The communication initiative that hit the mass media a month ago has beendesigned to this end. ``Market studies and research carried out by us in thepast few years indicated that owners of vacuum cleaners use the product verysparingly. A majority of the Indian consumers allow their servants tooperate their washing machines but not the vacuum cleaner, hence thefrequency of product usage is reduced considerably,'' says Marzin Shroff,vice-president, Triton Communications, the ad agency behind the latest ad.

The company has also launched a consumer training drive to support thecampaign. As part of this, the company's 1,500-strong sales force for vacuumcleaners will offer to train household help in various aspects related toproduct usage and care. ``Our direct sales team keeps contact with theconsumers on an on-going basis. We intend to use this as an occasion todemonstrate the product to the household help,'' says Eureka Forbesvice-president marketing, SK Palekar.

The low usage levels of existing models of the product not only impededupgrades, but discouraged first time purchases too. Not surprisingly, thepenetration of vacuum cleaners in the market is on the lower side at onemillion units currently. Ready availability of household help adds toalready existing barriers to purchase.

The Tata Group company is now hoping to better the situation by changingconsumer attitudes. ``The communication initiative positions the product assimple and sturdy, such that even household help can be trusted with themachine,'' says Palekar. Although no figures are committed the companypredicts a 20 per cent spurt in sales of vacuum cleaners during the campaignperiod.

Adding zing to the entire affair is the 60-second commercial shot by filmproducer, Cyrus Hoshidar of MTV fame. The commercial, shot in the form of amovie trailer uses the maid or the `super bai' as a mnemonic to convey thekey product attributes viz: easier to use, ergonomically capable and bettercleansing on account of increased frequency of usage. With a tag line thatreads, ``From broom to vrrrom,'' and general doses of iconoclastic humourthe ad is designed for maximum recall. The TVC highlights a pager number onwhich the consumers may contact the company. The Rs 1.5 crore TVC isaccompanied by print ads in select publications as well.

The core target audience of the campaign are existing owners of vacuumcleaners, explains Shroff. ``The idea is to generate positive word-of-mouthfor the product by getting existing vacuum cleaner owners to use theirproducts more frequently.'' In addition to the training programme forhousehold help, alternately the consumers can also request for productdemonstration and training on the pager number being publicised by thecompany. Close to 10 lakh such consumer contacts will be made over the nextone year.

The recent campaign focuses on the Euroclean range of vacuum cleaners whichare sold through the company's direct sales network. Early this year thecompany had extended the range to include Euroclean Swift and Euroclean AllAround in September this year. The company has a dedicated brand,`Toronado', being sold through 1,000 dealers in the market as well. Even asEureka Forbes has done the very best to ensure increased product off-take,skeptics point out that the campaign might not prove to be a panacea for allthat ails the vacuum cleaner market. ``Not too many consumers might warm upto the idea of allowing servants to operate the product in the firstplace,'' says the creative director of a Mumbai-based ad-agency. Palekarhowever is convinced about the campaign idea. ``Pre- launch tests for thecampaign has indicated a positive shift in attitude,'' he says.

Spontaneous before and after reactions to the commercial from a testaudience of Mumbai-based housewives belonging to the SEC A1, A2 and B1categories has reflected that, where initially, the idea of the maid usingthe vacuum cleaner was not welcome, the ad seems to convince the audience.

With an 82 per cent share of the total vacuum cleaners market in its controland rivals like BPL and Modi Hoover trailing far behind, the company hasnothing to lose.