Idea 'Talk for India hour' - Really!?

I have written up this post on my blog here. Please share your views on what YOU think about this 'noble' initiative!

A little less than a year ago, Mumbai, the financial capital of India, came to a standstill as terrorists went trigger-happy. The ordeal was a rude awakening for the government and security forces, as citizens came forward with angry reactions. Protest marches and candle vigils were held throughout the country to express a unified voice of resentment.

I, on behalf of all my fellow Indians salute those brave hearts who sacrificed their lives for me and my countrymen. The government however has done little to them and their family in the past one year. Nor is there any assurance that such attacks won’t happen in future again.

Idea cellular, to pay tribute to these brave soldiers have announced their initiate ‘Talk for India Hour’. As per the details on their site whatever the net income is generated between 8:36pm and 9:36pm will be donated to the police forces so that they could upgrade their weapons and get better infrastructure. You may ask why this particular time, well because it’s the peakest hour of the day and hence the revenues generated will be maximum. Great initiative one thinks initially. Honestly I don’t think so because:

* Idea’s net revenue for Q3 of 2009 was about Rs. 2900 million or about 300 crores, in simple language.
* So in one month on an average Idea would have earned approximately Rs.100 crores of net revenue.
* That means per day (100/30) would be Rs. 3.33 crores approximately.
* Thus even if you take ANY peakest time on any day, the revenues would not exceed more than Rs.25 lacs (practically) and Rs.3.33 crore technically! (What a HUGE contribution huh!)

Now, take a look at how heavily Idea is advertising everywhere and asking people to contribute by talking more and more at that particular time frame so that they would ‘donate’ maximum revenues to the armed forces, REALLY?!! If instead of spending crores of rupees on advertising had they spent even half of that genuinely on donation, it would have done much more. Was donating really your motive Idea Cellular?

This clearly shows that ‘Talk for India Hour’ is nothing but purely a marketing gimmick by Idea under the pretext of looting emotional customers and creating a space in their heart by pretending to be a socially responsible company! So if you are really eager to contribute to those martyrs then don’t talk on Idea but instead send all that money directly to the PMO’s fund or any other institution you think will ‘really’ help! That would help much much more than this.

These bastards know nothing but to exploit people and can’t even spare an incident like 26/11 just like our politicians who were fighting even today in the assembly over compensation for those who lost their lives last year in the attack!

So SAY NO TO TALK FOR INDIA HOUR!
 
^^ Good analysis amol_cool. These big corporates will not give anything out of their pockets directly. They want their customers to pay them, so that they can give the same to our soldiers. Do we really require these middle men to donate?
 
kauzy said:
do you really think the money we'll donate will be used to purchase good defence systems?? :no:

Well that's altogether different thing. But here in this case, if you are contributing by spending Rs.10 the actual amount that reaches will no more than Rs.4 or Rs.5! Moreover, we are made to think that the person who eats up this money is really great! WTH!

If they really wanted to donate then they should have donated COMPLETE revenue and not net revenue! In either case, the amount collected would be too less. Even bollywood events collect 10 times the amount than this!
 
Something is always better than nothing , so they will donate 25 lacs , i think thats pretty decent and it may inspire other people , remind them about the incident and they may donate some money . Can you use your exemplary statistical skills to find that amount ? Its sad that it has become a fad to bash all kinds of help actions . They have never claimed in their ads that because of them , the entire situation will improve , they will take care of everything etc etc . They are just trying to help in their little way and i dont see anything wrong with that .
 
Why are you taking things at face value? Any educated person can tell that this is a pure marketing gimmick. Speaking of marketing, Idea must have some genius marketing experts working for them. There last two marketing campaigns have been a huge success. The "What an idea sirjee" and the latest "Walk and talk" advertisements were not only entertaining but thought provoking as well. The fact that we are actually discussing their advertisements only proves that they have been successful in achieving what they sought to achieve.
 
manu1991 said:
They are just trying to help in their little way and i dont see anything wrong with that .

Exactly my point! If they really had to help why go all ga-ga over it and publicize it! Instead of spending so heavily on ADs, they could have then directly donated that amount na. It would have been at least 50 times than the current amount!

Just think, when you help someone do you go on telling everyone that "Hey I helped that guy!". Regarding making people aware, well the incident itself was more than enough for people to get aware and if they wanedt to contribute they already must have. I don't think people need 'motivation' from corporates like these!

Forget that, all news channels are showing that whole day since 25th november. If that doesn't make people aware then what will!

Bluffmaster said:
The fact that we are actually discussing their advertisements only proves that they have been successful in achieving what they sought to achieve.

Yea that's true and so sad! :(
 
amol_cool said:
Exactly my point! If they really had to help why go all ga-ga over it and publicize it! Instead of spending so heavily on ADs, they could have then directly donated that amount na. It would have been at least 50 times than the current amount!

And your point is ?

If idea would have sold out and gave the entire amount to 26/11 , the amount wouldve been 5000 times the current amount

The most important thing is , so many donations are not needed . The economic impact was not severe . Tata , the cafe , government have more than surplus funds to rebuild all the stuff . The problem is the complacency , which still exists . There havent been any concrete steps taken to improve the situation . It saddens me to think of what kind of event is needed to shake the conscience of this nation . Sorry if my last post sounded rude , i was just pissed .
 
amol_cool said:
Yea that's true and so sad! :(

No, its not sad, infact its genius marketing. As a marketing professional, I can learn alot from these ad campaigns. The last few Idea ad campaigns have really struck a cord with the customers and this particular one takes the cake. There timing on this couldn't have been better. They played an emotion card and they were successful at it. They did nothing wrong or immoral, if anything they only donated an amount however nominal it may be. They were smart enough to cash in on an opportunity where other's weren't.
 
manu1991 said:
And your point is ?

If idea would have sold out and gave the entire amount to 26/11 , the amount wouldve been 5000 times the current amount

The most important thing is , so many donations are not needed . The economic impact was not severe . Tata , the cafe , government have more than surplus funds to rebuild all the stuff . The problem is the complacency , which still exists . There havent been any concrete steps taken to improve the situation . It saddens me to think of what kind of event is needed to shake the conscience of this nation . Sorry if my last post sounded rude , i was just pissed .

Lol the money would not be donated to rebuild Taj, cafe but to equip our police force with better arms, ammunition and provide them better infrastructure. Of course, government doesn't have enough money to even equip all of our police forces with ONE weapon forget about the latest weapons!

I am not against Idea donating less or more amount. Whatever they are contributing is great. But they way they are using people's emotions for the same is unethical IMO.

Bluffmaster said:
No, its not sad, infact its genius marketing. As a marketing professional, I can learn alot from these ad campaigns. The last few Idea ad campaigns have really struck a cord with the customers and this particular one takes the cake. There timing on this couldn't have been better. They played an emotion card and they were successful at it. They did nothing wrong or immoral, if anything they only donated an amount however nominal it may be. They were smart enough to cash in on an opportunity where other's weren't.

Well I was talking it from people's point of view not Idea's. Of course the marketing campaign is genius but regarding your strucking cord point, I think they should have spared this incident at least. I don't think it's ethical at all to be exploited for economical gains!
 
amol_cool said:
Well I was talking it from people's point of view not Idea's. Of course the marketing campaign is genius but regarding your strucking cord point, I think they should have spared this incident at least. I don't think it's ethical at all to be exploited for economical gains!

Why is it not ethical? They have made a fantastic advertisement which has an emotional appeal and they are not scamming us, they are donating from their own pocket, however small the amount maybe. How can this campaign hurt anyone's sentiments is beyond my understanding. Infact, if anything, they should be appreciated for reminding people of the terrible tragedy and further motivating them to do something about it.
 
Being in the marketing/branding part of the world, I naturally love this campaign. As much as I love Unilever for using Fair n Lovely to exploit the innate insecurity in society for darker skin. They're both ridiculous campaigns - if you break down the marketing campaigns into their simplest parts - but they work wonders for both brands.

But you know what I really hate about this campaign/idea?

The fact that all of us educated people think "the govt. does not have enough money to spend on world-class arms and ammunition". Are you f__ing kidding me? Seriously? :)

What are we paying taxes for? No really, India is shining left, right and centre and Indians are more employable now in India than ever before...the working class is growing richer and obviously paying more taxes. To me, the fact that we believe the police have no usable ammunition and that corporates should donate money to get them better is the same attitude with which we accept the horrible roads and infrastructure that abound all around us.

You know what feeling this campaign invokes in me? Fear.

A corporate saying "hey govt. of India, we know u ain't got the money and the whole of India also thinks that. So how bout we give u some money - not a lot, not even more than what we pay middle-mgmt folks -and you buy some new guns or something?"

This campaign is a mockery of national security. IMHO.

Of course, I ain't doing anything about anything by sitting in my own job and not changing things. :)

Cheers!
Payne

PS: Imagine a anti-campaign by the GOI saying "No thanks Idea, you can keep the money. And the change." :p
 
Bluffmaster said:
Why is it not ethical? They have made a fantastic advertisement which has an emotional appeal

The reason I feel it's unethical is because whenever I see that AD it says to me - "We, Idea, are spending crores on on this AD but will donate only the amount that you spend on us!. So talk as much as you can and help us donate!"

Since you are in advertising world and I am a common man, is this the kind of feeling you want to see among people? Of course not everyone might not feel/think like me but what about the ones who do?

From a advertising point of view or the company's, I don't blame the AD. It's terrific! BUT as a common man at least I didn't like idea doing this. I am not asking them that they donate huge sums or even anything at all! Just don't play with such emotions!

This is what at least I feel and think.
 
-D.Payne- said:
The fact that all of us educated people think "the govt. does not have enough money to spend on world-class arms and ammunition".

The reason why our force arms were not upgraded according to some politician was its used by the arm person for self rivalry(shootout which we hear happens in USA and mass casualty would happen so its better for them to have 6 bullet pistol

Now after seeing so much tragedies and maoist attack they have got some stuff in their head else i guess we are the 2nd country who have huge spending of GDP on defence
 
I don't understand how a company can actually donate money to the govt. If that is the case then I'd like to donate money to the local police and get them to beat up my professors.
 
No we don't require any middle men, but the chance of doing something good while sitting in the comfort of our home sounds good to me.

Idea is only the medium and its not like we're losing out on something here, we still get to talk to whoever.
 
If we are 2nd Country interms of Purchasing Power of Defence Equipment is cos,

60% of the money spent is gone paying commissioning to contractors, Naval/Defence Officers.....

Commission being paid to Navy/Army/Airforce Officers in Defence is a normal procedure.

Plus there are many other factors like, Purchasing spares for Aircraft has many complications, so they using Indegenous items locally manufactured, or create bogus bills and have ask the contractors get it from US Direct
 
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