• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager
• BL Club
• Smartbuy
• Books
• Gallery

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth
• Events 2007

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

— Paul Noronha

ThThe Mirc Electronics, CEO, Mr G. Sundar (left), with the Vice-President, Sales, Service and Marketing, Onida, Mr Sriram K., at the launch of a new brand campaign in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Purvita Chatterjee

Mumbai, Sept. 15 The Rs 1,600-crore Mirc Electronics, promoters of the Onida brand of consumer durables, is planning to have exclusive retail outlets under its brand. Besides, it is also looking at vending its brand on the Net through sites that offer e-commerce.

Speaking to Business Line, Mr Sriram K., Vice-President, Sales, Service and Marketing, Mirc Electronics, said, “We are planning to have company-owned exclusive outlets. At the moment, we are drawing up a business plan to have outlets under the Onida brand, like the other consumer durable players. Besides, we are entering the business of e-commerce by tying up with some Web sites .”

At the same time, Onida is stepping up its ad spend to Rs 100 crore this year and has decided to shed its ‘devil’ in favour of a product-based campaign. Mr G. Sundar, Chief Executive Officer, Mirc Electronics, said, “The devil had overshadowed the Onida brand. We have now done an extensive study trying to understand the customer and where the Onida brand stands today.”

Unveiling a new brand campaign created by McCann Erickson, Onida will now be emphasising on its ‘technology-led’ products across categories such as televisions, DVD players and washing machines.

Between 1998 and 2004, Onida took the devil off its campaigns replacing it with product-based advertising. It has roped in agencies such as Avenues, O&M and Rediffusion DY&R to work on its brand.

Mr Ranjan Kapur, Country Manager, WPP, and board member of Mirc Electronics, said, “Onida was forced to bring back the devil due to intense competition from players such as LG and Samsung. Today, Onida has decided to put the devil behind it as the days of turmoil are over for the company.”

More Stories on : Advertising | Television Sets

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Copyright © 2009, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line