Airtel’s Open Network campaign goes innovative with OOH

Bharti Airtel, one of the largest telecommunications services providers in India, recently opened up its entire mobile network information to its customers through an interactive online interface. The new interface will display Airtel’s mobile network coverage/signal strength across India in addition to network site deployment status. To communicate this Airtel partnered with Milestone Brandcom and rolled an innovative OOH campaign. 
 
Using a simple colour scheme, the interface will allow customers to check if the Airtel mobile network in an area is excellent, good, moderate or non-existent, along with the status of corresponding sites serving the area – existing, required, being upgraded or forcibly shut down. 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. To engage the customers and give them an on-the-spot experience of the Open Network interface, a human-size interactive touch-screen was placed in a bus shelter in Nehru Place, a business hub in Delhi. The objective was to do this activity in the high footfall and high visibility area for maximum engagement and exposure. Choosing 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 activity was a huge success as it witnessed a tremendous participation in the 3-day activity period.

Speaking on the initiative, Rajiv Mathrani, Chief Brand Officer, Airtel, says “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 CEO & Managing Director Milestone Brandcom, says, “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, real time, and internalise the communication and offerings. We had over thousands of interactions in just 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 live open network in OOH medium.