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Chapter-1
Introduction to the project
Advertisements today have become a major tool for the marketers to attract the customers. In
every sector whether it be Fast moving consumer goods, Automobile, Pharma or telecom
cores are spent on advertisements to stand out and chase the customers. As such sector is the
Telecom sector where either the companies are hiring stars as their brand endorsers as Airtel
is being endorsed by Shahrukh Khan or they are following a creative and attractive path as
done by Vodafone in case of zoo zoo ads.
India has become the prime target for most of the telecom companies worldwide. A lot ofoperators have entered the market like Docomo, Sham Telecom etc and there are many who
can enter. The competition is increasing at its peak.
In this project , I have mainly gone through two of the major competetiors operating in India
i.e Airtel and Vodafone. The main focus of the study was to find out the effect of
advertisemens of boyh the brands on customers and which is a preferred brand for the
customers. I have also studied the brand fight between n both the brands with special
refrence to Shahrukh as the brand endorser and the Zoo Zoo ads by Vodafone.
A questionnaire was prepared by me in which the focus of questions was to know which
brand serves them better .Questions included are like Which brands advertisement is more
understandable to you? Which brands advertisement is more attractive? Who has more
creative advertisement? etc.
The method used for collecting the data is primary as I got the questionnaires directly filled
from the respondents and the sample size is 100.The Research design used is of exploratory
nature as the focus was on knowing the effect of advertisements of both these brands on
customers.
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Chapter-2
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The present study has the following objective:
y To study the consumers attitude toward advertisement performance of Airtel andVodafone.
y To analyzes the opinions and belief of consumers about advertisement.
y To give fruitful suggestions on the basis of the study.
y Role of advertisement on the buying behavior of the customer
y To find out which telecom company has good advertising and what type ofadvertising subscribers like.
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Chapter-3
Introduction- Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication that typically attempts to persuade potential customers
to purchase or to consume more of a particular brand of product or service. While now central
to the contemporary global economy and the reproduction of global production networks, it is
only quite recently that advertising has been more than a marginal influence on patterns of sales
and production. The formation of modern advertising was intimately bound up with the
emergence of new forms of monopoly capitalism around the end of the 19th and beginning of the
20th century as one element in corporate strategies to create, organize and where possible control
markets, especially for mass produced consumer goods. Mass production necessitated mass
consumption, and this in turn required a certain homogenization of consumer tastes for final
products. At its limit, this involved seeking to create world cultural convergence, to
homogenize consumer tastes and engineer a convergence of lifestyle, culture and behaviors
among consumer segments across the world. Many advertisements are designed to generate
increased consumption of those products and services through the creation and reinvention of the
"brand image". For these purposes, advertisements sometimes embed their persuasive message
with factual information. Every major medium is used to deliver these messages, including
television, radio, cinema, magazines, newspapers, video games, the Internet, carrier bags and
billboards. Advertising is often placed by an advertising agency on behalf of a company or other
organization. Money spent on advertising has increased dramatically in recent years. In 2007,
spending on advertising has been estimated at over $150 billion in the United States and $385
billion worldwide, and the latter to exceed $450 billion by 2010. A recent advertising innovation
is "guerrilla marketing", which involve unusual approaches such as staged encounters in public
places, giveaways of products such as cars that are covered with brand messages, and interactive
advertising where the viewer can respond to become part of the advertising message. This
reflects an increasing trend of interactive and "embedded" ads, such as via product placement,
having consumers vote through text messages, and various innovations utilizing social network
services such as My Space.
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3.1 Types of Advertising Commercial advertising media can include
wall paintings, billboards, street furniture components, printed flyers and rack cards, radio,
cinema and television adverts, web banners, mobile telephone screens, shopping carts, web
popup, skywriting, bus stop benches, human billboards, magazines, newspapers, town criers,
sides of buses, banners attached to or sides of airplanes ("logo jets"), in-flight advertisements on
seatback tray tables or overhead storage bins, taxicab doors, roof mounts and passenger screens,
musical stage shows, subway platforms and trains, elastic bands on disposable diapers, stickers
on apples in supermarkets, shopping cart handles (grabertising), the opening section of streaming
audio and video, posters, and the backs of event tickets and supermarket receipts. Any place an
"identified" sponsor pays to deliver their message through a medium is advertising.
Covert advertising
Covert advertising is when a product or brand is embedded in entertainment and media. For
example, in a film, the main character can use an item or other of a definite brand, as in the
movie Minority Report, where Tom Cruise's character John Anderson owns a phone with the
Nokia logo clearly written in the top corner.
Television commercials
The TV commercial is generally considered the most effective mass-market advertising format,
as is reflected by the high prices TV networks charge for commercial airtime during popular TV
events. The annual Super Bowl football game in the United States is known as the most
prominent advertising event on television. The average cost of a single thirty-second TV spot
during this game has reached $3 million (as of 2009). The majority of television commercials
features is a song or jingle that listeners soon relate to the product.
Infomercials
There are two types of infomercials, described as long form and short form. Long form
infomercials have a time length of 30 minutes. Short form infomercials are 30 seconds to 2
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minutes long. Infomercials are also known as direct response television (DRTV) commercials or
direct response marketing. The main objective in an infomercial is to create an impulse purchase,
so that the consumer sees the presentation and then immediately buys the product through the
advertised toll-free telephone number or website. Infomercials describe, display, and often
demonstrate products and their features, and commonly have testimonials from consumers and
industry professionals.
Celebrities
This type of advertising focuses upon using celebrity power, fame, money, popularity to gain
recognition for their products and promote specific stores or products. Advertisers often
advertise their products, for example, when celebrities share their favorite products or wear
clothes by specific brands or designers. Celebrities are often involved in advertising campaigns
such as television or print adverts to advertise specific or general products.
Media and advertising approaches
Increasingly, other media are overtaking television because of a shift towards consumer's usage
of the Internet as well as devices such as TiVo. Advertising on the World Wide Web is a recent
phenomenon. Prices of Web-based advertising space are dependent on the "relevance" of the
surrounding web content and the traffic that the website receives.
E-mail advertising is another recent phenomenon. Unsolicited bulk E-mail advertising is known
as "spam". Some companies have proposed placing messages or corporate logos on the side of
booster rockets and the International Space Station. Controversy exists on the effectiveness of
subliminal advertising, and the pervasiveness of mass messages.
- turning it into a generic term which means that its legal protection as a trademark is lost.
As the mobile phone became a new mass media in 1998 when the first paid downloadable
content appeared on mobile phones in Finland, it was only a matter of time until mobile
advertising followed, also first launched in Finland in 2000. By 2007 the value of mobile
advertising had reached $2.2 billion and providers such as Admob delivered billions of mobile
ads.
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content brought about by everything from blogs to social networking sites, provide advertisers
with audiences that are smaller but much better defined, leading to ads that are more relevant to
viewers and more effective for companies' marketing products. Among others, Comcast
Spotlight is one such advertiser employing this method in their video on demand menus. These
advertisements are targeted to a specific group and can be viewed by anyone wishing to find out
more about a particular business or practice at any time, right from their home. This causes the
viewer to become proactive and actually choose what advertisements they want to view.
In freelance advertising, companies hold public competitions to create ads for their product, the
best one of which is chosen for widespread distribution with a prize given to the winner(s).
During the 2007 Super Bowl, PepsiCo held such a contest for the creation of a 30-second
television ad for the Doritos brand of chips, offering a cash prize to the winner. Chevrolet held a
similar competition for their Tahoe line of SUVs. This type of advertising, however, is still in its
infancy. It may ultimately decrease the importance of advertising agencies by creating a niche
for independent freelancers.
3.2 Advertising Trend in Telecom
Telecom advertising is an overlooked field. Almost all ad agencies would love to have a telecom
operator client as they are among the top 10 advertising spenders in all countries; usually they
regret that afterwards though due to the short lead times, long working hours, and over
demanding clients (mostly from technical backgrounds); all of which result in a relatively low
quality end product. Telecom advertising is a very specific industry in many ways different from
conventional advertising mostly due to the nature of the beast (it is a media within itself that is
constantly expanding to include more and more industries) and constant evolution. Advertising
agencies rarely have such experts though, due to the high turn-over of people on the accounts,
mostly due to the reasons mentioned in the first paragraph. Despite their differences all telecom
operators require the same campaigns, usually in the following order from launch date
1. A teaser / announcement to indicate their launch date
2. A brand launches campaign
3. Corporate Social Responsibility campaigns
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4. Core Product campaigns (usually prepaid and post-paid)
5. Coverage Campaign (to show that their networks are now complete)
6. Payment methods campaign (listing the channels in which can pay their bills)
7. 3G campaign (focusing on their innovative technology, and claiming first to market)
8. Roaming campaign (mentioning how many operators they have roaming agreements with)
9. Airport campaigns
10. Store opening campaigns
11. International call rate reduction campaign
12. Tariff reduction campaign
13. Mobile Content campaign (focusing on the mobile portal and what content it includes, mostly
music, ring tones, ring back tones, news etc.)
14. Value added services campaigns (these are dispersed throughout the communication plan
depending on when a new service is rolled out)
15. Mobile Internet campaign (on both accessing the internet through your phone, or data cards
that plug into your laptop)
16. Customer service campaigns
17. Business campaign (launching their business services division)
18. Business product campaigns (mostly data-cards, push email, and closed user groups)
19. Focusing on the Youth segment (through universities, and hip music)
Usually due to urgency, wanting to communicate so many messages at the same time, and the
need to claim first-to-market (because innovation is a key platform); these operator end up with
badly managed campaigns that are not fully integrated (mostly newspaper ads and mentions on
their website and in stores), and sacrifice on the creative quality of their communications. All ofthe above results in a confused customer who knows that an operator has many services but
cannot indicate or quantify them.
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Several global learning can be made from the above, these include:-
1. Ideal campaign roll-out plans (starting with print and moving to ambient media, online ads
etc)
2. Touch points management (deciding on what to communicate at which touch points)
3. Simple communications (mentioning the key benefit of a service and not listing all of its
attributes)
4. More focus on PR and making most announcements through press releases that induce viral
support
5. Update bulletins on new products and services
6. Developing more target advertising to specific segments
7. Focusing more on direct marketing and database building
8. Creating online forums in which customers can better express their views and usage patterns
9. Creating simple template ads that can be adapted and published as soon as new products and
services are developed and need to be instantly rolled-out for claiming first-to-market.
10. Media management (deciding on what are the best media for each campaign and where each
product is most likely thought of by the customer i.e. mobile payment at cash registers)
11. Giving autonomy to marketing-communications departments at telecom operators separating
engineers from creative communications
3.3 Boom of Telecom Advertising and Its Effects
Telecom advertising, a $1 billion industry globally with a three billion subscriber base, is
set to take off in a big way in India too. Service providers, market research firms and
independent companies, which just focus on this medium, are all seeing value in the expanding
Indian mobile market, estimated to be 500 million subscribers by 2010. The market for telecom
advertising, which is still at its nascent stage, is estimated to grow to Rs 20-25 crore by March in
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the country. It was estimated to be a mere Rs 5-6 crore about six months ago. Telecom
Advertising proved at its best.It is said that main reason behind the success of the sector is its
unconventional strategy and aggression towards target market. Telecom Advertising has been
enormously growing and supporting telecom companies to grow much more. Reliance
Communications, a leading CDMA service provider and a pioneer of mobile advertising in the
country, has effectively offered mobile advertising solutions for more than 20 clients over the
past four years. Starting off with LG during World Cup Cricket in 2003, it has since then handled
Cadburys, Coke, Maruti, Hyundai and even financial brands like ICICI, Kotak and HDFC
among others. "With the mobile handset population poised to top 500 million in India by 2010,
it has become a huge and vibrant communication platform, which no brand marketer can afford
to ignore," Reliance Communication Applications & Solutions president Mahesh Prasad told ET.
The growth of 3G networks, IPTV and high-end gaming on mobile phones, is expected to open
new avenues for the medium. According to records "Reliance mobile marketing solutions offer
creative means and focused targeting to reach our more than 37 million subscribers anytime,
anywhere in an non-intrusive manner,". With the thrust on technology, Kaybase through a tool,
Critical Incident Track (CI Track), made use of the very high mobile penetration in the country,
and the relatively non-intrusive nature of an SMS. "It is a tool to conduct ongoing contact audit
of the clients services. Its chief advantage is the low cost and the real-time reporting features,"
said Kaybase director R Ashok. Its effect can be seen by profit result of companies, and growing
awareness and interest of Rural audience. Increasing demand for telecom has been encouraging
its market potential and opportunity as well. Nowadays there are several advertising Agencies
who are given more attention and consideration for making it bigger for telecom
sector.Lowe,O&M,Lintas, Bright Advertising and many more are there who have been
nourishing this sector by their work. The best effect of telecom advertising is Awareness and
concentration among Rural market towards telecom.
Market Potential
India, for the second straight month, added over 9mn mobile subscribers in August 2008, which
boosted the wireless base to over 305mn users while overall tele-density reached about 30%.
August subscriber additions were a tad below July 2008 figure of 9.21mn, and did see
incumbents like Bharti Airtel witness amongst the slowest incremental month on month (mom)
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additions. However, we would wait for the growth scenario to evolve further. For now we
maintain our FY10E target of about 448mn wireless subscribers.
Bharti incremental subscriber growth at 0.2% mom; Rcom adds 1.75mn Bharti added 2.7mn
subscribers in August, witnessing one of the slowest incremental increase of 0.2% mom while
Rcom subscriber base increased by 1.75mn, an incremental rise of 0.1% mom. Idea Cellular
added 1.03mn, a slight drop of 2.3% from 1.05mn users added in July 2008. We expect Idea user
base to pick up once its Mumbai launch stabilizes and begins operations in new circles.
Vodafone Essar incremental adds rise 3% mom Vodafone Essar netted about 1.81mn users, an
incremental increase of 3% mom while BSNL incremental monthly additions jumped 10.5% to
take its subscriber base to 43.2mn. Spice continued to lose subscribers with another 0.6mn
subscribers knocked off from its total which now stands at 3.6mn
3.4 Advertising Trends In Indian Telecom
The way telecom firms advertise, gives an approximate idea about the telecom trends. I would
try to uncover some of them, which come to my mind. At the initial launch of the mobile
services, they were advertised as lifestyle products. The message that sought to be conveyed was
that if you have a mobile phone, you have arrived in life. A few well-healed people could afford
the high call rates at that time. It was in no way for the masses. I am sure that the mobile
companies made a large profit out of it. Perhaps for the first time, Indians were exposed to
concepts alien to them: Customer Care Support. It saw a booming of the ancillary services and
fresh graduates, stunted in mental development though, came out in droves for the well-paid
jobs. Airtel then sought the services of Sachin Tendulkar. He was the brand ambassador and saw
his earnings sharply increasing. I saw his picture everywhere exhorting me buy the mobile
prepaid card. After the initial publicity passed away, A.R. Rahman gave his now famous tune.
All the other companies have variously tried other gimmicks to sell their connections.
However, the landscape changed after Reliance came in the mobile services. Mukesh Ambani
was seen telling people about his fathers dream. The initial launch was lackluster. With the
launch of the prepaid services, the punch line was mujhme hai who baat or I have that thing!
how many people actually signed up after those ads. . Reliance was able to ramp up its numbers.
Then came the ad line Kar lo duniya muthi mein. (Have the world in your fist). Creative heads of
the ad agency. The icing on the cake goes to Hutch. They designed the simple ad with the kid
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and cute Chinese Pug. It was a hit of all sorts. It conveyed the effectiveness of the message
succinctly. I believe that it drove Hutch connections across the places where it offered its
services. However, it was considered too elitist for the masses. The advertisement should be able
to convey the message effectively; one with which people could identify with. In this regard,
BSNL could claim something. BSNL advertisements depicted typically government mentality
for awarding the contract to lowest in the tender process. The quality clearly shows. Is there
anyway people could identify themselves with that advertisements? What of those places where
BSNL is the sole service provider? As the title goes, advertising trends are reflective of the
current scenario in telecom. Airtel has been advertising its group card labeled as Friends. In fact,
until now, the market was treated as homogenous. Over the period, classification has been sought
to target the specific customers with specific needs. Airtel took the lead in announcing Senior
citizen cards targeted at those above 60. The Friends card is for those who wish to restrict
themselves to their group with low calling rates and some free messages.
Reliance has realized early on about targeting the businesses. Its offer of flat rate for making
STD calls to anyone across its network is unparalleled. This way it can ensure that there would
be higher converts towards it services. R-Connect is its portal that differentiated Reliance early
on from other operators. It knows that future revenues are going to come from value added
services. This way it has foreseen the development in the industry.
3.5 ADVERTISING CHANNELS
Advertising Planning Process Segregation Of the Telecom Sector Market segmentation And
Target Audience- Telecom Sector Ultra Modern Approach of Advertising For Telecom Sector
Rural Market. When we talk about ultra-modern approach, it allow us to move ahead with time.
Telecom Advertising has not only succeeded in capturing the market, but also kept a unavoidable
impression upon audience. Target audience leads to plan the specific approach to gain it, butwhen it comes to advertising, we need to modify it and represent in such way that it directly goes
to ultimate consumer. For convincing more than 1 million people in same country, telecom
companies started moving and giving heavy attention towards promotional tools. They
understood that if they had to be the leader one, they must have to have total command over
market. They focused more and more on advertisement. But interestingly telecom advertising
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twisted along with world of thought, reaching to mob. Telecom advertising represented itself
unconventionally and it was coming up to make rural crowd aware of it.
Indias GDP and growth are strongly based upon agriculture and farming. More than half of
crowd belongs to rural segement in India. Telecom advertising shaped itself to tap them. But
how? (see advertising approach model) Creativity with unique concept of telecom ad made it
powerful. But only creativity with good concept not helped it out, better execution is must.
Telecom advertising used unique concept, creativity, strong representation and best execution for
it. Telecom ads are emotional and very touching which is key for the advertisers. Vodafone essar
utilized a puppy as its brand ambassador but that was not enough, the concept and presentation
of Vodafone ads are remarkable. Airtel, Reliance are also top players. Reliance communication
is the only Company which started capturing rural market beautifully, with heaviest
advertisement and making people aware of the modern technology and its utilization. On the
contrary Virgin Mobile is Unique among all for its advertisement. Making of an Ad is not the
answer. Telecom advertisement is the best example for execution. They used each and every
possible media channel to make people aware and to build country. In remote areas and villages
where people can not afford expensive things, Advertising made it possible by telling its
thousands of benefits, schemes, tariffs. And by saying that now one cant be worried for
communicating his/her dear one. Persuasion is the result of any advertising .Telecom
advertisement was executed so well that it persuaded its target market to a high extent. And that
is one of the biggest reason to increase its demand.
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Chapter-4
INDUSTRY PROFILE
The Indian telecommunications industry is one of the fastest growing in the world. The industry
has witnessed consistent growth during the last year on the back of rollout of newer circles by
operators, successful auction of third-generation (3G) and broadband wireless access (BWA)
spectrum, network rollout in semi-rural areas and increased focus on the value added services
(VAS) market.
According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the number of telephone
subscriber base in the country reached 742.12 million as on October 31, 2010, an increase of
2.61 per cent from 723.28 million in September 2010. With this the overall tele-density
(telephones per 100 people) has touched 62.51. The wireless subscriber base has increased to
706.69 million at the end of October 2010 from 687.71 million in September 2010, registering a
growth of 2.76 per cent.
Meanwhile, Indian Global System of Mobile Communication (GSM) telecom operators added
17.45 million new subscribers in November 2010, taking the all-India GSM cellular subscriber
base to 526.18 million, according to the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI). The
GSM subscriber base stood at 508.72 million at the end of October 2010Today the Indian telecommunications network with over 375 Million subscribers is second
largest network in the world after China. India is also the fastest growing telecom market in the
world with an addition of 9- 10 million monthly subscribers. The Department of
Telecommunications has been able to provide state of the art world-class infrastructure at
globally competitive tariffs and reduce the digital divide by extending connectivity to the
unconnected areas. India has emerged as a major base for the telecom industry worldwide. ThusIndian telecom sector has come a long way in achieving its dream of providing affordable and
effective communication facilities to Indian citizens. As a result common man today has access
to this most needed facility. The reform measures coupled with the proactive policies of the
Department of Telecommunications have resulted in an unprecedented growth of the telecomsector. According to TRAI, by the end of February, the total number of subscribers hadreached
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413 million. Of this, 91% were mobile phone subscribers. The rising number of subscribers has
pushed the tele-density to 35.62% showing a stupendous annual growth of about 50%, one of the
highest in any sector of the Indian Economy. Also industry estimates show that telecom industry
in India will witness a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26% to reach 3, 44,921 crore by
2012. It is set to generate employment opportunities for close to 10 million. Indias telecom
sector has shown massive upsurge in the recent years in all respects of industrial growth. From
the status of state monopoly with very limited growth, it has grown in to the level of an industry.
Telephone, whether fixed landline or mobile, is an essential necessity for the people of India.
This changing phase was possible with the economic development that followed the process of
structuring the economy in the capitalistic pattern. Removal of restrictions on foreign capital
investment and industrial de-licensing resulted in fast growth of this sector. At present the
countrys telecom industry has achieved a growth rate of 14 per cent. Till 2000, though cellular
phone companies were present, fixed landlines were popular in most parts of the country, with
government of India setting up the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, and measures to
allow new players country, the featured products in the segment came in to prominence. Indian
Telecom sector, like any other industrial sector in the country, has gone through many phases of
growth and diversification. Starting from telegraphic and telephonic systems in the 19th century,
the field of telephonic communication has now expanded to make use of advanced technologies like GSM, CDMA and WLL to the great 3G Technology in mobile phones. Day by day, both the
Public Players and the Private Players are putting in their resources and efforts to improve the
telecommunication technology so as to give the maximum to their customers. The huge potential
offered by the untapped rural market will help push growth for telecom operators in the years to
come. At present, rural India accounts for just 27% of the countrys cellular base, though it
constitutes 70% of thepopulation
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Chapter-5
COMPANY PROFILE
BHARTI AIRTELBharti Airtel formerly known as Bharti Tele-Ventures LTD (BTVL) is the largest cellular
service provider in India, with more than 110 million subscribers as of 2009. 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 Airtelbrand and is headed by Sunil Bharti Mittal. The company also provides
telephone services and Internet access over DSL in 14 circles. 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
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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 Kohili, joint
managing director and chief executive of Indian and South Asian operations, will become the
chief executive of the international business group from 1st of April 2010. He will be overseeing
Bharti's overseas business. Deputy Chief Executive Sanjay Kapoor will replace Mr. Kohli and
will be the CEO with effective from April 1 2010
Brands
Airtel
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: 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.
Airtel Sri Lanka
In December 2008, Bharti Airtel rolled out third generation services in Sri Lanka in association
with Singapore Telecommunications. SingTel is a major player in the 3G space in Asia. It
operates third generation networks in several markets across Asia. Airtel's operation in Sri
Lanka, known as Airtel Lanka, commenced operations on the 12th of January 2009.
Airtel in Bangladesh
In January 2010, it was announced that the Bangladesh Telecommuncations Regulatory
Commission (BTRC) of The People's Republic of Bangladesh had given Bharti Airtel the go
ahead to acquire a 70% stake in the Bangladesh business of Abu Dhabi based Warid Telcom.
The latter had till date invested a total of $600 million, with plans to bring their Bangladesh
investments to the $1 billion mark. Airtel's 70% stake in the company is said to be at a cost of an
initial $300 million.
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Touchtel
Until September 18, 2004, Bharti provided fixed-line telephony and broadband services under
the Touchtelbrand. Bharti now provides all telecom services including fixed-line services under
a common brand "Airtel".
BlackBerry
On 19 October 2004 Airtel announced the launch of a BlackBerry Wireless Solution in India.
The launch is a result of a tie-up between Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited and Research In Motion
(RIM).
Digital TV
On 9 October 2008, Airtel joined the DTH bandwagon in India with Airtel Digital TV, a Direct-
to-Home Television service.
iPhone 3G
The Apple iPhone 3G was rolled out in India on 22 August 2008 via Airtel & Vodafone. Airtel
& Vodafone have launched the newly released iPhone 3GS (16GB & 32GB) in August 2009 in
India.
Merger talks
In May 2008, it emerged that Bharti Airtel was exploring the possibility of buying the MTN
Group, a South Africa-based telecommunications company with coverage in 21 countries in
Africa and the Middle East. The Financial Times reported that Bharti wasconsidering offering
US$45 billion for a 100% stake in MTN, which would be the largestoverseas acquisition ever by
an Indian firm. However, both sides emphasize the tentative nature of the talks, while The
Economist magazine noted, "If anything, Bharti would be marrying up," as MTN has more
subscribers, higher revenues and broader geographic coverage. However, the talks fell apart as
MTN group tried to reverse the negotiations by making Bharti almost a subsidiary of the new
company.In May 2009, Bharti Airtel again confirmed that it is in Talks with MTN and
companies have now agreed discuss the potential transaction exclusively by July 31, 2009.
BhartiAirtel said in a statement Bharti Airtel Ltd is pleased to announce that it has renewed its
effort for a significant partnership with MTN Group". Talks eventually ended without
agreement, some sources stating that due to the South African government opposition.
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Sponsorship
Bharti Airtel signed a five-year deal with ESPN Star Sports to become the title sponsor of the
Champions League Twenty20 cricket tournament. The tournament itself is named "Airtel
Champions League Twenty20."
History
Sunil Bharti Mittal founded the Bharti Group. In 1983, Sunil Mittal was into an agreement with
Germany's Siemens to manufacture the company's push-button telephone models for the Indian
market. In 1986, Sunil Bharti Mittal incorporated Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL) and his
company became the first in India to offer push-button telephones, establishing the basis of
Bharti Enterprises. This first-mover advantage allowed Sunil Mittal to expand his manufacturing
capacity elsewhere in the telecommunications market. By the early 1990s, Sunil Mittal had also
launched the country's first fax machines and its first cordless telephones. In 1992, Sunil Mittal
won a bid to build a cellular phone network in Delhi. In 1995, Sunil Mittal incorporated the
cellular operations as Bharti Tele-Ventures and launched service in Delhi. In 1996, cellular
service was extended to Himachal Pradesh. In 1999, Bharti Enterprises acquired control of JT
Holdings, and extended cellular operations to Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. In 2000, Bharti
acquired control of Skycell Communications, in Chennai. In 2001, the company acquired control
of Spice Cell in Calcutta. Bharti Enterprises went public in 2002, and the company was listed on
Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange of India. In 2003, the cellular phone
operations were rebranded under the single Airtel brand. In 2004, Bharti acquired control of
Hexacom and entered Rajasthan. In 2005, Bharti extended its network to Andaman and Nicobar.
In 2009, Airtel launched its first international mobile network in Sri Lanka. In 2010, Airtel began
operating in Bangladesh and 16 African countries.
Today, Airtel is the largest cellular service provider in India and fifth largest in the world.
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Acquisitions and Mergers
(a) MTNIn May 2008, it emerged that Bharti Airtel was exploring the possibility of buying the MTN
Group, a South Africa-based telecommunications company with coverage in 21 countries
in Africa and the Middle East. The Financial Times reported that Bharti was considering offering
US$45 billion for a 100% stake in MTN, which would be the largest overseas acquisition ever by
an Indian firm. However, both sides emphasize the tentative nature of the talks, while The
Economistmagazine noted, "If anything, Bharti would be marrying up," as MTN has more
subscribers, higher revenues and broader geographic coverage.[18] However, the talks fell apart as
MTN group tried to reverse the negotiations by making Bharti almost a subsidiary of the new
company.[19]
In May 2009, Bharti Airtel again confirmed that it is in Talks with MTN and companies have
now agreed discuss the potential transaction exclusively by July 31, 2009.[20] Bharti Airtel said in
a statement "Bharti Airtel Ltd is pleased to announce that it has renewed its effort for a
significant partnership with MTN Group".[21]
Talks eventually ended without agreement, due to the South African government opposition.[22]
(b) ZainIn March 2010, Bharti struck a deal to buy the Kuwait firm's mobile operations in 15 African
countries, in India's second biggest overseas acquisition after Tata Steel's $13 billion buy of
Corus in 2007. Bharti Airtel completed its $9 billion acquisition of African operations from
Kuwait's Zain, making the firm the world's No. 5 wireless carrier by subscribers.
Airtel operates in the following countries:
Country Site Remarks
Bangladesh bd.airtel.comAirtel Bangladesh
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had about 3.2
million million
customers at the
end of 2010.[7]
Burkina Faso africa.airtel.com/burkina
Airtel Burkina Faso
is the dominant
player with
1,433,000
customers
representing 50%
market share.[8]
Chad africa.airtel.com/chad
Airtel Chad is the
no. 1 operator with
69% market
share.[8]
Democratic Republic of the Congo africa.airtel.com/drc
Gabon africa.airtel.com/gabon
Airtel Gabon has
829,000 customers
and its market share
stood at 61%.[9]
Ghana africa.airtel.com/ghana
Airtel Ghana had
about 1.76 million
customers at the
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end of 2010.[10]
India airtel.in
Airtel is the market
leader with almost
152.5 million
customers at the
end of 2010.[11]
Kenya africa.airtel.com/kenya
Airtel Kenya is the
second largest
operator and has 4
million
customers.[12]
Madagascar africa.airtel.com/madagascar
Airtel holds second
place in the mobile
telecom market in
Madagascar, has a
39% market share
and over 1.4
million
customers.[8]
Malawi africa.airtel.com/malawi
Airtel Malawi is the
market leader with
a market share of
72%.[8]
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Niger africa.airtel.com/niger
Airtel Niger is the
market leader with
a 68% market
share.[8]
Nigeria ng.airtel.com
Republic of the Congo africa.airtel.com/congob
Airtel Congo is the
market leader with
a 55% market
share.[8]
Seychelles africa.airtel.com/seychelles
Airtel is the leading
comprehensive
telecommunications
services providers
with over 55%
market share of
mobile market in
Seychelles.[13]
Sierra Leone africa.airtel.com/sierra
Sri Lanka airtel.lk
Airtel Lanka
commenced
operations on 12
January 2009. It
had about 1.8
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million mobile
customers at the
end of 2010.[14]
Tanzania africa.airtel.com/sierra
Airtel Tanzania is
the market leader
with a 38% market
share.[8]
Uganda africa.airtel.com/uganda
Airtel Uganda
stands as the no. 2
operator with a
market share of
38%.[8]
Zambia africa.airtel.com/zambia
Channel
Islands : Jersey and Guernsey
airtel-vodafone.je
Airtel operates in
the Channel Islands
under the brand
name Airtel-
Vodafone through
an agreement with
Vodafone.
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VODAFONE ESSAR
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. Vodafone Essar provides 2G services based on
900 MHz and 1800 MHz digital GSM technology, offering voice and data services in 16 of the
country's 23 licence areas. 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. Vodafone Essar provides
2G services based on 900 MHz and 1800 MHz digital GSM technology, offering voice and data
services in 16 of the country's 23 licence areas.
OWNERSHIP:
Vodafone Essar is owned by Vodafone 52%, Essar Group 33%, and other Indian nationals, 15%.
On February 11, 2007, Vodafone agreed to acquire the controlling interest of 67% held by Li Ka
Shing Holdings in Hutch-Essar for US$11.1 billion, pipping Reliance Communications, Hinduja
Group, and Essar Group, which is the owner of the remaining 33%. The whole company was
valued at USD 18.8 billion . The transaction closed on May 8, 2007.
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
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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 cobranded
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.
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.
GROWTH OF HUTCHISON ESSAR (1992-2005):
In 1992 Hutchison Whampoa and its Indian business partner established a company that in 1994
was awarded a licence to provide mobile telecommunications services in Mumbai (formerly
Bombay) and launched commercial service as Hutchison Max in November 1995. Analjit Singh
of Max still holds 12% in company. By the time of Hutchison Telecom's Initial Public Offering
in 2004, Hutchison Whampoa had acquired interests in six mobile telecommunications operators
providing service in 13 of India's 23 licence areas and following the completion of the
acquisition of BPL that number increased to 16. In 2006, it announced the acquisition of a
company that held licence applications for the seven remaining licence areas. In a country
growing as fast as India, a strategic and well managed business plan is critical to success.
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Initially, the company grew its business in the largest wireless markets in India in cities like
Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. In these densely populated urban areas it was able to establish a
robust network, well known brand and large distribution network -all vital to longterm success in
India. Then it also targeted business users and high-end post-paid customers which helped
Hutchison Essar to consistently generate a higher Average Revenue Per User ("ARPU") than its
competitors. By adopting this focused growth plan, it was able to establish leading positions in
India's largest markets providing the resources to expand its footprint nationwide. In February
2007, Hutchison Telecom announced that it had entered into a binding agreement with a
subsidiary of Vodafone Group Plc to sell its 67% direct and indirect equity and loan interests in
Hutchison Essar Limited for a total cash consideration (before costs, expenses and interests) of
approximately US$11.1 billion or HK$87 billion. 1992: Hutchison Whampoa and Max Group
established Hutchison Max
2000: Acquisition of Delhi operations Entered Calcutta and Gujarat markets through ESSAR
acquisition
2001: Won auction for licences to operate GSM services in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and
Chennai
2003: Acquired AirCel Digilink (ADIL - Essar Subsidiary) which operated in Rajastan, Uttar
Pradesh East and Haryana telecom circles and renamed it under Hutch brand
2004: Launched in three additional telecom circles of India namely 'Punjab', 'Uttar Pradesh West'
and 'West Bengal'
2005: Acquired BPL, another mobile service provider in India
2008: Vodafone acquired Dishnet Wireless, a service provider in Orissa and has successfully
launched its services in the following circle.
2008: Vodafone launched the Apple iPhone 3G to be used on its 17 circle 2G network. Hutch
was often praised for its award winning advertisements which all follow a clean, minimalist look.
A recurrent theme is that its message Hello stands out visibly though it uses only white letters on
red background. Another recent successful ad campaign in 2003
featured a pug named Cheeka following a boy around in unlikely places, with the tagline,
Wherever you go, our network follows. The simple yet powerful advertisement campaigns
won it many admir
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Vodafone Group plc
Type
Public limited company
(LSE: VOD,
NASDAQ: VOD)
Industry Telecommunications
Predecessor 19831991 Racal Telecom
Founded 1984
Headquarters London, United Kingdom
Area served Worldwide
Key people
Sir John Bond (Chairman)
Vittorio Colao (CEO)
John Buchanan (Deputy
Chairman)
Andy Halford (CFO)
Services Telecommunications
Revenue 44.47 billion (2010)[1]
Operating income 9.480 billion (2010)[1]
Profit 8.645 billion (2010)[1]
Total assets 156.98 billion (2010)[1]
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Chief Executives
Name Between
Sir Gerald Whent October 1988 December 1996
Sir Christopher Gent January 1997 July 2003
Arun Sarin July 2003 July 2008
Vittorio Colao July 2008 present
In a period just short of twenty years from its initial public offering, the Company had had just
three Chief Executives. The fourth CEO, Vittorio Colao, stepped up from Deputy Chief
Executive in July 2008. Each of his predecessors made a personal contribution to the
development of the Company.
Sir Gerald Whent, at that time an Executive with Racal Electronics plc, was responsible for the
bid for a UK Cellular Network licence. The Mobile Telecoms division was de-merged, and was
floated on the London Stock Exchange in October 1988 and Sir Gerald became Chief Executive
of Racal Telecom plc. Over the next few years the company grew to become the UK's Market
Leader, changing its name to Vodafone Group plc in the process.
Total equity 90.38 billion (2010)[1]
Employees 84,990 (March - 2010)[1]
Website Vodafone.com
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Sir Christopher Gent took over as Chief Executive in January 1997, after Sir Gerald's retirement.
Sir Christopher was responsible for transforming Vodafone from a small UK operator into the
global behemoth that it is today, through the merger with the American AirTouch and the
takeover of Germany's Mannesmann.
Arun Sarin was the driving force behind the Company's move into emerging markets such as
Asia and Africa, through the purchases such as that of Turkish operator Telsim, and a majority
stake in Hutchison Essar in India. Faced with increased competition, and penetration rates above
100% in the more mature European markets, he saw it necessary to diversify from being a
mobile-only business into a company which provided all telecommunications services. This has
seen Vodafone launch DSL and other fixed-line services in markets such as Germany and the
UK.
History:
In 1982 Racal Electronics plc's subsidiary Racal Strategic Radio Ltd. won one of two UK
cellular telephone network licences. The network, known as Racal Vodafone was 80% owned
by Racal, with Millicom and the Hambros Technology Trust owning 15% and 5% respectively.
Vodafone was launched on 1 January 1985. Racal Strategic Radio was renamed Racal
Telecommunications Group Limited in 1985.On 29 December 1986 Racal Electronics bought
out the minority shareholders of Vodafone for GB110 million. In September 1988 the company
was again renamed Racal Telecom and on 26 October 1988 Racal Electronics floated 20% of the
company. The flotation valued Racal Telecom at GB1.7 billion. On 16 September 1991 Racal
Telecom was demerged from Racal Electronics as Vodafone Group. In July 1996 Vodafone
acquired the two thirds of Talkland it did not already own for 30.6 million. On 19 November
1996, in a defensive move, Vodafone purchased Peoples Phone for 77 million, a 181 store chain
whose customers were overwhelmingly using Vodafone's network. In a similar move the
company acquired the 80% of Astec Communications that it did not own, a service provider with
21 stores. In 1997 Vodafone introduced its Speechmarklogo, as it is a quotation mark in a circle;
the O's in the Vodafone logotype are opening and closing quotation marks, suggesting
conversation. On 29 June 1999 Vodafone completed its purchase of AirTouch Communications,
Inc. and changed its name to Vodafone Airtouch plc. Trading of the new company commenced
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on 30 June 1999. To approve the merger, Vodafone sold its 17.2% stake in E-Plus Mobilfunk.
The acquisition gave Vodafone a 35% share of Mannesmann, owner of the largest German
mobile network. vodafone's original logo used until the introduction of the speechmark logo in
1998. On 21 September 1999 Vodafone agreed to merge its U.S. wireless assets with those of
Bell Atlantic Corp to form Verizon Wireless. The merger was completed on 4 April 2000. In
November 1999 Vodafone made an unsolicited bid for Mannesmann, which was rejected.
Vodafone's interest in Mannesmann had been increased by the latter's purchase of Orange, the
UK mobile operator.Chris Gent would later say Mannesmann's move into the UK broke a
"gentleman's agreement" not to compete in each other's home territory. The hostile takeover
provoked strong protest in Germany and a "titanic struggle" which saw Mannesmann resist
Vodafone's efforts. However, on 3 February 2000 the Mannesmann board agreed to an increased
offer of 112bn, then the largest corporate merger ever. The EU approved the merger in April
2000. The conglomerate was subsequently broken up and all manufacturing related operations
sold off. In 2001 the Company took overEircell, then part of eircom in Ireland, and rebranded it
as Vodafone Ireland. It then went on to acquire Japan's third-largest mobile operator J-Phone,
which had introduced camera phones first in Japan. On 17 December 2001 Vodafone introduced
the concept of "Partner Networks" by signing TDC Mobil of Denmark. The new concept
involved the introduction of Vodafone international services to the local market, without the
need of investment by Vodafone. The concept would be used to extend the Vodafone brand and
services into markets where it does not have stakes in local operators. Vodafone services would
be marketed under the dualbrand scheme, where the Vodafone brand is added at the end of the
local brand. (i.e., TDC Mobil-Vodafone etc.) In February 2002 Finland was added into the
mobile community, as Radiolinja is signed as a Partner Network. Radiolinja later changed its
named to Elisa. Later that year the Company rebranded Japan's J-sky mobile internet service as
Vodafone live! and on 3 December 2002 the Vodafone brand was introduced in the Estonian
market with signing of a Partner Network Agreement with Radiolinja (Eesti). Radiolinja (Eesti)
later changed its name to Elisa. On 7 January 2003 the Company signed a group-wide Partner
agreement with mobilkom Austria. As a result, Austria, Croatia, and Slovenia were added to the
community. In April 2003 Og Vodafone was introduced in the Icelandic market and in May 2003
Vodafone Italy (Omnitel Pronto-Italia) was rebranded Vodafone Italy. On 21 July 2003
Lithuania was added to the community, with the signing of a Partner Network agreement with
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Bit. In February 2004 Vodafone signed a Partner Network Agreement with Luxembourg's
LuxGSM and a Partner Network Agreement with Cyta of Cyprus. Cyta agreed to rename its
mobile phone operations to Cytamobile-Vodafone. In April 2004 the Company purchased
Singlepoint airtime provider from John Caudwell (Caudwell Group) and approx 1.5million
customers onto its base for 405million, adding sites in Stoke on Trent (England) to existing
sites in Newbury (HQ), Birmingham, Warrington and Banbury. In November 2004 Vodafone
introduced 3G services into Europe. In June 2005 the Company increased its participation in
Romania's Connex to 99% and also bought the Czech mobile operator Oskar. On 1 July 2005
Oskar of the Czech Republic was rebranded as Oskar-Vodafone. Later that year on 17 October
2005 Vodafone Portugal launched a revised logo, using new text designed by Dalton Maag, and
a 3D version of the Speechmark logo, but still retaining a red background and white writing (or
vice versa). Also, various operating companies started to drop the use of the SIM card pattern in
the company logo. (The rebranding of Oskar-Vodafone and Connex-Vodafone also does not use
the SIM card pattern.) A custom typeface by Dalton Maag (based on their font family InterFace)
formed part of the new identity. On 28 October 2005 Connex in Romania was rebranded as
Connex-Vodafone and on 31October 2005 the Company reached an agreement to sell Vodafone
Sweden to Telenor for approximately 1 billion. After the sale, Vodafone Sweden became a
Partner Network. In December 2005 Vodafone won an auction to buy Turkey's second-largest
mobile phonecompany, Telsim, for $4.5 billion. In December 2005 Vodafone Spain became the
secondmember of the group to adopt the revised logo: it was phased in over the following six
months in other countries. In 2006 the Company rebranded its Stoke-on-Trent site as Stoke
Premier Centre, a centre of expertise for the company dealing with Customer Care for its higher
value customers, technical support, sales and credit control. All cancellations and upgrades
started to be dealt with by this call centre. On 5 January 2006 Vodafone announced the
completion of the sale of Vodafone Sweden to Telenor. On February 2006 the Company closed
its Birmingham Call Centre. In 1 February 2006 Oskar Vodafone became Vodafone Czech
Republic, adopting the revised logo and on 22 February 2006 the Company announced that it
was extending its footprint to Bulgaria with the signing of Partner Network Agreement with
Mobiltel, which is part of mobilkom Austria group. On 12 March 2006 former chief, Sir
Christopher Gent, who was appointed the honorary post Chairman for Life in 2003, quits
following rumours of boardroom rifts. In April 2006 the Company announced that it has signed
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an extension to its Partner Network Agreement with BITE Group, enabling its Latvian subsidiary
"BITE Latvija" to become the latest member of Vodafone's global partner community. Also in
April 2006 Vodafone Sweden changed its name to Telenor Sverige AB and Connex-Vodafone
became Vodafone Romania, also adopting the new logo. On 30 May 2006 Vodafone announced
the biggest loss in British corporate history (14.9 billion) and plans to cut 400 jobs; it reported
one-off costs of 23.5 billion due to the revaluation of its Mannesmann subsidiary. On 24 July
2006 the respected head of Vodafone Europe, Bill Morrow, quit unexpectedl and on 25 August
2006 the Company announced the sale of its 25% stake in Belgium's Proximus for 2 billion.
After the deal, Proximus was still part of the community as a Partner Network. On 5 October
2006 Vodafone announced the first single brand partnership with Og Vodafone which would
operate under the name Vodafone Iceland and on 19 December 2006 the Company announced
the sale of its 25% stake in Switzerland's Swisscom for CHF4.25 billion (1.8 billion). After the
deal, Swisscom would still be part of the community as a Partner Network. Finally in December
2006 the Company completed the acquisition of Aspective, an enterprise applications systems
integrator in the UK, signaling Vodafone's intent to grow a significant presence and revenues in
the ICT marketplace. Early in January 2007 Telsim in Turkey adopted Vodafone dual branding
as Telsim Vodafone and on 1 April 2007 Telsim Vodafone Turkey dropped its original brand
and became Vodafone Turkey. On 1 May 2007 Vodafone added Jersey and Guernsey to the
community, as Airtel was signed as Partner Network in both crown dependencies. In June 2007
the Vodafone live! mobile Internet portal in the UK was relaunched. Front page was now
charged for and previously "bundled" data allowance was removed from existing contract terms.
All users were given access to the "full" web rather than a Walled Garden and Vodafone became
the first mobile network to focus an entire media campaign on its newly launched mobile
Internet portal in the UK. On 1 August 2007 Vodafone Portugal launched Vodafone Messenger,
a service with Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger. On 17 April 2008 Vodafone
extended its footprint to Serbia as Vip mobile was added to the community as a Partner Network
and on 20 May 2008 the Company added VIP Operator as a Partner Network thereby extending
the global footprint to Macedonia. In May 2008 Kall of the Faroe Islands rebranded as Vodafone
Faroe Islands.
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Financial results of Vodafone
Vodafone reports its results in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards
(IFRS).
Vodafone has some large minority stakes, which are not included in its consolidated turnover. In
order to provide additional information on the overall scale and growth trends of its business, it
publishes "proportionate turnover" figures, and these are included in the tables below. For
example, if a business in which it owns a 45% stake has turnover of 10 billion, that equals 4.5
billion of proportionate turnover for Vodafone. Proportionate turnover is not an official
accounting measure, and Vodafone's proportionate turnover should be compared with other
companies' statutory turnover.
Vodafone also produces proportionate customer number figures on a similar basis, e.g. if an
operator in which it has a 30% stake has 10 million customers that equals 3 million proportionateVodafone customers. This is a common practice in the mobile telecommunications industry.
Year ended
31 March
Turnover
m
Profit before
tax m
Profit for the
year m
Basic eps
(pence)
Proportionate
customers (m)
2009 41,017 4,189 3,080 5.81 302.6
2008 35,478 9,001 6,756 12.56 260
2007 31,104 (2,383) (5,297) (8.94) 206.4
2006* 29,350 (14,835) (21,821) (35.01) 170.6
2005 34,073 7,951 6,518 9.68 154.8
2004 36,492 9,013 6,112 8.70 133.4
*Losses for year to 31 March 2006 reflect write downs of assets, principally in relation to the
Mannesmann acquisition. Proportionate turnover includes 7,100 million from discontinuedoperations.
The group's recent first quarter trading update (24 July 2009) saw management reiterating its
profit guidance for the full year. Whilst revenues across Europe had been relatively weak,
mirroring general economic conditions, there had been a positive showing from South Africa,
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with the company's Indian purchase of Hutchison Essar continuing to generate returns.
Meanwhile, its joint venture with Verizon in the US had strengthened further, with Vodafone's
overall customer base now standing at 315 million - 8 million having been added during the first
quarter. In addition, management noted that its cost reduction programme, targeted to save 1bn
in operating costs by the end of the 2011 financial year, would reach 65pc of its target by the end
of the current financial year.[43] The Group admitted in August 2010 that 1.25 billion in tax that
should have been paid in Britain was actually paid in Luxembourg and elsewhere
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Chapter-6
THE BRAND FIGHT
Shahrukh V/S Zoo Zoo
They are the two best brands in the Indian Telecommunications Scene and
they hold the maximum part of the market. They are called AIRTEL and
VODAFONE. They are unarguably the best services providers in the
market and the users swear by there names. But a heady comparison between the two will take
the veil off the secret that which one of them is better. And the areas of comparison will
comprise of connectivity, services, charges and features of the connection.Shahrukh Khan is probably the first choice to promote products and ideas. The business houses always
want to promote their products through a face that the world knows and trusts - Shahrukh always
fulfilled these criteria. He is not only a successful actorbut also a brilliant communicator. The audience
trusts his words and follows his footsteps. In the industry this truth is well established that Shahrukhhasexcellent PR skills andhe knows where towin love and in whichway. Ever since he became familiar face,
Shahrukhwas seen in many promotional shows like government message boards (AIDS, Polio) andlater
intobrands like Tata Tea, Pepsi, MayurSuitings, Hyundai Santro, Videocon and soon. Shahrukhdid a
television ad for Liberty shoes while he was shooting Fauji. Allhe didwas towear a Puma t-shirt and
football shorts andjump. Theywere the first sports shoes made in India andhe was their first model.
The second adhe didwas a Pan Parag kindof product, but it neverreally tookoff in the market. Then
there were a numberof public service ads, whichhe haddone in Delhi during Fauji and Dil Darya. For
one of these ads, he didhis first stunt without an action choreographer. Shahrukh collided into a car
withhis two-wheeler, and somersault onto the bonnet andwent over the roof. The first advertisement
he did after coming to Bombaywas the Tata Tea ad that helpedhim tobuy a house. He did three films in
three days with Prahlad Kakkar, producedby Pravin Nischol (wholater produced the film English Babu
Desi Mem). A brand namedShah Rukh Khan was never in loss ofoffers, be it commercials or films. As a
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starhe believes that he opened the gates forother actors todo ads. He brought uprightness to stars
doing ads by endorsing somany products like MayurSuitings, Hyundai Santro, Snoodles, Cinthol soap,
Bagpiper club soda, Clinic All Clear. Eventually, he became the Omega brand ambassador. Shahrukh
Khan can probablybe in the Guinness Book of World Records as the Indian herowho has sold the
maximum numberof products, starting from cars, soap, shampoo, noodles, watches, clothes andmany
more. ITC Limited - Foods Business took India`s SuperstarShah Rukh Khan as the brand ambassador for
its flagship brand "Sunfeast". Shahrukh Khan endorsed the entire range of snacks under the bannerof
Sunfeast. The Divisional Chief Executive of ITC Limited commentedon Shah Rukh Khan that there is a
perfect fit between the hero andSunfeast - the superiority, reputation and the love and trust theyboth
share across consumerdemographics is tobe noticed. Moreover, Shah Rukhhas a universal appeal that
extends to everyone across age groups alike the product Sunfeast. Product and Brand Endorsements
come easy toShah Rukh Khan. Afterhaving endorsed a whole range of products from colas to cars and
cell phones to computers, Shah Rukhhas alsobeen signed as the brand ambassadorof Linc Pen brandof
pens. King Khan has anotherbrand to add tohis long list of endorsements. The brand, Emami is known
forhaving the most number of celebrity endorsers including Madhuri Dixit, Raveena Tandon, Sunny
Deol, cricket captain Sourav Ganguly and also Amitabh Bachchan has signedShah Rukh Khan as their
brand ambassador. Emami`s prime endorserhas been Amitabh Bachchan, who is still its seniorbrand
ambassador. He was signedon for Emami Fast Relief and Emami Navrattan Oil. Amitabh Bachchan gets
paid a remuneration of 10 crores-12 crores per annum, for this
endorsement.
ICICI Bank Limited, India`s second largest Bank signed up
Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan as its global brand
ambassador. ICICI Bank Joint managing director Lalita D Gupte
said the bank`s association with Shah Rukh Khan, whose global
popularityhas been increasing, brings more fame to the bank`s
growing global presence. Shah Rukh Khan`s image and popularity
with the Non-Resident Indian segment will further strengthen
ICICI Bank`s global identity, the bank said in a statement. The
Emami Group has roped in actor Shahrukh Khan as brand
ambassador for its recent fairness cream formen called `Emami Fair and Handsome` to increase its
foothold in the fast-growing segment. The Rs1, 500-crore personal care and health care group has
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signed a contract with Khan for two years to endorse the product in the country. Khan has been
associatedwith the company and already appeared in ads for brands like Himani Navratna Oil and
Himani Sona Chandi Chyawanprash.
The constantlyrunning commercials made Shah Rukh an omnipresent celebrity. He
usuallyhad two to three filmreleases everyyear, but the Shah Rukh Khan persona
was always available for consumption on television and in print ads. Shah Rukhwas
the idealdeity for a rapidlymodernizing India in whichmedia, especially television,
hadbecome increasingly important. He evolved from an actor into a brand name.
Vodafone, ever since it entered the Indian market through its purchase of Hutch in India has
posed a threat to Airtel but its taken a while to get off the ground. Of course its helped them
that Hutch had a pretty good user base as well. Now the fight has intensified onto the network
services market. Both Airtel and Vodafone have been trying to get people to use their network
for everything from cricket commentary to horoscope alerts. Morning prayer songs to dating
advice is now available but at a monthly rental fee which is how both companies plan to make
money.
Everyone should have seen series of Vodafone ads flooding the TV channels. All are short and
sweet targeting the young people, say local calls @ 60p, timepass sms @ 10p, friends network
etc but what is Airtel doing ? Airtel is also bang on target with an exceptional ad with a small
boy talking to his dad and complaining about his mom. Many would ask, both Vodafone and
Airtel fight for second spot in telecom industry net to BSNL, then why they persist on varied
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messages to achieve a common goal. Will it not be better to have an intense ad war so that they
can reach a bigger audience.
Definitely not !. You can see this kind of techniques being adaptoped by Coca Cola and Pepsi.
Coca Cola have started to deliver ads based on the theme Open Happiness, while Pepsi
wants to attract all youngistaans. Similarly all Vodafone ads are more youth oriented and Airtel
is more towards developing an emotional bond within its customers. Wow effect is more in
airtel.
Airtel has selected this way because they (Bharati) have an interlinked connection with all its
business. They would like to carry over and develop new set of audience from its leading
telecom business to other businesses like Airtel Digital TV, Broadband, Life Insurance and
Retail Business. Certainly Bharati customers should feel that they are more valuable to the
company so that they would stay more loyal to bharati and its other business from moving to
others. It is a very well adapted theme by Bharati and its advertising agent Rediffusion DYR.
Hope this works the way they have thought.
In the case of Vodafone, its completely different. They are only into telecom and they have done
commendable job in giving out short and product oriented ads. They have come out with
different ads for each of their product like local calls, customer care, sms, story telling etc Itsnational creative director Piyush Pandey from O&M along with its team members have made the
ad world know why they are considered as one of the best advertising agencies in the world.
On the whole, nothing much to debate between this two telecom providers. People have always
enjoyed the ads of these two companies, say AR.Rahmans scintillating tune for airtel, dog series
for Vodafone, Celebrity ads for airtel and the new ones which i have discussed in this article.. All
these have surely conveyed the message and still make people recall all the ads right from their
early ones. One clear difference is Vodafone has not used any celebrities for their ads whereas
airtel is bit different. I would surely rate telecom industry as one industry where ads have been
presented and targeted well.
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In response to the much-hyped ad-campaign by Vodafone Essar, ZooZoo, Airtel has launched its
Special 5 campaign. However, industry insiders say the launch of the advertisement has been
brought forward by at least two months to counter the growing clout of Vodafone. As per the
original plan, this (Special 5) campaign was supposed to be launched during the Champions
Trophy in late September, just like the ZooZoos ad campaign during the Indian Premiere
League, a person in the know, who did not wish to be named, told Financial Chronicle. When
contacted Ajay Naqvi, national business head for Airtel of Rediffusion Y&R, the creative agency
working on this campaign, said, Advertisement is a dynamic industry where plans keep
changing. We strive to break in as early as possible. But the right platform is needed."
Though different from the ZooZoo campaign, the Airtel advertisement seeks to build real life
character based on cartoon characters, the insider said. However, Naqvi said, I am not in a
position to comment on this. In a week, everything would be clear. An email sent to Airtel,
went unanswered. In the 15-second teaser, now on the company's website and youtube.com, the
advertisement shows a young girl, named Anna, identifying her five friends. The concept is of
being in touch with people (as many as five) at all times who matter. This is done at discounted
rates, Naqvi said. Local calls will cost 20 paise while STD calls would cost 50 paise. Naqvi
added the following parts of the advertisement would hit TV screens by the end of this week or
beginning next week.
Section 1.02 Zoo Zoo: The new brand 'endorser' for Vodafone(a) IPL Season 2 saw the birth of the Zoozoo for Vodafone: eggshell like characters
created to tell a new value-added service story each time. afaqs! explores
Zoozoo, and what went behind the making of it
Some find them akin to aliens; others insist they are animated cartoon characters, while a third
bunch doesnt quite know what to make of it. Nevertheless, we have all been privy to these
white, scrawny creatures with giant heads as they invade our TV screens during an IPL match. In
2008, Vodafone had unveiled the Happy to Help series during the first season of the Indian
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Premier League (IPL). With the launch of the second season, Vodafone has given birth to the
Zoozoo: a special character created specifically to convey a value added service (VAS) offering
in each of the newly released commercials.
Whats interesting is that there are some 25 such commercials planned under this campaign, 10
of which are already on air. The aim is to release approximately one ad a day, to sustain interest
till the end of the IPL.
So whats with so many?
Its no mean feat to unleash so many commercials at a go, with the risk of consumers not
grasping them as fast as the brand churns them out.
Explains Harit Nagpal, chief marketing officer, Vodafone India, Were acquiring customers at a
very fast pace, but a large number of them are unaware of the range of services we offer. I mean,
phone backup, which were advertising now, was launched two years ago, for instance!
Media spends and visibility for brands peak during the IPL, so Vodafone obviously wanted a
piece of the pie. Further, Nagpal explains, the brand was in need of an idea that would work
doubly hard, as it was planning to spend some four months worth of marketing monies in one
month. So, we chose not to do just one or two ads, or viewers would get bored quickly,
watching them over and over on the IPL, says Nagpal.
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Six months ago, Vodafone briefed its agency, Ogilvy India, to create uncommon characters a
common thread to link the ads in the campaign together. Rajiv Rao, executive creative director,
South Asia, Ogilvy India, tells afaqs! that the only starting point for the team was that the
character had to be simple to a stupefying level. And thus, the Zoozoo was born.
You egghead!
Ogilvy experimented with several characters and finally took its love for the term egghead one
step too far, creating characters that don the colour white (with black dots for eyes and a mouth),
have heads resembling eggs, and disproportionately thin bodies.
The idea is to tell the VAS stories in a world akin to, yet different, from humans. The creatures
were then given a characterisation: they are to lead simple lives, speak a language of their own
(something that sounds like gibberish), move in a certain way, and even emote like human
beings, with big frowns or big grins to do the trick. The execution is almost like emoticons. We
even limited the number of emotions to be used, to keep things easy, says Rao. A completely
Indian concept, Rao lent these characters a name: the Zoozoos. Theres no science to it, heexplains the name just had to be something fun, memorable and catchy, and not a clever one
thats difficult to pronounce. Ironically, nowhere in the communication does the Zoozoo name
pop up, but Rao doesnt feel thats much of a problem: it wasnt a task to popularise the name in
the first place. Currently, some10 films are on air, for service offerings such as Cricket Alerts,
Beauty Alerts, Phone Backup, the IPL Contest 1, the IPL Contest 2, Chhota Credit,
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Vodafone Maps, Vodafone Call Filter, Live Games and Musical Greetings. Each film, shot
against a Grey backdrop, has these characters interacting with one another (some storylines even
have Zoozoo families) with the product story weaved in. For instance, the Phone Backup ad (the
first in the series) has several Zoozoos lined up to have their faces photocopied through a
photocopier, while a tetris towards the end (the messenger in all the ads) announces how
Vodafone allows for creating a phonebook backup.
Making of the Zoozoo
No, they arent animated characters. They are human beings who were made to wear body suits.
The design of the characters is such that one gets fooled into thinking it is animation, shrugs
Rao, which was indeed the very illusion that had to be created. In a sense, it is live
animation! he quips, referring to the fact that it was all shot live.
Prakash Varma, ad filmmaker, Nirvana Films, has directed the commercials, and reveals that the
Zoozoos were a big challenge to create. The practical aspects of how they will move, talk,
gesticulate and emote were very important. Essentially, costume design and artwork were crucial
elements. It took me three weeks of pre-production to understand how it will work, says
Varma. There were two fabrics that were considered for the body suits, and one was rejected for
it had too many wrinkles and was shiny. The wrinkles would have shown when the characters
moved, thereby shattering the illusion of animation. So we chose the more practical, thicker
fabric, Varma explains.The production team divided the outfit into two parts: the body and the
head. The body part of the outfit was stuffed with foam in some places, while the head was
attached separately. To make it look bigger than a human head, a harder material called Perspex
was used, which in turn was stuffed with foam (with scope for ventilation).
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If one wishes to understand the size of this head, heres a fact: a human head would typically
reach up to the mouth level of this giant Zoozoo head. We kept the hands and legs thin, which is
why we cast women and occasionally children wearing the costumes, says Varma. The thin
limbs, contrasted with big bellies and a bulbous head, all add to the illusion that these creatures
are smaller than humans. Sets were created to suit the size of the Zoozoos. Cinematically, this
size was a trick: the creatures look smaller than they actually are on screen, to portray a
different world of sorts. For this, the speed of shooting was altered: Nirvana shot it in a high-
speed format to make them look the size that they do. Furthermore, simple sets/backdrops were
created and spray painted with neutral Greys a colour of choice so that attention isnt diverted
from the main characters. For a supposedly outdoor shot, even the shadow of a Zoozoo was
kept live and not done in post production: it was painted in a darker shade of grey on the
ground. An even lighting was maintained throughout. There was virtually no post production
work done.The films were shot by Nirvana in Cape Town, South Africa, with the help of a local
production house there, called Platypus. Incidentally, the same combination of people also
worked on the Happy to Help series last year. When asked whether Cape Town is fast
becoming a tourist spot for Vodafone and Nirvana, Varma laughs, saying, Oh no! Its just that
we are very comfortable with the team there and know what sort of work to expect from them.
Nagpal adds here that the production cost had to be minimal for unveiling such a large number of
commercials. Otherwise, our production costs would exceed media spends, he quips.
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Zoozoos: storming the digital world
In the digital space, Zoozoos are currently featured on a specially created microsite here, one
can partake in quizzes and contests, including the What kind of Zoozoo are you? quiz. Each
Zoozoo has a unique set of characteristics and traits allotted to it. The microsite also allows for
goodies to be downloaded (including wallpapers, screensavers and ringtones), and offers details
on the IPL. With a specially created YouTube channel on the site, the TVCs are provided there
for people to watch and share.
Apart from the microsite, a Zoozoo fan page has been created on Facebook, which has more
than 5,600 members. Fans have access to special tag-me images, Zoozoo sounds (such as
Zoozoo laughter and music tracks) and ad previews. People are also following Zoozoos on
Twitter and get updates whenever new commercials go on air.
Zoozoo ads are fast becoming popular on YouTube, and on certain days, claims Nagpal of
Vodafone, some of the videos even managed to figure among the most watched lot on the site.
The team behind the Vodafone-Zoozoo work includes Rao, along with Kiran Anthony, Elizabeth
Dias, Rajesh Mani, Mehul Patil, Kumar Subramaniam, Kapil Arora, Debaleena Ghosh and
Desmond Fernandes.
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WHAT DOES EXPERT SAY ON ZOO-ZOO?
Zoozoos clearly seem to be a favourite amongst the ad fraternity. From the name Zoozoo to the
painted eyes and mouth, Brijesh Jacob, managing partner, White Canvas, says he has not seen
anything like it. They have a certain madness to them, which makes them likeable andmemorable, he says. In the past, too, Orange and then Hutch (the earlier avatars of Vodafone in
India) had made use of c