Despite facing a tough business environment, Indian telecom operators maintained an aggressive marketing approach to drive their services amongst existing as well as potential users.

The year 2013 saw a large number of innovative brand campaigns across media platforms by leading telecom operators. TV and the out-of-home (OOH) advertising emerged as the most preferred media for such campaigns last year. Besides traditional media platforms such as TV and OOH advertising, service providers increased their presence in the digital space by launching viral campaigns and through social media platforms such as Facebook. Some operators also used Twitter and blogging to tap the youth segment.

To reach out to the masses, leading operators like Vodafone India and Bharti Airtel made large investments in TV advertising. Despite the emergence of new media platforms such as digital and mobile, TV continues to account for the lion’s share in operators’ advertising budgets. TV accounts for over 70 per cent of the advertising and marketing budgets of service providers. The majority of TV campaigns in 2013 had the common theme of highlighting the advantages offered by a particular network and promoting the use of voice and data services. For example, Vodafone India’s campaign, Network for Never Ending Conversations, sought to attract new customers by telling them that while using the operator’s network, they can always stay in touch with their loved ones. The year also witnessed Vodafone India launch the second phase of the 121 Made for You campaign. The first phase of the campaign showcased the tailor, barber and gym commercials highlighting how users could avail of customised offers by just dialling 121. The second phase of the campaign emphasised on informing customers about the various offers related to the specific requirements of heavy talktime, internet and STD on dialling 121.

The country’s largest operator, Bharti Airtel also focused on promoting a specific service – increasing data service usage. The operator launched the “Re 1 Entertainment Store” offering internet access at a flat rate of Re 1. To promote the service, the operator launched four TV commercials highlighting the fact that going forward data would be the next big thing for the Indian telecom market and Bharti Airtel had the right offerings to tap the increasing number of data users. The new campaign was clearly a move away from Bharti Airtel’s previous campaigns such as Har Ek Friend Zaroori Hota Hai and Jo Mera Hai Woh Tera Hai.

Another traditional medium, which continued to be one of the most widely used channels for advertising by operators across the country, was the OOH platform. Given the wide reach and relatively low cost of OOH advertising as compared to TV and print, this medium was used by a large number of operators to launch their signature campaigns to support their TV campaigns in 2013. Idea Cellular, in particular, utilised OOH advertising on a large scale.  The operator used the Kumbh Mela, which is one of the world’s largest religious gatherings, to roll out its advertising campaign, Shahi Nav Mein Sangam Snan Ka Idea. Idea Cellular used a multimedia approach to optimise the visibility and effectiveness of the campaign. The operator used a number of outdoor formats for branding. These included billboards, specially constructed arches, gantries, branding at surrounding railway stations, barricade branding, Kumbh map branding, helpline signages, balloon branding, bus branding and boat branding. The strategic branding exercise ensured wide reach, effective coverage, impactful visuals and top-of-the-mind recall for the operator.

Like Idea Cellular, Uninor focused on outdoor advertising. It launched a campaign in Uttar Pradesh (West) to reaffirm its position as the “sabse sasta” brand. The campaign promoted the operator’s new recharge coupon, which offered users talktime worth Rs 30 on a recharge of Rs 24 with a four-day validity. The campaign covered more than 100 touch points across cities such as Agra, Moradabad, Bareilly, Meerut and Dehradun. Uninor installed innovative hoardings and undertook a branding exercise on bus queue shelters. The hoardings featured a man sporting a moustache claiming to shave it off if a subscriber came across an operator providing lower tariffs than those being offered by Uninor.

In addition to using TV and OOH media, operators used sporting events such as the Indian Premier League (IPL) to launch new products and services. Players such as Vodafone India, Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and TATA DOCOMO reportedly spent anywhere between one-tenth to a quarter of their annual advertising budget on the IPL. During the IPL, Vodafone India, which was the co-sponsor of the tournament, launched a high-decibel campaign to drive the adoption of mobile internet and target new subscribers. The campaign brought back the ZooZoos which have been a huge hit since their introduction in the second edition of IPL. The TV commercials were aimed at driving internet trials on two recharge packs, priced at Rs 25 for 2G and Rs 49 for 3G. TATA DOCOMO also used IPL to launch a campaign highlighting the use of its network by various businesses to provide services. The campaign featured businesses such as online shopping, news channels, pizza chains, job portals, hospitals and banks and highlighted the important role played by the operator in delivering these services. The campaign used the tagline, “So are you on the network that’s everywhere?” to attract new users.

Besides the IPL, operators supported other ground events. For example, in 2013, Bharti Airtel supported the Delhi Half Marathon. Through the sixth edition of the event organised by the Bharti Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Bharti group of companies, the operator reached out to thousands of users in Delhi. Bharti Airtel undertook an extensive branding exercise with hoardings and posters in Delhi. To create a buzz around the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon 2013, the operator tied up with Donovan Bailey, a former 100 metre Olympic and world champion and a 100 metre world record holder as the “event ambassador”. Moreover, the operator also invited former Indian track and field sprinter, Milkha Singh, as the special guest for the event. Similarly, Idea Cellular tied up with the Mirchi Music Awards. The partnership was aimed at leveraging the radio station’s music awards in languages such as Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Bengali to reach a wide audience.

In 2013, operators further strengthened their presence in the digital space. Recognising the business opportunities offered by the increasing uptake of data services by the youth, most service providers used digital media and social networking platforms to attract these users. Operators are using social media as a means to closely interact with subscribers, receive feedback, gauge larger industry trends and launch marketing programmes. Operators such as Bharti Airtel and Aircel have significantly increased their presence on various social media platforms. For example, as of June 2013, Aircel had more than 4.3 million fans on Facebook and about 21,000 followers on Twitter. The operator also has a YouTube channel, through which users could access content like Aircel advertising films and videos which have not been featured on TV. In 2013, Aircel started engaging with bloggers through its bloggers’ meet, #AircelBlogUp, in Delhi and Chennai. Over the next few months, Aircel plans to extend the bloggers edition to other cities.

Trends in 2014

With voice services reaching saturation point, operators are increasingly looking at data services as the next big growth driver. They are expected to target the youth segment with campaigns focusing on the promotion of data-led products. As the mobile handset serves as the first access point for the internet for most first-time users, service providers are expected to use media-rich advertising formats to promote customised and relevant products. However, given the wide reach of TV and OOH advertising, players will use digital media to complement their presence on traditional media platforms.