Monday, August 24, 2009

Zer077 Only looks. No more flavour. Part 2 : some flavour

"....the Sri Lankan armed forces are fighting pitched battles in the war ravaged lands occupied by terrorists in a bid to eliminate the enemy, hoping to see an end to the bloody conflict that has claimed thousands of lives...."

So thats the subject matter thats hitting headlines these days in prime time news across all local channels. Little do we realize that another battle continues to rage in the telecommunication platform, where each operator is throwing all its reserve energy just to see the light of the day, while some are left gasping for oxygen strangled in the intoxication caused with the emissions of CO2 in the battle field.

Airtel had a terrific entry to the arena, with a splendid burst campaign that touched across all media. The commercial proved to be an astonishing success with crowds flocking in numbers to get their hands on the sim, while keeping its product in suspense. Spending a whooping 3millionUSD for the burst, reflected that Airtel meant serious business, and the masses had little chance to avoid the noise. 100% awareness was the prime objective, and no doubt it was achieved.

Dialog fired all what it had in its ammunition, just to end up being copper and proved futile to the Airtel juggernaut. The counter campaigns displayed sheer desperation and showed obvious signs of loosing steam with negative financial figures in its financial performance, left severely bleeding in a street battle . Dialog apparently was the only operator who was bold and confident enough to take the bull by its horns, while others were playing the waiting game.

Sangakkara's "Simple Plan" seemed to have amused the audience in a big way, infact shocked audience about the switching of endorsing Hutch to Airtel. The campaign did carefully highlight the switching of his preference, but the public was not impressed. No brand ambassador in our times would have got such a severe bashing on his "simple plan" effect , which even resulted him portrayed nude in certain circulations.

Despite Airtel's big bang, the post experience seem to have been disastrous. Its becoming more obvious that Airtel is getting increasingly strangled for any air and left crying foul over other operator's actions. Little does Airtel realize that the Sri Lankan terrain is totally different to the Indian, where competition is matter of life and death for some. Consumers were left disappointed with the product offerings, that were way below any standard offered by the existing players.

Interestingly Tigo seem to have taken Airtel for a dizzy ride, openly bashing its weakness in coverage and value. The counter campaigns seem to taking a heavy toll Airtel, which is left to remain silent and be satisfied as operator no.5

Summary: Sri Lankans will be Sri Lankans. Price dont win battles.

Zer077 Only looks. No more flavour

The mobile industry in Sri Lanka witnessed some extraordinary feats by the mobile operators.

*The 1st honour would no doubt go to Dialog,in emerging as the last entrant to the market and zooming to be No.1 and continuing uptodate.

*Next would be Year 2007 again Dialog extending its domination and spreading its wings to multiple businesses threatening the other existing service providers; friends becoming enemies and enemies becoming friends.

*Year 2007 saw the re-emergence of Celltell as Tigo with a full bang and surprised all. The energy and vibrance continues till today where its seen as one of the most successful rebranding exercise Sri Lanka has seen.

*Year 2008 saw the Powerful Giant Dialog slowly showing its creaks with its market share and profitability dwindling and some its best foot soldiers migrating to enemy terrain.

*Year 2008 also the outburst of Mobitel, new technology, new products; taking Dialog headon and challenging the pole position with cut throat competition, backed by pro-government sentiments.

*Year 2008 will also be remembered for the great anticipation of Airtel's launch which triggered intense competition among the existing Dialog, Mobitel , Tigo and Hutch


2009 will be history again with answers for these:
Will the mobile industry see Airtel loose its ground trying to enter the local arena?as seen so far..
Will Dialog reinforce and protect territory to continue domination?
Will Airtel kill its current competitors and rise among the numbers?
Will Hutch survive with its current firepower?

Lets keep our hands crossed and see whose ammunition causes more damage....