1. INTRODUCTION
Branding is one of the most important aspects of any business, large or small, retail or multinational corporations. An effective brand strategy gives a major edge in increasingly competitive markets. Simply put, brand brand is promise to your customer. It tells them what what they can expect from products and services, and it differentiates the offering from that of competitors’.
To prepare an assignment on a network based product we have chosen Airtel that comes from Bharti Airtel Limited, one of Asia’s leading integrated telecom services providers with operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa. Information for this assignment is mainly collected from secondary source. Information are collected from various websites. At the very beginning of this assignment the concept of branding is given with its importance to consumers and producers as well as the concept of brand equity is also given. This assignment contains a brief description about the selected company with its various services provided by it. Then the branding of Airtel with its branding strategies are discussed. To promote, Airtel has been dependent on tactical advertising However, it has restrained from using comparative advertising Hoardings has been a very popular medium for carrying the advertisements Airtel has also been advertising on television using the Bharti Telecom name. This assignment paper discusses how Bharti constantly positioned its Airtel brand to expand its market and meet the challenges posed by the changing trends in the Indian and African cellular market during the late-1990s and early-2009s. It also critically discusses the rationale behind Bharti's positioning and restructuring efforts and the effectiveness of these initiatives. Starting from the name, logo, slogan the Airtel has created intense brand image by adopting various marketing acting activities. It truly captured the market and maintaining its brand as a best brand in the market. Though there are spaces for improvement, by developing effective marketing program those gaps can be filled up. 1
2. CONCEPT OF BRANDING
2.1 Defining Branding
Branding has been around for centuries as a means to distinguish the goods and services of one producer from those of another. In fact, the word ‘brand’ is derived from the Old Norse word ‘brandr’ which means “to burn”.
According to the American Marketing Association (AMA), a brand is a “name, term, sign,
symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors” In fact, however, many practicing managers refer to a brand as more than that – as something that has actually created a certain amount of awareness, reputation and prominence and so on in the marketplace. A formal definition of brand can be put as, ‘entire process involved in creating a unique name
and image for a product (good or service) in the consumers' mind, through advertising campaigns with a consistent theme. Branding aims to establish a significant and differentiated presence in the market that attracts and retains loyal customers.’ Fundamentally, branding is all about endowing products and services with the power of brand equity. Consistent, strategic branding leads to a strong brand equity, which means the added value brought to your company's products or services that allows you to charge more for your brand than what identical, unbranded products command.
2.2 Importance of Branding
Branding is one of the most important aspects of any business, large or small, retail or B2B. An effective brand strategy gives a major edge in increasingly competitive markets. If consumers recognize a brand and have some knowledge about it, then they do not have to engage in a lot of additional thought or processing of information to make a product decision. Thus, from an 2
2. CONCEPT OF BRANDING
2.1 Defining Branding
Branding has been around for centuries as a means to distinguish the goods and services of one producer from those of another. In fact, the word ‘brand’ is derived from the Old Norse word ‘brandr’ which means “to burn”.
According to the American Marketing Association (AMA), a brand is a “name, term, sign,
symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors” In fact, however, many practicing managers refer to a brand as more than that – as something that has actually created a certain amount of awareness, reputation and prominence and so on in the marketplace. A formal definition of brand can be put as, ‘entire process involved in creating a unique name
and image for a product (good or service) in the consumers' mind, through advertising campaigns with a consistent theme. Branding aims to establish a significant and differentiated presence in the market that attracts and retains loyal customers.’ Fundamentally, branding is all about endowing products and services with the power of brand equity. Consistent, strategic branding leads to a strong brand equity, which means the added value brought to your company's products or services that allows you to charge more for your brand than what identical, unbranded products command.
2.2 Importance of Branding
Branding is one of the most important aspects of any business, large or small, retail or B2B. An effective brand strategy gives a major edge in increasingly competitive markets. If consumers recognize a brand and have some knowledge about it, then they do not have to engage in a lot of additional thought or processing of information to make a product decision. Thus, from an 2
economic perspective, brands allow consumers to lower the search costs for products both internally (in terms of how much they have to think) and externally (in terms of how much they have to look around). Branding is important for both consumers and producers for its following significant functions: To Consumers:
Identification of source of product
Assignment of responsibility to product maker
Risk reducer
Search cost reducer
Promise, bond or pact with maker of product
Symbolic device
Signal of quality
To Producers:
Means of identification to simplify handling or tracing
Means of legally protecting unique features
Signal of quality level to satisfied satisfi ed customers
Means of endowing products with unique associations
Source of competitive advantage
Source of financial returns
2.3 Marketing Advantages of Strong Branding
Improved perception of product performance
Greater loyalty
Less vulnerability to competitive marketing actions
Less vulnerability to marketing crisis
Larger margins
More inelastic consumer response to price increases 3
More elastic response to price decreases
Greater trade cooperation and support
Increased marketing communication effectiveness
Possible licensing opportunities
Additional brand expansion opportunities
2.4 Defining Brand Equity
Brand equity is the added value endowed to products and services. This value may be reflected in how consumers think feel, and act with respect to the brand, as well as the prices, market share, and profitability that the brand commands for the firm. Brand equity is an important intangible asset that has psychological and financial value to the firm. 2.5 Building Brand Equity
Marketers building brand equity by creating the right brand knowledge structures with the right consumes. This process depends on all brand-related contacts – whether marketer-initiated or not. From a marketing management perspective, however, there are three main sets of brand equity drivers:
The initial choices for the brand elements or identities making up the brand (e.g., brand names, URLs, logos, symbols, characters, spokespeople, slogans, jingles, packages, and signage), Old Spice uses bright-red packaging and its familiar ocean schooner to reinforce its nautical theme while also launching deodorant and antiperspirant extensions adding the High Endurance and Red Zone brand names 20.
The product and service and all accompanying marketing activities and supporting marketing programs.
Other association indirectly transferred to the brand by linking it to some other entity (e.g. a person, place, or thing).
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2.6 Choosing Brand Elements
Brand elements are those trade markable devices that serve to identify and differentiate the brand. Most strong brands employ multiple brand elements. Nike ha s the distinctive “swoosh” logo, the empowering “Just Do It” slogan, and the mythological “Nike” name based on the
winged goddess of victory. 2.7 Brand Element Choice Criteria
There are six criteria in choosing brand elements (as well as more specific choice consideration in each case). The first three (memorable, meaningful, and likable) can be characterized as “brand building” in terms of how brand equity can be built through the judicious choic e of a
brand element. The
latter three (protectable, adaptable, and transferable) are more
“defensive” and are concerned with how the brand equity contained in a brand element can be
leveraged and preserved in the face of different opportunities and constraints. 1. Memorable. How easily is the brand element recalled? How easily recognized? Is this true at both purchase and consumption? Short brand names such as Tide, Crest, and Puffs a help. 2. Meaningful. To what extent is the brand element credible and suggestive of the corresponding category? Does it suggest something about a product ingredient or the type of person who might use the brand? Consider the inherent meaning in names such as DieHard auto batteries, Mop & Glo floor wax, and Lean Cuisine low-calorie frozen entrees. 3. Likeability. How aesthetically appealing do consumers find the brand element? Is it inherently likable visually, verbally, and in other ways? Concrete brand names such as Sunkist, Spic and Span and Firebird evoke much imagery. 4. Transferable. Can the brand element be used to introduce new products in the same or different categories? To what extent does the brand element add to brand equity across geographic boundaries and market segments? Volkswagen chose to name its new SUV, Touareg, ater a tribe of colorful Saharan nomads. Unfortunately, historically
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they were also notorious slave owners, which created a negative press backlash in the United States. 22 5. Adaptable. How adaptable and updatable is the brand element Betty Crocker has received over eight makeovers through the years – although she is over 75 years old, she doesn’t look a day over 35 .
6. Protectable. How legally protectable is the brand element?
How competitively
protectable? Can it be easily copied? It is important that names that become synonymous with product categories – such as Kleenex, Kitty Litter, Jell-I, Scotch Tape, Xerox, and Fiberglass – retain their trademark rights and not become generic.
3. ABOUT THE COMPANY
Airtel comes from Bharti Airtel Limited, one of Asia’s leading integrated telecom services
providers with operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa. Bharti Airtel since its inception, has been at the forefront of technology and has pioneered several innovations in the telecom sector. Sunil Bharti Mittal is the Founder, Chairman and Group CEO of Bharti Enterprises The company is structured into four strategic business units - Mobile, Telemedia, Enterprise and Digital TV. The mobile business offers services in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The Telemedia business provides broadband, IPTV and telephone services in 89 Indian cities. The Digital TV business provides Direct-to-Home TV services across India. The Enterprise business provides end-to-end telecom solutions to corporate customers and national and international long distance services to telcos.
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3.1 Mission of The Organization
The company meets the mobile communication needs of their customer through
Brand identity
Error free service delivery
Cost efficiency
Unified messaging solutions
Innovative products and services
3.2 Value of The Organizations
Innoventuring
To generate and implement entrepreneurial and innovating ideas which continuously creates new growth engines.
Customers first
To provide service beyond the expectations of the customers. The quality of the customer responsiveness clearly differentiates them from others.
Performance culture
The benchmark their process and performances against world class standards to distinguish between performers by valuing achievements at the individual as well as team level.
Valuing partnership
Get committed to building exemplary relationship with partners who stand on the principles of mutual growth and trust.
Valuing people
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To mature as environment where people are respected and their uniqueness is valued. They believe that people are their key differentiator.
Responsible Corporate Citizenship
To get committed for making a positive and pro-active contribution to the community. They will contribute to and abide by environmental and legal norms.
Ethical Practices
They will uphold the highest ethical standard in all internal and external relationship.
3.3 Services Offered By The Company 3.3.1 Airtel Prepaid
Bharti Enterprises, India's leading integrated telecom service provider gives Airtel Prepaid Ready Cellular Card and Recharge Cards are available, all over the city at our retail outlets including 24 hour outlets. Airtel gives maximum benefits as it has no rental, no bills, and no deposits. It gives crystal clear communication all over the cities in Karnataka.
Total Cost Control
Enjoy the liberty of total cost control with your Airtel Pre-paid! Re-charge as much as you feel the need to! Now that's what we call complete freedom
No Rentals and No deposits
Buy an Airtel prepaid card without having to pay any rentals!. Your Airtel prepaid card comes without you having to pay hefty deposits!
STD /ISD facility till the last rupee
Now experience complete freedom like never before with Airtel! Our STD / ISD facility allows you to make long distance calls in India and Overseas from your cellular phone! 8
Instant Balance Inquiry
Check your talk-time instantly by calling our toll-free number!
60 second pulse
Airtel provides you with a 60-second pulse rate! Freedom for you to experience like never before!
Instant Recharge
Avail of instant recharge on your Airtel prepaid card with just a few simple steps.
24-hour recharge facility
With our round-the-clock recharge facility, recharge you Airtel prepaid card anytime, anywhere.
Caller Line Identification
Call Line Identification gives you the power to know the phone number of the calling party even before you answer the call, thus giving you the choice to either reject or take the call. It provides the added advantage of saving the incoming number directly in the Handset Phone Book. So that the next time you want to call the same person, you don't need to retype his number, simply use your phone book.
Call Divert, Call Hold and Call Wait
Avail of special services like call waiting, call hold and call divert – all with your Airtel prepaid card.
Short Messaging Service (SMS)
With Airtel Short Messaging Service (SMS), send messages and jokes to your friends and colleagues, anytime anywhere.
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SMS based Information Services
With Airtel SMS based information services; you can get up to-the-minute cricket scores, order flowers as well as send couriers or check your daily horoscope.
Voice Mail service
Voice Mail lets you receive messages even when your handset is switched off or when you are outside the coverage area. You can listen to your messages whenever you feel like, from anywhere in the world. Voice Mail can store up to 75 messages.
Widest availability
Airtel prepaid ready cellular card are available all over the city at over 7000 retail outlets including 24 hours outlets
3.3.2 Airtel Postpaid
Airtel postpaid connection offers enhanced full rate with distortion free high clarity voice. It provides seamless, crystal clear no congested, easy accessible, network and finest 24 Hours customer service facility.
Easy Billing
One can enjoy the luxury of viewing details of your last 3 billing cycles and the convenience of paying your Airtel bill online.
Call Divert, Call Hold and Call Wait
Avail of special services like call waiting, call hold and call divert – all with your Airtel postpaid connection.
Short Messaging Service (SMS)
With Airtel Short Messaging Service (SMS), send unlimited messages and jokes to your friends and colleagues, anytime anywhere.
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Caller Identification
Call Identification gives you the power to know the phone number of the calling party even before you answer the call, thus giving you the choice to either reject or take the call. It provides the added advantage of saving the incoming number directly in the Handset Phone Book. So that the next time you want to call the same person, you don't need to retype his number, simply use your phone book.
Voice Mail
Voice Mail lets you receive messages even when your handset is switched off or when you are outside the coverage area. You can listen to your messages whenever you feel like, from anywhere in the world. Voice Mail can store up to 75 messages, with each message of twominute duration
STD/ISD Facility
Now experience complete freedom like never before with Airtel! Our STD/ISD facility allows you to make long distance calls in India and Overseas from your cellular phone.
Roaming (National and International)
Airtel’s Roaming service allows you to use your mobile phone to make or receive calls from almost anywhere in India and abroad! Enjoy roaming within the country as well as across international destinations.
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4. BRANDING OF AIRTEL
4.1 Evaluation of Airtel Brand Elements Memorability:
Easily recognized
Easily recalled
The brand elements of Airtel are memorable. It has no complexity in their brand elements. At least people can easily recognize and recall the parent brand Airtel Bharati. Though its sub-brands are little bit tough to recognize and recall. So we can say parent brand are highly memorable.
Meaningfulness:
Descriptive
persuasive
Brand elements may take on all kinds of meaning, with either descriptive or persuasive content. The brand elements of Airtel have descriptive meaning and suggest something about the product category.
Likability:
Fun and interesting
Rich visual and verbal imagery
Aesthetically pleasing
Airtel uses its parent brand name in different font and style as their logo and symbol of parent brand. Different brands of Airtel Bharti use different brand elements. Brand elements of Airtel are so much likable. It is likable especially to the educated or to the brand loyal people.
Transferability:
Transferability within and across product c ategory
Transferability across geographic boundaries and cultures
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Transferability means how useful is the brand elements for line or category extension. In general the less specific the name, the more easily it can be transferred across categories. In that sense Airtel Bharti is successful in terms of transferability. Because it already introduced other products that have been accepted by the customers.
Adaptability:
Flexible
Updatable
The fifth consideration for brand elements is their adaptability over time. The brand Airtel is highly adaptable and updatable. It was launched in 7 July 1995 , and continuing by the same name. It doesn’t have to face any problem to change or update the brand elements with the change of time.
Protectability:
Legally
competitively
This is the final consideration of evaluation criteria. The brand elements of Airtel Bharti are protectable both in a legal and a competitive sense because it is registered with the appropriate legal bodies and vigorously defended trademark from unauthorized infringement.
4.2 Airtel Brand Awareness
For a brand to be successful, it must build enduring relationship with different audiences. Integral to this relationship is the visual image of the brand the consumer carries in his/her mind. The Airtel brand image is created through consistent application of a carefully developed visual identity, which helps Airtel distinguish itself in a cluttered market. Airtel visual identity helps to create instant brand recall and strengthens the relationship that it audience have with it. The
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Airtel visual identity has different elements that work together to create a strong and consistent for the brand. The most important of these are As Follows: 4.2.1 The Airtel Logo
The Airtel logo is a strong contemporary and confident symbol for a brand that is always ahead of the rest. It is a specially drawn word mark.
4.2.2 The Airtel Image Style
It corporate two solid, red rectangular forms whose counter forms create an open door way. 4.2.3 The Airtel Typographical Style The title lettering with its capital “A” is deliberately chosen to reinforce the brand’s
leadership position. The red dot on the letter
form “I” cues Airtel’s focus on
innovation. The words “Express Yourself ” are very much part of the Brand identity.
4.2.4 The Airtel Color Palette
The lettering is gray so the pure black of the Airtel is visually unharmed
4.2.5 Brand Slogan “aisi azadi aur kahan”
4.2.6 Signature Tune In 2002, Airtel chose one of the country’s most successful music composers A R Rahman and tune he gives, denote “Live every moment”.
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4.2.7 Jingles “Nigahein nigahon se mila kar to dekho, naye logo se rishta banakar to dekho…”
4.3 Taglines
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4.5 Brand Associations
4.6 Brand Architecture of Airtel
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4.7 Umbrella branding
4.8 Co-Branding
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4.9 Airtel’s Campaign
Delhi half marathon
Border-Gavaskar trophy
Indian fantasy league
Delhi golf tournament
5. BRANDING STRATEGIES OF AIRTEL
5.1 Brand Positioning
Airtel positions itself as juvenile brand linkages to celebrities such as SRK and Sachin. Airtel is transforming itself fully into a service led brand. From 'Touch Tomorrow' to 'Live Every Moment'
In late-2002, Bharti Cellular Ltd. (Bharti), India's largest cellular telephone company released a television commercial (TVC), which despite using the 'oft-repeated' celebrity endorsement route was unusual in terms of its celebrity selection. Instead of using the usual movie stars/sports celebrities, it chose one of the country's most successful music composers, A.R Rahman (Rahman) to promote its brand. The campaign attracted considerable media attention because this was the first time Rahman had agreed to do a television commercial and also because, Rahman had been paid Rs 10 million 1 for the campaign, a sum usually unheard of, for celebrity endorsers in India. The campaign received brickbats as well as bouquets in the media, both for the selection of Rahman and the TVC's execution. However, Bharti claimed to have scored an ace in terms of getting Rahman to compose five exclusive symphonies downloadable as ring tones for Airtel 18
users. The TVC was a part of the brand repositioning and restructuring efforts for Airtel, as part of which, Bharti changed the brand's tagline in early-2002 from 'Touch Tomorrow' to 'Live Every Moment. 'The company also decided to undertake a comprehensive brand building program for the
company
and
chose
the
slogan
'Unlimited
Freedom'
for
the
same.
Commenting on these changes, company sources said, "Airtel's brand identity and campaign will now have a new younger and international look and feel that builds on the earlier positioning." Bharti's massive media expenditure plans were no surprise, considering the fact that it was the largest cellular telecom company in the country - reaching over 600 million people in 16 (out of 29) states of India. The company posted revenues of Rs 8.48 billion and a net loss of Rs 1 billion in the financial year 2000-01. The Airtel brand (and the pre-paid card service brand, Magic) had top-of-the-mind recall amongst cellular phone users and enjoyed a leadership position in most markets. Industry observers primarily attributed it to Bharti's strong brand building and positioning strategies. Repositioning Airtel
The above realization led to the launch of the 'Leadership Series' campaign, which featured successful men and women with their deluxe cars, carrying laptops and using cell phones. A company source said that the campaign was aimed at positioning Airtel as an inspirational brand, which was meant for leaders and celebrities. Other supportive values associated with the brand-included courtesy, politeness and efficiency. The campaign was reportedly successful and resulted in a marginal improvement in Airtel's performance. By 1999, Bharti had become the leading cellular player in Delhi (its major market) with a subscriber base of over 0.38 million. However, the growth was still much below the company's expectations. Meanwhile, as the competition in the sector intensified, the government also decided to reduce tariff rates. As a result, the players made all efforts to extend their horizons to reach customers
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across all sections. Essar, the nearest competitor of Airtel, began offering tariff plans, schemes and services that were identical to that of Airtel. Repositioning Airtel - Once Again!
Due to consistent marketing efforts, the Airtel and Touch Tomorrow campaign became very popular. Therefore, Bharti's decision to withdraw this campaign (Touch Tomorrow) in 2002 came as a surprise to many. The new campaign was accompanied by a change in the logo as well (Refer Figure II). The idea behind the new logo was to give Airtel a younger look. The logo (with new design and colour pattern) symbolized innovation, energy and friendliness. 5.2 The "Value Added Services" provided by Airtel
1) Voice Mail service This system is similar to the answering machine - if the user is not able to answer a call for some reason the caller can leave messages in the voice mail box which can be later retrieved by the user 2) Short Message Service The short message service is like a two-way pager. It gives an option of sending and receiving text messages directly from one mobile phone to another without the intervention of an operator. 3) Mobile Fax 1 Data Service This service helps the subscriber to send and receive Faxes, access E-mail, download computer files from other systems and remotely log on to another computer and surf the Internet. 4) Cash Card The cash card is a pre-paid and pre-activated card which allows the buyers to buy air time in advance. All it requires is the payment of an initial amount. This is a useful service for people who travel to Delhi often and those who want to control the expenses on their calls.
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5) Caller ID Displays calling person's number. 6) Outgoing call restriction To prevent or limit outgoing calls, for example, in peak hours. Also possible to exclude one or several countries, or any geographical region, to permit only local calls, or to limit the outgoing calls to a listed number. 7) Call forward Incoming calls can be forwarded to another fixed or mobile phone. Besides these some other services provided by Airtel are - Call conferencing, Call broadcast etc. It is in the operators Interest that they not only get many subscribers but also get them to use the mobile facility frequently. In the early stages getting increases to subscribe may be easier than getting them to talk since they will find it costlier to use the mobile phone as compared to a conventional phone [if is believed that initially cellphones would be used buy 8) Roaming Facility Roaming facility is available while the subscriber is travelling. The billing is done in the home network (Delhi). Roaming facility is available manually as well as semi-automatically. Once a subscriber is in any other city or country, where a GSM network is available, simply insert the SIM card of the local operator into your handset and start talking.
5.3 Promotional Strategy
To promote it, Airtel has been dependent on tactical advertising However, it has restrained from using comparative advertising Hoardings has been a very popular medium for carrying the advertisements Airtel has also been advertising on television using the Bharti Telecom name.
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5.3.1 Sales Department and Strategy A.
Major Accounts (Direct Channel)
Handles corporate (named and famed) accounts
Forecasting of sales
Mapping the accounts
Providing after sales support to the subscribers.
Maintaining call reports for records.
Providing Feedback to the marketing department regarding the requirement of the market.
B.
C.
IDC (indirect Channel)
Handling distribution
Maintaining records and level check of the channel partner
Liaisoning between the channel partner and the company.
Target achievement
Training the executives of the channel Distribution Support
1. Logistics
Monitor handset and SIM card requirements of channel partners and co-ordinate with stores
Settle areas of concerns such as incentive claims of channel partners
2. Rental
Provide cellular services (SIM cards) on rent.
Provide cellular phones on rent
Useful for people visiting Delhi for a short interval.
3. Telesales
Call customers and generate sales lead.
Follow up with the customers, if they need any assistance 22
Pass on the sales lead to the channel department.
4. Audit
Consultant to the Airtel showrooms.
Monitor the operations at the Airtel distribution outlets Organize training.
5. Retail
Locate shops to open retail counters.
Monitor the retail counters.
5.4 Airtel's Marketing Orientation.
Since this is a high-involvement expensive product, the service provider has to fully take care of the customers. a) They take personal responsibility to "get" the answer for any problem faced by the customer b) They anticipate customers' problems and take pro-active steps to prevent them c) They give answers to the questions & requests, quickly & efficiently. d) They have a positive tone & manner while interacting with customers. e) They end the interaction on a positive or a humorous note-making the last 30 seconds count. Airtel realizes that attracting people 'Is easy but converting them into loyal customers is hard, hence emphasis is on maintaining a 'Smiling and a Friendly Atmosphere' to please and retain the customer. 5.5 Marketing Strategy
Bharti has spent a considerable amount on advertising its mobile phone service, Airtel. Besides print advertising, the company had put up large no of hoardings and kiosks in and around Delhi. The objective behind designing a promotion campaign for the ‘Airtel’ services is to promote the
brand awareness and to build brand preferences.
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It is trying to set up a thematic campaign to build a stronger brand equity for Airtel. Since the cellular phone category itself is too restricted, also the fact that a Cellular phone is a high involvement product, price doesn't qualify as an effective differentiator. The image of the service provider counts a great deal. Given the Cell phone category, it is the network efficiency and the quality of service that becomes important. What now the buyer is looking at is to get the optimum price-performance package. This also serves as an effective differentiator Brand awareness is spread through the' campaigns and brand preference through brand stature. Airtel's campaign in the capital began with a series of 'teaser' hoardings across the city,' bearing just the company's name and without explaining what Airtel was. In the next phase the campaign associated Airtel with Cellular only thereafter was the Bharti Cellular connection brought up. Vans with Airtel logos roamed the city, handing out brochures about the company and its services to all consumers. About 50,000 direct callers were sent out. When the name was well entrenched in the Delhiites’s mind, the Airtel campaign began to
focus on the utility of Cellphone. In the first four months alone Airtel's advertisement spend exceeded Rs. 4 crores. As of today the awareness level Is 60% unaided. This implies that if potential or knowledgeable consumers are asked to name a Cellular phone service provider that is on the top of his/her mind 60% of them would name Airtel. As for aided it -is 100% (by giving clues and hints etc.). Brand strength of a product or the health of a brand is measured by the percentage score of the brand on the above aided and the unaided tests. The figures show that Airtel is a healthy and a thriving brand. Every company has a goal, which might comprise a sales target and a game plan with due regard to Its competitor. Airtel 's campaign strategy is designed keeping in mind its marketing strategy. The tone, tenor and the stance of the visual ads are designed to convey the image of a market leader in terms of its market share. It tries to portray the image of being a "first mover every time" and that of a "market leader".
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The status of the product in terms of its life cycle has just reached the maturity stage in India. It is still on the rising part of the product life cycle curve in the maturity stage. The diagram on the left hand side shows the percentage of the users classified into heavy, medium and low categories. The right hand side shows the revenue share earned from the three types of users. Airtel, keeping in mind the importance of the customer retention, values its heavy users the most and constantly indulges in service innovation. But, since heavy users comprise only 15 20% of the population the other segment cannot be neglected. The population which has just realized the importance of cellular phones has to be roped in. It is for this reason that the service provider offers a plethora of incentives and discounts. Concerts like the "Freedom concert" are being organized by Airtel in order to promote sales. The media channel is chosen with economy in mind. The target segment is not very concrete but, there is an attempt to focus on those who can afford. The print advertisements and hoarding are placed in those strategic areas which most likely to catch the attention of those who need a cellular phone. The product promise (which might cost different 1 higher) is an important variable in determining the target audience. Besides this, other promotional strategies that Airtel has adopted are(i)
People who have booked Airtel services have been treated to exclusive premiers of blockbuster movies. Airtel has tied up with Lufthansa to offer customer bonus miles on the German airlines frequent flier's programs.
(ii)
There have been educational campaigns, image campaigns, pre launch advertisements, launch advertisements, congratulatory advertisements, promotional advertise-ments, attacking advertisements and tactical advertisements.
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5.6 Price and Pricing Policy
Airtel has realized that the Indian market is price sensitive. Therefore it care of the has come up with various innovative tariff schemes to take needs of different category of customersGenerally, the cellular services are more expensive than the land line based telephone services. This is due to the reason that the operating companies are required to pay a fee to the government for using airtime. Pricing strategies of Airtel are
Customer based pricing strategies
Flexible pricing mechanism
Controlled by TRAI
5.7 Distribution
Company
Franchisee
Dealer
Distributor
Dealers
Customer Customer The- company whose operations are concentrated in and around Delhi. It 27 Franchisees and 15 Distributors- They also have 8 'instant access cash card counters- Each franchises or distributor can have any number of dealers under him as long as the person is approved by the
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Airtel authority. Each franchise has to invest Rupees Ten Lakhs to obtain a franchise and should employ an officer recruited by Airtel. This person acts as a liaison between the company and the franchises. The franchises can it any number of dealers as long as their territories do not overlap. But unfortunately Airtel has not been very successful in controlling territorial overlaps of dealers. The franchises can carry out their own promotional strategy. For this the company contributes 75% of the money and the franchises contribute 25% of the money. The dealers under the franchisee receive the same commission. The franchises and the dealer obtain the feedback from the customers and they are sent through the liaison officer on a day-to-day basis to Airtel. The dealer has to invest Rupees one Lakh as an initial investment. The dealers of Airtel are not allowed to provide any other operators' service. Target set for distributors and the dealers is 100 -150 activations per month. Hence the dealers can also go for their own promotions like banners and discounts on festivals etc. The dealer provides service promptly. The consumer on providing the bill of purchase for the handset and proof of residence has only to wait an hour before getting connected. The staffs of the dealers and the franchisees are provided training by the Airtel personnel. The complaints encountered by the franchisees and dealers are either handset being nonfunctional or the SIM Card not getting activated. Anything more complicated is referred to the main Airtel office in Delhi.
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6. RECOMMENDATIONS
Awareness programs: Still more awareness programs have to be implemented in order to
attract more customers like: 1. Increase advertisement campaigns. 2. Increase Electronic media usage for the awareness programs.
3. Establishment of Hoardings in rural areas also. 4. Bringing awareness through issue of pamphlets in the newspapers. Consumer Retention: Airtel has to implement some more retention programs like: -
1. Extra talk times should be given to the potential customers who are there for more than 2 years in the subscriptions. 2. Some festival offers should be given in order to retain the customers.
3. If more messages and extra talk time benefits are given then it can help for the retain for the potential customers. 4. Airtel has to increase the customer care centers in order to concentrate more on the customer’s queries and their problems.
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7. CONCLUSION
Bharti Airtel is the world's third largest, single-country mobile operator and fifth largest
telecom operator in the world with a subscriber base of over 160 million It also offers fixed line services and broadband services. It offers its telecom services under the Airtel brand and is headed by Sunil Bharti Mittal. Bharti Airtel is the first Indian telecom service provider to achieve this Cisco Gold Certification. To earn Gold Certification, Bharti Airtel had to meet rigorous standards for networking competency, service, support and customer satisfaction set forth by Cisco. The company also provides land-line telephone services and broadband Internet access (DSL) in over 96 cities in India. It also acts as a carrier for national and international long distance communication services. The company has a submarine cable landing station at Chennai, which connects the submarine cable connecting Chennai and Singapore. In January 2010, it was announced that the Bangladesh Telecommuncations Regulatory Commission (BTRC) had given Bharti Airtel the go ahead to acquire a 70% stake in the Bangladesh business of Abu Dhabi based Warid Telcom. The latter had till date invested a total of $600 million, with plans to bring their Bangladesh investments to the $1 billion mark. Airtel's 70% stake in the company is said to be at a cost of an initial $300 million.The service is being operated under the brand name Warid Telecom.
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