As the 14th Player in the super crowded Mumbai Telecom market, Aircel faced an uphill battle. Retailers were not willing to stock up on a relatively unknown brand. With mainstream media budgets lower than the main telecom players already in the market, Aircel needed to plan a play such that it entered the minds of the retailers as well as the consumers in one swoop, and changed their impression of the brand. The BMC commissioner’s statement was an invitation for the brand!To help people who are stranded by the floods, we placed inflatable dinghies on a billboard with the message “In case of emergency, cut rope”. The execution was done at Milan Subway, historically notorious for getting flooded every time it rained in Mumbai. During the rains, the subway flooded as usual. People, taking heed of the message, cut the rope, and volunteer groups comprising of the local people, policemen, BMC(Mumbai corporation) employees, started ferrying people across the flooded subway on the rope. Paid media: Rs.30000. Earned media: Rs. 45 lacs. Retailer confidence improved dramatically in a matter of 24 hours. Mid-Day echoed the common man’s sentiment – “Aircel did what BMC did not!”

On a fateful rainy evening, Milan Subway flooded. We got a call informing that the Aircel boat has been stolen. Only to be informed by a bystander “Don’t worry saab, the Aircel boat is coming!”People gave it a name – Aircel boat.People became the media.People wrote the Aircel story.

Paid media: Rs.30000Earned media : Rs. 45 lacsRetailer confidence improved dramatically in a matter of 24 hours.Mid-Day echoed the common man’s sentiment – “Aircel did what BMC did not!”