What did they do? Airtel has a new logo.

. It has a new positioning statement -- Dil jo chahe pass laye and whats 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 Lets 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 aint broke, dont fix it!! 2) Logo looks similar? -- Isnt 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) Whats 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 dont 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 cant 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 theres a brand with humility if there was ever one!! I think I should buy it!! Are you kidding me?? 5) Dont 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 Airtels 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 todays 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?? How much importance does a logo or signature tune have for a brand? And that too for a brand that has established itself in the field of telecom, which is one of utmost competition with operators making a beeline for supremacy. Airtel which has established itself as one of the world leaders in mobile telephony has finally started showing the results of its Rs 300 cr spend for marketing, advertising and branding. The first to change are the logo and the signature tunes. Airtels previous logo had both white and red colours interchangeably. The interesting part was that the word Air was written in black with a white background while Tel was written in white on a red background. Sometimes they also included their slogan Express Yourself with the logo.

But today the logo looks more like a curved A with little bit of highlighting to indicate what they call dynamism and the warm and friendly appeal of Airtel. They have also said that it represents a dynamic force of energy which would bring the management and customers closer.

If this wasnt enough, AR Rahman after his debacle with the CWG tune (though the remix was much better) comes back with a theme song having a younger and international feel to it. Their new commercial shows how a couple comes together due to the Airtel 3G technology which interestingly will be launched in India only by December.

So now that we have discussed the technical details, the biggest question is why did Airtel see the importance of such a move? Airtel is offering services now in 19 Asian and African countries where truthfully speaking it has not yet reached leadership status though its there on that path. Through their rebranding and repositioning exercise, they aim to achieve an international appeal wherein customers not only in India but across the world recall their brand. With these points in mind, they seem to have embarked on this ambitious journey.

Does the move really work?

Its a taken that wherever Airtel plans to expand around the globe, India will be its most important market. Would be interested to hear from you if anyone of you disagrees with that statement. Therefore the biggest move everyone was waiting for was their introduction of 3G services in India. But instead Airtel came up with a complete rebranding exercise including a new logo, TV commercial and signature tune. The previous logo was one of the most recognized logos in our country. Anyone and everyone be it from an illiterate person to a CEO knew that was Airtel. One of the reasons for it reaching somewhat of a generic brand status was its easily identifiable logo. The new logo truthfully seems like a straight copy of the new Videocon logo upside down with a different colour. If you see it in another way, it also looks like a mixture of the Uninor, MTC and Vodafone logos. It seems like a bland and poor cousin of the previous one with only red all along. DISAPPOINTING!

The previous signature tune of Airtel by AR Rahman is probably the most downloaded ringtone in the country at least. One thing about that tune was that it was instantly catchy when compared to the general trend related to AR Rahman tunes / songs. The new tune seems to have some words which I personally dont seem to understand. It looks more peppy and international in its approach. But truth be told it DESTROYS the entire experience Airtels previous tune had set up.

The new commercials both talk about the 3G video calling experience and how it brings two love birds closer. But its still going to be a month before the 3G experience comes to India. Their previous ads were very inspirational or about bringing people together and included celebrities like Sachin, Shahrukh, Vidya Balan, Madhavan etc.
Old Airtel Video Tune & Commercial

Even their website which has been completely revamped is still working from an IP. Now that is really SAD!

Final Verdict
Poor attempt by Airtel to target the international audience. I wish instead they would have spent the 300 cr at improving their customer services and infrastructure. Everyone will still go for Airtel because they are still one of the best. But then today they majorly disappointed the country! It looks like in an attempt to please the international audience, they have forgotten about their home country itself!