Gone are the days when only Nokia, Samsung or Motorola had celebrities talking for them. The new age Indian handset makers too now have celebrities on their side to announce their arrival. But will the strategy help them to move on to the next level?
Neither Nokia, nor Samsung would have ever thought this. But as noticed over the past couple of years, the global handset giants are being challenged massively in India by a flurry of numerous affordable indigenous handset makers. Their strategy of offering look-alike models of existing popular handsets, at one third the price, has allowed them to eat into market shares of their established counterparts. In the process they [the new brands] have also established themselves as the ones that offer maximum value for money. And with their latest initiatives, they have entered into an arena where only the big guys were seen earlier – having high profile celebrity brand ambassadors.
So far, Indian consumers had only seen Shahrukh Khan flaunting a Nokia handset, Abhishek Bachchan going gaga over a Motorola, Aamir Khan adding a little of his perfectionist touch to Samsung and John Abraham portraying LG handsets as peppy as youth with Abhay Deol and Genilia D’Souza. Over the past few months, the new indigenous handset players too have joined the bandwagon giving these stalwarts some dose of their own medicine.
Micromax was the first one to follow the formula bringing Akshay Kumar on board, followed by Maxx Mobiles getting Dhoni to talk about their latest offerings. Later, SAR Group’s Wynn Telecom launched its handsets with Saif Ali Khan and Bipasha Basu doing the honours. And Zen Mobile became the latest brand to join the league when it roped in none other than Amitabh Bachchan to be the face of the company. But how will the brand ambassadors help these handset makers in their venture? Answers Deepesh Gupta, MD, Zen Mobile, “India is a critical market and the competition in mobile handset technologies is growing fast. Mr. Bachchan will help render sheen to our brand with his grandeur. Nothing compares with the legendary Big B, a style icon, who is admired as an aspirational figure and Zen Mobiles is placing its bet exactly on that.”
Another critical aspect where these celebrities are proving handy for the Indian handset makers is building the trust factor. Most of these new players are viewed skeptically by the consumers. The general perception is that they are just fly-by-the-night operators. In such a scenario, association of a big celebrity with the brand helps it in bringing in the assurance that the company is in for a long term play.
Nevertheless, benefits of using a celebrity brand ambassador certainly depends on where the brand stands it in its life cycle and what are their needs. For example, the need for Micromax – which has been around for about two years now and after building its brand in rural India is now getting aggressive in the metros – is very different from the players like Zen or Wynn who are just starting. For Micromax, the idea behind having Akshay on board is to be able to connect with their target customers and take the brand to the next level. Vikas Jain, Business Director, Micromax shares, “People may forget the name of the brand, but they would come to the shop asking yaar woh Akshaywala phone dikhana.” And one would have to admit that the company has so far managed to create the noise it intended to. As a result, today Micromax is the number three handset player in the country surpassing MNCs like Motorola, LG and Sony Ericsson.
Neither Nokia, nor Samsung would have ever thought this. But as noticed over the past couple of years, the global handset giants are being challenged massively in India by a flurry of numerous affordable indigenous handset makers. Their strategy of offering look-alike models of existing popular handsets, at one third the price, has allowed them to eat into market shares of their established counterparts. In the process they [the new brands] have also established themselves as the ones that offer maximum value for money. And with their latest initiatives, they have entered into an arena where only the big guys were seen earlier – having high profile celebrity brand ambassadors.
So far, Indian consumers had only seen Shahrukh Khan flaunting a Nokia handset, Abhishek Bachchan going gaga over a Motorola, Aamir Khan adding a little of his perfectionist touch to Samsung and John Abraham portraying LG handsets as peppy as youth with Abhay Deol and Genilia D’Souza. Over the past few months, the new indigenous handset players too have joined the bandwagon giving these stalwarts some dose of their own medicine.
Micromax was the first one to follow the formula bringing Akshay Kumar on board, followed by Maxx Mobiles getting Dhoni to talk about their latest offerings. Later, SAR Group’s Wynn Telecom launched its handsets with Saif Ali Khan and Bipasha Basu doing the honours. And Zen Mobile became the latest brand to join the league when it roped in none other than Amitabh Bachchan to be the face of the company. But how will the brand ambassadors help these handset makers in their venture? Answers Deepesh Gupta, MD, Zen Mobile, “India is a critical market and the competition in mobile handset technologies is growing fast. Mr. Bachchan will help render sheen to our brand with his grandeur. Nothing compares with the legendary Big B, a style icon, who is admired as an aspirational figure and Zen Mobiles is placing its bet exactly on that.”
Another critical aspect where these celebrities are proving handy for the Indian handset makers is building the trust factor. Most of these new players are viewed skeptically by the consumers. The general perception is that they are just fly-by-the-night operators. In such a scenario, association of a big celebrity with the brand helps it in bringing in the assurance that the company is in for a long term play.
Nevertheless, benefits of using a celebrity brand ambassador certainly depends on where the brand stands it in its life cycle and what are their needs. For example, the need for Micromax – which has been around for about two years now and after building its brand in rural India is now getting aggressive in the metros – is very different from the players like Zen or Wynn who are just starting. For Micromax, the idea behind having Akshay on board is to be able to connect with their target customers and take the brand to the next level. Vikas Jain, Business Director, Micromax shares, “People may forget the name of the brand, but they would come to the shop asking yaar woh Akshaywala phone dikhana.” And one would have to admit that the company has so far managed to create the noise it intended to. As a result, today Micromax is the number three handset player in the country surpassing MNCs like Motorola, LG and Sony Ericsson.
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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
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