Recently I came across the list of Most Trusted Brands in India published by Economic Times.
As usual there is the same set of names which I saw in the last few years flipping the newspaper in college classroom at BIIB.
A major change this year list that caught my attention was the dropping of Nokia from the top spot and that too to No. 5 from being No. 1. When I recall last year’s results probably Nokia was the only brand which retained the top spot for 5 consecutive years after Colgate in the early 90s.
So what could have been the reason of such a downfall? My point of view says it’s the youth which is driving the brands nowadays. And Nokia has paid the price of not introducing lucrative offerings for them.
1. Nokia being a follower in the recent past has not brought any dramatic change in the cellphone market around. I don’t see tying up with Microsoft as the prominent reasons of Nokia’s downfall but the mistake of not tying up with was with Google’s trusted OS Android was one strategic move that Nokia missed. Why can’t they operate on a model similar to HTC – manufacture both Android and Windows Phones – Why keep all the eggs in the same basket and especially when the basket is so weak?
2. Also I strongly feel that the brands nowadays are driven by youth. Nokia has now become a choice of the age olds who don’t want change and expect the similar user interface experience. As Nokia has been outbid by Samsung and others in Smartphone category, youngsters have switched to Non – Nokia brands and thus diluting the its overall brand positioning.
3. And when I say that it’s the youngsters who did it, I have something to prove that yes they could have :
As per Economic Times Most trusted Brand 2011 (Age wise Classification)
15-25 Years
| RANK | BRAND |
| 1 | Lux |
| 2 | Airtel |
| 3 | Maggi |
| 4 | Vodafone |
| 5 | Colgate |
| 6 | Lifebuoy |
| 7 | Britannia |
| 8 | Nokia |
| 9 | Mirinda |
| 10 | Dettol |
26 – 45 Years
|
RANK |
BRAND |
|
1 |
Colgate |
|
2 |
Dettol |
|
3 |
Lifebuoy |
|
4 |
Nokia |
|
5 |
Airtel |
|
6 |
Lux |
|
7 |
Closeup |
|
8 |
Britannia |
|
9 |
Coca-Cola |
|
10 |
Fair & Lovely |
46 + Years
|
RANK |
BRAND |
|
1 |
Lux |
|
2 |
Vicks |
|
3 |
Colgate |
|
4 |
Britannia |
|
5 |
Nokia |
|
6 |
Closeup |
|
7 |
Airtel |
|
8 |
Clinic Plus |
|
9 |
Vodafone |
|
10 |
Cinthol |
As per, Economic Times Most trusted Brand 2011 (Overall Rankings)
|
Rank |
Brands |
|
1 |
Colgate |
|
2 |
Lux |
|
3 |
Airtel |
|
4 |
Lifebuoy |
|
5 |
Nokia |
|
6 |
Dettol |
|
7 |
Britannia |
|
8 |
Vodafone |
|
9 |
Maggi |
|
10 |
Closeup |
From the above table we see that, Maggi as a trusted brand, is nowhere in the top 10 in any of the age categories except in the category 15-25 years.
However Maggi still makes it to the list of top ten brands overall.
That’s the power of the young population in India. And if they can make the difference for Maggi, I am sure they have made a difference for Nokia too.
There is one more reason behind downward graph of Nokia’s market share. Samsung Launched Dual SIM phones and that was the need of time. Today as people are moving across the country frequently they are using at least 2 numbers. I am repeating “at least”. I have seen some people carrying three mobiles. So brands like Samsung solved their problem. Brands like Spice, Karbon and MacroMax launched cheaper and affordable phones with all possible features. They hit the “Lower Middle Class” segment. It was the problem for NOKIA that the status NOKIA is carrying with its brand name didn’t allow NOKIA to launch cellphones in the same range. Samsung was creating trouble for NOKIA with ANDROID and MacroMax, Spice were capturing the “Lower Middle Class” segment.
Completely agree…
Its just a matter of time.I agree that Nokia was a late entrant in the dual sim category, but the launch of its dual sim models like C2-03, C-06 has helped it to fill that gap.
If we talk about the operating systems, Symbian is much lighter OS then Android.
Be it Samsung or Micromax ,everyone uses Android as their OS, so where is the difference?
Nokia is the only company which has its own OS.Nokia has constantly been upgrading the symbian versions..Recently it has launched a new version Symbian belle in its upcoming models like 600,700 & 701…Nokia is going to come back in the Smartphone market with these new launches and it is going to come back with a BBAANNGG..JUST WAIT AND WATCH..:)..
Well, in my view point Nokia is just facing a “sandwiched” kind of situation where in some small & emerging companies like Micromax, Karbonn, etc are beating it in the low-price segment by offering lucrative models that look very stylish to the segment being targeted and on the other hand if we talk about the premium(smart phone) segment then Samsung has won hearts of many people in the market and has hit upon the loyalty of Nokia very badly. Also, I-Phone is impacting Nokia very badly in the smart phone segment.
Somehow I feel that even if Nokia comes up with some new smart phones it still would not be able to make cut.
If Nokia wants to be a Phoenix it’ll soon have to create a “Blue Ocean” by introducing some technology that is yet to be explored upon !!
I agree to all the points stated for Nokia’s downfall but my motive in the article was to prove that its because of missing the demands of the younger segment… and Maggi’s example says it all. Nokia has drastically dropped in brand equity in the recent past.