The Ruia brothers Shashi and Ravi run the Essar Group which is a USD 4 billion diversified group. Lately, they have been getting a lot of attention for their telecommunications portfolio. First, was the drawn out battle for Hutch and whether they would stay - there are. Secondly, the have entered the retail segment with stores that carry only mobile phones and accessories in a single store format, the stores are called The Mobile Store. Today, I was passing by the Mahalaxmi Racecourse and saw a Rolls Royce Phantom, decked out with advertising for The Mobile Store. Tacky very much so, but attention grabbing. Essar Trivia - The name Essar is derived from the first letter of the two brothers names - Shashi and Ravi.
2 responses so far ↓
1 sheel // Jun 1, 2007 at 12:20 pm
That is really ridiculously tacky. Did they need to use a Rolls? This makes no sense whatsoever… If this is a long-term thing they surely could find a better use of the 3-4crore that they ponied up for this thing. It’s nice as marketing, but probably doesn’t bring that much more marketing cachet then 10 mini coopers or something like that. If not a long-term thing, what the hell are they going to do with it?
Also, I guess I’m a little surprised that the Ruias would slap an Airtel sticker on the Rolls given Hutch’s rocky relationship with Mittal. I guess this is a separate entity though.
2 mrjain // Jun 1, 2007 at 12:36 pm
I’m sure the Phantom was not bought just for this marketing madness. Probably just sitting in the garage of the Ruia’s (if they are the owners) and a good way to potentially write the car off as a marketing expense.
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