AIRTEL'S MARKETING ORIENTATION.

Since this is a high-involvement expensive product, the service provider

has to fully take care of the customers.

a) They take personal responsibility to "get" the answer for any problem

faced by the customer

b) They anticipate customers' problems and take pro-active steps to prevent

them

c) They give answers to the questions & requests, quickly & efficiently.

d) They have a positive tone & manner while interacting with

customers.

e) They end the interaction on a positive or a humorous note-making

the last 30 seconds count.

Airtel realises that attracting people 'Is easy but converting them into loyal

customers is hard, hence emphasis is on maintaining a 'Smiling and a

Friendly Atmosphere' to please and retain the customer.

PRICE AND PRICING POLICY

AIRTEL has realised that the Indian market is price sensitive. Therefore

it care of the has come up with various innovative tariff schemes to take

needs of different category of customers- Generally, the cellular services

are more expensive than the land line based telephone services. This is

due to the reason that the operating companies are required to pay a fee

to the government for using airtime.

 MARKETING STRATEGY
ADOPTED BY BHARTI

Bharti has spent a considerable amount on advertising its mobile phone

service, Airtel. Besides print advertising, the company had put up large no

of hoardings and kiosks in and around Delhi.

The objective behind designing a promotion campaign for the ‘Airtel’

services is to promote the brand awareness and to build brand

preferences.

It is trying to set up a thematic campaign to build a stronger brand equity

for Airtel. Since the cellular phone category itself is too restricted, also

the fact that a Cellular phone is a high involvement product, price doesn't

qualify as an effective differentiator. The image of the service provider

counts a great deal. Given the Cell phone category, it is the network

efficiency and the quality of service that becomes important. What now

the buyer is looking at is to get the optimum price-performance package.

This also serves as an effective differentiator

Brand awareness is spread through the' campaigns and brand preference

through brand stature. Airtel's campaign in the capital began with a series

of 'teaser' hoardings across the city,' bearing just the company's name
and without explaining what Airtel was. In the next phase the campaign

associated Airtel with Cellular only thereafter was the Bharti Cellular

connection brought up. Vans with Airtel logos roamed the city, handing

out brochures aboutthe company and its services to all consumers.

About 50,000 direct callers were sent out. When the name was well

entrenched in the Delhiites’s mind, the Airtel campaign began to focus on

the utility of Cellphone. In the first four months alone Airtei's

advertisement spend exceeded Rs. 4 crores.

As of today the awareness level Is 60% unaided. This implies that if

potential or knowledgeable consumers are asked to name a Cellular

phone service provider that is on the top of his/her mind 60% of them

would name Airtel. As for aided it -is 100% (by giving clues and hints

etc.).

Brand strength of a product or the health of a brand is measured by the

percentage score of the brand on the above aided and the unaided tests.

The figures show that Airtel is a healthy and a thriving brand.

Every company has a goal, which might comprise a sales target and a

game plan with due regard to Its competitor. Airtel 's campaign strategy

is designed keeping in mind its marketing strategy. The tone, tenor and

the stance of the visual ads are designed to convey the image of a market
leader in terms of its market share. It tries to portray the image of being

a "first mover every time" and that of a "market leader".

The status of the product in terms of its life cycle has just reached the

maturity stage in India. It is still on the rising part of the product life cycle

curve in the maturity stage.