Corporate and brand strategy of Indian telecommunications organization

Corporate and brand strategy of Indian telecommunications organizationIDEA Cellular Limited entered to world of Indian telecommunication in year 2002 after(prenominal) a long series of businesses and collaborations with other companies and groups under Birla group of companies.1Since then, the comp whatsoever has kept its core center of attention on maximizing the subscriber carnal and gain maximum share in the GSM mobile processs merchandise .The major brand identification happened after bollywood proletarian Abhishek Bachchan became the brand ambassador with slogan- An desire can change your lifespan with various ground-breaking advers durationnts speci anyy to curl up coarse people in countryFor this assignment, information was self-collected from various online sources and books. I first explained the unified and brand strategy for the firm and then analyzed the firms strengths and weaknesses by conducting a SWOT analysis. The next step was to architectural plan the m arketing strategy for the firm. I positioned the marketing goals and objectives and evaluate the 4 Ps of the firm and then developed the 4 Ps that the firm would utilize in the next year. The final step was based on 7Cs to analysis the company website which helped to developed online strategy for estimate.Industry AnalysisSubscriber base AnalysisAs per telecom regulatory authority of India report by October 2010 total subscriber data reached 742.12 million out of which wireless subscriber base reaches 706.69 with overall cast up of 2.61% from last year.2As published latest performance indicator report for quarter April-June 2010 YOY growth is 48.73%3In plain India teledensity for wireless telephone subscribers is 33.0% where as in urban areas teledensity is 67.0%Top players in wireless telephone subscribers are Bharti, Reliance, Vodafone, Tata and thoughtIdea is no.5 player contri merelyes 10.76% to total Indian Telecom wireless industry.Average revenue Per User (ARPU) has drop ped by 7% over the last quarterMOU for clients dropped to 2.2% as compared to last quarter results.Source Telephone Regulatory Authority of India Press come out from May 2010 to October 2010Reasons for growth in telecom goEscalating telecom aids with improving infrastructure.Introducing novel and crude service rearrs.Declining tariffs due to incr residuum in contestation to attract lots of guests.Reducing handset costs help in the growth of the industry.Company AnalysisIdea Cellular Limited (DEA) is one of the guide mobile service succeedr in India with heel of subscribers 74.2 million as on Sept,2010 . Idea is in 11 out of 22 service areas, finishing 80% of the national subscriber base.4. It is the one of the fastest growing mobile service in India. Idea gaps number of services as per node ask with some unique feature like-womens card for special need of woman (always want to talks more),youth card for young generation of India. Recently idea is demoed with 3G dict ate in 11 major areas out of 22 in India with cover major revenues of Idea.Source Telephone Regulatory Authority of India report as on 30.10.2010Mission StatementWe will delight our customers while meeting their individual communication needs anytime anywhere. We survive because of our customers.Porters 5 Force Model(book detail)work required from allessays-incompletedCategory intrusionCauseThreat of New EntrantsHighRules are set by TRAI for new entrants in telecommunication sector .And contestation is increasing as new and new entrants are emerging in the market which will become a big challenge for Idea.Bargaining Power of SuppliersLowCause of service based industry few suppliers are in the market and supplier overlooks bargaining power is low. There is huge competition in the market for suppliers for computer hardware supplies (handsets) and software supplies (mobile software or operations) which makes the bargain power low for suppliers.Bargaining Power of BuyersHighIncrease o f customer sentience for new offers from antithetic brands and number of options available to them to hold the best for themselves, increase in competition make lots of options available to customers which increase the braining power of buyers.SubstitutesLowVOIP, Wireless and satellites services baffle negligible effect on mobile phone operations as they can provide the connectivity when on the move and in turn act as substitute for mobile phones. It means threats from substitutes is low.RivalryHighHigh Price Competition, High agitate Rate and Promotional offers from competitors are very regular to attract the customers in this industry which implements risque rivalry rate.SWOT AnalysisCompetitor AnalysisMobile Industry is booming in India with new companies entering both year. Currently the pattern follows by Indian Telecommunication is having metro with highest front man of all major telecommunication companies followed by Circle A and B with presence of only major players and lowest Circle importantly rural areas where only govt support like BSNL operates. With this heavy competition companies are trying their best to father appropriate positions of distinguish their growths. There are a few pan-national players like Idea while some are concentrated to particular areas.Idea of import focus areas are voice and data transaction and unique watercraft services which are primarily through prepaid talk time plans. The lack of brand loyalty among consumers letting competition stronger and stronger in the market. The major Competitors for Idea areBharti AirtelRelianceVodafoneTataBSNLSegmentationIdea cellular provides GSM mobile services in different regions across various circles. The consumer market for mobile services is majorly divide asGeographyIndian telecom industry is divided into 22 main circles and Idea operates in all sector offering different and customised services according to circle .for eg for Punjab circle it provide customised service s as Punjab are drug users and alike for other circles as per their requirements. Even there is distinguished between rural and urban area users. Idea mainly penetrates towards rural areasDemographicCustomers are segmented according to their ages and Idea offers mobile services accordingly to age and gender. Young customer between age 15-25 years require less cost and high usage where Idea offer young cards to these age group customers. Same for males and females segment they have different attitudes to use of mobile phones. Considering this Idea offer women cards where with low cost women can talk for long time.BehavioralOn the basis of user type customer can segmented corporate or individual .Idea offer special facilities for people belong to same organizationOn basis of usage rate customers can segmented as light (dont use mobile much), medium and heavy (use mobile very frequently) and Idea provide special benefits to such type of users.On basis of user status customers are se gmented as first time users and regular brand loyal customers. Idea offers lots of different cards and benefits for first time user so that they become brand loyal and better and new offers to regular customers to maintain their brand loyalty.BenefitsCustomers mainly classified on basis of their level of customization and the type of services they required. Few customers always like to have hassle free and simple plans mainly the old group and few customers always prefer regular customized plan accordingly to their requirements and usage timing. For some customer network and connectivity is more important rather than any plans and offers.Tar catch grocery storeIdea follows on multi segment approach working on the demands of different segment areas.To target Youth or young people between the age 15 to 25 years, Idea started My-Gang Pre-Paid card on which the local group calls rate 10 paisa per minute and message one paisa per minute.To attract women Idea introduce Women card which provide offers like emergency calling, calling at the rate of 50/min from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.(kitty party rates).Idea not only young and women customers but offers lots of customized products to provide to various different segmentation of people like lovers, business people, old age people, low income peopleMarket Position and brandBrand StrategyInnovate. Stimulate. Liberate.5The telecom industry is growing at a very rapid pace. As per the Ansoff Product (book details)- IDEA going along with the Market Development Strategy. Main focus of Idea is to target new markets for egrural area of India. Idea mobile provides affordable and reliable services with efficient and stalls network in count to, innovative and customised products that set free customers from limitations of timeThe different ad gos based on An Idea can change your life (finally a ad series called what an idea sirji) mainly focused towards creating new ideas, raise awareness and provide solutions to tender issues which brings the presence of Ideas network in erudition everywhere across India. Yet to explainMarketing Mix1.ProductIdea Cellular provides services likeVoice and SMS service Idea offers voice and SMS services at very competitive prices to its customers. Starting with services in Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, it has now expanded its network to all major circles.Value Added Services To achieve customer loyalty Idea offer Value Added Services (VAS) major targets women, business people, and young people. Major VAS services allow insGPRS Witht he increase in meshing usage, Idea offer GPRS service to its customer where they use internet whenever they required on their mobile phones and even it offers customers to access mail with real time synchronisation with mail server specially for business users.Idea Radio Idea in collaboration with Radio to offer its customer radio services on mobile.Music Messaging Cellular Jockey is service where you can send music SMS to your friends and lov ed one.Other Value Added Services Other services include live TV streaming, easy billing option, birthment by mobile of utility bills, travel booking etc.Wireless Internet Idea provide wirless serives uder name of Idea net setter in form of plug and play which is simply a USB which require no particular(a) installation to enrapture-surf internetStrategy for next yearFollowing the traits, mobile market could reach maturity in next 5-6 years where then differentiation should base only on the services mobile companies provided. So for coming years Idea mobiles should concentrate more on urban market as good with new service offering as presently Idea is more concentrate to rural market.. The following could be some new features they should considerIdea can come up with new and attractive plans like few years back they introduced caller tunes which rattling attracted people but at extra costs now in coming time they should provide these services as a part of basic packages.Like ot her countries they should tie up with mobile manufacturing companies to provide handset along with sim cards and packages.To invest more in rural market they should provide basic information like support upates,news free of cost cause major of the rural India people depends upon farming.2. PricePricing strategy and ImplementationOne of the main impact of increased competition is the price wars among companies which result to lower their prices (1paise per second), to survive in the market. Idea should also follow the same pricing strategy to remain in the market because customer who choose idea for low price will else move to other low price mobile service providers which is further aggravated by presently with introduction of MNP (mobile number portability) where customer dont require to change their number. However financial implications of pricing model will affect the overall profitability of company.This turn crop up is mainly determined by two factors reduced tariff and cus tomer is billed on per second rather than per minute because previously when a customer talked for 10 seconds he was supercharged for one minute but now if the customer calls for only 10 second then he will charged for 10 second only. These low levels of margins are not sustainable in the long term, where after some time they have to increase their prices to sustain in market. Although Idea can pick up on its profitability by reducing operating costs. Idea should try to focus on its major rural market by reducing prices and keep loyal to brand3. PlaceObjectiveIdea Cellular operates in all 22 service areas/circles split where more than 76% revenue comes from areas like Delhi, AP, Gujarat, MP, UP, Haryana, KeralaSource The Telephone regulatory auhotirty of India Press release for subscriber base as on 30.10.2010The medium of service distribution is as followsMy Idea and Idea Zone The direct retail shops from Idea which provide all services from buying new connection to pay bills rel oad whirligigups, plan change, buying wirless services or idea products. These outlets are located within the city area to cover maximum users.Local Retailers The authorise distributors of Idea services located anywhere in the city. They only provide services like new connections and recharge top ups but not do in services special like lost SIM replacement, customer complaint handling etc. At some of these shops, there are facilities for bill stipend and cheque drop box.Internet The Company can also obtain all information from Idea website.Custmoers can also pay their bills, buy top ups.Strategy for next yearSetup more and more My Idea stores, and Idea Zones which help them to directly interact with the customers provide better solutions to theory requests. brusk kiosk at important places for bill payment and complaint registrations.Because of India law for security norms, process for apllying new connection is still manual, Idea should try to ease the process to increase the cu stomer experience.4.PromotionObjectiveMost of the mobile companies are providing almost same type of services with few modifications. In this case it is really important to position your brand as best as possible and for this the best idea is to promote the brand with best multimedia campaign and market communication. The objective of campaigns is to communicate the customer various new plans, their features, and promotions.Message and Creative strategyIdea has developed the whole marketing communication nearly social issues. The use of brand name Idea in its tagline An Idea can change your life is sanitary placed.It mainly follows two different strategies of creating brand awareness and creating and loyialty for brand purchase intentionTransformational appeal To create brand awareness, they emphasize to stir up emotions that will motivate purchase especially in rural areas. For example a 90-second advertisement, where a girl is denied to join the school because of non availabilit y, Abhishek Bachchan who is the principal of the school comes up with idea of starting mobile classes. The students will gather around a mobile to learn the lessons and teachers communicate wirelessly. To make interest, they just showed only a 10 second teaser for first few days and after creating a curiosity among the audience they aired full 90 second commercial.Informational appeal To create and facilitate brand purchase intention, idea designs campaigns which elaborate product attributes or benefits. In such kind of campaign major attributes like call rates or other benefits such as free talk-time or value added services are highlighted. To fulfil this end they go for product comparison ads (for example to communicate the benefits of womens calling card they developed a campaign which depicts women from different backgrounds having different lifestyle utilise their Idea womens calling card to fulfil their different needs such as advice, security and beauty tips). To get the att ention of the target audience, first half of the commercial is shot in a background of 1960s i.e. in retro environment.Communication Channels tidy sum MediaTelevisionIdea follows a mass marketing strategy like all other brands because this medium has highest reach in the country. To communicate through this channelIdea buys television slots from 10 sec to 90 sec in famous TV shows. The concept of advertisement is created by agency Lowe Lintas, Idea choose Abhishek Bachan as their brand ambassador.Idea also sponsors sports events such as that of IPL (became one of the sponsor of Mumbai Indians) which are broadcasted on the TV and watched by millions.Idea sponsors famous award functions and TV reality shows Idea Khataron Ke Khiladi- Part 2, Idea Bharat Ki Shaan on DD, Idea IIFA awards, Idea Filmfare Awards etc. which helps in improving brand image.Print MediaThis is mainly used to highlight plans and offers. Whenever a new plan is launched, Idea give full page ads in the leading newsp apers and on regular bases Idea give ads about different tariffs and plans.Billboards and HoardingsIdea places its billboards and hoardings at several places in the city such as on a roadside near a traffic light or on highways. The design is customised according to the region. This helps the company in connecting with the diverse target audience at a local level.Tie up with IOCIdea also tied up with Indian Oil Corporation to use their petrol pumps and gas agencies for branding and distribution of Idea sim cards and recharge vouchers.Online advertisementIdea comes up with different campaigns on internet websites from time to time to interact and connect with large online youth community.Mobile advertisementIdea runs several campaigns and contests on mobile to engage existing customers and reward them through monetary prize, thus, reinforcing the relation of Idea with the customer.7 Cs of marketing (book model in appendix)The website of Idea Cellular services is http//www.ideacellula r.com/. The website analysis on the basis of 7 Cs of marketing is as followsContractIdea website is divided into nine sections including Home, Prepaid, Postpaid, VAS and Roaming, Business offerings, Customer care, Blackberry, Wireless internet, investors. Website is not too complex and easy to understand even for a person who dont know much about using of internet sites for getting information and can pay online bills indicates that Ideas believe in simplicity for the sake of customers.ContentThe content of website is quite useful and presents all the needful information to customers as well as investors. It covers like company history, major events, press releases, company mission, values, products etc for everyone. From investors prospective it covers sharing holding pattern, Annual reports, presentations etc.Idea users can login for their own(prenominal) account in website for check details, update them, paying bills etc. Overall it provides required the valuable informationCon structionThe website is user friendly and easy to use. Connectivity to different tabs is accessible on home page as well as individual tabs itself. All tabs/sections provide simple and direct meaning about their significance. associationThere are different types of communities which keep on entering the market to let people connect. Idea will let you to connect to facebook as well now. Presently people can part of Kaho whats your idea community.CustomizationPresently Idea website does not let any customization of any products or plans. If user want any change in their mobile phone plans they have to visit Idea retail outlets The only option available is that people can register their themselves for new connections on available plans or edit their personal details.CommunicationThere is one common tab appear as a banner for all sections of website run five(presently) promotional advertisements which keep on changing about new plans, products, offers of the company. These advertisement s are comparatively of short duration (few seconds).The website is not loud to support the Idea of simplicity.CommerceThe website provides current users to pay their bills,recharge their top ups and edit their personal details.