The Siyaram Celebrity Endorsement Experience

BACKGROUND NOTE Contd...

Siyaram had a strong presence in the lower and medium segment of the domestic suitings market. The company had three manufacturing plants situated at Thane and Raigad in Maharashtra and Silvassa in the union territory of Dadra & Nagar Haveli, producing over 27.5 million meters of fabrics annually. Siyaram had a 4% market share in the Rs 50 billion suitings and shirtings market. The other players included Vimal, Mayur, Raymond, Digjam, Gwalior and Reid & Taylor etc.

Siyaram retailed its products through 25 exclusive showrooms, besides its distributor network of about 400 wholesale dealers and 50,000 retailers across the country. (The number of exclusive showrooms was to be increased to 75 by August, 2002.) The company also exported its products to Europe, South America, South Africa, the Far East and the Gulf countries. Siyaram's sales increased from Rs 20 million in 1978 to Rs 3252.6 million in 2000-01. Table I provides a summary of the company's financial performance.

TABLE I
SIYARAM'S FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

Siyaram was one of the few non-FMCG companies in India that was known for its lavish advertisements. The ‘Coming Home To Siyaram'campaign was reported to be one of Indian advertising's costliest campaigns. The ‘Coming Home To Siyaram'advertisements were much talked about for being of much longer duration than the usual advertisements^[3] , and also for the huge budgets Siyaram set aside for them. The company believed that good commercials helped it to effectively position its suitings on a global platform. Siyaram officials said the company's focus on marketing was responsible to a great extent for its growth over the years.

Percept had conceptualized the ‘Coming Home to Siyaram'campaign in the early 1990s. Over the years, the campaign established the brand's association with ‘true love for the motherland,'by showing successful men maintaining lasting, strong ties with their families. Analysts commented that the campaign was largely responsible for Siyaram's high brand recall and positive consumer feedback.

As part of its brand-building initiatives, Siyaram also organized major sporting events like the triangular cricket series – Siyaram's Cup, 1997 and Siyaram's Celebrity Soccer 1998. The company also held Siyaram fabric shows, aimed at increasing awareness among its target audience about the company's range of products. For 2001-02, Siyaram had increased its advertising and promotion budget to Rs 300 million from the 2000-01 level of Rs 200 million.

^[3] The duration of the Siyaram advertisements was usually well above the norm of 30 seconds. For instance, in July 2001, Siyaram released a 2-minute commercial for its suitings, shot at a cost of Rs 220 million - it was reportedly the largest budget ever set for a commercial by any Indian company.

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