Alpenliebe : From the Alps

Brand : Alpenliebe
Company: Perfetti Vanmelle
Agency: McCann Erickson
Brand Count : 108

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

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

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

Alpenliebe is a very complicated name. I searched for half a day to understand what it means. Their website does not have the answer nor do other marketing sites.
Then a friend of mine suggested that it is related to mountain Alps. Taking half hour on the translate.google.com , I found Liebe means Love. So by all probability Alpenliebe means From Alps with Love ( its my guess, inputs are welcome).

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

The shape was also unique because most of the candies at that time was rectangular or cylindrical but Alpenliebe came out with a round shape.
More than the shape and the name , the product was really good .The company changed the taste of this brand to suit the Indian Palette making it more Caramelliar ( my usage) than the international one.
The brand is available in three flavours: milky caramel, Cream strawberry, Chocolate. A lollipop extention was launched last year.
Perfetti knows the method to build the brand. It is not hesitant in spending lot of money on Alpenliebe through high decibel interesting ads. The brand is positioned as a Family Candy with kids and elders sharing the limelite. The ad where the boy imitates the "father at Home and Office" is a hilarious one.
The market for Candies is expected to degrow in coming years. We have to see how Alpenliebe copes with this.

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

Source: Businessline, Agencyfaqs, Strategic Marketing

Parryware Glamourooms: Not Just Bathrooms

Brand : Glamourooms
Company: Parryware Glamourooms
Agency: JWT
Brand Count : 107

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

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

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

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

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

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

Parryware was a pioneer not only in branding this market but also an innovator par excellence.

Parryware is credited with innovating the concept of " Stainzfree" bathrooms, Introduce easy to clean surfaces, antimicrobial seat covers, touchfree electronic urinals and bathroom for Physically challenged people. These innovations coupled with some smart campaigns made this brand a market leader.

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

The brand also keep track of the changing minds of the Indian consumer. There is a marked shift in the preference of Indian consumers from Wet bathrooms to a Dry one and Parryware is

ready for that also. With a strategic partner in ROCA, Glamourooms will be concentrating on the luxury and medium segment while ROCA will be concentrating on the Super luxury segment bringing in the International range to Indian market.

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

Although the brand pioneered the concept of " Glamourooms" it found that the concept was copied by other players. Hence the brand changed its tagline to " Add Glamour To Your Life".

Then again the brand began to give importance to hygiene and changed its line to " Sparkling Clean Glamourooms ". Now the base line is somewhere between " Everything else can wait" and " Surrender To Temptation".

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

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

Source : Businessline, superbrands.org, magindia, agencyfaqs , parryware website

Citizen Watches : Beyond Precision

Brand : Citizen
Company: Citizen
Agency: Hakuhudo Percept
Brand Count : 106
The brand came to India initially with a collaboration with HMT in the late 1960's. Later the brand re- entered India in 1998 as a joint venture between the Japanese Watch maker Citizen and Doshi Time Industries. In mid 2003 Citizen hiked its stake to more than 95%.

During the initial years Citizen failed to understand the Indian consumer correctly. It misread the price-value perception of the ever value- conscious Indian consumer. The watches during the initial years were in the price range of 1600-2500 and 6000-20,000. The company thought that with the brand name, it could sell the watches at any price. That was a huge mistake and the product bombed in the market. The reason was that the discerned Indian consumer show no value in those watches although they were impressed with the brand name. This created lot of issues for the company. In a panic move, in 2000 the company went for a major price cut and that further eroded the brand equity of Citizen.

The Indian watch market is about 30mn units and in that the branded watch market is estimated to be around 12mn units. Most of the action is happening in the mid price category.

Citizen is now trying hard to regain the lost brand equity. The product that they chose to be the white knight was the " Eco Drive". Eco Drive had the technology of producing its own power from light. Hence it does not need a battery. Citizen effectively used this technology to position the brand as a high-tech one . Although the " No need for a battery" is not a highly preferred attribute to a consumer, Citizen used this feature to differentiate itself from the rest.

EcoDrive was positioned as the ultimate tech-watch and was smartly premium priced. Although the " No Battery" was the key differentiator, the product was very well styled and the promotion was effective in projecting the premiumness of the brand.

With EcoDrive, Citizen was able to recapture its brand equity to certain extent. Still the pricing of the watch makes it unreachable to the middle class.

With the regaining of the equity, the brand went into an overdrive with a slew of new product launches. In 2005, the brand roped in Kareena to endorse the ladies range of watches. Citizen believes strongly that Celeb Endorsement works wonders for the brand. Hence following the positive response to Kareena endorsement, in 2006 Citizen roped in Rahul Dravid to endorse its men's range of watches.

With the smart advertising and differentiation , Citizen survived a near death in the Indian market. In this new avatar, the brand with a market share of 15% is going great guns. But it is worth noting that Indian consumers still have to stretch a little too much to own a Citizen.

With the International brands scaling up their plans in India, Citizen may again have to relook on their value proposition.

Gelusil : Ye kam kare to aap kam kare

Brand: Gelusil
Company: Pfizer
Agency: Contract

Brand Count:105

Gelusil is one of the major brands in the 220 crore antacid market in India . A brand once owned by Parke-Davis came into Pfizers hand when the two companies merged. Gelusil was promoted through ethical route where the drugs are to be sold only through prescription. This 30 year old brand had a strong support from the medical community and is worth Rs 20 crore.

In 1999 Gelusil became the first antacid brand to shift from ethical route to OTC. It was a risky move since there was a chance of alienating the medical practitioners and also doubts about the ad spent that is needed to promote such a mass market product.

The antacid market in India is crowded with lot of products fighting for their share of the pie. The market leader is Digene from Abbot Pharma with a market share of 35% followed by Eno from GSK with 24% , Gelusil with 21% and Pudin Hara with 14%. Digene is still sold through the ethical route and are available only at the Chemists. Eno and Pudin Hara are available in all shops since they are ayurvedic products.

Globally antacids are sold as OTC products. The market is expected to grow faster in India because of the " changed" lifestyle of less exercise and more junk foods. Right now in the OTC segment, growth is now taken more by the ayurvedic products rather than products like Gelusil because of the association of " no side effects" with ayurvedic products.

Gelusil faced a setback in 2004 when Pfizer had to recall its liquid form because of odour problem. Gelusil have some issues with its taste as it may not be liked by some of the customers ( including me). For that matter all antacids tastes bad. Since this product is now sold through OTC, the share of mind and share of voice is crucial for maintaining and building market share. The creatives of Gelusil were critically acclaimed with one ad winning at the ABBY's.

With a huge potential for antacids in the future, Gelusil has to get more aggressive to leap from the solid foundation it had created .

Source: Businessline, agencyfaqs, magindia, companywebsite.

Gatorade: Tested In The Lab, Proven On The Field

Brand: Gatorade
Company: Pepsi
Brand Count : 104

Gatorade, the $ 3bn Iconic brand is in India.Launched in 2004 , the brand is keeping a low profile in the Indian market. This global brand is dominating the world's sports drink market for more than 35 years.

The brand came in to existence as a result of a research by the University of Florida. The researchers was trying for a drink to help their football team called the Florida Gators to beat the dehydration. That year the Gators became champions because of this drink.

Gatorade came into Pepsi fold when Pepsi acquired Quaker Oats. This brand have a market share of over 70% in the US market.
The brand had a soft launch in India. One factor is that the market for sports drink is in its nascent stage in our country. While in US and the west, Sports coexist with the studies while in our country it is mutually exclusive.
But reports suggest that Gatorade have users from across ages and is not confined to athletes. With increasing popularity of health and fitness activities, there is a growing market for such drinks. Gatorade is not a product for the mass market since it is a functional benefit led drink catering to a niche ( but a growing niche). The drink is being promoted by a " special sweat team" from Pepsi who will be meeting potential clients at the various " Points of Sweat" like gyms, sports centers etc.

Pepsi has roped in Kaif and Pathan to endorse the brand. Priced reasonably at Rs 45 for 500 ml, this is a brand to watch for.

Skoda: Obsessed With Quality

Brand : Skoda
Company: Skoda Auto
Agency: IB&W
Brand Count : 103

Skoda came to India and conquered. The brand now holds around 25% of the luxury car market in India. That too without much advertising. This is a classic case of Slow Skimming in marketing theory. The brand also proves that good products sells itself.

Skoda came to India in 2001. A Czech brand owned by Volkswagen, the launch of Skoda was a low profile one. It would not be an exaggeration to say that no body knew about this brand being launched in India. The only source was the news items and the auto reviews.

Soon, people seem to be noticing a beautiful sturdy car that bear a logo that was not seen before. The brand slowly began gain popularity and that too through word of mouth. The brand is known for its ruggedness and high value and quality. No wonder Indian consumers took this brand to their hearts. The first brand from the Skoda stable was Octavia in the C-class category. In 2004, Skoda launched its flagship brand Superb which is a luxury sedan that is to compete with Mercedes Benz.

The company baseline say about their "obsession with quality" and Skoda customers will vouch for that. Built with care, this car is known for its comfort and surprisingly " Mileage". This has greatly boosted the popularity of this brand since the value for money proposition was too good to resist.

The company follows it strategy of being Measured, steady and Understated. And time has proved that this equation has worked in India. The brand tried to create some noise by advertising but the brand is selling for itself. One of the ad was intended to create some controversy but it did not. However with or without these campaigns, the brand was bought by the TG.

When the Skoda says that " We make cars that last for ever" , I believe that they really mean it.