Go Cheese : From 100% Cow's Milk

Brand : Go

Company : Gowardhan Dairy ( Parag Milk Foods)

Ad Agency : Scion Brand Incubation

Brand Analysis Count : 444

GO is the new brand of Cheese from Gowardhan Dairy which is a part of Pune based Parag Milk Foods. Gowardhan Dairy is one of the largest players in the dairy market in India. The company owns India's largest cow farm and also has constructed Asia's largest cheese plant near Pune.

GO cheese brand is the company's venture into the value added product category. The Indian cheese market, although in a nascent market stage ,having a market size of about Rs 2000 crore is dominated by brands like Amul, Britannia, Mother Dairy etc.

GO cheese has entered a market which is growing at around 20% p.a. But the market is dominated by established players on one side while there is a large unorganized market on the other side.

GO Cheese in now running the launch campaign in various channels.

Watch the ad here : Go Cheese

GO cheese is positioned on the basis of the attribute that it is made from 100% cow's milk. The ads are really good and infact I thought GO is an international brand. More than the 100% milk factor, what is more striking about GO cheese is its packaging.

GO cheese has took packaging very seriously and it will be one of the brand elements that is going to help the brand with lot of customer trials. The packaging looks international and the wedge shaped Cheese pack SKU is appealing to kids and will help the brand get lot of customer trials. It is good to see lot of Indian brands utilizing the potential of packaging in their branding efforts.

Besides the smart packaging and interesting communication, GO brand also has a brand mascot - the cow. The mascot ( although the name is not mentioned anywhere) is shown in the pack and reinforces the positioning of 100% cow's milk.

The 100% cow's milk positioning is a good strategy but not new. Infact Amul used the same positioning for its icecream product range. The problem with 100% cow's milk is that competitors can easily copy the USP and hence negate the point of difference created by GO Cheese. If Amul or Britannia starts showing that their cheese is also made from 100 % cow's milk, GO Cheese may lose its USP.

Hence GO Cheese either needs to OWN up this platform or find another USP which could be sustainable over time. GO can only own this positioning through heavy ad spends reinforcing the consumers about their claim. I am not sure whether the brand can spend that much on the promotions . Another way is to create an ingredient brand which can own up the 100 cow's milk proposition . How ever , the brand needs to protect this proposition from the competitors.

There is always a space for new brands in the large untapped Dairy market in India. GO is in the right position to create a space for itself. There are larger issues to consider like the distribution reach and supply chain management. Cheese is a perishable item and needs a very strong supply chain set up if the brand wants to create a national impact.The brand's task will be to get the distribution and logistics correct and ensure enough retail support for the brand. The brand is expected to go on a phased approach while catering to a large market like India. Even Amul is finding it difficult to get its distribution right in many markets. For example, in my city Cochin, Amul dairy product's distribution is erratic with the products not available in many retail outlets. I hope that GO will go after volume only after setting up a strong distribution reach across the markets.

Marketing Strategy : Executing Marketing Strategies

Executing Marketing Strategies

Originally Published in Adclubbombay.com

Although lot of research and writing is being done on formulation of marketing strategies, little has been said about execution of those marketing strategies. Many problems arise when the marketer fail to properly execute strategies in the market place. It is said that 70-80% of new product launches fail in the market. Most of them fail not because of lack of strategies but because of poor implementation.

For example, most of the Customer –Relationship programs fail at the implementation stage where the program gets morphed into a crude form of database marketing.

Poor implementation of marketing strategies can either dilute the effectiveness or can accelerate failure faster. Unlike other functional areas like finance or production, marketing implementation is external in nature. Take the case of advertising or personal selling, the implementation happens outside the organization. The parties involved in the implementation process are also external. Marketing implementation also requires co-ordination with various other functions like production, finance human resources etc. Hence managing implementation becomes both complex and critical.

For example, when the management decides to cut production costs, the implementation remains largely simple because it is internal. But a decision to reduce marketing expenses will have far reaching effects on various stakeholders like channel members, advertising agencies, media, sales personnel and customer.

There are lot of factors that marketers should focus in order to ensure proper implementation. Most often, implementation is confused with control. While control is of utmost importance, it only helps to correct deviations from the standards. Implementation is more than control. Implementation is about skills, communication, teamwork and culture.

Skills

Marketers tend to focus on systems and process for effective implementation forgetting the human side of implementation. Process orientation alone is not sufficient in marketing implementation because the implementation environment is dynamic in nature. In order to make perfect execution of marketing strategies, one has to look at the skill set of the managers who are in charge of implementation.

Harvard Business School Professor Thomas V Bonoma in a 1984 Harvard Business Review article ‘Making your marketing strategy work ‘identified four critical skills for effective implementation. They are

Interaction skills : Providing leadership to the team and communicating

Allocation skills: Allocating right resources to the right team at right time.

Monitoring skills: Controlling and monitoring on a continuous basis

Organising.skills: Identifying and organising resources and creating an execution culture.

These human skills are a necessary condition for marketing strategy programs to work. In most of the marketing organizations, the implementation is the responsibility of the middle-level managers. Hence it is important that these managers are having execution skills for implementing the marketing strategy.

While implementing strategies, firm must take an objective view of its implementation capabilities of its managers before venturing into execution. It also has to see whether the managers have the ability and the authority to interact, allocate, monitor and organize the necessary resources to execute.

Communication

Most of the implementations fail because of lack of communication between the planners and the implementers. Marketing plan should be treated as an execution manual and the implementers should be able to understand the essence of the strategy.

Lot of miss-selling happen because the sales staffs are not aware of the wider implication of the strategy. For example, if a service firm is moving towards customer orientation, the front-office personnel should be able to understand the relevance of their action in realizing the overall marketing plan. Recently a reputed car dealer was telling me that he knew about the recent price cut through newspaper and not from company sources.

It is also important to encourage communication flow from the external stakeholders like customers and channel partners to the top level executives. Often, these communications do not reach the senior management. Feedback sessions and other communication channels should be tapped in order to make sure that the management gets the real time feedback from the market.

Internal Marketing.

Employees are also a vital element in your implementation plan. In an organization, it is important that the implementation team is also aware about their role in the marketing plan.

This is especially important in the sales management perspective. The quality of customers and the quality of presentation will have a great impact on the success of marketing implementation. The recent sub-prime crisis is a classic example of a failure of proper implementation. While the strategic plan envisages acquisitions of quality assets, the implementation team went after poor quality assets.

Managers must device new communication channels to connect with the internal partners. Companies extensively use internal chat forums and blogs to keep talking to the lower layers of the team.

It is also important to get the commitment of the implementation team for the flawless execution of the marketing strategy. Employees tend to perform better if they realise the relevance of their role in the overall strategic vision of the firm.

Marriott International is famous for its exceptional customer service. The staffs of the hotel called as Marriott Associates represent a remarkable example of commitment and initiative. Once, a very young guest left her favourite Teddy Bear in the hotel while checking out. The staff found the teddy and safely returned it to her home .Although this sounds trivial, it made a big difference to that little guest. This happened because of the commitment of Marriott Associates to take customer service excellence to perfection. No where in the service manual, we could have a process or a budget allocation for such acts. These acts should come from the employees themselves.

Culture

It is important to create a culture of execution in the organization. This has to be consciously created and not to be hoped for. For creating a culture, it is important to have the involvement of top management. Execution oriented culture can be developed by encouraging team members to perform without worrying about failure. One of the biggest resistances to change is the fear of failure. This fear causes managers to tread cautiously.

Organizations should encourage the marketing implementers to fearlessly execute their tactics. This could be done by bringing in transparency, encouraging communication and clearly spelling out the deliverables.

FfUuNn : Full Marks + Fun

Brand : FfUuNn

Company : Navneet Publications

Ad Agency : Euro Rscg

Brand Analysis Count : 443

FfUuNn is a brand of non-paper stationery products from the publication major Navneet Publications. Navneet is a well known brand in the publications field. The company which formed in 1959 , soon emerged as a major player in the educational books in the Indian market. Later in 1993,the company diversified into paper stationery market through products like notebooks, long books etc.

Ffunn ( Fun) brand launched in 2006 was Navneet's foray into the non-paper stationery products. The brand has gained lot of ground in the last four years.

The Indian stationery market including notebooks , printer/copier papers, scholastic products like geometry boxes , pencil boxes, erasers etc is worth around Rs 10,000 crores ( source). The notebook/paper stationery market is worth around Rs 4500 crore.

Business line gives another set of numbers for the Indian stationery market as on 2007. According to Business Line , the stationery market can be divided into different categories with the following market sizes -

Files and Folders - Rs 220 crores

Writing Instruments - Rs 1215 crores

Desktop Accessories - Rs 90 crores

Glues, Adhesives, tapes etc - Rs 260 crores

Computer Consumables - Rs 1700 crore

The non-paper stationery market is estimated to be around Rs 1500 crores in 2007.

The non-paper stationery market is dominated by brands like Camlin . Natraj is a famous brand in the pencils segment. It is in this market that Navneet launched the Fun brand.

Although the size of the Indian non-paper stationery market is large. , the per unit sales per consumer will be low. Consumers may not buying a pack of pencils but one or two. Since the per unit price is also low, consumers are not that brand loyal and the key is to have the distribution reach and channel support. Brands like Camlin has a generic status in the various categories within this market.

For a challenger brand like Ffun, the brand must own a larger share of mind in the consumer. The brand should also have a fair share of voice inorder to achieve this share of mind. Navneet was investing heavily in building the brand. The brand broke into the market with some smart campaigns.

The best thing that Navneet has done for the non-paper stationery entry was to create a new brand for the category. Navneet could have chosen to extend the corporate brand ( Navneet) into this market hoping to extract the equity of Navneet. Instead, the company took a bold and wise decision to create a new brand.

The next smart act was the selection of the brand name. Navneet was wise enough to choose a brand name which appeal to the target segment ie kids. To take a name such as " FUN " creates a huge leverage interms of brand promotion and communication. The brand created some uniqueness to the brand by coining the brand name as FfUuNn.

The brand interprets itself as Full Marks + Fun. That explains the rather unique name spelling. By combining two important attributes like Fun and Study, FfuUNn created one of the best positioning platforms in the category. Although it sounds good, integrating the two divergent concepts like Fun and Study is not easy.
Luckily for the brand, the agency created some smart campaigns for FfUuNn and the brand had a very very good start in the market.

Watch the campaigns here : Fun Giraffe Fun Sea

Fun is now category brand of Navneet under which the entire range of stationery products are launched . The brand launched its range of colors, erasers, sharpeners and whole lot of products in the category. Again for colors, the brand came out with some very good commercials. Watch it here : Fun colors 1,Fun colors 2 .

FfUuNn is a good brand with some good brand properties. The communication also supports the brand's core positioning. The brand virtually has all the marketing mixes going right for them . It will be interesting to see how this brand going to shake up the stationery market.

Brand Update : Perk

Perk has gone in for a makeover. Cadbury has launched the new Perk with Glucose Energy. According to the company website, this is the first time that a chocolate brand from the company has come out with glucose energy. The brand is running a campaign announcing its new avatar.

Watch the TVC here : Perk with Glucose Energy

When I first saw the ad, I took it just as another line extension by the brand. But was really surprised at the news report suggesting the new product as a relaunch of the original Perk. Infact DNA reports that the original Perk will be phased out soon ( Source).

The reports are little vague as to whether the Perk with Glucose Energy is the New Avatar of Perk or a line extension.

If the report of relaunch is true then it is a big change for the brand. The entire brand personality is changed and frankly I am upset.

Perk always had a charm and its persona of a bubbly youthful brand was always there since its launch in 1996. Priety Zinta is still remembered along with the brand. But the new face of the Perk is entirely opposite to the brand's current image.

According to the company version, the new Perk is targeting the youth 14-18 year olds which are looking for a snack which is refreshing. The new launch is the result of a study conducted by the company which showed that youth prefers a tasty snack which also refreshed them ( source).

In my personal opinion, the relaunch campaign is a big let down. When I saw it the first time, I mistook it for some telecom ad - with all the usual stuff of a young man doing lots of stuff, trying hard , loved by all etc. But was surprised to find that it was an ad for Perk. Disgusted after finding that it is a relaunch ad.

The new campaign just poured cold water on the entire positioning of the brand. The brand lost is bubbly , cool , irreverent character and instead acquired an uncool, rational , conforming kind of a personality. Today's youth prefers those personalities who takes things easy, without effort accomplishing tasks and enjoying life Bindaass.. But the main character seems to be taking lot of efforts which just killed the brand's established persona.

The brand also has changed the packaging color. The new tagline of Perk is " Sapno se race kar le" roughly translated to " Race with your dreams " which I think may miss the mark with the young crowd. I still miss the magic that this brand brought about in its earlier campaigns. The last campaign of " Take it Lightly " was also a smart move of the brand. But the current relaunch is too off mark.

Having said that Perk has already an established equity which will prompt customers to reach for this brand. The new Perk is priced attractively and the " Glucose " factor will entice many consumers to buy this brand. Despite all these campaign, both Perk and Kitkat were not able to create any significant growth for the wafer based confectionery in the Indian market. This category still remains in the periphery of the larger market of confectioneries

Perk has changed for better or worse, the sales figures will say. But on a branding perspective, the brand just started dying..

Another thought ... what about Ulta Perk ???

All my above criticisms are based on the assumption that Perk has been relaunched and the older Perk is being laid to rest. If the new Perk with Glucose Energy is a line extension and the older Perk is going to remain in the market, then it is just a new product line extension with a lousy campaign.

Related Brand

Perk

Brand Update : Alpenliebe

Yet again another subbrand taking a personality on its own. The brand in question is Creamfills Alpenliebe. The brand launched as a subbrand is now famous because of some smart creatives.

Creamfills Alpenliebe was launched in 2006 specifically for the Indian market. The product idea and the brand name was devised in India. The brand became a huge success and is now exported to China , Poland and other countries ( Source).

Creamfills Alpenliebe although a candy is a different product when compared to Alpenliebe. While Alpenliebe is a hard candy, Creamfills comes with a creamy core.

The brand came into limelight with some very smart advertisements. One such campaign I like was the " Daddy Khar Main " ad

Watch the ad here : Creamfills Daddy ad

The ad smartly communicated the core positioning of the brand. Creamfills is positioned as a candy with a " surprise cream core " inside. The ad had the tagline " Kuch Alag Achanak " translated to "Suddenly Something surprising ". The brand uses the " Surprise " angle to convey the creamy core of the product. The ad was a big hit so was the product.

Last year, Creamfills launched another campaign . The ad was one of the best I saw in recent times.

Watch the ad here : Creamfills Lions Ad

Like the earlier ad, the new TVC reinforced the positioning of the brand of the surprise core. The ad seems to be expensive but worth all the money spent on the animation. ( read an interesting story about the tvc here).

What I liked about the ad most is that it is never boring. I have watched it many times but still it is enjoyable and the message is conveyed spot on.This brand is an example of the power of a good idea backed by smart creative execution.

The natural question that comes to my mind is whether Perfetti missed the opportunity to create a new brand rather than launching a sub-brand of Alpenliebe. Creamfills shares most of the brand elements of Alpenliebe like the color of packaging . But the positioning of Creamfills is entirely different from that of Alpenliebe. Although the parent Alpenliebe brand is not going to be significantly affected by this different positioning, I feel that Perfetti could have given Creamfills an independent role rather than being tied up to another brand.

Related Brand

Alpenliebe

Brand Update : Cadbury Dairy Milk

Cadbury has launched a new variant of Dairy Milk branded as Dairy Milk Silk. The brand is currently running two TVCs for this variant

Watch the tvc here : Dairy Milk Silk Dance

: Dairy Milk Silk Conference

The brand has been moving away from the celebrity endorsed approach it was following in the last few years. The new campaign is refreshing and brings back the memories of its earlier iconic campaign " Asli Swaad zindagi ka" . I liked the conference one than the dance one.

As I understand , Cadbury Dairy Milk Silk is a smooth and silky version of the original Dairy Milk. The brand is priced at a premium over the Diary Milk which makes it an Upmarket Stretch in marketing terms.

The ads are spot on the brand's core positioning of " enjoying the moments". The agency has conveyed the message in such a captivating manner that many adults who has forgotten about the original brand promise and experience will be attracted back to the brand.

I hope that the brand will scale new positioning heights and it is a learning experience to watch this brand evolving itself.

A related nice article in Afaqs.

Related Brand

Cadbury's Dairy Milk

Brand Update : Mango Bite

Kaccha Mango Bite is a product line extension of Mango Bite . But over these years, this flavor has caught the fancy of the consumers so much so that almost all the candy makers have introduced the Kaccha Mango ( Raw Mango) flavor in their portfolio.

Parle also may not have thought that this flavor would become a rage. Now the situation is that Kaccha Mango variant is more widely distributed than the original Mango Bite. The the variant has now the status of an independent brand.

The raw mango taste is very unique and different. It is this uniqueness that has created a lot of interest in the consumers especially the kid's mind. Child's mind loves uniqueness and is always looking for new experiments. When all the candies are sweet, a little sour taste gives the much needed break from the usual.

The variant was also promoted extensively by Parle. The brand really owned the taste by a smart positioning . Kaccha Mango Bite is positioned as " Xerox of Raw Mango". It has the tagline " Kaccha Aam ka Xerox " .

I remember two ads which was spot on the positioning.

Watch the ad here : Xerox Ad

: Animation ad

By positioning itself as the Xerox copy of Kaccha Mango, the brand literally created a strong position in the consumer's mind. I think that the brand has changed the tagline to " Kaccha Aam ka Copy " because Xerox is a tradename owned by another company.

The success of Kaccha Mango Bite made the competitor entering the fray with their own versions. ITC launched the Natkhat Mango variant and recently the brands like Alpenliebe launched the raw mango flavor.

Kaccha Mango now have a generic status in the market for this flavor. No other brands have so far been able to crack the equity of this variant.

Related Brand

Mango Bite

Marketing Strategy : The Family Brand Conundrum

Indian industrial scene is dominated by family owned businesses. It is common to see business taking up their family name /surname/patriarch's name as their corporate brand name. This phenomenon is seen globally.

The adoption of the family name as the brand name has the possibility of creating new problems in the branding context. All is well when the family stays together. But the branding problem starts when the family business splits. While the physical assets are split without much issues, often the family brand is also shared by the various groups. For example , family names like Birla, Bajaj etc are used by different business houses owned by different family members. Every group would like to take advantage of the equity of those renowned family name. But in a branding context, this can often means the dilution of the core brand equity.

While large industrial houses dealing with B2B markets are less affected by this dilution, it is the B2C brands that faces the heat most. Most of the family brands in the consumer space are now faced with a identity crisis . When the same brand name is owned by multiple owners, the brand loses its identity. Different owners will use the brand differently and in effect the entire brand will be pulled to different directions thereby diluting the core equity .

While after splitting, the family members use the same brand name to take advantage of the existing equity, they fail to see the long term effect of this multiple ownership and the dilution of the very equity which they tried to use. But when the realization dawns, they would have invested heavily in the current brand that traps them from developing a new brand.

Most of such business try to half heartedly develop a new identity by adding an additional initial or a name to the family brand . But the family name still is retained as the primary brand thus negating any chance of differential identity. Some times the brand owners try to create a new identity by some cosmetic changes like a color change or a logo change which is going to have no impact on the consumers.

In such a scenario, what is the way forward ?

In the branding context , there is no easy way. The parties involved should be courageous enough to embrace a new identity. The longer it takes , the more they invest on the existing brand and thus getting more deep into the branding trap.

The issue of the family brand name should be sorted ideally at the stage where the family business is split into different groups. One group can take the ownership of the brand and other groups can be compensated . But seldom such an agreement can be reached because every party will be wanting to take advantage of the existing equity.

Another option is to give the ownership of the brand to all the groups for a certain period of time within which they should be migrating to a new brand platform .

But it is the onus of every business groups to make sure that they have complete control over the brand upon which their business is built. The brand owners should not hesitate to create their own identity as soon as possible. The best way to do this is to create a migration plan from the existing family brand name to a new identity. One way of doing this is to change the brand name at one go. A revolutionary rebranding exercise can be undertaken.

Another option is to have a very slow migration plan.The first stage of migration will involve campaigns where the new brand name will be created as a sub-brand of the existing family name. In the campaigns, the family brand name will be prominent. The second stage will involve the transformation of the family name into an endorser brand and the new brand identity to take the center stage.

It will be difficult for the brand to retain its core equity or identity when owned by different players . The sooner the owners realize, the better their brand architecture will be in future.

Brand Update : Logan

It is sad to see a good product struggling in the market because of a messed up strategy by the brand owner. Logan is a brand which failed to realize its true potential because of a flawed strategy by Renault. Logan also is an example that shows how marketing is intimately blended with corporate strategy.

I was reading reviews about Logan in many magazines. All reviews unanimously praised the car on all parameters except the looks. At a price range of Rs 5,00,000 to Rs 7,00,000, the brand offered unmatched value for money for the consumers. But despite every thing going good for this brand, Logan is no where in the Indian market. Recently there were rumors about the brand being withdrawn .

What went wrong ?

The strategy ...

Renault bought this brand through a JV with Mahindra & Mahindra. JV is supposed to be the best market - entry strategy when entering into a new international market. The local partner is expected to give insights into the market and also the distribution reach. But history has shown that JVs in the Indian automobile industry has not always been successful ( Hero Honda being an exception). The success of JV is depended on the mutual trust, respect, clarity of roles of the partners etc.

Renault - Mahindra JV began to face issues within a short time mainly due to the policies adopted by Renault. Renault announced a series of JV with Bajaj f0r the small car and initiated talks with other players which upset M&M. Is it common sense to have different JVs with different players for different type of cars in the same industry/market ???

When you have a JV with a player who has similar product , can you be sure that your product will get the same level of attention ? Mahindra's focus will be towards Scorpio and Logan will always be get a step motherly treatment in the dealerships. That is happening with most of the such JVs including Tata Fiat JV. ( I am sorry to generalize but many of my friends talk about the lack of interest shown by the dealers in pushing such step son brands).

Renault did a big mistake in its blind pursuit of growth through multiple JVs in the same industry. If Renault was serious about Logan, it would have built its own network of dealers and service centers even though it would take a couple of years to create such a network. But Renault chose the easy way and it flopped. After three years, Logan is not a brand to reckon with but a brand whose future is a question mark ?

Renault should have learned a lesson from Skoda India. Skoda which is a highly successful brand in India took time to develop its own sales and service network in a slow and steady manner. It is now giving the brand unmatched reach and success in India market.

Logan also had a marketing issue. The brand was never promoted aggressively. There was little or no promotions except some bland discount ads by the local dealers. The brand was not built after the initial launch phase. The lack of customer- pull added by the lack of dealer-push made sure that Logan remained in the dealership rather than at the consumer's garage. The news about rocky JV also ensured that potential consumers steer clear of the brand because of worry about future service.


If Logan fails, it is going to be a sad story of a good product killed by a flawed corporate strategy.


Related Brand
Logan

Infibeam Pi : Indian Kindle ?

Brand : Infibeam Pi
Company : Infibeam.com

Brand Analysis Count # 442

It is very risky to write about a product before it is launched in the market. Many marketing commentators have failed in predicting the success of a product before being practically launched in the market.

Infibeam Pi can be termed as India's answer to Amazon Kindle. Pi is an e-book reader from Infibeam.com . Infibeam is one of the largest Business to Consumer portals in India. The company which was launched in 2007 also has one of the largest inventory of books. Infibeam is promoted by Mr Vishal Mehta who chucked his juicy job in USA to pursue his entrepreneurial passion .

Pi is a product like the world famous Amazon Kindle. This e-book reader comes with the same technology of E-ink that the Kindle uses. The form factor also is strikingly similar. But what comes as the biggest coup of all sorts is the price. While Kindle is shipped to India at a price of about Rs 18,000, Pi is priced at Rs 9999 ( introductory offer).

In one of my earlier posts, I had written that the aggressive high pricing of globally successful brands in India can lead to opening up opportunities that other players can grab. Pi is one such striking example.

Amazon had to price its Kindle at Rs 18,000 + because of duties and taxes .Such a globally famous product launching in India created enough buzz and virtually created a market for e-readers in India. Infibeam Pi became the first Indian brand to take advantage of that buzz. To add to the buzz, the launch of iPad also has significantly increased the consumer interest in the market for e-book readers in India.

In that scenario, the launch of Pi is very significant. Although Pi definitely have a first mover advantage, the path is not so smooth. The product is impressive. Pi comes with an expandable memory slot and also can play music. The company claims a battery charge life of 7 days. The brand can read a wide range of formats like Pdf,Mob, Doc etc . ( Read specs here). To complement the reader, Infibeam also has an e-book store which has a good collection of books in the electronic format.

The major marketing issue for Pi is to develop the market for e-book readers. Even though Indian consumers are aware about such a product, Pi needs to change the reading habits of the consumers to a certain extent. It starts with the purchasing of e-books and the first convincing is that e-book which is non-physical offers the same value as the book ( physical). Second convincing is about the reading habit. Consumers need to experience the product first inorder to understand the convenience of using an e-book reader. He needs to feel that he gets the same effect when he reads a physical book.

Infibeam also has a tough task of establishing trust in the potential users. Many consumers are not aware of such a company existing. The launch of Pi gave the Infibeam lot of PR but Infibeam needs to establish its credentials because consumers look for trust while purchasing a durable item like a e-book reader.

Since this is an electronic device , there will be lot of apprehensions about the quality , durability and servicability of Pi. Infibeam, being a portal, will have to convince the customer that it will be able to provide service support in case something goes wrong. If the consumer has to ship the product to avail the service, it is not going to help the product to get accepted fast. Infibeam should convince the consumer about the battery life and whether this product can be serviced/repaired in the event of a complaint. I am sure that the product will work fine for the first year but after that ? The best way for Pi is to give a 5 year warranty that will add lot of value for the brand. This will prompt those doubtful consumers to free up their purse strings without waiting for reviews or peer feedback.

Being a platform like a e-store and selling a device are two different ball game. Google recently understood that when it launched its first device Nexus One. Durables needs a channel which can sell and support the product . Otherwise it will be the consumers who will feel stranded when they face product related issues. In the case of Infibeam Pi also, the brand has to create a proper service network before venturing into selling Pi in a big way.

Infibeam has introduced the right product at the right price. As a consumer , I would be happy if the price comes down by a couple of thousands. Now what Infibeam has to do is to build a business architecture around this device. If the products performs well and the service is accessible and good, Infibeam has a winner in hand and Kindle will have to forget the Indian market.

Mahindra Gio : Potential Category Killer

Brand : Mahindra Gio

Company : Mahindra & Mahindra

Brand Analysis Count # 441

This is the decade of Mahindra Group. Ever since the success of Scorpio, Mahindra is on a roll. Lead by the dynamic Anand Mahindra, Mahindra group was quick to spot market opportunities and to tap them. The Satyam acquisition and Kinetic motors buy were all efforts to plug those gaps they found in the market.

Gio is one such initiative of M&M to cash in on a latent demand in the goods carrier market. Mahindra Gio is a 0.5 tonne four wheeler goods carrier. Infact Gio is India's first 0.5 tonne four wheeler goods carrier. This product is a classic case of a successful product development in the Indian context.

Gio is a potential category killer. This brand is going to burn the three wheeler goods carrier market . The three wheeler category will slowly shift to the new category since Gio is addressing a latent demand in the category for a better looking & comfortable goods carrier.

The 0.5 tonne goods carrier market is basically a three wheeler market dominated by Bajaj and Piaggio . The category is discarded by the players who focused only on volume and not on product development. The three wheelers lacked the comfort and was rustic. The brands competing in the segment was suffering from marketing myopia. They thought that the competition can come only from three wheelers. So we see the same type of noisy shaky rustic three wheeler goods carrier. Its time to change.

Gio is going to be a winner from the word Go ( Just like Maruti Eeco). The product is a four wheeler and that makes a big difference for the existing three wheeler users. One factor that is going to make Gio a winner is the price. Gio is priced at Rs 1,65,000 which means by paying a premium of Rs 20,000 , a potential three wheeler buyer can own a mini truck. Aspirationally, it is a big leap to the buyer.

Tata Ace is priced at around Rs 2,50,000 + and three wheeler goods carriers are priced at Rs 1,45,000. There is a significant price gap between these two product categories. Gio is aiming at filling this price gap. Also more than price gap, the brand is filling the need gap for a better goods carrier. Ace showed the need for a 1 tonne carrier and Gio took a lesson from Ace in this new segment.

According to the brand website, Gio name was derived from the Hindi word " Jeeyo" which means long and happy life. The brand is targeting the last-mile market where the intra-city transport of fmcg,durables, agriculture produce etc are involved.

Gio looks strikingly different from the existing vehicles that ply the Indian road. Gio has a peculiar look which looks little odd for a goods carrier. There is a reason for such a look.M&M wanted to make Gio look trendy and different which is another way of adding value to the product. The brand is breaking the myth that goods carriers should not be glamorous. Another vital marketing lesson from the brand. The brand sports an engine from the American Engine maker Kohler. The brand claims a mileage of 27 Kmpl which is equal to that of a three wheeler.

Another interesting fact is that M&M has developed a good website for Gio . It is unusual for such a goods carrier brand to have a significant presence in the web but Gio feels that there will be business owners who will look for information about the brand in the web. Another interesting move by the brand.

Gio has the looks and a mouth watering price that makes it a potential winner. A lot of marketing thought has gone into the making of this product. It is surprising to see that Tata was not able to identify this gap. Tata Ace is a highly successful product which virtually created the sub 1 tonne goods carrier market. I expected that Tata Motors would think about replicating the success of Ace in the three wheeler category. But instead of Tata, M&M grabbed the opportunity with Gio.So it is an opportunity lost for Tata Ace.

Kudos to Gio and M&M.

Related Brand
Tata Ace

Maruti Eeco : Happiness Family Size

Brand : Maruti Eeco

Company : Maruti Suzuki Ltd

Brand Analysis Count # 440

Maruti has launched a new Multi Purpose Vehicle - Eeco. Eeco is the rebirth of the Late Maruti Versa. Versa was a big flop despite the high profile celebrity endorsements from Amithabh and Abhishek Bachchan. Maruti messed up that

practical car with a ridiculous pricing.

And what a way to come back.

Eeco is built in the same platform of Versa. The brand has the famed KB series of engine that powers the new Maruti offerings like the Ritz. The company also squeaked the exteriors of the old Versa, discarded the high roofing and added little more graphics in its new avatar.

More than anything else, it is the price that makes Eeco a potential winner in the ever value conscious Indian market. Priced from Rs 2,60,000 - Rs 3,10,000, the brand comes in a mouth watering price . At this price,Eeco is a winner from the word " Go".

Maruti Eeco fills an important gap in the automotive market. There exist a need for a entry level vehicle that can carry a large family . The small cars can never satisfy that need. Infact most of the cars are ideal for a family size of 4. Eeco is fulfilling that need and that too at a irresistible price.

Eeco is priced at a premium to Omni. Omni , although found takers in the Indian market suffered because of concern of security and lack of comfort. The future of Omni is bleak since the van cannot be fitted with A/C and A/C is becoming a part of the expected product.

Eeco offers all these comforts. It has an A/C variant and comes in 7 seater & 5 seater offerings. For a large family , Eeco makes immense practical sense. Backed by Maruti reliability, Eeco is expected to boost up this new segment of entry level MPVs. Eeco will be popular both at rural and urban markets.

I expect this brand to create a new segment of entry level MPV . Eeco will definitely cannibalize Alto, Omni and to a certain extent Wagon- R by luring large families into it. But more than the limited cannibalization, this is a product that Indian families were waiting for. The predicted success of Eeco will also open up a new market segment for comfortable mini vans. Now we have only have such large carriers at the premium segments like Innova. Eeco has the potential to disrupt the market structure . Most car makers assume that the typical family structure in India is of the size 4 and thus turning a blind eye towards many large families. Eeco can change the way automakers look at this segment .

The brand has the tagline " Happiness , Family Size " . Eeco is running a tvc across various channels. The ad is very basic and nothing much to talk about. It does't need a highly creative ad for such a wonderful offering.

The only factor that Eeco will have to deliver is the promise. If Eeco as a product performs on parameters like comfort, A/C cooling, safety, stability and mileage, it is a winner.

Related Brand

Maruti Versa

Listerine : Pioneering a Category

Brand : Listerine
Company : Johnson & Johnson
Agency : Contract Health

Brand Analysis Count # 439

Listerine is a brand that pioneered the mouthwash category globally. The brand which is 100 years old was named after its inventor Joseph Lister. The brand over these years changed hands many times. The original brand owners were Warner- Lambert which was later acquired by Pfizer. In 2008, the brand again changed hands to Johnson & Johnson.

Listerine is one of the first mouthwash brands to enter India. The brand pioneered the Indian mouthwash segment which is now estimated to be worth around Rs 45 crore. Listerine is having more than 90% share in the Indian market.

Mouthwash category is still very small in the Indian market. Mostly these products are considered to be medicinal and that perception inhibits lot of consumers from buying mouthwash product.

The category penetration is still restricted to a small segment of consumers. The mouthwash is bought by
(a) those who are aware of the efficacy of the product like germ killing etc
( b) those who are conscious about their bad breath
(c) those prescribed by dentists.
A normal consumer may not look at this category as a normal regular purchase.

Another major issue that inhibited the growth of Listerine brand was its bad taste. Why should one tolerate bad tasting mouthwash every morning ? Unless the need is grave , consumers may not tolerate such an attribute. Understanding this issue, Listerine changed the flavor so that bad taste will not be a stumbling block for using this product. But still Listerine is associated with bad taste among lot of consumers.

Listerine globally is positioned on the germ killing plank. According to reports, when the brand was first introduced in USA, it got a lukewarm response. To pep up the sales, the brand owners devised an innovative strategy whereby they introduced the medical term for bad breath. The advertisers introduced a faux term Chronic Halitosis to describe bad breath ( Source) . Consumers fearing that bad breath is a medical condition ran for the mouthwash cure.

In India too, the brand started off as a cure for bad breath. Watch one of the earlier campaigns here.
Although the brand had excellent recall , the promotions for the brand was erratic. The brand went on and off in the media and there was no significant effort from the brand to penetrate the market. The brand usage was severely restricted to certain consumer segments and the usage was also not regular.

Listerine is currently running a campaign positioning itself as a " Freshness Bomb". The new campaign is featuring MTV VJ Cyrus . The ad is strikingly similar to the " Chocolate Bomb" ad of Cadbury Eclairs. I am not sure why the agency went on to copy a famous ad rather than spend some grey cells on some new creative idea. ( I don't have the listerine ad, will link it once I get it)

Listerine is right now facing a crisis also. According to Business World report, the use of mouthwash which have alcohol content can increase the chances of oral cancer . The report is quoting some Australian research report to prove its point. It is surprising to see the brand not responding to such serious allegations. The Johnson & Johnson website does not even mention this brand in their product list.

Listerine at this point needs to desperately develop the mouthwash category. It needs to expand the market by
(a) educating consumers about product attributes and importance
(b) encourage consumers to use the product on a regular basis.
(c) focus on attributes like convenience, confidence etc.
Take the example of handwash category.Marketers has successfully developed this category in India through high profile advertising campaigns.

Globally Listerine has variants like Teeth Whitening mouth wash which I think is the best product to increase the brand penetration. More than bad breath, consumers are likely to be attracted by the whitening attribute which has the potential to increase the overall category usage.

Listerine has a potential in Indian market. Indian consumers have become more networked and socially active. In such a highly interactive environment, mouthwash has lot of relevance because it is convenient. 30 seconds is only what is needed to get your breath refreshed and that is a useful and appealing proposition especially to youngsters.

Brand Update : Idea

Idea cellular is running another series of campaigns under " An idea can change your life " theme.
This time, the brand is evangelizing " save the trees " idea.

Watch the tvc here : Idea

Idea cellular should be commented for its consistency in their positioning. It is very easy for the brand managers to become bored at harping on same theme again and again. This can prompt some managers to change for the sake of changing thus undoing the entire work done so far. In that way, it is good to see Idea cellular milking the maximum out of its big idea.

Coming to the campaign, as usual the campaigns are catchy, humorous and has a message which is miles away from where the brand stands.

According to reports, the brand is planning a 360 degree campaign to take the concept to the masses.
I have been closely watching the unfolding of Idea's branding strategies for a while . The brand had wisely taken a strategy which acted as an effective clutter breaker. No one misses the campaign but after a while no one remembers it too . Although the campaigns talks about various issues, I felt a sort of disconnect somewhere. If we look at similar consistent campaigns like Fevicol or Gillette, there is a strong string which connects their campaigns together. That connecting string is missing in the Idea cellular campaigns.

This is my hypothesis about the brand's campaign :

Even though the brand uses the same set of brand elements like the taglines in all their campaigns, normal audience often discounts the idea as utopian or imaginative. Unlike Fevicol, Idea mixes hyperbole with real issue which makes the viewer "dismiss " the idea of the campaign. I have never seen anyone discussing the concept proposed by Idea campaigns.
In Fevicol, there is only hyperbole without any mixing of real issues and audience "discuss" the exaggeration and does not dismiss .

Having said that, in telcom market, the purpose of advertisement is largely creating brand salience. Idea cellular has become a master in creating brand salience and the campaigns serve this purpose very well.

Vanish : Trust Pink, Forget Stains

Brand : Vanish
Company : Reckitt & Benckiser

Brand Analysis Count : 438

Vanish is a category creator in the Indian market. This is a brand that pioneered the stain removal fabric care product category in India. Infact this category was carved out from the broader detergent/fabric care market in India.

Vanish is a global leader in the fabric stain removal fabric care product category. This Rs 2700 crore global brand came to India in 2005 after an extensive test marketing phase which started as early as 2001. Vanish was launched in India as Vanish Shakthi . The brand is in the "specialist fabric care "product category which is a subcategory of fabric care market.

Vanish is a stain removing product. This product has to be added with the ordinary detergent inorder to remove the toughest of stains. The brand has been actively promoted across various media .
One of the interesting feature about this brand is the usage of the brand element -color of the packaging- as a differentiator and as an anchor. Although Vanish powder is white in color, the brand uses pink packaging as a powerful brand element. The brand even uses the color as the element that anchors the brand to the customer's mind. Vanish uses the tagline " Trust Pink, Forget Stains ". Infact this is one brand that uses color to increase the brand salience . Globally too Vanish uses the same strategy to create distinctiveness .

Pink and stain removing detergent are seemingly unrelated attributes. Some may say these attributes are negatively associated. But Vanish established that Pink can remove Stains. By creating such an association, the brand has created a powerful differentiator. The brand uses its " Active Oxygen" property to rationally convince the customers of its effectiveness in removing tough stains.

Vanish has achieved this through powerful advertising. The ads are full of pink color bombarding the consumers about the message " Trust Pink, Forget Stains ".

Watch the ads here : Vanish 1, Vanish 2.

The brand follows the global advertising strategy in India too. The ads have the same theme of product demo/ stain challenge coupled with pink dressed models doing the demo.

It has to be said that these ads increase the brand recall among the viewers because it has lot of powerful brand elements.
But more than these high profile promotions, Vanish became globally successful because of product efficacy. Many friends who used this product has vouched for its effectiveness. A good product with strong brand elements backed by a heavy load of ads should be a sure winner .

Having said that, Vanish has a tough task ahead. First difficulty is to establish the usefulness of the brand in everyday life of the consumer. Since this brand is a specialist, consumers may use this product only on occasions where they have to deal with tough dirt. So there is a chance of this brand remaining niche because of that perception. The new campaign is aimed at convincing the consumers that using Vanish everytime can remove stains which were left unnoticed by the consumers. So less risk when used regularly. It is a smart move indeed.

Another issue is the price. Vanish is an expensive product and since this is not replacing the ordinary detergent, Indian homemakers may think twice before including Vanish in the regular purchase list. Although Vanish has introduced economical packages, it may have to go through the sachet route if it wants to drive volume. In the ever value conscious Indian consumer mindset, Vanish still remains as a ' luxury'.

Third issue is the competition. Although Vanish is a specialist, it is facing competition from ordinary detergents which also claims to be stain removers. It is logical for a consumer to choose a detergent that claims to have stain removal property rather than buy two products .

Vanish is India for long term. It has the backing of a global fmcg giant, a rich global success background and a potential consumer market to tap. It will be a brand worth watching.

Related Brand
Comfort Fabric Conditioner