Voice of one's own

RETAIL: Parker is setting up a chain of exclusive retail outlets to give itself some retail voice.

Think Parker, think Amitabh Bachchan. Thanks to all that inflight advertising, this global brand of writing instruments has become almost synonymous in India with the man with the baritone (few know his written voice, though).

It didn't start that way. Parker entered India in 1997 (well, officially at least), and to a wonderful response too. So recalls Pooja Jain, executive director, Luxor Writing Instruments, the Indian company that brought the brand to India.

"The brand had history even before Luxor brought it in, so there already was demand for the brand in India," she says, "but it wasn't available in the open market."

Parker contributes about 40 per cent to Luxor's total turnover now. Apart from its own brand, Luxor, the company also markets Pilot, Waterman and Papermate products in India.

"Today," says Jain, "Parker is a Rs 70-crore brand, and we're looking at taking this to Rs 100 crore within the next two years ... 18 months ideally."

Parker's broad strategy has been to straddle almost every imaginable usage segment beyond the mass-market range of popular pens, from high school (with its Rs 70 pen) through working life till the very apex of the corporate pyramid (a fancy Rs 35,000 model).

But the big boost came with the launch of Beta in 2000, a sub-brand sold as "my first Parker" to the youngster looking for an affordable entry point (its price range: under Rs 100).

This was when Bachchan joined the effort to popularise the brand, holding forth on the pride of Parker ownership in his own avuncular manner.

Parker now has about 14 sub-brands in India, of which Vector in the mass seller, while Sonnet is also doing good volumes priced at Rs 1,000-2,000. At the upper-end of the market, brands such as Montblanc seem to have stolen ahead (at least in terms of snob value).

While Parker continues to spend about 20 per cent of its turnover on advertising, critics wonder just how independent an identity it has managed to carve for itself in India.

One way to establish an image on its own would be through enhanced retail presence, and that's just what Luxor has in mind. Exclusive stores are planned, and this would go well with its planned launch of customised pens that go as high as Rs 10 lakh apiece.

Will it work?

It may depend on the finesse with which Parker lets its own brand voice emerge. The pen, after all, is not to be trifled with.

It is an instrument with which some of the world's most momentous deals are signed "" and if a pen of yours could end up in a museum some day, you might as well ensure it's distinctive.