Brand Update : Tata Indicom

Tata Indicom was one of the first telecom operators to offer CDMA mobile services in India. Launched in 1996, the brand is the youngest of the lot. Infact it was one the first brands to be analysed in this blog.

In my post on Tata Indicom, I was talking about their launch of India's first prepaid plan with free incoming calls. I was lambasting on the poor campaign promoting the brand.

Indicom has come a long way since my first post on it. Now its one of the major players in the CDMA space with a market share of around 9.1 % in the highly competitive telecom market.

Last month the brand undertook a major repositioning exercise and is trying to position itself in an emotional platform rather than a functional one.

Tata Indicom has been positioned earlier using the " Do more live more " platform. The brand has been investing heavily on this platform with high decibel advertising featuring Bollywood stars - Kajol and Ajay Devgan.

Watch the old campaigns here : Tata Indicom Old

Most of the initial campaigns was of bad taste with unnecessary dramatics and substandard humor. Later the brand mellowed down to a " let me tell you the benefits " approach with Kajol acting as the brand expert. According to Afaqs, the first change in positioning was a result of the change in the ad agency from Mcann to Draft FCB Ulka.

This month Tata Indicom has launched a new campaign and a new positioning.
Watch the new campaign here : Indicom new ad

The new ad is also a result of change in the advertising agency. The account has moved to Contract Advertising.

The brand has now taken a more emotional platform to promote itself. Its a sort of laddering up. The brand is following the strategy of Airtel which has perfected the art of laddering up.

The new campaign of Tata Indicom now talk about " Listening to your heart ". The new campaign shows a small town girl making it big in athletics.

My initial impression about the ad is positive. Its a well made ad and its nice to watch. But when I watched the ad first time , I had a feeling that I had seen this somewhere before.

The concept of Rags to Riches is has been one of the most used positioning platform worldwide. It does strikes a chord but when every other brand tries the same chord, the chord gets broken.

So no Big Idea from Tata Indicom. Its the same bollywood formula in a new bottle. According to Afaqs, Kajol will be used in urban markets while this campaign will be used across the markets. The brand has identified ambitious youth in small towns as the TG. Its a good news since one of my major criticism for Tata Indicom was its inability in identifying the TG.

Rags to riches, defying the odds, David beating Goliath, Small humbling the Big .... These are sure shot recipes to impress the audience. In the execution of the idea, the agency has not let down the brand.

Branding has become an important element in telecom marketing in India. Now we are seeing a standardization of tariffs. Marketers are now trying to retain the customers through emotional connection with the brand. The war is now on two fronts . On one hand, the brands are trying to offer value added services to customers . Alongside the brands are investing in building a connect with the customers.

Tata Indicom was struggling to find a right positioning platform so far . Now they have a reasonable platform to work with.

Brand Update : RIP Tata Indicom ( 2006-2011)

Tata Indicom is dead. The CDMA brand from Tata Teleservices is going to be integrated ( migrated / replaced/exorcised) to Tata Docomo. According to various newsreports, the Indicom brand will be killed and the entire mobile telephony and related services will be brought under the Tata Docomo brand. 

By bringing the entire services under a common brand, Tata Teleservices will be able to reduce the marketing costs and avoid brand confusion. 

But a dead brand is a dead brand. For me every dead brand is a failed brand. 

The new move also marks the larger role played by NTT Docomo in the mobile services JV with the Tata. The branding to Tata Docomo shows the prominence of DoCoMo brand which is the primary brand and Tata brand name is being used as an endorser brand. 

Tata Indicom as a brand was not able to create any strong image in the consumer mindspace. The poor quality ads and confused positioning put the brand way behind aggressive competitors like Vodafone, Idea and Airtel. But compared to Tata Indicom , DoCoMo is an aggressive brand and the promotions are clutter-breaking. By bringing all services under a single brand especially in a low-margin, highly competitive market like cellular services make immense business sense. 

CDMA services also did not quite clicked in the Indian market and consumers were not convinced about the technological supremacy of CDMA over GSM. Now that Tata Teleservices got a foothold over the GSM services through the Docomo JV, the relevance of Tata Indicom's CDMA services has diminished considerably. I wouldn't be surprised if the entire CDMA services will be put in the backburner by Tata Teleservices. 

RIP Tata Indicom ..

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Tata Indicom

Brand Update : Tata Indicom

Tata Indicom is currently running a new brand campaign extending the concept of " Listen to your heart " ( suno dil i awaaz " ) positioning. The new positioning is being reinforced using several tvcs featuring various celebrities . The brand has roped in Himesh Reshammiya, Karan Johar, Lalit Modi, Prachi Desai, Irfan and Yusuf Pathans as the brand ambassadors.

The ads shows these self-made successful persons talking about how they listen to their heart and achieved their dreams. All these personalities chose their profession based on their interest often defying the advice of their relatives and friends. The brand is celebrating their success.

This is classic case of brand laddering is supported by a 360 degree campaign by Tata Indicom including events, outdoors and conventional media vehicles.

After some rustic campaigns using Kajol and Ajay Devgan, the brand has finally found its core positioning platform.
I liked the slogan and the execution of the repositioning exercise. But somehow I fail to see a strong connect between the current positioning and the product. When Airtel talks about " expressing yourself " , its easy for us to connect to their core service.

But it is little difficult " listen to your heart " and Tata Indicom service. Hence the brand should have first established the connection between the current positioning and the brand.
According to the reports, the brand 's core idea is to empower people to listen to your heart. But where will the product fit in ?
Is it that you listen to your heart using Indicom
or
Those who use Indicom are the ones who have listened to their hearts ?

May be the brand is using the second proposition. Tata Indicom in a sense is trying to create the brand personality using these celebrities.

But I still feel the disconnect ..........

What do you think ?


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Tata Indicom

A revolutionary product: Killed by poor advertising

Brand : Tata Indicom True paid

Baseline : Do more live more


The product from tata indicom prepaid is revolutionary since it "talks"about the incoming free for two years even without recharging ( not sure about the fine print). A great marketing idea that is similar to the campaign of Reliance Infocomm 501 mobile campaign which changed the Indian telecom industry for the better.

Earlier prepaid cards were having a disadvantage of having to be recharged everymonth which proved to be a disadvantage and companies had to ensure that they reach every point of the market and distribution reach was a deciding factor. This new product ensures the flexibility of the consumer to wait and purchase the coupon at his convenience.

But the campaign is nothing but a waste of money. I cannot comment more on the ads with prize catch of Kajol and Ajay Devganm. The message appears to be comic but ...... well I reserve my comments.

There is no clue as to who the target customers are?
Business class/ students/ professionals/ laymen , no idea? My dear marketing friends at Tata Indicom, please think about this.

It is a good product and unless the message is seriously executed. The product may sell because it is good, but just wait for Reliance or other firms to take this idea and make a market out of this. Just like the concept of " golden eye technology" was developed by videocon but executed with perfection by LG.

All the best Indicom.