Airtel creates 4G speed at bus shelters in Chennai

Interactivity is the name of the game and today brands are looking at engaging with customers like never before. Airtel, which recently launched its 4G service and wanted to increase the customer base through an experiential activity, came up with smart bus shelters which turned into to 4G wi-fi hotspots. Clearly targeting the youth, the Airtel 4G campaign was executed on the OMR stretch in Chennai, which is an IT hub and is also brimming with shops and restaurants. Executed by Prakash Arts with Milestone as the creative partner, Airtel chose four prominent bus shelters on the OMR stretch for the campaign. "The objective of the campaign was to ensure that the entire OMR stretch is connected to 4G, and give primary users the 4G experience. These shelters usually have a huge crowd of IT employees waiting for their buses during peak hours,” the spokesperson from Airtel shared.

A huge die-cut dummy of the Wi-Fi hotspot was placed on each shelter, while Airtel branding covered the shelters. The specially crafted design had the Wi-Fi symbol lighted up so that it glowed in the dark creating a very hi-tech and trendy look. Airtel brochures were also placed in a special slots so that interested prospects could carry them away.

Three Airtel 4G Ninjas manned each shelter, who were selected from the 100 that were specially trained by Airtel to carry out this activity. The ninjas carried a Wi-Fi hotspot in their pockets and each offered free 4G to interested people for 10 minutes. Each Wi-Fi hotspot had the capacity of connectting to 10 devices which could range from smartphones and tablets to laptops.

According to the brand, the idea was to pique the curiosity of customers but not push anything on them. The Airtel Ninjas only spoke to customers about the service after ascertaining if they were interested. What made this campaign more exciting was that it was not just Airtel users who could try the power of 4G, users of any other mobile service could try it too. Adhering to TRAI rules, a copy of the ID proof and photo was collected from all those who took the trial.

Airtel shared that the outcome of this outdoor campaign was quite good, where they generated more than 500+ leads for 4G which included both the Hotspot and U Sim along with 100+ new sims. More than 10,000 people had been briefed on the product while many had used the free 4G demo for 10 minutes.
 
The brand's spokesperson explained that while it was quite expensive to create this campaign, the success in Chennai has motivated them to think further and extend this activity to other cities too.