The ad campaign of Mirc Electronics owned, Onida, successfully kick-started in the 90s but failed to sustain the competition from Samsung, LG and Sony
Electronics brand Onida, owned by Mirc Electronics, has brought back its ‘devil and Owners pride’ ad campaign with the aim to enhance the company’s brand image and increase revenues by 10 to 15 per cent in the next three years.
Plans to spend Rs 40 crore on the ad campaign
A top company official said that bringing back the ad campaign is aimed at “strategically revamping” Onida’s operations after the brand came back into black after two years.
Mirc Electronics MD Vijay Mansukhani believes that constant focus on advertising year on year basis will take Onida to the next level and will promote the same to each and every household in India. “We would like to reignite our brand in the minds of people who had lived this brand for more than 30 years,” he added.
The company is reportedly planning to dish approximately Rs 40 crore on the campaign in the current financial year with the aim to make ‘devil and Owners pride’ campaign, the brand face of Onida, reaching the entire customer-base around AC, microwave, washing machine and television too. “During the current financial year, we intend to spend about Rs 35-40 crore towards advertisements based on our budgeted allocation of 5 per cent of total expenses. Investment share pertaining to digital side will be greater as we focus on new millennium,” said Mansukhani.
Also, Onida is expecting a growth in total revenues by 10 to 12 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the coming three years, sensing a great opportunity in white goods segment such as AC, TV panels and washing machines due to low penetration, in the domestic market. The brand has successfully ran its ‘’Neighbour’s envy, owner’s pride’ campaign with the iconic ‘devil’ in 90s but tough competition from Samsung, LG and Sony stole the show from the former.
Mansukhani said, “This is the biggest change the brand has brought in — bringing back ‘devil and Owners pride’ in our advertisements with big bang investment in advertising.” Last year, the ‘devil and Owners pride’ made a short appearance in the Indian Premier League (IPL). For this, Mirc Electronics had spent approximately Rs 25 crore on this campaign and a separate Rs 10 crore on other media like print and online.
Aiming to boost washing machine & TV sales ahead of the festive season
Manshukhani stated that Onida is expecting growth of revenue from its washing machines segment that is going to see a hike of 100 per cent during the ongoing financial year to Rs 160 crore and also in the television segment in the coming festive season, starting from Ganesh Chaturthi and ending with Diwali and Christmas. He added: “We have been strategically revamping our operations and building ONIDA brand as a part of our turnaround strategy. Our efforts on gaining market shares, re-branding, cost control and improving efficiencies in our operations through automation started turning the things around for us.”
In the current scenario, Onida’s TV panels, AC and washing machines cater to 45, 28 and 27 per cent of the company’s revenues, respectively. However, the company is banking on its new strategy and washing machines to increase the revenues even more this fiscal year. Also, the company had decreased its debt and has been successful in improving in margins and profitability in the last fiscal year.
After reporting losses in 2014-15 and 2015-16, Onida showed improvements in the revenue in the last fiscal year (2017-18) with revenue of Rs 736.37 crore and a net profit of Rs 23.49 crore. Manshukhani said: “Our growth in the last three years on revenues front has been flat. However, we have made substantial improvement in our profits. We have declared a profit of Rs 23.5 crore in FY 2017-18 as compared to loss in FY 2016-17, which is a big achievement for the company.”
He also said that Onida is increasing its sales network. With the current 4,000 dealer across India, the company is “adding 1,000 more dealers and small and medium shops every year in metros and mini-metros” to broaden the reach and presence of the company.
