Intex tends the endorsement track

The company chants the cricket-Bollywood mantra, looks for mass appeal as it spends close to Rs 12 crore a year as endorsement fees

Intex Technologies is betting big on endorsements as it chases the top spot in the low-end smartphone market in the country. Last month it signed Suresh Raina as ambassador for its brand of speakers making him the sixth star on its panel that has Farhan Akhtar and Madhuri Dixit helming national roles and a troupe of stars from South India part of its regional cast. It also bought the Rajkot IPL team, rechristened Gujarat Lions for Rs 25 crore in 2015. The Delhi-headquartered company is playing it safe by sticking to cricket and Bollywood say analysts, a surefire hit with the people across age groups and geographies.

Intex started life as a regional computer peripheral supplier. Founded by first generation entrepreneur Narendra Bansal, the company made accessories such as web cameras, floppy disks and keyboards - it was a b2b (business-business) brand. Today Intex's expanded portfolio includes multimedia speakers, feature phones, smartphones, LED TVs, washing machines, refrigerators and air conditioners among other things and requires the company to build a direct connection with consumers. This is driving the company's quest for credible faces to endorse the brand.

The journey to build its brand began sometime in 2012. "We needed to revamp our image.

So we brought Farhan Akhtar on board," said Keshav Bansal, director, Intex Technologies. Bansal said the company chose Farhan Akhtar because of his name, credibility and qualities. "People could connect with him," he said.

Since then, the company has grown more than five times in revenues. From Rs 1,069 crores in FY13, the company's revenue reached Rs 6,213 in FY 16. It has signed five more brand ambassadors for different regions and different product categories. It has actor Mahesh Babu as the brand ambassador for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Sudeep Sanjeev for Karnataka, Suriya (Saravanan Sivakumar) for Tamil Nadu and Madhuri Dixit as a pan-India face for its consumer durable products. Suresh Raina, the latest to join the list, will also play a national role. At present, the company spends up to 5 per cent of its Rs 250-crore annual marketing budget on endorsement fees.

Explaining the company's decision to bring in so many endorsers, Bansal said that Farhan Akhtar could only help the company in North, East and West India. "In South India, people like and follow different things. They have their own superstars. To create the brand visibility in these states, we signed most figures in the industry," he added.

Industry experts believe that relying solely on endorsers to build a brand is risky. It could mean tying the brand's fortunes with the rise and fall in actors' popularities (Snapdeal was trolled heavily after Aamir Khan's comments on national security). The company however sees this as the fastest route to consumer hearts. "We want to touch base with each and every consumer across the country. The idea is to connect with the masses region-wise for all the product categories," Bansal said. Meanwhile, the company has also expanded its retailer network, increasing consumer touchpoints from 30,000 in 2013 to 1,50,000.

The company's acquisition of the Rajkot IPL team is also aimed at building itself up as a mass brand. It bought the team in December last year and later named it Gujarat Lions. Bringing Raina who captains the Gujarat Lions on board, said Bansal, complemented the firm's overall brand strategy. The company believes that its strategy of having several brand ambassadors is more efficient as it allows for a sharper targeting of customers. For smartphones, the company is targeting the youth in the age group of 18 to 30 primarily in tier II and III cities and as well as those who are increasingly gaining purchasing power in metro cities, said Bansal. On the consumer durable side, with Madhuri Dixit as ambassador, the focus is on women in the age group of 30 to 45 years.

"Before Intex entered into mobiles, it was already into IT peripherals as a known brand. What it did nicely was, it was able to capture India's first time smartphone users in the second half of 2014 and first half of 2015," said Faisal Kawoosa, principal analyst at CyberMedia Research (CMR). "Meanwhile, it invested in cricket and Bollywood, the two safe areas," he said.