Rebranding the brand Airtel

Before I start writing anything, lets have a look at video-

You must know that this music has made history as world's most downloaded mobile music with over 150 million downloads.  With intention to go international and please global audience, a company must not loose the local flavor. That is what we call 'think global act local'. In spite receiving such respect from customers Airtel went ahead and changed the signature tune.The maestro(A R Rahman) has again delivered a masterpiece-

Recently Airtel acquired African operations of Kuwait's Jain group in 15 countries at an enterprise value of $10.7billion. With the acquisition, it added 40 million more subscriber to its over 130 million subscriber base. One thing was sure that Airtel will introduce itself in a completely new Avtaar and so did they. To please the new customer and giving it an international flavor, Airtel launched its new logo and new signature tune. Now, before we talk about logo, lets have a short discussion about its signature tune:

Signature Tune:  

signature tune made by maestro A R Rahman was the most recognized mobile tune and create a history by the number of downloads. As I earlier said, a company should never loose a local flavor for international exposure.One thing about earlier tune was that it was instantly catchy when compare to general trends related to A R Rahman tune. The new tune lyrics is written in alien language. It looks more peppy and international in its approach. Now lets have a look at data collected from twitter:

1- 19% are positive, 12% are neutral and 69% are against the change,

2- 72% agreed that previous signature tune is better than new one

seems like Airtel failed in repositioning itself from above data, but a lot is yet to come and after all, now company has to create an international appeal. So practice can not be concluded here.  

Logo:

Airtel changed all its old posters, hoardings and banners with old logo.There is no street, no traffic signal, no major hoarding that's left untouched by striking red and white combination of its unique new design. 

company spend Rs 300 crore on development of its new logo as a part of its internationalization and a London based company 'Brand Union' design this new logo which also handle the account of Vodafone.

new airtel logo: designed by Brand Union

The latest major upgrade by Airtel to its visual brand representation is precisely a desire to stay relevant (in the customers' mind) in a changed world because this visual representation carries the entire persona of brand with it.The words used, the colors chosen and the way the whole things blends together is a direct representation of the class of brand itself. A picture speaks a thousand words. People may not know the company well, may not be its customer, but the logo strikes the certain chord in their head when they see it.

zain logo 

Now the question arise why Brand Union choose to use small cap+swoosh+red. Lets see one by one:

Red:

Human mind hit hard by the red and red is the color which represent aggressiveness, appealing and visible. Red color is an integral part of the brand which shows energy and dynamism and led to success.

New Curve:

the new curved addition to the logo is a symbol which will help ensure instant recognition across diverse international markets.

Small Caps:

small caps represents the internet and email generation and it also looks informal.

Swoosh:

swoosh represents the speed and supposed to be modern

If you look at Zain logo carefully, the element of swoosh(resembling the a) is there already. Perhaps Airtel had to borrow that (as a part of deal) and fix it into the new existence. So the new Airtel is the old Airtel plus the Zain a shape, plus a striking red.

JWT is working in Asian countries on new positioning which says, "dil jo chahe paas laye". In Africa Ogilvy is the agency working for positioning .

Now the beauty lies at the bottom in executing the program.It was amazing that logo was changed almost everywhere simultaneously. it was a tough task because there must be lacs of outlet and places where old logo was placed and new logo had to suddenly appear.But the commitment shown towards change was intense and appreciable. For Airtel everything has been changed right from logo, signature tune and positioning, but it was necessary to introduce itself to new world. Great job has been done in execution of the program. Hope that Airtel will provide best services in African countries as it has done in Asian countries.