Airtel branding –a case study

According to bharti:
 Airtel was born free, a force unleashed into
the market with a relentless and unwavering
determination to succeed. A spirit charged
with energy, creativity and a team driven “to
seize the day” with an ambition to become
the most globally admired telecom service.
Initial branding
 In the initial days due to high tariff rates cellular players had to
impose high call charges on their customers and the handsets were
costly.
 Naturally, they targeted the elite, up market professionals and
entrepreneurs as customers . Airtel was positioned as an
aspirational and lifestyle brand .
 It was pitched not merely as a mobile service, but as something
that gave consumer a badge value. The Brand was developed to
connote leadership in network, innovations, offerings and services.
 The taglines like "Airtel celebrates the spirit of leadership" and "The
first choice of the corporate leaders" emphasized that stance.
 The ‘Leadership’ campaign was reportedly successful and resulted
in a marginal improvement in Airtel performance.
Leadership to Touch Tomorrow
Conti..
 In early 2000 it was observed through market surveys
that the concept of leadership was undergoing a
transformation resulting in it being a moderate success.
 Hence Bharti decided to ‘humanize’ the brand ‘Airtel’ to
gain competitive advantage.
 In august 2000 Bharti launched its new ‘Touch
Tomorrow’ campaign which aimed at strengthening its
relationship with its customers and make the brand
‘softer’ to cater a wide variety of people across the
society.
 The Company adopted a three-tier brand architecture to
expanded its ‘Touch Point’ network.
 The focus now was on the endless
possibilities of technology to make life good
and advertising became two-pronged: a
product-driven communication that
showcased new offerings like the Magic
prepaid card, and an emotional
communication that showed younger people
 Touch tomorrow
to
LIVE EVERY MOMEMT
Airtel logo
Meaning behind the logo

Airtel logo is a strong,contempory, a confident

symbol of a brand that is always ahead of the rest ,
always ‘In-touch’ and on customer’s side.

 It incorporates two solid, red rectangular forms

whose counter-form creates an open doorway.
 The title case lettering with its capital ‘A’ reinforces
our leadership position.
 The red dot cues in our focus on innovation.
 In 2002, Airtel signed on music composer A R
Rahman and changed its tune to "Live every
moment": Rahman's signature tune for Airtel
is, perhaps, the most downloaded ringtone in
India. But that was just part of the ongoing
communication.

Live every moment

Live Every Moment
to
Express Yourself
The following year Airtel adopted the
"Express yourself" positioning, which is also
its current tagline.
 Now, the emotional angle was predominant -

and stark, black and white imagery to stand

out in what was becoming a highly
commoditised, crowded market

Express Yourself
 Youth icons like Shahrukh khan and Sachin
were brought in as brand ambassadors to
attract youngsters
 Taglines of brands
Power to keep in touch (1995)
Elite and premium brand

Touch tomorrow (1999)

With NTP99 ,prices could be dropped ,started looking from regional to pan india position

Live every moment (2002)

To catch some emotions and feelings,brand of the masses

Express yourself (2003-2009)

To strengthen the emotional connect of customers,wanted a fresh and contemporary idea that built a brand
their customers could identify with
To justify taglines tv ad campaigns were launched
Umbrella branding
Co-branding
New ad campaign with an eye
on the rural market has been
launched