The anticipation of this change was created by all purple hoarding boards on major thoroughfares of the country and then print ad with purple cover appeared in almost all the newspapers on the day of the big launch. The re-branding is indeed one of the largest the country has ever seen. [break]
TeliaSonera, the fifth largest telecommunication company in Europe which has been present in the developing markets of Eurasia for more than a decade, became the majority owner of Spice Nepal -- the operator of then Mero Mobile -- in October, 2008.
The company saw the need for this re-branding to create a common TeliaSonera identity in the eight markets of Eurasia where it is the majority owner of leading mobile operators.
"We wanted to refresh the entire image of our company," said Sanju Koirala, corporate communications manager of Ncell.
In 2009, TeliaSonera introduced a new unique common brand identity for the companies of TeliaSonera Eurasia and this is being replicated in Nepal as well. Apart from Nepal, seven leading mobile operators in the Eurasia region are being re-branded, according to Koirala.
"Although TeliaSonera exercises a global strategy, it acts as a local operator in every market where it is present. Ncell is a local operator for Nepal, abiding by local rules and regulations, and respecting local traditions and values. We will be bringing to Nepal the latest technologies and introduce new, effective and easy-to-use services of international quality with a local touch," Koirala informed.
This local touch is depicted in the brand name ´Ncell´ and the slogan ´Here for Nepal´. The ´cell´ in Ncell is common in all the countries and ´N´ stands for Nepal. For example: in Georgia it is Geocell and in Uzbekistan it is Ucell.
"The brand color ´purple´ reflects creativity, passion and reliability with which Ncell will continue to serve its customers," Koirala said, "The stone logo symbolizes strength, reliability and integrity, like the mountains in Nepal, and the lines on the stone represent connectivity and networking."
"This indicates the start of a new conversation, a link between all people in Nepal, the history and tradition of this land being enriched with modern technologies," she added.
The core concept of re-branding was devised by the TeliaSonera Business Eurasia team. Different aspects of re-branding like the television commercials, hoarding boards, print ads and the launch event were handled mainly by three Nepali advertising agencies - Max L´agence, Prisma and Mice Ad -- and other vendors.
The television commercial (TVC), created by Max L´agence, is itself a marvel. The 60 seconds advertisement executed in eight days, the shortest time taken to fully complete a TVC, has set a standard for Nepalese TVCs. The TVC portrays a connection to Nepali heritage through the use of the purple color and the interaction between people of all ages.
"This TVC was a team effort and I would like to congratulate the entire team for a job well done," Satish Singh, creative lead of Max L´agence, told myrepublica.com. "This is our answer to all those who think that quality work cannot be produced in Nepal."
"It marks a new chapter in our company´s history and it works toward our vision of being the number one operator in Nepal," said Koirala.
The re-branding has established TeliaSonera´s commitment to be a significant long-term industrial investor in Nepal. With this re-branding, Ncell gears up to bring new technologies and new services to Nepal in an effort to deliver the best customer experience and service quality.
Related story
Ncell and Samsung collaborate to launch Galaxy S24 Series
-1200x560_20240917101949.jpg)
