Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Brand Audit Nepal Telecom
Brand Audit Nepal Telecom
Submitted to,
Asst. Prof. Rupesh Krishna Shrestha
Submitted by,
Amit Pathak
Navin Koirala
Acknowledgement
We would like to express our gratitude to Mr. Surya Bhakta Pokhrel, Deputy Managing Director
and Company Secretary, of Nepal Telecom. We would also like to express our sincere thanks to
Mr. Bhuwan Thakurathi, Prakash Bhatta, Chadani Shahi, Nirab Rimal for excepting our request
to interview them.
Finally, we would also like to thank Asst. Prof. Rupesh Krishna Shrestha for this wonderful
opportunity to making such a structured Brand Audit Report which will always remain our asset
for rest of our life.
Thank you,
Amit Pathak
Navin Koirala
Executive Summary
Nepal Telcom, as a brand is highly recognizable in Nepalese Market. Nepal Telecom is the
oldest service provider in the country and know it is also known as Nepal Doorsanchar Compay.
Nepal Telecom covers highest distribution in Nepal as it has offices and customer service in all
75 districts. It was a time when Nepal Telecom used to have a monopoly market till 2003. After
NCELL enter into into the market, and as sooner NCELL created a brand in lesser time, it was
easy for NCELL to grab the market share from Nepal Telecom. Within this brand audit, a
complete inventory and exploratory of Nepal Telecom has been conducted and also included are
expectations of future potential for growth, budget reality, and recommendations. The brand
inventory provides a current and comprehensive profile of how all the products sold by Nepal
Telecom are marketed and branded.
assessment of the health of the brand and its sources of brand equity from the companys
perspective. The brand exploratory recognizes what Nepal Telecoms consumers think and feel
about the brand and how to use this information to better understand the sources of brand equity
as well as any possible barriers
As a company that currently operates in over 75 districts , Segementation is essential to Nepal
Telecoms growth and success. Nepal Telecom is lacking have a better understanding of its
consumers. Moreover, Pepsi has not worked to create a strong, unique, and reputable brand
image as NCELL did. Because Nepal Telecom is a challenger brand in the Telecommunication
industry, the company must make more diligent efforts to ensure consumers experiences with
the product at least meet, if not actually surpass their expectations
Given the analysis of the brand audit, Nepal Telecom will likely continue to experience
continued success and growth; however, the brand will continue to be a challenger brand to
NCELL. Recommendations to achieve and maintain success include expanding the brands
portfolio and consumer knowledge of new products, utilization of non-celebrity endorsers to
promote the products, creation of a memorable jingle, and increased participation in close-knit
community events.
Contents
1. Company Profile ......................................................................................................................... 6
1.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 6
1.2 History of Nepal Telecom ..................................................................................................... 6
1.3 Ownership of Nepal Telecom ............................................................................................... 7
1.4 Service Provided ................................................................................................................... 7
1.5 Mission .................................................................................................................................. 8
1.6 Vision .................................................................................................................................... 9
1.7 Goal ....................................................................................................................................... 9
2. Assessment of Current Brand status ........................................................................................... 9
2.1 Customer Based Brand Equity Pyramid: .............................................................................. 9
2.1.1 Brand Salience .............................................................................................................. 10
2.1.2 Brand Performance ....................................................................................................... 10
2.1.3 Brand Imagery .............................................................................................................. 11
2.1.4 Brand Judgment ............................................................................................................ 12
2.1.5 Brand Feelings: ............................................................................................................. 12
2.1.6 Brand Resonance: ......................................................................................................... 13
2.2 Brand Hierarchy .................................................................................................................. 13
2.3 Aakers Brand Personality Scale to Audit brand .................................................................. 14
2.3.1 Findings: ....................................................................................................................... 15
2.3.2 Analysis ........................................................................................................................ 15
2.4 Brand Positioning ................................................................................................................ 15
2.5 Brand Mantra....................................................................................................................... 16
3. Analysis of various branding Element ...................................................................................... 17
3.1 Brand Elements ................................................................................................................... 17
3.1.1 Brand Name .................................................................................................................. 17
3.1.2 URLs ............................................................................................................................. 18
3.1.3 Logo and Symbol.......................................................................................................... 18
3.1.4 Slogans.......................................................................................................................... 19
3.1.5 Package/Design ............................................................................................................ 20
3.2 Brand Association ............................................................................................................... 21
4
1. Company Profile
1.1 Introduction
Nepal Telecom also known as Nepal Doorsanchar Company Ltd. is the oldest
telecommunication service provider in the country. With over 90% being government ownership,
it has its office in 184 locations and in all 75 districts. Nepal Telecom had its monopoly in
telecommunication industry until 2003 when United Telecom Limited ( UTL) came into play.
Nepal Telecom is the only landline service provider in Nepal. Similarly, it was the only GSM
service provider until 2005 when Ncell the then Mero Mobile entered the market. With more
than 7000 employees it is one of the largest corporations in the country. According to recent
data, there are about 10 million users of Nepal Telecom including all those of fixed landline,
GSM mobile, CDMA and internet service.
After
Ncell
entered
the
market
following
purchased
by
Teliasonera-
European
The Communication Corporation Act was brought in 2028 and after this act the present Nepal
Telecom was converted into fully owned Government Corporation called Nepal Telecom
Corporation in 2032 B.S.
remolded into Nepal Doorsanchar Company Limited, a company registered under company Act
2053. from Baishakh 1, 2061 B.S. After serving the nation for 29 years with great pride and a
sense of accomplishment, Nepal Telecommunication Corporation was transformed into Nepal
Doorsanchar Company Limited from Baisakh 1, 2061. Nepal Doorsanchar Company Limited is a
company registered under the companies Act 2053. However the company is known to the
general public by the brand name Nepal Telecom as registered trademark.
Ownership Percentage
Government
91.05
Employees
4.5
Public
3.97
0.48
PSTN Service
Mobile
Local calls
Postpaid
Prepaid
International Telegram
SMS
Domestic Telex
3G Service
International Telex
VAS Services
Leased Lines
Network)
Pay Phone
HCD Service
CDMA
Fixed Postpaid.
PSTN Dial-up
Fixed Prepaid.
SKY phone.
Data Services.
Telephone Inquiry
ISDN dialup
Web SMS
E-mail Alert
1.5 Mission
"Nepal Telecom as a progressive, customer spirited and consumer responsive Entity is
committed to provide nation-wide reliable telecommunication service to serve as an impetus to
the social, political and economic development of the Country"
1.6 Vision
"Vision of Nepal Telecom is to remain a dominant player in telecommunication sector in the
Country while also extending reliable and cost effective services to all"
1.7 Goal
"Goal of Nepal Telecom is to provide cost effective telecommunication services to every nook
and corner of country"
Brand performance describes how well the product or service meets customers' more functional
needs. How well does the brand rate on objective assessment of quality? Brand performance
transcends the product's ingredients and feature to include dimensions that differentiate the
brand. Five important types of attributes and benefits often underlie brand performance, as
follows:
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5. Price
Price is the point where Nepal Telecom has comparatively better scores. 59% of the
individual responded for price of Nepal Telecom to be low. However, still 27% of the
responded that the price of Nepal Telecom is very high and only 14% believes the price
to be neutral.
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Brand Quality: 53% of respondents believes Nepal Telecom brand to be of low quality.
Brand Credibility: 63% of the respondents believe the brand Nepal Telecom to be high
reliability.
Brand Superiority: In interview with five respondents, the brand Nepal Telecom is not
superior to Ncell.
Excitement: 56% of the people are neutral about excitement. This means people have
neutral feeling about the brand arousing excitement like " being alive", " being cool"
among others.
Security: 67% of the respondents have higher feelings for security. This means people
feel secured with the brand Nepal Telecom. It can also be because of fact that
communication gives a sense of security to all.
Social Approval: 59% of the respondents have neutral feeling about brand Nepal
Telecom. People are indifferent about social approval with Nepal Telecom.
Self Respect: There is no clear majority on self respect dimension of Nepal Telecom
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13
14
2.3.1 Findings:
2.3.2 Analysis
Nepal Telecom scores high in Sincerity and Competence dimension of Aekers five personality
dimension. This means that people value Nepal Telecom high on Domestic, honest, genuine.
Similarly, they also value Nepal Telecom high on reliability, efficient, dependable.
However, the low score is on sophistication which means that people have low value for Nepal
Telecom in Glamorous, charismatic, romantic.
15
Nepal Telecom does not have a clear positioning statement. But through interview and various
published source we found that they have positioned the brand Nepal Telecom as Quality
Service at affordable price. This positioning statement can be broken down in two elements:
Quality Service
Affordable Price
Furthermore, Quality Service can be further analyzed by dividing into Quality Network, Quality
office service. Affordable price dimension of brand positioning resonates with the brand
however Quality Service dimension of brand positioning does not resonates as it has poor
Network Quality and poor office service.
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Nepal Telecom as such does not have a Brand Mantra. Marketing Department is growing just
now and they have not worked on brand Mantra till now. If we were to construct its brand
mantra than it would be Enjoy Nationwide connection at low price".
Nepal Telecom
Emotional Modifier
Descriptive Modifier
Brand Function
Enjoy
Connection
The main brand function is the connection from various sources. And the descriptive modifier
explains the connection to be nationwide and at low price. Hence, Descriptive modifier is
describing the brand function. And at the end "Enjoy" as Emotional modifier. This emotional
modifier explains that people can enjoy their network and people can only enjoy the network if it
is good. Hence, the word Enjoy has good quality network meaning embedded in it.
Similarly, in the above Brand Mantra various competitive advantages like low price and
nationwide connection has been included.
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3.1.2 URLs
URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) specify location of pages on the web and are also commonly
referred to as domain names. The URLs of Nepal Telecom is www.ntc.net.np. The URLs name
and the brand name does not match. The URL is ntc.net.np which conveys the name Nepal
Telecommunication Corporation which does not match with the brand name. Hence, it is
absolutely necessary to change the URLs matching the brand name.
The second point is the word "net" which does not have any meaning to the general customer.
Similarly, the website is very lengthy and is difficult to remember as well because of the
difference between brand name and the URL and also because of the fact that the URLs is
lengthy consisting of ntc.net.
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The Logo of Nepal Telecom has two hemispherical figure with one hemisphere having a
tail.
And the tip of Namaste has two arch and one oval full stop in decreasing order of size.
prestige, and value aspect of Nepal Telecom as Nepal Telecom position itself as a quality
communication network with sophisticated technology with a prestige of smartest choice at
cheapest price for the service.
3.1.4 Slogans
Slogans are short phrases that communicate descriptive or persuasive information about the
brand. They often appear in advertisement but can play an important role on packaging and on
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other aspects of marketing program. Slogans are powerful branding devices because, like brand
names, they are an extremely efficient, shorthand means to build brand equity.
Nepal Telecom has not changed its Slogan over time. Nepal Telecom's slogans are as follows:
Nation's ownership
People's firm
Quality Network
3.1.5 Package/Design
Packaging is the activities of designing and producing containers or wrappers for a product. One
of the strongest associations consumers have with a brand is inspired by the look of its
packaging. Hence, a marketer must choose the aesthetic and functional component of packaging
correctly to achieve marketing objectives and meet consumers' need.
In telecommunication sector especially sim cards, the packaging has been same throughout the
industry except color combination and design. The Sim card is packaged in envelop with
companies corporate color and logo in the cover inside of which few manuals and sim card
holder looking more like an ATM card. The inside cover of the envelop is pure white which out
any text or design. The packaging of Nepal Telecom Sim card assists in following functions:
When one buys the Sim card of Nepal Telecom, it is not only buying the Sim but also the
facilities that comes in package like customer service, periodic information, Sim change among
others.
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The color blue can be described as exciting, youthful, and bold while the color blue is associated
with dependability, trust, and strength. Another color is one of trust, honesty and loyalty. It is
sincere, reserved and quiet, and doesn't like to make a fuss or draw attention.
The color gold is the color of success, achievement and triumph. Associated with abundance and
prosperity, luxury and quality, prestige and sophistication, value and elegance, the psychology of
this color implies affluence, material wealth and extravagance.
Likeability:
Nepal Telecom packing is very ordinary as other telecom companys packing. the packaging has
been same throughout the industry except color combination and design. The Sim card is
packaged in envelop with companies corporate color and logo in the cover.
Transferability:
Because Nepal Telecom is a Nepalese brand, its brand elements must be able to transfer through
the culture. Nepal Telecoms iconic symbol and logo as well its slogan are easily transferable
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within various product categories. All three elements work together synonymously to
successfully introduce the Nepal Telecom brand into new markets segments.
Adaptability
Over the years, the Nepal Telecom logo has adapted its image as well as its logo to aid in product
and service. To remain contemporary and relevant to consumers, Nepal Telecom has maintained
as evident in its same logo forms.
Protectability
Nepal Telecom brand is legally and highly protected from any unauthorized use. Its logo,
symbol, and brand name cannot be infringed by another company cannot utilize and copy either
the logo or the symbol. According to Nepal Telecoms website, all content on its site including
design, graphics, logos, icons, images, audio clips, and downloads is the exclusive property of
and owned by Nepal Telecom, its licensors or its content providers and is protected by copyright,
trademark and other applicable laws
Advertisements
Nepal Telecom wants the following brand association with the brand:
Quality Service
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Cheapest Price
Quality Network
Modern Technology
National Telecom
The respondentss were asked to," To remember what comes in their mind when they remember
Nepal Telecom? Their response was recorded and the following mental map was created:
Disturbed
Network
Corruption
Namaste
logo
Old Telecom
firm
Affordable
Price
Nepal
Telecom
Caring
old
fashioned
Poor service
Government
institution
wide range
of services
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Product is something goods and service offered to the customer. Product decision includes
variety, features, brand name, quality, design, packaging and so on. Nepal telecom provides
customer with the different product or services which are mentioned below:
Cable for TV program with channel from all over the world.
Caller id, voice mail, CRBT, mobile internet service, national and international
roaming in mobile (GSM) network
Nepal telecom has its own GSM network with brand name 'NAMESTE'. More over by the help
of telephone lines internet and TV program can be used with special package. Recently Nepal
has launched third generation (3G) mobile service in capital city which can prove that Nepal
being poor country has the challenging telecommunication company.
3.3.2 Price:
The price must be right so that consumer will need to buy in large numbers to produce a healthy
profit.
cheaper price than other competitors like NCELL. NT provides a NAMESTE mobile simcard for
NRS 200(incl VAT) which includes NRS 100 talk Time with validity of 6 month. Customers can
make a call for 0.75 paisa per minutes in same network in case of pre-paid mobile. In case of
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post-paid mobile NT offers NRS 380 credit limit. SMS within Nepal is Re.1 for the same
network. Thus NT provides the cheapest call in both mobile and land line than it competitor.
However NT can provide cheaper price to the customer to gain the market share and it will not
influence too much on their profit. Not only in mobile, they provided the cheapest broad band
internet than other like UTL and NCELL. The rate for calls differs as per the time (off hour and
peak hour). The charge for landline is NRS 1 for per 2 minutes call. There are lots of other
charges as per the services.
3.3.3 Place:
The place mix for Nepal telecom has largely influenced to the customer. The main place to get
the services is at the different branch of NT. NT has provided Customer Service office at vaiour
place of the cities. Customer has to submit the form with required document in advance for the
services. NT has branches all over the nation with each and every facility. Now to reach the
customer easily they have started to provide the sim card to the business dealer in each and every
market area. And the customer can top up their mobile balance easily from the shop, registered
agent, local PCO. However due to the poor infrastructure NT is not able to provide the internet
service and good mobile service in the hilly and mountain area. They need some more advance
technology and cost effective service to reach in that area. Some time they organize trade fare for
the selling of the services like sim card and internet. In same way the competitor SPNL uses its
dealer to sell their sim card, they also offer other company to sell their product offering the
package deal on it.
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3.3.4 Promotion:
Nepal telecom is using wide variety of promotion tool to reach to the custom in each and every
possible way. The mission on Nepal Telecom is to reach every corner of nation. For that they are
investing a huge amount on promotion. The promotion tools of NT are:
Advertising is the most effective means of promotion for NT. They use TV and radio with good
commercial advertisement. Broachers, magazines, newspaper are other best media of promotion.
They even use display board in the main location and other sales agent to reach the customer
easily. Beside these, NT is also been indulging into Green Environment process where they have
been planting trees in divider of the roads and watering those plants once or twice a week. In
return NT place its hoarding between the dividers. They sponsor most of the national and
international sports and cultural program. Thus sponsorship also has become a good means of
promotion for Nepal Telecom. They are also organizing trade fair and exhibition centre for the
new customer and existing customer to introduce their product to them.
NT gives the special offerings during the festive like 'Dashain and Tihar' where they offer
discount on the purchase of the services and also offer other package with reduced rat e than
before. They uses sales promotion tool to encourage the customer to purchase the product of
Nepal Telecom
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Point of Difference
Telecommunication Industry
ADSL service
CDMA service
Government Ownership
Largest Network
4. Recommendation
Nepal Telecom had a monopoly market till 2003. After 2003, several Telecommunication
company enter into the market like UTL, NCELL. NCELL did all the marketing campaign and
tired to fill the gaps which NTC wasnt able to do so like GPRS, 3G, MMS. And NCELL broke
the monopoly market and now the outlook of the market is that NCELL has grabbed the
maximum market share than NTC. Another quandary with Nepal Telecom was the brand
dilution. Nepal Telecom (NT) previously known as Nepal Telecommunication Corporation
(NTC) was only a state owned telecommunication company until 2003 that had a monopoly
market all over Nepal. For the development and to meet the demand of the changing world, the
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former king transformed the company to the public limited company on 2004. Now it is named
as Nepal Doorsanchar Company Limited.
A better improvement in marketing segmentation is needed. Recently the market segmentation is
mostly focused on city and town area. This segmentation should be enlarged to other part of the
country so that the customer can easily meet the service. Internet facility is very poor in most of
the places. Thus to get more market share I will come up with good strategy for market
segmentation so that every single customer can get the service in most easy way. Few part of
Nepal is still lacking each and every service of Nepal Telecom due to the infrastructure and lack
of good technology and budget. Thus that area should be given more priority in coming future. I
would also introduce satellite telephone in the hilly and mountain area.
Based on our band audit, we also recommend the following:
There is a major confusion on the brand name of Nepal Telecom as Nepal Telecom has
been changing name time and again. Hence, we recommend them to use Nepal Telecom
intensively rather than using Nepal Doorshanchar Company limited.
The URLs of Nepal Telecom does not matches the name Nepal Telecom. This is to say,
Nepal Telecom's URLs is ntc.net.np which does not match the brand name Nepal
Telecom.
Nepal Telecom's Slogan like " Nation Building is our Goal" sounds like the slogan of
Government rather than a corporate office. Hence, we recommend Nepal Telecom to
have slogan of an enterprise rather than government slogan.
Nepal Telecom should have its brand mantra which is the heart and soul of an
organization. We recommend Nepal Telecom to have brand name like Enjoy Nationwide
connection at low price which include brand strength and brand positioning.
Through our research we found that Nepal Telecom does not have clear market
segmentation, targeting and positioning. Hence, we recommend Nepal Telecom to have
distinct STP so that other higher brand strategy can be worked out in days ahead.
Nepal Telecom wants it customer to have brand association to be quality service, modern
technology but on contrary customers associate brand Nepal Telecom with poor service
quality, old fashion, and corruption. Hence, Nepal Telecom should improve this
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association by improving service quality and communicating persistently about the brand
association Nepal Telecom wants to have in customers mind.
Even though Nepal Telecom has brand loyalty due to price and very old technology but
its low performance, Judgement, and feeling should be increased as competition is
growing.
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5. Bibliography
Keller, P. J. (2013). Strategic Brand Management. New Delhi: Dorling Kindersley ( India) Pvt. Ltd.
Telecom, N. (2014). 10th Annual Souviner. Kathmandu: Nepal Telecom.
Telecom, N. (2015). 11th Annual Souviner. Kathmandu: Nepal Telecom.
Telecom, N. (n.d.). Nepal Telecom. Retrieved June 22, 2015, from Nepal Telecom: http://www.ntc.net.np/
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6. Annex 1
Questionnaire
1. Please write the name of well Known Telecommunication Company in Nepal?
__________________
2. Which is the top telecommunication company in Nepal?
__________________
3. Do you know whose logo is this?
Yes
No
If yes, name _______
4. Are you aware of the brand Nepal Telecom?
Yes
No
6. If you were to buy another GSM Sim card, which brand would you prefer?
Nepal Telecom
Ncell
31
1= Very low
2= Low
3= Neutral
4= High
5= very High
Neutral
Low price
Very
Reliability
Durability
Service
Effectiveness
Price
Very
Price
Price
Style
Design
Quality
Warmth
Fun
Excitement
Security
Social
Approval
Self Respect
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Low