Tata Indicom urges people to try M learning

With mobile phones moving beyond being basic telephony devices, value added services (VAS) provided by telecom operators have gained importance. And telecom operators are doing all they can to promote their VAS offerings and get consumers interested. The latest one to do this is Tata Indicom.

To educate and inform non-English speakers about Tata Indicom's M-learning (mobile learning) feature, the telecom brand has launched an activation in 24 cities. The company has roped in Hungama Promo Marketing, a Hungama Digital Media division, for executing the concept.

The activity was launched to bring alive the English learning proposition in Sec C and D markets, such as Delhi, NOIDA, Meerut, Muzzafarnagar, Bareli, Muradabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Jhansi, Varanasi, Allahabad, Gorakhpur, Jharkhand, Ranchi, Aligarh, Mathura, Agra, Alwar, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Bikaner, Kota and Ajmer -- markets where consumers are not well-versed with the language.

"The product is aimed at teaching spoken English through a simple Interactive Voice Call. It is targeted at the migrant, urban, blue-collared worker, who cannot converse in English and who feels that learning to speak in English will add value to his life -- either in terms of opportunity advancement or in terms of social acceptance. We briefed Hungama on this need, and also to ensure that these consumers use this service on a continuous basis," says Thakore.

The campaign is being executed in the form of a road show, where the canter has been transformed into a classroom. The promoters go around distributing leaflets and informing the TG to participate in the campaign.

However, to gain entry to the canter-cum-classroom, people have to answer simple questions, such as 'Mombatti ko English mein kya kehte hain?' or 'Kale rang ko English mein kya kehte hain?'

However, Tata Indicom consumers have the privilege of entering the canter without answering such questions. Inside the canter, the teacher starts a demonstration of Tata Indicom's M-learning package, after which an audio file is played, for the participants to listen to and play along. After this, the participants go through a mock test based on M-learning, for instance, 'How does one greet in the morning in English?'

"After identifying the markets and the TG, the insides of the mobile vans were designed to look just like an authentic classroom that would give the TG an almost "back to school" feeling. There was also an adaptation of Teacher Maria, who interacted on similar lines as the actual IVR," chuckles Thakore.