Airtel Image Makeover
Bharti Airtel, usually referred to simply as "airtel", is an Indian telecommunications company that operates in 19 countries across South Asia, Africa and the Channel Islands. It operates a GSM network in all countries, providing 2G or 3G services depending upon the country of operation. Airtel is the fifth largest telecom operator in the world with over 200 million subscribers as of October 2010. It is the largest cellular service provider in India, with over 143 million subscribers as of September 30, 2010. Airtel is the 3rd largest in-country mobile operator by subscriber base, behind China Mobile and China Unicom. It has a 29.00% market share of the GSM mobile service in India.
Airtel also offers fixed line services and broadband services. It offers its telecom services under the Airtel brand and is headed by Sunil Bharti Mittal. Bharti Airtel is the first Indian telecom service provider to achieve this Cisco Gold Certification. To earn Gold Certification, Bharti Airtel had to meet rigorous standards for networking competency, service, support and customer satisfaction set forth by Cisco.The company also provides land-line telephone services and broadband Internet access (DSL) in over 96 cities in India. It also acts as a carrier for national and international long distance communication services. The company has a submarine cable landing station at Chennai, which connects the submarine cable connecting Chennai and Singapore. It is known for being the first mobile phone company in the world to outsource everything except marketing and sales and finance. Its network (base stations, microwave links, etc.) is maintained by Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Network and Huawei., business support by IBMand transmission towers by another company (Bharti Infratel Ltd. in India). Ericsson agreed for the first time, to be paid by the minute for installation and maintenance of their equipment rather than being paid up front. This enabled the company to provide pan-India phone call rates of Rs. 1/minute (U$0.02/minute). Call rates have come down much further. During the last financial year [2009-10], Bharti has roped in a strategic partner Alcatel-Lucent to manage the network infrastructure for the Telemedia Business.
The company is structured into four strategic business units - Mobile, Telemedia, Enterprise and Digital TV. The Telemedia business provides broadband, IPTV and telephone services in 89 Indian cities. The Digital TV business provides Direct-to-Home TV services across India. The Enterprise business provides end-to-end telecom solutions to corporate customers and national and international long distance services to telcos.
In January 2010, company announced that Manoj Kohli, Joint Managing Director and current Chief Executive Officer of Indian and South Asian operations, will become the Chief Executive Officer of the International Business Group from 1 April 2010. He will be overseeing Bharti's overseas business. Current Dy. CEO, Sanjay Kapoor, will replace Manoj Kohli and will be the CEO, effective from 1 April 2010
History
Sunil Bharti Mittal founded the Bharti Group. In 1983, Sunil Mittal was into an agreement with Germany's Siemens to manufacture the company's push-button telephone models for the Indian market. In 1986, Sunil Bharti Mittal incorporated Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL) and his company became the first in India to offer push-button telephones, establishing the basis of Bharti Enterprises. This first-mover advantage allowed Sunil Mittal to expand his manufacturing capacity elsewhere in the telecommunications market. By the early 1990s, Sunil Mittal had also launched the country's first fax machines and its first cordless telephones. In 1992, Sunil Mittal won a bid to build a cellular phone network in Delhi. In 1995, Sunil Mittal incorporated the cellular operations as Bharti Tele-Ventures and launched service in Delhi. In 1996, cellular service was extended to Himachal Pradesh. In 1999, Bharti Enterprises acquired control of JT Holdings, and extended cellular operations to Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. In 2000, Bharti acquired control of Skycell Communications, in Chennai. In 2001, the company acquired control of Spice Cell in Calcutta. Bharti Enterprises went public in 2002, and the company was listed on Mumbai Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange of India. In 2003, the cellular phone operations were rebranded under the single Airtel brand. In 2004, Bharti acquired control of Hexacom and entered Rajasthan. In 2005, Bharti extended its network to Andaman and Nicobar. In 2009, Airtel launched its first international mobile network in Sri Lanka. In 2010, Airtel began operating in Bangladesh and 16 African countries. Today, Airtel is the largest cellular service provider in India and fifth largest in the world. Airtel has nationwide presence and is the market leader with a market share of 30.07% (as of May 2010). It is 6th most valued brand according to an annual survey conducted by Brand Finance and The Economic Times in 2010. On 19 October 2004, Airtel announced the launch of a BlackBerry Wireless Solution in India. The launch is a result of a tie-up between Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited and Research In Motion (RIM). The Apple iPhone 3G was rolled out in India on 22 August 2008 by Airtel & Vodafone. Both the cellular service providers rolled out their AppleiPhone 3GS in the first quarter of 2010. However, high prices and contract bonds discouraged consumers and it was not as successful for both the service providers as much as the iPhone is successful in other markets of the world
Airtel Image Makeover
India's largest cellular phone company Airtel underwent a total makeover - it has a new logo, a remixed signature tune and a re-launched ad campaign. This massive investment has been made to create a new global identity for the Airtel brand. Jasmin Gill and Animesh Das evaluate the rebranding strategy and find out what people are saying about the change.
Bharti Airtel says the makeover is in tune with the paradigm change the industry is about to witness. Airtel has a new identity, complete with a new logo and, for the first time, a symbol. A new television campaign, shot in Prague with models fresh out of acting school, is on air; its international look and feel is unmistakable. The old Airtel logo has more or less been replaced at all shops and billboards in the country, television shows, cricket fields et al.
Some experts have said the red and white colours are the same as the house colours of Vodafone. The film is very generic and the promises are what any service provider would talk about. It is not really a differentiator. Any good symbol should be describable; if you can’t describe it, you have lost half the battle. For example, the Vodafone symbol represents a quote or a speech blurb, and is therefore something that people can recognise. With Airtel you don’t know what the symbol is. Bharti Airtel is convinced it has got it right. The new symbol is an interpretation of the A in Airtel and shows the company’s willingness to embrace anything new.The curve with the red highlights makes it more inviting and warm. It looks like a living object and represents the dynamic force that exists in our lives. The Airtel logo is now in lower case, which is an attempt to show the humility that is required in a service brand. “And the red colour is a part of our heritage not only because it is auspicious in our environment but also because it’s truly vibrant and has played a role in our success thus far. The Airtel signature tune created by AR Rahman some years ago, which has seen 150 million downloads, has been re-crafted by the musician to support the new symbol and logo. Airtel’s new identity goes beyond telecom. So, in the future, if the company wants to get into new services, the brand image will not be a hindrance
The next few quarters will show if Bharti Airtel did the right thing or not. The timing should not be lost on you. Number portability will finally happen soon; lesser brands can prepare to lose customers. Third-generation mobile services too will kick off soon. Companies like Bharti Airtel that have paid a bomb to buy spectrum must ensure there is adequate return. The brand that positions itself right will walk away with the new business. With mobile telephony set to undergo a paradigm change, Bharti Airtel decided to be the first off the block with a new look.
The brand needed to speak to the youth better, value-added services are gaining in size with each passing day, and the company is now global with operations in India, Africa, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Bharti Airtel offers services under the Airtel brand in India and Sri Lanka, Zain in Africa and Warid in Bangladesh. In a few short weeks, all the geographies will move to the new Airtel. Once that is done, the brand will have annualised sales in excess of $13 billion
How they did it
The work on the makeover started some six months back, before the Zain acquisition was announced, though it was on the cards. Earlier in the year, it called a pitch from the world’s top brand specialists. Four made elaborate presentations. Finally, Bharti Airtel selected Brand Union. Actually, the company was no stranger to Brand Union the two had worked together on some projects since 2005. In mid-April, Brand Union for the first time met the five-member Bharti Airtel Brand Council led by Kapoor. The agency was given the makeover brief but with the caveat that the red colour should be retained.
Bharti Airtel had beforehand touched base with its customers who said red was core to its brand identity. It took little time to figure out that it held tremendous appeal in other markets as well. Brand Union, in turn, wanted to know to what extent was Bharti Airtel ready to change on a scale of 1 to 5, 1 represented the subtle changes Google makes and 5 the metamorphosis of British Petroleum into BP. The matter was put up to Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal. Top Bharti Airtel executives enjoy great autonomy except in four or five matters where Mittal’s concurrence is required; the brand is one of them.
The next task was to find a symbol — something that Airtel lacked. Airtel was looking for one that was young, dynamic and warm. It wanted an identity beyond the way Airtel was written. The earlier logo was slightly older. The task wasn’t easy; in its attempt to connect with the youth, it could not afford to alienate others. The logo and the brand had to be inclusive. Brand Union presented close to a hundred symbols to the Bharti Airtel Brand Council. Two were shortlisted and shown to Mittal who selected the one in use. For further validation, a large set of customers was shown the two symbols. Bharti Airtel has now launched an online competition to name the symbol. An internal team will select about half a dozen entries, and then put them up for popular vote on the internet. in a few days after the launch, there were as many as 7,200 entries
Brand promise
The next task for Brand Union was to refine the Airtel brand promise of magic happens when people talk. Two options were given: Dil jo chahe paas aye (what your heart wants comes closer) and dil jo chahae paase laye (what your heart wants is brought closer). Again, the company went to the customers with both the lines; they selected the second one.
Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel switched its creative agency from Rediff to JWT because it wanted one with international expertise. JWT, in fact, and Bharti Airtel had worked together for its DTH service. So, the company knew how the agency worked. Madison was brought in for media and webchutney for digital communication. The brief from Airtel was that ‘connections’ is the heart of what mobility does. Right at the onset, we wanted to break a little from the past so that the viewers see a new Airtel and see the new idea without any celebrity. The company wanted to let everyone know in the shortest possible time and most cost-effective manner that there is change at Airtel, and reach out to most of India in a short span of time.
All this perhaps was the easier part. The Bharti Airtel Brand Council then sat down to identify the touch points that needed to be changed with the new identity — the list was 650-strong from glow signs on shops to drop boxes, billboards, letterheads, identity cards, visiting cards et al.A lot of this work was outsourced. Stationery with the old logo was stopped some time before the launch. Television shows sponsored by Airtel posed a peculiar problem because they are shot a month in advance. So, the old Airtel props were removed well in advance. Each of the 22 circles (the country is divided into 22 telecommunication circles) was asked to appoint one person to coordinate with Beotra’s team at Gurgaon. Cross-functional teams were set up within the company to roll out the change. These people were told that within a fortnight of the launch, the new brand identity should cover every nook and cranny of the country. Sri Lanka, Africa and Bangladesh will come next. Of course, some of the stock in the market — SIM cards, set-top boxes etc — still carries the old Airtel logo; so do locked devices like the Apple iPhone and BlackBerry handsets (the logo of the service operator comes on the screen when the device is switched on). These customers will have to wait till they buy a new handset for the new logo
References
http://tinyurl.com/32zywns
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharti_Airtel
The work on the makeover started some six months back, before the Zain acquisition was announced, though it was on the cards. Earlier in the year, it called a pitch from the world’s top brand specialists. Four made elaborate presentations. Finally, Bharti Airtel selected Brand Union. Actually, the company was no stranger to Brand Union the two had worked together on some projects since 2005. In mid-April, Brand Union for the first time met the five-member Bharti Airtel Brand Council led by Kapoor. The agency was given the makeover brief but with the caveat that the red colour should be retained.
Bharti Airtel had beforehand touched base with its customers who said red was core to its brand identity. It took little time to figure out that it held tremendous appeal in other markets as well. Brand Union, in turn, wanted to know to what extent was Bharti Airtel ready to change on a scale of 1 to 5, 1 represented the subtle changes Google makes and 5 the metamorphosis of British Petroleum into BP. The matter was put up to Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal. Top Bharti Airtel executives enjoy great autonomy except in four or five matters where Mittal’s concurrence is required; the brand is one of them.
The next task was to find a symbol — something that Airtel lacked. Airtel was looking for one that was young, dynamic and warm. It wanted an identity beyond the way Airtel was written. The earlier logo was slightly older. The task wasn’t easy; in its attempt to connect with the youth, it could not afford to alienate others. The logo and the brand had to be inclusive. Brand Union presented close to a hundred symbols to the Bharti Airtel Brand Council. Two were shortlisted and shown to Mittal who selected the one in use. For further validation, a large set of customers was shown the two symbols. Bharti Airtel has now launched an online competition to name the symbol. An internal team will select about half a dozen entries, and then put them up for popular vote on the internet. in a few days after the launch, there were as many as 7,200 entries
Brand promise
The next task for Brand Union was to refine the Airtel brand promise of magic happens when people talk. Two options were given: Dil jo chahe paas aye (what your heart wants comes closer) and dil jo chahae paase laye (what your heart wants is brought closer). Again, the company went to the customers with both the lines; they selected the second one.
Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel switched its creative agency from Rediff to JWT because it wanted one with international expertise. JWT, in fact, and Bharti Airtel had worked together for its DTH service. So, the company knew how the agency worked. Madison was brought in for media and webchutney for digital communication. The brief from Airtel was that ‘connections’ is the heart of what mobility does. Right at the onset, we wanted to break a little from the past so that the viewers see a new Airtel and see the new idea without any celebrity. The company wanted to let everyone know in the shortest possible time and most cost-effective manner that there is change at Airtel, and reach out to most of India in a short span of time.
All this perhaps was the easier part. The Bharti Airtel Brand Council then sat down to identify the touch points that needed to be changed with the new identity — the list was 650-strong from glow signs on shops to drop boxes, billboards, letterheads, identity cards, visiting cards et al.A lot of this work was outsourced. Stationery with the old logo was stopped some time before the launch. Television shows sponsored by Airtel posed a peculiar problem because they are shot a month in advance. So, the old Airtel props were removed well in advance. Each of the 22 circles (the country is divided into 22 telecommunication circles) was asked to appoint one person to coordinate with Beotra’s team at Gurgaon. Cross-functional teams were set up within the company to roll out the change. These people were told that within a fortnight of the launch, the new brand identity should cover every nook and cranny of the country. Sri Lanka, Africa and Bangladesh will come next. Of course, some of the stock in the market — SIM cards, set-top boxes etc — still carries the old Airtel logo; so do locked devices like the Apple iPhone and BlackBerry handsets (the logo of the service operator comes on the screen when the device is switched on). These customers will have to wait till they buy a new handset for the new logo
References
http://tinyurl.com/32zywns
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharti_Airtel
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