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1. West Bengal University of Technology
Summer Project Report
“How Companies use the Digital Platform to Promote
their Brand”
At
Bharti Airtel Ltd.
By
Aditya Bakhshi
WBUT Registration No:13136070007 of 2013-2014
WBUT Roll No: 13600913007
Army Institute of Management Kolkata
3. Acknowledgement
This project report is an outcome of the support of my family, friends and well-wishers. It is
because of their cooperation that I have received from various ends. This report has
attained the shape it deserves. I would like to extend my sincere gratitude towards them.
I’m highly indebted to Mr. Digish Parekh, Deputy General Manager, Brand Team, Bharti
Airtel, my project guide for his guidance and supervision as well as providing vital
information regards my internship project.
I would also like to extend my sincere gratitude to Mr. Mohit Beotra, Chief Branding Officer,
Bharti Airtel and Mr. Navin Shenoy, General Manager, Brand Team, Bharti Airtel to give this
opportunity to intern and learn a lot in this company. Without their assistance, this project
would not have been possible.
I would like to thank my college guide Dr. Malini Majumdar, Professor(marketing), Army
Institute of Management, Kolkata as she helped and guided me to complete my project.
Place: Kolkata Aditya Bakhshi
4. Executive Summary
The project was undertaken at Bharti Airtel, Gurgaon , and the duration of the project was 8
weeks. The title of the project was “How Companies use the Digital Platform to Promote
their Brand”.
The purpose of the project was to understand how companies use the digital platform to
promote their brand. As an intern I was assigned the job for the digital outreach of “THE
SMARTPHONE NETWORK” campaign. I was responsible for achieving targets from Airtel’s
digital agency. I understood how a large scale campaign goes live nationally.
It was a very satisfying and knowledgeable experience working with the brand team of one
of India’s largest company.
5. Company’s Profile
Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 20
countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company ranks
amongst the top 4 mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers. In India, the
company's product offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce,
fixed line services, high speed DSL broadband, IPTV, DTH, enterprise services including
national & international long distance services to carriers. In the rest of the geographies, it
offers 2G, 3G wireless services and mobile commerce. Bharti Airtel had nearly 287 million
customers across its operations at the end of Dec 2013.
6. How companies use the digital platform to promote their brand:
Using social media for marketing can enable businesses looking to further their reach to
more customers.Customers are interacting with brands through social media, therefore,
having a strong social media presence on the web is the key to tap into their interest. . If
implemented correctly, marketing with social media can bring remarkable success to your
business.
For brands, having a social media presence has quickly evolved from being the intern's job
to becoming a high-tech arm of the marketing department. In addition to the old guard of
Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, platforms such as Tumblr, Instagram and leading websites
of the world are the new channels of digital influence, being used for everything from real-
time engagement to customer service and even e-commerce.
If there's one lesson to learn from the way brands use social media today, it's that “paid” is
no longer a four-letter word. As major platforms such as Facebook and Twitter go public and
wean themselves off venture capital, there is more pressure on them to build revenues
through advertising. The days of organic reach and gaining fans purely on the strength of
engaging content are numbered, and marketers now need to put financial muscle behind
creative thought.
But there are still plenty of rewards for marketers who use social media in creative and
innovative ways. Brands that can build a following by being genuinely interesting and
posting engaging, entertaining, and relevant content create far more opportunities for
themselves to sell to consumers.
The unique value of social media is that it is one of the rare channels that can be viewed as
paid, earned, shared and owned media all at the same time for a brand. In order to get the
most out of a channel, brands have to have a coordinated strategy for all PESO channels,
with extensive knowledge of how to target audiences, run ads, and create optimized
content for that specific channel.
7. Emergence of digital media globally:
The TV remains the preferred media for TV shows and video for nearly 60% of U.S.
consumers, “but they also want their smart phones and tablets by their side so they can be
online and multitask, according to the KPMG International 2013 Digital Debate report, “The
Rise of the Digital Multi-tasker.”
40% of consumers polled in the U.S. said they watch TV and access the Internet via a laptop
or PC, while 17% watch TV and access the Internet via a smartphone. 22% watch TV and use
a social networking site at the same time. Nonetheless, KPMG’s study also revealed that
14% of those polled in the U.S. “prefer to watch TV via their mobile or tablet for greater
flexibility. This is largely attributed to the emerging wave of mobile-centric consumers (25-
34 years old).”
Urban dwellers in China, Brazil and Singapore are the most voracious consumers of digital
media, with rapid uptake of smartphones and tablets, along with supporting network
infrastructure, fuelling a surge in consumption of digital media in these and countries
around the world, KPMG found.
According to the report:
Consumers are still spending more money on traditional media with digital and traditional
media sharing a complementary co-existence.
Both an opportunity and threat to advertisers is a new generation of ‘digital multi-taskers’
accessing multiple media simultaneously.
Tech and media providers should collaborate on breakthrough revenue models to win over
the information-hungry digital consumer.
Developing Markets Love Digital Media
“Consumers in China, Brazil and Singapore across all age groups are accessing and using
media at an astonishing pace,” KPMG’s global chair, Technology, Media and
Telecommunications Gary Matuszak was quoted in a press release. “They are quick to
acquire hand-held mobile devices, and are incredibly receptive to all forms of information,
news and entertainment from TV, internet, newspapers, magazines and radio.”
Surveying some 9,000 consumers in nine countries, KPMG found that 53% of total
respondents said they own a smartphone, just over one-quarter (26%) said they own a
tablet.
8. As well as being the most voracious consumers of digital media, consumers in China, Brazil
and Singapore are also more willing to pay for it. “In emerging, high-growth markets such as
China, people are not encumbered with the legacy of PCs and have leap-frogged straight
onto portable devices,” KPMG head of Media in the U.K. David Elms commented.
“This creates amazing opportunities for tech and media companies, many of which are
struggling to devise models that are profitable and which truly sate consumers’ vast needs
for information. They need to delve into understanding content much more intimately as it
relates to their customers and then, marry the two.”
Consumers in all markets surveyed spend a similar amount of time accessing online media
as traditional media, KPMG also found. Social networks, online sites offering maps and
directions, and those offering news were the top three online destinations. Consumers in
China and Brazil leadthose in all countries when it comes to accessing social network and
news sites, as well as downloading music, according to KPMG.
“The move to digital has had a dramatic impact on how we consume music, publishing and
newspapers. But we are still early in the process of a transition to digital anytime anywhere
availability across all media sectors,” Paul Wissmann, head of Media & Telecommunications
in the U.S., added. “Until online services can provide content – especially film and video – on
all devices, including home televisions, and be as seamless and easy to use as their offline
counterparts, ‘old’ and digital media will continue to co-exist.”
When it comes to spending money, traditional offline spending exceeds online spending,
though online spending continues to rise and the mix varies considerably according to
region and type of media. Respondents reported spending more for every form of digital
media year-over-year, with 37% of those in North America and 20% of those in Europe
saying they had spent more to access online magazines.
Consumers in China, Brazil and Singapore indicated a higher willingness to pay for digital
media generally. Those in North America and Europe showed a greater willingness to only
pay for certain content, such as online dating services and books, and less on news, music
and games, KPMG reported.
“A number of content owners are trying to repeat the traditional revenue models online,
aiming to reverse the trend of getting information for free. Consumers are only prepared to
pay for content if it is perceived to have value, at the right price, in the right format and
accessible on the right device,” KPMG’s Elms elaborated.
The emergence of using multiple interconnected digital devices is also driving the rise of
social viewing and media consumption.
Most consumer companies have become serious about social media in just the last
three years
9. Companies will spend an average of nearly $19 million per company this year on
social media, and will increase that to $24 million by 2015
56% of respondents have measured the return on social media investments, and
most of them say it has been positive
Marketing and customer service are the functions that most regularly view
consumers’ comments on social media; R&D, manufacturing and finance do so
infrequently
More than two-thirds (68%) of the respondents centralize social media activities at
the parent company or in each division; marketing controls social media in 35% of
companies surveyed; no other function comes close
A minority (42%) believe their company’s organizational structure for social media
activities is effective or highly effective, and 51% say they’ll likely reorganize them
by the end of 2014
In three-quarters of companies, three or fewer business functions collaborate
closely on social media; in only a quarter do four or more functions work closely
together.
The three biggest success factors for using social media effectively are protecting
consumer data, having a corporate culture that values consumer opinions, and
responding rapidly to consumers who have issues about a company or its products
Emergence of digital media in India :
Broadband internet connectivity, considered a luxury some 10 years ago across India, is
spreading fast, this time through mobile phones, and is set to overhaul the country’s digital
economy.
Cheaper smartphones and a ballooning telecommunications industry have together pushed
India to the cusp of digital revolution. Today, India has 243 million internet users – more
than the United States and second only to China.
And they are leapfrogging traditional desk-bound technology. Facebook, the world’s biggest
social networking site, says that it has more than 100 million users in India, of which nearly
84 million access the site through mobile phones. This suggests the rise of the “mobile first”
generation of internet users.
India is getting richer and phones are getting cheaper. Domestic producers are now selling
smartphones for as little as $70, and have captured nearly 50 per cent of the market. They
are selling Android-based handsets in villages so remote that even basic necessities like
access to safe drinking water is a major challenge.
10. In the past, the lack of a high-speed broadband network and the cost of computers
hampered the internet’s reach in India. In addition, the strength of the country’s traditional
media means that many people continue to rely on newspapers and TV for information and
entertainment rather than seeking out digital content.
However, with the rapid spread of high-speed mobile data, that is changing fast. India’s
internet contribution to GDP could increase from 1.6 per cent in 2012 to between 2.8 per
cent and 3.3 per cent by 2015, according to McKinsey.
The widespread use of English on Indian websites has made it easier for global companies to
enter the market, which has given consumers a much wider choice of applications and
boosted local application developers and technology start-ups.
The growth of the local online industry is being amplified by the return of talent from
overseas. Indian-born engineers have played a key role in the success of Silicon Valley. Many
are starting to look back, investing resources and expertise in one of the world’s fastest
growing online markets.
As more Indians start using the internet on phones, they are gaining access to products and
services that were otherwise tough to find or access. The internet has revolutionized travel,
education, retail, and agriculture across the world, but the combination of India’s unique
characteristics and the leap to mobile is accelerating a particularly profound shift on the
subcontinent.
Booking a rail or plane ticket once took hours of queuing, or paying an agent. Today, the
government’s railway ticketing website is biggest e-commerce portal in the country.
Numerous coaching classes and computer training institutes have developed on-line
platforms for students who no longer need to travel to bigger cities for education or
training. The internet has also helped Indian farmers, who can use their cell phones to find
real-time information on commodity prices and then dispatch their produce to the
appropriate market, which gives them higher returns.
Scenting market opportunity, overseas companies are taking an interest, particularly in
retail. Despite restrictions on foreign direct investment in the sector, eBay has invested in
Snapdeal, while Amazon launched an online marketplace last year.
As more and more Indians access the internet, this connected revolution will gather
momentum, changing the shape of the economy and helping to cut costs and improve
choices for consumers.
India is the new e-frontier. A rapidly expanding middle class, with smartphones in hand and
cash in their pockets are looking to the future and finding it online.
11. Digital media is developing rapidly in India and with the growth of mobile devices it will
grow further. Wireless connections and mobile devices will give rise to new era of growth.
By 2016 the internet connections in India is expected to grow over 400 million and by that
time about 90% of all internet connections will be wireless. The number of broadband
connections is expected to reach 43 million by 2016. 40% of the population in India will have
internet access by 2016.
13. How Indian companies use digital media:
Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) recently hired three 20-somethings for its core brand
marketing team as digital managers. Rajeesh Rajagopalan, Kyle D'Lyma and Subhadeep
Bhattacharya have postgraduate degrees and Google's specialist certification in
communication, and previously worked with digital marketing agencies. The trio's mandate
is to lead the consumer-goods maker's digital advertising campaigns. "We think about the
digital plan at the drawing board stage of a brand campaign. Digital is no longer an after-
thought," says Rajagopalan. But why recruit youngsters instead of more experienced
professionals? Sunil Kataria, Chief Operating Officer for sales, marketing and South Asia at
GCPL, explains the reason. "Most of us in the company are not digital natives but digital
immigrants. So, we have hired young people to be part of our brand marketing teams and
drive digital efforts across our brands," he says.
Hiring youngsters for digital campaigns is part of GCPL's 'Digital Fitness' programme that it
kicked off about 18 months ago to intensify its focus on various digital media platforms.
Although digital campaigns make up a small part of the fast-moving consumer goods
(FMCG) company's total marketing and advertising spends - it was just four per cent in 2013
- it is growing rapidly compared to spending on print and television. In 2014, the company is
stepping up its digital spends by 40 per cent and plans to ramp it up to 70 per cent in coming
years, says Kataria.
Overall, the share of digital media in the Indian advertisement expenditure is likely to rise to
7.9 per cent in 2014 from 6.9 per cent last year, according to GroupM, the media buying
arm of global advertising network WPP.
GCPL is not the only consumer goods maker to focus on digital media. Many other consumer
goods makers are also fast realising they can no longer ignore this new medium. According
to Ravi Rao, Leader (South Asia) at media buying and planning agency Mindshare, FMCG
companies have increased their digital spends between 30 per cent and 50 per cent in the
past one year.
This is in sharp contrast to three to four years ago when only companies from the financial
services, hospitality and auto were big spenders on digital media. Consumer goods
companies, which unlike companies in other categories rely heavily on rural and semi-urban
areas to sell their products, earlier preferred traditional media because of its wider reach
and comparatively lower cost to sell everything from personal care products such as soaps
and shampoos to food items.
The shift in the marketing strategies of FMCG companies has been prompted by a dramatic
change in consumers' media consumption habits thanks to growing use of mobile phones,
especially smartphones, and the Internet. "Consumers are consuming content on varied
14. platforms and on various devices. Therefore, a one-size-fits-all TV campaign no longer
works," says Tarun Arora, Country Head of Danone Narang Beverages, a joint venture
between French foods company Danone and Mumbai's Narang Group.
Jayant Singh, Executive Vice President for Marketing at GlaxoSmithKline Consumer
Healthcare, concurs with Arora. He says the company is looking to double its spending on
digital advertising this year. "We are going where the consumer is and wish to engage with
them through innovative digital programmes. We are reaching out to them as an untapped,
core potential audience."
Changing mindset:
Until a few years ago most companies looked at online as yet another platform to air their
TV commercials. This is not the case any longer. FMCG companies are looking at digital
media as a separate platform to engage with their target audience. They seek feedback on
their TV campaigns, invite suggestions to name their upcoming brands and even take up
social issues.
Zafar Rais, CEO of digital marketing agency Mindshift Interactive, says one of the earliest
campaigns that encouraged FMCG brands to take digital seriously was almost four years
ago, when Nestle synced its print ad for Nescafe coffee with social media and asked people
their feedback. "That changed the mindset of FMCG brands," he says.
Perhaps the most successful digital campaign in the country by an FMCG company has been
run by Hindustan Unilever (HUL). The consumer goods giant last year launched a free mobile
radio entertainment channel called Kan Khajura Tesan, which can be loosely translated as
Centipede Station, in Bihar and Jharkhand. To access the content, a mobile phone user gives
a 'missed call' - the call here gets disconnected automatically after two rings - on a given
number. The user is then called back and gets to listen to songs, jokes and, of course, HUL
advertisements. The idea behind the campaign was to reach out to consumers who do not
have access to TV, radio or the print medium but have a mobile phone. Over the past seven
months the radio station has reached out to more than nine million subscribers and HUL ads
have been heard 85 million times, the company says. HUL now plans to roll out the channel
in other regions.
When ITC last year launched the Vivel skin nourishing range of soaps, it held a contest to
search for ingredients on Facebook. "The emergence of newer interactive digital platforms
and online social networks has led to a paradigm shift in brand communications. We have
been strategically investing in all aspects of digital," says Nilanjan Mukherjee, Head of
Marketing for ITC's Personal Care Products Business. Similarly, Danone Narang chose the
brand name of its vitamin-enriched flavoured water after interacting with consumers on
social media, says Arora. "We talked about our brand on various social media platforms and
15. asked consumers to give their feedback. We got over 50,000 responses and that's how the
name 'Blue' came about," he says.
Consumer goods companies are not just using digital media to increase awareness about
their brands among consumers. They are also using it to change brand perception.
Cosmetics maker Modi Revlon is one such company. It hired ad firm VML Qais to launch a
digital initiative about a year ago. Tripti Lochan, CEO, VML Qais, says Revlon's target
audience is younger women, but the common perception among them was that the brand
related to the older generation. "In order to make the brand look contemporary, digital
media became imperative as most young women are digital natives," says Lochan. Revlon
India now has close to one million fans on social networking site Facebook alone. Dimsy
Mirchandani, Revlon's Marketing Manager, says some lipstick and other make-up variants
that the company launched after their digital campaign boosted sales by nearly 20 per cent.
Despite the recent shift in advertising strategies by FMCG companies, digital is not yet
eating into their traditional media spends as yet. According to Arora of Danone Narang, one
can't write off TV and print, unless there is a dramatic change in consumer behaviour.
"Digital is beginning to play a huge role in awareness building, engagement with consumers
and creating intent to buy a product," he says. "But it has still not started to replace
traditional media."
COMPANY:Mondelez
PRODUCTS: Oreo cookies
DIGITAL PLATFORMS USED: Facebook and Twitter
CAMPAIGN: Confectionery giant Mondelez rolled out a digital campaign
for a new variant of its best-selling Oreo cookies in May this year. The
campaign, on social networking site Facebook and micro blogging site
Twitter, aimed at communicating how the Oreo Cookie and the new
variant, Orange Crè me, blend beautifully together. The campaign
reinforced this connection between them and narrated tales of them as
#OreoBesties, while engaging Oreo's fan base with multiple activities.
The first leg of the campaign was a selfie contest. Oreo's #BestieSelfie ran for three days
where users were asked to share their and their best friends' wacky self-portrait
photographs. The second leg was a #ShoutOut between the two - #OreoBesties Cookie and
Orange Crè me -where one would shout out something and fans had to guess what the
other would reply. In the third part of the campaign, people were asked to complete the
sentence #YouAreBestieswhen.
16. IMPACT: The campaign reached more than 600,000 people on Facebook and generated
close to 300,000 impressions on Twitter. (Impressions are the number of times a post or
tweet is displayed).
COMPANY:RevlonIndia
PRODUCTS: Revlon ColorStay Whipped Creme Makeup
DIGITAL PLATFORMS USED: Revlon India's Facebook page
CAMPAIGN: When Revlon India launched the Revlon ColorStay
Whipped Crème Makeup foundation, engaging customers in an
innovative way was a challenge. This is because foundation as a product
isn't as exciting as lip colours or nail enamels. Revlon went out to
understand what women wanted from their beauty products,
specifically foundation. It kicked off a digital campaign with a series of
polls conducted on its Facebook Page over two weeks.
The survey revealed some interesting findings. For instance, it found that about 80 per cent
of those polled used their fingers to apply foundation. The company then launched the
product through its Facebook page and also created seven USP images - each of which
addressed a finding from the poll.
IMPACT: Revlon India received more than 75,000 responses to its poll questions. Its
Facebook fan base grew by 33,746.
17. Summer internship with Bharti Airtel:
I interned with Bharti Airtel at the Airtel Centre in Gurgaon. My internship began on the
14th of June 2014 and I worked with the branding team. My project head was Mr.Navin
Shenoy, General Manager, Brand Team, Bharti Airtel. I joined the brand team at a very
critical time when Airtel was planning to launch its biggest campaign of the year. The
campaign was called ‘THE SMARTPHONE NETWORK’. The motive behind this campaign was
to tell the world that Airtel is the best network for smartphones. 3 claims supported this
campaign. They were:
STREAM VIDEOS 26% FASTER
BATTERY LIFE LASTS 8% LONGER
42% LARGER 3G NETWORK
A TV commercial was aired to show how a smartphone can bring magic to your life. There
were 3 short animated films of 15 secs each also. The 3 short films showed the 3 claims.
Since Airtel is the no. 1 network in India, it wanted to put out a message stating that it is by
far the best network available.
So in order to launch such a big campaign, a lot of thinking and planning had to go into it. In
today’s world, every campaign or brand needs the medium of digital media to make it a
success. Same way Airtel used the digital medium to create awareness about its campaign.
Majority of the campaign was digital.
This meant Airtel had to show a lot of presence on all leading websites and social
networking sites. In order to do this, many advertising banners were made to put on
websites and social networking sites. The banners were of many different sizes and types.
Sizes like 300x250, 728x90, etc. were to be used. Some banners were flash and some were
static. Making of the banners was the job of Airtel’s digital agency-Razorfish. Razorfish was
responsible for making all the banners which were supposed to go live on the internet.
Mobile application banners were also made for the campaign.
A lot of importance was given to the banners as they would be the ones which would be
viewed by maximum people on the internet. All leading websites like
NDTV,ET,Makemytrip,MSN,Yahoo,Flipkart,GQ,etc. and social networking sites like
Facebook,Twitter,Linkedin would be showing the Airtel banners. Mobile applications like
Truecaller, Vdopia, Angry, birds, etc. would also show the Airtel banners. Each banner was
seen and checked many times in order to get the best banners to go live. The chief branding
officer, GM and DGM personally used to check each banner and make the final choice. The
banners were the backbone of the entire campaign.
18. Razorfish was of eminence importance to Airtel before the banners went live on the
internet. Since maximum awareness will be on the internet, Airtel was clear about the fact
that digital will spearhead the campaign.
Another agency –JWT made outdoor and retail banners for Airtel. JWT was Airtel’s outdoor
and retail advertisement agency. All the outdoor banners which showed the 3 claims were
made by JWT and all the flash and static banners for the internet were made by Razorfish.
My role:
I interned with Bharti Airtel at the Airtel Centre in Gurgaon. My internship began on the
14th of June 2014 and I worked with the branding team. The brand team is always the
backbone of any campaign and the core brand team at Airtel comprised of:
Chief Branding Officer- Mohit Beotra
Vice President- Archana Aggarwal
General Manager- Navin Shenoy
Deputy General Manager-Digish Parekh
Deputy General Manager-Tanu Johri
Deputy General Manager-Amit Nangia
I was working directly with the GM, Navin Shenoy & DGM, Digish Parekh. I joined the brand
team at the planning stage of their annual campaign – The Smartphone Network. The
motive behind this campaign was to tell the world that Airtel is the best network for
smartphones. 3 claims supported this campaign. They were:
STREAM VIDEOS 26% FASTER
BATTERY LIFE LASTS 8% LONGER
42% LARGER 3G NETWORK
It was the most critical time of the campaign as it is their most prestigious campaign of the
year and the challenge is to better it year on year to create brand love and customer
stickiness. Everything had to be meticulously planned, from the look and feel of the
campaign to the overall messaging it communicates. A lot of trial and error had to be done
in order to get the best look for the campaign. The brand team had to work according to
brand guidelines set by Wolff Olins and I was responsible to ensure that our partner
agencies adhered to the guidelines for all external communication.
19. In my role, I was responsible to bring alive the digital aspect of the campaign – The
Smartphone Network with their digital agency, Razorfish. Needless to say that digital as a
medium is increasing becoming critical for consumer brands and therefore the need to plan
the outreach with utmost care and precision. There were a number of meetings between
the brand team and the agencies to finalise the look and feel of the material which had to
go live. Many flash and static banners for websites were rejected and re-made to get the
final look and I had the opportunity to be a part of these discussions was responsible to
ensure timely output and error free copies.
After following the brand guidelines and having to assess the look and feel of the banners
for the internet, the brand team had to shortlist the websites on which the banners would
go live. Again selecting the websites was not an easy task as we had to make sure that we
advertisedon websites that are frequented by our core targeted audience. Since the
campaign was ‘THE SMARTPHONE NETWORK’, we had to target consumers who owned
smartphones or have the potential to buy a smartphone. Apart from this, we also had to
access the traffic and visitors on leading websites to ensure we reached out to maximum
people. Following this brief, websites like NDTV, ET, Moneycontrol, Makemytrip, tripadvisor,
TOI, Hungama, GQ, Wonderwoman, etc were explored for the campaign. Video sites like
Youtube and Scoopwhoop had a lot of potential and were actively used for our campaign
Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin also had a lot of advertising
relating to our campaign.
I was in constant touch with the digital agency and had to communicate their point of view
to Digish Parekh who I was reporting to. I was a part of all the meetings between Airtel and
Razorfish and had an active role in finalising the look and feel of all the banners. Having
learnt the guidelines and getting a better understanding of the brief from Digish, I was also
expected to give my point of view on all material shared by the digital agency and give
reasons for it to ensure we arrived at the best option. I was thankful for the opportunity
given by Digish to express my opinion and voice my concerns at any given time to ensure
error free copies for external stakeholders. Post finalizing the above, I was also liable to
communicate and explain the changes to the digital agency and thereafter ensure timely
delivery from them.
Since this was the planning stage, the TV commercial had to be shown to the top
management for a final approval. To get this done, I had to organise the materials for the
meeting between the top management and the brand team. I had to coordinate with a
vendor who delivered a TV, audio speakers, DVD player and other essential things which
were important for the meeting. Everything for the meeting had to be coordinated very well
as senior people like the CEO of Airtel and Marketing Head were to attend IT.
20. It was an enriching experience and a great learning to work for one of India’s top brand.
Being my first big exposure to corporate life I learnt the minor and major nuances of
working in a corporate environment. My boss Digish Parekh was my mentor and he guided
me through my entire tenure. He discussed many corporate related points with me which
would eventually help me in my career in the future and help me become a better
professional.
My task made me learn how agencies work for their clients. In my case, I had to be in
regular touch with Razorfish-the digital agency for Airtel. My boss guided me on how to
handle the agency and get them to deliver the material on time. It was a different
experience learning about this as the agency was under constant pressure to deliver and the
brand team was under pressure to launch the campaign on time. Making the agency meet
their deadlines was not an easy task. Every minute was critical as time was precious for both
Airtel and Razorfish. I being responsible for the agency to deliver on time was under a lot of
pressure but at the same time I enjoyed the work pressure as it made me work harder and
learn things faster.
Apart from my role, I learnt a lot of other things working in a company like Airtel. I learnt
aboutthe discipline of corporate life. Time was of utmost importance to everyone working in
office and seeing them work together to deliver award winning campaigns, was of immense
learning for me.
Another important aspect of working in the corporate sector was resolving different points
of view that came out of internal brainstorming sessions during the planning stage. Team
work was the most critical thing which led to the successful launch of the campaign. It was a
great learning experience for me to see how the entire brand team worked together
towards ensuring a successful launch of the campaign.
I learnt a lot from Navin Shenoy and Digish Parekh in terms of motivating people to work
and excel in their careers. They appreciated good work done by people and at the same
time helped them to improve the work which was not up to the mark. This was a great
quality I picked up from them. Keeping calm and composed was the key in the entire
campaign. Navin and Digish were the perfect examples of this. I look up to them and
observed their way of working especially in crisis situations that gave a new dimension to
my learning and exposure graph.
21. COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA
Analysis on monthly views-YouTube
Analysis on views on various devices
24. CONCLUSION
The Smartphone Network – For A Little Magic in Your Life
India is one of the fastest growing smartphone markets in the world. Growing at a CAGR of
over 40% over the last 5 years, smartphone sales will cross 80 mn units this year. As the
category leader, Airtel has identified this surge well in advance and has started investing
heavily towards providing a superior network experience to smartphone users.
The smartphone customer is now at the center of the telco’s marketing and product
innovation strategy. The launch of the Re 1 Entertainment Store, providing the Airtel Live
service in 9 languages or introducing India’s first Smart SIM have all been launched to make
data services attractive and accessible to a wide spectrum of users. Airtel also gets credit for
building India’s first IP based infrastructure and installingthe highest number of 3G cell sites
in the country, Airtel is pulling all stops to ensure the smartphone customer has the best
internet experience.
In order to communicate this intent to its customers, Airtel is launching a campaign
positioning itself as ‘The Smartphone Network’. The campaign aims at making Airtel the
network of choice for smartphone users. The firepower comprises of a series of television
commercials and a completely fresh design system which will bolster the positioning
statement.
The Campaign
The television commercials comprise of a thematic film which is about modern-day
relationships and the way smartphones act as catalysts in their evolution. The
commercialstrengthens Airtel’s legacy of identifying fresh and relevant insights on life and
presenting it with beautiful story-telling. It is a heart-warming story of a couple that works
at the same office and how they manage their lives to keep the spark in the relationship
alive. Their story revolves around the use of a smartphone and the role that applications like
video calling play in today’s lives, to keep close even when they are apart.
Supporting the thematic film will be a series of animated commercials which will highlight
the advantages of the airtel network. A total set of 6, 3 of these short films will highlight the
benefits of the airtel network i.e. faster video streaming, longer battery life and larger 3G
network. The other 3 will showcase Airtel as the recommend network by the leading
smartphone brands of the country.
25. The campaign will have support legs in Outdoor, Print and Digital medium which will play a
big role in proliferating the message to the online audience.
The New Design System
The new design system embodies the ever-changing business dynamics that the
organization operates in. Wolff Olins, an international design agency, has conceptualised
and developed the new look and personality for the brand. Being true to the Airtel values of
Alive, Inclusive and Respectful, the system reflects the brand philosophy of “human
connections”. It strengthens and emboldens the Airtel brand system to cut through clutter,
create impact in the Indian communications landscape and give Airtel a distinctive place in
the market. Represented by the red blob, it is an optimistic take on life, dynamic in nature
and yet friendly and approachable.
Airtel – The Smartphone Network
Campaign Leads from Airtel: Mohit Beotra (Head – Brand)
Navin Shenoy (GM, Brand Marketing)
Creative agency: Taproot
Director: Vinil Mathew
Background Music (this film):
Original Composition: A R Rahman (Airteltune)
Production: Early Man Films
Animation Agency: Prana Studios Pvt. Ltd.
Media Agency: Madison
Creative Digital Agency: Razorfish India
Campaign Lead: Kanika Mathur (President, India)
Date of release: 25th
July 2014
