Onida: No advocate for the devil

Sumedha Srivastav - Televisionpoint.com | Mumbai
It was Onida's pride and their competitors' envy, but now the devil has been given a quiet burial, yet again. No, the demise of the devil is not about good winning over evil, rather it's a new line of thought brewing in the marketing and strategic cauldron at the Onida headquarters.

So, the approach under consideration is a new marketing and communication strategy without the devil. Interestingly, it is not the first time the devil has been switched off. From an absolutely devilish look and feel of the original, the character was put in the cold storage only to be revived twice in the last ten years to give brand Onida the necessary push.

Speaking to Televisionpoint.com, Sriram Krishnamurthy, vice-president, marketing, sales and service, at Mirc Electronics Ltd that owns the Onida brand, estimates that the devil single-handedly pumped Onida's market share in televisions up from 6 per cent in 1981 to 21 per cent at the campaign's peak, which came just before 1995, when it won the Abby Campaign of the Year award then.

Krishnamurthy says the intent was to bring back the buzz in a segment sans the devil, where foreign players hold sway. "In 1980s, the 'devil campaign' was losing sheen, and incremental sales were declining. It was less relevant and more wallpaper," says Krishnamurthy. So in the 1990s, it was done away with - only to be resurrected.

With the markets opening up and numerous players in the home appliances space, owning a television was no longer a thing of envy, thus making the concept of envy, and the devil, dated. Later, again whilst the devil made a comeback few years back, but it didn't tell the audience about the brand, however.

The new campaign of Onida will be unveiled on September 15, just ahead of Navratri and the festive season, which is usually the time when consumer durable brands step up their marketing campaigns. The campaign will not feature a new mascot, but a protagonist whose life and appliances choice will be followed.

Krishnamurthy informs that "Everyone from research and development, service, sales and channel partners were informed about the change before the new TVC goes on air in third week of September. We didn't want a situation where our partners learn about it from advertising and not before-hand." he says.

The company followed a two pronged strategy - a countrywide training of 2500-odd dealers and a 25-branch network, and simultaneously sensitising the internal functions to the new positioning. "That we have solid product performance has to be understood internally as well," explains Krishnamurthy.

The rationale of bidding adieu to the devil, is also a reflection of the fact that the company is full of ideas when it comes to a new positioning. As Krishnamurthy puts up, "A devil with horn and tail cannot bring about an emotion of friendliness among the target audience for a long time."

With its current agency, McCann Erickson India, Sriram sees Onida moving "into a more modern India sort of positioning, focusing on how gender barriers are crumbling in Indian families, and how absolutely anybody can operate our technologies now."

The brand image will be revamped across all appliances such as air conditioners, microwave ovens and washing machines for consumers who associated Onida with only TV. The media mix used will involve television, along with print and outdoor media.

Onida has spent about Rs 40 crore on advertising and promotions in 2008 and its ad spends are estimated at Rs 60 crore for the current year. Mindshare will handle the media duties for Onida.