Milestone Brandcom creates OOH innovation for Airtel

The agency gave an on-the-spot experience of its open network interface by placing a human-size interactive touchscreen in a bus shelter in Delhi to engage with customers

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | July 28, 2016

Bharti Airtel, India's largest telecommunications services provider, recently did an out-of-home (OOH) innovation. The telecom major opened up its entire mobile network information to its customers. Using a simple colour scheme, the interface will allow customers to check if the network in a particular area is excellent, good, moderate or non-existent.

Additionally, it will give a status of corresponding sites serving the area -- existing, required, being upgraded or forcibly shut down. The interface uses geospatial tools and other technologies for accurate reporting of network coverage.

The new interface is available on www.airtel.in/opennetwork and the myAirtel app. It will also allow customers to report their network related issues in an easy fashion.

In addition, customers can also contact the Airtel call centre or walk into any of the Airtel flagship stores across the country to report their network-related issues. All Airtel call centres and flagship stores have been specially equipped with solutions based on the new interface to respond to network-related issues.

The Open Network initiative is being communicated to consumers through a bold and path-breaking communication mix including a full-fledged OOH campaign across 105 cities executed with the intent of creating impact and spread word-of-mouth. The objective was to make the average customer experience the open network interface.

To engage the customers and give them an on-the-spot experience of the open network interface, Milestone Brandcom placed a human-size interactive touchscreen in a bus shelter in Nehru Place, a business hub in Delhi. The objective was to do this activity in the high foot-fall and high visibility area for maximum engagement and exposure. Choosing a bus stand as the activity venue worked as an interactive filler for commuters waiting for their next shuttle. Powered by Airtel 4G, the touch-screen enabled these customers to not only view Airtel's network coverage of any location in India but also give them an opportunity to instantly raise network issues and drop leads for new tower locations.

The customers were elated with this new experience and were completely wowed with the innovative manner of demonstrating the open network portal. Many such delighted customers even shared video testimonials. The activity was a huge success as it witnessed a tremendous participation in the three-day activity period.

Rajiv Mathrani

Rajiv Mathrani, Chief Brand Officer, Airtel, said, “Open Network is a path-breaking initiative and an endeavour to establish an honest communication with our customers to help us build a world-class network. This latest innovation using a bus shelter in a high footfall area allows us to take the initiative closer to the customer, enabling them to touch and feel the network and give their feedback. More importantly, it offers an opportunity to many customers to experience the simple and intuitive interface on a large screen, and reinforces our message of transparency effectively.”

Nabendu Bhattacharyya

Commenting on this innovation, Nabendu Bhattacharyya, CEO and Managing Director, Milestone Brandcom, said, “We took Airtel's latest Open Network offering to on ground at Delhi's Nehru Place bus shelter and installed a digital LED display. Passers-by and the people waiting for the bus could experience Airtel' s honest open network proposition and it also allowed them to get engaged in real time and internalise the communication and offerings. We had over thousands of interactions just in three days in one location, and have planned the next phase, shortly, in various touch points across country. This is first by any brand to explore the live open network in an OOH medium.”

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