GOURAB KUNDU MARKETING MANAGEMENT GROUP PROJECT 3 FMG XVIII A FORE SCHOOL OF MAN

AGEMENT
Kaun Banega Crorepati has become a phenomenon in India. The show brought a parad
igm 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 co
nnection 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 tha
t it did not stay as just a „sponsor‟ like many of the others. It created cohesion o
f 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 sea
sons. 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 c
ircles. Bharti Airtel since its inception has been at the forefront of technolog
y 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 structur
ed into three individual strategic business units (SBU‟s) - Mobile Services, Airte
l Telemedia Services & Enterprise Services. The mobile business provides mobile
& fixed wireless services using GSM technology across 23 telecom circles while t
he Airtel Telemedia Services business offers broadband & telephone services in 9
5 cities and has recently launched India's best Direct-to-Home (DTH) service, Ai
rtel digital TV. The Enterprise services provide end-to-end telecom solutions to
corporate customers and national & international long distance services to carr
iers. 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 e
mploys 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 c
ommunication campaigns to highlight the unique offerings from its stable. To thi
nk 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 rea
lly 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 throug
h a cricket match without seeing the Airtel Logo as a sponsor in some or the oth
er 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 abl
e to establish an instant connect with the audience at large. The clarity in com
munication is striking. Airtel is a mobile telecommunications provider. Hence, i
t has to encourage people to talk.

Communication Campaign Tools

Airtel uses an array of communication tools to bring its products to the forefro
nt. Being a service industry quality of service is of paramount importance and A
irtel seeks to reinstate its pledge towards giving the best to its customers. Th
ough Airtel has the breakthrough technologies and modern amenities; it prefers t
o communicate on the various features of its products. All the modes employed ha
ve a strong undercurrent of “Indianness”. Perhaps, this makes Airtel stand a league
apart from competition. Every advertisement seeks to establish an emotional conn
ect with the audiences.
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The various communication campaign tools employed by Airtel are enlisted as belo
w: Advertising: Airtel spends Crores of rupees every year in advertisements in a
ll avenues of mass communication. While radio happens to be the cheapest means o
f mass communication, the most widely preferred mode is that of television. Thou
gh 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 co
mpany. 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 virt
ually impossible for the audience to turn a blind eye to them. Various market ex
perts 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 image
ry and music. In fact the catch tune of Airtel is among the most recallable tune
s in India. The genius of the Oscar winning music director A. R. Rahman is the m
an behind the catchy tune. Advertisements either induce the customer to go for t
he product immediately or help retaining the brand name in the customer‟s mind whi
ch 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 va
lues than its products and services. Most ads just establish the value and belie
fs of Airtel than establishing its services like mobile, telephone, or broadband
. The trust factor of Airtel amplifies greatly with the caliber of its brand amb
assadors. 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 som
e point or the other. One of the key reasons for the lasting impact of the Airte
l ads is the reinvention of the content displayed. The recent campaign of “Barrier
s Break When People Talk” having the portrayal of two separate instances, One betw
een 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 lastin
g emotional effect in the minds of the audiences. The romantic advertisements be
tween Vidya Balan and Madhavan have won accolades all over. Essentially the them
e of all the advertisements is to establish a connect with the audience and ther
eby with the present and the prospective service users.
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Public Relations and Publicity: With the increase in competition, the stake of c
redibility 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 magazin
es for or against a company can drastically influence the brand equity of that c
ompany. As established by now, Airtel is a maverick of sorts in product communic
ation. It has most definitely made great inroads into the avenues of Public rela
tions and Publicity. PR serves a three way objective for Airtel. It helps in inc
reasing 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 c
ut above the rest. PR is a potent communications tool to catch some buyers off-g
uard who have an aversion in trusting the credibility of the Television Commerci
als. 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 cam
paigns. 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 in
novative and grabbed many eyeballs. Sales Promotion: Companies generally use sal
es promotion tools to draw a stronger, quicker audience response to the products
. The objective of this mode of communication is primarily to enhance the commun
ication between the audiences/customers and the company so that the prospect of
future customers is maximized. Sales promotion also acts a source of incentive t
o all prospective customers to try the product. It also passes a passive invitat
ion 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 Mob
ile Store, an Airtel GSM is gifted for free. Every day and across the various sh
opping 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 co
untry‟s total population.
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Events and Experiences: These are a more subtle form of communication. Herein, t
he indirect/implicit mode of campaign is adopted. Companies generally look at th
ese 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 audien
ces. Ideally, when an event has the audience engrossed, a heightened level of em
otional connect is created. Thus, an involved audience, engulfed with relevant e
vents 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 customize
d, 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 dr
astically decreasing post purchase dissonance. Secondly, it facilitates word-of-
mouth publicity. Airtel seeks to give its customers a very high quality after sa
les service, this helps the company retain potential customers and also penetrat
e newer markets. It keeps the customers up-to-date about the various new schemes
and promotions. The Airtel executives personally call the customer and potentia
l customer for suggestions and upgradations. They also give special benefits to
the existing customers which in turn drive their sales even more upwards. Word o
f Mouth Marketing: This mode of communication is perhaps one of the most effecti
ve ones. The objectives are to create a positive buzz about the quality of servi
ce 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. H
ence, credibility, timeliness of advice and personal connect go a long way in ca
tapulting 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 communi
cation. 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 di
fference. The marketing strategy of Airtel has a well defined clause for the ven
dors and this goes a long way in establishing the goodwill of the brand. This go
odwill eventually translates into sales.
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Target Audiences: A target audience is the primary group of people that somethin
g, usually an advertisement is aimed at appealing to. A target audience can be p
eople of a certain age group, gender, marital status etc. (ex: teenagers, female
s, single people, etc.) Without knowing the target audience, a company's adverti
sing and the selling efforts can become difficult and very expensive. A Target A
udience can be selected on the basis of following parameters: Age Location (wher
e they live) Gender Marital Status Bharti airtel has a huge customer base in Ind
ia. 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 targe
ts college students for these connection but many people whose age is greater th
an 25 also take this connection. So they are secondary audience. Post paid conne
ction: 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 ar
ea of the population that one can identify and target, but does not hold the sam
e significance (in size) when compared to the primary (core) demography.
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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 over the time. It is d
ynamic and keeps changing over the years. The change in the tag line, logo and t
he celebrities endorsing the products have changed over the years tells us about
the changing perceptions of the market by the company over the years.
"In a service industry like telecom, people live a brand 24X7. It's all about ex
perience; and for Airtel, brand =customer experience"
- Rajan Mittal, Joint Managing Director, Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd.

“Power to keep in touch” (1995) This era saw the beginning of mobile communication i
n India. Every mobile handset would cost as high as Rs. 45,000. Only the elite i
n 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'. Th
e 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 socie
ty, more as a lifestyle brand. Airtel decided that the brand should always demon
strate its leadership–be it in network, innovations, offerings, services and capit
alize 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‟ ta
gline are as follows: Now, cellular service operators could drop their prices an
d target new customer segments. As the category developed with prices going down
sharply, Airtel began talking to a wider spectrum of potential users. This give
s 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 cellula
r world was limited. Airtel took out full and half-page ads in newspapers, answe
ring 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 posit
ively positioning and establishing itself as a brand that improved the quality o
f 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 lo
go 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 Ind
ian leader, Airtel needed to change its tagline.

“Live Every Moment” (2002) In 2002, Airtel signed on music composer A R Rahman and c
hanged its tune to "Live every moment": Rahman's signature tune for Airtel has t
ransformed musical advertisements for ever. This strategy was launched to captur
e the imagination of the customer. The tagline denotes that each and every perso
n in India lives every moment (emotions, feelings etc.) of life. And Airtel help
s in doing so. The focus was on the endless possibilities of technology to make
life good and advertising became twopronged: a product-driven communication that
showcased new offerings like the Magic prepaid card, and an emotional communica
tion that showed younger people.

“Express Yourself” (2003) 'Express Yourself' was successfully launched taking the ow
nership of the entire space of telecommunication and strengthening the emotional
bond that Airtel had established with its customers over the years. It highligh
ts the capability of Airtel in terms of performance and network coverage. This c
ampaign was launched in regional languages as well. Airtel also modified its log
o to give it a more energetic and younger look. By this time, the emotional angl
e was predominant it was a stark, black and white imagery that could stand out i
n what was becoming a highly commoditized, crowded market.
Airtel seems to have consciously decided to go for the belly of the market and a
ggressive market expansion, while its major competitors seem to be targeting rel
atively 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 functional
ity and efficiency while Vodafone is more focused on warmth and emotions. Even t
hough 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 un
iform physical presence all throughout the country. Vodafone has a fragmented pr
esence.
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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 advertisemen
ts Airtel has used seem to have maintained a specific genre among them. The adve
rtisements have more often than not talked much more about the values than the p
roduct or the service. Or maybe the product and the benefit have always been ver
y intrinsically knit into a value. The creativity in communication can also be a
ssociated to the innovative ways of seeking attention that Airtel has deployed,
especially in outdoor advertising. Talking about broadcast advertising; it is ge
nerally acknowledged as the most effective and powerful advertising medium as co
mpared to others. And Airtel has made full use of it. The ads range from depicti
ng 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 10
s of celebrities waiting for him [Airtel TV], to a young lad going out of villag
e staying connected to his father. All these ads were built on a story and a val
ue perceivable by the viewer of these. Some were set in a far off no man‟s land, s
ome 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 Air
tel connection. A common feature of all these ads has been the instantly recogni
zable signature tune composed by A R Rahman. Some of these ads have a sense of g
randeur about them while others have family orientation, relations or innocent l
ove 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 h
ave been very decent and simple. The celebrities also have always been suitably
chosen for each of these advertisements depending upon the image of themselves t
hy have created in common public. To add to all of this a very catchy slogan alw
ays 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 dependa
ble, 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 th
e flip side, the weakness of this media is in the relative high cost and the num
ber of irrelevant audience reached as Airtel has positioned itself as a comparat
ively premium product. The second important communication tool would be outdoor
advertising. It is generally more suitable for brand enhancement and reinforceme
nt that it is for a new product setting feet in the market. This is one area whe
re Airtel has shown real innovation and at times out of the box thinking. Consid
er for instance making letter boxes in the shape of Airtel SIM cards, or lamp po
sts with the lamps enclosed in huge SIM cards. Or just picture a train running a
cross cities and painted all over with the Airtel logo. It grabs instant attenti
on. Airtel invests heavily in the outdoor advertisements in all the cities and t
owns across India. Its advertisements can be prominently seen across billboards
and hoardings. These billboards often have stills that remind of the latest Airt
el ads being run on television. They are an efficient way of constantly remindin
g of the value enforced by the TV commercial. The main advantage is the cost eff
ectiveness as compared to TV, but they don‟t enjoy as high an exposure as TV ads d
o. Airtel puts in a lot of effort in its outdoor publicity. It is evident from t
he uniqueness in their ways of advertisement. As a method for its brand reinforc
ements, Airtel has often tied up with TV shows ranging from the biggest of all K
BC, 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 spons
or whose name will be seen only in advertisements, but it has made sure its pres
ence 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 th
at 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 au
dience doesn‟t have to be solicited; instead the target customer is already all ey
es 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 audi
ence about the presence of the brand, it solves its main purpose effectively.
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