Air tel Marketing Strategy


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INTRODUCTION

Brands all over the world use celebrities to advertise their products. As early as 1890, actress Sarah Bernhardt appeared on posters for La Diaphane, a famous brand of rice powder at the time (Lehu, 1993). The use of celebrities in advertising is not, therefore, a new phenomenon, but it has become increasingly widespread. Brands like Pepsi have featured stars such as Michael Jackson, Madonna, or even the Spice Girls, with varying impact (Erdogan,1999). Pizza Hut launched its restaurants on the international market with icons that are almost universally recognized, such as Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, and Pamela Anderson. Some stars have several contracts with different brands: it is estimated that Michael Jordan, who appears in advertisements for Nike, Coke, Wheaties, Mc Donald's, Hanes, Oakley, and Gatorade, has an impact worth about 14 billion dollars on the American economy (Erdogan & al., 2001). Similarly, in a single week, French footballer Zinedine Zidane appeared on posters for Dior perfume and Leader Price hard-discount supermarkets, as well as TV ads for Dannon yoghurt. Stars have become a vital component of advertising for certain categories of products, like perfume and cosmetics.

The source attractiveness model

The attractiveness model assumes that the effectiveness of the message depends on the physical characteristics of the source. A celebrity spokesperson's physical attractiveness has a positive impact on brand recall, attitude towards the brand, and purchasing intent (Kahle and Homer, 1985). Here, the endorser's physical attractiveness is assumed to have an influence on the target's acceptance of the advertising, particularly due to the phenomenon of identification. The effectiveness of the message depends on the endorser's similarity, likeableness, and familiarity. While there is no doubt that a celebrity endorser may improve attitude towards advertising and a brand, its impact on purchasing behavior is less clear (Erdogan, 1999). Attractiveness of the source is not the only characteristic of a celebrity to take into account (Friedman and Friedman, 1979) and is mainly significant for brands related to physical appearance (Kamins, 1990).

The source credibility model

The source credibility model was developed in the 1950s by Hovland and colleagues (Hovland and Weiss, 1951). According to this model, the effectiveness of a message depends on the perceived level of expertise and trustworthiness of an endorser (Ohanian, 1991).

About Bharti Airtel Limited

Bharti Airtel Limited, a group company of Bharti Enterprises, is India's leading integrated telecom services provider with an aggregate of 50 million customers. Bharti Airtel has been rated among the best performing companies in the world in the Business Week IT 100 list 2007.
Bharti Airtel is structured into three strategic business units - Mobile services, Broadband & Telephone (B&T) services and Enterprise services. The mobile business provides mobile & fixed wireless services using GSM technology across 23 telecom circles. The B&T business provides broadband & telephone services in 94 cities. The Enterprise services provide end-to-end telecom solutions to corporate customers and national & international long distance services to carriers. All these services are provided under the Airtel brand. Airtel's high-speed optic fibre network currently spans over 53,000 kms covering all the major cities in the country.