Kelvinator : RIP 1963 – 2005

Brand : Kelvinator, Company : Electrolux Brand Count :

246Kelvinator which ruled Indian refrigerator industry is no more. The brand did not die onits own. This
heritage brand was killed by sheer negligence and marketing myopia. Anymarketer with common sense would
not have done this to a brand like Kelvinator .Kelvinator came to India in 1963. The brand along with
Godrej, Allwyn has ruled themarket for decades. A global brand, Kelvinator has its origin
dated back to 1914.T he brand changed hands so many times and came to the fold of Electrolux in 1985.In
India, the brand's disaster started in 1996 when Whirlpool acquired this brand globally.Whirlpool wanted to
sacrifice Kelvinator for its own brand The entire episode of the change of ownership of this brand
will make any Hindi serial sops look like a kid's story.According to Business World, When Electrolux bought
the company White Consolidatedwhich owned the brand globally, In India during 1996 Kelvinator's
Indian licensee soldt h e l i c e n s e t o m a r k e t K e l v i n a t o r t o W h i r l p o o l . S o
E l e c t r o l u x b e c a m e a c o n t r a c t manufacturer of its own brand which was being marketed
by its competitor. Whirlpool had the license to market Kelvinator brand in India till 1997. Because of this
Electroluxentered Indian market with its own parent brand. The fate of Electrolux in India was alsonot good
since it ran into huge loses.17

You can see that Kelvinator brand lost its place because it fell into a
c o b w e b o f ownership issues. Whirlpool did not invest in Kelvinator since it had the rights
to the b r a n d o n l y t i l l 1 9 9 7 . S o w h y i n v e s t i n s o m e o t h e r ' s b a b y . S o
d u r i n g t h e s e y e a r s , Whirlpool harvested Kelvinator while developing its own brand.
When the brand came back to its original owner, Electrolux did not had the money to build this baby. In
2005,Kelvinator was killed. When the brand was taken off, it had a market share of over 14 %.A look at the
brand assets of Kelvinator will make every marketer drool. An International p e d i g r e e a n d a
w h o p p i n g m a r k e t s h a r e t o g e t h e r w i t h t w o g r e a t b r a n d e l e m e n t s : Mascot :
PenguinTagline : Its the coolest one. During its peak years, the brand was heavily built.
During2000 , the Australian circket team endorsed Kelvinator and Adam Gilchrist was the maincharacter in the
TVC ran during that time.Kelvinator's main positioning was based on itscooling power. The tagline aptly
captures the USP of the brand. Kelvinator's compressorswas one of the best available globally. Besides
that , the brand was considered to be a tough and reliable one.One of the best and most apt tagline for any
refrigerator brand "Coolest one" , this taglineis still in the mind of many Indian consumers. The brand
equity was so powerful thateven without much promotion, the brand had two digit market
share during early 2000.I would blame the death of this brand on its owners Electrolux. In 2005, when
Electroluxdecided to go for the parent brand, Kelvinator still had a life left. It could have been
awonderful entry level brand for Electrolux. A brand with so much heri tage could haveeasily
created volumes for this company. But alas.... According to reports, Electrolux isset to come back to Indian
market in a new avatar.K e l v i n a t o r w i l l s o o n f a d e a w a y f r o m t h e m e m o r i e s a l o n g w i t h i t
o n e o f t h e c o o l e s t brands