American Telephone and Telegraph Company - Essay Example

American Telephone and Telegraph Company “Advertising” [Pick the Profile Introduction AT&T (American Telephone and Telegraph) Incorporation is an American multinational organization which is basically operating in telecommunication. The head quarter is situated in Whitacre Tower, downtown Dallas, Texas. In America, It is the leading telecommunication service provider in mobile services as well as fixed land line telephone services. It is the largest company in all over the Dallas while it is also included in the big five players of the market. Along with mobile and fixed land line services, it also provides broad band subscription services. By the calculated market value, it was declared as the 17th largest company in the world. It is also the largest mobile phone service provider in the world with more than 100 million customers around the United States (Belch, G. E., & Belch, M. A. 2001). The markets in which the company is working are diverse inside the United States. The major regions of operations are California, Nevada, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and Connecticut. History The founder of the company is Alexander Graham Bell who found the corporation after his invention of telephone. Initially its name was set as Bell Telephone Company. Under its subsidiaries, there was a company which was known as American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) which was incorporated in 1885. It acquired Bell Company in 1899 and the main name was set up as AT&T Company instead of Bell Company. After this major acquisition, AT&T attained the monopoly services of telephone in United States by further opening the subsidiaries of company throughout the countries. For a long time period, it remained a monopolistic market leader in telephone services in United States of America. After a long time of enjoyment the monopoly, the US regulators required from the company that they must break their monopoly by turning the whole company in to smaller region based companies individually (John, P. & Watson, W. P. 1986). The new companies were named as Bell operating companies or sometimes they were referred to as baby bells. Because of the act of breaking up, the parent company had to face heavy competition that opened the door for flexibility and creativity in the telephone services in United States. It cleared the new avenues to get the services of telephone more creatively. Product Mix Following is the overall product mix structure for the American Telephone and Telegraph Company taken from AT&T’s official website. SONET Ring and ACCESS Services (OC-3, OC-12, OC-48) OC-192 Dedicated Ring Service Dedicated SONET Ring Services (OC-3, OC-12, OC-48) Broadband Circuit Service (OC-3, OC-12) SONET Circuit Service OC-N Service (Point-to-Point Service) Self-Healing Transport Network SONET Network Service Protect Path SONET Xpress Relia Net Secure Net Individual Case Basis (AT&T - ISP Solutions) The competitive edge of the above listed product portfolio provides the main stream points upon which American Telephone and Telegraph Company has earned highest market share. It provides highest bandwidth as the internet service provider to its customers (Clow, & Baack, 2007). It leads higher customer satisfaction and external resource allocation efficiency. It caters the need of individual as well as the businesses requirement with highest quality to meet the high level propositions (John, & Watson, 1986). The features rich portfolio permits the company to attain high levels of customer equity as well as the higher degree of customer loyalty (AT&T official website). Offered Product and Services Description To connect the standard fiber optic transmission system, the engineering of American Telephone and Telegraph Company uses the SONET which is technically known as Synchronous Optical NET work. The multiplex rate of data transmission is defined through the standard rate. The SONET allows the services to be the highest quality by getting the speed from 51.8 Mega bytes Per Second (MB/S) up to 10 GB. SONET allows the high speed data transfer protocol that aids the transfer of voice, data, music and videos over very high speed which is up to 10 Giga Bytes per Second. It allows the customers to experience higher degrees of product and service quality through the use of advance technology (AT&T Official Website). SONET’s services and products may be categorized in to three further sub groups which are as follows: Dedicated Ring Service OC – N, Point to Point Service Shared SONET Service Price Structure Every telephone bill is comprised of the following elements: - Over head: it is the cost which is charged as the service charges in the compensation of the provided services. It may also be referred to as the cost of doing the business for each customer. Actually it covers the cost of company’s cost including staff remunerations, outlets expenses and all other related expenses come under the head of this area (Hammer & Champy, 1993). - Taxes and Fees: All the taxes which are related to product and services which are being offered. The major taxes which are involved may include as withholding tax, value added tax plus all the government and regulatory costs which are mandated (John & Watson, 1986). - Subsidy and Profits: Here it is about examining both of these costs together because they are highly overlapping or in other words, they are not expressed as mutually exclusive in terms of service operation or cost structure basis. The subsidies are provided as the concessions to the customers. It is deducted from the actual bill as an aid by the company for their customers. It is deducted at the end level of calculation of the total bill (Hammer & Champy, 1993). Product Life Cycle The product life cycle is the phenomenon which is implied as the overall life of the product associated to some specific brand line offered by some company (John, & Watson, 1986). It is very important because it solely decides whether the product remained successful or it has gone flop. The customer adoption rate is also a part of product life cycle issues. The higher the customer adoption rate, the higher the product life cycle is successful (Hammer, & Champy, 1993). The nature of product life cycle is different in each case. The nature of product and the nature of product life cycle is closely related to each other in order to judge the success rate of the product of some company. In case of the America Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), the products are usually of long cycles. It is because of the phenomenon of customer loyalty. The customers do not easily switch off to the other products because they are highly satisfied to the currently offered services. It is a highly rated general phenomenon and the area of strength for a giant company like AT&T. The high revenues, high profits, high customer equity and higher degrees of customer loyalty and satisfaction offer the deal which is being discussed. It is a general issue which is a cause of depression for smaller companies usually having lesser product life cycle (John & Watson, 1986). Market Share Issues Usually the market share is sustained over the time in case of the American Telegraph and Telephone Company (AT&T). The major fluctuations were notified in the period of depression of world economy in 2008. It will be better to reveal that at that time, revenues and profits were fallen more affectively instead of the market share because the depression was observed in overall the world. The current market share is around 45% at the moment. It is the largest mobile and landline carrier over the country (AT&T Official Website). In the row of world big five player in terms of market value, the American Telegraph and Telephone (AT&T) company has a renowned name which is not needed to pay any introduction. The market share was not fallen because of major market fluctuations in the history but it was fluctuated because of high and concentrated market competition. Over the years, it was observed seldom in the history of AT&T. Current Advertising Strategies The American Telegraph and Telephone Company is a large giant incorporation. It spends substantial budget every year in the head of marketing and advertising. The major Medias which are used to advertise the company or to introduce new offerings to the customers are television, internet (electronic media), news papers and monthly magazine (print media). Along with the conventional marketing strategies, it believes over personal adverts as well for service providence for large companies for example internet service providing for large organization as a LAN setup. After this, bill boards are also used as advertising channels. The creative adverts made by the marketing team of the American Telegraph and Telephone Company are very much appreciated by the customers and contemporaries. 2. Media Strategy Objectives The objectives of the AT&T by the media involvement are to exploit the market and sustaining the market share. Grabbing the overall potential of the market is the main visionary measure. It is to provide high quality services and creating long term profitable relationships with the customers. Attaining and retaining the customers to grab the highest level of satisfied customer equity is one of the aimed perspectives. Big Idea or Campaign Theme The big idea for the American Telegraph and Telephone Company should be innovative and promotional. It is because the company is very old and has been operating for a long time period. Entire market techniques are used so far. In the light of contemporary market and the social concern, the company should move toward societal marketing while fulfilling their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). It may be done through several differential ways for example a big campaign for going green or any other social issue may be resolved or any attempt should be made. Market Reach Objectives The market reach objectives are about exploiting the extensive potential from the market which is targeted by providing exclusively high quality services. Gaining and sustaining the market share are a core ideological potential. Media Selection Media Selection is not a big deal because of technological advancement. The advance technology offers highly technical Medias to market yourself but the actual problem is to face the intense competition with a little room in the market to grow up. For this purpose, sign boards (visual), print media, annual report, website and television may work very well. Clause of Differentiation The core differentiation of AT&T is definitely quality of products and services at high pace. It is about generalizing it with the core of marketing adoption strategies. Out of those the company has chosen product differentiation. It is a better mean to attract quality conscious customers while being in the limits of price boundaries set by the overall industry. Differentiation in advert (intended) is about fulfilling the CSR. Media Match The media fits to the target market because it is very common. The nature of business is technology based and it is very obvious that it works with techno friendly customers. 3. Recommendations a. Use of Sign Boards Using the sign boards is however not a new idea but it may be recommended using unique contents. The visual sign boards over the bank of roads in which the stories of fulfillment of CSR are to be revealed. For example, in the current scenario, the problem for single mothers is very crucial. So the company may focus over the problematic issue of the society by relieving them in anyway. It will increase the satisfaction among the customers. It is also possible to focus over some serious disease like HIV or breast cancer. If some of the part of revenue is donated for such patients, it will enhance the unique market position of the company. The visuals are necessary without which the adverts will not attract the people. b. Periodical Magazine A magazine or newsletter should be published consisting of the social issues and the contribution of the company in resolving the issues. It will motivate the people to take part in the social recovery for the good faith. This however is somehow expensive and cost bearing expense but it may work better in order to make the people aware about the true contribution which is made by the company. 4. Development of Ads The target market is the overall population who may legally possess the telephone connection and/ or mobile phone connection. The awareness of social issues must be developed among the people. It will generate dual effects over the society and the company being in the competition as a market leader. The creativity of the fulfilling the corporate social responsibility for several social issues may create cognitive awareness among the people. The two dimensional impacts may be revealed as definition of society in front of people and the increment revenues when people will adopt the services of the company. The social cognition is a theoretical model which is exposed as creating a simulation to judge the impact. It may be confined with the peoples mental model as a brain storming. It will create the impact of socialization with respect to the environmental changes. People are more inclined toward the investments which are socially interactive. It will put an ultimate effect over the value maximization of the share holder’s wealth. The healthy environment and social friendly investments will lead the company to the boundaries of the success. The market share will be enhanced; customer satisfaction will be proven and the investments will be grown up. The share price of the American Telegraph and Telephone Company is a tool to measure the operational performance of the company. If it is continuously increasing, this means that company is earning high profits. This phenomenon may be achieved through an integrated advertisement plan. The suggested plan is a new generation plan which is more interactive for people’s cognitive learning as well as for the welfare of the society. The useful and creative visual aids will be adding more value in the avenues of success of advertising plan. References Belch, G. E., & Belch, M. A. (2001). Advertising and promotion: an integrated marketing communications perspective (5th ed.). Boston, Mass.: Irwin/McGraw-Hill. Jones, J. P. (1999). The advertising business: operations, creativity, media planning, integrated communications. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications. Hammer, M., & Champy, J. (1993). Reengineering the corporation: a manifesto for business revolution. New York, NY: Harper Business. Avery, J. (2000). Advertising campaign planning: developing an advertising-based marketing plan (3rd ed.). Chicago: Copy Workshop. Clow, K. E., & Baack, D. (2007). Integrated advertising, promotion, and marketing communications (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall. John, P. & Watson, W. P. (1986). Advertising and marketing practices in the satellite dish industry: hearing before the Subcommittee on Commerce, Transportation, and Tourism of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives, Ninety-ninth Congress, second session, February 15, 1986. Washington: U.S. G.P.O. AT&T - ISP Solutions. (n.d.). AT&T Cell Phones, U-verse, Digital TV, DSL Internet, and Phone Service . Retrieved March 18, 2013, from http://www.att.com/gen/isp?pid=2543#6 Watson, J. (n.d.). AT&T pricing structure - MacRumors Forums. MacRumors Forums - Mac News and Rumor Discussion. Retrieved March 18, 2013, from http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=608468 Read More