| HCL unveils Rs50 cr rebranding campaign |
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| Thursday, 24 September 2009 12:05 |
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New Delhi: Computer maker HCL Infosystems Ltd is repositioning its laptops and HCL Digilife stores across India based on findings that customers are increasingly buying products they can personally identify with. The firm, controlled by billionaire Shiv Nadar, is spending Rs50 crore for the makeover that includes a new logo, a fresh brand identity—HCL Me—and rebranding of its 55 shops in the country. “There was a need to move beyond promoting just the functionality of the computer to providing a personal advantage to the end customer,” chairman and chief executive Ajai Chowdhry said. The renovation comes on the heels of a study conducted by market research firm IMRB International among college students and young executives aged between 18 and 29 years in nine cities. To be sure, this is not the first time that a computer brand is using the lifestyle platform rather than utility to swing consumer interest in its favour. In their recent commercials, Sony Vaio and Apple’s MacBook Air laptops have used similar themes, reflecting their sleek size rather than technical superiority. “To position a brand based solely on technology features is not what excites consumers any more because they are looking for something more than that,” said Sanjeev Bhargava, chief operating officer, Draft FCB Ulka, the advertising agency involved in the brand overhaul. “HCL’s new image will connect and reward the individualism that is characteristic of nextgen consumers,” he said. Chowdhry said he expects the new approach would help increase his firm’s market share in laptops from the current 7% to 20% in the next two to three years. HCL has updated its laptops to provide technology tools such as in-built recovery and biometric security such as face and fingerprint recognition. To communicate the new look and services, the firm has planned an advertising campaign focused primarily on TV and the Internet. |