No idea……….Get idea

I fear to answer “No idea” on even simple queries these days. Thanks to the “No Idea…..Get Idea” campaign launched by Idea Cellular in India. Although the campaign was launched in the month of November promoting Mobile Number Portability(MNP) to all the 791 million telecom subscribers in India, it has successfully helped the company gain more than 150,000 customers over a period of time, second only to Vodafone which has led in MNP conversions.

The funnier side of the campaign has been the magical words “No Idea…..Get Idea” making an entry into our lives everywhere, among friends, colleagues, and every acquaintance we are aware about. Every query raised has to be answered carefully these days for the fear that the opposite party would answer “Get idea”. The other day, one of my clients jokingly said “Get idea” to a query we had no answer. Situations could sometimes be gleeful but other times quiet embarrassing too. Bosses in office have a new word added to their dictionary. In cinema theatre, the actor says “No Idea” and someone from the crowd pops out “Get idea”. The word has become so rife that one is forced not to contemplate any answer which we start with “No idea”. I try and frame new sentences in order to avoid such situations of listening “Get idea”.

The campaign too has equally done well for Idea Cellular and successfully increased its subscriber base in addition to the brand recall created among the millions in India. “Connecting with users” is the magic which has helped companies transform their bottom lines and I feel Idea Cellular has connected well this time. Although the company has a small subscriber base across India compared to the top players but it has strengthened its position in certain pockets in India. A jingle which not only connects with everyone’s life but also pushes our brain cells to re-collect the advertisement has proved to be a success.  I am not Idea Cellular subscriber but the campaign has entered into my life with the jingles as mentioned above and I am quiet sure it has put some impact in everyone’s life.

Everyday I see one or the other person going repetitive on this campaign among their friends. Although it may seem annoying but the fever still keeps growing and the campaign proves its success. I would term this a good work as an effective advertisement always connects with our lives and this one surely does.

Do let me know your “No idea…….Get idea” experiences.

Cheers

Mobile Number Portability (MNP)

Mobile Number Portability or MNP is a telecommunication service which allows telecom subscribers to switch their operators as per their choice. It is common in our lives that we are sometimes pissed off with the telecom operator for connectivity, bill related and numerous others issues which leaves us in agony due to shady services. I am registered on National Do not Call registry (NDNC) in India, but off late, I have been receiving telemarketers call repeatedly from one of the credit card companies in India. In complete sync with my rights, I lodged a complaint with my operator to prohibit the number from making calls to my mobile handset. Still, I keep receiving calls from the same credit card company.

Come MNP, and I would have enough reasons to change my operator for their inefficiency to manage customer’s queries. Mobile Number Portability is the latest of telecom service to be launched on January 20^th 2011, out of many services launched in the telecommunications industry. The service can be availed in India by minimum payment of INR 19 to the respective operator. We should note that, Singapore was one of the first countries in the world where MNP was launched in the year 1997 through call-forwarding facility. Let’s look at some of the effects of MNP in the Indian telecommunications sector which has more than 20 operators,in various telecom circles, striving hard to get their share of 700 million subscribers in the country.

Implications of MNP

• The speed with which number activation takes place in India, verification of necessary documents and activation would take more time than as defined by the operator.
• The pressure on operators would be more to retain subscribers, as the churn would increase manifold.
• Operators would once again get involved into brand visibility drive to derive maximum benefits of the churn.
• There is a greater chance of pre-pay customers changing their operator rather than post-pay customers.
• Corporate customers under CUG plans would be less likely to churn as the benefits offered by operators to their corporate customers are in plenty.
• Price war in telecom sector is to get even dirtier as the operators have now a feasible solution to lure customers with best offers without changing their numbers.

The implications of MNP can be numerous and the outcome can only be experienced once India has a tete a tete with the solution. I believe it would be totally dependent on our astuteness to judge an operator by their services and embrace them else, forget it.