The Hindu Business Line : Why Hutch chose `hot' pink

"WHY pink?" seems to be the first question on everyone's mind when they see Hutch's re-branded look. Sure, the company decided to re-brand its product, get rid of the brand name Orange, as it is called in Mumbai, and bring it under the same umbrella as the other 12 circles in the country. But why pink in particular?

"Pink is brave, confident and exuberant, and that goes with the product itself," said Ms Renuka Jaypal, President, OgilvyOne Worldwide - India.

Ogilvy & Mather, which did the re-branding for Hutch, decided to go with an unusual colour, because over 90 per cent of the brands in India are either red, blue or green, according to Ms Jaypal. Hutch's background now have a bit more flexibility, sporting several optional shades of blue in addition to the traditional white background, giving the backroom creative force a little bit more leeway.

She said that Hutch decided to change colour for two reasons. First, because of the decision to re-brand Orange as Hutch, and with the colour being such an integral part of the brand name, a change was required. But even otherwise, she said, with Hutch sharpening its peg and penetrating the rural market, it was time to refresh the brand , and the re-branding exercise was being discussed for six months or so prior to the actual execution of it.

The execution involved, on a purely communicative level, outdoor advertising, television, print media, and even signage - changing the signs on every Hutch shop across the country. Radio Mirchi blared out "It's pink!" instead of "It's hot!" for a while. (The response to this particular section of the campaign was fantastic, according to Ms Jaypal.) As for internal changes, everything from the Web site to the letterhead to the CEO's visiting card had to be changed to the new colour.

"And with pink being the confident, exuberant colour that it is, we had to change our appearance accordingly," said Ms Jaypal. So the uniforms and the interiors of the Hutch outlets were revamped as well.

Ms Jaypal declined comment on the cost of the campaign, but said that it was about the same as most of Hutch's marketing campaigns.

But is the colour a little too loud for a brand that caters to a wide cross-section of people? "Well, when the product was launched in the UK ten years ago with orange as the defining colour, it was very unusual for a public that was used to sober colours such as black, white, fawn, navy blue and so on," said Ms Jaypal, "But it was a brave colour at the time, and similarly now. Pink is the new orange, really, and very few other companies would have the style and confidence to pull it off," she added.

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