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MARKET ANALYSIS OF TELECOM SECTOR

SUBJECT : PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING

SUBMITTED BY:

AAKANKSHA GUPTA (01-MBA-15)

ANKITA MAHAJAN (09-MBA-15)

SHRADHIMA KHAJURIA (51-MBA-15)

CONTENTS

1. BHARTI AIRTEL LTD INTRODUCTION PRODUCT OFFERINGS MARKET SEGMENTATION MARKET TARGETING BRAND POSITIONING

- STRATEGIES- CO-BRANDING- AD CAMPAIGNS- DIGITAL MARKETING

CONCLUSION

2. IDEA CELLULAR INTRODUCTION PRODUCT OFFERINGS MARKET SEGMENTATION MARKET TARGETING BRAND POSITIONING

- STRATEGIES- CO-BRANDING- AD CAMPAIGNS- DIGITAL MARKETING

CONCLUSION

3. BSNL INTRODUCTION PRODUCT OFFERINGS MARKET SEGMENTATION MARKET TARGETING BRAND POSITIONING

- STRATEGIES- CO-BRANDING- AD CAMPAIGNS

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- DIGITAL MARKETING CONCLUSION

4. RELIANCE INTRODUCTION PRODUCT OFFERINGS MARKET SEGMENTATION MARKET TARGETING BRAND POSITIONING

- STRATEGIES- CO-BRANDING- AD CAMPAIGNS- DIGITAL MARKETING

CONCLUSION

5. AIRCEL INTRODUCTION PRODUCT OFFERINGS MARKET SEGMENTATION MARKET TARGETING BRAND POSITIONING

- STRATEGIES- CO-BRANDING- AD CAMPAIGNS- DIGITAL MARKETING

CONCLUSION

6. VODAFONE INTRODUCTION PRODUCT OFFERINGS MARKET SEGMENTATION MARKET TARGETING BRAND POSITIONING

- STRATEGIES- CO-BRANDING

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- AD CAMPAIGNS- DIGITAL MARKETING

CONCLUSION7. BIBLIOGRAPHY

BHARTI AIRTEL LTD.

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1.1 INTRODUCTION

Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in

20 countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company ranks

amongst the top 4 mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers. Airtel is a

name that connects with millions of people in India. Today, this telecom giant is amongst the

most trusted telecommunication brands in the world.

From the humble beginnings in the Indian telecom industry in 1986; Airtel had its roots in

Bharti Telecom Limited. Founded in 1986 by Sunil Bharti Mittal, the company was the

first in India to offer push button telephones.

The company then went on to launch various telecom technologies to the Indian market and

had innovation at its heart. Going on to acquire license to build a cellular network in Delhi,

Bharti Telecom Limited laid the ground work for the mobile operations of the company in

the year 1992. It began operations in Delhi in the year 1995 as Bharti Tele-Ventures. The

service was extended to various other states by various acquisitions and partnerships.

In India, the company's product offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services,

mobile commerce, fixed line services, high speed DSL broadband, IPTV, DTH,

enterprise services including national & international long distance services to carriers.

In the rest of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G wireless services and mobile commerce. Airtel

globally rebranded itself in 2010 and it now follows the ‘One Network’ strategy across all

Airtel operating countries

1.2 PRODUCT OFFERINGS

The various product offerings of Airtel are given below:

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1.3 MARKET SEGMENTATION

Due to diminishing marginal returns on its voice revenues, Airtel was forced to abandon its one size fits all demographic segmentation. It came up with a strategy where it classified users into different segments.Segmentation can be defined as the process of dividing the market into customers with similar interests into one segment

There are basically 4 levels of segmentation and Airtel segmented its market as:

i. Segment marketing : Here the target market is divided into different segments on the basis of homogenous needs. Airtel has broadly divided the whole market into 2 categories –prepaid and postpaid.

ii. Niche Marketing : It can be defined as the marketer’s effort to position their product or service in smaller markets that have similar attributes and have been neglected by other marketers. Airtel launched its product blackberry in this category which particularly focused on the upper business class who have to be in touch with the world every time.

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AIRTEL

Phone

Post-paid Mobile

Prepaid Mobile

Landline Telephony

TV

IPTV

Digital TV

Airtel Movies

Internet

Broadband Internet

GPRS

3G

4G LTE

Airtel Shop

Airtel Gifts

Airtel Money.

Mobiles

Laptops

TVLandline phones

mobile accessories

computer accessories

Airtel Live

Music

Cricket

Games

Astrology

Antivirus

Hello tunes

News

Alerts

iii. Local marketing : In this segment companies have to focus on the requirements of the local markets to be successful. Airtel is focusing on local marketing by their low tariff plans in rural and even urban cities.

iv. Individual Marketing : In this segmentation, companies focus on individual customers and try to be in touch with them by phone calls, email etc. Airtel regularly calls its every customer and tells them about its new features and schemes.

Figure 1 Market Segmentation Of Airtel Live

Airtel segmented its consumer market on the basis of:-

1. Geographical segmentation: Airtel segments the market on the basis of states, as they have different plans for different states. The different geographic regions are handled independently and different campaigns are run according to the tastes and preferences of people in each region.

2. Demographic segmentation: The market is divided into groups based on demographic attributes like age, gender, income, occupation, religion, family life cycle etc

i. Age and lifecycle: Recognizing that senior citizens have the need to keep in touch with their children and relatives who may be located far away, Airtel came up with a senior plan which offered a discount on one STD number and one local number. Besides, subscribers of this plan would get special discounts for health check-ups and would have a facility to club bills with that of their children.

ii. Gender: The Company has also launched special packages to target the women. Airtel had started the Ladies Special plan targeted at women and allowed subscriber to receive

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special beauty and lifestyle tips, apart from subscriptions to cosmopolitan and housekeeping magazines. The plan also offers women the option to club the monthly bills with that of their spouses.eg: Inspiring women concert , Women of substance, etc.

Figure 2 Inspiring Women Concert

Figure 3 Women of Substance

iii. Income: Airtel also segmented the market on the basis of income through their corporate plans as well as through the launching of Green SIM Cards for farmers. They had started the corporate scheme on the basis of the higher usage rate and higher income persons.

Figure 4 Green SIM Cards

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Figure 5 Airtel for Corporates

iv. Generation: Airtel had started ‘Friendz’ pre-paid connection, SMS plans and VAS like hello tunes, which was targeted towards the 15-25 year age. This includes phone-to-phone (P2P) recharge facility, enabling the consumer to transfer talk time and validity to any Airtel prepaid subscriber. In addition comes the introduction of ‘Hot Spot’ tariffs where Airtel Friendz customers can enjoy tariff discounts at pre-designated places within the city.

Figure 6 Friendz’ pre-paid

3. Psychographic segmentation: In this segmentation, marketers segment the market on the basis of motivation, values, belief, lifestyle, personality etc

i. Lifestyle: Airtel focused its attention on two groups in particular.

a. The first group was known as "funsters" -- consumers aged between 18-35 years old, who share a common trait -- a high adoption of VAS. Airtel believes that with some

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targeted marketing, spending from this group can increase quite significantly. The Telco has exclusive tie-ups with application providers like Google and has identified music-on-demand as a key value proposition.

Figure 7 Music on Demand

b. The other segment of focus is the "achievers", who are the top five percent of mobile users. While this segment isn't a high adopter of VAS, it contributes to revenues nearly 10 times that of Airtel's ARPU.To enhance customer experience for this segment, Airtel has separate priority relationship managers. It also partnered with HTC and Blackberry to offer highend handsets catering specifically for those customers who want to be in touch with their peers or their subordinates, colleagues etc.

ii. Personality: Airtel last year had also started life Time Validity scheme for the persons who are not financially strong and can’t afford the normal schemes.

4. Behavioral segmentation : Organisations also divide the market on the basis of behavior that the customer shows towards the usage of products. Various variables for segmenting market on the basis of purchase behaviour of customers are occasions, benefits, user status, user rate, loyalty etc.

i. Occasions: Airtel on the occasion of Independence day, introduced a recharge coupon of Rs 1947 with two years validity for its Delhi and NCR prepaid customersand many other offers in collaboration with Apple.

Figure 8 Airtel Independence Day Offers

ii. Benefits: Airtel also provides various tangible and intangible benefits for its customers. Like Airtel launched various tangible benefits like validity schemes for its customers and

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intangible benefits like discounts on next bills, roaming, voice mail, fax mail, close user group etc.

Figure 9 Benefits: Discounts

iii. Usage rate: Airtel very often comes up with schemes like Get the talk time of 1111 on the recharge on 1000 i.e. getting more talk time value for which customers are paying, ab baatein hongi hazaar campaign is another example.

Figure 10 Usage Offers

1.4 MARKET TARGETING

Airtel was the first company to target specific customers and it came out with

advertising its group card labeled as ‘Friendz’. In fact, until now, the market was

treated as homogenous.

Airtel then announced Senior citizen cards targeted at those above 60. The “Friends

card” is for those who wish to restrict themselves to their group with low calling

rates and some free messages.

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Airtel introduced its Airtel Live! The value added services were provided to

customers to generate more revenue. Hence, they introduced value added cards,

which would help to download ring tones and other fancy stuff.

Airtel ads were categorized by mostly as emotional ads. They had a differentiation

point from their competitors as well as innovative.

Moreover, Airtel has been targeting posh areas and customers who value speed and

want good service and as Airtel is mostly known for its good services, they have been

able to serve in best manner.

So, Airtel meticulously segments its market. Apart from the geographic segmentation, which

divides the Indian market into east, west, south, north and central regions, the market is also

segmented in each region on the basis of age and income. The different geographic regions are

handled independently and different campaigns are run according to the tastes and

preferences of people in each region. Under each region, age and income play an important

role in determining the extent of mobile usage.

Hence Airtel caters mainly to two different categories each in age and income.

It targets younger population by providing them cheap call/msg rates at night and also

cheap SMS plans, while the elder population is targeted by plans for calls at reasonable

rates. In the income categories, the lower income people are targeted by offering them cheap

and affordable lifetime validity prepaid cards, that can be used for incoming calls; while the

higher income groups are targeted by offering them premium services like VAS(value added

services), GPRS plans and 3G and 4G technology.

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Figure 11 Airtel Market Segmentation ,Targeting & Positioning

1.5 BRAND POSITIONING

Effective Brand Positioning is contingent upon identifying and communicating a brand's uniqueness, differentiation and verifiable value.

Figure 12 Brand Positioning Model

Initial Branding

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Initially, the target group was elite professionals since tariff rates were high. Airtel has been positioned as an aspirational and lifestyle brand, in a way that has

trivialized the price in the mind of the consumer. It was pitched not merely as a mobile service, but as something that gave it a badge value.

The Brand was developed to connote leadership in network, innovations, offerings and services.

1.5.1Brand Positioning Strategies

Airtel positions itself as juvenile brand linkages to celebrities such as SRK and Sachin. Airtel is transforming itself fully into a service led brand.

1. “Power to keep in touch”- The Leadership Campaign

Airtel was on a power trip: the logo was black, uppercase bold lettering; and the baseline was "the power to keep in touch”.

The taglines emphasised that stance: "Airtel celebrates the spirit of leadership" and "The first choice of the corporate leaders".

2. “Leadership” to “Touch Tomorrow”

Bharti decided to ‘humanize’ the brand ‘Airtel’ in 2000. It started with Bharti launching its new ‘Touch Tomorrow’ campaign which aimed at strengthening its relationship with its customers and make the brand ‘softer’ to cater a wide variety of people across the society.

The advertising became two-pronged: a product-driven communication that showcased new offerings like the Magic prepaid card, and an emotional communication to connect with younger people.

3. “Touch Tomorrow” to “Live Every Moment”

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Airtel came out with a new logo. The logo signified a strong, contemporary and confident symbol for a brand that was always ahead of the rest. It had two solid, red rectangular forms whose counter forms create an open doorway. Capital “A” showed leadership and red dot on “i” showed innovation.

In 2002, Airtel signed on music composer A R Rahman and changed its tune to "Live every moment": Rahman's signature tune for Airtel is, perhaps, the most downloaded ringtone in India.

4. “ Live every moment ” to “ Express Yourself ”

Later, Airtel adopted the "Express yourself" positioning, the emotional angle was predominant – it wanted to stand out in what was becoming a highly commoditized, crowded market.

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5. “ Express Yourself ” to “ Har ek friend zaroori hota hai ”

• Airtel came up with a new logo. The new logo was supposed to give Airtel and the brand a more "youthful and international" look. The acquisition of ZAIN added about 40 million subscribers from African countries. The change in logo has been done keeping in mind its synchronization with the logo of Zain.

The logo is a modern representation of the letter 'a' on a bright red background.

The unique symbol is an interpretation of the ‘a’ in Airtel. The curved shape & the gentle highlights on the red colour make it warm &

inviting,almost as if it were a living object. The colour Red shows the heritage. It is the colour of energy & passion that expresses the

dynamism that has made Airtel the success it is today, in India, and now on the global stage.

The logo is called “The Wave”.

1.5.2 Co-Branding of Airtel

Airtel made partnership with brands, it formed an alliance to work together, creating marketing synergy.

1. Bharti Airtel has entered into an agreement with browser expert Opera to offer a

customised version of Opera Mini internet browser for its mobile customers in 20

countries across Asia and Africa. The mobile phone service provider claims that this move

will make the browser available to a total of 253 million of its customers.

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2. Bharti Airtel and Nokia has launched a customized version of Nokia Xpress Browser

for the Airtel customers with Nokia Asha and select Series 40 devices.  The Nokia Xpress

browser usually comes pre-loaded on Asha phones, but the new co-branded version would

offer the Airtel subscribers and enhanced experience, by providing them with one-click

access to Airtel’s premium mobile internet services and easy discoverability of rich content

on-the-go.

3. Airtel will Launch Branded 4G Smart phones at Rs. 4,000 to Counter Reliance Jio. The

company is in discussions with Chinese vendors and even held talks with Taiwan

based Foxconn, which has set up its mobile manufacturing plant in India. Airtel has

started launching 4G service across the country in a phased manner.

The object for this is to combine the strength of two brands, in order to increase the premium

consumers are willing to pay, to combine the different perceived properties associated with these

brands with a single product. Ultimately, co-branding helps both the partners as each contributes

some aspect of its brand (expertise, distribution, status, etc.) to create an offering that neither

could develop as effectively on their own.

1.5.3 Airtel Ad Campaigns

i.) A.R.Rahman Campaign

16 states, 600 million people, one service provider.

One network that connects India, like A. R Rahman moves India with his music.

Target Group: People who need wireless network, people who want to connect on the go,

people who want to be the part of the revolution of wireless communication.

This music went on to become the “Airtel Signature Tune”.

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Figure 13 Airtel - A.R. Rahaman

ii.) Join The Dots Campaign

“Few relation are very important, they can’t be avoided - When relations are based

on love and affections, distance is nothing and conversation is possible - keep

connected with Airtel”.

Target Group: special relations Son, Daughter, Wife, Husband, Mother, Father ( Every

Family member).

Figure 14 Airtel-Join The Dots Campaign

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iii.)Breaking The Barriers - Communication Boundaries Campaign

‘Express Yourself’ platform making the breaking of communication barriers its one of the focal points. Communication Boundaries.

“Deewarein gir jaati hain, faasle mit jaate hain, jahan do baatein ho jaati hain (Barriers break when people talk).”

Connecting cultures, longing to communicate without any barriers the society places, making new friends, caring, unity, peace, free mindedness.

Target Group: long distance relationship Son/ daughter away from home, husband away from his wife for business assignment, friends separated because of careers.

Figure 15 Airtel- Breaking The Barriers Campaign

iv.) Endless Goodbye Campaign

“A man and his girl are never apart even after they say goodbye”

With Airtel 3G video calls, you always stay close to your loved ones, no matter how far

you are.

Love-Affection-Togetherness

Target Group: people who always want to see and talk with each other.

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Figure 16 Airtel- Endless Goodbyes Campaign

v.) Street Performer Campaign

“Dil Jo Chahe Pass Laye” Wherever you go, carry your entertainment with you Entertainment anywhere any day! Target Group: On the GO entertainment lovers, Demanding.

Figure 17 Airtel-Street Performer Campaign

vi.) Together Good Things Happen Campaign

The growth of Airtel is related to Shahrukh khan from its “No one to someone to stardom”, which is connected to 110 million fans.

Unity, togetherness, networking, Aspiration, chasing the dreams, relationships, success. “Life is all about experience”

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“You cannot be alone when 110 million people are connected with you” Target Group: Aspirating People, close friends, people who loves networking, people

who want to be together.

Figure 18 Airtel -Together good things happen campaign

vii.) Har Ek Friend Zaroori Hota Hai Campaign

Besides entertaining one and all with its catchy jingle, the ad served to position Airtel as a brand that stands for friendship, and helps one to stay in touch with all kinds of friends.

Target Group: The advertisement campaign of Airtel “Har Ek Friend Zaroori Hota Hai” caught the today’s youth sentiments and positioning amongst the brand Airtel in the most vibrant and happening target segment.

Figure 19 Airtel - Har ek friend zaroori hota hai Campaign

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viii.) Jo Tera Hai Wo Mera Hai Campaign

“Friendship is all about sharing” Picturisation: vibrant, peppy, colourful and pretty much bursting with youth, and the

upbeat mood of the ad is complemented by an anthem that has started creating quite a buzz on the digital space.

Relation, happiness, Youngsters, Masti, Cool factor, Memorable moments in friends. Target Group: Teenagers, youngsters, Tech Savvy.

Figure 20 Airtel -Jo tera hai woh mera hai Campaign

ix.) Talk All Night Long   Campaign

Airtel takes a romantic route in its latest campaign to push its unlimited internet and night calling category and narrates the tale of a soon-to-be-married young couple.

The campaign aims to promote the 'Unlimited internet and calls at night' offer under Airtel's 'Night Store' .

Target Group: Youth, Couples.

Figure 21 Airtel- Talk all night long campaign

x.) Airtel 4G Campaign

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Airtel has launched the 4G campaign to position itself as the “fastest” network for data uploads/downloads.

Airtel 4G is available to customers across a range of smart devices including mobile phones, dongles, 4G hotspots and Wi-Fi dongles.

The service is available in 14 circles and 296 towns. The company has also tied up with online marketplace Flipkart to provide an Airtel 4G

sim with a 4G phone purchase with mobile giant Samsung.

Figure 22 Airtel 4G Campaign

1.5.4 Digital Marketing

1. Airtel Leveraged Digital Marketing For Its Campaign ‘Har Ek Friend Zaruri Hota Hai’

Figure 23 Airtel Campaign

Objective: After a tough year of 2010, Airtel set out with an objective to make the brand more contemporary and youthful.

Insight Used: They wanted to create a ‘ Friendship Brand’. The insight used was that everyone has a different set of friends at a particular time in life, and technology and mobile phones connect a person to all of them.

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Business Objective: Brand reinforcement and positioning by reaching out and engaging with customers, mostly youngsters.

Medium Of Digital Marketing used: Social Media marketing (Facebook and YouTube) and Mobile marketing.

How did Airtel do it: As a part of their digital campaign, they invited people to create different friend types and tag their companions appropriately. The person who tags the most number of friends stands to win a trip to Las Vegas in the US with his or her group.

This created a rage amongst youngsters and they were addicted to it like a moth to a flame. Soon people started liking the video, commenting, sharing the fun and all of a sudden all seems to work for Airtel. They succeeded in unleashing the power of youth, only to the envy of its competitors.

Results: The outcome was phenomenal! It not only achieved its objective but also won a lot of accolades from the corporate as well as the general public. Airtel, went on to win top accolades at the Effie Awards 2012, under the Digital Advertising (Online/Mobile Communications) category.

2. Journey Of Airtel With Social Media

i.) AIRTEL- Twitter mania goes on!!

Figure 24 Airtel Twitter Mania

“Airtel joins hands with twitter” (October 2009) and jumped into this twitter pond. In order to continue with its commitment in serving its customers, brand made a shrewd move and stratified itself into three categories –

@airtel_in (1512 followers)

@Airtel_Presence (5,416 followers)

@airtelnews (3,765 followers)

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Each of these forums as per their names are conveying as well as listening to consumers actively. The policy of pacifying the angry customers and also appreciating the loyalists has revived the Airtel’s good customer care services times.

Presently, The Twitter handle @airtelindia is the mouthpiece of the brand that broadcasts all the self-promo updates. Any customer directed towards its way are redirected towards its customer care handle @airtel_presence, which is notorious for acting like a bot.

Both handles are fairly active but can afford a world of difference in their conversation style. On social media, you can’t afford to be boring.

ii.) Airtel & YouTube

With more than 340 videos and almost 9 million views, the Airtel channel on YouTube is doing a good work when it comes to content. It is highly engaging and visually impressive as well. The videos are shared regularly..

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Figure 25 YouTube & Airtel

iii.) Airtel & Facebook The brand is doing a good job at handling customer complaints posted on their Facebook wall w.r.t speed. the brand does have various other Facebook pages such as: Airtel Cricket, Airtel Soccer, Airtel Formula1 etc. which are buzzing with good activity. Especially the Airtel Cricket page.

Figure 26 Airtel & Facebook

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CONCLUSION

Airtel is to be found the best service provider of network service and customer care service as well. This is one company in the industry that can be found delivering as per their customer expectations. That’s why customers have rated it not as satisfactory but excellent.

Learning Importance of digital medium for marketing and with collaborated efforts the brand was able to position itself as more contemporary and youthful through it’s digital marketing platform for Hare k friend zroori hota hai and Joh tera hai who mera hai Campaign.

Airtel has the highest brand recall value among all its competitors. Target Market of Airtel is mainly Youth (friends, Couples, etc. ) The Point Of Difference that exists for Airtel is that it is the only telecom service

provider offering 4G Services.

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IDEA CELLULAR

2.1 INTRODUCTION

Idea Cellular is an Aditya Birla Group Company, India's first truly multinational corporation. Idea is a pan-India integrated GSM operator offering 2G and 3G services, and has its own NLD and ILD operations, and ISP license. Idea has won spectrum to launch 4G services across 10 key markets and has initiated multiple steps towards introduction of 4G LTE services on 1800 MHz, in a phased manner from calendar year 2016 onwards.

With revenue in excess of $5 billion; revenue market share of nearly 18.2% (as on Q4FY15); and subscriber base of over 165 million, Idea is one of the top 3 mobile operators. Idea is the sixth largest mobile operator in the world, based on number of subscribers in single country operations (GSMA Intelligence). Idea carries a traffic of over 2 billion minutes a day.

Idea has a deep rooted network across the length and breadth of the country comprising of over 1,49,196 cell sites covering 7,513 towns and 3,63,580 villages as on Q1FY16.

Using the latest in technology, Idea provides world-class service delivery through the most extensive network of customer touch points, comprising of nearly 6,752 Idea touch points. Idea’s customer service delivery platform is ISO 9001:2008 certified, making it the only operator in the country to have this standard certification for all 22 service areas and the corporate office.

Idea has consistently stayed ahead of the industry in VLR reporting. Idea’s thought leadership on Mobile Number Portability (MNP), with Net Gain of over 14 million customers as on June 30, 2015, has enabled it to stay as the top gainer among other telecom players. Every 4th mobile user who exercises choice through MNP, prefers Idea.

Idea has been a pioneer in introducing customized product offerings for segmented customers. It is the first mobile operator to introduce innovative value added services in the Indian telephony market, and has remained ahead of the industry in data product offerings. Driving the growth of mobile broadband in India, Idea services over 37.2 million data users (as on Q1FY16). Today, data contributes over 17.7% of Idea’s service’s revenue.

Idea has received several national and international recognitions for its path-breaking innovations in mobile telephony products and services. Idea won the prestigious Voice & Data Telecom Leadership Awards 2014 under the Leadership Recognition category “for various successful initiatives and deployments in the areas of Business Services, Internet & Broadband, Business Analytics, Information Security, and Customer Service”. It was recognized as “Most Innovative Telecom Service Provider of the Year” and “Mobile Data Service Provider of the Year“ by Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific ICT Awards 2015.

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2.2 PRODUCT OFFERINGS

The pre paid and post paid plans are complemented by various value added services which act as a differentiating factor:

SMS Conferencing “Reply all”

Idea Multiplayer gaming

Different GPRS settings for different handsets

M-chat

Cricket alerts

Flash SMS

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IDEA

P0ST-PAID

PLANS

NMNP

ACTIVATIONS

PRE-PAID

PLANS

NMNP

ACTIVATIONS

ONLINE RECHARGE

Internet

2G

3G

GET IDEA 3G

3G USAGE CALCULATOR

VAS

IDEA APP MALL

DIALER TONES

CRICKET & SPORTS

HUMOUR & ASTROLOGY

ROAMING

INTERNATIONAL ROAMING

DOMESTIC ROAMING

Voice SMS

Idea fresh

Idea Radio

Dialer tone search

Background music

There are exclusive offering for corporate plans as a part of its business offering. There are exclusive services for its business clients like:

1. Idea Remote meter Reading Remote meter reading is an area focused on the automatic reading of meters - the non-manual collection, storage and utilization of   data from meters for monitoring and increasing the efficiency of processes.

2. Vehicle Tracking System VTS enables businesses to keep track of their fleets of vehicles through a VTS unit installed in a vehicle. VTS unit has a GPS device (to take the location coordinates), GSM modem (which is programmed to initiate an outgoing SMS / GPRS session) and a GSM SIM card.

2.3 MARKET SEGMENTATION

i.) Segment Marketing: Idea Cellular currently segments its customer profile into 2 basic groups:

1) Prepaid Customers and

2) Postpaid Customers

Prepaid Customers are generally the personal use customer group i.e. non institutional. This segment accounted for around 80% of the customer base (2008 figures) and the remaining 20% was accounted for by the postpaid customer base.

Figure 27 Idea -Postpaid

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ii.) Local marketing: In this segment companies have to focus on the requirements of the local markets to be successful. Idea is focusing on local marketing by their low tariff plans in rural and even urban cities.

Idea has segmented its consumer market on the basis of:-

1.)Demographic segmentation: The market is divided into groups based on demographic attributes like age, gender, income, occupation, religion, family life cycle etc

i.)Income: The customer base is also segmented into groups according to the monthly revenue generated. The segmentation here is done as:

a. VIP customers: These are the customers who form the VIP group as the name suggests and comprises of MPs, MLAs,industrialists and other high profile customers. These are given high attention in services as they are key to implementation of services across their regions.

b. Corporate Customers: These are the customers having more than five connections to their name and generate revenues in excess of Rs. 10000 a month. These are usually institutionally driven connections and are post-paid customers. Service quality in terms of Value Added Services provided including preferential customer service treatment is provided to retain these high value accounts.

c. Platinum Customers: These are the customers whose current monthly expenditure on Idea Cellular Services is in excess of Rs.1500 per month. The revenue generated from these accounts includes Voice, Data and VAS services. Around 60% of these are from the post-paid group while the remaining 40% are from the pre-paid group. Institutional Customers account for around 70% of the post-paid base while the remaining are the personal usage customers.

d. Gold Customers: These are the customers providing revenues to the company betweenRs.1000 and Rs.1400 a month. The pre-paid base is again smaller in this segment accounting for nearly 35% of the customers. A healthy split is found between personal and institutional usage customers.

e. Silver Customers: This customer group provides revenues in the range of Rs.750 toRs.999 to Idea Cellular each month. Pre-paid user group is in the range of around 55% while institutional sales account for around 80% of the postpaid group.

2.) Behavioral segmentation : Organisations also divide the market on the basis of behavior that the customer shows towards the usage of products. Various variables for segmenting market on the basis of purchase behaviour of customers are occasions, benefits, user status, user rate, loyalty etc. I.) User rate/ Usage: here the segmentation is done as follows:

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a. Medium Volume users: These are the customers generating between Rs.220 to Rs.750each month. Prepaid customers form around 65% of the group while this group accounts for approximately 30% of the whole customer base of Idea Cellular.

b. Low Volume customers are the customers generating revenues less than Rs.250 per month.

The detailed segmentation is given below:

Figure 28 IDEA Micro-segmentation

2.4 MARKET TARGETING

The Target Market is the high revenue generating segment of the Platinum and Gold Customers. It is strategic for the company to increase user base in these two segments as they generate a steady income source and most being postpaid, the company is usually assured of ease of collection of bills.

Major Benefits for these customers:

These are even given treatment in Customer care. These are generally high data usage group and hence given dedicated Time Slots when

their data usage is detected to maximize usage and revenue generation as a result.

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The Metropolitan and Urban circles have mobile density of 134% as compared to 29% in rural areas. Hence, more focus should be on expanding in rural segments.

With the advent of 3G services and increasing number of smart phones, operators should focus on advanced value added services like live streams, mobile money etc.

Strategy makers should think on the pricing policy of postpaid plans of corporates and affordability of the consumers to beat the competition. Company should come with new ideas & innovations to increase the sales & market shares. Company should focus more and more on advertising to promote services in corporate world.

2.5 BRAND POSITIONING

1.Positioning As A Brand Which Helps The Society:

The brand name ‘IDEA’ is has meaningful connotations in the English language and the company has used that well in the brand building process. ‘Idea’ was the preferred choice as the brand name, since the word is spoken and understood in all major Indian languages. There advertisements are focused on an idea which helps the society. It carries a moral message catering to an issue of relevance to all like ‘education for all’, ‘power of democracy’, ‘save paper, save trees’, ‘language barrier’ etc.

Idea is associated with a brand that provides value for its entire customer base. This is conveyed through the ad campaigns which are aimed at spreading a message which will add value to the society, the flexible tariff plans which are value for money. For eg. The ad campaign by Idea on breaking the ‘language barrier’ and uniting India has been executed through 360. Campaign.

2. Establish IDEA as a ‘Champion, Elevating and Humane’ brand:

The brand communication resonates with what is happening in the society today, and hence there is a reflection of socially relevant topics in the campaigns like education, caste, elections, health etc. The key thought in all the campaigns is to offer simple solutions to complex and big problems through the power of mobile telephony in a way that’s fresh, imaginative and elevating.

1. Idea’s campaign of “World sans Division” (caste war) was the first step in this direction. It has successfully provided stature and differentiation to the brand by moving it beyond a transactional plane. The message in this advertisement highlighted the way to address the highly prevalent caste barriers that exist in the Indian society.

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2. The second campaign “Education for All” demonstrated that through mobile telephony it is possible to rid India of high level of illiteracy. The ad depicts a solution to address the education disparities across urban and rural India.

Figure 29 “Education for All” Campaign

3. The “For the people, by the people” campaign highlighted the idea of ‘Participative Management’ for Governance where two-way communication is encouraged between government and public. Imagine all of us participating in the progress of our country. By directly contributing to it. Imagine the improvement we could bring about. Imagine having a say. To those that really matter. Imagine having a medium to voice your opinion. Imagine that medium was your mobile phone. Idea's theme in the "What an Idea" series speaks about "Participative decision making". 

Figure 30 Democracy works by Idea

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Figure 31 “For the people, by the people” campaign

4. The next campaign was based on the theme of “Walk when you Talk” and offers a simple and effective solution for a critical subject such as Health & Fitness – the fact that one can stay fit by walking while talking on mobile phone.  The idea for the ‘Walk n Talk’ campaign was such that it resonated with the masses as well as with telecom. All consumers have to do, is to simply walk while they talk on their cell phones.

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Figure 32 Walk n Talk Campaign

5. Talk for India campaign on 26/11 was a campaign to encourage Indians to raise their voices against the terror attacks in Mumbai. It showed a concerned Abshishek Bachchan raising his concern for the people who lost their lives in saving the innocent. The campaign reiterated the brands stand for the welfare and justice of the society.

Figure 33 Talk for India Campaign

6. Oongli Cricket was started during the IPL season 2010. The customers were asked to send their predictions about various questions in the ads. The campaign was aimed at capturing the mind of cricket loving Indians.

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Figure 34 6.Oongli Cricket

7. Idea's campaign of the season featured World Cup-winning captains – Clive Lloyd, Kapil Dev, Allan Border, Imran Khan, Arjuna Ranatunga and Steve Waugh. They came together to support a very topical cause – the need to keep cricket clean. The multiple advertisements, each featuring one or more of these legendary personalities, were very visible. The idea of using six cricketing legends together was a powerful and unique one. This certainly helped Idea cut the clutter very well and enhance brand salience.

Figure 35 Keep Cricket Clean Campaign

8. The environment issue highlighted by the company ‘Save paper, Save trees’ highlighted how mobile phones could be used instead of paper. Use of mobile phones as a mode of payment, newspaper, taking orders in hotels was common usage of paper which could be easily substituted by mobile phones.

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Figure 36 Save paper, Save trees Campaign

9. The next campaign on breaking the ‘Language Barrier’ is aimed at uniting India by overcoming the restrictions in communication due to regional languages. This has been executed as a 360 campaign. In a first-of-its-kind initiative, Idea Language

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Helpline is being promoted through Railway's inquiry no. 139 across all regions. The passengers are being informed about Idea Language Helpline for conversational support service in local language that they can avail when they reach their new destination. As part of this program, the Idea Language Helpline is being promoted across Indian Railways network for a week. Idea Language Helpline jingle will play on 139, creating a brand connect with millions of callers who call on this number.

Figure 37 Break The Language Barrier

10. Idea’s Honey Bunny campaign, reinforces the strength of its pan-India coverage from Kashmir to Kanyakumari; Gujarat to Guwahati. In new age India, people are moving and relocating to towns and cities for education, career and family commitments, leading to more travel and communication requirements. Mobile telephony has effectively bridged distances, and Idea’s strong pan-India network offers seamless connectivity across the length and breadth of the country, connecting people with their ‘Honey Bunny’s’!”

  

Figure 38 Hello Honey Bunny Campaign Connecting India

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11. Idea suggests 3G entertainment to control Population rise in India. Don’t we all remember the last time a treacherous power-cut, in the middle of our favorite one-day match or TV soap ruined the mood, forcing us to find some other form of entertainment? Lack of entertainment in the lives of ordinary citizens could have often resulted in couples falling prey to unplanned family extensions which has added to the population of the country. Brand Idea suggests a simple and effective solution to this problem, through seamless and non-stop entertainment with Idea’s 3G services! Idea’s new brand campaign, once again based on a social theme, highlights the country’s challenge of Population inflation and suggests a simple telephony solution.Idea’s new Television ad shows Brand Ambassador Abhishek Bachchan explaining to a friend that the root cause of over population in our country is the unavailability of entertainment options for people. He suggests Idea 3G and its many innovative applications such as – Mobile TV, Gaming, Video Calling, Social Networking on Super Fast Internet – that offer non-stop entertainment to help people stay connected and entertained.The ad leaves a message that there will be ‘No Aabaadi, No Barbaadi’ because people will be ‘3G pe Busy’. The mood of the ad is light and humorous, yet with a strong connect with a larger audience, as it features people from various parts of the country, reacting similarly once their only source of entertainment i.e. TV is shut down due to a power-cut.

Figure 39 No Aabaadi ,No Barbaadi Campaign

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12. Another campaign of Idea is the one around the concept of Idea Internet Network (IIN)

that captures the sentiments prevailing among the youth of today. The insight stems

from the fact that India today is replete with stories of successful young people. And

most of these success stories are coming against all odds. Limitations like lack of funds,

time or even education isn’t dampening the spirits of these successful individuals. They

always find out a way to navigate around their problems and reach their destination.

The new campaign brings forth such stories of achievement that have been made

possible through IIN. At IIN, anyone can learn anything and being educated is not

necessarily a pre-requisite for it. Moreover, for a nation that is obsessed with

“education” and “degrees” it takes the need away from them and instead focuses on

“learning” and not just studying.

Figure 40 Idea IIN Campaigns

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13. Ignorance is no more bliss. Everybody out there is ready to make a fool of you. You need to be alert, you need to be informed, you need to be empowered. And Idea Cellular, one of India’s leading telecom company believes that access to internet on the go can not only help you stay foolproof, but also call the bluffs.In a new commercial conceptualized by Lowe Lintas, the brand has taken the concept of Idea internet on mobiles so that ‘no ullu banaoing’ in India. The minute-long ad features people from all walks of life using their internet enabled mobile phone for instant access to information and exposing liars and rumors mongers.

14. Idea has been pro-active in its marketing initiatives by starting a drive to educate the users about ‘mobile number portability’. The ads highlight the various problems users face with other telecom operators like poor customer care, poor network coverage, wrong billing

statements and encourage them to get Idea. Now get your Idea to follow you wherever

you go. Changing one’s mobile connection, finding the network which has coverage everywhere in the country, hassle-free management of multiple connections and bills – these are some of the challenges faced by Indians migrating to different cities in the hope of better living, career, and lifestyle. For those who have ‘No Idea’ on how to deal with these issues, they can simply ‘Get Idea’, suggests the new Idea campaign at a time when National Mobile Number Portability (NMNP) service has been launched in the country.

Figure 41 No Idea Get Idea-NMNP

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15. Idea Cellular says ‘do good’ and share data plans: The telecom brand has launched EasyShare, a feature where people can actually share data with others just like money. The agency has conceptualized a new TVC that is themed around people trying to do good for others by sharing Internet Data. It is definitely a new concept where people are helping others by sharing data. However, the do good in this concept is only limited till people who own a smartphone.

Figure 42 Easy Share Plan

2.6 DIGITAL MARKETING

1. IDEA takes on the Digital space as it expands nationally. Latest Marketing Innovation -   Dada   to connect with audience from the East . Dada - the dhoti kurta clad, long-haired, easy going, happy-go-lucky characteristic IDEA Cellular’s latest innovation in the Digital space! After an excellent consumer response to Idea Mumbai Indians campaign, comes IDEAs latest offering in digital space in the form of a virtual character called Dada. Dada’s apparent resemblance with a person hailing from East India is a deliberate attempt to create visibility for IDEA amongst the youth community on the internet, as the company rapidly expands its operations in the eastern parts of the country. Dada’s apparent speech impediment, which either comes naturally or is caused by the ever-present beetle nut leaf in his mouth, instantly connects with audience from the East.

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2. Idea Cellular Ltd. – Kolkata #ThinkYellowThinkIdea Photography Contest

Streets of Calcutta is happy to Partner with Idea Cellular Ltd. – Kolkata #ThinkYellowThinkIdea Photography Contest. The Grand Winner gets an iPad Mini and the daily winners will win Idea 3G Smart-wifi dongles bundled with 3G data. Click a photo of Kolkata with lots of Yellow in it.

Figure 43 Think Yellow Think Idea

3. Idea Cellular Launches “The Great Social Quest” Social Media Campaign: Idea Cellular, one of the telecom operators in India, has decided to take these learning experiences for netizens a notch up and is launching first-of-its-kind social media campaign called The Great Social Quest.Given the rise in penetration of smartphones, people use social media to

share their experiences with friends and family a lot more these days. Bringing an interesting twist to this, Idea will now reward these users for doing so with The Great Social Quest (#tgsq). Centred on the theme ‘Experience the World', the contest started form 20th of June, and will required contestants to complete innovative and exciting tasks. The 15 days long Quest on Facebook and Twitter, required participants to complete 15 exciting tasks, each related to 15 different countries.

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Figure 44 The Great Social Quest

2.7 CO-BRANDING

1. Idea Cellular, HDFC Bank tie-up to offer co-branded products : Aimed at leveraging each others' customer base, Idea Cellular and HDFC Bank announced a marketing tie-up to launch a range of co-branded products offering several benefits. The products include HDFC-Idea Cellular co-branded Visa credit card for idea subscribers and an Idea- HDFC Bank postpaid connection for credit card customers of HDFC. 

Figure 45 HDFC-Idea Cellular co-branded Visa credit card

2. Angry Birds-maker Rovio strikes carrier-billing deal with Idea Cellular: Angry Birds-maker Rovio has struck a carrier-billing deal with mobile operator Idea Cellular, the first of many partnerships in India as it looks to monetise the fast-growing games market in the

country. Idea will enable in-application purchases for Angry Birds Classic and Angry Birds 2.0, the latest version of the game. The tie-up with Idea will let customers download these games from a co-branded portal.

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3. No data charges for downloading music from Dhingana for Idea Cellular users: Music streaming service Dhingana has recently entered into a partnership with mobile operator Idea Cellular to offer a co-branded subscription service which will allow Idea users to download unlimited music without any data charges being applied.Android smartphone and WAP feature phone users with Idea connections can now download unlimited songs, albums and playlists, in HD quality and ad free, like Dhingana Gold on iOS – while Gold on iOS charges USD 1.99, but here the users will not be charged for the data. The downloads are encrypted in the device and subscribers can listen to them only by Dhingana’s Android app

CONCLUSION

Idea maintains a reliable, trust worthy figure of a socially responsible citizen. This is exactly perceived the same way by the consumers.

A good Brand Mantra for the brand Idea would be “Let’s bring a change, with a new idea.” This mantra highlights the fact that the company strives to bring some positive change into the society and you need not think before adopting the new idea for it is so reasonable.

The slogan – “An IDEA can change your life,” depicts the value for money concept. Idea has taken up different campaigns to attract and to differentiate itself from other

competitors. There are three main points of difference as far as Idea Cellular is concerned:

i. Advertisements communicating a social messageii. Pro active advertising (mobile number portability)iii. ‘Do good’ and share data plans

Idea Cellular has evolved very well over the years and has been continuously into marketing innovation.

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BHARAT SANCHAR NIGAM LIMITED

3.1 INTRODUCTION

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. was incorporated on 15th September 2000. It took over the business of providing of telecom services and network management from the erstwhile Central Government Departments of Telecom Services (DTS) and Telecom Operations (DTO), with effect from 1st October' 2000 on going concern basis. It is one of the largest & leading public sector units providing comprehensive range of telecom services in India. BSNL is India's oldest and largest communication service provider (CSP). It had a customer base of 12 cr as of June 2015. It has footprints throughout India except for the metropolitan cities of Mumbai and New Delhi, which are managed by Mahanagar Telephone Nigam.

BSNL has started 3G services in 290 cities and acquired more than 600,000 customers. It has planned to roll out 3G services in 760 cities across the country in 2010-11. According to users and big sources BSNL's 3G data speed is much higher than other operator and also it is competitively cheap.

BSNL provides almost every telecom service in India. The main telecom services are provided

by BSNL are Optical Infrastructure and DWDM as BSNL owns the biggest OFC network in

India. Also the DWDM network is one of the biggest in the world. Managed Network Services

to providing complete Telecom Services Solution to the Enterprise Customers i.e. MPLS

Connectivity, Point to Point Leased Lines and Internet Leased Lines. Universal Telecom

Services Fixed wire-line services and landline in local loop (WLL) using CDMA Technology

called Bfone and Tarang respectively. BSNL is major provider of Cellular Mobile Telephone

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services using GSM platform under the brand name Cellone & Excel (BSNL Mobile. WLL-

CDMA Telephone Services is a service giving both fixed line telephony & Mobile telephony.

Internet access services through dial-up connection as Prepaid, NetOne as Postpaid and ADSL

broadband as BSNL Broadband,

It Also Provides Online Games via its Games on Demand (GOD). 3G:BSNL offers the '3G' or

the'3rd Generation' services which includes facilities like video calling, mobile broadband, live

TV, 3G Video portal, streaming services like online full-length movies and video on demand etc.

FTTH i.e. Fibre To The Home Facility that offers a higher bandwidth for data transfer.

WiMAX was introduced as India's first 4th Generation High-Speed Wireless Broadband Access

Technology with the minimum speed of 256kbit/s. The focus of this service is mainly rural

customer where the wired broadband facility is not available.BSNL Landline: BSNL Landline is

a major role in India.

3.2 PRODUCT OFFERINGS

The various product offerings of BSNL are given below:

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BSNL

BSNL LANDLINE

PHONE PLUS SERVICE

NEW TELEPHONE CONNECTION

PERMANENT CONNECTION

CONCESSION RENTALS

BSNL MOBILE

POSTPAID

PREPAID

UNIFIED MESSAGING

GPRS/WAP/MMS

DEMOs

SMS & BULK SMS

BSNL WLL INTERNET SERVICES

NETWORK 2G, 3G

BROADBAND

WI-FI

CO-LOCATION SERVICE

BSNL WEB HOSTING

DIAL UP INTERNET

SMS& BULK SMS

BSNL BROADBAND

REGISTER ONLINE

TARIFF 18

USO FUNDED RURAL

BROADBAND

CHECK USAGE

INTELLIGENT NETWORK

FREE PHONE SERVICE

PREMIUM RATE SERVICE

INDIA TELEPHONE

CARD

VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORK (VPN)

VOICE VPN

UNIVERSAL NUMBER

UNIVERSAL PERSONAL NUMBER

TELE VOTING

VIDEO CONFERENCING

AUDIO CONFERENCING I NET

TELEX/ TELEGRAPH EPABX

FREE EPABX

CENTREX

3.3MARKET SEGMENTATION

Neither all customers have similar needs nor all are profitable. Market segmentation pertains to the division of a market of consumers into persons with similar needs and wants. Marketers carry out surveys to segment the target audience and apply appropriate marketing mix for better results.

Senior citizens

The details of concessions in rent bills of landline telephones, etc. which are provided to senior citizens by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited are distinct, independent, commercial entities operating in mutually exclusive geographical areas. These Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) have their own commercial policies for providing various concessions to senior citizens.

In BSNL, senior citizens of the age of 65 years and above are entitled for registration of telephone on priority under Non-OYT Special category. They are exempted from payment of registration charges.

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Conservative audiencesRural markets are delicately powerful. Certain adaptations are required to cater to the rural masses; they have unique expectation and warrant changes in all four parameters of product, price, promotion and distribution

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3.4Target Group

Middle class from urban and rural areas. All services offered by BSNL such as landline, mobile-prepaid & postpaid, WLL, lease

line, VSAT, internet (different types), Broadband etc fall in this category. Many types of internet access have been devised to cater to needs of specific customer

segments. Similarly postpaid & prepaid is suitable to different group of customers.

3.5 Positioning

Most reliable and low priced service that connects entire India.

3.6 Marketing strategies

Marketing wing came into existence along with formation of BSNL. Marketing section started functioning in November 2000 at BSNL Corporate office. Since then BSNL has

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come a long way. From no policy, procedures and system in 2000, BSNL now has marketing cells in each vertical i.e. CFA, CM and Enterprise.

Marketing budget has grown from few lakh rupees to hundreds of crore. Advertising agencies have been appointed at corporate & Circle level.

Public relation agency has also been engaged at corporate level. Many advertising campaigns have been launched since inception of BSNL on various occasions such as world cup cricket, Mobile launch, and promotional schemes. Brand ambassadors have also been appointed. Ms Preeti Zinta, Ms Deepika Padukone and Mr Abhinav Bindra have served as BSNL’s brand ambassador.

BSNL regularly participates in local & national exhibitions & melas. Roadshows are also organized. Marketing budget is allocated to Circles, which can be delegated to SSAs also. Training programs are conducted at various training centers for BSNL executives so as to make them more market oriented.

Market research & surveys are also used extensively to ensure success of planned strategies and measure response to various campaigns. Segmentation of customers is also done such as rural, urban, commercially important, corporate, students etc.

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Lot of effort has been made by BSNL in retaining & strengthening its market position. In spite of heavy growth in BSNL subscriber base from 2.5 crore to over 9 crore since its formation, its market share is on the decline.

Mergers & acquisitions are helping competitors to improve their market share. While certainly a comprehensive internal & external marketing strategy for BSNL is needed to check this trend, procedural changes and more functional autonomy may also be required.

Market research helps identify needs of the customers to enable marketers give inputs to product development team for new services & features.

Acceptability is first requirement of any product. BSNL carries out market research time to time to find needs for new product/features. Some important research carried were to

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assess expectations of people for BSNL Mobile, MPLS VPN. Research was also carried to find reasons for surrender & disconnection of landline connections.

BSNL utilizes physical as well as electronic space for easy accessibility of its services. Over 3000 BSNL Customer services centers, appx 1200 franchisees, lakhs of retailers allow convenience to customers for knowing & buying services.

In BSNL marketing cells at corporate & circle levels take care of various aspects of these Ps. At SSA level also, the marketing & sales organization structure is evolving. However the process is slow & needs to be expedited. People: Any person coming into contact with customers can have an impact on overall satisfaction. Whether as part of a supporting service to a product or involved in a total service, people are particularly important because, in the customer's eyes, they are generally inseparable from the total service. As a result of this, they must be appropriately trained, well motivated and the right type of person.

3.7 Ad Campaigns

BSNL keeps releasing various advertisement in print, electronic & outdoor media. These advertisements have messages for creating awareness as well sales promotion (such as schemes) In 2007, BSNL merged all individual brand names (cellone, bfone, dataone, sancharnet etc) into unified brand BSNL. Now all services are known as BSNL-services. Advertising agencies are empanelled at corporate & circle level. BSNL has produced many TV commercials till now. The present Brand Ambassadar of BSNL is Abhinav Bindra.

1. THE RECONNECTION CAMPAIGN

The ongoing campaign of the public sector telecom service provider BSNL to get old customers back into the network has been encouraging.

Of the 11,804 landline (LL) and wireless in local loop (WLL) customers in the Visakhapatnam Telecom District whose services had been disconnected for non-payment of dues, the BSNL sent out letters to 5,945 subscribers, urging them to take advantage of the reconnection campaign.

In the eight days of the campaign, which started on August 13, 525 customers have visited the BSNL campaign locations in 27 places and the service provider has received new bookings for 21 landline, 20 broadband, 127 mobile, and 143 other connections. BSNL has reconnected the services of 33 subscribers in the same period, he said. The landline and WLL customers were given the option of clearing their dues in instalments and as an added incentive were offered a free 2G Cellone SIM card. The subscriber was allowed 30 minutes free calls between the linked Cellone number and the primary connection.

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BSNL has reconnected the services of 177 during the ongoing campaign. The BSNL has also activated the incoming facility for 6,478 subscribers (LL 5,306 and WLL 1,172) for 30 days pending total reactivation of service

2. No Dramatic Bills

This advertisement was created to show a dramatic effect in the advertisement and promote their landline services. It, first, talked about how the calls and the internet-surfing done by a girl named ‘Kareena’ to guy named ‘Rahul’ lead to huge bills, which became a cause of concern in the family. Later, in the advertisement, landline services of BSNL were promoted. As per the advertisement, BSNL’s services could solve the problem of high bills, as it had Cheaper Call- rates. The 1-day Installation Period guarantee given by them only further promotes their services, as in an impatient country like ours, the fact that it can be quickly installed is perceived by most as an added advantage.

3. “Hindustan Bol Raha Hai”

In this ad, it tries to portray BSNL as having superior coverage, across India and its highly diverse geography, be it the mountains or the some small place in rural India. They say major part of the Indian population, the ones in the rural areas, are able to connect more freely with their loved ones and others, because of BSNL. It is in the form of a song, a duet, where both the singers highlight the advantages of having a BSNL connection, in a happy-sounding song.

4. “Become cool, like Rahul”

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In this radio ad, featuring the very glamorous Deepika Padukone, she is shown advising a friend, Rahul, who had his life messed from all different fronts – with his brother, his girlfriend, at work with his boss and elsewhere too. Later, they show how his life changes as soon as he uses BSNL’s 3G Services, to cater to the demands of all those mentioned above. He became cool amongst his friends, same was the case with his younger brother and his boss gets impressed too. It basically tried to appeal to those in the working-class, esp. the young professionals who are obsessed with speed and getting a holistic experience, in this day and age. These young professionals face great difficulty in balancing their professional and personal life, hence BSNL tries to tap on this market segment.

In the Rural areas, the subscribership for BSNL increased significantly (about 30-35%), with a comparatively less increase in the Urban areas (about 10-15%), particularly in the Tier-II and Tier-III cities. Time slot which it chose for placing advertisement BSNL had very strategically placed their ads throughout the day, to ensure maximum reach of their advertisements and make sure the people are aware of BSNL’s superior services and network. The morning 8-10 AM slot had been picked and the evening 5-9 PM slot had been picked. Reason for choosing particular slots . The advertisement was repeated enough number of times to make sure the maximum number of customers receive the required message, so as to increase the mindshare of BSNL in the minds of the consumer. These slots were picked so as to reach out the target consumers. One might observe that the slight change in positioning by BSNL, to turn in the crowds from the Working Professionals group, is reflected in the chosen timings too. Most of the other groups in the Target Market are catered to during the said times. The group of Working Professionals that BSNL desperately wanted to reach out to, are the ones who travel during these times, and very sensibly, the ads have been strategically placed during these times. The time slots used are office hours i.e. 7am - 10am and 5pm - 10pm with high frequency and rest of the day, ads ran but with less frequency.

5. 3G Video Calling “Badiya Hein!”

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The Theme of the Ad is simple, A Couple having a Video Chat on Phone… Rather calling it as “Chat” 

The Ad surely drives its viewers to go for 3G Plan so that they could have Video Fantasies on Phone Just like these Hot couples!! The Ad ends with BSNL’s Video Calling Tariff  details “All Video Calls @ 30p/Minute”

3.8 DIGITAL MARKETING

After Tata Docomo, Vodafone, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Mobile, Idea Cellular, Tata Indicom and Aircel, finally state run Pan India 3G Mobile Service Operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) joined the bandwagon of social networking sites and has come up with its   own official Twitter and Facebook account.

1.Facebook and BSNL come together to set up 100 Wi-Fi hotspots in rural India

Boosting the government’s ambitious ‘Digital India’ drive, social media giant Facebook has come forward to facilitate state-run BSNL in setting up 100 Wi-Fi sites in rural areas of western and southern India.

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Facebook is investing Rs 5 crore per annum for buying bandwidth from BSNL in this joint initiative that also includes IT infrastructure services providers such as Quad Zen and Trimax for equipment and fibre deployment

The project will be rolled out in 100 villages that Facebook has selected by 31st December 2015. First half hour of internet will be free and then it will be charged. Each Hotspot will have a capacity of 2000 connections at any given point of time.

The agreement between Facebook and BSNL is for three years and it can be further extended for two more years.

2. BSNL WhatsApp Plans – Packs | BSNL Facebook – Twitter Plans

BSNL introduced Whatsapp packs starting from August 1st. This plan will cost around Rs 30 with free usage limit of 200 MB, data charges after free usage will be at 1p/10KB.

BSNL Facebook – Twitter Packwill cost around Rs 40 with free data usage limit of 250 MB for facebook messenger and twitter And Data Charges of 1p/10KB will be applied after free usage.

RELIANCE

4.1 INTRODUCTION

Reliance Communications Limited founded by the late Shri Dhirubhai H Ambani (1932-2002) is the flagship company of the Reliance Group. The Reliance Group currently has a net worth in

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excess of Rs. 91,500 crore (US$ 15.3 billion), cash flows of Rs. 10,200 crore (US$ 1.7 billion), net profit of Rs. 4,700 crore (US$ 0.8 billion). Reliance Communications is India's foremost and truly integrated telecommunications service provider. The Company has a customer base of over 110 million, including over 2.6 million individual overseas retail customers. Reliance Communications corporate clientele includes over 39,000 Indian and multinational corporations including small and medium enterprises and over 290 global, regional and domestic carriers. Reliance Communications has established a pan-India, next generation, integrated (wireless and wireline), convergent (voice, data and video) digital network that is capable of supporting best-in-class services spanning the entire communications value chain, covering over 21,000 cities and towns and over 400,000 villages. Reliance Communications owns and operates the world's largest next generation IP enabled connectivity infrastructure, comprising over 280,000 kilo meters of fibre optic cable systems in India, USA, Europe, the Middle-East and the Asia-Pacific region.

4.2 PRODUCT OFFERING

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relince

Reliance Base Phone

fixed

Reliance PCO

wireless

Reliance Mobile

CDMA

GSM

Reliance Data Card

2G

3G

Reliance Voucher E-Recharge Reliance

Broad Band

BIG TV DTH

4.3 SEGMENTATION

Reliance has always been known for its “unconventionalism” in dealing with various activities of the management, from advertisement and promotion to identifying potential customers to the actual selling of the product. It was also instrumental in increasing the mobile phone penetration in India to grow from 0.25 percent in early2001 to about 7.53 percent till date.Reliance Communication stimulated telecommunication growth in India bychallenging many of the conventional practices in product design, distribution, sales, advertising and pricing. Reliance Communication fashioned a strategy which was conceptually simple but sweeping in its impact. While the competitors focused on the top segment of the market, by charging a premium, Reliance Communication sought to reduce the cost to the consumer, thus focusing on a market driven by volume.

While others saw weaknesses of India as a market –widespread poverty and low levels of telecommunication penetration – and Reliance as an old economy firm focusing on oil production and business-to-business clients –Reliance Communication realized that these actually were strengths which it could tap into. Reliance Communication’s managers saw that telecommunications would be much valued by the poorer sections of society if it could be used

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to create opportunities and offered at affordable prices. The company tapped into its strong political and financial clout to build up a strong organization that could push itthrough the legal and regulatory system.

Reliance has segmented the market on the following major criteria:

1. Geographic Segmentation

On the basis of geography Reliance Communication has always believed in uniting India as a whole and considering it as a single entity and consequently divided it’s services under two major broad categories (in both prepaid and postpaid ) schemes --- National and International. One of the best examples in this context is that of the ONE India Plan which allows you to call any phone, anywhere in India for just ONE RUPEE per min. Besides, it also come up with national and international roaming plans and STD and world calling cards to cater the needs of people spread across different geographical locations.

 

 The Reliance Global Calling Card is available in 5denominations — Rs.115, Rs.225, Rs. 575, Rs.699, Rs.1,130, Rs.1,900, Rs.2250. You can make ISD calls from any Reliance phone, be it postpaid (Reliance Mobile / Fixed Wireless phone) or Reliance Mobile prepaid. The prepaid Reliance STD Calling Card offers very affordable rates for local and national long distance (NLD) calls. This is a rechargeable account-based prepaid card that can be used from Reliance phones (Reliance fixed, fixed wireless and mobile – postpaid or prepaid only and cannot be used from a PCO. With this card, NLD calls can be made even from Reliance phones without an NLD facility.

2. Demographic Segmentation

Reliance has also segmented the market based on the demographic attributes of the customers such as age, gender, income group, occupation, etc. Thus it has come up with a variety of plans such as the JOY PLANS on postpaid which can help in significantly cutting call costs  and the ON –NET TALKTIME PACK which allows 1000min. of free usage to all reliance mobiles and wireless phones within circle absolutely free. This allows it reach a large chunk of population with different needs and different financial backgrounds and in the process, makes its services affordable to everyone.

3. Psychographic Segmentation

Different people have different value systems, varying personality traits, beliefs, attitudes, separate self image or self concept and an altogether different way to look at life (lifestyle). As a result their needs and preferences also differ accordingly. Reliance Communication has kept this aspect in mind while designing it’s wide range of mobile phones to appeal to different audiences and in a way suit their self – image (self concept). From lower end simple and sober

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handsets like the CLASSIC series to the little stylish multimedia enabled handsets such as LG, Kyocera and Nokia to the ultra – stylish UT Star PPC and TELESON handsets, Reliance offers something for everyone.

4. Behavioural Segmentation  

Customers exhibit varying behavioural patterns towards different products. Different customers have different perceptions about different products and hence weigh the value derived from each product differently. Reliance was quick to realize this and hence tried to segment the market on the basis of the behavioural patterns of its customers. Here it looked at whether there was increased buying during special occasions, whether a substantial chunk of population looked for a specific class of benefits to be derived from its products, what was their user status (current or ex-user of its products), how heavily or lightly was a specific product used (usage rates), loyalty towards a particular category or product, readiness to adapt to newtechnology and the general attitude towards the product. Subsequently on 20 September, 2003, the 1st day of Navaratri, --- a multimedia mobile phone service offering ringtones, greeting cards, pictures and video clips of Navaratri Festival was introduced on R- world and over 10 million downloads were reported. Other than this Relianc  also continues to offer several schemes tocustomers based on their usage rates such as small amount prepaid tariff cards for lower end users to Broadband services for corporate and high – end individual users. Further it also offers plans of free subscriptions, gifts and extra talk time to regular (loyal) users of its products.

4.4 TARGETING

Target Marketing involves breaking a market into segments and then concentrating your marketing efforts on one or a few key segments. Target marketing can be the key to a small business’s success. The beauty of target marketing is that it makes the promotion, pricing and distribution of your products and/or services easier and more cost-effective. Target marketing provides a focus to all of your marketing activities.

TARGETING FULL MARKET COVERAGE

 Today Reliance Communications has established itself as one of the top telecom service providers in India offering a wide range of services such as CDMA and GSM services in both prepaid and postpaid flavours, Broadband services through R –Connect, Reliance Hello schemes, Reliance PCO, interactive TV, Data Centre, etc. Because of the enormous gamut of services offered across various productcategories, (be it selling mobile phones or new connections or broadband services)and market segments (both high end commercial usage to lower end individual use), the Strategic Business (SBU) Units caters to almost all product categories across all market segments. Thus the company targets the full Telecom Industry market rather than any specific segment leaving no segment untargeted. Hence

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we can safely conclude that the market segment targeted by the SBU is that of FULLMARKET COVERAGE.

4.5 POSITIONING STRATEGY  

As  Reliance Communications has believed in introducing innovative techniques and practices in all its marketing strategies --- be it segmenting, targeting or positioning itself in the market. Starting from the 1St of its kind --- the Dhirubhai Ambani offer to the present day offer of connecting the entire India through ONE INDIA PLAN, Reliance has always believed in making its services affordable to the people while not compromising on the services offered and at the same time getting substantial profit margins to sustain its growth. This principle forms the primary basis of Reliance Communications product’s positioning strategy. Among the major positioning strategies adopted by Reliance are:

Channel   Differentiation

In the case of marketing channels, instead of resorting to the tried and tested means, Reliance Communication created a completely new model. As a tribute to Dhirubhai Ambani, Reliance Communication fostered a new breed of entrepreneurs, as channel partners. The Dhirubhai Ambani Entrepreneur Programme began with an aim of enrolling 200,000 individuals who are committed to acquiring new customers and creating a new experience for them, based on flawless service and feelings of satisfaction. About 50,000 individuals were recruited in a matter of weeks that were guided and supported by 900 Reliance executives across the country. In 673 towns and cities, Reliance trained these entrepreneurs in basic skill sets, so that they are able to deliver value to customers at their doorsteps. 

Image Differentiation

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 The Reliance mobile brand was positioned as India Mobile to cash in on patriotic feelings. The Reliance Communication brand name embossed on every hand set gave it a unique cachet, while the costs of many of the advertisements were discounted since they were also borne by the handset makers. A mega advertising campaign was launched across the media to mark the launch.

The blitzkrieg coincided with the world cup cricket tournament, ensuring a huge audience. The main theme of the first campaign built on the vision of Reliance Communication in bringing the power of telecommunication to every person. This campaign helped to educate people on the importance of telecommunication services. The next set of campaigns talked about the innovative product features which differentiatedReliance Communication from its competitors. The advertisements announced that Reliance India Mobile was “Kabhi mobile, kabhi computer” .

Product   Differentiation

Reliance offers its customers a wide range of products such as both high end and low end mobile phones at prices which are much less costlier than its competitors. A few of these mobile phones have already been shown in the previous pages. These handsets differ both in their looks as well as their style quotient when compared to other brands and are available with a variety of schemes and features which are substantially different from other products of the same range offered in the market. Thus both form and design differentiation can be easily made out. Other than this, Reliance Communication used was productdifferentiation by mixing data applications with voice.

Through RWorld – an inbuilt Java enabled data feature of all Reliance phones - the company guaranteeddownload

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speeds of up to 144 kbps from an applications suite which has over 120applications ranging from interactive Guides such as TV programme guides and City Guides, Live News and TV news clips from channels like NDTV, CNBC, Aaj Tak and India TV to contests, video songs, Ring Tones, Cricket Information, Women's World and Kidz World. It introduced numerous applications like news, streaming audio and video of movies and music clips, city & TV guides, exam results, astrology and stock prices.

4.6 Ad Campaigns

1. ‘Unlimited Talk Time’ and ‘Call Connect’

Reliance Communications has appointed Bollywood actor Anushka Sharma as the company’s brand ambassador. Through this association, Reliance Communications highlight the core value of the group- bringing products to customers that fulfill their needs with unceasing affordability. Sharma will feature in Reliance Communications’ new campaign which will feature four new TVCs. The TVCs will highlight the greater benefits of the ‘Unlimited Talk Time’ and ‘Call Connect’ features of Reliance Communications.

4.7 Digital Marketing

1. RCOM, Facebook Join Hands to Spread Internet

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Inclusion in India Partners launch Internet.org services, bring power of the Internet toA billion Indians Customers will now enjoy access to popular websites with zero data charges, including Facebook.

The launch of Internet.org helps overcome the data access barrier in customers’ minds, by offering them a set of websites which Reliance customers can access without any data charges. The list of free services includes:

Careers & Jobs: TimesJobs, Babajob Education & Knowledge: Wikipedia, wikiHow, Dictionary.com, Translator, Reuters

Market Lite, Jagran Josh Health & Social Welfare: Facts for Life (UNICEF), BabyCenter & MAMA, Girl Effect

(Nike Foundation), iLearn (UN Women), Malaria No More, Social blood, AP Speaks News: BBC News, Times of India, India Today, NDTV, BBC News, IBNLive, Aaj Tak, Amarujala.com, Daily Bhaskar, Maalai Malar, Maharashtra Times, Jagran, Newshunt,

Manoramanews.com Search: Bing (from Microsoft) Social: Facebook, Facebook Messenger

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Sports: ESPN Cricinfo Utility: OLX, Astro, Cleartrip, AccuWeather Reliance customers can access these

websites with zero data charges at www.internet.org, or in the Internet.org Android app. Most of the services will be available in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Gujarati and Marathi, to begin with.

2. RCOM LAUNCHES ‘SMARTCARE ON TWITTER’

Customers Can Now Manage and Customize their Account on Twitter First-ever initiative in India by a telco in the Social Media space RCOM empowers customers to opt for self-help. Complete customization Users just Tweet to ‘@RelianceMobile’ to avail multiple services in real-time.

Recharge accounts, make payments, opt for best deal. As the first-ever such initiative in the country by a telecom player, Smartcare on Twitter allows customers to Tweet to ‘@RelianceMobile’, using specific keywords and hash-tags in order to get account information such as their balance/outstanding amount, facilitate online recharges and make bill payments, activate and deactivate any specific services, and more. Once the customer Tweets a query, the requisite information will be sent back to him/her as a Twitter Direct Message (DM). This will significantly increase customers’ digital interaction with RCOM and greatly reduce the need to physically contact Customer Care.

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AIRCEL INDIA

5.1 INTRODUCTION

Aircel commenced operations in 1999 and became the leading mobile operator in Tamil Naduwithin 18 months. In December 2003, it launched commercially in Chennai and quickly established itself as a market leader. Aircel began outward expansion in 2005 and met with unprecedented success in the Eastern frontier circles. It emerged as a major telecom service provider in Assam and in the North Eastern provinces within 18 months of operations. Now, the company is providing services in all the 23 telecom circles in India including Chennai, Tamil Nadu, Assam, North East, Orissa, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Kolkata, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh,Karnataka, Delhi, UP(West), UP(East), Maharashtra & Goa , Mumbai, Haryana , MadhyaPradesh, Punjab, Gujarat and Rajasthan.

5.2 Product Offerings:

Aircel, a late entrant into the extremely competitive Indian telecom sector, adopted innovation as its key branding strategy. The company focused on multi-functionality of a mobile phone and offered fresh networks, simplified tariff plans and good Value Added Services (VAS) to the subscribers. It offers services which are trendy and are fancied by the youth. Aircel has moved beyond voice services and dived into the VAS space.

The product and services of Aircel in India may be primarily divided into following categories:

Voice Messaging Data Devices Aircel Mobile Connect

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5.3 MARKET SEGMENTATION

Now these services can again be categorized into two segments on the basis of realization ofthe price from the customer.

1. Pre-paid2. Post-paid

The mobile operator tried to increase its market share by offering competitive tariff plans and VAS offerings like location-based services & phone banking to attract subscribers in metros.

5.4 TARGET MARKET

Over half of the total population of India comprises of youth a large percentage of them are using mobile networks. Therefore, targeting the youth is a strategic move and a profitable way to interact, connect and entertain the youth.

5.5 BRANDING POSITIONING & CO-BRANDING:

Position is a process in which a company tries to create an image or an identity of the company in the minds of the customers.

Aircel has positioned itself on the future of telephony - data play. The services offered by Aircel are loaded with value-added applications.

It offers services that the youth craves for. Aircel is now working with a lot of content aggregators such as Yahoo and Makemytrip.

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They are looking to rope in more partners to help them position better in the VAS space. Aircel wants to offer a platform for innovation, so, are encouraging new and out-of-the-box ideas.

The core values of the Aircel brand were Simplicity and Creativity. In 2009, Aircel came up with innovative advertising and marketing campaigns.

The brand communicated with customers through simple, thoughtful ads. It positioned itself around the tagline, Explore Your World of Possibilities, and targeted youth across multiple segments.

Aircel was also associated with the Indian Premier league (IPL), as the official sponsor of the Chennai Super Kings team. It had initially roped in Indian Cricket Captain M.S. Dhoni for advertisements and branding.

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M.S Dhoni is a youth icon and that’s how Aircel tried to capture the youth through its brand ambassador. The Aircel wi fi TVCs recently aired were trendy, exciting, creates excitement regarding the product which is the ‘need of the hour – Internet on the go’.

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Aircel also came up with an ad campaign called ‘Save our Tigers’. This was a drive to increase the awareness about the decreasing population of the Indian national animal and thus make its contribution towards social responsibility or CSR. This also gives the image of being sensitive and concerned to the brand.

Aircel has been developing a lot of innovative and trendy products based on the positioning of the brand. The ads campaign targeted towards the youth created a lot of buzz among the youth.

5.6 BRAND PERSONALITY & AWARENESS

Brand personality is the way a brand communicates and behaves. It means personifying the brand, giving it human traits and characteristics to achieve differentiation and create a –connect or a bond with the customers, something that a customer can identify themselves with. These traits are observed in the audio-visual communication of the brand to the target audience

Youthful M.S. Dhoni, who is considered a youth icon, was chosen as the brand ambassador to portray the youthfulness in the brand. It shows that the brand is targeted towards the youth and the products offered are what the young really want and crave for. Exciting Again, M.S. Dhoni being the brand ambassador was a strategic move. Dhoni’s batting is exciting, innovative and consistent and that’s what the brand stands for.

The TV ads clearly portray that the brand stands for innovation and provides exciting products and provides a consistent and stable network. The products like 3G, internet wi fi are trendy. Internet and connectivity on the go are the need of the hour. What the trend among the youth is to stay connected to the Internet 24x7 and that’s what Aircel provides to the customers.

Sensitive The ‘Save our Tiger’ campaign shows that the brand is sensitive towards the environment and grave issues in front of us and makes efforts to improve on the existing conditions.

Brand awareness includes both brand recognition and recall. A brand ambassador as popular and iconic as M.S. Dhoni was chosen to have an impact on customers mind. He was the T20 world cup winning captain then and now his image as the most successful captain is also helping the brand after the successful World cup Campaign in 2011. TVCs were aired strategically on various TV channels like sports channels when there were cricket tournaments were being

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played and other channels during prime time to improve on brand awareness and recognition. Ad campaigns on internet websites like youtube.com and other google.com ads were used along with ads on radio channels and print media like newspapers, magazines The company also invested heavily on POP marketing such glow sign boards and danglers and hoardings during the initial ad campaigns to improve brand visibility.

5.7 AD CAMPAIGNS

1. Aircel unveils its new consumer campaign with Chennai Super Kings   Launches ‘Aircel 1+3’ product exclusively for the new season of IPL Launches 360-Degree ATL and BTL Campaign for ‘Aircel 1+3’ New contest which provides opportunity for customers to meet Team CSK with their

friends, win autographed merchandise and match tickets

2. ‘Joy of Little Extra' Aircel a pan India operator, launched its new brand campaign `Joy of Little Extra' which

captures a slice from our daily lives. The advert pertains to the joy experienced when we unexpectedly get a little extra.

Under the new campaign, Aircel will launch products and services which will offer that little extra in value for its subscribers through all its products, be it Extra SMS’, Extra Talktime or Extra Data. Aircel’s new campaign is a series of commercials.

3. Aircel Facebook Voice Updates CAMPAIGN Announce the launch of the Aircel Facebook Voice Updates (FOV) service online. Express emotions that words can't. For the launch of this unique Aircel service, we conceptualised and created an animated

video featuring talking crows and also created the FOV page for Aircel. The idea was to showcase the service in a fun way.

4. Blyk on Aircel CAMPAIGN Launch the new youth service online. The connection that knows what you love. For the new mobile service for youth, we created a unique look and feel in a quirky TVC

explaining it, demo videos to show how it works and the website carrying all the essential bits.

VODAFONE

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6.1 INTRODUCTION

The company was formed in 1984 as a subsidiary of Racal Electronics. By 1991, it was a separate organization, known by its present name, and with its first controlled overseas operation in Malta.

A combination of acquisitions and partnerships with other networks has made Vodafone the world’s largest mobile telecommunications company, with equity interests in 26 countries across five continents and partnerships in another 14.

Vodafone is teaching itself quickly to have a deeply ingrained customer understanding in order to make it nimble while developing the scale, scope, and power of a large multinational. The focus on customer understanding and segmentation knowledge is highly important to insure that Vodafone doesn’t get sluggish and is able to deliver on customer needs rapidly.

Vodafone is the world's largest mobile telecommunications community, employing over 65,000 staff and with over 130 million customers. The business operates in 25countries worldwide across 5 continents & 40 partner network with200 million customer worldwide. Vodafone is a public limited company with listings on the London and New York stock exchanges.

Global recognition of the Vodafone brand is growing as the company rolls out its identity into new markets. However, it retains local names and imagery in markets where this is essential to maintaining the trust of customers. To help promote its image worldwide, Vodafone uses leading sports stars from high profile global sports, including David Beckham and Michael Schumacher.

Vodafone Essar in India is a subsidiary of Vodafone group & commenced operation in 1994 when its predecessor Hutchison telecom acquired cellular licenses for Mumbai. Now it has operations in 16 circles covering India's mobile customer base with 34.1 million customers. Vodafone Essar under hutch brand has named the most respected telecom company best mobile service in country. They are most effective & creative advertiser of the year. Vodafone has partner with Essar group as its principal joint venture partner for Indian market. Vodafone launched their brand across in India on 21st September 2007.

6.2 PRODUCT OFFERINGS

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6.3 MARKET SEGMENTATION

Vodafone Essar is seen as much focused in segmentation in India.

Vodafone as segmented Indian Market as geographical segment where rural part of India is at much attention because of the huge potential market for telecom.

Secondly, it has focused on the demographical segment where the middle and low income group falls. Both the segment comprises the major population of the country.

Vodafone has also segmented the customer in terms of psychographic (students, professionals etc) and behavioural aspects (high users and low users) and have provided the services as per the needs of the market and customers

6.4 MARKET TARGETING

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Vodafone has selected the target customers which it is focusing on to sell its product and services.

Vodafone's is targeting its marketing strategy to the people living in small towns and villages, lower or middle income group of population, youngsters and Business peoples.

Vodafone's good network of distribution channel is helping to reach and provide services to the people living in remote villages and areas of India.

Their prepaid service has attracted the lower or middle income group customers and the youths. Products like iPhone and Blackberry are targeted towards the high income people or business persons in India. They are offering series of differentiated products to their respective markets.

Vodafone is adopting a multi segment approach. They are offering a series of differentiated products to their respective market.

1. Home calling cards for the family of those professionals who used to work abroad.

2. Rs. 10 recharge for small users.

3. Cheap SMS facilities for youth.

4. Facilities for circle users.

6.5 MARKET POSITIONING

The promotional mix comprises of advertising, sales promotion, selling and public relations (Lancaster & Reynolds, 2004). Promotion refers to the method used to inform the customers about the products and convincing them to buy.

Vodafone has used this strategy since its inception in India as Vodafone Essar.

Vodafone's advertisements and promotions were hearty welcomed by the audiences. Introduction of the advertisement of Zoo Zoos and pug was a great sensation which also got popularity in many social networking sites like Facebook etc.

Actor Irfan Khan's advert was highly popular due to his style.

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Vodafone also sponsored many sporting events and Indian Premier League helped Vodafone to create attraction in customers. Other sponsorship like MTV reality show named Splits villa which was famous in the circle of Indian youngsters also helped

Vodafone to gain good success in a very short span of time. Vodafone has introduced various new beneficial schemes/offers to attract the customers like various talk time offers, validity offers, Bonus Cards, Tariff offers, low cost handsets etc for the prepaid users and ISD, STD, SMS, MMS offers, iPhones and Blackberry handsets to the post-paid users (Vodafone, 2010).

6.6 BRAND ELEMENTS

6.7 VODAFONE’S BRAND MANTRA

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Vodafone’s internal brand mantra is simple and memorable. It stands for Passion, Reliability and Innovation. It is referred to throughout all business activities across the globe.

A series of new corporate values and four desired brand personality traits for Vodafone were identified:

1. Energetic

2. Passionate

3. Proactive

4. Expert

6.8 AD CAMPAIGNS

1. Vodafone highlights money transfer with m-pesa

Paise bhejiye aur paiye aasani se’.

Vodafone has launched a TVC to communicate the ease of sending and receiving money through

its m-pesa service. Conceptualised by Ogilvy and Mather, the TVC went on-air on March 13.

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The ad film features Mr Tiwari, who works at a factory in Mumbai and Mrs Tiwari living in UP.

As Mr Tiwari is settling down with some snacks, his wife calls up to enquire whether his salary

has been credited. He answers in positive and she prompts him to send the money across. The ad

film shows him sending Rs 4000 home. The wife goes to the nearest m-Pesa agent and receives

the amount.

2. Digital Assets campaign

Vodafone has launched two TVCs as part of the Digital Assets campaign. The campaign has

been conceptualised by Ogilvy and Mather. Two of the three ads have been released with the last

one to follow soon. The TVCs will be on-air for a month, starting 1 March. 

The first ad film titled ‘Phone relay’ has been created to communicate easy bill payment. 

3. 'Everybody wins'

Vodafone India has launched an intergrated campaign to drive home a new promotion for its pre-paid customers. The promotion titled 'Every recharge wins' offers customers making a recharge additional voice minutes, data or SMSes. The campaign, which includes two TVCs, has been conceptualised by Ogilvy & Mather, and kicks off on 24 July.

4. Vodafone Zoozoos turn TV protagonists to push offerings this IPL

Vodafone has brought back its animated Zoozoo characters for the brand’s IPL 2014 campaign.

This year, the characters will communicate the different products and services from the telco

while enacting roles in popular TV shows.

The first two films of the campaign go on air on 16 April, the day the IPL gets underway.One of

the films promotes the service provider’s ‘Choose your number’ service. Another film features

a quiz show setting akin to KBC the joy of sharing, with ‘uninterrupted internet’

Vodafone India has launched a campaign to promote its internet services. The film is the fourth

in the ‘Made for...’ series, and dewlls on ‘Made for sharing’. Conceptualised by Ogilvy &

Mather, it went on air on 14 November.

5. 'Made for You'

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Vodafone has created a new campaign to lure the SEC B and C segment of customers towards an

IVR (Interactive Voice Response) service called 121. The service allows customers to avail the

offers for products like STD, SMS, VAS and data. Vodafone has released a three film for its

'Made for You' campaign promising customised offerings under its Vodafone 121 service

6. 'Happy Hours'

After promising customers gifts on visiting Vodafone stores, the telecom brand is out with the second film in the new 'delights' series. The second delight is 'Happy Hours' from 2 to 4 pm. Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai, is the creative agency.

7. Super Zoozoo comic series

Vodafone India has recently launched “The Adventures of Super Zoozoo” – an online comic series featuring Super Zoozoo. Available exclusively on Vodafone Zoozoo’s Facebook page (facebook.com/Zoozoo), the comic introduces fans and readers to the vast, black-and-white Zoozoo universe where crocodiles invade picnics and superheroes don’t need secret identities.

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8. “Vodafone Race to Fame”

Vodafone Essar has announced its run up to the first Indian Grand Prix. As part of its plans,

Vodafone announced the launch of ‘Vodafone Race to Fame’, a platform which includes a host

of activities.

The ‘Vodafone Drive into the Big League’ extends an opportunity to small and medium

enterprises (SMEs) to have their logo on the Mclaren F1 cars that will race at the motor racing

event in India. Shortlisted finalists will present their cases to a panel of experts where they will

debate on a live television show on a channel that will soon be disclosed.

The other contest is the ‘Vodafone Race to Fame- Life in the fast lane’ where four winners (two

consumers and two global enterprise customers) will get to spend the weekend with the

Vodafone McLaren team.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS:

Marketing Management- Kotler

WEBSITES

http://www.ideacellular.com/

http://www.airtel.in/

http://www.rcom.co.in/Rcom/personal/home/index.html

http://www.vodafone.in/

http://www.aircel.com/AircelWar/

http://www.bsnl.co.in/

http://documents.mx/

http://www.afaqs.com/news/story/40731_Airtel-Conversation- uninterrupted

http://www.afaqs.com/advertising/creative_showcase/index.html? id=54768&media=TV

https://www.scribd.com/

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https://www.youtube.com/?gl=IN

http://www.mouthshut.com/

http://www.slideshare.net/

http://blog.crazyegg.com/

http://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media- listening/managing-online-brand-sentiment/

http://www.mbaskool.com/brandguide/telecom-service-providers/

http://www.marketing91.com/marketing-mix-airtel/

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