GOURAB KUNDU

MARKETING MANAGEMENT GROUP PROJECT 3

FMG XVIII A
FORE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
Kaun Banega Crorepati has become a phenomenon in India. The show brought a paradigm shift in
the manner in which Indian Television operates. The same can be said with Indian Idol, the first of its
kind reality show in India that
gave an ordinary Indian
the chance to taste instant
stardom. You might be
wondering as to what is the
connection between the
two. Well, it is Airtel. It
was the leading sponsor of
both these stalwarts. But
the business acumen of
Airtel is reflected by the fact
that it did not stay as just a
„sponsor‟ like many of the
others. It created cohesion
of the brands. It was much
more than a strategic
alliance. Since 2004, when
Kaun Banega Crorepati was
launched, three seasons have been aired. Airtel has been a lead sponsor for all seasons. The Airtel
subscribers were given a special chance to directly enter KBC. In fact participation to the show was
only restricted to the Airtel subscribers and BSNL/MTNL landline users for the first couple of seasons.
With Indian Idol, the Airtel subscribers got an exclusive chance to enter the show.

 About Airtel
Airtel comes to you from Bharti India Limited, India‟s largest integrated and the first private
telecom services provider with a footprint in all the 23 telecom circles. Bharti Airtel since its
inception has been at the forefront of technology and has steered the
course of the telecom sector in the country with its world class products
and services.

The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been structured into three

individual strategic business units (SBU‟s) - Mobile Services, Airtel
Telemedia Services & Enterprise Services.

The mobile business provides mobile & fixed wireless services using GSM technology across 23 telecom
circles while the Airtel Telemedia Services business offers broadband & telephone services in 95 cities
and has recently launched India's best Direct-to-Home (DTH) service, Airtel digital TV. The Enterprise
services provide end-to-end telecom solutions to corporate customers and national & international
long distance services to carriers. All these services are provided under the Airtel brand.
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  The Communication Campaign: Airtel
Airtel is undoubtedly a pioneer in the various communication campaigns that it employs to market
its products. Bharti Airtel is the number one telecom operator in India and pledges best quality service
to all its customers. The company is a market leader and
hence, is an innovator to the hilt. It has employed various
communication campaigns to highlight the unique
offerings from its stable. To think of it, we all accustomed
to the entourage of advertisements of Airtel both in the
print and television media. But the company does not
stop there. It has really done wonders to itself by foraying
into the other not so hackneyed forms of communication.
Pause for a while and think over it… how many of us
have sat through a cricket match without seeing the
Airtel Logo as a sponsor in some or the other respect. The
publicity hoarding alongside shows the acknowledgement
of Indian Idol and Kaun Banega Crorepati for the success
of Airtel.

 Express Yourself
When communicating a brand is being discussed, what
can be more indicative than the tag line of the brand?
“Express Yourself” epitomizes communication hence, is
able to establish an instant connect with the audience at
large. The clarity in communication is striking. Airtel is a
mobile telecommunications provider. Hence, it has to
encourage people to talk.

 Communication Campaign Tools

Airtel uses an array of communication tools to bring its products to the forefront. Being a service
industry quality of service is of paramount importance and Airtel seeks to reinstate its pledge towards
giving the best to its customers. Though Airtel has the breakthrough technologies and modern
amenities; it prefers to communicate on the various
features of its products. All the modes employed have
a strong undercurrent of “Indianness”. Perhaps, this
makes Airtel stand a league apart from competition.
Every advertisement seeks to establish an emotional
connect with the audiences.

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The various communication campaign tools employed by Airtel are enlisted as below:

Advertising:
Airtel spends Crores of rupees every year in advertisements in all avenues of mass communication.
While radio happens to be the cheapest means of mass communication, the most widely preferred
mode is that of television. Though advertising on Television via commercials is the costliest prospect
among all the modes of communication. Print media is also used by Airtel to aggressively advertise its
products/offerings. Advertisements serve a dual purpose for the company. Namely:
It creates Pervasiveness, allows Airtel to be in
the eyes of the audience all the time. Even
though the audience is not obligated to pay
heed to the advertisements, the high
creativity quotient of the Airtel Ads makes it
virtually impossible for the audience to turn a
blind eye to them. Various market experts
have rated the Airtel ads very highly.
It also amplifies the message that Airtel wants
to send to the audiences. The Ads are very
high on the use of imagery and music. In fact
the catch tune of Airtel is among the most
recallable tunes in India. The genius of the Oscar winning music director A. R. Rahman is the man
behind the catchy tune.
Advertisements either induce the customer to go for the product immediately or help retaining the
brand name in the customer‟s mind which would help in taking decision when a time comes to choose
the product. Airtel is amazing when it comes to ads. Airtel advertises more on its brand and its values
than its products and services. Most ads just establish the value and beliefs of Airtel than establishing
its services like mobile, telephone, or broadband. The trust factor of Airtel amplifies greatly with the
caliber of its brand ambassadors. The likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Shah Rukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan,
Kareena Kapoor, Vidya Balan, A R Rahman have all been brand ambassadors of Airtel at some point
or the other.
One of the key reasons for the lasting impact of the Airtel ads is the reinvention of the content
displayed. The recent campaign of “Barriers Break When People Talk” having the portrayal of two
separate instances, One between a newly
married husband and wife (played by
Abhay Deol and Raima Sen) second
between a father and a son (played by
Sreyas Talpade) have surely made a lasting
emotional effect in the minds of the
audiences. The romantic advertisements
between Vidya Balan and Madhavan have
won accolades all over. Essentially the
theme of all the advertisements is to
establish a connect with the audience and
thereby with the present and the
prospective service users.

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Public Relations and Publicity:
With the increase in competition, the stake of credibility of any company is the highest. It is even more
important in the case of the service Industry. A
few write-ups by some renowned newspapers
and magazines for or against a company can
drastically influence the brand equity of that
company. As established by now, Airtel is a
maverick of sorts in product communication.
It has most definitely made great inroads into
the avenues of Public relations and Publicity.

PR serves a three way objective for Airtel. It

helps in increasing the credibility of Airtel as a
brand. It also creates a certain sense of aura
around the Airtel products, clearly underlining
the fact that they are a cut above the rest. PR
is a potent communications tool to catch some
buyers off-guard who have an aversion in trusting
the credibility of the Television Commercials. Some of the key PR and publicity planks employed by
Airtel are as follows: The tagline of Airtel, „Express Yourself‟ is extremely well portrayed in all its
campaigns. The recent collection of articles that Saif Ali Khan wrote in the Times of India for a week
or so to essentially promote Airtel Digital TV was highly innovative and grabbed many eyeballs.

Sales Promotion:
Companies generally use sales promotion tools to draw a stronger, quicker audience response to the
products. The objective of this mode of communication is primarily to enhance the communication
between the audiences/customers and the company so that the prospect of future customers is
maximized.
Sales promotion also acts a source of
incentive to all prospective customers to try
the product. It also passes a passive
invitation to the customers to try the
products. Airtel is in a strategic alliance
with various mobile stores in India. Infact
there are over 500 Airtel Stores across
India. The objectivity behind these stores is
to increase the base of potential customers.
As an example, with every new mobile
phone that is brought in The Mobile Store,
an Airtel GSM is gifted for free.
Every day and across the various shopping
malls in india, Airtel organizes promotional events. All this is done to attract the youth. Since, in India
today, the youth constitutes over half the country‟s total population.
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Events and Experiences:
These are a more subtle form of communication. Herein, the
indirect/implicit mode of campaign is adopted. Companies
generally look at these avenues as vital means of brand building
as well a good mode of selling the products. The objectives served
by the above are primarily to involve the audiences. Ideally,
when an event has the audience engrossed, a heightened level of
emotional connect is created. Thus, an involved audience,
engulfed with relevant events and experiences is prone to develop
a liking for the parameters associated with the event.
Airtel is a pioneer in being a part of events and experiences. Indian
Idol, Cricket, KBC, among many are examples. Airtel also sponsors
various tournaments and events, which implicitly help promote
the sales of Airtel. The Airtel Delhi Half Marathon is also an
example.

Direct and interactive marketing:

Ideally the objectives of direct and interactive marketing are to
use customized, up-to-date and an interactive mode of
communication campaign. Airtel uses the above strategy so that a two way purpose can be served.
Firstly, it helps in drastically decreasing post purchase
dissonance. Secondly, it facilitates word-of-mouth
publicity. Airtel seeks to give its customers a very high
quality after sales service, this helps the company
retain potential customers and also penetrate newer
markets. It keeps the customers up-to-date about
the various new schemes and promotions. The Airtel
executives personally call the customer and potential
customer for suggestions and upgradations. They also
give special benefits to the existing customers which in
turn drive their sales even more upwards.

Word of Mouth Marketing:

This mode of communication is perhaps one of the
most effective ones. The objectives are to create a
positive buzz about the quality of service provided by Airtel. In a service industry people play a very
vital role. They can be messiahs as well as destructors. Brand equity is quite in there hands. Hence,
credibility, timeliness of advice and personal connect go a long way in catapulting the importance of
word of Mouth Marketing. The inroads that Airtel has made into the Indian rural market is largely
attributed to this mode of communication. In fact, as a general observation, while buying a mobile
connection, the inputs of the local vendor is sought and many-a-times they can cause all the
difference. The marketing strategy of Airtel has a well defined clause for the vendors and this goes a
long way in establishing the goodwill of the brand. This goodwill eventually translates into sales.

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 Target Audiences:
A target audience is the primary group of people that something, usually an advertisement is aimed
at appealing to. A target audience can be people of a certain age group, gender, marital status etc.
(ex: teenagers, females, single people, etc.) Without knowing the target audience, a company's
advertising and the selling efforts can become difficult and very expensive.

A Target Audience can be selected on the basis of

following parameters:
 Age
 Location (where they live)
 Gender
 Marital Status

Bharti airtel has a huge customer base in India. They

basically target customers on the basis of age and
occupation.
Some of the types of telecom communications
provided by Airtel are:

 Prepaid connections: Age-18-25(college

going students)
 Post paid connection: Working people (age>
25)-middle income-higher income group
 SMS schemes: 15-24(college students)
 Special plans: a specific group (Special 5)

Prepaid connections: Airtel basically targets college students

for these connection but many people whose age is greater
than 25 also take this connection. So they are secondary
audience.

Post paid connection: they target working people but many

house wife and college going students use this connection.

SMS schemes many aged people use this feature but they are
not targeted by company.

Secondary target audience

Secondary audience is the area of the population that one can
identify and target, but does not hold the same significance (in
size) when compared to the primary (core) demography.
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AIRTEL: The Communication Campaign
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 The message strategy of AIRTEL:
The message strategy and the creative execution of the
message strategy of the company has to be analysed "In a service industry like
over the time. It is dynamic and keeps changing over telecom, people live a brand
the years. The change in the tag line, logo and the 24X7. It's all about experience;
celebrities endorsing the products have changed over and for Airtel, brand =customer
the years tells us about the changing perceptions of the experience"
market by the company over the years. - Rajan Mittal, Joint Managing Director, Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd.

 “Power to keep in touch” (1995)

This era saw the beginning of mobile communication in India. Every mobile handset would cost as
high as Rs. 45,000. Only the elite in society that could afford to keep mobile phones. Hence, the tag
line 'Power to keep in Touch' designed to make the user feel 'in control i.e. be powerful'.
The logo was coloured black, in uppercase and with bold lettering, all signifying power. It positioned
the brand in premium category aimed at
elite class of society, more as a lifestyle
brand.
Airtel decided that the brand should
always demonstrate its leadership–be
it in network, innovations, offerings,
services and capitalize on the first
mover advantage. To keep in sync
with the target audience, it sponsored
games like Golf.

The reasons for changing the „Power to Keep in Touch‟ tagline are as follows:
 Now, cellular service operators could drop their prices and target new customer segments.
 As the category developed with prices going down sharply, Airtel began talking to a wider
spectrum of potential users. This gives the birth to the new Tagline.
This was also a time when customers needed to be educated; interest levels were high, but the
customers' exposure to the cellular world was limited. Airtel took out full and half-page ads in
newspapers, answering queries like "what is roaming?", "what is coverage area?" and "how to make
international calls"

 “Touch Tomorrow” (1999)

Airtel started talking to new segments of customers by positively positioning and establishing itself as
a brand that improved the quality of life. The new campaign was launched to facilitate entry into
new markets. This new market was essentially the mass market. A new logo for Airtel was devised. It
was in red, black and white colours with „Airtel‟ enwrapped in an eclipse. The logo were indicative of
the core values of the brand: Leadership, Performance and Dynamism.
The reasons for changing the „Touch tomorrow‟ tagline are as follows:

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  It started to look from a regional level to pan India position.
 To become an Indian leader, Airtel needed to change its tagline.

 “Live Every Moment” (2002)

In 2002, Airtel signed on music composer A R Rahman and changed its tune to "Live every moment":
Rahman's signature tune for Airtel has transformed
musical advertisements for ever. This strategy was
launched to capture the imagination of the
customer. The tagline denotes that each and every
person in India lives every moment (emotions,
feelings etc.) of life. And Airtel helps in doing so.
The focus was on the endless possibilities of technology
to make life good and advertising became two-
pronged: a product-driven communication that
showcased new offerings like the Magic prepaid card,
and an emotional communication that showed
younger people.

 “Express Yourself” (2003)

'Express Yourself' was successfully launched taking the ownership of the entire space of
telecommunication and strengthening the emotional bond that Airtel had established with its
customers over the years.
It highlights the capability of Airtel in terms of performance
and network coverage. This campaign was launched in
regional languages as well. Airtel also modified its logo to
give it a more energetic and younger look. By this time, the
emotional angle was predominant it was a stark, black and
white imagery that could stand out in what was becoming
a highly commoditized, crowded market.

Airtel seems to have consciously decided to go for the belly of the market and aggressive market
expansion, while its major competitors seem to be targeting relatively more sophisticated consumers
(as in the case of Vodafone). There isn't a great deal of differentiation in terms of pricing, services,
schemes and so on, but there are differences in approach. Overall, Airtel is focused on functionality
and efficiency while Vodafone is more focused on warmth and emotions. Even though one may
contemplate the creativity quotient of the Vodafone advertisements a notch higher than that of
Airtel, Airtel has the pie by the sheer force of uniform physical presence all throughout the country.
Vodafone has a fragmented presence.

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 Creative Execution of Messaging Strategy:
Not many brands have been as creative and as an outcome innovative, in all the paraphernalia of
communication tools as has been Airtel. The Airtel ads, be they on paper, on television, on a hoarding,
or anywhere, have a distinct recognition and appeal. The
gamut of advertisements Airtel has used seem to have
maintained a specific genre among them. The
advertisements have more often than not talked much
more about the values than the product or the service.
Or maybe the product and the benefit have always
been very intrinsically knit into a value. The creativity in
communication can also be associated to the innovative
ways of seeking attention that Airtel has deployed,
especially in outdoor advertising.

Talking about broadcast advertising; it is generally

acknowledged as the most effective and powerful
advertising medium as compared to others. And Airtel
has made full use of it. The ads range from depicting two
boys playing football defying borders, to a couple [Film
actors Madhavan and Vidya Balan] romancing sitting at
home, from a person coming home to find 10s of celebrities waiting for him [Airtel TV], to a young lad
going out of village staying connected to his father. All these ads were built on a story and a value
perceivable by the viewer of these. Some were set in a far off no man‟s land, some in a village and
others in an apartment‟s living room. Almost never has there been an ad where someone
straightaway came and sung about the features of
an Airtel connection. A common feature of all
these ads has been the instantly recognizable
signature tune composed by A R Rahman. Some
of these ads have a sense of grandeur about
them while others have family orientation,
relations or innocent love as the underlying
storyline.

Airtel advertisements have always maintained

an up market feel about them. They have never
been loud and in a way they always have been
very decent and simple. The celebrities also have
always been suitably chosen for each of these
advertisements depending upon the image of themselves thy have created in common public. To add
to all of this a very catchy slogan always goes along with these ads. Examples would be,” Express
yourself”, “Barriers break when people talk” and “Pyar ke beech mein kabhi dooriyan na aayen”, i.e
“May there be no separation between love” and many more.
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The effect of these advertisements has been phenomenal. The inherent strength of the Airtel
advertisements in this media comes from the creativity put into the advertisements that has let them
create an identity of a provider who is dependable, reliable, and in a
sense “THE BEST”. Very importantly, all these ads have been
supplemented positively by giving the best service among all the
networks. On the flip side, the weakness of this media is in the relative
high cost and the number of irrelevant audience reached as Airtel has
positioned itself as a comparatively premium product.
The second important communication tool would be outdoor
advertising. It is generally more suitable for brand enhancement and
reinforcement that it is for a new product setting feet in the market.
This is one area where Airtel has shown real innovation and at times
out of the box thinking. Consider for instance making letter boxes in
the shape of Airtel SIM cards, or lamp posts with the lamps enclosed
in huge SIM cards. Or just picture a train running across cities and
painted all over with the Airtel logo. It grabs instant attention. Airtel invests heavily in the outdoor
advertisements in all the cities and towns across India. Its advertisements can be prominently seen
across billboards and hoardings. These billboards often have stills that remind of the latest Airtel ads
being run on television. They are an efficient way of constantly reminding of the value enforced by
the TV commercial. The main advantage is the cost effectiveness as compared to TV, but they don‟t
enjoy as high an exposure as TV ads do. Airtel puts in a lot of effort in its outdoor publicity. It is
evident from the uniqueness in their ways of
advertisement.
As a method for its brand reinforcements, Airtel
has often tied up with TV shows ranging from
the biggest of all KBC, to Indian Idol and many
others. Other than that it has been a major
sponsor of many prominent cricketing events
too. Airtel hasn‟t been a just a dormant sponsor
whose name will be seen only in advertisements,
but it has made sure its presence was felt during
the on time of the show as well. For an example,
whenever a contestant used to phone a friend in
a KBC show, instantly the Airtel tune got on, the
logo got displayed on the screen and the host
very politely mentioned that the call is getting connected owing to the Airtel network. Such indirect
form of advertisement has a huge advantage in the sense that the attention of the audience doesn‟t
have to be solicited; instead the target customer is already all eyes and ears to the television. But the
disadvantage crops up from the fact that almost negligible information can be conveyed about the
product per say. But as the main objective of this form of indirect advertising is in reminding the
audience about the presence of the brand, it solves its main purpose effectively.

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AIRTEL: The Communication Campaign
Marketing Management Group Project 3 - Trimester 1