HUTCH: The Boy,The Pug and this Beautiful World !!

The oldest memories of HUTCH in India are associated with the huge white billboards with a human head emerging from the bottom. This was gradually replaced by a full face (no celebrity, just a common face) with a bold ‘Hi’, with no indication of the brand or the company. It was simply amazing as to how the signages caught people’s attention and kept the audience guessing till finally HUTCH announced its arrival with ‘We are Hutch and we are in India’ message.

Infact, no other marketing initiative would have captured so much imagination among the Indian consumers than the HUTCH advertising campaigns inspite of a no-nonsense and uncluttered approach, very “uncharacteristic” of the Indian advertising industry.

Airtel over the years has roped in glamorous celebrities (the Shahrukh Khans ,the Sachins and the Rahmans of the world ),HUTCH on the other hand stuck to its basic branding principle i.e. in simpler words it trusted the pug(Chika) and the boy(his names Jairam ;-) ) to deliver the message (read create the magic) which probably no celebrity could do for them as well.

HUTCH has also had advertising campaigns with celebrities (Rahul Dravid and Irfan Khan) which have been memorable but none more remarkable as the ‘pug and the boy’ with a surprisingly simple, yet effective tagline - ‘Where you go, our network follows’ .

All of HUTCH’s memorable advertising campaigns (the TVCs primarily) are marked by strong visuals, creative work by the agency (O&M India ) and of course the “You and I, in this beautiful world..” theme (composed by Rupert Fernandes ).The theme emphasizes the network reach of HUTCH in the usual effortless yet effective manner. The men behind the campaign, V Mahesh and Rajiv Rao will be remembered not only for making the whole of India sing the advert jingle but also for making the pug one of the most sought-after pets in the country :-)

FYI the pug Chika is owned by a goan couple and has also starred in a couple of Bollywood movies ;-)