Vodafone and Idea fused into 'Vi', a 'we' with a mustard dot and design system (interview)

The identity was created by Wolff Olins in collaboration with Ogilvy and Vodafone Idea. Launch tasks, per Nair: establish that Vodafone and Idea are now Vi; establish the sonics and that Vi means 'we'; plant the positioning 'together for tomorrow'. The company emailed and texted every customer personally, bought a 24-hour TV roadblock on several channels where only the Vi ad played, ran digital roadblocks and print announcements in a week-long campaign, and launched engagement hooks — AR filters to put your photo with the new brand, custom caller tunes, and prizes for spotting the logo in the app.

Fuse Vodafone's 'V' and Idea's 'i' into 'Vi' — 'we' — marked by a mustard exclamation dot, backed by a fluid system of 'connectors', 'trails' and a 'particle move'.

(self-reported in the interview) a week-long roadblock blitz aimed at building 'rapid awareness', plus ongoing TV and digital media for awareness and engagement; no quantitative results were given. The interview notes the rebrand came days after the company announced a plan to raise Rs 25,000 crore and amid a fight to rebuild ARPU and win back share from Airtel and Jio.

In a 10 September 2020 exchange4media interview, Kavita Nair, Chief Digital Transformation and Brand Officer at Vodafone Idea, walks through the launch of 'Vi', the new identity merging Vodafone and Idea — what the article calls two iconic brands — created by Wolff Olins in collaboration with Ogilvy and the company itself.

Nair says 'Vi' is more than an abbreviation: it reads as 'we', 'the power of the collective and collaboration', aimed at Indians and their bonds with family, friends, businesses and communities. The 'i' carries a bold mustard dot — 'an exclamation mark with the bold mustard dot which is surprising and delightful'. The brand arrived with three tasks, per Nair: establish that Vodafone and Idea are now Vi; establish the sonics and that Vi means 'we'; and land the positioning 'together for tomorrow'.

The launch mechanics, as she describes them: personal email or SMS to all customers ('the biggest step is to handhold our customer and carry them forward to the new brand'), a 24-hour roadblock on several TV channels where only the Vi ad played, matching digital roadblocks and print announcements — a week-long campaign meant to build rapid awareness. Engagement came through AR filters for photos with the brand, user-created caller tunes, and prizes for spotting the logo in the app. The old brands' icons, she adds, 'are with us and it is up to us if we use them'.

The interview frames the stakes: the merger closed in August 2018, network integration was nearly complete, and the company had just announced a plan to raise Rs 25,000 crore while trying to rebuild ARPU and regain share from Airtel and Jio. All launch numbers and characterisations are Nair's own statements in the interview; no independent results were reported.

One of the largest brand mergers in telecom: retiring two iconic brands — Vodafone's and Idea's — for a single new mark that both legacies' customers must be carried over to.

The identity is distinctive: 'Vi' means 'we', the mustard dot is an exclamation mark, and the 'connectors', 'trails' and 'particle move' system is built for digital-first India, not a static lockup.

The launch playbook covers reach and participation: 24-hour TV roadblocks for rapid awareness, personal SMS/email handholding, and AR filters, caller tunes and app logo hunts for engagement.

It captures the rebrand as a financial event too — timed days after a Rs 25,000 crore fundraise announcement, amid a fight to regain share from Airtel and Jio.

When two beloved brands merge, the design system matters as much as the logo: fluid 'connectors' and 'trails' let Vi keep both parents' iconography alive on the brand's own terms.

Nair said big plans followed for the festive season and the IPL. Related work later entered the archive from the same brand family — Vi's 2023 dabbawala network tests and 2025 Kumbh bead bracelets — but the interview itself reports no measured outcomes of the rebrand.