A Comparative Strategy between two competitive brands.

INTRODUCTION
Bharti Airtel Limited, commonly known as Airtel.
It is an Indian telecommunications Services Company headquartered at New
Delhi, India.
It operates in 20 countries across South Asia, Africa and the Channel Islands.
Airtel has GSM network in all countries, providing 2G, 3G and 4G services
depending upon the country of operation.
Airtel is the worlds third largest mobile telecommunications company with
over 275 million subscribers across 20 countries as of August 2013.
It is the largest cellular service provider in India, with 192.22 million subscribers
as of August 2013.
Airtel is the third largest in-country mobile operator by subscriber base, behind
China Mobile and China Unicom.
Airtel is the largest provider of mobile telephonic and second largest provider
of fixed telephonic in India, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription
television services.
It offers its telecom services under the Airtel brand and is headed by Sunil
Bharti Mittal.

INTRODUCTION

Vodafone Group Plc is a British multinational telecommunications company

headquartered in London and with its registered office in Newbury, Berkshire.
It is the worlds second-largest mobile telecommunications company measured
by both subscribers and 2011 revenues (in each case behind China Mobile).
Had 439 million subscribers as of December 2011.
Vodafone owns and operates networks in over 30 countries and has partner
networks in over 40 additional countries.
Its Vodafone Global Enterprise division provides telecommunications and IT
services to corporate clients in over 65 countries.
Vodafone also owns 45% of Verizon Wireless, the largest mobile
telecommunications company in the United States measured by subscribers.
The name Vodafone comes from voice data fone, chosen by the company to
reflect the provision of voice and data services over mobile phones.
Vittorio Colao CEO OF VODAFONE GROUP Plc
HISTORY
AIRTEL
Sunil Bharti Mittal founded the Bharti
Group. In 1983

In 1986, Mittal incorporated

BhartiTelecom Limited (BTL)

And his company became the first in

India to offer push-button telephones,
establishing the basis ofBharti
Enterprises
Today, Airtel is the largest cellular
service provider in India and the third
largest in the world

VODAFONE
The evolution of Vodafone
brandstarted in 1982 with the
establishment of Racal Strategic Radio
Ltd subsidiary of Racal Electronics plc
- UKs largest maker of military radio
technology
IN 1982 Racal Strategic RadioLtd
formed a joint venture with Millicom
called Racal Vodafone, which would
later evolve into the present day
Vodafone.

It is the world's 2nd-largest mobile

telecommunications company measured by
both subscribers and 2013 revenues

MISSION, VISION AND OBJECTIVE STATEMENTS OF AIRTEL AND

VODAFONE.

Particulars
Mission

Airtel
A spirit charged with
energy, creativity and a
team driven "to
seize the day" with an
ambition to become the
most
admired telecom service
provider globally"

Vision

By 2015 Airtel will be the

most loved brand,
enriching the lives of the
millions.
To undertake
transformational projects
that have a positive
impact on the society
and contribute to the
nation building process.
To Diversify into new
businesses in
agriculture, financial
services and retail
business with worldclass partners.
To lay the foundation
forbuilding a
conglomerate of
future.

Objectives

Vodafone
The Vodafone mission
is to be the
communications leader
in an increasingly
connected world. By
enriching Customers
lives Helping
individuals Businesses
&communities And
delivering total
communication needs

Focus the customer and

lead the product.
Staying as a leading
brand.

COMPARASION BASED ON MARKETING MIX STRATEGY

Particulars
Product

Place

Price

Airtel
Prepaid, Post-paid,
Value-added services,
Solutions for business
enterprises,
International facilities
through calling cards
and prepaid world SIMs
etc.
Flow of information in
channel members
Availability of
promotional items to the
channel Price
Flexible pricing

Vodafone
This means giving
customers the features
and benefits they want.
Vodafone gives buyers
features such as games,
pictures, ring tones,
information services,
bills and even video
Vodafone operates over
300 stores and also sells
through other outlets. It
has expert staff in the
stores to help buyers
Vodafone offers a

mechanism
Customer based
pricing Promotion

Promotion

Large scale print &

video.
SRK & Sachin are
roped in to endorse the
product.
In 2002- Airtel got is
Signature tune from A.R.
Rehman.
Provides innovations
such as Bollywood movie
premiers & music
service.

number of price plans to

suit all of its target
groups. It also gives
NECTAR reward points
for every 1 spent
Above the line this is
advertising in a number
of different ways such as
TV and posters.
Below the line this
includes less obvious
advertising such as instore displays and the
way stores are branded.
Vodafone work with
icon like Devid Beckham
to communicate its
brand value.

MARKET STRATEGY
1) Airtel
Product Innovation
Heavy Advertising
Effective Sales Promotion
Customer care
2) Vodafone
Vodafone also has an effective marketing strategy called Rebranding. In their
acquisition of one telecom company in India, Hutchison Essar.
Changing the name from Hutchison Essar to Vodafone Essar is the key to their
success.
One of their most successful ads includes their talented and wacky characters
Zoozoo
24 hour customer support and online services make their offers a complete
package.
STRENGTH WEAKNESS OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS OF AIRTEL AND
VODAFONE

Particulars
Strengths

Weakness

Airtel
A group of strong
Network transportation
Strong presence in
rising marker like India
Strong ability to
manage change &
acquisition
Untapped Rural market.
Although Airtel have
strong Presence
throughout the country
but still they are far
away from the Indian
rural part

Opportunities

Good Tax free offers and

plans
Needs to investigate &
improvement of the new
mobile technologies

Threats

Increasing Competition
Difficult to raise funds
because of recession

Vodafone
Have more than 238,000
base station sites
transmitting wireless
signals
Making one of the
largest mobile operators
in the world
Vodafone slow in
responding to the trend
towards bundling
The American business
is not as strong as the
European/having a break
off the world operations
of 80% of their business
is producing in Europe.
Vodafone launched its
own software application
store-The Joint
Innovation Lab in May
2009
Most of the venture in
Hutchison Essar in India
Very high competitive &
strong market to face
Still at the back of
most of the competitors
in the US