Unified vision and culture must drive brand identity of Vodafone Idea Limited

One of the most-anticipated telecom mergers of the year took shape on Friday with Idea Cellular henceforth being known as Vodafone Idea Limited.

The announcement finally put to rest months of speculation about the corporate identity of the merged entity. The premium urban brand that it is, Vodafone came at the forefront in the merged name as Idea, more perceived as the common man’s brand with penetration in the non-urban and rural markets, followed.
Would an entirely new name have put equilibrium? Or was this fusing of existing names the best choice for the merged entity? 

While it looks like Idea may have got the bitter end of the deal by relegating its brand name to follow Vodafone, this will have little to no impact on the brand image of Idea, say experts. Naming expert, Lulu Raghavan, MD, Landor, likened this corporate name to that of The Indian Hotels Company, the all-inclusive name that is now used in place of just Taj Hotels Palaces Resorts Safaris. “In this case where we had two strong brands Vodafone and Idea, what was the choice? A whole new name would not have made sense. Both the brands are complementary and it makes logical sense to merge the two together,” said Raghavan.

She added that while some may think that just tagging one name onto another may be perceived as a lazy solution to the problem at hand, “it is (also) the most practical solution.”

Moreover, N Chandramouli, CEO, TRA, emphasised that the name change will further retain the equity and trust they hold with each individual stakeholders. He said, “They are making best use of two names together. It will definitely add the collective value that they individually used to have for their audience. Also the deal works for multiple reasons. It will have a singular marketing head instead of two. Operational efficiency will come in."

Ultimately it’s all about connectivity, felt brand expert Harish Bijoor. So it clearly doesn’t matter as there will be Vodafone and Idea Cellular in one common area along with six other players. He said, “As a matter of fact in urban areas people would want to gravitate towards Idea because the network’s capability might be better. Same thing for rural, which might see consumers shifting to Vodafone, imagining Idea to be a saturated network.”

The challenge now will be for Vodafone and Idea employees to be part of Vodafone Idea Limited, Raghavan pointed out. “M&As do not work until there is synergy,” she said. All the employees will need a fresh set of company values and an unified vision and culture to follow. Vodafone Idea Limited will be up against Jio, a strong consumer-focussed brand. And to compete in this space the company "will need to instill values of innovation, customer-centricity, differentiation,” she said.

Moving ahead, Bijoor pointed out there will be a quest for a new brand identity, which calls for more opportunities for the advertising and creative agency. He added, “But that will happen slowly. Right in the beginning people will continue to use benefits of it because one plus one must become three. At this point of time it becomes two. To make one plus one three you need a new creative approach.”

When it comes to the distinct brand assets that each of the players have had (Vodafone’s pug, Zoozoos and the adorable elderly couple and Idea’s What an Idea Sirji!) brand experts predict their co-existence. “You will see them walking side by side. As time goes by it will have its own independent branding. That’s the way it seems currently,” said Chandramouli.

And, that’s already happening. An industry source informed that the exercise to create a unified organisational culture and vision is already in the works.