After Hutch and Vodafone, will the pug follow Sirji now?

BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - MARCH 13: A pug dog stands in the exhibition hall on the final day of the annual Crufts dog show at the National Exhibition Centre on March 13, 2011 in Birmingham, England. During this year's four-day competition nearly 22,000 dogs and their owners will vie for a variety of accolades, ultimately seeking the coveted 'Best In Show'. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

More than decade ago, the sight of a cuddly pug running after his boy owner brought us much delight. ‘Wherever you go, our network follows’ was the message from telecom major Hutch.

For long-time subscribers, this tagline could be tweaked to ‘Wherever you go, we follow’, considering the company’s identity has changed several times over the past two decades.

Hutch eventually became Vodafone, and now Vodafone India has joined hands with Idea Cellular to form India’s largest telecom company. Simply put, your SIM card has gone from orange to pink to red and white. And now there may be a shade of yellow.

The owners say the two companies will remain separate entities for now, but we can’t help wondering if the merged entity will adopt a new name and a new ad campaign.

In 1992, a joint venture was created between Hutchison Whampoa, an investment holding company headquartered in Hong Kong, and the Max Group. It was christened Hutchison Max Telecom.

The Essar Group came on board in 2005 and the company was renamed Hutchison Essar Limited.

For subscribers in Mumbai, the company had until then operated under the name Orange while the rest of the country knew it as Hutch. The new entity did away with the confusion by bringing all its subscribers under the Hutch umbrella.

Mumbaikars spotted billboards containing nothing but the word “Bye” and soon after, the company put up advertisements sporting Hutch’s new logo – the orange tri-star had now turned pink.

In 2007, Hutch was rebranded as Vodafone after the British giant acquired a majority stake in Hutchison Limited.

Red replaced pink, and ‘Happy to Help’ became the new tagline. The pug was retained initially before ad agency Ogilvy and Mather introduced us to the popular and amusing Zoozoos, as Vodafone sought to stand out from the crowd with its value-added services.

But clad in a bandana, the pug made a comeback last year to advertise Vodafone’s 4G network.

So what next for the canine after the merger? Maybe Sirji has an idea.