Blyk on Aircel wins Global Telecoms Business Advertising Innovation Award 2012

Blyk, a mobile media company and its partner Aircel, a leading Indian telecom operator – announce that their unique project “India’s First Youth-centric Mobile Magazine” has won Global Telecoms Business magazine’s innovation award.  Global Telecoms Business presented its sixth annual GTB Innovation Awards at a glittering black-tie dinner in London.  All the awards were for projects that involve at least one operator and at least one vendor.

The Mobile Advertising Innovation Award was presented to both the partners at the ceremony held in the Sheraton Park Lane Hotel in central London on 12^th June 2012.  Mr. Shubhodip Pal, Country Manager, Blyk India received the award on behalf of Blyk and Aircel from Alan Burkitt-Gray, Editor of Global Telecoms Business magazine.

“Blyk on Aircel”, the game-changing engagement media was launched in India in November 2010, and has since then expanded its subscriber base to over 2 million opt-in members in the country with successful campaigns for more that 40 leading brands across different industries.  “We feel felicitated with the kind honour.  Blyk offers a powerful platform for youth engagement with the brands of their choice by providing content which is relevant & customized to their interests.  Aircel has been a great partner in making this project a big success as it has always tried to offer innovative solutions to its consumers,” said Shubhodip Pal, Country Manager, Blyk India.  He further added, “India as a market has a great potential and, we believe Blyk will continue to offer one of the most powerful platforms for brands to conntect with a profiled audience.”

“Blyk on Aircel” has laid down a framework for mobile advertising by re-inventing the way brands operate in India.  Its offering involves interactive text & multimedia messaging integrated with an advertising format.  It is based on customization and opt-in format where its members receive relevant and interesting content, such as updates, promotions, trivia and opinion polls – according to their preferences on their mobiles.

When presenting the awards Alan Burkitt-Gray, Editor of Global Telecoms Business said, “Since we started in 2007, we have made it our mission to celebrate the work that vendors and operators in the industry are doing together to develop innovative projects in order to better serve the industry’s end customers.  The Blyk on Aircel “Youth-centric Mobile Magazine” is a remarkable project, the first of its kind in India that we know about, and perhaps in the whole world.  It brings benefits to all key audiences, the operator, advertiser and – most importantly – the end customer.  A well deserved winner.”

Aircel is India’s fifth largest GSM mobile operator with over 50 million subscribers.  While Blyk is not the first attempt at mobile advertising in India, this partnership with Aircel is unique, due to its sharp focus on the youth segment as well as the complementary capabilities that each party brings to the table.  This new engagement model has inspired fresh thinking on how to tap into high-growth, profitable segments by creating a meaningful dialogue with its consumers.

About Aircel

Aircel, a part of Maxis Communications Berhad, Malaysia, is India’s fifth largest GSM mobile service provider with a subscriber base of over 50 million and is the fastest growing mobile operator in the country.  For more information, please log on to www.aircel.com