Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Origin of the Internee Report:

University of New Cstle (USA) Dhaka Camps offers a 3-credit course as Internship for the
graduating students in their course curriculum. The curriculum requires every student to do an
internship in a reputed firm for hands on experience about the professional works. The student
also can submit a research paper basing on hardcore research work. To be a graduate from
University of New Cstle (USA) Dhaka Camps, after completion of the 4 th semester final
examination, a student will undergo a one and half month internship program and shall write a
project paper which shall be submitted to the 4 th semester examination committee. The
internship program and the project paper is guided and examined by the guide teacher, selected
by the Examination Committee. For the project paper a student is awarded a grade point. This
opportunity to do the internship provides the students with a window to the professional world
related to his/her field of study. It also gives the students invaluable work experience, which they
later use in the pursuit of careers or higher studies in their field of specialization.

The program is a practical exposure of theoretically gained knowledge and can be considered as
a preliminary trial to be acquainted with any organization and to make oneself confident enough
to enter into service life and start building career. As the outside world is very much competitive
for anyone after graduation, the program provides such an opportunity to build up the capability
with most appropriate opportunities.

This report is a partial requirement of the Internship program of MBA curriculum at the
University of New Cstle (USA) Dhaka Camps. Assigned by the institutional supervisor, this
report is prepared for the department, based on the project assigned by Trade Marketing
department, Sales and Marketing Division of GrameenPhone Limited.

The author was assigned a project by Farzana Rahman, Manager, Trade Marketing Department,
Grameen Phone Limited. The project was duly approved by Md. Zakir Hossan, Faculty

1
Mamber, University of New Cstle (USA) Dhaka Camps. The topic of the Internship Report is
GrameenPhones Venture into Trade Marketing: Through the Program Mobile Bus.

1.2 Purpose:

The academic world and the professional world are two completely different settings. The
knowledge and experience is gain from working at a company helps anyone when it comes time
to attain a full time worker. The major targets to offer Internship in University of New Cstle
(USA) Dhaka Camps are as following:
Freeing students from the theoretical world of textbooks and class courses and lead into
the real world of applications of knowledge.
Assessing the students competency and efficiency in the working environment.
Helping students to express dependability, initiative, resourcefulness and professionalism
in the tasks they are assigned.
Enabling the students to effectively interact in a work environment within a hierarchy of
employees. The efficiency in working in groups and under higher authorities is tested
during this course.
To enable students to pick up skills from the experience and projects of other employees
to apply in their own tasks. It is extremely important for the person to be able to learn and
apply the skill at the same time.

1.3 Objective of Internship

The major targets to offer Internship in University of New Cstle (USA) Dhaka Camps are as
following:
Internship introduces a student to professional career.
Introduce with the job market.
To gain some practical work experience for future.
The students competency and efficiency in the working environment can be assessed
from this course.

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 Teaches the student to take up the responsibility and pressure of work
To help students to increase and enhance their creativity and efficiency.
To evaluate the persons ability to communicate and work under pressure.
To increase the confidence level of the students.
To know the environment of the job side and to cope or adjust with that environment.
To develop their professionalism.

The report tried to focus on the trade marketing department and tried to give a brief description
of its activities but at the same time it tried to avoid bringing too many matters into the paper.
That is why the author focuses on a particular activity.
The broad objectives of the report are:
To give a brief description of GrameenPhone
To provide a pen picture of the Trade Marketing Department
To focus on the ground level activity Mobile Bus
To suggest on how the activity can be made more effective.

1.4 Scope of the Report:

The focus of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of implementing the concept of Trade
Marketing in GrameenPhone. As covering all the activities is almost impossible and the data will
be ambiguous, this report tried to focus on a single activity i.e. The Mobile Bus.

1.5 Beneficiaries:

This report has helped as instrument in clarifying the conceptual skills gathered throughout the
course. This exposure, gained through visiting the company GrameenPhone Limited has enabled
to acquire practical experience about the local scenario. In the future, this report will act as a
guideline and provide valuable information to students preparing similar reports. This report will

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be also helpful for those who are conducting research on the mobile phone industry in
Bangladesh.

1.6 Methodology:

1.6.1 Study design:

In general, Methodology is the systematic description of sequence of activities required to

manage a project. In this report, both the descriptive and exploratory method has been used. For
the study qualitative research instrument has been used. In depth interview along with historical
data from different archive has been collected to write the report. A questionnaire has been
prepared to carry out a field study.

1.6.2 Source of Data:

The primary source of the data was the field study questionnaire that was prepared exclusively
for this purpose. In addition to this extensive interview has been conducted among various
concerned persons.
Majority of secondary data has been collected from in-house report and official memo. Annual
Report and the Internal Website for GP employees came handy while preparing the company
overview.

1.7 Limitation:

The report is not faultless. There were some obstacles, which were hard to meet up with. The
limitations are:
1. Lack of documented and concrete Trade Marketing concept in the company.
2. Lack of adequate information on Trade Marketing approaches of the company due to
confidentiality.
3. Direct observation of the Trade Marketing policy of the company requires extensive time
involvement, which was unaffordable.

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4. Lack of secondary research resources to prepare an ideal Trade Marketing approach
appropriate specifically for a telecom company.
5. Due to the new ness of the department there is serious lack of concrete guidance and
procedures.
6. Though the department is new the activities it is undertaking is wide and varied at the
same time it is expanding rapidly. These factors have made it difficult for the researcher
to bring all the aspects in one binding. Although the researchers intention was to do more
comprehensive work but that would have made the contents ambiguous as activities
differ in their nature.

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 Chapter 2: Company Profile

2.1 Introduction

It was 1971, the year that will change the destiny of a nation and shape the mettle of the
generation to come. The turmoil of the war would displace a lot of people and would cause
serious unrest. People living at that time have a lot of story to tell. Among them the story of
young Iqbal Qadir is very insignificant, but it is said the Flap of a Butterflys Wings in Brazil set
off a Tornado in Texas, the phenomena commonly known as Butterfly Effect. The war started
in urban areas, forcing Qadirs family to take refuge in a relatively remote village. The region
had no modern infrastructure, except for two motorized boats that carried passengers and cargo
between two towns and touched near this village as one of their stops in between. For several
months, the war forced these boats to suspend their services. When they started running again,
there was an immediate positive effect on village life. Farmers and fishermen received a better
price for their produce, and more things became available for purchase. The improvement was so
dramatic that even at the age of thirteen Qadir observed it clearly. In addition, during this period
he spent a whole day walking between two villages. His parents had sent him to a village ten
kilometers away to collect some medicine from a village pharmacist. After walking for most of
the morning, He arrived at his destination only to learn that the pharmacist had left for the city to
replenish his supplies. It took him all afternoon to walk back home. Many years later, having
moved to America and become an investment banker, Mr Quadir was reminded of this episode
when the network at his New York office stopped working. Without communications, he realised,
people are far less productive, whether in a modern office or a rural village; a simple telephone
call could have prevented him from making that unnecessary round trip all those years earlier. As
he waited for the e-mail to start flowing again, Mr Quadir was seized by the idea that a
telephone is a weapon against poverty. He decided to dedicate himself to making telephones
more widely available to the poor in his homeland. I didn't know anything about telecoms, he
says. But maybe that was helpful.1

1
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_effect
Friedman, Thomas (1999), The Lexus and The olive Tree (web Edition; Penguin Allen Lane), p.

6
It was only after having many fruitless meetings with firms and policymakers that Mr Quadir
finally hit upon the right approach. He was inspired by Grameen Bank, a Bangladeshi
organisation well known for supplying microcredit, or small loans, mainly to the rural poor. In
a typical example, a woman borrows enough money to buy a cow, and then repays the loan using
the profits that result from selling its milk. The loan is repaid, the woman earns an income from
the cow, and her neighbours can buy milk. Mr Quadir looked at this model and realised that a
cell phone could be a cow. He formed a consortium with Grameen Bank and Telenor, a
Norwegian mobile operator that provided the required telecoms expertise. He was then able to
secure loans from development banks and aid agencies, and won a licence from the Bangladeshi
government. GrameenPhone launched its service in March 1997, and today has more than 6m
subscribers, making it the country's largest telecoms operator. Bangladesh now has six mobile
operators and more than 9m subscribers in what has become a booming market.2

GrameenPhone was offered a cellular license in Bangladesh by the Ministry of Posts and
Telecommunications on November 28, 1996. The Company launched its service on March
26, 1997, the Independence Day of Bangladesh.

In 1996, Bangladesh was preparing to auction off private cell phone licenses to four companies.
So at the behest of Dr. Muhammad Yunus (Grameen Banks founder) but completely
independent of Grameen Bank, a not-for-profit private company called Grameen Telecom was
created. Grameen Telecom, in turn, created a for-profit company called Grameen Phone, found a
foreign partner, and put in a bid; Grameen Phone received one of the four licenses. Grameen
Phones total capitalization was US$120,000,000, including around US$50 million from
IFC/CDC, and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). It also received US$60 million in equity
from the four Grameen Phone private partners. These were the Norwegian Telenor with a 51%
share, Marubeni of Japan with a 9.5% share, and the American Gonophone at 4.5%. Grameen
Phones fourth partner is Grameen Telecom (with 35%), and Grameen Telecom borrowed
US$10.6 million from the Open Society Institute to set up Village Phone.

2
Power to the People, The Economist, March 9th, 2006

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Grameen Phone launched service in urban Dhaka on March 26, 1997. It makes its profits by
serving wealthier urban customers. But from the point of view of the Grameen family and its
strong anti-poverty mission, the for-profit, urban-only Grameen Phone exists for only one
reason: To fund, with its profits, the extension of cell phones into rural Bangladesh in order to
provide entrepreneurial opportunity to Grameen Bank members through Village Phone. As Dr.
Yunus puts it, "Grameen Phone is merely what we need to do Grameen Telecoms Village
Phone."

Figure 1: Ownership structure of GP till 2003

In 1995, the Government of Bangladesh took a bold decision to open up the mobile
telecommunications for private sector operations. After an international bid in which as many as
14 GSM operators and their local partners had participated, licenses were finally awarded in
November 1996 to three cell phone companies. The impact has been instantaneous and dramatic
in terms of development of the telecommunications sector.

The teledensity in the country, which was less than one percent in 1997 and one of the lowest in
the world, has jumped to more than six percent in less than nine years. The market since then has
expanded faster than in any other country in the region. Virtually a quiet revolution has taken
place, with cell phones ringing now in thousands of remote villages, including the coastal
offshore islands like Bhola, Hatiya and Sandwip. In these places people had never even seen a
telephone set; they are now using chic new cell phones and talking not only to their relatives and
friends, but even doing their business more profitably than ever before. The impact in economic
and social terms has been enormous and probably need to be further assessed. According to the

8
estimates used by the International Telecommunications Union, GDP could grow by USD 4000
with every additional phone connection in the least developed countries like Bangladesh. While
there has been no empirical study as yet on the macroeconomic impact of mobile telephony in
Bangladesh since 1997, any visitor to the cities, district towns and even remote rural markets,
will see the flourishing new small shops that sell the handsets as well as products and packages
of competing operators. The mushrooming phone service and repair centres in small towns and
market places gainfully employ thousands of young people.3

GrameenPhones importance in the social fabric of Bangladesh grew by leaps and bounds over
the course of seven years. By mid-August 2004, through its Village Phone Project (VPP),
Grameen Telecom had placed almost 70,000 mobile phones in 40,000 villages. These 70,000
phones provided telephone access to over 70 million rural Bangladeshis, helping them bridge the
digital divide. For Bangladesh, GrameenPhone represented an important chapter in the history of
foreign joint-venture businesses in the country.

Figure 2: Mobile Penetration by 20074

3
Shams, M. Khalid The Way Forward: Cell phone revolution (TheDailyStar.net, 2006)
4
Presentation of GrameenPhone: Discussions with the Management team (internal presentation, Aug 22, 2005)

9
Since it had begun operations, the company had invested over US$230 million in the country,
which made it one of the largest foreign direct investors, and Norway the country with the largest
investment in Bangladesh. If one added up all the village telephone ladies, GrameenPhone
employees, vendors, distributors, suppliers, contractors, and other individuals, modest estimates
were that GrameenPhone helped provide employment for 300,000 to 400,000 people in
Bangladesh. During the floods in Bangladesh in the summer of 2004, GrameenPhone also
worked extra hard to keep the network running. Telephone traffic understandably was at its
highest in this time of national crisis, and the people of Bangladesh, including the government,
were quite appreciative of the role GrameenPhone played in serving the national interest. 5 The
pinnacle of these positive outcomes came from a research report commissioned by Grameen
Bank, which found that each mobile phone in Bangladesh had improved the GDP of the country
by approximately US$4,000.

Following the partial deregulation of the telecom sector, it became apparent that there was a big
demand for mobile phones in the country. An approach to the mass market was first adopted by
GrameenPhone which decided that real business was not in the sale of handsets as practised
earlier. Rather the market was in high volume sale of cellular phone services in the urban as well
as the rural areas. Telecom has now become the most vibrant sector in the economy and this has
become feasible because of the initial risks taken and substantially large investments made by
major cell phone companies like GrameenPhone. This is a sector which no doubt generates high
revenues and profits, but the operators have to make very large and continuous investments on
network infrastructure and technology development. Since its inception, GrameenPhone alone
has invested more than USD 750 million on its network, IT development and related facilities.
Most of the earnings of the company so far have been re-invested to expand the coverage and
increase the capacity of GP's nationwide network.

5
Malavia, Prashant ,et al(2004) Telenor in Bangladesh: The Way Forward (INSEAD, Fontainebleau, france)

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 Picture 1: Subscribers benefiting from Village Phone Program6
From the very outset, Professor Yunus had stressed the need for a big thrust in the rural market,
traditionally bypassed by the large telecom companies. Grameen Telecom had insisted that as the
name Grameen itself meant rural, the network must cover the villages of Bangladesh from
the very first day. That was the reason why at the inaugural function of GrameenPhone which
took place on March 26, 1997, the Prime Ministers of Bangladesh and Norway spoke not to any
state dignitary, but to Laily Begum, a Grameen Bank borrower as well as the first Village Phone
operator of the country. All the big experts, telecom consultants, government T&T Board and
even local business people, thought this was an absurd idea. Who has ever heard of cell phones
being operated by illiterate village women, coming from impoverished families? Now, there are
close to 200,000 Village Phone operators, who are all members of Grameen Bank. Coming from
the poor households in rural areas, they have dramatically increased not only their family
income, but also their social status, by owning a mobile phone, which is used by other villagers
for sending and receiving telephone calls.

The Government of Bangladesh has also benefited directly from the recent expansion of the
mobile network and the new mass marketing strategy, specially that of Without investing a single
Taka in this sector, the Government is earning very large revenues from taxes, duties and various
other fees received from the cell phone operators. In fact, GrameenPhone would be currently the
largest tax payer in the country --- its contributions to the National Exchequer have gone up from
Tk521 million in 1997, to more than Tk11.5 billion in 2004.

6
The Daily Star

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 Figure 3: Comparison of GP with Large MNCs till 20047
The amount is likely to increase in 2005 and beyond, as the subscriber-base of GrameenPhone
grows along with the addressable market. So long the tobacco companies have been the largest
taxpayers to the Government. Unlike the tobacco companies, however, the mobile operators are
uniquely positioned to combine their business objectives of earning profits, with a direct social
development impact on the lives of the ordinary people. As this sector grows, stimulating
development of ICT, Government revenues can increase further.

7
Presentation of GrameenPhone: Discussions with the Management team (internal presentation, Aug 22, 2005)

12
 Figure 4: Tax paid by GP8

Three important and interesting structural aspects of operation on the largest scale are:

First, that the not-for-profit Grameen Telecom actually owns the for-profit Grameen Phone. The
reason for this structure is that Grameen wants Grameen bank members-- impoverished women
who borrow from Grameen Bank-- to become owners of the profit-making Grameen Phone.

Second, once GP becomes profitable, GT will sell its GP shares to GB members.

Third is an understanding-- not made explicit in any legally binding contract but arrived at in the
shareholders agreement-- that after 6 years of GP operation, Telenor and GT will actually switch
ownership positions: Grameen Telecom will sell its 35% share to Telenor and Telenor will sell
its 51% share to Grameen Telecom, which will thus become the dominant partner and true
manager of the system. Grameen Phone is thus an unofficial, non-traditional form of Build,
Operate, and Transfer.9

"GrameenPhone" might have been born in Bangladesh, but soon it is likely to join the
international cellular jargon. GSM MoU Association at GSM World Congress in Cannes where
many villagers made their first-ever call using pre-paid, recently rewarded rural cellular
marketing, by Vodaphone in South Africa. "GrameenPhone, the unique cellular operator from
Bangladesh, also made an impressive presentation at Cannes.

2.2.1 Founding Partners of GrameenPhone

GrameenPhone is a joint venture company comprising of:

Telenor A state-owned telecommunication company from Norway. It has a long history of

successful cooperation with other operators in Russia, Hungary, Montenegro, Ireland,
Bangladesh, Greece, Germany, Germany, Australia, Malaysia etc.
8
Presentation of GrameenPhone: Discussions with the Management team (internal presentation, Aug 22, 2005)
9
Hossain, M Muntasir (2006).Contemporary approaches in Trade Marketing by GrameenPhone Ltd. and their
effectiveness A Channel Partner perspective. Unpublished Research Paper, Institute of Business Administration,
University of Dhaka

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Grameen Telecom - A sister concern of Grameen Bank. It was established by Grameen Bank to
organize and assist those Grameen bank borrowers who wish to retail telephone services in the
rural areas.

Marubeni Corporation A leading investment and trading company from Japan.

Gonofone Development Corporation A New York-based telecommunication development

company having investments in many companies in USA, Russia and other parts of Europe.10

These four companies own shares of GrameenPhone in the following manner:

Company Percentage of share (%)

Telenor 68
Grameen Telecom 32

Figure 5: GrameenPhone Shareholders

Dividend 2003: BDT 816M
Interim dividend 2004: BDT 1176M

2.3 Shareholders of GrameenPhone

The shareholders of GrameenPhone contribute their unique, in-depth experience in both

telecommunications and development. The international shareholder brings technological and
business management expertise while the local shareholder provides a presence throughout
Bangladesh and a deep understanding of its economy. Both are dedicated to Bangladesh and its
struggle for economic progress and have a deep commitment to GrameenPhone and its mission
to provide affordable telephony to the entire population of Bangladesh. 11

10
Annual Report, 2004 GrameenPhone Ltd.
11
IBID

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2.3.1 Telenor Mobile Communications AS
Telenor AS is the leading Telecommunications Company of Norway listed in the Oslo and
NASDAQ Stock Exchanges. It owns 62% shares of GrameenPhone Ltd. Telenor has played a
pioneering role in development of cellular communications. It has substantial international
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operations in mobile telephony, satellite operations and pay Television services. In addition to
Norway and Bangladesh, Telenor owns GSM companies in Denmark, Austria, Hungary, Russia,
Ukraine, Montenegro, Thailand and Malaysia. It has recently started a mobile phone operation in
Pakistan.

Telenor's experience in Bangladesh suggested that sound business could mean subscribing to
multiple, co-existing, and mutually reinforcing (win-win) bottom lines. In Bangladesh, Telenors
multiple bottom lines included meeting its commercial interests in terms of revenues, profits, and
growth, as well as meeting social interests in terms of serving poor, rural, illiterate inhabitants
who were often excluded from traditional markets, thus overcoming the digital divide. In the
process, Telenor had gained substantial experience in overseas operations by doing business in a
distant geography and an unfamiliar market, which helped to build intellectual and structural
capital for future ventures. Telenor had also enhanced its image and prestige by partnering with
an internationally acclaimed local partner, the Grameen Bank. This gained it invaluable public
relations points, as world leaders (such as Bill Clinton) held up GrameenPhone as a model for
sustainable, multiple bottom lines.

Telenor build on its global expansion strategy by taking the knowledge and expertise gained
from Bangladesh to quickly move to other Asian and developing countries. For instance, Telenor
was making commitments to make a major move into the mobile telephone market in Pakistan.
Finally, some had an even bigger vision for Telenors future. Though in the minority, and often
speaking in hushed tones, these individuals felt that the Bangladesh experience should be the
catalyst for transforming the culture and philosophy of Telenor as it sought to differentiate itself
from other global telecommunication operators.

2.3.2 Grameen Telecom

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Grameen Telecom, which owns 38% of the shares of GrameenPhone, is a not-for-profit company
and works in close collaboration with Grameen Bank. The internationally reputed bank for the
poor, has the most extensive rural banking network and expertise in microfinance. It understands
the economic needs of the rural population, in particular the women from the poorest households.
13
Grameen Telecom, with the help of Grameen Bank, administers the Village Phone Program,
through which GrameenPhone provides its services to the fast growing rural customers. Grameen
Telecom trains the operators, supplies them with handsets and handles all service-related issues.
Grameen Bank currently covers more than 51,000 villages which are serviced by 1326 bank
branches (December 04) all over the countryside. At the end of the year, the bank had 3.78
million borrowers, 95 percent of whom were women. Grameen Telecoms objectives are to
provide easy access to GSM cellular services in rural Bangladesh, creating new opportunities for
income generation through self- employment by providing villagers with access to modern
information and communication based technologies.

2.4 The Purpose

GrameenPhone has a dual purpose: to receive an economic return on its investments and to
contribute to the economic development of Bangladesh where telecommunications can play a
critical role.14

2.5 The Strategy

GrameenPhone's basic strategy is coverage of both urban and rural areas. GrameenPhone builds
continuous coverage, cell after cell. While the intensity of coverage may vary from area to area
depending on market conditions, the basic strategy of cell-to-cell coverage is applied throughout
GrameenPhone's network.15

2.6 The People

13
IBID
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IBID
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The people who are making it happen at GrameenPhone the employees - are young, dedicated
and energetic. All of them are well-educated at home or abroad, with both sexes (genders) and
minority groups in Bangladesh being well represented. They know in their hearts that
GrameenPhone is more than just about phones. This sense of purpose gives them the dedication
and the drive, producing - in about eight years - the widest coverage and largest subscriber-base
in the country. GrameenPhone knows that the talents and energy of its employees are critical to
its operation and treats them accordingly.16

2.7 The Technology

GrameenPhone's Global System for Mobile or GSM technology is the most widely accepted
digital system in the world, currently used by over 1.3 billion people in some 150 countries.
GSM brings the most advanced developments in cellular technology at a reasonable cost by
spurring severe competition among manufacturers and driving down the cost of equipment.
Thus, consumers get the best for the least.17

Figure 6: The technology

2.8 The Service

16
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GrameenPhone believes in service, a service that leads to good business and good development.
Telephony helps people work together, raising their productivity. This gain in productivity is
development, which in turn enables them to afford a telephone service, generating a good
business. Thus, development and business go together. A recent study by London Business
School found that, in a typical developing country, a rise of ten mobile phones per 100 people
boosts GDP growth by 0.6 percentage points.18

2.9 Vision, Mission, Objectives, Strategy

2.9.1 Company Vision

Ideas that simplify19

2.9.2 Company Mission

Grameen Phone Ltd. aims at providing reliable, widespread, convenient mobile and cost
effective telephone services to the people in Bangladesh irrespective of where they live. Such
services will also help Bangladesh keep pace with other countries including those in South Africa
region and reduce her existing disparity in telecom services between urban and rural areas.20

2.9.3 Company Objectives

The Company has devised its strategies so that it earns healthy returns for its shareholders and
at the same time, contributes to genuine development of the country. In short, it pursues a dual
strategy of good business and good development. 21

2.9.4 Company Strategy

18
IBID
19
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20
IBID
21
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Grameen Phones basic strategy is coverage of both urban and rural areas. In contrast to the
island strategy followed by some companies, which involves connecting isolated islands of
urban coverage through transmission links. Grameen Phone builds continuous coverage, cell
after cell. While the intensity of coverage may vary from area to area depending on market
conditions, the basic strategy of cell-to-cell coverage is applied throughout Grameen Phones
network.22

2.10 Success factors- SATS

Simplicity
Simple billing, products and tariff plan
Simple to understand and use the mobile phone
Keep my number
Easy reloading Prepaid
Clear and consistent market message and communication
Easy to get in touch with
Easy and complete start up
Immediate point of sale activation
One stop service
Attractiveness
Good network coverage
Competitive edge on products
Good corporate image
Customer care/customer relations
Complete solution for me
Brand value
Quality handsets at attractive prices
Good distribution network
22
IBID

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Trustworthiness
We do not over promise
We shall over deliver on promises
You can trust our bills
We are here to stay

Service quality
Quality network and coverage
Quality of billing and charging
Prompt availability of skilled customer service
Availability of quality sales services
Fast complaint handling23

2.11 Market Size and Customer

The total market size of the mobile industry is 1.4 million approximately, as of April 2005. Of
this 62% of the market share is occupied by GP, 27.8% by Aktel, 6% by CityCell and 5%
by Banglalink., with Teletalk owning a meager .03%share

23
Mozammel, Afsheen (2006). Operational Effectiveness in Technical Division at GrameenPhone. Unpublished
Research Paper, School of Business, North South University

20
 Figure 7: Market Share24
Among the eight products offered by GP, the pre-paid mobile to mobile subscription, EASY, has
the majority of subscribers amounting to some 2, 678, 986 as of April 05. The newly launched
'djuice' brand has climbed up to take the second position in less than one month with some
1,112,818 subscribers. Another very popular subscription is GP National, post paid mobile to
mobile connectivity, which has around 98,381 subscribers as of April 2005.

Among the subscriptions with PSTN connectivity some 107,475 people have subscribed to pre-
paid EASY Gold where as some 75,214 people have subscribed for the post-paid GP Regular.
GP is the first in the industry to provide bundle products whereby subscribers can get a
predefined number of minutes free for a monthly fee. Anytime 300, post paid mobile to mobile
subscription has some 11, 637 subscribers while Anytime 450, post paid subscription with PSTN
connectivity has some 3,837 subscribers as of April 2005.

The popular Village Phone program has acquired 121,273 subscribers under its program as of
April 2005.

24
Presentation of GrameenPhone: Discussions with the Management team (internal presentation, Aug 22, 2005)

21
 Figure 8: Coverage Evolution of GrameenPhone25
2.12 Company Organogram

Figure 9: Organogram of GrameenPhone26

Management Team of GrameenPhone comprises of the Managing Director, the Deputy
Managing Director and the Divisional Heads of the company.
ERIK AAS - Managing Director of GrameenPhone since 2004.
FRANK FODSTAD - Deputy Managing Director since 2004.
MD. ARIF AL ISLAM - Acting Director, Finance Division, since 2005.
RUBABA DOWLA MATIN - Head of Marketing Division, since 2005.
INGVALD LYCHE - Director, Sales & Distribution Division, since 2005.
STEIN NAEVDAL-LARSEN - Director, Information Technology Division, since 2004.
MD. SHAFIQUL ISLAM - Acting CTO, Technical Division, since 2006.
KHALID HASAN - Director, Regulatory & Corporate Affairs Division, since 2001.
25
IBID
26
GP Internal website: www.grameenphone.com

22
EMAD UL AMEEN - Director, Human Resources Division, since 2003.
2.13 Revenue growth with reduced ARPU in main market centers

Figure 10: Average Revenue Per User Trend27

28 Figure 11: Revenue (In Mn BDT) & Blended ARPU (BDT)

Graph with Revenue 03-05

Graph with blended ARPU 03-05

Dhaka and other regions could potentially represent different

market activities / segments due to maturity of the customers.
27
Annual Report, 2004 GrameenPhone Ltd.
28
Mozammel, Afsheen (2006). Operational Effectiveness in Technical Division at GrameenPhone. Unpublished
Research Paper, School of Business, North South University

23
2.14 EBITDA Growth under Pressure from Competition
29

Figure 12: EBITDA (In Mn BDT) & EBITDA Margin (%)

35,000 80.0%
31,464

30,000
26,053
25,000

65.1%
20,000 18,504
60.1%
60.0%
57.3% 56.2%
56.5%
15,000
11,813

10,000 8,269

5,000
Graph with 03-06 EBITDA
absolute and %
0 40.0%
Actual 2003 Actual 2004 Budget 2005 BP 2006 BP 2007

Operational synergy from size of operation.

Focus is given for more automation for reduction of per
unit costs.
Pressure on margin due to reduced startup prices and
tariffs.
Aggressive roll out has short term effect of Opex also.

29
IBID

24
2.15 GP will Invest USD 290 M in 2006
30

Figure 13: CAPEX (In Mn USD) & CAPEX per Sub (In USD)

Graph with capex 03-06

Graph with capex/sub 03-06

Thorough coverage planning including quality network in

strategic important areas.
USD 5 ARPU customer programs: ARPU trend is not yet
heading towards this level in 2005. But cost alignment is on
plan.
Outsourcing of roll-out projects: expensive, but long term gain.
Outsourcing of VAS services (e.g. GPRS/MMS)
1800 MHz introduced in 2006: will reduce CAPEX per sub.

30
IBID

25
2.16 The GP Family Is Growing Fast
31

Figure 14: No of Employees & Subscribers per Employee

IVC is an important tool for improvement and satisfaction

Not enough quality professionals in line with industry growth
requirement.
Competitors are in hunt for quality managers from market
leader.
Outsourcing of support activities in on plan.
New HQ property is under evaluation

Note: Employee includes GP, BR and Expatriates but excluding part timers, consultant and
outsourced support employees.

31
IBID

26
 Figure 15: GP Trends32
2.17 Service Offered

2.17.1 Company Service

GrameenPhone believes in service, a service that leads to good business and good development.
Telephony helps people work together, raising their productivity. This gain in productivity is
development, which in turn enables them to afford a telephone service, generating a good
business. Thus development and business go together.

2.17.2 Service for the Rural Poor

32
Presentation of GrameenPhone: Discussions with the Management team (internal presentation, Aug 22, 2005)

27
 Picture 2: Village woman benefiting from Village Phone
Establishing a nation wide network gives fair access to all geographical areas. From a business
point of view, this strategy serves both the long distances as well as the rural markets. This
emphasis on rural coverage brings a much-needed infrastructure in the underdeveloped rural
areas. In collaboration with Grameen Bank, which provides micro-credit only to the rural poor,
GP utilizes the bank borrowers to retail telecom services in the rural areas. Leveraging on
Grameen Bank borrowers reduces the distribution costs of Grameen Phone's rural services,
contributing to the profitability of this segment.

By bringing electronic connectivity to rural Bangladesh, GrameenPhone is bringing the digital

revolution to the doorsteps of the rural poor and unconnected.

2.17.3 Village Phone Program

Picture 3: Village Phone Program

The Village Phone program is Grameen Phone's unique method of bringing connectivity to the
rural areas of Bangladesh. This program enables Grameen Bank's borrowers to retail telephone

28
service in their respective villages, and has the potential to penetrate the rural areas rapidly and
effectively.

A typical Grameen Bank borrower takes a loan of Tk 6000 without collateral from the Bank to
purchase, say, a cow. The cow would then produce milk that the borrower could sell to her
neighbors enabling her to make a living and pay off the loan. The process allows the poorest of
the poor to stand up on their feet. In the case of Village Phone, a telephone also acts as an income
generating mechanism for a borrower; a telephone serves as another "cow." A woman borrows
about Tk20,000 from the Bank and purchases a handset and sell telephone services to the
villagers, making a living and thus paying off her loan. It creates a self-employment opportunity
in each village and provides access to telephones to all.

Grameen Telecom, Grameen Bank's arm for administering the Village Phone operators, typically
selects women by considering past borrowing records with the Bank. There are 2144 Village
Phones in operation today and soon thousands of Village Phones around the country are expected
across rural Bangladesh.

2.18 Products

The products of Grameen Phone can be classified as:

Post Paid
Pre-Paid
DJUICE
Business Solutions

2.18.1 Post Paid

Under Post Paid Service there are 3 products:

GP-Regular
GP Regular connects to BTTB local, BTTB-NWD (Nationwide Dialing), ISD (International
Standard Dialing), all Grameen Phone mobiles, other mobiles and receives calls from the same.

29
Recently all GP Regular phones have been given the mobility facility that enables a GP Regular
mobile holder to receive and send calls from anywhere in the country (under GP coverage).

GP National

GP National is a post-paid product with mobile-to-mobile connectivity and BTTB incoming

facility. You can make and receive calls to and from all mobiles (within GP coverage area). It has
network mobility feature, with which you can move around the country with your GP mobile
phone (within GP coverage area).

Anytime 500

'Anytime 500' is a post-paid product with BTTB (Local/NWD/ISD) connectivity. Anytime 500
offers a monthly 500 minutes (billed duration) of talk-time free of charge. It has the network
mobility feature, with which you can move around the country with your GP mobile phone

Figure 16: GrameenPhone Network Coverage

2.18.2 PrePaid

30
EASY Gold

Easy Gold is a pre-paid product with BTTB (Local, NWD and ISD) connectivity. You can
connect to all mobiles and BTTB lines. It has the network mobility feature, with which you can
move around the country with your GP mobile phone (within the GP coverage area).

Figure 17: GrameenPhone product attributes

EASY Pre-Paid

Easy Pre-paid is a pre-paid product with mobile-to-mobile connectivity. You can make and
receive calls to and from all mobiles (within GP coverage) using EASY Pre-paid. It has network
mobility feature, with which you can move around the country with your GP mobile phone
(within GP coverage).

This service helps the subscriber to control costs. It frees the subscriber from the hassles of
paying bills, security deposits and line rents. But it contains nearly all services available in other
GP products. Subscribers can subscribe the service from all GP authorized points of sale.

31
To start with, one has to buy the EASY Starter Kit and a handset. The Starter kit contains a pre-
activated SIM card and a Green EASY card. The Starter kit costs Tk. 1,675, the Green EASY
card worth of Tk. 300 is provided free.

The GP Regular, GP-GP Regular and National subscribers enjoy a number of GSM Features and
Value Added Services (VAS):

2.18.3 Business Solutions

Business Solutions is a high quality and fully integrated telecommunications service from
GrameenPhone, especially designed for the business entities of Bangladesh.

As the largest and most customer centric telecommunication service provider in the country, we
provide customer oriented and customized telecommunications solutions through a highly
consultative approach.

Picture 4: Key Success Factors

What we offer is a suite of specialized products and services covering all communication needs
for professionals, small, medium-sized enterprises to large companies
Comprising of modern mobile telecommunications services for any business needs, we provide

32
voice services, messaging services and mobile data and internet services. We also provide a
complete Mobile Office solution, including mobile e-mail, mobile high speed data access,
internet access, mobile fax and more, giving you the freedom to work from anywhere you want
to.

2.18.4 DJUICE
DJUICE is a mobile subscription for young people who use the mobile phone for
communication and entertainment. It is a registered trademark owned by Telenor, which is a
leading provider of mobile voice and value added services in the Scandinavian region, Central
Eastern Europe and South East Asia and embraces operation in 12 countries. DJUICE is
currently operating in Norway, Sweden, Ukraine and Hungary.

33
 Chapter 3: GrameenPhones Venture into Trade Marketing

3.1 Introduction

The purpose implementing a Trade Marketing Unit inside Distribution Division is aligned with,
the company objective of maintaining 62% market share with brand presence throughout the
country. This is also the part of recently approved Distribution Strategy 33. The Distribution
Strategy has emphasized on ensuring presence of GP in the point of sales through vigorous trade
marketing activities. According to the new strategy the challenge for GP will be to ensure a
unique presence in its exclusive Point of Sales (POS) as well as capturing the highest store space
of the Non Exclusive Retail Outlets (NERO).

The strategic document also emphasized on establishing a Trade Marketing team inside
Distribution which will support Distribution on achieving partnership, loyalty and control of the
distribution channel members.

The main purpose of Trade Marketing unit will be to:

To assist Distribution Department of GrameenPhone in achieving the sales target and to
retain market leader position in the telecommunication market
To develop an effective Trade Marketing workgroup and Trade Marketing process
To design effective merchandising activities, ground level activities, event management
and training programs which will boost up sales and will help attain the target of
distribution
To design effective implementation plan for loyalty and incentive program for the
channel partners

On doing so, it will bridge between Distribution, Marketing and Market Research departments
and will ensure brand presence and knowledge flow in the trade. The trade marketing activities

33
Rahman, Ferdaus (2006), Concept on Trade Marketing, Unpublished Report.

34
will enable GrameenPhone to ensure better POS support resulting in stronger control on the
POS.

Market
Research
Department

Marketing Trade Distribution

Marketing

Ensuring better POS support

resulting in stronger control
on the POS

Figure 18: Coordinating activities of trade Marketing

The distribution strategy has also proposed the following structure of Distribution

Distribution

Owned exclusive Business

Distributors Exclusive Dealers Trade Marketing
channels Support

KAM Events
KAM KAM STS and CRM
and Promotions

KAM Merchandising
KAM KAM Distribution Support
and POS

Reporting and
Training
reconciliation

Loyalty Programs

Figure 19: Distribution Structure

35
For smoothness of discussion, in this report, the term Core Distribution is used to mention
Distributors channel, Exclusive Dealer channel and owned Exclusive channel together.

3.2 Vision

To ensure brand presence and loyalty in all the Point of Sales throughout Bangladesh where
GrameenPhone products are sold.

3.3 Mission

Trade Marketing team will ensure loyalty among the channel partners and maximize GPs
presence in the trade. GP will be the first operator in Bangladesh who will support its POS with
personalized visits by own employees, delivering the most qualified and best POS support in the
market.

3.4 Objective

The prime objective of trade marketing activities will be to support Distribution in achieving
sales target through various activities within the trade. Other objectives will be to -
Ensure brand presence in the trade
Bridge between Distribution and other departments regarding trade marketing
Ensure training and development in the trade
Support Distribution on creating loyalty in the trade

3.5 The way Trade Marketing was done

GrameenPhone Limited was doing Trade Marketing activities in a little extent and with less
empowerment due to lack of dedicated budget. Activities are mainly situation driven and thus
done in a rush. Marketing was designing the POS materials (POSM) and procuring through
Procurement Department. Sometimes Distribution assisted on requirement and design idea

36
generation. Distribution designed the POSM portfolio and allocated among only the exclusive
POS who were a small percent of the total shops selling GP products. POSM were normally
distributed through Key Account Managers. Sometimes courier services and merely outsourced
agencies were used. As no integrated calendar was there between the concerned departments,
integrated trade marketing activities were done haphazardly which resulted in less presence in
the trade. On the contrast the competitors started making their POSM available in the non
authorized POS in addition to the exclusives.

Picture 5: Different Ground Level Activities

Trade communication was done only to the exclusive POS through Key Account Managers. A
letter containing instruction and package price was sent to the exclusive POS in the beginning of
a package. Training programs were arranged in the regions on existing and new product.
Previously GP did not have any formal channel of trade communication to the NERO. After
inception of an activity called T004 distribution a database of some registered wholesaler and
NERO began to shape up. Only these sellers can be communicated in the grey market.

Among big events Mobile Mela was arranged by outsourced event management agency and
Distribution Conference was arranged by the company itself. Through the going beyond
program Trade Marketing began to arrange event for winner POS who became the best seller in
the region

37
3.6 Scope

Trade marketing activities will include all the POS which are selling GP subscription and/or Easy
Prepaid recharge cards. It will also cover any program/events wherever GP has a chance to sell
its products and services.

Other scopes are

Merchandising
Branding the POS
Loyalty Programs
Ground level activities
Event Management
Training and Development
Information flow in the POS

Merchandizing Training for

Event Management
Channel Partners

POS Branding Trade Marketing Mobile Mela

Loyalty Programs Newsletter for Ground Level

Channel Partners Activities
e.g. Road Show

Figure 20: The Scope of Trade Marketing

38
Merchandising
Need assessment of POS Materials
Shared Responsibility: POS Material Design and Development in line with
Marketing
Developing POS Material Portfolio
Allocation of different types of POS Materials for different category of POS
POS Material distribution
POS Material replacement
Branding the POS
Implementing and ensuring the brand presence in and outside of the POS i.e.
shelf share, background walls, shop signs
Distribution Loyalty Programs: Shared with Distribution
Planning Incentives
Planning Sales Competition
Planning POS Decoration Competition
Ground level activities
Road shows (sales, VAS promotion and customer service including handset with
the help of vendors)
Event Management
Distribution Conference and Mobile Mela
Training and Development
Designing the publication of Newsletters regularly to communicate with the
channel partners34

3.7 Key Success Factors

The success of proposed trade marketing activities will sharply depend on the implementation of
the following things
34
Rahman, Ferdous (2006), Presentation on Proposed Trade Marketing Internal Presentation.

39
3.7.1 Combined Activity Calendar

It is a necessity to have a combined activity calendar between the interrelated departments. As

Trade Marketing needs to coordinate among departments, especially MRD, Marketing, and
Distribution, the department/unit will make its own activity calendar in accordance with and
synchronized with other departments activity calendars. It will help Trade Marketing to define
its activities in advance and coordinate between departments/divisions which will end up in
harmony of activities within the company.

3.7.2 POS Database & POS Pyramid

All the trade marketing activities will be dependant on an organized POS pyramid which will be
designed by Distribution. A comprehensive database of POS selling GP subscriptions will be
needed to have this pyramid. According to the newly approved distribution strategy a census on
GP subscription POS will be done and Business Support Unit (BSU) will maintain and update it.
BSU will prepare and maintain the POS pyramid with the support of Sales Tracking System
(STS). Trade Marketing will be a high user of this database and POS pyramid. Most of the trade
marketing activities will be designed for the POS who will be standing on the upper levels of the
pyramid. Trade Marketing should be well aware about the POS pyramid.

3.7.3 Outsourced Agencies

Availability of effective outsourced agencies will be another key success factor on implementing
trade marketing concept, as a lot of works would be done through them in the longer term. Tying
up end sellers with GrameenPhone will require activities of diversified nature. With present
human resources, it will not be possible for GrameenPhone to cover all the activities with the
huge number of end sellers. GrameenPhone will have to appoint third parties to provide
assistance in many activities e.g. event management and road shows. Trade Marketing has to
groom the outsourced agencies in case of unavailability of high performing agencies.

40
3.7.4 Budget
Dedicated budget for Trade Marketing will be a key success factor. Broader market presence will
certainly require more channel partners to work for GrameenPhone. POS material at all levels of
POS will need higher amount than today due to large numbers. Then, again, loyalty program
with this increased number of channel partners will need more amounts too. However, the
outcomes of these outlays are believed to be higher than the investment.

3.7.5 Internal Coordination

Internal coordination between the concern departments will be a key success factor. High level of
integrity will ensure the success of trade marketing activities. Top management commitment can
ensure the coordination.

3.8 Trade Marketing Activities

Trade Marketing unit has started to bridge Distribution department with other
departments/divisions on its activities. In doing so, Trade Marketing unit has also co-ordinated
among the units inside Distribution too. To establish this coordination Trade Marketing unit will
be dependant on two things.

3.8.1 Combined Activity Calendar

Trade Marketing Unit (TMU) maintains its activity based calendar linked with the activity plan
of other departments, especially with Core Distribution, MRD and Marketing. This is done based
on the marketing plan. Activity calendar is prepared before the year starts. Trade Marketing
performs its activities in accordance with the calendar.

To prepare the calendar Trade Marketing Unit extracts from the planned activities of the
marketing plan where time line of new product/feature launching, big promotions and events etc
are written down and this will be one of the major part of the calendar. The unit also consults and

41
takes input from Core Distribution and designs the primary trade marketing activity calendar for
the upcoming year. This calendar is formulated in consultation with Core Distribution, MRD and
Marketing. This activity calendar is distributed to all the stakeholder units so that every unit
remains updated on what trade marketing activities are scheduled and when. It also helps all the
units to get themselves prepared for the upcoming activities. Training needs is primarily detected
from the marketing plan and primary training schedule is included in the calendar.

This calendar helps all the concern units to design their upcoming years activities and setting
KPI.

3.8.2 Regular Coordination Meeting

Trade Marketing arranges coordination meetings with Core Distribution and Business Support
Unit (BSU) regularly. It also arranges coordination meeting with other
units/departments/divisions whenever it is necessary. TMU arranges a regular follow-up and
coordination meeting with Core Distribution in every 3rd week of a month. In this meeting
current months activity is followed up and the rough activities of the upcoming month is
consulted and if required revised. This is finalized in another coordination meeting in the 4th
week of every month. This sort of meeting creates harmony among the stakeholder units.

Trade Marketing will perform the following activities

3.9 Merchandising

The main purpose of merchandising activities will be making GrameenPhone visible in the
highest possible extent in the trade. Other objectives will be to
Deliver the right Point of Sales Material (POSM) at the right place in the right time
Develop high, medium and low value POS material for post paid and pre paid
Develop functional material for the size and type of the outlets.
Develop POS material that communicates GrameenPhones unique selling points, market
position and product offerings.
Develop generic material

42
Merchandising includes need assessment, design and development, portfolio, allocation and
distribution of Point of Sales Materials (POSM). Trade Marketing covers both the subscription
and Easy Pre-paid card selling POS. All the merchandizing activities is directed to have an in-
time design, production, distribution, display, replacement and tear-off of POSM.

Picture 6: Point of Sales are decorated with posters, buntings, danglers, banners & other
promotional materials like, Leaflets Dispensers.

3.9.1 Need Assessment

Need of POSM may be assessed by all the three parties Core Distribution, Trade Marketing
and Marketing. Generally Trade Marketing is responsible to assess the need of POSM which is
derived from the Marketing Plan. It takes consultations/inputs/strategic direction from
Distribution and Marketing regarding this issue.

Distribution Trade Brand

Marketing Management

Figure 21: Need Assessment Process

3.9.2 Design and Production of POSM
Trade Marketing gets the design of the POSM done with the help of Marketing or by
outsourcing. These designs are aligned with the branding strategy of GP which is ensured by
marketing. Different kind of POSM may be designed for different categories of POS according
to the POS Pyramid. Trade Marketing proactively communicates with Marketing/outsourced
agencies regarding development of design.

Trade Distribution
Market
Marketing
Communicatio
n

43
 Figure 22: Design and Production of POSM
POSM is produced by outsourced agencies through Procurement. The production quantity is
decided based on POSM portfolio in consultation with Core Distribution. Trade Marketing
monitors the production and ensures the quality of POSM.

3.9.3 POSM Portfolio

Trade Marketing develops POSM portfolio in consultation with Core Distribution. The portfolio
clearly states which material will go with what quantity to which category of POS. Category
refers to a POSs position on POS pyramid which is defined by Distribution with the help of
Sales Tracking System (STS). Trade Marketing periodically communicates with BSU regarding
the update in the pyramid.

Distribution Trade Business

Marketing Support

Figure 23: Process Showing POSM Portfolio Assessment

3.9.4 Allocation and Distribution of POSM

Trade Marketing allocates the POSM among the POS according to the position in the POS
pyramid and considering the portfolio. Trade Marketing is also responsible for distributing the
POSM to the POS. The department/unit takes support from Core Distribution (distributors do the
job under direct supervision of the Distribution Officer/Territory Officer (TO) or arrange it
through outsourced agencies). The distribution mode differs on type of POS materials, Category
of POS pyramid etc.

Picture 7: Different Ground Level Activities

44
Trade Marketing communicates with the respective Distribution Officials, based on hierarchy,
stating the POSM sending status which includes POS name, number of POSM sent of each type,
date of display, date of replacement etc. During the distribution of POSM, trade marketing
provides a guidance/instruction letter for the POS regarding display and handling of the POSM
including its tear off date.

3.9.5 POSM Replacement

Every POSM should be replaced/removed after its expiry date. Distribution officials in the
territory and/or outsourced agencies are responsible for this activity. They will act upon the
datelines provided by Trade Marketing. POS themselves can replace or tear off the POSM as per
the instruction letter given with that POSM.

Figure 24: Merchandizing process flow

45
3.10 Branding the POS

GP will brand its POS in different ways based on the categories of POS pyramid. Main objective
will be to ensure GPs presence in the POS and attracts the potential subscribers to step inside. It
will be also used as an incentive to the POS. Trade marketing, Marketing and Distribution will be
deeply correlated in this activity. Trade Marketing, through Marketing or outsourcing, will
design different branding for different category of POS in accordance with the branding strategy
of GrameenPhone and in consultation with Distribution. Trade Marketing will fix the branding
portfolio with consultation of Distribution. According to the portfolio, shops of different
categories will be branded in different extent. Emphasize will be given on the exclusive POS and
strategically important NERO. Distribution official responsible for the POS will take initiative to
brand the POS in his area. Trade Marketing will hire outsourced agencies to perform the
branding activities whenever requires. GP will take part in branding cost in a logical ratio
differentiating the categories of POS pyramid. The payment clearance will be done after
receiving positive feedback from the supervising Distribution Official, the POS and Trade
Marketing Official working in the region.

Picture 8: Branding a POS

46
Figure 25: POS branding process flow

47
3.11 Loyalty Program

Trade Marketing will design various loyalty programs with consulting Distribution. The
Department/unit will also be responsible to implement the programs and time to time
development of the program. On developing the program it will also consult Distribution. To
create and uphold loyalty among the POS towards GP, trade marketing will offer various
monitory and non-monitory rewards to them; for example
free air time,
free SMS,
waving monthly access fee,
sharing premium for insurance,
activation bonus,
registration paper submission
and information accuracy bonus,
persistent performer bonus,
rental support,
refurbishment support etc

48
 Picture 8: Different types of Loyalty programs for Channel Partners have been managed by
Trade Marketing

3.12 Ground Level Activities

Trade Marketing will perform various ground level activities to create sales hype in the local
market areas. This sort of activity will aim to promote a specific individual or group of POS in a
locality through promoting GP products, features and services. Trade marketing will arrange
some locality specific programs (like short cultural show, mobile service station etc.) in the
ground level, in collaboration with Distribution. Trade Marketing will plan the programs during
preparation of yearly activity calendar. The plan should be followed up and revised at least
quarterly. Distribution officials working in the territory/area/region will support Trade Marketing
on arranging the program and will have prior notice from Trade Marketing. Trade Marketing will
design the program, with feedback from Distribution, and contact and assign the outsourced
agencies to perform the program. Trade Marketing will clear the payment of agencies after
having satisfactory feedback from local Distribution and Trade Marketing officials.

49
Figure 26: Process flow of ground level activities

50
Picture 9: above: Road Show at Kushtia below: Promotion at the shopping center areas during
Campaign

3.13 Event Management

Trade Marketing will be liable for some big & large events those are related to the trade like
Mobile Mela, Distribution Conference etc. These events will be regularly arranged in the
regions. Timing of these events will be decided by Trade Marketing in consultation with
Distribution during preparing the yearly activity calendar. Venues, participants and program
schedule will be finalized in consultation with Distribution. Distribution will invite guests while
Trade Marketing will hire outsourced agencies to manage the events.

Picture 10: Conference for the Channel Partners and Iftar party

51
 Figure 27: Process flow of event management

3.14 Training and Development

Trade Marketing will be responsible to train and develop the manpower working in the POS as
well as POS owners, distributors employees and distributors. Trade marketing will develop and
implement consistent training programs. Training offering will be POS category specific
according to the POS pyramid. Trade Marketing will assess the training need in consultation with
Distribution. Training will be arranged on :
GP product,
features,
services,
generic sales skill,

52
 business development etc
Trade Marketing will fix a training schedule in consultation with Distribution and MRD during
preparing activity calendar.

Trade Marketing will develop training module, arrange trainers and sometimes select venue in
consultation with Distribution. Distribution will select participants, and arrange the training
program as needed.

Besides training the POS personnel and owners, Trade Marketing will arrange Training for
Trainers to develop and maintain a training team among the Distribution officials.

Picture 11: Training during launching of Djuice and Training for Retailers

Figure 28: Training process flow

53
3.15 Newsletter

As part of developing the POS employees and owners Trade Marketing will develop and
circulate a Monthly Newsletter for the POS. It will contain reports and features regarding
advancement of GP, tips to make business more profitable, quizzes etc. Trade Marketing will
design and develop the newsletter consulting Distribution and distribute it through Business
Support Unit.

Picture 12: Newsletter for Channel Partners

54
 Figure 29: Process flow of newsletter
3.16 Organization

Trade Marketing, as a supporting unit, will support Distribution on achieving sales target through
creating loyalty and hype into the trade through various activities through three units. These units
will be

Merchandizing & Branding

Event Management
Training & Development

These units will mainly plan, initiate, and organize the activities in the Head Office and if needed
in the regional offices level. The field level activities will be performed and monitored by the
regional trade marketing officials (TMO) with the help of local Distribution officials. Reports
and feedbacks will be sent to the Trade Marketing unit by TMO routinely. Trade Marketing will
also visit the market sometimes for auditing of the brand presence.

3.16.1 Merchandizing & Branding

This unit will be responsible for all the activities regarding merchandizing and POS branding.
This unit will coordinate inputs from Distribution & Marketing, assess the need for POS
material, initiate and participate in the design process and ensure implementation either by
internal or outsourced resources.

3.16.2 Event Management

This unit will plan and execute all the ground level activity based events and other big events
aligning with the proposed yearly activity calendar. It will involve different sales channels in its
activities and will perform the activities internally and/or involving outsourced resources.

3.16.3 Training & Development

This unit will develop and implement training programs for all the distribution partners. It will
also train up the Distribution officials as trainer and form a facilitator team consulting with

55
Distribution. It will arrange training on products, services, features, reporting, software, business
development, sales skill etc.
This unit will also develop & distribute a monthly newsletter for the channel partners.

This unit of Trade Marketing will be responsible to perform all the planning and tasks regarding
loyalty program.

3.16.4 Organogram

Figure 30: Organogram for Trade Marketing

Trade Marketing Officers in regions:
- 2 Dahka - 1 Khulna
- 2 Chittagong - 1 Rajshahi
- 1 Sylhet - (1 Barishal)

56
3.17 Target

Trade Marketing Unit will perform the following tasks in short term (6 months) and long term (1
Year)

Short Long
Activity Events Type of POS Term 6 Term
month 1 year
Exclusive All All
Merchandising
NERO 3000 4500
Full 50 100
Exclusive
Partial 50 100
Branding
Full 20 50
NERO
Partial 100 200
In front of
20 100
Ground Lavel POS
Road Show
Activities Inside
6 20
Market
Distribution
Event 2 6
Conferrence
Management
Mobile Mela 4 12
Training & Exclusive All POS 5 10
Development Distributor All
Product 5 10
Employee Distributors
Training
Strategic
NERO 120 POS 6 12
POS NERO
Employee Exclusive All POS
Distributor All
Sales 5 10
Employee Distributors
Training
Strategic
NERO 120 POS 6 12
NERO
POS Owners Business Exclusive 10 20
Excellence Distributor 5 10

57
 Monyhly
5 11
Newsletter
Loyalty Program TBD TBD TBD

3.18 Review

An effective implementation of a solid Trade Marketing approach in the market can sufficiently
improve market efficiency in terms of better utilization of resources, well mobilization of labor,
healthy competition, wider range of production, and free flow of information.

The results of this report can be taken as a comprehensive manual and readily used to improve
the quality of business for the channel partners, as well as to help consumers and policy makers
in taking better decisions.

58
 Chapter 4: Mobile Bus Promotion Campaign

4.0 Concept of the Event:

Mobile Bus the concept was launched as a program in February 8 th, 2006 during the visit of
Telenor CEO, Jon Fredrik Baksaas. This initiative is something new to the industry though a
similar kind of event was previously launched by BATB under their brand Gold Leaf. The first
bus started from Dhaka, Bashunhara City Shopping Complex. The concept is simple, a bus will
be branded with GP materials and it will park at a locality where a series of presentation will be
shown to a group of customers. More precisely, the bus is branded with penaflex sticker covering
the inside and outside wall of the bus. The stickers depict various Value Added Services and GP
advertise. Inside the bus several programs are conducted. Entering into the bus a customer will
find 9 chairs and a screen. After 9 of them are seated a program coordinator presents a
presentation about Corporate Social responsibility if GrameenPhone. Next, an in-house
developed drama ranging 9 minutes is displayed. Though the drama is like any other TV drama
with a very interesting plotline, it is cleverly crafted to put before the audience various concept
about GP Value Added Services. After that the audience is asked several questions about the
services shown in the drama, on successful answering of the question they get a prize. They also
get the chance to experience the service. When the show ends they get a gift from
GrameenPhone. While show continues inside, regular SIM selling activities are carried out in
outside pavilion.

Picture 13: Left to Right: Interior of the bus, Public cuing up to enter into the bus, GP CEO
watching events inside the bus

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4.1 Objective:

1. To increase the market shares in the semi urban and rural areas which are still untapped and
unexploited.
2. To promote the Channel partners of the respective locality.
3. To confirm our superiority among the audience.
4. To influence the buying decision of potential buyers towards our products.
5. To create awareness among the existing and potential customers about our new price plan.

4.2 Branding:

3.1 GP sends Minibus branded with GP visuals/ images

3.2 Design of the branded bus-
POTHE POTHE GP will be used as exterior design of Mobile Bus
In interior design, USPs of GP will be used in the Mobile Bus.
3.3 Measurement of the bus:

Outer Side Inner side

Total Bus size Ceiling
Total Length 22 feet Length 18 feet 8 inch
Total Width 6 feet 8inch Width 3feet 8 inch
Front Glass Air-conditioner Cover
Length 3 feet 1 inch Length 1feet 2 inch
Width 6 feet 8 inch Width 10 inch
Front side other than glass Ceiling to floor
Length 3 feet 10 inch 6 feet
Width 7 feet 5 inch
Back Glass Window size
Length 2 feet 2 inch Length 3 feet
Bottom side width 5 feet 10 inch Window to floor 2 feet 3 inch
Upper side width 5 feet 5 inch
Back side other than glass
Length 4 feet 6 inch
Width 7 feet

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4.3 Invitation Process

Invitation process will be determined by the regional team. But as it is a pilot project, GP follows
the following options -
-9 guests will get a chance to visit the interior of the bus for 30 minutes
-So, in 7 hours 108 guests get entertained.
Option-1
Guest Type No. of Selling point Time frame of selling SIM
Participants
New Customer 80 From local outlets From 4 days back of the event
of GP
Existing Customer/ 28 GPSD/ teacher, Have Got the service from the service desk
opinion leader UNO, Govt. in last days
official, local
chairman

Option-2
Guest Type No. of Selling point Time frame of
Participants selling SIM
New Customer-1 60 From local outlets of GP From 7 days back of the event

New Customer-2 48 From invited outlets for the event In the event day

Option-3
Guest Type No. of Selling point Time frame of
Participants selling SIM
New Customer-1 50 From local outlets of GP From 7 days back of the event
New Customer-2 40 From one booth in a market For 2 days before the event date
place or in a college ground
Existing Customer 18 GPSD Got the service in last seven days

Option-4
Guest Type No. of Selling point Start date of
Participants selling SIM
New Customer-1 58 One booth in a market place For two days, before the event
date
New Customer-2 50 One booth in a college ground For two days, before the event
date
New Customer-3 Rest if any From invited outlets for the event In the event day

Option-5
Guest Type No. of Selling point Start date of
Participants selling SIM
New customer First 108 Buyers From invited POS for the event In the event day

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Option-6
Guest Type No. of Invitation point Start date of
Participants selling SIM
New Customer 60 From local outlets of GP From 7 days back of the event
Existing Customer 30 GPSD Got the service in last seven days

Opinion Leader 18 GPDC & Channel Partner Distribute the invitation card
among the local opinion leader

Customer Recruitment Criteria is like this:

Figure 31: Customer Recruitment Criteria

4.4 Outline of the event

GP personnel make sure that audiences bring their invitation cards

9 seats for the audience inside the bus
30 minutes will take for single show
12 sessions will conduct for every day

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 Total 108 audiences will entertain in each event(day)
Event will start at 11 am & finish at 6.30 pm with 1 hour launch(1.30-2.30), 30minutes
tea break(4.30-5.00)

Figure 32: Process of Mobile Bus

4.5 Main Event

5.1 Activities inside the Bus-

Start with Welcome speech
PowerPoint presentation of GPs contribution (3 minutes presentation)
To show a drama, which will give some real life demonstration of our VAS by
Multimedia presentation
- News Update
- Cricket Update
- Voice SMS
- MMS

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 PowerPoint presentation of new price plan
Game show

Picture 14: Left to Right: People collecting ticket, Demonstrator using PowerPoint presentation
to convey GP services, Participants receiving gifts

5.2 One Tent with three compartments gets decorated with GP logo beside the Mobile bus,
where channel partners sell the SIM & audience will wait for get in the bus.
5.3 Every participant gets the GP branded Cap. There is a competition among the participants
and winner gets a GP branded Bag or Mug.
5.4 In front of the tent, there are some POS involve in selling SIM/ticket.

4.6 Outsourced Agencies Responsibilities:

GP usually hires two agencies, one is responsible for Bus branding and another works with Roll
out of the event.
6.1 Branding Team Responsibilities-
Hire the vehicles for the event
Decorate the Minibus and other Vehicle
Oversee the branding and repainting (interior & exterior) of vehicles
Arrange the Multi media projector, generator, sound system, head phone and other cables
Install the items in proper place in the Minibus.

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Picture 15: Left to Right: (Before Branding) Front of the bus, Side view of the bus, Back view of
the bus

Picture 16: Left to Right: (After Branding) Front of the bus, Side view of the bus, Back view of
the bus

6.2 Roll out Team Responsibilities-

Recruit & train the people who will work in awareness campaign and main event.
Prepare the Game materials
Arrange all require logistic supports for the event
Arrange permission from the concerned authority-TNO, Police, UP chairman, Bazaar
committee.
Decorate inside the bus & the tent (backdrop, bunting and dangler)
Arrange security for the whole event
Deliver the daily field report to GP
Manage the activities for toll & garaging for the vehicles
Event documentation through photography & Video

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4.7 Responsibilities for GrameenPhone:

7.1 Trade marketing approves the proposal & work order of the event
7.2 SCM selects the Agency for the event
7.3 TM & Distribution finalizes the layout and design for the event
7.4 TM develops all POP materials- festoon, bunting, banner, leaflet, coupon, and sticker.
7.5 TM allocates all the gifts- pen, key ring, GP bag, T-shirt & cap.
7.6 TM delivers all the logistics to the selected local POS before the event
7.7 Distribution & TM supplies the SIM in all POS before the event
7.8 People from the Distribution monitors the sale.
7.9 TM is responsible for the overall co-ordination
7.10 Distribution & TM nominate the Channel Partner (One or more than one) who run the sales
in this program.
7.11 Campaign is limited for a predetermined quantity & duration.
7.12 Stock (SIM & gift) is delivered from the GPDC.
7.13 No special promotion (price & feature) is given for this program except gift item
7.14 Print ticket and coupon for the main event
7.15 There are usually two events in a day in two zones.

4.8 Clause:

8.1 Agency is liable for managing and controlling all tasks associated with events.
8.2 Agency is entirely liable for managing any type of unwanted and unexpected situations at the
time of event.
8.3 The performance is deemed periodically by the GP concern officials; the contract is revised
and extended as per appraisal report and recommendation. In case of dissatisfactory
performance, the contract is terminated.
8.4 Agency has to avoid things and activities which do not go along with the GP image, branding
and goodwill.

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8.5 To ensure the best projection of GP brand image and goodwill, GP officials take any decision
regarding the event and the agency has to take measure according to GP instructions.
4.9 Coverage/ Duration/Frequency:

9.1 One bazaar is covered in a day in one zone.

9.2 Program started from March06
9.3 In first phase, Chittagong & Khulna zone is getting covered and in the long run the whole
country will get coverd.

4.10 Working Days Calculation

- (30 days X 2 months) = 60 days

- (60 days X 2 bazaar) = 120 bazaars will be covered by one team.

No. of items No. of Days

Bus Branding 5
Go and Return (1+1) 2
Govt. Holidays(1+1+1+1+1) 5
Weekends Fridays (4X3) 12
Repainting 2
Contingency 4
Total day off 30

Item wise Days Days

Local transport & Bus W. days 90
Promoter W. days 69
Actual Working days 60

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 Chapter 5: Mobile Bus Audience Feedback Survey

5.1 Audience Feedback Survey

This survey was intended for finding out the effectiveness of the program Mobile Bus. For this
sole purpose a survey paper was designed, which the readers can find as an exhibit in the
Appendix A. the survey questions encompass almost all the visible criteria of the mobile bus.

The program was running for about 2 months. Till this survey not a lot has been done to find out
what the end users are thinking about. It became a pressing need to conduct a survey to find out
the effectiveness of the program among the audience.

The survey took place in Comilla district, the venue was Brahman Para. The bus arrived there
on the 1st July and stayed there from 11 am to 6.30 pm. About 1000 people turned out at the
venue. Generally the people who buy SIM from the venue usually get the opportunity to enter
into the bus. To spread the message there are some randomly chosen people get the opportunity
to come inside the bus. During this researchers stay a total of 92 questionnaires have been filled.
All of them are hand filled.

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 Picture 17: Mobile bus in Brahman Para
5.2 Demography:

During the initiation stage there were lots of strategies for choosing audiences for the bus. A
detail plan has been developed, but when the program was implemented it was found to be too
much of hassle. Generally those audiences were selected who purchase connection at the venue,
beside them a few others get the chance to enter into the bus.

5.2.1 Education
Though the venue was in union level the educational level was not that bad, in fact it was quite
impressive, most of the survey participants were at least in the secondary level. Out of 85
samples only 3 were uneducated. 33% of the audiences were graduates. It can be concluded here
that most of the audience watching the show are educated. This is crucial because most of the
awareness building activities undertaken inside the bus require the audience to be educated to at
least some level.

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Primary Secondary Higher secondary Graduation Post Graduation Uneducated
2 29 21 22 8 3

Figure 33: Education of the local population

5.2.2 Income
The audiences coming inside the bus were of all level. 39% of them were coming from below tk
5000 level but they were not dirt poor, only 1 audience had an income below tk 1000. 9 people
boasted that they had an income in the level of tk 20000. So the people coming into the bus are
relatively affluent. The largest groups of people are living in between an income range of tk 7000
to tk 10000. 23% people were in this level.

Below 1000- 3000- 5000- 7000- 10000- 15000- 20000+

1000 3000 5000 7000 10000 15000 20000
1 12 11 4 14 5 5 9

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 Figure 34: Income of the total Population

5.2.3 Profession
The pie chart is depicting the professional scenario of Brahmanpara. Most of the audiences were
businessman. 41% of the audiences were businessman. There were in fact only three types of
professionals before 3 teachers from local school visited the venue. The second highest
professional visiting the venue were in fact not professionals, they were students. Even though its
on a working day 26 students visited the venue. Rests of the public were students.

Student Business Service Holder Teaching

26 34 20 3

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 Figure 35: Profession of the total Population

5.2.4 Age:
The age range of visitors in the bus was 10-55. Most people came from the 20-25 age group. The
second place was held by its predecessor 15-20 age group. 77% people visiting the bus were
below the age of 30. it is quite obvious from the figure that as age increases people from that age
group decreases.

10-15 15-20 20-25 25-30 30-35 35-40 40-45 50-55

1 22 23 18 10 6 1 2

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 Figure 36: Age of the total population

5.3 What do you think about the concept of Mobile Bus?

Excellent: 24
Good: 44
Not so Good, Not so Bad: 1
You can do better: 2
Bad: 0

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The first question that the audience was asked is what is their opinion about the mobile bus. Not
surprisingly most of the respondent found the idea good. Its quite obvious from the skyscrapers
indicating good and excellent that people coming into the bus found the concept something very
interesting and they greatly enjoyed the experience inside the bus. Only two people expected
more from the bus while there is no negative reaction, this is in a sense a great success for the
team who has put up the whole program.

Figure 37: Audience Perception about Mobile Bus

5.4 Audience Evaluation of Mobile Bus and Other Criteria

Comments Excellent Good Not so Good, Not so Bad You can do better Bad

Venue 21 36 5 1 0
Selection
Decoration 28 46 8 0 0
Inside the
Bus

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 Decoration 15 38 22 5 2
Outside the
Bus
Overall 30 50 3 1 0
Decoration of
the Bus
Sitting 21 53 7 2 1
Arrangement
Presentation 17 48 13 2 1
Inside the
Bus
Mobile 17 55 3 5 1
Drama
Game Show 20 46 12 4 2
Gift Item 22 41 13 6 1
Audience 19 48 7 6 0
Management
Volunteer 21 47 10 3 0
Security 18 59 9 0 0
Management 17 54 10 1 0
of The Whole
Program
Selling Tent 12 50 12 3 2
Behavior of 11 58 6 2 0
the Selling
agent

In the second question the audience has been asked to evaluate different aspects of the bus. A
total list of 15 criteria has been put forward for audience evaluation. There are very few negative
answers here. The bus decoration outside along with selling tent and the game show got some
negative marking (2 bad s for each). The audience expected more from the choice of the game
show, gift item, mobile drama, decoration outside the bus and venue selection. Peculiarly the
audience found the choice of venue not so good not so bad. The choice of venue usually remains
under the responsibility of local GPDC so in a way it is not the buss fault that it got a poor
rating. The choice good is a clear winner here, most of the people thought that all the things
that have been brought forward are good to look at. Though people at the venue were stingy on
calling a criteria Excellent it got the second highest selection. Special mention in this category

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goes to overall decoration of the bus, decoration inside the bus, gift item and volunteer which got
the higher number of excellent grading.

Figure 38: Audience Evaluation of Mobile Bus and other Criteria

5.5 Audience Evaluation of Mobile Buss MCs

Comments Excellent: Good: Not so You can do Bad

about the Good, Not better:
Presenter so Bad:
Clothing 15 60 6 2 0
Pronunciation 21 49 6 4 0
Communication 15 57 6 3 0

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 Ability
Ability to make 20 51 7 2 0
people
understand
Behavior 18 61 3 1 0
Smartness 16 52 11 2 1
Knowledge 21 48 6 3 0
about GP

This part of the survey was crucial. The management of mobile bus is completely outsourced. It
has been done by a channel partner, who is totally responsible for the show at the event. In fact at
every event there is only one GP official remains present, interesting thing is he is not someone
from trade marketing, he is usually from Distribution department. So everything that happens in
the venue occurs under the responsibility of the Channel Partner or outsourced agency, which is
in the case of Mobile, bus Comtrade. This is why evaluating the personnel present at the venue is
crucial, because they represent GP on the spot. The audience was asked to evaluate them on 7
criteria. There are some mild dissatisfaction on the criteria pronunciation and knowledge about
GP, which is negligible. There are 11 of them who are not impressed by their smartness. Most of
the audience present on the spot evaluated them in all the criteria as good. These figures surpass
all others by quite some margin. Like the previous questions audience were a little bit stingy to
give excellent criteria.

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 Figure 38: Audience Evaluation of Mobile Bus MCs

5.6 Inquiry about Mobile SIM

Have you bought SIMs here?

Yes: 74
No: 7

Figure 40: Inquiry about SIM

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5.7 Value Added Service Knowledge

What services have you learnt about after coming here?

Prothom Alo News Update: 67
Channel I News Update: 24
Voice SMS: 25
Daily Star News Update: 37
Cricket Update: 48
MMS: 3

Incorporating this question gave the survey a new dimension. The presentations carried out
inside the bus are mainly related to Value Added Service. This is added to increase awareness
among rural people about GP VASs. Though only a few hundred people get to go inside the bus
in a locality, but it has been expected that they will spread the knowledge gained inside among
their peers. Selling SIM is one of the key activities of the Mobile Bus but at the same time
creating awareness about GP VASs is no less important. Since only 50% of the subscribers are
using GP VASs, there remains huge revenue growth opportunity in this sector. VASs shown
inside the bus are mentioned above. It became a pressing need to find out how much of the
information disseminated inside remains with the audience. The clear winner here is Prothom alo
news update and Cricket update. Two third of the audience can remember about it. One third of
them can recall about Daily Star News Updates while only 3 out of 92 respondents remembered
about MMS but it is expected as it got little emphasis in the show.

Figure 41: Value Added Service Knowledge

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5.8 Where have you heard about Mobile

Where have you heard about this service?

Strolling around: 16
Seeing the crowd gathered around the bus: 3
Word of mouth: 16
Coming here: 15
Mike canvassing: 14
GPSD: 3

Though in the initial proposal it was considered that there would be some promotional activities
to promote the arrival of the bus, after the journey begins the idea was dropped. Still we tried to
find out what was pulling the crowd to the spot. Most of the respondents were just passing by or
heard it from their peer group. Although there is very little mike campaigning took place, still a
good number of people site it as their informational channel. Disappointing thing is that though
there is a GPSD in the locality, only 3 people heard it from them.

Figure 41: Information about the Mobile Bus

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5.9 Why have you chosen to come into the bus?

Why have you chosen to come into the bus?

To get experience: 53
To buy SIM: 14
To see around: 4
Without any reason: 1
Others: 0

It was clear from the previous experiences that when the bus arrives in a locality it quickly
creates a buzz around it. It has long been suspected that people of the locality feel curious about
what is going on inside. Sometimes this even drives them to impulse buying. In other words
sometimes the audiences only buy the SIM just to have a look inside the bus. It has been proved
correct by the survey finding. Overwhelming amount of people agreeing on the fact that they
enter into the bus just to get the experience indicates that what we thought is correct the audience
mainly come to the bus to get the experience.

Figure 42: Why have you chosen to come into the bus?

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 Chapter 6: Major Findings and Recommendations

The key objective of preparing this report is to draw a clear and fathomable picture of the
experience gathered as working as an internee in the Trade Marketing department. It has been
discussed previously that bringing all the activities of the department will provide an ambiguous
picture, thats why the key focus is placed on one particular activity of the department. Structure
of this report is very simple, in chapter 2 we have talked about the whole company, chapter 3
encompasses the activity of trade marketing, chapter 4 comes down to one particular activity
mobile bus.

As one could recall from the first chapter, the objective of this internship is twofold. One aspect
is to expose a fresh graduate to the real world and the second aspect is to draw up some
recommendation about the program Mobile Bus. Though the whole report has focused on the
second aspect, because of its academic significance, to this reporter the first one has come as
clear winner. GrammenPhone offers an unbelievable array of opportunity to a young professional
to enhance his ability. For example, in my short tenure I have been asked to take sole
responsibility of an event in Dhaka Bashundhara City Shopping Complex. Management of the
event was sophisticated and very challenging, also at the same time exhilarating. This is the kind
of opportunity that a young professional crave for.

6.1 Key Findings from the Survey

It has been discussed earlier that till this survey has been conducted, the inquiries (of the survey)
got no concrete answers. It is imperative to bring the wild guesses under a concrete formation.
Following specific objectives have been answered after the completion of this report.

1. A concrete framework for GrameenPhone Trade Marketing department has been

developed. It is hoped that a newcomer would be able to get a grasp of all the myriad
things that has been taking place in the department after going through the chapter 3.

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2. An adequate highlight has been focused on the ground level activity Mobile Bus. A
huge amount of information was scattered over the plain which has been brought under
one report. Before this report, the activity mobile bus was never put under this kind of
scrutiny. After the initial excitement of the project calmed down, it became a craving
need to find out its effectiveness, which would guide the team for further expansion plan.

3. Education wise the demography visiting the mobile bus is more educated than it was
assumed. Previously it was believed that, since the bus would go to thana level, the crowd
would be somewhat less educated. But according to survey finding 97% of the audiences
in the bus were educated. Among them 33% were graduate which is much higher the
country average. Astonishingly 94% people that came into the bus that day had at least a
secondary level of education.

4. The survey found out that though the demography was not very affluent, they were not
dirt poor either. Only 1 survey sample had an income below tk 1000 per month. 39% of
the samples had an income below tk 5000. Interestingly 15% of the audience had an
income more than tk 20000. Astonishingly 31% of the audience had income more than tk
10000 per month.

5. It was assumed that profession wise mobile bus would be more popular among students
than others. But interesting thing is the highest number of people coming into the bus was
businessman. 41% of the total population was doing business. Not surprisingly the
second most sited professionals were not at all professional they were students. 31%
audiences were students. Coming in distant third were service men with 24% turnout.

6. It was expected that the bus will be more popular among the younger generation than the
older. 77% of the audiences were below the age of 30. The most number of people were
coming from 20-25 age group. 28% of the audiences were from this income group. The
turnout from the over 35 age demography was disappointing. Only 10% of the audience
were over 35 year old age.

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7. While investigating the demography of the mobile bus one important factor came up,
there was not a single woman present at the venue. We probe into the matter further and
focused on other venues. The agency has to submit edited video of the event for
evaluation; on these videos we also found that there were very few incident of sighting of
a woman.

8. It was a thing of relief that the concept of the event was well received among the
audience. While they were asked how they liked the concept of the bus, there was no
negative answer. 95% of the audience found the idea at least good, while 33% of the
audience found the idea excellent. The bus failed to satisfy only 5% people.

9. The overall activities were put under scrutiny of the audience, which turned out quite
fine. There is a negligible amount of negative feedback here. Audience liked almost all
categories equally. In most of the cases they answered either good or excellent. In fact
most people ticked good while evaluating a criterion. Decoration of the bus, decoration
inside the bus, gift item and volunteer these criteria proved more successful than others.
The audience expected better choice of venue than the chosen one.

10. The outsourced agency MCs who were present at the spot seemed doing a good job, at
least audience fond them satisfying. They were given good or excellent grade in all the
criteria.

11. 91% of the audience who visited the bus actually purchased a SIM.

12. After watching the demonstration 79% people were able to remember Prothom Alo News
Service, 55% remembered cricket update, 44% were able to remember Daily Star News
Update, 29% Voice SMS, 28% Channel I News Update, and only 3% could remember
about MMS.

13. 24% of the audiences hear about the bus accidentally coming at or while strolling by the
venue. Another 24% come to the bus after hearing it from their peer group. 20% come

84
 here after listening to the mike canvassing. Only 4% came after hearing it from the local
GPSD.

14. 73% audiences agreed that they had come here to get the experience. Only 19% came to
buy SIM.

6.2 Key Factors that have irritated the Audience:

One of the most important aspects of conducting the survey was to find out about the factors
which the audience did not like. A specific question was devised to find out about that. The
audiences were asked which factor in the bus need improvement. Following feedbacks were
received from the audience:

1. Audiences want more activities to be added with the buss current activities.

2. As the space inside the bus is limited, the presenter has to stand in front of the projection
screen. This bothered some audience. That is why they asked for to create a sitting option
for the MC.

3. Another thing that bothered the audiences was the lack of mobile related knowledge or in
other words, they wanted to know more about GP services.

4. Another frequent sited agitation was shortage of time for the show. They wanted the show
to be prolonged more.

5. Some of the audiences found the display of the projection a little blurry and asked for a
more clear projection.

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6.3 Suggestions from the Audiences:

Following suggestions are gathered from the audiences:

1. Drama should be improved.

2. Add some musical programs

3. Provide food to the audience inside the bus.

4. Interview of the management and corporate vision should be shown inside.

5. More GP service information.

6. Move 2 sits back, give some spaces to sit.

7. Improvement of the management of the program.

8. Add new information about GP.

9. Improvement of the sits.

10. Increase the length of the drama.

6.4 Recommendations:

It is the task of the researcher to put forward some recommendation on the basis of the survey
that has been undertaken. This is crucial because this is the logical end to a vigorous process that
will justify the numerous hours, resources and labor that has been implemented for the project.
Here it goes:

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1. There is no doubt that Mobile Bus the project is very successful. Though the activities
that are undertaken inside the bus are not out of this world, it serves as a positive
reinforcement to motivate the audience to buy GP connection. It has been observed
during the survey that people with existing connection are buying GP SIM. Interesting
thing is some of them bought more than one SIM just to get into the bus. This is in fact in
aligning with GP Trade Marketing objective. Trade Marketing will promote any cause
that will generate sales, that is why it has been separated from Marketing division and
brought under Sales and distribution division. It has been observed that at the venue they
sold more than 100 SIMs within just 4.30 hours. This is phenomenal for a locality where
if they can sell 20 SIMs in a day, they will consider it as a very successful day. Previous
data analysis shows that this is true for other venues. It is highly recommended that
GrameenPhone should bring out more buses of this kind to visit other part of the country.
Possibly 2 more buses will do great.

2. Mobile bus generally visit places in thana level. The enthusiasm that follows its arrival is
quite extraordinary. Because of its size and structure it could not reach deeper into the
territory. These places have potential and untapped markets where it is difficult to reach
with usual channel. Because of these places growth opportunity they should not be
overlooked. GrameenPhone should implement similar kind of program for these places
also. Possibly a smaller size vehicle will do the magic here. Similar kind of activities can
be imitated with the aide of van and motorbike.

3. The crowd that the bus usually pulls is without conducting any campaign. One drawback
of the process is that the start up of the event usually takes little time. It is advised that
some sort of activities should be undertaken. The local GPSDs should be put into work
here. Our findings suggest that they are doing very little to disseminate the news about
mobile bus arriving. They should be instructed to coordinate their activities with the
arrival of the Mobile Bus.

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 4. One of the problems that the audience face inside the bus is they are shown too many
things, too fast. Each show should be prolonged and the MCs should be instructed to take
their time in explaining the activities inside the bus.
5. It has been observed during the survey that the MCs mix bangle and English word while
presenting. These practices create confusion among the audiences, because some of the
words that are used inside are unfamiliar to the rural population. It is advised that while
giving lecture the MCs should use only familiar Bengali words.

6. Inside the bus during the game show the audience are asked a question about VAS
activity that they are shown earlier. Interesting thing is when they come out of the bus, if
they are asked what services they remember, usually they can remember the question that
they have been asked. It is advised that the number of questions that are asked inside the
bus should be increased so it would give the MCs to demonstrate more services and it
will enable people to remember the services more.

6.5 Conclusion

The concept of trade marketing in GrameenPhone is relatively new but effective in the telecom
industry as no player in the industry had adopted this approach before GrameenPhone.
Companies in different industries such as Benson & Hedges, Unilever have applied this
practice for nearly a decade. While implementing this practice in the telecom industry,
GrameenPhone currently has taken a policy of replicating of the standard trade marketing events
practiced by its mother company and also the existing multi national companies in different
industries. As a result, other competitor companies have started adopting this approach to face
the fierce competition in the market.

Trade marketing activities are currently booming among telecom companies in Bangladesh. It
has a remarkable growth rate and the demand is now more than ever. To satisfy the demand of
the market and face the fierce competition in the industry that has been developing through out
the last decade, the companies need to focus on their trade marketing events much more that they
did ever before.

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