U. P. Technical university for the partial fulfillment of the degree of mba

Airtel to “Touch Tomorrow” with a new brand vision

The new communication is about a new dimension in the cellular category that goes beyond the Internet, SMS, roaming, IVRS, etc but which engulfs the whole gamut of wireless digital broadband services that will constitute tomorrows cellular services. The new campaign is in two phases - the first of which will communicate overall brand philosophy and the second products and services. According to Mr. Jagdish Kini, Chief Operating Officer, Bharti Mobile Limited, Karnataka "We are adopting a new brand- platform - Touch Tomorrow - not only to reflect our corporate ethos but also business strategy".

The new identity will have the logo in Red, Black and White colours along with lower case typography to convey warmth. AirTel will incorporate the latest branding in all of its communication and will soon be going in for an enhanced promotional drive to establish the brand's presence.

Life time Plan

PRE-PAID card users need not worry anymore about recharging their coupons every month. Company has launched a plan that allows users to take a pre-paid connection with lifetime validity for a one time payment of Rs. 999. Subscribers availing themselves of this scheme will also get full talk time for the recharge coupon they purchase and also have the option to buy Taiwanese manufactured Bird mobile handsets for as low as Rs. 1,399.

The move is aimed at stopping the churn in the pre-paid subscriber base. Once a subscriber takes this plan, he will always be an Airtel subscriber whether the mobile is being used or not.

MARKET SITUATION
At the time of launch

The first mover in the market was Airtel which launched its services in Delhi in Aug 1995 (Informal launch). Essar Cellphone followed by launching its services informally in Oct 95. At this point of time, the market was at a nascent stage, awareness level was low and both operators independently tried to spread awareness and educate the people

Once the networks were commercially launched, it became a number game with a multitude of schemes being offered to woo customers Initially the cellphone was perceived as a status symbol and utility took a back seat The target segment in Delhi were corporate and the high income group. The average capacity installed was for 1.5 lakh subscribers. This coupled with the steep license fee paid to DOT put pressure on the operators to break-even by rapidly expanding their markets. In the first two years, this led to a number of schemes being offered and prices crashing.

COMPETITIVE SITUATION

Airtel launched its services before Essar and skimmed the market picking up the bulk of the high usage premium clients. This is a very competitive industry with the two companies differentiating either on value-added services or price. Airtel is perceived as the high quality provider and has a premium image. Essar, on the other hand, is perceived as the lower end service provider. Airtel positions itself as the market leader on the basis of the number of subscribers. Essar is trying to counter this by emphasising on the reach of its network and the quality of its service. However, Essar is somewhat not been very successful largely due to the inconsistency in advertising

To promote themselves, both the players have been dependent on tactical advertising However, they have restrained from using comparative advertising Hoardings have been a very popular medium for carrying the advertisements Airtel has also been advertising on television using the Bharti Telecom name.

SALES DEPARTMENT AND STRATEGY

A. Major Accounts (Direct Channel)

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  Handles corporate (named and famed) accounts
  
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  Forecasting of sales
  
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  Mapping the accounts
  
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  Providing after sales support to the subscribers.
  
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  Maintaining call reports for records.
  
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  Providing Feedback to the marketing department regarding the requirement of the market.
  

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  Handling distribution
  
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  Maintaining records and level check of the channel partner
  
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  Liaisoning between the channel partner and the company.
  
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  Target achievement
  
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  Training the executives of the channel
  

1. 
   Logistics
   
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     Monitor handset and SIM card requirements of channel partners and co-ordinate with stores
     
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     Settle areas of concerns such as incentive claims of channel partners
     

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  Provide cellular services (SIM cards) on rent.
  
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  Provide cellular phones on rent
  
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  Useful for people visiting Delhi for a short interval.
  

3 Telesales

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  Call customers and generate sales lead.
  
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  Follow up with the customers, if they need any assistance
  
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  Pass on the sales lead to the channel department.