Epson has launched a new TVC for its revolutionary and hugely successful InkTank Inkjet printers in India. Epson has attained its position on the back of the huge success of its InkTank printers in India. Epson launched its InkTank Inkjet printers in India in 2011, much ahead of other competition in the market. Prior to this Epson says its focus was on creating excellent products that they believed consumers would accept and appreciate, without truly understanding what consumers really wanted. A few years ago, there was a realisation that this approach needed to be modified to offer products that are more focused on meeting stated or unstated consumer needs. This was the approach used to design InkTank printers for India and other emerging markets.
Consumers in India were amazed that printing costs were reduced so significantly and thankful to be released from the inconvenience of cartridges. Business and commercial customers were the early adopters and drove the sale of Epson InkTank Printers in India (Epson sold 422,000 Inkjet printers in 2014-15 and had a value market share of 51% as per Cyber Media Research). However, the SOHO and home market constitutes the largest chunk of Inkjet printer buyers. With a market share of close to 80% in the Business and Commercial segments, Epson intends through its new television commercial to expand its appeal to the Home & SOHO segment as well, without disturbing its core Business and Commercial franchise.
The new commercial targets Value-conscious working Professionals with children who have their own printing needs (SOHO, small office, self-employed) and who are keen for their child to be ‘ahead’ & to ‘have the best’. These include Business Owners, Entrepreneurs, Corporate Decision-makers, Mid-level Executives, Professionals, Scholars and everyone in the SOHO Segment.
Epson says its ultimate objective is to develop a Brand Image as a ‘lifestyle technology brand’ and to grow Brand Affinity (or ‘likeability’) with a wider audience base. The creative idea was intended to communicate and make sense to anyone who has a printing requirement, across segments, with a bias towards the Home/SOHO/Professional segment. The Key Message for the TVC is focused on the unified cost advantage (8 and 28 paise per print) which now allows everyone to print without any worries.
The television commercial was conceived by Bangalore-based OpusCDM, Epson’s Brand and Marcom agency for several years, and produced by Mumbai-based Equinox. While the idea was to convey that the freedom to print without thinking or worry is now truly here, it was essential to lift the low cost per print advantage to an everyday benefit. This is done with a little girl called Keya, who clearly has a mind of her own. She has an almost normal conversation with an unseen adult male, but, instead of responding to his questions with her voice, she uses words and symbols on printouts, holding them up instantly, without thinking. This drives home the ease of printing, emphasized by her saying in one of her printouts – “it’s more fun this way”. Finally, when she is asked about why she is wasting her father’s money, she whips out a colourful condiment from her pocket, licks it, and says, “no no, it costs less than my toffee!” This introduces the benefit in a simple way for everyone, people young and old and across regional boundaries, to understand. This was an important consideration in the creative approach. Keya has today become the “cheeky toffee girl with the infectious laugh” as the commercial, which has been aired in multiple languages, has resonated with consumers across various markets.
A combination of media – with TV for affinity, and Print and Online for rationale, creates a complete, optimum, emotio-rational connect. On the ground, the Keya campaign has been extended into retail as well.
Tushad Talati, Senior General Manager, Brand & Communication, Epson India says – “ Having made massive, successfully inroads into the business and commercial market with our InkTank printers we felt the time was right to open up the larger home market to the benefits of ultra-economical and convenient Epson InkTank printing. While a large number of evolved consumers had caught on early and were already buying Epson InkTank printers for home use, we needed to get the message out to a larger base of home users in a simple, effective and easily understood way. The “Keya” commercial very simply and effectively conveys the benefit of low cost printing to the home user while continuing to appeal to the existing base of commercial and business users. The response to the ad so far has been phenomenal and we expect to build on our current market share of 51% in the Inkjet printer segment.”
