“Did you see the latest Airtel ad?”
“The mobile one?”
“No, the other one?”
“You mean landline?”
“No, damn it, the new Airtel ad.”
“Broadband?”
“You moron, I meant the new Airtel ad. The one for DTH.”
“WHAT? You mean, Airtel and Direct-to-Home?”
Surprise, surprise, Airtel – the brand that moved into mobiles, lengthened itself into landline and broadened into broadband is now extending itself into DTH. On second thoughts, after seeing many of its first and second cousins extending their brands, maybe it shouldn’t surprise anyone.
Not, definitely me! Brand extensions have ceased to irritate me any longer. Not that I am buying into it any more. Just that I have given up all hopes of finding a half-decent, common-sense filled MBA who realizes the folly of extensions and avoids it like a plague.
Somebody please tell me, the logic of this Airtel extension.
They are all in telecommunications, you say? Just because there is one ministry that handles all the four products – mobile, landline, broadband and DTH – is no reason the consumer sees it together.
Telecommunications has ceased to mean anything specific any more. When consumers want a phone that they can carry, they simply call it a ‘mobile’. When the want a phone at home, they call it a ‘telephone’. When they want to get connected to the Internet they call it ‘broadband’. And when they want to watch TV with their own dish, they simply call it ‘DTH’. Four separate categories; four separate needs. Hence, a need for four separate brands.
Agreed Airtel has been a stupendous success so far. But that is because their competitors are all extended. Indicom, Reliance, BSNL et al are all three – landline, mobile and broadband. Vodaphone is only into mobiles, but they have been changing their names and colours more often than their brand managers have been changing their shirts. And hence, it trails Airtel.
But, so is the DTH segment. All the key brands are extended. Tatasky is an extension – a brand that means salt at one end and automobiles on the other. Sun Direct is an extension – worse, Sun means South Indian channel. No wonder, it sells, if at all it does, only in the South. DD Direct is an extension – and a Government brand, killing whatever chances it might have had of survival.
That leaves Dish TV - the only specialist brand in the DTH segment. Agreed, it has been promoted by Zee, but it doesn’t have it in its brand name. I expect Dish to lead the pack for sometime to come.
Dish TV is already a leader. And by extending themselves, its competitors have ensured Dish stays that way - a leader, for some time to come!
