Tata Communications launches global communications campaign

Hill & Knowlton to manage worldwide PR

Tata Communications has launched a global campaign to increase brand awareness and visibility among key decision makers, reports Asiya Bakht in Brand Republic.

As part of this rebranding exercise, Tata Communications has hired has also hired Hill & Knowlton to handle worldwide PR outside India.

Sridhar Ramaswamy, Head, Corporate marketing and Strategy at Tata Communications, has told Brand Republic: “Tata Communications undertook a rebranding exercise last year but since then we have not communicated the message to our customers and partners. Through this global campaign we are looking at increasing our visibility and awareness among influencers and drive the perception of Tata Communications as a leading global communications player.”

The campaign, launched today in Asia-Pacific, Europe and the US, includes TV, print and online elements and will run until 30 September. MPG, which recently won Tata Communications’ global media planning and buying account following a competitive pitch, directed the media aspects of the campaign, while the creative and online components were developed by STC Associates and Havas Digital, reports Brand Republic.

Tata Communications, which was previously called VSNL, is a global communications provider. It has strategic investments in operators in South Africa (Neotel), Sri Lanka (Tata Communications Lanka), Nepal (United Telecom) and, subject to approval by the Chinese government, China (China Enterprise Communications).

Power of digital marketing

More and more Indian entities have been leveraging digital media for business gains. This week, the Indian media featured two reports on the power of new media or digital communications. The reports are:

afaqs.com: Online ads generate 1,800 test drive requests for Honda Jazz in 2 days

According to a report by Kapil Ohri in afaqs.com, Honda Siel Cars has relied on banner ads and search engine marketing on major websites such as yahoo.co.in, rediff.com, in.com, ibnlive.com, moneycontrol.com, ndtv.com, zigwheels.com, gaadi.com and carwale.com.

The company has also employed the services of a few ad networks such as Komli Media, Ad Magnet and Tribal fusion to boost the reach of its banner ads. “Honda Jazz banner ads are already being placed across 150-200 websites in our network,” Akshay Garg, Business Head, Komli Media, told afaqs.com

Anita Sharma, General Manager, Marketing Communications, Honda Siel Cars India, has said, “Honda Siel received 10,000 test drive requests during the pre-launch phase as well, through SEM activity and the buzz, which was already there, directed consumers to HondaCarIndia.com/Jazz website, where test drive requests can be registered.”

Mint: Theatre goes to the Net to bring in younger audiences

“When a marketing glitch left Rahul da Cunha with a stage play ready to go but no audience to fill the theatre with, he posted fliers on social networking sites on the Internet,” according to a report by Neelam Verjee in Mint. “The message spread like wildfire, and when Chaos Theory opened five days later, it was to a full house.”
“I filled the house purely based on Facebook,” says da Cunha, one of the founders of Rage Productions. “Facebook is the killer one. Kids are coming in droves now because they are looking for new activities.”

Apart from Facebook, blogs and mobile phones, theatre producers are also relying on hoardings.

The two media above-mentioned reports on Honda Jazz and da Cunha’s Chaos Theory indicate the effectiveness of digital communications, though the Internet penetration is still in low in India. According to a study conducted by study conducted by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International in September 2008, India had an estimated 45.3 million ‘active’ Internet users. Of this, 42 million were from urban areas.

This week, Media Research Users’ Council and Hansa Research’s the India Outdoor Survey (IOS) in Mumbai revealed the overall media reach in Mumbai was 94 per cent, reports Robin Thomas in exchange4media.com
“Of which, television (one week) has 86 per cent reach, cable & satellite (viewed week) has 80 per cent. Print (total readership) has 67 per cent of the reach while outdoor (IOS stretch) 66 per cent,” according to the IOS report. “Radio (one week), internet (one month) and cinema (past six months) have 31, 10 and 8 per cent reach respectively.”

The IOS survey had covered over 4500 sites of nearly 1000 stretches. Over 70 site parameters, for these 4500 sites in Mumbai, were collected and collated in nine months, with over 50 field executives. Range finder for measuring distances, binoculars for site dimensions, GPS meters for latitude and longitude, digital, still and video cameras were some of the technologies behind IOS.