The Hindu Business Line : ‘It’s Vodafone from tomorrow’

Mumbai, Sept. 20 The brand name Vodafone will replace Hutch from September 21, fully reflecting the change in ownership of the GSM wireless telephony operator.

The brand transition will be made over the next few weeks through a ‘high profile’ campaign covering all media, said a statement from Vodafone-Essar.

As Hutch, the brand had been distinctive for its advertising campaigns (chiefly for those revolving around the pug dog).

Hutch itself was launched through an extravagant re-branding exercise that was embarked upon once the Hutch group operations in India were consolidated.

“The pug will continue and the animated characters that we have will also continue,” said Mr Harit Nagpal, Marketing and New Business Director, Vodafone-Essar. The advertising agency (O&M) would remain unchanged.

This ‘new beginning’ with Vodafone would not be a departure from the fundamentals that created Hutch, but an acceleration of that, according to Mr Nagpal.

Brand transition

“This transition is probably the largest brand change ever undertaken in this country and arguably as big as any in the world. It is even larger than our own previous brand transitions as it touches over 35 million customers, across 4,00,000 shops and thousands of our own and our business associates’ employees,” he said. In May, the UK-based Vodafone completed its acquisition of a majority stake in Hutchison-Essar, in what constituted the most high profile ‘inbound’ buyout in India this year to date (at $11.1 billion for a 67 per cent stake in the company, valuing it at $18.8 billion). It bought out the Hong-Kong-based Hutchison group.

Hutchison-Essar was formally renamed Vodafone-Essar in July.