The Airtel Open Network campaign
Having worked for in the telecom industry in India, I have great admiration for Bharti Airtel Limited. Bharti showed the rest of the industry, the true potential of telecom in India. While rival operators were still looking at addressing the market through a presence in selective markets which had the highest potential, believing that the other markets would never be viable, Bharti rolled its network out across India. It acquired operators to complete its pan India footprint. And got the pole position in the Indian telecom business.
Brand Airtel however never gave my heart a tug. My impression (and this has been formed from exposure to Airtel communication and speaking to Airtel customers) is that a customer bought and stayed with an Airtel connection because that was the right thing to do, rather than because of a strong emotional connect with the brand.
Except a few Airtel campaigns (Kids playing football across the border) I do not recall a campaign which treated to reach out to the heart. Getting an Airtel connection was a rational choice.
But I believe that the open network campaign is outstanding. Not that it has the kind of emotional connect that I look for in advertising, but because it takes a significant step by co-opting the customer and treating him and her like a partner. It uses digital technology fabulously to build a platform for continuous interaction between the company and the its customers. This is digital as it should be used, to get feedback, interact and to communicate on issues which are important to the customer.
But the whole thing must not be treated like a campaign. Network optimisation and expansion is just not a one time requirement. This needs to evolve into a channel to understand customer needs and responding to them.
Will the open network campaign result in a better network perception for Airtel? Customers want network even at places where they use it sparingly. For a telecom company capex is very precious and it needs to ensure that capex fetches adequate returns. Airtel would be careful that it gets optimum revenue for every Rupee of capex. Hence communication and the flexibility of responding to the customer's requirements will hold the key to building or demolishing this perception.
Of course Airtel also needs to build that emotional relationship with customers. But my feeling it that this campaign is a step in that direction.
Sales & Business Development Leader | MDI Alumnus | Regional sales head leading sales for Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Tata Group, Government, System Integrators & OEM' | Channel management
8 å¹´This is indeed a very bravo step with bringing transparency and willing to hear is the 1st step towards customer EMPATHY. The next level is to diagnose issues proactively and solve problems once reported. The whole objective should be to have a more reliable and resilient network with self-healing and other proactive degradation alarms so that it gets resolved before hampering customer. Kudos & great initiative!
National Brand Strategy & Marketing/Corporate Communications Head with 20+ years experience across Consumer Durables, Telecom, Media, Pharmaceuticals and Construction Material industry
8 å¹´Good read
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8 å¹´If you look into the campaign it is a complete fad . I was in cyber coffee at gurgaon the other day , a group of young guys were talking about the airtel campaign saying :"I don want to see the tower and fancy stuff man , show me the network, speed on my net and honest billing. The challenge or desire of customer are still the basic as you said some 12 yr back .
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8 å¹´this is a smart campaign. there is this growing perception amongst users that air tel network is over loaded and has issues. i m sure they must also have seen a shift to voda. thus this campaign. but wud this improve services and call drops shall reduce? v r all so used to mobile now, that no signal makes every1 restless.