Eleven years after he was created, the creepy, two-horned Onida Devil has gone up in flames. The Satan who promoted the Onida brand of televisions has taken a backseat. He still represents envy, but with a difference.
The change is represented in the new Onida mnemonic which debuted early this month with the launch of the Unique Collection. The leitmotif shows blazing flames in the form of the Devils silhouette. So strong is the Devil connection that Mirc Electronics, the Rs 600 crore manufacturers of Onida, are in no hurry to sever ties with his evil ways altogether. With the focus now on the brand, the devil will lurk in the background, more like cartoonist R K Laxmans common man.
The shift in strategy is quite unique for the brand which survived with a spokesperson, who encompassed everything that was evil and envious. For the first time, a company had toyed with a negative character and turned it around to represent aspirational values. Even the baseline: Neighbours envy, owners pride was in sync with the leitmotif.
But like the devil which brought all good things to an end, the Onida campaign, too, had to change with the times. We had to make him more contemporary, says S A Palekar, vice-president sales and marketing at Onida.
Adds Jaya Prasad, director client service at Avenues, The devil was created as a spokesperson to convey envy, but was never conceptualised as the main theme. Now the focus is the brand. And in keeping with the devils new avatar, the new blurb is Escape envy, acquire pride.
The new look has come at a time when Onida is fighting hard to regain lost ground. It recently emerged out of a restructuring exercise. Run by the Mirchandani brothers, Sonu and Gulu, Onida was a fragmented operation till early this year. The north and eastern operations were under Sonu. He controlled the business through a host of companies like Onida Savak, Onida Saka and Monica Electronics.
Elder brother Gulu ran Onida in the west and south under Mirc Electronics. While the former diversified into washing machines and finance, Gulu concentrated on making Onida every neighbours pride.
On the brand front, it is no longer the envy of colour television (CTV) buyers. Foreign competition and domestic players BPL and Videocon have given the devil a complex. In the Rs 2000 crore CTV category, Onidas market shares have slipped from 23 per cent in January 1996 to 11 per cent. In the north alone, only five per cent television sets are Onida compared with 25 per cent last year. As sales crashed by 33 per cent, the beneficiaries were the foreign brands. In August 1997, Sony, Akai, Samsung and Philips together had a 30 per cent share of the market.
To salvage operations, Gulu has gained control of the company. Unlike earlier, marketing and sales are centralised at Mircs headquarters in Mumbai. Industry sources claim that almost 70 per cent of Onidas one million CTV capacity is under-utilised. And it is strengthening distribution.
Theres also a change in marketing strategy. Today we are concentrating on the volume and price game, says Paler.
Onida is abandoning its mid-segment band to occupy the premium and low-end berths. At the premium end is the Unique Collection with CTVs ranging from Rs 9,500 to Rs 27,000.
The cheaper range will be rolled out mid next year. The segmentation will help us fight both high-priced, technologically superior foreign brands and the cheaper domestic competitors, adds Palekar.
Onida will spend Rs 10 crore in the next three months to consolidate the Unique Collection. Palekar is optimistic that Onida will be able to notch up a share of 21 per cent next year. Can the devil pull off this feat?
New ad campaign focuses on the brand as the leitmotif that promoted it takes a backseat in changing face of competition.
