Airtel’s bubbles, curves and waves.

In my early days in advertising, it was de rigueur to conduct a written test for those aspiring to join the agency. A classified ad would draw in 100s of applicants and a written test helped evaluate IQ, GK and creativity towards shortlisting aspirants for an interview. (Today, I have a good idea of the IQ of the rare odd ball that ignores a cushy IT job and wants to join advertising 'because money is not the most important thing in life!')

One of my favourites was an Ink blot test. For the young blokes unfamiliar with the word Ink, I must explain, things like fountain pens, rotring instruments and Indian ink were standard issues in the art department. Working the wrist every morning to get a splatter of ink to flow out was the ritual start to a new day (or afternoon depending on how late you finished that bottle of rum the evening before.) Usually you tried to get this on the expensive office carpet but sometimes you got lucky on someone’s crisp white shirt.

To be considered for a job in advertising, you were required to ruminate over this squirt of black and produce an essay that would impress hardcore creative types like us. If you saw the blot for what it was – a splash of ink, the usual end of a pesky mosquito or plain pigeon shit - you were obviously not good for the creative business. (Go become a ‘clerk in a bank’.) But, if you had a wee bit of a deviant, psychotic mind, and could pen some eloquent poem or prose on say a nymph under a water fall, congratulations, you would get to meet me face-to-face.

Now what suddenly brings these nostalgic memories of the ‘good ol’ days’ you might wonder. It is a sense of déjà vu at the never ending saga of this splat of ink. Except this time it is a blob of white on a piece of red!

Unveiled last November after 6 months of research, design and thought, this Rs. 300 Crore re-branding exercise as described on the airtel website is “…an interpretation of the ‘a’ in airtel. The curved shape & the gentle highlights on the red color make it warm & inviting, almost as if it were a living object. It represents a dynamic force of unparalleled energy that brings us and our customers closer. Our specially designed logo type is modern, vibrant & friendly. It signals our resolve to be accessible, while the use of all lowercase is our recognition for the need for humanity.”

(Ah, now that you tell me I can see an ‘a’, yes of course. But… recognition for the need for humanity(sic), dynamic force of unparalleled energy? You got me there.)

Read this one from the design team - “We got huge inspiration from the name Airtel. We played a lot with the thought of air and bubbles, openness, though in the end we got to something that we call the air-curve — it is abstract…”

(Air? Bubbles? Air curve? Abstract? Not an a? Holy $@#*)

Wait, here’s one from the agency “Above all, there’s a change in positioning, from a voice company to one that provides data. It enriches lives in other words. This shift had to be conveyed, which is why a recast of the identity was felt necessary.”

(You are kidding me. It’s not an a? Not air, bubbles, air curves? It’s a shift from voice to data. Duh uh..)

BREAKING NEWS. The logo now has a name!

Airtel apparently invited its subscribers - ‘crowd sourcing’ as it is termed to help it resolve the issue. (I don’t know what I’ve done, so can anyone, anybody, someone please help!)

It’s now called 'Wave.' “It refers to the sweeping changes that Airtel strives to bring towards enriching the lives of its 200 million plus customers in 19 countries across Asia and Africa. It is also symbolic of ‘wave’ of progress and prosperity that brand Airtel continues to bring in the lives of its customers everyday, through its exciting products and services.”

Cool. This reminded me of a game that I played as a child. Ever stare up at the clouds? If you look hard enough you can find a shape or some sort of image in almost any cloud. And if you stared hard enough, you could manipulate it into another form. I was brilliant at this. Give me any cloud and I could spot an elephant, bear, cars, trains and I swear I even spotted some real aliens dancing in the sky.

First Airtel got a new logo. Now the new logo got a name. Maybe the name needs a new logo? So I stepped out and looked at the sky for inspiration. I was hoping to see some air, bubbles, curves, maybe even a wave. With the years of hard knocks in the business of advertising and brands, my creative senses are a bit tardy I guess. All I could see was an ‘a’.

(Ramesh Rao is Managing Director of Scion Brand Incubation)