Holistic or Sustainable Marketing

Due to the rapid rate of increase in the population all over the world, combined with the Industrial revolution accompanied by mass production and consumption habits, we have often chosen to ignore the impact of our production and consumption habits on the environment and our societies as a whole. Climate change, loss of biodiversity, a rapid depletion of non-renewable resources and even on resources, which are deemed renewable, to name only a few of the environmental issues the world is facing.

To address all these issues, Vodafone operates a global CR management system. All the Vodafone operating companies, report against 49 KPIs on a bi-annual basis. These KPIs include performance against quantitative targets for energy efficiency, mobile recycling, responsible marketing and network waste management. Each year this information is aggregated to form a full picture of Vodafone’s global footprint and performance. Vodafone Group publishes an online Sustainability Report . This report is accompanied by other local operating company reports such as this one, which focus on the specific impacts within the local country.

                The Vodafone Business Principles represent the commitments Vodafone makes to its stakeholders around the world across all legislative environments. The Principles cover our interactions with customers, employees, suppliers, communities, the environment, government and business partners and competitors.

Products that are making a difference : -
1. Connecting MNCs with Farmers : Contributing towards a larger goal, we collaborated with one of the world's largest confectionery companies to establish direct communication between them and the cocoa producers. Our solutions are helping the cocoa producers to indicate the quantity and date of the produce through a voice portal.The company's sourcing team is able to efficiently plan its collection routes using the information from the portal.
2. Reducing the impact of SIM Cards : Effective July,2011, the surrounding plastic packaging of all the SIM cards sold by Vodafone has been reduced by half. Vodafone is coordinating with its suppliers to implement this fundamental change. As approximately 18 million Vodafone SIM cards are sold every month, this initiatives is resulting in significant reduction of consumption of plastic.
3. Saving trees, one fold at a time : Starting from May, 2011, Vodafone started delivering all the bills to its customers in smaller envelopes. As approximately, 6 million bills are printed every month, the initiative will save a lot of trees from being cut down.

Processes that are making a difference :-

1. Reducing e-waster footprint  -  In order to manage their waste and compliance risks better, Vodafone's supply chain in collaboration with its sustainability team, took up an ambitious exercise of inventorization of all their IT and network waste across the firm this year. This exhaustive exercise resulted in development of a 'Waste Management Manual'. It was developed to ensure the adequate disposal of all the hazardous waste by types such as e-waste, plastic waste, food waste and used lead acid batteries across the organization.      

                These are just a few of the measures adopted by Vodafone to ensure holistic and sustainable marketing of their extensive array of products and services. For more details you can refer to their latest annual sustainability report. The link has been provided below.

Vodafone Group Plc Annual Sustainability Report 2012-13

http://www.vodafone.com/content/dam/sustainability/pdfs/vodafone_sustainability_report_2012_13.pdf 

   

Vodafone's Innovative Approach to its Sales Force Management

          For any organisation, its sales force is a major growth engine and a critical resource in which it makes substantial investments. Managing this resource as a productive and a high performing asset is an  imperative, which  no organization  can  neglect without seriously eroding its top line and bottom line performance. At the same time, it is a hugely challenging  task,  given the  ever increasing product  and  market  complexity, an extremely competitive environment, demanding customers and shortage of high performing sales people.

          Sales Managers need to be effective leaders to transform their sales force to a high performance team in which each and every member must perform to his potential. They need to be equipped with the  latest  concepts and  tools to organize  and optimize  sales force, design  and  allocate territories, deploy their resources optimally, supervise effectively and develop leadership skills to monitor and motivate  their teams. 

       Forward thinking organizations are looking to align both their technologies and their culture around a more social vision of service. They are arming employees with tools that allow them to collaborate across the customer lifecycle, and transform every department and customer touch into a high-value communication that is “customer obsessed.”

          After being unable to provide satisfactory voice and data services to many of its customers in Australia, Vodafone came up with a unique solution to address the problem.

To quickly re-engage their customers and change brand sentiment, Vodafone engaged global business consulting firm Bluewolf to: 

1. Design and execute a multi-channel customer strategy, including an implementation of Salesforce Service Cloud, live chat, and self-service.
   
   Thanks to the Vodafone multichannel approach, customers can pick the forum where they want to voice question or complaint -- this can be Twitter, Facebook, email or chat. A seamless experience for the customer equals an engaged, happy customer.
2. Employ a suite of social tools including the Salesforce Marketing Cloud to monitor and manage brand sentiment.
   
   With the ability to monitor brand sentiment, Vodafone is able to deal with crisis situations, reach new audiences, and assess competitive activity.
3. Set up the Social Hub to integrate social conversations as live cases in the Service Cloud.
   
   With this additional functionality and the appropriate processes, Vodafone is able to quickly route feedback internally so that they can engage with customers faster, thereby improving customer satisfaction.

               This approach proved extremely effective and changed the tide for Vodafone vis-a-vis the customer numbers and their satisfaction and sentiment. All the negative chatter about Vodafone on various social media platforms turned into positive chatter. Vodafone is trying to implement this strategy into many more markets where it currently operates.

                     To  learn about how Vodafone helps other companies improve their sales forces, please click on the link given below.

http://www.vodafone.com/content/dam/vodafone/about/what/case_studies/IT_Pulitalia_CS_ENG_Jun12.pdf

Analyzing Business Markets for the telecommunications(mobile) Industry in India

           As Vodafone is in both B2C and B2B markets, it's important to understand the difference in the customer's decision making processes in both the cases.

            The main difference between the two is in B2B transactions the need is derived and it can't be stimulated and created as in the B2C transactions. Also, the information research and alternative evaluation is a lot more sophisticated and thorough in B2B transactions as compared to in B2C transactions. In B2C transactions, purchase behaviors are more sentiment driven and in B2B transactions, they are more logic and need driven. 

          Thus, only the brands that have already been well-established and who are both efficient as well as creative, can cater efficiently to both B2C and B2B clients. Also, in B2B transactions, it's critical to follow up sales of solutions/products with great service which requires both extensive distribution channels, delivery systems and extremely skilled task forces. Vodafone not only manages to connect with its consumers through its various creative IMC campaigns but it also differentiates itself from its competitors by providing a comparatively superior service. 

              Thus Vodafone has all the requisite competencies as a brand and as an organization to cater to both of its B2C and B2B customers efficiently. It's not only designing innovative products and services for both its B2B and B2C clients, but it's also delivering the same very efficiently and is way ahead in the curve as compared to its other competitors. 

   

Vodafone's Branding Strategy

       Vodafone has continued to focus on delivering a superior, consistent and differentiated customer experience through its brand and communication activities. A new marketing framework has been developed and implemented across the business. which includes a new vision of expanding the group's category from mobile only to total communications 'to be the communications leader in an extremely connected and dynamic world'. Brand and customer experience continues to deliver on Vodafone's promise of 'helping customers make most of their time'. The brand function has also developed a strategy to develop a competitive local market brand positioning, with local positioning projects now implemented in 12 markets all over the globe.

         In September 2007, Vodafone welcomed India with its 'Hutch is now Vodafone' campaign. The migration from Hutch to Vodafone was one of the fastest and most comprehensive brand transitions in the history of the group, with 4,00,000 multi-brand outlets, over 350 Vodafone stores, over 1000 mini stores and over 3000 brand touch points rebranded, with 60% completed in the first 48 hours.   

      

Strengths :          - Strong brand name

                           - Wide distribution network
                           - Financially stable
                           - Strong customer base

Weaknesses :      - People in the Semi-urban and rural areas can't easily relate to the brand
                            - Low margins for distributors and retailers
                 
Opportunities :     - Untapped rural markets
                             - Introduction of new technologies
                             - Value added service market
                             - Business markets

- High brand recall and awareness due to creative campaigns and large customer base
- Extremely high brand equity as it's a globally recognized brand with strong values
- Favorite among the youth due to its unique positioning