Reliance Power?s IPO has seen saturation advertising in all media this past fortnight. Billboards have screamed ?Power On, India On? for investors? money. Publications have had the slogan emblazoned across their pages. The TV set has had lights flashing off and on to emphasise the difference, just in case it?s unclear. And radio jingles, even couplet recitations, have done their bit to convey the message. But that was not enough propagation for the company, it seems. So the ?Reliance Power? jingle found itself on the mobile phones of all Reliance Communications subscribers as the caller ring back tone. Normally, a subscriber is supposed to pay for such melodious treatment to be accorded to those who call, but Rcom has been generous in slapping on the jingle without as much as a request. On current estimates, by the time the IPO closes, this jingle would have been heard 800 million times. Beat that.
Omnipresence
Professionals in the PR industry are given to telling clients that they have insider knowledge on how the media works. The info burrowing job has even turned to detecting the identity of Eavesdropper, as Eavesdropper learns. Nowadays, journalists at FE routinely get calls from PR firms discreetly trying to find out just who this sneaky person is, whether she?s a she or a he, based in this metro or that, or if located in many places all at the same time in some strange kind of quantum state worthy of spy thrillers. As in many such cases, the facts are mundane. But in the spirit of eavesdropping, nothing can be divulged.