Ford Ikon : The Josh Machine

Brand : Ikon
Company:Ford India
Agency:JWT

Brand Count:208

Ford Ikon is a brand with a class. This brand has redefined the car marketing in India. Launched in 1999, Ikon in a way rejuvenated the fortunes of Ford Motors in India. Ford came to India with a dated model like Ford Escort.Escort was launched in 1995 and was one of the first international brand to enter the midsize sedan market.

Ford Ikon was launched in the event of phasing out of Escort. Since then Ikon has been a major player in the entry level sedan market with a share of over 20%. The most interesting aspect of the brand is in its positioning. Ikon dethroned the position of Esteem in the C segment through its breakaway positioning.

Till 2005 Ikon has sold over 100,000 cars and has occupied a special space in the highly competitive car market in India. Ford Ikon is actually an Indian adaptation of the highly successful European Fiesta model. But knowing the Indian market with the Escort example, the company decided to design and Indian car for Indian consumers. Thus born the brand Ikon.
The company virtually adapted the whole product to suit the Indian consumer taste and also Indian driving conditions.Ikon was one of the first examples of Global brand getting Local in the automotive industry.
Once the product is ready, came the question of marketing. Ikon was priced as an entry level sedan car and was positioned in the C segment. C segment was dominated by Esteem and there was a slew of competitors waiting to tap the market including Hyundai Accent. Most of the purchases in this segment was rational and the brands were also positioned on rational platforms. Ikon wanted to break the icons and decided to do away with the demographic positioning. Research and initial test marketing showed that Ikon is associated with the Attractive and Peppy attributes. The company decided to position the brand as a lifestyle brand. The TG was decided to be young professionals who works hard and play hard who are Full of Life and Affluent. This brand is the classic case of lifestyle segmentation.

Ikon had the sporty design and all the pep that a sporty car needs interms of engine capacity and performance. The agency hit upon the big idea of positioning the brand as the Josh Machine.I think the tagline JOSH Machine is one of the best taglines I have come across. Although the term Josh is hindi ( I have criticised Go Fida campaign) Josh term had a universal appeal across India. Although some of the ads were lousy, the product delivered the promise. The Brand clearly identified the TG and Josh satisfied the need for a sporty sedan ( that need is still there). Indian Yuppies lapped up this product and the brand which suffered most because of Ikon was the Maruti Esteem.Ikon was priced between Rs 5.5 lakh and 6 lakhs.The brand broke from the rational positioning into a more emotional plane.The brand had the famous tagline " The Josh Machine " which was later modified to " Live Life with Josh".

The brand hit a rough patch in 2003 with competition hotting up. The launch of Indigo changed the dynamics of the C segment. To compete with Indigo, Ikon launched a variant in the sub 5 lakh category with Ford Flair.

Last year Ford launched its Fiesta in the Indian market at a premium over Ikon. According to company reports, Fiesta is positioned as an Aspirational sedan and complements Ikon rather than cannibalise it. Fiesta became a runaway success because of its blockbuster performance.

Ford Ikon is now at a critical point in its lifecycle. Although the brand has came out with lot of variants over time like SXI, NXT, the brand is now perceived to be an old brand.The Josh in this brand is no longer there and the company is now focusing on its new baby Fiesta. This lack of marketing and brand building on Ikon can prove to be a big negative for the brand. Slowly the brand may lose its relevance in the Indian market . The Ford India site talks about the new Ford Ikon with spruced up interiors,but what the brand needs is a relook on the promotional front.The brand still holds significant relevance in the Indian market because there is no brand that has the sporty look and the positioning of Ikon. There is still an unmet need for a peppy car and Ikon if not promoted with Josh will be a great injustice to the brand. There is not even a need for repositioning. Only high profile well made advertisements will do the trick. Exciting colors and roadshows will pep up this sagging brand. Else this brand will die a very untimely and unwarranted death..

Source: Businessline,agencyfaqs,
image courtesy: agencyfaqs,ford website

Related brand
Ford Fiesta

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 that tasted sour making itself a market leader in less than 6 months time.

Center Shock was launched in 2001 and at that time, the chewing gum market was at cross roads. The market lifecycle was at the decline stage. Although the market was worth Rs 300 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

Marketing Management by Philip Kotler : Walking the Talk

Brand : Marketing Management
Owner : Dr Philip Kotler
Publisher: Pearson

Brand Count : 200

Marketing Practice is celebrating its analysis of 200 brands. This post is dedicated to the Father of Marketing :Dr. Philip Kotler and his iconic book on Marketing branded "Marketing Management". Both the Author and the Book are considered to be iconic brands.

Dr. Kotler is SC Johnson & Son Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at Kellogg's School of Management at NorthWestern University. Dr Kotler is an Economist by education with Masters in Economics from University of Chicago and a PhD in Economics from MIT. He did his Post Doctoral Research In Mathematics from Harvard and in Behavioral Science from Chicago. Dr Kotler has around 35 books to his credit and has published more than 130 articles in international journals.

The first edition of Marketing Management was released in 1967. Prof.Kotler in an interview published in the book " Conversations with Marketing Masters" illustrates the origin of this iconic book. He recalls that at that time, he found most of the marketing books lacking theory and being shallow. He effectively understood the need for an organised and a scientific study of the marketing function. To quote from the book "They contained lists of the traits of good salespeople,the role of warehouses, a description of consumer demographics, and other definitions and lists. This was market anatomy but not market physiology."
Dr Kotler gave a new perspective to marketing in his first book by giving a behavioral,mathematical and consumer oriented view. He introduced new concepts and in a way made the theory more related to practice. Kotler gave a structure to the study of marketing. Kotler also was considered to be the first to define marketing.
In his book, Kotler used the framework of 4 P's of Jerry McCarthy. McCarthy had authored the book Basic Marketing which was the popular textbook at that period of time,but 4Ps became famous through Kotler. The first edition became very popular and the rest as they say is history.
Prof. Kotler was teaching Economics during his early stages in his career. He was introduced to marketing during his post doctoral research in Harvard. He was in a group that studied the application of mathematical models in business decision making especially in marketing. That kindled the desire in him to explore the science of marketing. Dr. Don who was the Dean at Kellogg's ignited the love for marketing in Kotler who then took up teaching in marketing at the Northwestern university.

The success of the book Marketing Management is the testimony of the author walking the talk. Even after 38 years of the launch, Marketing Management is considered as the bible of marketing. The book itself is a case study on " How to build a successful brand".
The brand practiced all that is being preached by Prof. Kotler. All the 4 P's are managed with perfection and the product is being consistently adapted with the changing world. It is not that Kotler's book is not having any competition. There are innumerable books written by Professors of high stature and calibre than Kotler. Even there are books written by Professors who taught Kotler. But none of those books have the brand equity of Kotler. The reason is simple : None of the books changed with times .
Have a look at the editions of Marketing Management :
1967- First
1971,1976,1980,1984,1988,1991,1994,1997,2000 ( Millennium ),2003, and
2006 ( 12th edition)
No other marketing text books can boat about this much editions. The other differentiating factor is that these editions are not reprints, the content and the examples are updated and made contemporary. Kotler also does not hesitate to make a drastic change in his approach for the new editions. That makes each editions new and often compels a student of marketing to buy every editions because every editions are new.Every new editions capture the changes that happens in the marketing world.
Another reason that propelled this success of this brand is the ability of the author to explain concepts in a simple style. By reading marketing, one gets the impression that it is simple and not a rocket science. There is no alpha beta theta or formulas or equations. Even a non management student can understand the concepts without the help of a teacher. That may be the reason why there are no Management Development Programmes titled " Marketing for Non Marketing executives" while there are finance for non finance executives and so forth. Prof. Kotler once remarked " Marketing is simple to understand and difficult to practice". But this brand is an example of practicing the talk.
The book also was adapted to different markets not only by having translations but also changing the examples and cases to make the concepts more clear to the target audience. So when Kotler teaches the strategy of GLOCAL , he practices it. The book priced reasonably is available across the market thus ensuring that all Marketing Mixes are perfectly balanced.

Of these 12 editions, 10 th edition of Millennium edition is the most theoretically strong edition ( my opinion). The edition clearly takes the book to a new paradigm ( if i can use that jargon). 11th edition reinforce the new thinking.
Sometimes I used to wonder , what will happen to Marketing Management after Kotler? Will it just fade into history?
Marketing Management 12th edition was the answer.12th edition was a surprise for every one. The brand now has been completely renovated .The book for the first time had a co-author in Professor Kevin Lane Keller. Dr. Keller is E.B Osborn Professor at Tuft School of Business.Keller is considered to be a Pioneer in Brand management. A young genius, Keller's book is widely used text in the Brand Management course.
The new edition of the book is a marked deviation from the rest of the collections. The book puts more emphasis on brand and delves deep into the concepts of customer value but without losing the Kotler touch. The new edition assures the continuity of this brand for the new generation.
The usual complaint that marketing teachers face in India was that students feel that the text books are westernised and has seldom any relevance to Indian market. I used to have tough time convincing the students to understand the universal relevance of marketing concepts.
2007 saw the adaptation of Kolter's text to Indian market.The new book Marketing Management : South Asian perspective has two Indian professors Abraham Kosy and Mithi Jha ( IIM A and IIM B) co-authoring Kotler and Keller.

A perfect gentleman he is ,Prof. Kotler deny that he ever marketed his book. He describe the book as an outcome of his Romance for Marketing.

Source: Wiley.com,pearson,nbs,kellogswebsite

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. The brand was owned by Tata Oil Mills ( TOMCO) and later became the HLL brand when HLL acquired Tomco.

Hamam is a natural soap .Although many reports put this brand as a herbal soap, Hamam is more of a natural soap than herbal. The brand 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

Scotch Brite : Makes Cleaning Fast and Easy

Brand : Scotch Brite
Company: 3M
Agency: Grey

Brand Count: 194

Scotch Brite is an interesting brand from a very interesting company. Scotch Brite is a niche product created by Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co ( 3M). The brand which was born in 1958 was launched in India in 1990 .
Scotch Brite is a Scrub which is used to clean the kitchen utensils.The product comes under the Kitchen Tools market which is estimated to be around Rs 30 crore.3M has around 2000 products in India across diverse industries and application.
Scotch Brite was the result of an effort to produce a non woven fabric. Later the technology was spun off to produce scrubs and other related products.In 1958 Scotch Brite was launched as a consumer product.

3M is considered as one of the world's best innovative companies. 3M has a corporate goal which states that 30% of its sales should come from products less than 5 year old. Further 10% of the sales should come from products that are less than a year old. The innovationsof the company are so relevant that one third of world's population is either using or has used a 3M product.Most of 3M products are complex to make and simple for the customers to use. 3M is best known in the consumer space for its Post-it notes.

Scotch Brite is one such innovation which is a simple product : a Scrubber.The brand has been slowly penetrating into Indian Kitchen. The brand is targeting SEC A and SEC B households.The brand faces competition not from any established brands. I can say that this brand face no brand competition. But the competition is from the traditional methods of cleaning the utensils.Although the home makers are discerning customers for most of the products , in the case of the kitchen tools, the home makers do not think much. Most of the households use either cloths or plastic and nylon scrubs or steel scrubs with the dishwash bar to clean the utensils. In rural households , coconut fibre is used as the scrub.
Another challenge that the brand face is the fact that in urban households ( SEC A) , 60% of the cleaning activity is performed by the housemaids rather than the home maker. So the challenge is to get the housemaid to use the brand rather than the traditional ones. 3M has countered this problem true to its innovative nature. In 2006, the company undertook a massive campaign targeted at the housemaids. In Pune, it organized a march by housemaids ( walkathlon) and they took the pledge to keep the houses clean ( using Scotch Brite of course). Reports suggest that the campaign was successful. The company also conducted a 10 day training program for housemaids and rewarding them with goodies for participating. This is a proof that the brand realises the impact of " Primary Users" in making the brand successful.The whole campaign is expected to be rolled out nationally , if the initiative results in positive sales.

The company is aiming to create a market rather than looking at market share. The market for such scrubs are in the emergence stage. Hence the primary aim for the brand promotion is to create awareness about the product and its attributes.More emphasis is being put on below the line activities rather than other promotions. The promotion is aimed at highlighting the hygiene factor in using Scotch Brite.
As a consumer I still feel that the brand is not user friendly in the sense that since Scotch Brite is small in size, it often slips from the hand ( When I tried using it).Hence something like a small strap will help in a better grip for the product ( just a suggestion !).

Scotch Brite is a classic case of Customer centric Innovation.

Related Brands

Vim

Source:magindia,3mwebsite,businessline,indiafirstfoundation.org,agencyfaqs

Vim : The Vim Challenge

Brand : Vim
Company: HLL
Agency: Lowe

Brand count : 193

Vim is the market leader in the Rs 400 crore branded dishwash category. This 100 year old brand has evolved with the changing Indian consumer and is a power brand of HLL stable. The Dishwash market in India is estimated to be in the range of Rs 600-1000 crore ( conflicting reports on the market size) while the branded dishwash market is roughly 40%.The dishwash market consists of three categories: Powder, Bar and Liquid. Bar is the largest category followed by Powder and then liquid. Bar category constitutes 60% of the total market.

Vim has created the dishwash bar category in 1993. Till that time urban households used dishwash powders. The bar offered many advantages to the homemaker over the powder which was messy and uneconomical.Since then Vim Bar ruled the dishwash market .Currently the brand has a market share of over 60%.

Vim was initially positioned on the lemon content in the bar. The brand using its ingredients positioned itself on its Stain Removing benefit. The positioning was consistent through these years. A terrific marketer HLL is, invested heavily in this brand and made sure that the brand stayed on the growth stage of its PLC. The brand changed its form,added new features and expanded the market to stay on the growth path. To reinforce the stain removing property , the brand repositioned in 2003 by introducing the Stain Cutter feature .The company was trying to extend the brand from "Dish wash" to Kitchen Care market.The brand also created much inroads into the market with its Vim Challenge campaign which directly compared the brand with competition.

By looking at the kind of promotions that the various players in this category , I often wondered what is the logic behind these high spends on promotion. The logic lies in the potential of this category. The percapita consumption of this category ( value terms) in India is hardly Rs 4 while in UK it is Rs 150. There is long way to go for this category...

Vim faces intense competition in this category not only from other brands but also from the traditional methods. In rural areas, Ash is used to clean utensils and the biggest hurdle in rural penetration of this category is to educate the rural folks to use Soap instead of ash.
In the branded segment, Vim faces competition from brands like Exo from Jyothi Lab , Pril, Sabeena and host of other local brands. Exo is the challenger brand forthe market leader Vim. Exo brand has effectively differentiated itself by using its anti-bacterial property and uses the ingredient Trichlozene to reinforce the germ fighting positioning.

The emerging category in dishwash market is the liquid dishwash. Pril from Henkel commands this market with a share of 72%. Although Vim has launched its own variant, it failed to create an impact and was withdrawn in 2003. 2006 saw a relaunch of Vim drop with Actor Madhavan endorsing the brand. Pril has countered the campaign using Shobana as the brand ambassador.Marketers beleive that over a period of time, consumers will shift to Liquid since it offers more economy and convenience. But there is a problem with this category: Liquid dishwash is targeted at urban upper middle class home makers and here the users are home maids rather than home makers. It will be difficult to teach house maids to use the liquid efficiently .
The powder segment is dominated by Sabeena brand from ECOF. Sabena is very strong in the southern market and has a market share of over 65%.

To stay on top of this highly competitive market, Vim has invested not only in promotion but also in product improvements. In 2005, the brand took on the most problematic aspect of this category i.e the dishwash bar getting soggy. The reason is that these bars are kept near the sink and is always in contact with water and with in days, the bar gets messy. Vim then launched one of the most customer centric innovation at that time : Poly coated Vim bar. The coating prevented the bar from becoming soggy and hence the brand became more economical. This innovation is a testimony to HLL's ability to understand Indian consumer and translate that to product improvements.

Although these innovations can be copied by the competition, Vim has constantly improved upon the marketing mixes and has stayed relevant and different in the consumer's mind.Vim is also a classic example that even a boring category like Dishwash can be made exciting through smart thinking.. cheers !

source: businessline, agencyfaqs,magindia financialexpress

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 insight. The brand realised that kids are strong influencers of the purchase process for such products and once kids get hooked onto such drinks, brand loyalty can be assured. GSK also identified cricket as the vehicle to Boost the Sale of Boost.
During 1980's Kapil dev was roped in as the brand ambassador for Boost and as a cricketer, Kapil was considered an Icon by many . Boost got the energy from Kapil and GSK had found the success mantra.
During 1990's Kapil gave the baton to Sachin. Sachin endorsed this brand when he was in his teens. During those times, the ads showed both Kapil and Sachin together endorsing the brand and thus ensured that the transition is smooth. From 1990-present, Sachin has been endorsing this brand. I think Boost and Sachin hold the record for longest association between a brand and celebrity at least in India. (The kid who starred with Kapil for the ad was Nikhil Chopra who later played for 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

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 product 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 initially a premium brand. Lux was being projected as an aspirational brand and the endorsements by stars further reinforced the positioning. The increasing competition in the soap category forced Lux to rethink on its targeting strategy. The brand had a choice either to compromise on market share and uphold the premium positioning or to retain the market share and dilute the positioning. Lux wanted to ensure that the brand be positioned as premium but also did not wanted to compromise on the share. Thus 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 excitement in the market. Some argue that HLL was testing a new positioning to appeal to male users while others say that it was a one time endorsement to break the clutter. For marking the 75th year Lux came out with a celebration range endorsed by Kareena Kapoor . The Celebration range too created news because of its variant :Chocolate Seduction. These innovative products created lot of excitement that ensured that Lux remained in the top of mind of the consumers. Another variant 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

Brand Update :Surf Excel

Surf Excel has come out with a new campaign 10/10 ( pronounced 10 on 10). The campaign is aimed at raising fund for the educationally challenged poor kids. Every Surf Excel will have a piece of stained cloth. When washed, this cloth will reveal a number out of 10. SMS this number to 455 and that amount goes to a NGO that works in the field of education for poor. The campaign is set to collect Rs 25 lakh for the underprivileged..

These type of campaigns are aimed at making the brand more humane. The brand gains from the positive attitude created by such campaigns. Some theorist calls this Corporate Social Responsibility. But as Drucker said “ The main purpose of business is to make profit” and as we say to create wealth for stakeholders. The problem is that only a management student understands such concept. An ordinary person will view business as some thing that makes profit for a select few. Hence corporate are forced to display some actions to justify that they mean good to the society.

The latest Surf campaign also intends to do that. The brand is trying to ladder up to a higher level than just the Cleaning ability. Lifebuoy also has successfully taken up the cause of preventing diarrhea thorough its Swasth Chetana campaign. The brands like Surf and Lifebuoy uses children in the advertisements. There are some people who consider themselves as “ Moral Policemen” whose main job is to make the life of marketers difficult. These campaigns act as a Preemptive measure to silence those critics.

It is a laudable effort from HLL to take such initiatives for the brand. The brands benefits immensely by associating with such activities through the positive vibes created by such campaigns. Another brand from HLL , Fair and Lovely also has taken up such initiatives to contribute to the cause of women empowerment.

Image Source : agencyfaqs.com

Related Brands

Surf Excel
Lifebuoy
Rin
Fair & Lovely

Rin : Whiteness Strikes

Brand : Rin
Company: HLL
Agency: JWT

Brand Count : 174

Indian fabric wash industry is worth Rs 5100 crore and Rin is one of the super brands in the detergent bar segment. Rin was launched in 1969. The brand came into existence when there was severe quota restrictions from the government in the Laundry bar segment. Rin was launched as a detergent bar.

For 37 years ,this brand has been the market leader in the segment. The brand faced all the issues of competition , customer preference changes and price warriors.But it withstood all the challenges.
Rin is positioned on the whiteness platform. For years the brand is associated with whiteness. This positioning is reinforced by the famous Mnemonic of Lightning. Initially the brand was facing competition from laundry bars. Hence the task for the brand was to educate the customers about the new category of detergent bars. The campaign positioned the brand as the better way to wash indicating the category supremacy over laundry category. Later when the category evolved the positioning based on whiteness was communicated.
The success of Rin prompted lot of competitor activity in the segment. Many products came into the market with lesser price. Rin countered the competition by the famous " Zara Sa Rin " claiming the brand to be more powerful than the less priced brands ( source: superbrands.com/india).
Rin had its fair share of extensions. The brand had variants Rin Supreme, Rin Shakthi and Rin Advanced . The brand later extended to detergent powders to bridge the gap between Wheel and Surf.
Rin is facing its toughest competition in the form of Tide from P&G. The brand which came to India as a detergent powder brand has extended to bar category. Tide is positioned on the same whiteness platform with similar communication.

HLL is known for its obsession with market shares. It never compromises on the market share and is not stingy in investing in brands. 2005 saw one of the boldest marketing initiatives for Rin. None other than Amitabh Bachchan was roped in as brand ambassador ( model) for the brand. The ads were trying to reinforce the positioning of Rin as the premium detergent soap. I was surprised seeing Big B endorsing such a brand.
There are reports that Surf Excel is extending to bar soap category and will be replacing Rin Supreme at the premium end. The logic is that Rin has a firm image of whitening bar while Surf has the strength of being a stain remover. HLL is trying to have Surf Excel to extend its leadership in the entire detergent soap category.
Rin has always tried to create the brand excitement alive by launching new variants or new promotions or some innovations. For example in 2002 , the brand came out with a direct comparison with other laundry bars telling the customer that the soap is mud-free . The positioning was focused on Pure Clean Technology that makes the brand mud-free.

2006 was another innovation of launching a cover for the soap that will prevent wastage of the soap. Although this innovation may be trivial, the brand is kept alive in the mindspace.And that is the strength that has helped this brand to manage its product lifecycle.

source:businessline,agencyfaqs,superbrands

Sunlight : Sunset?

Brand : Sunlight
Company: HLL
Agency: O&M

Sunlight is the oldest brand in the HLL’s portfolio. Launched in India in 1888, this brand is a heritage brand. Sunlight came to India as a detergent brand.
Indian fabric wash market is expected to be around 5700 crore. Sunlight over these 118 years had its life cut out in the “power brand strategy” of HLL.
Sunlight was famous as a detergent or laundry cake which was very popular in the early times. The change in the customer lifestyle has tilted the market towards powder detergents. HLL focused its efforts on the powder detergents market and Sunlight was lost in the woods. Detergent cakes are losing consumer preference because of the advantages of powder detergents. Earlier, powder detergents were considered to be premium and with the rationalizing of prices, consumers have shifted towards powders.

Under the “Power brand “strategy, HLL decided to phase out Sunlight brand and focus on Wheel and Rin. But in 2004, Sunlight came with the new avatar as a Powder detergent. What made the company think about this brand is unknown. Sunlight detergent is now positioned as an affordable detergent with differentiation of “Color Guard” feature. The detergent also has the Pure Clean Technology that minimizes the “Insoluble” in the detergents. Sunlight is priced above Wheel and below Rin. The brand is promoted more in Eastern India and Kerala.

Why a brand that have such a heritage become a liability for HLL. It’s because HLL failed to use Sunlight to counter the onslaught of Nirma. Instead it chose a new brand Wheel. With the introduction of Wheel as a powder detergent and with the decline of the detergent cake market, Sunlight lost its relevance. HLL also extended Wheel and Rin to Detergent cakes so further sidelining the Sunlight brand.

Now Sunlight is used as a brand to effectively fill the gap between Wheel and Rin, so that no competitor can come in that price point. It is also interesting to note that this brand does not feature in HLL’s website. The brand have a very relevant brand name which denotes brightness and cleanliness, it is a brand name you cannot afford to lose. Sunlight should be positioned as a " Value for Money " brand. This segment is vacant in the Indian Detergent market. Wheel is perceived as a low priced brand, Surf Excel is a midsegment brand while Rin is for whiteness. Sunlight with its colorguard and Pure clean technology is in a position to create a market for itself.

Surf Excel : Dirt Is Good:So Is The Idea

Brand : Surf excel
Agency : Lowe

Baseline : Dag Ache hain " Dirt is good"
Brand Count : 3


Surf has been in the market for a long time and has effectively managed its product life cycle with the help of product innovations and great marketing strategy.

The recent campaign of surf excel with the base line that says "Dirt is good" comes as a pleasant surprise to the Indian consumers

We were associating Dirt with Bad. Advertisers too had established dirt with some thing to avoid at all costs.

Even our cricketers seldom dive in the field because it would soil their white dress and we have seen our Cricket players, sorry Cricket models escorting ball to the fence in their spotlessly clean dress. Dag ache nahin hain!!!!

I am not sure why HLL tries to shock the public by saying that dirt is good, may be it is to shock the public and we are pleasantly shocked.

This campaign has a huge significance. It says
It is ok to soil your clothes
It is ok to play in the mud
It is OK to enjoy life
Surf excel hai na!

There are innumerable spin offs that surf can do with this campaign . I will say that after " Lalithaji" ,This is the next "BIG IDEA......

Hats off to Levers and Lowe

Key words : Brand, Positioning, Marketing strategy, Indian Brands.