Two campaigns are running from competing mobile service providers — AirTel and Hutch. They offer two completely different reasons as to why a user should choose their network. In a way they are not comparable. Yet the contrast is interesting.

The AirTel ad tells us the story of the grandson uniting his father and his grandfather — with help from AirTel. Old man is moved by son’s apology on the cellphone and is on the verge of tears: “Baap ko rulyega kya?” The old man from the Munnabhai movie (picture top) who, when given a “Jadu ki Jhappi” by Munnabhai, had also asked the same question. A moving scene from a popular Hindi movie has been converted craftily. The setting is perfect — the metro reaching out to the hamlet.

The Hutch ad is a study in contrast. The puppy is missing — the message on the width of the network has possibly been conveyed. Instead the ad promotes the pink sticker. In the ad a band, expectedly pink, moves through various urban settings to finally reach a mobile phone. There is no attempt to touch the heart.

The ads paint the two brands in completely different colours. An alien watching them would possibly feel that brand AirTel is mass, widespread and inexpensive, meant for all ages, especially senior citizens. Brand Hutch would be modern, urban and possibly young. But neither of these messages may have been intended.

Are they likely to be damaging for the brands? At the risk of being presumptuous, the answer is possibly “yes”. One of the key traits of a developing market is that brands prefer to be all-encompassing. It is only when markets are mature that a player tries to carve out a niche. The mobile telephony market in India is possibly just a toddler. The stress now is on connecting the remotest of villages where even landlines are rare. The growth potential in numbers is huge. In such a situation it is unlikely that Hutch would deliberately position itself as only a trendy urban brand.

Nor is the AirTel stance totally safe. After all the numbers may be in the “other” India, but per capita spends are way above in the metros and among the GeNext. No brand can afford to ignore them. The filmi rulayega kya advertising may send wrong signals to this target group.

How come both these brands are taking such risks? The answer possibly lies within the confines of the marketing departments of these two telecom giants. One can only hazard a guess: that marketing is an organic discipline is not often remembered. Each little thing one does to a brand emits signals to the consumers. All of them together create the brand image and equity.

It is not enough for a marketer to be honest to a micro task. It is far more crucial to be faithful to the macro brand.