Lack of Ad sense shown by Air*el

1. A Close up of the Advertisement

The iPhone 4S which was launched in USA on 14^th October, 2011 finally made the Indian debut on 9^th December, 2011. Ironically, this was the last product that was given the final touches by Steve Jobs. Though his sense of touch will be seen in all future apple products, this was the last product that Steve Jobs reviewed.


Let’s get to the core point. IPhone 4S is sold in India through two Indian mobile carriers, Airtel and Aircel. Let’s denote them as Air*el. Going with the tradition of previous launches, Air*el published page full advertisements in leading Indian newspapers. Let’s keep aside the pricing of these phones as they cost a bomb and an Indian will think twice before purchasing it.


The 9^th December ad in my paper made me think that Air*el can’t print local content in the ad. In short, they needed to do localization of ad before spending huge money on the ad. What does localization of Ad refer to?


If you refer to the first picture from the top, the one that appeared in the newspaper, I have noted some points which the company could have rectified so that it can appeal to local audience. Let’s start from the predominant phone screen displayed it the ad:


1. The area around the network signal strength bar: Air*el could have displayed their carrier name around the top corner left area instead of leaving it as only 3G. By displaying their carrier name in the ad, they would have added credibility that iPhone 4S works in India after that famous #4Snwglitch that trended in India.


2. Local weather: Instead of displaying the weather of the distant Cupertino, it would have been better if they would have displayed the weather of any damn city in India. Again the issue of localization of content for people leaving in India.


3. The market indices status: Instead of displaying whether the share market is up or down in Dow Jones, they would have displayed our very own Sensex or Nifty. Again, why would an Indian be interested in seeing whether the market is up or down in USA when he has invested money in Indian share market. Though global markets affect Indian markets, he would primarily have Sensex displayed on his home screen rather than Dow Jones.


4. Foreign names: It would have been better if Sachin Tendulkar would have given you a missed call instead of Jack Symon. Again Indian names appeal more than foreign names which some Indians can hardly pronounce.


I am comfortable with application displayed on the screen and the reminders stuff. Thank God!


If the Indian mobile carriers can spend huge money on printing these ads, can’t they localize content for Indian people? Air*el officials and PR people had the iPhone 4S in their stores for at least one week prior to their launch. Can’t they insert a micro SIM card in the phone, activate it and show the local content instead of global content? This takes hardly any time and a good photographer will enhance the beauty of the phone and appeal to Indians.


‘Glocalization’, giving global things a local feel would have greatly benefited the two mobile carriers. Glocalization is relatively new term borrowed by me from one of my friend and local names appeal more than any other thing to a local person.


I wish the two mobile carriers had some Ad sense after spending huge money on ad campaign.

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