Durables top TV advertisers

Consumer durables firms are increasingly opting for television over print to advertise their products. Television, they believe, is more cost-effective in terms of reach, especially in a country where literacy levels are still very low.

According to the latest report by AdEx India, a division of TAM Media Research, ad volumes of consumer durables in print dropped by 2 per cent during January to June 2007 (H1'07) over H1'06. Comparatively, HI'06 too did not see any growth in print advertising over the first of 2005.

On the other hand, television registered a rise of 22 per cent in advertising by the durables industry in the first half of the current year.

Comparatively, consumer durables' advertising peaked in the second and fourth quarters of 2005-2006. The fourth quarter of 2006 saw an approximate rise of 65 per cent in ads compared with the previous quarter in the same year.

According to AdEx, Godrej & Boyce was the biggest advertiser in television in the first half of the calendar 2007, followed by Philips Electronics.

"The advantage of using television over print for advertising is that it helps in creating instant awareness apart from building imagery," said Kamal Nandi, vice-president of sales and marketing, Godrej Appliances.

Godrej spent approximately Rs 20 crore in advertising during HI'07, of which Rs 15 crore was spend on television advertising.

"In the last one year, our efforts have been to tap the opportunity available in the growing premium segment. Keeping this in mind we had launched Godrej Eon range of products, which included refrigerators, air-conditioner and microwave ovens. Since these were all high-end products which are sold on the functionality and image, we decided to use television as the key medium," explained Kamal.

Similarly, Philips Electronics, the second largest advertiser in television during HI'07, decided to use television as the primary medium to advertise steam irons, mixer grinders, juicers and water purifiers "" targeted at housewives.

Rakesh Sharma, head of domestic appliances at Philips Electronics, said, "The trend shows that media time spent by this target audience (housewives) vis a vis men is maximum on TV which on an average is 2 hours on a weekday and this goes up on weekends. Hence, it made sense to advertise on TV as a communication vehicle to build recall for the brand and ensure greater reach." Philips spent 70 per cent of its advertising on television during HI'07.

Whirlpool India, which was the fourth largest advertiser on telelvison in HI'07, spent close to 60 per cent of its overall advertising budget on television.

According to Sukhpreet Singh, general manager - brand marketing of Whirlpool India, "We advertised our new range of refrigerators and ACs on television during the period."

Most consumer durables companies spoken to, however, qualified that print medium advertising would continue to complement TV campaigns.

The biggest advertisers in print in the consumer durables sector during the first half of calendar 2007 were Samsung Electronics and Mirc Electronics, followed by LG Electronics.

"Samsung Electronics advertised colour televisions, airconditioners and refrigeraters the most during HI'07," said R Zutshi, deputy MD of Samsung India.

He said: "With print, we can localise campaigns as per market requirements and even the creative part, when required. Also, our dealers use the advertisement as a selling tool, so print advertising helps."

On a full-year basis, Samsung's advertising on print to television this year would be in the ratio of 65:35.

LG Electronics, which was the second biggest advertiser in print during HI'07, spent Rs 75 crore in overall advertising during the period, with print accounting for up to 60 per cent.

"We used print more in the first half because our products were preimum-end products in LCDs, laptops, mobile phones, ACs, and refrigerators, for which the target markets were metropolitan cities. We could be more descriptive and provide explanation since in the print medium, unlike television, there is no limit on exposure duration," pointed out V Ramachandran, director-sales and marketing of LG Electronics.