LG signs up Yuvraj Singh; to invest Rs 700 crore in next three years

After Indian cricket captains (remember the ‘LG Captain of India' campaign featuring Sourav Ganguly, Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and K Srikkanth that rolled out during the recent Indo-Pak rubber?), it is the turn of young and promising cricketer Yuvraj Singh to lend his charm to brand LG. On the occasion of its seventh anniversary celebrations, LG Electronics India Ltd (LGEIL) yesterday announced Singh as the brand ambassador for its premium range of products. For starters, Singh will endorse a range of GSM mobile phones. The other brands in LG's premium range include Whisen, TV DIOS and Plasma TV.

Having established itself as a mass-market leader in each consumer durable category, LG is now aggressively focusing on marketing its premium products. In that context, the attempt is create a separate brand communication for the premium products. And it is in this effort that Singh's special ambassador status is going to be exclusively leveraged. "The premium range of LG products depicts style, reliability, confidence and youth, which blends with the traits that Yuvraj epitomizes," explains Anil Arora, head marketing, LGEIL. "Yuvraj is undoubtedly one of the most stylish contemporary players in the team, and displays confidence and elegance. Therefore, it was only befitting that he endorse the premium range of LG products." While a campaign featuring Singh is scheduled to go on air shortly, LG executives were not forthcoming on the details of the campaign or the kind of monies earmarked.

According to an ORG-GfK March 2004 report, LGEIL is the leader across all categories. In CTVs, it has a market share of 21.9 per cent, while closest rival Samsung has a 13-per cent market share. In refrigerators, LG has a share of 23 per cent, although Whirlpool is not far behind with 21.9 per cent share. However, in the direct cool segment, Whirlpool (22.5 per cent) enjoys a slender lead over LG (21 per cent). LG's market shares in the washing machine, microwave and air-conditioner categories are 28.7 per cent, 44.2 per cent and 40 percent, respectively.

As far as LGEIL's future business plans are concerned, the company plans to invest Rs 700 crore in the next three years. Which, to say the least, is very substantial, considering LGEIL has hitherto invested a total of Rs 780 crore in India. The company aims to achieve a turnover of Rs 7,000 crore in 2004, and also attain leadership in the GSM mobile phone market. © 2004 agencyfaqs!