Brand Update : Peter England

Yesterday, the outgoing students of the Public Relations Stream of my institute presented me with a Peter England shirt in appreciation of all the branding funda I taught them. It was long time since I happen to get my favorite brand of shirt. Ever since my marriage, my wife has been experimenting with a whole lot of shirt brands on me ( except Peter England ) . It was good to see my favorite brand again .

I began noticing subtle but serious changes with the brand over the last year. The brand is having a very slow and steady makeover. The makeover is not cosmetic but may result in a complete change in the entire brand DNA.

From the year 2003 itself, Madura Garments has been toying with the idea of taking the brand away from the mass market segment .As we know, Peter England is one of the largest selling readymade brand with a steady focus on the value segment.

Madura Garments - now a part of Aditya Birla Group has been trying to raise the image & premium of this brand but could not let go of the intense equity that Peter England has made in the mass market segment.
In my last post on this brand, I had mentioned that the brand has changed its slogan from " The Honest Shirt ' to " Honestly Impressive " . The idea was to bring in a new set of brand value : creating impressions.

This year , the brand has fully changed its DNA from the Value Brand to an Aspirational Brand. Aspiration not like the expensive Louis Philippe ( aspiration to own ) but the aspiration to impress. The brand has the new slogan " Impressions Everyday " .

The entire communication of the brand has changed. The brand now has Foreign Models, Foreign Locations and a new image. The brand is running a heavy-duty print campaign for its Summer/Spring collection. Needless to say, the ads are honestly impressive.

Peter England is now projected as an ' everyday use ' brand but that which creates impression. So in a sense, the brand has not forgotten its Value proposition.
Along with the change in the communication, Peter England also has made a confident foray into the premium segment with a sub-brand :Elite. Peter England Elite competes with the likes of Louis Philippe and Van Heusen .

I liked Peter England because it is a no-nonsense shirt. I can wear it everyday and can buy it with confidence . An occasional tea spill or ink spill will not make me grimace . I don't need to because I can always buy another one.

Now with the brand moving into a premium segment offers new challenge to its marketers. The brand may leave a large void in the mid-segment of the market. This segment is very price sensitive and even a couple of 100 bucks can tilt the decision. My argument is that for this segment there is a big difference between a shirt retailing for Rs 595 and one that is costing Rs 795 although the difference is only Rs 200. The brand may have the strategy of offering the range at price points between Rs 600 - Rs 1000.

There are lot of brands like John Players are waiting to grab that space if Peter England decides to go premium.

Brand Update : Lux

I cannot but watch this brand with a sense of awe. Lux and the brand's sustenance at the top of the product lifecycle.

There is never a dull moment for this brand. Be it the Chocolate Seduction or the Black Provocateur. Now Lux has launched two exotic variants : Lux Strawberry & Cream and Lux Peach & Cream.

The new variants are the fruit based soap which is now the flavor of the season. Lux has always been in the forefront of identifying and creating new trends in soap flavors.
What is interesting about the two new variants is that these are not promoted using sub-brands. As you may recall , most of the new launches in the recent past for Lux has been using sub-brands.

We had Lux Crystal Shine, Lux Provocateur , Chocolate Seduction etc. I had commented on my last post that HUL may have forgotten the Core brand Lux.

My fears are now found addressed as the new variants represent the core brand . My argument is substantiated by the fact that both these variants contains Cream which is the essence of the Original brand Lux.
The new launch also assumes significance in the light of heightened competition from ITC brand Vivel Di Wills. Vivel has been promoted with Film Stars and also comes in new exotic flavors.

Strawberry is going to be a new trend in the personal care market. I think it was started by Parachute Starz which is heavily promoted as having strawberry extracts.

Soap is a product where loyalty of customers lie not in a single brand but a basket of brands. Since the investment for the product is negligible, consumers are not averse to trying out new flavors or brands. Hence the task for any soap brand is to keep engaging the consumer at either the product lever or at the promotional level.
Brands like Santoor has been investing in promotions while the product essentially remained the same. Lux is taking the product route where consumers are engaged with new flavors and variants.
The new Lux variants are promoted exhaustively in women's magazines. What I liked about both these variants is that it is tempting. Both Strawberry and Peach has a tempting effect to it and I am sure that many consumers will try out these variants.

Feels Good

Three of India's celebrated bloggers considered Marketing Practice blog worthwhile to be featured in their " The best of Indian Business Blogs : Weekly Digest by your trusted business bloggers ".

Mr Gautham Ghosh , Mr Rajesh Lalwani and Mr Gaurav Mishra has put their valuable comments on my analysis of Tata Sumo Grande .

Thanks A lot.

Also Marketing Practice has been included in Adage Power 150 . Adage Power 150 from Advertising Age ranks the best of World's Top marketing and media blogs. The ranking is done by Todd Andrilik and managed by Charlie Moran. Marketing Practice is ranked #317 in the current list. Hope to break into #150 one day :)

Marketing practice is also featured in Alltop's new India centric single page aggregator site.

It really feels good.

A big thank you to all the readers .

LML Vespa :RIP 1960-2006

Brand : Vespa
Company : LML


Brand Analysis Count : 321

Vespa is an interesting brand firstly because it was a brand which was once bestselling and now dead and secondly because of its unique history in India.
Vespa first came to India in 1960 with a collaboration with Bajaj Auto. The technical collaboration ended in 1971 and Bajaj and Vespa parted ways. Vespa at that time was considered an iconic scooter brand globally and the brand was owned by Piaggio. Piaggio then joined hands with the Kanpur based Lohia Machines Ltd ( LML) in 1983 and started to roll out the Vespa range of Scooters. By that time Bajaj was ruling the market with the iconic Chetak .
Vespa came to India with a more powerful 150 cc scooters but could not met with success in the Indian market. But launch of LML Select in 1993 was an instant success. The company also revamped the NV series which began to shore up the volumes. during 1991, LML was facing its worst financial crises and the company was referred to BIFR. It was Vespa NV that brought the company back to black . By 1998, LML was the second largest scooter manufacturer in India with a market share of over 28 %.
But the JV between LML and Piaggio did not last long. In 1999 the JV was called off with LML buying Piaggio's stake. LML decided to go alone with the scooters. It dropped the brand name Vespa and continued selling LML NV and LML Select brands .

But during these times, the entire two wheeler industry was redefined . Scooters made way to Motorcycles . Sensing this shift, LML ventured into motorcycles. In 2003, LML launched its first bike in India branded as Freedom. But the entry into motorcycles was a disaster.

LML was falling into severe financial crisis. A labour unrest at the Kanpur plant proved to be the last nail. In 2006, LML closed down the operation of its Kanpur plant. And it was the end of Vespa Scooters.

When scooters was considered a work- machine, it was Vespa which redefined the market. Vespa was stylish and contemporary. It was elegant, youthful and more balanced compared to the sturdy Chetak. While Chetak was the price warrior, Vespa was always the premium scooter. Vespa was commanding the premium for the looks since the technology that drove both Chetak and Vespa was the same.

But like Chetak, Vespa was also myopic. It failed to see the sweeping changes that was happening to the two wheeler market. LML was not able to upgrade the scooters since the JV with Piaggio was called off. It was also reeling under severe financial crisis. These coupled with the shift in focus to motorcycles paved the way for the death of this stylish scooter. LML still manufactures and exports Vespa to US where it sells as Stella and also to UK.

LML could not emulate the success of TVS in launching indigenous technology and surviving the aftermath of a failed technical collaboration. The company also could not replicate the success of Bajaj which reaped rewards by entering the Motorcycle segment. The failure of LML Vespa is a bitter lesson to all Indian business who depend on foreign partners for technology. The problems with most JV's happen with the issue of control. While Indian partners want technology, seldom does Indian entrepreneurs want to lose control over their companies. During the licence raj , foreign partners used to succumb to this because there was no other way to enter the Indian market. But post - liberalisation, Indian market is a level playing ground. Indian business either have to shore up their investment in R& D or may have to negotiate hard with the JV partner on power-sharing.

Piaggio have a presence in Indian market in the three-wheeler segment. The resurgance of scooter market has inspired Piaggio to re-enter the Indian market with the Vespa brand. According to news reports, 2008 may see the re-entry of Vespa once again to India.

Brand Update : Asian Paints

It has been a year since I updated on this brand. Over this one year, the brand has been concentrating on its premium range Asian Paints Royale and also Apex Ultima. I have not seen any campaign for the Core Brand :- Asian Paints.

But the focus has remained the same : Colors.

Asian Paints has been using the brand ambassador Saif to the maximum for the Royale Range. But I definetely missed the sequel to the classic campaign " Kyunki Har rang kuch kahta hain " ( Every Color has a story). But I am not complaining since the brand is still owning the 'color'.

Now the brand is back into my radar for a unique customer centric innovation. The innovation is not something revolutionary but simple commonsense. The brand has came out with samplers.

The concept is very simple, now you can purchase a small 200 ml pack of Asian Paints and try it on the wall to see how the color will look like in your wall. So rather than depending in the color cards, the consumer can actually see the painted portion of the wall and make the final decision about the color.

The samplers make good sense for consumers. It is very difficult for the consumer to imagine how a room would look like by looking at the color card. Now he has a chance to paint a small portion to see how the color will look like in realty . Ofcourse the consumer will have to 'buy' these samplers while imagination comes free of cost.

This concept has been perfectly captured by the latest TVC where the husband tries to explain a color to the wife. He then symbolically asks the architect " How can anyone imagine a color , yaar? "

This innovation can be easily replicated by any competitors but the fact is that the idea belongs to Asian Paints. Then the question arises whether the consumer will pay for the samplers and paint on a wall to see the real color. Something which only time will tell.

But I feel that this move stems from a consumer insight that often customers feel that what they expected of the color and what comes out after the painting has a difference. Often the color in the colorcard and that painted on the wall may not deliver the same effect . This has even prompted customers to play safe and not experiment with new colors.

The samplers are often a good way to empower the consumers and make their color selection perfect. Another consumer insight is that educated customers now take more time and effort in selecting the right colors for their homes. People either rely on architects or read mags and books to find out the right color which matches their lifestyle and tastes.
This little innovation will go a long way in choosing the right color for their homes.

In a way these moves will enable the brand to surpass an important influencer in this product's purchase : the painter and the retailer.
With empowering the consumer more, Asian Paints will find more meaning in the brand building exercises because the entire decision making power is given to the end consumer.

Related Brand

Asian Paints

Fastrack : How many you have ?

Brand : Fastrack
Company : Titan
Agency : Lowe Lintas

Brand Analysis Count : 320

Two years back when I wrote about Titan watches, I had mentioned Fastrack brand as a sub-brand of Titan. Now this sub-brand has grown to become a fully independent brand. Fastrack was launched in 1998. The brand was aimed at the youth segment (15-25). The brand was promoted with the slogan "Cool Watches from Titan "

Essentially Fastrack was a sub-brand endorsed by the Titan Brand. In most of the campaigns , the brand was promoted as Titan Fastrack. The brand was targeting young consumers who was moving towards the competitor Timex. It was during this time that Timex and Titan parted ways.

Fastrack had a good start . during the first year, the brand clocked a turnover of Rs 15 crore. The good run continued till 2001-2002 and the brand was worth Rs 25 crore at that period. But the sales stagnated. Although the brand appealed to the youngsters, price was significant dampener.The brand found that the target group which consisted of college students could not afford this brand. ( source : Business Standard)

During 2003-04, the brand went in for a repositioning exercise targeting executive segment aswellas casual watch segment. It was a suicidal experiment . The brand sales came down to Rs 23 crore. The change in positioning did not fit well with the brand. The consumers were not willing to pay Rs 1200-2700 for a watch that did not have the executive image.

It was in 2004 that Fastrack launched its range of sunglasses. The move was made after a consumer research which shoed that mobiles/deo/sports shoes and sunglasses are popular accessories in the purchase list of youngsters. And Sunglasses fitted perfectly as a brand extension for Fastrack. In my personal view, sunglasses offered a great opportunity for the brand. There was no Indian brand of sunglasses at that time. The brands available was Ray-Ban and other foreign brands which were imported. These brands was damn expensive and often consumers chose local unbranded sunglasses.

In 2005, the brand went for another repositioning exercise with a new logo and new positioning. The brand adopted the famous break-away positioning of Swatch. The brand decided to target the youngsters again but for that the brand had to break the price barrier.
The brand discarded the steely look of the watches and looked at a mix of plastic and steel. It was a perfect cut-copy from the strategy adopted by Swatch . By doing so, the brand was able to reduce the price range to Rs 500.

The brand then took the help of advertising to change the perception of watches as a functional tool to a fashion accessory. The brand launched a campaign with the slogan " How many you have ".

The campaign , the positioning and the price was a great hit . The brand sales zoomed to Rs 35 crore. The sunglasses also contributed significantly to this sales boost.
Fastrack have adopted the following core brand values

Fashionable and trendy
Affordable Pricing
Fresh Communication to attract the young consumers. The brand wanted to be the ultimate fashion accessory for the youth.

For the sunglasses, the brand roped in the youth icon John Abraham as the brand ambassador. The celebrity fitted well with the brand. Taking a cue from the fact that most of the TG for Fastrack owned a bike, Fastrack launched a biker's collection which again is a classic example of consumer-centric product innovation.
The latest innovation is the neon - disc range of Fastrack watches that does not have Hands to show the time but have electroluminescent disc that lits up to show the time.

Another advantage for this brand is the freshness that the agency had bought in its communication. Most of the Fastrack ads has been refreshing. The brand had adopted a 360 degree approach in its communication and it is an example of a brand which had used Social media to its advantage.
Watch some of the Fastrack campaigns here : Fastrack

But the brand is facing a grave issue in the market. The issue is not regarding the branding but with the channels. In the case of Swatch, the brand had adopted an innovative approach towards the channels. According to the Harvard Case Study on Swatch, it is mentioned that Swatch launched a Veggie range of watches ( it had shapes of vegetables ) and this range was sold in vegetable shops.
But in the case of Fastrack, the brand had not gained the support of the channel members.The channel does not support both sunglasses and watches. The above observation is from my personal experience. In the case of watches, except for Titan exclusive showrooms, other watch retailers does not stock the full range of Fastrack watches and neither they offer spares like straps. I went to replace the strap of my Fastrack but had to be satisfied with one which was local made and that does not fit with the design. The retailer to whom I went was a premium dealer of watches and he said that the reason for not stocking Fastrack is that the design changes very fast.
For Fastrack sunglasses, the retailers are the usual opticians. I found ( in my city) that either these retailers does not stock the sunglasses or are not interested in selling . The reason they say is that Titan is trying to sell the sunglasses in stores other than opticians. Hence opticians are not interested in selling this brand. The fact is that 90 % of Sunglasses sales happen with Opticians.

Fastrack had tried to explore new channel for its sunglasses range. I have seen a couple of lifestyle stores displaying the range. But when I wanted to buy a specific model, I did not find that in any of the store. I had to go to the online store and buy the glass.
No brand can escape the channel conflict when it tries to explore a new channel . In the case of Fastrack, it is facing resistance from the conventional channel when the brand tried to explore new channel.


It is a nightmare for any brand manager to handle the issues connected with a brand like Fastrack. One one hand, the brand have to keep the consumer interest growing by launching new models and also updating cool communication . One the other hand, the frequent design changes calls for intense dealer support . The low price for the watches often translates to low margin to retailers thus dampening their enthusiasm for promoting this brand. The brand is trying to workaround this issue through its online store but the fact is that online cannot replace the conventional channel atleast in the immediate future.

Despite these issues, the brand has been a hit with young consumers. I noticed this brand in the wrist of most of my students . Once I asked a question to my students whether Fastrack watches are 'cheap ' ?To my surprise, none of the students think that Fastrack is cheap despite its ' cheap ' price. They corrected me that Fastrack is affordable and not cheap. That is a great achievement for a brand which has a price range which starts with Rs 500 but still is not considered cheap. The brand had successfully established itself as a fashion accessory rather than as a watch. My personal experience as a consumer for both watch and sunglasses is positive. The brand has not compromised on quality.

The brand need to sort the distribution strategy to move into the next level. Swatch also faced the issue of retailer resistance initially but the equity generated by the brand eclipsed the resistance. Fastrack also should be able to build the brand into a level where retailers have to stock this brand due to consumer pressure.

Tata Sumo Grande : More Than Meets The Eye

Brand : Sumo Grande
Company : Tata Motors


Brand Analysis Count : 319

Tata Motors is in the news for all the good reasons. The latest news being the acquisition of Jaguar & Land Rover. Along with this big news was the relaunch of Tata Sumo.
Tata Sumo is a brand that redefined the commercial vehicle market in India. Tata Sumo was launched in 1994 based on the popular Tata 207 platform.

At that time, the commercial vehicle market was dominated by Mahindra Jeeps. I can say that there was no Multi-Utility Vehicle ( MUV) category . Sumo was an instant success . The success was due to the time-tested value for money proposition. Sumo became the darling of those running passenger-moving business.
The vehicle was rugged, cost effective and spacious,looked good and was ideal for Indian road conditions.

Right from the launch itself Tata Motors tried to position Sumo as a family utility vehicle. As usual the brand was not perceived as a family vehicle. The main reason being the looks. Sumo looked and felt like a commercial vehicle. At that time Tata was perceived to be a truck manufacturer and that secondary association weakened the positioning of Tata Sumo as a family vehicle.
But the good news was the wide acceptance of Sumo as a commercial vehicle. Tour operators and taxi segment embraced this vehicle and soon Sumo became the market leader.

But early 2000 saw the emergence of new competition. Mahindra Bolero and Toyota Qualis gave a new meaning to the category which Sumo created. Qualis redefined the segment and became the market leader. It was also a signal of a shift in customer preferences in this segment. Even passenger-mover segment began to look for attributes like luxury , comfort, styling etc.

But Sumo was a brand that tried to change with times. Although no major changes were made to the product, Tata Motors nurtured the brand with cosmetic changes and tweaking here and there. Tata was not complaining since volume was not bad.The brand also launched a low priced variant Tata Spacio to fight the price competition.

The major change that happened to Sumo was in 2004. Sumo relaunched itself as Sumo Victa. Beyond cosmetic changes, the product had major changes like Power Windows, Power Steering etc. The brand was struggling at that time from the competition from Qualis. But Qualis withdrew from the market in 2004 to move into a new category of luxury MUV with Innova.
Innova soon gained acceptance as a family MUV - a place which Sumo wanted.

Sumo Victa during these period ran a campaign highlighting the positioning of a family vehicle. The campaign featured different profiles of people who had traveled offbeaten paths. The campaign was significant since it was more of a brand building exercise for Sumo. Till that time , all the ads of Sumo was talking about features rather than the brand.

Sumo Victa had the slogan " Kuch Log Sumo Chalate hain " translated to " Some drive a Sumo " . The message was that those who drives Sumo are those who have traveled the ' road less traveled'. But still the brand could not acquire the status of a family vehicle or a vehicle for individual use. But the brand had a set of customers who ran one-man-show business. For them Sumo provided twin benefit of business and family vehicle.

2008 saw something revolutionary. Tata Motors launched Sumo Grande. Sumo Grande has no resemblance to the older version of Sumo. Infact auto analysts say that Sumo Grande is an entirely new vehicle with new engine , new features and a new look.

There is no similarity between Grande and the original Sumo. Grande is positioned as a family car that feels like an SUV. By the look of it, Sumo Grande is an SUV. The brand is currently running a TVC with an international touch. The tvc shot in a foreign location has a catchy music, foreign model and a nice twist. The ad gives a clear support to the positioning of Sumo Grande as an SUV. The brand now has a new slogan " More than meets the eye " . The positioning is based on the premise that Sumo Grande delivers more than what you think it would.

But a big question is regarding the brand name. Why did Tata retain the brand Sumo. The new product is refreshingly new and everything about the brand is new, except the brand name. And for the first time, Grande looks and feels like a vehicle for individuals rather than commercial. The design has smooth curves and imposing looks of an SUV unlike the boxy Sumo. The interiors are spruced up. But Why the brand Sumo.

In theory we talk about the importance of brand associations. Sumo has strong associations with commercial vehicles. Whether Tata likes it or not, Sumo was never perceived to be a family brand. When such a strong association is existing , why did the brand use that name ?
May be the marketers at the company is not confident about launching a new brand . Tata Grande would have been a fine brand with an excellent product. Tatas could have easily drove into the mind of Indian consumers as a family SUV. Branding could have been more effective and Grande would not have to carry the burden of Sumo.

This is an exact reversal of the Maruti Zen example. When Zen was relaunched, the brand had positive association while the new product failed to deliver. In this case the brand have negative association and the product have excellent deliverables.

One reason can be the existing equity of Sumo in the commercial segment. It is where the brand has to decide on the segment. If Grande wants to take the position of Sumo in the commercial segment, it should adopt the brand name Sumo Grande. But then it should forget the family segment. If the brand decides to segment the family segment , the brand name could have been Tata Grande with no reference to Sumo. Tata could either retain the original Sumo or kill that brand which has reached the decline stage of the product-lifecycle.


But what Tata tried is to satisfy both segments which can be dangerous. I am sure that if Tata Grande delivers on performance, the commercial segment will definitely embrace the brand. Scorpio is an example where the brand is positioned as an SUV and is also successful as a commercial passenger mover. Even Tata could have introduced a variant of Grande aimed at commercial segment.

Having said that, I would like to add that Indian consumers believe in functionality more than anything else. Sumo Grande looks promising and initial auto-reviews are also positive. The brand comes with a neat price tag of Rs 6.5 lakhs to Rs 7.5 Lakhs. So there is a good probability that many individuals will try out this brand.

Brand Update : Lifebuoy

Today I was surprised to see a Lifebuoy ad featuring Yuvraj Singh . On a quick search, I found an unconfirmed economic times report on Yuvraj Singh roped in to endorse Lifebuoy.
It is for the first time that Lifebuoy is being endorsed by a cricketer. And ever since the brand has repositioned itself as a family soap, it was not endorsed by any celebrity.
And according to media reports , HUL has resisted using cricketing celebrities for their brands.
However, as a marketer who loves the brand " Lifebuoy " , I am terribly disappointed.

Disappointed because of two reason :
a. The use of celebrity.
b. The choice of celebrity.

Lifebuoy do not need a celebrity. From the earlier days itself , the brand had built itself without relying on any personalities. Even without those beauties and hunks, the brand had given us some path-breaking advertisement campaigns. The brand had that terrific power to stand on its own feet. But then why the use of a celebrity ?

Secondly, the choice. Yuvraj is a terrific cricketer but I have never seen him " performing " in commercials. Secondly he is an absolute mismatch for the current positioning of the brand. Lifebuoy's latest positioning statement " Koi Dar Nahin " is based on the time tested promise of protection from germs. How Yuvi is going to do good with the current positioning is something to wait and watch.

The current campaign is for a contest as a part of the consumer promotion scheme and does not give any indication to a change in positioning. So we may have to wait for the next commercial to see whether Lifebuoy has taken a serious repositioning exercise. But how will Yuvraj add value to a family brand is something that confuses me. Only logic that I see is that Yuvi is a rage among Kids. I have a feeling that the brand has lost its confidence of standing on its own.


Lifebuoy has long been known for its commercials featuring kids . One of the latest commercials which I liked most is that of Lifebuoy Care. The TVC features a girl outsmarting boys in a football game.

Watch the TVC here : Lifebuoy football

Some of the blockbuster campaigns like ' Little Gandhi ' was made without the help of any celebrities. It will never be the same again with a celebrity.
But the temptation is so strong. Yuvi is expected to bring in lot of eyeballs from Kids and HUL hopes that kids will pester parents for Lifebuoy. But that sounds a little cheap for Lifebuoy who boasted " Koi Dar Nahi " ( No need to fear )

I would like to ask this question to Lifebuoy : Dar Gaya kya ? ( are you afraid ? )

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.

LIC Health Plus : Scaring The Hell Out of You

Brand : Health Plus
Company : LIC

Brand Analysis Count : 318

Indian health insurance market is nascent but with huge potential. With only 10% of the population having some form of health insurance, Indian Insurers have seen just the tip of a gold mine. In a very wise move to unleash the potential of the Indian health insurance market, IRDA gave license to many life insurers to enter the market with new innovative health insurance products.

Surprisingly LIC also got itself into this lucrative market. Reports suggest that there are 315 million insurable persons in this market with an estimated market size of over $ 812 million . The market is estimated to reach $ 5 Billion by 2010.

The major issue facing health insurance market is the lack of awareness. Even in the urban market, the awareness about health insurance is very low.

It is not only the lack of awareness about the insurance policies but also the need for having a health insurance policy. This blind eye towards the need for health insurance is rampant in the middle-class who really needs such kind of insurance cover.

The basic reason behind this lack of awareness is because of two reasons :

a. The availability of inexpensive health care. Historically health costs were considerably low in the Indian market. This is because of government control over medicine costs .

b. In early days the kind of diseases and the cures were very much limited. Diseases were less and cures were also less.

c. The false belief that major illness will not happen to oneself.

d. The premium paid in Health Insurance is lost unless there is a claim to it. This is a major negative since premiums paid is lost.

Both these have changed. The cost of health care has risen beyond one's imagination.Government has limited the support on health care and medicines are becoming expensive.

The new lifestyle began creating lifestyle diseases which only have lifestyle cures that has lifestyle expenses attached to it . Now new diseases has arisen and new cures too. And no one has a guarantee of not getting a major illness.

It is in this context that health insurance attain paramount importance to ones life . From my observation, a major illness or a major accident can ruin the finances of a family. With the family size becoming smaller, the avenues of getting financial support is also thinning. Health insurance is a backup against such disasters. I remember a couple of instances where the entire savings of a family wiped out because the guy met with an accident.

Coming to the brand in context, LIC has launched its health insurance plan branded as Health Plus. Health Plus is an unit linked health insurance plan where the money invested will grow investment rather than lost as in the case of conventional health plans. But the premiums are expensive compared to the conventional types.

The new launch is backed by heavy advertising . The ads are scary and will scare your hell out of you. The ad shows a lady reading a magazine on her bed and suddenly the room morphs into a hospital room . The next scene shows a guy watching television sitting on a chair and suddenly the chair morphs into a wheel chair. The voice over says " Anything can happen to you anywhere and anytime " .

The ads and the message are very very disturbing. The message is hard truth but some truths can be really disturbing. A typical human reaction to such truth is denial and not acceptance. And most often the consumer will turn their head against such disturbing visuals rather than embrace the message. I am a person who has taken such insurance policies but for me also the ad was repulsive. You need not scare your consumers to purchase the product.

What Indian consumers need is real education about the need for having health insurance. The issue is not to make him disturbed so that he denies the truth and get on with life. So the message ought to be on a softer side. Since HealthPlus is a unit linked plan, one can add savings on premium as an attraction. Reliance Insurance had launched a campaign health + wealth which is more an attractive proposition.


The print ad for Health Plus also features a visual from hospital. These are displayed in hoardings too. It too is of bad taste. The execution of the message is with out taking the viewer's emotions into context.

The challenge is making the consumer realize the importance of protection against possible loss of financial security rather than worry about hospitalization expenses. The reason why I took health insurance is to protect my family from any financial shocks rather than cover the expenses ( which was secondary). I remember a friend asking me whether I expect any diseases to occur, when I explained to him the details of health insurance. He failed to understand that I took health insurance to safeguard my existing financial security from such shocks.

The consumers for these products are those who are healthy , alive and rocking. They hate to see themselves in wheelchairs or hospital beds. During this phase of life , one expects to live healthily always. To make him aware of a potential shock should be done in a more subtle way.

Brand Update : Onida

The summer is on and air-conditioner ads have started to peep in. Surprisingly one of the ads that caught my eye was that of Onida.

Onida and the devil is having a tough time . The main reason for this is the fight between the brothers : Gulu and Sonu Mirchandani and their brother -in- law Vijay Mansukhani over the control of the group.
The fight had severely eroded the share of the brand and even the marketing of Onida. Onida was staging a recovery after the successful relaunch of the brand and the return of the Devil. But the family feud made things difficult for the brand .

What is interesting about Onida this time is the branding . According to reports in Livemint.com, the creative duties of the brand has partly moved from Rediffusion to McCann Erickson.

But as usual, when the agency changes, the entire brand elements changes. For Onida, the change is always for the worse. When O&M took the brand from Avenues, the famous tagline " Neighbor's Envy, Owner's Pride " and the Devil was taken off. The brand suffered for almost 10 years and has never recovered since .The change of agency from O&M to Rediffusion again changed things and Devil returned in a new avatar and a new tagline " Nothing but the truth" came into existence.

The new arrangement is not making things better. In 2007, Onida launched a new campaign for its A/C and with a new tagline " It can change your life ".
Now the new campaign for the air conditioner features a new Devil and the tagline has again changed to " Experience the desire " .

Onida is proving to be a case study about " How to Mess up a wonderful brand ".

As a marketer, I believe that the ownership of the brand should be with the Company and not the agency. But what is seen is that the brand managers 'outsource' the strategy to the ad- agency. Things are consistent till the agency handles the account. But when the agency moves on , the new agency resist continuing the existing strategy since it was crafted by the competitor.

So whatever be the quality of the existing branding strategy, the new agency will try to change it. This has resulted in many brands drifting from time-tested successful themes to uncharted territory and often sink in confusion.
Onida which already is in deep trouble is moving on to further confusion with an unnecessary change in the positioning strategy. The brand has not been able to consolidate the earlier theme based on 'truth'. Even before establishing it, the brand has repositioned again.

Can anyone explain the logic ?

Related Brand
Onida

Idea : An Idea Can Change Your life

Brand : Idea
Company : Idea Cellular
Agency : Lowe Lintas


Brand Analysis Count : 317

Idea is an interesting brand in the mobile service provider market in India. The brand is interesting because of its troubled history and the current marketing practices.

Idea in its earlier avatar came into existence in 1995 as Birla communications. In 1996 the company was rechristened Birla AT &T. In 2001, the company again restructured into Birla Tata AT&T. During that time, this combine was the talk of the town. Here you have three major players coming together to tap the promising Indian cellular market. But nothing happened. Soon the much touted JV failed and Birlas bought out the entire stake from the other two players.

In 2002, the birth of the " Idea " brand took place. By looking at the history, its obvious that nothing may have happened to the brand. I would say that the market also did not demand heavy investment on branding during those times. Much of the connections happened based on tariff and offers.Idea was more focused on expanding the network and improving the infrastructure during those years.

Idea as a brand began to take shape in 2006. I think that till that time, the brand owners were not sincerely committed to the brand ( My Assumption). However by the end of 2005, major investments were seen in the brand.

According to the Idea website, the brand has taken Innovate, Stimulate & liberate as the core brand values. But its doubtful whether these brand values are communicated to the consumers.
Idea is now having a market share of around 15- 17% share in the entire mobile communications market.

Even after 2006, Idea as a brand was never in the limelight. A major factor was that the investment on the brand was erratic. Most of the ads were highlighting the new tariff plans. During that time, companies was frantically rolling out new tariff plans trying to bring in customers through attractive offers.

Idea displayed its brand value - innovation through various offers and schemes. Idea My Gang was an example of such an innovation. The Closed User Group specifically targeting young customers was the first of its kind.

Idea brand got a major boost in 2007 when the brand roped in Abhishek Bachchan as the brand ambassador. Reports suggest that Abhishek and Idea had a 3 year contract which cost the company around Rs 30 Crore.
The entry of Abhishek gave the brand a lot of eyeballs. The brand had chosen a tagline " An Idea Can Change Your Life " and the entire brand communication was around this theme of ' an idea changing the life '. Before Abhishek coming in the campaigns, the brand had done a series of campaign highlighting the positioning around the theme.

In my opinion, the major breakthrough for the brand came from the campaign involving Abhishek as the Sarpanch ( village chief)
Watch the Tvc here : Number & Name

Although many viewers scoffed at the ' idea ' , the ad gave the brand lot of mileage. Also it gave some confidence behind further investment in the theme revolving around " idea" and 'Communication' changing ones life.
The latest commercial where Abhishek plays the role of a guide and using sms to communicate with a deaf tourist further popularised the brand
Watch the tvc here ; Idea guide

I must say that both these campaigns had a sticky factor. The sticky factor was indeed the performance of Abhishek Bachchan. This single factor has made the brand Idea and the tagline " An Idea can change your life " very popular. The latest campaign has a new additional slogan " What an Idea " which also has the potential to become a popular lingo.

My personal view is that despite getting these eyeballs , Idea has not been able to get its acts together. I still feel that the brand has not yet found its true essence. There is a glaring disconnect between the message in the ads and the brand. Infact as far as cellular service market is concerned, Idea as a brand does not stand for anything.
I feel that despite the ads being sticky and well made, there is nothing mentioned about the brand Idea. No message to the consumer as to what the brand stands for , what it means, and what it does. At best these campaigns will do is to increase the brand recall. Nothing further than that.
Idea is also heavily investing in events as a media to build the brand. It is associated with some of the popular shows like Idea Rocks India, Idea star singer & Idea Andhra idol ( reality shows).

The brands in this industry has already recognized the importance of investing in brand building and is trying to corner as much mental associations possible because many aspects of the services are getting commoditzed. The features like connectivity, tariff plans and coverage are almost standardized. There is intense fight in the Value Added Service domain but I feel that it will also get standardized. Vodafone is now on an overdrive to position itself as a VAS leader. The new entrant Virgin Mobile is also started coming out with new ideas life incoming calls which pays the subscriber money !

So the challenge is to get the brand embedded in the mind of the consumer so that they chose the brand instead of the plan or a feature . For that Idea may have to define a certain position.

My personal opinion is that Idea has not found its true self. The brand has everything going for it except the idea !. The brand has a good name , a good logo, a catchy slogan , a cool brand ambassador and lot of money but what a paradox - the right idea is missing.

The slogan and the theme focusing on the idea concept is powerful. However when executing, there has to be a connect between the Idea brand , the function ( the service provider) and the Idea ( concept). The latest TVC is the closest interms of connecting the functionality of the brand and the concept. But not enough.

An Idea can change your life . But which idea will change this idea's life ?

Brand Update : Cinthol

Cinthol , the flagship brand of Godrej Consumer Products Ltd is set for a makeover. The brand has roped in Hrithik Roshan as the brand ambassador. The new campaign is on air featuring Hrithik performing out -of- the- world stunts.

Watch the TVC here : Cinthol

Cinthol interestingly is the only masculine soap brand available in the Indian market. Ever after Lifebuoy repositioned itself targeting family, there has been no soap except Cinthol targeting male. The reason may be that marketers felt that soaps are usually bought for the family and used by multiple members . The decision of the soap brand usually is taken by the lady in the house. And moreover, soaps were never considered to be a part of the male grooming product category.

But things are different now. There is a marked shift in the consumer interest towards male grooming products. The category has expanded from shaving products, deo etc to face wash , hair care , face creams etc. The shift is also a result of the emergence of Metrosexual male and also of the Urban Nuclear Family where every individual members have the freedom to use individual products. So typically a modern household may see husband and wife using two different brand of soaps.

In this context , the relevance of Cinthol as a masculine brand achieves paramount importance for Godrej. Even without much promotion, Cinthol has a share of over 2 %. While Business Standards pegs the brand size to be around Rs 80 crore, Businessline puts the brand's size to be Rs 200 crore.

More than the new users, Cinthol's strength has been a strong brand loyal customers. This is both a strength and weakness. The prime challenge for Cinthol is to be relevant to the new Male.

The new campaign features a new look for Cinthol and a new slogan. The last ad of Cinthol featured the slogan " Get Ready Get Close " .
The new slogan for Cinthol is " Don't Stop" . The brand promise is
24 hour confidence &
Long lasting freshness.
Although the slogan has been changed, the positioning has been in a consistent line. Cinthol has long been positioned on the basis of the properties of Deo, freshness and confidence.
The new slogan tells the audience to have confidence to do what ever he likes. The execution of the concept is little out of the world but interesting to watch.

Regarding the choice of the celebrity , Cinthol has pulled off a coup by roping in Hrithik. But what I have seen is that Hrithik has not been exploited as a brand ambassador. Brands like Acer and even Coke was not able to fully exploit this celebrity.
My first impression about the ad is positive but the ad is not enough to raise the brand to a level of an icon. Having said that the slogan " Don't Stop " with core brand values of Freshness and Confidence give the brand lot of power to move ahead.

Related Brand
Cinthol

Brand Update : Vivel & Fiama Di Wills

Its raining celebrities at ITC 's personal care brands. In a major marketing initiative, ITC has roped in two of the hottest bollywood stars to endorse its personal care brands. In my earlier post on Vivel Di Wills, I have expressed my confusion over managing Vivel Di Wills and Vivel.

The latest TVC surprisingly features a new campaign for Vivel featuring Kareena Kapoor endorsing Vivel ( and not Vivel Di Wills) . The positioning of Vivel is same as that of Vivel Di Wills. That makes me wonder again .....
Now the only difference may be is in the flavors . Vivel Di Wills may have some exotic flavors while Vivel comes in usual stuff like sandal ... ( I don't really know !).

Any how ITC has hell lot of cash and can afford to have as many experiments as they wish. It is we, the poor Professors, sweating before the students trying to explain the logic or lack of it .

In another campaign, ITC has introduced Deepika Padukone to endorse the premium personal care offering Fiama Di Wills.
These high profile campaigns especially the celebrities is sure to give HUL nightmares. The celebrities being used by almost all soap brands have hurt Lux the most.

Brand Update
Vivel Di Wills

ING Vysya Life Insurance : Mera Farz

Brand : ING Vysya Life Insurance ( IVL)
Company : ING Vysya
Agency : Rediffusion Dy&R

Brand Analysis Count : 316

In most cases, we discuss branding in relation to products rather than services. Some how there is a feeling that unlike products , building brands through promotions lacks significance in the marketing of services. Usually service brands are built on functional dimensions rather than on imagery.

Hence it is taken for granted that if the service provider delivers excellent functional performance , the brand will automatically grow.Five years back , financial service firms focused on their sales force and below -the- line promotion and shied away from aggressive brand building through advertising.

But the increase in competition and the cut-throat warfare on the field forced the service firms to venture into aggressive brand building through advertising.This trend was initiated by the aggressive brand promotion by telecom service providers. Financial services firms began to realize that having a good brand will make the life of a salesperson a lot easier.

The latest aggressive candidate in the financial services branding is ING Vysya Life Insurance ( IVL ) . IVL launched its insurance services in 2001. Now it has grown into size with presence in 246 cities and 300 odd branches.

What has interested me is the current campaign run by IVL. The brand did not have a good run in the Indian market. According to media reports, the IVL has a market share of only 1.2 %. The primary reason being that the strategy of the company is slow and steady growth rather than aggressive growth. So very rarely you get a call from an ING Vysya Insurance advisor.

The brand first launched its campaign in 2007 when it identified the core brand value. ING Vysya Life Insurance decided that the brand stands with the consumer in helping him fulfill his responsibilities towards themselves and families. Thus IVL took up the slogan " Mera Farz " which means " My Responsibilities ".

Watch the campaign here : Mera Farz 1

The ad was well made but nothing special in terms of creativity and was not intended to deliver any result on the field. But this gave the brand a vital direction for the future.
This year, IVL came out with another set of campaign which captured the attention of the audience .

The new campaign took birth from a very important consumer insight that with every happy moments , comes certain burden of responsibilities " . The thought of these additional burden creates a " Sinking Feeling " in the mind of that person and it will take away some degree of joy from him.

From this insight came this campaign : Sinking Feeling
The ad show three situations
1. Marriage
2. Birth of a child
2. Daughter getting admission to a expensive college.

The protagonist in all these cases feels a sense of sinking with the burden of added responsibilities.

What I noticed from the reaction of my family members is that the idea has clicked. There was a little smile in everyone's face when they saw this ad.

There is no doubt that the idea is a BIG Idea but the execution was a little too straight. Personally speaking , I did not liked the term " BURDEN " . In Hindi the term used is "Bhari" and in Malayalam the term used is "Bharam"- both these terms are used to denote Burden and also heaviness.

When my child was born, I never felt it as burden but it is true that there was added responsibility but never a burden. Even the child's education to be termed as a burden is too harsh . It was not the visuals but the term " Burden " that I disliked about the ad.

The message behind the campaign is that ING Vysya's plans help you to experience the joy of responsibility.

Then came another ad which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Watch the ad here : ING Goa

The ad shows the husband Satheesh literally sinking into the floor when his wife tells the friends about 'their ' plan to buy a house in Goa. Even after seeing the ad many times, we all still liked the look of the harassed " Satheesh " . That was a wonderful execution.
The big idea of ' Sinking Feeling ' has the potential to last for some time because it stems from an actual consumer insight.

These campaign has brought the customer's attention on this brand. The insurance advisors now will have a chance to spent less time talking about the company and more time selling the plans

Marketing Practice featured in ALLTOP

Marketing Practice blog is featured in ALLTOP.com. Alltop is the new venture of Mr Guy Kawasaki. Alltop is a content aggregator with a difference. It looks simple, uncluttered and does not overwhelm the readers compared to other site aggregators.

Check out the new site here : Alltop
Marketing Practice is featured in the small business section .


A big thank you to the ALLTOP team

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

Coffee With Sundar

Blogger Mr. Sundar was kind enough to e-interview me on his blog " Coffee With Sundar " . Where I talked about my blog and academics in general.

You can read it here : Coffee with Sundar

ahem .... It was my first e-interview as a blogger...

Airwick : Its Good To Be Home

Brand : Airwick

Company : Reckitt & Benckiser
Agency : Euro RSCG ( Malaysia)

Brand Analysis Count : 315

Airwick is the latest entrant into the Indian Home Air Freshener market. The size of the market is very small and agencyfaqs estimates the size to be around Rs 75 crore. The market is dominated by players like Godrej Sara Lee which extended its car- freshener brand Ambipur into this category.

Airwick is a global brand which made its debut in USA in 1944. Ever since the brand has grown to become world's largest home freshener brand with an estimated brand size of Rs 6000 crore. The entry of this brand is expected to increase the penetration of this product category.

Airwick in a way has imported its entire global branding strategy into this market. The entire brand elements are being launched in the Indian market.

Airwick has been launched in India in three different format :
-Electrical Diffuser which looks similar to the mosquito liquidator . The diffuser is priced at Rs 125
-Aerosols priced at Rs 99
- Freshmatic Automatic Spray priced at Rs 799.

The brand is focusing on two major benefits : Odor elimination and Premium fragrance. The brand is targeting the SEC A ,A+ segments.
According to a report in Agencyfaqs, the brand has identified five consumer insights that shaped its entry strategy in India. The insights are that
Indian homes are
- smaller ,
-have attached toilets,
-Inadequate ventilation,
-No sunlight penetration
-Lack outdoor spaces to dry clothes.
These factors cause build up odors which also affect the mood of people living in those houses. The brand is being promoted on a basic premise that pleasant fragrance create pleasant Moods. The brand is taking the tagline " Its Good to be Home " . Globally also the brand has the same slogan.
What is more interesting about the brand is the promotion. The brand uses animated cartoon character in their campaigns.



The main heroes of campaigns running in India are
Mrs Octopus
Mrs raccoon
Mrs Kangaroo.

The ads are created by Euro RSCG Malaysia and only the language is made Indian. I have my own reservations about importing foreign campaigns to India but some how I liked the Big Idea of using animated characters to promote a adult - product.

From my experience , I observed two things about the ad :
a. Its clutter breaking . Because its different, you tend to notice the ad and also the brand.
b. If you have small kids, they will force you to watch this ad.

The characters are lively and has given the company lot of room for the creatives to work on especially on point of purchase materials and packaging. It can also develop unique sales promotion schemes taking advantage of these animated characters.

The ads have given instant brand recall but the campaign is not without disadvantages.

The major disadvantage is the the market for air-fresheners for home is nascent in India. Infact most of us are unaware of this product category. Infact the ad does not explain the category much and assumes that the customers are familiar with the products (while Indian consumers are not ). Frankly I first mistook it for mosquito repellent.

Having said that, the brand has lot of strengths. The brand can leverage the distribution strength of Reckitt & Benckiser and the changing demographics aswellas lifestyle has thrown up immense opportunities for products like Room Fresheners. Infact I foresee that the commercial customers like Hotels, restaurants, offices , retail etc will be the major takers for these products initially.

The challenge for this brand is to penetrate the middleclass where it will be fighting the good old incense sticks, and perfumed floor cleaners. The cost is also little prohibitive but the strategy that will be adopted will be to price the Diffuser low to increase the penetration of this product category. The major task will be to change the customer's perception about odor. I think that Indian consumers take the odor inside rooms for granted (except for bathrooms) . Infact we never think about it unless it is too much stingy. We also associate cleanliness and fragrance together so we may have never thought of room fresheners.

But the fact is that we like our homes to have pleasant fragrance. So the slogan rightly captures the idea " Its good to be home "

Smyle : It does Wonders

Brand : Smyle
Company : Maneesh Pharmaceuticals


Brand Analysis Count : 314

Smyle is one of the popular brands in the OTC market in India. This 60 crore brand earlier belonged to Kopran Pharma and was later sold to Maneesh Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

Smyle as the name suggests was firts launched in the Oral care market. Its most popular product was Smyle Mouth Ulcer Gel. Smyle was one of the first OTC ayurvedic Mouth Ulcer Gel. The product achieved instant popularity because of its effectiveness.
Mouth Ulcers are a common irritating disease . The reason for mouth ulcers can be many : digestive problems, vitamin deficiency, accidental biting, use of heavy antibiotics etc. Once it is there, it causes severe pain and one will not be able to eat anything till the ulcer get cured. Normally we used to treat this ourselves using some home remedy like applying coconut oil etc. Usually one will resort to medical advice only in case of severe ulcers.
But the medicines that are usually prescribed for Mouth Ulcers tastes too bad and often smells bad also. This has opened up a new untapped market for a user friendly product.
Smyle Mouth Ulcer Gel had lot of advantages. First was that it tasted pretty OK and hence the customers did not mind using the product again and again. Secondly Smyle was ayurvedic and hence perceived to be side - effects free. Thirdly , the product was very effective.
These advantages created lot of equity for this product. But the market was small and Smyle Gel was essentially a niche brand. Smyle ulcer gel was promoted heavily through TV and print ads. I still remember a TVC which shows a guy screaming with pain inside a cinema hall while having a popcorn.
What was interesting is the way in which the brand owners extended the brand " Smyle " . I don't know the exact hierarchy of the launch of these extensions but here is the list of brand extensions of Smyle :
Smyle Mouth Ulcer GEl
Smyle Toothpaste
Smyle Prickly heat powder
Smyle throat reliever
Baby Smyle range of baby soaps
Baby Smyle baby powder
Smyle Lozenges
Smyle vaporub
Smyle Freshness talc
Smyle first aid kits
Smyle band-aid
Smyle nasal inhaler.

All these products were launched in a span of four years. Common sense says that the brand extensions was too many too fast.Smyle extending itself into powder and baby products does not make sense because the parent brand Smyle does not have a strong brand equity to support these category extensions.
Marketing theory suggests that inorder for a brand to extend into multiple categories, the parent brand should have strong relevant brand equity aswellas brand values. Smyle as a parent brand did not had such extendable brand equity. What Smyle had was a successful product.
Smyle Toothpaste made sense because Smyle was associated with Oral-Care . But there also the brand did not invest on building a positioning platform but tried to become a price- warrior. Fighting the giants like Colgate, HUL and Dabur needs more than low price.
While the throat lozenges and cough syrup extensions had a connection with oral-care, the brand had to break into the strong hold of power brand like Vicks. Smyle throat reliever had a USP of Gargle and Gulp property but I feel that the brand lacked power to compete with Vicks.

Having extended so much into so many products, Smyle may have shown an increase in the cumulative sales but in the long run, there is a chance that the brand may bleed itself to death. With out developing a core brand, too much energy has been spent on these brand extensions. Successful umbrella brands like Vicks and Johnson & Johnson have unmatched core- brand strentgh which Smyle lacks. Smyle as a brand had lot of advantages like a good brand name and a successful product . The brand could have leveraged the Smyle name and could have built a strong brand image taking some time . For example Smyle can take meaning of Smile from relief, enjoying life , freedom from pain , instant relief etc. Once that core values are built, these extensions could have worked . I am not saying that the extensions of Smyle has failed but I have a feeling that the brand will be wasting too much money over building these individual extensions since Smyle lacks a core equity.

For every brand manager, its always a dilemma choosing between investing in a brand Vs showing high sales figures. In this era of managing brands on a quarterly basis, investing in building brands takes the back seat.

Vivel Di Wills : Beauty with Confidence

Brand : Vivel Di Wills
Company : ITC
Agency : Law & Kenneth


Brand Analysis Count : 313

Shortly after launching the up-market personal care brand - Fiama Di Wills, ITC has launched another personal care brand - Vivel Di Wills. Not only that, another two brands has been launched - Vivel and Superia in close succession .

Vivel Di Wills can be termed as a brand for the middle class and priced well below Fiama Di Wills . Vivel Di Wills has been launched even before the brand Fiama Di Wills settled in the market. In a way ITC is flooding the personal care market with its brands.

Vivel Di Wills - as the name suggests shares the term ' Di Wills ' with Fiama and Essenza. Vivel Di Wills comes in two variants : Sheer Radiance and Sheer Creme. Sheer Radiance contains Olive Oil while Creme variant contains Shea Butter.
What differentiates Vivel Di Wills is the ingredient branded Actipro-N which was developed by ITC R & D team. Actipro -N nourishes, protects and hydrates the skin thus enhancing the beauty of the skin.
Vivel Di Wills comes in an attractive carton package with some elegant color scheme. The brand is priced at Rs 16 for 75 gm cake.

Now comes the interesting part. When I was shopping, the attractive packing and display of Vivel Di Wills prompted me to take one ( for my wife ) . But when I reached the section for soaps, I was surprised to see another set of soaps with the brand name Vivel . This was confusing to me and I thought that it was a fake brand taking advantage of Vivel Di Wills. On closer examination, I was surprised to find that Vivel also belong to ITC. Then I checked the price and it was less that Vivel Di Wills. The packaging was ordinary and there was even a sales promotion offer attached with the soap ( Price off) .

So there are two brands Vivel Di Wills and Vivel priced differently and even the brand elements are different. News reports say that Vivel has four variants : Satin soft, Young Glow, Ayurvedic Essence, Sandal Sparkle.

So the natural question is about the logic of these two brands with similar brand names launched simultaneously. In a press release available in the ITC portal, the category head Sandeep Kaul mentions that they are going to use price and positioning difference to separate the brands Fiama and Vivel Di Wills since Fiama also launched a soap recently.

But the question is with Vivel Di Wills and Vivel. I am a little confused but a parallel can be drawn between Vivel Di Wills, Vivel , Lux and Lux International. Lux International is positioned as a premium soap while Lux is a mass market one. ITC may be adopting the same strategy. ITC is looking at two segments within the medium priced soap category and using a small price differential, it is tapping customers who can pay a little more for extra benefits ( Masstige brand). The campaign for Vivel Di Wills will indirectly draw customers ( Value conscious ) towards Vivel.

Vivel Di Wills is being promoted using TVC and the message is that the lady is so beautiful that the husband does not notice any other ladies. My initial impression about the soap is positive and I find the fragrance refreshing and new. The brand name Vivel Di Wills is urban and will definitely appeal the educated urban consumers . The brand also has its advantage interms of the ingredients. Indian consumers will be impressed by the ingredients like Olive Oil, Active Clay, Shea butter which gives this brand a unique healthy natural perception.

The idea behind these fast launches is to provide a complete range of soap brands to the Indian consumer. ITC knew that it is a late entrant to the market. Time is too short for phased launches. Hence the strategy is to offer a full portfolio at one go and then try to manage the differences.

Brand Update : Coca-Cola

This summer, Coca-Cola has launched the latest campaign featuring Hrithik Roshan.

Watch the TVC here : Coke Ad

The new ad has a new theme and a new positioning. According to news reports, the brand is trying to project a new young image to counter its rival Pepsi. Hence this summer , the brand will be using Hrithik for the communication .

The brand is now trying out a new theme endorsed by the slogan ' Jashan mana le ' meaning ' celebrate '.
The concept is that Coca-cola is an integral part of every celebration and with coke , there is celebration. The celebration is often spontaneous . The brand is now trying to project enjoyment and exhilaration. All said and done, the ad is nothing special. The theme and the execution is only average and I remember seeing the same type of ad for many brands. Even Cadbury has done the same theme.
Again Coke can relax because Pepsi is doing much worse. The new ad of Pepsi featuring Ranbir , SRK and Deepika is one of the horrible ads I have seen in recent times.

From both Coke and Pepsi ads , what I make out is the panic that these brands face to project themselves as youthful. Saying that the brand is young will not make a brand young.Creating a new name Youngistan or getting a youth icon to endorse the brand is not going to make the brand young.
To be young needs these brands to develop an attitude and attitude takes good thoughts to be built around the brand. Somewhere down the line Pepsi lost the connect with the youth. Coke is yet to discover that thought.

Brand Update : Amul Macho

So here it is, Amul Macho's sequel to the controversial first ad has been launched.

Watch it here : Amul Macho orangutan

Like the previous one , this one is less spicy but have all the elements to rake up some controversy.But the ad is not raunchy or bad taste as the previous one. Interestingly the first ad involving the newly wed created huge interest among the public with blogs and forums discussing the ad in detail. In that aspect, the first one was a remarkable success.

The second ad features orangutans and the ad is definitely well made. I am not referring to the storyboard but the filming. It would have burned a big hole in the companies pocket to make those orangutans act.
However the brand is sticking to its earlier positioning of " crafted for fantasies " . The idea is nothing new and I remember a couple of Indian innerwear ad like Rupa having ads which shows ladies chasing men in underwears . The difference here is that the protagonist is an orangutan. Some scenes in the ad makes us squirm if we are watching with our family and the intention is to generate some controversy. The lady looks like the same one from the earlier controversial ad and the song is also the same.

Related Brand
Amul Macho

MotoYuva : Aab Apni Suno

Brand : Motoyuva
Company: Motorola
Agency : O&M


Brand Analysis Count : 312

After creating a rage with some smart campaigns for Motorockr, Motorola is back again with another brand MotoYuva. Motoyuva , as the name suggest is a brand targeted at the youth . It is Motorola's latest venture into the fast growing entry level mobile handset market in India.

Indian mobile handset market is huge with an annual sale of any where between 60- 70 million handset. The entry level mobile phones dominate in the volume share . Motorola had another couple of models in this segment like C118 but Motoyuva is different.
The difference is that this is the entry level brand targeting the youth segment ( age 18-29) and also it is a brand rather than a dry model number.
It is worthwhile to note that it was Motorola which had started branding various models deviating from the practice of the market leader Nokia. Nokia followed the model numbering because of the ever changing models and technology.
But Motorola tackled this issue by branding a series. For example Motorazr was the series brand name and there were different models under this series.
Similarly Motoyuva started with the first model Motoyuva W180. The brand was an entry level phone with FM Radio and Hindi dictionary and speaker phone.

The brand was launched with a crazy ad which took me a while to understand when I saw it the first time.
Watch the ad here : Motoyuva 180

Motoyuva W180 had a tagline " Motoyuva aaya to aapka beta gaya " meaning ' when Motoyuva comes you will lose your son to it ' .
The idea is that the phone is fully loaded that the young ones will be lost in the phone.

The success of W180 prompted Motorola to extend the series with a basic music phone. Thus came the new variant MotoYuva W230. 230 comes with MP3 player with expandable memory at a tempting price of around Rs 3100.

What was interesting was the campaign.
Watch the campaign here : Motoyuva 230.

The ad shows a young boy using the music phone to escape from the nagging father. According to agencyfaqs, the consumer insight that drive this ad is that today's youth use music as an escape route. The ad is well made with a catchy score ( Adnan Sami) and a cool dude and a very realistic papa character. The brand uses the tagline " ab apni suno " meaning ' Now hear what you want to hear'

Soon after the ads was on air, one of my students raised a point that this ad will be offensive/irritating to the father and thus may not allow the son to buy this model. The reason he pointed out is that the TG for this brand may have to depend on the father for the money.
I also read a couple of blogs which aired similar views.
So the question arises as to the logic behind such a campaign berating father who can be the sponsor for the purchase of this phone.

The fact is that everything about the ad is realistic. It is a fact that for teenagers and youngsters , fathers are usually perceived to be nagging , complaining and criticizing . Often fathers become a big stumbling block in their quest for freedom. It is a fact that music mobiles are a rage among youngsters and it is a fact that they use music to shut themselves from the external world.
But whether to use these facts for a TV commercial is something that is debatable......

The simple fact that this campaign has become a talking point justifies the purpose of this ad. In this season where almost every brand is making hell of a noise trying to sell a '5 mp mobile camera phone ' to music mobile with a thump, it is not easy to make us discuss Motoyuva .

The company knew that this ad may create some murmurs , but the main purpose was to break the clutter. The ad achieved that to a large extent. The ad makes us chuckle and we watch because the characters look so natural.

The larger question remains whether the PAPA will object to buying this phone.. Some will and some may not. In majority of the cases, Parents leave the choice of the mobile phones to their sons and thus the ad may not affect the sales.
For these segment, it is the value that matters. At Rs 3100, if the customers including PAPA feels that Motoyuva provides value, the purchase will be made and other wise it will not.