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]


3/25

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


4/25

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


5/25

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

mPulse Dec10 | 5


6/25

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?

6 | mPulse Dec10


7/25

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.

mPulse Dec10 | 7


8/25

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

Cover Story


9/25

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

mPulse Dec10 | 9


10/25

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

Cover Story


11/25

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


12/25

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.

12 | mPulse Dec10


13/25

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)


14/25

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


15/25

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

mPulse Dec10 | 15


16/25

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

Insight


17/25

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

Insight


18/25


19/25

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


20/25

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.

20 | mPulse Dec10


21/25

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.


22/25

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


23/25

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?

mPulse Dec10 | 23


24/25

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/

24 | mPulse Dec10


25/25

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]

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