1. Academic Year: PGP 2012- 2014
Vodafone
Faculty: - Ms. Anju Gulla and Ms Sneha Ghambhir
Student:1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
Pankaj Gupta
Apurva Singh
Charu Rana
Tanvi Suri
Saloni

2. Acknowledgement
We would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to Ms. Anju
Gulla and Ms Sneha Ghambhir, who gave me the golden
opportunity to do this wonderful project on the topic Vodaphone,
which also helped me in doing a lot of Research and I came to know
about so many new things. I am really thankful to him. Secondly I
would also like to thank my college mentor, parents and friends who
helped me a lot in finishing this project within the limited time.
I am making this project not only for marks but to also increase my
knowledge.
THANKS AGAIN TO ALL WHO HELPED US.

3. Content
1) Introduction
2) Brand Elements
3) Segmentation
4) Business Segmentation
5) Enterprise Service
6) Market and Competitive Analysis
7) Branding, Advertising, Pricing and Distribution
8) Macro and Micro Environmental Factors
9) SWOT analysis
10) Future Strategies
11) Analysis of Ansoff’s Matrix
12) Product Life Cycle
13) Recommendation

4. INTRODUCTION:
Vodafone Essar is an Indian subsidiary of Vodafone group and commenced its
operations in 1994 when its predecessor Hutchison Telecom acquired the
cellular license for Mumbai. The company now has operations across the
country with over 78.68 million GSM mobile customers. Over the years,
Vodafone Essar, has been named the ‘Most Respected Telecom Company’, the
‘Best Mobile Service in the country ‘and the ‘Most Creative and Most Effective
Advertiser of the Year’.
Vodafone is the world’s leading international mobile communications group
with approximately 315 million proportionate customers as on 30 June 2009.
Vodafone acquired an indirect controlling interest in Vodafone Essar, their local
operating company in India, in 2007-08. Vodafone currently has equity interests
in 31 countries across five continents and around 40 partner networks
worldwide.
Vodafone Essar is now largest operating company for Vodafone when
measured by customer numbers and its sheer scale and rapid growth makes it
unique. It has nearly 10,000 employees and employs more than 90,000
contractors. The network is rapidly expanding to meet demand and extend
telecommunications to more rural areas, with more than 2,500 new base stations
deployed each month.

5. BRAND ELEMENTS
Memorability :These elements should be easily recognised and memorised.
Meangingful: The brand eements should be meaningful and should be associates with the value of
the brand.
Likeability: These elements should be fun or interesting and should be liked by the customers and
attach positive connections with the brand.
Transferability: Brand elements need to be same for the different geographics, market for product
categories or service categories.So, transferability across boundary is critical.
Adaptable: the elements need to adaptable so that they can be changed as and when required.
Protectability: The elements need to be legally portected from copyright voilation.
According to the above citeria the brand elements of vodafone is stated below:
Brand Name
Vodafone logo calls it “speechmark logo” a quatation mark in a circle. The company’s name
vodafone is written below. And the same logo is used globally.This vital as it indicated the company
offers the same quality of services worldwide.The logo has been the same over a long period of time
and it is memorable. The red color is likeable bybone and all. It is a likeable logo which is recall by
the customers.as the logo appears.
URL:

6. The website link for the global website is http://www.vodafone.com and for the Indian website it ie
http:/www.vodafone.in These are the registered domains.The URL has the name of the brand and in
for India. Hence it is easy to remember and effective brand element.
Characters
Characters represent a certain type of brand symbol one that takes on real life characters. Since
Vodafone enteredin the Indian market it has been associated with certain characters. The first was the
famous pug advertisment and potrayed the consistency of services in the tagline which stated
“wherever you go, our network follows” .The second and extremely popular character which
vodafone potrayed was Zoozoo. Real people wore grey suits to potray comical characters ina major
comminication campaign which aimed at providing value added services provided by the company.
The campaign includes every channel from television to hoardings to billboards at the point of sale.
The charcter Zoozoo have been loved by everyone and has helped in increasing brand awarness.
Slogan
Slogans help in increasing brand equity in multiple ways.They play a major rolein building brand
awarness and image and contains product related information.Vodafone current slogan “Power to
you” The company wishes to communicate the various services provided by the company.
There slogans like “Happy to help” , “wherever you go our network follows” and “Power to you”
have always been able to able to associate different meanings with the brand. Which potrays the
following meanings like the consistency in services, and high quality of netwrk services and the
power to choose what srevicres to avail and what to pay for.
Jingles
Most consumers remember “You and I in this beautiful world” the most popular jingle.The other one
was “The little things you do” the sweet and melodious song that potrays the intended message very
well. Vodafone’s jngles stongest point is their likeability and consumers intend to remember them
very convinently.
Communication campaign

7. Vodafone comes out with new campaign at regular intervals.The company ran the pug campaign
initially.Then it launched Zoozoo campaign.Next was the voadfone delight campaign. These changes
in campagin shows shows changes in the communication stategies.And innovativeness in
advertisment.The company thries to come out with the innovative ideas which is remembered by the
consumers.
The company advertises it product through different media including:
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Television Advertisment
Hoardings
Small prints ad at the point of sale.
SEGMENTATION:
Product Segmentation
Telecommunication
Means
Landline
Mobiles
GSM
AIRCEL
AIRTEL
VODAFONE
RELIANCE
CDMA
BSNL
OTHERS
GSM
Consumer Segmentation
Customers are typically classified as prepaid or contract customers. Prepaid
customers pay in advance and are generally not bound to minimum contractual

8. commitments, while contract customers usually sign up for a predetermined
length of time and are invoiced for their services, typically on a monthly basis.
Increasingly, Vodafone offers SIM only tariffs allowing customers to benefit
from the Vodafone network whilst keeping their existing handset.
o
The following segmentation variables are used by Vodafone in order to
segment the market :
Geographic:
Vodafone segments its market as metros, A-circle, B-circle and C- circle. Here, the segmentation is
Done on the basis of regions in which they operate. Also, rural and semi-urban markets are fast
Emerging as profitable market segment, so Vodafone is trying to enhance its operations effectively
Further in these segment.
Demographic:
Income:
Vodafone further segments its market according to various incomes levels and has various
plans for every strata of society.
Age:
Vodafone does not primarily segment its market on the basis of age but they have specific
Plans for youth.
Nature of the Customer:
Depending on the fact that whether the customer is institutional or sole, the services and
plans provided by Vodafone vary and thus, it forms important bases for segmentation.
Psychographic:
Lifestyle and Personality:
Vodafone segments its users on the type of service they use based on their lifestyle such as
different plans for students, professionals etc.
Behavioural:
Benefits Sought:
Vodafone segments its customers on the basis of the benefits sought by them such as such
as: local call, STD call or ISD call makers; users of value added services, connectivity, and coverage.
Usage Rate:
Vodafone also classify its users as one with heavy usage rate, medium usage rate and light
usage rate and have different targeting schemes for each of them.

9. Type of the service:
The Type of the service provided by Vodafone to its customers also plays a crucial role in
deciding the segmentation strategy implemented by Vodafone.
BUSINESS SEGMENTATION
The Group continues to grow usage and penetration across all business
segments. VGE manages the Group’s relationship with Vodafone’s 270 largest
multinational corporate customers. VGE simplifies the provision of fixed,
mobile and broadband services for MNCs who need a single operational and
commercial relationship with Vodafone worldwide. It provides a range of
managed services such as central ordering, customer self-serve web portals,
telecommunications expense management tools and device management
coupled with a single contract and guaranteed service level agreements.
The Group continues to expand its portfolio of innovative solutions offered to
small office home office (‘Soho’), SME and corporate customers. Increasingly
these combine fixed and mobile voice and data services integrated with
productivity tools.
Targeting:Vodafone has full market coverage with differentiated offerings. Market is
targeted through many different tariffs, services and propositions for every
segment according to specific customer preferences and needs. These often
bundle together as: voice, messaging, data and increasing value added services.
The various examples for this include:
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Home calling cards for the family of those professionals who use to work abroad.
Rs.10 recharge for small users
Cheap SMS facility for youths
Facilities for circle users etc.
POSITIONING:
Vodafone has continued to build brand value by delivering a superior,
consistent and differentiated customer experience. Their tagline “Where ever

10. you go our network follows” gives the customer indication of their vast
coverage.
They differentiated themselves from other mobile service providers by
delivering the promise of “helping customers make the most of their time” and
their communication strategy has always focussed on “Happy to help” which
tends to strike an emotional chord with the customer.
The Group’s vision is “to be the communications leader in an increasingly
connected world” expanding the Group’s category from mobile only to total
communications. To enable the consistent use of the Vodafone brand in all
customer interactions, a set of detailed guidelines has been developed in areas
such as advertising, retail, online and merchandising.
In April 2009 a campaign, focusing on the different value added services
(VAS) offered by the company was launched, introduced new characters called
the Zoo zoos that seem to be in between the world of animation and reality.
Several advertisements in which the Zoo zoos featured were shown on
television during the Indian Premier League (IPL) Season 2 and were instant hit
among the customers but the conversion of this excitement into revenue is yet to
be seen.
ENTERPRISE SERVICES:
 Voice services
 Pre – Paid
 Post – Paid
 Value Added Services
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





Tunes and downloads
Entertainment
Devotional
Sports
News and Updates
Call Management Services
Astrology
Finance
Travel
Mail, Messaging
Dial in Services

11.  Bill Info
 Vodafone Live
 Vodafone Business Solutions
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Mail on the move
Business application
Vodafone Office
Vodafone Business Solution

12. MARKET AND COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
1.33
market%
3.94
0.72
Bharti Airtel
7.09
32.29
14.9
Vodafone Essar
BSNL
Idea Cellular
15.57
Aircel
24.16
Reliance GSM
MTNL
Loop
GSM SUBSCRIBERS base in India as in
June 2009
120,000,000
100,000,000
80,000,000
60,000,000
40,000,000
SUSCRIBERS
20,000,000
0
Vodafone Essar is the second largest GSM operator in India after Airtel from
the perspective of market share and subscriber base and is increasingly
expanding its share (the detail figures are given in Appendix). It still is quite far
from Airtel due to Airtel’s strong presence in rural areas and loyal customer
base along with larger reach and first mover advantage.

13. Branding, Advertizing, Pricing and Distribution:
Vodafone’s products and services are available directly, via Vodafone stores
and country specific Vodafone websites, and indirectly via third party service
providers, independent dealers, distributors and retailers, to both consumer and
business customers in the majority of markets under the Vodafone brand .
Customer strategy and management
Customer Delight Index:
The Vodafone Group has created a Global Customer Value Management team
to support operating companies with their aim to engage with customers directly
through a data driven approach. Recent examples of this include: rollout of a
consistent and innovative store, successful trial of an innovative handset based
self-service solution and creation of a global training academy for customer
facing staff.
Vodafone continues to use a customer measurement system called “customer
delight” to monitor and drive customer satisfaction in the Group’s controlled
markets at a local and global level which identifies areas for improvement and
focus.
Marketing and brand:
1. 68.8 million Vodafone subscribers across India as at 31 March 2009 (up
from 44.1 million as at 31 March 2008)
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
2 million new subscribers a month on average
18% market share

14. Logo
A new visual identity—from the deep pink logo of Hutchison-Essar to
Vodafone’s trademark deep red speech mark introduced in 1998.
Advertisement:
The inaugural TV commercial showed the trademark pug (minus the boy)
moving out of a pink kennel into a red one. An energetic version of Hutch’s
signature ‘You and I’ tune played towards the end, as the super concluded,
‘Change is good. Hutch is now Vodafone’. There were four more commercials
featuring Hutch’s animated boy and girl, introducing the new brand’s logo to
consumers.
Vodafone put in close to Rs 150 crore into the first phase of the rebranding
exercise—with Rs 60 crore in mass media and another Rs 90 crore in retail
activities.
In the second phase, Vodafone ushered in its global strapline—“Make the most
of now”, which replaced “How are you?” in 2001. By then it was apparent, the
boy-and-pug chapter would soon be over. In 2008, Vodafone used the platform
of cricket when it unveiled the ‘Happy to Help’ series during the first season of
the Indian Premier League (IPL).
This season the Zoo zoos are all the rage. These characters have virtually
hijacked the online media as well as television—to convey a value added
service (VAS) offering in each of the new commercials.
In Indian scenario when other major telecom service providers are using
celebrities(Airtel- Shahrukh Khan, BSNL-Deepika Padukone, Aircel-Mahendra
Singh Dhoni, Idea-Abhishek Bachchan) as their brand ambassadors, Vodafone
is standing out proudly with Zoo zoos and pug as successful ad campaign.
Products and services in India:

15. 
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Average cost of calls: 2 US cents per minute
Average revenue per customer: US$6.4 per month
853,039 points of sale, covering 65% of the population
With more than 3 million Vodafone-branded, affordable handsets sold in
2008/09, Vodafone ranks among the top five handset brands in India
Brand and customer communications
 In the BrandZ most powerful brands ranking: Ranked 11th globally.
 In telecom industry it proudly stands as world no. 2 after China no. 2
GSM service provider in India after Airtel
A new Marketing Framework has been developed and implemented across the
business, which includes a new vision of expanding the Group’s category from
mobile only to total communications “to be the communications leader in an
increasingly connected world”. Brand and customer experience continues to
implement Vodafone’s promise of “helping customers make the most of their
time”. The brand function has also developed a methodology to develop
competitive local market brand positioning, with local brand positioning
projects now implemented in 12 markets.
In September 2007, Vodafone welcomed India with the “Hutch is now
Vodafone” campaign. The migration from Hutch to Vodafone was one of the
fastest and most comprehensive brand transitions in the history of the Group,
with 400,000 multi brand outlets, over 350 Vodafone stores, over 1,000 mini
stores, over 35 mobile stores and over 3,000 touchpoints rebranded in two
months, with 60% completed within 48 hours of the launch.
Brand Health Tracking:
Vodafone regularly conducts Brand Health Tracking since 2002, which is
designed to measure the brand performance against a number of key metrics and
generate insights to assist the management of the Vodafone brand across all
Vodafone branded operating companies.
Sponsorships
Vodafone majorly sponsors the following teams and events, apart from various
regional and timely sponsorship:

16. Kshitij, Annual Techno-management festival of IIT Kharagpur, Strategic
Partner 2008
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Indian Premier League (Cricket), Associate sponsor
England cricket team
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Formula One team, title sponsor
Triple 8 Race Engineering, V8 Supercars team, primary sponsor (since 2007)
Distribution
Direct distribution-Number of directly owned stores - 1150
Vodafone directly owns and manages over 1,150 stores. These stores sell
services to new customers, renew or upgrade services for existing customers,
and in many cases also provide customer support.
A standard store format, which was tested in 2006, was rolled out in 11 markets
during the 2008 financial year. All stores in India were rebranded as Vodafone
and over 40 stores were refurbished to the Group’s standard format.
The Group also has 6,500 Vodafone branded stores, which sell Vodafone
products and services exclusively, by way of franchise and exclusive dealer
arrangements.
The internet is a key channel to promote and sell Vodafone’s products and
services and to provide customers with an easy, user friendly and accessible
way to manage their Vodafone services and access support.
Additionally, in most operating companies, sales forces are in place to sell
directly to business customers and some consumer segments.
Indirect distribution
The extent of indirect distribution varies between markets but may include
using third party service providers, independent dealers, distributors and
retailers.
The Group hosts MVNOs in a number of markets. These are operators who buy
access to existing networks and resell that access to customers under a different
brand name and proposition. Where appropriate, Vodafone seeks to enter
mutually profitable relationships with MVNO partners as an additional route to
market.

17. Presence in India:

Presence in all 23 Indian telecom circles (up from 16 in 2007/08)

Over 78,000 base stations across India

Around 2,600 new base stations deployed each month

Network deployment and maintenance of 56,933 base stations in 16
circles outsourced to Indus Towers, of which Vodafone Essar has a 42%
shareholding

8,163 base stations directly managed by Vodafone Essar in the remaining
seven circles

A further 13,225 base stations shared with other operators
MACRO AND MICRO ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS:
Factors affecting growth of mobile telecommunication
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Market potential
Buying decision process
Infrastructure
Country’s political, social and economic scenario
Government policies and business climate(Interest rates and Inflation)
Technology and Special zones
Competition
Income levels
Employee skills and unionization of employees
Ethical considerations
Changing Lifestyles of Consumers
PRINCIPAL RISK FACTORS AND UNCERTAINTIES:
The following discussion of principal risk factors and uncertainties identifies the
most significant risks that may adversely affect the Group’s business,
operations, liquidity, financial position or future performance.

18. Adverse macro-economic conditions in the markets in which the Group
operates could impact the Group’s results of operations.
Adverse macro-economic conditions and further deterioration in the global
economic environment, such as a deepening recession or further economic
slowdown in the markets in which the Group operates, may lead to a reduction
in the level of demand from the Group’s customers for existing and new
products and services. In difficult economic conditions, consumers may seek to
reduce discretionary spending by reducing their use of the Group’s products and
services, including data services, or by switching to lower-cost alternatives
offered by the Group’s competitors. Similarly, under these conditions the
enterprise customers may delay purchasing decisions, delay full implementation
of service offerings or reduce their use of the Group’s services. In addition,
number of the Group’s consumer and enterprise customers that are unable to
pay for existing or additional services might increase, having material adverse
effect on the Group’s results of operations.
The continued volatility of worldwide financial markets may make it more
difficult for the Group to raise capital externally, which could have a
negative impact on the Group’s access to finance.
The Group’s key sources of liquidity in the foreseeable future are likely to be
cash generated from operations and borrowings through long term and short
term issuances in the capital markets as well as committed bank facilities. Due
to the recent volatility experienced in capital and credit markets around the
world, new issuances of debt securities may experience decreased demand.
Adverse changes in credit markets or Vodafone’s credit ratings could increase
the cost of borrowing and banks may be unwilling to renew credit facilities on
existing terms.
Regulatory decisions and changes in the regulatory environment could
adversely affect the Group’s business.
As the Group has ventures in a large number of geographic areas, it must
comply with an extensive range of requirements that regulate and supervise the
licensing, construction and operation of its telecommunications networks and
services. In particular, there are agencies which regulate and supervise the
allocation of frequency spectrum and which monitor and enforce regulation and
competition laws which apply to the mobile telecommunications industry.
Decisions by regulators regarding the granting, amendment or renewal of
licences, to the Group or to third parties, could adversely affect the Group’s
future operations in these geographic areas. Additionally, decisions by
regulators and new legislation, such as those relating to international roaming

19. charges and call termination rates, could affect the pricing for, or adversely
affect the revenue from, the services the Group offers.
Increased competition may reduce market share and revenue.
The Group faces intensifying competition and its ability to compete effectively
will depend on, among other things, network quality, capacity and coverage, the
pricing of services and equipment, the quality of customer service, development
of new and enhanced products and services, the reach and quality of sales and
distribution channels and capital resources. Competition could lead to a
reduction in the rate at which the Group adds new customers, a decrease in the
size of the Group’s market.
The focus of competition in many of the Group’s markets continues to shift
from customer acquisition to customer retention as the market for mobile
telecommunications has become increasingly penetrated. In addition, the Group
could face increased competition should there be an award of additional
licences in jurisdictions in which a member of the Group already has a licence.
The Group uses technologies from a number of vendors and makes significant
capital expenditures in connection with the deployment of such technologies.
The introduction of software and other network components may also be
delayed. The failure of vendor performance or technology performance to meet
the Group’s expectations or the failure of a technology to achieve commercial
acceptance could result in additional capital expenditures by the Group or a
reduction in profitability.
The Group may experience a decline in revenue or profitability
notwithstanding its efforts to increase revenue from the introduction of
new services.
As part of its strategy, the Group will continue to offer new services to its
existing customers and seek to increase non-voice service revenue as a
percentage of total service revenue. However, the Group may not be able to
introduce these new services commercially, or may experience significant
delays due to problems such as the availability of new mobile handsets, higher
than anticipated prices of new handsets or availability of new content services.
In addition, there is no assurance that revenue from such services will increase
ARPU or maintain profit margins.
Expected benefits from cost reduction initiatives may not be realised.
The Group has entered into several cost reduction initiatives principally relating
to network sharing, the outsourcing of IT application, development and

20. maintenance, data centre consolidation, supply chain management and a
business transformation programme to implement a single, integrated operating
model using one ERP system. However, there is no assurance that the full
extent of the anticipated benefits will be realised in the timeline envisaged.
Changes in assumptions underlying the carrying value of certain Group
assets could result in impairment.
Vodafone completes a review of the carrying value of its assets annually, or
more frequently where the circumstances require, assessing whether those
carrying values can be supported by the net present value of future cash flows
derived from such assets. This includes an assessment of discount rates and long
term growth rates, future technological developments and timing and quantum
of future capital expenditure, as well as several factors which may affect
revenue and profitability identified within other risk factors in this section such
as intensifying competition, pricing pressures, regulatory changes and the
timing for introducing new products or services.
The Group’s geographic expansion may increase exposure to unpredictable
economic, political and legal risks.
As the Group increasingly enters into emerging markets, the value of the
Group’s investments may be adversely affected by political, economic and legal
developments which are beyond the Group’s control.
Expected benefits from investment in networks, licences and new
technology may not be realised.
The Group has made substantial investments in the acquisition of licences and
in its mobile networks, including the roll out of 3G networks. There can be no
assurance that the introduction of new services will proceed according to
anticipated schedules or that the level of demand for new services will justify
the cost of setting up and providing new services.
The Group’s business would be adversely affected by the non-supply of
equipment and support services by a major supplier.
Companies within the Group, source network infrastructure and other
equipment are as well as network-related and other significant support services,
from third party suppliers. The withdrawal or removal from the market of one or
more of these major third party suppliers could adversely affect the Group’s
operations and could result in additional capital or operational expenditures by
the Group.

21. SWOT analysis:
Strengths
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Strong international presence and brand recognition
Well-defined cost reduction initiatives, managed outsourcing
Stable operating profit
The India operations are backed by its huge expertise and diversified
geographical portfolio.
Sharing of network infrastructure
Leading presence in India
Brand value built by delivering a superior, consistent and differentiated
customer experience.
Vodafone’s customer strategy endeavors to ensure that customers’ needs
are at the core of all products and services.
Weakness
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Benefits of investment in technology are not realized
Little penetration in rural market
Have not entered broadband services, smart phones segment
Advertising campaigns do not have the emotional connect to the lower
income classes and rural customers
Perception of customers in lower segment that Vodafone is a costly brand
Opportunities
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Focus on capturing rural sector through cost reductions improving returns
Research and development of new mobile technologies
Mobile Broadband
Improve accessibility to wide range of customers
Vodafone can offer voice, messaging, data and fixed broadband services
through multiple solutions and supporting technologies to deliver on its
total communications strategy.
The advancements in 3G networks and download speeds, handset
capabilities and the mobilization of internet services, could contribute to
an acceleration of data services usage growth.
Threats

Existing competitive market

22. 
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Entry of many new players in immediate future
Government regulations
Change in technology
Change in consumer preference
Adverse macroeconomic conditions like recession and economic slow
down
non-supply of equipment and support services by a major supplier
Emergencies like war, terrorism, natural calamity etc.
FUTURE STRATEGIES:
Factors and Trends Relevant for Future Policy Initiatives
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Based on global trends and Indian experience, the rate of growth of
cellular mobile services would continue to be higher for a number of
years. Its two important implications are further lowering of average
cost per line and cellular mobile/WLL-M becoming a major tool of
expansion in rural areas.
The capital requirement for investments in the next five years are
expected to be lower than the present cost due to continuing decline in
equipment cost as well as lower network costs due to competition
resulting from entry of infrastructure providers Railways, Power Grid
Corporation, etc. and huge capacity addition by other players.
A small portion of the subscriber base provides a large share of
call revenue. High revenue subscriber category would form the core
of competition among operators which may lead to a fall in the tariffs
applicable to this type i.e. long distance calls. As a result, long
distance tariffs may be even lower than those specified by the
regulator.
Margin of surplus will decline over time due to competition.
However, the break-even revenue per subscriber will also be lower
due to decline in costs.
Data services are expected to grow much faster than voice telephony.
This underlines the need in due course to focus on broad-band
linkages to enable the provision of these services at the required rate.
Due to large uncovered areas in rural and remote regions of the
country which are also expected to be low paying is going to bring the
next revolution in the telecom sector.
The trend towards convergence of services may lead to major changes in the
structure of industry and markets.

23. The new mantra for the Telecom sector is:
“ROTI, KAPDA, MAKAAN AUR MOBILE”
Market /Products
Present
New
Present
Prepaid/Post-paid services
Wi-max,3G
New
Rural Sector
M2M services,WiBro
Analysis of Ansoff’s Matrix:
1. Market penetration (Present market/Present products):
Since Vodafone is still riding high on its current zoo zoo advertising campaign,
it should capitalize on this and try to increase their presence by opting for
further emphasis on their urban distribution network. As the impact of any
promotional strategy does not last for more than a limited timeframe, it is
imperative for Vodafone to make sure that they retain their current popularity
levels by pushing forward their advertising campaign in a much more
aggressive manner. In the case of Mumbai, Vodafone has made its presence felt
by opening 25000 distribution outlets and has hence captured the numerous Uno
slot in this metropolis. A similar business model can be adapted and customized
as per the regional parameters in order to become the nation’s leading cellular
service provider.
2. Market Development:
India is still an agrarian economy and 70% of its population still dwells in rural
areas. According to recently conducted surveys, statistics showed that 45% of
the overall telecomm sector growth is to come from the rural sector. A major
chunk of Vodafone’s revenue is still generated from tier 1 and tier 2 cities. This
leads us to conclude that Vodafone needs to place further focus on rural
penetration so as to create economies of scale as well as the top line growth of
revenues. Development of infrastructure in rural areas is a bottleneck due to the
cost factor associated with it. Project MOST (Mobile Operators' Shared Towers)
by COAI was initiated in order to reduce these heavy costs by sharing
infrastructure between the service providers, hence resulting in better coverage
and quality. Optimal rural penetration can be achieved by taking into account

24. the economic environment prevailing in the rural sector. This would encompass
the socio economic factors and would hence provide a more regional focus to
the adverting and promotional strategies in order to establish a good connect
with the rural customers.
3. Product Development:
Vodafone is further trying to provide new services in order to establish a
stronger foothold in its current subscriber base. It is in the process of rolling out
its 3G service in India which would be a quantum leap for browsing and internet
based mobile applications and services. 3G would also result in improved
connectivity and clearer reception as it provides a greater network capacity
which is achieved through improved spectral efficiency. This step is being
implemented by Vodafone to further enhance the revenue generated from its
“premium” segment. Also WiMAX service implementation in India would
result in a significant surge in Vodafone’s revenue from the segment mentioned
above. According to recently updated government regulations, the 3G market is
open only to 4 telecom sector players in that particular circle. Hence getting the
license for providing 3G services in India would further give Vodafone a
distinct advantage over its competitors.
4. Diversification:
In order to diversify its current market portfolio, Vodafone is launching a global
Machine to Machine (M2M) service platform for helping companies to deploy
and manage large, wireless M2M projects for applications in customer service
enhancement and central control and automation of projects. In the Indian
context, M2M is an untapped sector with enormous potential for growth.
WiBRO (Wireless Broadband) has the capacity to overcome data rate of
limitation of mobile phones by providing a staggering 30 to 50 MB/s speed. As
in the case of M2M platforms, WiBRO is a very promising market in India.
Providing these two services in India would open new avenues of growth for
Vodafone and would help it diversify into different market verticals.

25. PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE:
Revenue
PLC
4500
4000
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
Time-period
Marketing Strategies: Growth Stage
•
Rapid increase in sales if product has acceptance:
The current perception of Vodafone in India is that of a brand that provides high
quality customer service at reasonable prices. Even though Vodafone has not
hired a known face to endorse itself, it has still managed to establish a very high
“emotional connect” with its customers through its brilliantly conceived
marketing strategies. Excellent examples of this would be the recent “Zoo zoo”
campaign and the well-received “Vodafone Pug” campaign. In the case of the
“Pug” campaign, Vodafone managed to project itself as a service provider
which would always be “following” the customer through the tagline
“Wherever you go, our network follows.” And in the case of the “Zoo zoo”
campaign, Vodafone further strengthened their image among their customer
base and the market in general.

New competition enters as opportunity presents itself:
Vodafone currently faces stiff competition since new players have also entered
the fray recently. Players like Loop, Hash10, and MTS etc are set to roll out

26. their services due to which Vodafone may find it difficult to maintain its current
share of customer base in India. Expansion, further focusing on its current
segments, implementation of a revised business model and intensive marketing
would be the key features Vodafone should be concentrating on in order to
retain its current position in India.

Introduce new product features:
Vodafone is currently in the process of adding further verticals to its market
portfolio in order to increase its presence and expand its customer base. 3G
services are currently in the pipeline. Also Vodafone can venture into providing
broadband and WiMAX services which have a very high potential for revenue
generation. M2M or Machine to Machine platform is also present on
Vodafone’s strategy for market diversification. The platform, which is an
enterprise solution designed by Vodafone for providing automation and wireless
controlling is still under the process of patenting. But once patented, it can be a
key factor in Vodafone’s enterprise market expansion.
•
Expand distribution:
The current distribution model of Vodafone has been very successful in
penetration of the urban segment. It has a presence in all the 23 Indian telecom
circles and has set up 78,000 base stations spread across India. And Vodafone is
still deploying 2,600 base stations each month. Even in Mumbai, Vodafone has
a total of 25,000 distribution outlets, out of which 35 are Vodafone Stores. Even
though the presence is considerable, Vodafone needs to focus on a more
intensive distributional model in order to keep up with competitors like Airtel
etc.

27. Recommendation
Although Vodaphone is doing a remarkable job with the brand vitalizing and had sustained as one of
the top brands in the metros, non- metros and tier 2 city’s market, but they should also look forward
to tier 3 and 4 type city and can create a strong hold in such city’s for that they need to come up
either with a culture related advertisement may be a village zoo zoo or something which also people
at tier 3 and 4 city will able to understand and a trauma can be create of a such brand. Secondly,
Branding of Broadband products seems to be very weak which as a result they are lacking behind
with regards to its competitor. Hence they should come up with more brands vitalizing on such
product. Vodaphone should also look forward to demographic segment especially towards the
Income classes and rural customer in order to give their brand an extension to it. CDMA market is
also an area of opportunity where Vodaphone has the capability to put on a strong hold if the
constraints with regards to Govt. regulations and license had a way through.

28. Thank you