1. A
PROJECT REPORT
ON
“MARKETING STRATEGIES”
AT
BHARTI AIRTEL LIMITED
Indian Institute of Planning And Management,New Delhi
Submitted By:-
AAKASH AGGARWAL
UG-4
FW 2010-2013, BBA
Registration No. – 10AC90013
Student ID – D1013FWICHE-B10211-(DEL-1A-DC-7216)
Internship Period-20th July 2012-20th September 2012
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2. Acknowledgment
I express my sincere thanks to the project guide for guiding from the inception till the
successful completion of the project. I have taken efforts in this project. However, it would
not have been possible without the kind support and help of many individuals and
organizations. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all of them.
I am highly indebted to my colleagues at Venkatesh Foods Industries for their guidance and
constant supervision as well as for providing necessary information regarding the project &
also for their support in completing the project.
I would like to express my gratitude towards my parents & member of Venkatesh Foods
Industries for their kind co-operation and encouragement which help me in completion of this
project.
I would like to express my special gratitude and thanks to industry persons for giving me such
attention and time.
My thanks and appreciations also go to my colleague in developing the project and people
who have willingly helped me out with their abilities.
AAKASH AGGARWAL
UG-4
FW 2010-2013
Registration no.- 10AC90013
IIPM, NEW DELHI
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3. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Exactly ten years ago, Jyoti Basu in Calcutta called Sukh Ram in Delhi in what was the first
mobile phone call in India. Brick sized cell phones used to cost Rs. 45,000 and each call costed
Rs. 16.5/minute. Back then, cell phone was a status symbol. Today, there are over 60 million
mobile connections in India (expected to double in number in next 12 months). A local call costs
around Rs 1/min and a cell phone can be purchased for less than Rs. 2000.
Wireless technology has been a boon for India. In a country where setting up wired infrastructure
is very expensive and time consuming, wireless is the perfect solution to connect remote villages.
The timing was also just right as India escaped the burden of legacy technology and reaped the
benefits of latest GSM technology.
Cell phones have not been just about technology. They have brought about a cultural change in
the country. SMS is the favorite means of communication for everybody today.
The revolution in computing in countries like India will also come through mobile phonesTime
was when it took several years to get a new telephone connection in India. Now, there is less
pressure than ever before for fixed landlines as mobile phone subscribers appear poised to
outnumber those with a fixed line.
In January 2003, one year before, India had just 10 million mobile subscribers
When mobile telephony was introduced in India in 1994, there were just a few service providers,
such as AirTel. It was a heavily regulated sector with prohibitive license fees, high call charges
of 30 cents per minute, and expensive handsets. Then, only the privileged could use a mobile in
India. But in the last four years, call charges have fallen and license fees have become more
manageable.
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4. TABLE OF CONTENT
S NO TOPICS PAGE NO
01 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 03
02 INTRODUCTION 05
03 LITERATURE REVIEW 06
04 MARKETING STRATEGIES 31
05 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS 35
06 CONCLUSION 37
07 SUGGESTION & RECOMMENDATIONS 38
08 BIBLIOGRAPHY 40
09 QUESTIONARY 40
INTRODUCTION
OBJECTIVES
1. To study the importance and development of tele – communication industry in today’s
scenario.
2. To understand the various Marketing Strategies which Airtel has adopted to survive in
highly competitive cell phone industry.
3. To make a comparative study of the major players in Indian Service Provider.
4

5. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The methodology adopted for this project is exploratory in nature since there is no hypothesis
that has to be tested. The conclusions have been drawn by exploratory research work.
There have been two sources of information collected:
a) Primary Sources
I have met retailers of the Airtel of the company and have been able to get first hand information
regarding the product, its features and the buying patterns of the product. Their input has been
valuable.
b) Secondary Sources
Secondary source has played a vital role to play in this report. A good amount of data has been collected
from various published articles and reports found in magazines and journals. Another vital source has
been the Internet and particularly the companies own website.
CHAPTER I
(LITERATURE REVIEW)
TELECOMMUNICATION MARKET IN INDIA
The Indian telecommunications Network with 250m telephone connections is the fifth largest in
the world and is the second largest among the emerging economies of Asia. Today it is the
fastest growing market in the world and represents unique opportunities for UK companies in the
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6. stagnant global scenario. Tele-density, which was languishing at 2% in 1999, has shown an
impressive jump to 9.5% in 2006 and 10.5% in 2007 and is set to increase to 20% in the next five
years beating the Govt. target by three years. Accordingly, India requires incremental
investments of USD 20-25 bln for the next five years.
Private operators have made mobile telephony the fastest growing (over 164% p.a.) in India.
With more than 33 million users (both CDMA and GSM), wireless is the principal growth engine
of the Indian telecom industry. Given the current growth trends, cellular connections in India will
surpass fixed line by late 2004/early 2005. Intense competition between the four main private
groups - Bharti, Vodafone, Tata and Reliance and with the State sector incumbents-BSNL and
MTNL has brought about a significant drop in tariffs. There has been almost 74% in cell phone
charges, 70% in ILD calls and 25% drop in NLD charges, resulting in a boom time for the
consumers.
The Government has played a key enabling role by deregulating and liberalising the industry,
ushering in competition and paving the way for growth. While there were regulatory
irregularities earlier, resulting in litigation, these have all been addressed now. Customs duties on
hardware and mobile handsets have been reduced from 14 percent to 5 percent.
INDIAN CELLULAR MARKET
The Bharti Group, which operates in 23 circles, continues to be the country's largest cellular
operator, with 50 lakh subscribers. BSNL, which operates in 22 circles, has a subscriber base of
37 lakh subscribers. Thus BSNL stands second largest cellular operator in terms of subscriber
base at the end of the fiscal ending March 31, 2007, displacing Vodafone from the second
position.
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7. Vodafone, which operates in only eighteen circles, is the third largest operator with a subscriber
base of 32 lakh. Unlike fellow public sector undertaking, MTNL, which operates in Mumbai and
Delhi, BSNL has been a very aggressive player in the market. "Cellular operators who expected
BSNL to go the MTNL way, were taken by surprise and did not take effective steps to counter it,
till it was too late in the day," said a telecom analyst.
Belying fears of a slowdown in cellular subscriber acquisitions, the cell club has reported a
7.92% growth, the highest growth in any month so far, during March 2005. Year-on-year, the
cellular subscriber base in the country has almost doubled in March 2005, and is expanding at
the rate of 25% per year thereafter.
The cellular subscriber club expanded by 21.31 lakh last month. This is much higher than 5.9
lakh subscribers added in February 2005 and 2.13 lakh in January 2005. Idea, which operates in
Seven circles, is the fourth largest operator with a subscriber base of 17.80 lakh, higher than
BPL's 11.31 lakh subscribers across four circles. The subscriber numbers per operator drop
sharply with the sixth largest operator, Spice Communications, having a subscriber base of 9.40
lakh, followed by Reliance Telecom's 8.9 lakh subscribers. MTNL is the ninth largest operator,
with a base of 8.32 lakh subscribers.
While the subscriber base-jumped by 3.38% to 44.39 lakh in the metros, subscriber base of
category A circles of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu jumped
by 10.18 % to reach 43.64 lakh. Category B circles of Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh
(West), Uttar Pradesh (East), Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal recorded a jump of
10.69%, with a total base of 33.74 lakh subscribers. Circle C has reported 12.74 % growth with
subscriber numbers jumping to 5.08 lakh.
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8. Among the metros, while Mumbai added 1,63,180 subscribers, higher than the 1,58,646 added
by Delhi, the Capital's cellular subscriber base of over 80 lakh is still higher than Mumbai's
66.89 lakh. While the cellular industry has been on roll for the first three quarters of the previous
financial year with an average of 16.75 lakh monthly additions in the third quarter, the first two
months of 2007 had seen the growth slowing down.
With a population of around 1.1 billion growing at roughly 1.7 per cent a year, India is
potentially one of the most exciting GSM markets in the world. After two rather difficult years,
the past 12 months have seen the region's promise beginning to come to fruition. Much of this
success can be attributed to the stabilisation of the licensing and regulatory environment.
India's telecommunications have undergone a steady liberalisation since 1994 when the Indian
government first sought private investment in the sector. However, it has been the government's
New Telecom Policy (1999) that has had the most radical impact on the development of GSM
services. 'The policy's mission statement is 'affordable communications for all',There is a genuine
commitment to creating a modern and efficient communications infrastructure that takes account
of the convergence of telecom, IT and media. In addition, the policy places significant emphasis
8

9. on greater competition for both fixed and mobile services.'
Competition in the mobile sector has already had a visible impact on prices with calls currently
costing less than 9 cents per minute. This means that service costs have fallen by 60 per cent
since the first GSM networks became live in 1995. It also helps explain why a recent Telecom
Asia survey revealed that more than 70 per cent of Indian mobile subscribers felt that prices were
now at a reasonable level.
One of the challenges facing GSM operators in India is the diversity of the coverage regions
-from remote rural regions to some of the most densely populated metropolitan areas in the
world. India has more than 40 networks, which cover the seven largest cities, over 7000 towns
and several Lacs villages. Such depth of coverage has required enormous investment from
India's operators. It is estimated that more than Rs200 billion had been invested in India's GSM
industry by mid-2000, a figure that is set to be supplemented by a further Rs. 300 billion over the
next five years.The good news is that subscriber growth is beginning to look healthy. With
India's low PC penetration and high average Internet usage -at 14-20 hours a month per user it is
comparable to the US -the market for mobile data and m-commerce looks extremely promising.
WAP services have already been launched in the subcontinent and the first GPRS networks
are in the process of being rolled out.
COMPANY PROFILE
9

10. Airtel comes to you from Bharti Cellular Limited - a part of the biggest private integrated
telecom conglomerate, Bharti Enterprises. Bharti Airtel limited is a leading global
telecommunications company with operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa. The
company offers mobile voice & data services, fixed line, high speed broadband, IPTV, DTH,
turnkey telecom solutions for enterprises and national & international long distance services to
carriers.
Bharti Airtel has been ranked among the six best performing technology companies in the world
by business week. Bharti Airtel had 200 million customers across its operations. Apart from
being the largest manufacturer of telephone instruments in India, it is also the first company to
export its products to the USA.
SERVICES
Bharti Airtel’s product and services portfolio includes mobile services, home phones, broadband,
calling cards, DTH, IPTV, MPLS Services, satellite services, data transport solutions and
conferencing services.
AIRtEl PREPAId
Airtel Prepaid, the Ready Cellular Card from Airtel comes to you from Bharti Enterprises,
India's leading integrated telecom service provider. Going mobile with Airtel Prepaid is a new
way of life. With a host of great features, also simple to use, Airtel Prepaid makes everything
that you dreamt and believed, possible.
AIRtEl PoStPAId
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11. Airtel welcomes you to a vibrant world of unlimited opportunities. More exciting, innovative yet
simple new ways to communicate, just when you want to, not just through words but ideas,
emotions and feelings. To give you the unlimited freedom to reach out to your special people in
your special way.
AIRtEl RoAmIng
AIRTEL’s Roaming service allows you to use your mobile phone to make or receive calls from
almost anywhere in India and abroad.
Airtel Roaming gives you two great options: Airtel National and Airtel International
. long dIStAnCE
Experience complete freedom like never before with Airtel! Our National Long-Distance facility
allows you to make long distance calls in India and Overseas from your cellular phone. This
service is applicable to both Postpaid and Prepaid customers.
AIRtEl & VISuAl IdEntIty
For a brand to be successful, it must build enduring relationships with its different audiences.
Integral to this relationship is the visual image of the brand the consumer carries in his/her mind.
The Airtel brand image is created through the consistent application of a carefully developed
visual identity, which helps Airtel distinguish itself in a cluttered market. Airtel's visual identity
helps create instant brand recall and strengthens the relationships that its audiences have with it.
The Airtel visual identity has different elements that work together to create a strong and
consistent identity for the brand.
thE AIRtEl logo
11

12. The new logo is the letter ‘a’ in lowercase, and has airtel written in lowercase under the logo and
the word starts with a small 'A'. The unique symbol is an interpretation of the ‘a’ in airtel. The
curved shape & the gentle highlights on the red color make it warm & inviting, almost as if it
were a living object. It represents a dynamic force of unparalleled energy that brings the brand
and its customers closer. The specially designed logo type is modern, vibrant & friendly. It
signals the brand’s resolve to be accessible
thE AIRtEl tyPogRAPhICAl StylE
The use of all lowercase is its recognition for the need for humanity. Red is part of the brand’s
heritage. It is the color of energy & passion that expresses the dynamism that has made airtel the
success it is today, in India, and now on the global stage.
Airtel comes to you from Bharti Tele-Ventures - a part of the biggest private integrated telecom
conglomerate, Bharti Enterprises.
12

13. Sunil Bharti Mittal
(Chairman and Group Managing Director)
VISION:
"As we spread wings to expand our capabilities and explore new horizons, the fundamental
focus remains unchanged: seek out the best technology in the world and put it at the service of
our ultimate user: our customer."
About bhARtI tElE-VEntuRES
Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited was incorporated on July 7, 1995 for promoting investments in
telecommunications services. Its subsidiaries operate telecom services across India. Bharti Tele-
Ventures is one of world’s leading providers of telecommunication services with presence in all
the 22 licensed jurisdictions (also known as Telecom Circles) in India, and operations in
Srilanka, Bangladesh and Africa. It served an aggregate of 207.8 million customers as of
December 31, 2010; of whom 199.6 million subscribe to their GSM services and 3.2 million use
their Telemedia Services either for voice and/or broadband access delivered through DSL. It is
the largest wireless service provider in India, based on the number of customers as of December
31, 2010. They offer an integrated suite of telecom solutions to our enterprise customers, in
addition to providing long distance connectivity both nationally and internationally. They also
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14. offer Digital TV and IPTV Services. All these services are rendered under a unified brand
"airtel".
The company also deploys, owns and manages passive infrastructure pertaining to telecom
operations under its subsidiary Bharti Infratel Limited. Bharti Infratel owns 42% of Indus
Towers Limited. Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers are amongst top providers of passive
infrastructure services in India.
Business Strategy
Bharti Tele-Ventures' strategic objective is
“to capitalize on the growth opportunities that the Company believes are available in the
Indian telecommunications market and consolidate its position to be the leading integrated
telecommunications services provider in key markets in India, with a focus on providing
mobile services”.
The Company has developed the following strategies to achieve its strategic objective:
1. Focus on maximizing revenues and margins;
2. Capture maximum telecommunications revenue potential with minimum
geographical coverage;
3. Offer multiple telecommunications services to provide customers with a "one-stop
shop" solution;
4. Position itself to tap data transmission opportunities and offer advanced mobile
data services;
5. Focus on satisfying and retaining customers by ensuring high level of customer
satisfaction;
14

15. 6. Leverage strengths of its strategic and financial partners; and
7. Emphasize on human resource development to achieve operational efficiencies.
Mobile Strategy
• Capture maximum telecommunications revenue potential with minimum geographical
coverage to maximize its revenues and margins.
Build high quality mobile networks by deploying state-of-the-art technology to offer
superior services.
Use the experience it has gained from operating its existing mobile networks to develop
and operate other mobile networks in India and to share the expertise across all of its
existing and new circles.
Attract and retain high revenue generating customers by providing competitive tariffs,
offering high quality customer support, proactive retention programs and roaming
packages across all of its mobile circles.
• Provide affordable tariff plans to suit each segment of the market with a view to expand
the reach, thereby increasing the mobile customer base rapidly.
Media Strategy
The media planning was done by Madison Media.
The primary media used for the rebranding campaign was television and print so that everyone
would get to see the ad & this would create an impact in his mind. Later in the secondary media,
OOH and digital media was used extensively so that there was an immediate brand recall of the
new logo and the brand Airtel.
15

16. JWT was the creative agency that has worked on the new Airtel campaign currently playing out
on TV, print, outdoor.
Brand Strategy
To understand the brand strategy, let’s first look at the brand building exercise associated with
airtel — a brand that repositioned recently to mark its global presence in the market.
The new Airtel campaign is not merely rebranding. Its a re-launch. A new positioning. A new
brand idea. A new voice. The brand has embarked on an exciting new journey. A journey that
seeks to bring people closer to what they love. In the new participation economy, customers are
no longer happy being passive viewers. They want to create, comment on and share all that is
close to their hearts. Airtel seeks to enable that in every way possible.
When the brand was launched, cellular telephony wasn’t a mass market by any means. For the
average consumer, owning a cellular phone was expensive as tariff rates (at Rs 8 a minute) as
well as instrument prices were steep — sometimes as much as buying a second-hand car.
Bharti could have addressed the customer by rationally explaining to him the economic
advantage of using a mobile phone. But Sunil Bharti says that such a strategy would not have
worked for the simple reason that the value from using the phone at the time was not
commensurate with the cost.
“Instead of the value-proposition model, we decided to address the sensory benefit it gave to the
customer as the main selling tack. The idea was to become a badge value brand,” he explains.
So the Airtel “leadership series” campaign was launched showing successful men with their
laptops and in their deluxe cars using the mobile phone. In simple terms, it meant Airtel was
positioned as an inspirational brand that was meant for leaders, for customers who stood out in a
crowd.
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17. Did it work? Repeated surveys following the launch showed that there were three core benefits
that were clearly associated with the brand — leadership, dynamism and performance.
These were valuable qualities, but they only took Airtel far enough to establish its presence in the
market. As tariffs started dropping, it became necessary for Airtel to appeal to a wider audience.
And the various brand-tracking exercises showed that despite all these good things, there was no
emotional dimension to the brand — it was perceived as cold, distant and efficient.
By 2000, Bharti and his team realized that in a business in which customer relationships were the
core this could be a major weakness. The reason with tariffs identical to competitor Essar and
roughly the same level of service and schemes, it had now become important for Bharti to
“humanize” Airtel and use that relationship as a major differentiation.
The brand had become something like Lufthansa — cold and efficient. What they needed was to
become Singapore Airlines, efficient but also human. A change in tack was important because
this was a time when the cellular market was changing.
The leadership series was okay when you were wooing the crème de la crème of society. Once
you reached them you had to expand the market so there was need to address to new customers.
By that time, Bharti was already the leading cellular subscriber in Delhi with a base of 3.77 lakh
(it now has 200 million customers). And with tariffs becoming more affordable — as cell
companies started cutting prices — it was time to expand the market.
How could Bharti leverage this leadership position down the value chain? Surveys showed that
the concept of leadership in the customer’s minds was also changing. Leadership did not mean
directing subordinates to execute orders but to work along with a team to achieve common
objectives — it was, again, a relationship game that needed to be reflected in the Airtel brand.
17

18. Also, a survey showed that 50 per cent of the new customers choose a mobile phone brand
mostly through word-of-mouth endorsements from friends, family or colleagues. Thus, existing
customers were an important tool for market expansion and Bharti now focused on building
closer relationships with them.
That is precisely what the brand tried to achieve through its new positioning under the Airtel
“Touch Tomorrow” brand campaign. This set of campaigns portrayed mobile users surrounded
by caring family members. Says Bharti: “The campaign and positioning was designed to
highlight the relationship angle and make the brand softer and more sensitive.”
Airtel positioned itself as a power brand with numerous regional sub-brands reflecting customer
needs in various parts of the country and became more humane and more sensitive as a brand.
Bharti also understood that one common brand for all cellular operations might not always work
in urban markets that are getting increasingly saturated. To bring in new customers, the company
decided that it needed to segment the market.
In 2003, Airtel repositioned its brand with “Express yourself” campaign and changed its logo to
give more energetic and younger look .The highlight of the campaign was capability of Airtel’s
performance and network coverage and that it was launched in regional language.
CURRENT STRATEGY
As it looks to expand its cellular services globally— With an eye on the youth in Bangladesh,
India and Sri Lanka Bharti Airtel has rebranded itself as 'airtel' and
launched a global campaign
that will rebrand its operations across the world. The new brand identity has been created in sync
with the launch of the company's third generation (3G) services.
thE AIRtEl RE –dESIgn
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19. Old Logo New Logo
The new logo for airtel service is designed London-based Brand Union, a WPP
agency. Brand Union has done a wonderful job as far as the airtel logo goes.
“It’s young and vibrant. Above all, there’s a change in positioning, from a voice
company to one that provides data. It enriches lives in other words.
The group’s marketing effort has been reinforced with the re-launch of the Airtel
brand logo, with a new international and younger look.The idea was to rework the
brand so that it is relevant to a larger segment of the population as we are now
expanding globally. The new brand look will be supported by a Rs 300 crore budget.
Basically, Bharti Airtel, the brand owner, which provides the service, has done away
with the box in which the word Airtel was placed earlier. This was famously called
the flag logo because the look resembled just that — the colours red and white
alternating with each other. The word ‘Air’, in black, was placed against a white
background, while ‘Tel’, in white, appeared against a red backdrop. To keep the
continuity going, the dot of the letter ‘i’ in the word, was also red.
Airtel now, is “unboxed” having been freed of its rigid boundaries. In a break from
the past, the word airtel has been spelt in lower case.
The brand has also recently unveiled its new positioning,
'Dil jo chahe paas laye'
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20. TARGET AUDIENCE PROFILE
• The target audience for this ad campaign will be both males and females between the age
groups of 15- 45 years.
• A vast Age group has been chosen as nowadays almost every person is using a mobile.
• The target audience will be all over India as Airtel is a service that is being used by
consumers all over.
• The target audiences are people who are currently using Airtel Services as well as non
Airtel users.
• The benefits the target audience would get form the brand Airtel would be a combination
of :
o Emotional Benefit- The consumer could express his inner most feelings and
always stay connected to loved ones.
o Social Benefit- Airtel is an International brand now, it would satisfy his esteem
needs.
• The target audiences’ involvement with the product is very HIGH, as communication
is one of the most important aspects in every consumer’s life as it helps him to stay
connected to his near & dear ones & also carry on his daily life both professionally &
personally. Thus while choosing any such cellular service, he would do a complete
analysis & research to find out which service provider would satisfy his needs & may be
give even more.
CREATIVE BRIEF
The target audience in this ad campaign is both males and females of the SEC- A. who is
intellectual, intelligent & has the rationality to understand the gravity of the ad campaign.
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21. Since the objective was to reposition the brand, it was necessary to make the consumer change
his perception about the brand which required a strong motivation. This could be done only by
connecting with the consumer emotionally & India being a country of emotions, it became
necessary & easy to reach out to the consumer & place our brands in their minds in a positive
way.
Airtel as a brand had to enhance its image, thus it had to give something more, if
not literally then emotionally. Thus came the concept of, 'Dil jo chahe paas laye'
which meant you'll never be away from your close ones in airtel’s world.
Once the consumer has seen the ad campaign, it should create a deep impact in the minds of the
consumer, so that if asked about any service provider Airtel should be the brand that should in
the consumers TOMA (Top of the mind Awareness). After this ad campaign the consumer would
have a higher bonding with the brand.
Since the situations shown in the ad campaign are similar to what every consumer can relate to,
the consumer after having seen the ad campaign should be convinced that its only Airtel which is
a service provider that enables him to convey all that he wants to.
happily walking across the city. They enter a metro station and once again are very
sad, as the young man boards a train. As the train leaves, the girl once again
meets the man on the platform and happily hugs him. The TVC ends with a
voiceover saying, "In Airtel's world, you'll never be away from your close ones. Dil
Jo Chahe Paas Laye."
PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITY (STRATEGY)
21

22. Airtel to “Touch Tomorrow” with a new brand vision
The Bharti Mobile promoted AirTel cellular service will go in for repositioning of its brand
image. The new brand ethos is portrayed in two distinct fashions - the tag line "Touch
Tomorrow", which underscores the leading theme for the new brand vision, followed by "The
Good Life", which underscores a more caring, more customer centric organization. Aimed at re-
engineering its image as just simply a cellular service provider to an all out information
communications services provider, Touch Tomorrow is meant to embrace the new generation of
mobile communication services and the changing scope of customer needs and aspirations that
come along with it
The new communication is about a new dimension in the cellular category that goes beyond the
Internet, SMS, roaming, IVRS, etc but which engulfs the whole gamut of wireless digital
broadband services that will constitute tomorrows cellular services. The new campaign is in two
phases - the first of which will communicate overall brand philosophy and the second products
and services. According to Mr. Jagdish Kini, Chief Operating Officer, Bharti Mobile Limited,
22

23. Karnataka "We are adopting a new brand- platform - Touch Tomorrow - not only to reflect our
corporate ethos but also business strategy".
The new identity will have the logo in Red, Black and White colours along with lower case
typography to convey warmth. AirTel will incorporate the latest branding in all of its
communication and will soon be going in for an enhanced promotional drive to establish the
brand's presence.
MARKET SITUATION
At the time of launch
The first mover in the market was Airtel which launched its services in Delhi in Aug 1995
(Informal launch). Essar Cellphone followed by launching its services informally in Oct 95. At
this point of time, the market was at a nascent stage, awareness level was low and both operators
independently tried to spread awareness and educate the people
Once the networks were commercially launched, it became a number game with a multitude of
schemes being offered to woo customers Initially the cellphone was perceived as a status symbol
and utility took a back seat The target segment in Delhi were corporate and the high income
group. The average capacity installed was for 1.5 lakh subscribers. This coupled with the steep
license fee paid to DOT put pressure on the operators to break-even by rapidly expanding their
markets. In the first two years, this led to a number of schemes being offered and prices
crashing.
COMPETITIVE SITUATION
Airtel launched its services before Essar and skimmed the market picking up the bulk of the high
usage premium clients. This is a very competitive industry with the two companies
differentiating either on value-added services or price. Airtel is perceived as the high quality
23

24. provider and has a premium image. Essar, on the other hand, is perceived as the lower end
service provider. Airtel positions itself as the market leader on the basis of the number of
subscribers. Essar is trying to counter this by emphasising on the reach of its network and the
quality of its service. However, Essar is somewhat not been very successful largely due to the
inconsistency in advertising
To promote themselves, both the players have been dependent on tactical advertising However,
they have restrained from using comparative advertising Hoardings have been a very popular
medium for carrying the advertisements Airtel has also been advertising on television using the
Bharti Telecom name.
SALES DEPARTMENT AND STRATEGY
A. Major Accounts (Direct Channel)
• Handles corporate (named and famed) accounts
• Forecasting of sales
• Mapping the accounts
• Providing after sales support to the subscribers.
• Maintaining call reports for records.
• Providing Feedback to the marketing department regarding the requirement of the
market.
B. IDC (indirect Channel)
• Handling distribution
24

25. • Maintaining records and level check of the channel partner
• Liaisoning between the channel partner and the company.
• Target achievement
• Training the executives of the channel
C. Distribution Support
1. Logistics
• Monitor handset and SIM card requirements of channel partners and co-ordinate
with stores
• Settle areas of concerns such as incentive claims of channel partners
2. Rental
• Provide cellular services (SIM cards) on rent.
• Provide cellular phones on rent
• Useful for people visiting Delhi for a short interval.
3 Telesales
• Call customers and generate sales lead.
• Follow up with the customers, if they need any assistance
• Pass on the sales lead to the channel department.
4 Audit
• Consultant to the AirTel showrooms.
• Monitor the operations at the AirTel distribution outlets Organize training.
5. Retail
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26. • Locate shops to open retail counters.
• Monitor the retail counters.
MARKET SEGMENTATION
Segmentation is beneficial because of better predictability of the target consumer group,
minimization of risk exposure, better ability to fine-tune a product / service to the requirement of
target buyer and the resultant ease in designing a proper designing marketing mix strategy In this
case segmentation is on the bade of income.
In evaluating different market segments the company looks at two factors The overall
attractiveness of the segments and the company's objectives & resources The present market for
Cellular phones, pagers and conventional phones is as follows
Premium Middle Economy
Upper Lower Upper Lower Upper Lower
Cellular Phones X X X - - -
Pager X X X X - -
Conventional Phones X X X X X -
X Market Segment Targeted
TARGET MARKET SEGMENT
Airtel has targeted the premium and upper middle class. The rationale behind it is that only those
segments should be targeted who value time and have the paying capacity. It Is also planning to
target the business tourists during their stay in the capital
26

27. About 60% of the clientele are top executives of corporate houses. About 15% are foreign
organisations and the rest are professionals and small businessmen. During the introduction
stage there was intense pressure to get consumers across to hook up with their brand, because
getting them to switch brand loyalty later would be hard
So far Airtel marketers have been concentrating totally on the business executive class but now
that the basic viable volumes has beer) built up and prices have declined to a certain extent they
are planning to venture further a field.
POSITIONING
The product is sought to be positioned as a business efficiency tool. a lifestyle revolution and a
status symbol The emphasis is to remove misconception that the cellphone is an expensive
means of communication and drive home the point that the cellphone is actually a day-to-day
utility.
PRODUCT POLICY AND PLANNING
The product or service is the heart of the marketing mix. Without a product or a service
customers' needs cannot be satisfied.
The basic product promise by Airtel is mobility. Airtel's main marketing strategy is to be a first
mover all the time. It has recognised the significance of making the first move-- because in the
field of Communication & Information Technology changes occur at a tremendous pace.
Effective product segmentation has to be carried on continuously because basic services can be
and will be copied and in time become expected component of the product. Airtel seeks to carry
out this segmentation through provision of new information services and making new facilities
available. The product policy and planning depends on the stage of the product life cycle. At
present the cellular phone market has reached the maturity stage. Since, the premium segment is
27

28. nearing saturation the company targeting the upper middle and middle-middle class. In order to
do so Airtel is trying to optimise the price performance package by offering suitable "product
bundling".
This involves the selection of the suitable hardware (handset) and its software (its services.) with
reasonable price in order to deliver maximum price performance to its customers. In addition, it
offers free Airtime services and other concessions to make the prices and thus the product more
attractive. It has also opened a 24 hours customer service.
Only price doesn't serve as an effective differentiator, value added services become the effective
differentiator.
The "Value Added Services" provided from Airtel are:-
1). Voice Mail service
This system is similar to the answering machine - if the user is not able to answer a call for some
reason the caller can leave messages in the voice mail box which can be later retrieved by the
user.
ii) Short Message Service
The short message service is like a two-way pager. It gives an option of sending and receiving
text messages directly from one mobile phone to another without the intervention of an operator.
iii) Mobile Fax 1 Data Service
This service helps the subscriber to send and receive Faxes, access E-mail, download computer
files from other systems and remotely log on to another computer and surf the Internet.
iv) Cash Card
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29. The cash card is a pre-paid and pre-activated card which allows the buyers to buy air time in
advance. All it requires is the payment of an initial amount. This is a useful service for people
who travel to Delhi often and those who want to control the expenses on their calls.
v) Caller ID
Displays calling person's number.
vi) Outgoing call restriction
To prevent or limit outgoing calls, for example, in peak hours. Also possible to exclude one or
several countries, or any geographical region, to permit only local calls, or to limit the outgoing
calls to a listed number.
viii) Call forward
Incoming calls can be forwarded to another fixed or mobile phone.
Besides these some other services provided by Airtel are - Call conferencing, Call Broadcast et
cetera.
It is in the operators -Interest that they not only get many subscribers but also get them to use the
mobile facility frequently. In the early stages getting increases to subscribe may be easier than
getting them to talk since they will find it costlier to use the mobile phone as compared to a
conventional phone [if is believed that initially cellphones would be used buy]
viii) Roaming Facility
Roaming facility is available while the subscriber is travelling. The billing is done in the home
network (Delhi). Roaming facility is available manually* as well as semi-automatically. Once a
subscriber is In any other city or country, where a GSM network is available, simply insert the
SIM card of the local operator Into your handset and start talking.
29

30. * Manual Roaming means a separate SIM card is provided for each city
** Semi automatic roaming means one card has the facility for different cities.
AIRTEL'S MARKETING ORIENTATION.
Since this is a high-involvement expensive product, the service provider has to fully take care of
the customers.
a) They take personal responsibility to "get" the answer for any problem faced by the
customer
b) They anticipate customers' problems and take pro-active steps to prevent them
c) They give answers to the questions & requests, quickly & efficiently.
d) They have a positive tone & manner while interacting with customers.
e) They end the interaction on a positive or a humorous note-making the last 30 seconds
count.
Airtel realises that attracting people 'Is easy but converting them into loyal customers is hard,
hence emphasis is on maintaining a 'Smiling and a Friendly Atmosphere' to please and retain the
customer.
30

31. MARKETING STRATEGY ADOPTED BY
BHARTI
Bharti has spent a considerable amount on advertising its mobile phone service, Airtel. Besides
print advertising, the company had put up large no of hoardings and kiosks in and around Delhi.
The objective behind designing a promotion campaign for the ‘Airtel’ services is to promote the
brand awareness and to build brand preferences.
It is trying to set up a thematic campaign to build a stronger brand equity for Airtel. Since the
cellular phone category itself is too restricted, also the fact that a Cellular phone is a high
involvement product, price doesn't qualify as an effective differentiator. The image of the
service provider counts a great deal. Given the Cell phone category, it is the network efficiency
and the quality of service that becomes important. What now the buyer is looking at is to get the
optimum price-performance package. This also serves as an effective differentiator
Brand awareness is spread through the' campaigns and brand preference through brand stature.
Airtel's campaign in the capital began with a series of 'teaser' hoardings across the city,' bearing
just the company's name and without explaining what Airtel was. In the next phase the
campaign associated Airtel with Cellular only thereafter was the Bharti Cellular connection
brought up. Vans with Airtel logos roamed the city, handing out brochures about the company
and its services to all consumers. About 50,000 direct callers were sent out. When the name was
well entrenched in the Delhiites’s mind, the Airtel campaign began to focus on the utility of
Cellphone. In the first four months alone Airtei's advertisement spend exceeded Rs. 4 crores.
31

32. As of today the awareness level Is 60% unaided. This implies that if potential or knowledgeable
consumers are asked to name a Cellular phone service provider that is on the top of his/her mind
60% of them would name Airtel. As for aided it -is 100% (by giving clues and hints etc.).
Brand strength of a product or the health of a brand is measured by the percentage score of the
brand on the above aided and the unaided tests. The figures show that Airtel is a healthy and a
thriving brand.
Every company has a goal, which might comprise a sales target and a game plan with due regard
to Its competitor. Airtel 's campaign strategy is designed keeping in mind its marketing strategy.
The tone, tenor and the stance of the visual ads are designed to convey the image of a market
leader in terms of its market share. It tries to portray the image of being a "first mover every
time" and that of a "market leader".
The status of the product in terms of its life cycle has just reached the maturity stage in India. It
is still on the rising part of the product life cycle curve in the maturity stage.
The diagram on the left hand side shows the percentage of the users classified into heavy,
medium and low categories. The right hand side shows the revenue share earned from the three
types of users.
Airtel, keeping in mind the importance of the customer retention, values its heavy users the most
and constantly indulges in service innovation. But, since heavy users comprise only 15 - 20% of
the population the other segment cannot be neglected.
The population which has just realised the importance of cellular phones has to be roped in. It is
for this reason that the service provider offers a plethora of incentives and discounts. Concerts
like the "Freedom concert" are being organised by Airtel in order to promote sales. The media
channel is chosen with economy in mind. The target segment is not very concrete but, there is an
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33. attempt to focus on those who can afford. The print advertisements and hoarding are placed in
those strategic areas which most likely to catch the attention of those who need a cellular phone.
The product promise (which might cost different 1 higher) is an important variable in
determining the target audience.
Besides this, other promotional activities (strategies) that Airtel has adopted are .
(i) People who have booked Airtel services have been treated to exclusive premiers of
blockbuster movies. Airtel has tied up with Lufthansa to offer customer bonus miles on the
German airlines frequent flier's programs.
(ii) There have been educational campaigns, image campaigns, pre launch advertisements,
launch advertisements, congratulatory advertisements, promotional advertise-ments, attacking
advertisements and tactical advertisements.
DISTRIBUTION
Company
Franchisee Distributor
Dealers
Dealer
Customer
Customer
The- company whose operations are concentrated in and around Delhi. It 27 Franchisees and 15
Distributors- They also have 8 'instant access cash card counters- Each franchises or distributor
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