Aircel's Promotional Strategy: Differentiating through Innovation

Abstract:
This case is about the promotional strategies adopted by India-based mobile operator Aircel. Aircel entered the highly competitive Indian telecom market in the year 1999. It adopted innovation as its key branding strategy and communicated with customers through simple and thoughtful advertising campaigns. The case discusses the various marketing strategies adopted by a relatively late entrant into the Indian market and how it increased its subscriber base. Aircel was one of the first mobile operators to introduce its advertising campaign on Facebook. The case explains how Aircel promoted its services through several media like TV, print, out-of-home (OOH), and radio.

It used celebrity endorsement as well as cause-related marketing. Within a short time of its launch, Aircel had become one of the top mobile operators in India. According to experts, the company's unique promotional strategies helped it survive and grow in the highly competitive telecom sector. The case concludes by highlighting the challenges Aircel could face as a relatively new player in the highly competitive and fast-saturating Indian mobile phone market. This case is aimed at MBA/MS level students as part of the Brand Management/ Marketing Communication/ Marketing Management curriculum.

Issues:
Study the promotional strategies of Aircel Study how Aircel differentiated itself by focusing on innovative marketing campaigns Understand issues and challenges in out-of-home (OOH) and cause-related marketing Understand the importance of innovative marketing for mobile operators Analyze the impact of advertising on the revenue growth of a company Understand the issues and challenges faced by new players in the mobile services sector Explore the future strategies Aircel could adopt to increase its subscriber base.

Not A Me Too?
In 2009, India-based mobile operator Aircel Limited (Aircel) bagged the CMAI INFOCOM4 National Telecom Award 2009 for 'Excellence in Marketing of New Telecom Service'. Launched in 1999, Aircel was the fastest growing mobile operator in the country with a subscriber base of over 48 million as of 2010. It had a presence in 23 Telecom Circles and was the market leader in the Tamil Nadu, Assam, North-East, and Chennai circles. On receiving the award, Gurdeep Singh (Singh) COO, Aircel, said, "This award means a lot to us as this acknowledges our panIndia presence and further encourages us to become a Mass Iconic Brand that truly believes in earning for itself a satisfied customer base, proud employees, & competition that respects us."5 Aircel, a late entrant into the competitive Indian telecom sector, adopted innovation as its key branding strategy. The service provider focused on the multi-functionality of the product. Aircel

offered fresh networks, simplified tariff plans, and good Value Added Services (VAS) to subscribers The core values of the Aircel brand were Simplicity, Creativity, and Trustworthiness. In the year 2009, the most innovative advertising and marketing campaigns came from Aircel. The brand communicated with customers through simple, thoughtful ads. It positioned itself around the tagline, 'Explore Your World of Possibilities', and targeted youth across multiple segments. The mobile operator tried to increase its market share by offering competitive tariff plans and VAS offerings like location-based services & phone banking to attract subscribers in metros. Aircel was also associated with the Indian Premier league (IPL)6, as the official sponsor of the Chennai Super Kings team. It had initially roped in Indian Cricket Captain M.S. Dhoni (Dhoni) for advertisements and branding...

The Indian Telecom Industry

The telecom sector in India was regulated by Telecom Authority of India (TRAI). The main players in the telecom industry were state-owned mobile operators, private Indian-owned companies, and foreign investment companies...

About Aircel
Launched in 1999, the Aircel Group was a joint venture between Maxis Communications Berhad (Maxis) of Malaysia and Apollo Hospital Enterprise Ltd (Apollo) of India, with Maxis holding a majority stake of 74%...

Promotional Strategy
Aircel came out with innovative marketing techniques to attract customers. It focused on its core values - Simplicity, Creativity, and Trustworthiness - and positioned itself around the tagline, 'Explore Your World of Possibilities'...

Out of Home Advertising (OOH)

Aircel, which had confined itself to the southern states until 2005, needed an ingenious marketing campaign when it entered the North. Hence, the company used OOH extensively which it thought to be effective and different

Advertising with CSR

In March 2009, Aircel put up an inflated raft on a bill board at Milan Subway in Mumbai, which had witnessed a lot of flooding during the monsoon season. The message on the bill board read, "In case of emergency, cut rope"...

Cause Related Marketing

On January 30, 2010, Aircel in association with WWF-India launched a social campaign called "Save our Tigers" to raise awareness about the dwindling population of tigers in India and across the globe...

Television and Print Advertising

During the launch of Aircel, integration routes were worked out on leading General Entertainment Channels such as Star Plus. On the day of the launch, Aircel flooded all the channels with its advertisements and the brand was launched during prime time by the leading protagonists of the top five shows on Star Plus...

Internet and Mobile Advertising

To achieve mass reach, Aircel chose mass portals like- Yahoo.com, MSN.com, Rediff.com, Sify.com, and Indiatimes.com. Cashing in on the passion for cricket in India, it took high impact cricket properties on Cricinfo.com, rediff scorecard, and the MSN cricket & sports section...

Results
According to some analysts, Aircel had come a long way from being a Chennai-based telecom operator to a pan-Indian mobile operator with a subscriber base of over 50 million at the end of 2010...

Looking Ahead
According to some industry experts, Aircel was a relatively small player in the Indian mobile services market and over 57% of its subscribers were based in just one state i.e. Tamil Nadu. As of March 2010, Aircel was at the fifth place among GSM operators in India, with a market share of 8.38% after Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, and BSNL

Exhibits
Exhibit I: Subscriber Base of Mobile Phone Operators (GSM & CDMA) (March 2005-March 2009) Exhibit II: Aircel - OOH Advertising Exhibit III: Aircel Boat Campaign Exhibit IV: Screenshot of "Save Our Tigers" Website Exhibit V: Market Share of Mobile Service Providers (as on August 31, 2010)