Nestle Milkybar : Dum Hai To Bahar Nikal

Brand : Milkybar

Company : Nestle
Agency : JWT

Brand Analysis Count : 372

Milkybar is the leader in the white chocolate market in India. Launched in 1998, the brand is now making lot of noise in the media as a part of its repositioning exercise. In a typical market challenger strategy of Byepass attack, Nestle always avoided fighting head on with the market leader Cadbury's Dairy Milk.

Nestle chose to attack the market by launching brands like Kit Kat , Munch and Milkybar and thus create a new market for itself away from the market leader. Milkybar is one of such brands.

Milkybar is a white chocolate. White Chocolates are those which contains Cocoa butter, milk and sweets and no cocoa solids.

Milk Chocolates are those which contains milk solids in addiction to chocolate. In some reports, Milkybar is considered as a white chocolate while in some it is referred to as a milk chocolate. Nestle have anothe milk chocolate brand hence Milkybar can be positively confirmed as a white chocolate.

When I was indulging in chocolates, milk/white chocolates were a regular part of my indulgence, especially when bored with brown chocolates.

Although Milkybar was around in Indian market for a while, the brand came into aggressive state during the relaunch in 2006. During that time, Nestle relaunched the brand on the platform of healthy chocolate. The chocolate was fortified with calcium and positioned as a chocolate bar for energy and strength.
"Milkybar gives me power " was the brand's positioning platform.

Milkybar not only created the white chocolate segment but expanded it through product innovations. The brand launched a soft chewy fudge form of Milkybar branded as Milkybar Choo. This was a big hit for the kids who loved the soft fudge form of chocolate. The brand also made itself affordable by pricing the variant at Rs 5.

Currently the brand is running a campaign with a new tagline " Dum hai to bahar nikal " ( if you have guts, get out and play ) . The brand asks the youngsters to just get out and play.

Watch the campaign here : Dum Hai to bahar nikal

The ad is well made and drives a point. The campaign is backed by events and contests to reinforce the new positioning.

What is interesting is that the brand is addressing the higher age group of the target segment . I think that the previous TG audience for Milkybar was the kids of age 5-10 yrs. But the current ad is targeting pre-teens (8-12).

Milkybar is has competition from Milk Treat from Cadbury's.


Milkybar is a global brand from Nestle's portfolio. The brand was born in 1937. Globally the brand is positioned towards small kids. The brand have a mascot which is the " Milkybar Kid".
In India, instead of Milkybar kid, we have the picture of cow to reinforce the " Milk " factor.

The positioning of Milkybar was a healthy chocolate works well with parents. I was surprised when our family doctor suggest that we give milk chocolate to our child rather than the brown one. As a parent, I am also influenced by the " Goodness of Milk " factor. But often kids prefer the brown one over the white one.

Milkybar is a nice example of a brand carving a place for itself in a market which is dominated by an iconic brand. The new positioning may broaden the consumer segment for this brand. But how the older kids are impressed by the brand is something to watch for.

Cadbury Bournville : You Have to Earn It

Brand : Bournville
Company : Cadbury India
Agency : O&M

Brand Analysis Count : 368

On October 2008, Cadbury relaunched its Bournville brand of dark chocolates in India. Relaunched- because the brand has been in Indian market for over 30 years. But this brand was neglected . From my personal experience, I do not remember seeing this brand before it being relaunched.

Bournville is the name of a model village in England. This village has a strong association with Cadbury. According to Wikipedia, the village was set up by Cadbury when they relocated their chocolate factory there.

Dark Chocolate is a type of chocolate which is made by adding fat and sugar to cocoa. This is the type of chocolate where milk or milk additives are not added. Dark Chocolates are otherwise called Plain Chocolate. According to European standards, a chocolate must contain minimum of 43% cocoa to be considered as dark chocolate ( source :aalstchocolate .com)

In most of the global markets, dark chocolates are one of the fastest growing category . The growth is attributable to the health benefits of dark chocolates. Recently there were researches which stated that chocolates contain anti-oxidants and if taken in right quantities can be beneficial to health. Chocolate marketers took a marketing festival out of these research findings.

In India Cadbury relaunched Bournville brand for two reasons . Opportunity and Competition.

Mimicking the global trend, Cadbury also see a major opportunity in developing a new category of chocolates i.e Dark Chocolate Segment. In a market where 70 % share is owned by Cadbury, it feels that it is the right brand to develop the category. More over, the research findings about the health benefits also gives an additional marketing reason to develop this category.

Another reason for the relaunch is the competition that Cadbury face from the imported brands. Cadbury has lost its hold on the premium chocolate segment to imported brands. Now most of the retailers are stocking global brands like Ferrero Rocher, Mars etc. Customers are also preferring these global imported brands over the more familiar Cadbury brands.

Most of the global chocolate brands like Hershey , Ferrero etc are planning their entry to the lucrative Indian market. Recently the Mars group launched their brand Snickers in the Indian market.
This threat has forced the market leader to take a proactive defense strategy by creating new categories. By creating the new category of dark chocolates, Cadbury have the first mover advantage and also will be able to bring in freshness to the Cadbury umbrella brand.

Bournvilla is being positioned as the finest dark chocolate. The brand is currently promoted as the category innovator.
Watch the tvc here : Bournville

The brands says that one has to EARN this chocolate and not just buy it , referring to the quality of this chocolate. Bournville is made from the finest Ghana Cocoa beans and comes in four variants -
Rich Cocoa
Almond
Hazelnut
Raisin & Nut
The brand is retailed for Rs 75 for 80 gms.

Bournville is targeting not all customers. This brand is for those who love chocolates. The brand is aiming the 20-30 yr old SEC A segment. This is a chocolate that one will indulge when they feel like indulging. Because this product tastes differently from ordinary milk chocolates, the brand will appeal to a select niche.

That is why the brand is asking consumers to follow a special brand ritual while eating Bournville. One has to first enjoy the darkness of this chocolate. Then place the chocolate bar near the ears and break one cube and hear that crisp sound. Then smell the chocolate for that special aroma. Then slowly eat the chocolate enjoying it slowly. .....

I think that the brand will have lot of initial sales because customers will test it because of the attractive price. Rs 75 is an attractive price which will enable consumers to test it. But whether there will be a repeat purchases will depend on the liking of the taste .

Snickers : For the 4'O'Clock Hunger

Brand : Snickers
Company : Mars INC

Brand Analysis Count : 351

To the joy of all chocolate lovers, the world's largest selling chocolate Snickers is now officially in India. The brand has been selling like hot cakes in India as an imported chocolate. Now Mars INC has formally launched the brand in India.

Snickers is owned by Mars Inc which is a $21 Billion company headquartered in US. The company belong to Mars Family which has a rich heritage dating back to 1911. Snickers is the largest selling chocolate in the world with a sales of over $ 2 Billion. Mars Inc is famous for its famous Mars chocolate which have a huge fan following across the world. It also markets the brands like M&M and Bounty.

Snickers has been a favorite of Indian chocolate lovers who devoured this chocolate bought either from the duty paid shops or brought in by the NRIs. But over the last two years , the brand has been available in most bakery's across the country . A report in Business Standard ( June 08) suggest that the imported Snickers and Mars outsold Cadbury's and local brands.

Snickers was born in 1930. The brand acquired the name from one of the favorite horses owned by Mars family

Snickers has been soft launched in India. There are no media reports or Press releases announcing the launch of this brand. I am not sure whether Mars Inc has started producing this chocolate from Indian factories or its still imported.

Snickers is a heavy chocolate with peanut, milk chocolate and caramel. Globally it is positioned as a snack rather than a chocolate . In India too, Snickers has been positioned as a snack.
What is interesting about Snickers launch in India is that the brand chose to localise the brand communication . The first TVC of this brand is made for India and made in India.

Watch the TVC here : Snickers India

Usually MNC brands try to import their global communications to India to create that global image. How ever Snickers chose to be Indian from the very beginning.

Snickers is positioned as a snack food. More specifically , the brand is being positioned as a snack food to fight the Four' O ' Clock hunger. The brand has the Hindi Tagline " Hunger Baja Char . Snicker Khol Yaar " , translated to " When 4'o'clock hunger strikes, open Snickers bar".

The positioning of Snickers is not very different from its competitors. Remember that CadburyPerk had the same positioning as a snack. However Snickers have a strong fan following in India even before its official launch.

For many years chocolate marketers have been struggling to teach Indians to take chocolates when you feel hungry. But so far they are not able to break into the mindset of Indian consumers. Indians don't consume chocolates when hungry. Chocolates are mostly taken after you take some food or they take it when they want some thing sweet . Why because Indian consumers don't consider chocolate as a food. So Snickers will be fighting the age old perception and will have a tough time teaching Indian consumers new lesson.

Snickers will have a tough time in India. Most of the chocolate manufacturers are faced with stagnant sales . To sustain the initial momentum is not going to be easy. Globally the brand has been trying hard to prove that Chocolates are good for health. It had undertaken many studies which prove that chocolates can be good for health. These studies are also very controversial and sparked many debates about its validity.

Snickers has the advantage of a strong cash rich parent and a strong brand equity. It will be interesting to see how this global brand breaks into Indian market.

Tic Tac : The New Hello

Brand : Tic Tac
Company : Ferrero
Agency : Orchard

Brand Analysis Count : 350

Tic Tac is world's leading mint confectionery. This brand belongs to the Italy based Ferrero Group which owns some iconic confectionery brands like Ferrero Roche and Kinder Joy.

Tic Tac is trying its luck in the Rs 180 crore mint confectionery market in India which is dominated by the likes of Polo , Chlormint and the likes.

Tic Tac is differentiated from the rest of the crowd on the following aspects :

Packaging : Tic Tac comes in a special transparent plastic box with a flip open lid. The compact box acts as a clear differentiator for the brand. The packs are easy to carry and easy for the customer to use.

Form : Tic Tac is also different in terms of the product form. The small mints are called tic tacs are uniquely shaped and looks beautiful.

Flavors : Tic Tac 's main differentiator is the flavors. The brand is available in many flavors including fruit flavors. This helps the customer to break the monotony . Since consumers exhibit variety seeking buying behavior when buying confectionery , the many flavors help the brand immensily .

Ever since the launch last year, the brand has been investing heavily in communication.The initial communication was focusing on the main benefit of freshness . The tagline of the brand was " Natural Mint , Natural Flavors ".

The ads of Tic Tac was well made which showed the rain following a young man. Rain indicating freshness. The focus of the ad was to reinforce the connection of mint and freshness.

Currently the brand has repositioned itself on a new platform. The brand is now running a commercial positioning the brand as a conversation starter. (similar to Timex )
The brand has a new tagline " The new hello ".

Watch the commercial here : the new hello
What I like about the ad ( library ad ) was that the models look very ordinary and that makes the brand more approachable.
Tic Tac also made sure that the brand is available at a reasonable price point. The brand is retailing at Rs 10 which makes it attractive .

Tic Tac in a way has made every marketing mix elements right for the Indian market. The product is good and well differentiated . The brand is at an attractive price point , the product is available at most of the outlets and the company has been investing in brand communication.
The new positioning statement also has the strength to sustain few years .

Dip Trix : Just for Kids

Brand : Dip Trix
Company : General Mills

Brand Analysis Count : 339

Dip Trix is a unique brand. This iconic US brand debuted in India in 2005.Already the brand has become a hit in the Indian market.

Dip Trix is a snack food targeted at kids aged 4 - 12. The product is a Cookie and Cream snack which consists of fun shaped cookies and Cream.

Trix brand was launched in US in 1959. The brand has an iconic status in US with a range of products like cereals and yogurts. Dip Trix is the Indian avatar of Trix.


Dip Trix is a result of a careful consumer observation . The brand found that the users ( Kids ) wanted to play with food . But parents usually does not permit their kids to play with food.

Thus born this product which allows kids to play with the food with out getting rebuked. Dip Trix satisfied this need in a most simple way. The product comes in a unique tray pack with two compartments. The product comes with fun shaped cookies in one compartment of the pack and there is a cream in the another compartment.
Kids can then eat cookies either by dipping it in the cream, make sandwich , dunk or lick thus making the whole process fun-filled.

In India the brand has been doing pretty well. Going by the rate in which I buy it for my kid, Dip Trix has achieved its share of success.

Even before Dip Trix came to India, HUL has tried its luck on a similar product branded as Bistix. But the brand failed to took off.

There are two main reasons for success of Dip Trix. One is the smart pricing. Unlike other foreign snacks , Dip Trix is priced reasonably at Rs 5 . This is a magical price point which allows the parents to buy it because its perceived to be affordable. The fact that one pack can keep the child occupied for 10 minutes add more value to the product.

Second success factor is the marketing strategy adopted by General Mills. The brand has adopted a 360 degree marketing effort to capture the consumer mindset. It has successfully aligned the brand with films like Krrish . The brand gave away Krrish masks along with the product thus increasing popularity many times. Last year the brand has promoted itself through Spiderman 3 by giving away goodies.

The brand also have a highly interactive site at diptrix.com where kids can log in an play games. According to reports, the brand site has tremendously enhanced the brand's salience among the target group.

The brand also have a mascot. The mascot is the Trix rabbit which is always in the lookout for the creams. The cookies usually comes in the shape of the Trix rabbit.

Selling snacks to kids is a tough job. To catch the attention and loyalty of kids is a marketer's acid test. In a way Dip Trix has achieved that.

From my experience, I have observed that kids are also influenced by the peers. For instance, when I first bought Dip Trix, my child was not impressed. But when she saw one of her friends eating it, she also began to ask for the product. So these sales promotions help the brand to get into those 'little' opinion leaders and thus breaking into the rest of the TG.

Big Fun : Rest- in - Peace

Brand : Big Fun
Company : Gum India Ltd


Brand Analysis Count : 335

Big Fun was one of the hottest selling chewing gums during the Eighties. The brand evokes lot of nostalgia in me and reminds me of the countless fights that I had with my parents to buy this brand.

Big Fun was launched in 1985. At that time the bubblegum market was at the nascent stage. It was this brand which initially created the bubblegum market in India.
Big Fun was also one of the first brands in confectioneries to focus on sales promotion as the core promotional strategy . The brand initially started by offering the pictures of Disney characters to induce the kids . The brand was also harping on the BIG bubbles that can be made with it.

But the real tipping point came with the 1987 Cricket world cup. Big Fun ran a highly successful campaign focusing on cricket. The brand offered a series of collectible pictures of cricketing stars along with the bubblegum wrapper.
Along with the pictures, there was also runs/wickets which the kids would collect and keep score. At the end of the sales promotion, the kids can exchange the scores with some gifts like comics and goodies.

The scheme was a super-hit. More than the goodies, kids started collecting these pictures for the love of cricket. Favorite star's pictures was traded and kids began to buy the product for the pictures rather than the bubblegum.
Those were the days of Kapil, Viv Richards, Holding, Gavaskar, Vengsarkar, Shastri .

Bubblegum during those times was not as sophisticated as today's. Big Fun was hard rectangular shaped with a syrupy taste. One has to do a lot of chewing to make it mellow and also to make the first bubble.


Picture courtesy : Kadalamittai.blogspot.com




I also happen to see the old ad of Big Fun from the blog of Soumya Dip : Cutting The Chai.

The brand was cashing in on the cricket fever during those times. But in the early nineties the brand died . I am clueless on the reasons behind the death of such a highly popular brand. There is a possibility that the company ran into financial trouble and together with the decline of the popularity of the entire bubblegum category may have caused the death of Big Fun. The product also was not tasty enough to sustain the brand once the sales promotions' effect is gone.

I was now wondering why companies were not running such promotions during IPL. If a brand has done similar promotion during this era , will it create the same magic that Big Fun has created 20 years back ?

Big Fun is yet another brand that has faded from the memory of consumers. Another sad story of a home grown brand biting the dust.

Brand Update : Perk

After successfully launching the Ulta Perk, Cadbury's has launched yet another campaign for Perk. This time, the brand has got the communication right. The ad adopts the theme from the movies like Cast Away and adds a twist to it

Watch the ad here : Perk new ad

Although the theme is old, there is some thing refreshing about the execution. The brand now takes the new slogan "This is life, Take it Lightly " . The ad reminds me of the first positioning of Perk around the concept of
" light snack ".

The new positioning of Perk is refreshing and powerful. If carefully executed the new theme of " taking life lightly " has the power to catch the mind of the younger audience. The younger generation would love the attitude of taking life lightly.Also the theme has the power to sustain for a reasonable period of time.

Brand Update : Kit Kat Chunky

Kit Kat has launched its globally successful variant Chunky in India this year. Kit Kat Chunky is a king size single finger variant of KitKat.
Kit Kat Chunky was globally launched in 1999. The high profile launch was a result of an internal rejuvenation project ( project Tyson) to lift up the sagging Kit Kat brand. Kit Kat Chunky was an instant hit and was touted as Nestle's most high profile brand success in that decade.

The reason for the variant launch in 1999 was because of the lack of popularity of original Kit Kat among the 18-25 year old. Chunky made the brand popular again in that segment.

In India , the brand has been launched in two variants : African Choco and Hazel nut
The variant is being promoted through TVC. Watch the commercial here : Kitkat Chunky

The look of the product itself raised some questions in me. The product is so Un Kit Kat like . Instead of the famous four finger product you have a single finger chunky chocolate bar. The packaging is also entirely different from the original brand. Will it not affect the parent brand ?

The success of this variant globally shows the paradox of marketing. The success of Chunky itself contradicts the 'conventional ' wisdom of Brand Extensions that extensions should be in line with the original brand's core values and strengths. Here that rule is broken that too successfully.

Having said that I feel that one has to be very lucky to get away with that kind of extensions. In India the market for wafer based chocolates has been negligible. Although Perk and Kit Kat had initial volumes, these brands now occupy a negligible share in the total chocolate market. The reason for Chunky's launch is to address this issue. Compared to the wafer chocolate, Chunky is a full finger Chocolate with added crispies like nuts. The launch is from the insight that Indian consumers like to have more chocolate than anything else.
But Kit Kat Chunky is not the first brand to try out these products. I remember Cadbury's having a Chunky range which later faded in the market . Whether Chunky will raise the fortune of Kit Kat is some thing to watch for.

Related Brand
Kit Kat

Brand Update : Poppins

Poppins has launched a new campaign with a catchy slang " Doon Kya " . The new ad is aimed to create a viral ,anchoring the slang.

Poppins always had a irregular promotional strategy with short bursts of promotional investment. The latest being the campaign " Goli Rainbow Wali". According to agencyfaqs, the brands feel that it is alienated from the intended target market i.e 8-10 yr old.

In the new campaign , the brand give the message that Poppins has so many flavors that you will give it to everyone.

These days marketers are using catchy slogans to sustain the interest in the brand. Its not a new phenomenon and we know the catchy slogans of Pepsi , Coke ,Frooti etc but the difference here is that now marketers depend on local slang to catch the audience's attention.

The advantage of using a popular local slang ( usage) is that if successful, the slang can sustain the brand for a long time. The disadvantage is that in a country like India where we have different languages, local slangs cannot have a national appeal. For example in the Poppins' case, the usage " Doon Kya " is alien to South Indians and you maynot be able to find an appropriate local slang to substitute the original one.

The fact is that most of the time advertising agencies are not sensitive to the language diversity of our country . In my experience , I have seen many ads created by reputed advertising agencies being messed up by unprofessional dubbing. Even agencies does not bother to approach native dubbing artists for the ad. In most of the ads dubbed in my language - malayalam, the dubbing is done usually by a Tamilian and usually it sounds horrible.

For the Poppins ' Doon kya' also the kids in South Indian states may not be impressed with the idea. On the other hand, there is also a chance that these things catch up with the non-Hindi speaking customers but the odds are less.

Watch the Poppins ad here : Doon Kya


Related Brand
Poppins

Brand Update : Cadbury

India's favorite chocolate brand has launched a new brand of chocolates exclusively for those suffering from diabetes . The new brand ' Cadbury Lite ' is currently test marketed in Tamilnadu and Andhrapradesh.

This is definitely a good news for that 10% of urban population who suffers from this condition. Cadbury Lite comes with no added sugar and has a sugar substitute Maltitol .Cadbury Lite is clear cut in its positioning. It is for those who suffer from/prone to diabetes rather than for the calorie conscious. May be Cadbury does not feel that its products are unhealthy .

On a branding perspective, it is interesting to note that Cadbury Lite is a new brand rather than a variant of Dairy Milk. The question arises as to why did Cadbury resisted the temptation to launch a variant rather than a new brand. Please note that Nestle launched the variant Kit Kat Lite for the calorie conscious.

One reason can be that the market for the sugarfree chocolates is high and unexplored and hence there is an opportunity for a new brand. Second reason is the seemingly conflicting positioning of ' sugarfree ' chocolate with the existing hardcore sweet positioning of Dairy Milk.
But I feel that the primary reason is the opportunity to develop a new category and a new brand. How ever the national launch is expected only after the results from the test marketing.

Brand Update : Mentos

Mentos has launched a new campaign much in line with the positioning of " makes you smarter " exemplified by the slogan " Dimag ki batti jala de". This time the agency took the idea far into the evolution era.

Watch the tvc here : Mentos evolution

The new campaign is different from the real slice of life type of earlier campaigns. The new campaign is refreshingly new and absolutely funny. In a low involvement category, one has to take this route to stay on top of the mind.
What I liked about this brand is the consistency of the positioning and the message. The brand was able to sustain the positioning all these years. By looking at the animation and the quality of the animation, the cost may have gone through the roof but this ad has the steam to stay longer in the media. Also this ad will be much circulated and discussed.

The brand has moved away from the real life to artificial world ( absurdism) without losing the original positioning, it is important that the brand keep a link with the real world. The earlier campaigns had made this brand 'cool' and attractive to the younger crowd and its important that the brand remains that way.
The current ad definitely has bought the consumers' renewed interest into the brand and the follow up campaigns should make sure that the idea does not go overboard. Too much of absurdism can take the ' coolness ' quotient out of the brand.

Related Brand
Mentos

Brand Update : Orbit

Orbit is a brand that never stop experimenting. The brand has been trying two prong approach to brand promotion. For Orbit White, the brand takes a humor route featuring Dr. Bhatawadekar while for Orbit Regular, the brand is taking the rational approach which talks about preventing tooth decay.

This year, the brand takes an unexpected turn in its promotional strategy. The brand is adopting a laddering strategy by taking up a more broader concept of ' Everyday Magic with Orbit' . The brand now have a new slogan " Every Day Magic " which is significant since Orbit did not have a slogan earlier.

Watch the new TVC here : Everyday Magic

The big idea is that a sweet smile creates magic in one's life. The big idea is not new since Close Up also have a series of campaign focusing on Smile. The TVC is well made but nothing new in the commercial to create a WOW factor. Most of the instances showed in the commercial has been used by other brands from time immemorial ( Example : Boy and girl in arm-wrestling) .The smile campaign is also to achieve parity with HappyDent which has its campaign centering around white teeth.

But what I like is the concept of 'Everyday Magic' . The slogan has a depth which can be used to the brand's advantage because it can be extended beyond the ' smile ' factor. The new campaign may be the first of a series of campaigns highlighting the new positioning. Hope that the creative team will put some creativity to this good concept which has lot of potential.

Related Brand
Orbit

Brand Update : Cadbury Dairy Milk

Cadbury has been aggressively promoting the latest positioning " Kuch Meethi ho jaye " . The brand has for a while using Amitabh Bachchan to maximum. The latest story involves BigB craving for Dairy Milk when the car driver mention the word 'Meetha ' or Sweet.
Watch the Commercial here : Diary Milk

The brand want itself to be synonymous with Sweet. The new campaign comes after the successful ' Pappu pass ho gaya ' and ' Miss Palampur " campaigns. Both these campaigns were aimed at generating social acceptance of consumption of chocolate during occasions to celebrate .

The new campaign want to increase the Brand Salience of Dairy Milk. Theoretically Brand Salience refers to the depth and breadth of brand awareness. While depth talks about how easily the brand is recalled. Breadth talks about the range of purchase and usage situations that this brand has been recalled ( source : SBM by Keller). Dairy Milk has immense depth of awareness and now the brand wants the consumer to remember it whenever he/she thinks about sweet.

Through these campaigns , Dairy Milk wants to move above the category constraint of " Chocolate " and spread its awareness whenever the consumer thinks about having something sweet. This strategy is to tide over the limitation that a product category can create regarding consumption of a product. The first two campaigns was to popularize Dairy Milk connecting it to various usage situations while the new campaign is to increase the breadth of the purchase situations by saying that buy Diary Milk whenever you want to have something sweet.

This time the brand has taken a 360 degree approach towards brand promotion. The brand has an interactive website meethamoments.com which contains lot of interactive fields and downloads.

Parle Golgappa : Goli Mein Golgappa

Brand : Parle Golgappa
Company : Parle
Agency : Grey Worldwide


Brand Analysis Count : 302

Parle has launched a new unique confectionery : Parle Golgappa. Parle these days are very active in the confectionery business. Along with Mintrox, Parle has launched Golgappa . Golgappa is a traditional chaat dish which is very popular in North India .
Golgappa otherwise known as Paanipuri is a crispy dough "puri" filled with a watery mixture of potato , tamarind and chilli. This is a famous street snack in the North.
The launch of this flavor is a move by Parle to take on the ethinic route to increase its share in the confectionery market. As we know, confectionery is a low involvement product and often customers make spontaneous decisions rather than a planned purchase decision. Hence to survive in the market, one has to innovate in taste and come out with new flavors at regular intervals. Parle has been successful in its experiment with flavors like Kacchaa Mango ( raw mango).
It is a common trend among marketers to introduce traditional flavors in the market to attract the customers. Maggi introduced Sambar masala flavor for its noodles while Mcdonald also adapted to suit the Indian palate. Lays and Bingo build its popularity around ethnic flavors.

What I liked about this new product is its commercial.
Watch it here : Parle Golgappa TVC

This TVC is a simple one with powerful execution. The message is perfectly delivered and I am sure that the ad will prompt trial purchases. The tagline " Goli Mein Golgappa " ( Golgappa in the candy) also is simple funny and descriptive.
Since the flavors can be easily copied by the competitors, Parle Golgappa if successful will see many competitors launching similar tastes. For example Parle Mangobite Kacchaa Mango saw immediate competition from Candyman who launched a similar taste in no-time The fact to look for in this paanipuri flavor is whether the customer will buy this flavor repeatedly. But it is good to see Parle building its lost glory in the Indian market.

Brand Update : Alpenliebe

Alpenliebe has launched a new chocolate variant named Chocoduet Alpenliebe . The campaign features the brand ambassador Ms Kajol and the animated crocodile . Infact recently only I came to know that the name of the crocodile is Mr Munch. One of my readers has jokingly remarked that the crocodile is the symbolic representation of Ajay Devgan . Although personally I hated the new campaign, there are ofcourse a lot of people who liked the freshness of the campaign (???) .However I think that the croc and Kajol is set to stay for Alpenliebe.
Watch the ad for Chocoduet here : Chocoduet

Perfetti had entered the chocolate echlair market with the brand Chocoliebe. The company also has a chocolate flavored candy Chocotella. This time, the company is filling the line with the chocolate variant of Alpenliebe.
It is interesting to note the brand name strategy of Chocoduet. The brand name is set in such a manner that the new variant will not affect the core brand Alpenliebe. Alpenliebe is a pure sugar filled caramel candy.When a chocolate variant is launched, the new taste & form is totally different from the core brand can dilute the primary association of the core brand. Hence the name Chocoduet is being promoted as the primary brand and Alpenliebe in a sense endorses Chocoduet. If successful, Chocoduet may be developed as an individual brand otherwise it will be silently taken off the market.
On the promotions front, the brand has not been using the Mr Munch to the fullest. Mr Munch could be used in OOH aswellas through cartoons and virals - something like adventures of Mr Munch ( targeted at kids). There is one problem also in promoting Mr Munch because Nestle owns the brand Munch and this can land Perfetti in trouble over trademark violation.
With regard to the core brand Alpenliebe, I still have the opinion that the new positioning ' lalach aaha Laplap" does not come anywhere near the earlier positioning of ' every moment is an occasion to celebrate '

Related brand
Alpenliebe

Mintrox : Life eej Hard

Brand : Mintrox
Company : Parle
Agency : Creative Land

Brand Analysis Count : 298

Mintrox is a new product launch from Parle Agro. After selling off some of its brands, Parle is making a comeback into the Rs 3500 crore confectionery market in India. Usually the mint based confectionery market faces competition from chewing gums especially in the platform of mouth freshness.
Mintrox is not a gum but a hard boiled sugar confectionery. As usual Mintrox is promoted using fun and absurdism which has proved to be an effective formula in the confectionery category. Mintrox is a hard mint with rock like shape. The brand has used this product characteristic as the big idea. Mintrox is using the cliche " Life is hard " as the basic platform for its campaign. The idea is that since life is hard , you need a hard mint candy.
Mintrox is now launched with four flavors - peppermint, spearmint, cinnamon mint and menthol mint. The brand is targeting urban 18-30 segment.
The brand is now promoting its two variants using visual media.
Watch the Tvc here : Mintrox cinnamon
The entire promotions of Mintrox evolves around the theme " Life is hard ". The tvc also executes this old idea in a refreshing manner. The second campaign involves a convict who escapes from the jail only to land up in a mental hospital. The brand uses the tagline ' Life eej hard' which I think has the potential to become a hit tagline in campuses.
What is interesting is that the brand has also started taking the OOH media also to promote the positioning. According to agencyfaqs, Mintrox is planning to brand the first two front rows of cinema theaters with the concept 'life is hard ' to sympathize with the viewers since these two rows are the most uncomfortable ones.
'Life eej hard' is a big idea that has lot of potential. The idea is also perennial . Agencyfaqs say that the brand has identified more than 40 situations which reflects the theme. I also feel that the concept of ' life is hard' can be used to capture the campuses. The potential is enormous.Most of the time confectionery marketers are struggling to keep the brand in the top of mind of consumers. Brands often run out of ideas for promotions which adversely affect the sales. Mintrox's has been fortunate to find out a concept that has lot of fuel to keep running.
That is the power of a good idea.

5 Star : Jo Khaye Kho Jaye

Brand : 5 Star
Company : Cadbury
Agency : O & M

Brand Analysis Count : 295

5 Star is the second biggest chocolate brand in the Cadbury portfolio. 5 Star is a heritage brand which came to India in 1969. Currently this brand have a marketshare of over 14 % .
5 Star is a chocolate bar with caramel naugat inside. The bar is known for its unique taste and has been a favorite brand of all chocolate lovers.Over these years, this brand has established its brand element - golden color firmly in the mind of the consumers.
Although this brand lags behind the market leader Dairy Milk, the company had made substantial investment in this brand over these years. The brand has been relaunched more than 9 times in the last 15 years. Its interesting to note the repositioning exercises that has been done on this brand over these years
1970's : 5 Star was positioned on the basis of its taste. The brand had the tagline " Deliciously Rich, You'd hate to share ".
1980's : Saw the brand highlighting its soft and chewy nature. During this period the brand also had the positioning based on " Togetherness' . 5 Star had the campaign " Lingering taste of togetherness ".
1990's : Saw a major repositioning for the brand focusing on the energy factor. 5 Star was positioned as Energy bar . The product had glucose hence gave instant dose of energy.
1994 : The brand used the tagline " Reach out for stars " ,taking a cue from the name.
1997-1998 : 5 star took the youth wagon and positioned on the two attributes : energy and youthfulness. The brand had the tagline " Mera own energy zone "
1999 : The brand came out with the tagline " Dil hai to josh hai " again positioning itself on the energy platform
In the millennium, the brand came out with a variant 5 Star Crunchy which had added rice crispies to make it more crunchy. The brand had the campaign with the voiceover "Arrey "( surprise).
The brand had faced lot of competition throughout its lifecycle. The competition was not from similar caramel chocolates but from brands like Kitkat and Cadbury's own brands CDM and Perk. Another issue that the brand faced was the price-value proposition . Cadbury had reduced the grammage of the brand ( quantity) drastically during 2000-2005 which hurt the brand very much. Not only the bar was less filling, customers felt that its too pricey.
This year saw a rejuvenation effort for 5 star. The brand is being repositioned on the taste platform. The new campaign give the brand a new tagline " Jo Khaaye, Kho Jayee" meaning " Lost in the taste of 5 star ".
Watch the TVC here : 5 Star
This time 5 star is on a 360 degree marketing campaign with added focus on digital media. The brand has a new website lostin5star.com where the brand has tried to build a viral campaign.
Along with the new campaign , a new variant has been launched 5 Star Fruit and Nut. Like CDM, 5 Star is also targeting the youth market. Although the taste is a good platform, I didn't like the execution of this idea in the new campaign ( There is no creative spark in the ads) . It does not require an O&M to come out with such a campaign.

5 Star is an example of consistent investment in longterm brand building. The brand has never shied from experimenting and repositioning. I feel that like other confectionery brands, 5 Star also needs a celebrity to keep its share of mind. Its not that celebrity endorsement is necessary for a heritage brand like 5 Star but I feel that 5 Star never had a consistent USP or positioning. What comes to my mind about 5 Star is its caremel taste. If the brand has decided to take taste as its USP , a celebrity can reinforce that better and give the campaigns an edge.

Mango Bite : With Real Mango

Brand : Mango Bite
Company : Parle

Brand Analysis Count : 284

Parle's Mango Bite is a highly successful brand which stood the test of times. The brand which was launched in 1990 stood up and faced competition from the plethora of brands which invaded the Indian market post liberalization.
Mango Bite as the name suggests is both a benefited and constrained by a Descriptive brand name. Benefited because the brand name Mango Bite without doubt conveys what the brand means to the customer. Constrained because Mango Bite cannot bring too many variants.
Mango Bite has been consistent in its focus as far as its positioning is considered. Mango Bite was positioned as a candy made of real mango pulp. The brand was promoted heavily and the jingle " asli yeh goli mango wali" was very famous.

Mango flavor has been close to Indian palate for a long time. Many brands have take a cue and made a successful brand out of this flavor. But the problem is that once registered, the brand will be strictly associated with this flavor by the consumer and brands like Maaza have burnt their fingers by coming out with different flavors.
So in a category where impulse buying is the norm, these brands have to struggle to catch the fancy of the customers. Marketers try to rely on new variants to create excitement in the market. Mango Bite also has made some effort in its looks with a Single Twist Wrapping and also in 2002 launching a juice filled candy variant Juizy Mangoh.
The brand in a way succeeded in the market because of the sheer taste of the product . The brand lived upto the expectation of a real mango bite.

The brand is now running a campaign of its new variant Kaccha Mango which is a new unique flavor ( raw mango flavor). Although the idea of Raw mango flavor was experimented by Frooti, Kaccha Mango Bite was more successful compared to Frooti's variant. Kaccha Mango Bite is positioned as a Copy of Kaccha Mango. The launch campaign featured a boy giving a raw mango to a Photostat Shop and asks for a Copy of the raw mango, what comes out was the brand. The idea was simple and the execution was too simple. But the concept got accepted by the market. Kaccha Mango Bite had that " Some thing different " in it which prompted the customer to not only try out the new brand and also make repeat purchases.

This variant is now running a much more quality campaign in the visual media which reinforces the positioning of this variant as an exact COPY of Raw Mango. Although Kaccha mango bite is entirely a different flavor, the company has been able to create some excitement into Mango Bite. Parle was able to work around the constraint of having a descriptive brand name. I feel that even Mango Bite could use a laddered up version of this COPY concept. The brand has been keeping low profile in the media for a while now and the company is now concentrating on the variant which later can bring the consumer towards Mango Bite.

Brand Update : Perk

Perk has launched a new variant this year . Ulta Perk. This is an interesting variant since it is the the complete opposite of the product form of the parent brand Perk. Perk Ulta is the wafer chocolate with Wafer Outside and Chocolate Inside. ie Complete Reverse of the original Perk.The brand is making much noise in the media with some hilarious campaigns.

Watch the TVC : Ulta Perk
Ulta Perk is rather a smart way to rejuvenate a stagnant brand. The brand was desperate to create some newness into Perk. The brand was not facing competitive pressures but the category is facing stagnation. So these kind of tricks ( innovations) will work. Confectionery market works on inducing impulsive purchases. Ulta Perk may bring in customers who have long forgotten this brand.
Another positive effect is that the agencies will have something to work with. O&M already have some outrageous commercials ( print and tvc) based on this idea. Ulta Perk is having the tagline " Full Palti" means " Complete Reverse" . The new variant has a highly extendable Big Idea which the creatives can work on.
Ulta Perk is targeting the Teen and Youth with this variant. Priced at Rs 5, Ulta Perk is going to Perk Up the market for sure.
Picture courtsey : adsoftheworld.com

Related Brand
Perk

Celebrations : Riste Pakne Do

Brand : Celebrations
Company : Cadbury's
Agency :Contract Advertising

Brand Count : 273

Celebrations is a unique brand. Actually Celebrations is a collection of brands which makes it more special. Celebrations is the gift packet from Cadbury's having an assortment of its chocolate brands like Dairy Milk, 5 Star, etc. In a lighter vein,using a brand Cadbury's is trying to sell a collection of its brands.

Celebrations is unique because its the first time that a organized confectionery brand is trying to cater the festive gifting segment on a mass market scale. Please note that Amul has built its chocolate brand using the positioning " A gift for someone you love " . In the case of Celebrations, the segment is different.

Celebrations was launched in 1990. During these 17 Years, Celebrations was focusing on Occasions like Raksha Bandhan, Diwali etc. The brand was trying to capture a slice of the market which was dominated by traditional Mithai and dry fruits.
This year, Celebrations is trying out a new strategy. From occasion focus , the brand is trying to look at segments outside the festive seasons. The reason is that Occasions limit the usage of the brand. People never look at the brand during non-festive seasons. Hence the brand loses relevance during non festive seasons. One option for the brand is to increase the occasions of usage of the brand ( example of Archies Cards popularizing various occasions of giving Cards can be noted in this scenario).
Here in the case of Celebrations, the brand moved out of festive based gifting to Social Gifting. That is a complete repositioning that the brand has embarked upon.
The new exercise is based on certain consumer insight. The company research has shown that usually gifts are hurriedly pulled out , dusted and rewrapped. That is the reason why we get so many Glass sets, clocks, casseroles. Most of the gifts are insincere. There can be many reasons for this - lack of time, lack of choices, forgetfulness etc.
Thus from this insight, came the big idea : why not position Celebrations as an effective Any Time Gifting Option. A gift which is sincere and easy to select.
The brand is now running a heavy duty promotion for the brand in the visual media.

Watch the TVC here : Celebrations
The ad is well made and the concept is simple : An insincere gift going full circle and coming back to the people who gifted it.The ad uses the song from the film Tohfa to great advantage. The brand is trying to tell the customer to chose Celebrations because it is a sincere gift. Ultimately the brand is positioned itself as one that facilitates strong relationships.

So a big idea backed by good advertising. Will it work ?
There are danger zones. The brand is trying to alter the social gifting behavior of the Indian customer which is not easy. Giving flowers and gifts are the accepted norm but will the Indian consumer accept Sweets as a Social Gift is something to watch out for.

For sweets / chocolates as gifts, there are premium foreign brands like Ferrero Rocher, Hershey's and Lindt already available in the market. Cadbury's is never considered as an "Aspirational " brand because it is affordable . And consumers are going to think " What will he think when he finds out that the gift is Chocolates ? "
Guess who wins the race ?

Clock or Celebrations ?
Tea set or Celebrations ?
Curios or Celebrations ?

Although I am skeptical about the success of this initiative, Celebrations is definitely a relief for me as a consumer, now there is an easy choice. This gift is useful when visiting a a friend who has kids. For giving it to adults ...... I need some more convincing.