That Branson guy is crazy. Yeah, that same old, boisterous, flamboyant Chairman of the Virgin Group, Sir Richard Branson. First he sends a telescope in the JAM office inviting us to the launch of Virgin Mobile in India. Then he goes right up Hilton Towers and does a bungee jump (like his bones are not more than 30 years old) on the unsuspecting Mumbai masses. Once thats out of the way, he comes into the press conference dressed as though he is out for a walk on the beach. White shirt, plain light brown pant and floaters. May I warn you, Sir, Paani Poori on the Mumbai beach will put you in hospital for the remainder of your trip.
I was all excited when he came in the conference hall (which was literally bursting at the seams, the media love someone quotable and flamboyant). Why, you ask? Because, dahling, I thought some sexy Virgin Atlantic air-hostesses might be hanging around. There were none. Like, damn.
Branson seems to have apparently rung Ratan Tata and told them, “Hey big man, we want to do something in India. Anything!”. So Tata sets up Virgin Mobile as a service available under the Tata Tele banner which allows Virgin to escape all the legal hassles and use someone else’s existing network too. Elementary business branding, pumpkin.
Virgin seem to have done extensive homework and all this is targeted at the youth, which everybody and the press kit were hell bent on reminding us. Nevertheless, their homework deserved an A grade from me, so to speak. They seem to have studied the pattern of the youth quite smartly. And I couldn’t quite deny their research. I’ll tell you one outrageous thing. You receive talktime for receiving calls from any network. Also, the person who handles your complaint at the call center will continue to do so till you cling on to Virgin Mobile. That’s outrageous!
And with all that they have bring their expertise of handling Virgin Mobile all across the globe too. Vodafone and Airtlel, be scared. Be very scared.
