Analysis Of Positioning Strategies Of Brands Through Print Advertisement
Advertising is one of the most important modes which companies use to position their brands. With the help of advertisements the consumers can be induced to buy the brand by making them aware of the benefits of buying their brand over other brands. Like all other markets Ac market is no different and here also the advertising is heavy but seasonal.
The peak period of ACs is March to May followed by a lull of about three months before the sales pick up again in the month of September but that too for a couple of months because then winter strikes most of the country.
Also most of the players prefer Print media as compared to Audio-Visual media due to cost factor as the demand is not much. Also consumers like to know in detail about the features , prices, finance options which can be expressed explicitly only in the print media.
There are some big players like LG, Hitachi, Carrier which advertise frequently on T.V during the season but otherwise print media is the preferred medium. Taking these reasons into consideration the analysis is based on the print adds for the months of March, April and May.
1) Samsung : Samsung has been mainly focussing on the product feature advertising. They have tried to create a distinct image in the minds of the customer as a power saving AC with high efficiency and generator of pure and healthy air. Tabu is endorsing the brand.
2) Hitachi : The advertisements stress on the features of microprocessor.
The adds differ from talking about the self-adjustment of AC to room temperature or its function of automatically switching on with the right temperature as keyed in earlier or its power saving feature. All this thanks to its microprocessor.
Some advertisements also talk about the 0 percent interest finance schemes.
3) Verdant from Voltas: The ads have been stressing on features like pure and healthy air, temperature adjustment, electricity savings. They also have icons to give details regarding the features.
But unlike Samsung they don’t have any celebrity promoting their products. The focus is on the model Verdant which they have placed as the future high tech air conditioners.
Some of the ads also focus on their cooling system that suggests that the room will be cooled thoroughly irrespective of its placement.
4) Godrej Intelli- There has been only one ad talking about its ability to get programmed to consume the units of electricity as desired by the consumer. It is this feature that separates it from the other ACs but the advertising with respect to this is very mild.
Godrej Smartcool: This add covered all the models [with photographs ] being offered by Godrej and the various features such as energy saver, sleep mode, rotary compressor etc. The punch line in this ad talks about taking the woollen clothes out which suggests that AC might just be too cool for a person to be comfortable .
The function of an air conditioner is not all about creating a cold environment but to condition the air in the environment and make it most suitable and comfortable for the person sitting in the room.
The ad might just give a wrong idea to any prospective customer.
5) General : They have also advertised just once in the last one month. They have been trying to lure the customers by calling their AC as the most powerful AC with respect to their cooling capacity and cooling speed. The ad is not effective as it does not give any idea to the customer about the product features or other details such as price, models etc.
6) Kenstar: There have been just 2 advertisements in the last couple of months. The first one spoke about the price while the second one was also revolving around price with the concept of exchange offer. Thus they are trying to lure the customers by offering them price parity with respect to other ACs.
One of their punch lines says Bring in the winter which is trying to project that the ACs are all about cooling. In one particular ad they have compared their features and price with other brands and showed their superiority over them.
7) National: Their advertisements have been focusing on the 0 percent interest finance scheme. They are also advertising the competition which guarantees the return of money spent to buy their AC in case of the slogan of the buyer is worthy enough which he has to fill in the form while purchasing the AC.
8) Fedders Lloyd : Their advertisements are also price oriented. They are trying to persuade the consumers by printing the prices in bold and using punch lines such as ACs for 19500.
9) White Westinghouse from Electrolux: They have been focusing on their triple filtration process which results in pure and fresh air. Also the advertisements stress that the ACs can withstand voltage fluctuations thanks to its HDEE compressor.
10) LG- The advertisements have been mainly focusing on the concept of pure and healthy air thanks to its plasma technology. They have been effectively using their catch line- Pamper your lungs. There have advertisements regarding their 4th anniversary offering free gifts on purchase of LG ACs.
Sometimes the advertisements have focused on low noise creation. They have advertised the most in the months of April-May as compared to other brands.
11) Carrier: They are the market leaders in the AC market today. Their advertising differs from product oriented where by they talk about the efficiency, low noise creation, pure air etc to price oriented where by they offer various interest free finance schemes.
12) Daikin: They have been targeting the customers with their catch line –complete silence. They have promoted their ACs as no noise polluting ACs. They have not been speaking about other product features or price.
The customer doesn’t get a fair idea about the product from their advertisements. The ads boast of it being the NO. 1 AC of JAPAN.
13) Bluestar: They have also advertised heavily in the months of March and April. Their advertisements have been focusing on the product features and prices.
The features promoted are same as other ACs namely pure and healthy air, sleep mode, power saving compressor etc. they have used models in some ads to add value to the ads. .