Chapter 1: Introduction

1. Origin of the Report

This report is a partial requirement of the analysis program of BBA curriculum at the Institute of Business Administration. Assigned by the institutional supervisor, this report is prepared for placement committee, based on the project assigned by Brand Development & Management department, Marketing Division of GrameenPhone Limited.

Mr. Shahriar Amin, deputy manager, marketing department, Grameen Phone Limited, assigned the author a project. The project was duly approved by Mr Ashad Uzzaman, Course lecturer World University of Bangladesh, Institute of Business Administration, The topic of the Basic Business Communication Report is –“Critical Analysis of the Consumer Profile and Communication Strategy of GrameenPhone: The Case of djuice”.

2. Background

Youth segment is largely untapped and untargeted by the current mobile operators of Bangladesh, which itself is a significant potential market (40% of population). If the appropriate communication tools are applied to attract the potential target group, then the transition from youth to higher age group (Established Consumer or Business Segments) can be attained, which will assist in total life cycle management of a significant subscriber base (loyalty).

Majority of the Youth segment tends to be more tech savvy, early users of new technology, high user of data services (SMS) and uses mobile phone as the primary mode of communication. GrameenPhone launched a youth brand on 14th of April 05 with its own identity and value proposition tailored to the youth segment’s mobile behavior, preferences and lifestyle to strengthen its position in the youth market through a strong and differentiated mobile and lifestyle offering.

3. Research Objectives

The primary target of djuice is youth who are open-minded and maintain urban lifestyle.

djuice must know the what message it wants to communicate its target group (TG). Based on this the study should try to find out:

Whether marketing communication of djuice has successfully communicated the right message to the target group

Specific Objectives • To identify the awareness-interest-preference-trial-loyalty level among target audience • To understand the Target group’s attitude towards the product, promotions, advertising & the brand itself • To find out if the primary TG understands the message that djuice wants to communicate? • To find out if they think djuice talk in their own language? • To understand if the communication of djuice is aligned to the brand djuice?

1.4 Scope of the Study

The TG of djuice are mainly those who have an urban lifestyle, all over Bangladesh. However, the research covers only Dhaka city.

The research is of a descriptive type but concrete conclusion cannot be taken as the sample is not a probability one. Few findings definitely will contribute to management’s decision making in marketing djuice in the metropolitan cities but in the most of the cases further research need to be conducted to reach to decisions.

5. Methodology

This is a descriptive research. All the secondary information is collected from GrameenPhone internal documentation and websites. For the primary source a non probability quota sampling is done.

The population of the study is all the students within age 13 to 30 residing in Dhaka.

The sampling frame, however, is little narrowed down. Eight institutes were chosen among different category: university (3), girls’ college (1), boy’s college (1), engineering university (1), co-ed high school (2).

123 respondents were interviewed from those major educational institutes. The number of the students in the selected institutes and the number of students interviewed are shown in the following Chart.

Quota sampling method is used. Eight educational institutes have been taken for the study purpose. The questionnaire is designed to assess the awareness-interest-preference-trial-loyalty level target group regarding djuice. Questions designed to find the answers to all the specific objectives.

6. Limitations

• The sample size was small and may not have been sufficient to depict a clear consumer profile of the target market • djuice is still a very new product in this country and hence a concrete perception of it has not yet been created. • The study has been centered within Dhaka City and hence the perception of people living outside the city is not represented. • All the people studied come from similar educational background, hence their perspective on certain issues may provide a biased view

Chapter 2: Industry Overview

2.1 Overview of Mobile Industry

Historically, the global telecommunications marketplace has enjoyed tremendous growth in terms of network size, number of subscribers, number of operators, and overall revenues. While this growth has been impressive, of real importance is what is going to happen to the telecommunications market in the near future, say the next five years.

The next five years will be a pivotal time for the telecommunications industry as the effects of global deregulation, the continued expansion of wireless services, and the further build out of developing countries combine to reshape the global marketplace. The build out of developing countries is critical if these countries are to increase teledensity and data capacity in order to join the 21st century.

The mobile phone history of Bangladesh can be analyzed to highlight three very distinctive market entry strategies. Citycell not very far back dominated as a pioneer with a premium positioning in the market. The product was positioned for the elites to be used as a privilege. GrameenPhone entered the market in 1997 with a clear strategy of bringing the phone to masses. Currently, it has the biggest customer base and the most extensive network. Aktel was the third entrant placed between GrameenPhone and Citycell. The brand appealed to the young professionals. During its brand launch, GrameenPhone was experiencing network congestion with over capacity. Aktel moved in with the positioning of offering stable network and access to uninterrupted service. AKTEL took the second position in the market. Lastly Sheba came with nothing unique to offer until the brand transformed into Banglalink.

GrameenPhone has constantly attempted to modify its product offerings to meet the need of its existing and potential customers. It was in response to a need for a product specifically tailored to meet the need of today’s youth, that djuice was introduced.

2.2 Major Market Players

GrameenPhone, majority owned by Norwary’s Telenor, launched its GSM network in 1997. It pioneered a much-admired micro-credit program enabling consumers, primarily women in rural areas, to acquire phones and establish local public call offices (PCOs). As significant, Grameem struck an exclusive deal with the state railways corporation for dark fiber, and quickly completed a nationwide high-speed footprint to connect its remote base stations. With approximately 6.5 million subscribers and a powerful commercial and physical network distribution capability, Grameen has become the dominant operator in the marketplace. Its network, however, is confined to GSM services. Early stage funding came from the International Finance Corporation, Asian Development Bank and Commonwealth Development Corporation; that debt is currently being restructured to commercial arrangements, enabling the firm to move beyond project finance covenants. Grameen became cash flow positive after its four fiscal year. ARPU for pre-paid customers is in $10-12 range; post-paid customers will full interconnection to the public network pay about $25 per month.

2.3 Competitive Scenario

Since it has hardly been two months that DJUICE has been launched it is not possible to get a market share specifically for DJUICE. However, DJUICE & Grameen has a combined market share of around 62%. Together DJUICE and Grameen has over 6.5 million subscribers of which over 1.2 million are subscribers of DJUICE.

Chapter 3: Company Profile

3.1 About GrameenPhone

GrameenPhone (GP) has been established to provide high-quality GSM cellular service at affordable prices. GrameenPhone has a dual purpose:

To receive an economic return on its investment

To contribute to the economic development of Bangladesh where telecommunications can play a critical role.

3.2 Historical Background

GrameenPhone was offered a cellular license in Bangladesh by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications on November 28, 1996. The Company launched its service on March 26, 1997, the Independence Day of Bangladesh.

In 1996, Bangladesh was preparing to auction off private cell phone licenses to four companies. So at the behest of Dr. Muhammad Yunus (Grameen Bank’s founder) but completely independent of Grameen Bank, a not-for-profit private company called Grameen Telecom was created. Grameen Telecom, in turn, created a for-profit company called GrameenPhone, found a foreign partner, and put in a bid; GrameenPhone received one of the four licenses. GrameenPhone’s total capitalization was US$120,000,000, including around US$50 million from IFC/CDC, and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). It also received US$60 million in equity from the four GrameenPhone private partners. These were the Norwegian Telenor with a 51% share, Marubeni of Japan with a 9.5% share, and the American Gonophone at 4.5%. GrameenPhone’s fourth partner is Grameen Telecom (with 35%), and Grameen Telecom borrowed US$10.6 million from the Open Society Institute to set up Village Phone.
GrameenPhone launched service in urban Dhaka on March 26, 1997. It makes its profits by serving wealthier urban customers. But from the point of view of the Grameen family and its strong anti-poverty mission, the for-profit, urban-only GrameenPhone exists for only one reason: To fund, with its profits, the extension of cell phones into rural Bangladesh in order to provide entrepreneurial opportunity to Grameen Bank members through Village Phone. As Dr. Yunus puts it, "GrameenPhone is merely what we need to do Grameen Telecom’s Village Phone."
Three important and interesting structural aspects of operation on the largest scale are:
First, that the not-for-profit Grameen Telecom actually owns the for-profit GrameenPhone. The reason for this structure is that Grameen wants Grameen bank members-- impoverished women who borrow from Grameen Bank-- to become owners of the profit-making GrameenPhone.
Second, once GP becomes profitable, GT will sell its GP shares to GB members.
Third is an understanding-- not made explicit in any legally binding contract but arrived at in the shareholders’ agreement-- that after 6 years of GP operation, Telenor and GT will actually switch ownership positions: Grameen Telecom will sell it’s 35% share to Telenor and Telenor will sell its 51% share to Grameen Telecom, which will thus become the dominant partner and true manager of the system. GrameenPhone is thus an unofficial, non-traditional form of Build, Operate, and Transfer.

"GrameenPhone" might have been born in Bangladesh, but soon it is likely to join the international cellular jargon. GSM MoU Association at GSM World Congress in Cannes where many villagers made their first-ever call using pre-paid, recently rewarded rural cellular marketing, by Vodaphone in South Africa. "GrameenPhone,” the unique cellular operator from Bangladesh, also made an impressive presentation at Cannes.

Founding Partners of GrameenPhone

GrameenPhone is a joint venture company comprising of:
Telenor – A state-owned telecommunication company from Norway. It has a long history of successful cooperation with other operators in Russia, Hungary, Montenegro, Ireland, Bangladesh, Greece, Germany, Germany, Australia, Malaysia etc.
Grameen Telecom - A sister concern of Grameen Bank. It was established by Grameen Bank to organize and assist those Grameen bank borrowers who wish to retail telephone services in the rural areas.
Marubeni Corporation – A leading investment and trading company from Japan.
Gonofone Development Corporation – A New York-based telecommunication development company having investments in many companies in USA, Russia and other parts of Europe.
These four companies owned shares of GrameenPhone in the following manner:
3.3 Shareholders of GrameenPhone

The shareholders of GrameenPhone contribute their unique, in-depth experience in both telecommunications and development.

The international shareholder brings technological and business management expertise while the local shareholder provides a presence throughout Bangladesh and a deep understanding of its economy. Both are dedicated to Bangladesh and its struggle for economic progress and have a deep commitment to GrameenPhone and its mission to provide affordable telephony to the entire population of Bangladesh.

Telenor Mobile Communications AS

Telenor AS is the leading Telecommunications Company of Norway listed in the Oslo and NASDAQ Stock Exchanges. It owns 62% shares of GrameenPhone Ltd. Telenor has played a pioneering role in development of cellular communications. It has substantial international operations in mobile telephony, satellite operations and pay Television services. In addition to Norway and Bangladesh, Telenor owns GSM companies in Denmark, Austria, Hungary, Russia, Ukraine, Montenegro, Thailand and Malaysia. It has recently started a mobile phone operation in Pakistan.

Telenor uses the expertise it has gained in its home and international markets for the development of emerging markets like Bangladesh.

Grameen Telecom

Grameen Telecom, which owns 38% of the shares of GrameenPhone, is a not-for-profit company and works in close collaboration with Grameen Bank. The internationally reputed bank for the poor, has the most extensive rural banking network and expertise in microfinance. It understands the economic needs of the rural population, in particular the women from the poorest households. Grameen Telecom, with the help of Grameen Bank, administers the Village Phone Program, through which GrameenPhone provides its services to the fast growing rural customers. Grameen Telecom trains the operators, supplies them with handsets and handles all service-related issues. Grameen Bank currently covers more than 51,000 villages which are serviced by 1326 bank branches (December’ ‘04) all over the countryside. At the end of the year, the bank had 3.78 million borrowers, 95 percent of whom were women.

Grameen Telecom’s objectives are to provide easy access to GSM cellular services in rural Bangladesh, creating new opportunities for income generation through self- employment by providing villagers with access to modern information and communication based technologies.

3.4 Vision, Mission, Objectives, Strategy

Company Vision
“To be the leading provider of telecom services all over Bangladesh with satisfied customers, shareholders and enthusiastic employees”.

Company Mission
GrameenPhone Ltd. aims at providing reliable, widespread, convenient mobile and cost effective telephone services to the people in Bangladesh irrespective of where they live. Such services will also help Bangladesh keep pace with other countries including those in South Africa region and reduce her existing disparity in telecom services between urban and rural areas.

Company Objectives
The Company has devised its strategies so that it earns healthy returns for its shareholders and at the same time, contributes to genuine development of the country. In short, it pursues a dual strategy of good business and good development.

Company Strategy
GrameenPhone’s basic strategy is coverage of both urban and rural areas. In contrast to the “island” strategy followed by some companies, which involves connecting isolated islands of urban coverage through transmission links. GrameenPhone builds continuous coverage, cell after cell. While the intensity of coverage may vary from area to area depending on market conditions, the basic strategy of cell-to-cell coverage is applied throughout GrameenPhone’s network.

3.5 Company Organogram

3.6 Services Offered

Company Service

GrameenPhone believes in service, a service that leads to good business and good development. Telephony helps people work together, raising their productivity. This gain in productivity is development, which in turn enables them to afford a telephone service, generating a good business. Thus development and business go together.

Service for the Rural Poor

Establishing a nation wide network gives fair access to all geographical areas. From a business point of view, this strategy serves both the long distances as well as the rural markets. This emphasis on rural coverage brings a much-needed infrastructure in the underdeveloped rural areas. In collaboration with Grameen Bank, which provides micro-credit only to the rural poor, GP utilizes the bank borrowers to retail telecom services in the rural areas. Leveraging on Grameen Bank borrowers reduces the distribution costs of Grameen Phone's rural services, contributing to the profitability of this segment.

By bringing electronic connectivity to rural Bangladesh, GrameenPhone is bringing the digital revolution to the doorsteps of the rural poor and unconnected.

Village Phone Program

The Village Phone program is Grameen Phone's unique method of bringing connectivity to the rural areas of Bangladesh. This program enables Grameen Bank's borrowers to retail telephone service in their respective villages, and has the potential to penetrate the rural areas rapidly and effectively.

A typical Grameen Bank borrower takes a loan of Tk 6000 without collateral from the Bank to purchase, say, a cow. The cow would then produce milk that the borrower could sell to her neighbors enabling her to make a living and pay off the loan. The process allows the poorest of the poor to stand up on their feet. In the case of Village Phone, a telephone also acts as an income generating mechanism for a borrower; a telephone serves as another "cow." A woman borrows about Tk 20,000 from the Bank and purchases a handset and sell telephone services to the villagers, making a living and thus paying off her loan. It creates a self-employment opportunity in each village and provides access to telephones to all.

Grameen Telecom, Grameen Bank's arm for administering the Village Phone operators, typically selects women by considering past borrowing records with the Bank. There are 2144 Village Phones in operation today and soon thousands of Village Phones around the country are expected across rural Bangladesh.

3.7 Products

The products of GrameenPhone can be classified as: • Post Paid • Pre-Paid • DJUICE • Business Solutions

❑ Post Paid

Under Post Paid Service there are 3 products:

GP-Regular GP Regular connects to BTTB local, BTTB-NWD (Nationwide Dialing), ISD (International Standard Dialing), all GrameenPhone mobiles, other mobiles and receives calls from the same. Recently all GP Regular phones have been given the mobility facility that enables a GP Regular mobile holder to receive and send calls from anywhere in the country (under GP coverage).

GP- National

GP National is a post-paid product with mobile-to-mobile connectivity and BTTB incoming facility. You can make and receive calls to and from all mobiles (within GP coverage area). It has network mobility feature, with which you can move around the country with your GP mobile phone (within GP coverage area).

Anytime 500

'Anytime 500' is a post-paid product with BTTB (Local/NWD/ISD) connectivity. Anytime 500 offers a monthly 500 minutes (billed duration) of talk-time free of charge. It has the network mobility feature, with which you can move around the country with your GP mobile phone (within GP coverage).

❑ Pre-Paid

EASY Gold

Easy Gold is a pre-paid product with BTTB (Local, NWD and ISD) connectivity. You can connect to all mobiles and BTTB lines. It has the network mobility feature, with which you can move around the country with your GP mobile phone (within the GP coverage area).

EASY Pre-Paid

Easy Pre-paid is a pre-paid product with mobile-to-mobile connectivity. You can make and receive calls to and from all mobiles (within GP coverage) using EASY Pre-paid. It has network mobility feature, with which you can move around the country with your GP mobile phone (within GP coverage).

This service helps the subscriber to control costs. It frees the subscriber from the hassles of paying bills, security deposits and line rents. But it contains nearly all services available in other GP products. Subscribers can subscribe the service from all GP authorized points of sale.

To start with, one has to buy the EASY Starter Kit and a handset. The Starter kit contains a pre-activated SIM card and a Green EASY card. The Starter kit costs Tk. 1,675, the Green EASY card worth of Tk. 300 is provided free.

The GP Regular, GP-GP Regular and National subscribers enjoy a number of GSM Features and Value Added Services (VAS).

❑ Business Solutions

Business Solutions is a high quality and fully integrated telecommunications service from GrameenPhone, especially designed for the business entities of Bangladesh.

As the largest and most customer centric telecommunication service provider in the country, we provide customer oriented and customised telecommunications solutions through a highly consultative approach.

What we offer is a suite of specialized products and services covering all communication needs for professionals, small, medium-sized enterprises to large companies.

Comprising of modern mobile telecommunications services for any business needs, we provide voice services, messaging services and mobile data and internet services. We also provide a complete Mobile Office solution, including mobile e-mail, mobile high speed data access, internet access, mobile fax and more, giving you the freedom to work from anywhere you want to.

❑ djuice

djuice is a mobile subscription for young people who use the mobile phone for communication and entertainment. It is a registered trademark owned by Telenor. The product is a balanced combination of several tailor-made elements and benefits. It is a pre-paid connection with differentiated feature options (group message, , STK, My time, Free trials (SMS), etc.).

djuice provides lifestyle based basic and compelling contents plus privilege card with extras with contents related to Music, sports, etc. Most promotions are Value Added Service usage based.

3.8 SWOT Analysis of GrameenPhone Ltd.

[pic] Good Owner Structure. [pic] Availability of Backbone Network (Optical fiber). [pic] Financial Soundness. [pic] Market Leader. [pic] Brand Name / Grameen Image [pic] Skilled Human Resource. [pic] Largest Geographical Coverage. [pic] Good Human Resource and Infrastructure Installation all over the country through Bangladesh Railway and Grameen Bank. [pic] Access to the widest rural distribution network through Grameen Bank [pic] High Ethical Standard.

[pic] Lack of co-ordination is used as an excuse not to solve problems [pic] Too much inside out thinking in the company. [pic] Different departments not working together [pic] Inadequate interconnection with BTTB [pic] Public relations not up to the mark [pic] Sometimes a tendency to be arrogant [pic] Complicated price structure [pic] Billing System can’t handle sophisticated billing [pic] No long-term Distribution/Channel strategy [pic] SMS platform has insufficient capacity [pic] High employee turnover

[pic] Economic growth of Bangladesh [pic] New and better interconnection agreement [pic] Huge need for telecom services [pic] Increased intentional activities in Bangladesh [pic] Declining prices for handsets [pic] Future privatization of the fixed network [pic] New international gateway [pic] Demand for inter-city communication [pic] Growth in other operator will give more connection

[pic] Possible emergence of new competition [pic] Political situation [pic] Decline in economic growth or a recession [pic] More rigid government regulations. [pic] More influence of competitors on the fixed network [pic] Change of government might lead to competitors having more clout [pic] Devaluation of Taka [pic] National catastrophes [pic] Sabotage of installation [pic] Non-co-operation of government and fixed PSTN (Public Service Telephone Network) [pic] Risk of fire in GP’s Installations [pic] Price war [pic] Non-availability of funds.

Chapter 4: djuice-Youth Lifestyle Brand

4.1 Background of djuice

djuice is a mobile subscription for young people who use the mobile phone for communication and entertainment. It is a registered trademark owned by Telenor, which is a leading provider of mobile voice and value added services in the Scandinavian region, Central Eastern Europe and South East Asia and embraces operation in 12 countries. djuice is currently operating in Norway, Sweden, Ukraine and Hungary.

4.2 Why djuice (and not another youth brand)

Initially many names were proposed which was felt would attract the youth (E.g. Boom). However a market research revealed interesting information that people respond to the name “djuice” which is a short form of ‘digital juice’. Whether the response ultimately has a negative or positive effect comes later, but it serves the purpose of being an instant attention-grabber. The name djuice has successfully enabled the brand to get the much-coveted attention, for every inch of which all the brands are virtually at war.

4.3 Reasons behind launching djuice

Youth segment of our country comprises 40% of the total population and they have a potential growth of about 60%. If the youth group can be attracted and they become customers when they are young, they will remain loyal as they get older and more established. Most of the urban young people are interested in technology and are high users of new technology and mobile data services. Mobile phone is the most important tool to communicate with their friends, family and acquaintances. So in order to understand their language, djuice is the appropriate tool.

Grameen Phone has launched djuice with its own identity and product offerings. It is Grameen Phone’s brand to strengthen the position in the youth market. djuice is the tool to sell and get new customers, increase usage and adoption of new non-voice services, increase loyalty and strengthen Grameen Phone brand.
The Modern Go-getters hold 50% of the total market’s value share and it is also the segment on which Aktel had its largest share. djuice was launched in an attempt to attain this fast growing and large value share market. djuice also wanted to get Citycell’s Gen-Yo out of people’s head. The massive advertising campaign was partly in response to Citycell’s campaign for Gen-Yo. The task is to differentiate GP from competition by projecting the brand as: Status symbol, hi- tech and reflection of ‘My’ identity.

4.4 Market segmentation and target group definition

In a survey conducted by Grameen Phone it was found out that the total market was broadly classified into 4 large segments:

1. Self-Driven Orthodox (20%) 2. Balance seekers (15%) 3. Pro-modern conformist (15%) 4. Modern Go-getters (50%)

djuice targets the Modern Go-Getters.

The ‘youth’ in Bangladesh do not form a homogenous group. There are 2 distinct groups of youth.

Youth Group 1 (Primary target group)

Image conscious: This group follows an extremely busy schedule. Usually come from English Medium educational backgrounds. They are trendy, fashion conscious and enjoy fashion, music, sports. Moderate to high affluence. Hang around in fast food joints. Heavily influenced by Satellite culture. Aspiration self emulates popular western youth. Prefers cultural salad.

Youth Group 2 (Secondary target group)

Cash-strapped: Dreams primarily of economic independence. Less optimistic about future. Inherent lack of entertainment in life. Politically more active and nationalistic. Less bothered by time-constraint. Aspiration self emulates successful Bangladeshi people. Skeptic about the new things of modern culture. Reads more. Migrated to city in search of better life.

However, there are certain aspects that bind the two groups together: 1. They both Agree that there is a lack of entertainment in their lives 2. Want to be successful in life

The term Young-at-Heart is used to define the consumers of djuice. They fall mainly within the Modern Go-Getters. The target market is divided into two groups: primary and secondary.

The primary target market includes people from 19-26 years of age and the secondary market focuses 15-18 and 27-30 age groups, mostly males. The targeted segments are mainly from Dhaka and Chittagong metro. Most of them are students and business persons and their educational background is above HSC. Their average monthly household income is over Tk. 15,000 and most of them are from nuclear families with elders.

5. djuice launch activities- at a glance

1. Teaser Ad was published in print and electronic media to create a hype among the youngsters .
2. On the occasion of djuice launch, a press conference was organized at Pizza Hut on 14th April, 2005 (Bengali New Year)- highlighting the whole package, that is, not only products and features but also lifestyle benefits which has worked as a differentiator in the Market.
3. djuice website (www.djuice.com.bd) for youth was launched for the first time in Bangladesh.
4. Concerts were organized (15th -20th April, 05) in Dhaka and Chittagong city with local music bands and Indian Idol.
5. djuice logo visibility was ensures through Billboard, Balloons etc, especially in youth hangout places.
6. Bengali New Year’s day (14th April) program was sponsored with djuice Brand in Fine Art Institute at Dhaka University and Bashundhara City (City Shopping Mall)
7. Print ads were heavily published; TVCs were frequently aired and leaflets were distributed extensively at strategic locations.
8. “BLACK”- a local music band, which is most popular among youths, was appointed as Brand Ambassador for djuice
9. For Lifestyle benefits: Agreements with Tactical and Strategic Partners (Such as, Pizza Hut, Helvetia, Sports world etc) were signed prior to launch and is ongoing.
10. Profiling was done at 10 points of sale as exclusive djuice POS
11. Channel Partners were trained prior to launch for creating awareness and for education.
12. Gifts were produced and distributed heavily to increase logo visibility

4.6 Positioning Strategy djuice – a mobile lifestyle concept

Figure 5: Perceptual Map of djuice

4.7 Brand Personality of djuice

Grameen Phone wants to portray djuice as a friend who consumers can relate to and understand. This is done to attract the target market, which include the young people of the metropolitan cities of Dhaka and Chittagong. Grameen Phone would like the consumers of djuice to think of two very important things, which are:

• Success • Entertainment

So djuice, who is empathetic, refreshing, dynamic, challenging and socially active, is supposed to be a friend to the young people. djuice is supposed to evoke the sense of success and entertainment among the consumers.

4.8 djuice Communications

The aim of djuice as already mentioned was to fill in a gap in the Grameen Phone target markets by attracting and selling the product to the youth. As can be seen from the psychographics and target market analysis of djuice, Grameen Phone wanted to sell the products to extremely modern and young people. The question to consider at the moment is how did Grameen Phone set about achieving this?

The GrameenPhone brand no longer targets the youth segment directly in terms of communication, events, sponsorships or product offerings. The GrameenPhone brand values and personality are focused towards all other segments except Youth. This does not mean that the mother-brand GrameenPhone has stopped interacting with the segment, but the brand does not communicate directly. djuice is used as the “communication channel”.
For example, when “Welcome Tunes” was launched, it was launched through djuice, since music is part of youth lifestyle and hence a part of djuice. However, this service is also offered to all GrameenPhone subscribers but djuice has been used as the communication channel.

djuice is endorsed by the mother brand GrameenPhone, making it visible that djuice is from GP The mother-brand GP currently provides quality for the youth brand customers in terms of customer service, network, product quality, reliability, trustworthiness. The djuice communication is strongly differentiated against the mother brand in tone-of-voice, visuals, communication style and media.

• It is also more edgy and daring.

Grameen Phone has launched djuice with its own identity and product offerings. It is Grameen Phone’s brand to strengthen the position in the youth market. djuice is the tool to sell and get new customers, increase usage and adoption of new non-voice services, increase loyalty and strengthen Grameen Phone brand.

The Modern Go-getters hold 50% of the total market’s value share and it is also the segment on which Aktel had its largest share. djuice was launched in an attempt to attain this fast growing and large value share market. djuice also wanted to get Citycell’s Gen-Yo out of people’s head. The massive advertising campaign was partly in response to Citycell’s campaign for Gen-Yo. The task is to differentiate GP from competition by projecting the brand as: Status symbol, hi- tech and reflection of ‘My’ identity.

To answer this question we need to look into the marketing mix of djuice. Marketing mix, essentially, includes the product, price, promotion, and distribution. Among all the ingredients of the marketing mix we believe that djuice has focused most on the promotion. We also believe that promotion is the most important part of the marketing mix and influences consumer behavior the most and thus, we shall focus on it the most.

Product
The product description of djuice is as follows: • It provides freedom to store up-to 200 friends’ numbers through the e-phonebook feature ▪ Maximum forty messages can be saved ▪ It provides the facility of Group Message. Maximum 10 groups with maximum 25 members can be added. Subscriber will be charged as per group members ▪ It has dedicated djuice menu to secure easy access to attractive SMS and voice based services • Balanced combination of several tailor-made elements/benefits • Pre-paid with differentiated feature options (group message, STK, My time, Free trials (SMS)

XTRA card djuice has identified three focus areas around which the youth’s interest seem to lie. They are: music and movies, shopping and food. Thus, djuice has formed strategic alliance with various companies such as G-Series, Kay Craft, Pizza Hut & Fantasy Kingdom etc. to be able to provide privileged access to all djuice customers. These extra facilities are what djuice wants to use to gain customer loyalty through innovative ideas. They can be availed at the various outlets by showing the Xtra card that comes along with it.

Distribution
The distribution of djuice is not at all a matter of concern for Grameen Phone as the plan is to make it available to all Grameen Phone distributors. Besides they have ten distinct outlets for selling djuice only. The distribution of djuice is more or less guaranteed to be sufficient.

Price
The price of djuice needed to be kept as low as possible as it is a crucial aspect for the target market that is young and hence has a limited budget. The aim was to create perception of good value for money (more for same), take the SMS position leadership with regard to services, offer differentiated tariff option as per segment requirement and build community pricing. The pricing of djuice is as follows:

▪ SIM card priced at TAKA 300 ▪ TAKA 1.66 per pulse at peak time. ▪ 20 second pulse from the first minute. ▪ First 50 SMS free ▪ TAKA 50 free talk time at the beginning ▪ SMS at TAKA 1.

Promotion
The distinct feature of djuice is that no mobile phones are shown in the ads. Generally all Telecom companies advertise their product describing the product features, the price rate, pulse rates, tariff rates and other Value Added Services. But for djuice a conscious effort was taken to ensure that the advertisements do not show any mobile phone, no condescending tone is used, have no call for action and portray a particular lifestyle: that of the youth segment of our population.

The advertising approach used in its initiation was creating mass awareness, which it has done effectively. This can be attributed to two factors: The core product is good and the youth segment can connect with the ads. The main medium used were television, newspapers, magazines and billboards.

Some ambiguities about the product itself were also kept for the same purpose of arousing curiosity in people, so that they would question and talk about it. Word of mouth is the most effective tool of communication to the youth segment for which purpose this approach was used.

djuice has been engaged in extensive promotion over the last couple of months. We would like to highlight some of the things that djuice has done related to its promotion:
Appeals Used
Humorous Appeals: Most commercials and print advertisements of djuice are based on humorous appeals that attracts attention, increases liking of the advertisement. But the problem djuice faced is that the sense of humor they used, was perceived variedly across the target market segments.
Utilitarian Appeals: This appeal has been used to inform the consumers of the functional benefits that are important to the target market.

Cultural Factors at Play for djuice subscribers
The rise of the mobile culture is a dominant trait among the youth of the 21st century all over the globe. It is also a cultural phenomenon that allows social interaction at a level that permits staying in touch with friends, family and loved ones; building new friendships, developing business relationships, and also nurturing romantic liasion. In the past decade there has been a dramatic rise in the usage of mobile phones despite the fact that tariff costs are still quite high for the average citizens of the country.

Other Oriented Values
For djuice subscribers collective appeal holds high value, since friends and peers play a dominant role in all purchase decisions. Lower tariff rates amongst a closed user group often initiates group purchases amongst friends who want to enjoy calling at lower rate under djuice’s community pricing.

Environment Oriented Values
Our society is highly status oriented and a large proportion of people acquire mobile phone simply as a sign of social status or symbol. Modernism is becoming more and more prevalent in our society. The youths wants to be a part of ‘what-is-in’ and having access to a mobile gives them the much desired status quo.

Group influences djuice being an international youth brand has certain features symbolic of the global youth culture. However, the marketing strategies have been designed in a manner that inculcates the values representative of the Bangladeshi culture. Values predominant among the youth include the importance of group activities, a need for privacy, competitiveness and humor. djuice is trying to influence the behavior of its chosen market mainly in a collective way as it is evident in their advertisements that show group activities (playing cricket, thumb fight in canteen, eating out) as well as in their product features.

Certain group behaviors are identifiable for djuice consumers in terms of norms, values and beliefs with regard to their reasoning of becoming subscribers.

Nature of Reference Group Influence:
These groups provide general information of benefits and necessities of being in touch not only in terms of connectivity but in terms of popular, modern culture. They also help to acquire information on availability of subscription as well as usage of various value added services. Lifestyle benefits are to a great extent promoted by word of mouth of reference group members. Directional influences mostly come from friends.

Image conscious get increased social acceptance among friends, colleagues and neighbors. For the cash-strapped there is a desire of belonging to the ascribed group of an elite group which enables them to gain exclusive access to concerts, fairs and shows which previously was accessible on to the privileged few. There is an integration of values after an initial period. There is a willingness to participate in contests and avail value added services like downloading ringtones, themes, logos, setting welcome tunes and enjoying the benefits of other services.

Degree of Reference Group Influence:
For the cash strapped, the DJUICE subscription allows them to participate in events, get extra benefits at fast-food shops, shopping malls, movie theatres and concerts, all of which are highly visible group activities. Hence they experience relatively high degree of group influence than the image conscious who already have access to many pleasures owing to their better economic status.

Perception

Exposure

djuice has been given the maximum possible exposure. The billboards have been placed in such a manner so that they attract maximum attention and we are exposed to them even if we do not purposefully seek out for it.

Attention

A number of stimulus factors have been used to draw attention to djuice. The stimulus factors include:
Size & Intensity: The large size of the billboards and full-page print advertisements attract attention on a massive scale. Insertion frequency also increases the impact on consumers.
Color and movement: The brand colors of djuice being red and white draws attention. Movements used in television advertisements that show a high level of activity also aid in drawing attention.
Positions: The placement of the billboards in high visibility areas all over the city has managed to get noticed by all.
Isolation: The use of white spaces separates stimulus objects from other objects and places the message in a key position which enhances the visibility of the main theme.
Format: In print and billboard media, the message is more simple and straight forward which draws more attention. However the format for the television commercials leaves a wide room of ambiguous interpretation.
Information quantity: The amount of information presented in the commercials is very limited and thus easy for the consumers to interpret. A distinct feature of djuice is that they communicate a single feature at a time to avoid complex interpretations.

Situational Factors
The advertisement for DJUICE is generally aired during popular TV talk shows related to youth as well as during popular drama serials (E.g. Sixty-nine on Channel i) that have a large viewing by youth audiences. By doing so, djuice is creating motivation among the target market to learn the material presented in the commercial.
Chapter 5: Analysis and Findings

The analysis has been delineated below in different parts. Data for the analysis has been found from different questions to the respondents and sometimes from different secondary sources. The analysis below is not arranged as the order of questions asked to the interviewees, but in different category to make it pertinent and grouped under the same topic.

5.1 Demographic Analysis

Demographic analyses of the sample in different attributes are shown below:

Age
The age of target group (TG) of djuice is 13 to 30. The median of this age group is 21. The core target is 19 to 26. The sample mean is 20.57 and median is 20.

Table 4: Age of Respondents

|N |Range |Minimum |Maximum |Mean |Std. Deviation |Median |

The distribution of respondents’ age is shown in the chart.

5.2 Awareness-Interest-Preference-Trial-Loyalty Level
The analyses of the questions asked to find the Awareness-Interest-Preference-Trial-Loyalty level of the TG are shown below.

Advertisement Recognition / Awareness
Six contemporary print ad layouts of djuice were shown to 123 interviewees. The texts of the Ad were blurred and djuice logos were omitted from the layouts (Appendix II). Among them 75% recognized at least one of the Ad as that of djuice.

Among the rest 30 respondents 11 mistook the ads to some other brands’ / products’. Six confused with other Telecommunication Company (TelCo) brand while the other five confused with other products.

Unaided TV Commercial (TVC) Recall

When the respondents were asked whether they could remember the TVC of djuice shown on TV 41% could recall and the rest or 59% could not recall any of the contemporary or past TVC of djuice.

Aided Print Ad Recall

All the interviewees were asked to explain the message of the six print ads (Appendix II). The texts of the advertisements were masked. So, if they only had seen the ads before and had read those carefully and finally remembered those, they would be able to answer the questions.

The following chart shows percentage of recall among all the respondents while the next chart shows the same among the djuice users. The ads of Value Added Service (VAS) scored the lowest in both the cases. The Xtra Khatir ad scored the highest.

Chapter 6: Recommendations

▪ Since the groups can be distinctly divided, communication should be designed in a manner to reach both the youth groups. The campaigns should be tailored in a manner to suit the different groups in the market. However, despite the difference in mode of communication, the offerings should remain the same for both segments. ▪ djuice should take a fresh look at customer loyalty and create value on reward basis. The clients can pick up points for talk time, a viable method for building loyalty, similar to airlines mileage program. At least it will help to reduce the customer defection rate and establish a switching cost for the user. ▪ Currently users can download ring tones, send customized greetings and adopt various phone packages. But none of these will lead to continuous consumption pattern, like talking. Nobody will send continuous greetings, or download ring tones every day. More voice revenue generating activities need to be developed. ▪ The current market trend is about product proliferation that is further confusing the clients. Extending validity for prepaid card is real value, not how much one can charge in the card. The phone companies are perhaps moving in the wrong direction to establish product differentiation. Time has come to develop real value with mass customization and rethinking of established marketing strategies. ▪ An ideal mobile phone perceived by the consumers include good service, pulse every second, low tariff, excellent network, free SMS, no use, no bill, free T & T Incoming. So djuice should try to provide as many facilities as possible near this ideal image of mobile phone. ▪ The promotion of djuice should be moulded in such a manner so that it conforms with the brand personality of djuice (the six characteristics mentioned earlier) and those with the taste and lifestyle of the target audience. For example, instead of using phrases like “Kothin Pochano”, ‘Jotil Prem” and so on, djuice can use “Too cool” or “Cool”. The commercials should also depict the real image of the generation X. ▪ The tariff for value added services should be lower, so that more youth can avail these services and feel privileged. Also more promotional strategies should be designed so that people can understand how to use these value added services.
Chapter 7: Conclusion

Awareness
Telecommunication is one of the fastest growing sectors in Bangladesh. Fierce competition in this sector has made the product or offer life extremely short. Telecommunication and its ever-innovative offer, innovative message and media of communication and downward sliding price of the products have become the target audience’s favorite topic of gossip.

djuice with its huge marketing communication effort has found quite a good space in TG’s mind. 75% of the sample recognized the press ads with blurred texts as that of djuice. Among the press ad layouts extra khatir was most easily recalled (aided) while Value Added Service ads (group SMS, SMS chat) were least recalled. The layout of the ad did not clearly communicate the intended messages to the audience.

At the time of unaided TV ad recall the response is not so impressive (only 41%). At the open suggestion part many asked for more frequent TVC, some event asked to air TVC as frequent as Banglalink.

Interest
77% of people felt interested about the six press ads shown with blurred text. This can be considered as good because with better and colored print quality and with interesting copy of the ad more people would feel interested.

Print ads are definitely liked by the TG, djuice users and non users. TVC is not liked by non-djuice-users.

In just over a year, since its inception djuice has done a good job of acquiring 7% of mid share of the TG, but that is not as good as Banglalink which has 21% of mind share. Mind share of djuice is lower than that of overall market share in Bangladesh. djuice definitely needs to work more to acquire more of mind share.

Preference
Banglalink is the most preferred mobile service by the respondents. djuice is preferred by only 11% to 17% respondents after BL, GP and Aktel respectively.

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Board of Directors

Erik Aas
Managing Director (1242)

Md. Arif Al Islam
Acting Director Finance (94)

Khalid Hasan
Director Regulatory & Corporate Affairs (9)

Bjorn Harald Broderson
Head of Supply Chain Management (27)

Ahmed Raihan Shamsi
Company Secretary & GM Internal Audit (7)

Syed Yamin Bakht
GM Information (2)

Md. Shafiqul Islam
Acting Chief Technical Officer (418)

Operational Committee

Espen Wiig Warendorph
Head of RA & FM (9)

Represents Member of MT

Treasury Committee

A M M Yahya
Director
Fibre Optic (11)

Stein Nævdal-Larsen
Director Information Technology (94)

Frank Fodstad
Deputy Managing Director (363)

MD’s Secretariat (1)

Rubaba Dowla Matin
Acting Head of Marketing (57)

Ingvald Lyche
Director Sales and Distribution (173)

Bidyut Kumar Basu
Head of CMD (257)

Emad Ul Ameen
Director Human Resources (22)

M Mahtab Ali
Head of Admin (47)

Sharmini Abbasi Head of Legal & Compliance (4)

Md. Saifur Rahman Khan Head of Village Phone, (6)

Strengths:

Weaknesses:

Opportunities

Threats

High Involvement

Security & Service

Lifestyle Expression

Price

Value

Price leader

Hassle-free basic Services

Low Involvement