Ayush Mahajan

MBA M&S Class of 2013 A 26

Advertising & Sales Promotion Project on : BHARTI AIRTEL

Company Overview: Bharti Airtel Limited, which is commonly known as Airtel, is an Indian Telecommunication Company that operates in 19 countries across South Asia, Africa and Channel Islands. Airtel operates GSM networks in all countries, providing 2G or 3G services or 4G Services depending upon the country of operation. Airtel is the fifth largest telecom operator in the world with over 207.8 million subscribers across 19 countries at the end of 2010. It is the largest cellular service provider in India, with over 164.61 million subscribers at the end of 2011 April. Airtel is also the 3rd largest in-country Mobile Operator by subscriber base, behind China Mobile and China Unicom. It offers its telecom services under the Airtel brand and is headed by Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal. Airtel is also the first Indian telecom service provider to achieve the Cisco Gold Certification. To earn the Gold Certification, Airtel had to meet the rigorous standards for networking competency, service, support & customer satisfaction set forth by Cisco. The company also provides land-line telephone services and broadband Internet access (DSL) in over 96 cities in India. It is a National and International Carrier for long distance communication services. The company has a submarine cable landing station at Chennai, which connects the submarine cable connecting Chennai and Singapore. Airtel is known for being the first mobile phone company in the world to outsource everything except its marketing and sales and finance. Its network (base stations, microwave links, etc.) are maintained by Ericsson, Siemens and Nokia network, Huawei business support by IBM and transmission towers by another company (Bharti Infratel Ltd. in India). Ericsson agreed for the first time, to be paid by the minute for the installation and maintenance of their equipment rather than being paid up front. This enabled the company to provide pan-India phone call rates of Rs. 1/minute (U$0.02/minute). The Call rates have come down much further. Bharti has also roped in a strategic partner Alcatel-Lucent to manage the network infrastructure for the Telemedia Business. Sunil Bharti Mittal founded the Bharti Group. In 1983, Mr. Mittal was into an agreement with Germany's Siemens to manufacture the company's push-button telephone models for the Indian market. In 1986, he incorporated Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL) and his company became the first in India to offer push-button telephones, establishing the basis of Bharti Enterprises. This first-mover advantage allowed Sunil Mittal to expand his manufacturing capacity elsewhere in the telecommunications market. By the early 1990s, Sunil Mittal had also launched the country's first fax machines and its first cordless telephones. In 1992, Sunil Mittal won a bid to build a cellular phone network in Delhi. In 1995, Sunil Mittal

incorporated the cellular operations as Bharti Tele-Ventures and launched its service in Delhi. In 1996, this cellular service was extended to Himachal Pradesh. In 1999, Bharti Enterprises acquired a controllable stake of JT Holdings, and extended its cellular operations to states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. In 2000, Bharti also acquired control of Skycell Communications, in Chennai. In 2001, the company acquired control of Spice Cell in Calcutta. Bharti Enterprises went public in 2002, and the company was listed on Bombay Stock Exchange & National Stock Exchange of India. In 2003, the cellular phone operations were rebranded under the single Airtel brand. In 2004, Bharti acquired control of Hexacom and entered Rajasthan. In 2005, Bharti extended its network to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in 2009; Airtel also launched its first international mobile network in Sri Lanka. In 2010, Airtel began operating in Bangladesh and 16 African countries. Today, Airtel is the largest cellular service provider in India and fifth largest in the world. Brand Promotion by Airtel: Airtel started off with the campaign of Power to Keep in Touch(1995) : This campaign conveyed the message of Instant Communication. At that time, Airtel wanted to project an image of Aspirational and a Lifestyle brand and was positioned target the Premium Category of Elite class Consumers. They decided that the brand would always define leadership be it in network, innovations, product offerings and customer services. To be in sync with their strategy, they sponsored various golf tournaments.

When the telecom sector was becoming more and more competitive with the entry of new players, Airtel came up with another campaign Touch Tomorrow(1999)

The Campaign urges it to talk to a bigger audience. They started capturing the mass markets and the new brand logo indicated the core values of the brand i.e. leadership, performance and dynamism. Then in 2002, the new advertisements with the tagline Live Every Moment : Airtel started using Brand ambassadors such as Sachin Tendulkar, Shahrukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor with the objective of changing the whole look of Airtel. The brand Airtel in the minds of customers was full of emotions and reaction, which one will experience in a lifetime.

In 2003 came another successful campaign Express Yourself

The various TOOLS that Airtel uses for its Integrated Marketing Communications are: Advertisements : Various television and radio commercials showcasing brand airtel and how it can connect you with the world.

Sales promotions: promotion of sales by launching various schemes for its customers where they get free coupons, recharges, holidays and even they can meet the brand ambassadors of that brand encouraged the people to buy and use airtel which affected its sales.

Direct Marketing : Direct marketing using various trade shows, seminars, etc.

 Public Relations Publicity : To publicize the brand and make it a common phenomenon among the youth . by sponsoring various events like DELHI HALF MARATHON 2012

APPEALS :

If we observe the advertisements that Airtel has come up with over the years, they are basically using two kinds of appeals to connect with their target audiences. 1. Emotional Appeal It can be seen by the recent punch line of airtel Har Friend Zaroori Hai Yaar

2. Humorous Appeal : these filled with humour like:

consisted

mostly

of

ads

Promotion campaigns Leadership campaign

 Airtel Jai Hind Campaign: The focus was to cash in on the Independence Day fever. The USP was very clear, feel proud of your country and by extension, Brand Airtel. Quality time campaign Magic Dalo Say Hello Launch campaign Magic Hai to Mumkin Hai campaign Internet Advertising: Airtel has used internet quite effectively to advertise and has been doing massive advertisements through: Google Ads Bidvertisers in which they have to offer site-targeted pay-per-click(PPC) text ads and image ads Sponsors online games at Zapak.com Sales promotions: Keeping in mind the target audience, Airtel came up with very effective sales promotions and was able to increase the number of users. Some of the sales promotions that performed really well are: Ladies Special plans: which offered special call rates for ladies. Friendz pre-paid plan

 Introduced the Family Celebrations offer Call at 60paisa per minute from Airtel mobile service to Airtel landline service Promotions through Health Campaigns: Airtel and Wockhardt hospitals together launched a Good Health campaign to mark World Health Day on April 7, comprising two health check-ups at discount of 75%. Post-paid subscribers of Airtel could avail the Wockhardt master health check up at Rs 799 against a original cost of Rs 3200. Also available as part of the campaign was the Wockhardt Heart Check at Rs 499, against Rs 2400. Grameen Mobile Puratchi: Bharti Airtel unveiled the Grameen Mobile Puratchi campaign for rural markets

This scheme was for more than 45 lakh society members of IKSCL(IFFCO Kisaan Sanchar Cooperative ltd). Farmers had five free Value Added Services under this scheme. The farmers had five free voice messages on mandi prices, farming techniques, weather forecasts, dairy farming, animal husbandry, rural health initiatives on a daily basis. The pack for farmers ranged between Rs 1299 and Rs 4000 along with the mobile phone. Publicity and Events: To reach their target audiences, Airtel has sponsored various TV programmes like Indian Sangeeth awards

 Bol Baby Bol Delhi Half Marathon

Indian Fantasy League

Delhi Golf tournament Formula 1 Racing

 Super Singer Reality Show (Like Indian Idol)

Airtel Soccer

- Since last year Airtel is a Proud Sponsor of the F-1 Grand Prix thereby targeting the Elite Class Consumers as F-1 is a Luxury Sport. It also organized Painting Competition in states of Karnataka and M.P. for the students such kind of events helps the brand to capture the attention of the target

audience and involve them. Airtel as a brand has used mix of traditional and nontraditional media to promote their brand and now they are also using the social media for promoting their brand. They have tried to associate with social causes to attach the target audience emotionally. Social Media: Airtel has made its presence in the Social Media such as Facebook promoting its Recent Activities & updates to the customers about the companys actions & Offers for the consumers. The Company also lets the customers aware about the youth who spends a lot of time on Facebook & Twitter. Facebook is used mostly on updating Companys Actions & New Updates whereas Twitter focuses more on Customer Services or dispute handling on a more personal level. Facebook page of Airtel.

Twitter Page Of Airtel.

Rural Market Strategies to Increase Reach:

 Alliances/Partnerships: To extend its reach in India's rural markets, Bharti Airtel is focusing on innovative initiatives, including efficient infrastructure deployments, expanding its distribution network via partnerships, and customized content and tariffs. Bharti Airtel has launched Micro-financing agreements in collaboration with Nokia and SKS Micro-finance. Under these partnerships, Bharti provides subsidized tariffs and subscriber identity module (SIM) cards to rural users, Nokia provides subsidized handsets, and SKS offers Micro-financing. To expand coverage into rural regions, Bharti Airtel is sharing passive infrastructure services with Vodafone (42 percent ownership) and Idea (16 percent ownership) through its joint venture, Indus Towers. Sharing the infrastructure cost and usage between multiple operators has helped Bharti Airtel to reduce its operating and capital expenses. Bharti Airtel also formed a joint venture with the Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited (IFFCO). Its joint venture, IFFCO Kisaan Sanchar, uses IFFCO's wide rural presence (present in 80 percent of Indian villages) and appeal among the rural agricultural community to market and distribute Bharti's products. IFFCO Kisaan Sanchar provides subsidized handsets and connections at competitive rates in rural areas. It also helps Bharti Airtel to identify and acquire suitable locations for deploying its cell sites. In addition, it offers

tailored services including voice-based updates on crop prices, farming techniques, rural health initiatives, and "help line" services. Strategies: Bharti Airtel first studies the commercial viability of a rural community (and the surrounding villages) based on parameters such as source of livelihood, average income, and involvement in frequent commercial transactions or travels. The company has developed a prioritized deployment strategy based on the specified criteria. Qualifying villages are first to receive a base station, which also caters to nearby communities. To help ensure efficient usage and profitability for each of these base stations, Bharti Airtel tracks the revenue generated per base station (instead of ARPU, which is considered less relevant in a rural context). The following best practices have also been established: Bharti Airtel has adopted the strategy of Direct Communications to market its value proposition to rural customers. To make its services accessible, the company provides all of its marketing content in local languages. Vans are used to cover rural areas with staff who educate locals about mobile services and usage. The company has developed a shared phone service called Public Call Offices (PCOs) in rural regions to increase awareness about its brand and services. Bharti Airtel Service Centers have been set up in villages to address customer queries and complaints as well as act as sales and distribution points. These centers employ local people and offer sales and customer services using local dialects. Bharti Airtel has already established over 18,000 service centers in rural India, covering over 400 languages and local dialects. The company plans to expand this network. Success Factors/Metrics/Monetization:

Bharti Airtel does not provide separate rural key performance indicators, but the following results have been publicly announced:

 As of April 2010, Bharti Airtel's network covered 440,000 villages in India, which, together with its urban services, accounted for coverage of approximately 84 percent of India's total population. As of March 31, 2010, Bharti Airtel had added 9 million new customers to reach a total of 128 million connections. Ovum estimates that rural users accounted for 60 percent of the company's net subscriber adds in that quarter. Despite Bharti Airtels overall ARPU of just under $5, its mobile division's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) margin was approximately 30 percent, and its earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) margin was approximately 19 percent, which indicate a healthy return on overall (including significant rural) investments Ideology behind Airtel Logo: The New brand speaks about Being Youthful, International, Inclusive, and Dynamic representing the journey of the First Indian brand to go truly global.

Airtel has made its presence in almost every nook and corner of India, distributed in every possible media, from a Simple Leaflet to a Multi-Crores Television advertisement. And after its $9Billion Acquisition of the African Telecom, its presence expanded to 19 countries across Asia and Africa.

The New Logo of Airtel was designed by a London based agency, Brand Union. It has the letter a in lower case forming a mark for the Airtel brand and Airtel, written in lowercase under it. Co-Incidentally it was the same agency behind the Vodafone logo as well.

Airtels Old Logo + Zains Logo = Airtels new Logo.

Airtels Public Relations Strategy: Bharti Airtel unifies its brands under the Flagship brand of Airtel. The Integrated Brand strategy to result in cost efficiencies and economies of scale. Airtels new brand strategy to enhance its Simplicity, Convenience and offering value to the customers.

Airtels Corporate Social Responsibility Values: To be responsive to customers needs. Improving services Innovatively & Expeditiously. Transparent & Sensitive in stakeholder dealings. To Trust and Respect their employees.

CSR Initiatives of Airtel: Airtel Team (Kerala) visited an old age home and shared a full day of fun with the members of the home. BHARTI Foundation The Philanthropic arm of Bharti Enterprises which was established in the year 2000 with a Vision To Help Underprivileged children and young people of our country realize their potential.

 Airtel is in the process of setting up a 1000 Satya Bharti Schools to deliver High Quality Education to underprivileged children in the deepest rural pockets of the Country. Airtel tied up with an NGO to distribute daily surplus food to needy children.