Oris : The Better Switch

Brand : Oris
Company : L&T

Brand Analysis Count : # 555

L&T which is one of the largest player in the construction and infrastructure industry  launched their brand Oris on the consumer electrical space in 2013.  It was recently that the brand has started making noise in the media.

Indian switches and distribution boards market in India is worth around Rs 2400 crore . The home segment itself is around Rs 1400 crore. The market is dominated by Anchor Electricals but now the market is flooded with national and international brands.

Switches has now moved from functional to aesthetic product. Design of the switches and similar electrical products has become an important attribute. Oris claims that it is inspired by music and the switches looks like the keys of a piano. Earlier Roma brand of switches also claimed to be inspired by the piano keys. The USP of the brand is the LED indicator which is branded by L&T as Intelli-i that helps to identify the position of switches in the dark. The company is also offering 12 year warranty for the switches.

Watch the ads here : Oris switches

It is interesting to note the L&T which is a well known Corporate brand has chosen to have a different brand name for its switches. It would have been easy if the company decided to call its switches L&T switches. One of the reasons would be to create a premium brand name and L&T as a brand name is not sexy. 

Since the brand name Oris is new, L&T is running another campaign building the association with the corporate brand L&T. Watch the ad : Leveraging L&T ( it is in Malayalam Language).

The tagline of Oris is " The Better Switch " which I would consider as an unimaginative tagline. Again since Oris is not going to be restricted to switches alone, a tagline anchored on switches is a myopic step. My understanding is that Oris would be later launching a range of electrical accessories including probably MCBs and in future may be fans lights etc. In that case, the company may have to scout for a new tagline. Instead , the company could have started off with a positioning which can be transferred to multiple products in future.

Roma Switches : India's Largest Selling Modular Switches

Brand : Roma
Company : Anchor ( Panasonic)

Brand Analysis Count : 516

Indian switch market is estimated to be around INR1800 crore and is dominated by Anchor with a share of 50%. Anchor Electricals which is one of India's largest electrical  products company was formed in 1963 and virtually created the branded electrical accessory market in India. The company effectively filled the need for quality and reliable electrical products in a market dominated by unorganized players.

In 1976, the company launched India's first Piano type switch with the sub-brand Roma. The product was highly successful and Roma became India's largest selling modular switch. ( Source : superbrand). In 2007, Anchor was taken over by Panasonic and now is a subsidiary of the global giant.

Roma is the market leader in the INR 800 crore modular switch market. The brand was earlier promoted as a sub-brand of Anchor ( Anchor Roma) and was heavily supported by the company interms of its brand building efforts.

Anchor should be very much appreciated for building a brand in a boring product category like switches. The brand was able to change consumer's perception about products like modular switches. One has to take into account that consumers where not considering switches as style statements but as a functional product.

Roma was promoted by Anchor by highlighting its aesthetics and reliability. The brand earlier had the tagline " Zindagi Khubsoorat Banaye "  Watch the ad here : Anchor Roma 

After the acquisition by Panasonic ,  Roma was elevated as an individual brand endorsed by "  Anchor by Panasonic " . Roma also launched its premium range branded as Romoa Viola and promoted by a hyperbole type ad.

Roma is again in the consumer's mindspace because of the new campaign revolving around the brand's claim of being the " Largest selling modular switch brand in India". In positioning parlance, the brand has taken on Category Positioning .
Watch the ads here : Roma Butterfly ad
                                Roma Marble Ad
The ads are created for only one purpose i.e to highlight the fact that Roma is the best selling switches in the country. The brand also have the tagline " India's largest selling modular switches ". This is a straight textbook strategy of owning up the category and positioning as the category leader.
The basic premise of the campaign is that consumers are not aware of the leadership position and the brand wants to remind them so as to assure that they are buying the market leading brand. Although the theme of the ad, its setting has a total disconnect with the product, the campaign however drives the message to the mind of the consumer.
I remember Orpat and Ajanta brands positioning on the platform of being the " Largest ". Being the largest, biggest, etc give some kind of an assurance to the consumers regarding the quality, reliablity , support etc.
Although being the " Largest " has its own set of  advantages, Roma needs to cover its flanks because lot of brands like Legrand, Havell etc were able carve out mindspace by positioning on aesthetics , reliability etc.Harping on being " The Largest " may not be enough.

Havells : Shock Laga Kya

Corporate Brand : Havells
Agency : Lowe

Brand Analysis Count : 399

Havells is one of the leading players in the Indian electrical products industry. The company which was virtually unknown 5 years ago shot into limelight through some clutter breaking campaigns in recent times.

Havells is a part of the Indian business group- QRG group. Established in 1958 as a trading company , Havells came into existence in 1983. The company is now a Rs 1600 crore company with presence in all major electrical categories.

Havells business is primarily focused on four key verticals.
Switch Gear
Lighting and Fixtures
Cables and
Electrical consumer deliverable.

What is interesting about Havells is their penchant for advertising. The company had been making major investments in promotions and has been using the recent IPL for brand building.

Havells shot into limelight with their campaign for Mini Circuit Breakers (MCB) which are used to prevent short circuits . Most of the new homes/offices have it but these products were never advertised.
Havells came out with a clutter breaking humorous ad for their MCB which caught the consumer's attention. The product ad had the famous tagline " Shock Laga Kya ".

Watch the ad here : Shock Laga Kya

The ad was a hit because of the creative execution. I think the positive response from the consumers prompted Havells to invest heavily in brand promotions.

Another classic ad was for Havells CFL bulbs. The Rimpoche ad too was a highly interesting ad for a dull product.
Watch the ad here : Rimpoche

Havells followed its ad campaigns with a touchy mother son campaign for its cable product range
Watch the ad here : Mother- son
I like this ad very much because it conveyed the " heat resistant " feature of the product very smartly and touchingly.

For its fan range, Havells came out with another funny campaign : Bijilee

Recently Havells made use of the Recession to come out with another creative one for its MCB range : recession ad

Havells also has been using the recent IPL for brand promotion. Whenever some batsman gets out or when he scores a six, the two second message ad comes on the screen " Shock Laga Kya"

These clutter breaking ads has significantly increased the brand familiarity and liking of Havells brand. The brand is fighting very well established players like Crompton Greaves, Usha,Anchor , Legrand etc. Havells scored over these brands through its higher share of voice.

Regarding the branding campaign, Havells has been focusing more on product advertising rather than building its corporate brand.
There is an interesting piece written about this in hindu : read here

If you see all these ads of Havells, the ads does not have a common thread . The cable ad and the MCB ad and CFL ads are all very different. Although it all comes from Havells, one cannot find a common thread.
This is a problem for Havells as a corporate brand. The company has so far not tried to bring in a corporate brand theme. Havells does not even have a tagline.

Now everyone associates Havells with the Shock Laga Kya tagline which is a specific tagline for its MCB range. I am not sure whether this is a planned strategy where the company tries to develop its corporate brand through product ads .

There is no doubt that these product ads are well crafted and has served the purpose. But when we analyse the branding , Havells as a corporate brand has built strong familiarity but no brand depth.

If you ask me what Havells stands for, I would say that it stands for " Shock Proof MCB". So Havells stands to be identified for a single product rather than as an umbrella brand.

One disadvantage of developing a common corporate brand theme is that every Havells ad should then have to align with that common thread which may constrain creative thinking. But a brand should own a distinct place in the consumer's mind. Havells corporate brand right now does not have than distinct space for it .
The logic of the current strategy is that through the product ads , Havells will gain familiarity and thus brand equity. There is now flaw in this logic. But the issue is about the brand personality.
A brand should have some core brand values and manthra which makes it unique and distinct. This mathra has to be created by the brand and communicated to the consumers.It is in this context that the current strategy of product ads driving a corporate brand becomes ineffective.

Havells need not stop its product based advertising, what it can do is to develop a brand manthra and a corporate tagline and when show the tagline in the product advertisements. The individual product ads can retain their taglines like " Shock Laga " . Thus Havells will be able to create a distinct corporate brand image which will be highly beneficial in future.