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-
