Comments
Toshiba India is reconsidering its decision to renew Sachin Tendulkar as brand ambassador for the company as it gears up to target the youth (18-35 age group) with its latest range of laptops.
Sanjay Warke, Country Head, Toshiba India – DS Division, said, “Sachin’s contract was for a period of three years, it is now under consideration. This is the last year of his contract and we are in process of taking a decision on the extension of the contract.” Toshiba is releasing a new print campaign with the baseline ‘awesome inside out’ created by its agency Dentsu which will not feature the cricketer in its initial phase.
“We will focus on the changes in design in our latest range of satellite laptops and initially Sachin will not be part of these ads. Our core target audience now is the youth who like style and design in their products,” added Sivakumar N., Vice President, Sales and Marketing (PC Business) – DS Division, Toshiba India.
Considering the master blaster is well above the age group being targeted by the company, the chances of his association with the brand may not last too long.
The Japanese brand has been present in India through distributors such as HCL and Videocon, but having floated its own subsidiary, it has been trying to gain share in categories such as personal computers and televisions.
Toshiba lags behind its peers with single digit shares in categories such as laptop ( 7 per cent) and televisions( 8 per cent). However, it plans to increase its market shares with its latest range of laptops under the Satellite series.
“We were the first ones to enter the commercial laptop category way back in 1985 and are looking at double digit shares this year by enhancing our range with a new campaign and enhanced service network,” added Sivakumar.
Toshiba laptops are pitted against brands such as HP (market leader with a 20 per cent share), Dell and Lenovo.
The brand will also increase its number of exclusive stores from 47 to 100 this year and also ramp up presence across multi-brand stores. The number of service centres will also go up from 128 to 158 centres and its onsite coverage (call centres) across cities will go up to 450.
purvita@thehindu.co.in
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.