It's back to basics as far as the Kelvinator brand is concerned. With the brand settling down in the Electrolux Kelvinator of India Ltd stable, the company has been re-emphasising the brand's `coolest one' credentials-and psychologically freezing the positioning in the customer's mind through humour. The Rahul Dravid spot completes the package of four TVCs and five press ads which have been rolling since February 23, 1999.

According to Virat Mehta, account director, O&M, which handled the advertising, in the earlier ads (the dentures, singer and needle ads) the event (of opening the fridge door and causing the temperature to drop in the environs) was incidental. Here it is a deliberate act, with Dravid deliberatelyusing the fridge to ``get rid of competition'' in the shape of male hunks. Says he, ``So, in a sense, we've taken the series a step further, though strategically there is no change in positioning, just a repackaging to make it more contemporary.''

While the current brand-building campaign will last till May -- till when the `season' extends, the next phase of advertising is expected to focus more on refrigerator models and features in the second season which coincides with festival time. The company is still to decide on the route it will pursue, in terms of press ads or strengthening POP.

Freezing the media mix
As in the recent Dravid campaign, driving the decision to push the `coolest one' positioning was the fact that research revealed that in any category, consumers perceived higher order benefits like comfort and other value-added frills much later. Instead, what was important primarily for a consumer was that a product do its basic job well, which in this case was: cooling.

``We decidedto put the basic USP of the product upfront in all our advertising,'' says Anand Bhardwaj, vice-president, marketing and marketing services, Electrolux Kelvinator.

According to him, Kelvinator has the most powerful compressor-with 1/6th horsepower, instead of the traditional 1/8th-which results in faster cooling. ``Our advertising campaign has underlined this in a dramatic manner,'' he says. A 35-year old brand, Kelvinator has had the `coolest one' positioning since its inception, but it had got diluted during the ownership trouble the brand faced.

Research has also revealed that it was the 165-ltr model that drove the fridge market and comprised 70 per cent of the total market. Moreover, the first-time buyer is more concerned with the cooling property of a fridge-from there she graduates to other features and sizes. With a whole gamut of ranges and sizes in prices ranging from Rs 8,000 for the basic models to Rs 28,000 for its frost-free range, Kelvinator is currently not concentrating on any onesegment-but on basic brand building.

Kelvinator's strategy thus uses the media mix to communicate the same message. So, while the TVCs are used to set the tone for the brand's positioning, with no mention of other attributes-in fact, there are no dialogues in the storyboard-the print ads present the rationale for the positioning, giving more information on its cooling properties like its 421 BTU compressor, maxi insulation and a roll bond freezer.

Meanwhile, outdoors advertising is being used as reminder media, while the POP material has been packed with the bulk of comparative information. A concerted outdoors campaign will begin in mid-April.

In print too, the campaign will follow several phases: the first, which is currently on, is generic, to be followed by feature-wise ads to cover the entire gamut of ranges and models.

As the summer quarter is when the maximum refrigerator purchase decisions are made, the company is stepping up the marketing momentum. The four TVCs and five press ads will runtill the purchase cycle ends in May and pick up again during the festive season.

The open door policy
The TVCs consist of a package of four films. The latest features Rahul Dravid-surprisingly not as a cricketer-but merely as a celebrity-at-home vehicle to deliver a message. Here again the fridge has been used as a comic metaphor to drive home the point of Kelvinator being the coolest one.

While using personalities is a quick hook for advertising, the agency was concerned about the brand remaining the centre-point. ``There is always the danger of the personality eating into the brand. So we have tried to use Dravid as an actor, an ordinary person. We hope using a personality will give the ad a level of charm that you get from a recognizable face,'' says Anil Bathwal, creative director, O&M.

The aim was also to rise above the clutter in advertising in the category, where most players have been concentrating on product features. Says Bathwal, ``I think we have succeeded in creating a noise inthe category with our ads. Where others talk of technology and features, we have emphasised on the basics in an unobtrusive yet dramatic manner.''

Currently the size of the refrigerator market is 2.4 million units. According to ORG figures, in a year when the fridge market grew at 20 per cent in 1998-99, Kelvinator recorded a growth of 54 per cent over last year, by selling 430,000 units. With an overall 14 per cent market share, Kelvinator has seen a steady growth in market share over the last three months, says Bhardwaj: 16 per cent in November, 17 per cent in December and 17.3 per cent in January.

That's a cool come-back for a brand that was out in the cold for two years -- before being relaunched in January 1997.