Great Marketing Stories

Accenture : High Performance , DeliveredCorporate Brand : AcccentureAgency : Rediffusion /DYR ( In India) Accenture is a unique marketing case study because of two reasons . It is one of the most aggressive corporate brand in the service industry globally and the second reason is the rebranding exercise which it undertook in 2001.

Accenture was formerly known as Andersen Consulting. Anderson consulting was the consulting arm of Anderson Worldwide. Anderson Consulting was established in 1989 when the consulting practice of Arthur Andersen was hived off to form a separate company. Arthur Andersen had established itself as one of the major accounting firms and had a global presence.The consulting boom of 1990's boosted the image of Andersen Consulting. Soon Anderson Consulting had built a strong brand equity across various consulting domains. Both Arther Andersen and Andersen Consulting was independent business units under Andersen Worldwide.

The fledging consulting business prompted Arther Andersen to enter the consulting domain. This entry of Arther Andersen into the domain of Anderson Consulting started a messy fight between these two units which ended in the arbitrators courts. In 2000 Arbitrator ruled that Anderson Consulting was granted independence from Andersen Worldwide. Andersen Consulting had to forgo the brand in favor of Andersen Worldwide.

This forced the consulting firm to scout for a new brand name and identity. The brand name was selected among 500 alternatives. The process of selection of brand name was itself a unique event. Anderson Consulting had a huge brand equity among various business houses across different domains and geographies . Hence the new brand name had to reflect the existing brand values and should be relevant in the various geographies in which the company operated. More over the brand name and trademark should be available in the markets where the company was operating.

The company made use of legal experts from each country it operates to check whether the list of brand names are viable in respective countries. The process of screening also involved linguistic analysts from 47 countries and 200 languages to check the cultural sensitivities of the brand names considered. The company also checked with senior executives of the clients to get their perspective. All these efforts ended with the name ' Accenture' . Incidentally the name was suggested by an employee named Kim Peterson. This fact itself that gave the name more charm.

On January 1, 2001, the re-branding happened. For the first 3 months 6000 TV spots were aired and over 1000 print ads were splashed across the world. The entire campaign cost the company around $ 175 mn. The new campaign highlighted new capabilities in consulting, technology , outsourcing & alliances. The brand took the Tagline : High Performance. Delivered. At the end of 2001, the brand achieved the same recall and equity of the earlier name Andersen Consulting.

Now Accenture is valued at $ 6.5 Billion and is a respected consulting firm across the world. Now the entire brand promotion revolves round Tiger Woods who is the brand ambassador. Since 2003, Tiger Woods has been an integral part of Accenture's branding. Tiger Woods is the embodiment of high performance so is Accenture. The latest campaign runs on the theme ' We know what it takes to be a Tiger '

Accenture came to India in 2005. The brand now has serious business in India and the brand is running their campaigns aggressively in the Indian market. The branding campaign is

predominantly in print. The brand looks at the following audiences :a. Domestic and potential clientsb. Potential employeesc. Existing employees.

What is more important in this brand's strategy is that Accenture celebrates performance. The campaign is not restricted to Ads but also lot of events and research. Accenture's research on High Performers and high performing companies are path-breaking. The website is also rich with case studies and insights.Accenture is a true case of a brand living upto its values and mantra.

Labels: Celebrity Endorsement, Corporate Brand, Re-branding, Service Brand

Alpenliebe : From the Alps Brand : AlpenliebeCompany: Perfetti VanmelleAgency: McCann Erickson

In the 1200 crore sugar confectionery market, Alpenliebe is the single largest brand in India estimated to be worth around 160 crore. The brand is positioned as a family candy and has been one of the most successful brand in a highly competitive market.

The brand came to India with the entry of the global giant Perfetti in India in 1994. Van Melle came to India in 2001. In 2001 the Italian and Dutch companies merged together to become Perfetti Vanmelle ( PVM).Now the Indian venture is the second largest of their global portfolio next to China.

In the products of PVM, Alpenliebe is the star. With effective and aggressive brand building , this brand has grown to become the single largest brand in the segment. The brand is a unique case study because of its peculiarities ie the name and the size.

Alpenliebe is a very complicated name. ( It could mean – ‘Alps with Love’ as ‘Liebe’ means Love).

So it is a Herculean task to teach Indians (with 24 languages and a million dialects) pronounce a brand name that does not have a meaning. Theory says that the brand name should be simple, reflect the brand values and easily pronounced. Alpenliebe broke all rules. It is said that the initial 30 second ad of Alpenliebe pronounced the name 5 times to ensure that the TG pronounced it correctly. Why such a complicated brand name is another question all together. But this risk paid of in that the name became the biggest differentiator and reflected an International image. It is known fact that Indians are crazy about foreign brands and Alpenliebe capitalised on that.

The shape was also unique because most of the candies at that time was rectangular or cylindrical but Alpenliebe came out with a round shape. More than the shape and the name , the product was really good .The company changed the taste of this brand to suit the Indian Palette making it more Caramelliar, than the international one.

The brand is available in three flavours: Milky Caramel, Cream Strawberry, Chocolate. A lollipop extention has also been launched.

Perfetti knows the method to build the brand. It is not hesitant in spending lot of money on Alpenliebe through high decibel interesting ads. The brand is positioned as a Family Candy with kids and elders sharing the limelite. The ad where the boy imitates the "father at Home and Office" is a hilarious one.

The market for Candies is expected to grow in coming years. We have to see how Alpenliebe copes with this.

Alpenliebe is a classic case of marketers defying the theory and also highlights a simple truth “If You have money to spend, you can make a consumer sing in your language without understanding a bit of it”. Anything is Possible.

Labels: Branding, Condectionary, FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods), Perfetti

Amul : The taste of India : Utterly delicious too.Brand : AmulAgency DaCunha Associates

An excellent example of Outdoor Medium’s usage to the maximum advantage.

Amul has used the hoardings and advertising to perfection. Taking cues from Topical News from all fields, New Films, Celebrities, etc., the creatives are fun to watch. More over Amul has stuck with the creative messages throughout.

They like to call it as TOPICALS

Given below is the history of Amul TOPICALS from their site http://amul.com

Amul Butter Girl(Edited from an article by Mini Varma published in The Asian Age on March 3, 1996The moppet who put Amul on India's breakfast table )

50 years after it was first launched, Amul's sale figures have jumped from 1000 tonnes a year in 1966 to over 25,000 tonnes a year in 1997. No other brand comes even close to it. All because a

thumb-sized girl climbed on to the hoardings and put a spell on the masses.

Bombay: Summer of 1967. A Charni Road flat. Mrs. Sheela Mane, a 28-year-old housewife is out in the balcony drying clothes. From her second floor flat she can see her neighbours on the road. There are other people too. The crowd seems to be growing larger by the minute. Unable to curb her curiosity Sheela Mane hurries down to see what all the commotion is about. She expects the worst but can see no signs of an accident. It is her four-year-old who draws her attention to the hoarding that has come up overnight. "It was the first Amul hoarding that was put up in Mumbai," recalls Sheela Mane. "People loved it. I remember it was our favourite topic of discussion for the next one week! Everywhere we went somehow or the other the campaign always seemed to crop up in our conversation."

Call her the Friday to Friday star. Round eyed, chubby cheeked, winking at you, from strategically placed hoardings at many traffic lights. She is the Amul moppet everyone loves to love (including prickly votaries of the Shiv Sena and BJP). How often have we stopped, looked, chuckled at the Amul hoarding that casts her sometime as the coy, shy Madhuri, a bold sensuous Urmila or simply as herself, dressed in her little polka dotted dress and a red and white bow, holding out her favourite packet of butter.

For 30 odd years the Utterly Butterly girl has managed to keep her fan following intact. So much so that the ads are now ready to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for being the longest running campaign ever. The ultimate compliment to the butter came when a British company launched a butter and called it Utterly Butterly.

It all began in 1966 when Sylvester daCunha, then the managing director of the advertising agency, ASP, clinched the account for Amul butter. The butter, which had been launched in 1945, had a staid, boring image, primarily because the earlier advertising agency which was in charge of the account preferred to stick to routine, corporate ads.

One of the first Amul hoardingsIn India, food was something one couldn't afford to fool around with. It had been taken too seriously, for too long. Sylvester daCunha decided it was time for a change of image.

The year Sylvester daCunha took over the account, the country saw the birth of a campaign whose charm has endured fickle public opinion, gimmickry and all else.

The Amul girl who lends herself so completely to Amul butter, created as a rival to the Polson butter girl. This one was sexy, village belle, clothed in a tantalising choli all but covering her upper regions. "Eustace Fernandez (the art director) and I decided that we needed a girl who would worm her way into a housewife's heart. And who better than a little girl?" says Sylvester daCunha. And so it came about that the famous Amul Moppet was born.

That October, lamp kiosks and the bus sites of the city were splashed with the moppet on a horse. The baseline simply said, Thoroughbread, Utterly Butterly Delicious Amul. It was a matter of just a few hours before the daCunha office was ringing with calls. Not just adults, even children were calling up to say how much they had liked the ads. "The response was phenomenal," recalls Sylvester daCunha. "We knew our campaign was going to be successful."

For the first one year the ads made statements of some kind or the other but they had not yet acquired the topical tone. In 1967, Sylvester decided that giving the ads a solid concept would give them extra mileage, more dum, so to say. It was a decision that would stand the daCunhas in good stead in the years to come.

In 1969, when the city first saw the beginning of the Hare Rama Hare Krishna movement, Sylvester daCunha, Mohammad Khan and Usha Bandarkar, then the creative team working on the Amul account came up with a clincher -- 'Hurry Amul, Hurry Hurry'. Bombay reacted to the ad with a fervour that was almost as devout as the Iskon fever.

That was the first of the many topical ads that were in the offing. From then on Amul began playing the role of a social observer. Over the years the campaign acquired that all important Amul touch.

India looked forward to Amul's evocative humour. If the Naxalite movement was the happening thing in Calcutta, Amul would be up there on the hoardings saying, "Bread without Amul Butter, cholbe na cholbe na (won't do, won't do). If there was an Indian Airlines strike Amul would be there again saying, Indian Airlines Won't Fly Without Amul.

There are stories about the butter that people like to relate over cups of tea. "For over 10 years I have been collecting Amul ads. I especially like the ads on the backs of the butter packets, "says Mrs. Sumona Varma. What does she do with these ads? "I have made an album of them to amuse my grandchildren," she laughs. "They are almost part of our culture, aren't they? My grandchildren are already beginning to realise that these ads are not just a source of amusement. They make them aware of what is happening around them."

Despite some of the negative reactions that the ads have got, DaCunhas have made it a policy not to play it safe. There are numerous ads that are risque in tone.

“We had the option of being sweet and playing it safe, or making an impact. A fine balance had to be struck. We have a campaign that is strong enough to make a statement. I didn't want the hoardings to be pleasant or tame. They have to say something,” says Rahul daCunha.

“We ran a couple of ads that created quite a furore,” says Sylvester daCunha. “The Indian Airlines one really angered the authorities. They said if they didn’t take down the ads they would stop supplying Amul butter on the plane. So ultimately we discontinued the ad,” he says laughing. Then there was the time when the Amul girl was shown wearing the Gandhi cap. The high command came down heavy on that one. The Gandhi cap was a symbol of independence, they couldn't have anyone not taking that seriously. So despite their reluctance the hoardings were wiped clean. “Then there was an ad during the Ganpati festival which said, Ganpati Bappa More Ghya (Ganpati Bappa take more). The Shiv Sena people said that if we didn't do something about removing the ad they would come and destroy our office. It is surprising how vigilant the political forces are in this country. Even when the Enron ads (Enr On Or Off) were running, Rebecca Mark wrote to us saying how much she liked them.”There were other instances too. Heroine Addiction, Amul's little joke on Hussain had the artist ringing the daCunhas up to request them for a blow up of the ad. “He said that he had seen the hoarding while passing through a small district in UP. He said he had asked his assistant to take a photograph of himself with the ad because he had found it so funny,” says Rahul daCunha in amused tones. Indians do have a sense of humour, afterall.

From the Sixties to the Nineties, the Amul ads have come a long way. While most people agree that the Amul ads were at their peak in the Eighties they still maintain that the Amul ads continue to tease a laughter out of them.

Where does Amul's magic actually lie? Many believe that the charm lies in the catchy lines. That we laugh because the humour is what anybody would enjoy. They don't pander to your nationality or certain sentiments. It is pure and simple, everyday fun.

The best part of the Amul brand is that they have been consistant over the communication campaign and brand strategy. AMUL has positioned itself as “Taste of India” and have ensured that their communication is in line with their positioning strategy.

Consistency Pays.

Appy Fizz : Cool Drink To Hang AroundBrand : Appy Fizz Company : Parle AgroAgency: Grey World Wide

In the 7000 crore Indian Soft drinks industry dominated by the cola majors, Parle Agro is fighting for its share with its mango-drink Frooti and the apple drink Appy Fizz.

Appy was launched in 1986 as an apple drink in tetra pack after the mega success of Frooti. But Appy was not that successful compared to Frooti. This year we saw the new avatar of Appy in Appy Fizz. Appy changed in to nectar based drink in 1993. Appy was launched with a new bottle and communication trying its luck in this large Indian market.

In the fruit based soft drinks, Apple drink is perhaps at the lowest in the hierarchy. The taste is less popular compared to the Orange, lemon, mango and pineapple flavors and in all these flavors there is cut throat competition among the cola majors. So Parle is trying hard to create a new segment with this drink.

There is also preference to Apple Drink from customers too. Also the popularity of apple drink is low in South India because of the availability and price factor.

Since there is less popularity for this flavor, even after 20 years, Appy has not become a major brand in the SD market. That may be one of the reasons why Cola majors are not looking at this flavor.

Appy Fizz has now being relaunched as a “Cool Drink to Hang Around With”. With its champagne shaped bottle and smart advertising, Parle has succeeded in creating a Fizz in the segment, which is basically the Indian Youth. Going by the demand in the College canteen for this drink, Appy Fizz has been able to catch the fancy of the early adapters.

The ads created by Grey World Wide are cool and projects some thing unique about this drink that forced the TG to experience this product. The product itself is good hence there is a possibility of positive word of mouth.

But it has to be seen whether Appy Fizz can be a volume player competing with Orange and

Mango flavors. It is difficult because Appy is a heavy drink compared to Fanta or Mirinda. The taste may be popular with only a segment of the market hence limiting the scope of this brand. Even at parties, very few serve Apple Drinks.

These factors limit this brand to be a niche player but a profitable proposition if this brand is promoted seriously and positioned as a premium drink. Appy can ride on the health factor too in comparison with the other SD’s. Another advantage of this brand is the golden color of the drink, which makes it an ideal party drink as a welcome drink or a drink for those “tea totallers”.

The brand will succeed if it can win the palette of the TG and with the current promotions, customers will give it a try.

Labels: Beverages, Branding, FMCG, Parle

Asian Paints: Every Color Tells a Story Brand : Asian PaintsCompany: Asian PaintsAgency: O&M

Asian Paints is the market leader in the highly fragmented and highly competitive Rs 7750 crore ($1.73 Bn) Indian paint Industry. The organised sector constitutes around Rs 5400crore ( $1.2 Bn).

Asian Paints started its journey in 1942 with four young men in a garage in Bombay. The name Asian Paints was picked randomly from the telephone directory. The brand has traveled from that garage to become a Rs 1000 crore brand. From 1968, this brand occupies a premium position in the Indian Paint industry.

The story of the evolution of Asian Paints as a brand is interesting. The brand now has an Iconic status in the industry thanks to some blockbuster big ideas from O&M. The brand once positioned as a mass market brand has evolved itself to a higher plane.

Indian paint industry can be broadly divided into two segments Decorative segment which constitutes the wall paints : exterior and interior, wood paints

etc. Industrial segment which consists of automotive paints, and paints for industrial sector.

Decorative segment constitutes around 75 % of the total paint industry and Asian Paints is the market leader with around 44% share. In the Industrial segment, Nerolac is the market leader.

In the decorative segment, it is interesting to see how Asian Paints have changed the buying process of the product like paints. Paints are usually considered to be a low involvement product. In earlier times, the decision of the brand was taken by the builder/contractor and the home

owners does not involve much in the process may be the decision of color rest with the house owners.

Asian Paints realized the need for brand building even during sixties. But at that point of time, the company had a wide range of brands/subbrands. The focus of the company was on product innovation and service network and managing quality proposition. The brand focused on mass and rural market. Asian Paints had a mascot called Gattu who was created by the celebrated cartoonist R K Laskhman. These efforts made the brand a leader during the late sixties.

Then the company realised that although volume justified the leadership position, share of mind for the brand was very low. That was the result of the mass segmentation adopted by the brand. Rightly so because the industry was driven by channel driven promotions, building a brand at that time was" uncommon sense". During 1983, the company tried to reposition the brand as a premium brand. Asian Paints initiated the corporate campaign aimed to position the company as the number one player in the industry. The objective was to upgrade to a more margin premium product marketer .The corporate campaign " Spectrum of Excellence" was aimed to increase the Salience of the brand in a quiet market.

But this campaign failed to inspire any interest in the consumers and the company felt that the market is moving towards a commodity market where price is the most important differential. Asian Paints undertook a consumer research aimed at understanding the perception of consumers about the product category. The research revealed lot of interesting insights. Consumers felt that paints could change the mood of the space and it was a sign of festival and plenitude. It could make a gloomy place bright and pleasant. From this insight came the campaign of Asian Paints associating itself with festivals. Research also confirmed that customers tend to repaint their houses on the occasion of festivities. Thus born the campaign "Celebrate with Asian Paints". The campaigns were carefully crafted and there were different campaign for different regions. These campaigns effectively enhanced the brand equity of Asian Paints and established itself as a premium brand. More than that , these campaign ensured an emotional connect with a brand in a low involvement category. The brand also phased out many sub-brands and rest of the sub-brands was brought under Asian Paint's umbrella brand.

During the late nineties the brand had to be reinvented. Because no longer festivities formed an important part in ones life. Since many brands went after festival seasons, the positioning platform has become cluttered. More over the consumer buying behavior has changed. The category was becoming less seasonal. People started associating more importance to home decor and interiors. The choice of color became a high involvement decision. From a low involvement category, paint was increasingly becoming a high involvement category.

The brand also went in a brand overhaul. The logo was changed to a contemporary upmarket one designed by Entreprise IG based in Singapore. The logo/design was to convey self expression, sophistication and Technology.

Thus came the birth of a wonderful positioning strategy created by O&M. The insight was that the brand is about people and homes and homes reflect the people living in it. Hence “Har Ghar Kuch Kehta Hai” translated to “Every Home has a story to tell”. This campaign is a perfect example of a brand laddering up and connecting to a higher level in the mind of the customer. The campaigns reinforced the brand as a premium emotional brand.

Along with the campaign Asian Paints also ran parallel ads for its sub-brands. Saif Ali Khan endorsed the premium brand Royale. For Apex Ultima, the campaign was highly localized and was different in different market.

View Asian Paints ad here: Pongal: Saif Adv.

Taking a cue from the success of Ghar campaign , the brand took ownership of the COLOR. The insight is that each color has a story to tell. The latest campaign reflects on the color and uses the campaign "Har Rang Kuch Kehta hai" translated to "Every color has a story to tell". The brand is so serious about the color that it has tied up with IIT to explore new colors and conduct research on colors.

Asian Paints is a classic branding story and the brand is still exploring and growing.

Labels: Brand Laddering, Brand Update, Iconic Brand, Innovation, Product Life Cycle

Axe : The Axe Effect Brand : AxeCompany : HULAgency: Lowe Lintas

An Icon for sure Axe is a success story that is so difficult to emulate. One can only marvel and enjoy. Axe has got every thing perfect for its success. It got its segments correct, the targeting was exemplary and Positioning: something to drool for. And more over Luck was on its side.

Axe was born in France in the Year 1983. 24 years later, this brand is Unilever's Best selling brand worldwide. It has an iconic status in whichever market it has entered. It is also one of the rare brands which can boast of replicating its entire marketing mix across geographical boundaries. The campaigns that you see in India is what the entire world is watching. For those who propound Globalization , AXE is an exception.

Axe Deo was launched in India during 1999. The brand launch was very quiet and theoretically the brand was having the strategy of Slow Skimming i.e High Price Low Promotion. Axe at that time was the leading men's Deo brand in Europe and was popular in India in the Grey market (available in duty paid shops). HLL may have launched this brand inspired by the volume of Axe sold in the Grey market. At that time, the Deo market was a nascent one with an estimated market size of Rs 72 crore. HLL had the brands Denim and Rexona and was ruling the market. Axe was priced at a premium above the Denim brand which was positioned as a male Deo brand.Axe initially was launched in the fragrance Java, Alaska and Atlantic. HLL did not bother to fine tune its Promotional mix to Indian market but just imported the promotions .... meaning, the company just ran the ads which was popular in the Europe and other markets. At that time, the product was also imported from Europe. And IT CLICKED.... rest as they say is History...Axe in 2002 was having a market share of over 35% and soon HLL phased out Denim brand to concentrate on this Star.

Axe is the naughtiest brand in the Indian market. The brand is targeted at male aged 16-25 . Internationally this brand targets male aged 15-25. I personally feel that it targets all 'Young at heart" naughty guys. The brand has its brand values of Cool, Fashionable and Stylish. And world over, the brand sticks to its core values. The biggest strength of this brand is the underlying message or the DNA which is that the brand users are High on Confidence and always for the Axe users, Girls Make The First Move. I think the biggest competitive advantage of this brand is its complete monopoly over this brand proposition. All its campaigns revolve round this central theme of Seduction where Girl makes the first move.

It has lot of subliminal implications. The brand assumes that Men wants (Likes) to be Seduced . That feeling (of being seduced) gives a big boost of self confidence to a man. Although many brands take this proposition, Axe just made it perfect.

One sees a lot of ads where girls are seen drooling over Hunks in Motorcycle or in Readymades, or even in Innerwears, but in most of the Axe ads, there are no Hunks, only very ordinary or even skinny kind of people getting assaulted by beautiful girls. That makes the brand more approachable. Had Axe used a Hunk, the promotions couldn't have been so effective. The brand managers were so wise that when they used a celebrity like Ben Affleck, They ensured that the brand is made approachable

Having said that, The males seen in Axe commercials are not Losers: the ads are careful to show them as confident (in one way or other) or a better term will be self assured. That is ultimate execution. The power of this Big Idea has ensured that Indian consumers lap up the foreign commercials without any hitch. I don't remember any India centric ad for Axe especially in Television. And Indian consumers are not complaining either.

Along with these, the brand also ensured that customers are constantly engaged with new fragrances and campaigns. In 2005, Axe had a high profile launch of its new fragrance CLICK and before that there was Axe Land campaign and followed by Axe-Academy then Axe Voodoo and the latest one Phenomenon. Consumers have tried most of it and may not like it but try they will. That is the power of brand.

Axe is one of the rare brands that has embraced new media to the maximum extent. The brand has started its Internet based marketing initiative in India with Axe Land which involved a virtual trip to the Axe world. Globally also this brand has lot of online initiatives which are almost always naughty. In UK the Axe is marketed as LYNX. Checkout the cool web initiatives of this brand:

Axe- featherAxe EffectAxe Phenomenon

and also a blog called Evan and Gareth

Not only the brand uses TVC's to its advantage, the print ads of Axe won several accolades in various ad events. The creatives run amok with the kind of flexibility that they get from the positioning. Besides Print, the brand also uses outdoors to its maximum impact. Axe is a classic example of 360 degree branding effort. Now Axe has a common message in over 70 countries where Unilever sells this brand. Iconic in a real sense.

One of the reports term the marketing strategy of Axe as "Adventurous Marketing". That is true because its risky because the brand deals with Girls & Seduction. Not always every one may like the theme or the campaigns. In India especially there are self styled Cultural Policemen/Women who cries foul for anything and everything. It is really surprising that so far, Axe has escaped

their AXE. That also shows that the ad agency is also careful about the concepts put across the Indian media.

While in a more liberal markets, Axe tests new levels of "Adventures" , here the brand plays really safe. It also ensures the campaigns run in Indian media is accepted because most often its the entire family who watches the TV.

For the axe fans, check out a blog dedicated to Axe at Axeads

Labels: Axe, FMCG, HLL, Iconic Brand, Innovation, Personal Care

Bajaj Pulsar : Definitely Male Brand : PulsarCompany: Bajaj AutoAgency ;O&M, Leo Burnett

This bike has virtually redefined biking in this country. Pulsar launched in 2001 is the market leader in the 150 cc + performance bike segment. More than that, this brand changed the fortune of Bajaj Auto Ltd.

Before the launch of Pulsar, Indian bike market was divided broadly into Economy, Executive and Premium Bikes. In 1999 Hero Honda created a new segment of 150 cc performance segment with its CBZ. But Pulsar came and gave a new life into the Performance segment. Although not a pioneer, Pulsar made the performance segment one of the fastest growing segment in the two wheeler market.

It was not only the bike's performance that triggered the brand becoming an icon, a major part of the success was due to the classic advertising campaign by O&M. According to agencyfaqs, the birth of the "Definitely Male" campaign is interesting. The creative honchos found the new product from Bajaj distinctly different. It was Bajaj's first bike without Kawasaki label. The new bike was an R&D and design marvel. Pulsar was designed by the renowned design house Tokyo R&D. O&M knew that the communication of this brand should also be different. Starting with lot of ideas, O&M stuck upon the Big Idea of India's He-Bike. Although lot of bike take the persona of Macho bikes it was more oriented towards being "sexy". The Big Idea was to position the bike as World's first bike endowed with a Sex (Gender). Thus born the classic campaign of all times "Definitely Male". The campaign together with the design and performance catapulted the brand into stratospheric sales level.

Bajaj targeted the 18-24 with Pulsar but later found that the brand appealed to a much older audience. This helped Bajaj to change its target audience to 21-35 years.

Unlike its old ways of doing things, Bajaj did not rest with the laurels. It knew that Pulsar is the golden key to control the entire bike market. Hence Pulsar got undivided attention from the company. In 2003 another milestone event happened in the product lifecycle of the brand. Bajaj launched its new technology DTSI. DTSi stands for Digital Twin Spark Ignition which delivered more power and efficiency. The increased performance of the brand took Pulsar to greater heights. 2004 and 2005 saw some cosmetic changes in the brand which excited the customers and thus cementing Pulsar's position in the market.

Pulsar came in two variants : 180 cc and 150 cc where 180 cc excited the performance bikers, 150 cc was for the mileage conscious ones. The 150cc variant took lot of customers away from the executive segment to the performance segment.

The brand had its share of marketing flaws also. According to reports, Bajaj reassigns its media duties to two brands O&M and Leo Burnett, every six months. When DTSI was launched, the creative duty was assigned to Leo Burnett. Leo Burnett did a big mistake on the brand by changing the positioning of "Definitely Male" to "Digital Biking". Although the ads were successful in conveying the technological superiority of DTSI and making that acronym popular, it deleted the most successful tagline from the brand's elements.

After ruling the premium bike segment, Bajaj is taking their brand to another level. Bajaj recently launched Bajaj Pulsar 200 Dtsi to take on the competition from Hero Honda and the like. The new Pulsar boasts of spruced up engine, new digital console and new style. Pulsar is definitely getting better.

Pulsar 200 is being launched with a new campaign revolving round the concept of Free Biking. Free Biking ( as defined by the brand Pulsar) is all about tackling obstacles. According to company officials, its about how you ride rather than where you ride. The ads made by O&M is filmed at Hawana Cuba (expensive). Set to pulsating Arabian music, the ad shows how two Pulsar riders discover new route when their main way is blocked by traffic jam.

One word to describe this ad is HYPERBOLE and too much of it. The Big Idea of Free Biking is good but execution is ordinary. What made Pulsar a super brand was its ability to come out with different disruptive campaigns. But in the case of Pulsar 200, it is a sort of cut copy paste from some Hollywood movie (James Bond). More over, the Big Idea is also not properly communicated through the visuals. Also the music was not upto the mark.

See the new Pulsar Ad here: Pulsar 200

Now every one is waiting for the new Bajaj 220 cc DTSFI which will redefine the bike segment again.Sadly Bajaj is no longer using its blockbuster tagline "Definitely Male" but instead is using the corporate brand tagline "Distinctly Ahead". Bajaj earlier had another corporate tagline "Inspiring Confidence" when it completely redesigned its corporate logo and brand.

Not using "Definitely Male" is a gross injustice to the brand itself. That tagline and positioning has lot of fire with it and except for the initial two campaigns, Pulsar was not able to build on its Definitely Male Platform.

But what ever may be the communication, Pulsar has made itself into a position of strength. It has a brand equity so huge that what ever that comes out of it will be lapped up in no time. The success of Pulsar 200 DTSI is no longer dependent on the quality of ads but on the performance it delivers. This brand shows the power of brand equity where customers buy, irrespective of lousy ads......

Watch the Old Pulsar ads here: Pulsar Collection

Labels: Automobile Brands, Iconic Brand, Product Life Cycle, Product Line Extension

Band-Aid :Continuous Care Brand : Band-AidCompany: Johnson&JohnsonAgency: McCann Ericson

Band-Aid can be considered as a classic case of branding success. The brand which is almost 86 year old has become generic to the category. Band-Aid is an Adhesive Bandage used to cover minor cuts and bruises. The brand has come a long way to become one of the classic marketing case study.

The brand came into existence in 1920. The person behind this innovation was Ms Josphene Dickson, a homemaker and wife of Mr. Eric Dickson who was cotton buyer at Johnson & Johnson. Josphene during her daily chores inevitably encounters numerous minor cuts and bruises, wanted an easy solution to cover the cuts to prevent it from worsening while continuing her work. Eric prepared a readymade bandage using cotton and adhesive tape so that Josphene can cut from the readymade bandage and use it when in need. Eric told his boss about the invention and thus the concept took shape of Band-Aid (source:superbrand.com). In 1924 the world's first machine cut band-aid was marketed and it was a huge success.

In India, Band-Aid was launched in the year 1978. Band-Aid was successful because it identified the need in the households for wound care. But to reach the dominant position in India was not easy. Band-Aid had to fight the tradition rather than the competitors to succeed. Traditionally, Indians prefer not to cover the cuts and bruises because there is a feeling that wounds should be kept open in order to heal faster. Further, Indian consumers typically used traditional methods to heal wounds. In earlier days most of the households had the bottle of tincture iodine which was considered as the best solution for cuts and bruises. Kids used to hate this because the pain will be excruciating when tincture iodine is applied to cuts. Band-Aid comes with red coloured medicine inside (I think it is Benzalkonium) which resembled Iodine. This had enabled early adoption of this brand and Band-Aid was called "Lal Dhawa Wali Patti" which became the USP. Had the medicine color was not red, Band-Aid would have tough time convincing mothers. The Kids also loved the brand since they were relieved of the pain of Tincture iodine.

Band-Aid also tried to educate mothers about the possible problems in keeping the wounds open because of dust infections caused by it. This also boosted the brand acceptability. One of the major factors that aided the success of this brand was the distribution strength of J&J. Band-Aid was a mass market product and hence it has to be there at every shop in the market (Key was Distribution).

Band-Aid was a brand that changed with time and it keenly watched the consumers and tried to identify their needs. The company had valuable consumer insights that created the first water proof band-aid in India. The main weakness for bandages was that it used to come off easily when wet. This prevented the category usage to certain extent. The waterproof band aid made the brand usable in any condition. This innovation catapulted the brand popularity to newer heights. Band Aid focused on the area of application and was clever enough to come out with various size and shapes. This came from the insight that different wounds in different parts of the body needs different shapes. For example, a small cut in the forehead needs a round band-aid. These insights made the brand a market leader in the category with a market share of over 60%.

Johnson& Johnson also saw an opportunity for the brand in the traditional cure for cuts. In India, turmeric is used as a medicine for cuts and blemishes. Band-Aid launched a turmeric variant of the plaster much to the delight of the Indian consumers. The brand was also promoted heavily. Band-Aid was the first in the category to advertise in electronic media. According to Superbrands.org, Band-Aid was the first product endorsement of Sachin Tendulkar.

Initially positioned as a wound care brand, Band-Aid was repositioned as a product that encourages kids to be active. Kids have the innate desire to be active and Band-Aid makes sure that cuts and bruises will not hinder that desire. The brand also roped in Virendra Sewag as its ambassador during the cricket season.

Band-Aid has been lying low in the media for a while. The brand has already become generic to the category. Being generic has its share of problems also. When the customer uses the brand as a generic name for the category, the retailer can offer him any brand in the category. There are many local players in the market who gain by a brand major becoming generic. Competition is also from players like Handyplast and Dettol. Although the Indian wound care market is estimated to be around Rs 512 crore, the domestic adhesive bandage category is small at Rs 25 crore. The brand equity of Band-Aid still going strong is an entry barrier for any one looking to enter this category.

The brand is currently being positioned on "Continuous Care". The positioning is pitting this brand against the ointments and other external applications. The concept is to educate the customers that use of plasters will heal wounds better than the use of ointments.

Labels: Branding, FMHG (Fast Moving Health Goods)

Body Shop : Profit With Principle Brand : Body ShopCompany: Loreal

Body Shop is a brand with a difference. Marketers consider this brand as an Icon. Body Shop has created a brand image without the aid of conventional advertising. 2006 saw this iconic brand draw up serious business plans for India.

Body Shop brand was created in 1976 in United Kingdom. The brand and the brand owner share a common personality that is very much linked to each other. Anita Roddick the legendary founder of the Brand created this brand from a small shop in UK.

Body Shop in India is sold through the master franchise Planet Sports.

Body Shop is differentiated from other conventional cosmetics by the values that the brand adheres to and the brand image created through the unique association with those values.The brand is famous for its association with ethical practices and the environment friendly world view. The products reflects these values through the use of only natural ingredients and the products are never tested on animals. The packaging and the merchandising are carefully prepared to highlight the brand values. For example, Body Shop uses refillable packs and recycled /recyclable papers. Although the use of refillable packs were used to keep the price low, it evolved into an element that reinforced the brand positioning. The brand also was careful in the messages displayed in the shop and other POP merchandises. The messages were simple, enthusiastic and informative. These elements made Body Shop a different cosmetic brand.

The brand was essentially an extension of the founder herself. Anita Roddick is an ardent environmentalist and naturalist. Her views about the nature supported with her activities and associations created a positive reinforcement for the brand. Customers were seeing a brand that does things while others just give hope. More over Body Shop was able to communicate with the customers at a higher level rising above beauty and fairness that other cosmetics talked about. There was honesty associated with the brand. The shops also reinforced this attribute. All the shops reflected an environment of honesty, excitement and fun. It is reported that Ms Anita Roddick takes personal interview with the franchises to ensure that they share the same passion with Body Shop principle.

Although Body Shop is starting serious business with Indian consumers only now, the association with India dates back to the initial years itself. India was a sourcing partner for Body Shop during the creation of the brand.

The success of the brand was because of the unique business model of Body Shop. The brand relies on PR and word of mouth to make sales. The Indian launch was also a low profile one. The brand has gone against most of the conventional marketing practices. The products are simple and the new product ideas are derived from the wisdom of the ordinary people. For example, When the founder was traveling in Srilanka she found women rubbing their faces with freshly cut pineapple flakes that gave a special look to the faces. This translated to a product Body Shop Pineapple face wash. Many products were resulted from this experiences of the founder from the numerous trip she made around the world.

In 2006, Body Shop was acquired by Loreal for 650mn Pounds. Body Shop will function as an independent entity retaining the management and the principles that made this brand an icon.In India too the brand is expected to appeal to a niche market. Niche in the sense that the level of awareness about "environment friendly" and "ethical" product positioning is a novelty in India.

We often relate environment friendliness with un-profitability while the basic principle of Body Shop is "Profit with Principle" . Another factor is that in India, celebrities are not associated with nature activism. We have the prominent naturalists in Medha Padhkar and Baba Amte and not AB or Susmita Sen.

In the market where high decibel advertising and sales promotion rules, it will be interesting to see how Body Shop will gain the iconic status it deserves in the Indian market.

Labels: Branding, FMCG, Iconic Brand, Off-beat Brand, Personal Care

Boost : Is The Secret Of Our Energy Brand : BoostCompany: Glaxo Smithkline BeechamAgency:JWT

Boost is one of the major players in the Rs 1400 crore Indian Health Food Drink (IHFD) market. The brand was created in 1975 by the company R&D team and test marketed in 1976. The brand became national in 1980's. Glaxo rules the Indian HFD market with a share of around 64 %. The market is ruled by Horlicks and the leader is flanked by flanker products Maltova and Viva.

Boost takes on Bournvita from Cadbury's which is the market leader in the brown powder segment. The HFD market is having two segments: White powder segment and brown segment. The market is dominated by white powders. Boost is a malt milk additive with the flavour of chocolate. Boost has a share of around 12% in the IHFD market.

HFD is targeted at children aged 5-18. The market is huge since this is the age group that demands some kind of energy drink. The kids are active and playing during this age and the

pressure is on the home maker to keep the energy level of the kids high using some drinks.

Boost is positioned as an energy drink. The tagline "Boost is the secret of my energy" has remained a blockbuster all through these years. The tagline has highest recall among the TG. Boost is also the first HFD brand to be endorsed by a celebrity.

After the initial growth, the brand landed in the mature stage of PLC (Product Life Cycle) during 1980's with sales plateauing. The brand repositioned itself through a careful planned strategy backed by consumer insight. The brand realised that kids are strong influencers of the purchase process for such products and once kids get hooked onto such drinks, brand loyalty can be assured. GSK also identified cricket as the vehicle to Boost the Sale of Boost.

During 1980's Kapil dev was roped in as the brand ambassador for Boost and as a cricketer, Kapil was considered an Icon by many . Boost got the energy from Kapil and GSK had found the success mantra.

During 1990's Kapil gave the baton to Sachin. Sachin endorsed this brand when he was in his teens. During those times, the ads showed both Kapil and Sachin together endorsing the brand and thus ensured that the transition is smooth. From 1990-present, Sachin has been endorsing this brand. I think Boost and Sachin hold the record for longest association between a brand and celebrity at least in India. (The kid who starred with Kapil for the ad was Nikhil Chopra who later played for India) in 2000, the brand also roped in Sewag to endorse the brand. At that time, Sewag and Sachin was on fire as the opening pair.

Boost was innovative not only in the promotion front but also in product improvements. In 2002, as a part of its repositioning, the brand came out with Power Boosters: which contains Copper and Biotin. It was first of its kind in this segment. Boost also innovated in packaging. Over these years, the packaging became contemporary and stylish to reflect the changing consumer preferences.

A brand will become successful only if the owner invests in the brand for the long term. Boost is a testimony of that. Over these years, the brand has been positioned and repositioned in tune with the consumer. During the late nineties, consumer insights showed that although the kids liked the promos involving Sachin, they felt somewhat distant from the brand (because Sachin was perceived to be extraordinary). Realising this the brand changed its tagline from "Boost is the secret of my energy' to "Boost is the secret of OUR energy". The ads increasingly gave importance to kids rather than the celebrity.

In 2005, the brand came with Choco Blast (more chocolate) and Advanced Energy Boosters to counter the threat from Bournvita who now has the Chocolate taste of "Five Star" in it.

Watch the commercial here: Boost chocoblast

Boost is a super brand with lots of lessons for a marketer to learn. The brand continues to invest in it and has remained the favorite of marketers and kids.

Labels: Beverages, Celebrity Endorsements, FMHG, Product Life Cycle

Bournvita : Do You Have Bournvita Confidence Brand : BournvitaCompany : Cadbury'sAgency : O&M

Bournvita is a power brand. Bournvita was launched in 1948 and is one of the oldest brand in the malted beverages segment. The brand is a market leader in the Brown health drink segment with a market share of over 17 %.

This is a brand that has sustained over time and competition. Cadbury - true to its reputation has managed to sustain this brand over these years. The brand has sustained because of Cadbury invested in the brand and also ensured that the brand changed in tune with the times.

Bournvita is a chocolate flavored health drink. When the brand was introduced in the market, it tried to solve a perennial problem that mother's face: a need for a healthy food which is tasty. Bournvita offered that unique combination of health and taste.

Its also interesting to see how this brand has evolved over these years. In 1970s t he brand was positioned as a product that helps in good upbringing. The brand used the tagline: Goodness that Grows with You.

During 1980's the brand changed its focus from Upbringing to Intelligence. The tagline was changed to: Brought Up Right, Bournvita Bright.

In 1990's the brand felt that it should be focusing on the overall health of the kid thus changed its focus on Body and Mind. The brand also took Energy as a main focus and thus evolved the famous VO (voice over) : "Bournvita has proteins, minerals and carbohydrates" . Along came the famous tagline: Tan Ki Shakthi , Man Ki Shakthi.

During 1998, the brand faced intense competition from Milo from Nestle. At this time, the brown health food drink segment was facing issues of stagnation because of lack of value addition. Bournvita then changed its positioning on the health platform. The brand used a marconym RDA (Recommended Dietary Allowance) to reinforce the health positioning. The brand used a clever Nutritional meter to communicate the RDA formula: 2 cups of Bournvita for balanced nutrition.The brand also set up a Bournvita Nutritional Center where nutrition experts recommended the right RDA percentage to kids. The brand at that time used the cricketer Ajay Jadeja to endorse the brand. The brand also harped on the taste and used the tagline "No Bournvita No Milk" to reinforce the taste attribute.

In the current millennium, the brand has moved to the next level. In the typical laddering Up strategy, Bournvita has identified Confidence as its Core Brand Essence. The brand realized that every kid has a chance to excel in his chosen field of endeavour if he has confidence . The

realization has enabled the brand to chalk out the current marketing strategy. The brand now uses the tagline "Do you have Bournvita Confidence".

In the Brown beverages segment, Bournvita faces intense competition from Boost. In order to defend the leadership position, Bournvita has invested heavily in product development, advertising and sales promotion. In the product development front, Bournvita had significantly changed its packaging and the latest pack is inspired by Boost. Along with packaging changes, the brand also had come out with a new variant: Bournvita Fivestar Magic. The new variant has the unique chocolate with caramel flavor of Cadbury's Fivestar. The brand is using the brand association with Five Star as a key differentiator.

All these years, Bournvita has used taste as a consistent theme to attract the kids. The Five Star Magic variant further reinforced this positioning.

In the advertising campaigns, Bournvita has always been a heavy spender. There were 2 concurrent campaigns running for Bournvita: one campaign for the Bournvita Fivestar Magic and another one featuring Bournvita Confidence Academy.

Bournvita Confidence Academy is not a School but was a reality show. The show which premiered on July 2007 in the Pogo channel is different from the usual reality shows. The show features 7 kids who have exceptional talents in various fields like dancing, racing, singing, magic, studies etc. In the reality show, the kids were asked to act as Gurus and were expected to teach each other skills. So you have a magic whizkid learning to sing. The point was that "You Need Confidence" to venture into unknown fields.

Bournvita Confidence Academy was not the first event that this brand associates with. Bournvita Quiz is the longest running quiz show in Indian Television .

In the sales promotion front also, the brand was active with its share of freebies and gifts . The association with Cartoon Network enabled this brand to use the famous characters like Powerpuff girls and Dexter to the brand's advantage.

The focus on Confidence by Bournvita is a smart move by the brand. Its arch rival Boost has built itself on the energy platform and has gained headway using Sachin. Hence to counter Boost, Bournvita needed to own an important differentiation point. Confidence is something that every kid looks forward to. By featuring real whiz kids , the brand has been able to create an impact in the TG.

But the challenge that Bournvita faces is not from Boost but from the Consumer Promotion trap that both these brands have fallen into. Now most of the sales are decided by the promotional gifts and freebies than the actual efficacy. Since mothers are happy whether the kids drink either of these, brand loyalty has become a thing of past in this segment.

Labels: Beverages, Brand Laddering, Cadbury, FMHG

Bru : Happiness Begins with Bru Brand : BruCompany : Hindustan UnileverAgency : O & M

Bru is a power brand from the HUL's stable. A brand which pioneered the instant coffee category in Indian market in 1969 is also an example of many successful marketing practices. According to HUL, Bru is the market leader in coffee segment with a value share of 46.9 %.

Prior to 2004, HUL had many brands in the coffee category. It had Deluxe Green Label and Bru instant as the main brands and small brands like Dilkush, Cafe and Cafe Gold. In 2004, as a part of the power brand strategy, HLL decided to phase out Dilkush and Cafe brands. It then consolidated the coffee brands under the Master Brand Bru.

Bru before becoming the family brand was positioned as a coffee that tasted just like filter coffee. But after the elevation to master brand, Bru took the positioning around happiness.

Bru was synonymous for instant coffee and had an astounding 21% market share in the first year of launch itself. All these years, the brand has been fighting for the numero uno position with Nestle whose iconic Nescafe brand was the market leader. But in 2008, the brand pushed Nescafe to the second position.

Much of the success of Bru can be attributed to following factors Innovation in new products Innovation in packaging & Aggressive campaigns

Nestle lost out because of lethargy. The company failed to consistently invest in its Nescafe brand. I do not remember seeing any memorable campaigns from Nescafe in recent past. This has cost the brand dearly.

HUL's marketing acumen is vivid in the rise of Bru as the market leader. It has never stopped innovating for this new brand.

Bru was able to give new offerings to customers on a regular basis. One of the recent successful new product was the cappuccino packs. The new flavor gave the brand a new thrust in the market. The new flavors even prompted hardcore tea lovers to try out these flavors. The best part was that these cappuccino was available in single serve sachets which prompted consumers to test the flavors.

Another innovation was the cold coffee. Bru launched the cold coffee variants which again captured the attention of the consumers.

These thrusts in new product development and roll out is visible when one visits a super market. The coffee section is full of various flavors and packs of Bru which itself creates a positive vibration for the brand.

Another factor which made Bru successful was the campaigns. The brand is famous for two campaigns. One featuring Amritha Rao was a big hit. The theme revolves around the shy girl wanting to introduce her boyfriend Sagar to her father.

Watch the TVC here : Bru Sagar

Another campaign which was highly popular was the 'little cup' ad. The ad shows the wife announcing the "good news" through a symbolic 'little cup'.

Watch the ad here : bru Little cup

Bru is positioned on the theme of happiness. The brand has the tagline "Happiness begins with Bru". The positioning and communication has been consistent with the brand's promise of kick starting one's day with a Bru.

These slice of life ads put Bru in a growth orbit. Consumers started loving the brand for its innovation and campaigns. For the Bru Cappuccino, it had roped in the Bollywood Director Karan Johar to endorse the brand.

Another critical factor that aided Bru's success was the innovation in packaging. The brand made the entry barrier low by launching small affordable SKUs (Stock Keeping Units). There are single serve and large packs at different price points making the brand affordable .The brand although is positioned as an aspirational brand, is priced affordable thus making it a perfect example of a Masstige brand.

Recently the brand has yet again come out with a customer centric innovation in the form of a flavor lock. Most of the customers worry about losing the flavor of coffee powder once the pack is cut open. The flavor lock is a plastic clip which will lock the flavor from escaping. More than actually locking the flavor, the lock gives a psychological belief that the flavor will not be lost.

This little plastic lock also gives more convenience to the home maker. Typically when buying powders in packs, home makers have to transfer the powder to a container to preserve it for long. This lock effectively eliminates the need for such a container.

Bru is a brand which has reached the commanding position following methodologically tackling all the critical elements for marketing success: customer centric innovation, aggression and new product development

Labels: Beverages, FMCG, Food Brands, HLL, Innovation, Masstige Brand (Masstige is a term introduced by Michael Silverstein and Neil Fiske to refer to a new category of products aimed at providing "Luxury To the Masses". The term Masstige is derived from the words Mass + Prestige. Silverstein and Neil published a wonderful article in Harvard Business Reveiw (April 2003) titled "Luxury for the Masses" explaining this concept in detail).

Center Shock : Hilake Rakh De Brand : Center ShockCompany: Perfetti VanmelleAgency: O&M

Center Shock is an interesting brand or rather it is a disruptive brand in the sense that the brand just makes all marketing theories look funny. Conventional marketing wisdom says that the product should deliver a promise, satisfy a need and blah blah . Here is a confectionery brand that tasted sour making itself a market leader in less than 6 months time.

Center Shock was launched in 2001 and at that time, the chewing gum market was at cross roads. The market lifecycle was at the decline stage. Although the market was worth Rs 300 crores, it was declining at a faster rate at 25-30%. Perfetti then decided to break the category degrowth and make this category more exciting to the customers.

It’s a shock how a product like Center Shock became successful in the market. This peculiar gum gave a distinct fruit filled acidic taste to the customer which really gave the customer a shock. The TG for this brand was SEC ABC and age 10-19. The brand was an extension of the highly popular Center Fresh known for its Fruit Gel Center. Center Shock came in two flavors : Peach and Apple.

Center Shock broke into picture through two clutter breaking ads crafted by O&M . The first ad of the barber created a huge impact in the market. The ads won lot of accolades for O&M. According to reports, the brand became market leader within no time with a share of over 35% beating Center Fresh from the same company. The first TVC was followed by the second one featuring a dude visiting his girlfriend's home to meet the parents. According to Agencyfaqs, the creative brief for Center Shock was simple: break the clutter and make it funny and distinct and really shocking and the ads just did that.

Lot many people who tried a Center Shock never took again. The company also did not have any dreams about repeat customers. But the brand did the trick with the market. There was a rejuvenation of the category which grew from 1000 tonnes to 3500 tonnes . The lack of excitement in the category was corrected by this outrageous product. The brand adopted one of the most funniest and best taglines "Hilake Rakh De" which translates to "Will Shake you UP".

The brand was positioned as a fun brand and customers liked the change. The brand had virtually shaken the market. During those days most of the chewing gum brand were sold on sales promotions and seldom marketers invested any thing more on ads. Center Shock brought back the trust on advertising in the category players.

To sustain a brand like Center Shock for longer period of time is a difficult proposition. After launching the product in 2001, the last ad was aired in December 2002 and for one year the brand went into silent mode. In 2004 the company launched a variant Center Shock Mirchi with another outrageous commercial. But the variant bombed since the novelty was lost for this brand. The

brand had a funny tagline "Pilake Rakh De". After this launch, Center Shock faded from the scene. Its long time since one saw any promotion for this brand.

Although this brand had a very short PLC, the brand showed us the power of advertising. A good advertising can make people eat a sour candy and be happy about it. Hats Off to Perfetti for taking such bold and outrageous step.

Labels: Confectionary, FMCG, Innovation, Off-beat, Product Life Cycle, Perfetti

Coffy Bite : Coffee or Toffee Brand : Coffy BiteCompany: Lotte IndiaAgency: JWT

Coffy Bite is a power brand in the Rs. 1500 crore Indian Sugar Boiled Candy market. This 100 crore brand has a history of 18 years of existence.

The brand is unique and its positioning and ad campaign was one of the best in that era. The brand is in the coffee category which is around 15% of the Sugar boiled candy category. Coffee Bite has around 9 % market share in the SBC segment.

Coffee Bite was introduced in India by Parry's confectioneries of the Muruggappa Group. This was the flagship brand of Parrys. Later in 2004, Parry's confectioneries was sold to The Lotte group.

Coffee Bite is famous for the "Coffee-Toffee" argument followed by the tagline "Its a Coffee in a Toffee". All the campaigns of this brand was fun to watch and as a product, the brand offered excellent taste and quality. Overall this product was a winner. The brand enjoys a recall of as high as 85%.

With the entry of Big names like Perfetti, Parrys faced intense competition in the market for all its major brands. Along with this heat, the company faced pressures in pricing coupled with rising raw material costs. Infact, these issues are still haunting the confectionery manufacturers.The candy market is faced with two marketing issues

The product: since the product is purely an impulse product, lot of money has to be spent on the brand and also on developing new variants to create and sustain excitement.

The Price: The consumers in this segment is price conscious. Because of the competition, companies cannot afford to price the product at a premium and renounce volume. With the 50 paise price point becoming the industry norm, most of the companies are facing profitability issues.

The problem that Coffy Bite faced was again the issue of relevance. Because of some reasons, the brand missed the new generation. The brand was perceived to be "Old". Hence even though the recall was high, the actual purchase was as low as 20%.

The task for the new brand owners "Lotte" was to make the brand more relevant to the new generation. By New Generation, meaning those kids born after 1990's: the liberalisation child.Lotte changed the packaging to make the brand more contemporary and youthful. The communication also was changed. Thank God, the brand managers did not change the famous "Argument". So the argument continues. The new baseline is "Enough to start an argument" was an unnecessary change for this brand which is famous for its "Coffee in a toffee" baseline. The brand owners have to think as to who is bored by the old baseline, company or customer? A brand need not change the taglines and positioning to become more relevant.

Since the category is Coffee, you cannot have any other taste, that can give some consistency to the communication. Besides the taste, the "Coffee-Toffee" argument gives the creative guys lot of things to work with. One more major positive for this brand is that it is more of a family toffee that gives it a huge market to tap.

Coffy Bite is a brand that has a unique space in the mind of the customers. Is it a Coffee or a Toffee.. the argument continues.

Labels: Branding, Confectionary, Failed Brand, FMCG, Marketing Myopia

Colgate Dental Cream: ye hai hamari suraksha chakra Brand : Colgate Dental CreamAgency : Rediffusion DYR

Colgate has been ruling the Rs 2200 crore oral care segment for long with a market share of over 50%.

The flagship brand of this multinational giant is The Colgate Dental cream which alone has a market share of 35%. The toothpaste segment can be divided in to three segments: White, Gel and Herbal based on the product characteristic.

Colgate had enjoyed higher market share all through the years despite stiff competition from the likes of HLL and a host of regional brands. But the giant shed its lethargy and stood up, fought the war and won.

When Colgate was enjoying its leadership position in the market, HLL successfully entered the market with a googly. It created a new segment with Close-up gel. While using Pepsodent to fight the Colgate Dental Cream (CDC), it created a market for itself with the gel that came in funky colours and excellent advertising.

Every marketer has then signed Colgate off saying that it cannot fight with the marketing giant HLL. But Colgate struck back with the launch of Colgate fresh energy gel and the famous campaign "TALK TO ME" starring the charming VJ Purab that stole the gel category from HLL.

Close up never recovered from that blow.

Then the multinational faced the onslaught of regional brands like Ajanta, Babool that gave these guys a run for their money by selling toothpaste for ridiculously low price .These regional brands quickly gained market share from these MNCs and a lot was written about the rise of regional brands.

Colgate and HLL responded to this threat by coming out with low priced flanking brands. Colgate launched low priced Cibaca to counter the regional brand while HLL had Aim to counter it. The current figures show that the regional brands are finding it difficult to sustain the market share.

Colgate's flagship brand CDC had consistently positioned itself in the germ fighting platform. It had the famous "suraksha chakra" platform from where it had built its brand to this level.

All marketers know that it takes lot of smart thinking to keep the brand alive in a market. So Colgate launched many variants to ward off threats from the niche players and adapt to the changing tastes of the market. For example, it launched the herbal toothpaste when every one talked about the efficacy of herbs. Then came the advanced whitening formula to fight the threat from Pepsodent whitening variant

The latest addition is the Colgate with power of active salt. The brand is developed after a careful study on the customers. According to the company, Colgate undertook a study of a "day in the life of a customer" that gave lot of inputs about the customer's trigger and touch points.

As of now it is great going for the brand

Labels: Branding, Colgate, FMCG, Personal Care, Toothpaste

Colorplus : consistency pays Brand : ColorPlusAgency : RubeconCompany : Raymonds

ColorPlus was launched in 1993 by ColorPlus Fashions which was a unit of Coimbatore based Ambattur Clothing Limited.

It was launched at a time where no global brands were seriously exploring the Indian market. No serious branding effort was there in place during that time. The ready to wear segment was in a

nascent stage.

ColorPlus as a brand now has an iconic status in the readymade segment. The brand which is carefully crafted and brilliantly communicated is the perfect example of brand management.Rajendra Mudaliar, Managing Director, and Kailash M Bhatia, CEO have been clear on what the brand is and how this is to be communicated.

In 2003 this brand was acquired by Raymonds. Raymonds did not change the communication and brand strategy.

The brand falls under the Smart casual segment in the ready to wear market with its presence in South and West Asia. In this era of celebrity endorsement, this is a brand which uses no celebrity, and ColorPlus is always the star. The brand is exposed through careful media selection and you never see a TVC of this brand. The copy and the layout is ever so consistent and the ads has maintained a classy look throughout its existence.

Seen only in premium publications and business magazines reveals that the brand is clear about the target segment. Raymonds by acquiring this brand has now entered the premium casual wear segment which is now fast growing. With Parx at the lower end and ColorPlus on the premium end, Raymonds is hoping to gain a major foothold in the Indian ready to wear segment in years to come.

Hope Raymonds don't mess up this brand...........

Labels: Branding, Iconic Brand, Readymade Brand, Textiles

Dove : The Mildest One Brand : DoveCompany: HLLAgency: O&M

Dove is a $2 bn brand waiting to spread its wings in the Indian Premium soap market. Dove was globally launched in 1957. This brand came to India in 1995. Internationally this brand has a cult status and is a major player in the global premium soap market.

The brand is positioned as the Mildest Soap. Dove is PH neutral and this makes the soap soft on all kind of skin types. Internationally this brand is positioned as a brand that celebrates the "Real Beauty". Dove defines real beauty as "beauty is not about how you look but about how you feel". The Dove's official site "campaignforrealbeauty.com" highlights this brand value. I think this is one of the best brand values a beauty product can have.

In India, the brand did not had the success of its global counterpart. One reasons are the small "Premium" market and another is the price barrier. Dove's initial price was around Rs50 that put off even the premium customers.

The brand has undergone some repositioning in recent times. Earlier the brand was positioned on the platform of "Trial for Results" idea. Later it was changed to the moisturizing platform.The brand is claiming that it is milder than the 25 leading soaps thus proving its legitimacy to being the mildest soap in the country. Globally also this brand is positioned not as a soap but a cream bar.

Although the "Campaign For Real Beauty" and the mildness are excellent selling points, the brand is still not able to catch the fancy of Indian beauties. With lot of sales promotions happening with the brand like 1+1 free , there is a possibility of Brand Value Erosion (This normally happens when too much promotion offers are given with product). With the brand now priced at Rs 28, the price has somewhat become reasonable.

Still the brand does not fit into the "value for money" proposition for the Indian consumer. It is a truth that Indian consumer looks for "Value" even in premium products. Dove has a negative point in that the soap usually does not last enough (partly because of our bathroom habits). This has reduced the value proposition for this brand.

With the emergence of an attractive market in the premium cosmetic market in India, Dove has lot of potential to become a key player. It has got the positioning right. Now it has to set the "Value" right for the Indian consumer.

Labels: Branding, FMCG, HLL, Personal Care, Soap Brands

Fair & Lovely : Chand ka Tukda Brand : Fair & Lovely Company : HLLAgency: Lowe

Fair & Lovely (FAL) is the brand that revolutionized the Indian Skin care industry. This brand is World's first and largest Fairness cream brand with a presence in 40 countries and a value of around Rs.6 billion

Indian skin care market was dominated by conventional beauty care products like Bezan, Multani Mitti etc. FAL changed all that. Launched in 1975, FAL is the product born in the Unilever research center. In 1988 the brand went international. FAL commands a market share of over 70% in the Rs 1000 crore fairness market in India.

FAL virtually created and owned this category for long. In the fairness market, FAL enjoyed monopoly till Cavin Kare entered this lucrative segment with Fairever. The success of Fairever prompted many players like Godrej to tap the market.

FAL sustained the pressure from the competitor by careful Branding and New Product Launches. The brand never failed to emulate and learn from the competitor .When Fairever launched the ayurvedic variant, FAL launched a much better variant. Then came the competition from Ozone Ayurvedics with their brand No Marks trying to carve a niche. HLL countered with FAL Antimarks and launched a controversial comparative ad that took the steam out of No Marks. When Fairever launched the soap, FAL also responded with soap. FAL never allowed the competitors to gain an upper hand in the market which it created.

FAL achieved such tremendous success because of careful branding and ad campaigns. Initially HLL did some ugly talking about fairness. Some of the ads were controversial because of gender inequality and stuff like that. It was necessary at that period because the category was new and the brand should first talk about the need to be fairer.

Now the brand has laddered up to more Aspirational Values like "Transformation of Women" The insight is that the transformation will be more than skin deep. The ads showing a girl achieving the ambition of being a cricket commentator (a male bastion) were very much effective in connecting with the TG.

HLL has also extended the brand to more aspirational values by launching Fair & Lovely foundation that works for Women Empowerment achievement and Transformation which are the qualities for which FAL stands for.

FAL have also launched a premium sub-brand Perfect Radiance to tap the premium segment of the market.

Fair & Lovely was able to dominate the fairness market because of careful marketing and is a showcase of the marketing genius of HLL.

Labels: Branding, FMCG, HLL, Personal Care, Soap Brands.

Fastrack : How many you have ? Brand : FastrackCompany : TitanAgency : Lowe Lintas

Initially this ‘Fastrack’ brand was a sub-brand of Titan. Now this sub-brand has grown to become a fully independent brand. Fastrack was launched in 1998. The brand was aimed at the youth segment (15-25). The brand was promoted with the slogan "Cool Watches from Titan "

Essentially Fastrack was a sub-brand endorsed by the Titan Brand. In most of the campaigns, the brand was promoted as Titan Fastrack. The brand was targeting young consumers who were moving towards the competitor Timex. It was during this time that Timex and Titan parted ways.

Fastrack had a good start. During the first year, the brand clocked a turnover of Rs 15 crore. The good run continued till 2001-2002 and the brand was worth Rs 25 crore at that period. But the sales stagnated. Although the brand appealed to the youngsters, price was a significant dampener. The brand found that the target group which consisted of college students could not afford this brand. (source : Business Standard)

During 2003-04, the brand went in for a repositioning exercise targeting executive segment as well as casual watch segment. It was a suicidal experiment . The brand sales came down to Rs 23 crore. The change in positioning did not fit well with the brand. The consumers were not willing to pay Rs 1200-2700 for a watch that did not have the executive image.

It was in 2004 that Fastrack launched its range of sunglasses. The move was made after a consumer research which shoed that mobiles/deo/sports shoes and sunglasses are popular accessories in the purchase list of youngsters. And Sunglasses fitted perfectly as a brand extension for Fastrack. Sunglasses offered a great opportunity for the brand. There was no Indian brand of sunglasses at that time. The brands available were Ray-Ban and other foreign brands which were imported. These brands were damn expensive and often consumers chose local unbranded sunglasses.

In 2005, the brand went for another repositioning exercise with a new logo and new positioning. The brand adopted the famous break-away positioning of Swatch. The brand decided to target the youngsters again but for that the brand had to break the price barrier.

The brand discarded the steely look of the watches and looked at a mix of plastic and steel. It was a perfect cut-copy from the strategy adopted by Swatch. By doing so, the brand was able to reduce the price range to Rs 500.

The brand then took the help of advertising to change the perception of watches as a functional tool to a fashion accessory. The brand launched a campaign with the slogan "How many you have".

The campaign, the positioning and the price was a great hit . The brand sales zoomed to Rs 35 crore. The sunglasses also contributed significantly to this sales boost.

Fastrack adopted the following core brand values Fashionable and trendy Affordable Pricing Fresh Communication to attract the young consumers. The brand wanted to be the ultimate fashion accessory for the youth.

For the sunglasses, the brand roped in the youth icon John Abraham as the brand ambassador. The celebrity fitted well with the brand. Taking a cue from the fact that most of the TG for Fastrack owned a bike, Fastrack launched a biker's collection which again is a classic example of consumer-centric product innovation.

The latest innovation is the neon-disc range of Fastrack watches that does not have Hands to show the time but have electroluminescent disc that lights up to show the time.

Another advantage for this brand is the freshness that the agency had bought in its

communication. Most of the Fastrack ads have been refreshing. The brand had adopted a 360 degree approach in its communication and it is an example of a brand which had used Social media to its advantage.

But the brand is facing a grave issue in the market. The issue is not regarding the branding but with the channels. In the case of Swatch, the brand had adopted an innovative approach towards the channels. According to the Harvard Case Study on Swatch, it is mentioned that Swatch launched a Veggie range of watches (it had shapes of vegetables) and this range was sold in vegetable shops.

But in the case of Fastrack, the brand had not gained the support of the channel members. The channel does not support both sunglasses and watches. This has been observed across the markets.

In the case of watches, except for Titan exclusive showrooms, other watch retailers do not / are not very willing to stock the full range of Fastrack watches and neither they offer spares like straps. The reason the retailers give is that the Design of Fastrack Changes very fast and thus requires a big inventory.

In the case of Sunglasses, too the Opticians too are hesitant to stock Fastrack Sunglasses. Their contention is that since Titan also sells these sunglasses at outlets other than opticians, the authenticity of sunglasses are lost. As we know most purchase (almost 90%) of sunglasses happen at the optician.

The other problem a consumer faces is that, when he/she goes to a Lifestyle Store, which also stocks Fastrack Sunglasses, he/she finds that the range is not complete. The stores only stock a small number – a namesake – we also stock sunglasses kind. No brand can escape the channel conflict when it tries to explore a new channel. In the case of Fastrack, it is facing resistance from the conventional channel when the brand tried to explore new channels.

It is a nightmare for any brand manager to handle the issues connected with a brand like Fastrack. On one hand, the brand has to keep the consumer interest growing by launching new models and also updating cool communication . One the other hand, the frequent design changes calls for intense dealer support. The low price for the watches often translates to low margin to retailers thus dampening their enthusiasm for promoting this brand. The brand is trying to work around this issue through its online store but the fact is that online cannot replace the conventional channel at least in the immediate future.

Despite these issues, the brand has been a hit with young consumers. And an interesting feedback that comes from these young consumers is that, majority do not think that Fastrack is a cheap watch. They look at it as ‘affordable and not cheap’. That is a great achievement for a brand which has a price range which starts with Rs 500 but still is not considered cheap. The brand had successfully established itself as a fashion accessory rather than as a watch.

And the best part is that, the brand has not compromised on quality.

The brand need to sort the distribution strategy to move into the next level. Swatch also faced the issue of retailer resistance initially but the equity generated by the brand eclipsed the resistance. Fastrack also should be able to build the brand into a level where retailers have to stock this brand due to consumer pressure.

Labels: Consumer Durable Brands, Fastrack, Off-beat Brand, TATA, Titan, Watches, Distribution Startegy

Frooti : Fresh N Juicy Brand : FrootiCompany: Parle Agro foodsAgency: Grey worldwide

Frooti is the first Tetrapak fruit juice in India. Launched in 1984, Frooti still holds a dominant position in the Rs300 crore Tetrapak Fruit Juice (TFJ) market. Frooti over these years has carved out a niche for itself in the market. Frooti instantly caught the fancy of Indian consumer with its tetrapak and some smart campaigns. Initially the drink was positioned as a kids drink. The product was perceived as a healthy fruit drink by the mothers. So within a short span of time, the brand was an alternative to the “unhealthy” colas. The tetrapak had other benefits also. Fruit juice is a perishable product and tetrapaks has extended the shelf life of Frooti because of the 2 layers of paper and a plastic coating that ensured tamper proof. Lured by the success of Frooti, there were a lot of new launches in the TFJ market. Players like Godrej with Jumpin, kissan etc tried their luck in this market but failed to dislodge Frooti.

Frooti was positioned as a mango drink that is “Fresh-n-juicy”. For over a 7 years, the company promoted the product using that famous baseline. The product has tried to create excitement in the market through a series of new variants and packing. But in the late Ninetees the brand was facing stagnated sales. The company tried to excite the market with an orange and pineapple variant but both the variant bombed. Then came the experiment with packaging . The YO! Frooti variant came with a slim paper can aimed at the college going youth.

Worried by the stagnating sales, Parle tried to reposition the brand to appeal to youth aged between 16-21. The positioning changed to be more fun based. The package also changed. The old green color of the bottle changed to more bright mango color with lot of graphics added to it.

One of the most famous marketing campaigns India has witnessed took place during the repositioning. The campaign is the famous “Digen Verma” campaign. This campaign was considered as one of the most successful teaser campaigns in India. The campaign lasted for 15 days starting on February 2001. The campaign was about a faceless person Digen Verma. There were posters and outdoors all across the markets that had messages like “Who is Digen verma” “Digen Verma was here” etc. This created lot of excitement in the market and “Digen Verma” became the most talked about faceless name at that time. The campaign was executed by Everest communication. But the campaign was not followed up and the hype was not translated to long term brand building.

Frooti is basically a nectar based drink so it is not 100% fruit juice, it also have some preservatives added to increase the shelf life. Although Frooti did not face much competition in the category it created, competition came from a slightly different category, 100% fruit juices. Parle saw the emergence of the “100% fruit drink market and launched “Njoy” brand but it did not click. Parle could have extended Frooti to this market also .The brand Real from Dabur is the main player in this category. Real effectively positioned itself as a premium healthy drink for adults. Frooti was not able to appeal to adults and was considered as a mango drink while Real is

not restricted to any flavour. Frooti also changed its positioning statement from “Fresh-N-juicy” to “Juice Up your life” which has not clicked with the customers.

Although Frooti enjoys a commanding (75%) market share, Frooti is facing stagnation. May be some serious steps should be taken to increase the usage of the product. The launch of PET bottle Frooti is a step in this direction. Recently Frooti also launched a “Green mango” variant just to create some hype in the market. Frooti may have to reposition itself again to appeal to cola drinkers.

Labels: Beverages, Branding, Parle

Funskool - Welcome to the World of Toys ! Brand : FunskoolCompany: MRF

Funskool is the market leader in the Indian organised toys market. Pioneer in marketing branded toys, Funskool was launched in 1988 and created a new beginning of high quality toys segment in the highly fragmented industry.

Indian Toy industry is huge. Some reports estimate the size of the market to be around Rs 2500 crore (some say it is Rs 1000 crore). The conflicting market size estimates is an ample proof that the market is highly unorganised. The organised branded toys segment accounts for only Rs 500 crore. Rest of the market is dominated by unbranded toys. Although the market for Toys is huge, the market is dominated by cheap imports from China. 50% of the market is ruled by cheap imports. The China factor is the single most danger that the Indian toy industry face.

Funskool created in 1987 is a joint venture between the World's largest toy manufacturer Hasbro and the Indian tyre major MRF. The brand ushered in an era of toys with educational value and also healthy (safe). Funskool has since then evolved into a complete toy manufacturer that also exports toys to other markets.

The Indian toy industry can be divided into Board games Building Blocks Dolls & soft toys Electronic toys

While Funskool leads in board game segment, the players like Mattel and Lego leads in the building blocks and dolls segment. Mattel with its Barbie rules the premium end of the Dolls segment. Soft toys is another segment that is growing fast and gaining popularity. Hanung Toys is a major player in this segment. Funskool has a marketshare of around 25% in the branded segment.

Funskool as a brand faces lot of issues in this market. The issues are more of environmental in

nature rather than issues of the brand.

The primary issue is the dominance of unbranded cheap toys that is available in the market. The market is price sensitive and hence the branded players face an issue of showing value for the premium paid by the customers. This together with cheap imports made the life difficult for brands like Funskool.

The reason why people go after cheap toys is the lack of awareness about the hazards of using cheap low quality toys. In India Toys are seldom viewed as a development tool. According to Indian consumer, Toys serve the entertainment need of the kids and to the parents it is an easy way to get relief from Pestering kids. While in more developed countries, parents look for educational or developmental value in toys. This makes the category more price sensitive.

Then comes the lack of awareness of parents about the safety of low priced cheap quality products. Although Funskool and other branded toy marketers have run commericials claiming that their toys to be more safe, majority of the consumers have not bought that idea. The main factor is that, there has not been too many issues that have arisen because of the use of local toys. We Indians used to make toys out of nature like toys from coconut leaves, wood etc. Hence to teach the Indians sophistication is a difficult task.

Then there is the issue of creative plagiarism or piracy. The rules regarding copying and reproducing toys are not in place or not executed (copy right issues). Thus the branded players are not able to sustain the differentiation based on characters or range. Everything can be replicated in this market without much fuss.

Toys are products with shorter lifecycle. A model will survive in the market for 1-3 years. Hence the challenge for the marketer is to create newer toys frequently. Easier said than done. Creating newer toys is a challenging task. In the buying process of toys, the marketer has to consider 3 individual minds and 3 different attitudes. While the child is the consumer, the mother acts as the executor of the order and the father controls the purse strings.

Funskool was perfect in creating and marketing new games and toys. The brand is churning out 70-80 new varieties every year. Positioned on the platform of safety, variety and education, the brand already has a huge equity in the Indian market. The major competitor for Funskool is Mattel. Mattel has its range of Fisher Price brand of toys taking on the Funskool range. Fisher Price is a premium brand in the market and has a huge range of toys and has an edge in the shelf space at shops. Price also is catching the consumers young by below the line promotions involving young mothers.

While Mattel is ruling the dolls market, Funskool is competing with Barbie using its Sandy range of dolls. Funskool has been constantly tracking the trends in the toys market. The brand has an agreement with Disney to market cartoon based toys. Cartoon characters became popular with the rising popularity of kids channels. Funskool effectively captured the trend of Bayblade by launching it at an affordable price. Other innovations include Playdoh which is non toxic syntehtic dough which can be used to make different shapes and sizes.

The challenge for Funskool is to encourage the Indian consumers to look at toys at a broader perspective than just an entertainment. Funskool cannot rest now since the market is hotting up with all the players competing for their share of the pie. Products like Playdoh and Sindy needs lot of promotions because those brands have immense potential.

Labels: Branding

WoodLand : Are you a Woodlander? Brand : WoodLand Company: Aero ClubAgency : Karishma Advertising

Indian shoe market is one of the most dynamic markets in the world. India's production capacity (not only kids but shoes also) is second only to China. Although there are different valuations about the Indian Shoe Market. It is estimated to be worth around Rs 11000 crores. Some media reports say that it is worth Rs. 93 billion . Any way it is huge.

The market is traditionally price driven and dominated by the unorganised sector. The organised shoe market is dominated by Bata with a market share of 35-40%

Woodland is an Indian Brand.. Launched in 1992-93, this brand has carved a niche for itself. Like what Allen Solly did with the readymade menswear, Woodland has done it with Indian Footwear. In a market dominated by sports and leather shoes (read Bata and carona) Woodland created a category for itself.

Woodland never wanted to be an ordinary shoe . According to Mr Harkirat Singh MD, he never wanted this brand to be a mass market brand. So till now this brand is concentrating on the premium end (above Rs 1500 shoes) of 2000 crore casual shoe segment.

Woodland targets the upmarket segment and is positioning itself as a Rugged high quality premium casual shoe. It can be called as SUV of Indian shoes. The ads are catchy and tempting.The logo of Woodland was a status symbol during the nineties. The brand is excellent in quality and styling. The brand pioneered Suede and Nubuck type leather shoes in India. The brand carefully presented itself as an outdoor/ trekking kind of shoe which captured the imagination of Indian youth.

True to its price, the brand delivered its promise on quality which ensured that the brand is perceived as a value for money brand.

Woodland has extended itself to accessories and apparels. Latest reports suggest that the company is serious about promoting its apparel business which constitutes about 30% to the company revenues. Earlier Woodland tried its hand in the formal shoe category with the brand Woods but it did not make much impact in that market.

The careful branding has helped the brand to garner about 40% of the premium casual shoe market. But this market is witnessing lots of competition with global brands flexing its muscle in India. Woodland is another example of an Indian Super brand.

Labels: Branding, FMCG

Zodiac : Finest Quality Shirt Makers Brand : ZodiacCompany: Zodiac clothing Agency: FCB Ulka

Zodiac is India's premium and one of the oldest brands in the readymade menswear category. The company started off as an exporting firm, launched Zodiac in the domestic market in late 80's. In the Indian readymade menswear category which is estimated to be around 6000 crore, Zodiac has a market share of 17 % in the branded premium category.

Zodiac as a brand is promoted very subtly. You seldom see the campaigns in mass media. But if you read magazines, you are not going to miss the ads either in the back cover or inside cover. The ads are crafted in similar format and without any celebrities or fantasies, it is shirt all the way.

Zodiac is positioned as shirts from "Finest Quality Shirt Makers". The core qualities of the product are the unmatched quality and the designing. Zodiac follows the design and retail focus. The shirts which are available across the globe take fashion cues from the west and the designers back in India puts it into the shirts.

From the eighties, the readymade menswear has undergone drastic changes. We saw the emergence of categories like Smart casuals from Color Plus, Friday dressing from Allensolly, Premium range from Loius Philippe which changed the way Indians dress to work.Zodiac targets at the upwardly mobile executives and is still sticking to the traditional concept of formal wear. Not wanting to lag behind the emergence of new breakaway categories, Zodiac launched its club wear brand ZOD! in 2002. Zodiac has also an impressive range of Ties where it has captured a commanding position in that category.Zodiac has maintained its positioning through these years as World's finest shirt makers. But with the competition taking the categories and discovering new categories, Zodiac cannot afford to be silent. The brand needs larger doses of promotion to survive in the Indian market.

Labels: Branding, Readymade Brands, Textiles

FMCG (Fast moving Consumer Goods) Marketing Stories

7 Up : Bheja Fry, 7 Up Try Brand : 7 UpCompany : PepsicoAgency : BBDO

7 Up is a neglected brand. This brand despite being a Pepsico brand had failed miserably in the Indian market. Sadly it is not because of the product that the brand failed but because of the marketing mismanagement.

7 Up was launched in India in 1992. According to reports, it had a wonderful start becoming the largest selling brand in the category by 2002. 7 Up is a lemon drink similar to Limca.

Seven Up globally is closely associated with its mascot Fido Dido. When launched in India, 7Up also bought in the famed mascot. Fido came to India in 1992 along with the brand but had a very erratic relationship with 7 Up.

Despite being in the Indian market close to 19 years, 7 Up was not a successful brand. The fault lies in the confused marketing strategy adopted by Pepsico with this brand. Pepsico is one of the world's best marketers. But when we look at individual brands like Mirinda and 7 Up, we see a confused product mix strategy from the company.

Pepsico never had a long term plan for 7 Up. When the brand was launched, the lemon flavored drink segment was perceived to be a small market with the market leader Limca ruling the market. But both Coca Cola and Pepsi was not interested in developing the category or the brand for a long time. Limca was killed by Coca Cola while Pepsi after the initial enthusiasm dropped investing in 7 Up.

The problem with 7 Up was two fold. First was the company's lack of interest in the brand and the category and second was the positioning confusion.

When launched, 7 Up was positioned as a cool drink. The brand used Fido Dido and certain imported commercial to position the brand as a cool drink for the youngsters. But the mascot and its international style failed to impress the audience. Every one liked Fido Dido but there was no connect with the mascot and the Indian audience. The company was in a dilemma because 7 Up had a strong association with Fido Dido but Fido Dido had a disconnect with the Indian audience.This is a typical problem faced by those brands that import their foreign mascots to India . Pillsbury had a mascot Doughboy which is very famous in US but less popular in India. Fido Dido was a foreigner and hence the lack of connect was evident. The brand was really confused on how to use Fido Dido in the Indian market.

Fido Dido has an interesting background. The character was born in 1985 in a cafeteria napkin. The founders Susan Rose and Joanna Ferrone was in a discussion during which Susan Rose scribbled a figure in the napkin which later became Fido Dido. Fido became the brand

ambassador for 7 Up in 1989. Another interesting fact is that Fido Dido trademark does not belong to Pepsi but belong to the founder Joanna. Hence the mascot is highly controlled by the owner and not the brand.

This lack of control has prevented Pepsi from Adapting Fido to Indian audience. It does not have the freedom to change the mascot's personality. This is an absolutely awkward situation for the brand where it had a wonderful mascot but could not change anything about the mascot.

Another factor that aided for the failure of 7 Up was the thinking among Pepsi marketers that taglines and positioning statements should not remain constant. So they keep on changing taglines and statements. One of the highly popular taglines for 7 Up was "Keep it Cool". But the marketers at Pepsi wanted to change it for the sake of changing it. "Keep it Cool” was perhaps one of the apt and best tagline which could have lifted the brand to new heights had Pepsi invested in developing it.

Seven Up and Fido Dido had a short affair. In 1995 Pepsico globally stopped using Fido Dido and in India too the company stopped using the mascot. Later in 2003, the brand began using Fido Dido but again it was a half- hearted approach.

The investment of Pepsico in 7 Up was no where consistent. The brand tried some marketing gimmicks like launching a curvey bottle named 7 Up Curvey in 2006. The brand took the hot bollywood Diva Mallika Sherawat as the brand ambassador since she had those curvey look. There was an initial hype behind this launch but later it died a slow death. Beyond such stunts, there was no marketing thinking for this brand.

The brand also faced competition internally from Mountain Dew. Pepsico launched its iconic brand Mountain Dew and put lot of investment behind the brand. As a consumer there is not much difference between Mountain Dew, Sprite and 7 Up. Limca was perceived a little different because it was cloudy. Pepsico was also confused on how to clearly differentiate Dew and 7 Up when consumers perceived both as similar.

The easiest way to end the confusion is to sideline the brand. 7 Up was thus sidelined for almost 8 years. In 2007-08, the company began to look into this brand. A new theme was prepared to take the brand away from Fido Dido and focus on another theme. The brand took the tagline "Bheja Fry, 7 Up try" which talked about the refreshing feeling of Seven Up . The campaign featured many Bheja Fry situations and how 7 Up can lift your spirits in those occasions.

Realizing Lime Juice was the largest selling drink and most favourite flavour among Indians, Pepsico thought to extend the theme. So it started to pitch 7 Up as "The Lemon Drink". The brand had the new tagline "Mood ko do Lemon ka Lift".

In 2009, Pepsico launched another brand Nimbooz which is a drink having the original lemon juice taste. Nimbooz is launched as a brand endorsed by 7 Up. Nimbooz has been launched with the tagline "Ek Dum Asli Indian". The brand is trying to compete with the ordinary lemon juice which is one of the favorite thirst quencher of Indian consumers. The question remains as to why a unsuccessful brand is used to endorse a new brand ?

The new launch is going to be further problematic for 7 Up. 7 Up has recently pitted for associating itself with Lemon Flavor. Now Nimbooz is saying that it is the original lemon drink. One is artificial and other is original .

What ever be the argument of the marketers, consumers seldom see the difference between a cloudy drink, a clear drink, artificial, flavored etc etc. These micro segmentation actually confuses consumers and force them to go for the simplest solution. Sprite became the largest

selling beverage brand because it was simple for consumer to understand what that brand did.

Keep it Simple please.....

Labels: Beverages, FMCG, Pepsi Brand

Anne French : Smooth and Silky Skin Brand : Anne FrenchCompany : WyethAgency : Grey

Anne French is a niche brand. The brand is a major player in the Rs 50 crore hair remover cream market in India. The brand owned by the pharmaceutical major Wyeth is now facing the heat of competition.

The Indian hair remover cream market is small because of the fact that hair removal is a touchy subject for women and this product category is seldom discussed across media. The campaigns are usually low key and brands gain popularity more through word of mouth and highly targeted advertising.

Anne French is a Depilatory cream. Depilatory creams removes hair at skin line. These creams use alkaline chemical (Calcium thioglycolate) which dissolves the protein structure of hair and causes it to separate from skin. Although there are different method of removing unwanted hair like plucking, tweezing, threading, waxing, bleaching, shaving etc, depilatory creams have gained popularity in Indian market owing to the convenience and ease of use. The only drawback is that it may cause allergy for some.

This category was in a stagnant stage for long till 2004 when Reckitt launched the global depilatory cream major Veet in the Indian market. The brand caused a stir in the Indian market. Veet used the super model Katreena Kaif to endorse the brand .

The entry of Veet threatened the leadership position of Anne French. Veet had the advantage of its Global image and also the high profile celebrity endorsement. Veet also tried to differentiate by launching this product in a tube form. These moves forced Anne French to launch its own tube package and also increase the ad spend.

Anne French in 2007 launched the Squeeze tube and two perfume variants to counter the threat from the Global leader Veet. The ad campaigns are currently on air.

The brand has tried to add value by adding moisturizer and vitamin. Anne French is trying to position itself as the easiest way to have a smooth and silky skin. The latest campaigns are focused on promoting the tube variant.

Although Anne French has been leading the market, now its position is being threatened by a global brand. It is expected that a marketing war between these two brand can lift up the category into a high growth path. Already Anne French has taken the threat head on. Whether Veet will take the market from Anne French will be an interesting story to watch.

Labels: FMCG, Personal Care, Product Innovation Time

Chandanam: Power of Brand Name Brand : ChandanamCompany: SD PharmacyAgency: MAA Bozell

Chandanam (Sandalwood) is an interesting brand. The brand is from SD Pharmacy which is a small player in the traditional ayurvedic medicine market. SD pharmacy came into limelight with the huge success of Manjal Soap (Turmeric) which notched up an impressive turnover of around Rs 12 crore within a years time . Manjal Soap was later sold to Marico for an undisclosed amount.

Buoyed by the success of Manjal soap, SD pharmacy launched Chandanam Soap in 2006. The brand follows the same strategy of Manjal Soap i.e harnessing the power of brand names. Like Manjal, which is the Malayalam word for turmeric, Chandanam is the Malayalam term for Sandal. The brand talks about the ingredient Sandalon which has the essence of sandal which will make the skin younger and also acts as a deodorant.

The brand unlike Manjal faces stiff competition from giants like Santoor and the heritage brand Mysore Sandal Soap. Also brands like Hamam has variants with Sandal ingredient.

Chandanam is marketed just like Manjal Soap, the packaging and the TVC's are strikingly similar and the company expects the market to accept this brand also. Another interesting fact is that SD Pharmacy has not stopped with Chandanam. In 2007 the company launched its third brand of soap branded Mullappoo which is the Malayalam name for Jasmine. More amusing is the fact that the entire communication and packaging follows the same formula except that in case of Mullappoo the USP is the jasmine fragrance. It raises the question Whether a marketing formula works for all brands ? everytime?

One of the reason cited by the company for selling the brand Manjal was that the company

lacked the resources to compete in FMCG segment. But in a report the company MD says he has no plans to sell Chandanam brand and will be marketed by the company itself. According to the website VCcircle.com, P&G has evinced interest in acquiring Chandanam.

The brands Chandanam and Mullappoo are classic case of the pulling power of brand names and these brands draw its strength from the ingredients. The brand names are derived from original generic local names. The brand is an example of a Descriptive brand. This strategy works because the consumers can easily identify the brand and its USP (a very simple use of commonsense). The company does not need to tell too much about either Chandanam or Mullappoo to a Malayali . The brand is also following the highly successful sampling strategy followed during the Manjal launch. Chandanam Samples are carried by popular magazines like Vanitha and Grihalakshmi followed by print ads and TVC's. Although the brand calls itself as Herbal soap, the soap is actually a Natural Soap.

The initial reports from the market suggests that Chandanam and Mullappoo has been well received. But the task to create volumes for these brands remains huge. The company may need heavy investment because two new brands were launched in quick succession and that too in a highly competitive market. These brands have to sustain the share of voice because otherwise the scope of these brands will be limited to a niche. Whether the company has plans to take this brand further or will it be sold of at a premium is something that has to be seen. Labels: FMCG, Heritage Brand, Descriptive Brand, Innovation, New Product Launch, Soap

Chandrika : Best Soap Nature Can Offer Brand : ChandrikaCompany : WiproAgency : FCB Ulka

Chandrika is a heritage brand. The brand came into existence in 1940. This hand made ayurvedic soap owes its existence to the founder C.R Kesavan Vaidyar who identified the potential for an ayurvedic soap way back in 1940.

From a humble beginning, the brand has come a long way withstanding the test of time. Its a brand that has survived all these years without changing any of the marketing mixes. Now after 6 decades, Chandrika is changing .

Chandrika is a 28 crore brand and has a loyal customer base in the southern states like Kerala and Tamilnadu. The brand was manufactured and marketed by SV Group till 2004. In 2004, Wipro acquired the marketing rights of this brand after a protracted battle with other suitors like Marico.Chandrika all through these years has been positioned as a traditional ayurvedic soap gifted by nature. The brand differentiates itself from other ayurvedic soaps with its 7 essential oils

Orange oil Patchouli Cinnamon leaf Wild ginger

Sandalwood oil Lime peel and Coconut oil.

The brand boasts of being made from pure coconut oil which comprises of 70% of its ingredients.

Chandrika is a handmade soap which is 100 % vegetarian. The brand faces competition from the likes of Medimix and Jeeva together with host of natural soaps and its variants. The brand has been promoted reasonably well through various media in South India, but the campaigns were ordinary. In the marketing front, Chandrika never was an aggressive player. The company was happy with the sales and loyal customer base it had. Moreover ayurvedic soap market was small and was not growing enough to warrant a change in any of the marketing mix elements. The brand did not even bother to change the packing for a long time.

However 2000 saw a rejuvenation in the ayurvedic soap market. There was a sudden interest from consumers towards green products. Now the ayurvedic soap market is estimated to be Rs 227 crore (Businessline). The increased customer interest has bought in many new players in the ayurvedic soap market. New brands like Jeeva began aggressive promotion which forced older brands like Medimix to sharpen their marketing strategy. This market also saw some big companies looking for acquiring brands to gain a foothold in the ayurvedic soap market.

The owners of Chandrika chose to sell out this brand than to fight the competition. The sale of Chandrika was a messy affair with legal battle between Marico and Wipro. At the end the war, Chandrika was acquired by Wipro. The one factor that made Chandrika attractive to suitors was its quality product properties. Wipro felt that Chandrika had qualities which are salable to a national market.

There was a visible change in the brand after Wipro took over the marketing . AlthoughWipro was careful not to tamper the product attributes, the brand changed the shape and packaging. Original Chandrika was in the cake form (rectangular) while the market was moving towards the oval soap form. Chandrika changed to oval form and the packaging was made more contemporary. The oval shape helps the soap to dry quicker thereby lasts longer. These moves were of important significance because most of the time traditional brands fail because it does not change with times. Hence the first task of Wipro was to make the brand contemporary.Along with the cosmetic changes, the brand was relaunched with a new positioning.

The challenge before Wipro was to make this traditional brand contemporary without losing its core values. The brand was stagnant hence had to attract new users especially the new generation. Then came the big idea. Chandrika took the two qualities: Natural and Exotic as its core brand values. Then came the challenge to communicate these values to the customers. The brand chose to use the brand imagery of a SPA to convey the new positioning. The big idea is to equate the bathing experience with Chandrika to an oil bath at a SPA.

The experience of a SPA is unknown to majority of Indian consumers. Most of us have seen it in TV but may not have visited a SPA. Hence the new equation with SPA takes this traditional brand to an aspirational level. In order to communicate this new positioning, the new ad had to have an ideal imagery. The agency chose the luxurious Pangkor Laut Spa Resort in Malaysia as its location for the ad.

Along with the new campaign , Chandrika also introduced a line extension - Chandrika Amrutham. The variant has an innovation in the form of an aromatic oil that comes with the soap. The soap and the oil opens the pores of the skin and gently cleanses the skin and thus creates a feeling of freshness. The brand which claims to have 18 herbs is positioned as a soap

that gives complete freshness for body and mind. Although the variant sounds interesting, it has not clicked in the market because aromatherapy is not yet popular in India. Further the combination of soap and oil is new. But there seems to be a lot of potential for this variant, if heavily promoted.

In the early nineties, the ayurvedic soap market was in shambles because of price offs and cheap products. A shift in consumer tastes has bought in more serious non-price attributes to gain importance in this market. Wipro has "applied thought" on this brand and the result is evident in the way this brand is promoted. Within a few years, Wipro was able to rejuvenate this brand and made it more contemporary. The brand is already running a new campaign these days. Its nice to see a traditional brand morphing to a new young brand.

Labels: FMCG, Heritage Brand, Product Life Cycle, Personal Care, Wipro Brand

Cinthol : Get Ready, Get Close Brand : CintholCompany: Godrej consumer products ltdAgency ; Orchard Advertising

Cinthol is a 54 year old soap brand from Godrej Consumer products ltd. This brand features in the Interbrand’s Super Brand 2004-05. This is a brand that has withstood the so-called MNC onslaught. This very own Indian brand has been carefully nurtured by the company and owns a special place in the Indian consumer’s mind.

Cinthol was launched in the year 1952. The original Cinthol comes with a red pack (still the old Cinthol is available in the market) and the unique Fougere perfume became a big hit during its launch itself. Cinthol has a market share of about 2.5% in value terms. The brand is contemporary and positioned as a masculine soap with USP of protection from body odor.

Godrej has always tried to experiment with this product, trying out new things and coming out with different variants. This has enabled the product be in tune with the changing consumer trends.

Cinthol heavily promoted the product using celebrities of the likes of Vinod Khanna and Imran Khan in 1986. In 1989 Cinthol tried to catch the lime freshness trend using Cinthol Lime which was a big hit. During 1992 it came out with Cologne. The brand went for a major overhaul in 1993-1995 with a new pack. But there was a customer outcry for the old Cinthol. Eventually the company had to relaunch the original Cinthol and the new range was branded as Cinthol International.

Original Cinthol has the USP of Deo + complexion and is said to be the first of its kind in India. Cinthol is also made of vegetable oils and not animal fats and was popular for this quality. Cinthol name is derived from SYNTHETIC + PHENOL (SYNTHOL)

In 2004, the brand embarked on a new positioning of “Get Ready ,Get Close” The brand also has extensions like Talcum Powder and Deo but these extensions were not as successful as the original version.

Cinthol was promoted using smart ads and the product quality was perceived to be excellent. But now Cinthol is lying low with virtually no advertisements. This is a great brand with huge potential.

Cinthol has to Get Ready to Get Close with the new Generation.

Labels: Branding, FMCG, Personal Care, Soap Brands, Product Innovations

Clean & Clear : Clean Clear and Confident Brand : Clean & ClearCompany : Johnson & Johnson Consumer productsAgency : DDB Mudra

Clean & Clear is the skin care brand from the house of Johnson & Johnson. The brand was relaunched marking the foray of J&J into the highly competitive skin care market in India. Clean & Clear is a global brand of J&J with a presence in over 41 countries.

The brand was initially launched by Revlon in 1957. The name was chosen because the product had no fragrance and dyes and left no residue after rinsing (source: wikipedia). In 1991 Revlon sold Clean & Clear to J&J. J&J repositioned the brand focusing more on acne control.

The brand was launched in India long back. But the brand has been languishing because of the lack of support from the company.

The company has rejuvenated the brand and ads are now running in many TV channels.Clean & Clear is targeting the teens. The brand has launched a series of products like cleansers, oil and acne control creams. etc .The brand is using the cleansers as the flagship product to attract the consumers. (source: campaign India)

Clean & Clear is being positioned as a Teen Skincare Expert. The campaigns are more functional oriented and the endorsement by Johnson & Johnson further strengthens the brand positioning.

The brand has the tagline "Clean Clear and Confident" has the potential and flexibility for the creatives to work on. In fact confidence is a virtue that will attract the attention of Teens. Teenagers view of themselves as adults. So confidence can be a platform to attract these young

minds into this brand. Remember the ad that enabled Lifebuoy’s Repositioning where the young girl says "I don't care" (about my skin) which is a show of confidence.

Indian skin care market is huge and lucrative. Its estimated that the market is worth around Rs 2000 crore. But the market is crowded with local and global brands. So its not easy for Clean & Clear to break into this market.

What Johnson & Johnson has is the enormous brand equity it has in the Indian market. The company has not quite leveraged the brand equity to other products. It had earlier burnt its fingers with the brand Savlon which may have prompted the company to focus on the baby care and female hygiene products.

With regard to the Clean & Clear, the brand should associate itself with the core brand values of the parent brand. But have to be careful about not being perceived as a baby's product.Neither the Shelf Space nor the Distribution Channel has been given a proper thought to. Most often you will find Clean & Clear bottle along with other J & J baby products and not in the personal care section of the supermarket. It is suicidal for the brand to be kept alongside baby products. In this era of competition there is no space for such mistakes. What ever promotion is done, all of which will be useless if the product is not placed properly in the retail outlets.

Marketing to youngsters is a different ballgame. The trick is to induce the trial first. Compared to the Point of Purchase displays of brands like Ponds and Lakme, Clean & Clear is almost invisible in supermarkets. In this market half-hearted efforts will accelerate failures.

J&J has the money, distribution strength and brand power to make it big in the skin care segment. The brand has done right in identifying teens as the target segment. But its marketing effort is not aggressive enough to push it through the clutter.

Labels: New Product Launch, Personal Care, Johnson and Johnson

Clearasil : For Clear Skin Brand : ClearasilCompany: Reckitt & BenckiserAgency: Euro Rscg

Clearasil was a brand that was synonymous with skin care in India. The brand occupied a distinct space in the Indian market as the ultimate cream for Pimples and acne. But over the years this brand is facing the decline stage in its product life cycle. The brand reached this pathetic state because of reasons not of its own.

Clearasil is a global brand famous world wide as a cure for acne and pimples. The brand is 56 year old. Mr Ivan Combe of USA invented the product in 1950. It was the first dermatological brand for curing pimples and acne made especially for young skin. In 1961, the brand came into the fold of Richardson Vicks. In 1985 P&G became the owner of Richardson Vicks. Later the

company sold of these brands to Boots Pharmaceuticals in the year 2000. In 2006, Reckitt & Benckiser bought the brand globally. The brand came to India in 1967.

Now you can easily see the reason why the brand failed. The brand went through too many ownership changes. Some companies did not feel that the brand was a part of its core portfolio.

For example during the ownership of Clearasil by P&G there was no investment on the brand since for the company, the personal care business was not a core area. Hence during this period the brand was not at all promoted. Even though the other owners had tried to revive the brand, frequent changes made the brand vulnerable.

Clearasil during its peak years had the reputation as a strong cream for fighting pimples and acnes. At that time there was no direct competition for Clearasil although there were many skin creams. For a family having teenage girls, Clearasil was an essential brand. But over the years, because of the lack of brand building efforts, the brand became irrelevant to the younger generation. Clearasil slowly became the brand that “my mother used”. When Boots owned the brand, lot of variants were launched. The brand changed its packaging and was extended to soaps. Rather than limiting to acne control, the brand tried to position itself as a skin care brand. But the effort did not bear fruit because by that time, the market was flooded with modern contemporary brands.

The brand is now owned by Reckitt and marketers expect that the brand will get a new lease of life. The greatest challenge before the new owners is to make the brand contemporary and relevant to the new generation. Reckitt had to find a new differentiation platform for this heritage brand. It has to tap the existing brand equity and try to create a new space for Clearasil. Globally Clearasil is positioned on the basis of Confidence through better skin. The global positioning statement is “Get Clearasil, Get Confidence”. But in India, Cinthol uses this positioning. The brand faces tough competition from the likes of Ponds, Lakme, Loreal and so on. So to find the right space is going to be tough. The brand could take the “Clear Skin” positioning where by it is not limited to controlling pimples but overall skin care. With the brand Veet also from Reckitt, the brand managers will have a tough time integrating Clearasil to the portfolio.

Related Brands: Ponds, Fair & Lovely, Vicco, Loreal, Bodyshop

Labels: Branding, Failed Brand, FMHG, Marketing Myopia, Product Life Cycle, Reckitt Benkiser

Clinic All Clear : Clear about what it does. Brand: Clinic All Clear Agency : LoweBaseline: No dandruff No hairfall

Indian Shampoo market is estimated to be worth Rs1200 crore and is hotting up like anything.This market has long been HLL forte and with a market share of around 55-60%, HLL is clearly the king.

The major brands being:Clinic Plus – Positioned as family health brandClinic All Clear – positioned as anti-dandruffSunsilk – positioned as conditioner shampoo.

With P&G getting aggressive in the Indian FMCG market which is estimated to be around Rs 50000 crore with aggressive product launches and price wars, we are now seeing marketing in practice.

Globally P&G has been the market leader in the hair-care segment. In India it was not able to replicate its marketing success. Having a share of only 15-20 %, P&G is now concentrating on building the market share and HLL is feeling the heat.

HLL has been working on the best selling Clinic Plus brand with lot of noise in the media. From Shah Rukh to Shahid, the brand was promoted by film stars. HLL also gave a regional touch by roping in Madhavan for the south as its brand ambassador.

But in the Anti dandruff segment, P&G 's Head & Shoulders is the leader with a market share of 35-36% followed by the brands of HLL. HLL having sensed that more growth is in the Anti-dandruff market has launched Clinic All Clear with a variant "Hairfall Defense" with a new packaging and positioned on twin benefit of Less hairfall and no dandruff.

HLL also roped in Bipasha and John Abraham to endorse the brand with the communication executed with perfection by Lowe.

The communication was followed with a 360 degree brand building exercise with presence in the Web, contest in association with Contests2win.com and events featuring brand ambassadors. HLL has also relaunched a beautiful site for the brand www.clinicallclear.com which was designed to catch the young with lot of games and forums.

HLL has put their marketing power behind the brand and is expected it to deliver.

Labels: Branding, FMCG, Personal Care, Shampoo, Brand Re-Building

Close Up : Kya Ap CloseUp Karthe hain? Brand : Close UpCompany: HLLAgency:O&M

CloseUp is the original youth brand in Indian toothpastes. Launched in 1975, this brand is the first gel toothpaste aiming at the youth segment. HLL through CloseUp have created and owned a segment for itself.

The 2200 crore toothpaste market that was dominated by Colgate Dental Cream needed some competition and HLL used CloseUp effectively to fight the market leader. CloseUp was a disruptive brand that changed the structure of toothpaste market in India. With the red colour and smart advertising, it forced the market leader to change its strategy and launch a gel variant.

The customer insight was that people are conscious about their breath and want to get close with each other with confidence. Based on this insight the brand was positioned on the Fresh Breath platform. The campaign was executed showing "Happy couples having fun together". Even film Theatres had corners called as "Close Up Corners". The brand had the aspirational persona in it. Close Up has used films and filmi songs to appeal to the Indian youth. Close Up was the first brand to introduce the "Self Check" of breath. The famous "HA HA" was the idea of Close Up introduced in year 1987.

In 2004 Close Up again was relaunched. During that period, the fight between Pepsodent and Colgate was hotting up. Both of these brands were owning the oral care platform and CloseUp's share was coming down. Close Up found that its mono-attribute focus is losing the sheen. HLL relaunched CloseUp With Vitamin and Flouride . Thus CloseUp offered more than Fresh Breath. It also offered Oral Care.

Close Up launched lot of variants that bombed in the market. The variants like Oxy fresh and Eucalyptus Blue failed in the market. HLL decided that only the Lemon variant will continue. The reason behind the failure of variant is because Close Up is a Sensorial brand. And in such kind of brands, variants will not work. In categories which are more rational, variants will work.

Colgate has given a run for money for Close Up with their gel variant. The "Talk To Me" campaign was a run away success. Colgate failed to capitalise on that campaign. But the gel variant took the breath out of Close Up.

Close Up had to reinvent to keep the category that it created. The account was shifted from JWT to O&M. Now the mother brand is focusing on three attributes: Fresh breath, White Teeth and Strong Teeth.

O&M brought out a campaign "Kya aap Close Up Karthe Hain" which was perceived as "cool" among the market.

The recent campaign which aims at positioning on the "Smile" factor is a damp squib, the campaign is poorly executed and treats the target market as a bunch of adolescents who will do any thing to attract the opposite sex. Indians were never bothered about the way they look, let alone how their teeth look like. That is why 33% of urban market is not using tooth pastes and 67% of rural still use the traditional way of brushing teeth like neem sticks. So when the ad shows that a young person being conscious about their teeth, it does not click.

This is a brand that had created a category for itself. It will be sad if it cannot dominate that category. But that is what marketing is all about "survival of the smartest".

Labels: Branding, Sustenance of Communication, FMCG, Personal Care, Toothpaste

Comfort : Make a Good Clothes Day Brand : ComfortCompany : HULBrand Analysis Count : 333

Comfort is the new launch of HUL in the fabric care market. Although the brand was launched in early 2008, it was recently that the brand began making noise in the media. Comfort is a global brand with its origin in UK in 1969.

Indian fabric care market is huge .The numbers available in the media is confusing. Rediff puts Rs 8800 crore market size to the laundry care industry.

The fabric care market is broadly divided into three categories

Prewash: Stain removers, softeners etcMain Wash: DetergentsPost wash: Whiteners

Obviously the Main Wash category is huge and dominates around 60-70% of the total market.

Comfort initially launched its fabric softener product in India. Although the market is nascent, there is a hidden potential for such fabric care products in the urban market. On the promotion side, the brand had been just playing imported ads from the other markets. Today they have Indianised them. The ads were in the genre of animation /claymation and is totally out of sync with the Indian consumer's tastes. Frankly speaking, the ads do not convey any meaning and thus the unclear positioning strategy of this brand.

The category is still emerging. The need for a fabric softener is not currently felt by Indian consumers. Especially the pre-wash treatment of clothes are new to Indian consumer. In the case

of expensive clothes, consumers depend on drycleaning and for ordinary daily wear, we have taken for granted that the clothes should withstand the detergents and lasts for a reasonable time.

Hence the task of this brand is to create an awareness about the need for such products. There has been products like Bambi, and Ezee which had the softeners but failed to create a category.

Another hindrance to the category's acceptance will be the time and effort for using these products. In this fast life, do the customers have time to soak the clothes in softeners first and then wash it? In some cases where the clothes are pretty expensive, consumers may take the pain but in normal course, it is unlikely.

It was the reason why Unilever introduced Comfort Pearls in UK. Comfort pearls can be put in the washing machine along with the detergent and it gives the same result. It is a smart way of making the product easy to use for the consumer.

But the way HUL has promoted this brand is a deviation from the usual best practices for which HUL is famous for. The company failed to take the local consumer tastes into consideration and just put some campaigns for the sake of it. There has been a trend in HUL to depend on foreign commercials fueled by the success of Axe campaigns. Again and again it has been proved that Indian market needs to be addressed differently and HUL is trying to implement the plan of "One message(ad) for entire world ".

Its sad to see this from a company which talked about "Dirt is good".

Labels: New Product Range, Awareness Building, Detergent and Extensions, HLL, Category Creation

Domex : 100% germ killer Brand : DomexCompany : HLLAgency : Lowe

This is a brand that is trying to challenge the unorganised sector. The household cleaner market is estimated to be around 400 crore and the phenyl market is around 200 crore. Domex is a major brand in the floor cleaning and disinfectant market in India.

Domex was launched in 1997 targeting the premium end of the market. Initially the brand was marketed as a premium specialist floor cleaner. Floor cleaners are less popular in the Indian households. Only 3% of the households use floor cleaners. 97 % use proxy products which are

the combination of phenyl, detergents, acids and bleaching powders. The purchase of floor cleaners depends on the demographic factors and the type of floors.

HLL realising the potential in this segment reduced the price of Domex from Rs 42 to Rs 22 to appeal to the mass market. HLL also tried to woo the hospital segment for Domex. It launched a co branded certification program called Domex Clean Hospitals. This project was later put on hold.

Domex has a 30% share in the Rs 30 crore specialist floor cleaner market neck to neck with Lizol from Reckitt & Benckiser. How ever in the Rs 40 crore toilet cleaning segment Domex is lagging behind the market leader Harpic which have a market share of 75-80%.

While most of the players in the household cleaning segment focus on the cleaning ability, Domex is positioning itself as a germ fighting cleaner. It promises 100% germ kill (if Domex is used undiluted) and is targeted at households where there are kids. Domex is also trying to fight Harpic using the "germ kill" platform. Harpic is focusing more on cleanliness. The ads are catchy and right on target.

Although the market for specialist cleaners is small, the ultimate objective of Domex is to capture the unorganised Phenyl segment which is a larger segment. Domex launched a Domex + Phenyl variant to capture this segment.

Domex also launched a direct to customer initiative named "Phenyl Khallas" to educate the consumers about the virtue of using Domex comparing it with local phenyl.

Domex is a bold brand trying to capture a commodity market

Labels: Branding, HLL, Commodity Branding

Doy : Clear Skin, Healthy Skin Brand : DoyCompany: VVF LtdAgency:Orchard Advertising

Doy is an interesting brand because of two reasons. First is that its an example of a contract manufacturer going in for forward integration, second it was a brand that tapped a new segment in the highly competitive Rs 5000 crore soap market.

VVF is a company that was established in 1939 metamorphosed into a largest player in the Oleo resins and personal care manufacturer. The portfolio of VVF includes the Who is Who of the personal care industry ranging from J&J to Dettol.

Doy was launched in 1998 as a soap targeted at the segment of kids aged 3-11 years. At that time, there was virtually no competition in the category with only a single brand "Kids" from J&J. Interestingly VVF was manufacturing KIDS for J&J.

VVF launched Doy in 1998. The brand was a premium soap positioned as kid's soap. The brand differentiated beautifully from other soaps using Form as its point of differentiation. In Marketing texts we have learned about differentiating based on Form and Doy is a classic example for that. The brand came in shape and form that caught the attention of Kids. According to the brand website, Doy has Five basic variants:

Pink PrincessGreen PixieSamba LionPurple MermaidMambo Elephant.

Later the brand included more variants likeLucky DuckBathmanPatch Eye etc.

The unique shape of this soap made the brand very popular among the kids. Although the market share figures are not available, one feels that the brand had a reasonable run.

The brand's success is very much attributable to the right segmentation. When we look at the soap segment, J&J's soap is primarily targeted at infants and kids aged till 3. After that in most households, the kids use the same soap as the elders. Here is the gap that the brand has identified.Not only that the brand used its form as a differentiator, it had its positioning based on its product qualities. Doy uses Olive oil as a major ingredient. Olive oil has many properties that suits skin care. Doy is positioned as a soap that makes the skin healthy. The brand has a tagline "Clear Skin, Healthy Skin. Initially the brand was promoted using TVC's

Then the brand did some unthinkable act. It extended itself to an adult brand with the brand name Doy Care. The company launched Doy Care Creme: a cream based premium soap targeted at young women. The brand was aiming at the premium segment of the soap market. The brand also had a unique shape like the kids variants. Later came another variant aimed at the young girl's segment Doy Care Aloevera.

Extending a Kids brand into adults was some kind of a suicide mission on the part of the brand manager. It confused both the consumers: Kids and young girls.

Regarding the parent brand Doy, the company is not at all aggressive in the market. Except for some sporadic ad campaigns, the brand is adopting a laid back attitude. There are news reports of many below the line promotions for this brand, but compared to its peers, the share of voice is very low.

With lot of competitors viewing this segment seriously, Doy better start getting more active. One comforting fact for Doy was that J&J 's venture into the Kid's segment with the brand KIDS was a failure despite its heavy campaigning and the backing of the equity of J&J. Now we can see that Johnson & Johnson is now communicating to the mothers that its baby soap can be used for Kids also. Pears is another strong brand eying this segment. The brand had a reasonable success in the TG also.

Doy failed to take advantage of the opportunity it had created in the kid segment. Primarily because of the lack of heavy investment in brand building.

Labels: Innovation, Product Line Extension, Innovation, Personal Care, Soap

Everyday Dairy Whitener: For a Great Tasting Tea Brand : EverydayCompany: Nestle

Indian milk powder market is at a nascent stage. While the dairy market in India is a huge market, milk powders were not able to garner a major share in this market. While the loose milk market is estimated to be around Rs 470 billion, the processed milk market is only Rs 10000 crores. Milk powder market is only 7% of the whole milk market. 46% of the milk produced in India is consumed in the liquid form while 47% are used for making products like ghee etc only 7% is used for making western products like butter milk powder etc.

There are two types of milk powders

a. Whole milk powderb. Skimmed milk powder.

Everyday is a major player in the Dairy whitener category that is a part of the skimmed milk category. The dairy whiteners are used for tea making.

Everyday was launched in 1986 and has now a market share of around 22%. The category is facing the major obstacle of consumer perception towards this category. The consumers perceive that loose milk is fresh. And with abundant milk supply, milk powders were able to penetrate only 4.7% of the entire market.

While Everyday faces stiff competition from Amul's Amulya and Britannia's Milkman, the major competition is from the ordinary milk. Now consumers use milk powder as a standby for packaged milk and also for making tea and coffee. Although, milk powders have the advantage of shelf life and convenience, it is not enough to fight the competition from packaged milk.

The only strategy is to add value to the milk powder other than the expected attributes of convenience and shelflife. Although Amulya tried to differentiate focusing on the "free from insolubles" it is not enough to expand the category. Conventional marketing theory says either expand the market or increase the usage /usage situations.

When you look at this product, the usage right now is limited, one cannot use this other than making tea, that is a major drawback for milk powders. Hence within these limitations, Everyday has to add more value. The price is expensive compared to loose milk so without adding more

value, the market will not expand. Everyday has launched a new "low calorie" variant of the whitener. Also an extension to the ghee category has been made.

The milk powder market, if it has to grow may have to show that it is a better option compared to the liquid form. Adding more nutrients, variants and identifying multiple uses are the only option in this nascent market.

Labels: Food Brands, Brand Extensions, Nestle

Eyetex : Eye On The Next Generation Brand : EyetexCompany: Aravind Laboratories

Eyetex is one of India's oldest Kajal. Kajal is the traditional form of eyeliners. It is a Collyrium manufactured traditionally using natural ingredients. Eyetex was started in 1938 by Mr Srivasudevan and in 1958, the company was taken over by Mr. AV Srinivasan.

Eyetex brand is one of the largest selling Kanmaye or Kajal in India. The brand is a small player in the Rs 2.2 Billion Indian cosmetic industry. The brand is facing competition from established players like Lakme, Revlon and other international brands and is faced with the problem of the product relevance in the changing Indian psychographics.

The tradition of applying Kajal to the eyes dates back to centuries. Even mythology has references of this product. Traditionally grandmothers used to apply kajal to the infants to prevent eye ailments. Ladies used to apply kajal using the fingers and the Kajal used to give a smokey appearance to the eyes.

Eyetex have been considered as a trusted brand in this segment. The brand although not much advertised, had immense positive word of mouth publicity and the brand has been passed on over the generations.

The brand is now facing the threat from the changing lifestyle of its TG. The place of Kajal has been taken over by the modern Eyeliners. With international brands having the full range of these products that too in different colors and features, the survival of the traditional Kajal is at stake.

Eyetex is positioned as a trusted brand that is prepared from natural oils. With little or no promotions, the brand has a huge recall among the Indian ladies but with the new generation, Eyetex is not much popular.

Eyetex too has tried to change with times. From the traditional round shaped pack, it had changed to user friendly stick and eyeliners also. But the brand did not change with time. Eyetex is still

banking on the trust and the equity of its customers who are fast becoming old. When there is a Revelon or Lakme eyeliner will the new generation pick Eyetex?

Compared to modern eyeliners, Kajal can be messy and there is a chance of the kajal spreading unevenly or smudge. With the modern eyeliners offering waterproof eyeliners and with different colors and innovative extensions like Loreal Voluminous Mascara, Eyetex may find itself irrelevant for the modern consumer.

The silver lining is that for the ordinary Indian women who may not have graduated to eyeliners and mascaras, Eyetex brand is still relevant and the price so affordable. Eyetex may have missed the urban kid but the core segment may be still there. Also the fact that how many girls in the Urban Area use Kajal on a daily basis. Normally Kajal is used only on occasions.

Eyetex has also taken a bold step to enter into color cosmetics with the brand Dazzler, competing with the "Who is Who" of the global cosmetic industry. It is not clear whether Dazzler will be able to leverage the equity of Eyetex. Eyetex could have consolidated its position by introducing water proof eyeliners and modern "eye beauty care" solutions rather than venturing into categories that are too tough to crack.

The task of Eyetex should be to make the brand relevant to the next/new generation. It is going to be expensive and in this case a celebrity endorsement will help the brand to a great extent.

Labels: Old Brand, Life Cycle, Need for Innovation and Brand Push, Personal Care

Fair &Lovely Menz Active: Change Your Story Brand : FAL Menz ActiveCompany: HLLAgency: Lowe

2006 saw the launch of Fair & Lovely’s brand extension Menz Active in the Indian market. Menz Active is HLL’s reply to the much hyped and much discussed launch of Fair & Handsome by Emami Limited.

In 2005 when Emami launched India’s first fairness cream for men. But why fairness cream for men? Research suggests that 28 % of all fairness cream users are men. That makes sense for a serious brand in that segment isn’t it? Indian fairness cream market is worth around Rs 1000 crores.

Fair and Handsome made noise in the market for two reasons First it was a shock. Secondly the

ads were lousy. Lousy and ridiculous. But it served the purpose. It became the talk of the town. In view of this, the launch of FAL Menz Active proves that Emami’s brand made business sense.

HLL is using its most famous brand to endorse the new brand. FAL is being used as an endorser to create a positive impression on the potential users. But in both these products, the execution of the message is some thing that is not FAIR.It is true that men like to look good, fair and handsome. I feel that contrary to popular belief modern (or otherwise) men are not shy about trying to look good. It is a fact that marketers seldom looked into men’s shaving kit. Marketing myopia made them believe that it contained and will contain only shaving products. Hence no products for men and it became a self fulfilled prophecy.

Since there are no face creams for men, we started using products meant for ladies. When men men use soap, shampoo, powder, deo, perfumes, moisturizers, shaving cream, hair gel, after-shave, paste etc., then why not face creams?

Now with the launch of Menz Active, this market for men’s face creams is going to witness lot of activity. But the sad part is that both these products failed to grasp the essence of men’s psychology. Men’s product cannot be marketed using lousy marketing campaigns. It had to be Macho (Pulsar) or emotional (Raymond) or Sexy (Axe). But a successful marketer like HLL has messed with Menz Active by putting it in the same league as Fair and Handsome.

It would have created more impact if Menz Active used subtle message to promote this product. Given a choice, men prefer a macho and sexy product. If Gillette extends it to face creams, Menz Active will have tough time. Competition is already in the form of Garnier. Menz Active is positioned along the same line as FAL when it was launched. Menz uses the Statement “Change Your Story”. The ad features a stuntman succeeding to become the model after using the brand. It is a typical “Before & After” kind of stuff. Rather than the message of “using and then becoming successful” “successful and using the product” appeals more to men.

This is a segment that is worth watching. Will Menz Active Change the story?

Labels: Branding. Brand Extension, HLL, Personal Care

Fair and Handsome : Be Fair , Be Handsome Brand : Fair & HandsomeCompany : EmamiAgency : Situations

Fair and Handsome is a brand that created the Men's fairness cream segment in India. Launched in 2005, the brand became the creater and the market leader of this segment. Emami was looking for ways to challenge the Fair and Lovely brand from HUL. Emami had a brand Naturally Fair which was small compared to FAL.

Emami went for serious customer research which showed that 25-30% of customers of Fairness creams were men. That customer insight paved way for a specialized brand for men. Fair and Handsome is targeted at young urban men aged 15- 35. The brand was launched with much promotion across visual media.

The brand is being positioned as the fairness cream that can make men handsome and also attractive to girls. The brand uses the tagline: Be fair Be Handsome . Whether the campaign is good or not, after two years of launch , Fair and Handsome is worth Rs 45 Crores and now commanding a market share of over 30-40% in the segment.

The brand has to be appreciated for creating a category. It is true that men use creams meant for women. Hence there wass a logic in creating a brand for men in this category. The total fairness market is estimated to be around Rs 900 crore and men's segment is around Rs 160 crore. Although Fair and Handsome has gained the first mover advantage, already competition is hotting up. HUL has extended FAL into men's category with a variant Menz Active. Nivea and Loreal also have moved into this segment. Unlike Fair and Handsome (FAH), other brands are little subtle in positioning their brands as a fairness cream.

Nivea uses the term Whitening while Loreal positions the men's range as Men Expert and has a range of skin solutions for men. However HUL directly positions its Menz Active as a fairness cream but the target market is older men aged 25-35. These brands face the issue of the reluctance of men to be seen using a cream because cosmetics traditionally is viewed as a category meant for females. Situations are changing and the Metrosexuals are least bothered about openly caring about their looks. The changing face of modern man is definitely indicating a big opportunity to these brands.

In the face of emerging competition Emami has moved aggressively to promote Fair & Handsome by roping in Bollywood icon ShahRukh Khan as its brand ambassador.

According to a report in agencyfaqs, SRK was initially skeptical about endorsing a fairness brand for PR reasons, However Emami was able to convince SRK into endorsing this brand. Fair & Handsome is the first brand to target men. It was followed by Fair and Lovely extending itself to men's variant Men's Active. Now this segment is seeing lot of activity .

Fair and Handsome is banking on its 5 power Fairness System:

Double Strength Peptide complex which was developed in collaboration with Activor Corp. USA.

Sunguard: Preventd Sunburn Stress Busters: Prevents Wrinkles Anti Bacplus: Anti-bacterial Herbo Cool: Herbal Ingredients.

The brand website also gives an interesting chart that explains why fairness is important.This chart in a way explains the Brand's thought process.

Fair and Handsome retains the original tagline: “Be Fair, Be Handsome" in the new campaign also.

The brand gives an impression that the users are having a lack of confidence and feels insecure and have less self esteem. Again the brand assumes that Fairness gets women attracted towards men.

I seems that FAH has got its assumptions wrong. By depicting the main hero of the ad as a person with low self esteem, the brand is repelling lot of self assured men who wants to take care of their skin rather than attracting chicks. Gone are the days where Indian men had a complex about the skin color influenced by the long oppression by the British. Now the urban male is a more evolved one. Men are more exposed to sun and dust and the traditional creams may not be effective for men. Hence such brands should address the host of issues faced by men rather than talking about being attractive to girls. FAH by default is restricting itself to the Fairness proposition.

Even when you are addressing the issue of fairness, the brand has to project itself as an aspirational brand rather than as one for losers. Even the new campaign fails terribly in execution. The new campaign and the brand ambassador in SRK may spike the sale of this brand for a while, but in order to move up the ladder, FAH has to project itself as a winner rather than a brand for losers.

Labels: New Segment, Brand Laddering, Celebrity Endorsement, Innovation, Personal Care, Product Line Extension

Fairever : Natural Fairness Brand : FaireverCompany : CavinkareAgency : Fountainhead/Orchard

Fairever is a challenger brand. It was the first brand to challenge the market leader Fair & Lovely. This brand was once touted by the media as the DAVID who fights against the Goliath.Fairever was launched in 1998. Initially launched in South India, this brand went national a year after. It was the time when Fair & Lovely (FAL) was ruling the Indian fairness cream market. The phenomenal success of FAL and the marketing might of HLL scared off many potential rivals. It was interesting to note that ever since its launch FAL never faced any competition from any players till Cavinkare decided to take on the behemoth.

Unlike many challenger brands from small companies, Fairever was never a price warrior. At one point of time Fairever was expensive than FAL. The courage of this small brand to standup and challenge a market leader with clear non-price positioning makes Fairever a special brand.

From the launch, Fairever was clear about its positioning and differentiation. The brand was positioned on the basis of its main ingredients Saffron and Milk. Saffron is traditionally considered to be a fairness enhancing ingredient. So a product with the unique blend of Saffron and Milk was appealing to the target segment. With in six months of the launch, Fairever garnered a neat 6 percent of the fairness market. Fairness market in India is huge with a market size of Rs 800-900 crore. FAL holds more than 70% of the total market.

The saffron based positioned worked well with the brand. The packaging and the excellent use of brand elements like the Color gave this brand an upmarket look. But the ads of Fairever was predictable and was revolving around Girl becoming fair and then attractive to men. But it was Fairever who broke this cliché ads and turned that attention to Achievement rather than Fairness. But in the ad war that ensued, FAL took over the concept of Women Empowerment and owned the positioning. Fairever also faced some legal issues with FAL. HLL challenged that Fairever has violated the Patent formulation of FAL. But later the matter was amicably settled out of court.

Fairever was a brand that has worked hard to survive in the market. The success of Fairever prompted many players to enter the market. This made differentiation difficult for the brand. Fairever then chose the Green Path. In 2005, Fairever went Natural. The brand was relaunched with Natural tag. The brand also launched a premium Fairness cream sub-branded Manthra aimed at the Upmarket customers.

These moves along with heavy ad spends have ensured that Fairever carved a 12 % market share Nationally and 17% share in the South India. Fairever uses the popular South Indian actress Asin as its brand ambassador.

Another interesting fact about Cavinkare is that the company is not in favour of Brand extensions. Cavinkare feels that new brands works better than extending a successful brand. The company is also keeping the positioning consistent for Fairever. This careful nurturing has made this brand, the second largest brand in the companies portfolio.

Labels: Celebrity Endorsement, Consistent Positioning, FMCG, Personal Care

Hamam : Trusted Family Soap Brand : HamamCompany: HLLAgency: Lowe

Hamam is one of the oldest soap brands in India. The brand came into existence in 1934 and over this 73 years has successfully built a space for itself in the consumer's mind. The brand has successfully fought the competition and the changed environment. The brand was owned by Tata Oil Mills (TOMCO) and later became the HLL brand when HLL acquired Tomco.

Hamam is a natural soap .Although many reports put this brand as a herbal soap, Hamam is more of a natural soap than herbal. The brand has a market share of about 9-10 percent of the Rs 4000 crore Indian soap market. The brand has a huge market share (more than 25%) in the Tamilnadu market.

When HLL implemented the Power Brand strategy, Hamam survived the axe because of the strong equity it had among the consumers. Hence the axe fell on Rexona which was also a natural soap with the same positioning as Hamam.

Hamam was positioned initially as a complete natural family soap. The brand was built on the Trust factor. The earlier ads typically showed Mother and child with mother explaining the meaning of Trust using the example of Hamam. The brand may have acquired this quality from its original creators TATA.

Although the brand was able to manage the PLC, it had its share of problems. At one point, HLL was facing the competition from Herbal/ayurvedic soaps. HLL tried to position Hamam as a herbal soap by changing the composition by adding Neem ingredient and reducing the TFM. But that reduction of TFM disqualified Hamam as a soap and the brand lost many of their loyal customers.

2005 saw HLL repositioning the brand by adding more ingredients. The brand now talks about having a Perfect Balance of Neem, Tulsi and Alovera Extracts. The packaging also has been made more contemporary and the shape of the soap has been made oval. 2006-07 saw a change in the communication of the brand. The brand no longer talks about trust but now positioning itself as a beauty enhancing soap. The brand has now come out with a variant that contains green gram, turmeric and sandal .The color of the soap also has changed to sandal from the traditional green color. This move is a marked deviation from the age old positioning of the brand as a natural green soap.

Hamam for years has been able to sustain its market position because of the strong brand loyal customers .The brand now wants to be relevant to a new consumers (younger generation). The brand also faces stiff competition from a plethora of brands offering the same ingredients and benefits. The latest repositioning exercise is aimed to keep the brand relevant and also leverage the brand equity it had built up over these years.

Labels: FMCG, Personal Care, Product Life Cycle, Product Line Extension

Lifebuoy: Thandurusti hain vaham Brand : LifebuoyCompany ; HLLAgency : Lowe

This is a brand that was launched in 1895. Well that is pretty old isn't it? Looking at the life of Lifebuoy is interesting for a marketing person. The brand has reinvented itself and that too successfully.

The brand was initially positioned in the health and value platform. Targeted at the male with a unique jingle "thandurusti ki raksha kartha hai lifebuoy, lifebuoy hai jahan thandurusti hai vaham". The campaigns showed football players and athletes using the soap and the jingle followed made it a soap for the male. The soap was brick red and carbolic ingredient with a unique smell (chryselic perfume) that distinguished itself from other feminine brands and making it the largest selling soap brand in the world

In the year 2002 the company changed the positioning and a historic one at that. The brand was no longer a masculine brand. The brand was repositioned as a family brand. The brand was no more carbolic, the perfume changed and new ingredient Active B which eliminate harmful germs was introduced. The campaign was "a pretty girl who was teased for having a pimple then after using Lifebuoy Gold, retorts I don't care" was an instant hit among the public. The company maintained the health platform but targeted at the family so that the brand usage goes up. It was a risk that no marketer will take for a brand that was there for 100 years. It was major risk taken on the part of HLL.

2004 also saw another repositioning for the brand. The target was the "discerning housewife" and the positioning was "health protection for family and me". The new campaign by Lowe was right on target and still does not dilute the age old positioning of Health and freedom from germs.

The brand personality also changed from health to warmer, versatile and socially responsible. HLL has also given this brand a rural thrust through its CSR initiative "Lifebuoy Swasth Chetana". UNICEF under its health initiatives have found that the habit of using soaps to wash hands can reduce the chance of diarrhea among the kids dramatically. UNICEF needed the soaps and HLL agreed to supply it. Now 70mn families and 18000 villages are covered under this initiative.

This is a unique brand that has survived the test of time and "ideas of marketing professionals". Still the age old jingle is fresh in the minds of the consumers " Thandurusti ki raksha kartha hai Lifebuoy, Lifebuoy hai jaham Thandursty hai vahan Lifebuoy........."

Labels: Iconic Brand, Big Idea, Product Performance

Jeeva : The Complete Ayurvedic Soap Brand : JeevaCompany: Jyothi Laboratories LtdAgency: Situations Advertising and Marketing

Jeeva is a niche brand in the Rs 700 crore Ayurvedic soap market in India. The brand which was launched in 2002 is still restricted to the South Indian markets. Jeeva is the first initiative of Jyothi Labs into the highly competitive personal care market. Jyothi Lab which is famous for its Ujala Whitener will be fighting with the giants like HLL in this market. Jeeva competes with Medimix and Chandrika in the ayurvedic category. The market for ayurvedic soap is cluttered with all major brand's having an extension in this category.

Like all the brands of Jyothi lab, Jeeva was launched in the market with a clear differentiation. The brand boasted of 27 herbal ingredients that will smoothen, nurture, soften and deodorize the skin making it younger and beautiful. The brand is the brainchild of Mr Ramachandran MD of Jyothi Lab. According to the company website, the brand is the result of seven years of research by the R&D team.

Jeeva was launched with much fanfare in Kerala. Jyothi Lab always uses Kerala market as its launch market. The company used the famous Southern Film Diva Simran to endorse the brand and the ad talked about only one thing: 27 ingredients. This differentiation was significant because at that time the market was dominated by Medimix which was positioned as a Curative soap. Medimix was well established and to take on that heritage brand, one needs to have one Big Idea.

All though there is no significance about the number 27, Jeeva tried to create a magic around the number. To a certain extent the positioning worked. The ads ensured a fair amount of trail purchase for the brand. Although some marketers say that the focus on 27 ingredients is not sustainable because it can be bettered by another player. But for the launch the brand, the focus on the number has worked magically. The brand uses the tagline "The complete Ayurvedic Soap" which is further reinforced by the focus on 27 ingredients. The brand is targeting SEC B,C,D segment of the market.

But after a while the brand became silent in the market. Last year saw lot of action in the ayurvedic soap market with the relaunch of Chandrika , Hamam and Medimix. The category moved from pure ayurvedic to Naturals.

Jyothi Lab had big plans for Jeeva brand. According to the company website, the brand is going to be an Umbrella brand endorsing a range of personal care products . The first signs of that strategy became visible in 2007 when the company launched the first extension of Jeeva brand: Jeeva Naturals.

Jeeva Naturals is white soap that has coconut milk and ordinary milk protein extracts as the ingredients. The new product is positioned on the nourishment platform and currently TVC and print campaigns are on in the Southern States. The ads talk about the brand primarily as a beauty soap.

Jeeva is a challenger brand in the Soap market. But to sustain and grow in this market, the brand has to identify a theme or a positioning strategy that is sustainable.

Labels: Celebrity Endorsements, Product Mix, Creative Launch

Liril : Bring back the Liril girl Brand : LirilCompany : HLLAgency : Lowe

If you are looking for a case of an iconic Brand that is going to be killed by poor marketing strategy, look no further, here is Liril for you.

Launched in 1975, this is a brand that built a segment or should I say category for it self in the Indian market. The brand is also the testimony to the genius of India's Ad man Alyque Padamsee. This is what he says about the Liril Brand

The name Liril had been registered by Hindustan Lever from a list sent to them by Unilever in London. Levers were very keen that the soap have striations, wiggly stripes of different colours running across the tablet. I recommended the tablet be blue - because waterfall is blue with white striations. Hindustan Lever was very excited and produced 1,000 tablets for testing.

At this point Derk Wooller, the Marketing Controller of Hindustan Lever's soaps division, stepped in and suggested we add the freshness of lime to our story. He felt that though the waterfall had tremendous emotional appeal, Liril needed a rational ingredient to clinch the deal. I was not averse to this but suggested that we do an `As marketed' test: Blue Liril versus Green Liril with limes. I was wrong and Wooller was right. The rest is history."Alyque Padamsee in his book A Double Life.

The brand was a run away success and the Liril girl became the talk of the town. The brand has been consistent with its communication and the effective use of brand imagery. Liril was positioned on the freshness platform right from its birth. The girl and the waterfall with the unique jingle ensured that the freshness is experienced by the audience. Liril can be called as an experiential brand and the communication perfectly supported that.

Liril did not change its positioning for 25 years although the models changed, the brand communication was consistent. Then some nut in the company or the agency thought that they should change the communication that worked so effectively. The rest as I say it "Liril became history".

Liril has changed the imagery and the jingle in the name of freshness .The new jingle or the ad never had that freshness. That is why Liril had to change the Ads twice with in a span of five years. Mind you Liril never changed its imagery or the Jingle for 25 years...

Reports say that Liril had to change because of its stagnant market share. The reasons for declining market share can be attributed to the fact that the brand failed to understand the changing consumer expectations. There was a flurry of brand launches during the past 10 years and Liril was sleeping all the time "may be resting on the laurels". It should have held on its positioning of “freshness” and not change its communication but by communicating more, developing variants, bringing in flanking brands or variants and thus owning the whole segment for itself.

But it never happened , Liril tried to introduce the Icy mint variant very late and that too with a different jingle and imagery. We knew that the Old Liril had died. HLL could have used the same communication strategy. Then came the horrible experiment of Orange Liril with a stupid Jingle OOFYUMMA....

The product failed. Then came the new campaign involving a couple and a new jingle "La-ira -ela", the ad was good but where is Liril?

Like Onida , Liril has to come back with the old imagery and old jingle that made liril what it Is (or WAS?)

Labels: Branding, Failed Brands, Marketing Myopia, Personal Care

Lux : Celebrating Beauty Brand : LuxCompany: HLLAgency : JWT

Lux is a super brand that celebrated beauty across the world since 1925. The soap which was endorsed by the beautiful film stars came to India in 1929. Lux has been the largest selling personal wash brand in the country.

Lux has effectively managed its PLC through careful brand building and changing the product in line with the changing consumer. The brand is positioned as the favorite soap of Film stars and

has been consistent in terms of communication and positioning. The brand is also the classic example of successful celebrity endorsement. The first celebrity to endorse the brand was Leela Chitnis . From Leela to Aishwarya , From Madhuri to Madhubala, Lux has been endorsed by more than 50 film stars (a sort of record isn't it). But in all these communications, the celebrity never shadowed the brand.

Lux was always changing with the times. Whether it be in terms of the product or in terms of promotions, the brand kept the consumers excited. Lux has two basic extensions in terms of segments. Lux beauty soap and International Lux.

Lux was initially a premium brand. Lux was being projected as an aspirational brand and the endorsements by stars further reinforced the positioning. The increasing competition in the soap category forced Lux to rethink on its targeting strategy. The brand had a choice either to compromise on market share and uphold the premium positioning or to retain the market share and dilute the positioning. Lux wanted to ensure that the brand be positioned as premium but also did not wanted to compromise on the share. Thus was born the International Lux which is the premium variant and the affordable segment was catered by Lux beauty soap.

Lux beauty soap is available in Four variants: Exotic Flower Petals, Fruit Extracts, Almond and Sandal. Lux has a common ingredient of Milk cream in all the variants.

Although the brand enjoyed success and has sustained its leadership position, of late this brand has been facing issues of stagnation. The stagnation is caused by the plethora of brands competing for the market share and the scope for differentiation has reduced to almost nil. Together with the rush for celebrities to endorse anything from salt to cars, Lux is finding it difficult to sustain growth in this cluttered market.

In 2005 Lux celebrated its 75th anniversary sparking of a controversy. Deviating from its tradition of roping in Bollywood Divas, this time none other than Shah Rukh Khan endorsed Lux. The ads created instant controversy with marketers discussing whether the brand has suddenly become MALE. Paul Newman also has endorsed Lux soap which shows that Lux makes such stunts to excite the market. Whatever be the controversy, the brand again succeeded in creating excitement in the market. Some argue that HLL was testing a new positioning to appeal to male users while others say that it was a one time endorsement to break the clutter. For marking the 75th year Lux came out with a celebration range endorsed by Kareena Kapoor. The Celebration range too created news because of its variant: Chocolate Seduction. These innovative products created lot of excitement that ensured that Lux remained in the top of mind of the consumers. Another variant is the Lux with Orchid which looked cool in terms of packaging and looks.

Over these years, the positioning of Lux also evolved. Earlier the brand used the positioning "Beauty soap of Film stars". But as the customer evolved, the positioning lost its charm because customers began to doubt whether the film stars actually used this brand. Taking a cue from the customers, Lux changed the positioning appealing to the need for becoming a star. The new positioning is communicated with the tagline "Bring out the star in you". Although worldwide the brand is being endorsed by film stars, the actual package usually contains picture of international models and not film stars.

While Lux beauty soap is sticking to the age old positioning, Lux international has moved from being a soap brand to a skin care brand. Lux International has the tagline "Not Just Soap, Its Skin Care". Under the Lux umbrella brand, HLL has introduced variety of personal wash products like body shampoo, hair shampoo etc.

Lux is the classic example of HLL's marketing genius. The brand will experiment and explore more in the days to come....

Labels: Celebrity Endorsements, Product Life Cycle, Brand Life Infusions, Personal Care

Medimix : Taking Care of Skin Problems Brand : MedimixCompany: CholayilAgency: Grey

Medimix is the second largest Ayurvedic soap brand in the country. This brand is a pure play ayurvedic soap and has been around in the Indian market for more than 37 years. The brand was born in 1969 by a virtually unknown company Cholayil. Over the years, Medimix has grown to become a Rs 140 crore brand. The brand was targeted mainly at SEC B, C segment.

Medimix is a pure ayurvedic herbal soap and take pride in its herbal heritage. This brand can be said to be the pioneer in the herbal soap category. The brand was one of the few brands that had positioned itself as a herbal soap when the market was full of synthetic soaps. The brand had 18 herbs in it and was positioned as a curative/medicinal soap. The brand was even prescribed by doctors for skin diseases. Medimix is the only brand which reveals all the name of its ingredients in the packaging. The name Medimix was derived by combining Medicine + Mix. Because of its quality and medicinal properties, the brand has around 30% market share in the ayurvedic soap market and has carved out a place in the Rs 660 crore herbal soap market. It has a 3.2% share in the total soap market.

Medimix was marketed heavily in South India. But often this brand fell into the trap of Sales Promotion driving the sales. The sales dropped sharply when the sales promotion schemes got over and company had to rely more on the sales promotion activities. The brand also went into totally unrelated Brand Extension into cough syrup category with Medimix cough syrup and also extended into Coconut oil segment: both of these extensions were not successful.

In 2006, the brand took a major initiative to take the brand forward. Medimix had realised competition getting intense in the soap market with brands coming out with variants and also taking the Natural/ayurvedic route. Although Medimix had the heritage, there was the issue of brand not being noticed by younger generation. Brands like Jeeva began to challenge the ingredient theory by promoting its 27 herbal ingredients vs Medimix's 18 herbs.

In 2006 Medimix initiated a relaunch exercise for Medimix. Medimix changed its packaging after 36 years into a new contemporary packaging designed by Bangalore based Ray+ Kesavan Designs. New advertisement campaigns were launched intended to appeal the brand to the younger crowd. According to company officials , the brand wants to be appealing to Mass Urban and younger crowd which is a tough task for any brand. The brand also came out with two variants: Sandal and glycerin to attract the Naturals segment. The brand also is tying to appeal as a beauty soap with out diluting its medicinal curative positioning. The brand also wants to appeal

to SEC A segment.

The company wants to take the brand national and make it a Rs 500 crore brand. The competition is intense but Medimix has a heritage to bank upon. May be in this case the brand may have to seek a celebrity push to reach the next level.

Labels: Heritage Brand, Brand Extension (unsuccessful), Product Line Extension

Set Wet : A cool cool brand Brand : Set WetCompany : Paras Pharma

Set Wet hair styling gel, brand is from Paras Pharma. Paras is a company that dares to experiment and a smart marketer. Paras clearly identifies unmet needs and satisfies them effectively. Take the case of Moov and Itch guard, the successful brands from Paras which are leaders in their respective niches.

Set Wet is such a bold step. The brand which has already made people look up with its smart advertising, aims to establish itself in the Rs400 crore male grooming market which is growing at a fast pace. The fact that 15-34 year old males are now earning big money (thanks to IT and ITES), it is a market no marketer can discard.

Except for Gillette and HLL & Sara Lee, there are no serious players in the male grooming market. Gillette while dominates the shaving products market, HLL created and owns the Deo market with AXE and Rexona. There was a brand OldSpice which was synonymous with after shave in India. The hair grooming market is dominated by Brylcreem from Sara Lee TTK. Set Wet is trying to compete head on with Brylcream which has a market share of 75% in the hair cream market.

Paras wanted to have a brand in the male grooming segment and made a perfect start with Set Wet which has also been extended to perfumes. The perfume market is valued at about Rs1800 crore dominated by foreign brands at the upper end of the market.

Perfumes and deos were products that were not popular in India mainly because of cultural factors. We are not much bothered about the odour and bad odour was never considered as a taboo until HLL came and taught us that smelling bad is not good. The deo market saw a jump from 0 to 72 crores in just 24 months.

The void in the Indian perfume market gives tremendous opportunity for a product like Set Wet. The campaigns of Set Wet has an international look since we Indians consider any thing PHOREN as the best. Positioned as a Cool and naughty brand, Set Wet has a lot of potential.

Labels: New Product Category, Market Niche, Branding, Personal Care

Pepsodent : Dishum Dishum

Brand : Pepsodent

Pepsodent was launched in 1993 by HLL to capture the market from Colgate. Launched in the platform of Germ fighting property, Pepsodent now has a market share of 17% in the Rs 2200 crore oral care market.

Pepsodent has experimented with its positioning all through its life. Initially Pepsodent was launched in the highly successful "long lasting protection for hours after brushing" platform. In 1999-2000 Pepsodent tried to fight the market leader Colgate by shifting to Benefits of germ fighting rather than Process of germ fighting. But the positioning failed and Pepsodent had to come back to the old positioning by 2001.

Pepsodent included the germ indicator to its pack in 2002 followed by an innovative Dental Insurance campaign which reinforced the germ fighting position.

HLL was trying hard to break the fort of Colgate which was holding a massive 45-50% market share in the oral care market. Although Pepsodent and Close Up had together around 32% of the market, it was not enough. Then came the regional brands like Ajanta and Babool which really made a dent in the market share of the leaders.

HLL struck back with the famous Dishum Dishum campaign (that won many accolades for the agency). The insight for this campaign was that Mothers were really worried about the eating habits of their kids. From that insight came the Big Idea "let Pepsodent fight germs for You". The campaign and the smart pricing virtually killed the regional brands in the oral care market.

Pepsodent knew that they should expand the total market of tooth paste and decided to increase the market by increasing the usage of the product. Thus came the Bhoot campaign that is currently on air.

Pepsodent aims to teach the kids to brush at night (with Pepsodent of course). Research shows that brushing teeth at night can reduce chances of tooth decay by 30%.

If HLL is to be believed, 12 lakhs kids are brushing teeth at night now and mothers are happy. Pepsodent is a brand that has been carefully crafted although it struggled to find its soul, now the brand is all set to take off.

Labels: Innovative positioning, Branding, FMCG

Secret Temptations : Sorry Boys Brand : Secret TemptationsCompany : McNroe Chemicals ( Marketed by Future Brands)Agency : Euro Rscg

After spreading a fire of controversy with the brand Wild Stone, McNroe Chemicals is back with another deodorant brand named "Secret Temptations". The new brand of deo which is targeting the girls is already making noise in the visual media.

Secret Temptations is marketed by Future Brands which is the brand-consultancy division of the Future Group. By associating with India's largest retail company, the brand ensured presence across India. With the backing of this large retail giant, the only thing that Secret Temptations has to concentrate is to build the brand.

According to Exchange4Media website, Secret Temptations is a popular brand in Eastern India. It was in 2009 that the brand has made a national launch.

The launch of a deo targeting the female segment makes sense because there is a potential for a deo brand in this segment. Rexona, Cuticura, Fa and Spinz are the major players in this category. And none of these players are aggressive in the market in terms of brand building and promotions. Rexona is banking on its past glory and other players are silent in the market.

The market is flooded with imported brands and the threat of Indian brands are from these imports rather than the domestic competition.

Secret Temptations is targeting the teens and youngsters. Although the name Secret Temptations can give the brand a sexy connotation, the company has deliberately decided to go decent about this brand compared to the controversies created by WildStone brand.

The launch campaign of Secret Temptations is a good one, clearly communicating the brand's promise.

The idea of guys being "floored" by the fragrance and the girl playing hide & seek gives the brand a sense of 'cool'. The fact that the girl chooses not to reveal the identity to the "impressed" guy also makes a point – which will be liked by the target audience. At last there is an ad which breaks the usual pattern.

The brand also has a cool tagline "Sorry Boys" which is inline with the positioning of the brand. While most of the female personal grooming brands are centred around the concept of "impressing guys" theme, it is refreshing to see a brand towing a different path – girls playing "hard to get" .

It will be interesting to see how the market leader Rexona will react to the competition. HUL has been showing some of the foreign ads for Rexona currently rather than developing India-centric campaigns. The leader is complacent and it gives an opportunity for a challenger brand like Secret Temptations to make a place of itself in the Indian market.

According to reports, Secret Temptation is not going to be a pure deo brand but a personal grooming brand for girls.

Labels: Deodorant Brand, New product Launch, Challenger

How to Brand a Commodity

Act II : Creating a Category Brand : Act IICompany : Agrotech Foods ( ConAgra)

Act II is an interesting brand story. The brand is from the global agro-foods major ConAgra Foods. Act II was launched in India in 1999. Since the launch the brand has succeeded in creating the branded popcorn category in India.

Act II is the world's first and largest selling popcorn brand. The brand came into existence as Act(I) which was a microwave popcorn which had to be stored in a refrigerator. In 1984, Act II was launched which was a revolutionary shelf storage product which did not need refrigeration. The most common consumption of this product was in movie theaters and outdoors like parks and beaches. Act II when launched also tried to tap these markets. This segment is set to grow with the emergence of numerous multiplexes across the country.

Then the brand launched the instant popcorn variant where the consumers can make the popcorn in their homes. But the problem was that the popcorn could be made only using a microwave oven. Thus the product was restricted to upper class urban households. But later the brand launched Act II which could be prepared using a pressure cooker or even a frying pan. This pressure-cooker friendly popcorn was indigenously developed and paved the way for a new category of snack foods in the Indian households. Through this innovation, the company hopes to penetrate the large middleclass market.

To appeal to the Indian consumers, Act II launched many India-centric tastes for the popcorns. Now the brand is available in four flavors: Classic Salted, Butter Pepper, Golden Sizzle & Chilly Surprise. The brand is also testing other Indian flavors.

Besides these product centric developments, the brand is also into aggressive promotion. The brand is now running a campaign to highlight the "ease of preparation" of this product. The campaign is around the theme of ''Even Papa can Cook" which gives the message that Act II can be made in just three minutes.

Recently Act II also relaunched the Microwave Oven Popcorns since the company felt that microwave ovens have penetrated many urban middleclass households.

Typically like any new category, Act II is also facing the challenge of popularising the Popcorns as a regular snack. The brand has its tasks cut out since Popcorns are popular but the challenge is to make it a regular snack like potato chips. The brand must increase the usage occasion of Popcorns which is now restricted to outdoors. The current campaign of 'ease of preparation' is relevant but the brand should also have other campaigns aimed at increasing the consumption.

The current state of brand has striking similarity with Maggi Noodles. When Maggi was first launched it also harped on the ease of preparation but later had to change tacts. Act II should be spending money focusing on two factors:

Promoting Popcorns as a regular snack. This is more challenging since the brand will be competing with the likes of Lays, Bingo etc. The brand could seek the help of a celebrity to popularize this category. The brand also faces the challenge from private labels and the unorganized sector.

For this the brand has to find a compelling reason for consumers to buy Act II . It can highlight the taste, nutrition etc. According to a website popcorn.org, Popcorns are one of healthiest snacks available. If it is correct, then the healthy snacks positioning will be the most effective for this brand. The brand could emulate the strategy of Bingo and launch many new flavors which can increase the trial of this product.

In 2007, Act II was a Rs 30 crore brand. The brand has also extended itself into other categories of snack foods like Corn Chips etc.

Labels: Food Brands, Innovation, Snack Food

Acuvue : Healthy and Convenient Brand: AcuvueCompany: Johnson&JohnsonAgency: Lowe

Acuvue is a major brand in the Rs 60 crore contact lens market. Although the market is led by Bausch and Lomb with around 70% market share, Acuvue can be termed as the innovation leader in this segment.

Acuvue, the brand of the Johnson & Johnson ( J&J) is a pioneer in the disposable contact lens category. Acuvue was the first disposable contact lens brand in India. The brand is the market leader in the disposable lens category.

Although the eye-care market is estimated to be around Rs 1200 crore, the contact lens category forms a minuscule part of the market. The penetration of this category is abysmally low even in the metros (5%). The changing lifestyle holds immense potential for this category in the years to come.

There are many factors that have inhibited the growth of contact lens. The primary factor being the price perception. Contact lenses are perceived to be priced higher and considered to be out of reach for the middle class. Another factor is the health and maintenance issue. Users of contact

lens will agree that regular / prolonged use of lens often causes irritation. Although the marketers talk about convenience, the lens should be cared more and the limitation of its use (example: you should remove the lens while taking a nap / cooking etc) makes the consumer averse even to try this category. Moreover consumers are not aware about this category and its uses. Some reports suggest that most users have a fear of inserting foreign object in the eyes which is termed as Pokeaphobia that further limits the popularity of this category.

The target market for contact lens category is the SEC A B and metros and for ages anywhere between 15-35. While the consumers aged below 20 will not have their say in the purchase of contact lens, it is the working youngsters who show the maximum potential for a contact lens marketer.

Acuvue is a brand that had tried to make the category popular by addressing the two issues: cost and maintenance. The brand came out with disposable lens that can be used for two weeks and can be disposed thus freeing the customer from maintenance hassles. The brand became successful because customers of contact lens use ordinary glass as the primary eye wear and uses lens for special occasions/events. Primary need that these lens satisfy is the need for looking good. The brand is positioned as a healthy and convenient brand stressing the comfort factor.

The brand has also embarked upon an e-trial initiative to prompt the potential consumers to try out this category. The consumers can go to the site and register themselves to get a trial pack of lens. The aim is to get the non users to try out this brand. The brand is optimistic that the majority of trial users will turn to be regular users. The brand is also trying to train the opticians because majority of sales happen at the shop and opticians acts as a major influencers.

Acuvue was also an innovation leader by coming out with lens that is bifocal and also color lens. One of the major innovation was the Acuvue 1-day lens that was launched in 2006. The new variant is a use and throw lens. It is the shampoo sachetisation of contact lens. The consumer insight is that people may need to look good on some special situations like marriage or interview or company presentation etc. One cannot afford to spent Rs 1000 just for that occasion. The solution is the 1-day use lens that costs only Rs 90. Theoretically it makes perfect sense. The product effectively seals a gap in the market.

But the larger issue is that the product related issues are limiting the category growth. The inherent product problems limit the popularity of this product category. The target which these marketers aim are those who will be using computers. Using lens while working on a computer will cause irritation in the eyes. This is just one example of how product problems can obstruct growth. Using lens while traveling in a motorcycle also is not advisable which alienates many young men from trying out lens or using it regularly. In such a scenario the 1-day lens or disposable lens make perfect sense. Till the contact lens marketers sort out the product related limitations, the category is going to remain a niche.

Related Brands : Essilor, Ray-ban

Labels: New Category, Branding, FMHG

Amaron : Lasts Long , Really Long . TingTong ! Brand : AmaronCompany :Amara RajaAgency: O&M

Amaron is a disruptive brand in the automotive segment. Launched in mid 2000, this brand has created some excitement in the rather dull automotive battery market in India. Amara Raja has been a leading player in the industrial battery segment. In 2000 they forayed in the lucrative Automotive battery market which is predominantly dominated by players like Exide.

Automotive battery market can be categorized into two: OEM and replacement market. OEM segment is dominated by established players while replacement market is dominated by local players and other non branded batteries.

Car Battery replacement is viewed as a grudge purchase by the car owners. No one thinks of battery until it breaks down. This product comes under the category of High Involvement and Low Interest product. We can consider this as a slow moving consumer good.

Amaron wanted to differentiate itself from the existing players in the market. It had to do so because the product category is SMCG (Slow Moving Consumer Goods) with low interest. So the question is how to create that excitement. The Indian automotive battery market is worth around 1200 crore. Organised players constitute 40% of that market.

The first thing the company has done was to create the product differentiation with respect to the product feature. Amaron decided to bring out the Zero maintenance battery into the Indian market. That means that we needn't check for the water level and so on. Amaron also ensured that the product commands the best quality so that the product can be positioned as a premium brand.

Then came the form differentiation. Conventional batteries were all looking alike with a transparent body and blue/red top. Amaron decided on a black body with fluorescent green logo splashed over. There was also another reason for the black body. There is a possibility of government regulations stipulating the use of Recycled plastics for battery. Amaron is using such plastics so it need not effect the changes once the regulations are implemented. And since the water level needn't be checked, Black body will have no problem for the customers.

The purpose of using fluorescent green was that since our country is very hot, the color should stay in Promotional materials, hoarding and in the product. So green was chosen. Then came the differentiation regarding the advertising. Amaron decided that it will do the breakaway advertising. Traditionally conventional battery ads seldom sell battery. It is the sheer distribution and the presence of well established brand name that does the selling.

So Amaron wanted its ads to look different and establish the brand name in this crowded market.So O&M decided to have a un-battery like campaign for Amaron. For the first time in India "Claymation" i.e., using clay models + animation was used for advertising. Amaron ads were classic examples of "Clutter busting". The ads were attention grabbing and outright funny. It won many awards for the agency and Amaron grabbed 6% market share in a short span of time. The Amaron Campaign Pandu Mangal has been well received by the public and research shows that

Amaron has a top of the mind brand recall. The ads coupled with claymation and hyperbole effectively communicates the positioning of "lasting long". The jingle "TingTong" has also been a smash hit.

This is a brand that is a classic case of smart marketing and careful differentiation.

Labels: Absurdism in Advertising, Clutter Cutting Communication, Consumer Perception

AMUL TOO

Tata Salt: Salt Of The Nation Brand : Tata SaltCompany: Tata ChemicalsAgency: Bates

Tata salt is India's first branded salt. The story of this brand is interesting because the brand came as bye product. Tata salt was launched in 1983. Tata Chemicals has their largest integrated chemical plant in Mithapur. The soda ash plant needed fresh water for their boilers. Hence to supply fresh water, the company started purifying sea water and it created high quantity of salt as a bye product in the process. This coincided with the government campaign with the support of UNICEF for promoting Iodised salt since iodine deficiency was a serious issue haunting the children's health. This environment gave birth of one of the super brands and a classic case of branding a commodity in the Indian market.

The Indian salt market is estimated to be around Rs 1 Billion. The market is dominated by unbranded players. Tata salt has a market share of around 40% in the branded segment and 18% in the total market. The product salt is a low involvement and low value product with little scope of differentiation. Tata salt had the first mover advantage and was able to consolidate its position in the market thorough brand building.

1990 saw organised players eyeing the market. Captain Cook salt was launched in the market taking the "free flowing" feature as a differentiating factor. 1996 saw HLL extending its Annapurna brand to salts and positioning its brand on the platform of health and iodine content. 2001 saw the high profile launch of Dandi salt from Kunwar Ajay Sari Fame. Still 70% of the market is dominated by unbranded players.

Tata salt started its life positioning on the rational platform of purity. Since the corporate brand had the value of Trust engrossed in Indian consumer's mind, Tata salt was eagerly owned by the consumers. One of the major factors that accelerated the growth of branded salt and Tata salt was the effective campaign by the government to promote iodised salt. The campaign penetrated the market to as deep as 20% and the first mover Tata Salt benefited most out of it.

2002 saw the repositioning of Tata Salt on the platform of emotion. The brand owners felt that they should rise above the rational differentiation and try to emotionally influence the consumers. Hence Tata salt adopted its new tagline "Desh ka namak" translated "Salt of the nation". The brand is trying to associate itself to the nationalistic feeling of the consumers and is trying to fill a passion towards the brand. It is a herculean task for a brand that is in a category which is low involvement and low priced. To create involvement in such a category will be a tough task . But the campaign has raised the brand to new heights in terms of market share. Since customers usually are brand loyal and tend to use the same brand of salt every time (convenience factor), such high decibel campaigns helps in strong brand recall.

But the long term view of this category is challenging because the scope of differentiation has not been sustainable. There has not been any serious product development these years and this can recommoditise the category. The brand owners may have to think about value additions in the marketing mix to capture the 70% of unbranded segment.

Labels: Pioneer, Low Value Product Branding, Creating Differentiation, Brand Strength

Yera : Think Glass, Think Class Brand : YeraCompany : Shreno Ltd ( Alembic Glassware)

Yera is a brand that has redefined the glassware market in India. This brand can be credited with popularizing glassware in Indian households. Yera is a brand which came into existence in 1965. The brand now holds lions share in the Indian glassware market in India. The brand can be said to be the pioneer in promoting glassware in India

The emergence of glassware as a serving-ware came through the restaurant route. It is interesting to note that still 80% of Yera's turnover is from the no-frill tumbler (source: HDFC securities)Now Yera has almost 150 different designs of glassware ranging from tumblers, icecream bowls to dinner sets.

Yera became popular household name mainly as a gifting item. At one time Yera was the most sought after gifting item for the 'gifters'. The main factor being the Price. From a range starting as low as Rs 100, Yera made gifting easy. But yera was a nightmare for the gift-receiver. After the ocassion, the house will be full of different types of Yera products. The institutional segment also boosted the turnover for this brand. Now in Kerala, many textiles use Yera products for gifting the customers.

The brand now faces two issues: Cheap glassware products from local players and also cheap imports have hurt Yera most.

Yera now operates in the low-price segment and the flooding of products has commoditized the category.

Although Yera had some campaigns for brand-building, the brand was primarily playing the pricing game. Although the brand has made glassware popular, it has not been able to upgrade itself into a premium player in the segment. This is the typical 'class or mass' dilemma. The doubt is whether Yera can command some premium over the rest of the players in this market.

The brand also failed to see the emergence of Crystal ware as the preferred category for the premium customers. Now this segment has foreign players and La Opala's Solitaire.

To be fair to the brand, the glassware market is very small. This market is estimated in the range of Rs 60 crore.

The glassware market is also moving towards ceramic wares which are more stylish and up-market looking. Yera has the power of its brand equity to take it through the price competition from cheap imports and local players. But the brand is silent in the media.

In a market full of price-competitors, Yera cannot afford to rely on past glory . The brand may fade from the memory of the new generation. What the brand needs now is a measured dose of brand-building campaigns. According to the brand's website, Yera boasts of having a brand recall of 84%. The brand must consistently build on the existing platform.

The brand should think of upgrading itself to a premium player. The brand should exit from commodity mindset and start its journey towards a value-added player. The brand has the tagline "Think Glass, Think Class". It should be focusing on the class part.

The brand is now having commanding mind-share. Now is the time for the brand to ladder-up.Laddering is deepening the meaning of the brand to core brand values or other more abstract considerations. (Kevin Lane Keller)

The brand should ladder-up to some higher attribute like enjoyment, togetherness etc. The laddering-up will help the brand to move a notch higher from the price-players. And such a focus on non-glass attribute will bring back the interest of consumers to the brand. A heavy dose of campaigns and some celebrity can boost the image of this pioneer.

Labels: Brand laddering, Off-Beat Brand, Commodity

Pillsbury : Dil se Khao Brand : PillsburyCompany: General MillsAgency: Leo Burnett

Pillsbury is a global food brand that is trying to replicate its success in Indian market. The brand was launched in India in 1998 as a result of a joint venture between Godrej and Selviac Nederland BV (Pillsbury). Pillsbury has a rich heritage dating back to 1869. It started as a flour milling company named A Pillsbury and is now one of the largest brands in the food products market in the world. In 2002, the company was taken over by General Mills.

When Pillsbury was launched, it had the option of coming in with the blockbuster global "ready to eat products", but it chose a contra approach heeding to the advice given by Mckinsey “GO Basic”. So Pillsbury launched Pillsbury Chakki fresh atta (pounded wheat flour) in the Indian market. It was a bold move because the atta market is a commodity market and the branded atta market was only 3% of the total atta market in India estimated to be around 23000 crore.

Pillsbury Chakkifresh atta was launched in India on the platform of softness. Since ordinary Roti’s lost their softness after some time, Pillsbury claimed that its Roti’s retained the softness for over 6 hours. This appealed to the modern homemakers since Roti’s can be kept in tiffin boxes without worrying about softness.

It was a tough task for Pillsbury to enter into Indian kitchens since the households followed traditional way of buying wheat and giving them to flour mills. Pillsbury realized that food products marketing are more of Repertoire marketing where more variety is the key to success. Pillsbury decided to move up the value chain by coming out with a range of products.The first one was the launch of Oven cake mixes in 1999. The product failed in the market because of poor penetration of microwave ovens. Taking a lesson from this failure, came the successful launch of Cooker Cake mixes in 2000 i.e., cakes can be made using pressure cookers. Ub 2002, Pillsbury launched Pan Fresh Pizza.

Despite these launches, Pillsbury was not happy with the way the atta brand was moving. A marketing research showed that health was a leading attribute that customers look for when they buy food products.

In 2004 the product was relaunched in the health platform with emphasis on “good to heart” since heart problems are on a rise in Urban market. The idea was to promote the idea that whole wheat atta is good for your family’s heart .The latest positioning is “ Dil se Khao” reinforces the health positioning. The brand is endorsed by Healthcare foundation.

Using the innovative differentiation and positioning, Pillsbury is having a market share of 8% in the branded atta market. While the market leader is Ashirvad from ITC (40%) followed by Annapoorna from HLL (18%).

Pillsbury globally is famous for its mascot “Poppin Fresh” popularly known as the doughboy. Although the mascot is in Indian market too, it does not have the same fan following as it is in the west.

Pillsbury despite its foreign origin and brand name is trying to fit into the Indian mindset. Despite having a good product, the brand is lagging behind Ashirvad which was launched much later. With the backing of a global foods giant and with some very smart thinking, this brand has the potential to make it big. The only thing Pillbury needs is lots of money for advertising

Labels: Consumer Mindset, Breaking Barriers

Parry's Sugar : Branding A Commodity Brand : Parry's SugarCompany: EID ParryAgency: JWT

Indian sugar industry is worth a whopping Rs 25000 crore. Although India is the second largest producer of sugar in the world, the per capita consumption is low at 18 kg. Unlike the Salt industry which saw many successful branded players, the branded sugars were not that successful.

Sugar branding was initiated around 9 years ago by players like Mawana sugars and Dhampur sugars. The first movers got the advantage and these players now have a 30 percent market share in the branded sugar segment. November 2004 saw EID Parrys launching their brand Parry's Sugar in TamilNadu which is traditionally a big market for sugar.

Although the market size of sugar industry is large, 75% of the sugar is consumed by large buyers like bakeries, Soft drink manufacturers and confectionery players. Hence most of the marketing is business to business.

The sugar industry has two types of pricing models. One is the free market pricing and the other regulated pricing through public distribution systems. The sugar prices are monitored by the government which sometimes intervene in the market and regulate prices through imports (if the price increases)

Sugar is viewed by consumers as a commodity and there has not been any initiative from the part of sugar companies to create a differentiation compared to what marketers have done with Salts. Parry's had launched its branded sugar with focus on its quality and purity. It is a known fact that the best way to brand a commodity is to focus on these two attributes: Better Refined and Pure. Packed in attractive pet bottles, the brand sells at a premium of Rs 4-6 over the unbranded ones.

The market for sugar is a highly price sensitive one. While in the case of salt, the presence of Iodine was a sufficient differentiation for establishing the brand. The Iodine deficiency could cause thyroid and customers were educated by the government and the salt marketers to prefer iodised salt. But in the case of sugar, those differentiation opportunities were absent. According to a report in Business Today there are different factors that caused the slow start of branded sugars.

They are

Seasonality: sugar production is seasonal and the entire years productions should be completed within 5-6 months. Hence there is no time for product or process innovations.

The sugar play is high volume low margin game. Hence whether marketers are interested in exploring the value added game is another factor that slows down the growth of branded sugar market. While branding involves promotional costs, it will be a tough tradeoff since margin pressure will prevent aggressive brand promotions.

The large format retailers have also started selling packed sugar with a premium of 50 paise to Rs 1 making the consumers think that the packed sugars are better refined than the other one.

The main factor behind the branded sugar becoming less popular is the lack of differentiation. The reasons are not compelling for consumers to shell out a premium for branded sugars. Even though Quality and Purity is an issue with the unbranded sugars, even affluent consumers are shying away from paying a premium for branded sugars. More over some branded sugars use sulphur dioxide to refine which is harmful and this type of refining is banned in European countries. It is said that in the west, marketers try to value add this commodity by enriching it with vitamins.

Branding a commodity always has been a challenging task for marketers. Parry's Sugar is a brand to watch and it will be interesting to see how this brand breaks into the consumer psyche.

Labels: Branding a Commodity, Marketing Challenge

Parryware Glamourooms: Not Just Bathrooms Brand : GlamouroomsCompany: Parryware GlamouroomsAgency: JWT

Parryware Glamourooms is India's superbrand in the sanitary ware market. This is a brand that redefined the way Indians viewed Bathrooms. A pioneer in branding and an expert in understanding changing trends, Parryware is a brand worth studying.

The Indian Sanitaryware market is estimated to be around 750 crore and in that market the branded wares is estimated to be worth around 360 crores. Parryware has a market share of around 42% (value share).

Parryware is a part of the EID Parrys of Murugappa group. In 2005-06 the company was hived off as a separate entity "Parryware Glamourooms". In 2006 ROCA of Spain took a 50% stake in the company and is set to roll out its international brands in the Indian market.

Parryware endeavored into serious branding this sanitary wares as early as 1983. In 1985 it introduced the Peacock shaped closets branded as Cascade which focused on saving water. The product was highly successful and became almost generic to the category. In 1990 Parryware added a new word to Indian branding history "Glamourooms".

The launch created a huge wave of excitement in the otherwise a dull product. The purchase of

sanitary wares was never a high involvement purchase. Seldom customers used to bother about the brands nor were willing to spent money on the bathrooms. But Parryware changed all that. It said to the Indian consumers "No more bathrooms only glamourooms". This caused a spurt in the demand for aesthetic bathrooms.

The launch was perfectly timed. Earlier old houses seldom had Attached bathrooms. Then slowly came the concept of Bedrooms with attached bathrooms. Then came the focus on looking at bathroom more aesthetically as you look at any other rooms.

Parryware was a pioneer not only in branding this market but also an innovator par excellence. Parryware is credited with innovating the concept of "Stainzfree" bathrooms, Introducing easy to clean surfaces, antimicrobial seat covers, touch-free electronic urinals and bathroom for Physically challenged people. These innovations coupled with some smart campaigns made this brand a market leader.

Parryware is also credited with being the first customer centric Sanitaryware company. It has the first B2C website for customers, customer care centres for helping the customers and for servicing. Parryware also changed the retail format for selling sanitarywares by creating shopping experience for customers through "Experience centres" which are retail outlets which are carefully designed to give customer an experience of the look of their bathrooms with Parryware.

The brand also keeps track of the changing minds of the Indian consumer. There is a marked shift in the preference of Indian consumers from Wet bathrooms to a Dry one and Parryware is ready for that also. With a strategic partner in ROCA, Glamourooms will be concentrating on the luxury and medium segment while ROCA will be concentrating on the Super luxury segment bringing in the International range to Indian market.

In 2005 the brand also ventured into the Rs 1200 Tap market aiming to become a Total Bathroom Solutions provider. The brand is made on the core values of Water conservation, hygiene and Technology. According to a report in Businessline, the customers have given a high rating for this brand on the values such as Relevance, Uniqueness and Reliability.

Although the brand pioneered the concept of "Glamourooms" it found that the concept was copied by other players. Hence the brand changed its tagline to "Add Glamour To Your Life". Then again the brand began to give importance to hygiene and changed its line to "Sparkling Clean Glamourooms". Now the base line is somewhere between "Everything else can wait" and "Surrender To Temptation".

From 2000 the brand is known for its Glamourooms but sadly their website no longer talks about this very own concept that made the brand. It is confusing whether it is the consumer who was bored by the positioning or is it the agency or is it the client? If its not the consumer, then why change it....

The brand is well poised to tap the future sanitary market in India, but the frequent changes in the positioning will dilute the foundation on which the brand has built its equity.

Kurl-on : Make Your House a Home Brand : Kurl-onCompany:Kurlon ltdAgency: Manipal MarComm

Kurl-on is the market leader in the Rs 600 crore Indian mattress market. The brand is a pioneer in branding the highly fragmented market. Founded in 1962, this brand has established itself in the market through its emphasis on quality, distribution and brand building.

Although the brand commanded more than 85% of the market during the eighties, at some point of time the brand lost its share to the price competitors. But the brand maintained its leadership position in the market. The company realised that the lowering of the profitability of the product is due to the inefficient supply chain management and the company went in to a massive restructuring of its SCM. This restructuring is a case study at IIMB.

Although huge, the mattress market is highly fragmented. The market had evolved from cotton mattresses to coir mattress and to rubberised coir mattresses. Even though world over, spring mattresses command 80% of the market, this type of mattress is not popular in India.

Kurl-On was positioned on the platform of 'Comfort for good sleep'. The product is promoted using the statement "Pure Sleep, Nothing Else". The product category is such that there is limited scope of differentiation. Most of the players focus on Good Sleep and Back Support for their promotions. Duraflex is a brand that is trying to put emotion into the campaigns by positioning their mattress as one that can kindle romance in you. Reports suggests that the product like mattress are not an impulse product. Bought on special occasions like marriage and on new house warming , this product often involves lot of information search by the consumer.

The market is also segmented along lifestyle and demographics. With higher income group going for well established brands, the mass market is price sensitive and the unbranded and local brand priced well below the branded players have a major share in this market. Another factor that favours the low price products is that by the first look, a consumer can never understand the quality difference. It will be after a year that the real difference comes into open.Kurl-on is said to have more than 126 different configurations. The brand has been launching many new varieties of mattress like the Spine-care Ortho mattress that is good for those with back pain. The new launch was followed by some smart print ads by the ad agency mimicking the cover page of the famous weekly in which the ad appeared as a front page ad.

With market getting crowded with regional players and margins squeezed because of price competitors, the brand is extending itself into related categories like bed linen and bath market. The bed and bath market is much larger with an estimated size of Rs 1800 crore. The market is dominated by the likes of Bombay Dyeing.

With the aim of extending the equity of the brand, the positioning has changed into a broader theme of "Making your House a Home". Although the statement is often used as a cliche, it makes perfect fit for a brand that aims to get into furnishing business.

With the strong brand equity built over the past years and with the strong distribution channel,

Kurl-on has all the strength to make it big into the new segments. Again the same problem of unbranded players and fragmented market is going to worry this brand. The growing affluent middle-class which spend lot of money on such lifestyle products offer a good potential for Kurl-On in the new areas that it is trying to venture.

Nestle Fresh N Natural Dahi : Branding A Commodity Brand : Fresh N NaturalCompany: NestleAgency : O&M

Nestle Fresh N Natural dahi is a bold step by Nestle to brand the commodity called Dahi (curd).

2006 saw the high profile re-launch of this product . Nestle dahi was launched in 2001. The reason behind this move to enter into a tough commodity business is prompted by the size of the market. Dahi is the second largest form of milk usage following tea and coffee usage in households.

The estimated consumption of curd is a whopping 2200 MT a day i.e. in revenue terms Rs 4.5 crore a day. That makes the market worth Rs 1600 crores. The market is largely dominated by regional players and more than that households make their own curd using milk. The business sense that prompted Nestle to enter this segment is that there is no national player in the market.

Nestle launched the brand with a positioning based on the taste. The tagline was ‘Jumm gaya Taste” meaning “Great taste”. The launch was a soft one and was concentrated on Delhi. The competition was in the form of Mother Diary and Amul. In 2002 Nestle launched a value added variant in the form of Fruit n Dahi.

2006 saw the relaunch of this brand on a different note.

Here the brand faces stiff competition from tradition rather than other companies. The changing psychographics of the Indian consumer may aid the brand. The lack of time to prepare the perfect dahi may prompt Indian consumer to stock this brand in the house. The longer shelf life of this brand may also come to help. But the task is not enviable in the sense that it takes lot of money and patience to change Indian consumer’s habits.

Labels: Challenges of Branding a Commodity, Changing Usage Habits

Lays : No One Can Eat Just One Brand : LaysCompany: Frito Lay ( Pepsico Group )Agency: JWT

If you believe that it is not possible to brand a commodity that too a food product and sell it at a premium, think again. You are mistaken. Ask any youngster what would he like as a snack food. Chances are that he will say Lays..

Lays from Fritolay: a group company of Pepsico India is the only money making machine for this global giant in India. Indian snack food business is a huge market to the tune of 17000tonnes out of which the branded foods contribute around 6500 tonne. In revenue terms, Indian snack food business is worth around Rs 2500 crore and growing. Lays commands a monopoly sort of position in the Potato chips category which is around 85% of the snack food market.

Lays is competing head on with the unbranded players in the market and if you look at the broader levels of competition, this brand is competing even with the snacks from our own kitchen. It is interesting to see how this brand has succeeded in the commodity business. It followed all the rules to perfection.

1. Quality: the brand offered superior quality compared to the other unbranded snacks there by reducing the risk to the customer. The crisp and beautifully packed chips were a new experience for the Indian consumer.

2. Value addition: the brand offers unimaginable range of potato chips with many flavors made especially for India. Together with many new international flavors, it easily caught the imagination of Indian consumer

3. Aggressive brand building: No one needs to teach Pepsico How to build a brand! Lays spent lot of money on brands building and once established were able to charge a premium for the brand.

Although initially Indian consumer were pissed off by the high price, slowly the brand established its credentials. The so called "Liberation child' and the software yuppies caught hold of this brand. These trend setters made this brand a must for looking cool in campuses. "Lays with Cola" began to take its toll on "Samosa and Tea".

Lays lavishly spent money on brand building. The ads were catchy and was positioning the product on the platform of "Taste". The baseline ' No one can eat just one" is one of the most successful baseline in Indian advertising. The baseline is true also since the taste is compelling that no one can eat just one. The brand ambassadors Saif and Priety gave a cool attitude to this brand making it more interesting for the new generation. Lays have always tried to excite its fans by launching new flavors frequently. This ensured that the brand is never boring. The latest flavor is the Latino style. The company is going to focus on Music as a base for building this brand.

With ITC foraying into this business will see the market expanding . But Lays have put itself in a formidable position that is difficult to match. For now, No one can eat just one ...

Labels: Commodity Branding, Communication Innovation

LG Asafoetida : Branding a Commodity Brand : LG AsafoetidaCompany : Laljee Godhoo & Co

Laljee Godhoo (LG) Asafetida is yet another offbeat heritage brand. You may have never seen an advertisement of LG asafetida in any of the media. But check out your kitchen, there is a chance that a pack of this brand has been there for a long time.

LG brand is almost 110 years old. The company started its operations in the year 1894. Today this brand of asafetida commands a market share of over 70% in the Indian market.

Asafetida is a resin like gum extracted from the dried stem and roots of a herbaceous perennial plant Ferula Asafetida found abundant in Iran. Laljee imports the raw latex from Afghanistan and prepares the compounded Asafoetida which is adding spice to the popular dishes across the country. Asafoetida is a popular spice used in many Indian dishes.

For ninety years, LG was selling Asafoetida in the lump form. Later, the brand began selling the powder form of Asafoetida. This is a brand which became a dominant player through word of mouth. Asafoetida was earlier selling as a commodity. LG differentiated by a unique package and the emphasis on quality. More over this was the first brand to bring this product in the powder form which increased the popularity of the brand.

But the brand faces certain issues because of the commodity nature of the business. The major issue that this brand faces is the counterfeit threat. There are innumerable brands which mimic the logo and package of this brand. Since it is a commodity, many a times customers take other brands which looks similar to this brand. The second threat is from the private labels. Now most of the organized retailers have their own Private Label brands of spices. Since LG has not developed any point of differentiation, there is a chance that its share will get hurt by private labels.

For a heritage brand like LG Asafoetida, the future offers lot of challenges. The brand has never invested in brand building except for occasional ads cautioning customers about counterfeits. The threat from private labels is real and huge. The brand has no option but to spent more in reinforcing its equity built over these years.

Labels: Branding Commodity, Heritage Brand, Off-beat Brand

Lijjat Papad : A Brand With A Cause Brand: Lijjat papadCompany: Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad

Lijjat papad is a brand with a difference. This brand is a special one because it makes a difference in the livelihood of thousands of poor women in India. The brand from Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Pappad was started 46 years ago in 1959 on a measly sum of Rs 80. Seven ladies started preparing Papad and from there this story of a movement starts. From that Rs 80, the brand has grown to become Rs 300 crore and more importantly many households was saved from the clutches of poverty. One of the senior member founder Ms Jaswantiben Poppat was honored with Economic Times Corporate Excellence Award in 2002.

Pappad is a form of Indian crispy bread. The food is taken as a snack and also along with lunch and dinner. Lijjat has become an integral part of the Indian palette through sheer determination and hard work.

The most important factor that the made this brand a success was the careful operational planning that goes behind the brand. It would humble even the smartest management graduate when we realize that ordinary women run this entire company.

The Lijjat brand is built on certain core values that has been ingrained into the entire system. The values are

Make sure that the process runs smoothly Ensure the highest quality standards Give the product at a good price Good corporate governance and profit sharing.

It can be said that the organization derives its values from the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi’s idea of Sarvodaya. The process works like this

Every morning the group of members go the the Lijjat office to Knead the dough. Another group goes to the office to collect the “quality checked” dough for rolling. These women give the previous days papads for quality check. Another team packs the tested papads. Every member gets the rolling charge ( vanai) based on the productivity.

The quality check process is also rigorous. The members should take a quality pledge and ensure that the house is neat and clean and there is a separate place for this process. Every member is trained to make the perfect Lijjat papad. If any member is found not adhering to the quality standards, she will be given some other work like packing etc.If during the testing , any lot is found to be below standards, the entire lot is destroyed.

The entire organization is decentralized and managed by a committee of 21 members. All the members of the committee have veto power and this ensures that decisions are based on consensus. The committee decides on the sharing of profit and all the members of the society gets equal share of profit. The decentralization gives the branches the power to do the quality checks and the responsibility to maintain accounts.All the members ( called as Ben) are owners of this movement and this automatically ensures greater accountability.

The brand is having the strength of “Consistently Good Quality” as its USP.Recently this brand is also facing competition from other players. Unlike other social brands, Lijjat was serious about advertising. The brand communicated its Crispness and quality through its ads.The ads features a Bunny ( mascot) and a very popular jingle ‘Khurram Kharram”. The positive word of mouth, the advertisement, the consistent good quality and the distribution made this brand highly successful.The company has also diversified into detergent branded SASA and other food products. The brand is a unique success story. The story of a movement that changed the lives of more than 40000 poor women.

Zipouch : Keep Fresh, Eat Safe Brand : ZipouchCompany : UFlex (Flex Industries)

Zipouch is again an Offbeat brand. Its is a classic case of innovation and another instance of a firm trying to tap a latent. Zipouch is a brand from Rs 1350 crore Flex Industries Ltd. Flex Industries is a leader in the B2B packaging industry and supplies packaging solutions to FMCG majors. Zipouch is an initiative of this B2B firm into the B2C segment.

Zipouch is packing solution for households. In simple terms Zipouch is storage bags for household focusing mainly on Food Storage. According to Brand Reporter Magazine, the product idea came from a similar product in an international trade exhibition in Europe in 2001. It took three years to bring the concept to the product form. Zipouch was launched in 2004.

The brand comes under Food Storage segment which is nascent in India. But it is for sure that there is a great potential for such storage solutions for households. Here the brand faces the challenge of

Convincing the customer about this product and its efficacy. Pricing it right. Gaining Distribution.

The need is evident when we look at the traditional storage style at our kitchens. Usually vegetables and fruits are kept in the Vegetable Tray in the refrigerator. And within two days, the

fruits becomes unusable. If the fruits and vegetables are cut, then the fridge life will be reduced by half. It is this problem that Zipouch is trying to address. Give a storage solution for Fruits and vegetables which is convenient and healthy and along with that enhance the storage life of the food.

Zipouch not only has a product for fruits and vegetable, this brand has a range of storage solutions for the households:

Fresh 'n' lock: For fruits and vegetablesPress'n' lock: storage and freezer packSnack Pack: For storing snack items, for kids, can be used in School kit of kidsAssorted Snack pack: To store assortment of snacks.Press'n'hot: For hot food itemsFresh'n'juicy: Much more stronger pack

Zipouch is taking the following qualities to promote itself:

1. Healthy and Safe2. Retains Warmth and Freshness for longer periods3. Maintains high nutritional levels4. Convenient to Use5. Microwavable.6. Reusable7. Hygienic

Zipouch is also distinguishing itself from other plastic bags by its unique Zip (from which it derives its brand name).The brand is targeting the SEC A+, A , B segment. The brand is being positioned as a safe and healthy way of storing food products. At the promotions front, the brand was very active in the media when it was launched but later went in for hibernation.

Having all these positive qualities need not guarantee the success of an innovative product like this. Zipouch faces lot of issues in the market. The primary issue is that of the distribution. It is understandable since Flex Industries' is not an FMCG company and hence may have to start from the scratch.

The second issue is that of differentiation. Although Zipouch is a new and an innovative concept, the product is such that it can be easily replicated. Hence if the market expands, it will be easy for anyone to come out with a product like Zipouch. A differentiation based on product attributes may not be sustainable. Hence the brand may have to take on a differentiation other than the Product attributes. More importantly, Zipouch may have to own a proposition that define this product so that other competing brands may not be able to make a dent. For example, the brand can own a proposition like: "Safe and Hygiene" or "Fresh and Safe ".

Early adoption of such a proposition will make the brand less vulnerable to competition. Having a patented Abbreviation like FSPT (Fresh safe packing technology) which can act as a differentiator.

The brand has to spend a lot of money, first educating the customers about the product itself (since the product is entirely new to the market) and also promoting this brand. The brand is retailing in the range of Rs 49- Rs 69 per 10 bags which is a very affordable range.

Zipouch is a wonderful product which has lot of potential but also lot of challenges ahead. Zipouch has got its product and price perfect but distribution is the weak point. The brand could

piggyback some of the Retailing giants or FMCG majors for a distribution tie-up. It has to act fast because where there is a potential, there is competition.

Labels: Branding a Commodity, Innovation, Off-beat Brand

Brand LadderingProfessor Kevin Lane Keller defines Laddering as follows"Brand Laddering involves progression from attributes to benefits to more abstract values or motivations. Laddering involves repeatedly asking what the implication of an attribute or benefit is for the customer."According to Keller, failure of laddering up sometimes reduce the strategic alternatives available to the brand. Keller also suggests that there is a means-end chain which takes the following structure : Attribute ( descriptive features) lead to benefits ( meaning attached to attributes) which leads to values ( enduring personal goals and motivations). The concept of laddering has its application in positioning of the product. When the brand is launched, the focus will be more on attributes and benefits. But once these basic functionality has been established in the mind of the consumers, the brand has to deepen the meanings associated with the brand.For example, Dove's campaign has transcended from the basic functionality of the product to " Celebrating real beauty ". Nike is all about Athletic Performance . An Indian example would be Raymonds which has transcended the basic functionality of apparels to a more deeper meaning of " A Complete Man ".Laddering is not always easy. The task for the marketer is to first have a clear understanding of the brand's core values. Also laddering will work only if the consumers are convinced and satisfied with the basic functionality of the brand. The advantage of laddering is that the brand will breakfree from the product restrictions. That gives lot of flexibility to the brand manager. Flexibility in extending the brand aswellas in communicating.