AIRTEL MAGIC – SELLING A PRE-PAID CELLPHONE SERVICE

ALL SET TO CREATE MAGIC Contd..

New celebrity endorsers who projected a fresh and youthful image were chosen. The idea was to reflect Magic's brand values of energy, hope, optimism and achievement. Explaining the rationale behind focus on celebrity endorsements, P H Rao, MD, Bharti Mobinet Ltd., said, “Magic is a youth brand, and all these celebrities depict exuberance and confidence to succeed, which are in synergy with the core values of the product.” These campaigns were extensively covered by both the print and television media.

Besides the new tagline of ‘Magic Hai To Mumkin Hai,'Bharti devised many ad-specific taglines to take the brand closer to masses. Some of them were ‘Kabhi bhi Kahin bhi'(Anytime, anywhere) ‘Jahan Chaho, Airtel Magic Pao'(Wherever you want, you will find Magic), Airtel Magic gives you the max out of life, ‘Kharch aapki mutthi mein'(Costs are under your control) and ‘Life banao ab aur bhi aasaan'(Make life easier with Magic).

To promote the brand and retain its customers, Bharti conducted many contests for its subscribers through SMS. For instance, the ‘Khulja Sim Sim'contest launched in April 2002, offered a treasure hunt kind of an interactive game through SMS, wherein many attractive prizes were given to the winners. Many other such contests were held, either as part of a new scheme's promotional efforts or to coincide with some local Indian festival.

In 2002, Bharti entered into many new telecom circles as the fourth player. Due to the strong brand equity of both Airtel and Magic it picked up instant momentum. Magic was reportedly very popular with customers (especially the youth) who appreciated the (ease of operation, affordability and ready availability) the brand offered.

THE INDUSTRY STRIKES BACK

Bharti's aggressive marketing, advertising and promotional efforts led other players to focus on their marketing efforts as well (Refer Exhibit IV for competition details). Companies resorted to price reductions, new service additions, value additions and focused advertising and promotional campaigns. For instance, in Mumbai, BPL Mobile and Hutchison Max Telecom made incoming calls (from across the country) free to counter Bharti's waiver of airtime charges for incoming calls in Mumbai.

Apart from this, BPL and Hutchison also announced the launch of new advertising campaigns in Mumbai. Hutchison and BPL also launched their 32K SIM cards in order to match Bharti's 32K⁷ SIM offer (previously, the players offered only 8-Kilobyte memory SIM cards). BPL and Hutch also waived airtime charges for incoming calls and reduced their roaming service charges. Both Hutch and BPL announced a flat rate of Rs 1.49 (60 seconds) as roaming charges, as against the previous Rs 3 (60 seconds) on all partner networks.

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