A Study On Promotioanl Strategies of Bharti Airtel

A STUDY ON PROMOTIOANL STRATEGIES OF BHARTI AIRTEL,
CONTENT
CHAPTER I Executive Summary OBJECTIVES CHAPTER II CHAPTER III Introduction to Topic Company Profile 3.1 Promoters 3.2 Vision and Mission 3.3 Organization Structure 3.4 Product line and Value Chain 3.5 Porters Five Force Model 3.6 Competitive Analysis 3.7 Marketing Strategies 3.8 SWOT Analysis CHAPTER IV CHAPTER V About the Project Research Methodology
5.1 - Problem Definition 5.2 - Approach to the Problem 5.4 - Sources of data collection 5.5 - Primary sources 5.6 - Secondary sources 5.7 - Sampling techniques CHAPTER VI CHAPTER VII CHAPTER VIII Data Analysis and Findings Conclusion Recommendations Bibliography and Appendix BOOKS ARTICLES NEWS PAPERS
Executive Summary:
It is no wonder that in todays aggressive business environment, the challenges of sustaining in these competitive surroundings, preoccupies the minds of many Business leaders. Customers have many options to choose their telecom operator from competitive market. Furthermore, they often perceive that what they are purchasing is, for all practical purposes, a commodity that can be easily obtained from other companies, if need be. So, how does a corporation distinguish itself in a highly commoditized and competitive market? Todays business is more dependent, than ever before, on their top performing product to be innovate and provide services that differentiate a company from its fierce competitors. In other words, corporations rely upon their product and human assets to survive and thrive. Airtel is one of the leading telecom firms of the country. Airtel is providing intermediate services to the people of India since 1995. The company is largest cellular service provider in India and third largest in the world in the field of various telecom services like Mobile network, wireless, landline, broadband, satellite television, etc. The company is famous for world presence, vast network coverage, excellent service and brand image managed by experts. This project was carried out for BhartiAirtel, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. This is one of the leading centers for marketing and sale of Airtel product and services in southern region. The project was carried out for 45 days as summer internship program in a systematic manner.
This project report contains various section where Ive discussed about company profile, its present strength, porters 5forces model, competitive analysis, SWOT analysis, methodology used, sample size, sample unit, analysis and discussion, questionnaire, and annexure. After market study it can be said there is very tough competition between various telecom firms like Airtel, Vodafone, Aircel, BSNL, Idea,uninor, etc. But still Airtel is leading the market of Jabalpur.
INTRODUCTION:
Promoting is a form of communication intended to persuade an audience
(viewers, readers or listeners) to purchase or take some action upon products, ideas, or services. It includes the name of a product or service and how that product or service could benefit the consumer, to persuade a target market to purchase or to consume that particular brand. These messages are usually paid for by sponsors and viewed via various media. Promoting can also serve to communicate an idea to a large number of people in an attempt to convince them to take a certain action.
Commercial advertisers often seek to generate increased consumption of their products or services through branding, which involves the repetition of an image or product name in an effort to associate related qualities with the brand in the minds of consumers. Non-commercial advertisers who spend money to advertise items other than a consumer product or service include political parties, interest groups, religious organizations and governmental agencies. Nonprofit organizations may rely on free modes of persuasion, such as a public service announcement.
Modern Promoting developed with the rise of mass production in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Mass media can be defined as any media meant to reach a mass amount of people. Different types of media can be used to deliver these messages, including traditional media such as newspapers, magazines, television, radio, outdoor or direct mail; or new media such as websites and text messages.
"Strategy is the direction and scope of an organization over the long-term: which achieves advantage for the organization through its configuration of resources within a challenging environment, to meet the needs of markets and to
fulfill stakeholder expectations".
In other words, strategy is about:
* Where is the business trying to get to in the long-term (direction)
* Which markets should a business compete in and what kind of activities is involved in such markets? (markets; scope)
* How can the business perform better than the competition in those markets? (Advantage)?
* What resources (skills, assets, finance, relationships, technical competence, and facilities) are required in order to be able to compete? (Resources)?
* What external, environmental factors affect the businesses' ability to compete? (Environment)?
* What are the values and expectations of those who have power in and around the business? (stakeholders)
Strategy at Different Levels of a Business:

Strategies exist at several levels in any organization - ranging from the overall business (or group of businesses) through to individuals working in it.
Corporate Strategy - is concerned with the overall purpose and scope of the business to meet stakeholder expectations. This is a crucial level since it is heavily influenced by investors in the business and acts to guide strategic decision-making throughout the business. Corporate strategy is often stated explicitly in a "mission statement".
Business UnitStrategy - is concerned more with how a business competes successfully in a particular market. It concerns strategic decisions about choice of products, meeting
needs of customers, gaining advantage over competitors, exploiting or creating new opportunities etc.
OperationalStrategy - is concerned with how each part of the business is organized to deliver the corporate and business-unit level strategic direction. Operational strategy therefore focuses on issues of resources, processes, people etc.
How Strategy is Managed - Strategic Management
In its broadest sense, strategic management is about taking "strategic decisions" decisions that answer the questions above.
In practice, a thorough strategic management process has three main components, shown in the figure below:
Strategic Analysis
This is all about the analyzing the strength of businesses' position and understanding the important external factors that may influence that position. The process of Strategic Analysis can be assisted by a number of tools, including:
PESTAnalysis - a technique for understanding the "environment" in which a business operates.
ScenarioPlanning - a technique that builds various plausible views of possible futures for a business.
FiveForcesAnalysis - a technique for identifying the forces which affect the level of competition in an industry.
Market Segmentation - a technique which seeks to identify similarities and differences between groups of customers or users.
Directional Policy Matrix - a technique which summarizes the competitive strength of a businesss operations in specific markets.
Competitor Analysis - a wide range of techniques and analysis that seeks to summarize a businesses' overall competitive position.
Critical Success Factor Analysis - a technique to identify those areas in which a business must outperform the competition in order to succeed.
SWOT Analysis - a useful summary technique for summarizing the key issues arising from an assessment of a businesss "internal" position and "external" environmental influences.
Strategic Choice:
This process involves understanding the nature of stakeholder expectations (the "ground rules"), identifying strategic options, and then evaluating and selecting strategic options.
Strategy Implementation
Often the hardest part. When a strategy has been analyzed and selected, the task is then to translate it into organizational action.
COMPANY PROFILE
Airtel India Profile
Type Industry Founded Founder(s) : : : : Public Telecommunications New Delhi, NTC, India Sunil Bharti Mittal New Delhi, NTC, India South Asia, Africa and the Channel Islands Key people Products : : Sunil Bharti Mittal Fixed line and mobile telephony, Broadband and Fixed line internet services, digital television and IPTV Employees Subsidiaries : : 21,300(Nov12) Airtel Africa Airtel Digital TV Airtel Sri Lanka Airtel Bangladesh
Headquarters : Area served :
BhartiAirtel Limited, commonly known as Airtel, is an Indian multinational telecommunications Services Company headquartered at New Delhi, India. It operates in 20 countries across South Asia, Africa and the Channel Islands. Airtel has GSM network in all countries in which it operates, providing 2G, 3G and 4G services depending upon the country of operation. Airtel is the worlds third largest mobile telecommunications company with over 271 million subscribers across 150 countries as of March 31, 2013. It is the largest cellular service provider in India, with 183.61 million subscribers as of Nov-
2012. Airtel is the third largest in-country mobile operator by subscriber base, behind China Mobile and China Unicom.
Airtel is the largest provider of mobile telephony and second largest provider of fixed telephony in India, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services. It offers Indian telecom services under the airtel brand, and is headed by Sunil Bharti Mittal. BhartiAirtel is the first Indian telecom service provider to achieve Cisco gold certification. It also acts as a carrier for national and international long distance communication services. The company has a submarine cable landing station at Chennai, which connects the submarine cable connecting Chennai and Singapore.
Airtel is credited with pioneering the business strategy of outsourcing all of its business operations except marketing, sales and finance and building the minutes factory model of low cost and high volumes. The strategy has since been copied by several operators. Its network-base stations, microwave links, etc. is maintained by Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Network whereas business support is provided by IBM, and transmission towers are maintained by another company (BhartiInfratel Ltd. in India).
Ericsson agreed for the first time to be paid by the minute for installation and maintenance of their equipment rather than being paid front, which allowed Airtel to provide low call rates of Rs.1/min. During the financial year (2009-10), Bharti negotiated for its strategic partner Alcatel-Lucent to manage the network infrastructure for the telemedia business. On 31 may 2012, BhartiAirtel awarded the three-year contract to AlcatelLucent for setting up an internet protocol access network across the country. This would help consumers access internet at faster speed and high quality internet browsing on mobile handsets.
Airtel Branding Strategy

Airtel has been the first player in India to offer some niche services like Blackberry, Caller Tunes, and personalized ringtones and has even attached itself with the biggest names like Sachin Tendulkar, AR Rahman and Shahrukh Khan to promote the brand.
Airtel has always backed on human relations and emotions in their brand communication through its advertisements focusing on the emotional content. The brand promotions have come a long way with its signature tune composed by AR Rahman in the year 2002, to the latest campaigns inspired by the theme of friendship.
In the 2010, Airtel launched a new signature tune and it even rebranded its logo and launched the Dil Jo ChahePaasLaaye campaign. This initiative was taken to target the corporate and post-paid subscribers with its new communication.
In 2011, the brand launched the HarEk Friend ZarooriHotaHai campaign with a same signature tune modified to focus on the youth and targeting itself as The friendship brand. The campaign was a huge success with its lively tune. Since then, Airtels campaigns have been inspired by the theme of friendship.
In the year 2012, it launched the latest Ad campaign which complemented the earlier ad, focusing on friendship Jo MeraHai Who TeraHai, which is again a hit amongst the viewers and its customers.
Board of Directors:
The Board of Directors of the Company has an optimum mix of Executive and Non-Executive Directors, which consists of three Executive and fifteen Non-Executive Directors.
The Chairman and Managing Director, Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal, is an Executive Director and the number of Independent Directors on the Board is 50% of the total Board strength. The independence of a Director is determined on the basis that such director does not have any material pecuniary relationship with the Company, its promoters or its management, which may affect the independence of the judgment of a Director.
The Board members possess requisite skills, experience and expertise required to take decisions, which are in the best interest of the Company.
The composition of the Board is as under:
Sunil Bharti Mittal Akhil Gupta Chua Sock Koong N. Kumar Ajay Lal Craig Ehrlich Pulak Prasad RakeshBharti Mittal Tan Yong Choo Evan Mervyn Davies RajanBharti Mittal HuiWeng Cheong NikeshArora Salim Ahmed Salim Tsun-yanHusieh ManojKohli
ACHIEVEMENTS:
First to launch Cellular service on November 1995. First operator to revolutionaries the concept of retailing with the inauguration of Airtel Connect (exclusive showrooms) in 1995. First to introduce push button phone in India. First to expand its network with the installation for second mobile switching center in April, 1997 and the first to introduce the Intelligent Network Platform First to provide Roaming to its subscribers by forming an association called World 1 Network. First to provide roaming facility in USA. Enjoy the mobile roaming across 38 partner networks & above 700 cities Moreover roam across international destinations in 119 countries including USA, Canada, and UKetc. with 284 partner networks. BHARTI announces aggrement with VODAFONE marking the entry of the World's Largest Telecom Operator into India Bharti Enterprises and AXA Asia Pacific Holdings Limited announce Partnership for a life insurance joint venture in India Airtel Launches future factory - Centres of Innovation to Incubate Pioneering Mobile Applications 16 states, 600 million people. Only India's leading mobile service offers you the truly 'freedom-packed' Prepaid! It is also the first company to export its products to the USA.
Bharti Tele-Ventures:
The businesses at Bharti Tele-Ventures have been structured into three individual strategic units (SBUs)
1) mobile services 2) broadband and telephone services (B&T) 3) enterprise services
The Mobile services group provides GSM mobile services across India in 23 telecom circles, while B&T business group provides broadband & telephone services in 94 cities. The Enterprise Services group has two sub-units carriers (long distance services) and services top corporate. All these services are provided under the Airtel brand.
Bharti Enterprises has been at the forefront of technology and has revolutionized telecommunications with its world class products and services. Established in 1976, Bharti has been a pioneering force in the telecom sector with many firsts and innovations to its credit.
Bharti provides a range of telecom services, which include Cellular, Basic, Internetand recently introduced National Long Distance.Bharti also manufactures and exports telephone terminals and cordless phones. Apart from being the largest manufacturer of telephone instruments in India, it is also the first company to export its products to the USA.
Bharti is the leading cellular service provider, with a footprint in 16 states covering all four metros. It has over 12 million satisfied customers
- Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Tele-Ventures
Promoters
The company has a strategic alliance with SingTel. And vodafone is also a 4% shareholder of Bhartiairtelthe investment made by SingTel is one of the largest investments made in the world outside Singapore, in the company. The companys mobile network equipment partners include Ericsson and Nokia. In the case of the broadband and telephone services and enterprise services (carriers), equipment suppliers include Siemens, Nortel, Corning, among others. The Company also has an information technology alliance with IBM for its group-wide information technology requirements and with Nortel for call center technology requirements. The call center operations for the mobile services have been outsourced to IBM Daksh, Hinduja TMT, and Teletech&Mphasis.
Vision and Mission:

Vision
By 2015 Airtel will be the most admired brand in India: Loved by more customers Targeted by top talent Benchmarked by more businesses
To build India's finest business conglomerate by 2020 Supporting education of underprivileged children through Bharti Foundation Strategic Intent: To create a conglomerate of the future by bringing about Big Transformations through Brave Actions.
Mission
We at Airtel always think in fresh and innovative ways about the needs of our
customers and how we want them to feel. We deliver what we promise and go out of our way to delight the customer with a little bit more
We will meet global standards for telecom services that delight customers
through:
Customer Service Focus Empowered Employees Cost Efficiency Unified Messaging Solutions Innovative products and services Error- free service delivery
Organization structure
The group has been structured to create functional and operational specialization with a linear vision of business lines and functional areas.
The Company is headed by Chairman and Group Managing Director- Sunil Bharti Mittal who is assisted by two Joint Managing Directors- GopalVittal (India) and ManojKohli (International). An apex team of Corporate Directors has been constituted. The corporate directors have supervisory and strategic responsibilities for functional areas across business lines. The directors oversee functional areas including Business Development, Human Resources, Marketing, Corporate Communication, IT & Technology, Finance, Legal, Corporate Affairs, Corporate Strategy & Planning and Supervisory Director cum Chief Mentor - mobility. The organization structure is designed to ensure that identical businesses are run along similar lines and best resources in any functional field, be tapped to serve the best interests of the entire group.The structure also defines the role of the Head of the units who are totally empowered to manage their respective companies and are fullyresponsible for business operations to build world-class organizations with a high degree of customer focus.
Product Line and Value Chain

Product Line
Airtel Broadband Airtel Landline Airtel 3G Airtel Mobile Airtel Leased Line Airtel Blackberry Airtel IPhone Airtel Money Airtel DTH
Value Chain
Input
Operation Licenses Finance for operations and setup of infrastructu re Setting up Network infrastructu re in collaboratio n with third party Software and support required to operate the Mobile telephony Value added content providers of like games, music etc.
Operations
Develop and expand the infrastructure Customize software to requirement Develop the sim cards Develop the network substations Use the Mobile serives switching center to divert traffic to mobile or fixed systems Integrate various network to achieve economies of scale
Output
Broad Band Services Fixed Line Services GSM Services VAS DTH
Marketing
& Sales
Strong SIM distribution channel First mover in developing better products Introducion of new services to match the customer preferences Innovative advertising campagins Sales force compensati on tied to profit and not revenues Customer awareness about latest technology
Services
Coverage area of each airtel outlet Customer Support Technical assistance for broad band services Duplicate Sim availability Strong supplier channel for repairable parts Opening new outlets in new circles
Support Activities
Firm Infrastructure:Tower setup, IT infrastructure, Telecom equipments, networking stations and equipments, ERP and various software to assist in operations HR Management:Hiring of IT skilled workforce and telecom operators. Hiring of customer support personnel and their training program.Expertise in recruiting the retail staff and quality of their training.Recruiting best in business leaders to take the company forward.
Technology Development:Development of various VAS services. Introduction of mCheck to enable consumers do mobile commerce. Investing in R & D. Creating and setting up of 3G network with new licenses coming in.
Procurement:High initial investment required to setup up physical distribution towers and network stations. Long term contract with third parties are required. Strong Supply Chain Network is required to enable continuous supply of handsets and SIM cards.
Industry Analysis
Porters 5 force model
Customer Bargaining Power
Threat of New Entrants
Threat from Competition
Threat of Substitutes
Supplier Bargaining Power
The industry structure has become relatively unfavorable compared to earlier monopolistic times the earlier pattern used to be that the national telecom company used to own every segment of the value chain till the international gateway. With liberalization there was competition in virtually every segment. There are companies that provide local
connectivity, those that function as long distance carriers, and those that provide only gateway links. Some integrated players operate in all segments. The intensity of competitive pressures across the chain is reflected in the downward spiral being witnessed in tariffs and prices to customer. The value chain for cellular mobile service and Internet Service Providers (other than cable based net connections) is similar in as much as the calls reach the destination through similar local loop, long distance and international gateway.
Threat from Competition: HIGH Companies like BSNL, MTNL, Vodafone, TATA, IDEA and Reliance continuously engage themselves in aggressive marketing and expansion and thus trying to eat into Bhartis market share.
Threat from Customers: HIGH All the major telecom operators provide similar services. Customers can switch easily to another firm. With number portability a reality further gives them power to dictate. Lower prices are enjoyed by customers due to severe competition.
Threat from Suppliers: LOW Long term contracts ensure future supply of handsets and SIM cards. High initial investments by suppliers mean they are dependent on few telecom operators for revenue, hence low bargaining power for them. These networks till now cannot be put to other profitable uses. Many companies are present to provide customer support at lowest prices. Many high end software making companies compete for telecom software develops thereby pushing the prices of these software low.
Threat from New Entrants: LOW Huge initial investments and high gestation period. Highly regulated industry and it is very dynamic in nature. Low spectrum availability and introduction of new strategies by the existing firms.
Threat from Substitutes: HIGH Fixed Line services are on decline. However the internet telephony is catching up giving telecom operators run for money. Video conferencing, Social Networking websites and Skype is reducing the need for mobile services. But the use of Broadband, DTH, services provided by the companies is high and the competition is high among these.
Competitive Analysis
Vodafone Essar
Vodafone has given birth to Zoozoo a special character created specifically to convey a value added service (VAS) offering in each of the newly released commercials.
Vodafone has come with creative Promoting campaign for its various plans. This strategy has captured the imagination of millions. The strategy is a buzz that lives up to the brand image of great creative and clever marketing.
In the first 10 days of IPL it has reached a cumulative of 89 million people. This is a wonderful strategy adopted by Vodafone.
This has helped the company to raise not only its profits through sales but has also tremendously increased its brand value.
Vodafone is the main competitor for Airtel with 153 million subscribers. Global giant Vodafone holds a strong position in the Indian telecom market. With various sponsorships and pan-India network, Vodafone is a big telecom player. Also, the zoozoo ad campaigns have revitalized the brand and made these adorable characters as one of the most prominent marketing campaigns ever.
IDEA CELLULAR
Idea Cellular is a wireless telephony company operating in various states in India. The company has its retail outlets under the "Idea n' U" banner. The company has also been the first to offer flexible tariff plans for prepaid customers. It also offers GPRS services in urban areas.
Presently, operations exist in 11 Service Areas covering Delhi, Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttaranchal, Haryana, UP-West, Himachal Pradesh, UP-East, Rajasthan and Kerala.
With a customer base of over 23 million, IDEA Cellular footprint currently covers approximately 60% of India's telecom population.
A frontrunner in introducing revolutionary tariff plans; IDEA Cellular has the distinction of offering the most customer friendly and competitive Pre Paid offerings, for the first time in India in an increasingly segmented market.
Customer Service and Innovation are the drivers of this Cellular Brand. A brand known for their many firsts, Idea is only operator to launch GPRS and EDGE in the country. Idea has received international recognition for its path-breaking innovations when it won the GSM Association Award for "Best Billing and Customer Care Solution" for 2 consecutive years.
Idea cellular has a market share of 122 million subscribers and one of the most prominent brands of Indian telecom industry are Idea, with a strong backup of the Birla group.
Idea cellular has become a market leader in various circles and has also been in the lime-light through Idea Rocks India concert, KaunBanegaCrorpati and IPL team Delhi Daredevils.
Reliance Communications
The business of Reliance Communications is organized into three strategic customer facing business units: Wireless, Global, and Broadband. In addition, one of the wholly owned subsidiaries of Reliance Communications is engaged in the marketing and distribution of wireless handsets.
Reliance Communications is one of the leading service provider in Indian telecom market with 123 million subscribers.
Reliance Communications have a network spread over 25000 towns and 0.6 mn villages, and over 190,000 km of optic fiber cable systems. Apart from telecom, the company also boasts of Reliance Digital Big TV.
Tata Teleservices
Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) is part of the Tata Group of Companies, an Indian Conglomerate. It runs the brand nameTata Indicom in India in various telecom circles of India.
TTSL was the first company to offer CDMA Mobile services in India, specifically in the state of Madhya Pradesh. Tata is the direct competitor with other operators in India.
The company provides unified telecommunication solutions including mobile, fixed wireless, fixed line and broadband. Other competitors like Vodafone, Airtel, Aircel, Idea, MTNL, and BSNL providing GSM based mobile telephony.
The company was first in India to provide free intra network calling within city limits. They launched a unique scheme providing lifetime rental free connectivity on its mobile and fixed wireless for a one-time charge.
The telecom services of the Group are offered under the brand name Tata Indicom, and cover all segments, from retail and enterprise to wholesale and international.
Tata Indicom offers you a range of products and services like Wireless Internet, Wireless USB Modem and Mobile Phones so you are always connected.
Landline Phones Net Telephony Internet & Broadband It has partnered with Motorola, Ericsson, Lucent and ECI Telecom for the deployment of a reliable, technologically advanced network. The company, which heralded convergence technologies in the Indian telecom sector, is today the market leader in the fixed wireless telephony market with a total customer base of over 3.8 million.
BHARAT SANCHAR NIGAM LTD
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited provides telecommunications services in India. Its services include wire line and cellular services, as well as other value added services, such as voice mail service, short message service (SMS), group messaging, national and international roaming, call forwarding, corporate virtual private network, call conferencing, friend and family talk, call waiting, and call holding services.
The company also provides 3G; wireless in local loop (WLL) mobile telephone; Internet; Web-hosting; Web co-location; SMS and bulk SMS; and broadband services. In addition, it offers managed network services; multi-protocol label switching based virtual private network (VPN) services; integrated services digital network (ISDN) services; data communication services; intelligent network services consisting of toll free phone service, universal access number, voice VPN, televoting, and virtual calling cards; and video, audio, and Web conferencing services.
Further, the company provides fleet management solution comprising eTracK, an on-line tracking system to manage fleet, such as trucks, car carriers, trailers, tankers, containers, or vehicles carrying hazardous and specialty explosive chemicals; Inet services for use in various applications, including electronic mail services, corporate communications, information retrieval, database services, remote job applications, credit card verifications, travel reservations, and Internet connectivity; telex/telegraph services; PABX/EPABX services; and DSPT services, as well as offers VSAT, voice over Internet protocol, and IN services.
Marketing Strategy
Positioning of the Company vs. a vs. Competitors
Purpose of comparison The sub main purpose of this report is to compare the marketing strategies adopted by Bharti Airtel and its rival Vodafone. The comparison shows how both of the companies have been challenging each other to gain market share.
Why comparison with Vodafone Airtel is the leader in telecommunication sector. Airtel holds the lion share of market of communication sector. However, Vodafone has been giving tough competition to Airtel. Vodafone is the second largest player and shareholder in telecom sector. Since its launch Vodafone has been adopting aggressive marketing strategies.
Brand positioning by Airtel Market segmentation geographical segment (metropolitans & cities India) demographical segment middle income groups People age group of 20 28 years.
Target marketing People who living in cities and towns. Poor or middle income group people. Youngsters in big cities. Businessmen
Positioning Creating brands (Sharukh khan &SachinTendulkar) Ads and promotions Promotion for study of poor childrens
Marketing mix
Price: low price strategy Place: maximum outlets and service centers Product: verities available for various groups Promotion: various schemes for pre-paid and post-paid.
Vodafone:
Vodafone target the rural India The main targeted customers of Vodafone are from rural India. By offering cheap and light mobile sets Vodafone attracts most of the customers of small villages and towns. Offering cheap handsets Vodafone offers cheap and free connections to all customers. The cost for these sets was Rs-799-849-1099 per set and onward. In every district and big towns Vodafone opens its service centers to provide better support and services.
Strong logistics and supply chain Vodafone has a strong logistic and supply all over India. In every small town the potential customers can easily purchase the Vodafone SIM & Sets. Targeting youngsters in metropolitans Vodafone attracts youngsters by offering colorful handset at very low prices.
Brand Positioning By Vodafone Market segmentation Geographical segment (rural India) Demographic segment - middle income groups
Target marketing People living in small towns and villages. Poor and middle income groups. Youngsters in big cities. Businessmen
Positioning Creating brands Ads and promotions
Marketing mix Price : low price strategy Place : maximum outlets and service centers Product : verities available for various groups Promotion: various schemes for pre-paid and post-paid
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
BhartiAirtel has more than 183.61 million subscribers as of Mar13. It is the largest cellular provider in India, and also supplies broadband and telephone services - as well as many other telecommunications services to both domestic and corporate customers.
Other stakeholders in BhartiAirtel include Sony-Ericsson, Nokia - and Sing Tel, with whom they hold a strategic alliance. This means that the business has access to knowledge and technology from other parts of the telecommunications world.
The company has covered the entire Indian nation with its network. This has underpinned its large and rising customer base.
Airtel offers the most expansive roaming network. Letting you roam anywhere in India with its Pan-India presence, and trot across the globe with International Roaming spread in over 240 networks. The mobile services group provides GSM mobile services across India in 23 telecom circles, while the B&T business group provides broadband & telephone services in 92 cities.
Airtel, the monopoly breaker shattered the Telecom monopoly in the International Long Distance space with the launch of International Submarine cable Network i2i jointly with Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. in the year 2002. This has brought a huge value to the IPLC customers, delivering them an option besides the incumbent carrier, to connect to the outside world.
Weaknesses
An often cited original weakness is that when the business was started by Sunil Bharti Mittal over 15 years ago, the business has little knowledge and experience of how a cellular telephone system actually worked. So the start-up business had to outsource to industry experts in the field.
Until recently Airtel did not own its own towers, which was a particular strength of some of its competitors such as Hutchison Essar. Towers are important if your company wishes to provide wide coverage nationally.
The fact that the Airtel has not pulled off a deal with South Africa's MTN could signal the lack of any real emerging market investment opportunity for the business once the Indian market has become mature.
Airtel has tough competition from the operators like BSNL and MTNL as these two operators are offering services at a low rate.
Although Airtel have strong Presence throughout the country but still they are far away from the Indian rural part and generally this part is covered by BSNL so indirectly Airtel is losing revenue from the rural sector.
Opportunities
The company possesses a customized version of the Google search engine which will enhance broadband services to customers. The tie-up with Google can only enhance the Airtel brand, and also provides Promoting opportunities in Indian for Google. Global telecommunications and new technology brands see Airtel as a key strategic player in the Indian market. The new iPhone will be launched in India via an Airtel distributorship. Another strategic partnership is held with BlackBerry Wireless Solutions. Despite being forced to outsource much of its technical operations in the early days, this allowed Airtel to work from its own blank sheet of paper, and to question industry approaches and practices - for example replacing the RevenuePer-Customer model with a Revenue-Per-Minute model which is better suited to India, as the company moved into small and remote villages and towns. The company is investing in its operation in 120,000 to 160,000 small villages every year. It sees that less well-off consumers may only be able to afford a few tens of Rupees per call, and also so that the business benefits are scalable - using its 'Matchbox' strategy. BhartiAirtel is embarking on another joint venture with Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular to create a new independent tower company called Indus Towers. This new business will control more than 60% of India's network towers. IPTV is another potential new service that could underpin the company's long-term strategy.
Threats
Airtel and Vodafone seem to be having an on/off relationship. Vodafone which owned a 5.6% stake in the Airtel business sold it back to Airtel, and instead invested in its rival Hutchison Essar. Knowledge and technology previously available to Airtel now moves into the hands of one of its competitors. The quickly changing pace of the global telecommunications industry could tempt Airtel to go along the acquisition trail which may make it vulnerable if the world goes into recession. Perhaps this was an impact upon the decision not to proceed with talks about the potential purchase of South Africa's MTN in May 2008. This opened the door for talks between Reliance Communication's Anil Ambani and MTN, allowing a competing Indian industrialist to invest in the new emerging African telecommunications market. Bharti Airtel could also be the target for the takeover vision of other global telecommunications players that wish to move into the Indian market.
About Project:
The purpose of this project is to know about the Promotional strategies followed by Airtel Company in order to aware the customers and the consumers about the availability of the different products of the company in the market and also to increase the sale of the products likewise the reputation of the company.
Airtel is the most leading and admired brand in india. The split between various telecom operators, in terms of active connection
Active Connection Base The Active connection data represents peak VLR (Visitor Location Register) data for the month. Some stats: - There were 738.86 million active connection in the month of September. - Idea has 97.19% of its connections active the maximum among all the operators. - Vodafone has the second highest active connection base of 95.71%, followed by Airtel at 95.26%. In terms of the number of active connections, Airtel leads with 184.22 million connections followed by Vodafone at 148.87 million connections.
PROMOTING:
As a business begins, one of the major goals of Promoting must be to generate awareness of the business and its products. Once the business' reputation is established and its products are positioned within the market, the amount of resources used for Promoting will decrease as the consumer develops a kind of loyalty to the product. Ideally, this established and ever-growing consumer base will eventually aid the company in its efforts to carry their Promoting message out into the market, both through its purchasing actions and its testimonials on behalf of the product or service.
Essential to this rather abstract process is the development of a "positioning statement," as defined by Gerald E. Hills in "Marketing Option and Marketing" in The Portable MBA in Entrepreneurship: "A 'positioning statement' explains how a company's product (or service) is differentiated from those of key competitors." With this statement, the business owner turns intellectual objectives into concrete plans. In addition, this statement acts as the foundation for the development of a selling proposal, which is composed of the elements that will make up the Promoting message's "copy platform." This platform delineates the images, copy, and art work that the business owner believes will sell the product.
With these concrete objectives, the following elements of the Promotional strategy need to be considered: target audience, product concept, communication media, and promoting message. These elements are at the core of an Promotional strategy, and are often referred to as the "creative mix." Again, what most advertisers stress from the beginning is clear planning and flexibility. And key to these aims is creativity, and the ability to adapt to new market trends. A rigid Promotional strategy often leads to a loss of market share. Therefore, the core elements of the Promotional strategy need to mix in a way that allows the message to envelope the target consumer, providing ample opportunity for this consumer to become acquainted with the Promoting message.
The target consumer is a complex combination of persons. It includes the person who ultimately buys the product, as well as those who decide what product will be bought (but don't physically buy it), and those who influence product purchases, such as children, spouse, and friends.
IMPORTANCE OF PROMOTING:
The purpose of Promoting is motivating but to sell something a product, a service or an AIRTEL. The real objective of Promoting is effective communication between producers and consumers. In other words the ultimate purpose all Promoting is Increased awareness list of the following specific objectives of Promoting. To make on immediate AIRTEL To build primary demand To introduce a price deal To inform about a products availability To increase market share To help salesman by building on awareness of a product among retailers To increase the frequency use of a product To build overall company image To build brand recognition
Airtel has been the first player in India to offer some niche services like Blackberry, Caller Tunes, and personalized ringtones and has even attached itself with the biggest names like Sachin Tendulkar, AR Rahman and Shahrukh Khan to promote the brand.
Airtel has always backed on human relations and emotions in their brand communication through its advertisements focusing on the emotional content. The brand promotions have come a long way with its signature tune composed by AR Rahman in the year 2002, to the latest campaigns inspired by the theme of friendship.
In the 2010, Airtel launched a new signature tune and it even rebranded its logo and launched the Dil Jo ChahePaasLaaye campaign. This initiative was taken to target the corporate and post-paid subscribers with its new communication.
In 2011, the brand launched the HarEk Friend ZarooriHotaHai campaign with a same signature tune modified to focus on the youth and targeting itself as The friendship brand. The campaign was a huge success with its lively tune. Since then, Airtels campaigns have been inspired by the theme of friendship.
In the year 2012, it launched the latest Ad campaign which complemented the earlier ad, focusing on friendship Jo MeraHai Who TeraHai, which is again a hit amongst the viewers and its customers.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Problem Definition: Need for the study:
All companies need promotion for their business at some point or another. Whether its word of mouth or a Television ad more than likely you will find any number of companies Promoting.
The more effective an Promoting campaign, the more the customers it draws, and with greater frequency. Strategies are necessary for any organization in Promoting department of the company as its plays a vital role in todays global competition. It is of great importance for any company to understand their Promotional strategy. To asses that, the study has been undertaken.
Objectives of the study:

To know the Promotional Strategies of Airtel Cellular service. To find out the awareness level of customers about Airtel promotional activities. To understand customers expectations from the organization.
Period of the study:

The study has been under taken during the period of October 12 2013 to November 30 2013.
Approach to the Problem:

My approach to the problem is in the form of a questionnaire. The study is only restricted to the Jabalpur and is carried for the period of 2 months with 100 respondents.
Limitations:
Duration of time is limited for the project work. The results derived may not be appropriate due to less sample size.
SOURCE OF DATA:
Primary Data:
The primary data is collected through a well-structured questionnaire. The questionnaires are distributed among 100 people and their views are recorded.
Secondary Data:
Secondary data means the information already available. Secondary data is collected from newspapers, websites and company journals.
Sampling Techniques
QUESTIONNAIRE: A Questionnaire is carefully completed logical sequence of question directed to a define objective. It is the outline of what information is required and the framework on which the data is built upon. Questionnaire is son commonly used in securing market information that its preparation deserves utmost skill and care.
FORMS OF QUESTIONS: OPEN ENDED QUESTIONS: They are descriptive in nature. Respondents are allowed to answer in their own words. Such questions buying the actual opinion of the respondent regarding a product
CLOSED ENDED QUESTIONS: They are not descriptive in nature. They will be given certain choices and the respondents have to choose choice among them. They make analysis easy but sometimes they restrict the respondents choices.
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

1. How do you know about AIRTEL cellular service?
Airtel Known by Friends Advertisement Other source
Respondents 34 55 11
Percentage 34% 55% 11%
11% 34% Friends Advertisement 55% Other source
INFERENCE:
Most of the respondents are know about airtel through Promoting that is 55%, through friends34% and 13% of the respondents known through othersources like if cusotmers buy nokia they give airtel sim at free of cost,relativies.
2. What feature of AIRTEL forced you to use it?
Features forced to use airtel Advertisement Connectivity Schemes Goodwill
Respondents 29 10 46 20
Percentage 29% 10% 46% 20%
Features forced to use airtel

20% 29% Advertisement 10% 46% Connectivity Schemes Goodwill
INFERENCE:
46% of the respondents are forced to use schemes provided by airtel, 29% are more attracted by airtel advertisements to use airtel,20% of the people believe that airtel good will,10% like to use because of connectivity
3. What is your first choice of cellular service when you want to use mobile phone?
First choice of cellular Airtel Vodafone Idea Aircel Reliance Tata indicom Docomo BSNL Uninior MTS
Respondents 40 15 6 2 8 3 13 10 1 2
Percentage 40% 15% 6% 2% 8% 3% 13% 10% 1% 2%
FIRST CHOICE OF CELLULAR

1% 2% 10% 13% 40% Airtel Vodafone Idea Aircel 8% 3% 6% 2% 15% Reliance Tata indicom Docomo Bsnl Uninior
INFERENCE:
Most of the people say that when they wont to use mobile phone their first choice of cellular service is airtel that is 40%,15% of people choice Vodafone,6% use idea, 2% use aircel,8% use reliance, 3% use tataindicom,13% use docomo,10% use bsnl,1% use uninor and 2% like to use mts.
4. Which was your previous telecom service?
Previous telecom service Airtel Vodafone Idea Aircel Reliance Tata indicom Docomo BSNL Uninior MTS
Respondents 20 18 12 4 8 4 5 25 2 2
Percentage 20% 18% 12% 4% 8% 4% 5% 25% 2% 2%
previous telecom service

2% 2% 25% 20% Airtel Vodafone Idea 18% 8% 4% Aircel Reliance 4% 12% Tata indicom Docomo Bsnl Uninior
5%
INFERENCE:
Most of the people say that their previous cellular service is BSNL that is 20%,18% of people previous choice Vodafone,12% use idea, 4% use aircel,8% use reliance, 4% use tataindicom,5% use docomo,20% use airtel, 2% use uninor and 2% like to use MTS.
5. Which feature of airtel is better than your previous cellular service?
FEATURES Advertisement Connectivity Schemes
44%
37% Advertisement Connectivity 19% Schemes
INFERENCE:
37% of the people say that advertisements are better than their previous cellular service,19% says connectivity good in airtel than previous one and 44% of people says schemes are more in airtel.
6. Airtel users in your phone book.
Airtel users In phonebook Less than 30% 30%-70% More than 70%
airtel users in your phone book

15% 36% Less than 30% 30%-70% 49% More than 70%
INFERENCE:
People says that in their phone book 36% of less than30% airtel users are there, between 30% to 70% airtel users there in 49% of people phone books and more than 70% of airtel users there in 15% of people phone books.
7. Type of advertisements you prefer for promoting telecom services?
Type
of
advertisements
Respondents
percentage
prefer to promoting telecom services Television Radio News paper Magazines Wall printing 49 5 27 11 8 49% 5% 27% 11% 8%
prefer of promotion
11% 8% 49% 27% 5% Television Radio News paper Magazines Wall printing
INFERENCE:
49% of respondents are like advertisement through television in telecom service,27% of the people like newspapers adds,11% are like magazines,8% are like wall printings and 5% are like radio.
8. Type of advertisement mostly like by people in airtel is?
Most liked advertisement in Respondents airtel Audio visual Print Audio 63 19 13
percentage
63% 19% 13%
most you liked in airtel adds

13% 19% 63%
Audio visual Print Audio
INFERENCE:
In airtel people mostly like audio visual advertisements that is 63%, 19% like print media and 13% are like audio only.
9. Which celebrity of AIRTELdo you like the most?
Most liked Celebrity of airtel SachinTendulkar Sharukh Kareena A.R.Rehman
Percentage 37% 22% 12% 29%
celebrity you like
29%
37% Sachin tendulkar Sharukh
12% 22%
Kareena A.R.Rehman
INFERENCE:
37% of people mostly like SachinTendulkaradds in airtel, 22% like sharukh, 29% are like A.R. Rehman and 12% of people like kareena.
10. Will you take benefits of schemes offered by AIRTEL?
Opinion YES NO Cant say
0 28% YES 11% 58% NO Cant say
INFERENCE:
58% of people are enjoyed schemas offered by airtel,12% of people are not take benefits offered by airtel and 28%cant say about that.
10. What option of AIRTEL do you like from the following?
Option NOKIA+AIRTEL AIRTEL MAGIC POSTPAID SERVICES AIRTEL Broadband
Percentage 46% 21% 9% 22%
which one you like

22% 46% 9% NOKIA+AIRTEL AIRTEL MAGIC POSTPAID SERVICES 21% AIRTEL Broadband
INFERENCE:
The combination of nokia and airtel is like most of the people that 46%,airtel magic like 21%,postpaid services like 9% and 22% like airtel broadband.
11. Do you wish to participate in contests offered by airtel?
Willingness Yes No
Respondents 39 61
Percentage 39% 61%
participate in contests
39% Yes No
61%
INFERENCE:
Most of the people are not to participate in contests offered by airtel that is 61% and 39 of the people are like to participate in contests offered by airtel.
12. Type of recharge options that you like?
Recharge Options More talk time More validity Both
Recharge options that you like

16% 11% More talk time More validity 73% Both
INFERENCE:
Most of the people like to use more talk time and more validity recharge options that 73%,16% they like to use more validity recharge options and 11% like to use more talk time recharge options.
FINDINGS
1. 55% of respondents come to know about airtel through advertisements, followed
by 34% through friends and 11% through other sources, like parents, colleagues and relatives.
2. 46% of respondents are interested in nokia+airtel, 22% like Airtel broadband

services, 21% preferred airtel magic and 9% preferred postpaid services.
3. 63% of respondents mostly like audio visual in Airtel advertisements followed

19% like print media and 13% like audio.
4. 16% of respondents like more talk time and 11% like more validity.73% of
respondents like both.
5. 46% of the respondents are forced to use schemes provided by airtel, 29% are more attracted by airtel advertisements to use airtel,20% of the people believe that airtel good will,10% like to use because of connectivity 6. First choice of cellular service is airtel that is 40%,15% of people choice Vodafone,6% use idea, 2% use aircel,8% use reliance, 3% use tataindicom,13% use docomo,10% use bsnl,1% use uninor and 2% like to use mts.
7. 37% of the people say that advertisements are better than their previous cellular service,19% says connectivity good in airtel than previous one and 44% of people says schemes are more in airtel. 8. 49% of respondents are like advertisement through television in telecom service,27% of the people like newspapers adds,11% are like magazines,8% are like wall printings and 5% are like radio. 9. In airtel people mostly like audio visual advertisements that is 63%, 19% like print media and 13% are like audio only.
10. Airtel is most concerned about customers, followed by Vodafone, Idea, BSNL,
Reliance, Docomo, Tata Indicom, Uninor, Aircel and MTS.
RECOMONDATIONS:
1. AIRTEL is successful in grabbing the highest market share in India, but there are still some recommendations from my study point of view is that AIRTEL have to increase their advertisements through print media. 2. AIRTEL not providing more talk time and more validity recharge options. I recommend that they have to provide that type of recharge options. 3. People are showing more interest to buy nokia+airtel combination. I suggest that Airtel have to concentrate on this combination. 4. The company is not concentrating on other types of Promoting media. 5. Network should be expanding to rural villages.
6. The company should conduct road shows so as to get awareness in the public
about the product and services. 7. First of all company should provide all its dealers and retailers all sort of promotion equipment such as glow sign board, banner, pumplates etc. in time so that they increase their sales which is benefited both retailer as well as company. 8. Number of hoarding should be increased. 9. To increase the consumer as on network, company should make change in its FRC plan for example the talk value should be divided in two parts. 50% of talk value should provide at the time of activation and rest T.T. provide after gap of some days. 10. Company should give extra return and other bonus, gifts to its retailers so they put their full efforts to increase the Airtel sales.
11. Company should motivate its sales staff so they will pay more concentration in
sales and activation of new connections.
CONCLUSION:
The conclusion of my study is that AIRTELs Promoting has a major impact on its users. People like its schemes very much .AIRTEL had created a very good image on the mind of the new users of cellular service. AIRTEL has adopted a very good strategy by providing a new connection with NOKIA who is market leader in mobile set, many new users buy Nokia sets and they get a free connection of AIRTEL. AIRTEL is successful in capturing the highest market share by adopting Celebrity Endorsement Strategy. A.R. Rehmaans tune for AIRTEL worked as free Promoting for AIRTEL as another service user uses it too. Other celebrities like Shahrukh Khan (Bollywood) and Sachin Tendulkar (Cricket) has also contributed very much in AIRTEL.
Everything in this world is made to utilize properly but it should be reach at the proper person or to the proper utilized areas. Otherwise the value added to those things became in vein.
Thus promotion role plays a very important role in achieving the objectives of a company. Un doubly, value utility is created by the manufacture of product or service but time and place utilities are created by marketing role.
The various finding and befitting recommendation have been made to increase the market share of each product (postpaid, prepaid) of Airtel thereby increasing the market share of Airtel as a whole. Various facts and data have been enclosed for better perusal and various graphs have been provided for better comprehension.
Sales Promotion techniques yield results that many other marketing communication elements cannot achieve.
Sales promotion that is used in with the overall long-turn communication strategy of the brand is said to use strategically. A promotion should not be used for the sole purpose of altering sales in the short run.
Sales promotion is used as a very strategic tool to introduce a new product. Although Promoting plays a large role towards creating awareness and attitude information, sales promotion used to make new product launch easier and more effective.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
WEBSITES:
o www.google.co.in o www.airtel.com o http://www.wikipediaorg/
NEWSPAPERS:
o Times of India o The Hindu o Bussiness today o Bussiness mantra
BOOKS:
S.NO 1 Title of book Marketing Management Author Dr.S.L.Varshney Dr.R.L.Guptha 2 Marketing Management Philip Kotler and Keller
3 4
Marketing.Com Business Research Methods
Vijay Mukhi William G. Zikmund
APPENDIX
QUESTIONNAIRE
A STUDY ON PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY OF BHARATI AIRTEL, JABALPUR
Name of the Respondent:
Age:
Occupation:
Income/month:
1) How do you know about AIRTEL cellular service? A) Friends B) Advertisements C) Other Sources
2) What feature of AIRTEL forced you to use it? A) Advertisements B) Connectivity C) Schemes D) Goodwill
3) What is your first choice of cellular service when you want to use mobile phone? Airtel [ ] Reliance [ [ ] Uninor [ ] MTS [ ] ] Tata indicom [ ] Docomo [ ] BSNL [ ] Vodafone [ ] Idea [ ] Aircel
4) Which was your previous telecom service? Airtel [ ] Reliance [ [ ] Uninor [ ] MTS [ ] ] Tata indicom [ ] Docomo [ ] BSNL [ ] Vodafone [ ] Idea [ ] Aircel
5) Which feature of AIRTEL is better than your previous cellular service? A) Advertisements B) Connectivity C) Schemes
6) AIRTEL users in your phone book? (in %). A) Less than 30% B) 30% - 70% C) More than 70%
7) Type of advertisement you prefer for promoting telecom service? A) Television E) Wall Painting 8) Type of advertisement mostly like by people in AIRTEL is? A) Audio Visual B) Print C) Audio B) Radio C) News Paper D) Magazines
9) Which celebrity of AIRTEL does you like the most? A) Sachin Tendulkar B) Sharukh C) Kareena D)A. R. Rehman
10) Will you take benefits of schemes offered by AIRTEL? A) YES B) NO C) CANT SAY
11) What options of AIRTEL do you like from the following? A) NOKIA + AIRTEL D) AIRTEL Broadband 12) Do you wish to participate in contests offered by AIRTEL like BID TO WIN? A) YES 13) Type of recharge options that you like? A) More talk time B) More validity C) Both B) NO B) AIRTEL MAGIC C) Postpaid services

A Study On Promotioanl Strategies of Bharti Airtel

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A STUDY ON PROMOTIOANL STRATEGIES OF BHARTI AIRTEL,