From few days Videocon had been giving print ads about the new service.Now some points that came into my mind on seeing the ads.It didnt look like a Videocon product.Except for the name Videocon d2h.There is nothing ‘Videocon’ about it.Why ?

1) There is no sign of the new Videocon logo

2) The whole color scheme of the ad is purple/violet  instead of the new green color scheme used in the whole repositioning campaign.

A company spends a lot repositioning a heritage brand to give it a new look and feel,a fresh one rather.But the first product it launches after the exercise has no signs of repositioning.

d2h Logo

Videocon latest Logo

I went to their site, d2h.com.Even the name of the site doesn’t have name of Videocon in it .After this site,i went to Videocon’s main website.No signs of D2H there whatsoever.

I seriously didn’t understand the branding strategy.It seems Videocon wants to keep d2h as a totally separate brand.I am still not sure of the actual reason.

I even thought that may be d2h is foreign company who has launched their services in India with Videocon(like TATA DoCoMo).But i didn’t find anything like that.

Why would a company which has spend crores on the repositioning exercise a few months back didn’t show signs of it when they launched their first product after the exercise ?

I have not been able to find it.Please leave a comment if you know it

I found a TV commercial of d2h

d2h commercial

The tagline in the end is also interesting.It says ‘Direct hai! Correct hai !’

Even this is confusing.What is ‘correct’ here ? People use DTH for entertainment,Correct hai ! is a bit confusing.In the ad nothing is shown as correct, a decision or something similar.

Now leaving the branding part the product as such looks innovative.First time in indian DTH market,Videocon d2h has come up with bundled products.

1) Satellite LCD-LCD with inbuilt DTH box with single remote

2) Satellite TV-A simple TV with inbuilt DTH

3) Satellite DVD-Inbuilt DVD player

4) Satellite Box-Basic DTH box

Now normally when we buy DTH(TATA Sky,Reliance BIG TV or any other) we see that our TV is just like an output device.All its features are unused.Even its remote is just to turn it on/off.Rest everything is controlled by DTH remote control and the box.So why to spend so much on a fully loaded LCD TV with host of features when DTH box/software will override every bit of it.

In that case a product like Satellite LCD/TV from d2h is a good deal.This can be an innovation which can give them some attention and much required differentiation.Rest all features,packages,channels are mostly common with other DTH providers.

Videocon d2h is well thought out as a product(or service) but when it comes to branding or campaign it is a bit dull and confusing.

What Say ?

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Let us watch the ad.

I have lived in many cities across india and where ever i went this problem was always there.Before every damn EPL match i had to call my cable guy to switch to ESPN or Star Sports.

This was one of the biggest reasons that my parents had switched to a DTH.Whenever i came home during my vacations,i used to struggle with my cable guy explaining him what EPL was.Incidentally we have bought Reliance BIG TV.

My parents always had problem of bad picture and sound quality etc with the current connection,now they dont face those issues.

Why a person would switch to DTH from a normal cable connection ?

In India people have stuck to a single cable guy for many years.There is a system of divided territories in India.Major cable players  divide a city into areas where they keep their monopoly and don’t allow others to step in .So people have no choice but to stick with the same cable connection.People have lots of problems with their cable connections but they can’t switch.Now when DTH entered india,people had an excellent option.

Initially Dish and TATA Sky fought a price and a features war.Their ads were mainly based on pricing or extra channel packs.But more or less they both were equal to or costlier than the cable if all channels were included.

Then TATA moved to TATA Sky Plus and advertised about its recording ability and Dish still is concentrating on SRK and its pricing.

Meanwhile SUN Direct and Airtel entered the DTH market with their ads.SUN again concentrated on its prices and AIRTEL obsessed with its swarm of brand ambassadors and digital MPEG-4 technology(which all others too have).

No one basically presented their DTH as a perfect and a better replacement(subsitute) for their present cable connection.But the current Reliance BIG TV ads are just perfect.The models used in the ad are perfect as per the Targeted Audience and potential buyers can identify with them and with the problems expressed by them.

BIG TV has two more ads on air right now.One which deals with the picture quality and other one deals with the performance on a LCD.All 3 ads deal with some relevant and realistic problems.

SPIDERMAN AD

LCD TV AD

Initially BIG TV came up with ads concentrating on their paid movie service,but current ads can really help them position as a better DTH service.

If i would not have bought DTH by now,seeing the Football ad i would have definitely bought a DTH and preferably Reliance BIG TV.Many of us have faced this issue when one or the other channel WE wanted to watch was not available.It was there yesterday but today just before you wanted to watch it,its gone.

None of the DTH ever told the customers that buy our DTH because its better than your current cable connection.They told customers about their interactive services(ACTIVE),their competitive pricing,their paid movie service,their recording facilities,their VAS but didn’t give ‘the reason’ to the customer which just makes him buy a DTH box over his current cable connection.

Even If we talk about the pricing,incidentally BIG TV is one of the cheapest options available in the market.

The companies should always think that whom are they selling their product and WHY ?
This is a big question which needs to be answered and integrated in all the messages and communications delivered to the customer.

What Say ?

© 2009 – 2010, TMSBee. All rights reserved.

Indian DTH market is really hot these days with many new players entering off late.Currently DISH,TATA SKY,BIG TV,Airtel and DD Direct are the players.The news is that even Videocon is planning to come into DTH market(Change is refreshing ; ) ).

TATA SKY came up with this new product in market TATA Sky plus long time back.TATA Sky plus has a DVR(Digital Video Recorder) built in on which you can record your TV which you can view later.

I really enjoy Aamir Khan’s and Asin’s TV Ads.But then sometimes i think how justified it is to have a DVR in a DTH.We will take various reasons point by point.

1) You can pause LIVE matches and continue from where you left : In commercials many times this point is made that if you are watching a match and you get some urgent work,you can pause the match,finish your work and continue with the match where you left.But if you think seriously,who will want it.We all want the current score then and there.e.g. If Barcelona and Real Madrid are playing a match,Real is leading 1-0 and an important call comes which you take and pause the match.You return half an hour later.

Would you be interested in knowing the current score or you would be happy watching from there even if chances are in reality Barca may have scored 2 goals by then ?

Or as they claim in this commercial sleep early,record the match and watch in the morning.I don’t think it makes sense when you actually know the match is over and you can know the result in a minute?

Even you wanna see what actually happened,there are highlight shows again and again or stil there is YouTube.com

what say ?

2) You can record your Soaps: In Asin’s Ads she says what if two serials are coming on two diff channels and you like both,you either record it on TATA Sky + (if you have one) or miss the other or at best watch each other during commercial breaks.

But i wonder,in reality all these daily soaps are repeated over and over again.The 8 pm 9 pm shows are repeated at 11 12 in the night or the next day afternoon.So people can watch it then obviously.This is how actually i have seen people doing.And anyways after recording also you would be watching at the same time slots.

Who would like to watch a serial through DVR when the chances are same serial is coming on the same channel in the repeat slot live on television.

what say ?

3) You can record movies : With about 10 dedicated channels and same movies repeating over and over again on channels.Who would like to record movies ?

4) You can record your important business programs while your spouse or kids are watching their favourite  channel : This point might be justified till some extent but still,a person interested in such critical programs and news would rely on more relaible source than a home TV(fitted with TS+).

??

5) You can do quick recording : UI of the Sky Plus is on a slower side as compared to that of the regular TATA Sky. This becomes significant when two simultaneous recordings are being made.

I agree there is a lot more to TATA Sky plus.

TATA Sky Plus can mean

1) More Control

2) More Freedom

3) Better Video/Audio Experience

4) Happy family(claimed in TATA Sky Blog)

I agree to these points.

Differentiation and providing USP to your customers is the Mantra.Even customers like a product which is better and different from others.

But what if it comes at a cost, a lot of cost ?

Please compare the prices/costs of normal TATA Sky Connection to a TATA Sky Plus.

TATA SKY Cost : Rs 1599 (DIGICOMP BOX) + Rs 1000(Installation Charges)+Rs 125(subscription monthly fee)(source: http://tatasky.com/cost.html)

TATA SKY PLUS Cost : Rs 8999(DIGICOMP BOX)+Rs 1000(installation charges)+ Rs 50(TATA Sky Plus usage charges)+Rs 125(minimum monthly charges)(source:http://www.tataskyplus.com/cost.html)

A Difference of Rs 7450.

I can buy a new decent  21′ TV in this much cost and solve all my problems of program clashes with my spouse or child.

So is buying a TATA Sky Plus justified to the extent of spending an extra 7.5 k that too for reasons you are not even sure of ?

Guys ! if you have good reasons in support of TATA Sky Plus,Please comment ! (if you dont have still comment ; ) )

What say ?

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