meet the challenge of being relevant to a full spectrum of consumers, offering the entire range of services, and, yet, staying distinct.

The big idea, he says, was “inclusiveness”. An ‘Idea’ can change everyone’s life. The brand communication, by definition, had to be inclusive. “A big idea will stand out of the clutter in good times or bad. Our brand ambassador, Abhishek Bachchan, symbolises the value of the brand, not the trappings of a celebrity,” he adds, crediting both the marketing team at Idea and the creative team at Lowe Lintas for developing the campaign, adding that “it came straight from the heart”. The target geography was almost the entire country but primarily the 13 circles that Idea operated in. The company is now expanding from 13 to 22 circles across the country
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Challenge: Make a full range of services relevant across consumer classes and yet remain distinct Strategy: Sticking to the essential brand promise—the power of an idea—and marrying good consumer experience with it Outcome: Subscriber base grew 66 per cent in the past one year, higher than the industry’s 50 per cent

Idea Cellular is set to launch operations in Bihar next, and it will be interesting to see how it goes about it. Aga says: “Just as when Toyota enters India they come in with their global experience—Idea, too, is entering new markets like Mumbai and Bihar, but with loads of experience gained from the rest of India.”

Asked whether the 44 per cent drop in net profits (for the quarter ended September 2008 over the same quarter of 2007) will take some sheen off the brand, Aga asks: “Tell me, do you change your toothpaste or soap looking at the manufacturer’s quarterly results? Our consumers are concerned about whether the offering is from a good company and from a good group. The answer is yes.” Idea’s sales were up 47 per cent during the quarter under review. Over the last one year, Idea’s subscriber base has grown almost 66 per cent from 18 million to 30 million compared to a 50 per cent subscriber growth in the industry. This idea, then, has obviously changed Idea Cellular’s life.

—Suman Layak