Report

Topic – PUBLIC RELATION (with

emphasis on Vodafone)

Submitted to: Ms Anuja Mathur

Submitted By:
Kartik (4468)
Rohit (4467)
Ravi (4469)
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

With profound respect and gratitude, we take the

opportunity to convey our thanks to our Project Guide Prof,
Anuja Mathur for her able guidance, valuable opinions and
healthy criticism, which have gone a long way in enabling us
to complete this project successfully. In spite of being
occupied with other assignments, she has been kind enough
to guide and advice us at all stages.

We wish to express our gratitude to Mr. Rohit Kumar

(Employee, Vodafone, Basant lok) and other staff members
for their support and providing us information.

Finally, we thank our institute for its support and the

provisions it has extended to us during the course of our
project.
 Vodafone
Introduction to the Company:

Vodafone Essar in India is a subsidiary of Vodafone Group

Plc and commenced operations in 1994 when its predecessor
Hutchison Telecom acquired the cellular license for Mumbai.
Vodafone Essar now has operations in 16 circles covering
86% of India’s mobile customer base, with over 34.1 million
customers*.

Over the years, Vodafone Essar, under the Hutch brand, has
been named the 'Most Respected Telecom Company', the
'Best Mobile Service in the country' and the 'Most Creative
and Most Effective Advertiser of the Year'. Vodafone is the
world's leading international mobile communications
company. It now has operations in 25 countries across 5
continents and 40 partner networks with over 200 million
customers worldwide. Vodafone has partnered with the
Essar Group as its principal joint venture partner for the
Indian market.
The Essar Group is a diversified business corporation with
interests spanning the manufacturing and service sectors
like Steel, Energy, Power, Communications, Shipping &
Logistics and Construction. The Group has an asset base of
over Rs.400 billion (US$ 10 billion) and employs over 20,000
people.

Introduction to Vodafone India:

Vodafone, the world’s leading international mobile

communications company, has fully arrived in India. The
Vodafone brand was launched in India on 21st September,
2007.

The popular and endearing brand, Hutch, was transitioned to

Vodafone across India. That marked a significant chapter in
the evolution of Vodafone as a dynamic and ever-growing
brand. The brand was unveiled nationally through a high
profile campaign covering all important media.

Vodafone, the world’s leading mobile telecommunication

company, had completed the acquisition of Hutchison Essar
in May 2007 and the company was formally renamed
Vodafone Essar in July 2007. The Vodafone mission is to be
the communications leader in an increasingly connected
world – enriching customers’ lives, helping individuals,
businesses and communities be more connected by
delivering their total communication needs.

Vodafone's logo is a true representation of that belief - The

start of a new conversation, a trigger, a catalyst, a mark of
true pioneering.

Objectives and Mission of the PR dept:

The main objective of the PR dept is to create a positive
image of Vodafone in the minds of its customers. For the
launches of any new services or mobile phones intense PR is
their objective. The Vodafone mission is to be the
communications leader in an increasingly connected world –
enriching customers’ lives, helping individuals, businesses
and communities be more connected by delivering their total
communication needs. The next objective of Vodafone is to
cover as much market as possible on the basis of the service
that they provide. Their next objective is that their
customers benefit from a complete Vodafone experience in
and out of their homes and offices. Their main aim and
mission is to give their customers a consistent experience.

While entering India their main objective and mission was to

create a visibility of their company and promote it in a very
positive way by promoting the global image of Vodafone.
The other objective was to appear as a leader.
Hierarchy:
The PR dept in Mumbai has been started only a month back
and it only has 1 employee i.e the PR Head

CEO
Mr. Arun Sarin

Central Unit for

India

Outside Agency PR Head

Genesis Mumbai

Factors considered while formulating PR strategies:

One of the factors in formulating the PR strategies is that

whenever a mention of the telecom industry is made,
positive articles of Vodafone has to be made. Their main aim
is to promote the brand Vodafone and its services. They
also keep in mind that the right medium of communication is
used to reach the target public, there target being each and
every person right from a milkman to high-profile people.
They also keep in mind that they maintain good relations
with the media so that media can help them out when they
are in need of them.
Budget:

There is a pre-determined budget. This budget is devised by

the central unit of India and is then passed down to various
circles, Mumbai being one of them. PR head needs to
formulate all the strategies along with the outside agency i.e
Genesis which sits in the corporate office only. The major
expense of the PR department is the fees that they pay to
the outside agency.

PR strategies used by Vodafone as a whole:

Advertisements: Vodafone believes in advertising through
media like television and press as people retain those things
that they view visually. Heavy mounts of money is spent on
visual advertisements.

Corporate Advertising: Vodafone also undertakes

corporate advertising. The PR department informs the
spokesperson Mr. Navin Chopra which details he can reveal
and which he shouldn’t reveal. He has to be very polite while
handling the media. They give everything in writing to the
media. The PR department also informs Mr. Navin about how
to dodge certain questions with trick and humours so as to
maintain the confidentiality of certain important issues like
the future plans of the company.

Hoardings: Vodafone uses hoardings also in order to

promote their company and the new services or tariffs plans
that they are coming up with. This strategy helps in making
their target audience aware of their upcoming plans.

Press Releases: Vodafone in USA has a separate press

office that issues all the Press Release. They press officer
makes the entire press release and then it’s confirmed by
the spokesperson of Vodafone USA and is then released.
There they believe Press Releases help in order to maintain
very good relations with the media and it also helps them to
be in the eye of the audience. It had also held and India
Analyst and Investor Day in London to talk about its
operations in India. It has issued a press release on it on
10th December, 2007.

Press Conference: Vodafone uses press conferences as a

very powerful tool in handling the media and seeking
consumer attention. They hold press conferences at the
launch of new services or products of any kind. They also
hold press conferences when they are getting into a
business deal for some company. They also hold press
conferences for announcing half-yearly results or financial
reports of the company.

Media Interviews: Vodafone undertakes media interviews

with proper planning. It is sometimes initiated by media
while most of the time it is by Vodafone. It is handled very
carefully specially during crisis or when a new service is
launched and is this used as a very good platform for
promotion, building image and even control crisis.

Social Activities: Vodafone undertakes social activities on a

huge scale. The Vodafone Group Foundation is committed to
providing assistance in the area of disaster response. Its
main aim is to develop partnerships which enhance long
term disaster response and preparedness activity, working
with organizations such as the United Nations Foundation,
Oxfam and MapAction. It also seeks wherever possible to
make a direct contribution in response to critical
humanitarian crises.

The Safaricom Foundation and The Vodafone Group

Foundation, together donate KShs 15,000,000 towards
humanitarian relief in Kenya.
Oxfam: VGF is a founding sponsor of the Oxfam 365
programme, an initiative aimed at funding a global rapid
response team of aid workers and maintaining the UK’s
biggest warehouse with a stockpile of emergency supplies.

UN Foundations: The UN Foundation-Vodafone Group

Foundation alliance strives to be the leading public-private
partnership using strategic technology programmes to
strengthen the UN’s humanitarian efforts worldwide.

MapAction: VGF is supporting MapAction’s humanitarian aid

effort in delivering situation maps updated hour-by-hour in
the field, that enable aid agencies to do their job of
delivering assistance.
Global Focus: World of Difference: World of Difference
(WoD) is an innovative charitable volunteering initiative
currently being delivered across the international network of
Vodafone Foundations.

WoD is based around the concept that individuals and

community organisations should identify what they feel
passionate about and then be provided with the resources to
make changes happen.

WoD creates the opportunity for individuals to work for one

year for a charitable partner organization, with salary and
related support provided. The winners are chosen on merit
through a public competition. To date, 52 individual winners
have participated or are currently participating.

Based on a model which was initially developed by the

Vodafone New Zealand Foundation in 2002, WoD
programmes have also been successfully launched by the
Vodafone Australia Foundation, the Vodafone Netherlands
Foundation and the Vodafone Ireland Foundation.
There are some slight variations in programme
implementation from country to country, but the basic
format of the WoD model – support for an individual to work
for one year in a cutting-edge charitable organization to
achieve pre-agreed outcomes – is the same in each
foundation.

Sponsorships: Vodafone sponsors many events. Some of

them are:

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: Vodafone had a contract

with the Mercedes. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes has
extended Lewis Hamilton’s contract with the team for a
further five years. The new agreement, which starts for
2008, will run up to and including the 2012 season.

UEFA Champions League: Vodafone is in its second

season as Official Partner and Official Mobile network of
the UEFA Champions League, the world's largest annual
football competition.
Vodafone is delighted to be at the forefront of Europe’s
premier club competition. After the successes of last
season's UEFA Champions League sponsorship and the
agreements announced in April to sponsor the UEFA Cup
Final and UEFA Super Cup, Vodafone is looking forward to
strengthening its position as a brand passionate about the
beautiful game.

It has also come up with Vodafone Stadium of Fans wherein

fans can make teams and play for themselves.

England Cricket Team: Vodafone can’t get enough of the

England Cricket Team – 11 years on and their support is still
going strong as the principal partner of the Team. And it’s
not just about a logo on a shirt. This partnership gives
employees and lucky customers unbelievable access to get
up close and personal with the Team.

As you can imagine, the life of a cricketer means the team

are on the road 10 out of 12 months of the year so a
BlackBerry is a must have. The Team use their handsets to
email friends & family, surf the net, listen to music and send
texts which keep them up to speed no matter where they
are in the world.

Internal PR: Vodafone operates a range of all-employee

share plans to encourage widespread employee share
ownership throughout the company. Vodafone won a Global
Equity Organization award for best share plan
communications in 2006 for the second year running.

They also operate a number of pension plans which vary

according to the conditions and practices in the countries
concerned. These are provided through defined benefit and
defined contribution arrangements. Defined benefit schemes
provide benefits based on the employees’ length of
pensionable service and their final pensionable salary or
other criteria. Defined contribution schemes offer employees
individual funds that are converted into benefits at the time
of retirement. They also involve them in the decisions of the
company. They conduct training programs also for the
benefit of the employees and for better experience. They
also promote leadership on a large scale. This is done in
order to maintain very good relations with the employees of
the organization.
PR strategies of Vodafone India:

Press Releases: Vodafone India doesn’t have a separate

press office to issue all the Press Releases. The PR Head
himself makes the entire press release and then it’s
confirmed by the spokesperson of Vodafone India i.e Navin
Chopra and is then released. There they believe Press
Releases help in order to maintain very good relations with
the media and it also helps them to be in the eye of the
audience.

Press Conferences: Vodafone uses press conferences as a

very powerful tool in handling the media and seeking
consumer attention. They hold press conferences at the
launch of new services or products of any kind. They also
use press conferences as a tool in order to control crisis.

Media Interviews: Vodafone undertakes media interviews

with proper planning. It is sometimes initiated by media
while most of the time it is by Vodafone. It is handled very
carefully specially during crisis or when a new service is
launched and is this used as a very good platform for
promotion, building image and even control crisis.
Hoardings and Advertisements: Vodafone uses
advertisements as a powerful tool. The hoardings are placed
in every corner of a city. It helps in seeking immediate
attention of the consumers.

Vodafone also uses advertisements. It has it corporate news

in the CAT 1 papers like Economic Times, Times of India,
Hindustan Times and many others. It also ahs its news in
CAT 2 papers including all the regional language papers. It
also advertises on television and radio.

They also have running ads on Star India about the news
updates or new services or new tariff plans. Vodafone has
entered into a Rebranding Campaign with Star India in order
to promote the Essar Brand.

Newsletter: Vodafone India issues house journals for its

employees named Baatchit. They believe this helps in
maintaining good relations with them. It is issued by the HR
Head.
Agency: The last PR strategy that they use is that they
have hired an agency that goes to the Vodafone store with
genuine problems. Then they report to the top management
of the company stating how the executives at the store
responded to their queries and how did they behave with
them. This helps the company in making the decisions
regarding those executives at the stores. This strategy has
helped them a lot in making Vodafone stores a better place
so that their customers get even better service.

Successful Strategies:
Vodafone has had many successful strategies. One of them
is the success of Vodafone in India. Vodafone for the Indian
masses was a completely new brand name. Therefore,
Vodafone had to see that the positive image of Vodafone is
built up in the minds of the people.

In order to promote the brand Vodafone in India, a Central

PR team was set up in India. They handled all the promotion
activities. They held many press conferences and issued
press releases. They also arranged for media interviews.
They released many positive articles about the Vodafone
company in all the CAT 1 papers.
Vodafone as been successful in retaining the position of
Hutchison Essar and infact make this telecom company
much more successful. Today Vodafone has 33 lakh
customers. It’s adding 2 lac customers every month.

Crisis:
It had faced a huge crisis during bomb blasts and floods.
There was no network at all. The cell sides were damaged in
water. They had the Motorola machine. It couldn’t take the
heavy load of calls. That is why it became slow. There were
no generators so the whole system stopped functioning
because the supply of electricity was cut off.

This was a very delicate situation. The company and the PR

dept dint lose their cool. They were calm and were cautious
and quick in taking steps. At that time they immediately
flashed news on all the news channels that people shouldn’t
take more time to talk as it was blocking the call lines. The
PR dept also informed all its employees not to use their
mobile phones so that that much load is reduced. They also
held an immediate press conference in order to explain what
was going on and why was there no network.
As a result of this crisis, they immediately took steps to
evaluate what went wrong. They immediately planted
generators everywhere. They started using fibre optic
cables. They immediately changed their Motorola machine
and replaced with one of a more superior quality. After this
incident they also started with a Disaster Management Cell
in the company.