Brand audit of Idea cellular

History

Idea Cellular is an Aditya Birla Group Company Idea is a pan-India integrated GSM operator offering 2G and 3G services

With revenue in excess of $4 billion; revenue market share of nearly 15%; and subscriber base of over 121 million in FY 2013
Idea is Indias 3rd largest mobile operator.

Points of Parity

Basic voice and data transmission GPRS services Easy recharge facilities by local retailers Specific company stores to cater to customer query Customer service helpline Call management services(Call Divert, Call Barring, Caller Line Identity Restriction and Call Conferencing)

Points of Differentiation

Advertisements communicating a social message Position in the mind ladder Initiator of competitive prepaid pricing Innovative VAS like customer friendly tariff plans Catering to the unique needs of different customer segments, where Womens Card caters to the special needs of the woman on the move, and Youth Card covers the emerging youth segment

Brand portfolio

Idea Cellular Ltd.

Pre Paid

Net Setter

Post Paid

The pre-paid and post-paid plans are complemented by various value added services which act as a differentiating factor:

SMS Conferencing Reply all Idea Multiplayer gaming Different GPRS settings for different handsets M-chat Cricket alerts Flash SMS Voice SMS Idea fresh Idea Radio Dialer tone search Background music

Brand Elements

Brand Name

The brand name IDEA is has meaningful connotations in the English language and the company has used that well in the brand building process. Idea is associated with a brand that provides value for its entire customer. An idea can change your life, what an idea sirjee have a strong association with the customers. Idea uses yellow black and blue as it colors. The yellow color of the logo, considered to be friendly and warm, is used to motivate and stimulate creative and intellectual energy

Brand Association

Slogans / Jingles

Colours

Communication

Ek idea jo badal de aapki duniya What an idea sir ji

Save paper, Save tree

Breaking the Language Barrier Walk when you Talk Education for All

Pricing

It is known for its innovative, aggressive, customer friendly and competitive prepaid offerings that it introduced for the first time in India

Customer Based Brand Equity

Who are you?

IDEA Cellular Limited is a leading GSM mobile services operator in India. The brand idea has created a very strong imagery by associating itself to the yellow colour, the idea logo, the signature tune, the caption An IDEA can change your life, The brand has created enough favorable judgments and feelings for itself through its much talked about campaigns Switch to Idea, Break the language barrier, Engagement with subscribers is seemed at various levels, from major celebrity fashion shows to small local events timed to coincide with new product offerings. Campaigns like Idea Rocks India, Idea Star Singer,

What are you?

What about you? What do I think or feel about you?

What about you and me

Brand mantra

Brand recognition
Top of Mind Recall
100%
80% 60% 40% 20% 0%

Idea

Airtel

Vodafone

Idea has the second highest top of mind recall with 70% users mentioning it among the first three brands recalled by respondents.

Clue recognition
Clue Recognition
100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0%

Sirjee

SRK

Zoo Zoo

Hrithik

Deepika

Clue recognition was also used to find out if respondents can recognize the brand with the help of clues which act as a stimulus. Both Idea and Airtel were recognized correctly by 91% respondents using their respective clues Sirjee and Shahrukh Khan.

Brand perception
Perception about Idea Users
45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% College Students Villagers Price Conscious People

Respondents were asked who in their mind was a typical Idea User The common perception among respondents had been that Idea is used my college students or price conscious people, comprising of over 70% responses.

Conclusion

Communication is clearly Ideas strong point However, branding doesnt only mean communication, and a brand also has to look at the quality of product and services offered. Idea is losing out on the branding race to Airtel and Vodafone because both these brands have great communication coupled with quality products and services.

Recommendation

There is a wide disconnect in the perception of people about Idea. The urban consumers think it has poor network whereas in rural areas it is primarily used for good network coverage. This gap needs to be bridged

The main competitors of Idea i.e. Airtel and Vodafone are very global companies which have global appeal. Idea is viewed as a Desi Indian company. The company needs to revamp its image by polishing its brand.
Idea users are perceived to be value conscious users. They are mostly students. Idea needs to break this image by focusing a little more on HNI's. Most of their schemes are aimed at students. This alienates them from the wealthy people.