Despite the meltdown and the tariff war that broke out in the telecom sector, Bharti Airtel, the country?s leading integrated telecom services provider, ended up as the best brand of 2009.

Did you know, in 2009 Bharti Airtel was positioned as the largest wireless operator in the country, the biggest operator in NLD, ILD and VSAT business, the leading private integrated telecom company and the top private fixed-line operator. Airtel is also the largest telecom company listed on the bourses.

These are, however, recognitions given to the company as part and parcel to the effort that went in creating awareness of the brand across the country. The real hero was the marketing and branding strategy that worked in favour of the company and helped it build the brand and convert it into a household name, very much like Colgate and Maggi.

In 2009, Airtel aired ad campaigns that were close to the heart and convincing enough for viewers to make them accept the brand wholeheartedly. The commercial, with Vidya Balan and R Madhavan, the Bollywood actors, performing as a couple, gave the much needed emotional touch and connected well with the audience. The first of the ads shows Madhavan travelling out of town, returning to an empty hotel room, and calling Balan again and again, taking advantage of Airtel?s low STD rates. In another, husband Madhavan returning home is gently quizzed by his wife whether he has ?sent money to papa?. And in the third, Balan does a check list of bills to be paid while on a train, on which Madhavan clicks on his mobile to make the payment. The muted nature of the ads and the ?real? conversations make these TVCs stand out. Surprisingly, for Madhavan who is primarily a South India based actor, the campaign saw him connect with audiences across India and bring the brand closer to them.

In July 2009, Airtel launched the ?Special 5? ad campaign that tried to build real life character. In the 15-second teaser the advertisement shows a young girl, named Anna, identifying her five friends. The concept was to be in touch with people (as many as five) at all times at discounted rates. The ad aired gave out a clear message about the discounted cost, local calls 20 paise and STD calls at 50 paise. The ad was believed to be in response to the much-hyped ad-campaign by rival brand Vodafone Essar?s Zoozoo campaign. Industry insiders had said the launch of the advertisement was brought forward by at least two months to counter the growing clout of Vodafone. As per the original plan, the ?Special 5? campaign was supposed to be launched during the Champions Trophy in late September 2009.

Keeping the festive and holiday season in mind, Airtel launched the ?happy holiday? ad for roaming in October 2009. In the commercial, a school boy gives his dad?s phone number to all his friends and wishes them a happy holiday before going for a trip. The ad was used to give out the message that Airtel had slashed its roaming charges to 60 paise per minute for both incoming and outgoing.

In order to announce its entrance into direct-to-home, the company had launched the ?Butterfly ad? with Bollywood actors, Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan. The ad connected well with the youth.

Apart for television commercials, Airtel sponsored events such as ?Delhi Half Marathon? that was held on November 1, 2009. With a prize money of $2,10,000, the event promoted the values of health and fitness and also encourages people to give for the less privileged. Shah Rukh Khan was aptly used to promote the event.

Down south, in Kochi, Airtel in collaboration with Kochi Corporation had organised Airtel Kochi Mini Marathon on December 20, 2009, with the theme ?Clean City Green City?.

Meanwhile in Bangalore, Airtel Bengaluru Habba 2009, in association with Kingfisher, was orgainsed from December 11 to 20, 2009. Venkatesh V, CEO-mobile services, Bharti Airtel Ltd, Karnataka Circle, said, ?The event has enhanced the brand?s association with the state.?

To connect with online users, Airtel launched an ad campaign on Twitter. The firm signed an agreement with Twitter allowing over 110 Airtel customers to send and receive SMS tweets. With this, Airtel has left no stones unturned to connect with people of all walks of life.

Simultaneously, Airtel has penetrated all verticals to offer better service with their primary focus being on product innovation. In a market of nearly 500 million mobile subscribers, Airtel continues to be the market leader with over 110 million users, maintaining a market share of about 25%. As its logo suggested, the brand is expressing itself.