Indigo Paints : Be Surprised

Brand: Indigo
Company: Indigo Paints

Brand Analysis Count: 592

Indigo paints recently is making a lot of noise in the media with a high profile brand endorsement by the Ace cricketer M S Dhoni. The company which was born in 2000 is aiming to be a major player in the highly competitive Indian paint industry. According to news reports, the Indian paint industry is worth INR 40,000 dominated by Asian Paints, Nerolac, Berger paints etc. Around INR 10,000 crore is dominated by unorganized segment. 

Indigo paints is now a small player in this industry with a turnover of around 600 crores. Market leader Asian Paints have a turnover of INR 16500 crores. The company which started with lower end cement paint is now repositioned itself as the maker of innovative paint solutions.

The brand's strategy was to initially generate brand awareness for which it has chosen the celebrity endorsement route. MS Dhoni was roped in as the brand ambassador. What the brand did was interesting. Along with the brand ambassador, Indigo Paints also created a character Zebra which represented the brand. The ads feature humorous interactions between Dhoni and the zebra which makes the ads interesting. The concept of giving human-like characteristics to non-human entities is called anthropomorphism. 

Many brands use anthropomorphism to build brand personality. Here Indigo paints use the animated zebra which gives the brand a character of vibrancy. The zebra also balances the ad with enough representation for the brand. 

Indigo paints is running a series of ads familiarizing the customers with the range of products like exterior emulsion, floor paints, ceiling paints etc. The campaigns along with the presence of Dhoni is definitely helping brand in its effort to build brand awareness. 

Unlike Asian Paints, Indigo does not now have sub-brands. The brand has the tagline " Be Surprised" which in my opinion is a disconnect with the brand's products. Regarding the positioning, Indigo is focusing on the product performance saying that it is a better paint. So the message is more functional rather than emotional. Probably over a period of time, Indigo paints will move to better positioning in future. 

The paint market is a tough market with a lot of influencers. The painter, the retailer all have a significant influence on the purchase decision of the consumer. Indigo paints is definitely making its presence felt in this market in terms of advertisement visibility. 

Brand Update : 5 Star wants you to do nothing !

For now, Ramesh and Suresh are retired from 5 Star advertisements. The duo which gave a different narrative to the brand has kind of becoming boring because of familiarity. The duo can be hated or liked but could not be ignored.

This year, the brand has launched a new campaign in line with the earlier positioning of " Getting Lost in the taste of 5 Star". The new campaign which is humorous enough has the narrative of getting lost but a twist in the message -" It is good to do nothing"

The challenge faced by established brands like 5 Star is to be interesting and relevant across time. Since there is little scope for product-changes, the only variable is advertisement theme and positioning. While frequent positioning changes are not advised, these brands need to always deliver fresh creative campaigns. 

The new ad achieves the purpose of freshness and the new positioning platform is cheeky and has the steam to run a few seasons. The current advertisement story is not unique but the execution is very good. What I liked is the cheeky tagline " Eat 5 Star, Do Nothing". In a way, the brand has a competing narrative to KitKat which is based on having a break. 

One8 : By Virat Kohli

Brand: One8
Company: Virat Kohli

Brand Analysis Count: 591

One8 is a brand owned by the cricketing icon Virat Kohli. The brand is an interesting one in the perspective of the business model. Brands created and owned by sports stars are nothing new. There are very well-known and successful brands like CR7, KF and the like. One8 owned by Virat Kohli is special because of the star himself. 

One8 brand whose name is derived from the jersey number of Virat was created in 2017. Virat Kohli signed a long-term 8-year contract with the sports brand Puma for a whopping 130 crore, and it is said that the idea of One8 brand grew to fruition from that partnership. Soon Puma launched the One8 range of sports shoes endorsed by Virat Kohli.

 Just like the brand owner, the brand began to aggressively extend itself into multiple categories. The business model is basically a licensing arrangement. Now One8 has launched products under the following categories

Sportswear - Puma

Fragrance - Scentials

Innerwear - Artmas Fashions ( Lux)

Footwear - Aeon Sports

Energy Drink - O'cean

Kidswear

Restaurant 

and probably many more to come in future. 

As one can observe, the brand has been expanding into a wide range of categories. The question is whether a new brand like One8 has the equity to spread itself too far across multiple unrelated categories. 

The brand derives its equity from the celebrity owner himself. All the products under this brand are endorsed by Virat himself. While many sports personalities launch their labels close to retirement, Virat was wise enough to launch his brand much early in his career and there is a lot of years of cricketing left in him. 

Different categories of products require different story-telling and narratives. When one tries to capture multiple categories with a single brand, it creates a huge amount of strain for the brand's equity and personality. For a personality-driven brand like One8, having too much endorsement also reduces the exclusivity of the celebrity and has the risk of brand-dilution. 

In a profitability or revenue point of view, getting into maximum licensing agreement make sense. It is like make hay while the sun shines. However, too many extension that too in many unrelated categories is bound to have its price.