Idea is pushing forward as an integrated digital services provider: Sunita Bangard

Idea Cellular’s latest brand campaign – ‘A video can change your life’ – focuses on the transformative role of Idea 4G via the medium of videos. Conceptualised by BBDO India, the ad campaign went on-air on digital and television on New Year’s eve, with the marquee shows ‘Star Screen Awards’ and ‘Ted Talks India Nayi Soch’. The TVC has been directed by ace filmmaker Shimit Amin, who has directed the critically acclaimed blockbusters ‘Chak De! India’, ‘Rocket Singh – Salesman of the Year’, and ‘Ab Tak Chappan’. 

The campaign aims at elevating the role of Idea 4G beyond the category conversation around speed, coverage, content and apps to reflect its transformative role in people’s lives and society. In the last 18 months, Idea Cellular has focused on promoting Idea 4G, starting with ‘The Biggest Small Change’ campaign, followed by the ‘Naya India Banayenge’ campaign that democratised 4G for people from all walks of life. The ‘#LookLook’ campaign showcased the coverage of Idea’s 4G network. The ‘#NoAjnabee’ campaign focussed on Idea’s Digital apps portfolio – Idea Games, Idea Movies & TV and Idea Music, furthering the 4G proposition. 

In conversation with Adgully, Sunita Bangard, President - Marketing, Idea Cellular, speaks about Idea’s campaign strategy, the go-to-market plans, evolution of India’s telecom sector and much more. Excerpts: 

What has 2018 in store for the telecom sector? How do you see this sector evolving?
The Indian telecom industry is undergoing consolidation. To realise the Indian Government’s ‘Digital India’ vision to deliver significant benefits to 1.3 billion Indian consumers and creating substantial value for all stakeholders, Idea Cellular and Vodafone Group PLC announced an agreement to combine their operations in India last year. The merger, expected to be completed in the first half of this year, would result in an entity which will be the largest communications provider in India and one of the biggest globally. 

There is a huge potential to grow the current mobile broadband subscriber base by more than 3 times to a billion users. This, coupled with the growing per subscriber usage, will continue to offer significant untapped opportunities for Indian operators in 2018. 

What is the thought behind the ‘A Video can change your Life’ campaign?

The main intent behind our recent campaign, ‘A video can change your Life’, is to reinforce the role of Idea 4G in transforming the lives of consumers via the medium of videos. Videos are a universal language that transcends literacy and hence, hold immense power to transform. 

After establishing a pan-India wireless broadband network and on the back of rapid 4G proliferation, Idea has been building 4G credentials and brand stature through its advertising campaigns. 

With 4G enabling better Internet experience, Indians are now spending more than 28 hours a week on mobile phones. This mammoth increase in consumption of 4G data has been fuelled largely by video. The average time spent watching videos in India has doubled in the last couple of years. With affordable 4G pricing, approximately 65 per cent of the audience are now watching videos with mobile Internet and nearly 8.5 hours of video content every month. 

The campaign, in true Idea style, aims at elevating the role of Idea 4G beyond the category conversation around speed, coverage, content and apps to reflect its transformative role in people’s lives and society. 

What was the creative brief given to the agency BBDO India?
‘Think video, think Idea 4G’ was the brief for this campaign. 

Here, Josy Paul, Chief Creative Officer and Chairman, BBDO India, elaborating on the conceptualisation of the campaign, said, “We were having a Group Creative Therapy session on the power of videos in the mobile new world and almost everybody had a story of a video that affected them and made them change something in their lives. It was a chain reaction! We realised that it’s not just our story, but everybody’s story. That’s how the thought for Idea 4G – ‘A video can change your life, an Idea can change your life’ was born. The Idea brand has always been about ‘transformation with purpose’, and our latest campaign builds on that positive equity even as it sets a progressive new agenda for the future led by the power of videos.” 

How are you strategising to build a greater connect with the masses?
The new Idea campaign is inspired by the many transformational stories that have been enabled by videos. Videos do not just entertain us, they influence us, stir emotions, inspire, move and lead us to positive actions. Videos on our mobile phones are a transformative force of good. Backed by the power of Idea 4G, it has the power to spread and transform our society for the better. 

We tried to bring this idea to life. We knew the power of a video had to be felt through the emotion it evokes and the action it inspires, and our campaign reflects that. 

The TVC captures the chain of change that is triggered through videos and the cascading effect that they have in transforming people’s lives. The ad shows how a video of kids waiting to be adopted makes a young professional pause and think and then decide to educate many such kids in his office, post work hours. A homemaker sees a video of an evening school and is infuriated on learning that unsafe streets are not allowing girls to benefit from education. Uploading a video teaching self-defense, the woman’s action thus inspires the next person in the chain. 

What is the focus of your marketing plans?
Idea continues on its transformational journey of becoming an integrated digital services and solutions provider. We will continue to focus our marketing efforts in building awareness around our 4G and digital content services. Amidst the evolving market and consumer trends, Idea continues to focus on tapping all the emerging opportunities in mobile voice, wireless data business, digital content and mobile banking, etc. 

Post your partnering with Ditto TV, are now you looking at collaborations with more OTT platforms?
In order to build ourselves as an integrated digital services and solutions provider, Idea is constantly on the lookout for delivering the best digital content to our customers. This also includes collaborating with various content partners, and in the process helping us provide customers with the best digital content experience on our seamless data service.

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