Telenor Pakistan: Gathering the Architectural Pearls for a Better Tomorrow

In late 2016, Umair Mohsin, marketing director at Telenor Pakistan, a major telecommunication company, had to decide on the brand architecture system. Telenor launched as a rural brand in the competitive telecommunication sector in Pakistan and had reached the second-largest market share. It offered brands targeted towards different segments: a voice-based, mass brand called Telenor Talkshawk, an SMS-based youth brand called Djuice and a post-paid brand called Telenor Persona. Telenor Persona was later changed to Telenor post-paid. Although these Telenor brands were differentiated in their target groups, brand personality and tone of voice, the financial concerns of the heads in Oslo, Norway, forced Umair to think and decide about the present nomenclature. Should he continue with both brands? Should he discontinue Talkshawk as the shareholders suggested? Should he only focus on the mother brand, Telenor? To make this decision, he had to keep the recent award of the 4G spectrum in mind. The 4G spectrum ensured the company could improve customer experience, expand services and serve the unserved market. Umair had to decide whether the 4G launch had to be communicated using the Talkshawk brand, which had a less tech-savvy audience, the Djuice brand, which had a tech-savvy audience, or the mother brand, Telenor. He had to decide in a short time frame of two days. He could listen to the shareholders’ concerns regarding cost reduction and accept their proposal or convince them of a better top line by satisfying the existing customer base.