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When Hutch sold the idea of ​​a loyal network but instead started a pug frenzy in India

September 11, 2021
Bharat Times

Illustration by Ramandeep Kaur | impression

Form of words:

New Delhi: A boy walks through a town with a dog on his heels. Wherever he goes, the puppy follows him.

In the early 2000s, an advertising campaign for cellular network Hutchinson Essar featured the Cheeka, a pug, which sparked a massive passion for the breed in India. The jingle, “You and I in This Beautiful World”, is played in the background, while Cheeka chases a boy most of all. unlikely place, extending the tagline, “Wherever you go, our network follows”.

There was no explicit branding, no attempt to sell anything – and that was the magic of Hutch advertising, as India’s millennials remember it.

Abhishek Sonowal, a management trainee at Bangalore-based startup Udaan, who remembered the ad campaign, said: “As a young boy I was so fascinated by the ad, I even tried to get my dog ​​Lexi to follow me. But that little dog kept on following me. Didn’t do anything until I finally grabbed some treats and tempted her to follow me like Chika. It didn’t work out very well but still made me happy; as if I too was a little boy and my Lexi was Chika “

The campaign also won big awards – it was the top print ad and was one of the top 10 TV campaigns of 2003 in India, informed of a business today Survey. The idea of ​​the Hutch campaign was “pure entertainment and hence easily consumed”, said Shailesh Doval business today in the report.

The campaign was managed by advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather (O&M), whose primary objective was to convey the idea of ​​a network strong enough to reach every part of the country. The agency’s creative directors Mahesh V and Rajeev Rao worked around the idea of ​​advancing the technology by “using emotions” to reassure the user that the network would follow you like a loyal puppy.

The team initially thought of creating a story about a younger sister following her brother, but was later replaced by Cheeka and the Boy, a “less soulful” narrative. “Man’s best friend was the simplest analogy that could represent unconditional support,” Renuka Jayapal (Business Director, O&M) said in an interview. business today.

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Pug prices rise, activists expressed concern

according to a report good In india todayAdvertising veteran Alik Padamsee saw a “creative paradox” behind the success of Hutch ads. “You rarely see pugs in commercials because they’re ugly” and “it goes against the grain and so it clicks,” he said in the report.

in an interview with business todayThe then national creative director of O&M Piyush Pandey said the “magic” of the campaign was the “simplicity”, adding that the price of pug puppies had increased. across the country, Pug sales arbitrarily doubled It may cost between Rs 10,000 to Rs 60,000 to get a house.

Pugs were welcomed in many Indian homes but not every pug had a happy story. The increased demand because of Hutch’s ad was criticized by animal rights activists such as Maneka Gandhi, who cautioned, according to one report good In The Hindu Business Line, that this sudden increase in sales was for a dog that was “not native to India and whose climate was not conducive to them”.

Pugs cannot give birth naturally and require a caesarean, warns KV Sridhar, National Creative Director, Leo Burnett, Gandhi. report good In business today. Sridhar also revealed that due to the increase in the demand for pugs in the country, more than 50,000 pugs were imported into India, and many were imported illegally. These puppies were then sold to buyers who were unaware of the breed’s special needs and their congenital diseases.

Dogsindia.com director R. Padmachandran also raised concerns about these dogs surviving in the tropical heat because of their small mouths.

In 2018, when Vodafone – which acquired Hutchinson Essar in 2007 – brought back Cheeka, they were PETA asked To prevent pugs from being the face of your campaign. The group said in an appeal on its website, “PETA India states that pugs have been deliberately bred to have features so severely exaggerated that they cause physical pain – a product marketed by breeders to potential buyers.” In line with the concept of cuteness.”

In addition to heat distress, pugs suffer from chronic eye and skin infections due to their bulging eyes and folded skin, as well as intolerance to exercise caused by weak spines. Buyers often give up on Pug puppies because they are unwilling to take on these troubles.

Thus the Hutch campaign got both bouquets and bricks. It was a great advertisement but it had an impact on the health of the pugs. But Cheeka and the boy will never be forgotten.

(Edited by Paramita Ghosh)

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