GREAT MARKET ING STOR IES

F R I D A Y , F E B R U A R Y 0 1 , 2 0 0 8

Accenture : High Performance , Delivered Corporate Brand : Acccenture

Agency : Rediffusion /DYR ( In India)

Brand Analysis Count : 307

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 re ason 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 sho

uld 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 rebranding 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 clients

b. Potential employees

c. 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 manthra.

T H U R S D A Y , A U G U S T 0 3 , 2 0 0 6

Alpenliebe : From the Alps Brand : Alpenliebe

Company: Perfetti Vanmelle

Agency: McCann Erickson

Brand Count : 108

In the 1200 crore sugar confectionery market, Alpenliebe is the single

lar gest 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. I searched for half a day to

understand what it means. Their website does not have the answer

nor do other marketing sites.

Then a friend of mine suggested that it is

related to mountain Alps. Taking half hour on the

translate.google.com , I found Liebe means Love. So by all probability

Alpenliebe means From Alps with Love ( its my guess, inputs are

welcome).

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 pronounce 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 ( my usage) than the international one.

The brand is available in three flavours: milky caramel, Cream

strawberry, Chocolate. A lollipop extention was launched last year.

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 degrow 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"

Source: Businessline, Agencyfaqs, Strategic Marketing

W E D N E S D A Y , N O V E M B E R 2 3 , 2 0 0 5

Amul : The taste of India : Utterly delicious too.

Brand : Amul

Agency DaCunha Associates

Baseline : Taste of India

Amul has used the hoardings and advertising to perfection. Taking

cues from new films, celebrities, the creatives are fun to watch. More

over Amul has sticked 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, last year.

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 hoardings

In 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.

What I like most about 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.

Now since Amul has unveiled its global ambition, we have to see whether they

will change the communication strategy also

M O N D A Y , M A Y 1 5 , 2 0 0 6

Appy Fizz : Cool Drink To Hang Around

Brand : Appy Fizz

Company : Parle Agro

Agency: 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. I have talked about Frooti in one of my

earlier blogs.

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 this summer 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.

As a customer, I was never attracted to apple drinks. The only

branded apple drink I remember seeing is the Himachal Pradesh

Apple drink counter at the railway station. May be 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 is 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. I would prefer cola or other flavors to this drink when I

feel thirsty but will take a sip of this drink once in a while for a

change (my personal opinion). In my home I feel it is risky to serve

this drink to the guests because you never know how many will like

this taste.

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.

S A T U R D A Y , M A R C H 1 7 , 2 0 0 7

Asian Paints: Every Color Tells a Story Brand : Asian Paints

Company: Asian Paints

Agency: O&M

Brand Count : 211

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 540 0crore ( $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

a.Decorative segment which constitutes the wall paints : exterior and

interior, wood paints etc

b.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.Th

e 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 itelf 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 subbrands and rest of the

subbrands 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

subbrands. 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 Ad

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.

source:businessline,agencyfaqs,Ficci

T H U R S D A Y , J U L Y 1 9 , 2 0 0 7

Axe : The Axe Effect Brand : Axe

Company : HUL

Agency: Lowe Lintas

Brand Count : 252

I was delaying writing about this brand for the reason that I doubted

whether I will be able to do justice to my favorite brand. 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 Glocalisation ,

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 Makes 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.

I think 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.

I have seen 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

See the TVC here : My Favorite Axe ad

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. I have tried most of the

fragrances and not all of them are good, but I try it because I like the

brand. 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- feather

Axe Effect

Axe 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 Unil

ever 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.

I know I just have touched the tip of Marketing Iceberg called Axe.

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

T H U R S D A Y , A P R I L 2 6 , 2 0 0 7

Bajaj Pulsar : Definitely Male Brand : Pulsar

Company: Bajaj Auto

Agency ;O&M, Leo Burnett

Brand Count : 226

Pulsar is one of my favorite brands both as a bike rider and as a

marketer. 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 comeptition 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. What

I feel is that the Big Idea od 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 most of the time I was trying to make out some

meaning out of the background song, later to find out that it was

Arabic.

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.

I still strongly believe that 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 I say and what ever the agency communicates through

the ads, 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

Source:agencyfaqs,wiki

T U E S D A Y , N O V E M B E R 2 8 , 2 0 0 6

Band-Aid :Continuous Care Brand : Band-Aid

Company: Johnson&Johnson

Agency: McCann Ericson

Brand count: 167

Band-Aid can be considered as an 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 us ed 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 inorder 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.

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 come 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 be 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 a 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.

source: superbrands.com,jandjindia.com,agencyfaqs

F R I D A Y , N O V E M B E R 2 4 , 2 0 0 6

Body Shop : Profit With Principle Brand : Body Shop

Company: Loreal

Brand Count 164

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 Brighton United Kingdom.

The brand and the brand owner share a comm

on 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

started to support her family.

Body Shop in India is sold through the master franchise Planet

Sports . The brand is expecting to ramp up the operations to major

metros by the year 2008.

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 custo mers 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 unprofitablity 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.

Source:Harvardbusinessreview,strategicbusinessmanagement(keller),

MARKETING PRACTICE W O R L D ' S L A R G E S T O N L I N E R E S O U R C E O N I N D I A N B R A N D S .

S A T U R D A Y , J A N U A R Y 2 7 , 2 0 0 7

Boost : Is The Secret Of Our Energy Brand : Boost

Company: Glaxo Smithkline Beecham

Agency:JWT

Brand Count : 192

Boost is one of the major players in the Rs 1400 crore Indian Health

Food Drink ( HFD) market. The brand was created in 1975 by the

company R&D team and test marketed in 1976. The brand

became national in 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 HFD

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

during 1980's with sales plateauing. The brand repositioned itself

through a careful planned strategy backed by consumer insigh

t. 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 India0

in 2000, the brand also roped in Sewag to endorse the brand. At that

time, Sewag and Sachin was at 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 to "

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..

Source: Superbrands,agencyfaqs.

Imagesource; agencyfaqs,superbrands

Labels: beverages, celebrity endorsement, FMHG, Product life cycle

M O N D A Y , N O V E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 0 7

Bournvita : Do You Have Bournvita Confidence Brand : Bournvita

Company : Cadbury's

Agency : O&M

Brand Analysis Count : 289

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's - true to its reputation has managed to sustain this brand

over these years. The brand has sustained because of Cadbury's

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 t hat 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 have a

chance to excel in his chosen field of endeavour if he have

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 comeout

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. When I am writing this post, Bournvita is running two

different campaigns for Bournvita : one campaign for the Bournvita

Fivestar Magic and another one featuring Bournvita Confidence

Academy.

Bo urnvita Confidence Academy is not a School but 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 , these kids to

act as Gurus and is expected to teach each other skills . So you have a

magic whizkid learning to sing. The point is that "You Need

Confidence" to venture into unknown fields.

Bournvita Confidence Academy is 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.

As a marketer, I feel that the latest focus on Confidence is a smart

move by the brand. Its arch rival Boost has built itself on the energy

platform and recently has gained headway using Sachin. Hence to

counter Boost, Bournvita needed to own an important differentiation

point. Confidence is something that every kid look 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.

Source : Cadbury website, agencyfaqs.com

Labels: beverages, Brand Laddering, Cadburys, FMHG

M O N D A Y , N O V E M B E R 2 4 , 2 0 0 8

Bru : Happiness Begins with Bru Brand : Bru

Company : Hindustan Unilever

Agency : O & M

Brand Analysis Count : 359

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 masterbrand

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 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 like me 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 revolve 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

kickstarting one's day with a Bru.

These slice of lif e 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. 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 came 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 the 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 all the critical elements for marketing success :

customer centric innovation, aggression and new product

development

Labels: beverages, FMCG, Food brands, HLL, innovation, Masstige

Brand

F R I D A Y , M A R C H 0 9 , 2 0 0 7

Center Shock : Hilake Rakh De Brand : Center Shock

Company: Perfetti Vanmelle

Agency: O&M

Brand Count:207

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 tha t 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 crore, 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 still baffles me how a product like Center Shock become 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 ( View Here) 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 ( View

Here) .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.

I have no clue how and why the brand became successful. I was

tricked into taking a Center Shock by my friend and I swear I have not

taken product again. I think the company also doesn't have any

dreams about repeat customers. But the brand done 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. In 2003 the brand 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 I saw any promotion of

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 .

source: O&M,businessline,perfetti website

Labels: confectionary, FMCG, innovation, Off beat brand, Perfetti,

Product life cycle

M O N D A Y , O C T O B E R 0 9 , 2 0 0 6

Coffy Bite : Coffee or Toffee Brand : Coffy Bite

Company: Lotte India

Agency: JWT

Brand Count : 137

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.

Coffy Bite is one of the brands which I grow up with. 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 have 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 th e

campaigns of this brand was a 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 Perfette, 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

a. 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.

b. 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 , I mean

those kids born after1990'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 has to think as

to who is bored by the old baseline, company or customer? As a

customer I prefer the old one. I think that the 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.I hope the owners will

not come up with variants like Pineapple coffy bite. Besides the taste,

the "Coffee -Toffee" argument gives the creative guys lot of things to

work with.I feel that this brand should take the " Topical"

advertisement route perfected by Amul( discussed somewhere in my

blog) which will be enjoyed by all. 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.

Source: Businessline, agencyfaqs,fnbnews.com, lotteindia.com,economictimes.com

Labels: branding, confectionary, failed brands, FMCG, marketing

myopia

S A T U R D A Y , D E C E M B E R 0 3 , 2 0 0 5

Colgate Dental Cream : ye hai hamari suraksha chakra

Brand : Colgate Dental Cream

Agency : 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 Colgare 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 gaint

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 MNC,s

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 consistantly 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 tastesof the market. For example, it launched

the herbal toothpaste when every one talked about the efficacy of herbs. The

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: the company says. 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

M O N D A Y , D E C E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 0 5

Colorplus : consistency pays

Brand : Colorplus

Agency : Rubecon

Company : 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. I would say that 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 has been

clear on what the brand is and how this is to be communicated.

In 2003 this brand was acquired by Raymonds. I thought that the communication

and brand strategy would change but to my pleasant surprise , it is the same.

Thank God...

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 maitained 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 brands, textiles

S A T U R D A Y , J U L Y 1 5 , 2 0 0 6

Dove : The Mildest One Brand : Dove

Company: HLL

Agency: O&M

Brand Count: 102

Dove is a $2 bn brand waiting to spread its wings in the Indian Prem

ium 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 t he 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.With

the brand now priced at Rs 28, the price has somewhat become

reasonable.

I feel that 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 have a negative

point in that the soap usually does not last enough ( partly because of

our bathroom habits). This have reduced the value proposition for this

brand.

With the emergence of an attractive market in the premium cosmetic

market in India, Dove have 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

F R I D A Y , F E B R U A R Y 0 3 , 2 0 0 6

Fair & Lovely : Chand ka Tukda

Brand : Fair & Lovely

Company : HLL

Agency: 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 Fair ever 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 to do 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 insigh t 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 subbrand 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

S A T U R D A Y , A P R I L 1 2 , 2 0 0 8

Fastrack : How many you have ? Brand : Fastrack

Company : Titan

Agency : Lowe Lintas

Brand Analysis Count : 320

Two years back when I wrote about Titan watches, I had mentioned

Fastrack brand as 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 was 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

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 aswellas 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. In my personal view, sunglasses offered

a great opportunity for the brand. There was no Indian brand of

sunglasses at that time. The brands available was Ray-Ban and other

foreign brands which were imported. These brands was 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 have 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 lits 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 has 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.

Watch some of the Fastrack campaigns here : Fastrack

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. The above observation is from my personal experience.

In the case of watches, except for Titan exclusive showrooms, other

watch retailers does not stock the full range of Fastrack watches and

neither they offer spares like straps. I went to replace the strap of my

Fastrack but had to be satisfied with one which was local made and

that does not fit with the design. The retailer to whom I went was a

premium dealer of watches and he said that the reason for not

stocking Fastrack is that the design changes very fast.

For Fastrack sunglasses, the retailers are the usual opticians. I found

( in my city) that either these retailers does not stock the sunglasses

or are not interested in selling . The reason they say is that Titan is

trying to sell the sunglasses in stores other than opticians. Hence

opticians are not interested in selling this brand. The fact is that 90 %

of Sunglasses sales happen with Opticians.

Fastrack had tried to explore new channel for its sunglasses range. I

have seen a couple of lifestyle stores displaying the range. But when I

wanted to buy a specific model, I did not find that in any of the store. I

had to go to the online store and buy the glass.

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 channel.

It is a nightmare for any brand manager to handle the issues

connected with a brand like Fastrack. One one hand, the brand have

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

workaround this issue through its online store but the fact is that

online cannot replace the conventional channel atleast in the

immediate future.

Despite these issues, the brand has been a hit with young consumers.

I noticed this brand in the wrist of most of my students . Once I asked

a question to my students whether Fastrack watches are 'cheap ' ?To

my surprise, none of the students think that Fastrack is cheap despite

its ' cheap ' price. They corrected me that Fastrack is 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. My personal experience as a consumer for both

watch and sunglasses is positive. 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

F R I D A Y , M A R C H 0 3 , 2 0 0 6

Frooti : Fresh N Juicy Brand : Frooti

Company: Parle Agro foods

Agency: 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 have 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 tetrapak have extended

the shelf life of Frooti because tetrapaks have 2 layers of paper and a

plastic coating that ensured tamper proof and enhanced shelf life.

Lured by the success of Frooti, there was 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.

Froo ti 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 have tried to create excitement in the

market through a series of new variants and packing. But in 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. The 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 have 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 started in February 2001. The campaign was about a faceless

person Digen Verma. There were p osters 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 clicked. 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 have 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

T U E S D A Y , N O V E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 0 6

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

Company: MRF

Brand Count: 161

Funskool is the market leader in the Indian organised toys market.

Pioneer in marketing branded toys, Funskool was launched in 1988

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

a. Board games

b.Building Blocks

c. Dolls & soft toys

d.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 have 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

have 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 from my personal

observation has an edge in the shelf space at shops.I have a feeling

that the brand is resting on its laurels recently interms of

promotions.Fisher 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 have 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.

source:domainb,businessline,magindia,funskool.net

Labels: branding

T H U R S D A Y , J A N U A R Y 1 9 , 2 0 0 6

WoodLand : Are you a Woodlander?

Brand : WoodLand

Company: Aero Club

Agency : 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 ( and am proud of it ) . 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 . I think that 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

T H U R S D A Y , N O V E M B E R 1 5 , 2 0 0 7

Chandrika : Best Soap Nature Can Offer Brand : Chandrika

Company : Wipro

Agency : FCB Ulka

Brand Analysis Count : 290

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. I think that 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 made

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 scalable to a national market.

There was a visible change in the brand after Wipro took over the

marketing . Although

Wipro 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.

Watch the ad here : Chandrika

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 this 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 use 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 after reading

about the variant, I feel that there is 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 way this brand is promoted. Within a few years,

Wipro was able to rejuvenate this brand and made it more

contemporary. The brand has already running a new campaign these

days. Its happy to see a traditional brand morphing to a new young

brand.

Labels: FMCG, Heritage Brand, personal care, Product life cycle, soap

brands, Wipro Brands

T H U R S D A Y , A P R I L 2 0 , 2 0 0 6

Zodiac : Finest Quality Shirt Makers Brand : Zodiac

Company: 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 have 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

is available across the globe take fashion cues from the west and the

designers back in India puts it into the shirts.

From the e ighties, the readymade menswear have

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 have also an impressive range of

Ties where it have captured a commanding position in that category.

Zodiac have 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

M O N D A Y , A P R I L 1 3 , 2 0 0 9

7 Up : Bheja Fry, 7 Up Try

Brand : 7 Up

Company : Pepsico

Agency : BBDO

Brand Analysis Count : 393

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 T he 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 hieghts 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 I do not see any

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.

This summer saw the extension of this theme. Pepsico realized that

Lime Juice was the largest selling drink and most favorite flavor

among Indians. 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 artifical and other

is original .

What ever be the argument of the marketers, consumers seldom see

the difference between a cloudy drink, a clear drink, artifical, 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

Save to del.icio.us • Digg This! • Stumble It!

S A T U R D A Y , O C T O B E R 2 7 , 2 0 0 7

Anne French : Smooth and Silky Skin Brand : Anne French

Company : Wyeth

Agency : Grey

Brand Analysis Count : 285

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 force Anne French to launch

its own tube package and also increase the adspend.

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 .

Watch the tvc here : Anne French

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

S A T U R D A Y , M A R C H 0 3 , 2 0 0 7

Chandanam: Power of Brand Name Brand : Chandanam

Company: SD Pharmacy

Agency: MAA Bozell

Brand Count : 205

Chandanam 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 limelig ht with the

huge success of Manjal Soap( discussed elsewhere in this blog) 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 higly 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

this 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 has 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.

source: businessline,economictimes

Related Brand

Manjal

T U E S D A Y , M A R C H 0 7 , 2 0 0 6

Cinthol : Get Ready, Get Close Brand : Cinthol

Company: Godrej consumer products ltd

Agency ; 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 s o-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 have 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 have 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 19 86 .

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 have the usp of deo + complexion 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 have extensions like Talcum powder and Deo

but these extensions were not as successful as this brand.

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. I feel

that Cinthol Deo if promoted heavily can easily beat the likes of AXE.

But these products are seldom available in the stores.

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

Labels: branding, FMCG, personal care, soap brands

T H U R S D A Y , A U G U S T 2 1 , 2 0 0 8

Clean & Clear : Clean Clear and Confident Brand : Clean & Clear

Company : Johnson & Johnson Consumer products

Agency : DDB Mudra

Brand Analysis Count : 344

Clean & Clear is the skin care brand from the house of Johnson &

Johnson. The brand was relaunched last month 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 products 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 existing in India long back ( I don't have the launch

date). But the brand was languishing because of the lack of support

from the company. Infact I have never seen this brand before.

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 " which I feel

has potential and flexibility for creatives to work on. Infact confidence

is a virtue that will attract the attention of Teens. Teenagers has a

view of themself as adults. So confidence can be a platform to attract

these young minds into this brand. I 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. I would say that 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 babycare 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.

When I visited a supermarket, I found Clean & Clear bottle along with

other J & J baby products and not in the personal care section of the

supermarket. I think its suicidal for the brand to be kept alongside

baby products. In this era of competition there is no space for such

mistakes. I had to spent considerable time checking whether the

cleanser is for baby or for grown ups . 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 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: johnson and johnson, New Product Launch, personal care

T H U R S D A Y , D E C E M B E R 1 4 , 2 0 0 6

Clearasil : For Clear Skin Brand : Clearasil

Company: Reckitt & Benckiser

Agency: Euro Rscg

Brand Count : 177

<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]-->

<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->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 b rand 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.

<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->

<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->Clearas il 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.I think that 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 from

Reckitt is in the same skin care market; the brand managers will have a tough time

integrating Clearasil to the portfolio.

source:agencyfaqs,businessline,reckittbenckiser.com

Related Brands

Ponds

Fair&Lovely

Vicco

Loreal

Bodyshop

Labels: branding, failed brands, FMHG, Heritage Brand, marketing

myopia, personal care, Reckitt Benkiser

W E D N E S D A Y , D E C E M B E R 0 7 , 2 0 0 5

Clinic All Clear : Clear about what it does.

Brand: Clinic All Clear

Agency : Lowe

Baseline: 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 fort and with a market share of

around 55-60%, HLL was the king. The major brands being Clinic Plus

- Positioned as family health brand

Clinic All clear -positioned as anti-dandruff

Sunsilk-- 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 haircare 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 was 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 expects it to

deliver and I feel that it will.

Labels: branding, FMCG, personal care, shampoo

T U E S D A Y , J A N U A R Y 0 3 , 2 0 0 6

Close Up : Kya Ap CloseUp Karthe hain?

Brand : Close Up

Company: HLL

Agency: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 have

used films and filmi songs to appeal to the Indian youth. Close Up was

the f irst 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 have 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- that is another issue. 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 have 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 e

xecuted and treats the target market as a bunch of adolescents who

will do any thing to attract the opposite sex. Indians never was

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.( my opinion). I guess the agency have run

out of ideas.

This is a brand that have 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, FMCG, personal care, Toothpaste

S A T U R D A Y , J U L Y 1 5 , 2 0 0 6

Dove : The Mildest One Brand : Dove

Company: HLL

Agency: O&M

Brand Count: 102

Dove is a $2 bn brand waiting to spread its wings in the Indian Prem

ium 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 t he 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.With

the brand now priced at Rs 28, the price has somewhat become

reasonable.

I feel that 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 have a negative

point in that the soap usually does not last enough ( partly because of

our bathroom habits). This have reduced the value proposition for this

brand.

With the emergence of an attractive market in the premium cosmetic

market in India, Dove have 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

F R I D A Y , S E P T E M B E R 1 5 , 2 0 0 6

Eyetex : Eye On The Next Generation Brand : Eyetex

Company: Aravind Laboratories

Brand Count : 126

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 19 38 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 facing 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 have 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 through generations this brand has been

passed on.

The brand is now facing the threat from the changing lifestyle of its

TG. I am not sure whether the younger generation uses Kajals these

days. 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 generations, Eyetex is not much

popular.

Eyetex too has tried to change with times. From the traditional round

shaped pack, it had metamorphosed 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 ( may

be) and innovative extensions like Loreal Voluminous Mascara, Eyetex

suddenly may find 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. I am also not sure

whether the urban girls bother about putting kajal everyday. In this

era of fast life, these products are used only on occasions.

Eyetex has also taken a bold step to enter into color cosmetics with

the brand Dazzler.Eyetex here is going to compete with the " Who is

Who" of the global cosmetic industry. I am not sure 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

generation. It is going to be expensive and in this case a celebrity

endorsement will help the brand to a great extent.

Source: Divanee,indiatoday,eyetex.com

S U N D A Y , J U L Y 2 9 , 2 0 0 7

Fair and Handsome : Be Fair , Be Handsome Brand : Fair & Handsome

Company : Emami

Agency : Situations

Brand Count : 256

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 segmen t. 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.

Watch the TVC here : Fair and Handsome

The campaign for Fair and Handsome is one of the lousiest campaign

I have ever seen. Here the main character is depicted as a fool who

gets into a ladies hostel to steal a fairness cream ( or has he got in for

some other purpose !) . I still couldn't understand why couldn't he just

go to a supermarket and buy it.

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 lousy or not ,

after two years of launch , Fair and Handsome is worth Rs 45 Crore

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 uses creams meant for women. Hence there is 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 Lo'real 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 Lo'real positions the men's

range Men Expert has a range of skin solutions for men. However

HUL directly positions its Menz Active as a fairness cream but the

target market are older men aged 25-35 . These brands faces 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. The TVC featuri ng

SRK is already on air.

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 :

1.Double Strength Peptide complex which was developed in

collaboration with Activor Corp. USA.

2.Sunguard: Prevent sunburn

3.Stress Busters: prevent wrinkles

4.Anti Bacplus : anti bacterial

5.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

feel that the brand still lives in the stone age.

I feel 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 . ( I am not

denying the fact that there are people who have complex about being

not fair) . 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. I feel that FAH by default is restricting itself

to the Fairness proposition ( which is not a bad idea ).

Even when you are addressing the issue of fairness, the brand have 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

have to project itself as a winner rather than a brand for losers.

What do you think ?

source : agencyfaqs,business standard,fairand handsome.net

Labels: Brand Laddering, celebrity endorsement, FMCG, innovation,

personal care, product line extension

S A T U R D A Y , F E B R U A R Y 1 0 , 2 0 0 7

Hamam : Trusted Family Soap Brand : Hamam

Company: HLL

Agency: Lowe

Brand Count: 197

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. Th

e 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

have 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.

source: hll.com,businessline

Labels: FMCG, HLL, personal care, Product life cycle, product line

extension, soap brands

W E D N E S D A Y , D E C E M B E R 1 4 , 2 0 0 5

Liril : Bring back the Liril girl

Brand : Liril

Company : HLL

Agency : 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, the year I was born, 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

beenconsistentt with its communication and the effective use of brand

imagery. Further on brand imagery can be found in this article , visit

http://www.blonnet.com/catalyst/2004/09/23/stories/2004092300100200.htm

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

marketshare. I think there are reasons for declining market share

which can be 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 hold on its positioning of ' freshness "

not by changing 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.... excuse me what the

hell is that?

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?) [ It is a prediction].

When it does that consumers will take the brand to their heart .

Laaaaa lalalala laaa ...................

Labels: branding, failed brands, FMCG, HLL, marketing myopia,

personal care, soap brands

W E D N E S D A Y , J A N U A R Y 1 7 , 2 0 0 7

Lux : Celebrating Beauty Brand : Lux

Company: HLL

Agency : JWT

Brand Count :190

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 pro duct in line with the

changing consumer. The brand is being positioned as the favorite

soap of Film stars has been consistent interms 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 interms of the

product or interms of promotions, the brand kept the consumers

excited. Lux has two basic extensions interms of segments. Lux

beauty soap and International Lux.

Lux was in itially 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

born 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 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

excit ement 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 which I like personally 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....

Related Brands

Santoor

source: hll.com,superbrandsindia,businessline,yahoomoney

imagesource: superbrandsindia

Labels: celebrity endorsement, FMCG, HLL, Lux, personal care,

Product life cycle, soap brands

M O N D A Y , F E B R U A R Y 2 7 , 2 0 0 6

Margo:lost in the Neem trees !

Brand : Margo

Company: Henkel

Agency: FCB Ulka

Margo is one of the oldest herbal soaps in India. The brand which is

more than 85 years old is famous for its neem content. The product

although famous for its positive effects to the skin is nowhere in the

market. This is a brand which never changed with the customer.

During its launch, the product had dedicated customer base and since

the product was unique due to its medicinal value , customers tend to

be loyal. The whole brand was having Neem as its core identity.

But Margo failed to understand the changing dynamics of Indian

consumers, more and more choices began to unfold before the

consumer and Margo was becoming a niche brand. Margo was

positioned as a "complete skin care soap". When market became

fragmented with lot of products positioning at different attributes,

Margo was sidelined as a medicinal soap.

The product has inherent negatives, the fragrant was not attractive

nor the shape. It was also less lathering compared to its competitors.

Margo changed hands from Shaw Wallace to Henkel. Although Margo

was relaunched in 2003 with a new fragrance and shape , it has not

excited the market so far. The new positioning is " Margo skin clear

skin". The brand had a following in AP, Tamilnadu and West Bengal

( am not sure about its present status). The single mistake the brand

made was to miss the new generation. It failed to attract the young

users.

With Lifebouy herbal variant and other established brands taking in

the "neem" content away from Margo, this brand needs a hell lot of

money to rejuvenate itself. May be a high decibel big celebrity

endorsement may help this brand ( try Aishwarya for a change) . Can

it change its avatar and fight lifebuoy in the health platform?

This is a brand that failed to change with the customer or changed

very late.

Labels: branding, failed brands, FMCG, marketing myopia, personal

care, soap brands

S U N D A Y , M A R C H 0 4 , 2 0 0 7

Medimix : Taking Care of Skin Problems

Brand : Medimix

Company: Cholayil

Agency: Grey

Brand Count : 206

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 y ears. The

brand was born in 1969 by a virtually unknown company Cholayil .

Over these years , Medimix has grown to become a Rs 140 crore

brand.The brand was targeted mainly at SEC BC segment.

Medimix is a pure ayurvedic herbal soap and take pride in its herbal

heritage. This brand can be said as one of 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 ( my guess). Because of its quality and

medicinal properties, the bran has around 30% market

share in the d has carved out a place in the Rs 660 crore herbal soap

market. Medimixayurvedic soap market and 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 get 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 has realised comp etition getting intense in

the soap market with brand 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 ap peal

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.

source:businessline,cholayil.com,agencyfaqs

Labels: Heritage Brand, product line extension, soap brands

T H U R S D A Y , O C T O B E R 2 6 , 2 0 0 6

Nivea : Gentle Care Brand : Nivea

Company : Beirsdorf AG (JL Morrison in India)

Agency: TBWA

Brand Count : 147

Nivea is a German brand marketed in India by JL Morrison. This

brand has a history of around 96 years. Nivea came into existence in

the year 1911. The brand has derived its name from the Latin word

Nivius meaning "Snow White".

Nivea has been in Indian market for more than 30 years. But this

brand which is truly a global brand has not met with success in India.

Nivea globally is the brand that has its presence in around 20 product

categories in more than 50 countries. But in the 1300 crore Indian

skin care market, the presence of Nivea don't justify its rich heritage.

Nivea is famous worldwide for its face cream. Nivea Creme created by

Dermatologists was launched in 1911 . The brand is considered to be

the first to take the skin care category from the elite class to the

masses. The brand worldwide is known for its Trust, Reliability and

Accessibility. Globally this brand is positioned in the platform of

"Gentle Care" and " Wellness". The brand has its elements of Color

embedded firmly in the minds of the customers. Nivea took its "Blue

and White" color as its brand element as early as 1924. From there

onwards, this color scheme has been a brand identity for Nivea.

In India, the brand is known for its skin cream. Nivea cream is but

perceived as a winter cream because of its thickness and oily

consistency. While in other parts of the world, Nivea has successfully

came out of this narrow perception, in India, the marketers were not

able to effectively take the brand forward. With most of Indian stated

do not have severe winter, the market for winter cream is very

limited.Nivea has a market share of 19% in the Rs 108 crore skin

cream market which is dominated by Ponds.Now Ponds hold the

position which Nivea could have taken had it been more aggressive in

the market.

Although JL Morrison tried to extend the brand to soaps, the

extension has not been successful bec ause of

the halfhearted effort. With salespromotion now being used to

promote this brand of soaps,further dilution of the brand equity is

inevitable.

Nivea face serious marketing issues in India. The brand has not been

aggressive enough in this market which is crowded with established

brands. Nivea was never bothered about strengthening its positioning

as a skin care leader. While Ponds successfully extended itself to

other product categories, Nivea is stuck with its cream.This is a brand

that failed because of marketing laziness. Nivea have huge brand

recall and equity. It has the global parentage, successful positioning

opportunity but was not able to leverage the strength because the

Indian marketers didnot want to invest in the brand. The problem is

that when the brand is licensed to a marketer in a country, the

objective of the brand manager will be to milk maximum out of the

brand rather than invest in longterm brand building. Every ads and

campaigns will be weighed interms of the ROI and sales growth.

Successful brands required longterm investment that will yeild results

over a period of time. But in the case of Nivea, no such brand building

efforts were to be seen.

The potential of the brand is evident from the fact that in the Grey

market, the brand is sold well. There is also significant difference in

the quality of imported Nivea and the local one. It is said that Nivea

Deo is the best selling product in the grey market.

Nivea is sad story of a brand that failed to succeed inspite of having

all essential Brand qualities. If failed because of marketing laziness.

source:rediff,brandweek,businesstoday,nivea.com

Labels: branding, failed brands, FMCG, Heritage Brand, marketing

myopia, personal care, soap brands

T U E S D A Y , J A N U A R Y 1 0 , 2 0 0 6

Parachute : Branding a commodity.

Brand : Parachute

Company: Marico

Agency:Ambience Publicis

This is a success story of branding of a commodity. Hair oils and its

use are deeply ingrained in to the Indian Psyche. This is a 1500 crore

industry which is dominated by unbranded oils. The branded category

accounts to around 600 crore. The majority of the hair oil segment is

occupied by Coconut oil.

This is a market that have very low entry barrier and that is the

reason why the market is dominated by unbranded oils. Marico in

early 1990's made a bold step in launching a brand in this segment.

Paracute manufactured by Bombay Oil Mills was acquired by Marico

in 1990's. Marico was a sister concern of Bombay Oil Mills.

Parachute is the market leader in the branded hair oil market with a

market share of around 53%. Marico has positioned Parachute in the

platform of purity. This focus on purity clearly differentiat

ed the product from the rest of the

unbranded oils .The purity was reinforced by careful packaging and

communication. The brand was established emphasising Caring and

Mother - Daughter relationship.Parachute knew the pulse of the urban

market and emphasised that the oil is non greasy and prompted the

TG to experience the brand

During the early 2000's the market witnessed a shift. Marico found

that the market for hair oil is degrowing, because the consumer

preferences are changing. The youth now didnt want to have Oil - on-

their hair look. This prompted Marico to look into the Value Added

hair Oil market which was dominated by Dabur Vatika. Parchute's

mother brand was also facing competition from Nihar of HLL stable.

Marico decided to depend less on the basic Parchute oil and we saw a

series of new product launches. Marico launched

Parachute with jasmine fragrance which was well received by the

market. Also came Parachute Advansed and Parachute Sampoorna.

Parachute Advansed account is with McCann while others are handled

by Ambience.

2005 saw a Bold ( or foolish) step from Marico . We saw the launch of

Parachute Aftershower hair cream. This is the first non oil product

from Parachute . Marico roped in Yuvraj as the brand ambassador .

The product is positioned as a Non sticky and with Zingy perfume.

The product is launched with the base line " style on every day".

People in Marico and Ambience are better marketing minds than me.

But I have doubts about this brand extention. Parachute has been a

category leader & almost generic to coconut hair oil. Extending this

brand to men's toiletories seem totally out of box or should I say out of

mind?

As one of my readers pointed out " there are many financial pressures

that outsiders cannot understand" . I do agree to that also.

But when a brand known for its coconut oil, targeted at women and

positioned along the mother - daughter relationship, extends it to a

men's category, will it survive?

Will men accept a feminine brand? If Marico advertises Parachute for

men, will women accept that brand?

Then what is parachute? a coconut oil, after shower for men ? hair oil?

The price is attractive , so men may buy it.

I am confused.......... Am I a target consumer?

Labels: branding, FMCG, personal care

T H U R S D A Y , D E C E M B E R 2 2 , 2 0 0 5

Pepsodent : Dishum Dishum

Brand : Pepsodent

Company : HLL

Agency " Lowe

Pepsodent was launched in 1993 by Hll to capture the market from

Colgate. Launched in the platform of Germ fighting property,

Pepsodent now have a marketshare of 17% in the Rs2200 crore oral

care market.

Pepsodent have experimented with its positioning althrough 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

ofcourse) .Research shows that brushing teeth at night can reduce

chances of tooth decay by 30%.

If HLL 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: branding, FMCG, HLL, personal care

T H U R S D A Y , J U N E 0 8 , 2 0 0 6

Yardley : Immense Potential Wasted ! Brand : Yardley

Company: Lornmead

This 235 year old cosmetics brand from England is yet to take off in

India(after crashlanding) despite its long life here. The iconic brand

was a hit in 1950's among the elite Indians but some how missed the

liberalisation bus.

The brand which has a rich heritage was marketed by P&G and since

they did not have any interest in the cosmetic market sidelined this

brand. The brand was relegated to Talcum Powders and with no

promotions and poor pricing has dampened the equity of this brand.

Yardley is now owned by Lornmead which is under the Jatania group :

one of the richest Indian family in UK. If reports are to be believed,

they have big plans for India and Yardley may fit into their strategies.

Yardley has been positioned as the quintessential English brand with

its conservative look and royal touch. Although the brand was

appealing to the TG in early nineties, the newer generation has not

been kind to this brand ( or this brand is not existing to gennext). The

cosmetic market is dominated by the likes of Revlon and Lakme, calls

for a major rebranding exercise for this brand.

A look at their website revealed a whole range of luxurious perfume

and cosmetic range which was sadly not available in India. Yardley

have the advantage of being perceived as a Unisex brand and thus can

extend the brand to a larger audience. Since the perfumes market is

still undeveloped, Yardley have a huge market waiting for it.

What the company needs to do is to get its marketing mix correct and

make the brand contemporary. If it does it fast, the brand has the

potential to make it big

Labels: branding, failed brands, FMCG, Heritage Brand, marketing

myopia