CHAPTER 1

Introduction:

ADVERTISING

WHAT IS ADVERTISING?

Advertising is a non-personal form of promotion that is delivered through selected media

outlets that, under most circumstances, require the marketer to pay for message
placement. Advertising has long been viewed as a method of mass promotion in that a
single message can reach a large number of people. But, this mass promotion approach
presents problems since many exposed to an advertising message may not be within the
marketer’s target market, and thus, may be an inefficient use of promotional funds.
However, this is changing as new advertising technologies and the emergence of new
media outlets offer more options for targeted advertising.

Advertising also has a history of being considered a one-way form of marketing

communication where the message receiver (i.e., target market) is not in position to
immediately respond to the message (e.g., seek more information). This too is
changing. For example, in the next few years technologies will be readily available to
enable a television viewer to click a button to request more details on a product seen on
their favorite TV program. In fact, it is expected that over the next 10-20 years
advertising will move away from a one-way communication model and become one that
is highly interactive.

Another characteristic that may change as advertising evolves is the view that
advertising does not stimulate immediate demand for the product advertised. That is,
customers cannot quickly purchase a product they see advertised. But as more media
outlets allow customers to interact with the messages being delivered the ability of
advertising to quickly stimulate demand will improve.

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IMPORTANCE OF ADVERTISING:
Spending on advertising is huge. One often quoted statistic by market research firm
ZenithOptimedia estimates that worldwide spending on advertising exceeds (US) $400
billion. This level of spending supports thousands of companies and millions of jobs. In
fact, in many countries most media outlets, such as television, radio and newspapers,
would not be in business without revenue generated through the sale of advertising.

While worldwide advertising is an important contributor to economic growth, individual

marketing organizations differ on the role advertising plays. For some organizations
little advertising may be done, instead promotional money is spent on other promotion
options such a personal selling through a sales team. For some smaller companies
advertising may consist of occasional advertisement and on a very small scale, such as
placing small ads in the classified section of a local newspaper.

But most organizations, large and small, that rely on marketing to create customer
interest are engaged in consistent use of advertising to help meet marketing objectives.
This includes regularly developing advertising campaigns, which involve a series of
decisions for planning, creating, delivering and evaluating an advertising effort. We will
cover advertising campaigns in greater detail in our next tutorial.

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MANAGING ADVERTISING DECISIONS:

Delivering an effective marketing message through advertising requires many different

decisions as the marketer develops their advertising campaign. For small campaigns,
that involve little creative effort, one or a few people may handle the bulk of the work.
In fact, the Internet has made do-it-yourself advertising an easy to manage process and
has especially empowered small businesses to manage their advertising decisions. As
we will see, not only can small firms handle the creation and placement of
advertisements that appear on the Internet, new services have even made it possible for a
single person to create advertisements that run on local television. For instance, a
company called SpotRunner allows users to select from a list of high-quality television
ads that can be customized and then placed within local cable television programming.

For larger campaigns the skills needed to make sound advertising decisions can be quite
varied and may not be easily handled by a single person. While larger companies
manage some advertising activities within the company, they are more likely to rely on
the assistance of advertising professionals, such as those found at advertising agencies,
to help bring their advertising campaign to market.

3
TYPES OF ADVERTISING:
If you ask most people what is meant by “type” of advertising, invariably they will
respond by defining it in terms of how it is delivered (e.g., television ad, radio ad, etc.).
But in marketing, type of advertising refers to the primary “focus” of the message being
sent and falls into one of the following four categories:

PRODUCT-ORIENTED ADVERTISING:

information Most advertising spending is directed toward the promotion of a specific

good, service or idea, what we have collectively labeled as an organization’s product. In
most cases the goal of product advertising is to clearly promote a specific product to a
targeted audience. Marketers can accomplish this in several ways from a low-key
approach that simply provides basic about a product (informative advertising) to blatant
appeals that try to convince customers to purchase a product (persuasive advertising) that
may include direct comparisons between the marketer’s product and its competitor’s
offerings (comparative advertising).

However, sometimes marketers intentionally produce product advertising where the

target audience cannot readily see a connection to a specific product. Marketers of new
products may follow this “teaser” approach in advance of a new product introduction to
prepare the market for the product. For instance, one week before the launch of a new
product a marketer may air a television advertisement proclaiming “After next week the
world will never be the same” but do so without any mention of a product or even the
company behind the ad. The goal is to create curiosity in the market and interest when
the product is launched.

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IMAGE ADVERTISING:

Image advertising is undertaken primarily to enhance an organization’s perceived

importance to a target market. Image advertising does not focus on specific products as
much as it presents what an organization has to offer. In these types of ads, if products
are mentioned it is within the context of “what we do” rather than a message touting the
benefits of a specific product. Image advertising is often used in situations where an
organization needs to educate the targeted audience on some issue. For instance, image
advertising may be used in situations where a merger has occurred between two
companies and the newly formed company has taken on a new name, or if a company
has received recent negative publicity and the company wants to let the market know
that they are about much more than this one issue.

ADVOCACY ADVERTISING:

Organizations also use advertising to send a message intended to influence a targeted

audience. In most cases there is an underlying benefit sought by an organization when
they engage in advocacy advertising. For instance, an organization may take a stand on
a political issue which they feel could negatively impact the organization and will target
advertisements to voice their position on the issue.

PUBLIC SERVICE ADVERTISING:

In some countries, not-for-profit organizations are permitted to run advertisements

through certain media outlets free-of-charge if the message contained in the ad concerns
an issue viewed as for the “greater good” of society. For instance, ads directed at social
causes, such as teen-age smoking, illegal drug use and mental illness, may run on

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television, radio and other media without cost to organizations sponsoring the
advertisement.

TELECOM SECTOR IN INDIA

Introduction:
The telecom services have been recognized the world-over as an important tool for
socio-economic development for a nation. It is one of the prime support services needed
for rapid growth and modernization of various sectors of the economy. Indian
telecommunication sector has undergone a major process of transformation through
significant policy reforms, particularly beginning with the announcement of NTP 1994
and was subsequently re-emphasized and carried forward under NTP 1999. Driven by
various policy initiatives, the Indian telecom sector witnessed a complete transformation
in the last decade. It has achieved a phenomenal growth during the last few years and is
poised to take a big leap in the future also.

Status of Telecom Sector:

The Indian Telecommunications network with 430 million connections (as on March
2009) is the third largest in the world. The sector is growing at a speed of 46-50% during
the recent years. This rapid growth is possible due to various proactive and positive
decisions of the Government and contribution of both by the public and the private
sectors. The rapid strides in the telecom sector have been facilitated by liberal policies
of the Government that provides easy market access for telecom equipment and a fair
regulatory framework for offering telecom services to the Indian consumers at affordable
prices. Presently, all the telecom services have been opened for private participation

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Network Expansion:
The telecom sector has shown robust growth during the past few years. It has also
undergone a substantial change in terms of mobile versus fixed phones and public versus
private participation. The following table shows the growth trend of telecom sector from
last five years:

The number of telephones has increased from 54.63 million as on 31.03.2003 to 429.72
million as on 31.03.2009. Wireless subscribers increased from 13.3 million as on
31.03.2003 to 391.76 million as on 31.03.2009. Whereas, the fixed line subscribers
decreased from 41.33 million in 31.03.2003 to 37.96 million in 31.03.2009. The
broadband subscribers grew from a meager 0.18 million to 6.22 million during the last 5
years.

Trend in Tele-density:

Tele-density in the country increased from 5.11% in 2003 to 36.98 % in March. In the
rural area teledensity increased from 1.49% in Mar 2003 to 15.11% in March 2009 and
in the urban areas it is increased from 14.32% in Mar 2003 to 88.84% in March
2009.This indicates a rising trend of Indian telecom subscribers.

Rural Telephony:

Apart from the 123.51million fixed and WLL connections on March 2009 provided in
the rural areas, 57167 uncovered VPTs have been provided as on March 2009. Thus,
85% of the villages in India have been covered by the VPTs. More than 3 lakh PCOs are
also providing community access in the rural areas. Further, Mobile Gramin Sanchar
Sewak Scheme (GSS) – a mobile Public Call Office (PCO) service is provided at the
doorstep of villagers. At present, 2772 GSSs are covering 12043 villages. Also, to
provide Internet service, Sanchar Dhabas (Internet Kiosks) have been provided in more
than 3500 Block Headquarters out of the total 6337 Blocks in the country. The target of
80 million rural connections by 2010 have already met during year 2008 itself. USOF

7
subsidy support scheme is also being utilized for sharing wireless infrastructure in rural
areas with about 19,000 towers by 2010.

Targets Set By the Government:

1. Network expansion

· 500 million connections by the year 2010.

· Provision of mobile coverage of 90% geographical area by 2010.

2. Rural telephony

· 2 One phone per two rural households by 2010 (about 80 million rural
connections).

. 200 million rural subscribers by 2012

· Reduce urban-rural digital divide from present 25:1 to 5:1 by 2010.

3. Broadband

. 20 million Broadband connections by 2010

· Broadband with minimum speed of 1 mbps.

· Broadband coverage for all secondary & higher secondary schools and public
health care centres by the end of year 2010.

· Broadband coverage for all Grampanchayats by the year 2010

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 . Broadband on demand is every village by 2012

4. Introduction of Spread of IPTV and Mobile TV

· IPTV in 600 towns by 2010.

CHAPTER 2

COMPANIES PROFILE

AIRTEL
AND

VODAFONE

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10
History of Airtel

Bharti Airtel Limited (‘Bharti Airtel’ or ‘the Company’) (formerly ‘Bharti Tele-Ventures
Limited - BTVL’) was incorporated on July 7, 1995 under the laws of India for
promoting investments in telecommunication services. Bharti Airtel together with its
subsidiaries is hereinafter referred to as ‘the Group’. The Group is a leading
telecommunication service provider in India.

Bharti Airtel, aforetime accepted as Bharti Tele-Ventures LTD (BTVL) is India's better
cellular account provider with added than 92 actor subscribers as of February 2009. It
aswell offers anchored band casework and broadband services. It offers its TELECOM
casework beneath the Airtel cast and is headed by Sunil Bharti Mittal. The aggregation
aswell provides blast casework and Internet admission over DSL in 14 circles. It aswell
acts as a carrier for civic and all-embracing continued ambit advice services. The
aggregation has a abysmal cable landing abject at Chennai, which connects the abysmal
cable connectingChennai and Singapore.

The businesses at Bharti Airtel accept been structured into three alone cardinal business
units (SBU's) - Adaptable Services,

Airtel Telemedia Casework & Action Services. The adaptable business provides
adaptable & anchored wireless casework application GSM technology beyond 23
telecom circles while the Airtel Telemedia Casework business offers broadband & blast
casework in 95 cities and has afresh launched a Direct-to-Home (DTH) service, Airtel
agenda TV. The aggregation provides end-to-end abstracts and action casework to the
accumulated barter through its civic cilia optic backbone, endure mile connectivity in
fixed-line and adaptable circles, VSATs, ISP and all-embracing bandwidth admission
through the gateways and landing station.

Globally, Bharti Airtel is the 3rd better in-country adaptable abettor by subscriber base,
abaft China Adaptable and China Unicom. In India, the aggregation has a 24.6%

11
allotment of the wireless casework market, followed by 17.7% for Reliance
Communications and 17.4% for Vodafone Essar

Airtel is a cast of telecommunication casework in India and Sri Lanka endemic and
operated by Bharti Airtel. It is the better cellular account provider in India in agreement
of amount of subscribers. Casework are offered beneath the cast name Airtel: Adaptable
Casework (using GSM Technology), Broadband & Blast Casework (Fixed line, Internet
Connectivity (DSL) and Leased Line), Continued Ambit Casework and Action
Casework (Telecommunications Consulting for corporate). It has attendance in all 23
circles of the country and covers 71% of the accepted citizenry (as of FY07).

Airtel Sri Lanka

In December 2008, Bharti Airtel formed out third bearing casework in Sri Lanka in
affiliation with Singtel. SingTel, is a above amateur in the 3G amplitude in Asia. It
operates third bearing networks in several markets beyond Asia. It had been abundantly
criticised in contempo times on its disability to alpha operation even two years
afterwards its acceptance and proposed date of launch.

Airtel's operation in Sri Lanka, accepted as Airtel Lanka, commenced operations on the
12th of January 2009.

In 2009, Airtel aswell accommodate broadband at 16mbps top speed. Now It Is the No 1
Broadband Account Providers in India

Touchtel

Until September 18, 2004, Bharti provided fixed-line telephony and broadband casework
beneath the Touchtel brand. Bharti now provides all telecom casework including fixed-
line casework beneath a accepted cast "Airtel"

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BlackBerry

On 19 October 2004 Airtel appear the barrage of a BlackBerry Wireless Solution in

India. The barrage is a aftereffect of a amalgamation amid Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited
and Research In Motion (RIM).

Digital TV

On 9 October 2008, Airtel abutting the DTH appearance in India with Airtel Agenda TV,
a Direct-to-Home Television service.

iPhone 3G

As of 22 August 2008, the Apple iPhone 3G is accessible in India on Airtel and

Vodafone.

Bharti Airtel

The businesses at Bharti Tele-Ventures have been structured into three individual
strategic units (SBU’s) –

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

Bharti Airtel formerly known as Bharti Tele-Ventures LTD (BTVL) is the largest
cellular service provider in India, with more than 121 million subscribers as of January
2010.With this, Bharti is now the world's third-largest, single-country mobile operator
and sixth-largest integrated telecom operator. It also offers fixed line services and
broadband services. It offers its TELECOM services under the Airtel brand and is
headed by Sunil Bharti Mittal. The company also provides telephone services and

13
broadband Internet access (DSL) in top 95 cities in India. 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.

The businesses at Bharti Airtel have always 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 a
Direct-to-Home (DTH) service, Airtel Digital TV. Shahrukh Khan is the brand
embassador of the mobile company and Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan are the brand
embassadors of the DTH company. The company provides end-to-end data and
enterprise services to the corporate customers through its nationwide fiber optic
backbone, last mile connectivity in fixed-line and mobile circles, VSATs, ISP and
international bandwidth access through the gateways and landing station.

Globally, Bharti Airtel is the 3rd largest in-country mobile operator by subscriber base,
behind China Mobile and China Unicom. In India, the company has a 24.6% share of the
wireless services market, followed by 17.7% for Reliance Communications and 17.4%
for Vodafone Essar. In January 2010, company anonced that Manoj Kohli, Joint
Managing Director and current Chief Executive Officer of Indian and South Asian
operations, will become the Chief Executive Officer of the International Business Group
from 1st April 2010. He will be overseeing Bharti's overseas business. Current Dy. CEO,

Sanjay Kapoor, will replace Manoj Kohli and will be the CEO with effective from 1st
April, 2010

Airtel is a brand of telecommunication services in India, Bangladesh and in Sri Lanka

owned and operated by Bharti Airtel. It is the largest cellular service provider in India in
terms of number of subscribers. Services are offered under the brand name Airtel:

14
Mobile Services (using GSM Technology), Broadband & Telephone Services (Fixed
line, Internet Connectivity(DSL) and Leased Line), Long Distance Services and
Enterprise Services (Telecommunications Consulting for corporates). It has presence in
all 23 circles of the country and covers 71% of the current population (as of Financial
Year 2007). Airtel has also launched 16Mb/s broadband plans in India, making it the
first ISP to do so.

VISION:

BY 2010 AIRTEL WILL BE THE MOST ADMIRED BRAND IN INDIA:

o LOVED BY MORE CUSTOMERS.

o TARGETED BY TOP TALENT.

o BENCHMARKED BY MORE BUSINESS.

MISSION:

We will meet the mobile communication needs of our customers through Error- free
service delivery

o Innovative products and services

o Cost efficiency

o Unified Messaging Solutions

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 SWOT ANALYSIS OF AIRTEL

1) STRENGTHS:

• Bharti Airtel is the Largest 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 Bharti Airtel 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 has
underpinned its large and rising customer base.

2) WEAKNESSES:

• An often cited original weakness is that when the business was started by Sunil
Bharti 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 strength
of 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 could
signal the lack of any real emerging market investment opportunity for the
business once the Indian market has become mature.

16
3) OPPORTUNITIES:

• The company possesses a customized version of the Google search engine which
will enhance broadband services to customers. The tie-up with Google can only
enhance the Airtel brand, and also provides advertising opportunities in Indian
for Google.
• Global telecommunications and new technology brands see Airtel as a key
strategic player in the Indian market. The new iPhone was launched in India via
an Airtel distributorship.

4) THREATS:

• Vodafone which owned a 5.6% stake in the Airtel business sold it back to Airtel,
and instead invested 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
tempt Airtel 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 Inidan industrialist to invest in the
new emerging African telecommunications market
• Bharti Airtel could also be the target for the takeover vision of other global
telecommunications players that wish to move into the Indian market

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History of Vodafone
Vodafone was formed in 1984 as a subsidiary of Racal Electronics Plc. Then known as
Racal Telecom Limited, approximately 20% of the company's capital was offered to the
public in October 1988. It was fully demerged from Racal Electronics Plc and became an
independent company in September 1991, at which time it changed its name to
Vodafone Group Plc.

Following its merger with AirTouch Communications, Inc. (‘AirTouch’), the company
changed its name to Vodafone AirTouch Plc on 29 June 1999 and, following approval
by the shareholders in General Meeting, reverted to its former name, Vodafone Group
Plc, on 28 July 2000.

2009

• June

Completion of merger between Vodafone Australia Limited and Hutchinson 3G

Australia Pty Limited.

• March

Telefonica and Vodafone announce milestone Pan European collaboration to

share network infrastructure in Germany, Spain, Ireland and the UK.

• February

Hutchinson and Vodafone agree to merge Australian telecom operations to form

a 50:50 joint venture.

• January

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 Vodafone trials HSPA+ mobile broadband at speeds of up to 16 Mbps.

VODAFONE
Vodafone is the world's largest mobile telecommunications community, employing over
65,000 staff and with over 130 million customers. The business operates in 26 countries
worldwide. Vodafone is a public limited company with listings on the London and New
York stock exchanges.

Global recognition of the Vodafone brand is growing as the company rolls out its
identity into new markets. However, it retains local names and imagery in markets where
this is essential to maintaining the trust of customers.

To help promote its image worldwide, Vodafone uses leading sports stars from high
profile global sports, including David Beckham and Michael Schumacher. This Case
Study concentrates on how such promotion can help to keep a leading brand at the
forefront of public awareness

This is my honor to speak here for the product which was like a dream at the beginning
and especially in such a big market of Pakistan, infact, I should say in such a big and
saturated market of Pakistan. Our one of the main task was to find the space for such
product in the highly saturated market of Pakistan.

For that reason our team decided to work on few steps which were basically to get the
feed back from the market as fallow.

Basically our objectives were to find out the behaviors of the consumers or the
customers towards the product available in the market that either consumer or the
customer is after the

• Quality of the product.

19
• or after the price of the product.
• or after the good presentation of the product which includes the servicing.
• or if the consumer is after or comes for particular product and why, either
because of effective advertisement on the media like television or news papers or other
means of advertisement.

Vodafone is a mobile network operator headquartered in Berkshire, England, UK. It is

the largest mobile telecommunications network company in the world by turnover and
has a market value of about £75 billion (August 2008). Vodafone currently has
operations in 25 countries and partner networks in a further 42 countries.

The name Vodafone comes from Voice data fone, chosen by the company to "reflect the
provision of voice and data services over mobile phones."

As of 2006 Vodafone had an estimated 260 million customers in 25 markets across 5

continents. On this measure, it is the second largest mobile telecom group in the world
behind China Mobile.

In the United States, Vodafone owns 45% of Verizon Wireless

Mission:

Vodafone is primarily a user of technology rather than a developer of it, and this fact is
reflected in the emphasis of our work program on enabling new applications of mobile
communications, using new technology for new services, research for improving
operational efficiency and quality of our networks, and providing technology vision and
leadership that can contribute directly to business decisions.

Vision:

Our Vision is to be the world’s mobile communication leader – enriching customers’

lives, helping individuals, businesses and Communities be more connected in a mobile
world.

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 VODAFONE ESSAR
Vodafone Essar is the Indian subsidiary of Vodafone Group and commenced operations
in 1994 when its predecessor Hutchison Telecom acquired the cellular license for
Mumbai. The company now has operations across the country with over 94.14 million
customers**. Over the years, Vodafone Essar, under the Hutch brand, has been named
the ‘Most Respected Telecom Company’, the ‘Best Mobile Service in the country’ and
the ‘Most Creative and Most Effective Advertiser of the Year’. The company is a tie up
of two groups namely Vodafone Group and Essar Group.

Vodafone Group is the world’s leading international mobile communications

corporation. It currently has equity interests in 31 countries across 5 continents and 40
partner networks with over 333 million proportionate customers worldwide. The Essar
Group is Vodafone’s principal partner in India. The Essar Group is a diversified business
corporation with a balanced portfolio of assets in the manufacturing and services sectors
of Steel, Energy, Power, Communications, Shipping Ports & Logistics, and Projects.
Essar employs more than 50,000 people across offices in Asia, Africa, Europe and the
Americas.

Vodafone Essar is spending somewhere in the region of Rs 250 crores on this high-
profile transition being unveiled today. Along with the transition, cheap cell phones have
been launched in the Indian market under the Vodafone brand. The company also plans
to launch co-branded handsets sourced from global vendors as well.
A popular daily quoted a Vodafone Essar director as saying that "the objective is to
leverage Vodafone Group's global scale in bringing millions of low-cost handsets from
across-the-world into India."
Vodafone Essar , previously Hutchison Essar is a cellular operator in India that covers
16 telecom circles in India. Despite the official name being Vodafone Essar, its products
are simply branded Vodafone.
It offers both prepaid and postpaid GSM cellular phone coverage throughout India and is
especially strong in the major metros.

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Hutch is now Vodafone

PREVIOUS BRANDS:

In December 2006, Hutch Essar re-launched the "Hutch" brand nationwide,

consolidating its services under a single identity. The Company entered into agreement
with NTT DoCoMo to launch i-mode mobile Internet service in India during 2007.

The company used to be named Hutchison Essar, reflecting the name of its previous
owner, Hutchison. However, the brand was marketed as Hutch. After getting the
necessary government approvals with regards to the acquisition of a majority by the
Vodafone Group, the company was rebranded as Vodafone Essar. The marketing brand
was officially changed to Vodafone on 20 September 2007.

On September 20, 2007 Hutch becomes Vodafone in one of the biggest brand transition
exercises in recent times.

Vodafone Essar is spending somewhere in the region of Rs 250 crores on this high-
profile transition being unveiled today. Along with the transition, cheap cell phones have
been launched in the Indian market under the Vodafone brand. There are plans to launch
co-branded handsets sourced from global vendors as well.

A popular daily quoted a Vodafone Essar director as saying that "the objective is to
leverage Vodafone Group's global scale in bringing millions of low-cost handsets from
across-the-world into India."

While there is no revealing the prices of the low-cost Vodafone handsets, the industry is
abuzz that prices might start at Rs 666, undercutting Reliance Communications' much-
hyped 'Rang Barse' with cheap handsets beginning at Rs 777.

22
Meanwhile, Vodafone Essar sources said there would be no discounts or subsidized
handset offers -- rather handset-bundled schemes for customers.

Incidentally, China's ZTE, which is looking to set-up a manufacturing unit in the

country, is expected to provide several Vodafone handsets in India. Earlier this year,
Vodafone penned a global low-cost handset procurement deal with ZTE.

APPLE I PHONE 3G:

Vodafone has successfully launched the Apple iPhone 3G in India. It has been made
available to its consumers from the 22nd of August. The phone's launch saw a big
celebration at select Vodafone stores and Vodafone sponsored malls across the country

23
 SWOT Analysis of Vodafone

1) Strengths:

The main strength of Vodafone within the telecommunications market lies in its
brand image and recognition. Vodafone, having established a global presence and having
invested highly in marketing a differentiated image by promoting a Vodafone life style,
currently enjoys a differentiating advantage that, if exploited properly, can offer a lead
in competition. The presence of Vodafone in numerous countries within Europe as well
as in all part of the world enhances this image. It allows customers to travel and enjoy
easily the services of their home country operator. In the few countries that Vodafone is
not physically present (e.g. Norway) it has well established strategic alliances which
allow for a better service of mobile clients.

2) Weaknesses:

The expansion of Vodafone has been completed at the expense of direct control
of its operations. The company grew through a process of acquisitions of national
telecommunications companies (e.g. the acquisition of the third biggest Czech mobile
phone operator, Cesky mobile) rather than organic growth. This increased its
subscribers’ base quickly, offering direct market knowledge and immediate additions of
customer bases at the expense of direct effective control of the subsidiaries. At the same
time though, it implicitly imposed a centralized operational structure for the group,
nominating the UK headquarters as the leading business unit running a much centralised
marketing and handset procurement at group level. This has resulted in the neglect of
local markets and local differences, allowing market share to be gained by smaller local
competitors. Due to the highly saturated Western European market this has resulted in an
increase in the price elasticity of demand, with consumers becoming continuously price

24
oriented. This has resulted in high customer churn rates reaching the level of 32.8% in
the UK compared to O2’s 24%.

3) Opportunities:

The telecommunications market, even though highly saturated in some regions

offers great potential due to the ageing population and the sophistication of the
consumers. It offers great opportunities through a careful market segmentation and
exploitation of particular profitable segments. Different strategies should be pursued –
simple phones and simplified pricing plans to the ageing population and more updated,
sophisticated solutions for younger generations. The expanding Boundaries of the
market could provide further opportunities by allowing Vodafone to enter more
aggressively into fixed‐line service and to better enjoy the benefits of its high investment
in 3G technology. Moreover the company has undertaken its first steps in establishing
strategic alliances to develop customized solutions for end‐users: Vodafone recently
announced two new partnerships, one with supermarket group ASDA to launch an
ASDA branded mobile service in the UK, and another with electrical retailer DSG
International to provide mobile solutions to small businesses. This could further be
enhanced to avoid being a late‐entrant in this new method of distribution which offers
access to a wide potential customer base.

4) Threats:

The European part of Vodafone’s market is characterized by existing high levels

of competition. Major brands such as O2 and T‐Mobile are exploiting the price
sensitivity of customers and in this way they are building a stronger image and presence
in the market. Indirect competition is also increasing further, through the presence of
Skype and other related (not only voice) Internet‐based services. This combined with the
upcoming European legislative measures is expected to limit further the tariffs for the
network providers imposing further need for price cuts which could harm the bottom line
profitability of the company.

25
CHAPTER 3
Organisation of Study

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

To know relative customer response towards ADVERTISEMENT by Air Tel and
Vodafone in the telecom sector.

OBJECTIVE:

 How people of different age group respond to ADVERTISEMENT.

 Positioning strategies use by telecom companies and their impact on customer.

 To find out relative customer perception

 To find out which telecom company have good advertising and what type of
advertising subscriber like.

 Role of advertisements on the buying behavior of the customer.

26
 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research methodology that I undertook for the purpose of this study is enumerated
below-

PRIMARY RESEARCH:

This consisted questionnaire and interaction from various people. A focus group study
will be conducted to design the customer survey questionnaire with a sample size of 50
respondents. The survey was conducted in Ludhiana, Punjab.

SECONDARY RESEARCH:

Sources of secondary data were primarily the Internet , journals , newspaper, annual
report, database available in the library, catalogues and presentations.

RESEARCH DESIGN: DESCRIPTIVE

Descriptive studies are well structured, they tend to be rigid and its approach can not be
changed every now and then. Descriptive study can be divided in two categories:

(A) Cross sectional

(B) Longitudinal

Descriptive study are undertaken in many circumstances:

27
 1. when the researcher is interested in knowing the characteristics of certain groups
such as age , profession.

2. when the researcher is interested in knowing the proportion of people in given

population who have behaved in a particular manner, making projection of
certain things.

The objective of this kind of study is to answer the why, who, ,what ,when and how of
the subject under consideration.

I will be taking descriptive because my research includes the knowing the behavior of
customer towards advertisement. I will be working on to know how people of various
age group respond to different advertising or there perception towards advertisement.
Also my survey is related to two companies Air Tel and Vodafone.

TYPES OF QUESTIONS:

OPEN ENDED:

They give the respondents complete freedom to decide the form , length and detail of the
answer. Open questions are preferred when the researchers is interested in knowing what
is upper most in the mind of respondents.

DICHOTOMOUS:

This type of questions have only two type of answer, yes or no. true or false etc.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS:

28
In the case of multiple choice question the respondents is offered two or more choices.
The researcher exhausts all the possible choices and the respondent has to indicate which
one is applicable in this case.

CHAPTER 4

DATA

ANALYSIS

AND

INTERPRETATION

29
 DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

After the data collection, it was compiled, classified and tabulated manually and with
help of computer. Then the task of drawing inferences was accomplished with the help
of percentage and graphic method. Different suggestions given by me to the Company
after analyzing the views of every respondent are also given in the report.

Keeping in mind the objectives of the study, the survey was being done and
following interpretation was being drawn.

DEMOGARPHIC FEATURES OF REPONDENTS

1. Sex ratio of the respondents

S.NO. PARTICULARS NUMBER %AGE

A MALE 39 78%
B FEMALE 11 22%

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INTERPRETATION:

The graphical representation of the table shows that out of 50 respondents

39 were male and 11 were female.

2. AGE GROUP OF RESPONDENTS

S.NO. PARTICULARS NUMBER %AGE

A 15-25 21 42%
B 25-35 18 36%
C 35-45 6 12%
D 45 above 5 10%

INTERPRETATION

31
The graphical representation of the table shows that out of total respondents
42% were of age 15-25, 36% 25-35, 12% 35-45, and rest were above 45.

3. LITERACY RATE AMONG THE

RESPONDENTS

S.NO. PARTICULARS NUMBER %AGE

A MATRICULATE 8 16%
B INTERMEDIATE 17 34%
C GRADUATION 19 38%
D POST-GRADUATION 6 12%

INTERPRETATION :

32
The graphical representation of the table shows that out of total respondents
8 were matriculate,17 were intermediate,19graduateand rest 6 were
postgraduate.

4. Who is your current service provider?

S.NO. PARTICULARS NUMBER %AGE

A AIRTEL 14 28%
B VODAFONE 25 50%
C OTHERS 11 22%

INTERPRETATION :
The 14 person were used Air Tel and 25 person were used vodaphone and
11 were used other.

33
5.
a) For how long you are using this mobile connection?

AIRTEL

S.NO. PARTICULARS NUMBER %AGE

A Less than 6 months 2 14%
B 6 to 12 months 3 21%
C Above 12 months 9 65%

34
INTERPRETATION :
Two person were used since six month and three were used since twelve
months and nine were used since two year.

VODAFONE

S.NO. PARTICULARS NUMBER %AGE

A Less than 6 months 1 4%
B 6 to 12 months 3 12%
C Above 12 months 21 84%

INTERPRETATION :

35
The one person were used since six months and three were used since one
year and twenty were used since two year

OTHERS

S.NO. PARTICULARS NUMBER %AGE

A Less than 6 months 1 9%
B 6 to 12 months 2 18%
C Above 12 months 8 73%

INTERPRETATION :
The one person were used since six months and two were used since one
year and eight were used since two year.

36
5.
b)What were the reason for choosing this mobile
connection?

AIRTEL

S.NO. PARTICULARS NUMBER %AGE

A Recommended by friends and 5 36%
relative
B Recommended by retailer 2 14%
C Brand image 1 7%
D Advertisement 6 43%

INTREPRETATION :

37
Fife were recommended by friends and relative and two were by retailor
and one were by brand image and six were by advertisement.

VODAFONE

S.NO. PARTICULARS NUMBER %AGE

A Recommended by friends and 6 24%
relative
B Recommended by retailer 2 8%
C Brand image 7 28%
D Advertisement 10 40%

INTREPRETATION :

Six were recommended by friends and relative and two were by retailor and
seven were by brand image and ten were by advertisement.

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OTHERS

S.NO. PARTICULARS NUMBER %AGE

A Recommended by friends and 2 18%
relative
B Recommended by retailer 2 18%
C Brand image 6 55%
D Advertisement 1 9%

INTREPRETATION :

Two were recommended by friends and relative and two were by retailor
and six were by brand image and one were by advertisement

39
6. While purchasing a connection does advertisement
plays any role?

S.NO. PARTICULARS NUMBER %AGE

A Yes 42 84%
B No 8 16%

INTREPRETATION :

The fourty two preson were say yes and eight were says no.

40
7. From where you watch the advertisement most?

S.NO. PARTICULARS NUMBER %AGE

A Television 31 62%
B Radio 0 0%
C Newspaper 11 22%
D Magazines 8 16%

INTREPRETATION :

The mostly people sees advertisement in the television.

41
8. Which telecommunication have good
advertisements?

S.NO. PARTICULARS NUMBER %AGE

A Air Tel 21 42%
B Vodafone 24 48%
C Any other 5 10%

INTREPRETATION :

The mostly Vodafone have good advertisement.

42
9. How well advertisements of the AirTel catch your
attention?

S.NO. PARTICULARS NUMBER %AGE

A Very well 22 38%
B Somewhat well 12 20%
C Undecided 6 17%
D Not at all 10 25%

INTREPRETATION :

The 22 person says very well and 12 person says some what well and 6
were undecided and 10 were says no.

43
10. How well did the advertisement of Vodafone catch
your attention?

S.NO. PARTICULARS NUMBER %AGE

A Very well 26 52%
B Somewhat well 10 20%
C Undecided 6 12%
D Not at all 8 16%

INTREPRETATION :

The 26 person says very well and 10 person says some what well and 6
were undecided and 8 were says no.

44
11. Do you think that advertisement made by company
informs you about there new products?

S.NO. PARTICULARS NUMBER %AGE

A YES 34 68%
B NO 12 24%
C UNDECIDED 4 8%

INTREPRETATION :

The 34 person says yes and 12 person says no and 4 person were no
response.

45
12. Based on advertisements made by company, would
you like to go for more connection for you or your
family in future?

S.NO. PARTICULARS NUMBER %AGE

A YES 38 76%
B NO 7 14%
C UNDECIDED 5 10%

INTREPRETATION :

The 38 person says yes and 7 person says no and 5 person were no
response.

46
CHAPTER 5
SUGGESTION
• Airtel, Vodafone should try to expand their customer’s network.

• Vodafone should try to attract the young peoples. (upto 20 years)

• Airtel should try to attract old peoples also.

All the service providers are made good advertisements for their service.
Because, advertisements are take little part for influencing the consumers.

• All the service providers are try to increase post paid users.

75% of the peoples are unaware about the various services rendered by their
service provider. So the service providers try to make awareness of their
customers services to their customers.

• Airtel, Vodafone should attract the customers by reducing their price.

• Vodafone are highly dissatisfied about the performance of the service provider.
So they should try to add some advanced features towards their services.

• Vodafone should decreased their dissatisfied customers by providing

good after sales services.

• Vodafone should give periodical offers to their customers.

47
• Vodafone should decrease their outgoing call charges

PROBLEMS
 Airtel should focus on the server down problem. So as to enable its customer a
smooth and uninterrupted services such that free flow of services.

 Airtel should also focus on improving its IMAGE in the fast paced market
competition.

 Aitrel should focus on more PROMOTION tactics to increase its brand

perception. They should display proper advertisement boards, hoardings, in order
to increase the image of the company in the minds of the consumer.

 It should display hoardings at the places where the footfall is high like metros,
bus stands mall etc.

 Airtel should better up with their network and connectivity problems so as

to maintain their hold in the market, as it is a service not a product.

 The tariff plans should not be complex, but should be very easy to explain to the
customer by the FOS (feet on street). The FOS should have proper knowledge e
about the schemes provided by the company so that they can convey the
right message to the customer base politely.

 Airtel should make a different cell for customer satisfaction, where in the people
so employed can personally look after their complaints, rather than waitin for the
channel member to do the same.

48
 It should have a proper complaint BOXES, at their respective outlet where they
can focus on customer demands and needs.

 The company should assure of proper supply of recharge vouchers cards

to its distribution networks, so that they can provide it to the customers on time.

 Airtel should also be tough on their LBA”S (Local Business Associates) if they
are not providing proper results, as they do have a tendency of taking things for
granted some times.

 Vodafone should decrease call rates for local users.

 Vodafone should provide more offers to Post-Paid customers so that the number
of Post-Paid customers increase.

 Vodafone should bring introduce some new SMS schemes for the youngsters.

 Vodafone should introduce more schemes and offers.

 Vodafone should provide more schemes and offers to its old customers.

 Vodafone should decrease call rates of STD and ISD.

49
 CONCLUSION

1. Maximum respondents were using mobile phones for more than one year.

2. People like to watch advertisement on television mostly

3. Respondents like to purchase new mobile connection based on advertisements

and schemes.

4. Maximum respondents were in favor of that, Vodafone’s advertising is better

than other companies.

5. Maximum number of respondents were in favor of that, they would like to

purchase more connection of the company with good advertisement policy.

50
CHAPTER 6

REFRENCES
Books:

• Marketing Management – Philip Kotler, Kevin Lane Keller.

Magazines:

• Business world
• India today

Website:

• www.bhartiteleventures.com
• www.airtel.in
• www.vodafone.in
• www.scribd.com
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/airtel
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vodafone

51
 QUESTIONNAIRE
Dear Sir/Madam
I am the student of M.COM-4rd Semester at POONA COLLEGE doing a project
“ THE CUSTOMER RESPONCE TOWARDS ADVERTISING BY AIRTEL AND
VODAFONE IN THE TELECOM SECTOR” Please co-operate to fill this
questionnaire.

Name _________________________________________

1. Sex: (a) Male (b) Female

2. Age: (a) 15-25 (b) 25-35

(c) 35-45 (d) Above 45

3. Education: (a) Matriculate (b) Intermediate

(c) Graduation (d) Postgraduate

4. Who is your current service provider?

a) Airtel b) Vodafone c) Any other

5.
a) For how long you are using this mobile connection?

a) less than 6 months.

52
 b) 6 to 12 months.
c) Above 12 months.

5.
b) What were the reasons for choosing this mobile connection?

a) Recommended by friends or relatives.

b) Recommended by retailers.
c) Brand image
d) Advertisement

6. While purchasing a connection advertising plays any role?

a) Yes b) No

7. From where you watch the advertisement most?

a) Television
b) Radio
c) Newspaper
d) Magazines

8. Which telecommunication have good advertising?

a) Air Tel
b) Vodafone
c) Any other

9. How well did advertisement of the AirTel catch your attention?

53
a) Very well
b) Somewhat well
c) Undecided
d) Not at all.

10. How well did the advertisement of the Vodafone catch your attention?

a) Very well
b) somewhat well
c) undecided
d) Not at all

11. Do you think that advertisement made by company informs you about there
products?

a) Yes
b) No
c) Undecided

12. Based on advertisements made by company , would you like to go for more
connection for you or your family in future?

a) Yes.
b) No.
c) Not decided.

Address : _________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
Phone No : _____________________

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“Thanks for your valuable time and co-operation”

55