SMOOTH Operations

INDIAN OIL’S EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SUBIMAL MONDAL IS DRIVING THE COMPANY’S ‘CONSUMER SUPER BRAND’ SERVO FORWARD WITH BRAND BUILDING, TRUST AND SOME SLICK R&D.

- JULIE COOPER

The average life span of a company was 61 years in 1958, according to a study by McKinsey. Today, it’s less than 18 years. What makes a company fizzle out before its reaches the two-decade mark, and more importantly, how do others thrive to their centenary and beyond?

According to Indian Oil Corporation’s Executive Director and Head of Lube Manufacturing and Marketing Subimal Mondal, it starts with trust. “Our first mantra is to earn the customer’s trust and we’ve done so over many decades as a company and as a brand,” he says. “We will never compromise quality. And we will never take the customer for a ride by charging exorbitant premiums for SERVO lubricant.”

Instead, SERVO always works to ‘right price’ its products. Doing so, he says, makes the customers feel closer to the brand’s made-in-India image. They develop a kind of relationship with the brand; “SERVO is here to fulfil my needs.”

To hammer this idea down, Subimal plans to roll out some major retail events and advertising campaigns across all channels. “We want to enhance our brand,” he states. “This will give us pull from the market. We ultimately want our customers to ask for our products by name without us continuously having to push them.”

For inspiration, he looks to the Tata brand in India. If a product has the Tata stamp on it, then people automatically assume it is good. Tata’s been in business since 1868. Indian Oil, SERVO’s parent company, was incorporated almost a hundred years later in 1959, so taking a few hints from Tata’s playbook is wise.