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BHARTI AIRTEL BRAND ANALYSIS 1/4/2014 Paridhi Golchha

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SERIAL NO TOPIC 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 INTRODUCTION HISTORY OF THE COMPANY MARKET ANALYSIS OF THE BRAND SUCCESS OF AIRTEL BRAND ANALYSIS TAREGT MARKET POSITIONING OF AIRTEL REPOSITIONING PRICING STRATEGY TAGLINES USED ADVERTISING STRATERGIES COMPETITORS ANALYSIS CONCLUSION

PAGE NO 1 3 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 16 18

Bharti Airtel Limited, commonly known as Airtel, is an Indian telecommunications company that operates in 20 countries across South Asia, Africa and the Channel Island. Airtel is the largest provider of mobile telephony and second largest provider of fixed telephony in India, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services. It offers its telecom services under the Airtel brand and is headed by Sunil Bharti Mittal. Telecom giant Bharti Airtel is the flagship company of Bharti Enterprises. Airtel comes to you from Bharti Airtel Limited, Indias largest integrated and the first private teleco m services provider with a footprint in all the 23 telecom circles. Bharti Airtel is structured into three strategic business units - Mobile services, Telemedia services and Enterprise services. The mobile business provides mobile & fixed wireless services using GSM technology. Airtel was voted as the Best Cellular Service in the country for four consecutive years. It is known for being the first mobile phone company in the world to outsource all of its business operations except marketing, sales and finance. History

Sunil Bharti Mittal founded the Bharti Group. In 1983, Mittal was in an agreement with Germany's Siemens to manufacture push-button telephone models for the Indian market. In 1986, Mittal incorporated Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL), and his company became the first in India to offer push-button telephones, establishing the basis of Bharti Enterprises. By the early 1990s, Sunil Mittal had also launched the country's first fax machines and its first cordless telephones. In 1992, Mittal won a bid to build a cellular phone network in Delhi. In 1995, Mittal incorporated the cellular operations as Bharti Tele-Ventures and launched service in Delhi. In 1996, cellular service was extended to Himachal Pradesh. In 1999, Bharti Enterprises acquired control of JT Holdings, and extended cellular operations to Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. In 2000, Bharti acquired control of Skycell Communications, in Chennai. In 2001, the company acquired control of Spice Cell in Calcutta. Bharti Enterprises went public in 2002, and the company was listed on Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange of India. In 2003, the cellular phone operations were rebranded under the single Airtel brand. In 2004, Bharti

acquired control of Hexacom and entered Rajasthan. In 2005, Bharti extended its network to Andaman and Nicobar. This expansion allowed it to offer voice services all across India. In 2009, Airtel launched its first international mobile network in Sri Lanka. In 2010, Airtel acquired the African operations of the Kuwait based Zain Telecom.In March 2012,Airtel launched a mobile operation in Rwanda. Today, Airtel is the largest cellular service provider in India and the third largest in the world.

Organisational Structure The organisational structure that existed until recently concentrated on the hierarchy of the operations inside the company as a whole. The structure depicts the corresponding operation/region of different in-charges and it didn't hold anyone responsible for each of its services. So, the company found it better to restructure its organizational chart. The transformed organisational structure will have two distinct Customer Business Units (CBU) with clear focus on B2C (Business to Customer) and B2B (Business to Business) segments. Bharti Airtel's B2C business unit will comprehensively service the retail consumers, homes and small offices, by combining the erstwhile business unitsMobile, Telemedia, Digital TV, and other emerging businesses (like M-commerce, M-health, M-advertising etc.). The B2C organization will consist of Consumer Business and Market Operations. It is the largest telecommunication company in India.

Worldwide presence

Coverage map of Bharti Airtel across 20 countries Airtel is the third largest mobile operator in the world in terms of subscriber base and has a commercial presence in 20 countries and the Channel Islands

Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Network and Huawei

IBM

Bharti Infratech Ltd.

Airtel also provides Direct-to-Home (DTH) TV services across India under the brand name Airtel digital TV. It started services on 9 October 2008 and has about 32.44 million customers as of August 2010

MARKET ANALYSIS IN EARLY 2000 International Telecom Union (ITU), EMC Cellular mobile telephony tariffs in India lowest in the world in 2002. 300-minute basket for cellular service rates India - USD 16/month China - USD 21/month Thailand - USD 29/month Malaysia - USD 40/month

 Indonesia - USD 42/month Average monthly rental and airtime for cellular services: Rs. 202 and Rs. 1.99 per minute respectively. Prepaid services introduced by all operators at an extremely affordable tariff of Rs. 300 per month. Indian cellular sector Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 109% in cellular subscribers from 1995-2001. Explosive growth driven by the low tariffs, rapid expansion of infrastructure and robust competition. Heavy customer base in rural India. In 2002, 51 cellular mobile networks or air serving 80 lakh consumers in almost 1500 cities and towns, covering 60,000+ villages.

Easy Usage Easy to acquire connection Pre-activated SIM Instant connectivity No rental hassles No security deposits Easy Recharge International scratch system for Magic Cards Effective Distribution Easily available in departmental stores, gift shops, kirana shops, retail outlets, telephone booths etc Doorstep delivery in 2002 Customer Satisfaction Affordable Easily accessible Strong customer relationship Features STD/ISD Facility Voice Mail Short Message Services Free CLIP Balance Enquiry

BRAND ANALYSIS New Celebrity endorsers (Sachin Tendulkar & SRK) who projected a fresh and youthful image were chosen to reflect Magics brand values of energy, hope, optimism and achievement. Special features for Magic Subscribers like free caller line identification, and innovative services like balance on screen. Bharti came up with many ad specific taglines like: Kabhi bhi, Kahin bhi, Jahan Chaho, Airtel Magic Pao Conducting contests for its subscribers through SMS. For Instance the Khulja Sim Sim contest launched in April 2002. Bharti Airtel, Asias leading integrated telecom service provider, announced the launch of the Magic Dekho, Talktime Pao offer on its DTH service digital TV last month. This is an exclusive offer for Airtel Prepaid Mobile customers across the country where on buying a digital TV connection at Rs. 2000 with 3 months of Super Value Pack, the Airtel Prepaid Mobile customer receives 1000 minutes of local Airtel to Airtel talktime.

Sources of new product development Radical transformation in cellular industry Intensifying competition in light of immense market potential To retain its position as market leader Forecast of higher market growth Estimated number of subscribers to reach over 25 million by the year 2004 Customers exposure to media, raised expectation

TARGETING THE CUSTOMERS: On the basis of Geographic variables:Region wise :East Region (West Bengal, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh etc.) West Region (Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra etc.) South Region (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala etc.) North Region (Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh etc.) Central Region (Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand etc.) Density of area :Urban (Cities Such As Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Jaipur etc.) Semi-urban (Nasik, Aurangabad, Ahemadnagar etc.) Rural (Baramati, Khed, Saswad etc.)

On the basis Demographic variables:Age :1) From age group 18 < 35 As most of the people start using a mobile from the age of 18 so we may make a segment of a age group 18 to 35 as most of them will be students and remaining will be young professionals working in the industry. So they need SMS plans for chatting and they also need cheap calling rates. We may provide the FRINDZ card to them. 2) 35 and above As most of these group will be working and dont use mobile for SMS and chatting. So this group needs only the calling facility at a reasonable rate. This Group may continue using the general plan. Income PREPAID & POSTPAID Generally the mobile service providers plan their marketing strategies according to the prepaid market and postpaid market. So it basically depends upon the income of the consumer that whether he selects the prepaid or postpaid. Generally the consumers with low income choose prepaid and consumers with high income choose postpaid. On the basis of Behavioral variables Brand Loyalty We can also segment it on the basis of the loyal customers and non-loyal customers of the brand. We can provide various schemes and offers to the loyal customers to retain him with our product.

Targeting of Airtel Airtel has targeted the premium and upper middle class. The motto behind this is only those segments should be targeted who value time and have the paying capacity. During the introduction stage there was a huge pressure to get consumers across to hook up with their brand, because getting them to Airtel by their earlier brand and switching their brand loyalty was too tough. Airtel marketers have been concentrating totally on the business executive class but now that the basic viable volumes has been built up and prices have declined to a certain extent they are planning to venture further field. TARGETING AREAS Professionals by giving free calls in postpaid connections. Entrepreneur by giving various plan in which they may get internal calling free. Youth with the FRIENDZ Scheme. Targeting Students by introducing postpaid connection only for students and with zero rentals.

BRAND STRATEGIES OF AIRTEL: BRAND POSITIONING: Focus on distribution base in all circles Availability of Magic cards in the remotest parts of operating circles Positioned the brand against competing ones on several value added service features Emphasized on one-on-one relationship with the customers Communicated with vibrant colors, local language and simplicity that captured customers minds The product is supposed to be a business efficiency tool. A lifestyle revolution and a status symbol. The emphasis is to remove misconception that the cell phone is an expensive means of communication. Its a day to day use commodity and is no more a symbol of status. When it comes to Airtel who can forget the melodious, sweet music of its composed by A.R.Rehman. The music attracts us in various forms such as chorus, whistle, piano and in many other forms. The latest advertisements of Airtel Jo tera hai who mera hai and Kyun ki hare k friend jaruri hot hai have created a brand image in the minds of youngsters. This is one of the positioning strategy of Bharti Airtel. Airtel Branding 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.

Airtels previous logo had both white and red colors interchangeably. The interesting part was that the word Air was written in black with a white background while Tel was written in white on a red background. Sometimes they also included their slogan Express Yourself with the logo

REPOSITIONING OF THE BRAND: On 18 November 2010, Airtel rebranded itself in India in the first phase of a global rebranding strategy. The company unveiled a new logo with 'airtel' written in lower case. Designed by London-based brand agency, The Brand Union, the new logo is the letter 'a' in lowercase, with 'airtel' written in lowercase under the logo.[ On 23 November 2010, Airtel's Africa operations were rebranded to 'airtel'. Sri Lanka followed on 28 November 2010 and on 20 December 2010, Warid Telecom rebranded to 'airtel' in Bangladesh.

But today the logo looks more like a curved A with little bit of highlighting to indicate what they call dynamism and the warm and friendly appeal of Airtel. They have also said that it represents a dynamic force of energy which would bring the management and customers closer.

If this wasnt enough, AR Rahman after his debacle with the CWG tune (though the remix was much better) comes back with a theme song having a younger and international feel to it. Their new commercial shows how a couple comes together due to the Airtel 3G technology which interestingly will be launched in India only by December. Airtel is offering services now in 19 Asian and African countries where truthfully speaking it has not yet reached leadership status though its there on that path. Through their rebranding and repositioning exercise, they aim to achieve an international appeal wherein customers not only in India but across the world recall their brand. With these points in mind, they seem to have embarked on this ambitious journey. Its a taken that wherever Airtel plans to expand around the globe, Indi a will be its most important market.. Therefore the biggest move everyone was waiting for was their introduction of 3G services in India. But instead Airtel came up with a complete rebranding exercise including a new logo, TV commercial and signature tune. The previous logo was one of the most recognized logos in our country. Anyone and everyone be it from an illiterate person to a CEO knew that was Airtel. One of the reasons for it reaching somewhat of a generic brand status was its easily identifiable logo.

PRICING STRATEGY Revamped pricing strategy Varied call charges based on the time when the call was made E.g. Delhi users were charged Rs. 1.35(per 30 secs) and Rs 0.99 (per 30 secs) for incoming calls in the time slot of 8.00 A.M 10.00 P.M. The rates were lowered at nights to Rs. 0.67 and Rs. 0.49 respectively Magic was also made available in Rs 290 as against Rs 300 previously Launched special offers free talk time worth Rs 290 to new subscribers, Free voice mail service for a period of three months also offered

TAGLINES USED BY AIRTEL

ADVERTISEMENT STRATEGY

Airtel spends crores of rupees every year in advertisements in all avenues of mass communication. While radio happens to be the cheapest means of mass communication, the most widely mode is that of television. Though advertising on television is the costliest proponent among all the modes of communication, print media is also used aggressively by Airtel to serve its purposes. The advertising strategy spreads two basic purposes for the company, namely: It creates pervasiveness, allows Airtel to be in the eyes of the consumers all the time. Even the audience is not obligated to pay heed to the advertisements; the high creativity quotient of Airtel advertisements makes them virtually impossible to get unnoticed. Various market experts have rated Airtel Ads very highly on various parameters. It creates pervasiveness, allows Airtel to be in the eyes of the consumers all the time. Even the audience is not obligated to pay heed to the advertisements; the high creativity quotient of Airtel advertisements makes them virtually impossible to get

unnoticed. Various market experts have rated Airtel Ads very highly on various parameters. The trust factor of Airtel amplifies greatly with the caliber of its brand ambassadors. The likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Vidya Balan, A.R. Rahman have been the brand ambassadors of Airtel at some point of time or the other. One of the reasons for the lasting effects of the Airtel ads has been the reinvention of the content displayed. The recent ad campaign of Barriers Break when people Talk is a highly emotional ad campaign connecting people.

Har Ek Friend ZarOOri Hota Hai has captured the imagination of the nations youth. It's a song that's on everyone's lips and status messages on the social networks. But for those

in adland, the new Airtel TVC 'Har Ek Friend Zaroori Hota Hai' heralds a new thought for the brand, and its first piece of communication created by indie agency Taproot, which won a slice of the business in July.

On the new campaign, the Airtel spokesperson said, "Released on the back of our country wide launch of 3G services and communication supporting that, the new campaign targets the youth with an evergreen theme of Friendship and its relevance. Friends remain a critical part of everyone's lives and more so for the youth. At their age, friends are actually family. And our new brand campaign captures this evolving trend among todays youth in a fresh young ad with a powerful youth anthem - 'Har Ek Friend Zaroori Hota Hai'. Talking about the communication task given by Airtel, Agnello Dias, co-founder and chief creative officer, Taproot, said, "It was to create an idea that retained the core of the Airtel brand and struck a chord across age groups even while the execution resonated with the youth. The idea came after long exhaustive sessions with the Airtel team and meeting youth consumers in several cities with the airtel team. In fact, the actual creative platform was arrived at along with the client in a brainstorm."

COMPETITIORS ANALYSIS:

To counter Bharatis waiver on airtime charges for incoming calls and 32K SIM cards in Mumbai, BPL Mobile and Hutchison. Made incoming calls free in Mumbai Launched 32K SIM cards Cut call charges by 50% from Rs 3 to Rs 1.49 (60 seconds)

MTNL slashed tariff rates of its Dolphin cellular service in Mumbai and Delhi Escotel, leading service provider in UP (West), launched roaming services for its prepaid customers Spice

Allowed national roaming named Spice Quickly on its prepaid card Awarded free talk time to winners of a Soccer World Cup related promotional event Reduced tariff rates on its prepaid cellular cards in Karnataka Offered useful information such as train timings, astrology, news, movie tickets, cricket updates, and stock market news through its band Genie

Idea cellular Invested 7% of its net revenue to focus on creating brand awareness and launched an aggressive advertising campaign Announced to offer value added services such as games on mobiles, SMS in 9 languages and prepaid roaming facility

Idea ChitChat in Andhra Pradesh offered to win gold coins, watches and talk-time under a special scheme

Sr. No.

Company

No. Of Subscribers (In Mn) April12 May12 21.86 18 16.77 8.06 3.02 2.16 2.03

% Market Share April12 28.67 24.39 22.27 10.59 3.92 2.79 2.75 May12 29.03 23.91 22.27 10.71 4.01 2.87 2.70

%Growth

Service Areas

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Bharti BSNL Vodafone IDEA Aircel Reliance Spice

20.68 17.59 16.06 7.64 2.83 2.01 1.98

5.71 2.33 4.42 5.50 6.71 7.46 2.53

23 21 16 11 7 8 2

8 9

MTNL BPL TOTAL

2.02 1.31 72.12

2.1 1.29 75.29

2.80 1.82 100.00

2.79 1.71 100.00

3.96 -1.53

2 1

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION: The Airtel ads, on paper, on TV, or on a hoarding or anywhere have a distinct recognition and appeal. The gamut of advertisements Airtel has used seem to have maintained a specific genre among them. The advertisements have more often than not talked much more about the values than the product or the service. Or maybe the product and the benefit have always been very intrinsically knit into a value Some of these ads have a sense of grandeur about them while others have family orientation, relations or innocent love as the underlying storyline. They have never been loud and in a way they always have been very decent and simple. The celebrities also have always been suitably chosen for each of these advertisements depending upon the image of themselves thy have created in common public. To add to all of this a very catchy slogan always goes along with these ads. Examples would be, Express yourself, Barriers break when people talk and Pyar ke beech mein kabhi dooriyan na aayen AIRTEL PPT\New Airtel Ad So Romantic ! sweet voice, awesome ! - YouTube.flv Airtel, also, has maintained a safe distance from most of the criticisms associated with advertising. No misleading, no huge claims, no gloss-ups. Just simple emotional bond with the consumers- that has been the crux of the advertising strategy of Airtel over the years.

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