What would the ad be like for Reliance 3G?

Reliance has launched its 3G services in four cities – Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chandigarh. It has spectrum license 13 circles. That’s the reason to choose Chandigarh (Punjab circle) and not Chennai or Bangalore. There could still be tie-ups with other local providers to make it a win-win partnership.

Launching 3G is one thing and packaging the message to the masses is another. So far Airtel and Tata DoCoMo have launched their services and the ads too. I am not mentioning BSNL because, except Deepika Padukone, everything about their ad sucks. Airtel and DoCoMo have gone on a different and tried to send the message in a subtle way. From the packaging so far by Airtel and DoCoMo, they aren’t targeting the voice-only users. They are targeting the existing data users on the 2G network.

DoCoMo was the most esoteric of the two. I couldn’t understand it even after couple of re-runs, after which I quit. It never really shows a device or what it can do for you. It talks about the possibilities. Kind of like a vision statement of the company at the 30000 feet altitude. Since the service is already launched, that really doesn’t make any sense.

See. Nothing about the devices and the services except the closed captioning. The only saving grace is finding needle in the haystack at the end. The teaser is even more confusing. An image of a phone somewhere on the screen would have done wonders. I tried hard and failed to find.

Airtel is more straightforward with a lady struggling to keep up with her schedule and resorting to take the entertainment with her. There was another ad by Airtel which shows a couple who face separation but weren’t separated at all – thanks to Airtel 3G. These ads by Airtel are little over the top with the locales as they aren’t talking about the Indian market, but they make sense – to some extent that is.

The second video stands out  not because of the message but because of the flexible dancer, peppy music and the hot chick.

Airtel ads at least bothered to show a mobile phone which looks a lot like Nokia N8. There is ‘aha’ moment which comes at the end. For DoCoMo, there is no ‘aha’ moment. All we get after 45 seconds is a “WTX”.

Reliance, though launched a little late, has an advantage. Leaders don’t always win. And they can offer great tips to followers. Reliance has the lessons to be learnt by the previous two launches. Would it capitalize on it? We have to wait and see. If the ad is shot in New Zealand with absolutely great scenery then I would be hugely disappointed. Get something closer to home. Will ya? If you can’t then get some chicks.

PS : On a second thought, may be chicks isn’t such a good idea. BSNL had Deepika, look what they have become. No body even remembers that BSNL has 3G.