MAM
Focus on ‘3 core benefits’ won for Orient Fans air supremacy war
Orient PSPO was launched as a technological breakthrough. It was positioned as the Latest Air Delivery Technology with a clear tone of finality in the television, press and outdoor advertising. Based on the concept of PSPO which was put forward by Mudra, Orient Fans redesigned the entire range of ceiling fans.
In the year 1993, the electrical fan market was dominated by the top 5 brands – Usha, Orient, Crompton, Polar & Khaitan- who controlled 70 % of the market They also enjoyed 95 % awareness in the market. However, they were gradually losing market share in a low growth stagnating market where the rapid growth of the unorganised sector (10 % annually) was giving them stiff competition. Orient’s sales were dropping rapidly and from 13,17,904 units sold in 1991-92, it went down to 10,74,441 units in 1992-93.
To overcome this a Brand Enhancement Value (BEV) test was done to find out the incremental values that organised sector brands provided. BEV determines the premium that the consumer is willing to pay for a Brand ‘X’ over Brand ‘Y’, given that ‘X’ and ‘Y’ serve the same purpose.
The BEV for Orient (an organised sector brand) was 9.5 %. The organised sector fan buyer admitted that Orient was a better fan and was prepared to pay only Rs.50 extra for it. The reality was that Orient fan was priced 33 % higher than an unorganised sector fan. There was this huge gap between perceived value (9.5 %) vis-?-vis the actual price difference (33 %).
After knowing the results of BEV test, Orient adopted the new marketing strategy of redefining the quality benchmarks to provide the much needed brand differentiator both for the organised sector and unorganised sector competition.. A closer look revealed that the three core benefits of a fan – Air Delivery, Reach of Air & Electricity Consumption had not been focused by any brand. The lab results showed that Orient fans performed far better in these ‘3 core benefits’.
In order to make the ‘3 core benefits’ simpler to advertise, benefits were unitised and named as PSPO.
PSPO is –
Air Delivery * Sweep Area of Fan
Electricity Consumed
On Mudra’s recommendation, Orient maximised the equation by improving the parameters and also changed the basic design of the blade for a new look and better performing fan. Thus, PSPO (Peak Speed Performance Output) became the new benchmark of quality & technology for the Fan industry.
After all this Orient focused on the communication and creative strategy. Very soon, the TV commercial “PSPO nahi jaanta” became a talking point. Again research was conducted to check out the brand awareness after the launch of PSPO and it shown that in Jan `95 (5 months after the launch), awareness of PSPO was 53 %. By Sept `96, the awareness had gone up to 72%. Also there were considerable increase in the sales of PSPO.
The sales were recorded as under-
Brands
Estée Lauder to shed 10,000 jobs as new boss bets on digital shift
The cosmetics giant raises its profit outlook but stays silent on a possible merger with Spain’s Puig, as job cuts deepen and a three-year sales slump weighs on the turnaround
NEW YORK: Stéphane de La Faverie is not done cutting. Estée Lauder announced on Friday that it plans to eliminate as many as 3,000 additional jobs, taking its total redundancy programme to as many as 10,000 roles, up from a previous target of 7,000 announced a year ago. The company, which owns La Mer, The Ordinary, Tom Ford, and Aveda, employs roughly 57,000 people worldwide. The mathematics of what is now being contemplated is stark.
The fresh round of cuts is expected to generate a further $200 million in savings, bringing the total annual savings from the programme to as much as $1.2 billion before taxes. That money, De La Faverie has made clear, will be ploughed back into the turnaround.
A CEO in a hurry
De La Faverie, who took the helm in January 2025, inherited a company that had endured three consecutive years of annual sales declines. His response has been to move fast and cut deep. A significant portion of the latest redundancies reflects his push to reduce headcount at US department stores, long a cornerstone of Estée Lauder’s distribution model but now a channel in structural decline. In their place, he is accelerating the shift toward faster-growing online platforms, including Amazon.com and TikTok Shop, a pivot that is reshaping not just where Estée Lauder sells but how it thinks about its customers.
The numbers are moving in the right direction
Despite the pain, there are signs the medicine is working. Estée Lauder raised its profit outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year, guiding for adjusted earnings per share in the range of $2.35 to $2.45, above analyst estimates and a notable step up from the $2.05 to $2.25 range it had guided for in February. Organic net sales growth is expected to come in at 3 per cent, the company said, at the high end of the range it set out in February.
The share price tells a mixed story. After De La Faverie took charge, the stock surged nearly 60 per cent, buoyed by investor optimism that a longtime company insider could finally arrest the decline. But 2026 has been rougher: the shares have fallen 27 per cent this year, weighed down by disappointing February results and the overhang of unresolved merger talks with Spanish beauty giant Puig Brands SA. The company gave no additional details about those discussions on Friday, leaving the market to guess.
Silence on Puig
The proposed tie-up with Puig remains the most consequential unknown hanging over Estée Lauder. A deal with the Barcelona-based group, which owns brands including Carolina Herrera and Rabanne, would reshape the global luxury beauty landscape. But with nothing new to say and a turnaround still very much in progress, De La Faverie is asking investors to trust the process.
Three years of sales declines, 10,000 job cuts, and a merger that may or may not happen. At Estée Lauder, the overhaul has barely started.
