Sharp’s India CEO and MD, Sunil Sinha, in a letter to the Indian public (published in Times of India – Bangalore Times), says,

Our commitment is not limited to products that stand out. We have just introduced our 1-1-1 Service Scheme. Send a SMS, we will call you back in 1 hour, repair in 1 day and replace in 1 week (if repair is not possible). I must admit that it will not be easy but we are committed to make this scheme a great success. Meanwhile, if my intervention becomes necessary, please don’t hesitate to call me on +919650334006 (This is my direct telephone number).

Now, here are 2 possible things that could go in your mind.

  1. Sharp is so bloody confident of its products and service network! Wow…it can even afford the CEO to share his personal mobile number in a newspaper ad! Imagine the kind of efforts they would have taken to make an impressive service network that can stand by a 1-1-1 scheme!
  2. Sharing a personal mobile number of a CEO in a newspaper ad. is akin to Shankar’s Anil Kapoor starrer, Nayak – equally implausible. It perhaps says that Sharp’s service standards are so bad that the CEO had to give his personal number (of all the people) for escalation. Doesn’t it mean Sharp hasn’t empowered a whole lot of people below the CEO?

Feel free to pick your choice.

Personally, I tend to pick B. A few other observations.

The ad. is text heavy and starts with Sharp-puraan…err, legacy. I lost interest after the first paragraph.

I do like the choice of words in the ad. in places – like, ‘I must admit that it will not be easy but we are committed to…’ – sounds honest. But, calling the 1-1-1 a ‘scheme’ seems like a bad choice of words. Isn’t 1-1-1 a customer philosophy and not a buy-one-get-one kinda ‘scheme’? The word scheme also perhaps says that it is time-bound and that Sharp may stop doing so, after a period of time – decided by Sharp, of course.

The ad’s footer has a prominent Facebook URL. One look at the Facebook page reveals that it is all about Sharp, Sharp’s India billboards, Sharp’s dealer meets in India and shots of people looking at Sharp products in assorted shops in India. Not very sharp, I guess.

Also, it has this comment on a new year wish from Sharp.

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