Several celebrities from filmdom as well as cricket have endorsed Airtel.
According to Kohli, the company has got the maximum bang for the buck from film star Shah Rukh Khan, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and musician A R Rahman. The signature ringtone composed by Rahman, which is played at the end of all Airtel television and cinema-screen ads, is the largest downloaded ringtone in the world, claims Kohli.
The key here, say brand specialists, is not to allow the celebrity to hog the limelight from the brand.
According to Chandrasekar, Airtel scripts are not written for celebrities; in fact, celebrities are fitted in to the script.
For the Airtel voice SMS campaign, the script had two brothers in a boarding house. Shah Rukh Khan and Saif Ali Khan were brought in only because their chemistry in the film Kal Ho Na Ho matched the one required in this shot.
Kohli, of course, is happy with what has been achieved. Often, he goes to villages and quizzes people on their brand perception. "Almost 60 per cent say their favourite telecom service brand is Airtel. And after that comes Nokia!"