Term Paper Fall – 2010

MobilinkWritten by:

Course Incharge:Dr. Kamaran Siddiqui

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of Contents...................................................................................2

Introduction:...........................................................................................5

Need of Study:.....................................................................................5

Target Audience:.................................................................................5

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:...................................................................6

Introduction:........................................................................................6

Research Methodology:.......................................................................6

Sampling Design:................................................................................6

Research Instruments:........................................................................7

Procedures:.........................................................................................7

Introduction............................................................................................8

Objectives of Brand Audit:...................................................................8

Scope of Brand Audit:..........................................................................8

Approach Used for Brand Audit:..........................................................9

Brand......................................................................................................9

Brand (Self Analysis):..........................................................................9

Product..............................................................................................10

Classification of SBUs according to growth-share matrix..................10

Pricing Strategy Of Mobilink: ............................................................11

Industry Reviews...............................................................................12

.............................................................................................................15

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Consumer Analysis...............................................................................15

Segmentation & Target market.........................................................16

Competitor’s Analysis...........................................................................18

Competitive Comparison Matrix........................................................18

SWOT Analysis of Mobilink................................................................19

Competitors SWOT Matrix.................................................................20

.............................................................................................................20

.............................................................................................................21

Brand Inventory....................................................................................22

Brand Elements:................................................................................22

Brand Name: ...........................................................................................22

Urls :........................................................................................................22

Logos and Symbols:.................................................................................22

Slogans:...................................................................................................22

Colors:......................................................................................................22

Core Brand Value..............................................................................22

Quality:....................................................................................................23

Innovation:...............................................................................................23

Customer-Friendliness:............................................................................23

Coverage:.................................................................................................23

Marketing Program............................................................................23

Media:......................................................................................................24

Print media:..............................................................................................24

Sponsorship:............................................................................................24

Events:.....................................................................................................24

Philanthropy Activities ............................................................................25

Brand Portfolio Analysis....................................................................25

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Brand Associations:..............................................................................25

Consumer Perceptual Analysis..........................................................26

Brand Positioning.................................................................................27

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INTRODUCTION:

This project is about the brand tracking of Mobilink on Pakistani market

i.e. to know about the standing of Mobilink as a brand in comparison to

the competing brands. It will yield results as market standing, user

perception, attributes associated with the brand, current strategies of

Mobilink and the grey areas for Mobilink.

NEED OF STUDY:

The sole objective of this brand report is to know about the brand

potency of Mobilink in the Pakistani market in comparison to other

competing service providers. The other objective is to put a spotlight

on the different cellular companies operating in Pakistan and the

perception of the users about them.

TARGET AUDIENCE:

As far as the Mobilink is concerned, it has no specific target audience

because it is catering the requirement of all the users through its

different packages. Cell phone is a requirement of every one so it also

makes sense to launch multiple products to cater to the requirements

of several segments whether it is youth, ladies or corporate sector.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

INTRODUCTION:

The purpose of the research methodology is to carry out different

methods of research to accomplish the set research objectives

pertinent to the brand tracking. For that purpose, a set of questions

have been made to inquire and analyze the responses of the

respondents.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

The research methodology used in this brand tracking is qualitative as

well as quantitative in which we have not only used a questionnaire to

know the responses of the respondents of the sample group but also

open ended questions asked from a set of respondents at mobilink

franchises to get a more flexible response from the respondents.

Secondary research methods are also used to get the information

regarding the competitors and Mobilink to get to know the market

structure and the standing of the cellular companies in it. Triangulation

method is used to cross check the results from qualitative, quantitative

and secondary research to find the parity in results.

SAMPLING DESIGN:

The target population belongs to every segment and class of life

because cell phone users belong to every class of population and we

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cannot discriminate the target market based on SECs. Subsequently,

the sample selection is random and random sampling method is used

for sample selection to get the feedback of the users from all the

classes. The sample size used for the questioning consists of 250

respondents.

RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS:

The instrument used for the research in this brand tracking activity is

primarily a multipurpose questionnaire which comprises of open and

close ended questions not only to help in the quantitative research but

also in the qualitative research as well. It consist questions pertaining

to the brand associations, brand recall, brand image, projective

responses and brand values. The reliability of the instrument is

measured through the triangulation method by comparing the results

of all three research methods.

PROCEDURES:

The data collection is through the questionnaire from a sample group

of 250 respondents. The screening of the information acquired from

these respondents is done manually using MS Excel as a tool for data

entry. All the information from the responses is entered as per the

frequency of respondents against the questions.

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INTRODUCTION

OBJECTIVES OF BRAND AUDIT:

The objective of this brand audit report is to measure the brand

potency of Mobilink in line with the competing brands. The specific

issues faced by the brand in terms of market conditions, saturation in

the cellular market and the overall recession in the economy will also

be taken into account while studying the brand. Also, what sub-

products fall in the generalized master brand i.e. Mobilink and to which

segments these sub-brands are catering to

SCOPE OF BRAND AUDIT:

When speaking of the target audience for Mobilink, we should keep in

mind that in the world of today, cell phone is no longer a luxury as was

the case in 90s but now, it has become a necessity for everyone. So

when we speak of cell phone target market, we speak of all the socio-

economic classes from A to E. The brand audit is limited to Karachi

only because of limited time and resources. But, in order to get a

better understanding of the market, multiple areas of the metropolitan

are covered with a dynamic sample population to get diverse views

about the brands so as to get a better and augmented understanding

of the market perceptions about the brands.

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APPROACH USED FOR BRAND AUDIT:

The approach used for brand audit is mainly the survey through set

questionnaire and secondary research methods regarding their inputs

on brand imagery & usage, brand recall, brand perception, brand

loyalty and brand awareness.

BRAND

BRAND (SELF ANALYSIS):

Pakistan Mobile Communications Limited, better known as Mobilink

GSM, is a telecommunication service provider in Pakistan. The

company is Pakistan's leading cellular operator with a subscriber base

of 31.5m and market share of 31% in October 2010. Mobilink's Head

office is located at Mobilink House, 1-A Kohistan Road, F-8 Markaz

Islamabad. Mobilink's corporate postpaid package is sold under the

brand name "Indigo" and prepaid by the name of "Jazz". Mobilink

started operations in 1994 as the first GSM cellular Mobile service in

Pakistan by MOTOROLA Inc., later it was sold to Orascom, an Egypt-based

multi-national company. In addition to cellular service, the Orascom

group is diversifying its service portfolio by setting up new businesses

and also expanding through acquisitions. Recently, they started

offering DSL broadband through a wholly owned subsidiary, Link.Net.

Additionally, the company has also launched its wireless broadband

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service through WiMax based technology under the label of 'Mobilink

Infinity'. Technology is backed by Alcatel, and company is using a

ZYXEL Customer Premises equipment.

PRODUCT

Following are the Mobilink product •

• Jazz One

• Jazz Budget

• Jazz Ladies First

• Jazz Easy

• Jazz Octane

• Mobilink Indigo

• Mobilink PCO

BCG GROWTH-SHARE MATRIX

Companies that are large enough to be organized into strategic business units face the challenge of allocating resources among those units. In the early 1970's the Boston Consulting Group developed a model for managing a portfolio of different business units. The BCG growth-share matrix displays the various business units on a graph of the market growth rate vs. market share relative to competitors.

CLASSIFICATION OF SBUS ACCORDING TO GROWTH-SHARE MATRIX

Mobilink classifies it SBUs as followings

Cash Cow

• Jazz Ladies First• Mobilink Indigo• Jazz Budget

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These packages are low growth, high share products. These established and successful SBUs need less investment to hold their market share. They produce a lot of cash to support the other SBUs that need investment.

Star

• JazzOneThis package is a high growth, high share product. There is need to invest more for its rapid growth.

Question Mark

• Jazz Easy • Mobilink PCO

These packages are low share in high growth markets. They require a lot of cash to hold their share. Management needs to think hard about question marks it should try to build into stars or should be phased out.

Dog

• Jazz Octane

It is low growth, low share product. It may generate enough cash to maintain itself but do not promise to be large source of cash.

PRICING STRATEGY OF MOBILINK:

Mobilink was offering Jazz connection for about 3000 rupees 5 years

ago. Its market oriented statement is “Aur Sunao” But through the

passage of time now Mobilink is offering Jazz connections for about 100

rupees. In 2002 Ufone which is one of the leading competitor of Jazz

introduced its prepay connection for about 2500 rupees. In 2005

Telenor came into existence in Pakistani market and offered its

connections for about 500 rupees. Then in 2005 Warid also entered the

market offering its connections for 250 rupees. In this way price war

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started between these telecom brands in the market. Previously it was

Jazz’s oligopoly as they offered their prices. In 2005 Jazz offered a

Cellphone plus connection and prepaid card implementing a product-

bundle pricing strategy for creating more attention and attraction. The

major shift in the pricing strategy came in when they started

30.second operations using the promotional pricing strategy. In the

early days Jazz was offering its sim-cards for a high-price using captive-

product pricing strategy as its SIM-card is a main product that must be

used along with the cell phone. Initially Jazz’s call rates and SMS

charges were also reduced using discount and allowance strategy and

initially directing towards promotional strategy as the competition

between cellular brands in the market grew faster. Recently Jazz

introduced its offerings of 0.99 per minute call rates in their “happy

hour package” which represents their operations with the promotional

as well as psychological pricing of their services. Through its happy

hour package they are also operating with promotional strategy as

they are engaged in continuous promotion through their offerings.

INDUSTRY REVIEWS

In the era of globalization and information society, the fundamental

role of telecommunication technologies cannot be underestimated.

Although tremendous growth has taken place in the Pakistan telecom

sector but most of it can be attributed to the cellular growth. Fixed line

is still awaiting a takeoff. Similarly Value Added Services have grown

but are still a drop in the bucket. Now that the competition has been

introduced in the telecom sector some very positive impact have been

observed on the growth of the sector in a short span of time which is

expected to continue to grow for at least next five years if the daring

investors influx continue as in the last 3 years. Our Industry already

has LL (Local Loop), WLL (Wireless Local Loop), LDI (Long distance and

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International), and ISP (Internet Service Provider) players and WiMax;

3G cellular systems are expected be a part of this Industry soon.

The Pakistan market has reached 100 million subscribers landmark

with cellular mobile tele density of over 60% (PTA press release Sep

2010).The growth slowed down in 2009 but has picked up again

gradually. At 2006 year end the total subscribers were 48.2 million. In

June 2007 the total mobile users reached over 63 million. Based on

numbers published at PTA website for 2007, the total number of

subscribers (technically it is the number of SIMs issued) was 76.6

million, a teledensity of nearly 49%. In 2007 the average growth rate

was about 2.5 million new subscribers each month! After second half of

2007 it seemed as if the growth had slowed down but overall it was

fine. One remarkable achievement was by Zong (formerly Paketl)

which launched very successful campaigns towards 2007 end

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completed rebrand launch in April of 2008. Here’s a brief description of

the top mobile companies in Pakistan. At the top is Mobilink, the

Pakistani unit of Egypt-based telecom company Orascom. It has been

operating in Pakistan since 1994. Subscriber share is 31 % at the end

of Oct 2010. Ufone, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pakistan

Telecommunication Co. Ltd (PTCL), is now under the control of Etisalat

group of UAE. It has 20% of subscriber share and added the most lines

(2.4 million) from 2006-07. Warid, owned by the Abu Dhabi group of

the United Arab Emirates and sister of Wateen group is number 4 with

17.0% market of subscribers. Recently it sold 30% share to SingTel.

Norway’s Telenor, a recent entrant with about a billion US dollar

investment in Pakistan has been doing well, based on its recent

earning report. It has about 24% of the market share. Telenor stock is

listed in the Oslo stock market (TEL) and in US (TELNY.PK). CMPak

(Zong brand), formerly Paktel, was the latest target of foreign

acquisition. After it got acquired by China Mobile it was rebranded as

Zong and launched one of the most successful and aggressive

campaigns. Within a matter of few months, Zong has achieved a 8 %

market share.

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CONSUMER ANALYSIS

The Pakistani mobile users are more price-conscious but in cellular

sector they also don’t compromise on the quality of voice. So, By

taking the advantage of this consciousness of the users mobile

operators re enhancing product offering in the form of low rate

packages and network expansion by installing boaster.

Mobile sector comes under verity seeking buying behavior by the

buyer because it occurs under the conditions of low consumer

involvement and significant brand difference. In this market, consumer

has low involvement they perceive the brand benefits on the basis

price, voice quality and coverage. The reason for this is that their

ultimate objective is to communicate to other at for off place.

Buying is initiated by “communication purpose”. Everybody can enter

in to buying process by need of communication. In the regard of this

communication media vehicles play an important role in getting their

service preferred by the users. These days there is a rush of packages

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out in the market from the mobile service providers, targeting different

market segments and offering all kinds of discounts depending on who

you call or when you call. Off-peak timings have always been used by

service providers to create interest and to lure customers. So,

customer seeks indifference among services provided by these cellular

operators and switch according to their desire. Factors that influencing

on customer switch age to other operator of mobile network are,

Price: Users use services of the operator to communication so on of

the factor influencing the customer switch age is price. A person in this

segment seeks the prices most important factor and operator of

service are also offering verity of packages to make the customer

attract. Where the price of any product is low people change their

taste and divert towards that low price product.

Quality: After the price people prefer quality of voice second because

they are paying for the voice if the voice is not clear to them which

they are paying for they defiantly they switch to other operators.

Coverage: After the quality of voice second available factor for

customer switch age is coverage. Users perceive that the operator’s

services are available to them where they visit. If they find signal

problem they may switch to more coverage operator in the sectors

Promotion: With promoting services that has factor too for consumer

switch age. Fierce promotion leads an image in the mind of the

consumers that company offers many servers and “a customer focus

company”.

SEGMENTATION & TARGET MARKET

Segment one: Corporate cluster

• SMEs cluster Business class segment

• Professional cluster

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Segment 2: Domestic users cluster

• Consumer class segment

• Youngster cluster

Pakistan currently has one of the largest allies of young people in its

history, with approximately 25 million people between the ages of 15

and 24. Target market group of cellular sector ranges from 15 to 64

percent which according to demographic profile of Pakistan consist of

56.9% (male 48,214,298; female 46,062,933) of total population. As in

the Buying behavior we have studied that Female and male both

contribute into making decision for the purchasing of the brand. So the

both genders would be in target market.

In spite of this professionals are also Mobilink target audience. The

Employment Status categorizes majority (45%) as employees followed

by own account workers (42%).

About one in ten workers (11%) are reported as unpaid family workers

and one & a half percent as employers. As far changes in the

comparative periods, unpaid family workers fall by some fractions,

employees indicate some increase while own account workers and

employers remain on the same level. In the buying and sales of

Mobilink brand also depends on these customers too. Along with the

rise of urban consumerism, global corporate such as Unilever, P & G,

GlaxoSmithline and many small & medium enterprise and local

national companies emerges both manufacture and sell their products

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in Pakistan. In manufacturing and natural resources, Shell and BP are

present in addition to the Pakistani state oil company. Honda, Nissan

and Suzuki are among international automotive manufacturers with

plants in Pakistan. Mobilink fulfill needs of these local MNC’s local

national and SME’s firms by providing them special service package

Brand Inventory

COMPETITOR’S ANALYSIS

COMPETITIVE COMPARISON MATRIX

Player Positioning Technol

ogy

Product and

Services

Owner

Mobilink Plays upon as market leaderFocuses on quality and coverage.

GSMGPRSEDGEGSM-900/1800

Reduce its tariffs due to immense competition on rateData products (blackberry andUSB DSL modem)

Orascom

Ufone Attractive brandclaiming to be a trend setter in the industry.Cheap rates andmedium quality.“Its all about U”

GSMGPRSEDGEGSM-900/1800

Reduce rates and offers attractive packagesFunny promotional ads focusing general attention.Data products (blackberry andUSB DSL modem)

Etisalat

Telenor Has focused onstrong networkdeployment “The smart call”Claming strongQuality&

coverage

GSMGPRSEDGEGSM-900/1800

Reduce rates with attractive on net call packagesData products (blackberry)Abstract and party promotionwith renowned personalities.

TelenorASA

Warid Perceive as good quality but rates

GSMGPRS

Enhanced and diversified Value

AbuDhabi

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are high as compared toothercompetitor

s

GSM-900/1800

added services portfolioImportant Value added services portfolio

Zong Has focused onstrong networkdeployment

GSMGPRSGSM-900/1800

Youth oriented VAS

portfolio

Free calls on Closed

user group

ChinaMobile

PLAYERS POSITIONING TECHNOLOGY PRODUCT & SERVICES OWNER

SWOT ANALYSIS OF MOBILINK

Strengths• Market leader

• Strong Brand Equity

• Wide network coverage

• International brand

• Network capacity (Having modern network capabilities in respect of infrastructure)

Weaknesses• High prices

• Customer servicing problem due to large customer base

• Foreign brand

Opportunities• Huge market size.• 3G technologies • Removal of international trade barriers.• Over 60 percent population in rural areas still underserved pent

up demand by aggressive network expansion. • Multiple SIM Mobilink being used as secondary connection

opportunity to stimulate the growth by improving network coverage

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• Bring innovation and VAS and data services to increase revenue• Market Growth and industry expansion

Threats• Recession in economy.• Rapid change in consumer demand.• Inconsistent and adhoc decisions from regulatory authorities.• Political Instability, Security issues.• Adverse shifts in trade policies of government.• High taxation rate of activation tax is causing a slowdown in

consumer growth especially all in rural areas. • Price competition • Larger competitors network coverage • Strong advertisement and media presence of competitors • Entrance of new competitors like Zong. • Presence and the acceptability of competitor brand like Telenor

and Ufone

COMPETITORS SWOT MATRIX

Strengths:• Leveraging brand equity from international corporate “Abu Dhabi

Group”• Having modern network capabilities in respect of infrastructure.• Financial strength of share holder and their telecom expertise

‘Warid international”• Large Post paid based generating high ARPU• State of the art IP based contact center and leading data center• It has technical partnering involving “SingTel”, “Nokia” and

“Wateen”.Weaknesses:

• Need to expand network coverage.• Need to increase brand awareness and improved market

positioning• Lack of proactive churn management and stimulate programs to

address inactive subscriber

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• Low promotional packages activities• The product line is too narrow.

Strengths:• Subsidiary of PTCL.• Stream line benefit.• Knowledge about country culture.• Experience Variety of• Value Added Service• Broad market coverage.

Weaknesses:• Stagnant Profitability• Low market share as compare to competitor (Mobilink).• Overly Dependent on PTCL

Strengths:

• Superior infrastructure & technology in PAKISTAN• Have a very strong financial.• They have the ability and resources to hire skilled engineers.• Large number of Subscriber

Weaknesses:

• Low market share as compare to competitor (mobilink)• Limited coverage due to newly introduce in the market• Signal problem due to limited network

Strengths:

• World biggest network• A product of China Mobile Company.

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• Leverage financial resource from CMC• Experienced administration

Weaknesses:• Low market share as compare to competitor• They are unable to improve the network means that they are not

using their resources.• There is the diversion of customers towards other brands due to

connectivity issue

BRAND INVENTORY

BRAND ELEMENTS:

Brand elements consist of brand name, color, Urls, symbols slogans, sound and jingles through which one brand is differentiated from other brands.

Brand Name: Mobilink

Urls : http://www.mobilinkgsm.com

Logos and Symbols:

Slogans: Apna Hai

Colors:Purple and Whitish Purple

CORE BRAND VALUE

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Quality:

Mobilink Telecom has an uncompromising commitment to quality in this regard. that is

why they spare no efforts in pursuing the best in network‚ services‚ product offerings.

Innovation:

For years‚ people complained of the same things on mobiles. At coverage‚ they are

constantly look to make the communication experience different by doing things in a

better way. They already introduced 3G supportable system for being see the need of this

in the near future. For seeing the growing trend of SMS usage Mobilink has introduces

SMSC-less messaging infrastructure that controls the traffic of SMS and makes sure the

delivery of messages without involving pending issues.

Customer-Friendliness:

They enjoy working and succeeding together by building close relationships. While they

have a sense of purpose in their operations‚ they also have a strong culture that

demonstrates to customers that “Reshaping communciation”. Mobilink considers the

needs of customers first.

Coverage:Mobilink has widest network coverage all over Pakistan. One can find

the network if they go to northern areas or remote city of Pakistan

MARKETING PROGRAM

Mobilink message are communicated through using all channels of media including building an identity for the corporation and brand, advertising campaigns, sponsorships, media relations (newspaper coverage, press releases, press conference before launching etc), point of sale material preparation (brochures, tariffs, flyers etc), website. Messagedelivered on electronic media through jingle and using celebrity endorsement. First everadd that comes in the electronic media is symbolize with rain season that bring hope andrefreshment and new joy. Now a day it bran message come man through ball to boys whoare playing Cricket symbolize that Mobilink is customer oriented and helping the customer in even small mattes.

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Media:

Mobilink has always tried to deliver truthful and interesting advertising to its viewers. Through these ads they are trying to convey the message that Mobilink is solely meant for the people’s benefit and convenience. They advertise through Channels like Geo Super Geo, hum TV and through News channels, PTV, ARY and, News 1 TV, Dunya News etc.

Print media:

Mobilink has designed attractive brochures for their customers. These brochures contain all the necessary information about their package deals and tariffs. Hence, making it easier for the people to know about the general prices and services offered.

Sponsorship:

Mobilink advertise through sponsorship in Golf matches, Mobilink agreement with PCB and Mobilink and Citi card launch. Also it got sponsorship with Pizza Hut

Events:

Jazz Rock Lahore

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Philanthropy Activities

Mobilink reaches 1000 families of IDPS

BRAND PORTFOLIO ANALYSIS

BRAND ASSOCIATIONS:

These are the desired associations which Mobilink wants to create in the mind ofcustomers.

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Mobilink Orascom Telecom

Company

Mobilink

Indingo Mobilink Jazz Mobilink Infinity

Jazz One Jazz Budget Jazz Ladies First Jazz Easy

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• Voice Quality

• Premium Brand

• Network Coverage

• Customer Oriented Services

• Brand slogan

CONSUMER PERCEPTUAL ANALYSIS

Mobilink telecom wanted to produce perception in the mind of

customer as premium brand with high quality service. The perception

map gives their intended perception they want to set in the mind of

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Brand Slogan

Network

Coverage

Premium

Brand

Customer

Oriented

Service

MOBILINK

Voice Quality

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customer and which they have somewhat successful through their

marketing programs.

Low Price

High Quality

Low Quality

High Price

BRAND POSITIONING

Mobilink is providing voice and data communications services through

its state of the art GSM, EDGE and GPRS network with best voice

quality and coverage along with most economical billing packages for

its subscribers. Mobilink will provide them high quality and stylish

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products to improve their life style and make their life easy and

beautiful.

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