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Transcript of mPulse_Dec10
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2 | mPulse Dec10
Wear Reader,
The Indian telecommunications industry
is one of the fastest growing in the
world. Telecom industry in India has a
big market potentiality and is a fast
growing sector. This issue of mPulse
brings out articles on one of the most
promising fields of business in India.
Marketing and General Manage-
ment Forum (MGM) of T. A. Pai Man-
agement Institute takes pride in an-
nouncing the theme for this edition of
mPulse Telecom Industry.
In the cover story, you would read
about the price wars in the Indian Tele-
com Industry, about the various playersin the industry, some of which were es-
tablished, like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone
and BSNL, and some new players which
took the industry by storm, like TATA
Docomo.
3G and 4G standards are creating
waves in the industry.. Continuing with
the theme of this edition, we would getan insight into different aspects related
to 3G and 4G, their features and bene-
fits.
Promotions form the major mar-
keting component in the Telecom In-
dustry. The next article speaks about the
promotion strategies adopted by some
of the big players like Bharti Airtel, Vo-dafone, BSNL and TATA Docomo,
whether it is innovative advertisements
like the Zoozoo ads of Vodafone or re-
cruiting new Brand Ambassadors.
Moving ahead, the next article talks
about the intense competition in the
Tablet PC arena, which was previously
dominated by the I-Pad, but now newentrants like Samsung Galaxy-tab have
changed the dynamics of the game.
Moving ahead, we would get a dif-
ferent point of view towards recession
wherein we would be able to compre-
hend how recession is a good opportu-
nity for companies to nurture their
brands. Apart from this, the role of a
brand ambassador as a potential me-
dium to communicate with the consum-
ers is discussed with quintessential illus-
trations.
Among other articles like Ready to
Eat foodsand Social Marketing, later in this
issue, some unconventional topics like
Mobile Gaming and their increasing de-
mand in the market have been covered.Team MGM would like to take this
opportunity to thank all the authors of
this issue for the quality of their contri-
bution.
Happy Reading!!!
- Team MGM
Contact us:[email protected]
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mPulse Dec10 | 3
Cover Story
Price Wars - Telecom Industry 4
3G and 4G Wireless Play 8
Telecom Promotions 10
Insight
Tablet PC
Mobile Gaming 16
Social Marketing 17
Ready To Eat Treats 19
View/Counter View
50% Discount is better than Buy 1 Get 1 Free. 20
The World of Marketing 23
About Team MGM 25
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or as Tata Docomos slogan says
Make companies Do the new
Most of the mobile service providers
are good only in a few circles of the
20 odd circles present in the country
The tariff war launched by TataDocomo has made all the service pro-
viders scurrying for cover to innovate or
perish so much so that everyone has
launched pay per second plans.
Videocon took all these factors
into account and knew that it had to be
different to be adopted by the market.
And so it did. Videocon recently
launched a pay per second tariff plan
for calls to US and Canada making them
at par with local calls. In another
scheme, customers can call Singapore
and Malaysia at Rs 1.69/min.
4 | mPulse Dec10
Price Wars - Telecom IndustryThis Article is submitted by Preetha D. of PGP 1.
This article talks about the intense competition among the majorplayers in the Telecom Industry, which led to Price wars among them
Price war is a term used in the
economic sector to indicate a state of
intense competitive rivalry along with a
multi-lateral series of price reduction.
One competitor will lower its price, then
others will lower their prices to match it.
If one of them reduces their priceagain, a new round of reductions begins.
In the short term, price wars are good
for consumers, as they can take advan-
tage of lower prices.
In the medium to long term, they
may be good for the dominant firms
present in the industry. Normally, the
smaller, more marginal, firms cannot
compete and must shutdown. The re-
maining firms absorb the market share
of those that have closed. In the long
term, the consumer may also lose. With
fewer firms in the industry, prices tend
to rise, sometimes higher than what they
were before the price war started.
The mobile telephony market in
the country is one of the most competi-
tive in the world. There are a number of
challenges
635 million mobile subscrib-
ers across various demographics
have a difference in requirements in
terms of tariffs, packages etc.
More than 15 odd mobile operators
has made surviving in this country
somewhat like survival of the fittest
Cover Story
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There a number of positives and nega-
tives of this move.
First the positives -
This initiative makes Videocon move
into a completely different territoryas compared to its competitors
The number of ISD calls from India
has increased a lot over the past cou-
ple of years and this would probably
boost Videocons bottom line
This also shows that doing some-
thing new consistently, is very impor-
tant and the fact that the telecom in-dustry still has scope for quite a bit
of innovation
The negatives of this strategy
There is no entry barrier to this strat-
egy as other companies would now
follow the same move like in the case
of Tata Docomo. In this case the
first mover advantage would surelygo for a toss
Telecom companies today, are sadly
just looking for innovation on the
lines of pricing and not any other
domain
This move just makes one wonder
whether these telecom companies
would go further into the RED!
The biggest advantage which Vid-
eocon has is its deep pockets. And that
may outweigh the negatives for them.
But only time will tell whether they per-
form or perish.
The one second billing thing is
changing the face of Indian Telecom! Itmakes one wonder if Tata DOCOMO
has opened a Pandoras Box of sorts
taking the Indian Telecom Industry into
frenzy. Even with a little exaggeration,
per second billing, is as revolutionary as
the invention of the telephone itself. No
wonder the world is inquisitive about
how the companies are able to do soand make hefty profits at the same time.
AT&T is actually studying the business
model of Bharti Airtel to understand
the magic formulae of customer
friendly prices.
A few months back, the whole
BHARTI-MTN episode was doing the
headlines. Bharti had been so desperatet o m a k e i t b i g a s a
global telecommunication giant of that
desperation according was the Indian
companies getting over-competitive in
India.
But, with DOCOMO starting with
per second billing and the subsequent
announcement by TRAI to make itmandatory for all operators to introduce
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Per Second Billing, it sounded the
alarm bells all around the telecom sector
and Bharti Airtel was no exception.
After the announcement many op-
erators sat down and put their efforts tocome to terms with the per second bill-
ing scheme. It is estimated that the
telecom industry can lose billions in
revenue.
So, it was no surprise when Singa-
pore telecom (SINGLTEL) announced
that it would be increasing its effective
stake in Indias mobile phone operator
Bharti Airtel from 30.43 % to 31.95 %.
SingTel which is a sponsor for
Bharti Airtel would purchase an addi-
tional 730,000 shares at an estimated
payment of between 18,073 million to
30,084 million INR.
It is clearly evident that Bharti
Airtel is feeling the heat after joining the
per second billing price wars. The stead-
ily increasing competition in the Indian
telecom sector is definitely not giving a
helping hand to matters.
On Friday, Bharti Airtel gave a down-
beat outlook due to a price war after
posting its slowest pace of profit growthin at least six years, sending its shares
down nearly 7 percent.
With per second billing slated to de-
crease the operating margins, the profits
are surely going to be hit, unless the
ARPUs see a dramatic increase.It has been an eventful quarter for
Bharti Airtel starting with the MTN deal
and the SINGTEL announcement
hence forth.
The Buyer has turned Seller
The problems are not for Airtel
alone though, until and unless the tele-
com operators find innovative ways to
increase the user spending and do it fast
enough, the telecom sector might face
some serious problems. One area whicheach of them have to look at seriously
making ground is Mobile Value Added
Services. The basic telephony is just not
enough for these companies to sustain.
What do you think of the per sec-
ond pricing predicament? The cus-
tomer is surely going to be happy but
how are the telecom companies going tocope with it?
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A look at the telecom stocks on the In-
dian bourses: Date: July 9, 2010
Bharti Airtel up 10%,
Idea Cellular up 12%,
MTNL up 4%,Tata Communications up 4% and
Reliance Communications up 3%.
The refreshing upsurge comes on
the back of re-rating of the telecom
stocks by the financial services firm
Credit Suisse citing improved environ-
ment. The report says:
Competitive environment is improv-ing with headline tariffs stable over
the past eight months. High 3G pay-
outs have crimped ability of chal-
lengers to go for another price war.
In this backdrop, we raise our mobile
margins estimates by 200-300 bps
over FY11-12.We believe that Bharti
(target price Rs.360) and Idea (target price Rs.75) could give us a 27-30%
upside from current levels and hence
upgrade them to OUTPERFORM."
The sector has been under a con-
stant buzz after the re-entry of Reliance
Industries into the Telecom sector
post acquisition of Infotel Broadband
Services which owns pan-India li-censes of broadband airwaves. Reliance
Industries has indicated that it would
use the unproven long-term evolution
technology for wireless broadband ser-
vices rather than the WiMax standard.
Telecom analysts are of the opin-
ion that the sector is up for positive sur-
prises once the premium 3G services arelaunched. Most of the bigger players
have placed big bets on the elite 3G ser-
vices at a time when the earnings from
the call services are accruing wafer-thin
margins.
Right now, the valuations in the
telecom sector are cheapest in the near-est recorded history as it has priced in
almost all the negative impact, including
the flash distortion that is likely to
emerge by a sudden entry of Reliance
Industries in the telecom industry. In
fact, many retail investors have already
started buying into telecom stocks based
on the sum-of-the-parts valuations of
the telecom towers owned by the tele-
com companies. More recently, even
LIC had bought a 5% stake in Bharti
Airtel a hint that the sector prospects
can only improve from here and that the
sector cis game for consolidation very
soon.
- Preetha D.
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3G
Mobile technology has been evolv-
ing very rapidly in the past decade. The
transformation from 2G to 3G and be-
yond is taking at a breakneck pace. 3G is
the third-generation of technology stan-
dards for mobile phones and telecom-munication services. 3G differs from 2G
as it allows simultaneous use of speech
and data services, provides peak data
rates of at least 200 kbit/s and appar-
ently has more security.
It has not only made phenomenal
increase in rates of data transfer but has
also provided us with some spectacular
features like Mobile internet access and
broadband wireless data in wireless envi-
ronment. Video calls, video conferenc-
ing, audio on demand, wireless voice
telephone have also been made possible
by 3G. Features such as a provider redi-
recting a TV channel directly to the mo-
bile (called Mobile TV) or receiving a
movie on demand make 3G unique.Other location based features like send-
ing informa-
tion about the
motels, find-
ing book
stores in the
locality, check-
ing weather ortraffic condi-
tions report on the mobile or finding
friends and business locally has now
been made possible by 3G
3G in India
In 2008, 3G enabled mobile and
data services were launched in India by
BSNL. It was followed later by MTNLin Delhi and Mumbai. The country wide
auction took place in April 2010. Tata
Docomo was the first private player in
India to launch 3G services in Novem-
ber 2010. Airtel has also launched these
services. The other players are expected
to launch these services by 2011 in In-
dia.
What does 4G bring to us?
4G is the fourth generation of cel-
lular wireless standards. It is a successor
to 3G and 2G mobile and telecommuni-
cation standards. 4G refers to an all IP
packet switched network unlike its
predecessors which were partly circuit
switched and partly packet switched. It
provides ultra-broadband Internet ac-cess (100+ Mbps), new services like
HDTV and replacement of voice calls
by IP telephony.
Mobile networks using 4G shall
allow seamless mobility which would
imply that a file transfer shall not be in-
3G and 4G Wireless PlayThis article is submitted by Chhavi Gupta of PGP 1.
The article talks about the 3G and 4G technology and how they willchange our lives.
8 | mPulse Dec10
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terrupted in case the mobile moves
from one base station to another due to
handover. The terminal shall also keep
the same IP address while moving.
This privilege is provided by mo-
bile IP protocol which is a part of IP
version 6. In addition to this 4G pro-
vides Interoperability of diverse set
of existing wireless networks such as
cellular wirelss, WLAN, PAN, satellites
and fixed wireless networks. Hence 4G
provides us with Anytime, Anywhere
with Any tecnology character.
4G network providers
In U.S. we have the major players
of 4G as T-Mobile, Sprint and
MetroPCS followed byVerizon Wireless
which is actually the fourth U.S. carrier
to call its network 4G. These carriers use
very different. T-Mobile's network is
HSPA+, Sprint has a WiMAX network
and MetroPCS's and Verizon uses LTE. T-Mobile USA, Nokia Siemens Net-
works Drive Evolution of HSPA.
Operators would be able to achievepeak data rates of more than 650 mega-
bits per second (Mbps), thanks to an
HSPA standard being driven by T-
Mobile USA and Nokia Siemens Net-
works. Long Term HSPA Evolution
would improve mobile broadband with
speeds matching those promised by
LTE Advanced. T-Mobile USA andNokia Siemens Networks are driving the
technologys standardization aiming to
make it available for commercial deploy-
ment by 2013.
Sprints 4G network service
Will Sprint the world provider for
4G bring a great change in the work
profile for hundreds of people around
the world. Sprints 3G packages claim
that 4G is 7 times faster than its prede-
cessors. Users who have been concerned
about privacy usually keep to themselves
in public Wi-Fi hotspots . Also this is
why they revert to cellphone based
browsing services. It enables them to
use a cellular network for connectivity.
People either use a 3G modem or 3G
compatible notebook/mobile to work
their way around the office hours. With
4G technology to lean on to, people
wonder if it is worth the hassle of buy-
ing. The packages might be fast but they
also come with a cost. On top of that,
one would need a 4G modem to sup-port the bandwidth. 4G would also need
support for new internet protocols.
Verizon Wireless 4G LTE
Verizon's new 4G LTE network is
the fast and makes the carrier one of the
fastest in wireless networks. For road
warriors using Windows-based laptops,
this network is a boon to wireless Inter-net connectivity. It provides speedy Web
access even during high speed travel.
Nevertheless the high prices and limited
device selection makes this a difficult
choice for average consumers.
- Chhavi Gupta
Sources: http://www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com/
news-events/press-room/press-releases/t-mobile-usa-nokia-siemens-networks-drive-evolution-of-
hspa
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What supposedly would you do if
you ever end up getting 1200 crores of
those green, luring and crisp papers?
Put up a liquor factory? Buy a house in
London? Or stack those in the Swiss
bank? Well, the telecom sector in India
spends it on advertising!Recently, there has been lots of ac-
tivity in and around the advertising me-
dia with different telecom services pro-
viders all trying to grab the huge con-
sumer potential in India. Few have al-
ready made a strong hold on the market
and have encroached upon the existing
customers of other services. Competi-
tion is a big word today and the con-
sumers owe a lot to it personally!
With 16 players in the telecom
arena, we are witnessing today huge
wars in pricing and promotions. The ad
world suddenly took up to huge adver-
tising expenditure once Tata Docomo
came into picture in India in 2009. With
pay per second strategy by Docomo
eating into the customer pie of other
players, the advertising media was
hugely splurged. Every tele service
pulled up its socks and rose up in re-
sponse to this superb tactic by the joint
venture of Tata Group with the Japa-
nese telecom giant NTT Docomo. The
biggies of the mobile telecom industry were no doubt in a state of panic! No
one wanted to lose out on existing cus-
tomers. So new ideas were born, new
schemes were adopted and more money
was spent on promotions.
BHARTI AIRTEL
Each of the telecom giant in India
came up with eye-catcher ideas for pro-motions, identified new areas where the
existing and possible customers could be
Bharti Airtel, the leading telecom service
in India as well as Asia spends around
300 crores on advertising. The majority
of this share i.e. 55% goes into advertis-
ing , 20% in outdoors and the rest in
print and digital media.
With endorsers like Shahrukh
Khan and A.R.Rehman and the ads fo-
cused on ringing the emotional quotient
of its viewers, Bharti Airtel leads the
show.
Telecom PromotionsThis article is submitted by Tanvi Srivastava of PGP 1. The article
talks about the major telecom players in the industry and their promo-tional strategies in order to increase their subscriber base.
10 | mPulse Dec10
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Recently, to popularise their brand,
Airtel has come up with an initiative of
Airtel Krishi Card which enables agri-
culturists and farmers easy access to vi-
tal agri information. Its objective is to
provide customer convenience. Another
strategy of theirs to attract new and ex-
isting customers is their collaboration
with Dow Jones to introduce Wall Street
Journal India Mobile Application for the
first time in India. The application en-
ables all Airtel users free access to In-
dian and international financial and
business news from Wall Street Journal
and Dow Jones Newswires. Airtel also
conducts various events like Airtel
Championss League Twenty20, which
adds up to their brand building.
VODAFONE
Vodafone Essar, the Indian sub-
sidiary of Vodafone Group, spends
around 200 crores on advertising. The
expenditure on commercials is as huge
as 65%. They popularised their brand
with the pug, Happy to Help Cam-
paign, after Hutch was bought by Voda-
fone. The series still remains one of the
most remembered ads of all seasons and
the jingle Everyday I want to fly, stay
by my side.. still occupies the memoriesof most of us.
This time the industry major has
come up with animated parrot ads. The
ads basically target the low income
groups for reasonable recharge offers.
Another innovative thing they
came up with recently, to connect with
their target audience, was Win an Air-
ship Ride Contest. They launched Air-
ship A-60+ in the skies. This was a new
way to promote their brand by giving a
chance to the contest winners to be
seated in the airship for a leisurely ride.
This is the first time in India when atelecom major has used an airship for
promotions. Speaking on this initiative,
Kumar Ramanathan, chief marketing
officer, Vodafone Essar, says, "Our cus-
tomers are special to us. Apart from in-
novative products and services, we con-
stantly endeavour to bring unique inter-
national experiences for them."However, the stars of the cam-
mPulse Dec10 | 11
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paign still remain the Vodafone
Zoozoos ,the loved characters of the
Twenty20 Cricket matches.
So powerful was this campaign that
in a study called Day After Cricket, Zoo-
zoos happened to be the most recalled
brand with 43 percent unaided recall.
The fear with these ads however was
Zoozoos becoming a bigger brand than
Vodafone itself!
BSNL
The other big player in the industry
is BSNL. It is the worlds seventh largest
telecom company and the only teleser-
vice provider who is focused on building
the bridge between the rural and the ur-
ban India. They spend moderately on
media like print, digital and outdoors.
With Deepika Padukone as the brand
endorser, there has been an increased
recall of the BSNL mobile service.
BSNL typically follows the sponsorship
approach to increase brand awareness.
TATA DOCOMO
Tata Docomo is the new player in
the industry who turned one on June
10th 2010. It was the first services pro-
vider who broke the convention of themobile number starting from 9. Their
total sales budget is divided into 35% of
the pie going into advertising, 20% on
consumer promotions and 45% into
trade promotions. It recognizes the
teenagers and the young adults of India,
who mostly live on small earnings or
pocket money, as its target market as
there is a massive mobile penetration in
the modern day youth with 92% owning
mobile handsets.
Tata Docmo ads are happy and full
of life with the strategy to reach out to
its target customers by the slogan Do
the new. They started with a Docomo
signature tune and the train commercial.
K.S Chakravarthy, national creative di-rector, Draft FCB Ulka says that An
audible is inherent to a telecom brand.
This is so, because ringtones, caller back
tunes and other such value added ser-
vices are very important for a telecom
provider. And that is why the Docomo
signature tune composed by Ram Sam-
pat.its target customers by the slogan.
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Docomos were the tenth entrant
in an already cluttered space so they had
a very big challenge ahead. However,
instead of going the usual way of televi-
sion or print, they got this brand
launched on radio and that too in an al-
together different way. On the launch
day of this teleservice, four FM stations
viz. Radio City, Big FM, Red FM and
Fever FM tied up for the big event.
They have done their every bit for
promotions. They have even targeted
the social networking space for their
purpose and have launched their mobile
community product BuddyNet wherein
the members can enjoy feature like mu-
sic, sharing talk time and free browsing
of social networking sites product Bud-
dyNet wherein the members can enjoy
feature like music, sharing talk time and
free browsing of social networking sites
like Facebook, Twitter etc. on theirDocomo phones. No doubt their ideas
have been successful.
Even the outdoor and print ads
have been successful. They have tried to
create brand visibility by giving coupons,
bonus packs and contests and prizes.
Other players
Other players like Idea, Reliance,
Aircel, MTN, Virgin Mobile and theothers are also trying their best to re-
main in the picture. Every move is an
attempt to make the brand visible and
attract the attention towards various
schemes and offers by the telecom ser-
vice. As I said, competition is a big
word today but the fruits are enjoyed by
the consumers who have to spend just
one paise from their purses. So naturally,
they owe a lot this heating competition
among the tele giants.
Let us see how cheap it can get! We have
seen that with every rise in the advertis-
ing expenditure, there is a dip in the tar-
iff. So let us wait and watch for newer
things to arrive at our doorsteps, for the
1200 crores is expected to increase by
50% next year.
- Tanvi Srivastava
mPulse Dec10 | 13
Rebranding of Airtel Logo
On 18 November 2010, Airtel rebrandeditself in India in the first phase of a global re-branding strategy. The company unveiled anew logo with 'airtel' written in lower case. De-signed by London-based brand agency, BrandUnion, the new logo is the letter 'a' in lower-case, with 'airtel' written in lowercase under thelogo.
Explaining the new look in detail, SanjayKapoor, CEO, Bharti Airtel states that the newidentity underlines Airtel's willingness to em-
brace everything that is new. He adds, "Thelogo type is modern, vibrant and friendly andsignals our resolution to be accessible to ourcustomers and stakeholders. And the lowercaseis our recognition for humility. The red colour,
which is an integral part of the brand, contin-ues to represent heritage, energy and passion.
The new curved and the gentle highlight al-most gives the impression of a living object; atthe same time, it represents a dynamic force ofunparalleled energy, brings us closer to con-
sumers and is a symbol which will help ensureinstant recognition across diverse internationalmarkets.". (Source: Wikipedia)
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If last year was the year of Net-
books, 2010 seems to be the year of
Tablets. Since the day, very first rumours
of Apple Tablet iPad started floating in,
IT hardware manufacturers of all hues
have jumped on After the phenomenonof the iPad, a variety of other manufac-
turers began to slowly enter the battle
arena tablet computers with a variety of
excellent features. Even a few weeks
ago, a 1000 tablet computer units sold
out within 3 hours in a number of malls
in very small cities too.
The enthusiasm of gadget lovers inMany cities seemed extraordinary in wel-
coming the presence of these mobile
computing devices. Truly a vibrant
market. And of course, the vendors be-
gan to glance at Many countries as a
potential market for gadgets, especially
tablet computer products.
And other than Apples devices, a variety of vendors will begin to look
Android as one alternative that contin-
ues to catch up with the IOS of the fea-
tures, speed and effectiveness and effi-
ciency of the device.
There are two types of tablet pcs
today. There are those that run full PCoperating systems such as Windows 7,
which happen to be modified to support
touch-screens. Users need to be able to
use the same functionality as a desktop
mouse would such as closing a window,
which is why a stylus was used. Some
including folding screens with a built in
keyboard, but we're beginning to see a
focus on strictly multi-touch capabili-
ties.to the Tablet bandwagon.
A current example of this would
be the latest announced Windows 7 HP
Slate. This will be the first true business
tablet out in the market. Others that will
soon follow include the Cisco Cius and
the Avaya Desktop Video Device whichare both video conferencing devices.
The Blackberry Playbook will be fo-
cused towards business pc tablet, but
this and the other two previous tablets
mentioned won't be running off of a
traditional desktop operating system.
Joining the Tablet market was IT
major HP, which unveiled its Tablet,called Slate, at the Consumer Electron-
14 | mPulse Dec10
TABLET PCThis article is submitted by Gagan Saraswat of PGP 1. This article talks
about the intense competition in the Tablet PC arena, which was previouslydominated by the I-Pad , but now new entrants like Samsung Galaxy-tabhave changed the dynamics of the game. With new features, lower prices
and high end technology.... the Customer is the boss again...!!!!
Insight
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8/8/2019 mPulse_Dec10
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ics Show at Las Vegas in January. The
company recently released a video pro-
moting its upcoming touchscreen Tablet
which will run on Windows 7 operating
system..
The Big Guns who threaten theIPAD are-
The Blacberry Playbook
It has several other advantages
over the iPad. It supports Flash, for ex-
ample, something that Apple are
unlikely to ever match and this makes it
a superior device for Web browsing
(HTML5 is also supported). It also has a
5 megapixel camera on the back and a 3
megapixel camera on the front for vid-
eoconferencing.
Samsung Galaxy Tab
The Korean giant's first tablet, the
Samsung Galaxy TAB was the iPad'sfirst real competitor with it launches inNovember. Like the PlayBook, it has a 7
-inch screen with a resolution of 1024 x600 pixels but weighs even less. It's pow-ered by a 1GHz processor andPowerVR graphics accelerator, bothcomparable to the iPad's, but has double
the RAM (512MB).
With the Lords muscling it out ,trying to eat up each others shares andgrabbing new customers , its gala timefor the end users. With a whole plethoraof features , new launches, relaunches ,
introductory discounts and loyaltypoints , the customer is the Boss.
The Dawn of the TABLET also marks
the Death Of the Notebook.!!!!!!
- Gagan Saraswat
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Mobile GamingThe article is submitted by Shubhayu Datta of PGP-1.
The article talks about the evolution of Mobile games and impact ofmobile devices on the gaming industry.
Started with Snake, moved on to
Tetris, and finally with its ever grow-
ing popularity, the mobile gaming indus-
try is now a billion dollar industry with a
revenue of $5800 mn in 2009. With the
advent of technology, the world of
games is not restricted in your PCs orlaptops. Be it arcade or action, games of
every genre are available to mobile
phone users.
With the creation of the cell
phone, one was easily impressed with
the fact that the phone required no ca-
bles. However, towards the end of the
20th century, cellular phones started to
modernize, and people wanted more out
of their cell phones. Cell phone games
were some of the new features that dif-
ferentiated one particular model from
another.
Nokia tried to create its own mo-
bile gaming platform with the N-Gage in 2003 but this effort failed
mainly because, at the time, the conver-
gence of a cell phone and a handheld
gaming platform did not mix. Many us-
ers complained of having to talk on the
phone 'taco-style' by tilting it sideways in
order to speak and hear. There were
hardware issues as well, and thoughsome quality games came out, support
for the platform was anaemic.
Today, cell phone games have
come a very long way. Their graphics are
about the same as you would expect on
a 4th or 5th generation game console
(which may not seem like a very big im-
provement yet is considered one be-cause the game is being played on a cell
phone).
Another development is that, with
the advent of 3G technology, real time
multiplayer gaming will be possible
which will be much faster than anything
that you might have experienced in
GPRS connectivity.
Furthermore with so many varie-
ties of smart phones like the iPhone,
available in the market in competitive
prices, mobile games has gained a solid
foothold as gamers will be able to ex-
perience a whole new world of gaming
in their handheld devices. This in turn would mean that the cellular phone
companies would make a higher profit
off these games.
- Shubhayu Datta
16 | mPulse Dec10
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Well it is not about marketing the
way GE does, but it is definitely about
electrifying the pockets by lightening the
mind and heart of the consumer; it is
about Green and Ecological marketing
which is becoming the latest trend for
capturing a pie of the consumer cake bycapitalizing on the greater sense of re-
sponsibility and ownership of the gen-
ext.
Companies are trying to portray
themselves either as producers of eco-
friendly products or as ecologically re-
sponsible companies by launching vari-
ous campaigns. Recently Aircel launched
its Save our tigers, just 1411 left cam-
paign. The campaign not only created
awareness among people but also pro-
vided a platform where people could
donate funds to various NGOs. The
campaign is promoted aggressively by
stars like MS Dhoni, Amitabh Bachan,
Baichung Bhutia to bring to light the
dwindling number of tiger population in
India.
Worlds largest mobile handset
maker, Nokia, also launched a similar
initiative, on Worlds Environment Day
in 2009, where people can give their old
handsets to Nokia for recycling and
Nokia in return will plant a tree. The ini-tiative was pilot tested in Delhi, Banga-
lore, Ludhiana and Gurgaon and re-
ceived splendid response in spite of
awareness about recycling being only
17% in India.
While some brands are showcasing
their environmental concerns, some are
launching new services, some brands
such as Videocon have taken the game
completely to a different level. Videocon
is now no more The Indian Multina-
tional , it has changed its value proposi-
tion to Experience change, which was
unveiled at IIFA 2009. A lot is also visi-
ble in companys new green logo which
goes well with companys another
Social MarketingThis article is written by Arpit Goel of PGP 1. The article talks about thevarious Green Marketing initiatives of different companies, how they are
trying to change their brand positioning and what impact it can have on theIndian Consumers.
mPulse Dec10 | 17
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Want to eat Mughlai paneer, Hy-
derabadi biryani, Dal Bukhara and Gajar
ka halwa in the comfort of your home
whenever you want but dont know how
to cook? Ready to eat foods are the so-
lution to your problem.
Ready to cook meals are meals thatare already cooked or prepared and have
a shelf life of over 12 months. These
foods do not have any pre-
servatives and hence, more
and more people, especially
working couples, are taking to
ready-to-eat food in a big way.
There is a growing tribe of
urban Indians who avoid the
tasks of slicing, dicing, peel-
ing and chopping to just
opening up a packet and having a meal
ready to be eaten.
Ready to eat foods were launched
in India about a decade ago but didnt
really catch on because of the prefer-
ence of Indians for freshly cooked food.
Another reason is that retail stores did
not have sufficient refrigeration facilities.
Many factors have led to this shift in at-
titudes about ready to eat foods. There
is much more acceptance due to Chang-
ing lifestyle and increasing number of
d o u b l e
i n c o m en u c l e a r
families who dont mind spending some
extra money if it will save them trouble
in the kitchen. Technology has also
played a major role in increasing the
popularity of such foods. Retort, a new
technology packs cooked food in a four-
layer package, which is then heated to120 degrees Celsius to kill all living or-
ganisms, thereby ensuring freshness.
MTR foods is the largest
player in this emerging market
with a near 65% share. The
rest of the market is made up
of Satnam Overseas, ITC,
Tasty B i tes , GCMMF,Haldiram and other local play-
ers.
All the current players are mainly
present in a few metros. Since technol-
ogy and packaging costs are high, the
current players need to look at expand-
ing their reach which will help bring
down prices indirectly.
- Aditi Behere
mPulse Dec10 | 19
Ready to eatThe article is submitted by Aditi Behere of PGP-1.
This article talks about the increasing popularity of Ready to Eat foodsamong urban Indians and the technology that made it possible to keep food
fresh without the use of preservatives.
Insight
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Talcum Powder to Airlines tickets
it seems everyone is rather too eager
to sell an extra to you for no extra cost.
Ever wondered why were you offered a
free soap with one of the same type
while you never really required the extra
soap or why were you offered two T-shirts at the price of one? I am of the
opinion that customers rather prefer to
go for huge discount schemes rather
than such catchy words. As a customer,
one perceives that the price of the extra
item is somewhat hidden in the quoted
amount. I remember one of my cousins
complaining about the fact that the den-
ims he bought from one of the well
known retailers were in fact priced dou-
ble while he was offered a discount on
his second buy.
Moreover, the occasional buyers
seldom go for such schemes which offer
an extra piece of item which may not be
required. Who would require the extra
TV set on offer while you just needed abrand new TV in your living room? This
may rather be perceived as an attempt to
sell the stocked inventory while it does
not add any value to the customer.
A flat sale of 50% would be per-
ceived as a onetime offer and would be
rather attractive. It makes sense that the
shop offers such huge discounts whichare visible to the customers. When of-
fered the extra item with a buy 1 get 1
free offer, often it turns out that cus-
tomers may refrain from buying such
bundled product as they might not re-
quire the extra quantities.
Suppose, after a lot of persuasion
you have agreed to buy new jewellery setfor your wife on your anniversary. Imag-
ine you are offered a second one for
free? Well, while your wife may rejoice
it, you would still wonder whether you
have indeed ended up paying more. If
the shopkeeper offers you a 50% dis-
count on every piece of jewellery, you
would be rather pleased.
Does it make sense to you when
you are offered a free item every time
you purchase? You may not require the
extra shirt of the same brand that is be-
ing offered.
Today, customers believe in value
for money. One will not purchase an ex-
tra item if he/she does not require it.
Thus, marketers should rather promotediscount schemes than insisting on an
extra item to the customer on his/her
purchase.
- Trambak Pattanayak
For the topic 50% Discount is betterthan Buy 1 Get 1 Free !!!
Trambak Pattanayak of PGP-1 has given his opinion on
why 50% discount is the better option.
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What better topic than discounts/
offers for a marketing person to discuss
about especially during the festive sea-
son.
Over the past few days, every shop
I entered, on every product I looked,
there were over whelming discounts be-ing offered. A buy 2 get 1 free for a
branded jeans, a 30% off in a high class
restaurant, and off course the best of
all, a buy 1 get 1 free or a 50% off.
I walked into a departmental stores
and I have observed 2 brands of sham-
poos, X and Y; X offering a 50% dis-
count and Y offering a buy 1 get 1 of-
fer. Both the offers seemed almost the
same to me as a consumer. So I ob-
served for a while the customers reac-
tion to these offers. A young girl walks
in to the store and picked up 2 bottles
of Y. Later, in a few minutes span of
time, a guy walks in and picked up 1
bottle of X.
I observed the customers for about40 minutes and then I had made a very
interesting observation. Brand X had 4
customers and had sold 4
bottles and earned revenue
on 2 bottles whereas brand Y
had 4 customers but sold 8
bottles and earned revenue
on 4 bottles. Bingo!! Thatswhen I realized these 2 offers
might appear the same for a consumer
but they are not the same for a com-
pany. The company might have an edge
while giving a buy 1 get 1 offer instead
of a 50% discount.
I was determined to verify this ob-
servation in other situations as well. Ihad entered a bar which was offering a
buy 1 get 1 free on any drink the cus-
tomer orders. I had met a friendly group
of 3 friends who were sipping their
drink and started a conversation with
them and in the conversation they had
mentioned that they were here to have a
beer each but when they thought there
is a buy 1 get 1, they are sharing the
fourth one. So thats when I asked them,
Wouldnt 50% discount have been a
better deal? , One of them replied,
We are getting a 50% discount now as
well. We drink 4 beers but we pay for 2
and smiled. Bingo again!!! So people ac-
tually do not see much of a difference
between a 50% discount and a buy 1get 1 free. They feel they are getting
double for what they pay. But in the
process a company is making extra reve-
nue as we have seen in the above cases.
So when the perceived difference among
the customers between the 2 offers is
almost negligible but the company is
gaining additional revenue, then why gofor the 50% discount at all?
mPulse Dec10 | 21
Against the topic 50% Discount isbetter than Buy 1 Get 1 Free !!!
Vamsi Krishna of PGP-2 has given his opinion on
why Buy 1 Get 1 Free is the better option.
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I had decided I need to make more
observations before I come to a conclu-
sion about which is better. I had reached
a restaurant which serves a large buffet
for dinner and was also offering a buy 1
get 1 free. I had walked in to find a
group of 4. An unusual group where
there were 3 pretty teenage girls along
with an old man of over 60. I had struck
a conversation with the man while serv-
ing myself food near the counter and he
said, My granddaughters generally
come here alone every Saturday for din-
ner, but this week there was this 1+1 of-
fer due to which they would go waste if
there were only 3 people. So I had to
come along. Which unfortunately
would not have been the case if there
was a 50% discount I thought to my-
self, and wished him a good dinner and
went back to my table and glanced at all
the tables to find that over 90% of the
tables were filled by groups which had
an even number of people. The magic
of Buy 1 get 1, I thought.
Extra revenue, no perceived differ-
ence among the customers, the 2 factors
which would definitely put Buy 1 get 1
free ahead of 50 % discount.
- Vamsi Krishna
22 | mPulse Dec10
Quiz Time !!!Identify the logos.
1.GoogleTV2.kappa3.Bacardi4.Kyocera5.KFC6.YellowPages7.Prudential8.Daewoo9.TacoBell10.Goodyear
11.AlfaRomeo12.Renault13.Lexus14.HMV15.Umbro
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Croma App Store: First Indian Retailer AppStore
Amidst several plat-form specific AppStores ava i lab leacross different mo-bile brands and de-
vices, a new Indianplayer has taken its
baby steps. InfinitiRetail has announced the release of Croma
Apps that will offer software Apps for the net-book platform in India. Croma Apps will fea-ture free and paid applications meant for Intel
Atom processor based netbooks. Apparently,Croma is India's first electronics and gadgetsretailer to step into Software App Store scene.ht tp ://www. t ech t r ee . com/Ind i a/News/Croma_App_Store_First_Indian_Retailer_App_Store/551-113850-580.html
Reference warsCan its 242-year-old heritage helpEncyc lopaed i aBritannica retainits brand equity,especially with theo m n i p r e s e n t
Wikipedia? Thefirst impression that you get as you shakehands with Jorge Cauz, with his keen penetrat-ing eyes, is that of a highly charged person. Asthe conversation progresses, the image onlygets reinforced as the slightly-built President ofEncyclopaedia Britannica makes no bonesabout his aggressive intent on India. India hasone of the largest number of knowledge seek-ers and we have India-specific growth plans,says Cauz.
Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/catalyst/2010/12/16/stories/2010121650040100.htm
Dhoni signs Rs. 29-crore endorsement dealwith Maxx MobileRiding on his popularity, Indian cricket teamcaptain Mahindra Singh Dhoni has signed a Rs.29- crore endorsement deal with Maxx Mobilefor a period of seven years.http://www.livemint.com/2010/12/08141926/Dhoni-signs-Rs-29crore-endors.html
BMW regains top slot in luxury car seg-ment; overtakes MercedesGerman auto major BMW has regained topslot in January-November period after a fiercebattle for numbers with compatriot MercedesBenz in the Indian luxury car market, inching
closer to be theleader in 2010.
http://www.thehindu.com/business/article948052.ece?
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Google unveils Nexus S phone & Ginger-bread OS
The internet giantGoogle Inc hasannounced thelaunch of its latests m a r t p h o n e ,Nexus S, and thenew version of its
popular Android smartphone operating system,Gingerbread. The new Google Nexus S smart-phone is manufactured by world's second larg-est mobile phone maker, Samsung. The newphone offers unique feature, Near Field Com-munication, which helps users to make a pay-ment by waving a device over an electronicreader. The Nexus S smartphone runs on An-droid 2.3 Gingerbread OS and is powered by 1GHz Hummingbird processor.http://news.oneindia.in/2010/12/07/google-
review-nexus-s-phone-gingerbread-os.html
ASA bans Reebok EasyTone adReeboks campaign for its EasyTone Curvetrainers has been banned for unproven claimsthat they help tone legs and bum.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)has banned a Reebok TV campaign for itsEasyTone Curve trainers saying the company'sclaims lack enough credibility.The ASA re-ceived two complaints where the complainants
challenged whether the claims could be sub-stantiated.http://www.newstatesman.com/broadcast/2010/12/claims-trainers-easytone
After 26 years, Honda to part ways with HeroTo sell its 26 per cent stake to the Munjals for $1.2billion. Japans Honda Motor Corporation has
worked out an agreement to dissolve its holding inits 26-year-old joint venture, Hero Honda, byMarch 2011. According to the agreement, Honda
will sell its stake in the Indian entity to the promot-ers of the Hero Group, theMunjals. Japanese businessdaily Nikkei has reportedthat the deal will fetch thecompany around $ 1.2 bil-lion. Both the companies areexpected to seek approvalfrom their boards later thismonth. In 1984, Honda andthe Hero Group inked an agreement to manufac-ture and sell motorcycles in India. The spokesper-son for Hero Honda declined to comment on thedevelopment and whether any board meeting isscheduled for this month.http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/after-26-years-honda-to-part-wayshero/417174/
Google, Yahoo, Rediff vie for market share ofmobile internet usersMobile access to internet has increased severalfolds over the last couple of years. Now search gi-ants Google, Yahoo and Rediff are looking toexpand their reach to 723 million mobile subscrib-ers once 3G services are launched in India. A re-cent study revealed that Indians access the interneton their mobile devices at least 2.4 days per week,almost on a par with the 2.7 days per week PC ac-
cess to internet. According to a research and ana-lytics firm Informate Mobile Intelligence report,in August 2010 Google Search and Gmail toppedthe list of most-accessed websites on mobile de-
vices reaching across 45 per cent of the mobile sub-scribers in the country,
while Yahoo trailed withabout 30 per cent reachon handsetshttp://www.business-standard.com/india/news/mobiles-next-
battleground/416995/
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The Marketing and General Management Forum (MGM) at TAPMI,
distinguishes itself with the frequency and wide variety of marketing relatedevents it organizes every year.
The purpose of the forum is to act as a platform for creating, sharingand exchanging ideas for future managers. MGM forum consists of a teamof five second year students and seven first year students, who are very pas-sionate about marketing. Through their various endeavors they wish to cre-ate an avenue for students to look at marketing from different perspectives.
About Team MGM
Members PGP-2Saurabh Gupta
Ravishankar JakkuvaJohar Das
Nitish Mittal
Emalda Philip
Members PGP-1Aditi Behere
Arpit GoelChhavi Gupta
Gagan Saraswat
Preetha DSubhayu Datta
Tanvi S
Contact us: [email protected]