The Great Indian Ad Archive – II

Every time old friends form the old workplace gather together on a Saturday evening for a drink, I am always asked this question, “Have you changed your ringtone?” The answer, as usual is “No, it’s my signature tune.” It’s been about two-and-a-half years since I got my present handset and the tune it sings to me to let me know that someone wants to speak to me hasn’t yet changed. And I think it’ll change only with a new handset, which I do not see happening anytime in the near future. Today’s post on The Great Indian Ad Archive is on mobile ads. Not the phones (they’ll come later), only the service providers.

[Click on images to view/download individual selected ads]

1. Company/brand: Idea Cellular
Sector: Telecom (GSM mobile)
TVCs
* Link
Print ads
* Link
Comments: 9891..hmm..hm..hm.. How many times did you find yourself humming this tune? They promise that an Idea can change your life. I’m waiting.
Good collection of television and print campaigns. The print collection quite exhaustive but there are only nine TVCs and none of the latest (downloadable MPEGs).

2. Company/brand: Airtel
Sector: Telecom (GSM mobile)
TVCs
* Link
Comments: The ads are directly downloadable (zipped avi files). The video quality is relatively high, therefore the file sizes are larger ranging from 6.5 to 10 MB. But there are only five ads. Airtel does have many more. There’s the Shah Rukh as Jiju, offering chatoholic sis-in-law (why not saali?) easy recharge tips and AR Rehman composing the Airtel tune (they prefer to call it sound)

3. For Reliance Communication click here.

4. Company/brand: Hutch (Hutchison Essar)
Sector: Telecom (GSM mobile)
TVCs
* Link
Comments: Hutch undoubtedly has the best ads in the mobile business. Though Idea too has a few good ones and Tata Indicom is at the bottom, let’s not even mention BSNL (where do they dump all that money? Send some this way, will give better returns). The Hutch dog also has jokes to his name. Someone told me what he was called, I forgot. Wonderful ads, must view and download (zipped good quality mpeg files). After all it’s “You and I in this beautiful world.”