If you ever plan to use your employee as your brand ambassador, remember to take a leaf out of HCL’s 30-second spot book...
It has always been an asking task to give a
human face to technology. But for the Indian technology giant, HCL Technologies, it wasn’t very difficult to showcase how over the years, the company had unwittingly become an integral part of its consumers life. After all, HCL has been India’s sole hardware brand for decades. So, in April 2007, when HCL decided to give itself a modern and global face, the domestic tech giant picked its own employee to make a communication splash. With a telling tagline – ‘Technology that touches life’ – the commercial began with a hitchhiker (an employee of HCL) taking a lift from an investment banker. During the journey, the hitchhiker explains how HCL Technology is an integral part of everyone’s life. Exactly a year later in April 2008, HCL technologies came up with a sequel to the ad in which the world is shown coming to the employee and talking about HCL making an impact in their lives.
If you are still wondering why an employee was the chosen one for this task, ask M. Sundararajan, Associate VP-Marketing, HCL Technologies. “HCL’s 55,000 employees are the very heart of the company and key among HCL’s stakeholders and HCL’s catch phrase. What better route therefore than to use the HCL employee as the protagonist, which instills a sense of pride and a strong connect with the brand,” says Sundararajan. Small wonder that unlike MNCs in the domain (Lenovo, HP, et al), the brand has steered clear of roping in a celebrity ambassador till date. And the strategy has indeed paid off. A brand tracking research conducted by IMBR, revealed that HCL leads in the ‘Top of The Mind Recall’ amongst IT companies and has an equally high ‘Spontaneous recall’.
Before 2005, HCL Technologies had largely focused on product based advertising, given the dominating nature of its enterprise business. In January 2005, they began working on a global branding initiative with an objective to unify the global enterprise and connect with all stakeholders. That was when they launched the ‘Fearless’ campaign – a print-led TV campaign, which brought out the core HCL values of Guts, Courage and Passion. A year later, HCL entered the second phase that was the ‘Talking Numbers’ campaign, 0 and 1 (the binary digits) were taken as HCL’s brand ambassadors. This is currently the third phase of the advertising strategy for HCL, ‘Touch Technology’ where the brand communication has a single thread – HCL expressing technology in many different ways. Says Sanjeev Bhargava, COO, Draft FCB Ulka (agency handling the HCL account), “The tone of this ad highlights HCL’s core strength which comprises the combination of over three decades of pioneering technology and the freshness of its outlook personified by the young HCL employee.” From a fuddy duddy image to an energised technology giant hurtling with speed and connecting with the global Indian, HCL has indeed begun to touch lives, at least the 30-second variety.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
It has always been an asking task to give a
human face to technology. But for the Indian technology giant, HCL Technologies, it wasn’t very difficult to showcase how over the years, the company had unwittingly become an integral part of its consumers life. After all, HCL has been India’s sole hardware brand for decades. So, in April 2007, when HCL decided to give itself a modern and global face, the domestic tech giant picked its own employee to make a communication splash. With a telling tagline – ‘Technology that touches life’ – the commercial began with a hitchhiker (an employee of HCL) taking a lift from an investment banker. During the journey, the hitchhiker explains how HCL Technology is an integral part of everyone’s life. Exactly a year later in April 2008, HCL technologies came up with a sequel to the ad in which the world is shown coming to the employee and talking about HCL making an impact in their lives.If you are still wondering why an employee was the chosen one for this task, ask M. Sundararajan, Associate VP-Marketing, HCL Technologies. “HCL’s 55,000 employees are the very heart of the company and key among HCL’s stakeholders and HCL’s catch phrase. What better route therefore than to use the HCL employee as the protagonist, which instills a sense of pride and a strong connect with the brand,” says Sundararajan. Small wonder that unlike MNCs in the domain (Lenovo, HP, et al), the brand has steered clear of roping in a celebrity ambassador till date. And the strategy has indeed paid off. A brand tracking research conducted by IMBR, revealed that HCL leads in the ‘Top of The Mind Recall’ amongst IT companies and has an equally high ‘Spontaneous recall’.
Before 2005, HCL Technologies had largely focused on product based advertising, given the dominating nature of its enterprise business. In January 2005, they began working on a global branding initiative with an objective to unify the global enterprise and connect with all stakeholders. That was when they launched the ‘Fearless’ campaign – a print-led TV campaign, which brought out the core HCL values of Guts, Courage and Passion. A year later, HCL entered the second phase that was the ‘Talking Numbers’ campaign, 0 and 1 (the binary digits) were taken as HCL’s brand ambassadors. This is currently the third phase of the advertising strategy for HCL, ‘Touch Technology’ where the brand communication has a single thread – HCL expressing technology in many different ways. Says Sanjeev Bhargava, COO, Draft FCB Ulka (agency handling the HCL account), “The tone of this ad highlights HCL’s core strength which comprises the combination of over three decades of pioneering technology and the freshness of its outlook personified by the young HCL employee.” From a fuddy duddy image to an energised technology giant hurtling with speed and connecting with the global Indian, HCL has indeed begun to touch lives, at least the 30-second variety.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
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