Tata Photon Plus – High speed internet… Photon TV… Prices slashed… Pre-paid? Too many things for the brand in one year?

Brand: Tata Photon Plus

Agecny: Contract Advertising

Photon –“A discrete bundle of electromagnetic energy, moving at a constant velocity in free space” – and when you make it Photon Plus – it becomes ‘a brand proposition of portability and unbelievable speed’.

Based around the creative proposition of ‘carrying speed in one’s pocket’, Tata Indicom launched a new campaign for its mobile broadband service Tata Photon + in H1 2009. The TV spot featuring people belonging to different age groups and talking about what they carry with themselves on a typical day. Towards the end, the Ad talks about Tata Photon + and its benefits as a device that ‘marries speed with portability’

The communication took a broad based rather than a narrow based approach since it was not only targeted to youths but also to young working professionals, self employed and others. “Tata Photon is a device that promises broadband speeds as well as portability. In a new product category such as this, it was easy to dwell on the benefits, but those were obvious facts to talk about. We wanted to address the need to make speed and portability cool and desirable. The task at hand was to marry speed with mobility, hence the proposition of carrying speed in your pocket”, said Trivikram Thakore, vice-president, marketing communication, Tata Teleservices (courtesy: Campaign India)

To improve the visibility on the digital front, in September 2009, there was a roadblock deal between STAR Network and Tata Teleservices wherein all the video clips available on STAR Player (Startv.in) would only play Tata Photon Plus animated video ads as a pre-roll and a static banner ad at the end of the video clips. The Tata Photon Plus video ad directed users to the Tata Indicom website.

But, the market was getting more competitive with high speed broadband services from other telecom players. The differentiation was getting lost. Suddenly towards the end of H2 2009, an ad showing a young man doing a bizarre act of carrying a television, hit the screens. He is shown to be totally engrossed and thoroughly content, as he is able to watch television wherever he is - which captures the ‘A’ - Attention & ‘I’ – Interest, of the communication model. The ad revolves around the concept that today’s busy life barely allows the man to watch television since he is ‘on-the-go’. His hectic life has made TV viewing a casualty. May be he still craves for MTV, cricket matches, HBO, and the new episodes of Prison Break.

Raj Nair, senior vice president and executive creative director, Contract Advertising adds, "The excitement of watching TV on-the-go has been demonstrated by a young man who is so much in love with his TV that he carries it around everywhere he goes, oblivious about anything and anyone around him. The film treatment has a bystander's observational quality, while the music score is quirky and memorable and adds to the watchable quotient of the film.” (courtesy: Campaign India)

Apart from the Tata Photon TV spot, the company had undertaken other above the line and below the line initiatives to create brand and product awareness as well as recall like associating with the movie Avtaar (however, no explicit functionality information about the brand in the communication), collaborating with laptops with have inbuilt broadband services, Aerial advertising etc. In order to break the clutter and reach wider mass, rates of the device were slashed by 1000/-. It could be a strategy to tempt the consumers to buy the product who are reluctant because of the price factor. Or was it stagnant or declining sales?

However, within 4 months of launch of Tata Photon TV, Tata Photon + forayed in ‘Pre-paid’ services with TV Ad appearing during the IPL. The idea is to offer this flexible plan with packs that allows the users get the maximum from what prepaid connections offer.

The evolution of Tata Photon Plus, as a brand, has been through many changes in one year. From a high speed wireless broadband service to on-the-go TV to pre-paid service.

However, there are certain questions that remain to be answered.

How profitable and acceptable is this concept which offers TV service as a part of the high speed internet broadband service – since the internet penetration in India is very low (less than 10%) and hence, the target market is very narrow. Is this a great idea too ahead of its time, with few takers right now or just a first player entry strategy before the competition gets in? Was there sufficient amount of market research done?

Why have there been no more Ads on Tata Photon TV since the existing commercials revolve only around the concept and information – what about ‘Desire’ and ‘Action’ factor? How will the communication agency initiate the ‘Persuasion’ feeling into their Ads? Has the brand been able to inbuilt sufficient amount of awareness among its target group – if no, why are there no follow up or reminder ads for the same?

Why has there been a very low print media activity for the brand?

What about the competition? Why has the competition not responded to the Tata Photon TV Concept?

Havell’s Cables - A Simple Story: Lower class background: Emotional twist: Universality in communication “Wires that don’t catch fire”

Brand – Havells Cables

Agency – Lowe Lintas India

Havell’s India Ltd., one of India’s largest & fastest growing electrical and power distribution equipment manufacturers, have taken the product positioning approach rather than focusing on single brand positioning approach in its communication for Havell’s Cables and Wire. However, the communication approach differs for different portfolio of products like “Shock Laga” campaign captivating its audience more on humor front while cables communication grabbing attention more on emotional value. Caring nature is the innate quality of every Indian and this, coupled with emotional background score and essence of creativity, the Ad takes an approach of promoting a premium wire brand with a not-so-premium setting.

“Although the product is premium, we didn’t want the typical urban, affluent setting for the ad” says R Balakrishnan (Balki), chairman and chief creative officer, Lowe India (courtesy agencyfaqs.com).

The 2 TVCs i.e. Mother-Son Ad (2007) & Necklace Ad (2010) play around 3 main messages:

1) “Wires that don’t catch fire” – so prevents accidents occurring due to electrical nuisance

2) “Bend it like Havell’s” – are flexible and can be molded in any shape

3) Havell’s cares for you

The critically acclaimed ad featuring the duo of mother & son in a construction site, first introduced in December 2007, raised eyebrows in the advertising fraternity where the son bends the cable into a shape of pair of tongs so that her mother doesn’t hurt herself while cooking chapattis. The instinct-of-a-son-to-protect-his-mother concept was explored which can easily be related to in the Indian context. And it did work. It got listed among the top 10 NDTV ads. Also, it was a good effort for a B2B product to directly communicate to the consumers, especially in India where the influencers are people like electricians and electrical contractors. Small kids have a tendency to watch out for new and innovative things around them, which was well adapted in this commercial.

Continuing with the same messages, Havell’s Cables came out with their new communication in 2010 and this time there was an addition of one more character – presumably the land lady belonging to an upper middle or upper class section of the society for whom the mother-son duo work. Shifting to a more educated and urban scene of the society, the child again takes the center stage when he saves the necklace of the land lady from burning when he replaces the rope of the necklace with Havell’s wires – to which the lady smiles back. Again with the emotional back ground score, the brand has tried to increase it target base from roadside (awareness) to households (usability). However, compared to the previous Ad, the emotional touch has declined.

Now, what would be the next step for Havell’s cables and wires?

Will the mother-son duo become the face of Havell’s wires? If yes, is that going to be good for the brand considering that it’s a premium product?

Is there a conscious strategy of trying to increase end consumer’s involvement in the buying process for cables and wires for domestic use?

Has the Ad succeeded in getting the message “Havells cares for you” across to the end consumer? Has the target market been able to comprehend the hidden ‘trust’ factor in the story behind these commercials?