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Positioning Strategies

Brand positioning involves creating an image that is understood by the wider public of what a brand stands
for. Vodafone's brand positioning is: 'Vodafone helps people enjoy richer communication, anywhere,
anytime. Always reliable, always easy, always great value ...passionately delivered'.

http://www.thetimes100.co.uk/case-study--cause-marketing---vodafones-partnership-with-national-autistic-
society--41-238-6.php

Before Vodafone took over Hutch, the positioning strategy followed by Hutch was already a success in the
Indian telecom market. The company got a huge appreciation and praise for the award winning ad
campaigns. Differentiating its services from the competitors and presenting it in a form of an advertisement
helped Hutch in positioning its brand in a world class manner.

Showing its class in the telecom industry was important and that reflected when the company signed the two
class acts in their field, Rahul Dravid and Irfan Khan as its brand ambassadors.

Irfan khan popularised the ‘Hutch ka Chhota Recharge’ in his unique style.

Most of the times the ad campaigns were run during a cricket season in India. This helped Hutch in reaching
out to maximum youth population of the country and was able to position itself effectively when the ads
were repeated at a regular interval.

A position for the company was established as a company focusing on providing good services to the
subscribers by giving them network anywhere. In an ad campaign which said, ‘Wherever you go our
network follows’, the position was beautifully created by showing a small boy as a customer and a Pug
following the boy as network.
The pug became very famous and was started to be taken as the best brand ambassador of Hutch. The strong
network capacity of Hutch became its differentiating factor.

Post Hutch Positioning

In 2007, when Vodafone took over hutch, the transition time for the company was very less. Decisions
regarding relaunching of brand, positioning, channelizing, etc were taken and implemented in four months.

It was important for Vodafone to maintain the things as it is before making any big change in the services,
and to ensure that the company went for the similar ad campaigns with a pug in it trying to show that the pug
has got a new home.

The name Vodafone was not new to many Indians as the name frequently appeared in the news. With its
strong presence in the global market, the arrival of Vodafone in India was perceived as positive sign for
Indian telecom industry as it was expected from the company to raise the standards of the services and bring
more competition in the market.

Vodafone did not disappoint the subscribers and started an ad campaign specially designed to position itself
in the customer service space which was not upto the mark in the local players. The company again used the
PUG to tell the customers that they really respect the customers and feel ‘Happy to Help’. The experience of
a common Indian customer was not good when trying to call a customer care number and speaking to a
representative who was hardly able to help the customer in resolving the issues and problems. The bar for
the service quality was raised. The position was created, if you need better services, come to Vodafone.
In 2009, Ogilvy & Mather, the agency that handles Vodafone advertisements, were asked by Vodafone to
create a series of 30 advertisements which could be aired each day during the Second season of Indian
Premier League. This time, instead of the Pug, the new characters named ‘Zoo Zoo’ were created and used
throughout IPL2. Each ad was used for promoting a particular Value Added Service of Vodafone e.g. Easy
recharge, callertunes, internet, roaming, bill payment, SMS packs, music, unwanted calls blocker, etc. The
ads were a hit among the Indian people, especially the youth. This trend can be observed from the huge fan
following on social networking sites, Facebook, Orkut and Twitter.

Each ad positioned Vodafone as a company dedicated to provide basic and Value added services to the
customers in a manner easily understandable and accessible. ZooZoo has become a great marketing story
and is one of the best examples of how a simple character becomes the identity of an already existing brand.
It caught the attention of the consumers, aroused their curiosity, told them stories and undoubtedly Vodafone
has enjoyed tremendous gain in its brand image- thanks to these loveable creatures.

In the latest Positioning strategy, Vodafone launched the ‘Power to you’ campaign. Power to you has
following feature:

• "Power to you" comes together with new services that bring the Internet, the email & social
communities closer than ever to customers
• Enhanced user experience of email and Internet on the mobile phone, through the service “Vodafone
Internet pe Mobil” which now integrates the Opera Mini browser
• Easy email access, anytime anywhere, from a broad variety of handsets.
• Together with the new brand promise, Vodafone refreshes the IVR for easier and improved customer
experience.
Vodafone users, both prepaid and postpaid customers, can now perform more self-care transactions
through the new IVR system, with no need for them to be transferred to a Vodafone operator, such
as: activate or deactivate services like Internet pe mobil, Roaming, Vodafone Passport, MMS, Ring-
Back Tones, etc.

This new campaign aims at positioning the company as a service innovator by promising a series of
services and offerings that will bring Vodafone customers an improved customer experience and
better opportunities.

Vodafone App Store

On 15 February 2010, Vodafone launched its mobile application store in India. It has more than
12000 applications, both Indian and International, categorised under Entertainment, Utility, Finance,
Social Networking, Games, etc. According to the company a majority of them are paid applications,
priced between Rs 0 to Rs 20, and only around 15 percent of applications are free. Users can access
the site through Vodafone Live on their GPRS enabled mobile phones.

http://www.medianama.com/2010/03/223-vodafone-launches-mobile-application-store-ipl-tickets/

http://www.vodafone.in/existingusers/vodafonelive/pages/appstore_for_gprsphones.aspx

Corporate Sponsorship

As a part of its promotional strategies and positioning itself as a youth brand, Vodafone has been in
forefront for providing sponsorships to the various teams and events. In the recent past Vodafone has
been associated as a sponsor with the following teams and events:

• Spring Fest, Annual Socio-Cultural Festival of IIT Kharagpur, as a Title Sponsor 2008
• Techniche 09, Annual Techno-Management Festival of IIT Guwahati, as the Title Sponsor
• Kshitij, Annual Techno-management festival of IIT Kharagpur, Strategic Partner 2008
• Albania national football team, 2008 sponsor
• Australian cricket team, official sponsor of the Australian test team and home test series from the
2010-11 Ashes, taking over from 3 mobile following the two parenting companies merger.
• Indian Premier League (Cricket), Associate sponsor
• Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Formula One team, title sponsor (since 2007)
• UEFA Champions League from the 2006/7 season
• Romania National Football Team, major sponsor from 2006

Solar Powered Phone

On 27th July 2010, Vodafone announced the launch of its latest generation eco-friendly solar
charging handset in India. The new handset uses a solar powered solution to benefit users in areas
with adequate sunlight. The launch of VF 247 solar powered phone is in keeping with Vodafone’s
aim to increase mobile technology accessibility for millions in India. With an extended solar
powered battery, the solar powered phone addresses the problem of unstable electricity supply in
many rural areas. VF 247 solar powered phone charges by itself, by exposure to ambient light. Sun
Boost, the special inbuilt hardware and software ensures that the phone charges also in a room, under
normal daylight.

http://www.vodafone.in/existingusers/Pages/MediaRoom_PressRelease.aspx?rid=949

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