An Umbrella For The Brand Called Rim

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On October 7, 2004, Mumbai-based ad agency Umbrella won the mandate for creating a brand new corporate identity manual for Reliance IndiaMobile. The agency is jointly promoted by Bhupal Ramnathkar, the former executive creative director at Enterprise Nexus, and Ramesh Govani of Mumbai-based Kamala Group, which owns the Gabbana brand of clothesline.

“It was in mid-2002 when we had conducted a similar exercise. UK based Minale had lent its design support to the brand then,” said Kaushik Roy, Head, Marketing Communications, Reliance Infocomm. “This time, we felt the design should be contemporary. In 2002, for example, we did not have sub-brands in the mobile telephony or broadband business. We needed someone with a keen sense of graphics. We needed an advertising professional, who understands how a brand can be used across mass-media campaigns. In Umbrella and Bhupal Ramnathkar, we have found both,” he added.

The corporate identity programme at Reliance IndiaMobile will involve re-creating a new graphic identity for the brand. “This is an amazing opportunity for us. Creating the corporate identity for Reliance IndiaMobile - one of the largest Indian brands, is very exciting. Creating a campaign is great, but campaigns keep changing over t i m e . C o r p o r a t e i d e n t i t y i s something that will last for years to come and hence it involves a lot more t h i n k i n g . T h e r e ' s a c e r t a i n timelessness about it,” said Bhupal Ramnathkar. “The work will involve designing the Reliance IndiaMobile logo on boards that you see attached to lamp posts. It will also involve stationery, billboards, TVCs, the works,” he explained.