AN ASSESSMENT OF ADVERTISING AS A MARKETING STRATEGY A STUDY OF AIRTEL NIGERIA

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title page – – – – i
Declaration – – – – ii
Certification – – – – iii
Dedication – – – – iv
Acknowledgements – – – – v
Table of contents – – – – vi
List of tables – – – – viii
Abstract – – – – ix
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study – – – 1
Statement of the problem – – – 5
Objectives of the study – – – 6
Research questions – – – 6
Significance of the study – – – 6
Scope of the study – – – 7
Operational definition of terms – – – 7
References
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 Review of Concept- Advertising – – – – – 9
2.2 Review of empirical study- – – – – – 24
2.3 Theoretical framework – – – – – – 26
References
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Design – – – – – – – 30
3.2 Population of Study – – – – – – 30
3.3 Sampling Size – – – – – – – 30
3.4 Sampling Technique – – – – – – 31
3.5 Instrument of Data Collection – – – – – 31
3.6 Method of Data Collection – – – – – 31
3.7 Method of Data Analysis – – – – – – 32
References
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
4.1 Data Presentation and Analysis – – – – – 34
4.2 Discussion of Findings – – – – – – 40
References
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1 Summary of Findings – – – – – – 43
5.2 Conclusion – – – – – – – 44
5.3 Recommendations – – – – – – 44
Appendices – – – – – – – 45
Bibliography
LIST OF TABLES
Table 4.1: Gender distribution – – – – – 34
Table 4.2: Age distribution – – – – – 35
Table 4.3: Distribution of respondents by level – – – 35
Table 4.4: Response on if respondents are Airtel subscribers – 36
Table 4.5: Response on if respondents have any idea about advertising -36
Table 4.6: Exposure to Airtel Advertising – – – 36
Table 4.7: Influence of Advertising on buying behaviour – 37
Table 4.8: Patronage of Airtel Product because of Advertising – 37
Table 4.9: Respondents purchase volume before advertisement – 38
Table 4.10: Response on if advertising make respondents purchase any
Airtel product – – – – 38

Table 4.11: Response on if advertising medium used by the organisation to present their product led to patronage – – – – – 39

Table 4.12: Response on if advertisement has increased the sale of Airtel product – – – – – – – – – – 39
Table 4.13: Awareness of the product before advertisement took place – 40

ABSTRACT

This study assessed advertising as a marketing strategy. The researcher used Airtel Nigeria in its study. This work employed the survey method of research using the primary data which is the questionnaire. Also secondary data collection method was used. 361copies of questionnaire were issued out and 350 were completed and duly returned to the researcher. The questionnaire were administered to the students of Akwa Ibom State University. The work made use of the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and the Consumer Behavior Theory. The discussion, findings and questions segment was examined in the main body of the work. The study found out that advertising as a marketing strategy increases sales of the company product and creates awareness of the brand. The study recommends that effective advertising strategies like promoting and positioning, knowledge of target audience should be adopted to increase sales and maintain brand name.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study
The world has become a global village as propounded by Marshal Maduban with tele-communications being a “key player” (www.Nigeriabusinessinfo.com). A major breakthrough is the Wireless Global System for Mobile Communications (Airtel).The company made history on August 5, 2001 by becoming the first telecoms operator to launch commercial GSM services in Nigeria and has scored a series of many “firsts”​ in the highly competitive Nigerian telecommunications market including the first to introduce toll-free 24-hour customer care; first to launch its service.
Strive Masiyiwa, founder of Econet Wireless, recently took to social media to narrate the early days of Econet Nigeria and what exactly forced the company to leave Nigeria. It got us thinking about how many times we’ve seen the telco change its identity (and management). There was a very fun guessing game we used to play back in the day – How long before Celtel/Zain/Airtel changes its name again? Most times, the guesses were spot on; anything between two and three years was mostly accurate.Although the telco has stabilised in the identity and management area, it’s still funny when you realise the company has changed names solid 6 times.
Here’s a chronological recap: In the beginning… there was Econet Wireless Nigeria .In 2001, Econet Nigeria was one of the three companies that won the GSM license auction – MTN Nigeria and MTEL were the other two. Due to political shenanigans and corruption practises, Econet NG would eventually lose its management contract. Then there was Vodacom .Vodacom came into the picture in 2004 and took the reins of the company, as management changed hands. It would only last a couple of months though. But Vmobile was right behind it. In what would be the fastest management change in the company’s storied history, a few months later, management changed hands again. The details are fuzzy and we’re not entirely sure what went on behind the scenes but eventually, Vodacom pulled out of Nigeria and Vee Networks found themselves at the helm of affairs. The company became known as Vmobile. There was a corresponding rebranding campaign. This was still 2004. Let’s not forget about Celtel. Sometime in May 2006, Vmobile Nigeria was acquired by Celtel, another telecommunications company, for about a billion dollars. This gave the new owners a controlling stake of 65% in the company. Another rebranding campaign was due. And Zain Sometime in 2008 we saw another change occur. Zain Group, another telecoms company, completed its acquisition of all Celtel International’s shares of over $3 billion. Consequently, the entire African operations of Celtel was rebranded from Celtel to Zain, marking the end of the Celtel brand. And finally Airtel. About two years later, around November 2010, Zain clipped its wings and morphed into Airtel Nigeria. The change was brought about by an acquisition where Bharti Airtel paid a hefty sum of $10.7 billion.

Akwa Ibom State has greatly absorbed mobile communication exchange even in less than one year of its introduction. A big business to say, it has become part and parcel of the people, and has led to a quicker development and civilization. The first two establishment networks Airtel and MTN are in keen competition, therefore, each service provider through advertising tries to create acceptance for their product by constantly establishing their brand in the mind’s eye of audience.
Every business function requires an efficient communication system to ensure a successful performance and advertising can be referred to a specialized form of market communication. As a consumer, one is exposed to hundreds if not thousands of commercial messages every day. This could be in the form of publicity, billboards, event sponsors, coupons etc. Advertisements can also be seen on the seats of grocery carts, on the wall of airport walkways, on the sides of buses, airplane and train. Advertisements are usually placed anywhere an audience can easily and /or frequently access. (Busari 2002).
Advertising is as old as man. From it’s modest beginning, it has grown to be an important institution of the society. Mc Gregor (1971:6) posits that, “advertising is an indispensable factor in modern society and it would be an advantage for everyone, not only those who seek a career in it, to understand more fully it’s relevance to our daily life”. In present day marketing activities hardly is there any business in the world which does not advertise. (Asemah and Edegoh, 2013).
Advertising is one effective promotional to which advertisers employ to effectively market their products, ideas and services. Advertising is the backbone of every profit making venture, pervasive part of all lives lived in consumerist economies. In business, a successful marketing campaign can lead to increased sales, better name recognition and a wider customer base. Great marketing helps your company establish a strong, memorable brand identity in the minds of customers. Advertising has become greatly popular and even common place in today’s world. According to Trehan and Trehan (2011), market is controlled by consumers so companies have to persuade and attract the consumers for selling their products and services. Thus, advertising has crucial role for communication.
Brief History of Airtel
Airtel Networks Limited is a leading telecommunications services provider in Nigeria headquartered in Lagos, the commercial nerve-centre of Nigeria. The telco ranks amongst the top four mobile service providers in terms of subscribers with a customer base of more than 39.8 million. The company’s product offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce and enterprise services.
Airtel’s parent company, Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 16 countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst the top 3 mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers. In India, the company’s product offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce, fixed line services, high speed home broadband, DTH, enterprise services including national & international long distance services to carriers. In the rest of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G, 4G wireless services and mobile commerce. Bharti Airtel had over 413 million customers across its operations at the end of March 2018.
Airtel Networks Limited is a leading telecommunications services provider in Nigeria headquartered in Lagos, the commercial nerve-centre of Nigeria. The telco ranks amongst the top four mobile service providers in terms of subscribers with a customer base of more than 39.8 million. The company’s product offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce and enterprise services.
Airtel’s parent company, Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 16 countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst the top 3 mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers. In India, the company’s product offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce, fixed line services, high speed home broadband, DTH, enterprise services including national & international long distance services to carriers. Bharti Airtel had over 413 million customers across its operations at the end of March 2018.
Airtel has network presence in all states of the Federation, Local Government Areas, major towns and villages in Nigeria. The company’s mobile networks cover over 70% of Nigeria’s population and its 3G coverage ratio is over 41%. The company’s distribution network spreads across over 40,000 retail outlets with well over 332,042 retailers. In the Financial Year 2016- 17, Airtel’s network carried over 420Tb (Terabytes) of data volume.
Airtel is known for its Corporate Social Investments programmes, particularly its Adopt-a-School initiative, which seeks to provide a 360 degree approach for identifying, nurturing and developing the minds of underprivileged children across public primary schools.
Airtel has also consistently intervened in areas of health-care, access to clean water and several charity projects within its four adopted schools just as it is bankrolling the Airtel Touching Lives programme, a revolutionary initiative designed to offer practical relief to the underprivileged, hard-to-reach and downtrodden. While Airtel has scored big with its Adopt-a-School programme and the Touching Lives initiative, its Employee Volunteer Scheme has also provided an outlet for its staff to directly participate in touching the lives of members of the many communities where it operates.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Most of the telecommunication Operators in Nigeria do not know the usefulness of the sales promotion and hence plan to overlook the influence it has on the patronage of the company’s product. This work is meant to examine the extent at which advertising effectiveness can either draw people’s attention to a particular product or how its ineffectiveness can put people off from the advertised product.
Advertising as an effective promotional tool has been badly neglected in Nigerian industries as most managers think their products can survive without it. Even the few companies that advertise do not see reasons to study how the audience perceives their products, their acceptance or rejection and the reason for such attitude. Since Airtel is a recent development in Akwa Ibom State, there is a need to study how the product is behaving in the market. This will help the companies to curb any negative effect before it gets ripe.
Before the introduction of Airtel, Akwa Ibom State depended on NITEL and MTN for their telephone exchange, but it was surrounded with epileptic services. The first two established networks are seriously striving for customers through advertising. But how effective are these advertisement? Have they have been able to yield positive result by working on people’s perception and attitude? Have they been able to persuade them to purchase the products or vice versa?
Therefore, this work examines the extent to which advertising can be used as a marketing strategy by Airtel reference to draw people’s attention to a particular product or brand.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

To evaluate the impact of advertising on the sale of Airtel products.
To evaluate the public perception and attitude towards Airtel products advertisements.
To validate the power that advertising has over consumers psychology and how it exploits the consumer behaviour.
To find out the effectiveness of the use of Advertising on consumers of Airtel product.

1.4 Research Questions

To what extent does advertising impact on the sale of Airtel products ?
What is the public’s perception and attitude towards the Airtel products advertisement ?
To what degree does advertising has power over the consumer’s psychology and the consumer’s buying behaviour?
How effective is the use of advertising on the consumer of Airtel product.

1.5 Significance of the Study

This research would be of benefit to business organizations especially Airtel Nigeria. It would enable them to know how consumers feel about their products and also to create awareness of the role of advertising in developing perfect brand image.
The research would also be useful to the government, advertising agencies, consumers and advertiser in all ramifications. Academically, it would also benefit students of mass communication, business administration, marketing and other similar disciplines that may carry out similar research, and the result of the work shall highlight considerably the persuasive quality of advertising on consumer’s perception and attitude to Airtel product, and how it helps to create brand awareness.