Now the consumer is not restricted to just an Airtel or a Vodafone but he/she has choices.In recent past many new players have entered the market with a bang.

TATA Docomo,Aircel,Virgin,MTS entered the market in recent past (2008-2009) and gave a consumer the ‘choice’.The price wars started.1p/sec,1/2p/sec etc etc were terms used in daily conversations.

Now yet again a new player has entered the market named ‘Uninor’.

The new GSM service provider is the result of a joint venture of real estate major, Unitech and Norway-based Telenor Group.They have started their campaigns in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar, Eastern and Western Uttar Pradesh.

For any new player to get noticed in the current Indian scenario is to market and position their brand well.They have to market it aggressively to get noticed in the telecom jungle.

With number portability just around the corner,brands and service would matter even more.

So what is Uninor doing ?

Are they going for the regular offensive strategy ? Is the price their talking point as Docomo did ?

“We chose to go beyond the immediate functionalities of prices, plans and schemes and offers. There’s something much bigger going on in India. An entire generation is breaking free and reaching out to get what it wants. We hope to be able to serve as a tool in their hands to do this,” explains David Meneghello, executive vice-president, marketing, Uninor.

“Our positioning statement, ‘Ab mera number hai’, is the voice of a young Indian who is restless to succeed; who knows that his or her time has come and it is now. We at Uninor believe that heroes need not necessarily be celebrities and stars. The real heroes are out there — succeeding every day in their own lives, making it on their own and wanting more. And these are the faces you see in our TVCs and on our billboards,” adds Meneghello.(source : Afaqs)

They have started with 15 sec teasers to introduce the brand with the tagline “Ab Mera Number Hai ”

I found 2 full TV commercials for it which set the Positioning straight.

Father and Son

Flatmates

Both ads have similar positioning and similar setup.Both ads are trying to connect to today’s successful ambitious youth.But they have kept getting a job as the base in both ads.But still the ads are fresh,realistic,connects well.

They are not shouting per sec billing,low sms charges etc etc etc,but yes they are important too because they are gonna get you the acquire the customers.

Their plans are different and not at per sec billing.You can check out their website here.They have less plan choices as of now.

Lets wait to see how does this new player backed by strong parentage fight the competition ?

What Say ?

© 2010, TMSBee. All rights reserved.

Vodafone and Shopper Stop have launched the all new ZooZoo merchandise.We were not seeing much of ZooZoos ads from some time but this is a new campaign involving them.

The price of the merchandise has been kept very nominal.E.g.The price of a ZooZoo T-shirt is Rs 299.A discount of 10% is also offered to existing Vodafone customers.

This is an excellent way to connect to the customers and increase brand loyalty.The campaign is also highly innovative and fresh.People were tired of Telecom wars on TV and radio.The character merchandise concept is new in India and should do well.
Vodafone has gone for a flank attack on other players.Instead of frontal attacks on TV and other common media,they have launched this new concept in a new way least expected by others. There are many non -Vodafone customers who love ZooZoos a lot.By giving them an option to get more closer to it,Vodafone also increases the probability of converting non vodafone customers to vodafone customers.
A Non-Vodafone customer who would buy a ZooZoo merchandize might just switch from an Airtel or a TATA to a Vodafone to further enhance his connect with ZooZoo.The switching costs are minimum these days.The only issue is change in number.With number portability around the corner,it just might be the case.

Vodafone has started a new trend in the market.Lets see how well it picks up with the Customer and how the competitors respond to it.

What Say ?

© 2009 – 2010, TMSBee. All rights reserved.

Let us watch the ad.

I have lived in many cities across india and where ever i went this problem was always there.Before every damn EPL match i had to call my cable guy to switch to ESPN or Star Sports.

This was one of the biggest reasons that my parents had switched to a DTH.Whenever i came home during my vacations,i used to struggle with my cable guy explaining him what EPL was.Incidentally we have bought Reliance BIG TV.

My parents always had problem of bad picture and sound quality etc with the current connection,now they dont face those issues.

Why a person would switch to DTH from a normal cable connection ?

In India people have stuck to a single cable guy for many years.There is a system of divided territories in India.Major cable players  divide a city into areas where they keep their monopoly and don’t allow others to step in .So people have no choice but to stick with the same cable connection.People have lots of problems with their cable connections but they can’t switch.Now when DTH entered india,people had an excellent option.

Initially Dish and TATA Sky fought a price and a features war.Their ads were mainly based on pricing or extra channel packs.But more or less they both were equal to or costlier than the cable if all channels were included.

Then TATA moved to TATA Sky Plus and advertised about its recording ability and Dish still is concentrating on SRK and its pricing.

Meanwhile SUN Direct and Airtel entered the DTH market with their ads.SUN again concentrated on its prices and AIRTEL obsessed with its swarm of brand ambassadors and digital MPEG-4 technology(which all others too have).

No one basically presented their DTH as a perfect and a better replacement(subsitute) for their present cable connection.But the current Reliance BIG TV ads are just perfect.The models used in the ad are perfect as per the Targeted Audience and potential buyers can identify with them and with the problems expressed by them.

BIG TV has two more ads on air right now.One which deals with the picture quality and other one deals with the performance on a LCD.All 3 ads deal with some relevant and realistic problems.

SPIDERMAN AD

LCD TV AD

Initially BIG TV came up with ads concentrating on their paid movie service,but current ads can really help them position as a better DTH service.

If i would not have bought DTH by now,seeing the Football ad i would have definitely bought a DTH and preferably Reliance BIG TV.Many of us have faced this issue when one or the other channel WE wanted to watch was not available.It was there yesterday but today just before you wanted to watch it,its gone.

None of the DTH ever told the customers that buy our DTH because its better than your current cable connection.They told customers about their interactive services(ACTIVE),their competitive pricing,their paid movie service,their recording facilities,their VAS but didn’t give ‘the reason’ to the customer which just makes him buy a DTH box over his current cable connection.

Even If we talk about the pricing,incidentally BIG TV is one of the cheapest options available in the market.

The companies should always think that whom are they selling their product and WHY ?
This is a big question which needs to be answered and integrated in all the messages and communications delivered to the customer.

What Say ?

© 2009 – 2010, TMSBee. All rights reserved.

Indian DTH market is really hot these days with many new players entering off late.Currently DISH,TATA SKY,BIG TV,Airtel and DD Direct are the players.The news is that even Videocon is planning to come into DTH market(Change is refreshing ; ) ).

TATA SKY came up with this new product in market TATA Sky plus long time back.TATA Sky plus has a DVR(Digital Video Recorder) built in on which you can record your TV which you can view later.

I really enjoy Aamir Khan’s and Asin’s TV Ads.But then sometimes i think how justified it is to have a DVR in a DTH.We will take various reasons point by point.

1) You can pause LIVE matches and continue from where you left : In commercials many times this point is made that if you are watching a match and you get some urgent work,you can pause the match,finish your work and continue with the match where you left.But if you think seriously,who will want it.We all want the current score then and there.e.g. If Barcelona and Real Madrid are playing a match,Real is leading 1-0 and an important call comes which you take and pause the match.You return half an hour later.

Would you be interested in knowing the current score or you would be happy watching from there even if chances are in reality Barca may have scored 2 goals by then ?

Or as they claim in this commercial sleep early,record the match and watch in the morning.I don’t think it makes sense when you actually know the match is over and you can know the result in a minute?

Even you wanna see what actually happened,there are highlight shows again and again or stil there is YouTube.com

what say ?

2) You can record your Soaps: In Asin’s Ads she says what if two serials are coming on two diff channels and you like both,you either record it on TATA Sky + (if you have one) or miss the other or at best watch each other during commercial breaks.

But i wonder,in reality all these daily soaps are repeated over and over again.The 8 pm 9 pm shows are repeated at 11 12 in the night or the next day afternoon.So people can watch it then obviously.This is how actually i have seen people doing.And anyways after recording also you would be watching at the same time slots.

Who would like to watch a serial through DVR when the chances are same serial is coming on the same channel in the repeat slot live on television.

what say ?

3) You can record movies : With about 10 dedicated channels and same movies repeating over and over again on channels.Who would like to record movies ?

4) You can record your important business programs while your spouse or kids are watching their favourite  channel : This point might be justified till some extent but still,a person interested in such critical programs and news would rely on more relaible source than a home TV(fitted with TS+).

??

5) You can do quick recording : UI of the Sky Plus is on a slower side as compared to that of the regular TATA Sky. This becomes significant when two simultaneous recordings are being made.

I agree there is a lot more to TATA Sky plus.

TATA Sky Plus can mean

1) More Control

2) More Freedom

3) Better Video/Audio Experience

4) Happy family(claimed in TATA Sky Blog)

I agree to these points.

Differentiation and providing USP to your customers is the Mantra.Even customers like a product which is better and different from others.

But what if it comes at a cost, a lot of cost ?

Please compare the prices/costs of normal TATA Sky Connection to a TATA Sky Plus.

TATA SKY Cost : Rs 1599 (DIGICOMP BOX) + Rs 1000(Installation Charges)+Rs 125(subscription monthly fee)(source: http://tatasky.com/cost.html)

TATA SKY PLUS Cost : Rs 8999(DIGICOMP BOX)+Rs 1000(installation charges)+ Rs 50(TATA Sky Plus usage charges)+Rs 125(minimum monthly charges)(source:http://www.tataskyplus.com/cost.html)

A Difference of Rs 7450.

I can buy a new decent  21′ TV in this much cost and solve all my problems of program clashes with my spouse or child.

So is buying a TATA Sky Plus justified to the extent of spending an extra 7.5 k that too for reasons you are not even sure of ?

Guys ! if you have good reasons in support of TATA Sky Plus,Please comment ! (if you dont have still comment ; ) )

What say ?

© 2009 – 2010, TMSBee. All rights reserved.

Major segments are GSM and CDMA which were well contested within boundaries.Airtel,Vodafone and Idea fighting it out in GSM domain whereas Reliance and TATA Indicom in CDMA.

Few days back Reliance entered the GSM market with Hritik Roshan leading the campaigns.So how could have TATA laid back and just played in the CDMA market.

Just today i got a glimpse of what they are coming up with on a TV channel TATA DoCoMo is what they are calling their new baby.

Docomo is not actually a baby.Its a giant in Japanese market.Check it out on Wiki.

So TATA has tied up with them to take on Indian Market.

I went to their site.The site looks good and it seems TATA DoCoMo would be introducing many new things in India.They have both Prepaid and Postpaid( this is not new i am coming to it).

1) one second pulse

2) One Paisa Per Second rate

3) Savings Alert

All other things seem to be in place.

The first impression about Positioning from their website seems to be of an Affordable and Savings oriented GSM service.

TATA is a brand which always keeps on evolving and coming to market with new products and services. This time they have to take on all the big and established players like Airtel,Vodafone,Reliance.

One more thing is that it may cannibalize its own market(TATA Indicom) but thats just a thought.Reliance has successfully maintained success in both GSM and CDMA so even TATA can.

Just before leaving listen to this tone which is gonna be played many times in front of you on TV and other media.

The TATA DoCoMo signature tune : 

UPDATE : TATA DOCOMO is already launched in few states like TN and Kerala in its initial phase.

UPDATE 2 : Comment from TATA DOCOMO Marketing
We have finally launched our unlimited GPRS plan and we will be introducing it in 2 packages. The first package will be the ‘Rs. 15 GPRS Pack’. This is a pre paid pack wherein a customer can recharge with Rs.15, and thereafter the customer will be allowed to access unlimited data for next 3 days by selecting Docomo internet APN on their handsets. The second package will be the ‘Rs. 95 GPRS Pack’. In this pack, the customer can recharge with Rs. 95, and thereafter the customer will be allowed to access unlimited data for the next 30 days. These packages will be applicable to TATADOCOMO home and roaming network only.For further information please visit the Unlimited GPRS URL: http://www.tatadocomo.com/gprs-edge-faqs.aspx

Update 3 Comment from TATA DOCOMO Marketing

This Diwali we want to ‘do the new’ with the animators! Not only are we holding the Animation Contest, we are now giving it a cracking Diwali twist! So all you animator’s out there here’s your chance to earn a nice Diwali Bonus! We are offering a special reward of Rs. 1 Lakh for the best animation celebrating the theme of Diwali, using D, O, C, O, M and O and of course our brand signature tune!
The last date of submission for the unique Diwali Contest is October 7th, 2009. The name of all the entries must start with ‘DIWALI_(title of your clip)’.
The Diwali Twist Competition is over and above the on-going contest and the same terms of DO apply.
This Diwali we want to DO the New, so its time for you to show your DO!

The Diwali twist contest details can be found at ‘create.tatadocomo.com/ what-to-do.aspx’

Warm Regards,

TATA DOCOMO

© 2009 – 2010, TMSBee. All rights reserved.

Check out the ads

Virgin Mobile V2V – Room Service from Campaign India on Vimeo.

Virgin Mobile V2V – Night Club from Campaign India on Vimeo.

These are 4 in total

Pebbo, the protagonist, who is portrayed as cool, witty and inventive, Stonya, suave, sexy and the only girl in the boy gang, Rocky who is large, clumsy and thick in the head and Chip, the group’s geek.These are a young bunch of college going friends and who deliberately create stories and then share them with their friends over a phone call.

But now we  have an overdose of animated characters selling us the mobile service.Virgin mobile has always come up with cool ads which have been popular with the crowd.They still are running paralled ads which are great e.g. that Filmy ad involving A guy,a lady and her daughter.

But they have tried a zoozoo this time.They might have been successful in delivering the product feature effectively(free local calls) but they could have come up with a better ad campaign.

Comments!

© 2009 – 2010, TMSBee. All rights reserved.

I have a friend of mine who has joined Airtel,i was discussing with him one day that how will Airtel respond to Zoozoos.He said there is no need to respond.We have our own marketing base and strategy.

The new ad proves that He was right.Airtel didnt do anything  strange or different.They carried on with their emotional ads and came up with this.

I saw this ad and was touched so much.Hats off to Airtel.
No Zoozoo can match such ad when it comes to India(or even abroad).Emotional branding if done properly can do miracles.
Many thought Airtel would come up with some totally new Ads feauturing may be tootoos or joojoos or somehting wierd to match Zoozoos but Airtel had different plans.

Shreyas Talpade also rocks in the ad and the ad goes with the flavour of the season too.Young MPs in the Parliament.
It also maintains the standards of previous Airtel ads featuring him and other similar ads by Airtel.
Hats off once again to Airtel !
Comments!

© 2009 – 2010, TMSBee. All rights reserved.

A brand ambassodor is a person ,celebrity ,a known person or simply a person who promotes a brand.Normally brand ambassadors are people who are famous and have large fan following.

We all know whats a brand ambassador.Daily we see Dhoni feauturing in n number of ads or shahrukh selling a lot many things.Apna Sachin Aila!!!!

So many of them Fim Stars,Cricketers,players,Rakhi Sawants(also) and many others feature in number of ads.A brand ambassador is chosen to give a product a face,to make people associate the brand with the celebrity.

Its a nice technique.Shahrukh Khan is liked by a lot,Sachin is adulated by millions.Associating your brand with him is great.But these days a new funny thing is happening.

I will explain it with an example.

Take Shahrukh Khan who is brand ambassador of Airtel(he is rt?),He has been appearing in all Airtel ads from long time.He had become the face of Airtel along with Rehmans Tune.Now Airtel launches Airtel TV.The brand is still same and they launch this new Product.

if its Airtel TV is should have quite a lot attributes common with the phone service.by attributes i mean the brand attributes(service quality,sales service , feel and all).So Airtel is the main thing which would lead ppl to buy this DTH.

Now what happens in the ad world,Airtel mobile has Shahrukh Khan as its face telling the world that its the best mobile operator.

In the TV world Airtel as a brand has SRK standing against them with an another brand Dish TV and telling the world

‘e eeee eee Wish kkkkaarro to DISH kkkaro aeae ae hmmmm!’

It means SRK is not at all promoting Airtel as a brand instead is promoting DISH against it.

Matlab mobile lo airtel ka but TV nahin agar tum SRK fan ho!!!

Brand loyalty ki baatein karte hain,Apne brand ambassador emin to loyalty hai nahin.

Same is with Zaheer Khan 

Mobile service IDEA

DTH Airtel

Lets discuss DHONI now or MSD whatever He is promoting all the products you can think of buying.

there is a term known as general subsitute.it means all the products can be subsitutes of each other.All the products fight for your disposable income.Like if you have 50 bucks ,you can either buy Pepsi and lays or Dabur Chyawanprash or Boost and Milk .

The problem is now Dhoni is promoting all.(arey 50 rs mein to AIRCEL ka recharge bhi aa jayega).If you are a diehard Dhoni fan and trust what he says to kya loge.

loge vahi jo apna dil karega to brand ambassador ne karna kya hai !!!

Seedhi baat! No bakwaas!! arey ye to sprite ka tagline hai Sprite se yaad aaya,Seedhi baat karne vaali sprite has done a lot of twists and turns in brand ambassadorship(i dont know whether this word exists or not!).SRK (again) and Ishant Sharma chup chap PEPSI bech rahe the Sprite came along signed KKR(hhahaha Kolkata Knight Riders!!!).SRK (who was dumped by Pepsi) and Ishant Sharma went along happily with SPRITE.SRK who was selling PEPSI from ages suddenly jumped to SPRITE for his team or may be more money.

When Brand ambassadors are themselves not loyal so what loyalty would they induce through ads.

So apni akal lagao,Jo dil kare vo karo! Seedhi Baat No bakwaas!!!!!

here ends my brand ambassador dilemma
Comments Please !!!

© 2009 – 2010, TMSBee. All rights reserved.

in nutshell a Hello Tune is a song ir tune which is played when someone calls you instead of the normal ring(tring tring).The hello tune normaly reflects your personality,your style and blah  blah.

Now the main point,you pay for this service ,its  not free.

Normal tarrifs for this are

Subscription charge Rs 30/month

Download charge Rs 15/month

You might be thinking then what this is normal to whats this blog for?

In the past few months i have seing this trend which is on the rise .

Hello tune Copy karne ke liye * dabayen!!!.When you call a person who has hello tune activated on the system,you will first listen ,”Agar aap agle gaane to copy karna chahte hain to * dabayen nahin to # dabayen nahin to apna sir dabaye!!,Masik Shulk saamanya hain”(If you want to copy the hello tune,press * on your phone and pay us more money).Nice marketing trick but how good is it actually is?

When you call a person,the average time he takes to pick up the call on majority of the occasions is 5-6 seconds 0r 2-3 trings trings.

e.g. if a person has kept his hello tune as Singh is King ,then the chances of his friends to listen the full sentence is very less because you would b e picking up the call even before the ‘copy karne ke liye * dabaye’ line.The friend didnt listen your hello tune so what was the purpose of paying 45 rs for this Singh is King Tune?

I was sitting in my office adjoining the courier office and i observed this he was calling many numbers for his work and he had kept it on loudspeaker,60 -70% calls started with the same irritating line and 60% of people actually picked up the call even before the actual song started.

The question is what is going on?

A customer is paying money(45rs) for the hello tune and he wants that when his friends call him,they should hear his cool hello tune atleast for 5 6 seconds but what many are hearing is Blah blah ke liye * dabaye.So 45 rs going down the drain.

Telecom companies brough about a nice method to attract new customers for hello tunes VAS but i think they will end up irritating their customers and all would be back to their old TRING TRING.

© 2009 – 2010, TMSBee. All rights reserved.