Change In Pattern Of Advertising Of Cellular Service Providers

Submitted To: Prof. Garima Sharda

Submitted By: Bhavesh Vadukul Manank Turakhia Rakesh Vala Vishal Zalavadiya

Definition of advertising Advertising is a form of communication intended to persuade an audience (viewers, readers and listeners) to purchase or to take some action upon products, ideas or services. Objective Our objective is to study the change in the advertising pattern/strategy of cellular service providers in India during the past decade.

Scope
Our scope is to study the top three cellular service providers: Vodafone Airtel Idea Our scope of research is based on exclusive library findings which includes Books, Internet, Articles, Newspapers and Magazines.

Growth of Telecom industry in India

The Indian Telecom sector is third largest network in the world. Subscriber numbers already crossed 250 million. Average growth rate of over 40% in respect of subscribers.

(Source: TRAI Report 2006-07)

Players In The Market

2010 MARKET SHARE

(Source: DoT)

Vodafone
Vodafone itself was formed in 1982 and was launched on 1 January 1985. Vodafone name being derived from the firm's goal of establishing a voice and data services over cellular telecommunication networks. Hence VO represents voice and DA symbolizes data. In 1997 Vodafone introduced its new corporate Speech mark logo. Vodafone entered India in December 2005 Successfully rebranded 'Hutch' as 'Vodafone in 2007. Rebranding included Change is good... Baseline - Hutch is now Vodafone.

Cont
Pink is now red as Hutch is Vodafone in India from September 21, 2007 Pug taken over from Hutch, was the lucky charm for Vodafone. IPL 2008 had Vodafone going in Pug for its Happy to Help service.

Cont.
Essar employs more than 50,000 people across offices in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. The total is Vodafone Essar = 106,347,368 subscribers i.e. 23.94% of the total 444,295,711 subscribers which was 17.6% during 2008

Changing pattern

Introduction of ZooZoo
Advertisement characters promoted by Vodafone during the India Premier League Season 2 (IPL). Campaign to communicate the VAS offered by the company. The ads were created by Ogilvy & Mather, an agency under Executive Creative Director, Rajiv Rao, South Asia.

Strength
Was representation of a common man depicted as a cartoon character ZOOZOO Wide media coverage, more precisely through video Easy and cheap animation leading to low production cost No celebrity endorser - No associated risks and costs

Weekness
Had an undermining effect on the brand Vodafone Difficulty in understanding faced by rural population

Opportunities

Threats
A major intimidation to the brand VODAFONE Ads could get lost in major marketing war during IPL

Revolution in the conventional way of advertising that was through public figures and celebrities Low advertising cost leading to provision of cheaper services IPL Season 2 expected to have good TRPs Huge Market.

Value Added Services

Magic Box Stock Alerts International Roaming Bhakti Saagar Dating Tips Voice SMS Fashion Tips Recharge Anywhere Ringtone Group SMS Call Divert Beauty Tips Phone Backup IPL commentary Cricket Alerts IPL contests Chotta Credit Maps Live Live Games Musical greetings Background Music Exam Results

Number of subscribers of Vodafone

VODAFONE
120

100

80

60 No. Of Subscribers (In Millions) 40

20

0 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Success
Some Number Crunching Vodafone reports on at end of Q1 FY10 : Vodafone India added 7.68 million subscribers in the quarter. ZooZoo advertisements helped Vodafone to increase its customer base by 3.8% in Q1. Vodafone reported an increase of 23 percent in revenue at constant exchange rates

Advertising through internet

Internet What kind of Zoozoo are you? Downloadable Ringtones, wallpapers, screensavers and videos Facebook aimed at building a community ZooZoos dominated social networking sites. Videos had 3million hits in 3 weeks. Most watched viral video for 2 weeks on Youtube and Twitter.

Advertising budget
Vodafone spends around Rs 200 Cr as an advertising Budget . Heavy spend on commercials i.e. 65% . The Two iconic characters Vodafone Puppy & Zoozoo series has generated a firm Brand Image. The recent sponsored event in colors Big Boss by Vodafone.

Bharti Airtel
Bharti Airtel Limited is an Indian company offering telcommunication services in 19 countries. Bharti Airtel is the world's third largest, singlecountry mobile operator and fifth largest telecom operator in the world with a subscriber base of over 180 million. It offers its telecom services under the Airtel brand and is headed by Sunil Bharti Mittal.

Evolution of advertising
A.R.Rahman became Airtels brand ambassador in 2002. The brand campaign for Airtel in 2002 featuring AR Rahman was the first time he had appeared in a television commercial. When Rahman composed the tune, Airtel has 2 million customers. Today Airtel has over 90 million customers and the Airtel signature tune composed by A R Rahman is worlds most downloaded piece of mobile music in the world with over 60 million downloads.

Cont.
Actors Madhavan and Vidya Balan impressed everyone in Airtel advertisement. An emotional connect was made with the viewers through this advertisement. The main highlight of these ads was pyaar mein kabhi duriyan nahi aani chahiye

Cont.
Sharman Joshi brought along an all new aspect to the advertisements in Airtel. The ads concentrated on the mentality of people by targeting their emotions. At the same time, it concentrated on highlighting the Value Added Services by the service provider. The main highlight of these ads were Baat karne se hi baat banti he.

AirTel: Appropriating the value of 'expression'

Expressing and communicating are perhaps two of the most basic emotions. The campaign is towards owning this through 'Expressyourself. Hence, all Airtel commercials are a blend of emotions and benefits.

Number of subscribers of Airtel

AIRTEL
160 140

120

100

80

No. Of Subscribers (In Millions)

60

40

20

0 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

SWOT Analysis
Strength
Largest Telecom Player in India, 22.6% Strategic Alliance with other stakeholders in Bharti Airtel include SonyEricsson, Nokia - and Sing Tel Pan India Presence Strong Financials Weekness Opportunities Bharti Infratel Cutting Down cost in Rural area Match Box Strategy Scale of Penetration Current TeleDensity 30.6 is still low among developing countries Low Broadband Penetration, Rural Telephoney Threats

Outsourcing of Core Systems Lack of emerging market investment opportunity

India centric Major revenues from India Falling ARPU Intense Competition & Shortage of Bandwidth

!dea Cellular
!dea Cellular is a company (wireless telephony) that operates in around 22 telecom circles in India. In 1995 it came into existence. !dea Cellular is India's 3rd largest national mobile operator by revenue, with over 74 million subscribers. !dea Cellular is an Aditya Birla Group Company, India's first truly multinational corporation.

ADVERTISING STRATEGY OF !DEA

Up to 2005 the commercials of !dea mainly concentrated on network availability. Then with the changing pattern of advertising its focus shifted from network provider to social cause. !dea hired Abhishek Bacchan as its brand ambassador. Since then in all the !dea campaigns Bachchan plays the spokesperson who gives an !dea to solve a complex problem with surprisingly simple solution, through the power of mobile telephony.

Cont.
The recent commercials of Idea featuring Abhishek Bacchan talks about different social causes like: Intercultural unity Healthy life style Save trees Language

Number of subscribers of Idea

IDEA
80 70

60

50

40 No. Of Subscribers (In Millions)

30

20

10

0 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

SWOT Analysis:
STRENGTH

Reputation of the brand

Increase in Profit margin with high rate Market share Advertising and promotion in Idea WEAKNESS Low coverage in India Market leader only in North India No Broadband service OPPORTUNITY

Increasing number of cellular phones Starting of 3G services Idea joined IBM to integrate some IT work

THREAT Decline of ARPU

New Players Promotional prices

Brand name of other companies

SUBSCRIBERS GROWTH
160 149 140 120 100 88 80 60 48 40 20 0 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 35 20 7.35 37.2 31 14 75 58 63 66.7 106 IDEA VODAFONE AIRTEL

40

Source : Annual reports of Companies

Conclusion
Hence all the players have shown their advertisements with their offer of services. At the end of the day it is all about retaining customers and building brand. As said "Customer is the King of the Market" is the concept the players are now working. They are working on their offers to keep the customer happy with their services. It is all about to tap the market with their offers.

Th@nK YoU