brand audit final

Contents

History of the brand..............................................................................................................................2

Ownership.............................................................................................................................................3

Key Awards and Recognition.................................................................................................................3

Product-Related Attributes....................................................................................................................4

Product Portfolio...................................................................................................................................5

Prepaid Plans in India........................................................................................................................5

Postpaid Plans in India.......................................................................................................................5

Value Added Services........................................................................................................................5

Business Offerings.............................................................................................................................6

Brand Communication...........................................................................................................................7

Walk when you talk – Stay fit............................................................................................................8

IDEA - Brand Values...............................................................................................................................8

Point of parity and Point of difference..................................................................................................8

Analysis of the questionnaire................................................................................................................9

Competition.........................................................................................................................................11

Recommendations...............................................................................................................................12

References...........................................................................................................................................12

FORE School of Management

Why Branding is important in this time?

The brands in the telecom industry have already recognized the importance of investing in

brand building and are trying to corner as much mental associations possible because many

aspects of the services are getting commoditized. The features like connectivity, tariff plans

and coverage are almost standardized.

Mainly there are two reasons to invest in brand building as mentioned below:

Firstly, telecom services over a period of time will become commoditized in terms of tariff

plans and other features

Secondly, once consumers are free to choose without switching costs, brand will play a big

role in customer acquisition and retention

Idea brand is on a roll. Aditya Birla Group should be applauded for the investment it is

making on the brand. Telecom services over a period of time will become commoditized in

terms of tariff plans and other features.

History of the brand

Idea is an interesting brand in the mobile service provider market in India. The brand is

interesting because of its troubled history and the current marketing practices

In 2002, the birth of the “Idea “brand took place. By looking at the history, its obvious that

nothing may have happened to the brand. I would say that the market also did not demand

heavy investment on branding during those times.

Much of the connections happened based on tariff and offers. Idea was more focused on

expanding the network and improving the infrastructure during those years.

According to the Idea website, the brand has taken Innovate, Stimulate & liberate as the core

brand values. But its doubtful whether these brand values are communicated to the

consumers.

Idea is now having a market share of around 15- 17% share in the entire mobile

communications market


Idea as a brand was never in the limelight. A major factor was that the investment on the

brand was erratic. Most of the ads were highlighting the new tariff plans. During that time,

companies were frantically rolling out new tariff plans trying to bring in customers through

attractive offers.

Idea displayed its brand value - innovation through various offers and schemes. Idea My

Gang was an example of such an innovation. The Closed User Group specifically targeting

young customers was the first of its kind.

Idea brand got a major boost in 2007 when the brand roped in Abhishek Bachchan as the

brand ambassador. Reports suggest that Abhishek and Idea had a 3 year contract which cost

the company around Rs 30 Crore.

The entry of Abhishek gave the brand a lot of eyeballs. The brand had chosen a tagline " An

Idea Can Change Your Life " and the entire brand communication was around this theme of '

an idea changing the life '.

Before Abhishek coming in the campaigns, the brand had done a series of campaign

highlighting the positioning around the theme.

Ownership

IDEA Cellular is a publicly listed company, on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the

National Stock Exchange (NSE) in March 2007. The stake of promoters are as follows

Aditya Birla Group (49.05%)

Axiata Group Berhad (15%)

Providence Equity (10.6%)

A US$ 29 billion corporation, the Aditya Birla Group is in the League of Fortune 500. It is

anchored by an extraordinary force of 130,600 employees, belonging to 40 different

nationalities. In the year 2009, the Group was ranked among the top six great places for

leaders in the Asia-Pacific region, in a study conducted by Hewitt Associates, RBL Group

and Fortune magazine. In India, the Group has been adjudged the best employer in India and

among the top 20 in Asia by the Hewitt-Economic Times and Wall Street Journal Study

2007.


Idea has delivered superior value to its customers, shareholders, employees and society at

large which is consistent with the mission of its founder group.

Key Awards and Recognition

Some key awards and recognitions received by your Company are:

Company has been ranked 6th in Investor Relations and ranked 7th in Corporate

Governance amongst Indian Companies by Finance Asia magazine’s annual poll of

investors and analysts.

Brand !dea has been ranked the 4th Buzziest Brand by Agencyfaqs.

Idea won the award for the ‘Best Ad Campaign’ at tele.net Telecom Operator

Awards, 2010.

The campaign “What an Idea Sirjee” continue to win accolades with the campaign

recently winning Silver at EFFIES 2009 for “Democracy” Campaign, while the

‘Walk when you Talk’ Campaign was adjudged the 2nd best campaign of the year by

Brand Wagon (FE) and ‘All about Ads’ on NDTV Profit.

Product-Related Attributes

The product related issues that the company wants to highlight and differentiate it self from

the other players in the market are

Network Issues

Customer Service

Billing Issues

It is clear that Idea has done some research on the burning problems that consumer's face

with regard to mobile services. Network coverage, customer service and billing issues feature

prominent among the key reasons for customer churn and complaints.

The common practice of saying ‘No idea!’ to things beyond one’s control is cleverly used in

the context of reminding people of the reasons to consider a switch.


The Company deployed a best-in-class Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system, based on a

highly efficient technology architecture deployed by IBM in partnership with CISCO. This

IVR is the world’s largest Cisco CVP deployment in telecom, and the largest deployment in

APAC (Asia Pacific American Coalition). The Company currently manages close to 5

million customer interactions per day using this IVR.

The Company conceptualized and launched “Insta Alert”, an innovative tool to convey

latest offers and service related communication to customers who latch on to the network

after a period of inactivity. This application was nominated for the global GSM Awards at

Barcelona

Idea launched a standardized self care portal “CARE” which gives information to the

customer on products / tariffs an information of their account such as billed amount, last

recharge, last calls, unbilled amount, etc.

Idea was the first operator to launch “Pre Tones”. Pre Tones is an innovative VAS service

which allows the user to listen to the caller tones of his / her own choice while making an

outgoing call instead of listening to the respondent’s caller tone.

Idea launched 3G Compatible Net Setter Data Cards to cater to the needs of its data -savvy

customer segments.

As one of Idea’s new VAS activities, Idea launched “Buddy Recharge” – a unique peer-to-

peer talk time transfer product.

Product Portfolio

Idea Cellular understands the mobile communication needs of the people, and the unique

geography of the region, based on which it has designed a network that covers large

population areas, and a product portfolio suiting the needs and affordability of the local

populace.


The whole product portfolio can be divided into four categories

Prepaid Plans in India

Idea offers number of prepaid plans across the country. Its plan vary from one telecom sector

to other.

Postpaid Plans in India

IDEA post-paid cards are an effective way of keeping in touch, no matter where you are.

With Idea, SIMPLICITY and AFFORDABILITY walk hand in hand. Our customer centric

tariffs allow you all the room in the world to choose the perfect plan, one which optimizes

your usage and keeps your pocket heavy too. So, when you talk, you don't forget to smile.

Value Added Services

Just when you thought you had the cake, we made it possible for you to eat it too.

Introducing THE IDEA Value Added Services, a vibrant bouquet of "little conveniences"

"small pleasures" "bits of happiness" "dollops of infotainment" and all those "itsy bitsy"

wants of yours that together make up THE BIG SMILING PICTURE.

SMS based services to Voice based ones, the Idea range cuts across all modes of

communication to ensure the BEST VALUE for your money.

So be it downloading the latest ring tones or sharing the freshest of blonde jokes, be it

checking the status of your cousin's train arrival time or arranging a pick up for your boss's

delayed flight, Idea hands you the power to do it all.

You could also book a surprise movie ticket or deliver those dainty dandelions for your date

or access the latest cricket scores or some serious stock information; or maybe even play

downloadable games or chill out with some zany chats with buddies on-line.

Idea's Value Added Services are as innovative and exciting as your desires. Idea’s value

added service vary across different telecom circles. Some of the value added services are

mentioned below:

SMS Conferencing “Reply all”

Idea Multiplayer gaming

Different GPRS settings for different handsets


M-chat

Cricket alerts

Flash SMS

Voice SMS

Idea fresh

Idea Radio

Dialertone search

Background music

Business Offerings

Welcome to the enhanced experience specially created for Idea corporate customers. Now

corporate customers can put in its requests, contact its relationship manager in Idea at the

click of a mouse.

Some of the business applications provided by Idea are as follows

Idea Remote meter Reading

Remote meter reading is an area focused on the automatic reading of meters - the non-manual

collection, storage and utilization of data from meters for monitoring and increasing the

efficiency of processes. Applications lie mainly in the area of Utility services and include

power, water and gas.

Today most of Power distribution companies are looking at ways to collect data & control

(on/off) systems remotely. They need data transfer from one point to another:

1. From Consumer meters to their server for billing

2. From the Distribution Transformers to check leakages

3. Street light control data

4. Grid to grid data transfer & many more

Vehicle Tracking System


VTS enables businesses to keep track of their fleets of vehicles through a VTS unit installed

in a vehicle. VTS unit has a GPS device (to take the location coordinates), GSM modem

(which is programmed to initiate an outgoing SMS / GPRS session) and a GSM SIM card.

The GPS receiver captures position data from the satellites, computes the position of the

vehicle and sends this information to a central base station, using SMS / GPRS. This

information is collected by web-server at the base station & location information is plotted

using GIS maps.

Customized Solution

SMS/GPRS based solutions for business specific needs

Give your field force true mobile office experience via IDEA Field Applications (IFA). IFA

ensure better time management & control as the data will be captured & presented in real-

time to the managers enabling real time reporting & better field force management.

By following backward integration your partners/suppliers & vendors can also be linked to

this system thus enabling real-time data flow & completing the entire supply chain.

Data can be synchronized with enterprise backend system at agreed configurable frequencies.


Brand Communication

STORY

Abhishek Bachchan, who earlier was also seen in the Idea Cellular's ad, will once again be

seen here, enacting as the only tree left in a forest that has been cut down to feed paper mills.

He arrives upon the idea of how mobile phone could be used instead of paper, thus, opposing

the need to indiscriminately cut trees and consequently save the environment.

TARGET

The new campaign revolves around the theme, 'use mobile, save paper' In the ad, they try to

provide a telephony solution for problems which appear to be complex in nature, but at the

end isn't complex. It also suggests interesting use of mobile, including getting celebrities

autographs, music scrolls and gradation certificates.

It's a young and innovative idea about mobile phones being the 21st century solution to

eliminate huge wastage of paper,that in turn helps keep our planet green.

This time it takes on the “burning topic” of deforestation this time in hope to motivate

people in India.

This is the sixth in the 'What an Idea Sirji' campaign. The theme focuses on an ideawhich

impacts people at large.


Walk when you talk – Stay fit

STORY

In it, Bachchan plays a doctor who advocates how people can stay fit by simply walking

while talking and seeds this idea in the public domain. It all begins when a journalist asks him

if technology has made people lazy. The doctor has a brainwave that all people need to do is

walk while they talk. The message spreads like wild fire. The doctor begins to lose

business.This commercial ends with the punchline which has been used in earlier commercial

– “What an Idea Sirji” thereby trying to build on the legacy created and take it forward in

this commercial.

TARGET

This Idea commercial tries to contradict the myth that technology has made man lazy.It tries

to convey that when people walk while talking, it helps them maintain their health and hence

prevents them from going to a doctor for health-related problems. This is the positive angle of

looking at the benefits that technology can provide. The Idea commercial “Walk when you

Talk” is innovative and good in communicating a social message to the audience of India.

IDEA - Brand Values

Elevate the brand above transactional stories of network, reach and tariffs and instead

demonstrate and claim the real power of mobile phone technology.

Innovate. Stimulate. Liberate....

It is these brand values, which have made Idea a formidable player in the telecom industry.

Innovations that stimulate the customer and liberate him from the shackles of time and space

are the core of Idea as a brand. This is what they strive for.


Point of parity and Point of difference

POINTS OF PARITY

• Country wide presence

• GSM Service

• Third largest telecom service provider head of BSNL

• Reliable

• GPRS provider in urban India

POINT OF DIFFERENCE

• Customer Care

• Billing solutions

• Innovative Services

Analysis of the questionnaire

TOTAL NO. OF RESPONDANTS = 120

PREPAID = 98

POST PAID = 22

IDEA USERS = 29

PREPAID = 23

POST PAID = 6

1. What is the first name that comes to your mind when talking about mobile

service provider?


34%

33%

27%

7%

Sales

airtel vodafone idea Other

2. Idea is described by which of the following traits?

3243

32

6479

3. If Idea was a celebrity who it would have been?


36

157

17

26

9 6

4. Which color would you associate with Idea?

78%

7%

5% 10%

yellow red orange blue

5. How important it is to retain your number?


PRE PAID POST PAID

71

1727

5

Chart Title

YES NO

Competition

What other brands are doing ?

Airtel and Vodafone have a tie up with Apple for i-Phone

Docmo has full eyes on the 3-G

Brand engagement is being done by Idea

Oongli Cricket brought cricket at the fingertips for Indians, and was open to users of mobile

phones across all telecom networks. As per the initiative, during IPL matches, viewers were

asked a question based on the happenings of the ongoing match of a particular day. These

questions ranged from how many times will bowlers make an 'appeal' for a wicket during that

match, to how many times will the batsmen change their bats during the match, or how many

times shall cheerleaders 'dance' during the match. Viewers were required to 'exercise their

fingers' (hence the term 'Oongli Cricket') to SMS the correct answer after the question is

asked (while the match was still on).

A day later, after an audit is done, the correct answer was ascertained and delivered to

participants via SMS. All Idea customers who send in the correct answer will get Idea VAS

(value added services) packs such as cricket alerts, job alerts, news alerts etc, for three days,

free of cost. 'Idea Oongli Cricket' was played by all mobile phone users by texting their


answer to '9594939291', a number that is toll-free for Idea subscribers (while standard

messaging rates apply for other mobile subscribers). The aim here was not so much revenue

earned by way of getting in the answers (as can be ascertained with the toll-free number

concept), but to give 'gratification' to mobile users who are also fans of cricket, and create

brand engagement in the process.

Recommendations

The 3G footprint of the Company in the 11 service areas accounts for as much as 81% of its

national revenue, of these 11, the Company is number 1 in 4 service areas , and number 2 in

another 3 service areas

Future belongs to VAS

Idea needs to introduce new innovative value added services because in future tariff plans,

network and other facilities will be undifferentiated. Value added services can be a

differentiator as well as revenue generator in long term.

MNP is both a challenge and an opportunity.

Challenge because they cannot take a consumer ( subscriber) for granted

It is in the light of these developments that Idea decided to take on MNP through their latest

campaign - No Idea,Get Idea.

References


brand audit final

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