New Airtel Brand Identity

One fine morning, I realized that Airtel had changed its logo. The new logo propped up everywhere in the city in a matter of a week. At first glance, I didn’t like it. On second thoughts I criticized Bharti for the extravaganza (consider the cost of changing the logos and hoardings all across the nation; and creating new ads for media). I wondered what the reason behind such a change was. I liked the previous logo – it was bright and made a strong impression. But now that the initial ‘shock’ is over, I see the matter from a different angle.

Airtel announced adopting a new brand identity on the occasion of touching 200 million subscriber base. Also, it made the launch to be part of strategically synergizing all its global operations under a single brand. Making it part of the same strategy Airtel changed the Zain brand name to Airtel for its $ 10.7 billion African acquisition of Zain Telecom. And that explains how the swirling “a” appears in the logo. Just search for Zain Logo on google or yahoo images and you would see its similarity with the new Airtel Logo. Similarity of logos would give the new brand identity an edge in places where Zain used to dominate the market.

Along with the logo, Airtel also launched a new Airtel Signature tune made by AR Rahman.

I found the new Airtel logo to be far trendier and it would also connect with the youth in a better way. Just compare the new Vs the old logo. The old one had a rectangular shape – it gave a strong but ‘closed’ impression which doesn’t go well with today’s ‘open’ times. The new logo is more curvy, has less dark color and it would go well in any occasion or getup. In contrast, the old one had more corporate and serious look. I am sure the new Airtel logo would connect with the youth with a far better effectiveness. (On this aspect, a lot of other brands like Vodafone and DoCoMo were doing better than Airtel)

Total expenditure of the launch and promotion of new brand identity all over the world would cost around Rs 300 Crores. But given the strategy and integration of Zain, I think the payback doesn’t need to be calculated. Overall, given the strategic vision behind the launch of new brand identity, I give full marks to Bharti Airtel. I am sure it will succeed.

- Rahul