Onida, is still well known for its brand mascot ‘The Onida Devil’ and its punch line “Neighbor’s Envy Owner’s Pride”. In the 1980s when owning a television set was considered a luxury, Onida launched its advertising campaign on the platform of envy, to promote its television range.
A green-horned devil with a long pointed tail was the spokesperson in all its ad campaigns till the 1990s. The ‘Devil’ helped Onida gain substantial market share and brand recall among the customers and become one of the top three television brands in the country. In 1998, Mirc Electronics (the owner of Onida brand) decided to abandon the “Onida Devil” in its communication campaigns as the brand mascot no longer appealed to the Indian consumer.
However over a decade now the brand is suffering..
In1998, Onida withdrew the mascot citing the same reasons that they have given now. The explanation given in 1998 was that Indian consumers no longer find Devil, who symbolizes Envy, relevant. So they scrapped the famous tagline ” Neighbour’s Envy, Owner’s Pride ” together with the Devil. But ever since it changed the tagline and mascot, Onida never found a powerful positioning . After six years of drifting around, Onida brought back the Devil with much fanfare in 2004. Media and brand enthusiasts welcomed the move and eagerly awaited the Devil in a changed modern avataar. But the comeback was damp squib. The brand suffered heavily due to ownership