Open and shut case

Airtel is back in the news – except, this time, it’s not the annoying 4G girl who’s in the spotlight. Promoted through a slew of advertisements, Airtel’s new initiative – open NETWORK – will enable its customers to check the company’s tower positions at any given location. Users will now be able to check signal quality, location of existing towers and even the list of towers that are being upgraded or shut down on the company’s website; they can also submit suggestions for new towers.

Calling this a “path-breaking change in the journey of the brand”, Rajiv Mathrani, chief brand officer, Bharti Airtel, says that the objective was to be transparent and enhance customer network experience. “Airtel is fully committed to deliver a world-class network and that’s what we intend to do with our honest approach,” he says. 

Counter-intuitively, the new set of ads start out by saying that all mobile networks are the same, whereas the brand’s previous campaign positioned Airtel as a unique player. Clearing things up, Agnello Dias, chief creative officer and founder, Taproot Dentsu, says that all networks are the same in the kind of challenges they face. “Airtel is different in terms of responding to those challenges and staying committed to building the best network possible,” he explains.

Mathrani adds that ‘open NETWORK’ is an organisation-wide service and not a one-off campaign. “From the network advisors at our call centers, our customer experience teams, the customer relationship officers in our retail stores as well as our network planning teams and external partners, everyone is invested in making open NETWORK a resounding success,” he says