Saif and Soha Ali Khan endorse the brand

Actors and siblings Saif and Soha Ali Khan endorse the brand Remember the Big B's computerji in the popular Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) quiz show on Star Plus? If you do, you probably recollect seeing the Lenovo logo displayed prominently on the computer. That's the first of the series of branding exercises Lenovo unleashed in the country after acquiring the Personal Computing Division of IBM. Though the deal includes the right to use the IBM name for five years, the company has very swiftly managed to distance itself from the IBM name in its brand-building venture. Its only connection with the company now is the IBM logo that still adorns Lenovo's ThinkCenter tabletops and ThinkPad line of laptop computers. Soon after the acquisition, Lenovo's Senior Vice-President (Worldwide Sales), Ravi Marwaha, said at a press conference that the success of Lenovo would depend on the success of Lenovo in India. He said Lenovo hoped to grow faster than the PC market in India. It's now one year since Lenovo formally completed the acquisition process, and the company now claims a top-of-the-mind brand recall of 65 per cent. According to the IDC's PC Market Tracker report for 2005-06, the Indian PC market recorded an impressive growth in terms of unit shipments - the market grew 30 per cent over 2004-05 to exceed the 4.6-million mark. Overall, in the client PC (notebook PC and desktop PC) market, Lenovo is in the third position following HP and HCL. "Through a solid product roadmap, combined research and development efforts from IBM's PC division and Lenovo and bold new media initiatives, including aggressive marketing and inventive advertising campaigns, the company boosted its brand recognition and successfully promoted the company's values across the globe," says Neeraj Sharma, Managing Director - South Asia, Lenovo. Product placement and sponsorship of KBC-2 proved to be a hugely successful vehicle to create basic brand awareness in the country. "It was a multi-crore deal, which entailed logo placement and advertising during the series," says Ajay Mittal, Vice-President - Brand and Marketing, Lenovo India. It was followed by product placement in Kaun Rahega Crorepati in CNBC TV18 and Awaaz, and Sa Re Ga Ma in Zee. "Following that, Lenovo's brand recall and recognition went up substantially in the market," says Mittal. In March this year, the company launched its own range of PCs in India — Lenovo 3000 series of desktops and notebooks — aimed at individuals and small business segments. With the launch, we covered the entire spectrum of the market and were well placed to grow in strength and reach," says Mittal. It also chose celebrity siblings and actors Saif Ali Khan and Soha Ali Khan to endorse the brand. Film star endorsements by both Lenovo and HP signified a newfound maturity in this segment of the market. They helped both the brands gain significant visibility and also helped expand the overall consumer market for PCs, says the IDC report. Lenovo also decided to piggyback on Bollywood by sponsoring movies to create awareness about its brand and logo. It tied up with film director Madhur Bhandarkar to sponsor his film Corporate, in which Bipasha Basu plays the lead. "We are probably the first PC vendor to try product placement in films to reach out to the masses," says Sharma. Marketing activities such as road-shows in major cities, which followed the launch of the Lenovo 3000 range, helped increase the brand awareness from 38 per cent in February to 65 per cent in June, says Rahul Agarwal, General Manager-Marketing, Lenovo India, quoting an AC Nielsen Omnibus Study. To target different market segments, Lenovo recently divided the market broadly into two and realigned the business on a dual model comprising a 'transaction' model for consumers, the SOHO (small office home office) and SMB (small and medium businesses) segments and a 'relationship' model catering to large enterprise customers. As for product positioning, the Think-branded offerings (especially ThinkPad) will continue to be positioned as "the ultimate business tool" and will maintain its familiar design language. They will continue to be targeted at commercial customers with primarily a 'relationship' focus. The value proposition for Think-branded offerings is that "Lenovo will help customers succeed by providing them a smarter way to be more productive." The new 3000 family of offerings is positioned as "the smart choice" for people who want to run their business, not their computer, says Mittal. "It will have a common design language that is distinct from Think-branded products and will be targeted primarily at the small business segment with a 'transactional' focus. The value proposition for 3000 offerings is "Lenovo will help customers achieve their work and personal goals by providing them exciting, affordable and worry-free PCs" Retail and channel presence Lenovo is present in 215 cities and has 44 'Lenovo Exclusive' stores across the country and over 150 multi-branded storefronts. According to Agarwal, the company plans to expand its reach to 300 cities and have 120 'Lenovo Exclusive' stores and 400 storefronts by the end of this year. Currently Lenovo works with 1,200 channel partners across cities and aims to grow the channel partner base to 2,000 by March 2007. The company aims to grow in tier II and III cities with an increased channel and retail presence. "You will see an exponential growth in our presence in another few months," says Agarwal. To strengthen and support business partner relationships, the company has defined seven key territories, each managed by a regional/territory manager with a team of sales resources to support them.

"We will do all what it takes to make Lenovo the 'top brand' in the market," declares Sharma.

they both look so cute together in the picture.

they both look nice in the pic...thanks for sharinggg