Airtel launches special packages for teens and ladies

As part of its market segmentation strategy; Airtel has launched special mobile packages targeted
at youth, women and senior citizens. Women can get a new Airtel post-paid connection with a
monthly rental of Rs150 while students can make calls for as low as 50 paise a minute from
predetermined areas such as universities and popular hang outs.

Airtel has also introduced a `Friendz' package for students and young people whereby
subscribers are allowed to transfer mobile recharge — both talk time and validity — from their
phone to another phone. With the package, subscribers can form a 'closed user group' of up to
five friends and make calls at 50 paise a minute.

According to the company, the focus on students and young people was due to the fact that
penetration level in the15-19 age group was just three per cent. Priced at Rs 249, the Friendz'
card, lets customers send SMS to up to 15 friends simultaneously at Rs3.
In the Ladies plan, women can call three local Airtel numbers at just 50 paise per minute and
send SMS to them at 50 paise per message, subject to a maximum of 25 messages per month.
Airtel has tied up with women's magazines, offering discounts on subscription. For subscribers
who are over 60 years old, Airtel has launched the `Seniors Plan' with a monthly rental of Rs150,
which offers discount on one STD number and one local Airtel number.

Airtel’s latest scheme, titled ‘Special five’, is to be accompanied by an intensive print and TV
promotional campaign.
The scheme will enable users to talk to five other numbers of the same operator at special
discounted rates.
“Usage data show that almost 50 per cent of the calls made by users are to five specific
numbers,” said Mr Chandrashekhar Radhakrishnan, Senior Vice-President – Marketing, Airtel.
He added that the scheme is aimed at no particular segment.
According to Airtel, the customer will have to choose five numbers, on which local calls will be
charged at 20 paise a minute and STD calls at 50 paise a minute.
The company is backing this new scheme with advertorials in both the print and TV media.
“The series of TV ads based on this protagonist Anna and her five special friends, suggests that
you can keep your special five close,” said Mr Radhakrishnan. He added that the brand has also
roped in Shah Rukh Khan to promote this scheme.

Reasserting its emotional connect with consumers — something that is at the core of its brand
philosophy —, Bharti Airtel last week rolled out a new plan called Special 5 for all its 100
million mobile phone customers. The plan allows the customer to choose any five (Airtel)
numbers of his choice to make local calls at low rates of 20 paisa per minute and long-distance
calls at 50 paisa per minute. It is based on the company’s internal research and consumer-call
analysis which showed that most users make 60 to 70 per cent of their calls to four or five
“special” people — family members or close friends.

“The thought is to enable our customers strengthen their bond with their family and loved ones
and in turn with Airtel. Such nominal rates give them the freedom to talk for as long as they
want, even on long distance,” says Bharti Airtel Chief Marketing Officer (mobile services)
Raghunath Mandava. “In a market bombarded with complicated plans and discount schemes, it
is a simple and straightforward offer where we have cut off any kind of segmentation. Our target
is universal as the tendency to connect to families and close ones is a universal one.”
The offer comes at a rental of Re 1 a number a day and a monthly rental of Rs 249 for postpaid
customers with added benefit of free 249 local minutes. Will it be attractive enough for users to
latch on to it? “Yes,” says Mandava, “Because of urbanisation, migration from different parts of
the country is on the rise. The offer enables these customers to stay connected to their parents,
wife or children back home at very nominal charges.” As the offer applies to Airtel-to-Airtel
users, the company hopes that it will also attract the customer’s family and friends to go for an
Airtel connection.
As the product proposition is that it allows a customer to be close to his special ones, it was
decided to have a commercial with a protagonist with his or her Special 5. Thus was born a little
girl Anna with her five special friends in short stories straight out of the Enid Blyton world. “We
chose a gentle theme of how these children (Anna and her Special 5) always do things together,”
says Bharti Airtel Senior Vice-president (marketing) and Head (brand and media) R
Chandrasekar. “It is a celebration of friendship in a warm and beautiful way.”
The creative work was done by Rediffusion Y&R and the films have been shot in Cape Town by
renowned filmmaker Javier Blanco. After a teaser, two such stories have been put on air (and
also in cyberspace). More will follow in the days to come. Also on the cards are print and
outdoor ads as well as ground-level activation in places like malls. Some activity is planned
during the Friendship Week in August.
It remains to be seen how long does it take for rivals to offer something similar. The mobile
telephony market is overcrowded and service operators are trying hard to create differentiation.
Features like Special 5 are a time-tested recipe for success. However, it doesn’t take long for
others to come out with something similar. Still, the advantage lies with Bharti Airtel at the
moment.