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Major Project Report On


ROLE OF BRAND AMBASSADORS IN MOBILE COMPANIES AND ITS IMPACT ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Submitted in partial fulfillment for the degree of

MASTERS IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION SUBMITTED TO:VINAY KASHYAP SUBMITTED BY:ARSHAD AHMAD

TABLE OF CONTENTS
S.NO. CONTENT Acknowledgment Certificate 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Overview Introduction Consumer Behavior and Marketing Strategy Research Methodology Building Brand India Role of Brand Telecom Sector Update Brand Ambassadors TATA Indicom Spice Telecom AirTel Reliance Infocomm Hutch Importance of Brand Ambassador Cultivating Brand Ambassadors Questionnaire and Analysis Finding and sugessitions Conclusion 1 2 5 7 10 17 22 34 34 37 39 45 47 51 54 58 68 69 PAGE NO.

9. 10. 11. 12. 13.

14. 15. 16. 17.

SWOT Analysis Limitations Bibliography Questionnaire

70 71 72 73

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The research on Role of Brand Ambassadors in Mobile Companies

and its impact on consumer behaviors has been given to me as part of the
curriculum in 2-Years Masters Degree in Business Administration. I have tried my best to present this information as clearly as possible using basic terms that I hope will be comprehended by the widest spectrum of researchers, analysts and students for further studies. I have completed this study under the able guidance and supervision of VINAY KASHYAP (Lect. In Marketing). I will be failed in my duty if I do not acknowledge the esteemed scholarly guidance, assistance and knowledge. I have received from them towards fruitful and timely completion of this work. Mere acknowledgement may not redeem the debt I owe to my parents for their direct/indirect support during the entire course of this project.

Date:

Compiled by ARSAD AHMAD MBA 4th Semester Roll No.:- 90552234274

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Mr. Manoj Arora has completed his project report title Role of Brand Ambassadors in Mobile Companies and its impact on

consumer behaviour under my supervision. To the best of my knowledge and


belief this is his original work and this, wholly or partially, has not been submitted for any degree of this or any other University.

Date: 28th March 2006

Raminder Kaur Sira (Lect. In Marketing)

OVERVIEW
Gain an unfair competitive advantage in sales and distribution channels. Your sales channels touch potential customers at their most vulnerable moment in the buying cycle -- the moment when they seek advice at the point-ofpurchase. Most have a good idea of what they need, but are uncertain of which brand will provide it. Incidentally, this holds true for about 80 out of every 100 shoppers, including those influenced by advertising. Most customers seeking word-of-mouth advice, follow it. Consequently, if a sales person has little knowledge of your brand and cannot offer good advice, the prospect will likely ring someone elses cash register. That is how successful brands gain an unfair advantage. Work with strategy to expand the reach of their product and brand knowledge in sales channels, and creating effective BRAND AMBASSADORS. In the line communication these days, each and every telecom company appointing actors/actresses or sportspersons as their role ambassadors for promoting sales promotion of the company.

INTRODUCTION
Everyone knows what a "brand" is -- it is your company's product or service, combined with a unique positioning and key company equities, that fills a need for consumers. Having a strong brand is vital to your company's success. But what exactly is a "brand ambassador"? At first thought, you might consider it to be the owner of the company or the board of directors; these people are considered the ones who have the greatest interest in seeing the company and its products survive and grow. While this is certainly true, a brand ambassador is much more than that. One very proper description of a brand ambassador I heard recently caught my attention: "a diplomat; a representative of an organization, institution or corporation that best portrays the product or service." Once you consider this definition, the scope of your brand's ambassadors spreads and grows into a variety of audiences, each with enormous potential for influencing others and ensuring your brands' success. Lets explore some of your key ambassador groups. With strong leadership at the top of an organization, your product or service will be given the attention and resources it deserves to succeed. Your company's senior managers direct the various components necessary for developing and marketing your product. They also provide the high-level attitude of belief and commitment to success necessary to motivate employees to back the company's products. Senior managers must continually teach, coach and engage their employees, encouraging them to believe in the company and take an active part in the process
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of building and marketing products/services with unique characteristics that fill consumers' needs. Without the focus and commitment of senior management, a product, no matter how good it looks on paper, is doomed to failure. All employees, regardless of function or title, are key ambassadors for your company's products and services. Members of sales, marketing, engineering and product development are key representatives of the company. And so are receptionists, administrative assistants and the maintenance staff. Once motivated by senior management to believe in the company and its products/services, employees can utilize their network of friends and colleagues to grow the company's circle of influence. Your customers are the key to your success in more ways than you might think. By buying your product again and again, they are providing the revenue you need to stay alive. But they also are living, breathing examples of consumers who used your product or service to fill a need. They are your key ambassadors. A testimonial from your customers is potentially worth more than the largest advertising budget in the world; this type of third-party endorsement provides you with the unique advantage of having others do your marketing for you. So what is necessary for your brand ambassadors to succeed? To make sure your brand ambassadors are the key to your success, it is important to arm them with the knowledge necessary to spread the word about your products and services. Your company's influencers and representatives should have a strong working knowledge of your products and should be able to discuss your products as they relate to needs in the marketplace. They should also have success in experiencing or using your product, either firsthand or by watching someone else.
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And finally, they must be able to speak passionately about your company and share their belief with others. You might feel overwhelmed by the notion of building your circle of brand ambassadors. But it's easier than you might think:

You've already got a strong product or service. Now, make sure you have product literature or other sales collateral that quickly and concisely describes the key features and benefits or your company and its products.

Motivate your employees to assume their role as representatives of your company. Give them the motivation and, if necessary, incentives to spread the word to friends and colleagues.

Tap your satisfied customers. Find those customers who are thrilled with their experience. Get them to provide you with an endorsement or testimonial you can use with customer prospects and in your marketing and communications materials and arm them with the tools necessary to spread their success stories with others.

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CONSUMER STRATEGY

BEHAVIOUR

AND

MARKETING

The study of consumers helps firms and organizations improve their marketing strategies by understanding issues such as how

The psychology of how consumers think, feel, reason, and select between different alternatives (e.g., brands, products); The psychology of how the consumer is influenced by his or her environment (e.g., culture, family, signs, media); The behavior of consumers while shopping or making other marketing decisions; Limitations in consumer knowledge or information processing abilities influence decisions and marketing outcome; How consumer motivation and decision strategies differ between products that differ in their level of importance or interest that they entail for the consumer; and

How marketers can adapt and improve their marketing campaigns and marketing strategies to more effectively reach the consumer.

Understanding these issues helps us adapt our strategies by taking the consumer into consideration. For example, by understanding that a number of different messages compete for our potential customers attention, we learn that to be effective, advertisements must usually be repeated extensively. We also learn that consumers will sometimes be persuaded more by logical arguments, but at other times will be persuaded more by emotional or symbolic appeals. By understanding the consumer, we will be able to make a more informed decision as to which strategy to employ.

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One "official" definition of consumer behavior is "The study of individuals, groups, or organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society." Although it is not necessary to memorize this definition, it brings up some useful points:

Behavior occurs either for the individual, or in the context of a group (e.g., friends influence what kinds of clothes a person wears) or an organization (people on the job make decisions as to which products the firm should use).

Consumer behavior involves the use and disposal of products as well as the study of how they are purchased. Product use is often of great interest to the marketer, because this may influence how a product is best positioned or how we can encourage increased consumption. Since many environmental problems result from product disposal (e.g., motor oil being sent into sewage systems to save the recycling fee, or garbage piling up at landfills) this is also an area of interest.

Consumer behavior involves services and ideas as well as tangible products. The impact of consumer behavior on society is also of relevance. For example, aggressive marketing of high fat foods, or aggressive marketing of easy credit, may have serious repercussions for the national health and economy.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
NEED OF THE STUDY
Everyone knows what a "brand" is -- it is your company's product or service, combined with a unique positioning and key company equities, that fills a need for consumers. Having a strong brand is vital to your company's success. But what exactly is a "brand ambassador"? At first thought, you might consider it to be the owner of the company or the board of directors; these people are considered the ones who have the greatest interest in seeing the company and its products survive and grow. The role of a brand ambassador in a telecom sector is to provide strength to the incoming product whether prepaid or postpaid. Also the products like telephone sets and mobile phones of the company.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY


To be able to understand the technical know-how of the telecom industry To be aware about the present scenario of the role of brand ambassadors To be able to find out the role of brand ambassadors in communication industry and its effect on the consumer behavior.

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SCOPE OF THE STUDY


Main objective or the scope of the study of this project is to study the role of brand ambassadors regarding the major mobile communication players of the market like Spice, Airtel, TATA Indicom, Reliance and Hutch and their impact on the consumer behavior.

RESERCH DESIEGN
After research objectives the second stage of research calls for developing the most efficient plan for gathering the needed information. Designing a research plan includes decisions on data sources, research approaches, research instrument & sampling plan.

PRIMARY DATA
The primary data is the data gathered for a specific purpose or specific research report. I have collected primary data with help of questionnaires from the users (consumer) of TATA Indicom, Reliance, AirTel, Spice and Hutch.

SECONDARY DATA
The secondary data is the data, which already exists & was collected for some other purpose. The secondary data 1 have used in my research report is basically collected from the business magazines, journals & websites of trade organizations.

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RESEARCH APPROACH
Primary data can be collected in four ways: Observation. Focus groups, Surveys & Experiments. My approach to the research is survey based, as it is best suited to know customer preferences & practices...

SAMPLING DEDIGN
The first step in developing any sample design is to clearly define the set of objects, as my study is exploratory, the sampling design includes three decisions i.e. Sampling unit, Sample size & Sampling procedure.

SAMPLING UNIT
In this research report the sampling unit includes the data collection of dealers.

SAMPLING SIZE
The sample size of my research is 100 dealers. Large samples give more reliable results that is why I tried my best to cover more users (consumers) of different cities in Punjab.

Sample Size 100


Sample Unit users (consumer) Area of Survey Chandigarh

Data Availability: Data has been collected from the Users (Consumer) of TATA Indicom, Airtel, Spice, Reliance and the Hutch.

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BUILDING BRAND INDIA


As captains of industry called for India Inc to place Brand India on the global map, one of the most significant sessions at AdAsia 2003 brought to the fore the challenges and opportunities that needed to be addressed.

INFOSYS, Wipro, Sankhya, TCS, Hindustan Lever, ITC, Ranbaxy, Tata trucks, Reliance Industries, the Aditya Birla Group, Air India, Old Monk rum, Nutrine, Kitchens of India. What is common to each of these? Well, according to Ian Batey, Chairman Emeritus, Batey Advertising, Singapore, all of these are predictable front-runners that could well propel Brand India onto the global map. Perhaps one of the most significant sessions of the recently concluded AdAsia 2003 was the one based on placing Brand India on the global map.

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Kumaramangalam Birla The session, which got together Kumarmangalam Birla and Mukesh Ambani on a common platform for the first time, saw both moving the idea of setting up a Brand India Foundation, which would be responsible for steering India into the Top 10 global brands by year 2010. Kumarmangalam Birla, Chairman and Managing Director, Aditya Birla Group, drew attention to the fact that there was a strong need to build Brand India by using the platform of Indian intellectual capital. According to him, with intellectual capital as the plank for communication, the country needs to bring the `Indian' into focus, rather than just the country `India'. Ultimately, every country derives its values from its people and its culture. It is the people who shape the image and values of a country. The communication would then use `Brand Indians' as a conduit to build `Brand India'. Birla observed that it was necessary to address a primary audience as well as a secondary audience. He chose to categorise the primary audience into two
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categories general and influencers. "We have to begin by talking internal. The communication has to first transcend one billion Indians before it takes flight outside. Imagine the power of a brand if it had one billion passionate brand ambassadors! That is the primary audience. The influencers we should be addressing should include Government bodies, the media and trade bodies," he said. The secondary audience, according to Birla, should include key decision makers abroad (which would include Government officials, trade bodies, commerce wings, and the media, among others).

Mukesh Ambani Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries, was equally bullish on Brand India. "I believe India's moment has arrived. The country has every making of a 21st century miracle. In the New World, we cannot afford to ignore building Brand India," he said.

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Ambani went as far as terming the building of Brand India a `commandment'. India was hailed as having all the ingredients of a potentially powerful global brand. "We can make Brand India more power-packed in the global space. A powerful brand, after all, is the key to wealth creation," said Birla. He specifically mentioned infotech, manufacturing, education and tourism as sectors which have the potential to put Brand India on the global map. Involving the average citizen would, said Birla, necessitate following a comprehensive communication strategy. The first phase of the communication should be to ride on the current success categories. Here, as information technology is the biggest success story, it should ideally be the plank for the first phase of communication. The communication should then extend to other categories such as manufacturing and tourism, which have relevant success stories to tell. Finally, the third phase of communication should involve branching out into other categories.

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N. R. Narayana Murthy The rollout of the exercise, he elaborated, would have to evolve into a movement. The message has to cut across and reach out to a huge cross-section of the audience. Innovative delivery channels, Government participation, NGOs and key influencers would be required to support mass media. The objective is clear the audience has to experience the message across the various touch points in their daily lives, Birla elaborated. He mentioned several reasons why this was not a distant possibility. "There are several reasons why the consumer should believe in Brand India. Here are some the country's GDP is growing at 8 per cent even as the world average is about 3 per cent. Further, Goldman Sachs has predicted that India will be the third largest economy in the world by 2050. General Electric has set up its second largest
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research and development centre in India. India is the lowest-cost producer of compact disc recorders. IITians now feature in Dilbert comic strips. The country has the largest English-speaking technical manpower. Up to one-third of NASA scientists are Indians. Our pharmaceutical industry is the next big thing in the making; and we are already the fourth largest in the world in this sector. We are also the largest manufacturers of motorcycles in the world. Over 35 per cent Silicon Valley start-ups are by Indians now, and as many as 100 Fortune 500 companies are outsourcing work to India." The challenges and downside current were highlighted as well. As Birla pointed out: "While Indian products have started leaving their mark on the global arena, this has to translate into greater value. As of now, Brand India does not command the respect it deserves. We have to stop scepticism and focus on the positives. The one barrier we need to overcome is that within. Very little effort has gone into marketing the country. There is a general tendency to focus on the negatives and ignore our successes."

A Tata truck

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Echoing the sentiment, Ambani continued, "Brand India will appeal to the world only if it delivers value to the rest of the world. It has to strike an emotional chord among citizens in all parts of the world, and inspire enterprising communities across the globe." Drawing attention to detail, he said India could make businesses more competitive through business process outsourcing; by making global organisations more productive through information technology; and making global innovation efforts effective through scientific, technological, product-related, clinical and social research.

According to Ambani, while the 20th century has produced two unique brand ambassadors for India Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa, the 21st century demands new brand ambassadors. "New brand ambassadors, too, should exude commitment to excellence, dynamism and modernity," he added. Ultimately, everyone agreed that it would be a combination of vision, commitment, patience and conviction that would be required in great abundance if Brand India could indeed occupy its place on the global map.

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EVERYBODY HAS A ROLE


Brand-building, be it for an IT firm or otherwise, is not meant just for the marketing team. All of the company has a part to play in the exercise.

CREATING a brand strategy for your company is an integral part of the strategic marketing function. In order to define the brand strategy, one needs to understand what a brand stands for. Let us start by defining what it is not. A brand is not just an icon, a slogan, or a mission statement. Neither is it a set of brochures or a catchy tag-line. Brandbuilding comprises all these elements and more, but a brand itself stands for a promise of creating value that one makes to the stakeholders. And, if this promise is kept, time after time, the equity of the brand increases. This, in turn, creates stickiness or loyalty. The value of a brand, therefore, is in its ability to create unassailable competitive advantage through enduring positive associations and perceptions created in the consumer's/customer's mind, in turn leading to loyalty to the product or service. The
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strongest brand identities are the easiest to recognise and the toughest to emulate. They command a presence in their categories and far beyond them. Coca Cola, Walt Disney, Nike and P&G are some of the strongest brands the world has come across. In the realm of technology, we have Microsoft, IBM and home-grown brands such as Infosys and Wipro. One of the first steps in building the brand is to home in on your company's brand essence. What would you like your customers to associate with your company? This would require a discussion and consensus among your company's management, typically led and actively facilitated by the marketing team. The factors you would need to consider would be what your core strengths are, what values your company stands for, and a good understanding of your competitors' positioning. This process of arriving at a focused, credible value proposition is the kernel of brand-building activities. Once the brand positioning is decided, communicating this becomes central to every marketing activity, every action, every corporate decision, every customer interaction. Brand-building programs conceive, implement and integrate multipronged strategies to reach out to the company's various stakeholders, and shape their experiences to be positive.

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The target audience And who are these target audiences? Top priority should obviously be accorded to customers and prospective customers, followed by all those who can shape this group's perceptions. They are industry analysts, consultants who assist buyers with vendor selection, the government in certain geographies, and the business media. Prospective employees, current employees and investors and equity analysts are also audiences who will be influenced by any brand-building program, and hence it is imperative that the messaging is consistent and holistic across the various audiences. The vehicles of communication are numerous brochures, the corporate Web site, seminars and webinars, articles in the media and specialised programs designed for stakeholder communities. All leading consulting and first-tier companies have a customer newsletter or a journal. These are excellent vehicles to propagate thought leadership. Holding C level executive seminars and webinars are other tested ways to communicate with your stakeholders. I would like to talk a little bit about marketing programs for specialised stakeholder groups. In today's crowded market place, one can never take one's position for granted. Every company needs to constantly communicate why your company is different in all the relevant forums and to all the relevant audiences. One such category of audiences is industry analysts. Industry analysts such as Gartner, Forrester and Meta are playing increasingly important roles in shaping buyer perceptions as well as lending a stamp of credibility to vendors. So, now is the right time for Indian companies to put in place a base level program to reach out to this community.
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One question we are often asked by our clients is to suggest innovative and creative brand-building programme that have never been tried before. While innovation is important, it is required to balance innovation with sustained and regular activity. We have seen that even implementing seemingly ordinary ideas extraordinarily can create a huge impact. While we are on the topic of consistency of messaging, not only is it imperative to maintain consistency of content, but the look and feel that carries through all the marketing and business communication is also as important. There are few technology companies in India that have actually managed to present a consistent look across all their communication. As a simple test, take a look at your company Web site, your five most recent proposals, your five most recent pitch presentations, and your corporate brochure. See if the look and feel of all of these is similar. If yes, then even in the absence of well-formulated corporate standardisation guidelines, you are moving in the right direction. Unfortunately though, we have not seen this to be the case in many of the companies we interact with. In addition to the above, a powerful way to build a company's brand (as distinct from sustaining the brand equity of an already well-recognised brand) is by using the CEO, and the top management team, as brand ambassadors. Take any powerful technology brand today we have Bill Gates and Microsoft and Narayana Murthy and Infosys. For young companies which are in the process of building a corporate brand, leveraging the CEO as a spokesperson and brand ambassador is very effective and necessary as well. Efforts by the marketing team as well as management are strongly reinforced through each and every business interaction and, of course, the actual commitments
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kept through delivery of products and services. In fact, to get employees to believe in the brand, and empowering each employee to communicate this belief in all their customer interactions is probably the most effective and credible way to build a brand in the knowledge industry. For, customer experiences reinforce or take away from the brand equity, and in this industry, people are the brand. And hence, external campaigns should always be complemented by internal communication and brand-awareness programmes. An organisation could use a multi-pronged strategy for strengthening internal communication. Workshops, seminars, newsletters and portals are ways to spread the message internally. To conclude, enduring brands are built over time through relentless multi-pronged communication of consistent messages, backed by service delivery that matches or exceeds the promise. And hence, brand-building is not merely the responsibility of the marketing function; it's all-pervasive and a part of everyone's job description, from the receptionist to members of the board.

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TELECOM SECTOR UPDATE


Telecom statistics November05 Total subscribers 119.9mn Tele-density 11.00 Fixed line 48.47mn Additions during the month 0.28mn Mobile 71.46mn Total additions during the 3.51mn month GSM additions CDMA additions 2.32mn 1.18mn December 05 123.85mn 11.43 48.93mn 0.46mn 75.92mn 4.46mn 3.19mn 1.17mn January06 129.82mn 12.00 49.21mn 0.28mn 80.61mn 4.69mn 3.52mn 1.17mn

Indias tele-density in January 2006 neared 12% with the subscriber base nearing the 130mn mark. During January 2006, record 5mn subscribers were added as against 4.92mn subscribers in December 2005. This strong growth could be attributed to lifetime validity cards launched by almost all operators. During the first 10 months of FY06, 31.41mn subscribers have been added. In the fixed segment, a total of 0.28mn subscribers were added during January 2006, taking the subscriber base of fixed line services to 49.21mn. In the mobile segment, total additions during the month summed up to 4.69mn with highest ever GSM additions of 3.52mn and CDMA additions of 1.17mn. During the first 10 months of FY06, 28.39mn subscribers have been added. Tata Tele to sell 20% stake for $500mn

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Tata Teleservices Ltd, the CDMA services provider of the Tata group, is set to offload 20 % stake to a clutch of investors, including state-owned private equity fund Temasek of Singapore and C Sivasankaran, by February 15. The sale is expected to fetch Tata Teleservices over $500mn. Sivasankaran, the promoter of the Sterling group, recently sold telecom service provider Aircel to Malaysia-based Maxis for $1.08bn. Various Tata group companies promote TTSL, an unlisted company, including Tata Sons, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd and certain other Tata firms. Tata Teleservices had made an attempt to sale one-third stake to South Korean Telecom (SKT). But the deal did not materialize because of differences over valuation. Tata Teleservices had over 8mn subscribers in January 2006 and had operations in 20 circles. Bharti set to raise FDI limit to 74% Bharti Tele-Ventures has proposed to raise the foreign direct investment (FDI) ceiling to 74% from the present 49%. The private telephony major has placed a special resolution seeking shareholders' permission. In a letter to shareholders, Bharti said the move was "to comply with the terms and conditions incorporated in the licence agreement by DoT." The government through the press note 5 (2005 series) dated November 3, 2005 has enhanced the FDI ceiling from 49 per cent to 74 per cent in telecom. The company is also mulling over amending its `Article of Association', which states the maximum number of directors cannot exceed 18, so that it can induct three more members. To comply with the listing agreement requirement, FDI guidelines, other statutory requirements and shareholder agreements, the company is required to broaden its base. It is, therefore, proposed to amend article 117(a) of the Article of Association to increase the existing limit of
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18 to 21. The existing article will be replaced by a new one, which would state that the company's management will comprise not less than eight and not more than 21 directors, "unless a greater number is required for legal, regulatory, listing requirements or to meet the provisions of the shareholder agreement". However, this is subject to government approval. Bharti Tele-ventures to be renamed Bharti Airtel Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd, the telecommunications services provider, is to be renamed Bharti Airtel Ltd. The board of directors of the company approved the change of name today. The change is subject to approval from shareholders and regulatory clearances. According to a company release, "The word Tele-Ventures reflected the activity of the company to undertake ventures/make investments in the telecom sector. "However, after the merger of Bharti Cellular Ltd and Bharti Infotel Ltd with Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd, the company has become an operating company in the telecom sector. The name change will reflect the present nature of activities of the company." According to Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and Group Managing Director, Bharti Enterprises, said: "Over the years, we have nurtured and grown the Airtel brand. The use of word Airtel in the name of the company will reflect the brand as well as the activity of the company. Having brought all our service offerings under the Airtel brand umbrella, this change will be another step towards making Airtel the most admired brand in the country." Telekom Malaysia to acquire stake in Spice
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In a bid to enter Indias attractive telecommunication market, Malaysias biggest telecom company, Telekom Malaysia Bhd. has said it is in preliminary discussions with Indias Spice Telecom Ltd. to buy a stake in it. The move comes barely a month after its rival Maxis bought a stake in Tamil Nadus Aircel. Telekom Malaysias wholly owned unit, TM International Sdn. Bhd., is currently in preliminary discussions for a stake. This is consistent with TMs continued interest in India, which would complement its other South Asian investments in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Telekom Malaysia has investments in Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Telekom Malaysia missed a chance to enter the lucrative Indian telecommunications market when regulatory requirements forced it to abandon an earlier deal to buy Indias Idea Cellular Ltd. With growth in Malaysian mobile market set to see a dip, both Telekom and its rival Maxis is looking a broad for further expansion. Mobile telephony update Mobile telephony services are rapidly expanding and have contributed approximately 941% to new subscriber additions in January 2006. The segments subscriber base grew 5.16% mom to 80.61mn. Of the total subscribers added, almost 75% subscribers belonged to the GSM segment and the rest were CDMA segment. This strong growth is largely attributed to the lifetime validity cards launched by all major operators. Market share of mobile subscribers

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Source: COAI, AUTSPI, GSM mobile segment India's GSM mobile operators added record 3.52mn subscribers in the month of January. The highest ever addition since inception of service was largely due to life time cards and falling handset prices. The total GSM subscriber base increased by 6% to 62mn The growth was largely due to the life time validity cards launched by major players. The month saw the addition of 3.52mn subscribers as compared to 3.2mn in December 2005. The growth was led by BSNL, which added over 1mn subscribers. Growth came from AP, Karnataka, Kerala, and West Bengal circles. Bharti added over 1mn subscribers led by Karnataka, Maharashtra, NE, Orissa, AP and Mumbai regions. MTNL, the state run PSU added over 0.1mn subscribers. For MTNL, Mumbai witnessed a growth of 7% and Delhi 6.7%. GSM subscribers
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Group

Subscribers

as

of Additions Subscribers In Jan 1,046,020 1,074,110 772,583 258,579 5,825 90,397 99,006 65,148 104,252 3,515,920 January'06 17,373,170 15,373,000 12,185,860 6,732,541 2,895,523 1,717,478 2,381,050 1,729,848 1,630,674 62,019,144

as

of (%)Growth 6.41 7.51 6.77 3.99 0.20 5.56 4.34 3.91 6.83 6.01

Company December'05 Bharti 16,327,150 BSNL 14,298,890 Hutch 11,413,277 IDEA 6,473,962 BPL 2,889,698 Spice 1,627,081 Aircel 2,282,044 Reliance 1,664,700 MTNL 1,526,422 Total 58,503,224

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GSM

market

share

GSM

share

of

net

additions

Source: COAI The Metro subscribers grew by 3.70% over the previous month. Kolkatta recorded the highest growth at (5.21%) followed by Chennai (3.86%). Category A circles recorded a healthy growth of 6.85% over the previous month. Karnataka recorded the highest growth at (11.3%) followed by A.P. at (7.8%). Category B circles witnessed a growth of 6.2%. Amongst the Category B circles, West Bengal & A.N. recorded highest growth at (14%), followed by Kerala at (8.8%). Among all circles, Category C circles continued to witness the highest rate of growth at 8.3%, which is much higher as compared to Metros and A & B circles.

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Within the Category C circles, the highest growth was recorded by the Assam Circle (14.22%) followed by N.E. Circle (10.86%).

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Circle wise subscriber addition Circle Metro A B C Total December Subscribers 13,963,036 20,474,324 19,253,132 4,812,732 58,503,224 January Subscribers 14,479,449 21,876,761 20,449,705 5,213,229 62,019,144

(%)Growth 3.70 6.85 6.21 8.32 6.01

% Share 23.3 35.3 33.0 8.4

CDMA mobile segment CDMA subscribers base grew 7%mom to 17.96mn with Reliance a chunk of additions in subscriber base. Tata witnessed a 10.3% mom growth in subscriber base, crossing the 4mn mark. This phenomenal growth witnessed over the last two months is largely due to the 2-year non-stop incoming mobility scheme (NSM) from Tata. Reliance witnessed a 6.2% growth in the month of January. Reliance is gradually losing its market share to Tata but still remained a market leader with a total subscriber base of 13.8mn. CDMA subscriber data Group Subscribers as of Additions Subscribers In Jan January'06 804,207 13,819,174 380,595 4,061,204 1,895 65,704 (297) 27,193 (10,904) 115,118 1,175,496 17,962,371 CDMA share of as of (%)Growth 6.2 10.3 3.0 (1.1) (8.7) 7.0 net additions

Company December'05 Reliance 13,014,967 Tata 3,680,609 HFCL 63,809 Shyam 27,490 MTNL 126,022 Total 16,786,875
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Market share of CDMA operators

Source: AUTSPI Fixed line During January 2006, 0.28mn subscribers were added in the fixed line segment and the total subscriber base stood at 49.21mn. During the first 10 months of FY06, about 3.5mn subscribers have been added. Growth in fixed line segment continues to be driven by the fixed wireless terminals. Fixed Wireless Terminals (FWT) FWT continues to be one of the fastest growing segments with 3.7% mom growth. Tata maintained it leadership position in FWT segment with 57.9% market share amongst private players. In net additions, Reliance led with 90% share. However, Dots latest ruling removing FWT service from the ambit of basic service and instead terming it a limited mobile service liable to ADC levy may be a serious blow to the growth of this segment.

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Subscriber data of private players in FWT Group Subscribers as of Additions Subscribers In Jan 21,049 197,724 15 4,511 856 224,155 January'06 3,657,100 2,561,391 22,873 46,105 28,268 6,315,737 as of (%)Growth 0.6 8.4 0.1 10.8 3.1 3.7

Company December'05 Tata 3,636,051 Reliance 2,363,667 Bharti 22,858 HFCL 41,594 Shyam 27,412 Total 6,091,582 Source: AUTSPI

Share of net additions of private Market share of private players in players FWT

Source: AUTSPI

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Fixed wire line segment The subscriber base of private operators in fixed wire line segment crossed the 2.1mn mark with the segment witnessing 3.2% mom growth. Bharti continued with its top position among private players with a 55.9% market share. Last month witnessed Bharti starting its operations in Mumbai. It has a subscriber base of 12,361 subscribers in Mumbai. Subscriber data for private fixed wire line players Group Company Bharti Tata HFCL Shyam Reliance Total Subscribers December'05 1,176,655 406,916 197,773 140,009 204,040 2,125,393 as of Additions Subscribers In Jan 44,017 4,598 1,665 794 6,500 57,574 January'06 1,220,672 411,514 199,438 140,803 210,540 2,182,967 as of (%)Growth 3.7 1.1 0.8 0.6 3.2 2.7

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Market share of private players inShare of net additions of private FWT players

Source: AUTSPI

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TATA GROUP: BRAND AMBASSADOR


The Tata Group has some of India's most famous personalities from the sports and entertainment fields endorsing its products and services, and the Tata brand. Narain Karthikeyan: The 'fastest Indian in the world' has been a brand ambassador for the Tata Group since 2002. The Group was instrumental in helping Karthikeyan break into the charmed Formula One racing circle in 2005. More on Karthikeyan Sourav Ganguly and Irfan Pathan: The old warhorse and the young tearaway have been supporting the Tata Indicom brand. Ganguly has also been associated with Tata Steel. Sania Mirza: The new kid on the tennis block has been making waves in the women's game with her power and ebullience. Mirza, who broke into the ATP top 100 in 2005, is a brand ambassador for Tata Tea. Yuvraj Singh: This rising cricket star, among the most prominent of the young brigade that has been transforming the way India plays the game, is a prominent feature of the many promotions run by Westside, the retail chain of lifestyle stores. Naseeruddin Shah: Arguably the best actor of his generation, Shah has been endorsing a range of insurance products from the Tata AIG stable.

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Aamir Khan: To promote its watches, Titan has cast this extremely popular and versatile Bollywood star in the role of an "iconic, style-conscious [brand ambassador] who cuts across both sex and age groups in urban and rural India". Karun Chandhok: Tata Group brand ambassador Karun Chandhok is the brightest young star in the brigade of Indian racing car drivers looking to follow in the footsteps of Narain Karthikeyan. The 21-year-old racer is currently honing his skills in the Formula 3 World Series for RC Motorsport, for whom he has made a positive start in the 2005-2006 racing season.

SANIA

MIRZA

BECOMES

TATA

INDICOM

BRAND

AMBASSADOR

Tennis star Sania Mirza poses with Tata Indicom products in Hyderabad on Thursday. - A Roy Chowdhury TATA Indicom has roped in the services of teenage tennis sensation Sania Mirza to serve as its brand ambassador.
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In partnership, Tata Indicom plans to launch limited edition Signature Series handsets called Sania Fone with attractive features. The Chief Operating Officer of Tata Indicom, Mr Prabhat Pani, said "Tata Indicom is rapidly growing youthful and energetic brand. Sania reflects these qualities and her association with Tata Indicom personifies brand identity. The youth is a big market and the launch of Signature Fones is one such effort to connect with this segment." Sania Mirza said, "I look forward to long and fruitful association with Tata Indicom and it is a matter of pride to be part of Tata Indicom family, which epitomises leadership and trust." Signature Series, which includes Saurav Fone, are limited edition handsets, which will be available to both post-paid as well as pre-paid customers across 20 circles. While the Sania Fone has been priced at Rs 4,999, the Saurav Fone is available for Rs 2,999. The signature handsets are supported by cricket and tennis contests and have other features such as wallpapers, favourite ringtones, live cricket scores and interactive cricket services.

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SPICE TELECOM
Spice Telecom has signed up Bollywood heartthrob Priyanka Chopra as its new brand ambassador. To celebrate the association, Spice has

unveiled

Priyanka's

Limited

Edition Team Pack on the prepaid platform, the offering most

subscribers

economical way to go mobile as a team.

For a period of three months, the Priyanka's Limited Edition pack will offer features like free night calling within the team and SMS at 5 paise to any Spice mobile with the regular Team Pack features. The company has also come up with a contest called 'Priyanka's Favourite Destination,' wherein customers stand to win a free holiday to her favourite destination. The synergy between Spice and Priyanka Chopra also saw the launch of a special ring tone called 'Priyanka's ring.' Umang Das, Managing Director, Spice Telecom, Punjab, said, "Spice has always remained
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focused

and

committed

towards

developing

state-of-the-art

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telecommunication infrastructure and offer the best value added products and services to customers." According to Gartner, the number of mobile phone subscribers in India is set to touch a staggering 165 million by end-2008. With this increase in tele-density, Spice Telecom is also in the process of consolidating and investing in areas like network and technology upgrading, and also enhances its brand image. "Priyanka Chopra will play a key role in the brand enhancement," said Das. Introducing Chopra to the Spice family, Navin Kaul, Chief Operating Officer, Spice Telecom, Punjab, said, "There is a perfect fit between Priyanka Chopra and Spice Telecom, as both have similar values and traits, like being youthful, stylish, innovative, setting new trends. We believe this relationship will go a long way towards reinforcing the ethics both stand for, justifying the credo of Spice Hai Toh Life Hai!" On her association with Spice, Priyanka said, "I look forward to a long and fruitful association with the company and am excited to bring to life the credo of Spice Hai Toh Life Hai!"

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AIRTEL
AirTel is a brand of cell phone services in India operated by Bharti Televentures. The AirTel brand has been one of the highly successful Telecom brands in India. Bharti Televentures owns the AirTel brand and provides the following services under the brand name AirTel: Mobile Services (using GSM Technology), Broadband & Telephone Services (Fixed line and Internet Connectivity), Long Distance Services and Enterprise Services (Telecommunications Consulting for corporates). Bharti Tele-Ventures is India's leading private sector provider of telecommunications services based on a strong customer base consisting of 11 million total customers which constitute, 10 million mobile and 1 million fixed line customers, as of February 2005. AirTel has ambitious plans to provide 25 million connections by mid-2006. There is fierce competition among local telecommunications companies to provide better service and AirTel is regarded as one of the top communications service provider in the Asian region too. As of June 2005, Airtel has 12 million subscribers. World leaders in the telecom industry such as Vodafone and SingTel hold partial stakes in Airtel.

Tapping an Unexplored Market : The cellular and fixed-line penetration levels in India are lower than those in most developed countries in the world. Compounded annual growth of cellular subscribers in the FY97 - FY01 period was 80%. Despite that, the market is still under-penetrated and offers significant potential for growth. According to Gartner estimates, the cellular subscribers will grow to approximately 31 million in 2005 from the present 4.8 million. Another estimate by COAI sees the numbers at 50 million. This shows the potential of the telecom industry over the next four years. Right Positioning of Bharti : Bharti Tele-Ventures, one of the main holding companies of unlisted Bharti Enterprises has emerged as one of the strongest players in the fast-changing and rapidly growing Indian telecommunications market. As of September 30, 2001, approximately 92% of India's total

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number of cellular subscribers resided in Bharti's existing and proposed cellular circles. The company is thus well placed to capitalize on the fast growing mobile phone market.

Money comes back faster : The telecom businesses are highly capital intensive and have long gestation periods. However, we believe Bharti to see faster pay backs than any other players in the industry. Stock market Titan in the making : With 185 million shares on offer, Bharti is all set to make it to the top 10 Indian companies based on market cap straight on listing along with Infosys, Reliance, Wipro, HLL etc. Attractive Pricing : The floor pricing of the bid is likely to done at a level which will be profitable for both short and long term investors

AirTel, Indias leading cellular service, has announced that Sachin Tendulkar, the 'Master Blaster' would be its new brand ambassador. This is the first time ever that Sachin is actively associating himself with any telecom brand anywhere in the world.

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On this announcement, Sachin said, I am really happy to be associated with AirTel, the countrys largest mobile brand, which is making mobile

communications a way of life. I look forward to a long and fruitful association. Welcoming Sachin to the AirTel fold, Manoj Kohli, President, Mobility, Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd., said, Sachin and AirTel, both are leaders having similar values and personality traits. This includes being trustworthy, friendly, empathetic, youthful, innovative and trend setting. It is these attributes which AirTel will leverage to strengthen its bonds with its customers. AirTel also unveiled its new brand campaign 'Express Yourself'. The new campaign exhorts customers to freely express themselves anytime, anywhere. With this approach, AirTel has chosen an innovative platform of expressing emotions in a
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totally unbarred manner. The entire campaign is the culmination of three months of research, planning and development that began in July 2003. Rediffusion DYR conceived the idea for the new campaign. Today, AirTel is Indias largest mobile services brand. A brand that is present in 16 states and 15 mobile circles, touching the lives of 600 million people across 16 states in India.

Unveiling the new campaign Atul Bindal, Chief Marketing Officer, Mobility, Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd., said, It is AirTels vision to make mobile communications a way of life in the country. Through the Express Yourself brand campaign, AirTel has charted a new path, enabling customers to make their point in the most expressive way anytime, anywhere & any manner. More About AirTels New Brand Campaign 'Express Yourself' An aggressive multi-media brand campaign, involving print, electronic and outdoor media has been created by Rediffusion DYR. The new brand campaign showcases AirTel as a means of free expression, consolidating on the virtues of trust, care and simplicity, values that are core to the AirTel brand.

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The launch of the campaign coincides with the Indian cricket season. The campaign advertisements will be aired on all leading print and TV channels. The campaign also takes forward, the consolidation process, first initiated when the pre-paid brand 'AirTel Magic' became part of the Super brand 'AirTel' in May this year. About Bharti

Bharti Tele-Ventures (BTVL) is Indias leading private sector provider of telecommunications services with an aggregate of 4.9 million customers as of August 31, 2003, consisting of approximately 4.4 million mobile and 469,000 fixed line customers. It is the largest mobile service provider in the country. Its all-India market share as on August 31, 2003 was 25.2%. Mobile services constitute the largest portion of business both in terms of total revenues and total customers. We also provide fixed-line, long distance, group data and enterprise services including VSAT and Internet services. For the quarter ended June 30, 2003, its revenue and EBITDA as per un-audited IAS accounts were Rs. 1,036 crore and Rs. 289 crore respectively and for the year ended March 31, 2003, our revenue and EBITDA as per un-audited IAS accounts were Rs. 3,050 crore (US$ 642 million) and Rs.759 crore (US$ 160 million)
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respectively. During the quarter ended June 30, 2003, mobile services represented approximately 63% of its total revenues. As on June 30, 2003, the company has made a gross investment of over Rs.10,650 crore (US$ 2.3 billion) in building telecom in India. The company also provides fixedline services in Haryana, Delhi, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu circles. BTVL believes that these circles have high telecommunications revenue potential, especially for carrying data traffic. The company complements its mobile and fixed-line services with national and international long distance services. The company also has a submarine cable landing station at Chennai, which connects the submarine cable connecting Chennai and Singapore. The long distance and data enterprise services has enormous support from this connectivity and facilitates in offering best value to our customers.

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RELIANCE

This news is not going to amuse many people considering its timing. England has just managed to defeat India in a match, which was supposed to be won by the home team, and Dhoni was one of the many players who failed in the last innings of the match. However, he has proven his worth to the Indian cricket team and provided a great combination of a wicketkeeper batsman. The latest news in is that Reliance Communications has signed on Dhoni to be their new brand ambassador. Dhoni would now represent Reliance Communications Ventures Ltd (RCoVL) and Reliance Energy for the next two years. Anil Ambani headed company wants to use the charismatic cricketer to communicate to the youth, 65 per cent of Indias population. Sanjay Behl RCoVL Branding and Marketing Head said

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about this deal: Reliance and Dhoni have commonalities as both have great potential to become global leaders. RCoVL has also launched two new sections Dhoni Zone and Dhoni Magic on R-World, which is the companys online mobile portal.

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HUTCH
Hutch is a national cellular operator in India. It covers most of India. In Bombay it was known by the name Orange. Now orange has been renamed as Hutch with a pink background instead of the previous orange colour. It offers both prepaid and postpaid GSM cellular phone coverage throughout India and is especially strong in the major metros. It is often praised for its award winning advertisements which follow a non-cluttered approach. A recurrent theme is that its message "Hi" stands out visibly though it uses only black letters on white background. Hutch recently bought BPL mobile. Hutch subscriber base in India according to COAI - Cellular Operator Association of India as on December 2005.

Delhi - 693991 (Hutchison Essar) Mumbai - 1778144 (Hutchison Max) Chennai - 350275 (Hutchison Essar) Kolkata - 817351 (Hutchison Telecom) Karnataka - 914551 (Hutchison Essar) Punjab - 526791 (Hutchison Essar) Uttar Pradesh - west - 451347 (Hutchison Essar) West Bengal & Andaman and Nicobar - 359153 (Hutchison Telecom)

Key Investment Highlights

Unique spread of telecom operations in dynamic markets Consistent track record of creating value
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Management strength and depth Leading market positions Strong growth momentum

Strategy

Invest in emerging markets with; Low mobile penetration Sizeable population base Stable political and regulatory environment and Economic development Build superior mobile operations Product innovation Branding Customer service Leverage the group resources Maximize return

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Strong Performnace: High Growth

Recent Developments Imaging is poised to become the next major application of cellular technology. This has prompted Hutch to launch a new service, which allows GPRS phone users to click their favourite moments on their MMS phones and have Kodak prints delivered anywhere in the country, within five days. Hutch has also developed over 400 Java games that can be downloaded and played on GPRS phones.

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Recently, Hutch provided complete coverage of the historic Indo-Pakistan cricket series. On offer was everything that a cricket buff could want, ranging from live video clips, instant updates on voice and SMS, expert analysis and a host of downloads. The company had also introduced a new downloadable game contest titled Rahul XI where at the end of the contest period, the top ten winners of the game would meet the Hutch BRAND AMBASSADOR, Rahul Dravid, in person

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IMPORTANCE OF BRAND AMBASSADOR


By focusing primarily on the development of "soft skills," Brand Ambassador shows its participants the value of empathy, honesty and humanity in helping them to become trusted advisors to both internal and external customers. Through role play and acting exercises, participants learn how to reach out, connect, motivate and inspire other people. In the end, Brand Ambassador created a workforce spirit within Avis that increased customer satisfaction to over 90%, cut staff turnover by 10% and catapulted Avis to the number 1 rental car company in South Africa, Norway and Sweden. The purpose of this seminar is to:

Build a community of excellence between company employees to drive exceptional acts of customer service

Renew corporate values and commitment by both veteran and new employees

Develop interpersonal communication skills that enable participants to represent the corporation and its values both internally and externally

Each Brand Ambassador program is co-developed and co-delivered by Corporate Scenes, the Olin School of Business and the client as a 2.5 day seminar. The client's values and goals are the focal point of every workshop. The proprietary development model is scalable and flexible, and can accommodate virtually any organization form 2 to 500,000 people across the globe. Working with the client, we identify issues and indicators during the program development phase that will be formally

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measured by the client once the program is complete to show both quantitative and qualitative indicators of success. Brand Ambassador uses facilitated discussions, exercises based in acting and theater, frameworks and functional tools to deliver its messages. The Olin School of Business offers Brand Ambassador in both open-enrollment and corporationspecific versions. Table A provides a snapshot of the program structure and content.

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Brand Ambassador The Art of Communication-Program Layout Module Topical Coverage

The role of storytelling and dialogue in building internal and external relationships

Building Exceeding Expectations

Community: Customer

Communicating within the company Communicating with the customer Creative problem-solving: clarity, impact and warmth in dealing with customers

Active communication Building theater-based acting skills Linking voice with emotion: building trust through expression

Communicating Presence

with

The role of emotional intelligence in building relationships

Relationships: promises and commitments integrating Brand Ambassador learnings

Building a Company of Brand Ambassadors

The role of senior leadership in driving cultural transformations

Understanding and renewing our corporate values

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LIVING AND BREATHING THE WORLD-CLASS BRAND: IDENTIFY AND CULTIVATE YOUR BRAND AMBASSADORS
World-class brands exist solely in the minds of customers and stakeholders, and are defined and reinforced by the quality of their experience with everyone and everything representing the company. Brand ambassadors are no longer single individuals responsible for a corporation's brand or image. Nor are brand ambassadors limited to front line employees with whom customers interact. The term brand ambassador can, and in extremely successfully branded companies does, refer to at least three different types of people: strong leaders, employees and customers. What are their roles and responsibilities? The first tier of brand ambassadors is valuable for its vision, its mission, its faith in the company and its leadership. These are the corporations' leaders , and they must understand your company's culture and competencies. Strong leadership is what makes creating positive customer experiences possible. This group will be responsible for envisioning the types of positive customer experiences your company is out to create and is accountable for the training, communication and culture of teamwork that will make them happen. The litmus tests of leadership support include: Asking managers, "What is the purpose of our business," and "What does our corporate brand represent"? Will you get the same response from everyone? If management isn't in agreement, how can front line employees be? How long does it take information about brand contact breakdowns to reach senior managers? Will they know in a week, a month or never?
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Is your management 100% accountable for creating a committed corps of brand ambassadors? It will take clear and consistent leadership to maintain such a team. The second tier of a company's brand ambassador corps is its employees, past and present, and its brand is only as memorable as these employees make it. It becomes more evident with each passing day: the only source of truly sustainable competitive advantage in the 21st century marketplace lies in strong customer relationships, which are built by employees on the front line. They are the face of the brand, the "last three feet" of customer communications. If every employee is on board, acting in accordance with a company's vision and mission and creating positive experiences for customers, a company's brand will be priceless. Front line employees need to be trained, empowered and supported to consistently delight customers and integrate communication at every brand contact point. One valuable test of success is if randomly selected employees can answer the following questions correctly: Who are the most important customers that you are serving, how is your job impacting those customers, and how do you get feedback from them? What is the key message of your company? Which customer satisfaction improvement team are you currently on? Of course, the ultimate test of front line success lies in customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. More often than not, though, front line employees aren't trained on sales, service and brand communication. This oversight translates into thousands of lost opportunities every day to cross-sell products, improve satisfaction and retention and build brands. Sales reps too often don't understand that the customer retention process begins before the new customer leaves the store, call center

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specialists don't realize that they're also critical to the sales process, store clerks don't recognize that they're serving a client who might be worth $100,000 in sales during the coming five years, and field techs rarely appreciate that they're more important in shaping public perception of the company's brand than the people who crafted the brand message, logo and ad campaigns in the first place. This isn't to say that turning your entire work force into a round-the-clock brand embassy is a simple task. It isn't. One challenge in training frontline employees, for instance, is that they're typically dispersed in the field and busy serving customers. Pulling them together for a traditional classroom lecture or a pep rally with the CEO can be as expensive as it is ineffective, especially in cases where the work force is mistrustful of corporate leadership and therefore primed to reject anything that smacks of cheerleading. But just because it's hard doesn't mean you have an excuse for not doing it. On the contrary. In many contemporary markets we're approaching the point where the primary, if not only differentiator is customer service. Under such conditions, a company populated by clock-gazing 9-to-5ers has no chance against a competitor whose front line employees are committed 24/7/4ever brand ambassadors. Period. The third tier of brand ambassadorship, the largest and perhaps strongest level of your brand's diplomatic corps, is your customer base. These are the ultimate brand ambassadors: neutral, third-party advocates for your company, and the products, services and experiences you provide. Some companies have third generation loyal customers, entire families of fans raving in their own homes and communities about a company's products and services.

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Most companies, though, fail to leverage their most enthusiastic user base. If you don't have customers like them, you can create them. If you do have customers like these, identify them and treat them well; they are your greatest assets. Most computer manufacturers foster user groups. Computer games have fan sites. Saturn organizes "homecoming parties." Volvo sponsors the "Volvo for Life" award. Create a club or program, incentive or award, a way to thank your valuable customers and cultivate a unified corps of customer brand ambassadors. The single greatest hurdle to creating your own 24/7/4ever corps of brand ambassadors lies in coordinating the efforts of these three different groups. Of course, the levels are interrelated: what would it take for management, for your leaders, to create this type of environment for employees? What would this type of employee buy-in mean for customers? What types of external and internal communication must be made readily available so that everyone shares the same brand images and vision?

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QUESTIONNAIRE AND ANALYSIS


1. What are the roles of Brand Ambassador in a company? a) To promote the product b) To promote the company c) To attract the consumer

Brand Ambassador To attract the customer 20%

To promote the product 25%

To promote the company 55%

To promote the product To promote the company To attract the customer

Chart 1

Brand Ambassadors are fairly responsible for the promotion of the company rather Than the product of the company or the customer/consumers. Mainly the companies appointed these role ambassadors for their sale promotion.

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2. What are the roles of a Brand Ambassador in a telecom company? a) To promote the sale b) To promote the packages c) To promote the services

Brand Ambassador

To promote the services 45%


To promote the Sale To promote the packages To promote the services

To promote the Sale 30%

To promote the packages 25%

Chart 2

Main function or the role of the brand ambassador of a company is to promote the Services of the company in relation to the sale promotion of their prepaid/postpaid Or any other product of the company.

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3. Consumers like that the brand ambassador of a telecom company should be a a) Model b) Actor c) Actress d) Sports Person

Brand Ambassador

Sports Person 25%

Model 20%

Actresses 30%

Actor 25%

Model Actor Actresses Sports Person

Chart 3

In a country like India, where maximum film released in a year, they're by people Are basically crazy about film actors and actresses. And also crazy about sports, mainly cricket.

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4. Do you think that the quality of service improves with the inclusion of brand ambassador by the company? a) Much b) Very Much c) No Improvement

Brand Ambassador
No Improvement 25%

Much 40%

Very Much 35%

Much Very Much No Improvement

Chart 4

With the inclusion of Brand Ambassadors or good brand ambassadors, the Company has to revise its policies and has to make attractive as to compete with The image of the brand ambassador. There by their inclusion is important and Productive.

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5. Trend for setting a brand ambassador is increasing now days as companies started believe in window dressing. a) Yes b) No

Brand Ambassador

No 15% Yes No Yes 85%

Chart 5

More and more Brand Ambassadors inclusions and the sale graph rising force the companies to appoint role ambassadors as an important part of their sales Promotion strategies.

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6. Do the happenings in life of a brand ambassador affect the sale of company product to which he/she is promoting? a) Much b) Very Much c) Not Necessary

Brand Ambassador
Not Neccessary 25%

Much 40%

Very Much 35%

Much Very Much Not Neccessary

Chart 6

Once the company appoints Brand Ambassador, its now his/her responsibility to promote the sales and it may and cam affect the image of the company if something happen in their life. It happened with the TATA Indicom as Saurav Ganguly (Former Cricket Captain of India) appointed as a brand ambassador of their product, when he fails in the innings the product too failed to response.

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7. What according to you is the best basis to choose the brand ambassador for a company? a) Stylish b) Sexy c) Achiever

Brand Ambassador

Achiever 25%

Stylish 35%

Sexy 40%

Stylish Sexy Achiever

Chart 7

Brand Ambassadors should have to be stylish and sexy, his/her image in a boom. Achiever somewhat possible.

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8. The sale and promotion of a company product mostly depends on the brand ambassador. a) Yes b) No

Brand Ambassador

Yes 45% No 55%

Yes No

Chart 8

Brand Ambassadors are fairly responsible for the promotion of the company rather than the product of the company or the customer/consumers. Thereby to extent they are responsible for the sale and promotion.

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9. Brand ambassador can interfere regarding the quality of the product and the management procedures regarding the sale of the company product. a) Yes b) No

Brand Ambassador

Yes 25% Yes No No 75%

Chart 9

Company appointed Brand Ambassadors for their sale promotion and they are paid For that. But in no manners the brand ambassadors can interferer in their strategies.

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10. Telecom Companies are fairly dependent on their brand ambassadors for the sale promotion and marketing of their products. a) Yes b) No

Brand Ambassador

Yes 35% Yes No 65% No

Chart 10

Companies have many other ideas to promote their sales rather than the Brand Ambassadors. Its now the demand of the time that role of brand ambassadors are more thereby its necessary.

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FINDING
1.Regarding the consumer behavior in reference to the brand ambassadors of the company is like most liked brand ambassador has impression in the sale promotion of the product of the company. 2. Rest brand ambassadors make the impression in the mind of the consumer for the sale of the promotion of the products of company. 3. The majority of the respondents argue that brand ambassador must be sexy. 4. The brand ambassadors cannot interfere into the policy of the companies.

SUGGESTIONS

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1.Company has to revise its policies and has to make attractive as to compete with the image of the brand ambassador. There by their inclusion is important and Productive. 2. Once the company appoints Brand Ambassador, its now his/her responsibility to promote the sales and it may and can affect the image of the company if something happen in their life. It happened with the TATA Indicom as Saurav Ganguly (Former Cricket Captain of India) appointed as a brand ambassador of their product, when he fails in the innings the product too failed to response. 3.Companies have many other ideas to promote their sales rather than the Brand Ambassadors. Its now the demand of the time that role of brand Ambassadors are more thereby its necessary. 4.The telecom companies should concentrate on film actres to promote brand image.

CONCLUSION

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Recently, two of the IT giants, HP and Lenovo signed Bollywood stars, Shahrukh Khan and Saif Ali Khan as their brand ambassadors. I wonder what prompted these vendors to opt for these starlets? Even though these Bollywood actors have a huge fan following but do they make good choice for endorsing 'tech' products like PCs? This takes our attention to the current scenario in the Indian advertising world where just movie stars and sportspersons are becoming advertising icons. Even the 'sense' of advertising gurus should be under question, otherwise how will you describe Sharukh in a Lux advertisement? Certainly, people in India are smitten by movie and sports stars but they are intelligent enough to opt for a product because of its qualities and features. In a country of one billion, there are million of icons who have brought glory and achievement for the country, these success stories can be suitable ambassadors for many brands. It's high time that the advertising world realizes that Indian consumer is smart enough to be fooled by such advertisements and comes out with some innovative ideas and good brand ambassadors.

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SWOT ANALYSIS
Key Findings

SWOT Analysis (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat)


Strengths: - The key strengthening elements of role of brand ambassadors are: (a) One of the main attractions of the company. (b) Healthy amount of respect & reputation. Weaknesses: - The weaknesses coming out to be: (a) Image provides the main therapy. (b) Lack of feedback & continuous interaction with consumers. Opportunities: - The future gains can be from: (a) (b) (c) (d) Demand for the product. Demand for the services. The customer is ready to pay more to receive the quality products. The advertisement can be a collective one for all its products.

Threats: - The major threats are: (a) If in any case the image of the one get affected the product as well as the service for the sale promotion got also affected in the manner.

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LIMITATIONS

The report may be beneficial to company. But there are some limitations of the study. 1. The size of the research may not be substantial. 2. There was lack of time on the part of respondents. 3. There may be some bias information provide by company professionals. 4. As only few cities are surveyed or covered. It does not represent the overall view of Indian Market. 5. It is very much possible that some of the respondents may have given the incorrect information. 6. The last but the most important point to that survey was carried through Questionnaire and the Questions were based on perception. Most important is positioning. But there may be certain aspects not taken into consideration.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Library Resources
Drucker, Peter F. (1989), "What Business Can Learn From Nonprofits," Harvard Business Review, Vol (July-August), 88-93. Ensman, Richard (1987), "Market Research: A Valuable Aid To Small Non-Profits," Fund Raising Management, 18 (September), 108. Freeman, Laurie (1998), "Corporate Branding Gains B-To-B Momentum," Advertising Age's Business Marketing, 83 (December), 1-2. Keller, Kevin Lane, Strategic Brand Management: Building, Measuring, and Managing Brand Equity, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc. Kotler, Philip and Alan R. Andreason (1996), Strategic Marketing For Nonprofit Organizations, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc.

Internet Resources

www.tata.com/0_about_us/brand_ambassadors/index.htm

o3.indiatimes.com/venusdemilo/ archive/2006/02/05/454553.aspx ibef.org/artdisplay.aspx?cat_id=434&art_id=5894

www.ril.com/cmshtml/AdAsia.PDF

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QUESTIONNAIRE
Name: _____________________________ Address: ___________________________ Age: ____________ Phone Number: _____________________
s

1. What are the roles of Brand Ambassador in a company? d) To promote the product e) To promote the company f) To attract the consumer 2. What are the roles of a Brand Ambassador in a telecom company? d) To promote the sale e) To promote the packages f) To promote the services 3. Consumers like that the brand ambassador of a telecom company should be a e) Model f) Actor g) Actress h) Sports Person 4. Do you think that the quality of service improves with the inclusion of brand ambassador by the company? d) Much e) Very Much 80

81 f) No Improvement 5. Trend for setting a brand ambassador is increasing now days as companies started believe in window dressing. a) Yes b) No 6. Do the happenings in life of a brand ambassador affect the sale of company product to which he/she is promoting? a) Much b) Very Much c) Not Necessary 7. What according to you is the best basis to choose the brand ambassador for a company? a) Stylish b) Sexy c) Achiever 8. The sale and promotion of a company product mostly depends on the brand ambassador. a) Yes b) No 9. Brand ambassador can interfere regarding the quality of the product and the management procedures regarding the sale of the company product. a) Yes b) No 10. Telecom Companies are fairly dependent on their brand ambassadors for the sale promotion and marketing of their products. a) Yes 81

82 b) No

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