Rest in Peace : Ramesh and Suresh
5 Star, it seems, is on a repositioning mode. In the new ad released recently, the brand has found a new disease that is creating havoc in the entire world- Seriousness. And the only solution for this is 5 star !
Watch the campaign here : 5 Star
5 Star has been promoted for the last 3 years on the " lost in taste" platform anchored by two characters- Ramesh and Suresh. The brand had the tagline " Jo Khaaye Kho Jaaye ". Ramesh and Suresh ads had mixed reviews from the ad world . Although the characters had recall effect, I personally felt that the theme did not do justice to the brand. The first ad featuring the duo was funny but later these characters became irritating.
Characters that are shown in the advertisements have lot of relevance to the brand's personality. Ramesh and Suresh were depicted as stupid guys and hence that had a rub-off on the brand also.
Now the brand decided to change the positioning and hence I suppose that Ramesh and Suresh will be taken off the air.
The new positioning theme is " Anti-Seriousness". The brand is now positioned as a fun brand which cures seriousness . As an idea, I feel that anti-seriousness is a good platform with lot of creative options. The first ad featuring the new positioning is not that great.
Although the ad theme is good, the question arises as to what the brand try to convey to the consumers ? Earlier theme of 'lost in taste' had a credible reason or attribute focus. But being a fun-brand is some thing very commonly used by many brands across categories. Example Mirinda. So 5Star , trying to move from a product-based focus to more abstract proposition has taken the risk of being losing focus in future. Further, I have doubt whether positioning 5 Star as a fun-brand fit into the 5 Star's brand personality.
Along with the repositioning of 5 Star, Cadburys have also launched a variant 5 Star Chomp in the Indian market. The variant or Product Line Extension is expected to fight the Snickers brand of Mars International. In other markets, Chomp is promoted as a stand-alone brand while in India it is launched as an extension.
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5 star shouldn't have changed its focus from a "Jo Khaaye kho Jaaye" image to a "5star andar seriousness bahar" tagline..
ReplyDelete5 star being a choclate brand too soft & melodious in taste should focus more on its "lost in taste" tagline..
I feel if the new advertisement showed a wife asking his husband for shopping & the man being clever taste her a 5 star make her lost in taste with the background theme Romantic..
I think.. the Ramesh Suresh ads pushed the envelope too far!! As far as I know, 5-Star is a brand known for it's image as a powerful chocolate bar associated with victory,success et al..
ReplyDeleteThough it might help i brand recall, the idea of having 2 absent minded brothers who munch a 5-star and later slip into "comical amnesia" is damaging to an extent. Today Ramesh & Suresh stand as "Brand Characters" not because of 5 Star but because of their dumbness.Sadly 5-Star hasn't been benefited by this association.
Sir...I have come across a brand story about Kismi toffee which had to be withdrawn in 2009 due to the ban on 25 paise coin...now it has been repositioned and relaunched ...hope to see your insights on that..
ReplyDeleteThank you sir for making us think brand-logically. You're right when saying it's not safe for the brand to take a non-product attribute based positioning (fun in this case). But I always remember 5* as an aspirational brand from the ads I saw in my childhood. You win and celebrate your success with a five star or give someone a five star achieving something (1st in school). I think, it's better if the brand can try their own successes or perseverance based emotional positioning again.
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