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Which consumer electronics brand was the first one to talk about smart ACs in a television commercial? If you can't recall the answer readily, it's probably because of the campaign that is currently running on national television for the Voltas
All Weather smart AC, the virtues of which are explained to us via the endearing Murthy, the southerner with his heavily-accented Hindi and grounded humour.
The ever popular Murthy is into his fourth year as Voltas' champion but he takes the story forward by gleefully emphasising his own smartness in buying a Voltas All Weather AC. So though the benefits of accessing the AC through a remote location is one of the central features of Voltas' offering, Deba Ghoshal, head of marketing, Voltas says, "The brand aims to simplify the operation of its smart ACs by highlighting key features of its mobile app." The company has seen 10,000 downloads of the app in the past two months, he adds.
The character of Murthy was introduced in 2012 to communicate the concept of All Weather ACs in a clutter breaking manner. The first campaign showed Murthy packing his Voltas All Weather AC everytime he was transferred to places with extreme weather conditions.
Conceptualised by Soho Square, the current campaign presents a case of 'borrowed smartness' as Murthy's father-in-law tells viewers how he is able to pamper his son-in-law without burning extra cash. Obviously the smart AC with its energy efficiency and new features helps cut down the electricity bill, a key demand of most consumers.
But the campaign essentially builds on the two problems that Voltas identified in their market research. One, that the category does not lend itself to the idea of touch and feel, so there is a need to make the product more engaging. Second to expand the category, it's crucial to make the product relevant to the consumers, not just during the summers, but throughout the year. This has been work in progress since the day Voltas launched the All Weather range around five years ago.
The media budget for the current campaign is roughly Rs 30 crore. Not very different from its usual strategy, Voltas has chosen to go with a traditional media mix with 50 per cent budget allocated to television. The rest will be distributed between print, radio and out-of-home. Digital will be used to further amplify the messaging.
Launched in March this year, the campaign will run till August. By tweaking the communication in its campaigns from one region to the other, the brand has managed to sell this range across the country successfully.
For instance, while campaigns running in southern markets focus on the AC's 'humidification' function, the ones in north and east talk more about its 'dust and heat' mode. The pricing for All Weather smart ACs is in the range of Rs 25,000 to Rs 40,000.
Highlighting such basic benefits could make sense since, as IDC's managing director for India and South Asia Jaideep Mehta points out, smart consumer electronics are yet to be a part of mainstream durables business. The likes of Samsung and Sony have been investing mainly in smart televisions.
While internet penetration has been growing in India, smart consumer electronics is largely a metro trend and this may not change in the next couple of years. The basic requirement of running any smart device - a strong wifi connection - is still a challenge in smaller cities.
"The upside of selling smart electronics is that companies are able to earn higher margins. For consumers the main objective behind investing in a smart device would be energy saving," adds Mehta of IDC.
Till FY 2014-15, the residential AC market was around 3.4 million units. The category was stagnant between 2011 and 2013. With discomfort as the main driver of this category, AC penetration in India is as low as 3.8 per cent. On the other hand, television has the highest penetration level at 65 per cent followed by refrigerators at 29 per cent. Smart consumer electronics is far from being considered a sizeable sub-category. Apparently, by educating consumers on product functionality in a systematic manner, players in this category can achieve faster adoption once the infrastructure falls in place.
As for the quick quiz at the start of this piece, here's the answer: Onida.
Brand: Voltas All Weather Smart AC
Agency: Soho Square
Budget: Rs 30 crore
