Flying high on brand recall

voted the best. Bharti Airtel Ltd’s latest television advertisement-featuring two children on opposite sides of an international border getting together to play football in the no man’s land-has scored the highest (93 in ad reach index) in brand recall and awareness in Mint’s survey of top ads in December. The ad from the cellular services firm scored a high of 99% in likeability, but slipped slightly on the believability and claim criteria. Its evocative tag line, “Barriers break when people talk”, was believed by 81% of those polled. The runner-up in December’s poll is ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co. Ltd’s Health Solutions. The insurance company extended its life cover tag line “Jeete Raho” (made famous by its in-film placement in Cheeni Kum), to its health insurance offering in a seamless series. Featuring a couple who go for health insurance after watching a television serial, the ad clip captured eyeballs, matching the Airtel ad’s awareness score of 95%, but got 86% of the votes in brand recall. In ad diagnostics, or the aggregrate of scores on softer issues such as likeability, enjoyment, claim and believability, the ICICI Prudential ad notched 84 points, compared with Airtel’s 88 points.