Nilesh Malani on how Polycab aims to connect with the youth following a futuristic revamp

In 1968, Polycab India was started as a small electric hardware store in Mumbai by the Jaisinghani family. Today, the company has over 24% market share in the FMEG sector in the country. After donning the iconic red logo for decades, Polycab recently unveiled its new brand identity, aiming to become a more modern, contemporary and youthful brand which can become the 'First choice for the next generation.' 

Along with a futuristic logo, the brand has changed its tagline from ‘Connection Zindagi ka’ to ‘Ideas. Connected’. 

“If we have to connect with the youth and the newer audience, we need to be more innovative and have better ideas which can be connected to the larger audience. Thus came the tagline – Ideas. Connected,” Nilesh Malani, CMO of Polycab India Ltd told Social Samosa. 

“In a leap strategy, customer centricity is one of the core pillars for a brand,” Malani added. The core reasoning behind this revamping was to strike a stronghold in the consumer’s mind. 

Prior to this, while Polycab had a good hold over the market, the customers wanted a brand that could communicate and build a better narrative. Banking on this user sentiment, the brand decided to re-do its appearance and diversify from its products-only focus to providing solutions to the customers.

A future-looking logo

Polycab has always been visualised and identified with the colour ‘Red’. Retaining this symbolization, the new logo is dominated by the red colour in the process of conserving its core values. 

“While we wanted to look different, retaining our core values was a must,” Malani said. 

Visualised and designed by Interbrand, the new visual identity of the brand takes inspiration from ‘dawn’ and symbolizes the values of dream, hope and vision. The blue and purple merge to form the ‘O’ from Polycab, which will also be the core signal going forward for the brand. The brand has termed the O — the Innovo. 

“The colour red signifies the cables and wires’ colour. The blue indicates the brand’s connection with the consumers which is also strongly associated with the FMEG segment and the purple, which is also the colour of the year and the future, is a sign of a youthful and future-ready brand,” Malani said. 

Moving and animated logos have seemingly made their way into many brand’s new identities. Like many of the brands that revamped their identities to a sonic logo, Polycab has chosen to walk a similar path. The sonic logo will be rolled out in its communication moving forward. 

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“This asset will be extensively used in the future. We as a brand want to establish that when you hear this sound, it represents Polycab," Malani said. 

Communicating beyond wires

Polycab has made its footing in the market, thanks to its wires segment. The brand's wire category contributes to ⅓ of the market's sales and is more than 85% of their business. 

Apart from this, the brand’s tonality has always been around a sense of togetherness and radiated warmth through its campaigns. This communication tactic is evident across the brand’s TVCs. 

The new identity, which is an extension of its ‘Project Leap’ initiative, the brand aims to move beyond its current positioning. With the new logo, Polycab has also rolled out a TVC titled ‘Ghar Jo Aapko Samjhe’. The ad film has multiple storylines that narrate a future-forward lifestyle. One of the stories features a grandpa navigating his way through the dark room. Touching the walls activates the lights that act as a helping hand. 

“We believe that this campaign, along with our renewed marketing strategy, will leave a lasting impression and create strong brand recall among our audience, paving the way for a future where homes truly understand and respond to our needs,” Malani said to the press. 

Apart from a change in communication and identity, the brand plans to go heavy on digital platforms. The fresh logo will act as the focal point of communication for the brand and to connect with the younger generation, the brand will keep on focusing on its digital channels to further amplify this communication. 

Talking to the press, the brand also stated that it is expecting an approximate business of Rs 20,000 crore by 2026. To do so, in the next 18 months, the brand will focus on bringing more future-forward products and will focus on enhancing customer experience.