1.

INTRODUCTION:-

Household name in television Onida was founded in 1981 and by1982 the
company had started assembling television sets at its own factory. Superior
products backed up by distinctive design, cutting-edge advertising and purposeful
marketing made Onida a household name in India. In addition to televisions, the
company has recently made a foray into other household appliances, including
air-conditioners, washing machines, DVDs and home theatre systems. For
business and industry, Onida has introduced state-of-the-art multimedia
presentation products.

Onida, is still well known for its brand mascot ‘The Onida Devil’ and its punch
line “Neighbor’s Envy Owner’s Pride”. In the 1980s when owning a television
set was considered a luxury, Onida launched its advertising campaign on the
platform of envy, to promote its television range.

A green-horned devil with a long pointed tail was the spokesperson in all its ad
campaigns till the 1990s. The ‘Devil’ helped Onida gain substantial market share
and brand recall among the customers and become one of the top three television
brands in the country. In 1998, Mirc Electronics (the owner of Onida brand)
decided to abandon the “Onida Devil” in its communication campaigns as the
brand mascot no longer appealed to the Indian consumer.

2. WHY ONIDA AS A BRAND IS AILING?

1. Internal management Problems:- One of the main reasons for this is the
fight between the brothers : Gulu and Sonu Mirchandani and their brother
-in- law Vijay Mansukhani over the control of the Onida group. The fight
has severely eroded the share of the brand and even the marketing of Onida.
Onida was staging a recovery after the successful re-launch of the brand
and the return of the Devil. But the family feud has made things difficult
for the brand.
2. Frequent change in Advertising:- What is interesting about Onida is the
branding. The creative duty of the brand has partly moved from one
marketing agency to another i.e. from Rediffusion to McCann Erickson.
But as usual, when the agency changes, the entire brand elements changes.
For Onida, the change till now unfortunately is always for the worse. When
O&M took the brand from Avenues, the famous tagline “Neighbor’s Envy,
Owner’s Pride” and the Devil was taken off. The brand suffered for almost
10 years and has never recovered since .

he change of agency from O&M to Reinfusion again changed things and

Devil returned in a new avatar and a new tagline “Nothing but the truth”
 has now come into existence. The new arrangement is not making things
better.

In 2007, Onida launched a new campaign for its A/C and with a new tagline
“It can change your life”. Now the new campaign for the air conditioner
features a new Devil and the tagline has again changed to “Experience the
desire”. Onida which already is in deep trouble is moving on to further
confusion with an unnecessary change in the positioning strategy.

3. Aging customer base:- The customers of Onida have grown older with
times and the brand has failed to connect itself to the current generation.
The “devil” in the advertisements in not helping it either.

3. FACTORS HAVE DILUTED ONIDA’S BRAND EQUITY:-

1. Brand amnesia:- For old brands, as for old people, memory becomes
an increasing issue. When a brand forgets what it is supposed to stand
for, it runs into trouble. The most obvious case of brand amnesia occurs
when a venerable, long-standing brand tries to create a radical new
identity, such as when Onida tried to replace its original tagline with
new one.
2. Brand fatigue:- Some companies get bored with their own brands.
This can happen to products which have been on the shelves for many
years, collecting dust. When brand fatigue sets in creativity suffers, and
so do a sale which was and is the case with Onida.
3. Brand paranoia: This is the opposite of brand ego and is most likely
to occur when a brand faces increased competition. Typical symptoms
include: a tendency to file lawsuits against rival companies, a
willingness to reinvent the brand every six months, and a longing to
imitate competitors.

STRATEGIES TO REVITALIZE BRAND ONIDA:-

In order to revamp its position and brand value in the market Onida should
use the following strategies:

1. Better positioning: Onida should stick with a uniform positioning strategy

rather than changing it with time as they did.
2. Celebrity Endorsement: The Company should go for a better adverting.
The company can rope in a celebrity to endorse its brand. This way the brand
can be benefited from celebrities brand equity.
3. Association with events: The Company has lost its place in the minds of
customers. Also, the loyal customers of Onida have grown older. To regain
old customers and to regain visibility, Association with events can help.
4. Line Extension: The Company should go for line extension in value
segment so as to target more customers in the lower segment. They should
introduce more variants in 14”, 20” and 21” segment. These products will
target the young and first time buyers. These buyers will have an emotional
attachment with the brand and as they graduate to the high end segment,
Onida can target them with its high end products.
5. Marketing Mix: Onida is facing a marketing problem and more than a
branding problem. Everything is fine with the brand. People recognize the
brand. The issue is on a larger perspective. It needs to concentrate on its
entire marketing mix not just the brand elements. Onida needs to convince
the consumers that its products are better designed and technologically
superior.