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Vijay Narayan

VP, Marketing & Communications, Havells India

I think the most memorable marketing moment for Havells India was the decision to increase our span
in the marketing and advertising world in 2007. That year, we increased our marketing budget by 200%,
which was quite a leap forward, as till then, we were not a big name as far as the list of media
advertisers went. We chose the game of cricket as our main proposition and started advertising heavily
via that mode. Havells had suddenly become a big name in the world of media buying, and this
marketing initiative helped us greatly.

Brand building strategy through ad spend by Havells

AUGUST 6, 2009

in  SALES/MARKETING MANAGEMENT

Havells India has a problem of plenty. In the past few years, it acquired brands like
Standard, Crabtree (for India) and Sylvania (for the whole world except North America),
meant to fill the gaps in its mass-market brand, Havells, like high-end switches, lighting
etc. However, in the last two years, Havells has moved up the value chain, improved
brand recall and made inroads into new markets for fans and lighting products.
In the years that followed, Havells diversified into switches, cables, lighting and fans. It
also moved from a cramped workplace in Civil Lines in Old Delhi to a swank 130,000 sq
ft office called QRG Towers in Noida.
Of the Rs 2,200-crore turnover, industrial and institutional buyers account for around Rs
800 crore while exports fetch Rs 200 crore. Retail sales bring in around Rs 1,200 crore
with over Rs 1,000 crore coming from the Havells brand and the rest (switches) from
Crabtree. Sylvania adds another 440 million Euros to the group’s turnover. It is the
leader in switchgear, second in cables after Finolex and in switches after Anchor, fourth
in fans and second in lighting after Philips. These categories have strong brands
(Philips and Osram in lighting, Crompton Greaves, Orient, Polar and Khaitan in fans,
Finolex in cables) but companies spend not more than one or two per cent of their
turnover on brand promotion. And a large part of that is below the line. In 2007, Havells
realised that if it had to stand out, it had to out spend its rivals.
From around Rs 15 crore, the ad budget was upped to Rs 60 crore just over four per
cent of the turnover and Lowe’s Balki devised a campaign. It put out ad spots during
cricket matches since the target customers are men between 25 and 45 years of age
(electrical fittings are selected by men, tiles and bathroom fittings by women.
Fortunately for Havells, India did badly in the World Cup in the Caribbean islands and
spots were going cheap. They struck a very good deal with ESPN for the Natwest
trophy in England, T-20 World Cup in South Africa and the India-Australia series Down
Under. Both campaigns, one for switchgear (shock laga) and the other for cables where
a child makes tongs for his mother with a Havells cable so that she won’t burn her
fingers making rotis were well received.
Next, Havells aired a commercial for fans where a dancer faints from exhaustion but
recovers once the fan (of course, Havells) is switched on. However, a campaign for fans
during IPL-II this year, which showed floods of sweat, did not work. Nevertheless, the
promotions have helped. Lamps and fixtures are no longer sold at a discount to market
leader Philips and per unit realisation of its fans is the highest in the industry. The
company’s investments of Rs 200 crore every year for the last five years, in new
manufacturing facilities has also helped.
Still, there is a market for a discount brand. Institutional and government orders go to
the lowest-priced bid. To drop prices could take the sheen off the Havells brand. So, the
company is trying to use the Standard brand for such products. Also, the market for low-
cost fans has grown rapidly in the last few years and Havells could plug it with
Standard.
As for Sylvania, they are in no hurry to bring the brand to India since it would compete
with Havells. They decided to watch Havells’ progress in the lighting market for another
three or four years before taking a call on Sylvania.

more at http://www.citeman.com/6558-brand-building-strategy-through-ad-spend-by-havells/#ixzz19QU0hhgC