The Devil’s Advocate

When I was young, the only cult brand that I can think of was the one with the devil. ‘Neighbours Envy. Owner’s Pride’ is a tag line that surely still resonates in the minds of thousands of Indians. The devil had attitude – completely new to the Indian branding context in the eighties. Using a devil to create a powerful brand was one hell-of-a achievement by Mirc Electronics, the company that owns the brand ‘Onida’. So powerful was this homegrown brand that many perceived it to be better than even Sony and JVC.

However, over the late eighties and the nineties, the devil lost touch. The Koreans stormed into the consumer durables business and changed the game. With a basket of consumer durables and heavy advertising, their proposition to dealers was compelling. And the devil started bleeding.

I did not see much of the devil thereafter. Onida had only televisions to offer and not a basket of consumer durables. They started losing retailers as well as share of voice in advertising. And the Koreans kept marching ahead.

A few years ago, Onida decided to enter the market with a basket of consumer durables and challenge the Koreans and Japanese. The devil was back and I was really happy to see him after years. He had mellowed down, had less attitude, but was still a strong differentiator. The advertising, to my mind, did not really leverage the attitude of the devil; the devil turned more into a sutradhar explaining product features.

To my utter disappointment, a few months ago, Onida decided to kill the devil. This surely was a sad moment in the history of Indian advertising. Onida felt that the devil is not relevant to the Indian consumer anymore. I beg to differ, though. Don’t think it was even relevant in the 80s. But it displayed a lot of attitude. The devil was a cult and I think Onida should have been more patient with the devil. A brand, especially in the commoditized consumer durables business, needs a strong differentiator. Onida had it with the devil. They threw it away.

Their latest proposition mooted by their agency McCann Ericson of ‘Tumko dekha to yeh design aaya’ is far from a differentiator. Onida is looking like yet another me-too next door consumer durables player. An Indian brand who had what it takes to take on the Koreans threw their trump card trying to ape the Koreans.. The ‘Koreans Envy. India’s Pride’ is no more. Whatever happened to the Devil’s Advocate?