Internship report
Spring -2006
AN EXPLORATORY RESEARCH ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE PUBLIC
RELATION, AND COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT OF BANGLALINK
Submitted by Zahir Ahmed (ID # 0110127)
Submitted to Mr. Mohammed Sohel Islam Lecturer, School of
Business
Independent University, Bangladesh April 30, 2006
April 30, 2006 Mr. Mohammed Sohel Islam Lecturer, School of
Business Independent University, Bangladesh Sub: Submission of
Internship Report on Banglalink.
Dear Sir,
It is a great pleasure for me to submit the report on An
exploratory research on the activities of the Public relation, and
communication department of Banglalink. I am submitting this report
as the part of my internship (BBA-499A) in Banglalink. This report
will help the organization to find out related factors of PR &
communication department.
This is an exploratory study in a complete form and I have tried
my best to complete the study in proper format given by IUB
authority. It is true that it could have been done in better way if
there would not be any limitations.
I appreciate you will asses my report considering the
limitations of the study. Your kind advice will encourage me to do
further research in future.
Sincerely yours,
___________________
Zahir Ahmed ID # 0110127
Acknowledgement
In the preparation and finish this internship report, I
acknowledge the encouragement and assistance given by a number of
people and institution. I am most grateful to the Banglalink PR
& communication department to give me the opportunity to
complete my internship in their organization. I would like to
express my gratitude to my Supervisor at IUB Mr. Mohammed Sohel
Islam for providing me detailed feedback and advice on this report.
He always gave me his suggestions in making this study as flawless
as possible. I also want to render my special thanks to Mr. Shahed
Zubair, Sr. Manager, and others from PR & comm. Banglalink for
providing all the supports in the organization. Special thanks go
to the respondents, who spared their time generously, and took the
trouble of answering a detail Questionnaire and helped me to
complete my study. I also like to thank my family and friend for
giving me continues support and suggestions. And never the less
above all my heartiest thanks goes to all mighty Allah without his
help I would not be here.
Table of ContentsSubjectExecutive Summary
...............................................................................................
Introduction............................................................................................................
Research Problem
..................................................................................................
Research
Objectives...............................................................................................
COMPANY
BACKGROUND...............................................................................
Orascom Telecom
Holdings...................................................................................
Mission
Statement..................................................................................................
Banglalink
..........................................................................................................
Marketing Department of
Banglalink.................................................................
PR & Communication Department
........................................................................
Why you need PR
..................................................................................................
Activities of PR & Comm.. dept.
..........................................................................
LITERATURE REVIEW
......................................................................................
Public
Relation.......................................................................................................
Advertising.............................................................................................................
Press
Conference....................................................................................................
Press
Release..........................................................................................................
Spin
.................................................................................................................
TV Commercials
....................................................................................................
Publicity
.................................................................................................................
Marketing Communication
....................................................................................
Billboard
................................................................................................................
Advertising Campaign
...........................................................................................
METHODOLOGY Statement of the Problem
.......................................................................................
Purpose of the Study
..............................................................................................
Research
Design.....................................................................................................
Research
Timeline..................................................................................................
Instruments.............................................................................................................
Sampling Technique
..............................................................................................
Data Collection
......................................................................................................
Data Analysis
.........................................................................................................
Significance of the
study........................................................................................
LIMITITIONS OF THE STUDY
..........................................................................
RESULTS
..............................................................................................................
Overview of
Findings.............................................................................................
Findings of question no.1
......................................................................................
Discussion Analysis Findings of question no.2
......................................................................................
Discussion Analysis Findings of question no.3
......................................................................................
Discussion Analysis
Pagei ii 01 02 02 03 03 04 05 06 08 08 09 15 15 16 17 18 18 18
18 19 20 20 20 20 21 21 21 22 22 23 23 24 24 24 24 24
25
26
SubjectFindings of question no.4
......................................................................................
Discussion Analysis Findings of question no.5
......................................................................................
Discussion Analysis Findings of question no.6
......................................................................................
Discussion Analysis Findings of question no.7
......................................................................................
Discussion Analysis Findings of question no.8
......................................................................................
Discussion Analysis Findings of question no.9
......................................................................................
Discussion Analysis Findings of question no.10
....................................................................................
Discussion Analysis RECOMMENDATIONS
.......................................................................................
CONCLUSION......................................................................................................
APPENDICES
.......................................................................................................
References (Article, and books)
..............................................................
Page27
27
28
29
29
30
31
32 33 34 34
References (websites)
.............................................................................
36
Questionnaire...........................................................................................
37
Summary statistics of each question, tables, and detailed
calculations.... List of
acronyms.......................................................................................
40 50
i
Executive SummeryThis research intends to explore the public
relation and communication department under marketing department of
Banglalink. It is an exploratory research which gives an over all
idea about the activities of the department, in addition this
research will find out what the different types (working class,
student, housewives, employees) think about the PR activities of
Banglalink. This research is based on a semi-structured
questionnaire. The questionnaire was given from the Banglalink
authority which was a pre-tested questionnaire having 10 questions.
The sample technique was stratified random sample. Total 85
respondents from Dhaka city where taken for this research. Based on
their answers the analysis has been made. The sample size is
divided in to five (5) sub-categories namely student, housewives,
working class, agency personnel, and lastly the Banglalink
employees. Microsoft excel 2003 software was used for all sorts of
calculation and graphical representation for the research. Based on
the calculation all sorts interpretation and recommendation was
given at the end. Each of the questions has its own calculation and
diagram in this research paper. The literature review part was full
of secondary information about the research. The terminological
definition, explanations of the terms and detail of the departments
are clearly described in this part of the research. In addition,
company background part is added just for the readers to know more
about the company and also the detail of the department of PR &
communication. There are mainly nine activities that are taken care
by the PR & communication department. Each of the categories
are explained and ranked based on their importance
ii after analyzing the questionnaire. Activities like TV,
outdoor, press & publications are the most talked about in this
research. Least but not the last, based on the analysis
recommendations are suggested for the PR and communication
department. These recommendations will definitely improve the
overall company image if implemented efficiently. Finally, this
research will encourage further study and useful guidelines for
these types of researches.
An exploratory research on the activities of the Public
relation, and communication department of Banglalink
Page 1 of 50
Bangladesh is well suited for OTHs [Orascom Telecom Holding]
ongoing expansion into emerging markets, and our preparation for
the challenges of providing top quality services nationwide is
solid. We are confident that Banglalink will repeat the success
story of Mobilink in Pakistan.1 Mr. Naguib Sawiris, Chairman and
CEO, OTH
It was with these statements that Orascom launched its first
package in Bangladesh that they had hoped would rock the telecom
industry. However, neither their competitors nor the public had
needed these words to convince them that Banglalink would be
bringing them a great offering. Ever since Orascom bought off Sheba
(Pvt.) Telecom last September, people have been expecting something
big, given their record of accomplishment in other countries.
INTRODUCTIONBanglalink (BL) is the 3rd largest mobile company in
Bangladesh. Out of five mobile companies (Grameen Phone, Aktel,
Banglalink, Citycell, and Teletalk) Banglalink managed to secure
this position only in a year. Banglalink has completed its 1st year
successfully in Bangladesh. The growth rate of the company is
tremendous (currently 1.5 million subscribers). During its birth
year BL has concentrated on heavy advertisement. Now BL is a known
brand to every Bangladeshi. It has been possible because of the
strong public relation (PR) & communication department of the
company. The research will concentrate on the PR &
Communication departments activities of the company. The activities
of the department with the different media agencies are to be
discussed here along with the problems.
1
Press Release on the occasion of Banglalinks launch on February
10, 2005
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relation, and communication department of Banglalink
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RESEARCH PROBLEMThe job of PR & communication department of
Banglalink is to bridge the relationship between the consumer with
the company. Another duty of this department is to communicate
information to the target customers. The activities of this
department during the initial years are very important. So the
effectiveness of the activities of the department needs an
evaluation. What the company wants to address to the consumer, and
the information dissemination are the vital job for this
department. On the other hand, what are the opinions of the
consumers about the compnays PR activities also needed to know in
order to improve the performance of PR & Communication
department. In this exploratory research the researcher will try to
find out about the various activities of the PR & Comm.
department, and also try to find out is there any laggings in their
present work, and if there is any chance resolved the problem.
RESEARCH OBJECTIVESAs mentioned earlier in the research problem
this exploratory research will find out different activities of PR
& Communication department of Banglalink. The purpose of the
study is to provide a specific and accurate synopsis of the overall
PR & communication department of Banglalink. As a new company
how they are managing the public relations. What sorts of
communication form strategy is been using are to be discussed
here.
To explore public relation activities in the market. In
addition, how much impact is been created with the PR and
communication department, how this impact is helping the company in
doing business.
An exploratory research on the activities of the Public
relation, and communication department of Banglalink
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To explore the effectiveness of Banglalink print & TV
advertisement and competitors print & TV advertisement. To
explore the effectiveness of Bangla Links Outdoor activities.
COMPANY BACKGROUND Orascom Telecom Holding
Orascom
Telecom
Holding
S.A.E.
(Orascom
Telecom) is a leading mobile telecommunications company
operating in nine emerging markets in the Middle East, Africa and
South Asia.
Established in 1998, the company has acquired nine operating
licenses in this region. With nearly 520 million people and an
average mobile telephony penetration of only 5% falling under these
licenses, Orascom Telecom has positioned itself as a leading
telecommunications conglomerate in the emerging markets of this
region. The organization has managed to build an amazing subscriber
base of around 15 million in just a short span of six years by the
end of 2004.
The majority stakeholder (56.9%) of the OTH group is the Sawiris
family of Egypt, of whom Naguib Sawiris is the present Chairman and
CEO. The rest of the shares are traded in the Cairo, Alexandria
& London Stock Exchanges. OTH's IPO raised US$320 million
during the year 2000, and was the largest offering on the Egyptian
Stock Market at the time.
The capital of Orascom Telecom is estimated at 1.1 billion
Egyptian Pound represented in 110 million shares.
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relation, and communication department of Banglalink
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MISSION STATEMENT
The mission statement of the OTH is to be the primary telecom
operator in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia, providing the
best quality services to our customers, value to our shareholders,
and a dynamic working environment for our employees.2
With this mission in mind, OTH had recently divested its
investment in various locations, including Jordan, Yemen & the
Ivory Coast, to concentrate on its core function of providing the
primary GSM network in the regions it operates.
Most of its remaining subsidiaries concentrate on adding value
added services to its operation than in introducing new packages
from time to time, in an effort to provide its customers with a
complete mobile solution and in turn add value to its
shareholders.
Banglalink
We have kept our promise of bringing real competion to the
market.3 Mr. Lars P. Reichelt, CEO, Banglalink
2
www.otelecom.com/about/ Press Release on the occasion of
Banglalink 1 million customer celebration on November 15, 2005
3
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relation, and communication department of Banglalink
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Banglalink is the latest addition to the GSM family of OTH.
Naguib Sawiris, Chairman and CEO of OTH, announced the acquisition
of Sheba Telecom (Pvt.) Limited with a cost of US$60m in September
of 2004.
The company aims to make a difference in the lives of the
people. Its vision is to understand people's needs best and will
create and deliver appropriate communication services to improve
people's life and make it easier. Their mission is, therefore, to
reduce the total cost of ownership of buying and using a mobile
phone. Moreover, to achieve this vision, the company has
established some values that it tries to instill in its employees.
They want their employees, and the company as a result, to be
straight forward, reliable, innovative and, above all,
passionate.
As Sheba Telecom, the worst performing network operator in the
industry, the company had only 30,000 subscribers. To dispel this
image, OTH had re-branded Sheba as Banglalink in an attempt to give
it a completely new image.
With that kind of a reputation at its disposition, the
Banglalink management has placed one of the highest priorities on
improving its network. In this respect, they have installed
state-ofthe-art equipment from Siemens and Huawei and brought in
over 1,000 people, including experts, from 15 countries around the
world to set up the required infrastructure. The system took a
record of four months (less than half the normal time) to build. In
2005 alone, Orascom plans to invest $120 million, earmarking close
to another $300 million for future investments.
While Banglalink started out quite small, it has increased its
coverage from 9 to 23 districts in just over three months. The
company plans to provide mobile communication coverage to all the
61 districts of the country and its major highways by the end of
the year. Moreover, in less than only four months, it now has more
than 400,000 subscribers from a mere 30,000 in February before the
launch. Now the current customer including postpaid
(upper-class),
An exploratory research on the activities of the Public
relation, and communication department of Banglalink
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& pre-paid are more then 1.5 million. Other new news for
Banglalink is recently changed its logo, this is not a major change
only the color and font pattern of is changed.
MARKETING DEPARTMENT OF BANGLALINK
The Marketing team also consists of several teams, which
includes PR & Communications, VAS, Loyalty & Retention and
International Roaming (IR). The teams all report to Omer Rashid,
the Marketing Director.
Marketing Director (Omer Rashid)
PR & Communications (Shahed Zubair) Sr. Manager
VAS
Loyalty & Retention
(Shihab Ahmed) Manager
Shirif Amin Taha Sr. Manager
International Roaming (Ashraf Haiba) Manager
Fig 01: Organization chart of marketing department with names of
Banglalink
The Loyalty & Retention team is responsible for the
designing of the special offers launched from time to time in an
attempt either to increase customer base or to increase ARPU. The
VAS division is responsible for the continuously adding valuable
services to provide a complete solution to existing customers, for
example, for making conference calling & ring tone/logo
downloads possible. These two teams together are in charge of
making the customers experience with our network more
satisfying.
PR & Communication is responsible for designing and
developing all promotional materials for the marketing of any new
product/package and any other activities. They coordinate and work
directly with the advertising agency and other vendors. While other
companies have an
An exploratory research on the activities of the Public
relation, and communication department of Banglalink
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entire department for promotions and branding, at Banglalink
this division, consisting of only a handful of people is
responsible for this task.
Although Banglalink does not have any International Roaming
facility now, this team is working on developing the service soon
for post-paid subscribers.
PR & COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT
The PR & Communication Department of Banglalink plays the
key roll of advertisement, public communication, promotion, event
management, sponsorship, visibility & others. The department is
consists of total 13 members leaded by one senior manager Mr.
Shahed Zubair, who has vast experience in PR & Comm.
activities.
WHY YOU NEED PRWhile the public part implies inclusion of things
like public affairs, community relations, investor relations,
public press conferences, media events, internal communications and
crisis communications, it also involves a lot of behind-the-scenes,
non-public activity. It could involve simply the writing of a press
release, but it could also involve coordinating media contacts for
an event or conference, securing credentials, lobbying for article
placement and the like.
Sometimes public relation is an effort to influence the public.
This is especially true for political action groups, associations
and other groups. Sometimes public relation is community relations.
Just look around your own community to see how many companies and
organizations have a community affairs initiative or a person in
charge with a related title. In larger, publicly
An exploratory research on the activities of the Public
relation, and communication department of Banglalink
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held firms, this person is sometimes the director of investor
relations. Investors are a public entity, so in this case public
relation is appropriate.
What the public wants to hear is a good story. Good PR is the
telling of a good story. The better the story, the better the
acceptance by the public and the better the public relations, of
course if the story is especially appealing to those that could be
your clients, then you could have a PR homerun. In this case, it is
communication with your target market that may or may not be very
public.
PR's importance is changing, according to The Fall of
Advertising and the Rise of PR (HarperBusiness). American marketing
strategists Al and Laura Ries argue that public relations has
become the most effective way to build a brand. Well-known brands
like The Body Shop, PlayStation and Harry Potter spend little on
brand-name advertising. The same is true for many entrepreneurial
companies like yours. Business owners become known in their
respective fields of concentration many times through public
relations and the associated media generated.
PR is communication in many ways with your target market. Maybe
instead of public relations we ought to call it target market
relations or TMR. You may be communicating about a new product,
spreading news about your company or making a major announcement.
You want to communicate publicly, but the only people you care
about are potential prospects, customers or investors, in the case
of a partnership or a public company. One exception may be
communication to a group that you are trying to influence for the
best interest of your company and target market. An example of this
is lobbying government.
Define what your public or target is in your public relations
effort. This is best done by defining your target market and then
any sub-segment. Lining up publications and broadcasts with the
market and the segments will define what the public is for your
public relations.
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relation, and communication department of Banglalink
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The bottom line is to get word out about you, your company, your
products and services to those who could potentially buy from you.
Public relation is just one part of marketing, as marketing is made
up of many things. The good news about PR is the cost and the
effectiveness when it's in front of your target market.
Activities of PR & Comm. department in Banglalink
Different types of activities are been conducted in this
department. For each of the activity senior executives works along
with his/her deputy. The overall control of the department is with
the departmental head Sr. Manager Mr. Shahed Zubair. And one PR
& Comm. manager Mr. Solaiman Alam is there to help him out.
Mainly the work has been distributed between these two managers.
The TV, Press & publication, and POS materials are been dealt
by Mr. Shahed Zubair. On the other hand, Solaiman Alam, Manager PR
& Comm. deals with visibility, and Events & Sponsorship
issues. The work distribution helps the department to work more
efficiently.
Head of Dept. Shahed Zubair Sr. Manager
Solaiman Alam Manager
(Irum Iqbal) Assist. Manager (Press)
(Yasser H. Ch.) Sr. Executive (Media)
Shehzad S. Hossain Sr. Executive (Visibility)
Rahath Ahmed Sr. Executive (E & S)
Shahriar Ahmed Sr. Executive
(Musarrat Jahan Siddiqi) Executive
(Ankan Siddiquee) Executive
Nafizul Hamid Executive
Zahir Ahmed Intern.
An exploratory research on the activities of the Public
relation, and communication department of Banglalink
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Fig 02: Brief organization chart of PR & Comm. department
with names of Banglalink
Currently there been nine (9) activities are done by the
department of PR & Comm.
Activity Name Outdoor/Visibility TV Press & Publications
Events & Sponsorship Radio Ad Pos Materials Gift Items Web
Based Communications Others Fig 03: Name of the activities at PR
& Comm. dept.
Press conference for corporate signing and press release of any
activities are also part of PR and Communication department job.
Outdoor/Visibility: All sorts of Billboard, posters, festoons,
placard comes under this heading. Banglalink billboard now can be
found almost everywhere in Bangladesh. The brand name is now so
popular that only by seeing the tiger strips people understand it
is Banglalink. New concepts like shop marker, shop sign are also
been used for advertisement purpose. Almost 30% (PR & Comm.
data base, 2006) of the total PR & Comm. expenses are been
spent on visibility. Suppliers like Signage, Megna Art, & ARkey
works for the outdoor activities.
TV: Television commercial is a very important means of
communication in this electronic world. Now people spent a good
amount of his/her time watching TV. Many television commercials
feature catchy jingles (songs or melodies) or catch-phrases that
generate sustained appeal, which may remain in the minds of
television viewers long after the span of the advertising
campaign,
An exploratory research on the activities of the Public
relation, and communication department of Banglalink
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e.g. Habibs tune for Banglalinkcommercials. Some of these ad
jingles or catch-phrases may take on lives of their own, spawning
gags or "riffs" that may appear in other forms of media, such as
comedy movies or television variety shows, or in written media,
such as magazine comics or literature.
Animation is often used in commercials. Techniques can vary from
hand-drawn traditional animation to different forms of computer
animation. By using animated characters, a commercial may have a
certain appeal that is difficult to achieve with actors or mere
product displays. For this reason, an animated commercial (or a
series of such commercials) can be very long-running, several
decades in many instances. So in order to communicate people
properly TV commercial is a mast for a mobile company. Like the
competitors Banglalink also has series of TV ads for its different
sorts of packages and VAS services. Currently TV commercials are
been shown in Channel I, ATN Bangla, NTV, RTV, & Channel 1.
Among these channels ATN Bangla, & Channel I work orders are
done by agency Interspeed Advertising Ltd.
Apart from TV commercials program like Rock link in ATN Bangla
been totally sponsored by Banglalink team.
Press & Publications: Banglalink spent maximum amount in
March 2006 among the other mobile phone operators in Bangladesh
(Market Intelligence Report of Banglalink, March 2006). And the
amount is about 10.17 million BDT. To be more specific on in the
Independence Day the Banglalink color ad went to 22 daily
newspapers which cost the company 2.6 million for only one day. Ad
also goes to different types of magazines also. According to a
internal research of Banglalink the maximum attention of the
customer is gained from the Press & publications. Whole press
work is done by the ad agency Interspeed Advertising Ltd. The press
layout, idea generation, & guidance all been taken care by the
agency. For this service the agency gets 5% commission with every
work order.
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relation, and communication department of Banglalink
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Radio Ad: very recently (from March, 2006) Banglalink start
giving ads in the radio in order to target the customers in the
rural places. The concept of radio ad already been praised among
the different rural customer groups (Market intelligence report,
April 17, 2006) Events & Sponsorship: For the Pohela Boishak
1413 Banglalink had 10 events in all over the country. Events like
Dhaka University Branding (in front of Charukola road), Showrowardi
Uddan Branding, musical event at Sohid Minar, Fantasy kingdom
concert, water kingdom concert are few of the events of Pohela
Boishak 1413. Events are run for publicity of the company. During
the event and sponsorship kiosk (A small open gazebo or pavilion.)
is installed to provide Pos materials to the customers. In
addition, SIM cards are also been sold at the kiosk in the event
spots. Banglalink Tiger Cup (Bangladesh vs. Kenya) is one of the
successful sponsorship ventures of banglalink. Other then this AFC
cup, IGP kabadi tournament, and Professional School Football
Championship at Sylhet are few of other recent sponsorship programs
of the company. Very month many school, colleges, university,
organizations events are been sponsored by the company. This has
been done to improve the PR and increment brand awareness. POS
Materials: POS materials mean Point of Sale Materials. All sorts of
leaflet, Tariff card, printing materials comes under these
criteria. Pos materials mainly help the customer to understand the
product & services offered by the parent company. These
leaflets provide detail explanation of the services offered by the
operator. Gift Items: different types of gift items are given to
the clients and employees of Banglalink. Gift items like key ring,
pen, CD, Show piece, calendar, Diary, watch, Mug, T-shirt, &
Jacket produced for the clients. All the gift items are marked with
Banglalink logo. The gift item helps the company in public relation
and also helps in diffusing the brand name towards the
customers.
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relation, and communication department of Banglalink
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Web Based Communications: Advertisement of Banglalink in the
renowned web sites is also been conducted. Web site like
www.tigerscricket.com , and www.bangladeshinfo.com are few examples
of web base ad campaign of Banglalink. Others: Activities like
donation, and charity are done by the sr. executive Mr. Abul Azim
Sulman. In February, 2006 amounted Tk. 1,056,720/= given to Ahsania
Mision Cancer Hospital.
Source: Daily Star business page dated 17th February, 2006
Illustration: Charity activity by Banglalink 1 Working with
different agencies: As earlier told, PR & comm. activities are
very vast requiring a lot of manpower. So most of the activities
are run through different add agencies. Agencies do the job for the
company in return they get a commission amounted 5% to 15%
depending on the subject matter. The main agencies of Banglalink
are Interspeed Advertising Ltd., Market Access Providers Ltd., and
Asiatic MindShare Ltd. Interspeed deals with the press & TV
activities of the company. The agency provides a complete solution
from idea generation to final printing at the press. On the other
hand, concept
An exploratory research on the activities of the Public
relation, and communication department of Banglalink
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development, making of TV ad, scheduling, broadcasting, bill
submission, and support service are provided by the agency.
Allsorts of big and small events (concert, mobile-fair, road show)
are organizer by the Market Access Providers Ltd. during the events
companys placard, posters, backdrops, leaflets were installed.
Asiatic MindShare Ltd is engaged for ad making. But recently
(March, 06) the agreement between Asiatic Mind share Ltd. and
Banglalink is over. And no renewal has been made so far. This was
the summary of the activities of PR & Comm. department. The
senior manager is accountable to the marketing director Mr. Omar
Rashid for all his activities. He (Omer Rashid) personally reviews
the performance of the department along with the Chief Commercial
Officer Mr. Mehboob Chowdhury.
LITERATURE REVIEWAccording to Public Relations News, "Public
relation is the management function which evaluates public
attitudes, identifies the policies and procedures of an individual
or an organization with the public interest, and plans and executes
a program of action to earn public understanding and
acceptance"
Public relations, activities and policies used to create public
interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business
establishment. By its nature, public relation is devoted to serving
particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most
favorable light (Phillips, 2001). The goal of the public relations
consultant is to create, through the organization of news and
advertising, an advantageous image for his client, be it a business
corporation, cultural institution, or private or public individual;
toward this endthe making of favorable public opinionmany
An exploratory research on the activities of the Public
relation, and communication department of Banglalink
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research techniques and communications media are used (Lewis
& Booms, 1983; Lehtinen & Lehtinen, 1982; Gronroos, 1984;
Parasuraman et al., 1985, 1988, 1994).
They also added that although many of the same methods are
employed, public relations differs from propaganda, systematic
manipulation of public opinion, generally by the use of symbols
such as flags, monuments, oratory, and publications (Cutlip,
1994).
Public relations as a field can be traced to the early 20th
cent., when American businessmen found it necessary to respond to
attacks by social reformers. A milestone in the industry was the
opening (1904) of Ivy Lee's publicity office in New York City. Soon
there were other firms in the field, and by World War I the concept
of public relations had gained general acceptance. Public relations
techniques have been widely used in politics and political
campaigns. By the 1960s the public relations agency had become a
fact in American life, numbering among its clients branches of
national, state, and local government, industry, labor,
professional and religious groups, and some foreign countries
(Grunig, 1984).
ADVERTISINGAfter spending resources on naming a product, it is
imperative to support it through advertising and communication
(Berry et al., 1988). For a product to succeed, the brand owner
must dedicate more resources to promoting it through advertising.
O'Malley (1991) writes that advertising is a key to sustaining
appeal of brands. It is also a key to developing that appeal in the
first place. Belch (2004) says that the first job of advertising is
to build brand awareness and corporate brand approval. Through
advertising, marketers expose the potential consumer to the brand
and give them the opportunity to accept it.
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Advertising should be thought of as an investment in the brand
it is promoting. Just as a company would invest in technology and
innovation, it must also invest in advertising and promotion if it
is to succeed (Wentz, 1993).
According to The Economist (1989) Generally speaking,
advertising is the promotion of goods, services, companies and
ideas, usually by an identified sponsor. Marketers see advertising
as part of an overall promotional strategy. Other components of the
promotional mix include publicity, public relations, personal
selling and sales promotion.
The magazine also mentioned (1989) advertising is the promotion
of goods, services, companies and ideas, usually by an identified
sponsor. Marketers see advertising as part of an overall
promotional strategy. Other components of the promotional mix
include publicity, public relations, personal selling and sales
promotion.
PRESS CONFERENCESAccording to Philip Kotler (1999); Bitner, M.
J., and Zeithaml, V. A. (2003) A press conference consists of
someone speaking to the media at a predetermined time and place.
Press conferences usually take place in a public or quasi-public
place. Press conferences provide an opportunity for speakers to
control information and who gets it; depending on the
circumstances, speakers may hand-pick the journalists they invite
to the conference instead of making themselves available to any
journalist who wishes to attend.
A news conference or press conference is a media event in which
newsmakers (or people claiming to be newsmakers) invite multiple
journalists to hear them speak and, most often, ask questions
(Dick, 1994).
There are two major reasons for holding a news conference. One
is so that a newsmaker who gets many questions from reporters can
answer them all at once rather than answering
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dozens of phone calls. Another is so someone can try to attract
news coverage for something that was not of interest to journalists
before.
In a news conference, one or more speakers may make a statement,
which may be followed by questions from reporters. Sometimes only
questioning occurs; sometimes there is a statement with no
questions permitted.
PRESS RELEASESPress release format the typical press release
announces that the statement is "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE" across the
top (some may instead be embargoed until a certain date), and lists
the issuing organization's media contacts directly below (Castaldo,
1995; Blois, 1999). The also added the media contacts are the
people that the release's issuer wants to make available to the
media; for example, a press release about new scientific study will
typically list the study's lead scientist as its media contact. The
bottom of each release is usually marked with ### or -30to signify
the end of the text.
SPINPublic relation is used to present information in a
favorable manner. When a presentation uses deceptive and/or highly
manipulative tactics, it is referred to as spin (Ewen, 1996).
TELEVISION COMMERCIAL
A television commercial (often called an advert in the United
Kingdom) is a form of advertising in which goods, services,
organizations, ideas, etc. are promoted via the medium of
television. Most commercials are produced by an outside ad agency
and, and airtime is purchased from a channel or network in exchange
for sponsorship of its programming (Norris, 1992).
PUBLICITY
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Publicity is the deliberate attempt to manage the public's
perception of a product or organization. The product could include
anything from traditional goods and services, to celebrities, or
works of entertainment (Gilbert, 1999).
From a marketing perspective, publicity is one of the variables
that comprise the promotional mix. The other components of
promotions are advertising, sales promotion, and personal selling.
Promotion is one of the variables that comprise the marketing mix
(Kotler, 1999).
According to Bitner in 1999 Publicity is the means of using an
external entity (celebrities, people from the media, etc) to
increase the awareness levels of the product, company, goods etc
amongst the public and/or buying segment.
A media event at which no statements are made, and no questions
allowed, is called a photo opportunity (Belch, 2004).
Lawrence (2004) told in one of his article that Television
stations and networks especially value news conferences: because
today's TV news programs air for hours at a time, or even
continuously, assignment editors have a steady appetite for
ever-larger quantities of footage .
MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS
Gregory (1993) told Marketing communications (or marcom)
consists of the messages and related media used to communicate with
a market. Those who practice advertising, branding, direct
marketing, graphic design, marketing, packaging, promotion,
publicity, public relations,
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sales, and sales promotion are termed marketing communicators,
marketing communications managers, or more briefly as marcom
managers.
A corporate image refers to how a corporation is perceived. It
is a generally accepted image of what a company "stands for". The
creation of a corporate image is an exercise in perception
management. It is created primarily by marketing experts who use
public relations and other forms of promotion to suggest a mental
picture to the public. Typically, a corporate image is designed to
be appealing to the public, so that the company can spark an
interest among consumers, create share of mind, generate brand
equity, and thus facilitate product sales (Grunig, 1984).
Grunig (1984) also added corporations are not the only form of
organization that creates these types of images. Governments,
charitable organizations, criminal organizations, religious
organizations, political organizations, and educational
organizations all tend to have a unique image, an image that is
partially deliberate and partially accidental, partially
self-created and partially exogenous.
BILLBOARD (ADVERTISING) A billboard or hoarding is a large
outdoor signboard, usually wooden, found in places with high
traffic such as cities, roads, motorways and highways. Billboards
show large advertisements aimed at passing pedestrians and drivers.
The vast majority of billboards are rented to advertisers rather
than owned by them (Wernick, 1991). Typically showing large, witty
slogans splashed with distinctive color pictures, billboards line
the highways and are placed on the sides of buildings, peddling
products and getting out messages. Billboards originally existed
alongside and later largely
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replaced advertisements painted directly onto the sides of
buildings or designed into roofs in shingle patterns (Stoykov,
2005).
ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN
An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages
that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated
marketing communication (IMC). Advertising campaigns appear in
different media across a specific time frame (Wernick, 1991).
MethodologyStatement of the Problem The job of PR &
communication department of banglalink is to bridge the
relationship between the consumer and the company. Another duty of
this department is to communicate information to the target
customers. The activities of this department during the initial
years are very important. So the effectiveness of the activities
needs an evaluation. On the other hand, what are the opinions of
the consumers about the compnays activity also needed to know in
order to improve the performance of PR & Communication
department.
Purpose of the Study The purpose of the study is to provide a
specific and accurate synopsis of the overall PR &
communication department of Banglalink. As a new company how they
are managing the public relations. What sorts of communication form
strategy is been using are to be discussed here.
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To explore public relation activities in the market. In
addition, how much impact is been created with the PR and
communication department, how this impact is helping the company in
doing business. To explore the effectiveness of Banglalink print
& TV advertisement and competitors print & TV
advertisement. To explore the effectiveness of Bangla Links Outdoor
activities.
Research Design Methods and Procedures Exploratory Research Less
chances of error as the sample size is limited here. Exploratory
research is more flexible and versatile in nature. It can be
conducted by a single researcher with a minimum no. of sample size.
This kind of research gives more insights for developing an
approach to the problem.
Research timelineTable01: Research timeline2006 2006 2006 2006
2006 February March April 1 April 24 April 30 Research proposal
writing and literature review Data collection procedure Data
analysis and interpretation of findings Final redraft of complete
manuscript. Submission of research paper
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InstrumentsThe source of measurement will be questionnaire. The
questionnaire is a semi-structured.
The questionnaire has been made very carefully so that the
accurate information came out from the respondents. There are total
ten (10) questions where the respondents will have the option to
choose their answers or they can also put their own answers in
question no. 10. Pilot testing was made on this questionnaire
earlier by the Banglalink research anddevelopment department. This
questionnaire is developed by the Banglalink personnel. Mr. MD.
Mahboob Hossain (Marketing Executive) works under R & D
department of the company. Banglalink wants to know the research
result for their further development. While asking about the Alpha
value of the questionnaire Mr. Hossain replied, they pilot tested
this questionnaire and the result was positive. Out of 15 samples
in the pilot test 14 understood the questionnaire. This is why they
have further preceded this research.
Sampling Technique Stratified random sampling This is the price
effective and quick method of collecting sample. In order to find
out a proper answer regarding PR & Communication department
activity it is very much essential to take the viewpoint of
population who are aware of the activity of the department. This is
why 5 categories have been chosen to fill up the questionnaire for
this exploratory research.
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Table 02: Sample category & size Category Consumer category
1 (Students) Consumer category 2 (Housewife) Consumer category 3
(Working people) Ad agency personnel Employees of Banglalink Total
Sample Size (In No.) 15 15 15 20 20 85 Sample Size (%) 17.65%
17.65% 17.65% 23.53% 23.53% 100.00 %
Data Collection The first step in the data collection was the
pilot test of the questionnaire. The questionnaire was pre-tested
on 15 people. And the result was positive. All sorts of primary
data source will be the questionnaire. But depending on the
situation and information some in-depth interview might be
conducted during the research. In case of secondary data the
company website, brochure, leaflet, Ad, personal working
experience, and observation will be under consideration.
Data Analysis Data analysis will be made based on the
respondents answers. Every single question will be analyzed with
different calculations (e.g. mean value), for the optimum results.
Different sorts of pie diagram, bar charts and other related graphs
will be provided in this section.
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Significance of the Study This research will help the PR &
Comm. Department of Banglalink to understand their problem areas.
In addition based on the recommendations the department will be
able to revise their work for better and efficient performance.
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY Problems of Quota Sampling: Banglalink
employee & the agency personnel might give biased information.
Small Sample Size: Only 85 questionnaires have been conducted. The
research topic is so vast that this tiny amount of sample will not
reflect the actual picture. Centralized study: All the samples were
the inhabitants of Dhaka City Lack of concentration in filling up
the questionnaire: Not enough time was there to fill up the
questionnaire properly. Also the levels of knowledge of the samples
were not adequate for every question. Time as a constrain: Time was
a constrain all the time it was quite difficult to continue the
internship and continue the research work together. Literature
review could have been better.
RESULTSOVERVIEW OF FINDINGS Findings of question no 165% said
yes they watch Banglalink Television commercials. 22% replied with
sometimes and the rest (13%) said no.
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The majority (65%) of the 5 category of respondents watches
Banglalink Television commercials. Among them employees of
Banglalink watches the commercials most (14 individuals).
DiscussionTotal 85 of 85 respondents participated for this
question (Appendix Table 3.1). It was a basic question just to
start the questionnaire. Everybody positively responded for this
question by giving their opinions (100% response).
Analysis: People are watching Banglalink Television commercials
more then they areavoiding it. So there is a very good chance to
communicate people through this media.
Findings of question no 214 respondents (4%) are unsatisfied
with the TV ads of Banglalink. Most of the housewives said very
good (40%) about the TV ads. Working class judged their opinion by
putting average (14 respondents i.e. 23.33 %) mark for this
question.
DiscussionThis question is based on four factors - visual,
sound, communication, & contents. Based on the responses
towards these factors judgment has been made. Each of the factor
has been analyzed individually (shown in the analysis_za.xls file
in the soft version of the report i.e. CD). The summary of the
factors are in the Table 3.2. And to clear the idea more one pie
diagram is given (fig 05). As usual 5 categories of respondent
contributed. Out of 339 responses came out of 340 (4 factors X 85
respondents = 340 responses).
Analysis: This analysis is made to find out which factors of
preference in case of TV ads ofBanglalink by the respondents. The
summary of the report (table 3.2) says there is no majority for
this question the highest vote went for the excellent (32%), and
the second best is the 28%
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vote for Very good by the respondents. By analyzing Q1 & Q2
we can see for both the questions respondents gave positive
answers. The respondents like the TV ads of Banglalink.
Findings of question no 3Most preferred choice is the message
contents (40% or 34 people said excellent) for all 5 category
respondents. Another interesting finding is 36.5% respondents gave
average marking to the presentation standard. Other noticeable
thing is total 29 people is unsatisfied with the visual. Visual is
a very important factor in case of TV ads, but 32.1% do not think
it is an important factors. In this case we can conclude that the
few respondents (29) did not understand the question properly, they
might have evaluated the current Banglalink TV ad instead of giving
their opinion on which is the most important factor in TV ad.
DiscussionThere are five factors were pre identified in the
pilot testing for the TV ads rating in case of Banglalink. Those
factors are frequency of the ad, message, visual, offerings, and
presentation. 100 % response rate came total 425 respondents (85 X
5) gave their opinions here. Based on their ranking the table 3.3
was made. In order to give a visual description and easy
understanding one very useful bar diagram is used here (fig
06).
Analysis: This analysis was to find out the public opinion that
which factor is the mostimportant for them in the TV ad. Out of 5
options the most preferred option was the message of the ad., and
the worst was the visual. On the other hand presentation got a
average grading. Banglalink should work on their visual
presentation more. Offering is always a key factor which has been
seen in the fig 06 clearly. So the management always put importance
in the offerings.
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Findings of question no 460% of the samples read Banglalink
newspaper advertisements. 28% sometimes and the rest (12%) never
read newspaper ads of Banglalink. Among the 5 categories of the
sample working people read the news paper ads the most, the number
is 12 (80%). Agency personnel also read it vastly, their quantity
is 13 but in percentage it is only 65% of its total sample size.
45% (35% +10%) of the Banglalink employees sometimes or never read
newspaper ad according to this research.
DiscussionTotal 85 of 85 respondents participated for this
question (Appendix Table 3.4). It was a basic question on newspaper
readability. All the samples where from the Dhaka city and they
were all educated so the majority (60%) positively responded for
this question by giving their opinions.
Analysis: People are reads newspaper so do they read Banglalink
newspaper ad. Socommunication process should be more precise and
target oriented in case of newspaper ad. For example in the
regional newspaper like Uttor Jonopod ad should be focus on the
basic mobile phone ad with direct Bangla communication. On the
other hand, in Daily Star more option based (Value Added service
SMS, VMS etc.) ad can be given.
Findings of question no 56 respondents (13.3%) students are
unsatisfied with the newspaper ads of Banglalink. The total
unsatisfied ad reader number is 13 i.e. the 5.18% of entire 251
responses. The highest preference is 32 (53.3%) of excellent given
by Employees of Banglalink. They are very much happy about their
newspaper ad works. All sorts of findings are given in the table
3.5.
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DiscussionThis question is based on three factors - visual,
communication/ Message, & contents. Based on the responses
towards these factors judgment has been made. Each of the factor
has been analyzed individually (shown in the analysis_za.xls file
in the soft version of the report i.e. CD). The summary of the
factors are in the Table 3.5 in addition one pie diagram fig 08
given to clear the concept of this question. All five (5)
categories of respondent took part in this question. Out of 255
responses 251 responses came and 4 answers came out null (3 factors
X 85 respondents = 255 responses).
Analysis: This analysis is made to find out which factors of
preference in case of newspaper adsof Banglalink by the survey
samples. The summary of the report (table 3.5) says for this
question the highest vote went for the excellent (47%), and the
second best is the 19% vote for Very good by the respondents. By
analyzing Q4 & Q5 we can see for both the questions respondents
gave positive answers. The preference rate for newspaper ad is also
very just like TV ads of Banglalink.
Findings of question no 6Frequency of the Ad, Page Location of
the Ad, and Day selection are most positively voted in this
question. The percentages of excellent and very good for these
three factors are respectively 60%, 61.18%, and 61.18%.
DiscussionThere are six factors were pre identified in the pilot
testing for the newspaper ads rating in case of Banglalink. Those
factors are frequency of the ad, message, Page Location of the Ad,
Day selection, offerings, and presentation. 100 % response rate
came total 510 respondents (85 X 6) gave their answers according to
their viewpoint. Based on their ranking the
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table 3.6 was made. In order to give a visual description and
easy understanding one very useful bar diagram is used here (fig
09).
Analysis: The analysis shows the ranking of importance to gain
public attention in thenewspaper ad (print media). Out of six
options the most preferred options Frequency of the Ad, Page
Location of the Ad, and Day selection positively voted (table 3.6).
So while dealing with any print media ad the department of PR &
communication should emphasize on these factors the most.
Findings of question no 756% of the samples (including all five
categories) observe Banglalink outdoor activities. 31% sometimes
and the rest (13%) never observe such activities of Banglalink.
Among the 5 categories of the sample students observe outdoor ads
the most, the number is 11 (73.33%) out of 15. where as 40% of
housewives do not observe the outdoor ads, may be they do not go
out that much.
DiscussionTotal 85 of 85 respondents participated for this
question (Appendix Table 3.7). It was a basic question on newspaper
readability. The pie diagram fig 10 shows the clear idea of
observation of outdoor ads of Banglalink by the samples.
Analysis: Those people who go out more they observe the outdoor
ads more like students,working class, and employees. So the
research question concludes that the outdoor ad should be target
oriented. Those who watch it they should be targeted not the entire
population.
Findings of question no 86 respondents (13.33%) housewives are
unsatisfied with the outdoor ads of Banglalink. The total
unsatisfied ad reader number is 9 i.e. the 3.53% of entire 255
responses. The highest
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preference of outdoor ads is 14 (31.11%) of excellent given by
the students. All sorts of findings are given in the table 3.8.
DiscussionThis question is based on three factors - visual,
communication/ Message, & contents. Based on the responses
towards these factors judgment has been made. Each of the factor
has been analyzed individually (shown in the analysis_za.xls file
in the soft version of the report i.e. CD). The summary of the
factors are in the Table 3.8 in addition one pie diagram fig 11
given to clear the concept of this question. All five (5)
categories of respondent took part in this question. Out of 255
responses 251 responses came and 4 answers came out null (3 factors
X 85 respondents = 255 responses).
Analysis: By analyzing Q7 & Q8 we can see for both the
questions we co relate housewives arelesser in observing outdoor
activities. They should not be main target in the outdoor
activities, rather students and working class should be come under
consideration.
Findings of question no 972.94% responses give excellent and
very good to the offerings at the billboard ads of Banglalink. On
the flip side, 43 respondents think color and lighting at the
billboard are not at all important comparing with the other five
factors in this case.
DiscussionThere are seven factors were pre identified in the
pilot testing for the Banglalink outdoor ads rating. Those factors
are frequency of the ad, message, color, lighting, offerings,
presentation, and lastly location/site. 100 % response rate came
total 595 respondents (85 X 7) gave their answers according to
their viewpoint. Based on their ranking the table 3.9 was made. In
order to give a visual description and easy understanding one very
useful bar diagram is used here (fig 12).
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Analysis: The analysis shows the ranking of importance to gain
public attention in thenewspaper ad (print media). Out of seven
options the most preferred option offerings that has been voted
excellent by 36 respondents (table 3.9). This research question
will give answer and will be a guideline while establishing any
outdoor ads for Banglalink by PR & communication. All the
factors are ranked based on their importance in the table 3.9. On
the flip side, fig 12 is a quick window view of the ranking.
Findings of question no 10Outdoor and TV ads got maximum
appraisal for this question. Out of 85, 52 responses gave excellent
and very good for outdoor advertisings. They think it is the most
efficient way of communicating mass audience. On the other hand,
for TV ads came to be no.2 audience preference by getting 45 votes
having excellent and good marks. 28 people think there are good
chances of other factors (which is not shown in the question) to
play a vital role in PR & communication activities. Table 3.10
will give us all sorts of measurement and verity of findings. Web
base communication and radio are less popular activities here.
Radio got 36.5% of average rating which is the highest in its
individual rating card. On the flip side, web base communication
got 34.12% vote as good way of communication.
DiscussionTotal 765 (100%) responses came for this question.
Total nine factors were talked about here. Respondents were clearly
briefed each of the activities before attempting this questions so
that they did not end up with a wrong preferences. The result shows
a acceptable data sheet.
Analysis: The answers failed to indicate any particular activity
which can be considered vital.But TV and billboard got very good
responses. People understand this sort of communication better then
any other one. So the guideline should go on favor of these two
factors. But it is need
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less to say all nine factors are important in total PR and
communication programs. The table 3.10 can give us the actual
measurement how much importance should be given to which
activity.
RECOMENDATIONSThe mobile industry in Bangladesh is still facing
an oligopoly competition. In order to be competitive in this
industry in future, the only option is to build up a strong brand
image is by creating unique product offerings and make a
competitive market.Banglalink has successfully managed to introduce
perfect competitions among the
mobile operators. The competitions are so vast that that the
connection price as well as the airtime rate is falling down day by
day. In this changing environment based on this research on
Banglalink the following recommendations are suggested for the PR
and communication departments. These recommendations will
definitely improve the overall company image if implemented
efficiently. TV ads should provide clear message along with very
attractive visual and sound. Press ad should be communicated with
proper message. The understandability of the reader should be
concentrated. If the target market does not understand the product
ad is for them then there is no use of it. Outdoor ads should
communicate the message along with visibility that can be
understandable even to those people who do not understand the
message. E.g. Bangladesh Banglalink ad having with Bangladesh
Map.
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CONCLUSIONIn the context of service oriented organization
activities of PR and communication department has great importance
in the service marketing to ensure the market share, customer
loyalty, and the service quality. Therefore, from this study
Banglalink can get the indications on which of the issues they have
to pay more attention to hold the market share, to raise it and to
increase the public relation. Finally, this research will encourage
further study and useful guidelines for these types of
researches.
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(Theory, Culture & Society S.)", London: Sage Publications
Ltd,
Websites from which Secondary Information were gathered Alfred
J. Lautenslager for PR, Visit his Web sites at
http://www.market-forprofits.com and http://www.1-800-inkwell.com,
or e-mail him at [email protected]. Billoard: Outdoor
Advertising Association of America homepage www.oaaa.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_conference www.banglalinkgsm.com
www.orascomtelecom.com
An exploratory research on the activities of the Public
relation, and communication department of Banglalink
Page 37 of 50
Questionnaire QuestionnaireThis questionnaire has been designed
to conduct a research to fulfill the course requirement of BBA 499:
Internship, under the School of Business, Independent University
Bangladesh (IUB). Your cooperation and active participation will
enable me to conduct the research work successfully. One successful
completion of the questionnaire will take about 6/7 minutes only.
Please be assured that the information you provide will be strictly
confidential and will be used only for academic purposes. Section
1: This section is for Television Commercials of Banglalink. 1. Do
you watch Banglalink Television commercials? Yes Sometimes NO
2.
Please tick, how will you rate the quality of the TV
advertisements of Banglalink based
on the visual, sound, communication, & contents? [Scale: 1.
Excellent; 2. Very Good; 3. Good; 4. Average; 5. Unsatisfactory] A.
B. C. D. Visual Sound/ Music Communication/Message Contents 1 1 1 1
2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5
3.
Please rank the factors you think is the most important in case
of gaining public attention
in the TVC? (Please note, there can be multiple 1. excellent)
[Scale: 1. Excellent; 2. Very Good; 3. Good; 4. Average; 5.
Unsatisfactory]
Rank
Factors Frequency of the Ad Message Visual Sound/ Music/ Ambient
Offerings Presentation
Section 2: This section is for newspaper advertisements of
Banglalink.
An exploratory research on the activities of the Public
relation, and communication department of Banglalink
Page 38 of 50
4. Do you read Banglalink newspaper advertisements? Yes
Sometimes NO
5.
How will you rate the quality of the newspaper advertisements of
Banglalink based on
the visual, communication/ message, & contents? [Scale: 1.
Excellent; 2. Very Good; 3. Good; 4. Average; 5.
Unsatisfactory]
A. B. C.
Visual Communication/Message Contents
1 1 1
2 2 2
3 3 3
4 4 4
5 5 5
6.
Please rank the factors you think is the most important in case
of gaining public attention
in the print media for Banglalink? (Please note, there can be
multiple 1. excellent) [Scale: 1. Excellent; 2. Very Good; 3. Good;
4. Average; 5. Unsatisfactory]
Rank
Factors Frequency of the Ad Message Page Location of the Ad Day
selection (e.g. Holiday) Offerings Presentation
Section 3: This section is for Outdoor activities (Billboard,
placard, festoons, & leaflets) of Banglalink.
7. Do you observe Banglalink Outdoor activities (Billboard,
placard, festoons, & leaflets)? 8. Yes Sometimes NO
How will you rate the quality of the Outdoor (Billboard,
placard, festoons, & leaflets)
advertisements of Banglalink based on the visual, communication/
message, & contents? [Scale: 1. Excellent; 2. Very Good; 3.
Good; 4. Average; 5. Unsatisfactory] A. B. C. Visual
Communication/Message Contents 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5
An exploratory research on the activities of the Public
relation, and communication department of Banglalink
Page 39 of 50
9.
Please rank the factors you think is the most important in case
of gaining public attention
in case of outdoor activities of Banglalink? (Please note, there
can be multiple 1. excellent) [Scale: 1. Excellent; 2. Very Good;
3. Good; 4. Average; 5. Unsatisfactory]
Rank
Factors Frequency of the Billboard Message Color Lighting
Offerings Presentation Location / Site
Common Section 10. In order to be more brand loyal and market
leader in the cell phone industry what sorts of PR & Comm.
activity should Banglalink conduct efficiently? (Rank your answer,
i.e. most important 5, least important 1)
Rank
PR & Comm. Activities.
Outdoor/Visibility TV Press & Publications Events &
Sponsorship Radio Ad Pos Materials Gift Items Web Based
Communications Others T H A N K Y O U V E R Y M U C H
Have a good day !!!
An exploratory research on the activities of the Public
relation, and communication department of Banglalink
Page 40 of 50
Summary statistics of each question, tables, and detailed
calculationsQ1. Do you watch Banglalink Television commercials? Yes
Sometimes NO
Table: 3.1 Responses for Q. no 1: Category Consumer category 1
(Students) Consumer category 2 (Housewife) Consumer category 3
(Working people) Ad agency personnel Employees of Banglalink
Total
Frequency 15 15 15 20 20 85
Yes 11 10 7 13 14 55
Sometimes 3 2 4 5 5 19
No 1 3 4 2 1 11
No 13%
Sometimes 22%
Yes 65%
Q1. Do you watch BL TV commercials?Fig 04Q2. Please tick, how
will you rate the quality of the TV advertisements of Banglalink
based on the visual, sound, communication, & contents? [Scale:
1. Excellent; 2. Very Good; 3. Good; 4. Average; 5.
Unsatisfactory]
An exploratory research on the activities of the Public
relation, and communication department of Banglalink
Page 41 of 50
Table: 3.2Responses for Q. no 2: (Summary of TVC ad based on
Visual, Sound, Comm., & Contents) Category Frequency Excellent
V. Good Good 20 14 15 15 10 74 Avg. 9 8 14 8 10 49 Unsatisfactory 6
2 1 1 4 14
Consumer category 1 (Students) Consumer category 2 (Housewife)
Consumer category 3 (Working people) Ad agency personnel Employees
of BanglalinkTotal
6011 14 20 21 20 19 94
5915
609
80 80 339
36 37 108
Unsatisfactory 4% Average 14% Excellent 32%
Good 22%
Very Good 28%
Q2. Summary of TVC ad of BL based on 4 consumer categories
Fig 05Q3. Please rank the factors you think is the most
important in case of gaining public attention in the TVC? (Please
note, there can be multiple answers) [Scale: 1. Excellent; 2. Very
Good; 3. Good; 4. Average; 5. Unsatisfactory]
An exploratory research on the activities of the Public
relation, and communication department of Banglalink
Page 42 of 50
Table: 3.3 Responses for Q. no 3: Category Frequency of the Ad
Message Visual Offerings Presentation Total
Frequency 85 85 85 85 85 425
Excellent 27 34 7 33 9 110
Very Good 17 18 11 24 15 85
Good Average Unsatisfactory 13 13 16 18 22 82 24 14 22 8 31 99 4
6 29 2 8 49
35 30 25 20 Frequency 15 10 5 0 Excellent Frequency of the Ad
Message Visual Offerings Presentation 27 34 7 33 9 Very Good 17 18
11 24 15 Good 13 13 16 18 22 Average 24 14 22 8 31 Unsatisfact ory
4 6 29 2 8
Q3. People's preferance about TVC of BL
Fig 06Q4. Do you read Banglalink newspaper advertisements? Yes
Sometimes NO
An exploratory research on the activities of the Public
relation, and communication department of Banglalink
Page 43 of 50
Table: 3.4 Responses for Q. no 4: Category Consumer category 1
(Students) Consumer category 2 (Housewife) Consumer category 3
(Working people) Ad agency personnel Employees of Banglalink
Total
Frequency 15 15 15 20 20 85
Yes 8 7 12 13 11 51
Sometimes 4 5 3 5 7 24
No 3 3 0 2 2 10
No 12%
Sometimes 28% Yes 60%
Q4. Do you watch BL newspaper Ads?Fig 07
Q5. How will you rate the quality of the newspaper
advertisements of Banglalink based on the visual, communication/
message, & contents? [Scale: 1. Excellent; 2. Very Good; 3.
Good; 4. Average; 5. Unsatisfactory]
An exploratory research on the activities of the Public
relation, and communication department of Banglalink
Page 44 of 50
Table: 3.5 Responses for Q. no 5: (Summary of newspaper ads
based on Visual, Comm. & Message, & Contents) Category
Consumer category 1 (Students) Consumer category 2 (Housewife)
Consumer category 3 (Working people) Ad agency personnel Employees
of Banglalink Total Frequency 45 45 45 56 60 251 Excellent 15 20 21
29 32 117 Very Good 9 10 9 9 11 48 Good Average Unsatisfactory 8 7
6 8 5 2 10 2 3 12 5 1 10 6 1 48 25 13
Unsatisfactory 5% Average 10%
Good 19%
Excellent 47%
Very Good 19%
Q5. Summary of newspaper ads of BL based on 4 consumer
categories
Fig 08
Q6. Please rank the factors you think is the most important in
case of gaining public attention in the print media for Banglalink?
(Please note, there can be multiple answers) [Scale: 1. Excellent;
2. Very Good; 3. Good; 4. Average; 5. Unsatisfactory]
An exploratory research on the activities of the Public
relation, and communication department of Banglalink
Page 45 of 50
Table: 3.6 Responses for Q. no 6: Category Frequency of the Ad
Message Page Location of the Ad Day selection (e.g. Holiday)
Offerings Presentation Total
Frequency 85 85 85 85
Excellent 35 21 29 28
V. Good 16 21 23 24 19 13 116
Good 27 17 16 19 21 45 145
Average 6 22 14 11 17 8 78
Unsatisfactory 1 4 3 3 1 4 16
85 85 510
27 15 155
45 40 35 30 Frequency 25 20 15 10 5 0 Excellent Frequency of the
Ad Message Page Location of the Ad Day selection (e.g. Holiday)
Offerings Presentation 35 21 29 28 27 15 Very Good 16 21 23 24 19
13 Good 27 17 16 19 21 45 Average 6 22 14 11 17 8 Unsatisfact ory 1
4 3 3 1 4
Q6. People's preferance about newspaper ads of BL
Fig 09
Q7. Do you observe Banglalink Outdoor activities (Billboard,
placard, festoons, & leaflets)? Yes Sometimes NO
An exploratory research on the activities of the Public
relation, and communication department of Banglalink
Page 46 of 50
Table: 3.7 Responses for Q. no 7: Category Consumer category 1
(Students) Consumer category 2 (Housewife) Consumer category 3
(Working people) Ad agency personnel Employees of Banglalink Total
Frequency 15 15 15 25 25 95 Yes 11 4 8 15 16 54 Sometimes 3 5 4 8 9
29 No 1 6 3 2 0 12
No 13%
Sometimes 31%
Yes 56%
Q7. Do you watch BL Outdoor Ads?
Fig 10Q8. How will you rate the quality of the Outdoor
(Billboard, placard, festoons, & leaflets) advertisements of
Banglalink based on the visual, communication/ message, &
contents? [Scale: 1. Excellent; 2. Very Good; 3. Good; 4. Average;
5. Unsatisfactory]
An exploratory research on the activities of the Public
relation, and communication department of Banglalink
Page 47 of 50
Table: 3.8 Responses for Q. no 8: (Summary of outdoor activities
based on Visual, Comm. & Message, & Contents) Category
Frequency Excellent Very Good Good Average Unsatisfactory Consumer
category 1 45 (Students) 14 15 8 4 4 Consumer category 2 45
(Housewife) 6 7 14 12 6 Consumer category 3 45 (Working people) 12
10 14 6 3 Ad agency personnel 60 16 22 15 6 1 Employees of
Banglalink 60 17 17 18 8 0 255 Total 78 78 64 26 9
Average 10%
Unsatisfactory 4%
Excellent 30%
Good 25%
Very Good 31%
Q8. Outdoor activities rating
Fig 11
Q9. Please rank the factors you think is the most important in
case of gaining public attention in case of outdoor activities of
Banglalink? (Please note, there can be multiple answers) [Scale: 1.
Excellent; 2. Very Good; 3. Good; 4. Average; 5.
Unsatisfactory]
An exploratory research on the activities of the Public
relation, and communication department of Banglalink
Page 48 of 50
Table: 3.9 Responses for Q. no 9: Category Frequency of the
Billboard Message Color Lighting Offerings Presentation Location /
Site Total40 35 30 25 Frequency 20 15 10 5 0Excellent Very Good
Frequency Excellent 85 18 85 23 85 85 85 85 85 595 13 9 36 24 31
154
Very Good 24 21 11 8 26 24 29 143
Good Average Unsatisfactory 21 16 21 25 14 17 12 126 13 17 19 21
7 11 8 96 9 8 21 22 2 9 5 76
Good
Average
Unsatisfactor y
Frequency of the
BillboardMessageColorLightingOfferingsPresentationLocation /
Site
1823139362431
2421118262429
21162125141712
131719217118
982122295
Q9. Ranking of the factors in case of Billboard
Fig 12Common Question
Q10. In order to be more brand loyal and market leader in the
cell phone industry what sorts of PR & Comm. activity should
Banglalink conduct efficiently? (Rank your answer, i.e. most
important 5, least important 1)
An exploratory research on the activities of the Public
relation, and communication department of Banglalink
Page 49 of 50
Table: 3.10 Responses for Q. no 10 Category Outdoor/Visibility
TV Press & Publications Events & Sponsorship Radio Ad Pos
Materials Gift Items Web Based Communications Others Total
Frequency 85 85 85 85 85 85 85 85 85 765 Excellent 21 20 14 19 7 18
11 13 4 127 Very Good 31 25 18 23 19 26 13 22 8 185 Good 18 21 21
22 26 24 27 29 28 216 Average 12 11 23 16 31 17 27 11 24 172
Unsatisfactory 3 8 9 5 2 0 7 10 21 65
35
30
25
20 Frequency 15
10
5
0
Excellent21
Very Good31
Good18
Average12
Unsatisfactory3
Outdoor/Visibility
TV
20
25
21
11
8
Press & Publications
14
18
21
23
9
Events & Sponsorship
19
23
22
16
5
Radio Ad
7
19
26
31
2
Pos Materials
18
26
24
17
0
Gift Items
11
13
27
27
7
Web Based Communications
13
22
29
11
10
Others
4
8
28
24
21
Q10. Overall PR activity ranking
Fig 13
An exploratory research on the activities of the Public
relation, and communication department of Banglalink
Page 50 of 50
LIST OF ACRONYMSAOA ATOB BL BSC BTL BTRC BTS BTTB CCD CDMA CLIP
DRC DS EDGE FDI GPRS GSM GSMA IPO ITU IVR M2M M2M+ MMS MOA O&M
OTH PBTL PCO POSM PSTN SAF SD SIM SingTel SMS VAS WAP Articles of
Association Association of Telecom Operators in Bangladesh
Banglalink Base Station Center Bangladesh Telecom Limited
Bangladesh Telecom and Regulatory Commission Base Transceiver
Station Bangladesh Telephone & Telegraph Board Customer Care
Department Code-Division Multiple Access Caller Line Identification
Presentation Democratic Republic of Congo Direct Sales Enhanced
Data GSM Environment Foreign Direct Investment General Packet Radio
Service Global System for Mobiles Global System for Mobiles
Association Initial Public Offering International Communication
Union Interactive Voice Response Mobile-to-mobile Mobile-to-mobile
plus Multimedia Messaging Services Memorandum of Association
Operation & Maintenance Orascom Telecom Holdings Ltd. Pacific
Bangladesh Telecom Ltd. Public Call Offices Point of Sales
Materials Public Switched Telephone Network Subscription Agreement
Form Security Deposit Subscriber Identification Module Singapore
Telecommunications Ltd. Short Messaging Service Value Added
Services Wireless Application Protocol