New Delhi: Airtel’s Priority Postpaid service, launched recently, has led to a brand battle in the country’s telecom sector. While the premium service is currently under the scanner of the regulator over net neutrality concerns, rival telecom operators have made their views clear before a parliamentary panel examining the offering.
Jio has supported Airtel’s 5G network slicing feature, which aims to provide consistent and stable data connectivity to its postpaid users, with regulatory safeguards, Vi (Vodafone Idea) has opposed it, calling it discriminatory to prepaid customers.
Vi has, in fact, built an entire campaign around the controversy, promising equal network to everyone notwithstanding whether a customer has a postpaid connection or a prepaid one.
‘Strong Network Sabka Haq’ (strong network is everyone’s right) is the simple proposition on which Vi has built its latest campaign. With punchlines like ‘Not on their priority list? You’ll always be on ours’, Vi is not just offering assurance to its prepaid user base but it is also seeking to attract Airtel prepaid customers offering them equal status as postpaid users.
The positioning is a great example of a brand indulging in competitive advertising.
When Airtel launched the Priority Postpaid service last month, it promised postpaid customers a “superior” and more consistent network experience, particularly in high-congestion environments such as concerts, stadiums, metro stations and crowded marketplaces. The service uses 5G network slicing technology to distribute network resources more efficiently and ensures dependable connectivity during peak demand to postpaid users, who pay more than prepaid customers.
The leading telecom operator has positioned the offering as an innovative feature aimed at customers who rely heavily on uninterrupted connectivity for work and entertainment, calling it a “fast lane” experience.
But, within days, Vodafone Idea went live with its ‘Everyone Matters’ campaign, targeting Airtel’s new offering without explicitly referring to it. The Vi messaging across social media platforms and public communications is revolving around themes like “equal network for all”, “Strong Network. Sabka Haq,” and “No more, no less.”
“We believe that reliable connectivity is everyone’s right and not a premium privilege. A great network should simply work – for everyone, everywhere, every time. Vi’s network is designed for all your needs, whether you’re on the move, working remotely, at a concert or a match, creating or just chilling at home, Vi has you covered with the use of AI-based self optimizing network technology,” the telco says on its website.
According to advertising experts, Vi has cleverly managed to use Airtel’s technological differentiator to raise the question of fairness. While Airtel is calling the feature a premium benefit for postpaid users who deliver more ARPU (average revenue per user) to the company, Vi is attempting to speak to its rival’s prepaid user base by suggesting that preferential treatment creates a hierarchy among users. This is why the brand’s communication is focussing heavily on inclusivity, positioning itself as the operator that is not seeking to create “VIP” and “non-VIP” categories of subscribers.
For Vi, the ‘aggressive campaign’ comes at a strategically important moment. After years of subscriber losses, Vi has recently shown signs of stabilisation as far as customer retention and acquisition is concerned. It is also moving fast in deploying 5G services across the country to tap into users who depend heavily on mobile internet data for their day-to-day activities.
For marketers, the Airtel vs Vi battle offers a case study into how a category leader can be ambushed by a smaller rival by reframing the narrative around a product innovation. While Airtel based its campaign on technology, performance and premiumisation, Vi shifted the conversation to equity, inclusivity and consumer rights.
The result is a situation where one brand is selling priority, while the other is offering equality.