Xerox wants to shed its ‘generic’ brand image
They created a brand, which has become a generic
name for the entire segment. Yes! We are referring to Xerox, the company which made its India foray way back in 1987 and penetrated in every nook and corner of the country. No wonder, today photocopy tantamounts to a ‘xerox’. But as the company expanded and wished to diversify into other businesses, the inherent bottlenecks of creating such a powerful brand came into focus. Xerox in India is mainly perceived as a brand limited to photocopying alone, wheras HP and Canon, with their diversified business have stolen the show into other relevant segments. Today, Xerox is gearing up to promote itself as a complete document management solutions company. In an exclusive interview with 4Ps B&M, H. Sivaramakrishnan, Deputy General Manager, Integrated Marketing of Xerox India Ltd., talks about these challenges and reveals the Xerox strategy for diversifying its brand image. Excerpts from the interview:
Today, Xerox is a generic name for photocopy. Comment?
The success of Xerox will definitely help us to create goodwill in the market but this major success, has also limited Xerox as only a photocopying machine. We want to come out of this because as a part of our global strategy we are entering into many new IT related businesses.
Which new areas is Xerox venturing into?
We have three clear cut business portfolios – consulting & outsourcing, technology & print out and photocopying. In the coming years, we will be strengthening our position in all these three segments and our target audience will also be different. For the first segment, it’s B2B, for the second segment it’s both B2B and B2C and the last segment is purely for the masses.
Could you elaborate on the consulting and outsourcing services plans?
The consulting and outsourcing business is called Xerox Global Services, which will focus on document management solution. We will be concerned with office automation space and technology in top management and print production. What Xerox has done in the last 20 years – innovation in photocopying (like digital, black and white) – similar innovation will be in Xerox Global Services. Because the market for top end management is still evolving and they will require innovation.
What plans to promote Xerox in all these segments?
We don’t believe in traditional advertising and spending a lot on brand ambassadors, especially in case of B2B, no brand ambassador or brand campaigns can help you if you can’t satisfy your customer who in return will recommend you to a new client. We at Xerox have always believed in creating a strong consumer base. But we want to promote Xerox as a complete technology group and for that we will be undertaking massive promotional campaigns.
What’s next?
We won’t be a just single product photocopying brand instead we plan to build a multi-dimensional brand personality. We will be doing a whole lot of activities to address different business group and Xerox will soon be recognised as a complete technology brand.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM ArticleThey created a brand, which has become a generic
name for the entire segment. Yes! We are referring to Xerox, the company which made its India foray way back in 1987 and penetrated in every nook and corner of the country. No wonder, today photocopy tantamounts to a ‘xerox’. But as the company expanded and wished to diversify into other businesses, the inherent bottlenecks of creating such a powerful brand came into focus. Xerox in India is mainly perceived as a brand limited to photocopying alone, wheras HP and Canon, with their diversified business have stolen the show into other relevant segments. Today, Xerox is gearing up to promote itself as a complete document management solutions company. In an exclusive interview with 4Ps B&M, H. Sivaramakrishnan, Deputy General Manager, Integrated Marketing of Xerox India Ltd., talks about these challenges and reveals the Xerox strategy for diversifying its brand image. Excerpts from the interview:Today, Xerox is a generic name for photocopy. Comment?
The success of Xerox will definitely help us to create goodwill in the market but this major success, has also limited Xerox as only a photocopying machine. We want to come out of this because as a part of our global strategy we are entering into many new IT related businesses.
Which new areas is Xerox venturing into?
We have three clear cut business portfolios – consulting & outsourcing, technology & print out and photocopying. In the coming years, we will be strengthening our position in all these three segments and our target audience will also be different. For the first segment, it’s B2B, for the second segment it’s both B2B and B2C and the last segment is purely for the masses.
Could you elaborate on the consulting and outsourcing services plans?
The consulting and outsourcing business is called Xerox Global Services, which will focus on document management solution. We will be concerned with office automation space and technology in top management and print production. What Xerox has done in the last 20 years – innovation in photocopying (like digital, black and white) – similar innovation will be in Xerox Global Services. Because the market for top end management is still evolving and they will require innovation.
What plans to promote Xerox in all these segments?
We don’t believe in traditional advertising and spending a lot on brand ambassadors, especially in case of B2B, no brand ambassador or brand campaigns can help you if you can’t satisfy your customer who in return will recommend you to a new client. We at Xerox have always believed in creating a strong consumer base. But we want to promote Xerox as a complete technology group and for that we will be undertaking massive promotional campaigns.
What’s next?
We won’t be a just single product photocopying brand instead we plan to build a multi-dimensional brand personality. We will be doing a whole lot of activities to address different business group and Xerox will soon be recognised as a complete technology brand.
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist)
