MARKETING MANAGEMENT ASSIGNMENT (II)- AIRTEL ANSHUMAN DUTTA 215111070, 2011 -13

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CONTENTS INTRODUCTON.3 HISTORY.
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INTRODUCTION
Airtel is the 3rd largest in-country mobile operator by subscriber base, behind
China Mobile and China Unicom. Bharti Airtel Limited (NSE: BHARTIARTL, BSE: 5324
54), commonly known as Airtel, is an Indian telecommunications company that oper
ates in 20 countries across South Asia, Africa and the Channel Islands. It opera
tes a GSM network in all countries, providing 2G or 3G services is the world's f
ifth largest telecommunication company and has more than 150 million users in In
dia, 40 million in Africa and another 10 million in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. In
November 2010, Airtel said its subscriber base has crossed the 200 million mark
and unveiled a new logo to mark the achievement. The company has a submarine ca
ble landing station at Chennai, which connects the submarine cable connecting Ch
ennai and Singapore.
The logo as shown alongside is a modern representation of the letter 'a' on a br
ight red background. Here are some notes and comments from Bharti on their desig
n The unique symbol is an interpretation of the a in airtel. The curved shape
e gentle highlights on the red colour make it warm & inviting, almost as if it w
ere a living object. The logo represents a dynamic force of unparalleled energy
that brings us and our customers closer," it added. The unboxed having been freed
of its rigid boundaries. The colour "Red is part of our heritage and it is the c
olour of energy & passion that expresses the dynamism that has made Airtel the s
uccess it is today, in India, and now on the global stage. The logo has been des
igned by creative agency BRAND UNION.
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- The entire re-branding campaign has apparently cost the company close to Rs 35
0-Crore. - A new theme tune, composed by A.R Rehman has also been released.
History
Bharti Tele-Ventures was incorporated on July 7, 1995 as a company with limited
liability under the Companies Act, for promoting telecommunications services. Bh
arti Tele-Ventures received certificate for commencement of business on January
18, 1996. The Company was initially formed as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bhart
i Telecom Limited. Sunil Bharti Mittal is the Founder, Chairman and Group CEO of
Bharti Enterprise.
Certain facts on Airtel
Headquarters New Delhi, India Area served South Asia, Africa
ands Key people Sunil Bharti Mittal (Chairman) and (MD) Products Fixed-line and
mobile telephony, broadband and fixed-line internet services, digital television
and network services Revenue increase US$9.290 billion (2010) Operating income
increase $2.313 billion (2010) Profit increase $2.079 billion (2010) Total asset
s increase $15.527 billion (2010) Total equity increase $9.491 billion (2010) Em
ployees 22,858 (June 2011) Parent Bharti Enterprises (63.45%) SingTel (32.15%) V
odafone (4.4%) Subsidiaries Airtel Africa, Airtel Digital TV Website www.airtel.
in
Coverage map of Bharti Airtel across 20 countries
Image Credits- WWW.DINESH.COM
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The company is structured into four strategic business units Mobile, Telemedia,
Enterprise and Digital TV. The mobile business offers services in India, Sri Lan
ka and Bangladesh. Telemedia business provides broadband, IPTV and telephone ser
vices in 89 Indian cities. Digital TV business provides Direct-to-Home TV servic
es across India. The Enterprise business provides end-to-end telecom solutions t
o corporate customers and national and international long distance services.
Mission of the Organization
The company meets the mobile communication needs of their customer through Brand
identity Error free service delivery Cost efficiency Unified messaging solution
s Innovative products and service
Services Offered By the Company
Airtel Prepaid Bharti Enterprises, India's leading integrated telecom service pr
ovider gives AirtelPrepaid Ready Cellular Card and Recharge Cards are available,
all over the city at our retailoutlets including 24 hour outlets. Airtel gives
maximum benefits as it has no rental, no bills, and no deposits. It gives crysta
l clear communication all over the cities in Karnataka. Total Cost Control Enjoy
the liberty of total cost control with your Airtel Pre-paid! Re-charge as much
as you feel the need to! Now that's what we call complete freedom No Rentals and
No deposits Buy an Airtel prepaid card without having to pay any rentals! Airte
l prepaid card comes without having to pay hefty deposits! STD /ISD facility til
l the last rupee Now experience complete freedom like never before with Airtel!
Our STD / ISD facility allows making long distance calls in India and Overseas f
rom cellular phone! Instant Balance Inquiry Check your talk-time instantly by ca
lling our toll-free number! 60 second pulse Airtel provides you with a 60-second
pulse rate! Freedom for you to experience like never before.
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Instant Recharge Avail of instant recharge on your Airtel prepaid card with just
a few simple steps. 24-hour recharge facility With our round-the-clock recharge
facility, recharge you Airtel prepaid card anytime, anywhere. Caller Line Ident
ification Call Line Identification gives you the power to know the phone number
of the calling party even before you answer the call, thus giving you the choice
to either reject or take the call. It provides the added advantage of saving th
e incoming number directly in the Handset Phone Book. So that the next time you
want to call the same person, you don't need to retype his number, simply use yo
ur phone book. Call Divert, Call Hold and Call Wait Avail of special services li
ke call waiting, call hold and call divert- all with your Airtel prepaid card. S
hort Messaging Service (SMS) With Airtel Short Messaging Service (SMS), send mes
sages and jokes to your friends and colleagues, anytime anywhere. SMS based Info
rmation Services With Airtel SMS based information services; you can get up to-t
he-minute cricket scores, order flowers as well as send couriers or check your d
aily horoscope. Voice Mail service Voice Mail lets you receive messages even whe
n your handset is switched off or when you are outside the coverage area. You ca
n listen to your messages whenever you feel like, from anywhere in the world. Vo
ice Mail can store up to 75 messages. Widest availability Airtel prepaid ready c
ellular card are available all over the city at over 7000 retail outlets includi
ng 24 hours outlets Airtel Postpaid Airtel postpaid connection offers enhanced f
ull rate with distortion free high clarityvoice. It provides seamless, crystal c
lear no congested, easy accessible, network and finest 24Hours customer service
facility.
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Easy Billing One can enjoy the luxury of viewing details of your last 3 billing
cycles and the convenience of paying your Airtel bill online. Call Divert, Call
Hold and Call Wait Avail of special services like call waiting, call hold and ca
ll divert all with your Airtel postpaid connection. Short Messaging Service (SMS)
With Airtel Short Messaging Service (SMS), send unlimited messages and jokes to
your friendsand colleagues, anytime anywhere. Caller Identification Call Identi
fication gives you the power to know the phone number of the calling party even
before you answer the call, thus giving you the choice to either reject or take
the call. It provides the added advantage of saving the incoming number directly
in the Handset Phone Book. So that the next time you want to call the same pers
on, you don'tneed to retype his number, simply use your phone book. Voice Mail V
oice Mail lets you receive messages even when your handset is switched off or wh
en you areoutside the coverage area. You can listen to your messages whenever yo
u feel like, fromanywhere in the world. Voice Mail can store up to 75 messages,
with each message of two-minute duration STD/ISD Facility Now experience complet
e freedom like never before with Airtel! Our STD/ISD facility allows youto make
long distance calls in India and Overseas from your cellular phone. Roaming (Nat
ional and International) Airtels Roaming service allows you to use your mobile ph
one to make or receive calls from almost anywhere in India and abroad! Enjoy roa
ming within the country aswell as across international destinations
Values of the Organizations
Innoventuring To generate and implement entrepreneurial and innovating ideas whi
ch continuously creates new growth engines.
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Customers first To provide service beyond the expectations of the customers. The
quality of the customerresponsiveness clearly differentiates them from others.
Performance culture To benchmark the processes and performances against world cl
ass standards, to distinguish between performers, by valuing achievements at the
individual as well asteam level. Valuing partnership Get committed to building
exemplary relationship with partners who stand on the principles of mutual growt
h and trust. Valuing people To mature as environment where people are respected
and their uniqueness is valued. They believe that people are their key different
iator. Responsible Corporate Citizenship Committed for making a positive and pro
-active contribution to the society. They will contribute to and abide by enviro
nmental and legal norms. Ethical Practices They will uphold the highest ethical
standard in all internal and external relationship.
Evaluation of Airtel Brand Elements
Memorability: Easily recognized Easily recalled
The brand elements of Airtel are memorable. It has no complexity in their brand
elements. At least people can easily recognize and recall the parent brand Airte
l Bharati. Though its sub-brands are little bit tough to recognize and recall. S
o we can say parent brand are highly memorable. Meaningfulness: Descriptive Pers
uasive
Brand elements may take on all kinds of meaning, with either descriptive or pers
uasive content. The brand elements of Airtel have descriptive meaning and sugges
t something about the product category.
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Likability: Fun and interesting Rich visual and verbal imagery Aesthetically ple
asing
Airtel uses its parent brand name in different font and style as their logo and
symbol of parent brand. Different brands of Airtel Bharti use different brand el
ements. Brand elements of Airtel are so much likable. It is likable especially t
o the educated or to the brand loyal people. Transferability: Transferability wi
thin and across product category Transferability across geographic boundaries an
d culture
Transferability means how useful is the brand elements for line or category exte
nsion. In general the less specific the name, the more easily it can be transfer
red across categories. In that sense Airtel Bhartiis successful in terms of tran
sferability. Because it already introduced other products that have been accepte
d by the customers. Adaptability: Flexible Updatable
The fifth consideration for brand elements is their adaptability over time. The
brand Airtel is highlyadaptable and updatable. It was launched in 7 July 1995, a
nd continuing by the same name. It doesnt have to face any problem to change or u
pdate the brand elements with the change of time. Protectability: Legally Compet
itively
This is the final consideration of evaluation criteria. The brand elements of Ai
rtel Bharti are protectable both in a legal and a competitive sense because it i
s registered with the appropriate legal bodies and vigorously defended trademark
from unauthorized infringement.
Airtel Brand Awareness
For a brand to be successful, it must build enduring relationship with different
audiences. Integral to this relationship is the visual image of the brand the c
onsumer carries in his/her mind. The Airtel brand image is created through consi
stent application of a carefully developed visual identity, which helps Airtel d
istinguish itself in a cluttered market. Airtel visual identity helps to create
instant brand recall and strengthens the relationship that it audience have with
it.
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Brand Slogan aisi azadi aur kahan Signature Tune In 2002, Airtel chose one of the
countrys most successful music composers A R Rahman andtune he gives, denote Live
every moment Jingles Nigahein nigahon se mila kar to dekho, naye logo se rishta ba
nakar to dekho
Airtel's brand new advertisement
It is based on the easy friendship of college youth, is possibly the most talked
-about marketing campaign on air today. It is refreshing, it is different, and i
t is making waves, big time. The theme of this very catchy advertisement is that
every single friend, indeed every type of friend is essential to one's life (Har
ek friend zaroori hota hai). The lyrics sing for themselves Koi chat room friend,
koi classroom friend Shopping mallwala shopping friend Koi exam hallwala copying
friend Movie buddy, groovy buddy Hi buddy bye buddyjoke buddy poke buddy Gaana b
uddy shaana buddyChaddi buddy yaar buddy Har ek friend zaroori hota hai! The Airte
l campaign is a spontaneous celebration of friendship, and it appears to have to
uched a wonderful chord amongst so many viewers. It has achieved such instant su
ccess despite featuring no celebrity, not even a known face. Instead, around 70
young actors inject the film with incredible energy. The key reason for its succ
ess: The campaign reflects a deep human insight, that friendship is one of the m
ost endearing and treasured aspects of our lives. Several consumers have comment
ed online that the advertisement evokes wonderful memories of friendship for the
m, that it makes them hum with the glow of friendship all over again.
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BRANDING STRATEGIES OF AIRTEL
Brand Positioning Airtel positions itself as juvenile brand linkages to celebrit
ies such as SRK and Sachin. Airtel istransforming itself fully into a service le
d brand. From 'Touch Tomorrow' to 'Live Every Moment' In late-2002, Bharti Cellu
lar Ltd. (Bharti), India's largest cellular telephone company released a televis
ion commercial (TVC), which despite using the 'oft-repeated' celebrity endorseme
nt route was unusual in terms of its celebrity selection. Instead of using the u
sual movie stars/sports celebrities, it chose one of the country's most successf
ul music composers, A.R.Rehman to promote its brand. The campaign attracted cons
iderable media attention because this was the first time Rehman had agreed to do
a television commercial and also because, Rehman had been paid Rs 10 million fo
r the campaign, a sum usually unheard of, for celebrity endorsers in India. The
campaign received brickbats as well as bouquets in the media, both for the selec
tion of Rehman and the TVC's execution. However, Bharti claimed to have scored a
n ace in terms of getting Rehman to compose five exclusive symphonies downloadab
le as ring tones for Airtel users. The TVC was a part of the brand repositioning
and restructuring efforts for Airtel, as part of which, Bharti changed the bran
d's tagline in early-2002 from 'Touch Tomorrow' to 'Live Every Moment. 'The comp
any also decided to undertake a comprehensive brand building program for the com
pany and chose the slogan 'Unlimited Freedom' for the same. Commenting on these
changes, company sources said, "Airtel's brand identity and campaign will now ha
ve a new younger and international look and feel that builds on the earlier
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positioning."Bharti's massive media expenditure plans were no surprise, consider
ing the fact that it was the largest cellular telecom company in the country - r
eaching over 600 million people in 16 (out of 29) states of India. The company p
osted revenues of Rs 8.48 billion and a net loss of Rs.1 billion in the financia
l year 2000-01. The Airtel brand (and the pre-paid card service brand, Magic) ha
d top-of-the-mind recall amongst cellular phone users and enjoyed a leadership p
osition in most markets. Industry observers primarily attributed it to Bharti's
strong brand building and positioning strategies.
Repositioning Airtel
The above realization led to the launch of the 'Leadership Series' campaign, whi
ch featured successful men and women with their deluxe cars, carrying laptops an
d using cell phones. A company source said that the campaign was aimed at positi
oning Airtel as an inspirational brand, which was meant for leaders and celebrit
ies. Other supportive values associated with the brand-included courtesy, polite
ness and efficiency. The campaign was reportedly successful and resulted in a ma
rginal improvement in Airtel's performance. By 1999, Bharti had become the leadi
ng cellular player in Delhi (its major market) with a subscriber base of over 0.
38 million. However, the growth was still much below the companys expectations. M
eanwhile, as the competition in the sector intensified, the government also deci
ded to reduce tariff rates. As a result, the players made all efforts to extend
their horizons to reach customers across all sections. Essar, the nearest compet
itor of Airtel, began offering tariff plans, schemes and services that were iden
tical to that of Airtel.
Repositioning Airtel - Once Again!
Due to consistent marketing efforts, the Airtel and Touch Tomorrow campaign beca
me very popular. Therefore, Bharti's decision to withdraw this campaign (Touch T
omorrow) in 2002 came as a surprise to many. The new campaign was accompanied by
a change in the logo as well. The idea behind the new logo was to give Airtel a
younger look. The logo (with new design and colour pattern) symbolized innovati
on, energy and friendliness. On 18 November 2010, Airtel rebranded itself in Ind
ia in the first phase of a global rebranding strategy. The company unveiled a ne
w logo with 'airtel' written in lower case. Designed by London-based brand agenc
y, Brand Union, the new logo is the letter 'a' in lowercase, with 'airtel' writt
en in lowercase under the logo. On 23 November 2010, Airtel's Africa operations
were rebranded to 'airtel'. Brand positioning handled by Ogilvy. Sri Lanka follo
wed on 28 November 2010 and on 20 December 2010, Warid Telecom rebranded to 'air
tel' in Bangladesh- JWT
The "Value Added Services" provided by Airtel
Voice Mail service This system is similar to the answering machine - if the user
is not able to answer a call for some reason the caller can leave messages in t
he voice mail box which can be later retrieved by the user. Short Message Servic
e The short message service is like a two-way pager. It gives an option of sendi
ng and
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receiving text messages directly from one mobile phone to another without the in
tervention of an operator. Mobile Fax 1 Data Service This service helps the subs
criber to send and receive Faxes, access E-mail, download computerfiles from oth
er systems and remotely log on to another computer and surf the Internet. Cash C
ard The cash card is a pre-paid and pre-activated card which allows the buyers t
o buy air time inadvance. All it requires is the payment of an initial amount. T
his is a useful service for peoplewho travel to Delhi often and those who want t
o control the expenses on their calls. Caller ID Displays calling person's numbe
r. Outgoing call restriction To prevent or limit outgoing calls, for example, in
peak hours. Also possible to exclude one or several countries or any geographic
al region, to permit only local calls, or to limit the outgoing calls to a liste
d number. Call forward Incoming calls can be forwarded to another fixed or mobil
e phone. Besides these some other services provided by Airtel are - Call confere
ncing, Call broadcast etc. It is in the operators -Interest that they not only g
et many subscribers but also get them to use the mobile facility frequently. In
the early stages getting increases to subscribe may be easier than getting them
to talk since they will find it costlier to use the mobile phone as compared to
a conventional phone. Roaming Facility Roaming facility is available while the s
ubscriber is travelling. The billing is done in the home network (Delhi). Roamin
g facility is available manually as well as semiautomatically. Once a subscriber
is in any other city or country, where a GSM network is available, simply inser
t the SIM card of the local operator into your handset and start talking.
Promotional Strategy
Airtel has been dependent on tactical advertising. However, it has restrained fr
om using comparative advertising. Hoardings have been a very popular medium for
carrying the advertisements. Airtel has also been advertising on television usin
g the Bharti Telecom name.
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Airtels Campaign
Delhi half marathon Border-Gavaskar trophy Indian fantasy league Delhi golf
nament $1million sponsorship for CWG Indian Cricket Team Manchester United Footb
all Club Indian Formula One Grand Prix
Airtel s Marketing Orientation
Since this is a high-involvement expensive product, the service provider has to
fully take care of the customers. They take personal responsibility to "get" the
answer for any problem faced by the customer They anticipate customers problem
s and take pro-active steps to prevent them They give answers to the questions &
requests, quickly & efficiently. They have a positive tone & manner while inter
acting with customers. They end the interaction on a positive or a humorous note
-making the last 30 seconds count.
Airtel realizes that attracting people Is easy but converting them into loyal c
ustomers is hard, hence emphasis is on maintaining a Smiling and a Friendly Atm
osphere to please and retain the customer
GREEN INITIATIVES
Green Towers P7 program As of today, Bharti Infratel is the only telecom tower c
ompany, which has installed almost 3 MWT of solar capacity on their network, gen
erating more than 5 million units of electricity every year. The Green Towers P7
program is scoped for 22,000 tower sites (primarily rural areas having low or n
o Grid Power availability) out of which 5,500 sites have already been implemente
d in the first year as a part of this 3-year program. Once completed, the initia
tive will reduce diesel consumption by 66 million litres per year with a signifi
cant carbon dioxide reduction of around 1.5 lac MT per year.
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Bharti Infratel bagged the 2011 Green Mobile Award at the GSMA Mobile World C
ongress at Barcelona and was also awarded the 2010 innovative infrastructure com
pany of the year award at the CNBC Infrastructure Awards for this ground-breakin
g initiative. Bharti remains the first company in the world to introduce the pra
ctice of sharing of passive infrastructure by collaborating with their competiti
on to share mobile towers and to reduce the collective carbon footprint of the i
ndustry. This has become a subject of case studies in institutions including Har
vard Business School. Energy conservation The company has installed solar hot wa
ter generator at its main campus in Gurgaon for fulfilling the hot water require
ment in the cafeteria. Majority of its facilities across NCR region are now equi
pped with LES (Lighting Energy Savers) which have reduced energy consumption in
the lighting system to the tune of 1025%. Variable Frequency Drives installed in
AHU (Air Handling Unit) at its campus have helped in enhancing the efficiency of
cooling system by 10%. These measures have resulted in a total saving of 8.5 la
kh units of electricity per year. Airtel has embarked upon technology related in
itiatives like virtualization of servers that has helped it release over 500 CPU
s. Also the drive of sending e-bills to the post-paid customers is helping save
12,840 trees annually. Within its campus the Secure Print Solution an automated
queue management based secured printing solution has led to an annualized saving
of about 8 metric tonnes of paper. Alternate energy sources such as solar energ
y They have already deployed these at as many as 1050 sites thus saving 6.9 mill
ion litres of diesel and approximately Rs. 280 million Energy efficiency measure
s such as Integrated Power Management Systems and variable speed DC generators I
t has resulted in the reduction in the rate of diesel consumption by 1.2 million
litres. They have already saved Rs. 47 million across nearly 900 sites. Demand
side management like Free Cooling Units (FCU) instead of air conditioners It has
already been implemented across 3400+ sites, saving consumption of 4.1 million
litres of diesel.
Acquisitions and Mergers
MTN In May 2008, it emerged that Bharti Airtel was exploring the possibility of
buying the MTN Group, a South Africa-based telecommunications company with cover
age in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East.
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The Financial Times reported that Bharti was considering offering US$45 billion
for a 100% stake in MTN, which would be the largest overseas acquisition ever by
an Indian firm. However, both sides emphasize the tentative nature of the talks
, while The Economist magazine noted, "If anything, Bharti would be marrying up,
" as MTN has more subscribers, higher revenues and broader geographic coverage.[
1] However, the talks fell apart as MTN group tried to reverse the negotiations
by making Bharti almost a subsidiary of the new company.[2] In May 2009, Bharti
Airtel again confirmed that it is in Talks with MTN and companies have now agree
d discuss the potential transaction exclusively by 31 July 2009.[3] Bharti Airte
l said in a statement "Bharti Airtel Ltd is pleased to announce that it has rene
wed its effort for a significant partnership with MTN Group".[4]Talks eventually
ended without agreement, due to the South African government opposition.[5] Zai
n In March 2010, Bharti struck a deal to buy the Kuwait firm s mobile operations
in 15 African countries, in India s second biggest overseas acquisition after T
ata Steel s $13 billion buy of Corus in 2007. Bharti Airtel completed its $9 bil
lion acquisition of African operations from Kuwait s Zain, making the firm the w
orld s No. 5 wireless carrier by subscribers. Airtel has reported that its reven
ues for the fourth quarter of 2010 grew by 53% to US$3.2 billion compared to the
previous year; newly acquired Zain Africa division contributed US$911 million t
o the total. However, net profits dropped by 41% from US$470 million last year t
o US$291 million this year due to a US$188 million increase in radio spectrum ch
arges in India and an increase of US$106 million in debt interest.
Joint ventures
Airtel-Ericsson As per a five-year managed services agreement signed recently. E
ricsson will manage and optimize Airtels mobile networks in Africa. Ericsson will
modernize and upgrade Airtels mobile networks in Africa with the latest technolo
gy including its multi standard RBS 6000 base station. As part of the modernizat
ion, Ericsson will also provide technology consulting, network planning & design
and network deployment. Ericsson has been the managed services and network tech
nology partner in the Asian operations.
Bharti Airtel and IIT Delhi - Telecom Centre of Excellence[6]
The Bharti-IIT Delhi Telecom Center of Excellence is established as the Bharti S
chool of Telecommunication Technology and Management, IIT Delhi with a vision- To
develop telecom leaders through excellence in education and research. The school
offers post-graduate programmes, i.e. M.Tech, MBA, MS (Research) and PhD in tel
ecommunication and has a state-of-the-art Teaching and Research infrastructure.
An Expression of Interest in this regard was signed between Bharti Airtel and II
T Delhi.
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The Bharti-IIT Delhi Telecom Centre of Excellence is being set up as part of an
initiative by the Department of Telecommunications, Government of India. The obj
ective of the Centre is to promote innovation in the telecom sector and capacity
building through knowledge towards achieving Telecom Vision 2010 of the Governm
ent. The Centre will also work towards providing support to the industry in plan
ning future telecom growth in the country and reducing the rural urban digital d
ivide. It will promote focused R&D in the area of telecom and also work developm
ent of India specific telecom applications. This is another major initiative by t
he Government of India to support growth of telecom sector in India. We are happ
y to partner Bharti Airtel in setting up this centre and promoting excellence in
the area of telecommunications. Prof. Surendra Prasad, Director, IIT Delhi. The I
ndia telecom sector is today playing a crucial role in the development and progr
ess of the country. We are delighted to further strengthen our partnership with
IIT-Delhi through this major initiative by the DoT to develop India as a world-c
lass telecom hub. Mr. Manoj Kohli, President, Bharti Airtel Ltd.
Airtels mobile subscribers in India[7]
The mobile subscription is exploding in India with 22.62 million mobile phone su
bscribers added in the month of December alone. Bharti Airtel has the highest wi
reless mobile subscribers with 152.5 million, followed by Reliance and Vodafone.
The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) estimated there are around
2 million mobile Internet users and the figure is growing rapidly. It will not
be too long before rural India would starts accessing the internet via mobile ph
ones. Herein lies the greatest opportunity for the marketer.
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Sales Department and Strategy
Major Accounts (Direct Channel) Handles corporate (named and famed) accounts Fo
ecasting of sales Mapping the accounts Providing after sales support to the subs
cribers. Maintaining call reports for records. Providing Feedback to the marketi
ng department regarding the requirement of themarket.
IDC (indirect Channel) Handling distribution Maintaining records and level check
of the channel partner. Laisioning between the channel partner and the company.
Target achievement Training the executives of the channel
Distribution Support Logistics Monitor handset and SIM card requirements of chan
nel partners and co-ordinate with stores Settle areas of concerns such as incent
ive claims of channel partners Rental Provide cellular services (SIM cards) on r
ent. Provide cellular phones on rent Useful for people visiting Delhi for a shor
t interval. Telesales Call customers and generate sales lead. Follow up with the
customers, if they need any assistance Pass on the sales lead to the channel de
partment. Audit Consultant to the Airtel showrooms. Monitor the operations at th
e Airtel distribution outlets Organize training. Retail Locate shops to open ret
ail counters. Monitor the retail counters.
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Price and Pricing Policy
Airtel has realized that the Indian market is price sensitive. Therefore it care
of the has come up with various innovative tariff schemes to take needs of diff
erent category of customersGenerally, the cellular services are more expensive t
han the land line based telephone services. This is due to the reason that the o
perating companies are required to pay a fee to the government for using airtime
. Pricing strategies of Airtel are Customer based pricing strategies Flexible pr
icing mechanism Controlled by TRAI
Airtel, keeping in mind the importance of the customer retention, values its hea
vy users the most and constantly indulges in service innovation. But, since heav
y users comprise only 15 20% of the population the other segment cannot be negle
cted. The population which has just realized the importance of cellular phones h
as to be roped in. It is for this reason that the service provider offers a plet
hora of incentives and discounts. Concerts like the "Freedom concert" are being
organized by Airtel in order to promote sales. The media channel is chosen with
economy in mind. The target segment is not very concrete but, there is an attemp
t to focus on those who can afford. The print advertisements and hoarding are pl
aced in those strategic areas which most likely to catch the attention of those
who need a cellular phone. The product promise (which might cost different 1 hig
her) is an important variable in determining the target audience. Airtel has als
o introduced attractive pricing in its broadband segment. At the launch of the t
hird generation services in Chennai and Coimbatore, Mr Atul Bindal, President, M
obile Services, Bharti Airtel, told Business Line, The response has been mind bog
gling with the total consumption of around 200 GB a day.[8]
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Airtel will offer services such as video call, live streaming of video, high spe
ed Internet, mobile TV entertainment through the 3G technology. Users can also a
vail themselves of the services through the existing SIM cards. In a bid to attrac
t mass trial and adoption of the service, the company offers packages of up to t
en days. For Rs. 8, under the Sachet plan, a user can avail himself of 10 MB of
free data (one day validity); and 65 MB for Rs 63 and one day validity. Mr Binda
l welcomed Airtels brand ambassador and cine star Karthi on to the Airtel 3G plat
form as the first 3G customer in the city. For laptop users, Airtel offers 3G don
gles, he said In the 72 hours of the service becoming operational in Bangalore, a
round one lakh customers are enjoying a variety of services, including video cal
l , movies and music, according to a senior company official.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Awareness programs Still more awareness programs have to be implemented in order
toattract more customers like: Increase advertisement campaigns. Increase Elect
ronic media usage for the awareness programs. Establishment of Hoardings in rura
l areas also. Bringing awareness through issue of pamphlets in the newspapers. C
onsumer Retention: Airtel has to implement some more retention programs like:Ext
ra talk times should be given to the potential customers who are there for more
than 2 years in the subscriptions. Some festival offers should be given in order
to retain the customers. If more messages and extra talk time benefits are give
n then it can help for retaining of the customers. Airtel has to increase the cu
stomer care centers in order to concentrate more on the customers queries and the
ir problems.
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REFERENCES: [1] "Emerging-market telecoms: Eyes on Africa", The Economist, 6 May
2008 [2] "$50 Billion Telecom Deal Falls Apart", The New York Times, 25 May 200
8 [3] TopUpGuru.com (May) Bharti Renews MTN Talks [4] "Topupguru.com". Topupguru
.com. Retrieved 2010-08-23. [5] Telecoms.com. 2009-10-01. Retrieved 2010-08-23.
[6] www.techwhack.com/ 840-bharti-airtel-iit-delhi.htm [7] http://blog.alivenow.
in/2011/02/mobile-subscribers-in-india-on-rise.html ,Thursday, February 17, 2011
[8] http://www.speakchennai.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/airtel-3g-chennai-ac
torkarthi.jpg [9] www.scribd.com/Branding-Strategies-of-Airtel19.htm
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