3G Auction: Implications

The auction for 3G Spectrum was concluded on 19-May-2010 in India. It will fetch the Indian Government Rs.67,710 crores this fiscal. TRAI Chairman J S Sarma, a career bureaucrat, has stated that the bidding has been sensible while the premier Telecom player, Bharti Airtel, has a view that the bids have been “beyond reasonable”, primarily driven by spectrum shortage and auction format. None of the players has managed to acquire a pan-India license, however, some have managed to bid smartly than others. Now that the bidding has concluded what are it’s implications for Telecom players, consumers, future regulation and broader economy.

Cadbury and Payday Commercial

Somewhere around the middle of last year, Cadbury launched the Dairy Milk payday commercials (here, here and here) in India. The commercial was done in a retro style with a song – inspired from the 1952 Kishore Kumar pehli taareekh song – and dance routine; O&M are the creative minds behind the campaign. The commercial is an extension of celebrating moments of joy campaign that Dairy Milk has launched over the years – kuch meetha ho jaaye, pappu pass ho gaya, miss Palampur. It intends to introduce another moment of joy in one’s life.

Dove & Fairness

Dove, the personal care brand of Unilever, recently launched the face test campaign in India (O&M are the the creative minds behind it). The campaign started off with encouraging women to use Dove soap on one-side of the face and a regular soap on the other. It intends to drive home the point that Dove makes the skin softer than other soaps in the market. In the follow-up, now a commercial has been launched showing testimonials by women about their experience of the face test and display of agreement that the Dove side was softer.

The campaign itself is laudable and best way to convince the customer about the product’s value proposition. However, strikingly and interestingly, all the testimonials are given by women who are gori – ie. they have a fair complexion.