AIRTEL-BRAND ANALYSISAIRTEL- BRAND

ANALYSIS

ABOUT AIRTELabout

• Bharti Airtel Limited, commonly known as Airtel, is an Indian telecommunications company that operates in 20 countries across South Asia, Africa and the Channel Island

• Airtel is the largest provider of mobile telephony and second largest provider of fixed telephony in India, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services.

• It offers its telecom services under the Airtel brand and is headed by Sunil Bharti Mittal.

• It is known for being the first mobile phone company in the world to outsource all of its business operations except marketing, sales and finance.

Network(Base Stations, Microwave Links etc.)

Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Network and Huawei

Business Support IBM

Transmission Towers Bharti Infratech Ltd.

• Airtel also provides Direct-to-Home (DTH) TV services across India under the brand name Airtel digital TV. It started services on 9 October 2008 and has about 32.44 million customers as of August 2010.

AIRTEL COMMUNICATION

CAMPAIGN

• Bharti Airtel is the number one telecom service operator in India and pledges best quality service to all its customers.

• Apart from advertisements in print and television media, Airtel has widened its spectrum to a great extent. The Airtel logo is clearly noticeable in various cricket matches.

• An interesting feature herein, is also the advertisements displayed on the customer bills and other information dispatched to the consumers.

AIRTEL LOGO

LOGOS

How much importance does a logo hold for a

brand?

A lot, especially, for an established brand like

Airtel, which has established itself in the

telephony market.

Airtel’s previous logo had both white and red colors interchangeably. The interesting part was that the word ‘Air’ was written in black with a white background while ‘Tel’ was written in white on a red background. Sometimes they also included their slogan “Express Yourself” with the logo.

But today the logo looks more like a curved ‘A’ with little bit of highlighting to indicate what they call dynamism and the warm and friendly appeal of Airtel. They have also said that it represents a dynamic force of energy which would bring the management and customers closer.

• If this wasn’t enough, AR Rahman after his debacle with the CWG tune (though the remix was much better) comes back with a theme song having a younger and international feel to it. Their new commercial shows how a couple comes together due to the Airtel 3G technology which interestingly will be launched in India only by December.

• Airtel is offering services now in 19 Asian and African countries where truthfully speaking it has not yet reached leadership status though it’s there on that path. Through their rebranding and repositioning exercise, they aim to achieve an international appeal wherein customers not only in India but across the world recall their brand. With these points in mind, they seem to have embarked on this ambitious journey.

Does the

move really work?

• It’s a taken that wherever Airtel plans to expand around the globe, India will be its most important market.. Therefore the biggest move everyone was waiting for was their introduction of 3G services in India.

• But instead Airtel came up with a complete rebranding exercise including a new logo, TV commercial and signature tune.

• The previous logo was one of the most recognized logos in our country. Anyone and everyone be it from an illiterate person to a CEO knew that was Airtel. One of the reasons for it reaching somewhat of a generic brand status was its easily identifiable logo.

EXPRESS

YOURSELF

TOUCH TOMORROW

POWER TO KEEP

IN TOUCH

LIVE EVERY

MOMENT

DIL JO CHAHE PAAS

LAAYE TAGLINES

Power To Keep In Touch year 1995-1999

Significance: The tagline used in the brand was made to make the user feel in control and powerful. This was positioned at the premium category and was aimed at the elite class of the society. The perception of the brand was created as a lifestyle and an aspirational brand.Reason for change: Now, cellular service operators could drop their rates and extend their customer base. As the category developed with prices going down sharply, Airtel began talking to a wider spectrum of customers. This gives birth to the new tagline

Significance: Airtel started talking to new segments by positively positioning and establishing itself as a brand that improved the quality of life. New look and the feel of the brand indicated the core values of the brand, i.e., leadership, performance and dynamism.

TOUCH TOMORROW 1999-2001

Reason for Change: Airtel started to look from a regional level to a pan-Indian level. Rediffusion DY&R, which was working for Airtel took charge of revamping its brand image. According to the agency, for Airtel to become the world leader, it needed to change its tagline.

Live every moment Year-2002-2003

Significance: This was the first time AR Rahman had agreed to work for a TV commercial anywhere in the world. The music from the commercial became the most downloaded tone in the history of tele-communications. Tagline denotes that every Indian lives every emotion of his life,i.e., happiness, sadness, joy, laughter with Airtel

Reason For change: The tagline was changed by Rediffusion dy&R changed the tagline to revamp the image of Airtel. The purpose was to create an emotional connect through advertising.

Express Yourself-Year 2003-2008

•“Express Yourself” was successfully launched taking the ownership of the entire field of communication and strengthening the emotional bond, Airtel shares with its customers.

•Airtel is s market leader in cellular network and they wanted a fresh and contemporary idea to build a brand image with which, customers could identify.

• Airtel “Express Yourself” campaign won two “Silvers” at the prestigious AAAI awards for Brand Campaign of the Year and Best Advertising Film, amidst stiff competition from 37 advertising agencies.

• The campaign added a new meaning to mobile communication, which helped Airtel to move from the cellular industry clichés and reached out more effectively to both the users as well as the uninitiated.

• Such was the appeal of Airtel Express Yourself campaign that brand awareness as a result of advertising grew from 60% to 91% in just 6 months versus its nearest competitor.

• AIRTEL PPT\Airtel Express Yourself 1 - YouTube.flv

Dil Jo Chahe Paas Laaye 2010

•On the occasion of crossing 200 million wireless subscribers all over the world, the company announced to launch their new logo and a new ringtone.

•Unlike the previous logo, all the letters here are in small caps.

• AIRTEL PPT\A.R Rahman's Airtel New Theme [Video] - YouTube.flv

ADVERTISEMENT STRATEGY

• 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 mode is that of television. Though advertising on television is the costliest proponent among all the modes of communication, print media is also used aggressively by Airtel to serve its purposes. The advertising strategy spreads two basic purposes for the company, namely:

• It creates pervasiveness, allows Airtel to be in the eyes of the consumers all the time. Even the audience is not obligated to pay heed to the advertisements; the high creativity quotient of Airtel advertisements makes them virtually impossible to get unnoticed. Various market experts have rated Airtel Ads very highly on various parameters.

• It also amplifies the message Airtel wants to send to its consumers. The ads score reasonably well on the imagery and music. In fact, the catch tune of Airtel is one of the most popular jingles in the Indian ad industry. The genius of the Oscar winning A.R. Rahman is behind the catchy tune.

• The trust factor of Airtel amplifies greatly with the caliber of its brand ambassadors. The likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Vidya Balan, A.R. Rahman have been the brand ambassadors of Airtel at some point of time or the other.

• One of the reasons for the lasting effects of the Airtel ads has been the reinvention of the content displayed. The recent ad campaign of “Barriers Break when people Talk” is a highly emotional ad campaign connecting people.

• Har Ek Friend ZarOOri Hota Hai has captured the imagination of the nation’s youth. It's a song that's on everyone's lips and status messages on the social networks. But for those in adland, the new Airtel TVC 'Har Ek Friend Zaroori Hota Hai' heralds a new thought for the brand, and its first piece of communication created by indie agency Taproot, which won a slice of the business in July.

• On the new campaign, the Airtel spokesperson said, "Released on the back of our country wide launch of 3G services and communication supporting that, the new campaign targets the youth with an evergreen theme of Friendship and its relevance. Friends remain a critical part of everyone's lives and more so for the youth. At their age, friends are actually family. And our new brand campaign captures this evolving trend among today’s youth in a fresh young ad with a powerful youth anthem - 'Har Ek Friend Zaroori Hota Hai'.

• Talking about the communication task given by Airtel, Agnello Dias, co-founder and chief creative officer, Taproot, said, "It was to create an idea that retained the core of the Airtel brand and struck a chord across age groups even while the execution resonated with the youth.“

• The idea came after long exhaustive sessions with the Airtel team and meeting youth consumers in several cities with the airtel team. In fact, the actual creative platform was arrived at along with the client in a brainstorm."

PUBLIC RELATIONS & 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 made 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 for 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 communication tool to catch some buyers off-guard who have an aversion in trusting the credibility of television commercials.

CORPORATE SOCIAL

RESPONSIBILITY

• To be responsive to the needs of the consumers

• To continuously improve services—innovatively and expeditiously

• To be transparent and sensitive in their dealings with all their stakeholders

• To trust and respect their employees

• Airtel Aashaina for underprivileged children at the Mohali office of Airtel

• Airtel Experience Centre by Express MP to benefit visually impaired people as well as people from the deprived sections of the society.

• In Jammu & Kashmir, donated free medicines, stationary, clothes and other utility items at the “missionary Of Charity Home For Destitute

• Bharti Foundation- The philanthropic arm of Bharti Enterprises was set up in 2000 with a vision to help underprivileged children and the youth of our country to realize their potential,

• Airtel is in a process of setting up of 1000” Satya Bharti” schools to deliver high quality education to underprivileged children in the deepest rural pockets of the country.

• The “CII-Bharti Women Exemplar Award”• Green Towers P7 program- only telecom

tower company, which has installed almost 3 MWT of solar capacity on their network, generating more than 5 mn units of electricity every year.

• Energy conservation• The company has installed solar hot water

generator at its main campus in Gurgaon for fulfilling the hot water requirement in the cafeteria. Majority of its facilities across NCR region are now equipped with LES (Lighting Energy Savers) which have reduced energy consumption in the lighting system to the tune of 10–25%.

SALES PROMOTION

• Sales promotion also acts as a source of incentive to all prospective customers to try the product. It also passes a passive invitation to people to try the product. Airtel is in a strategic alliance with various mobile stores in India, in fact, 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 bought, an Airtel GSM connection is gifted to the customer for free. Every day and across various shopping centres across India, Airtel organizes various promotional events. All of this is done to attract to the country’s youth, since youth comprises of a majority of the Indian population. In addition to that, there are special plans for friends, senior citizens and women.

Events and Experiences

• Ideally, when an event has an audience engrossed, heightened levels 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 of being a part of experiences and events. KBC, cricket, Indian Idol 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.

CONCLUSION

• The Airtel ads, on paper, on TV, or 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.

• Some of these ads have a sense of grandeur about them while others have family orientation, relations or innocent love as the underlying storyline.

• 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

• AIRTEL PPT\New Airtel Ad So Romantic ! sweet voice, awesome ! - YouTube.flv

• Airtel, also, has maintained a safe distance from most of the criticisms associated with advertising. No misleading, no huge claims, no gloss-ups.

• Just simple emotional bond with the consumers- that has been the crux of the advertising strategy of Airtel over the years.

MUSKANB.A.(H) JOURNALISM II YEARROLL NO. 312