MSP Mandal`s

Deogiri Institute of Technology and Management Studies

Aurangabad

A
PROJECT REPORT
ON

MARKETING
OF

Submitted in the partial fulfillment in

BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Dr. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR UNIVERSITY, AURANGABAD

Submitted By: Project Guide:

Rathod Sarika Kanhiram Miss. Naziya Shaikh

1
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This is serve gratitude to all those people without whom this
PROJECT would have never seen the light of day.

An endeavor is difficult to even initiate without the help of many

souls who are always there by the grace of God. Researcher project is a
result of help provided by many people.

My project becomes a reality only because of cooperation of many people

who had helped me in completing this project. I sincerely extend my
gratitude to Mrs. MANJU GUPTA who has given me this golden opportunity
to have an insight in the corporate world and who has been a source of
guidance and support

I sincerely thank my esteemed guide Mrs. Manju Gupta (UNIT

MANAGER)for her valuable guidance and co-operation rendered to me
through out the project report. It would not have been possible for me to
complete this project without there meticulous guidance and suggestions.

I give my thanks to MISS. NAZIYA SHAIKH (PROJECT GUIDE) and

MR. KOTURWAR (PRINCIPAL D.I.T.M.S) for their valuable contribution, co-
operation and guidance from time to time for completion of this project.

Last but not the least I would like to thank my parents, friends,
Colleagues and the staff of Bharti Airtel Aurangabad, who directly or
indirectly help me during the course of project without which project
would have been a Herculean task.

Sarika K. Rathod

2
 Certificate
This is certifying that Miss. Rathod Sarika Kanhiram is a
student of our college & studying in B.B.A. As a part of
university program she has undergone a project work on.

“Marketing Survey” on Bharti Airtel Company Ltd.,

Aurangabad. Under the guidance of Miss. Naziya Shaikh.

She has duly acknowledged all the sources of reference

used in the report. This report, based on above topic is in
partial fulfillment of the requirement of the,

Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A)

OF

Dr.Babasaheb Ambedakar Maratawada

University
Aurangabad.

Miss.Naziya Shaikh Major Koturwar

(Internal Guide) (Principal)

3
Date: 7Th may 2009

To Whom It May Concern :

This is to certify that Miss Rathod Sarika Kanhiram has worked

with Bharti Airtel Company Ltd., Aurangabad On project
assignment 15th April to 30th April 2009.

The project undertaken during the period was –

Marketing Survey

The above mentioned project has been successfully completed.

We wish her all the best for all future endeavors.

Best Regard

Mrs. Manju Gupta

(UNIT MANAGER)

4
 INDEX

Sr. Chapters Page

No. No.

1. Introduction 2
2. Objectives 13
a) Vision

b) Bharti Televenture

3. Airtel Broadband 22
4. Airtel Services 27
5. Case study of black Barry Handset 35
a)Product profile

6. Research methodology 41
a)Graphical Representation
7. Conclusion 51
8. Recommendation 52
9. Bibliography 53
10. Questionnaire 54

5
6
7
HISTORY OF COMPANY
8
Bharti Airtel is one of India's leading private sector providers of
telecommunications services based on an aggregate of 66,689,943
customers as on April 30, 2008, consisting of 64,370,434 GSM mobile
and 2,319,509 Bharti Telemedia subscribers.

The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been structured into three individual
strategic business units (SBU’s) - mobile services, telemedia services
(ATS) & enterprise services. The mobile services group provides GSM
mobile services across India in 23 telecom circles, while the ATS business
group provides broadband & telephone services in 94 cities. The
enterprise services group has two sub-units - carriers (long distance
services) and services to corporates. All these services are provided under
the Airtel brand.

Company shares are listed on The Stock Exchange, Mumbai (BSE) and
The National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE).

The company has a strategic alliance with SingTel. The investment made
by SingTel is one of the largest investments made in the world outside
Singapore, in the company.

The company’s 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

9
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, Teletech & Mphasis

MILESTONE OF COMPANY

1 Mobile phone operator, Bharti Airtel, became the first Indian telecom
company to serve 50 million customers last month, and is now the
world’s tenth largest wireless carrier.
2 Bharti has doubled its user base in the past 14 months alone, and hopes
to reach 100 million subscribers by 2010, according to company
executives.
3 “Our next 50 million will largely come from rural India as our plan is
to reach 5,200 census towns and over five lakh villages, covering 96
per cent of the Indian population,” said Bharti Airtel president and
CEO, Manoj Kohli, at a news conference this week.
4 Bharti Airtel, India’s leading telecommunication services provider,
today announced that it had crossed the 50 million customer mark.
With this, Bharti Airtel has achieved the distinction of becoming the
fastest private telecom company in world to achieve this landmark in a

10
 single country - within 143 months of start of operations. The 50
million customer base covers mobile as well as broadband &
telephone customers.
5 Commenting on this major global landmark, Mr. Akhil Gupta, Joint
Managing Director, Bharti Airtel said, “We are delighted to have
achieved this major landmark, which puts Bharti Airtel amongst the
top telecom companies in the world. It underlines the strength of our
unique business model and our vision to provide affordable services
like lifetime prepaid to customers across the length and breadth of the
country. I would like to thank our partners for having shared our
vision. This milestone highlights the emergence of India as one of the
top telecom markets in the world and we are proud to have been at the
forefront of this growth. Going forward, we believe this growth
momentum will remain intact and we are gearing towards the 100
million customers mark.”
6 Bharti Airtel crossed the 10 million customer mark in November 2004.
In July last year, it crossed the 25 million customer mark.
7 The company added the next 25 million customers in just 14 months.
This is amongst the fastest rate of customer additions by any telecom
company in the world.
8 Mr. Manoj Kohli, President & CEO, Bharti Airtel added, “This is a
very proud moment for us and I would like to thank our 50 million
customers for believing in Airtel. It is a tribute to our commitment to

11
 provide best-in-class services to our customers and lead the market
with exciting innovations. We are committed to create a world-class
organization and benchmark it with the best in the world. As the
market gets ready for the next wave of growth, we are committed to
expanding our telecom networks wider and deeper across the country
and partner India’s growth story.”
9 In the mobile business, Bharti Airtel plans to make considerable
investments in Network expansion to establish presence in all census
towns and over 500,000 villages across India by 2010, thereby
covering 95% of the country’s total population. The company’s
strategic focus will be on further strengthening the Airtel brand
through best-in-class customer service, which is backed by wide
national distribution.
10 In the Enterprise business, Bharti Airtel will invest substantially in
the long distance business to achieve the scale of a global carrier
within next 2-3 years. It is also strengthening the corporate business
towards becoming a preferred managed services partner for the top
2000 corporations. In Broadband & Telephone SBU, Bharti Airtel
will initiate large-scale deployments of broadband network
infrastructure in 94 towns, with a sharp focus on the home and SME
segments. It is readying to offer triple play to its customers with the
launch of its IPTV service.

12
 Bharti Tele-Ventures
Bharti Tele-Ventures is one of India's leading private sector providers of
telecommunications services based on an aggregate
of 28,692627 customers as on September 30, 2006, consisting
of 27,061,349 GSM mobile and 1,631,278 broadband & telephone
customers

The businesses at Bharti Tele-Ventures have been structured into three

individual strategic units (SBU’s) –

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 corporates. 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

13
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, Internet and 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

Bharti Enterprises has successfully focused its strategy on telecom while

straddling diverse fields of business. From the creation of 'Airtel', one of
India's finest brands, to becoming the largest manufacturer and exporter of
world class telecom terminals under its 'Beetel' brand, Bharti has created
a significant position for itself in the global telecommunications
sector. Bharti Tele-Ventures is today acknowledged as one of India's finest
companies, and its flagship brand 'Airtel', has over 12 million customers
across the length and breadth of India.

While a joint venture with TeleTech Inc., USA marked Bharti’s successful
foray into the Customer Management Services business, Bharti
Enterprises’ dynamic diversification has continued with the company
venturing into telecom software development. Recently, Bharti has

14
successfully launched an international venture with EL Rothschild Group
owned ELRO Holdings India Ltd., to export fresh Agri products
exclusively to markets in Europe and USA

"What other operators have achieved in one to two years, Bharti has
done in just over a month. In July 2002, one out of every two people
buying a mobile across India chose AirTel. We are truly proud to be
spearheading the mobile revolution in the country."

- Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Tele-Ventures in 2002

Vision
BY 2010 AIRTEL WILL BE THE MOST
ADMIRED BRAND IN INDIA:

o LOVED BY MORE CUSTOMERS.

15
 o TARGETED BY TOP TALENT.

o BENCHMARKED BY MORE
BUSINESS.

Airtel comes to you from Bharti

Tele-Ventures Limited - a part of the biggest private integrated telecom
conglomerate, Bharti Enterprises. A consortium of giants in the
telecommunication business. In it's six years of pursuit of greater customer
satisfaction, AirTel has redefined the business through marketing

16
innovations, continuous technological up gradation of the network,
introduction of new generation value added services and the highest
standard of customer care.

Bharti is the leading cellular service provider, with an all India footprint
covering all 23 telecom circles of the country. It has over 12 million
satisfied customers.

Cellular telephony was introduced in India during the early 1990s. At that
time, there were only two major private players, Bharti (Airtel) and Essar
(Essar) and both these companies offered only post-paid services.
Initially, the cellular services market registered limited growth.

Moreover, these services were mostly restricted to the metros. Other

factors such as lack of awareness among people, lack of infrastructural
facilities, low standard of living, and government regulations were also
responsible for the slow growth of cellular phone services in India.

Although the cellular services market in India grew during the late 1990s
(as the number of players increased and tariffs and handset prices came
down significantly) the growth was rather marginal. This was because the
cellular service providers offered only post-paid cellular services, which
were still perceived to be very costly as compared to landline
communications.

17
Following this realization, the major cellular service providers in India,
launched pre-paid cellular services in the late 1990s. The main purpose of
these services was to target customers from all sections of society (unlike
post-paid services, which were targeted only at the premium segment).

18
 Bharti’s Mission
To be globally admired for telecom services that delight
customers.

19
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

Airtel`s Vision & promise

By 2010 Airtel will be the most admired brand in India:

Loved by more customers

Targeted by top talent
Benchmarked by more businesses

20
 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

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:

o Sunil Bharti Mittal

21
o Rajan Bharti Mittal
o Akhil Gupta
o Rakesh Bharti Mittal
o Chua Sock Koong
o N. Kumar
o Kurt Hellstorm
o Donald Cameron
o Paul O’Sullivan
o Professor V.S. Raju
o Pulak Chandan Prasad
o Bashir Abdullah Currimjee
o Gavin Darby
o Syeda Imam
o Ajay Lal
o York Chye Chang
o Paul Donovan
o Arun Bharat Ram

Airtel AllOver

22
 ACHIEVEMENTS
• First to launch Cellular service on November 1995.

23
 • 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 it's 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, UK etc 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 announces agreement with VODAFONE

marking the entry of the World's Largest Telecom

24
Operator into India

• Vodafone to invest approximately Rs. 6,700 crores (approx. USD 1.5

bn.) to acquire around 10% in Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd.
• Bharti Enterprises, SingTel and Vodafone to take Bharti Tele-
Ventures Ltd. to unassailable leadership position in India
• The largest single foreign investment ever in the history of India
• The largest investment in the Indian telecom sector
• Bharti establishes its supremacy in the Indian telecom market,
having attracted Asia’s best – SingTel, and now world’s best –
Vodafone.
• Bharti set to gain global leadership in the telecom sector
• Bharti Enterprises continues to hold shareholding and management
control in Bharti Tele-Ventures.

Awards for the year 2007-2008

o BHARTI AIRTEL DRAWS TOP HONORS AT THE MIS
ASIA IT EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2006

25
 o BHARTI AIRTEL AMONG THE TOP 10 BEST
PERFORMING COMPANIES IN THE WORLD
ACCORDING TO BUSINESSWEEK IT 100 LIST.

o SUNIL BHARTI MITTAL IS THE “CEO OF THE YEAR” AT

THE FROST AND SULLIVAN ASIA PACIFIC AWARDS
2006 AND BHARTI AIRTEL BAGS “WIRELESS SERVICE
PROVIDER OF THE YEAR” AND “COMPETITVE
SERVICE PROVIDER OF THE YEAR”.

o BHARTI TELE-VENTURES IS THE “BEST INDIAN

CARRIER” AT THE TELECOM ASIA AWARDS 2006.

AirTel: Appropriating the value of 'expression'

Over the last couple of years, the market has grown considerably, with
deeper penetration and wider usage of voice and data services,
accompanied by much higher competitive intensity," Atul Bindal, chief
marketing officer, Bharti TeleVentures, expands on this. "In this context,

26
differentiating merely on network, coverage and SMS is just not enough.
You need to go beyond all the rational identifiers - which are prerequisites
in any case - and connect at a deeper level. We needed a strong
differentiator in an increasingly commoditized and crowded market. We
found this differentiator in a core human truth that defines our category -
which is that there are moments when you need to make your point, when
you need to be heard. Expressing and communicating are perhaps two of
the most basic emotions. AirTel enables you to make your point in the
most expressive way, anytime, anywhere. The campaign is towards
owning this through 'Express yourself.' We believe 'Express yourself'
allows us to connect at a deeper level and create a long-term platform
for the brand."
For AirTel, the challenge also lay in presenting a unified 'face' to the
consumer. This assumes significance when viewed in the light of the
company's pre- and post-paid communication, which, in the past, had been
treated very differently. Brand image, as a result, was being driven in two
different dimensions. "Brand AirTel is a category leader straddling
completely different market segments such as consumer, business and
corporate, as well as different voice, data and payment platforms," says
Bindal. "'Express yourself' enables the brand to unify and connect across
the entire base of our existing and prospective customers."

One of the most obvious benefits of owning a property such as 'candid

expression' (and 'Express yourself') is the expansive nature of the thought.

27
"The moment you have as broad a canvas as 'Express yourself', it becomes
easy for anyone working on the brand to come up with new ideas and
executions. That's what makes a good campaign idea," observes Rediff's
Prashant Godbole, who, along with creative partner Zarvan Patel,
conceived the campaign. This is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg, Patel
adds. "We will be taking the idea forward in many different ways in the
forthcoming work," he informs. Patel also credits his creative team for
"fleshing out the idea"
In October 2002, Magic led the market, with 30% of the market share.
Bharti claimed that its strategies were one of the most ambitious
experiments ever in the Indian pre-paid cellular telephony market.
However, given the increasing competitive pressure, doubts were being
expressed regarding the ability of Bharti's marketing initiatives to help
Magic retain its 'Magic' in the future.

28
Bharti Televentures is the fixed line operator business of Airtel. In the
recent branding exercise, all the services have been offered under the
Airtel brand. Data is the next driver for growth. This is clear to the
operators who have belatedly realized the implications for having a pie in

29
all the segments of telecommunications. Hence Bharti ventured in the
broadband market.

However, the main contention in the broadband market is the price

offering which includes the bandwidth costs as well as the cost of laying
down the copper wire. Typically, in the mentality of the profit making
exercise, Airtel has so far focused only in those areas where it perceives
that a huge market is present. However, I still hold that their thrust should
be in smaller towns and cities where BSNL would ultimately usurp their
potential customer base. It seems that their fancily paid MBAs haven’t
really understood the success of BSNL who focused on the B and C class
cities where it has drawn unparalleled support despite the lousy customer
experiences. This is because of the absence of any other operator.

The current offerings by Airtel does not really enthuse a potential

customer who is looking at sustained data transfer. It is the classic case of
having something better than nothing.

Add to the lousy customer care that Airtel is slowly perfecting, it is staffed
with people who usually land up in their jobs with little idea of their job
profile. The so-called Tech engineers have often been unable to help a
customer who is facing issues with the connectivity.

AIRTEL’s ENTERPRISE SERVICES

30
The company is a part of Bharti Enterprises, and is India's leading
provider of telecommunications services. The businesses at Bharti Airtel
have been structured into three individual strategic business units (SBU’s)
- mobile services, broadband & telephone services (B&T) & enterprise
services. 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 90 cities. The Enterprise services group
has two sub-units - carriers (long distance services) and services to
corporates. All these services are provided under the Airtel brand.

Our Services:

• Voice Services
• Mobile Services
• Satellite Services
• Managed Data and Internet Services
• Managed e-Data Services

AirTel launches VQE (Voice Quality

Enhancer) for the first time in Kolkata.
Introducing VQE (Voice Quality Enhancer) for the first time in Kolkata.
VQE is a revolutionary new system that spectrally reduces background
noise. It eliminates acoustic echo, adjusts speech levels in both directions

31
and does away with low or distorted speech so that every word of your's
can be heard clearly, wherever you may be speaking from.

The VQE technology has been sourced from Tellabs of USA, world
leaders in Voice Quality technology. Some of the prominent GSM
operators using Tellabs solution in the world are SingTel, Bell South,
Telstra, BT Cell etc. The Tellabs noise reduction technology removes high
background noise from the wireless side of the call thus delivering near
wireline clear call quality
on mobile phones. The Tellabs 3000 series of voice-quality enhancement
echo technology also eliminates the complexity of acoustic echo generated
by digital mobiles and hands free kits.

So go ahead. Express yourself and feel the difference on Kolkata's only

Non-Stop 2.5G Network

32
SERVICE TYPE OF DESCRIPTION PREPAID POSTPAID
NAME SERVICE CHARGES CHARGES
(Rs.) (Rs.)
Calling Line Automatic Displays the callers number Rs. 25
Identification only for new on your mobile phone screen
Presentation acquisitions
(CLIP)
Dial-a-service Automatic Users can call to get certain Rs. 2.40 per Rs. 2 per
only for new information and service. For minute minute
acquisitions instance, Dial 604 for
Infotel, Dial 131 for Railway
info. These call numbers are
available in the phone book
WAP Automatic download exclusive contents Per content Per content
only for new from Airtel's WAP site download download
acquisitions
GPRS & Automatic Access internet on the move GPRS GPRS Charges
Masala only for new and download exclusive Charges - Rs - Rs 600 per
acquisitions contents from Airtel's WAP 600 per month
site month
646 Calling Automatic Users can call into this voice Rs. 6 per Rs. 6 per
charges only for new recognition service and minutes minutes
acquisitions listen to jokes, movie
gossips, download ringtones
etc
VAS SMS Automatic Content offered by media Rs. 3 per
Charges only for new companies like Indiatimes,
acquisitions Rediff, Yahoo fall into this

33
34
 AIRTEL NEWS

• Bharti Airtel inks USD 400 million network expansion contract

with NOKIA

• Bharti Airtel limited: Q2 cash profit exceeds Rs. 1,600 crores,

PBT crosses Rs. 1,000 crores.

• Bharti Airtel is amongst India’s Most Admired Knowledge

enterprises in 2006.

• Sunil Bharti Mittal receives ‘The Honorary Fellowship’ from

IETE.

• Notice of postal ballot for seeking consent of the shareholders on

scheme of amalgamation of Satcom Broadband Equipments
Limited and Bharti Broadband Limited with Bharti Airtel
Limited.

• Bharti Airtel to Observe Silent period from October 1, 2006.

35
 PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY
After the liberalization of the Indian Telecom Sector in 1994, the Indian
cellular market witnessed a surge in cellular services. By 2005, there were
a total of 12 players in the market with the five major players being Bharti
Tele-Ventures Limited (Bharti), Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL),
Hutchinson-Essar limited (Hutch), Idea Cellular limited (Idea) and
Reliance India Mobile (RIM) (Refer Exhibit I).

All the players except RIM offered services based on the Global System
for Mobile (GSM) technology. RIM provided services based on Code
Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology as well as GSM.
As competition in the telecom arena intensified, service providers took
new initiatives to woo customers. Prominent among these were - celebrity
endorsements, loyalty rewards, discount coupons, business solutions and
talk time schemes. The most important consumer segments in the cellular
industry were the youth segment and the business class segment. The
youth segment was the largest and fastest growing segment and was
therefore targeted most heavily by cellular service providers.

Bharti Tele-Ventures adopted celebrity endorsement as its chief

promotional strategy. By 2004 it emerged the unprecedented leader
commanding the largest market share in the cellular service market. (Refer

36
Exhibit II). Hutch implemented the celebrity endorsement strategy
partially, relying primarily on its creative advertising for the promotion of
its brand. BSNL, on the other hand, attracted the consumer through its low
cost schemes. Being a state owned player, BSNL could cover rural areas,
and this helped it increase its subscriber base. Reliance was another player
that cashed on its innovative promotional strategies, which included
celebrity endorsements and attractive talk time schemes. Idea, relied
heavily on its creative media advertising sans celebrities.

37
RAHMAN TUNE CROSSES AIRTEL’S

EXCLUSIVITY BARRIER

Cellular service provider AirTel seems to have hit the right note with its
new commercial starring musician A R Rahman. The commercial which is
currently on air has a beat which also doubles up as a ringtone which is
ostensibly available only to AirTel users. But the interesting part is that the

38
ringtone is being flaunted not just by AirTel customers but by customers
of rival service providers like BPL, Orange and Dolphin as well!

“We did expect the tune to catch up but this has really exceeded our
expectations,” admits Bharti Cellular’s chief marketing officer (western
region) Pratik Pota. Overall, he explains, it is a great advertising product
for AirTel and works like a “walking, talking brand ambassador.”

The ringtone which is also the jingle for AirTel’s TV commercial, is

proving to be a potent advertising tool for the company. It is not very clear
what this means for the other cellular operators. Cellular users have been
“forwarding” the tune to one another, which according to Mr Pota, has
given AirTel a chance to enter the “mind of the user” irrespective of which
service he opts for.

“It gives the user a chance to go back to the AirTel product and acts as a
strong reminder medium,” he explains. Marketing professionals like
Samsika Marketing Consultants’ managing director Jagdeep Kapoor point
to the usage of an “audio celebrity” as something that is significant.

“The normal practice is to opt for film stars and sportsmen rather than an
audio personality” he says.

Rivals, though seemingly unfazed by the phenomenon, seem to be doing

their own homework on this brand of advertising. While none of them
commented on AirTel’s strategy and its impact on their own subscriber

39
base, one advertising professional working with a rival service provider
opines that the tune is “transient” and not likely to have any long term
impact as a brand building tool.

Being the latest entrant in the Mumbai circle, AirTel has had to find
ways of cutting through the clutter.

Says Mr Kapoor,” AirTel will have try to find ways to attract new
customers and convert the existing ones.” Explaining that the usage of
an audio celebrity was more “strategic than tactical”, he adds that
non-AirTel users will have the AirTel “brand experience” inspite of
not using the service.

While Mr Pota highlights the fact that the usage of the tune by other
operators means “free advertising” for AirTel and the users having a
positive disposition towards the product, the nature of reaction from
competition remains unclear.

“Competition will not do well to adopt a knee jerk reaction and will
have to come out with advertising that is well thought out” explains
Mr Kapoor. He anticipates a situation where the new entrant (AirTel)
will continue to be more aggressive.

40
 DATA SOURCES
Data is collected from both the Primary sources i.e. questionnaire and
also

from Secondary sources.

Primary sources:

The primary source of data collection is through questionnaire. The

questionnaires are distributed among 35 peoples and their view is

recorded

and used in analyzing the data

Secondary sources :

The secondary sources includes online sites, newspapers and

templates from

AIRTEL distributions centers and AIRTEL Customer Care.

41
42
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
RETAIL AUDIT RESEARCH

Retail audit research now account for a large proportion of total expenditure on market
research in this country. Despite this fact, the method advantage and disadvantage and
problem connect with this type of research have received little attention in print. It is the
purpose of this article to attempt to fill this gap.

The job of retail audit is to provide information for a manufacturer or his advertising agent
about sales, stock and distribution of his product and of its competitor, in order to make
estimate of regional market trends.

A manufacturer will of course, know precisely what is own Ex-factory sales have been. But
unless he sells direct to the “final buyer” he does not have always accurate information
about the actual purchaser of his product. A rise in Ex-factory sales might be due to rise in
customers demand or to increase stock holding by wholesaler or retailer. Again a
manufacturer does not always have accurate information about the distribution, stock, cover,
display etc. of his product and of course, manufacturer does not normally know what the
sales of competing product are with any precision.

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It is true that information of the type can be sending and is collected by other means. The
manufacturer own sales force will naturally collect a good deal of such information, but it is
likely to be biased, consciously, unconsciously and it may be non-systematic in character. It is
after all, not the main function of sales too collect information of this type.

Customer Survey
In worldwide internet market place, customer satisfaction surveys are often
regarded as the most accurate barometer to predict the success of a company
because they directly ask about the critical success of a business, if done
effectively, Customer Satisfaction surveys can deliver powerful incisive
information and provide ways to gain a competitive edge.

Writing a Satisfaction survey can be tricky, but it’s of paramount importance to

your business or organization to understand how satisfied customers are with
your business or organization to understand how satisfied are customer with
your service. Here are few tips for writing a customer satisfactory survey.

• Start with the end in mind. Make sure you understand why you are
writing and creating a customer survey and what you are going to do with
the results. How are you going to change your process as result of these
customers Satisfaction surveys results?

• Do not be biased in preparing questionnaire. Don’t assume that customers

love or hate your products. Try to gather satisfactory information without
leading the customers either way.

• Gather demographic information within your customer survey to help

segment your data during the analysis. You can easily gather zip code or

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 state code information eg. Only a particular segment is happy with your
product.

• Open ended questions (text boxes) are crucial for understanding the
satisfaction of customers. For instances, if customer are unhappy with a
particular aspect of your service or product, you can ask them to expand
on why they are unhappy. Beware that you do not bombard too many
question on participant to lead him to skip answers i.e. its leads to
incomplete survey.

Make sure you are using vocabulary that your customers understand. Be clear
to so everyone can understand your questions. In fact, it often makes sense to
“test drive” a survey with some customers before you launch it to the entire
survey participant population.

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 Product profile
Blackberry is always connected wireless solution which provides secure access
to your mail and data.

Blackberry is a high end product of Airtel used for E-mails and Internet
Browsing moreover you can access your companies data through intranet and
extranet which is secure.

Founded in 1984 and based in waterloo research in motion (RIM) is a leading

designer, manufacture and marketer of Blackberry that is wireless solutions for
the worldwide mobile communication market.

Thousands of business customers around the world use BlackBerry - a complete

mobile email solution that allows you to send and receive email wherever you
are. There's no need for a laptop to view your emails, no need for a fixed phone
line, and no need to log-on - they're automatically 'pushed' straight to your
BlackBerry handheld or blackberry connect handhelds.

With growing need of mails on the move, Blackberry has become a very handy
tool to be always on always connected.

Blackberry is a complete, easy to use integrated phone, SMS, browser and

organizer applications for managing information and communications from a
single, integrated device

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 Blackberry – What It Mean To customer
EMAIL ON THE MOVE

JUST GOT EASIER

• Single, integrated device for data and voice needs.

• Access existing email and browse internet wirelessly.
• Integrated phone, sms, browser and organizer applications.
• View email attachment in popular document formats
• Blackberry ‘push’ technology means entire email delivered automatically
• Advanced security for enterprise and government organizations
• Global address lookup
• Wireless calendar synchronization
• Bluetooth technology
• Excellent battery life
• Advanced call log ,QWERTY keyboard , high resolution screen
• Speaker phone, polyphonic ring tones
• Centralized management and support.
• Sleek and stylish handset
• Integration with an existing IPS email account
• Open personalized email id

user@airtel.blackberry.com

- Integrates 9 new pop3 /ISP enabled corporate or Internet mail accounts

with Blackberry handhelds

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BLACKBERRY PRODUCTS
1. Pearl 8100 (Rs.21,990).

2. Curve 8300 (Rs.23,990).

3. 8700g (Rs.14,990).

4. 8800 (Rs.29,990).

5. 8820 (Rs.31,990).

6. 8120(Wi-Fi) (Rs.24,990)

7. 8310(with GPS) (Rs.24,990).

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49
 2.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

Marketing research is often concerned with the behaviors of the consumer in

the respect marketing research have drawn heavily on the behavioral. Sciences
such a psychology and sociology in fact the contribution of these science to
marketing research have been very significant especially with regard to two
aspect.

1. The research technique used by psychology and they have amply used
sociologists being of considerable relevance to marketing researchers.
2. The concept and the theories of these behavioral sciences are also proved
to be relevant to market researcher.

2.2 Method of data collection

Questionnaire:
This was the most popular method for conducting the survey. It helped in
collecting the information from the framed question, to get maximum necessary
data for research. While designing the questionnaire, following aspect were
considered.

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Type of information to be collected:
1. Phrasing of the questionnaire.

2. Order or sequence of the question.

3. Number of question to be asked.

4. Lay out of the questionnaire.

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 Graphical Representation:

Customer survey
Table WHICH MOBILE SERVICE YOU USE

Company Name In Number Percentage

Airtel 40 25%
Idea 45 28%
Reliance 29 18%
Vodaphone 29 18%
BSNL 17 11%
Total 160 100

Graphical Representation:

11%
25%
AIRTEL
18%
IDEA

RELIANCE

VODAPHONE

BSNL

18% 28%

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Table: IMPORTANCE REGARDING SERVICE

What is important for you?

In Number Percentage
Connectivity 19 12
Coverage 40 25
Roaming 34 21
Local Call 24 15
All 43 27
Total 160 100

Graphical Representation:

12%
27% Connectivity

25% Coverage
Roaming

Local call

All
15%
21%

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Feature of AIRTEL forced people to use AIRTEL is

50
45
40 35 35
35
30
25 20
20
15 10
10
5
0
Advertisment Connectivity Schems Goodwill

Values shown in Percentage

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Feature of AIRTEL is better than the people’s previous cellular
service.

Schemes Advertismen
15% t
25%

Connectivity
60%

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  Type of advertisement mostly like by people in AIRTEL is
Audio
Visual
85%

Audio
Print
13%
2%

Celebrity liked by people very much in AIRTEL

Sachin Shahrukh
55% 38%

A.R. Kareena
Rehman 2%
5%

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People take benefits of schemes offered by AIRTEL

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 People take benifits of Schemes offered by AIrtel

2%
13%
Yes(85%)
No(13%)
Cann`t say(2%)

85%

People like most in AIRTEL is

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 Airtel Magic
5%

Nokia+Airtel Postpaid services

Airtel Board Band 8%
86%
1%

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60
 CONCLUSION

The conclusion of my study is that AIRTEL’s Advertising has a major

impact 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. Rehmaan’s tune

for AIRTEL worked as free advertising 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.

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 RECOMMENDATIONS

By virtue of its connectivity and advertising strategy 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 needs to make its network service more stronger than other

service providers to dominate the market in future too.

AIRTEL should introduce cheaper recharge cards than the

other because its competitor HUTCH had introduced it. AIRTEL

should sign more celebrities from cricket and bollywood.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

ON-LINE WEBSITE:

 WWW.GOOGLE.CO.IN
 WWW.AIRTEL.COM

NEWSPAPERS:

 Times of India (15 Oct 2006- 2 Nov 2006)

BOOKS:

 Marketing Management, Dr. S.L. Varshney and

Dr. R.L. Gupta, Third Revised Edition,

Sultan Chand and Sons.

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QUESTIONNAIRE
NAME: ……………………………………………

ADDRESS: ……………………………………………

OCCUPATION: …………………………………………….

CELLULAR SERVICE USED:…………………………………………

….

If AIRTEL than proceed further

1. How did you know about AIRTEL cellular service?

a) Friends b) Advertisements c) Other Sources

2. Which feature of AIRTEL forced you to used AIRTEL?

a)Advertisements b) Connectivity c) Schemes

d) Goodwill

3. Which was your first choice of cellular service when you want to use
mobile phone?

a) AIRTEL b) HUTCH c) IDEA

d)RELIANCE e)TATA INDICOM f) OTHERS

4. Which feature of AIRTEL is better than your previous cellular

service?

a) Advertisements b) Connectivity c) Schemes

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 5. How many AIRTEL users in your phone book?

a) Less than 30% 30% - 70% b) More than 70%

6. Which type of advertisement you most like in AIRTEL?

a)Audiovisual b)Print c) Audio

7. Which celebrity you like very much in AIRTEL?

a) Sachin b) Shahrukh c) Kareena d) A.R. Rehman

8. Have you take benefits of any scheme offered by AIRTEL?

a) YES b)NO

9. Which you like most in AIRTEL?

a) NOKIA + AIRTEL b) AIRTEL MAGIC

c) Postpaid services d) Airtel Broadband

10. Which service you like most in AIRTEL?

a) AIRTEL missed you service b) Free Ringtones c) Free Hello

tunes

11. Do you participate contest offered by AIRTEL like KBC-2 & Indion
Idol-2?

YES NO

12.Which type of recharge cards you like most?

a) More talktime b) More validity c) Both (i.e. Post paid)

13.According to you is AIRTEL is #1 in India?

a) Yes b) No

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