Airtel signs Ashish Nehra as new brand ambassador

Bharti Airtel, India's top cellular operator, which recently underwent a brand makeover, has now decided to have a new brand ambassador. The Sunil Bharti Mittal led enterprise has now signed a five year deal with India pacer Ashish Nehra. Mr. Mittal unveiled Nehra to glittering ceremony attended by a few journalists, and many umpires, who have had to unwillingly face Nehra on his way back to his bowling mark.

Explained Mr. Mittal - "Our new brand ambassador has been chosen in tune with the reception our new logo has received. Since hardly few people appreciate the new logo, we decided to rope in someone who gets hardly noticed. What better choice than Ashish Nehra, who has been in the Indian team for years, and yet has hardly been mentioned in columns, acted in advertisements or been called water-boy by the crowd. Nehra also invokes self-pity after being smashed for boundaries over after over. With hundreds of crores being spent on rebranding, and still none noticing, we're in the same position. There you go, another similarity!"

After some thought, Mittal explained that Nehra also stood for the company's commitment and positioning in the public. "Airtel resonates trust among its users, the same way batsmen trust Ashish Nehra's bowling. His chased-by-a-stray-dog-running-with-a-hurt-leg run up makes even an under-12 batsman trust his bad balls. Also, our services and products are very transparent. Nehra is synonymous with transparency in the cricketing world. I mean, no bowler would grin at the umpire, symbolically show 'outside the stump line' with his hands, shake his head and mouth 'Outside ehhh?' after a loud LBW appeal! Even umpires get bewildered."

It has been learnt that the advertisements featuring Nehra will be handled by O&M ads. O&M has made critically acclaimed ads like the very creative Zandu balm ad featuring Delhi Daredevils players dancing on a running train. Sources revealed that the new Airtel ad would be very similar to the classic Nijam Paaku tamil ad. The Nijam Pakku ad shows a kid's face morphing into an adult's face, which morphs into a grandfather's face, to show the compatibility of Nijam pakku with all age groups. The same way, the new ad would feature SS Das's face, which morphs into Vijay Bharadwaj's face, which morphs to Nikhil Chopra's face, and finally to a grinning Nehra's face (all hardly noticed players), which then magically morphs into the new stylish Airtel swoosh.