To make Airtel brand global Bharti Airtel joined hands with Manchester United for a five year exclusive agreement”
“This partnership is intended to delight Airtel customers across India, Sri Lanka and Seychelles by offering them a variety of benefits”
The above mentioned lines are self explainatory towards the value that airtel adds to its customers. The benefits specified for the customers are:-
Airtel customers will have access to rich and exclusive Manchester United content on their mobiles. Nominated Airtel customers to participate in Manchester United Soccer Schools training session. A once in a lifetime opportunity for Airtel’s guests to travel with the Manchester United first team during their way to UEFA Champions League matches and also to watch matches at Old Trafford.
“We are very excited to partner with Manchester United, a powerful global brand with huge following across the world and in India.” said Sanjay Kapoor, Deputy CEO, Bharti Airtel. He added “Football is definitely seeing a growing interest amongst the young population in India. Therefore, we are making a pioneering effort to bring to them rich football content on their mobiles, a fantastic opportunity to be part of the world’s leading football club through participation in soccer schools, and also an opportunity to watch football matches across Europe.”
Manchester United Club CEO David Gill said: “Manchester United is delighted to announce the partnership with Bharti Airtel, India’s largest telecommunications company and one of Asia’s emerging global brands. This partnership demonstrates the enduring strength of the Club internationally. We are very proud to have Bharti Airtel as the first Indian company to partner with Manchester United Club. This major partnership will bring the action and the passion of Manchester United directly to the millions of fans of Manchester United across India and other Asian countries."
Key Highlights of the agreement
•Airtel will be able to bring for its customer rich exclusive content such as Video clips of Premiership matches and UEFA Champion’s League Highlights, Classic Goals and Games of Manchester United, Match Feeds & reports and editorial features. Also, downloads of Mobile Games, Ringtones, animations, and Wallpapers of popular Manchester United first team players such as Ronaldo, Rooney, Ferdinand.
•Airtel customers will be able to access the internationally popular Manchester United Mobile Portal where rich Mobile Products and content will be exclusively available for the Airtel customers.
•Airtel customers can also watch Manchester United Football matches at the Old Trafford Ground in the Premier League, FA Cup, Football League Cup, UEFA Champions League. A few lucky Airtel customers will also get an opportunity to travel with the Manchester United first team during their away UEFA Champions League matches.
•Football enthusiasts among Airtel customers will get an opportunity to train at one of the Manchester United Soccer Schools (MUSS). MUSS are currently run in Hong Kong, Seattle, Toronto and Dubai as well as Manchester and it enables people around the world to participate in soccer activities. These programmes take their lead from the coaching at the Manchester United Academy and First Team training sessions.
For details visit:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByXEFtrFN64
This agreement spark a new kind of marketing strategy and the strategy is “ make partners and use partner’s image to do your marketing”…
Question here is whether this strategy of Airtel will work in India as we all know that there is only one sport in India that joins us together and that is Cricket……..
Content provided by:-
Abhishek Jain
Mercatus Mantra
the strategy is indeed great! but with this TVC i wounder if core Man U fan would be motivated. It hardly strikes any passion which otherwise should have been done. It is a classic case of celebrity ruining a product. Man U is way bigger than SRK ( commercially)
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Tarang that this partnership with Manchester won't have much impact in India but try to look it from the global perspective, Airtel wants to make its brand global so that tomorrow when it enters into a new market the so called "Indian" image wont follow it because we all know a country specific brand name has its own advantages and repercussions and hence its strategy is not to attract more subscriber from India but to make Airtel Brand global, I mean try to imagine from a foreigner's perspective when Airtel will reach you to provide its services you won't Google its name but suddenly it will strike in your mind that ohh this is a brand who is working with Manchester united or this is the brand who's logo I have seen in recent F1 races, so this partnership is a long time investment in the brand image......
ReplyDeleteTruly agreed, as if Airtel kept on focusing on Indian perspective then it may be the reverse case as of Nokia Finland, i.e., it can be India Airtel.!!
ReplyDeleteWell in the case of airtel the partnership will put it up in the global facade, which company does not want this too happen. In the case of airtel the case of Nokia Finland may never happen because there are other brands too for which India is known for in the world like TATA. The partnership is both beneficial for not only the company but also the users as among the youth of today the football fever is there agreed though cricket is one of the most popular games. But if one looks around during the time of the football world cup one can see special screenings of the matches going around and even in the metros the culture of football has picked up tremendously. So there is nothing to loose
ReplyDeleteRightly said, but what about the special screenings at the time of IPL. It can help our country to value other sports too, hope something could have happened in hockey. The best thing for hockey is Chak De!!
ReplyDeleteI am completely agree with you that this strategy will be beneficial for Airtel in India but the main aim of this strategy is not to attract more subscriber in India or to make its presence felt but it is a move to take its brand global, this move specially essential for airtel when it is expanding its operations in East and for that they are doing this kind of partnerships......
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely a long term brand building investment and will achieve a lot of mileage in foreign markets wherever it enters but I don't buy Airtel's argument that it is a huge value addition for its Indian consumers because the company is known for pricing its services at a hefty premium and the mass budget conscious consumer will not go in for such highly priced video clips and wallpapers and neither for goodies and mobile portal services if they keep up their consistent pricing policy. As far as the chance of travelling and training with ManU team is concerned, the lucky user will just act like a banner of the Airtel.. and indistinguishable in the sea of red Old Trafford fans because Airtel's logo itself is red but the tactic still works because it gives a chance to the company to use such events for further promotional activities and advertisements.
ReplyDeleteoverall its a worthwhile investment but not all reasons acceptable the way they look like.