MKT

305-
IMC Project
Group: A

Presented by:

Marwa Magdi Imam

Presented to:
Dr. Omnia Zaazou

Company Background:

Vodafone
Vodafone Group is a global telecommunications company
headquartered in Newbury, United Kingdom. It is the
world's largest mobile telecommunications company
measured by revenues and the world's second largest
measured by subscribers (behind China Mobile) with 347
million proportionate subscribers as at 30 June 2010. It
operates networks in 31 countries and has partner
networks in a further 44 countries. It owns 45% of Verizon
Wireless, the largest mobile telecommunications company
in the United States measured by subscribers.

The name Vodafone comes from voice data fone, chosen

by the company to "reflect the provision of voice and data
services over mobile phones".

Vodafone Group Plc is the world's leading mobile

telecommunications company, with a significant presence
in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and the
United States through the Company's subsidiary
undertakings, joint ventures, associated undertakings and
investments.

Vodafone itself was formed in 1982 as a joint venture

between Racal Electronics plc's subsidiaries Racal Strategic
Radio Ltd (who won one of two UK cellular telephone
network licenses) along with Millicom and the Hambros
Technology Trust. The network was known as Racal
Vodafone, with the Vodafone name being derived from the
firm's goal of establishing a voice and data services over
cellular telecommunication networks. Hence VO

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represented voice and DA symbolized data — yielding the
name Vodafone.

In 1997 Vodafone introduced its new

corporate Speechmark logo. This represents a quotation
mark within a circle. With the 'O's in the Vodafone logotype
being opening and closing quotation marks, suggesting
conversation.

Vodafone's vision and mission

Vision:
To be the world's mobile communications leader –
enriching customers' lives, helping individuals, businesses,
and communities be more connected in a mobile world.

Mission:
Driving in a wireless world
Vodafone is primarily a user of technology rather than a
developer of it, and this fact is reflected in the emphasis of
our work program on enabling new applications of mobile
communications, using new technology for new services,
research for improving operational efficiency and quality of
our networks, and providing technology vision and
leadership that can contribute directly to business
decisions.

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History of Vodafone Egypt:
In November 1998, Vodafone Egypt network went live
under the name ClickGSM.

Vodafone Egypt is a total telecommunications provider,

covering a wide array of voice and data exchange services,
as well as 3G, ADSL and broadband Internet services.

Launched in 1998, Vodafone Egypt supported by Vodafone

Group’s know-how and its own local market research
provides innovative products perfectly suited for its
customers.

The leading Vodafone Egypt spirit and its ever broadening

network have paved the way for numerous investment
opportunities and world-class continuous customer
support.

Vodafone investments in Egypt are an evident reflection of

its commitment to its civic involvement for a stronger
market foothold, both on the short and long terms. When
the Vodafone Egypt General Assembly voted in September
2006 in favor of the acquisition of 51% of Raya Telecom
shares – a telecom leader on its own right, the aim was to
secure further expansion of corporate communication
services, serving different Egyptian businesses and
companies.

A further acquisition of up to 97.52% of Raya Telecom

shares followed after the ground-breaking success of the

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initial step. Later, Vodafone secured an even stronger
market share when Telecom Egypt pushed for a major
increase of its own Vodafone corporate share from 25.5%
to 44.7% in a massive stock acquisition move.

Today, Vodafone still owns a dominant 54.9% share of

Vodafone Egypt and is cooperating very actively with the
selective and powerful local team. The crowning event of
this cooperation was the resounding and very successful
introduction of 3G Broadband technology to the Vodafone
Egypt network on May 11, 2007, enabling unprecedented
visual communication, song downloads, and a variety of
invaluable corporate services ranging from the Vodafone
Mobile Connect Card, the USB modem, the Little Box for
wireless internet services (Wi-Fi) for large corporations and
businessmen and broadband internet access for individuals
and corporations.

Another giant step for Vodafone Egypt was its close

matching of its own corporate policy with local government
policy through the provision of job opportunities for young
graduates, exporting high-tech products and the launch of
its renowned call center in Egypt. The call center has
leaped from success to success ever since its inception in
2006, particularly when Vodafone Egypt signed call center
contracts with Vodafone Australia, New Zealand and lately
the UK to provide top-notch customer and technical
support for customers in these countries. This international
expansion further sealed the confidence of Vodafone
Group in its Egyptian counterpart for the provision of call

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center services of world quality and standards, and its trust
in the ever expanding possibilities of the Egyptian youth.

Vodafone Egypt staff is now 6000-member strong and is

proud to be serving more than 25.79 million customers
(June 2010) all over Egypt. Its success relies on its superior
network, privileged customer service, innovative products
and a determined goal-based strategy. Vodafone Egypt is
also proud to offer effective roaming communication
supported by agreements with 564 partners in 188
countries spanning the world.

Vodafone Egypt's current CEO is Hatem Dowidar

Vodafone's biggest competitors are Mobinil, Etisalat,
Telecom Egypt, TE data and Link ADSL.

Vodafone Egypt’s Corporate Social

Responsibility (CSR)
Vodafone Egypt is proud to be considered as leaders in
CSR in Egypt. It aims to connect and develop the
community and accelerate the advancement of Egypt.
Vodafone Egypt is one of the first corporate companies in
Egypt to establish a department dedicated to Corporate
Social Responsibility activities.
This reflects the commitment to Corporate Responsibility
at the most senior level, and how it is embedded into our
business here.

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The department was established in 2004 and has since
then been engaged in philanthropic and community
support projects.
Vodafone Egypt’s Corporate Responsibility program covers
a wide range of activities:

Environmental issues (recycling, waste

management, and network deployment)
- Education development
- Community support programs
- Health support programs
- Employment engagement programs to encourage
a community spirit among our people

Situation Analysis:

SWOT Analysis:

Strengths:
Diversified geographical portfolio with strong
telecommunications in Europe, The Middle East, Africa,
Asia Pacific and to some extent the U.S.
Vodafone has a very strong brand name and a very
reputable company.
Vodafone has the largest number of retail stores around
Egypt.
Vodafone has a very qualified team of employees, i.e.
strong human resources and very qualified managers
managing the company.

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Network infrastructure
Excellent customer service

Weaknesses:
Vodafone's coverage is weak to some extent.
Vodafone's T.V. ad's are not as effective as they're
supposed to be.

Opportunities:
Focus on cost reductions to increase returns.
Opening more Vodafone stores in Egypt.
Research and development of new mobile technologies.
Growth through 3G technology

Threats:
Increased Competition:
Mobinil has planted under ground wires to improve
coverage which makes Vodafone's coverage weaker.
Etisalat's internet USB modem is cheaper and has
enhanced connection to the internet.

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Etisalat also launches cheaper products and services.

PEST Analysis:

Political factors:
Vodafone is generally subject to regulations governing the
operation of its business activities. Such regulations
typically take the form of industry specific laws and
regulations covering telecommunications services and
general competition (antitrust) laws applicable to all
activities.
Vodafone Egypt was its close matching of its own
corporate policy with local government policy through the
provision of job opportunities for young graduates

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Economic factors:
The economic conditions may hugely affect Vodafone for
example if there is a high unemployment rate it would
affect the number of employees Vodafone wants to hire
and this is why they hired an outsourcing company.
Also if there is a high illiteracy rate it will also affect the
quality of human resources.

Social factors:
Also the Social factors have a big effect on Vodafone, the
lifestyle, even the advertisements are based on the social
and cultural factors of each country, for example the
advertisements of Ramadan and the feast in Egypt and the
Dog impersonating Vodafone in India.
The use of the telecommunications industry technology is
now part of the life style and the 3g technology like surfing
the internet from your phone in the younger generations.

Technological factors:

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Research and development (R&D) is a driving force behind
economic growth, job creation, innovation of new products,
and increasing quality of products.
The R&D has a great impact on Vodafone's revenue's for
example the type of product's sold in Vodafone stores like
i-phone and blackberry phone all the 3G technology, the
ipad and the laptops and all the new technological
products has a great impact on Vodafone.

Consumer analysis

The Company's target market:

Vodafone targets the A, B & C class, but each class
is served different types of products according to
their class category.
For the A class & the business class Vodafone serves them
the platinum and gold lines also the blackberry phones in
the stores which targets the business men so that they can
check their e-mails on spot.
Also the roaming and international calls target the
business and A class.

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As for the B class and the youth Vodafone targets them
with the different products in the stores like the phones
and the normal lines that are recharged by scratch card.
Also the C class are targeted by selling them the cheap
phones and the lines that are recharged by for example
the 10 pounds scratch card.
Vodafone also base the segmentation on lifestyle,
age, usage rate and gender.
Age: They have Vodafone booths in many Universities
selling scratch cards, Internet USB modems and flash
sticks for students.
Also the lifestyle like people who are surfing the internet
through their phones or laptops or talking on the phone
also the blackberry community and the BBM.
Also the Usage rate by giving free minutes to customers
they are likely to increase the usage rate to make benefit
from the free minutes and free SMS. And finally the gender
where they sell USB modems and phones with different
colors like pink to appeal to girls and green & blue to
appeal to boys.
Vodafone always gives value to their customers & they
always care about serving their customers in the best way.
Vodafone gives incentives and bonuses to their customers,
and the Vodafone points that they use to give their
customers products for free is a way for them to maintain
their current customers and keep them satisfied.

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Questionnaire
We conducted a questionnaire for Vodafone Egypt to
measure how much people are aware of the IMC program
of the company. We distributed this questionnaire to 40
samples consisting of youth and elders.
These are the questions that we included and their
analysis:

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1. What do you think of Vodafone's advertising
campaign consisting of the puppets last Ramadan
and feast?
• Like
• Dislike
• Haven't seen the Ad

3%

40% Like

Dislike
57%
Haven't seen the Ad

57% of the sample we interviewed liked the T.V. ad, but

40% didn't like it, 57% is a good percentage but Vodafone
should also try to change the advertisements to appeal to
more consumers.
2. Do you remember the Ad's jingle?
• Yes
• No

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 25%

Yes
No

75%

75% of our sample actually do remember the ad's jingle,

which is a good indicator that the jingle was associated
with the consumer's minds and they can remember
Vodafone whenever they listen to the jingle.

3. Are you aware of Vodafone's publicity and public

relations activities, like concert & event
sponsorships and charity?
• Yes

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 • No

15%

Yes

No

85%

85% actually are aware of Vodafone's public relations

activities which means that Vodafone is doing a very good
job in advertising their activities, while only 15% weren't
aware.

4. Do you use any of the online services offered by

Vodafone Egypt via the internet (pay online or buy
online)?

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 • Yes

• No

35%

Yes
No

65%

Only 35% of the sample we interviewed actually use the

online services offered, while 65% prefer to actually go to
the store to pay or buy.

4. Do you use the promotions that Vodafone Egypt

offers?

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 • Yes
• No

15%

Yes
No

85%

85% of the sample use Vodafone's promotions while only

15% don't.

5. Did you ever receive any direct mails or SMS from

Vodafone?

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 • Yes
• No

20%

Yes
No

80%

80% of the sample do receive direct mail and SMS from

Vodafone while 20% don't.

6. Are you satisfied with Vodafone's network

coverage?

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 1) Extremely satisfied 2) Satisfied 3) Neutral

4) Dissatisfied 5) Extremely dissatisfied

8%

12% 30%

Extremely Satisfied
Satisfied
Neutral
Dissatisfied
20%
Extremely Dissatisfied

30%

The rating of satisfaction of Vodafone's coverage was good

where 30% were extremely satisfied, 30% were satisfied,
20% were neutral, 12% were dissatisfied and 8% were
extremely dissatisfied.

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7. Vodafone's services have reasonable prices?
(Rate)
1) Strongly disagree 2) Disagree 3)
Neither agree or disagree 4) Agree 5)
Strongly agree

Column1

10% 7%

13%

Strongly disagree
Disagree
Neither agree or disagree
Agree

35% 15% Strongly agree

The rating of customers to Vodafone's prices was also

rated good where 35% agree about reasonable prices, 10%
strongly agree, 15% were neutral, 13% disagree and 7%
strongly disagree.

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Expert Interview
We conducted an interview with the marketing executive
of Vodafone, Mr. John Girguis. We asked him the following
questions.
1) How much do you spend on advertising?
Sorry, I can't inform you about this information because it's
confidential.
2) Do you have an agency or an in house advertising
department?
He said that Vodafone has an advertising agency not an in-
house advertising department.
3) Where do you advertise and what are your
advertising types?
We use all the media vehicles like T.V ads, radio ads,
billboards, internet, magazines and news papers.
There are two types of advertising that Vodafone uses
which are:
Above the line advertising: which are the seen
advertisements like T.V. ads, news papers, radio,
billboards, and magazines.
Below the line advertising: which refers to the
advertisements that are not actually seen for example
SMS, facebook fan page and advertisements on websites.
4) Who are your main competitors?
Our main competitors are Mobinil, Etisalat, Telecom Egypt,
TE data and Link ADSL.

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Mobinil was the market leader with highest market share,
but in the last statistical analysis made in September 2010
Vodafone became the market leader with the highest
market share and the highest revenues of all the three
companies. Then comes Mobinil in the second place and in
the third place comes Etisalat.

The number of subscribers & market share:

Vodafone: 27, 595,872 million subscribers, 44.47%
Mobinil: 27,295,872 million subscribers, 43.98%
Etisalat: 7,172,229 million subscribers, 11.55%

5) What's the brand image of the company in the

eyes of consumers?
Consumers perceive us as a strong brand image as it is a
multinational company which makes it more prestigious in
the consumer's eyes.

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Vodafone Egypt's IMC program
Vodafone Egypt implements the IMC program as follows:

1. Advertising
Vodafone advertises in mass media such as T.V channels
like El Hayat, El Mehwer, Rotana, MBC, Dream, Melody,
NTN, and Channel 1 & 2.
It also advertises on the Radio Channels such as, "Nogoom
F.M", "El Shark El Awsat", "Nile F.M.", "Radio Masr", "Ezaet
El Aghany", "Radio Hits" and "Mega FM".
It also publishes ads in newspapers such as, "EL Ahram",
"El Akhbar", "El Masry el Youm" and magazines such as
"kelmetna" and "Teen stuff".
Vodafone also advertises on billboards around many of
the Egyptian streets such as the Mehwar road, the Ring
road, 6th of October bridge, also in Mohandeseen, Maadi,
Nasr city… etc

2. Direct Marketing

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Vodafone uses direct marketing through attaching direct
response numbers which are toll free to its ads at the end
for their customers to get more information.
Vodafone sends catalogues by mail, it has a strong data
base management, it also has telemarketing where
Vodafone employees call their customers to inform them
about new promotions, and also direct response ads
through the internet.
Vodafone also sends SMS's to their customers to inform
them about promotions.

3. Internet/Interactive marketing
Vodafone publishes its ads on Facebook, yahoo, hotmail
and msn.
It also allows customers to pay their bills and know their
balances through the internet; they can also purchase
some products and services online and receive information
about new promotions.
You can also recharge your cell phone online.

4. Sales promotion
• Vodafone offers free texts and free minutes in
occasions like Ramadan, Feast and Valentines Day.
• Enjoy 1500 free SMS to all Vodafone numbers
With the Free 1500 SMSs *offer send FREE SMSs to
any Vodafone number every day subscribe for only
4LE.

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 OR
Enjoy 500 free SMS to all Vodafone numbers
With the Free 500 SMS's offer send FREE SMSs to any
Vodafone number every day subscribe for only 2 LE
• Now, all Thanaweya Amma and University students
will enjoy free Vodafone lines and offers.

All you need to do is show your seat number together

with your national ID or your parent’s ID or shows
your University ID together with your national ID In
any of Vodafone stores or in the Nile Kiosks.

You will also enjoy:

Free subscription to the free SMS Service for 3
months

• Now and only with Vodafone, enjoy the best

BlackBerry® prices for all the colors. You can pay on
installments* and also you’ll get a Vodafone line with
a free golden number.

5. Public Relations
Sponsorships

When it comes to sponsoring sports, for Vodafone it's not

just a game, it's an investment. We believe in investing in
tomorrow's athletes across many sports and look for ways
to socially invest in the communities where we work, live
and operate.

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Sports bring us together, it's a huge part of Egypt's
national identity. The Egyptian society thrives on the
excitement and patriotism that is clearly demonstrated in
any Egyptian sport.

El Ahly
Vodafone is proud to be the official partner of the Club of
the Century, El Ahly Club. Vodafone’s partnership with El
Ahly’s football team began in 2002. In 2005, Vodafone
went beyond football and took on El Ahly teams for nine
other sports. Team sports include basketball, handball, and
volleyball, while individual games include gymnastics,
track and field, tennis, table tennis, karate and swimming.
Last year, Vodafone has extended the partnership by
sponsoring El Ahly centennial celebration.

Founded in 1907, El Ahly is one of the oldest clubs in

Egypt, with a fan base of over 40 million Egyptians. Their
football team is considered one of the strongest in Egypt,
having won the Egyptian League 35 times and the
Egyptian Cup 35 times, and was named “Club of the
Century” by the Confederation of African Football in 2000.
Finally, Egypt grabbed the third position of the FIFA Club
World Cup Japan 2006.

Formula 1

What is the secret behind people’s love for Formula 1? And

what makes the racers themselves fall in love with the
ultimate speed? There is no answer but “it’s magic”.

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Formula 1 is known to be the greatest and oldest car race
in the world; it consists of 18 races per year. It entered a
new era after establishing a new international circuit race
at Bahrain. The sponsorship demonstrates Vodafone’s
ongoing commitment to the Formula 1 World
Championship, a sport which continues to deliver massive
global television coverage and which has significant appeal
for Vodafone’s consumer and business customers around
the world.

As Title Sponsor and Official Mobile Partner “Vodafone

Mclaren Mercedes” team, Vodafone is raising its
association with Formula 1 to the ultimate level.

Vodafone also sponsors a lot of concerts and events such

as Andrea Bocceli concert and many concerts in the opera.
They also perform very well on the social charity work such
as starting a fundraiser for street children and also they
sponsored huge project which is building the 100 schools
in Egypt. Moreover they hosted Mohamed Mounir to sing
for sick children in "57357" hospital.

6. Personal Selling
Vodafone really cares about their customers and always
tries to fulfill their needs.
In Vodafone retail stores the retail representatives always
try to help consumers figure out what they need and
provide them with the best service possible.

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They are always friendly with the customers and solve
their problems even if the customers were angry.
Vodafone also uses the electronic service to measure
satisfaction of their customers especially the premium
customers.

From our perspective after interviewing the expert

and conducting the questionnaire we gave the
following weights about how Vodafone distributes
the use among the IMC tools:

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 Vodafone's IMCTools
Advertising Public Relations Internet Marketing
Sales Promotion Personal Selling Direct Marketing

10%

5%

40%

20%

10%

15%

40% for advertising

10% for direct marketing
10% for internet marketing
20% for sales promotion
15% for public relations
5% for personal selling

Recommendations

To improve the satisfaction of customers so that Vodafone

attracts more customers and maintains the relationship

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between their current customers. Here are some
recommendations that the company may apply so that it
keeps succeeding and excelling.
Vodafone should try to improve its coverage especially in
the remote areas outside Cairo where the coverage is
really weak, especially when Mobinil planted wires to
enhance the coverage which can be a threat to Vodafone.
Vodafone should also come up with new advertising ideas
for their T.V. ads that are more effective to their customers
and in turn can result in an increase in their sales,
especially when they used the same ads with the puppets
in 2 consecutive years of Ramadan.
Vodafone should also try to decrease the waiting lines in
their retail stores for customers to become more satisfied.
Vodafone can also emphasize the use of the online
services offered by making customers more aware of the
benefits of doing so and that it saves a lot of time.

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