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| Bhupesh Bhandari: Korea's nuclear bomb |
| Bhupesh Bhandari / New Delhi Jul 13, 2009, 00:28 IST |
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Some time in the summer of 1997, LG had thrown a party in Delhi. The Korean chaebol had set up shop in the country and was in a mood to celebrate. It had earlier joined hands with C K Birla but the joint venture fell through even before it could start. Globally, it had gone through a brand makeover from Lucky Goldstar to LG. It was now ready to have a go at India. At the party, K R Kim, the head of LG in India, took a few guests aside and said he knew how to make a nuclear bomb. The nasal voice was little more than a whine. Before anybody could ask how, he called a bearer, mixed whiskey in beer and handed it over to the guests — enjoy the nuclear bomb!
Little did the victims of his nuclear bomb know that he would soon build the largest consumer electronics company in the country — way ahead of Japanese and Indian heavyweights! Korean companies at that time were considered nothing more than wannabes. Even more remote were the chances of him one day revamping the brand logo of a well-known, home-grown brand. But that’s precisely what Kim did last week when he unveiled the new Videocon, 12 years after he first set foot in India.
 “This marks the beginning of a sea-change for customers of consumer-durable goods,” Kim, vice-chairman and chief-executive officer of Videocon, said at the launch, the confidence of his Indian success unmistakable. The new brand logo is made of two green soft amoebic live brand-ambassadors, Chouw and Mouw, which form a ‘V’ together and carry the tagline, ‘experience change’. Both Chouw and Mouw have individual personality traits, based on their physical attributes. The new brand identity has been designed by Interbrand of Singapore and is expected to be adopted by the group across its businesses — consumer electronics, DTH (direct-to-home) television, retail and mobile telephony.
This is not the first brand makeover for the 24-year old brand which has gone through a series of revamps, with its most recent proposition being eco-logic for sustainable life. Some of its other brand propositions include ‘bring home the leader’, ‘technology for health and pleasure’ and ‘the Indian multinational’. Shahrukh Khan is Videocon’s brand ambassador.
A new logo is just the first step — the battle is not even half-won for Videocon. Kim needs to rival the technological innovations and marketing muscle of LG and Samsung to succeed. These companies, of course, are much bigger than Videocon. Also, each has one brand in the market place, while Kim is burdened by five: Videocon, Kenstar, Electrolux, Kelvinator and Sansui. His rivals say after the brand, he needs to address the quality of his products and the reach.
Kim, of course, is no stranger to India. His former colleagues describe him as an excellent organisation man with exposure to best practices worldwide. “He has seen global benchmarks and scales. So he can push people for more,” said Rajeev Karwal, the first LG India marketing head, who now runs a consultancy for small- and medium-firms. Kim played a vital role in setting up LG’s distribution network across the country. Sector experts say the Dhoots of Videocon need to give Kim a free hand for at least two or three years to turn the group’s consumer-electronics business around. Can the Dhoots do that, now that their next generation is raring to go?
Also, Kim had brought with him a large number of LG employees at Videocon on high salaries and fancy designations. Such a step always causes heartburn amongst the old guard. Kim needs to ensure that this does not come in way of his plans.
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