Resurrecting The Devil

After giving advertising a rest for a long time, India’s homegrown consumer electronics brand, Onida, is back with its famous mascot, the Onida Devil. Vijay Mansukhani, MD, Mirc Electronics Ltd tells us how the brand will be investing Rs 50 crore on advertising this year, with plans to give Digital a big push to ensure brand recall

- Samarpita Banerjee

Q] Onida is one of the few homegrown brands to survive the coming in of global brands. What has helped you sail through?

We went through a lot of ups and downs over the years, but the only thing that stands out in the end is innovation and quality. Onida has always been innovative and has been known for its quality. That is a part of our ethos. When we started off, we had a chance meeting with Japanese consumer electronics brand, JVC, which led to a partnership with them. That partnership led to us making use of their R&D which helped us to emerge with innovative products. We were doing well until India opened up the flood gates, which saw the coming in of global players like Samsung and LG. These players came with deep pockets and instead of putting anti-dumping duties on them, we as a country welcomed them with open arms. We gave them sales and income tax advantages. However, we didn’t buckle down in the storm and learnt to dance in the rain. Recognizing opportunities has been our biggest strength. We could survive the storm because of our superior quality. Moreover, GST has been a great move because it is now a level playing field. What gives us yet another advantage is that we understand Indian consumers and what they want.

Q] What are the innovations that have helped Onida stand out?