astudyonpromotioal strategiesofbharathiairtelhyderadad

8/12/2019 AstudyonPROMOTIOAL STRATEGIESofbharathiairtelhyderadad

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A STUDY ON PROMOTIOANL STRATEGIES OF BHARTI AIRTEL,

A STUDY ON PROMOTIOANL STRATEGIES OF

BHARTI AIRTEL,


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CONTENT

CHAPTER I Executive Summary

OBJECTIVES

CHAPTER II Introduction to Topic

CHAPTER III Company Profile

3.1 Promoters

3.2 Vision and Mission

3.3 Organization Structure

3.4 Product line and Value Chain

3.5 Porters Five Force Model

3.6 Competitive Analysis

3.7 Marketing Strategies

3.8 SWOT Analysis

CHAPTER IV About the Project

CHAPTER V Research Methodology

5.1 - Problem Definition

5.2 - Approach to the Problem

5.4 - Sources of data collection

5.5 - Primary sources

5.6 - Secondary sources

5.7 - Sampling techniques

CHAPTER VI Data Analysis and Findings

CHAPTER VII Conclusion

CHAPTER VIII Recommendations

Bibliography and AppendixBOOKS ARTICLES NEWS PAPERS


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Executive Summary:

It is no wonder that in todays aggressive business environment, the challenges of

sustaining in these competitive surroundings, preoccupies the minds of many Business

leaders. Customers have many options to choose their telecom operator from competitive

market. Furthermore, they often perceive that what they are purchasing is, for all practical

purposes, a commodity that can be easily obtained from other companies, if need be. So,

how does a corporation distinguish itself in a highly commoditized and competitive

market? Todays business is more dependent, than ever before, on their top performing

product to be innovate and provide services that differentiate a company from its fierce

competitors. In other words, corporations rely upon their product and human assets to

survive and thrive.

Airtel is one of the leading telecom firms of the country. Airtel is providing

intermediate services to the people of India since 1995. The company is largest cellular

service provider in India and third largest in the world in the field of various telecom

services like Mobile network, wireless, landline, broadband, satellite television, etc. The

company is famous for world presence, vast network coverage, excellent service and

brand image managed by experts.

This project was carried out for BhartiAirtel, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. This is

one of the leading centers for marketing and sale of Airtel product and services in

southern region. The project was carried out for 45 days as summer internship program in

a systematic manner.

This project report contains various section where Ive discussed about company

profile, its present strength, porters 5forces model, competitive analysis, SWOT analysis,methodology used, sample size, sample unit, analysis and discussion, questionnaire, and

annexure.

After market study it can be said there is very tough competition between various

telecom firms like Airtel, Vodafone, Aircel, BSNL, Idea,uninor, etc. But still Airtel is

leading the market of Jabalpur.


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INTRODUCTION:

Promoting is a form of communication intended to persuade an audience

(viewers, readers or listeners) to purchase or take some action upon products, ideas, or

services. It includes the name of a product or service and how that product or service

could benefit the consumer, to persuade a target market to purchase or to consume that

particular brand. These messages are usually paid for by sponsors and viewed via various

media. Promoting can also serve to communicate an idea to a large number of people in

an attempt to convince them to take a certain action.

Commercial advertisers often seek to generate increased consumption of

their products or services through branding, which involves the repetition of an image or

product name in an effort to associate related qualities with the brand in the minds

of consumers. Non-commercial advertisers who spend money to advertise items other

than a consumer product or service include political parties, interest groups, religious

organizations and governmental agencies. Nonprofit organizations may rely on free

modes of persuasion, such as a public service announcement.

Modern Promoting developed with the rise of mass production in the late 19th

and early 20th centuries. Mass media can be defined as any media meant to reach a mass

amount of people. Different types of media can be used to deliver these messages,

including traditional media such as newspapers, magazines, television, radio, outdoor or

direct mail; or new media such as websites and text messages.

"Strategy is the directionand scope of an organization over the long-term:which

achieves advantage for the organization through its configuration of resources within achallenging environment, to meet the needs of markets and to

fulfill stakeholder expectations".

In other words, strategy is about:


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* Where is the business trying to get to in the long-term (direction)

* Which markets should a business compete in and what kind of activities is involved in

such markets? (markets; scope)

* How can the business perform better than the competition in those markets?

(Advantage)?

* What resources (skills, assets, finance, relationships, technical competence, and

facilities) are required in order to be able to compete? (Resources)?

* What external, environmental factors affect the businesses' ability to compete?

(Environment)?

* What are the values and expectations of those who have power in and around the

business? (stakeholders)

Strategy at Different Levels of a Business:

Strategies exist at several levels in any organization - ranging from the overall

business (or group of businesses) through to individuals working in it.

Corporate Strategy- is concerned with the overall purpose and scope of the business to

meet stakeholder expectations. This is a crucial level since it is heavily influenced by

investors in the business and acts to guide strategic decision-making throughout the

business. Corporate strategy is often stated explicitly in a "mission statement".

Business UnitStrategy- is concerned more with how a business competes successfully

in a particular market. It concerns strategic decisions about choice of products, meeting


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needs of customers, gaining advantage over competitors, exploiting or creating new

opportunities etc.

OperationalStrategy - is concerned with how each part of the business is organized to

deliver the corporate and business-unit level strategic direction. Operational strategy

therefore focuses on issues of resources, processes, people etc.

How Strategy is Managed - Strategic Management

In its broadest sense, strategic management is about taking "strategic decisions" -

decisions that answer the questions above.

In practice, a thorough strategic management process has three main components,

shown in the figure below:


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Strategic Analysis

This is all about the analyzing the strength of businesses' position and

understanding the important external factors that may influence that position. The processof Strategic Analysis can be assisted by a number of tools, including:

PESTAnalysis - a technique for understanding the "environment" in which a business

operates.

ScenarioPlanning - a technique that builds various plausible views of possible futures

for a business.

FiveForcesAnalysis - a technique for identifying the forces which affect the level of

competition in an industry.

Market Segmentation- a technique which seeks to identify similarities and differences

between groups of customers or users.

Directional Policy Matrix- a technique which summarizes the competitive strength of a

businesss operations in specific markets.

Competitor Analysis- a wide range of techniques and analysis that seeks to summarize

a businesses' overall competitive position.

Critical Success Factor Analysis- a technique to identify those areas in which a

business must outperform the competition in order to succeed.

SWOT Analysis - a useful summary technique for summarizing the key issues arising

from an assessment of a businesss "internal" position and "external" environmental

influences.


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Strategic Choice:

This process involves understanding the nature of stakeholder expectations (the

"ground rules"), identifying strategic options, and then evaluating and selecting strategicoptions.

Strategy Implementation

Often the hardest part. When a strategy has been analyzed and selected, the task is

then to translate it into organizational action.


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COMPANY PROFILE

Airtel India Profile

Type : Public

Industry : Telecommunications

Founded : New Delhi, NTC, India

Founder(s) : Sunil Bharti Mittal

Headquarters : New Delhi, NTC, India

Area served : South Asia, Africa and the Channel

Islands

Key people : Sunil Bharti Mittal

Products : Fixed line and mobile telephony,

Broadband and

Fixed line internet services, digital

television and IPTV

Employees : 21,300(Nov12)

Subsidiaries : Airtel AfricaAirtel Digital TV

Airtel Sri Lanka

Airtel Bangladesh

BhartiAirtel Limited, commonly known as Airtel, is an Indian multinational

telecommunications Services Company headquartered at New Delhi, India. It operates in

20 countries across South Asia, Africa and the Channel Islands. Airtel has GSM network

in all countries in which it operates, providing 2G, 3G and 4G services depending upon

the country of operation. Airtel is the worlds third largest mobile telecommunications

company with over 271 million subscribers across 150 countries as of March 31, 2013. It

is the largest cellular service provider in India, with 183.61 million subscribers as of Nov-


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2012. Airtel is the third largest in-country mobile operator by subscriber base, behind

China Mobile and China Unicom.

Airtel is the largest provider of mobile telephony and second largest provider of

fixed telephony in India, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television

services. It offers Indian telecom services under the airtel brand, and is headed by Sunil

Bharti Mittal. BhartiAirtel is the first Indian telecom service provider to achieve Cisco

gold certification. It also acts as a carrier for national and international long distance

communication services. The company has a submarine cable landing station at Chennai,

which connects the submarine cable connecting Chennai and Singapore.

Airtel is credited with pioneering the business strategy of outsourcing all of its

business operations except marketing, sales and finance and building the minutes

factory model of low cost and high volumes. The strategy has since been copied by

several operators. Its network-base stations, microwave links, etc. is maintained by

Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Network whereas business support is provided by IBM, and

transmission towers are maintained by another company (BhartiInfratel Ltd. in India).

Ericsson agreed for the first time to be paid by the minute for installation and

maintenance of their equipment rather than being paid front, which allowed Airtel to

provide low call rates of Rs.1/min. During the financial year (2009-10), Bharti negotiated

for its strategic partner Alcatel-Lucent to manage the network infrastructure for the tele-

media business. On 31 may 2012, BhartiAirtel awarded the three-year contract to Alcatel-

Lucent for setting up an internet protocol access network across the country. This would

help consumers access internet at faster speed and high quality internet browsing on

mobile handsets.


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Airtel Branding Strategy

Airtel has been the first player in India to offer some niche services like

Blackberry, Caller Tunes, and personalized ringtones and has even attached itself withthe biggest names like Sachin Tendulkar, AR Rahman and Shahrukh Khan to promote the

brand.

Airtel has always backed on human relations and emotions in their brand

communication through its advertisements focusing on the emotional content. The brand

promotions have come a long way with its signature tune composed by AR Rahman in

the year 2002, to the latest campaigns inspired by the theme of friendship.

In the 2010, Airtel launched a new signature tune and it even rebranded its logo

and launched the Dil Jo ChahePaasLaayecampaign. This initiative was taken to

target the corporate and post-paid subscribers with its new communication.

In 2011, the brand launched the HarEk Friend ZarooriHotaHaicampaign

with a same signature tune modified to focus on the youth and targeting itself as The

friendship brand. The campaign was a huge success with its lively tune. Since then,

Airtels campaigns have been inspired by the theme of friendship.

In the year 2012, it launched the latest Ad campaign which complemented the

earlier ad, focusing on friendship Jo MeraHai Who TeraHai, which is again a hit

amongst the viewers and its customers.

Board of Directors:

The Board of Directors of the Company has an optimum mix of Executive and

Non-Executive Directors, which consists of three Executive and fifteen Non-Executive

Directors.


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The Chairman and Managing Director, Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal, is an Executive

Director and the number of Independent Directors on the Board is 50% of the total Board

strength. The independence of a Director is determined on the basis that such director

does not have any material pecuniary relationship with the Company, its promoters or its

management, which may affect the independence of the judgment of a Director.

The Board members possess requisite skills, experience and expertise required to

take decisions, which are in the best interest of the Company.

The composition of the Board is as under:

Sunil Bharti Mittal Akhil Gupta Chua Sock Koong N. Kumar Ajay Lal Craig Ehrlich Pulak Prasad RakeshBharti Mittal Tan Yong Choo Evan Mervyn Davies RajanBharti Mittal

HuiWeng Cheong

NikeshArora Salim Ahmed Salim Tsun-yanHusieh ManojKohli


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ACHIEVEMENTS:

First to launch Cellular service on November 1995. First operator to revolutionaries the concept of retailing with the inauguration of

Airtel Connect (exclusive showrooms) in 1995.

First to introduce push button phone in India. First to expand its network with the installation for second mobile switching

center in April, 1997 and the first to introduce the Intelligent Network Platform

First to provide Roaming to its subscribers by forming an association called

World 1 Network.

First to provide roaming facility in USA. Enjoy the mobile roaming across 38partner networks & above 700 cities Moreover roam across international

destinations in 119 countries including USA, Canada, and UKetc. with 284

partner networks.

BHARTI announces aggrement with VODAFONE marking the entry of theWorld's Largest Telecom Operator into India

Bharti Enterprises and AXA Asia Pacific Holdings Limited announce Partnershipfor a life insurance joint venture in India

Airtel Launches future factory - Centres of Innovation to Incubate PioneeringMobile Applications

16 states, 600 million people. Only India's leading mobile service offers you thetruly 'freedom-packed' Prepaid!

It is also the first company to export its products to the USA.


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Bharti Tele-Ventures:

The businesses at Bharti Tele-Ventures have been structured into three individual

strategic units (SBUs)

1) mobile services2) broadband and telephone services (B&T)3) enterprise services

The Mobile services group provides GSM mobile services across India in 23 telecomcircles, while B&T business group provides broadband & telephone services in 94 cities.

The Enterprise Services group has two sub-units carriers (long distance services) and

services top corporate. All these services are provided under the Airtel brand.

Bharti Enterprises has been at the forefront of technology and has revolutionized

telecommunications with its world class products and services. Established in 1976,

Bharti has been a pioneering force in the telecom sector with many firsts and innovations

to its credit.

Bharti provides a range of telecom services, which include Cellular, Basic,

Internetand recently introduced National Long Distance.Bharti also manufactures and

exports telephone terminals and cordless phones. Apart from being the largest

manufacturer of telephone instruments in India, it is also the first company to export its

products to the USA.

Bharti is the leading cellular service provider, with a footprint in 16 states covering

all four metros. It has over 12 million satisfied customers

- Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Tele-Ventures


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Promoters

The company has a strategic alliance with SingTel. And vodafone is also a 4%

shareholder of Bhartiairtelthe investment made by SingTel is one of the largestinvestments made in the world outside Singapore, in the company. The companys

mobile network equipment partners include Ericsson and Nokia. In the case of the

broadband and telephone services and enterprise services (carriers), equipment suppliers

include Siemens, Nortel, Corning, among others. The Company also has an information

technology alliance with IBM for its group-wide information technology requirements

and with Nortel for call center technology requirements. The call center operations for the

mobile services have been outsourced to IBM Daksh, Hinduja TMT, and

Teletech&Mphasis.


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Vision and Mission:

Vision

By 2015 Airtel will be the most admired brand in India: Loved by more customers Targeted by top talent Benchmarked by more businesses

To build India's finest business conglomerate by 2020 Supporting education of underprivileged children through Bharti Foundation Strategic Intent: To create a conglomerate of the future by bringing about Big Transformations

through Brave Actions.

Mission

We at Airtel always think in fresh and innovative ways about the needs of ourcustomers and how we want them to feel. We deliver what we promise and go out

of our way to delight the customer with a little bit more

We will meet global standards for telecom services that delight customersthrough:

Customer Service Focus Empowered Employees Cost Efficiency Unified Messaging Solutions Innovative products and services Error- free service delivery


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Organization structure

The group has been structured to create functional and operational specialization with a

linear vision of business lines and functional areas.

The Company is headed by Chairman and Group Managing Director- Sunil Bharti

Mittal who is assisted by two Joint Managing Directors- GopalVittal (India) and

ManojKohli (International). An apex team of Corporate Directors has been constituted.

The corporate directors have supervisory and strategic responsibilities for functional

areas across business lines. The directors oversee functional areas including Business

Development, Human Resources, Marketing, Corporate Communication, IT &

Technology, Finance, Legal, Corporate Affairs, Corporate Strategy & Planning and

Supervisory Director cum Chief Mentor - mobility.

The organization structure is designed to ensure that identical businesses are run

along similar lines and best resources in any functional field, be tapped to serve the best

interests of the entire group.The structure also defines the role of the Head of the units

who are totally empowered to manage their respective companies and are

fullyresponsible for business operations to build world-class organizations with a high

degree of customer focus.


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Product Line and Value Chain

Product Line

Airtel Broadband Airtel Landline Airtel 3G Airtel Mobile Airtel Leased Line Airtel Blackberry Airtel IPhone Airtel Money Airtel DTH


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Value Chain

Support Activities

Firm Infrastructure:Tower setup, IT infrastructure, Telecom equipments, networking

stations and equipments, ERP and various software to assist in operations

HR Management:Hiring of IT skilled workforce and telecom operators. Hiring of

customer support personnel and their training program.Expertise in recruiting the retail

staff and quality of their training.Recruiting best in business leaders to take the company

forward.

Input

OperationLicenses

Finance foroperationsand setupofinfrastructure

Setting upNetworkinfrastructure in

collaboration with thirdparty

Softwareand supportrequired tooperate theMobiletelephony

Valueaddedcontentprovidersof likegames,music etc.

Operations

Develop andexpand theinfrastructure

Customizesoftware torequirement

Develop thesim cards

Develop thenetworksubstations

Use theMobileserivesswitchingcenter todivert trafficto mobile orfixed systems

Integratevariousnetwork toachieveeconomies ofscale

Output

BroadBandServices

FixedLineServices

GSMServices

VAS

DTH

Marketing

& Sales Strong SIMdistributionchannel

First moverindevelopingbetterproducts

Introducionof newservices tomatch the

customerpreferences

Innovativeadvertisingcampagins

Sales forcecompensation tied toprofit andnotrevenues

Customerawarenessabout latesttechnology

Services

Coveragearea ofeach airteloutlet

CustomerSupport

Technicalassistancefor broadbandservices

Duplicate

Simavailability

Strongsupplierchannel forrepairableparts

Openingnew outletsin newcircles


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Technology Development:Development of various VAS services. Introduction of

mCheck to enable consumers do mobile commerce. Investing in R & D. Creating and

setting up of 3G network with new licenses coming in.

Procurement:High initial investment required to setup up physical distribution towers

and network stations. Long term contract with third parties are required. Strong Supply

Chain Network is required to enable continuous supply of handsets and SIM cards.

Industry Analysis

Porters 5 force model

The industry structure has become relatively unfavorable compared to earlier

monopolistic times the earlier pattern used to be that the national telecom company used

to own every segment of the value chain till the international gateway. With liberalization

there was competition in virtually every segment. There are companies that provide local

Threat fromCompetition

CustomerBargaining

Power

Threat ofSubstitutes

SupplierBargaining

Power

Threat ofNew

Entrants


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connectivity, those that function as long distance carriers, and those that provide only

gateway links. Some integrated players operate in all segments. The intensity of

competitive pressures across the chain is reflected in the downward spiral being

witnessed in tariffs and prices to customer. The value chain for cellular mobile service

and Internet Service Providers (other than cable based net connections) is similar in as

much as the calls reach the destination through similar local loop, long distance and

international gateway.

Threat from Competition: HIGH

Companies like BSNL, MTNL, Vodafone, TATA, IDEA and Reliance

continuously engage themselves in aggressive marketing and expansion and thus trying

to eat into Bhartis market share.

Threat from Customers: HIGH

All the major telecom operators provide similar services. Customers can switch

easily to another firm. With number portability a reality further gives them power to

dictate. Lower prices are enjoyed by customers due to severe competition.

Threat from Suppliers: LOW

Long term contracts ensure future supply of handsets and SIM cards. High initial

investments by suppliers mean they are dependent on few telecom operators for revenue,

hence low bargaining power for them. These networks till now cannot be put to other

profitable uses. Many companies are present to provide customer support at lowest

prices. Many high end software making companies compete for telecom software

develops thereby pushing the prices of these software low.

Threat from New Entrants: LOW

Huge initial investments and high gestation period. Highly regulated industry and

it is very dynamic in nature. Low spectrum availability and introduction of new strategies

by the existing firms.


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Threat from Substitutes: HIGH

Fixed Line services are on decline. However the internet telephony is catching up

giving telecom operators run for money. Video conferencing, Social Networking

websites and Skype is reducing the need for mobile services. But the use of Broadband,

DTH, services provided by the companies is high and the competition is high among

these.


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Competitive Analysis

Vodafone Essar

Vodafone has given birth to Zoozoo a special character created specifically toconvey a value added service (VAS) offering in each of the newly released

commercials.

Vodafone has come with creative Promoting campaign for its various plans. This strategy has captured the imagination of millions. The strategy is a buzz that lives up to the brand image of great creative and clever

marketing.

In the first 10 days of IPL it has reached a cumulative of 89 million people. Thisis a wonderful strategy adopted by Vodafone.

This has helped the company to raise not only its profits through sales but has alsotremendously increased its brand value.

Vodafone is the main competitor for Airtel with 153 million subscribers. Global giant Vodafone holds a strong position in the Indian telecom market. With

various sponsorships and pan-India network, Vodafone is a big telecom player.

Also, the zoozoo ad campaigns have revitalized the brand and made these

adorable characters as one of the most prominent marketing campaigns ever.


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IDEA CELLULAR

Idea Cellular is a wireless telephony company operating in various states in India.The company has its retail outlets under the "Idea n' U" banner. The company has

also been the first to offer flexible tariff plans for prepaid customers. It also offers

GPRS services in urban areas.

Presently, operations exist in 11 Service Areas covering Delhi, Maharashtra, Goa,Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttaranchal, Haryana,

UP-West, Himachal Pradesh, UP-East, Rajasthan and Kerala.

With a customer base of over 23 million, IDEA Cellular footprint currently coversapproximately 60% of India's telecom population.

A frontrunner in introducing revolutionary tariff plans; IDEA Cellular has thedistinction of offering the most customer friendly and competitive Pre Paid

offerings, for the first time in India in an increasingly segmented market.

Customer Service and Innovation are the drivers of this Cellular Brand. A brandknown for their many firsts, Idea is only operator to launch GPRS and EDGE in

the country. Idea has received international recognition for its path-breaking

innovations when it won the GSM Association Award for "Best Billing and

Customer Care Solution" for 2 consecutive years.

Idea cellular has a market share of 122 million subscribers and one of the mostprominent brands of Indian telecom industry are Idea, with a strong backup of the

Birla group.

Idea cellular has become a market leader in various circles and has also been inthe lime-light through Idea Rocks India concert, KaunBanegaCrorpati and IPL

team Delhi Daredevils.


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Reliance Communications

The business of Reliance Communications is organized into three strategiccustomer facing business units: Wireless, Global, and Broadband. In addition, one

of the wholly owned subsidiaries of Reliance Communications is engaged in the

marketing and distribution of wireless handsets.

Reliance Communications is one of the leading service provider in Indian telecommarket with 123 million subscribers.

Reliance Communications have a network spread over 25000 towns and 0.6 mnvillages, and over 190,000 km of optic fiber cable systems. Apart from telecom,

the company also boasts of Reliance Digital Big TV.


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Tata Teleservices

Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) is part of the Tata Group of Companies, anIndian Conglomerate. It runs the brand nameTata Indicom in India in various

telecom circles of India.

TTSL was the first company to offer CDMA Mobile services in India, specificallyin the state of Madhya Pradesh. Tata is the direct competitor with other operators

in India.

The company provides unified telecommunication solutions including mobile,fixed wireless, fixed line and broadband. Other competitors like Vodafone, Airtel,

Aircel, Idea, MTNL, and BSNL providing GSM based mobile telephony.

The company was first in India to provide free intra network calling within citylimits. They launched a unique scheme providing lifetime rental free connectivity

on its mobile and fixed wireless for a one-time charge.

The telecom services of the Group are offered under the brand name TataIndicom, and cover all segments, from retail and enterprise to wholesale and

international.

Tata Indicom offers you a range of products and services like Wireless Internet,Wireless USB Modem and Mobile Phones so you are always connected.

Landline Phones Net Telephony Internet & Broadband It has partnered withMotorola, Ericsson, Lucent and ECI Telecom for the deployment of a reliable,

technologically advanced network. The company, which heralded convergence

technologies in the Indian telecom sector, is today the market leader in the fixed

wireless telephony market with a total customer base of over 3.8 million.


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BHARAT SANCHAR NIGAM LTD

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited provides telecommunications services in India. Itsservices include wire line and cellular services, as well as other value added

services, such as voice mail service, short message service (SMS), group

messaging, national and international roaming, call forwarding, corporate virtual

private network, call conferencing, friend and family talk, call waiting, and call

holding services.

The company also provides 3G; wireless in local loop (WLL) mobile telephone;Internet; Web-hosting; Web co-location; SMS and bulk SMS; and broadband

services. In addition, it offers managed network services; multi-protocol label

switching based virtual private network (VPN) services; integrated services

digital network (ISDN) services; data communication services; intelligent

network services consisting of toll free phone service, universal access number,

voice VPN, televoting, and virtual calling cards; and video, audio, and Web

conferencing services.

Further, the company provides fleet management solution comprising eTracK, anon-line tracking system to manage fleet, such as trucks, car carriers, trailers,

tankers, containers, or vehicles carrying hazardous and specialty explosive

chemicals; Inet services for use in various applications, including electronic mail

services, corporate communications, information retrieval, database services,

remote job applications, credit card verifications, travel reservations, and Internet

connectivity; telex/telegraph services; PABX/EPABX services; and DSPT

services, as well as offers VSAT, voice over Internet protocol, and IN services.


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Marketing Strategy

Positioning of the Company vs. a vs. Competitors

Purpose of comparison

The sub main purpose of this report is to compare the marketing strategiesadopted by Bharti Airtel and its rival Vodafone.

The comparison shows how both of the companies have been challenging eachother to gain market share.

Why comparison with Vodafone

Airtel is the leader in telecommunication sector. Airtel holds the lion share of market of communication sector. However, Vodafone has been giving tough competition to Airtel. Vodafone is the second largest player and shareholder in telecom sector. Since its launch Vodafone has been adopting aggressive marketing strategies.

Brand positioning by Airtel

Market segmentation

geographical segment (metropolitans & cities India) demographical segment middle income groups People age group of 20 28 years.

Target marketing People who living in cities and towns. Poor or middle income group people. Youngsters in big cities. Businessmen


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Positioning

Creating brands (Sharukh khan &SachinTendulkar) Ads and promotions Promotion for study of poor childrens

Marketing mix Price: low price strategy Place: maximum outlets and service centers Product: verities available for various groups Promotion: various schemes for pre-paid and post-paid.

Vodafone:

Vodafone target the rural India The main targeted customers of Vodafone are

from rural India. By offering cheap and light mobile sets Vodafone attracts most of the

customers of small villages and towns. Offering cheap handsets Vodafone offers cheap

and free connections to all customers. The cost for these sets was Rs-799-849-1099 per

set and onward. In every district and big towns Vodafone opens its service centers to

provide better support and services.

Strong logistics and supply chain Vodafone has a strong logistic and supply all

over India. In every small town the potential customers can easily purchase the Vodafone

SIM & Sets. Targeting youngsters in metropolitans Vodafone attracts youngsters by

offering colorful handset at very low prices.

Brand Positioning By Vodafone

Market segmentation

Geographical segment (rural India) Demographic segment - middle income groups


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Target marketing

People living in small towns and villages. Poor and middle income groups. Youngsters in big cities. Businessmen

Positioning

Creating brands Ads and promotions

Marketing mix

Price : low price strategy Place : maximum outlets and service centers Product : verities available for various groups Promotion: various schemes for pre-paid and post-paid


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SWOT Analysis

Strengths

BhartiAirtel has more than 183.61 million subscribers as of Mar13. It is thelargest cellular provider in India, and also supplies broadband and telephone

services - as well as many other telecommunications services to both domestic

and corporate customers.

Other stakeholders in BhartiAirtel include Sony-Ericsson, Nokia - and Sing Tel,with whom they hold a strategic alliance. This means that the business has access

to knowledge and technology from other parts of the telecommunications world.

The company has covered the entire Indian nation with its network. This hasunderpinned its large and rising customer base.

Airtel offers the most expansive roaming network. Letting you roam anywhere inIndia with its Pan-India presence, and trot across the globe with International

Roaming spread in over 240 networks. The mobile services group provides GSM

mobile services across India in 23 telecom circles, while the B&T business group

provides broadband & telephone services in 92 cities.

Airtel, the monopoly breaker shattered the Telecom monopoly in the InternationalLong Distance space with the launch of International Submarine cable Network

i2i jointly with Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. in the year 2002. This has

brought a huge value to the IPLC customers, delivering them an option besides

the incumbent carrier, to connect to the outside world.


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Weaknesses

An often cited original weakness is that when the business was started by SunilBharti Mittal over 15 years ago, the business has little knowledge and experience

of how a cellular telephone system actually worked. So the start-up business had

to outsource to industry experts in the field.

Until recently Airtel did not own its own towers, which was a particular strengthof some of its competitors such as Hutchison Essar. Towers are important if your

company wishes to provide wide coverage nationally.

The fact that the Airtel has not pulled off a deal with South Africa's MTN couldsignal the lack of any real emerging market investment opportunity for the

business once the Indian market has become mature.

Airtel has tough competition from the operators like BSNL and MTNL as thesetwo operators are offering services at a low rate.

Although Airtel have strong Presence throughout the country but still they are faraway from the Indian rural part and generally this part is covered by BSNL so

indirectly Airtel is losing revenue from the rural sector.


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Opportunities

The company possesses a customized version of the Google search engine whichwill enhance broadband services to customers. The tie-up with Google can onlyenhance the Airtel brand, and also provides Promoting opportunities in Indian for

Google.

Global telecommunications and new technology brands see Airtel as a keystrategic player in the Indian market. The new iPhone will be launched in India

via an Airtel distributorship. Another strategic partnership is held with

BlackBerry Wireless Solutions.

Despite being forced to outsource much of its technical operations in the earlydays, this allowed Airtel to work from its own blank sheet of paper, and to

question industry approaches and practices - for example replacing the Revenue-

Per-Customer model with a Revenue-Per-Minute model which is better suited to

India, as the company moved into small and remote villages and towns.

The company is investing in its operation in 120,000 to 160,000 small villagesevery year. It sees that less well-off consumers may only be able to afford a few

tens of Rupees per call, and also so that the business benefits are scalable - using

its 'Matchbox' strategy.

BhartiAirtel is embarking on another joint venture with Vodafone Essar and IdeaCellular to create a new independent tower company called Indus Towers. This

new business will control more than 60% of India's network towers. IPTV is

another potential new service that could underpin the company's long-term

strategy.


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Threats

Airtel and Vodafone seem to be having an on/off relationship. Vodafone whichowned a 5.6% stake in the Airtel business sold it back to Airtel, and insteadinvested in its rival Hutchison Essar. Knowledge and technology previously

available to Airtel now moves into the hands of one of its competitors.

The quickly changing pace of the global telecommunications industry could temptAirtel to go along the acquisition trail which may make it vulnerable if the world

goes into recession. Perhaps this was an impact upon the decision not to proceed

with talks about the potential purchase of South Africa's MTN in May 2008. This

opened the door for talks between Reliance Communication's Anil Ambani and

MTN, allowing a competing Indian industrialist to invest in the new emerging

African telecommunications market.

Bharti Airtel could also be the target for the takeover vision of other globaltelecommunications players that wish to move into the Indian market.


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About Project:

The purpose of this project is to know about the Promotional strategies followed

by Airtel Company in order to aware the customers and the consumers about the

availability of the different products of the company in the market and also to increase

the sale of the products likewise the reputation of the company.

Airtel is the most leading and admired brand in india.

The split between various telecom operators, in terms of active connection

Active Connection Base

The Active connection data represents peak VLR (Visitor Location Register) data for the

month. Some stats:

- There were 738.86 million active connection in the month of September.

- Idea has 97.19% of its connections active the maximum among all the operators.- Vodafone has the second highest active connection baseof 95.71%, followed

by Airtel at 95.26%.

In terms of the number of active connections, Airtel leads with 184.22 millionconnections followed by Vodafone at 148.87 million connections.


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PROMOTING:

As a business begins, one of the major goals of Promoting must be to generate

awareness of the business and its products. Once the business' reputation is establishedand its products are positioned within the market, the amount of resources used for

Promoting will decrease as the consumer develops a kind of loyalty to the product.

Ideally, this established and ever-growing consumer base will eventually aid the company

in its efforts to carry their Promoting message out into the market, both through its

purchasing actions and its testimonials on behalf of the product or service.

Essential to this rather abstract process is the development of a "positioning

statement," as defined by Gerald E. Hills in "Marketing Option and Marketing" in The

Portable MBA in Entrepreneurship: "A 'positioning statement' explains how a company's

product (or service) is differentiated from those of key competitors." With this statement,

the business owner turns intellectual objectives into concrete plans. In addition, this

statement acts as the foundation for the development of a selling proposal, which is

composed of the elements that will make up the Promoting message's "copy platform."

This platform delineates the images, copy, and art work that the business owner believes

will sell the product.

With these concrete objectives, the following elements of the Promotional

strategy need to be considered: target audience, product concept, communication media,

and promoting message. These elements are at the core of an Promotional strategy, and

are often referred to as the "creative mix." Again, what most advertisers stress from the

beginning is clear planning and flexibility. And key to these aims is creativity, and the

ability to adapt to new market trends. A rigid Promotional strategy often leads to a loss of

market share. Therefore, the core elements of the Promotional strategy need to mix in a

way that allows the message to envelope the target consumer, providing ample

opportunity for this consumer to become acquainted with the Promoting message.


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The target consumer is a complex combination of persons. It includes the person

who ultimately buys the product, as well as those who decide what product will be

bought (but don't physically buy it), and those who influence product purchases, such as

children, spouse, and friends.

IMPORTANCE OF PROMOTING:

The purpose of Promoting is motivating but to sell something a product, a service or

an AIRTEL. The real objective of Promoting is effective communication between

producers and consumers. In other words the ultimate purpose all Promoting is

Increased awareness list of the following specific objectives of Promoting.

To make on immediate AIRTEL

To build primary demand

To introduce a price deal

To inform about a products availability To increase market share

To help salesman by building on awareness of a product among retailers

To increase the frequency use of a product

To build overall company image

To build brand recognition


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Airtel has been the first player in India to offer some niche services like

Blackberry, Caller Tunes, and personalized ringtones and has even attached itself with

the biggest names like Sachin Tendulkar, AR Rahman and Shahrukh Khan to promote the

brand.

Airtel has always backed on human relations and emotions in their brand

communication through its advertisements focusing on the emotional content. The brand

promotions have come a long way with its signature tune composed by AR Rahman in

the year 2002, to the latest campaigns inspired by the theme of friendship.

In the 2010, Airtel launched a new signature tune and it even rebranded its logo

and launched the Dil Jo ChahePaasLaayecampaign. This initiative was taken to

target the corporate and post-paid subscribers with its new communication.

In 2011, the brand launched the HarEk Friend ZarooriHotaHaicampaign

with a same signature tune modified to focus on the youth and targeting itself as The

friendship brand. The campaign was a huge success with its lively tune. Since then,

Airtels campaigns have been inspired by the theme of friendship.

In the year 2012, it launched the latest Ad campaign which complemented the earlier ad,

focusing on friendship Jo MeraHai Who TeraHai, which is again a hit amongst the

viewers and its customers.


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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Problem Definition:

Need for the study:

All companies need promotion for their business at some point or another.

Whether its word of mouth or a Television ad more than likely you will find any

number of companies Promoting.

The more effective an Promoting campaign, the more the customers it draws,

and with greater frequency. Strategies are necessary for any organization in

Promoting department of the company as its plays a vital role in todays global

competition. It is of great importance for any company to understand their

Promotional strategy. To asses that, the study has been undertaken.

Objectives of the study:

To know the Promotional Strategies of Airtel Cellular service. To find out the awareness level of customers about Airtel promotional activities. To understand customers expectations from the organization.

Period of the study:

The study has been under taken during the period of October 12 2013 to

November 30 2013.

Approach to the Problem:

My approach to the problem is in the form of a questionnaire. The study is only

restricted to the Jabalpur and is carried for the period of 2 months with 100 respondents.


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Limitations:

Duration of time is limited for the project work. The results derived may not be appropriate due to less sample size.

SOURCE OF DATA:

Primary Data:

The primary data is collected through a well-structured questionnaire. The

questionnaires are distributed among 100 people and their views are recorded.

Secondary Data:

Secondary data means the information already available. Secondary data is

collected from newspapers, websites and company journals.

Sampling Techniques

QUESTIONNAIRE:

A Questionnaire is carefully completed logical sequence of question directed to

a define objective. It is the outline of what information is required and the framework

on which the data is built upon. Questionnaire is son commonly used in securing

market information that its preparation deserves utmost skill and care.

FORMS OF QUESTIONS:

OPEN ENDED QUESTIONS:

They are descriptive in nature. Respondents are allowed to answer in their own

words. Such questions buying the actual opinion of the respondent regarding a product


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CLOSED ENDED QUESTIONS:

They are not descriptive in nature. They will be given certain choices and the respondents

have to choose choice among them. They make analysis easy but sometimes they restrict the

respondents choices.


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2. What feature of AIRTEL forced you to use it?

INFERENCE:

46% of the respondents are forced to use schemes provided by airtel, 29% are more

attracted by airtel advertisements to use airtel,20% of the people believe that airtel good

will,10% like to use because of connectivity

29%

10%

46%

20%

Features forced to use airtel

Advertisement

Connectivity

Schemes

Goodwill

Features forced to use airtel Respondents Percentage

Advertisement 29 29%

Connectivity 10 10%

Schemes 46 46%

Goodwill 20 20%


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3. What is your first choice of cellular service when you want to use mobile phone?

INFERENCE:

Most of the people say that when they wont to use mobile phone their first choice of

cellular service is airtel that is 40%,15% of people choice Vodafone,6% use idea, 2% use

aircel,8% use reliance, 3% use tataindicom,13% use docomo,10% use bsnl,1% use

uninor and 2% like to use mts.

40%

15%6%

2%

8%

3%

13%

10%

1%2%

FIRST CHOICE OF CELLULAR

Airtel

Vodafone

Idea

Aircel

Reliance

Tata indicom

Docomo

Bsnl

Uninior

First choice of cellular Respondents Percentage

Airtel 40 40%

Vodafone 15 15%

Idea 6 6%

Aircel 2 2%

Reliance 8 8%

Tata indicom 3 3%

Docomo 13 13%

BSNL 10 10%

Uninior 1 1%

MTS 2 2%


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4. Which was your previous telecom service?

INFERENCE:

Most of the people say that their previous cellular service is BSNL that is 20%,18% of

people previous choice Vodafone,12% use idea, 4% use aircel,8% use reliance, 4% use

tataindicom,5% use docomo,20% use airtel, 2% use uninor and 2% like to use MTS.

20%

18%

12%4%8%

4%

5%

25%

2%2%

previous telecom service

Airtel

Vodafone

Idea

Aircel

Reliance

Tata indicom

Docomo

Bsnl

Uninior

Previous telecom service Respondents Percentage

Airtel 20 20%

Vodafone 18 18%

Idea 12 12%

Aircel 4 4%

Reliance 8 8%

Tata indicom 4 4%

Docomo 5 5%

BSNL 25 25%

Uninior 2 2%

MTS 2 2%


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5. Which feature of airtel is better than your previous cellular service?

INFERENCE:

37% of the people say that advertisements are better than their previous cellular

service,19% says connectivity good in airtel than previous one and 44% of people says

schemes are more in airtel.

37%

19%

44%

Advertisement

Connectivity

Schemes

FEATURES Respondents Percentage

Advertisement 37 37%

Connectivity 19 19%

Schemes 44 44%


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6. Airtel users in your phone book.

INFERENCE:

People says that in their phone book 36% of less than30% airtel users are there, between

30% to 70% airtel users there in 49% of people phone books and more than 70% of

airtel users there in 15% of people phone books.

36%

49%

15%

airtel users in your phone book

Less than 30%

30%-70%

More than 70%

Airtel users In phonebook Respondents Percentage

Less than 30% 36 36%

30%-70% 49 49%

More than 70% 15 15%


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7. Type of advertisements you prefer for promoting telecom services?

INFERENCE:

49% of respondents are like advertisement through television in telecom service,27% of

the people like newspapers adds,11% are like magazines,8% are like wall printings and

5% are like radio.

49%

5%

27%

11%8%

prefer of promotion

Television

Radio

News paper

Magazines

Wall printing

Type of advertisements

prefer to promoting telecom

services

Respondents percentage

Television 49 49%

Radio 5 5%

News paper 27 27%

Magazines 11 11%

Wall printing 8 8%


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8. Type of advertisement mostly like by people in airtel is?

INFERENCE:

In airtel people mostly like audio visual advertisements that is 63%, 19% like print

media and 13% are like audio only.

63%

19%

13%

most you liked in airtel adds

Audio visual

Print

Audio

Most liked advertisement in

airtel

Respondents percentage

Audio visual 63 63%

Print 19 19%

Audio 13 13%


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10. Will you take benefits of schemes offered by AIRTEL?

INFERENCE:

58% of people are enjoyed schemas offered by airtel,12% of people are not

take benefits offered by airtel and 28%cant say about that.

58%11%

28%

0

YES

NO

Cant say

Opinion Respondents Percentage

YES 58 58%

NO 11 11%

Cant say 28 28%


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10.What option of AIRTEL do you like from the following?

INFERENCE:

The combination of nokia and airtel is like most of the people that 46%,airtel magic like

21%,postpaid services like 9% and 22% like airtel broadband.

46%

21%

9%

22%

which one you like

NOKIA+AIRTEL

AIRTEL MAGIC

POSTPAID SERVICES

AIRTEL Broadband

Option Respondents Percentage

NOKIA+AIRTEL 46 46%

AIRTEL MAGIC 21 21%

POSTPAID SERVICES 9 9%

AIRTEL Broadband 22 22%


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11.Do you wish to participate in contests offered by airtel?

INFERENCE:

Most of the people are not to participate in contests offered by airtel that

is 61% and 39 of the people are like to participate in contests offered by airtel.

39%

61%

participate in contests

Yes

No

Willingness Respondents Percentage

Yes 39 39%

No 61 61%


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12.Type of recharge options that you like?

INFERENCE:

Most of the people like to use more talk time and more validity recharge options that

73%,16% they like to use more validity recharge options and 11% like to use more talk

time recharge options.

16%

11%

73%

Recharge options that you like

More talk time

More validity

Both

Recharge Options Respondents Percentage

More talk time 16 16%

More validity 11 11%

Both 73 73%


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FINDINGS

1. 55% of respondents come to know about airtel through advertisements, followedby 34% through friends and 11% through other sources, like parents, colleaguesand relatives.

2. 46% of respondents are interested in nokia+airtel, 22% like Airtel broadbandservices, 21% preferred airtel magic and 9% preferred postpaid services.

3. 63% of respondents mostly like audio visual in Airtel advertisements followed19% like print media and 13% like audio.

4. 16% of respondents like more talk time and 11% like more validity.73% ofrespondents like both.

5. 46% of the respondents are forced to use schemes provided by airtel, 29% are moreattracted by airtel advertisements to use airtel,20% of the people believe that airtel

good will,10% like to use because of connectivity

6. First choice of cellular service is airtel that is 40%,15% of people choice Vodafone,6%use idea, 2% use aircel,8% use reliance, 3% use tataindicom,13% use docomo,10% use

bsnl,1% use uninor and 2% like to use mts.

7. 37% of the people say that advertisements are better than their previous cellularservice,19% says connectivity good in airtel than previous one and 44% of

people says schemes are more in airtel.

8. 49% of respondents are like advertisement through television in telecomservice,27% of the people like newspapers adds,11% are like magazines,8% are

like wall printings and 5% are like radio.

9. In airtel people mostly like audio visual advertisements that is 63%, 19% likeprint media and 13% are like audio only.

10.Airtel is most concerned about customers, followed by Vodafone, Idea, BSNL,Reliance, Docomo, Tata Indicom, Uninor, Aircel and MTS.


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RECOMONDATIONS:

1. AIRTEL is successful in grabbing the highest market share in India, but there arestill some recommendations from my study point of view is that AIRTEL haveto increase their advertisements through print media.

2. AIRTEL not providing more talk time and more validity recharge options. Irecommend that they have to provide that type of recharge options.

3. People are showing more interest to buy nokia+airtel combination. I suggest thatAirtel have to concentrate on this combination.

4. The company is not concentrating on other types of Promoting media.5. Network should be expanding to rural villages.6. The company should conduct road shows so as to get awareness in the public

about the product and services.

7. First of all company should provide all its dealers and retailers all sort ofpromotion equipment such as glow sign board, banner, pumplates etc. in time so

that they increase their sales which is benefited both retailer as well as company.

8. Number of hoarding should be increased.9. To increase the consumer as on network, company should make change in its

FRC plan for example the talk value should be divided in two parts. 50% of talk

value should provide at the time of activation and rest T.T. provide after gap of

some days.

10.Company should give extra return and other bonus, gifts to its retailers so theyput their full efforts to increase the Airtel sales.

11.Company should motivate its sales staff so they will pay more concentration insales and activation of new connections.


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CONCLUSION:

The conclusion of my study is that AIRTELs Promoting has a major impact on its

users. People like its schemes very much .AIRTEL had created a very good image on the

mind of the new users of cellular service. AIRTEL has adopted a very good strategy by

providing a new connection with NOKIA who is market leader in mobile set, many new

users buy Nokia sets and they get a free connection of AIRTEL. AIRTEL is successful in

capturing the highest market share by adopting Celebrity Endorsement Strategy. A.R.

Rehmaans tune for AIRTEL worked as free Promoting for AIRTEL as another service

user uses it too. Other celebrities like Shahrukh Khan (Bollywood) and Sachin Tendulkar

(Cricket) has also contributed very much in AIRTEL.

Everything in this world is made to utilize properly but it should be reach at the proper

person or to the proper utilized areas. Otherwise the value added to those things became

in vein.

Thus promotion role plays a very important role in achieving the objectives of a

company. Un doubly, value utility is created by the manufacture of product or service but

time and place utilities are created by marketing role.

The various finding and befitting recommendation have been made to increase the market

share of each product (postpaid, prepaid) of Airtel thereby increasing the market share of

Airtel as a whole. Various facts and data have been enclosed for better perusal and

various graphs have been provided for better comprehension.

Sales Promotion techniques yield results that many other marketing communication

elements cannot achieve.

Sales promotion that is used in with the overall long-turn communication strategy of the

brand is said to use strategically. A promotion should not be used for the sole purpose of

altering sales in the short run.


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Sales promotion is used as a very strategic tool to introduce a new product. Although

Promoting plays a large role towards creating awareness and attitude information, sales

promotion used to make new product launch easier and more effective.


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7) Type of advertisement you prefer for promoting telecom service?A) Television B) Radio C) News Paper D) Magazines

E) Wall Painting

8) Type of advertisement mostly like by people in AIRTEL is?A) Audio Visual B) Print C) Audio

9) Which celebrity of AIRTEL does you like the most?A) Sachin Tendulkar B) Sharukh C) Kareena D)A. R. Rehman

10) Will you take benefits of schemes offered by AIRTEL?

A) YES B) NO C) CANT SAY

11) What options of AIRTEL do you like from the following?

A) NOKIA + AIRTEL B) AIRTEL MAGIC C) Postpaid services

D) AIRTEL Broadband

12) Do you wish to participate in contests offered by AIRTEL like BID TO WIN?

A) YES B) NO

13) Type of recharge options that you like?

A) More talk time B) More validity C) Both

astudyonpromotioal strategiesofbharathiairtelhyderadad

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