Moser Baer : Rewriting the Future

Corporate Brand : Moser Baer
Agency : TBWA

Brand Analysis Count : 365

Moser Baer is a leading player in the optical media storage market in India. Not only that ,this Indian company is world's 5th largest manufacturer of Optical storage media. Founded in 1983, this brand has morphed from a business brand to a consumer brand.

Moser Baer started its operations by manufacturing time recorder units in collaboration with Maruzen Corporation of Japan. In 1998, the company diversified into manufacturing of 5.2 inch floppy disk. In 1999 the company went on to manufacturing of CD-ROMs and DVDs.

The Indian optical media industry is estimated to be around Rs 1500 crore. Moser Baer leads the market with a market share of around 40%. The brand is having a global share of around 20% in this industry.

The optical media storage industry is dominated by CD-ROMs. The trend is now moving towards DVD and latest Blu-Ray discs.

The CD/DVD industry is guided by the penetration of the respective disc drives . It is estimated that 75 % of the computers are sold along with the CD Drives and this factor have more impact on the sale of CDs at the consumer end.

If we look at the market evolution of these products, during the formative years, ordinary users never considered the CD drive as a part of the standard PC. CD Drives was considered as a luxury because of the high cost. This has severely restricted the popularity of CDs at the consumer end . CDs during those years was targeting the software segment.

When the CD drive price crashed, it became a part of the standard PC offering which paved the way for the popularity of CDs. Another big market for these products is in the entertainment sector.

Currently the market is moving towards DVD's since the cost of DVD writers/players have come down drastically.

Moser Baer operates in a market which is highly dynamic and volatile.This is a market which is full of disruptive innovations . One can never predict the lifecycle of a product. A small technological innovation can make a product irrelevant. It had happened in the case of Floppy Disks . The MP3 revolution has severely impacted the CD industry aswellas the entire music industry.

Hence to operate in such a volatile environment requires high flexibility in operations and strategy. The simple fact that Moser Baer was able to handle the Floppy to CD transition is a remarkable example of flexible product strategy. It takes corporate vision to identify the changes that are happening in the environment and then take a proactive step in addressing those issues.

It is not easy as we think. Take the example of CD replacing the Floppy Disk. The company has to first identify this as a disruptive innovation . Then they have to forecast the impact of this technology in their business. Then devise the strategy to handle that disruption. The problem here is timing. In technology marketing, timing is the key. We have seen big companies humbled by start-ups ( Microsoft Vs Google ) because the large firms fail to forecast the impact of these changing technologies on their business.

In the case of storage media disruptions are happening on a regular basis. We have seen Floppy Disk getting eliminated by CDs, CDs getting irrelevant by USB Disks, DVDs etc. There is heated argument whether DVD will be replaced by Blue-Ray discs

Look at the removable memory devises or the flask disks, these devices are increasingly making CDs irrelevant. These USB memory disks are portable , reusable and easy to use. These devices are a big competition for CD and DVDs. More over the various online file storing sites and file sharing sites makes life more dangerous for firms like Moser Baer.

So how will a company survive in such a very fluid environment.?

It calls for a very flexible product strategy. Such a strategy allows the managers to experiment and pull the company into different directions. Product Managers will be looking for emerging areas /technologies and will be investing in those new areas. Although this strategy is sexy, it is highly risky. Not all new technologies are disruptive. So it takes lot of wisdom and luck to spot and act on such a technology.

Last two quarters has been very bad for the company owing to the increase in the production cost and decrease in demand due to competition from other categories. One of the raw material for CD/DVDs is polycarbonate which is a byeproduct of oil industry. The rise in oil prices has increased the cost for this raw material.

It is this scenario which may have forced Moser Baer to undertake many related and unrelated diversification. In 2006, the company forayed into entertainment business. The company launched an entertainment division which focused on distribution of movie CD/DVD. The company procured around 10,000 movie titles and aggressively started distribution.

Moser Baer shocked the movie industry by launching movie CDs and DVDs for as low a price as Rs 28 and Rs 34 respectively. At that time, a DVD used to cost minimum Rs 150 and CDs at around Rs 80. The move made lot of sense because the expense for Moser Baer was limited to promotional and distributional expenses.

According to reports, Moser Baer adopted an FMCG model of distribution for these CDs. The reason was to drive the volumes in order to compensate for the low price. The low price of Moser Baer movie CDs was a deadly blow to the pirate- mafia which was a major threat to the entire movie industry.

This move of Moser Baer was complimented by the low priced DVD players that entered the Indian market. The price of a branded DVD player came to the level of 2000-5000 which enabled many households to own one.

Another diversification of Moser Baer was into the Rs 12000 crore PC peripheral market which include products like CD/DVD drives , hard disks, speakers etc. Moser Baer expects to corner 20 % of this lucrative market .
In the business market, Moser Baer has diversified into manufacturing of photo-voltaic cells which is used in harnessing solar energy.

A major unrelated diversification for this brand was into the consumer durables in 2008. Moser Baer entered the consumer durable space with a high decibel launch of LCD televisions and DVD players.

Watch the tvc here : Moser Baer

Although the corporate tagline for Moser Baer is " Rewriting the Future " , the company decided to have a seperate tagline " Ultra Life " for its consumer durable venture. The brand is projecting itself as the advanced fururistic technology brand. For the movie CD venture, the brand has another tagline " Hello Happiness ".

In a branding perspective, the same brand has three different positioning strategy in three different categories. Theoritically this will result in brand dilution.


I seriously doubt the logic behind Moser Baer entering a space where it has virtually no standing . It does not have the brand equity nor the marketing strength to fight the competition. In this space it will be fighting all the major consumer durable brands of the world like Sony, Philips, LG, Samsung, Onida, Panasonic and what not.

Moser Baer may be a well known brand in the CD category but it is a zero in the consumer durable space. The only advantage for the brand is the brand familiarity. Consumers have seen this brand but that is not sufficient to counter the competition of established brands like Sony.

Moser Baer is trying to fight the war using price as a proposition. The price of LCD TV is much lower than the established players. Hence the price + brand familiarity may give some head start for the brand.

Another serious issue for the brand will be the time and energy needed for Moser Baer to establish itself in the consumer durable space. The company may have to devote considerable resources , both money and managerial time ,to be successful as a consumer durable major. This will seriously impact the investment needed in its core business. In this period, when cash is the king, the brand may have to spend judiciously .

Moser Baer has also launched products like USB disks in order to pre-empt the competition from that category which makes more sense than the consumer durable venture. It could have spent more energy on establishing itself in the USB media space and even launch products similar to ipods.
It makes more sense if Moser Baer concentrated on Memory ,Storage and even PC peripherals space rather than spent valuable resources on highly competitive market like consumer durables

Brand Update : Sony Vaio

After the highly popular campaign for Sony Vaio CR range of notebooks ( All Eyes on You ! ) , Vaio has launched a new series of executive laptop Viao Z series. The new series is launched with a new theme " Break the Code ".

Watch the TVC here : Break the Code

Vaio Z is a premium executive notebook with lot of features that makes the product different from the competition. The brand boasts of
Cylinder Form
Isolated Keyboard
Carbon Fibre body
Clear Tough LCD
Light Weight etc

The current campaign is an international campaign imported directly to India although with a minor cosmetic change.
The campaign message is that all laptops are the same so break the code by getting the new Vaio Z.

The campaign for Vaio CR was popular because the visuals and the song was found attractive by the TG. The success of CR range prompted many laptop manufacturers to look at aesthetics and design as a differentiator.
The new campaign is also clutter breaking with a nice song and visuals. The lyrics goes something like this
I am not you and you are not me
I look around and all I see is me
Change the code, break the code
Take the new road

Lyrics Courtesy : Gandalf

The new series is premium priced with a price range of Rs 85000 - Rs 1,25,000.

All laptop manufacturers are faced with the issue of commoditization. So there is a heavy reliance on brand as a source of differentiation. Vaio has to a certain extend has been able to resist the commoditization .

Interestingly the tagline for Vaio is " Closer to You " . But I haven't seen any ad highlighting the positioning of the core brand Vaio. Previous campaigns of Vaio also did not have this tagline.

Related Brand
Sony Vaio

Acer : Life is busy,Acer makes it easy

Brand : Acer
Company : Acer India
Agency : Dentsu Marcom


Brand Analysis Count : 343

Acer is an aggressive brand in the Indian computer industry . The aggressive brand promotion and smart pricing allowed this Taiwanese giant to be among the top five leading computer brands in India.

The Indian personal computer market is lucrative enough to make all the global giants have a presence here. In 2007 around 6.5 mn units of desktops and laptops were sold in India in the Personal Computer segment.

HP is leading the pack with 21 % share followed by HCL with 13 % and Lenovo with 10% ( Economic Times 2007) .

An interesting trend seen in the Indian computer market is the shift of consumer preference to laptops. The aggressive pricing and the snob value of laptops has changed the consumer preference to this product category. In 2007 around 1.27 mn laptops were sold in India.

In the laptop segment, HP is leading with around 37 % market share and Lenovo with 16% share and Acer with 10% share.

Acer brand was born in Taiwan in 1976. From a humble beginning, this brand has become the third largest computer vendor in the world. Acer India was incorporated in 1999 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Acer.

Acer has always been a price warrior in India. In 2000 it stunned the Indian computer market by offering PC at unbelievable prices. From Rs 40,000-50,000 to a price range below Rs 25000.
It was also the first company to bring down the price of servers to Rs 60,000.

The ever value conscious customers were quick to lap up this brand of economical computers.

In the last two years, Indian consumers are witnessing an unusual flurry of high profile brand building in the PC segment especially in the notebook category.

The brand to take the center stage was the market leader HP. The brand roped in Shah Rukh Khan to endorse a range of brand from Compaq to printers. The endorsement along with the " Computer is personal again " campaign boosted the brand equity of HP to new heights.

Lenovo was quick to follow by roping in Saif Ali Khan as the brand ambassador.
According to reports, both HP and Lenovo benefitted greatly by this FMCG model brand building.
Not to be left behind Acer roped in Hrithik Roshan as the brand ambassador and started a high profile campaign for the range of Laptops for both individuals and business owners.

Although Acer was following the herd in roping in Hrithik Roshan, there was another logic behind this 'expensive' promotion.

I personally believe that Acer face the issue of a negative brand perception especially among the urban youth/professionals. The brand is perceived to be a low priced low quality brand and hence usually the brand appeals to those customers who are very price conscious .

Its advantageous to have the ability to sell at a lower price but being perceived as a low price warrior is not good for the brand. I am a strong believer of the principle that price should not be the reason for customers to buy your brand.

Since consumers have the habit of relating Quality and Price together, the brand equity suffers the most. When I searched the web about this brand, I was surprised to find that Acer is considered a pioneer in bringing in latest technology to the consumers. In most of the cases, it is the first brand to launch the latest range of chips and platforms.

When I bought my laptop, Acer was never in my choice set because I thought Compaq is a better brand ( perception). These perceptions can be dangerous especially in the emerging laptop segment where younger consumers also are conscious about the image of the brand.

Acer was the first brand to launch designer range of laptops. It has a Ferrari Laptop range and Gemstone range which was designed by BMW designers. But I came to know of this only when I studied deeply about this brand.

Surprisingly Lenovo which is a Chinese brand was able to position itself as a premium brand despite its secondary association with the country of origin.

It was with objective to enhance the brand equity that Acer launched an extensive brand promotion using Hrithik.

Watch the commercials here : Acer Campaigns

But alas, the money has been terribly wasted ( my personal opinion).
Acer and Parle's Hide & Seek are classic examples of messing up the potential of a celebrity like Hrithik.

Acer's set of campaigns featuring Hrithik reinforces the existing perception of Acer as a so-so brand. I did not like anything about the ad. No positioning, nothing.
The brand has the slogan " Life is busy, Acer makes it easy ". Again nothing to harp on.

For example, in the plane ad, Hrithik makes the noise " any problem, no Acer ekey ?".
Frankly I understood nothing about this stuff ekey. On searching, I found that e-key is a patented technology which enables the customer to have customized settings in the computer.

And again I don't understand why there has to be a song and a dance when ever you have Hrithik ?

Most of the ads are higly melodramatic filmy kind of stuff which is not insynch with a rational product like computers. I think that the agency was really confused about matching the persona of Hrithik with the product.

Having said that , I see some logic in the ads. If the ad is targeted towards a highly price conscious customer ( not the sophisticated ones ) these ads make sense. These group may say WoW at the ads and enjoy watching Hrithik singing about memory and data recovery.

But I feel that Acer has lost the opportunity to build some premiumness around the brand.Lesson has to be learned from brands like Vaio and Dell which has a high level of aspirational value attached to it.
At present, the current campaign may further reinforce the brand Acer among the TG. But its not going to help the brand to reposition as a tech-leader. By not repositioning , Acer is undermining its core strengths .
I see a situation where most of the features of computers getting commodized. In such a scenario, customers may be willing to pay a premium for the brand rather than the features. In such a scenario, Acer may have to struggle hard to extract a premium from the customer.

HP : Computer Is Personal Again

Brand : HP computers
Company : HP
Agency : Publicis

Brand Count :146

The Indian computer hardware industry is huge and growing. The sheer size of the Indian middleclass is an ample evidence of the huge potential for personal computers in the country. The computer penetration in India is barely 1 percent that makes the market more challenging and attractive.

Although the numbers present a rosy picture, the reality is not as rosy as it seems. The market is dominated by unbranded players and the computer today have a commodity status with brands losing its relevance to a home computer buyer. This has put lot of pressure for the organised player to reduce margins and cost to compete with the unbranded players. In the earlier stages of the evolution of this industry, the factors like reliability and service had given the organised players significant advantage over the unorganised sector. But with the standardisation of products and the outsourced service elements becoming popular, the branded computers lost their edge.
Even with the price war raging , the branded version costs anywhere between 20-30% premium over the unbranded ones.The rate at which the processors and technologies becoming obsolete is forcing the customers to look for cheaper options. The rationale for the customer is simple " The system I buy in 2006 is going to be obsolete in 2007, hence why invest in a branded one?".

HP ( Hewlett Packard) is one of the major players in the organised market in India. This multinational giant have around 20% share in the desktop market. Reports suggest that HCL-the domestic player is leading the market.
In this market which is typically fragmented with chances of differentiations are slim, it takes lot of innovation and marketing skill to survive. That is what HP is currently doing. In June 2006, HP launched its global marketing campaign to reinvent the personal computer industry. The campaign with the tagline " The computer is Personal Again" is an attempt to brand a commodity again. Personal Computers or PC was what we used to call the desktops but later the term lost its charm and we began to use the terms like desktops, laptops and notebooks. These terms were technical terms and was a result of the market becoming more mature and as a result more commoditised.Most of the campaigns by computer manufacturers were focusing on technical specifications and price offers. There were little branding efforts and most of the campaigns were dealer ads funded partly by the manufacturers. Branding was slowly dying and sales promotions were gaining prominance.

HP's new initiative is to bring back the personal nature of the computers. Business Week in a report has detailed that this campaign is intended to position HP as a company that truly understands how central PC's has become to most people's life. The campaign features a " Hand drawn graphic of a Hand" in every ads. Only select products will be highlighted in this campaign and these products will be promoted using only their striking feature. That means that the company is going back to the marketing basics of USP, Positioning and Differentiation. The campaign has also roped in MTV for a Advertiser Funded Programme titled " Meet or Delete" reality show as a part of its 360 degree brand campaign.

The print ads featuring celebrities stand out intheir designs and communication. The sheer beauty and depth of campaign makes it one of the most memorable marketing efforts of recent times. The campaign globally is conceived by Goodby, Silverstein and Partners for the Personal Services Group of HP.
Another beauty of the current positioning platform is the flexibility and creativity that it offers to the marketer. There is ample scope for extending this positioning to all product ranges, new products and across segments.The campaign also gives the marketer an opportunity to experiment with the product, change its design and sometimes make mistakes all in the name of reinventing PC.

With regard to the current theme and its execution in Indian market, the ads mainly is targeted at the affluent middleclass tech savvy customers. The ordinary lot will not understand this communication because the execution of this ad is too complicated for an ordinary buyer to understand. I am not sure whether HP is only aiming at Premium customers ?The success of this campaign will depend a lot on how this strategy is being executed at the customer moments of truth or touchpoints. Is he going to get a personalised attention at the retail level? Will the company follow this strategy with new product ranges and extend this campaign to a mass level?

Whatever be the outcome of this campaign, this will be rated as a classic marketing initiative . As a marketer, I am happy because " Marketing is personal again"

source: businessweek, bbc,expresscomputers, agencyfaqs