NEW DELHI: The telecom domain is replete with ‘pre-paid’ and ‘post-paid’ services but there is none that is quite like the unique ‘unpaid’ service that the Future Group has launched in association with Tata Teleservices’s Tata DOCOMO. The GSM service branded as T24 (Talk 24) is an unpaid mobile service, first of its kind in India, and offers innovative value propositions to telecom customers in the country, such as, ‘Shop More, Talk More’ and ‘Talk More, Shop More’.
Tata DOCOMO as the network service partner takes care of the back-end technological services while the Future Group drives the front-end operation of the new brand.
To promote the service, Future Group launched a 45-day outdoor campaign in the eastern markets, having vested the execution duties with OAP. The markets covered included Kolkata, north Bengal, south Bengal, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Jharkhand.
The value propositions were the T24 tariff plans that reflect the competitive per-second rates being offered to pre-paid customers on the Tata Teleservices network. In addition, customers at Future Group outlets are rewarded with free talk-time for every purchase of above Rs 500. The talk time can only be availed from the Future group shopping outlets – BigBazaar, ezone, brand factory, Hometown, etc., and from select Tata Teleservices centres.
 Commenting on the campaign, Pawan Sarda, CMO, Group Office, Future Group, said, “Eastern zone being the highest sales point for Future Group and also the zone being the group’s birth place (1st retail outlet of each brand of Future was opened in eastern India), we have preferably launched the services and promotions in eastern India.
Keeping the busy lifestyle in mind and TG movement on roads, outdoor becomes the obvious choice for any brand today. For us, outdoor plays a major role in any advertising media mix. Moreover, we wanted to launch the T24 service in phases, hence outdoor becomes the preferred choice over television advertising.”
“We wanted to sustain the brand for a longer period on the advertising platform and wanted to portray its larger-than-life image. Outdoor gives us the opportunity to stay long-term in the minds of people. We deployed outdoor media en-route to all Future Group outlets,” he added.
 Talking about the outdoor execution strategy, Kaushik Mitra, VP - east, OAP, said, “The objective was to cover all arterial routes in the cities supplemented with filler sites in strategic locations. The client wanted the campaign to be highly visible and stand out from the other campaigns running in each city. As the client wanted 'value for money', we had to plan the campaign with a low budget compared with other telecom campaigns.
As the 'unpaid cards' are only available at Future Group retail outlets, our plan catered to all their outlets. There were some prime sites taken in the heart of the city to make people aware of the new services.”
Mitra explained, “We opted for giant billboards in strategic locations whereby the number game was not required. It was easier for us to execute the same within 24 hours in each city.”
 “The campaign was executed at a break-neck speed and the sites were all very visible. It was comparable with any other big telecom launch. Moreover, the client was very happy with our service quality. We at OAP always emphasise on quality servicing and proper planning,” he added. Over 60 sites were executed within 24 hours. The agency used high impact billboards, pillars, unipoles and bus shelters.
“It was a challenge for us because a lot of festive campaigns were running at the time. So, to break out of the clutter we had to get the best sites available at very low cost,” said Mitra.
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