Brand Update : Maggi with Madhuri wants to make pursuit of health enjoyable

In the latest campaign for Maggi Atta Noodles, Nestle has roped in Madhuri Dixit as the celebrity. The new ad promises Maggi to be healthy and enjoyable- which has been the brand promise for years.
watch the ad here : Maggi with Madhuri

According to media reports, the brand wants to make health enjoyable. The reports suggest that often kids view the pursuit of health to be boring. ( source ) and increasingly kids stay inside immersed in video games and playstations ( certain sections of course ) .Hence the brand took the proposition - health ko mazedaar banao ( make health enjoyable ) as the central theme of the current campaign. and it makes sense also. 

Brand Update : Orient Electricals rebrands to Orient Electric for a bigger market play

In a significant move, Orient Electricals has rebranded itself to Orient Electric. In the new avatar, the brand aims to be a significant player in the Rs 5200 crore Indian home appliances market. Orient - a brand from CK Birla group is a major player in the electric fan category. The Rs 642 crore brand now is spreading its wings to a much broader market play.

Orient is a well known brand in the fan category. But that itself can be a limitation for a brand which is aiming to be relevant to other categories as well. Hence Orient decided to rebrand itself so that it could endorse a wider array of products.
Thus the company rebranded itself to Orient Electric with a new logo and new tagline " Switch to Smart".
The rebranding is backed by a series of campaigns featuring the brand ambassador MS Dhoni. The ads are well crafted and unlike many celebrity oriented campaigns, Orient has made a difference by putting the brand in the limelight.

The ad has the theme " The next generation is smarter " and the message is conveyed through a smart kid that outwits Dhoni. The ad effectively conveys the brand's pitch of its new generation avatar.
Watch the campaign here : Orient TVC 1
                                          Orient TVC 2
The new foray of Orient is into a market which is cluttered and highly competitive. The brand's equity in the fan cateogory together with the new high profile campaign will do a lot of good for the brand aiming to be a major player in the home appliances market. 

Marketing Myopia : ICICI bank charging fee for rewards redemption

Last day when I got my ICICI credit card bill, an interesting notice was enclosed along with the bill. The notice stated that from June 12, the redemption of my reward points which was accumulated  because of the " Loyalty Program" of ICICI bank will attract a charge of Rs 99 + tax. 

Oh really .... What the hell !!

This comes from one of the largest marketing machine in the Indian banking industry and I am totally confused about the logic of this move. Then I happen to read an article in Business Standard and was happy to know that even the journos doesn't have a clue as to what is happening. 

First things first. 

ICICI bank in a way pioneered the concept of rewarding the consumers for their banking transactions. Where reward points existed for credit cards, ICICI introduced reward points for savings bank too and for that they partnered with Payback which facilitate the reward management. 

In my understanding, reward programs are considered an effective way to increase brand loyalty. It is a common method used by marketers to reward loyal and regular customers. There are two sides to rewards. 

Firstly it rewards the existing customers to use more of the service or product and also it acts as an incentive for new customers to be loyal to the product. The thumb-rule is that the rewards must be enticing enough to encourage the customer to see value in being loyal.

Here the smart brains of ICICI bank loyalty program has decided to charge the customers who wants to redeem the loyalty points earned. 

Does it make any sense ???  

First the bank says that you will be rewarded with Payback points if you use the credit card and uses reward points as an incentive to become a loyal customer and then charge the customer when it comes to actual redemption.  It is short-termism at its best. 

You are going to charge the customers for being loyal ?? Common dear marketer , you must be living in the seller's market which is dead a decade ago. 

Another factor is the reward itself. If the reward one gets from the Payback was superb, then 99 INR may be justified but what you get for 1000 reward points is a silicon egg beater or a Prestige LPG hose  ( what a wonderful reward)  for which I need to pay additional  Rs 99 + tax. 

Although I have a Payback card , I have never bothered to look at the points because the so called rewards are no-rewards. So am I bothered about the Rs 99 charge, no because I don't intend to redeem it .  

But as a marketer, what ICICI bank is right now doing is defying all theories. 

Brand Update : Pond's extends to male category

Pond's has been traditionally viewed as a feminine brand. More so because of the products that the brand endorses. Starting with the cold cream, the brand has moved to various skincare segments. In a recent move , HUL has decided to launch Pond's skincare products aimed at men. 

The first product to be launched was the men's face wash. The variant or rather the brand-extension was launched with the upcoming actor Varun Dhawan as the brand ambassador.
Watch the ad here : Pond's men's facewash 

The ad is predictable and compares the brand to a battery charger for the face. Pond's men's facewash has the tagline " Face ka charger" and touts coffee bean's extract as the USP.

According to AC Nielsen, the male grooming market is estimated to be Rs 4000 crore and skincare is the biggest growing category with around Rs 443 crores ( Source). Hence the launch from HUL make sense.

Whats puzzling is why HUL decides to launch a predominantly feminine brand like Pond's for this opportunity.

Ideally (IMHO) HUL should have launched a brand exclusively for men's category instead of extending a Rs 1000 crore brand from a feminine category . Ofcourse Nivea is doing the same thing but doesn't mean that HUL which has the capacity to launch new brands should not launch a new brand. 

My argument is that Pond's will not be able to bring in lot of masculinity into Pond's without hurting the parent brand's persona and will always be constrained by the parent brand's perception. Since the market in question is so huge, HUL has wasted an opportunity to launch a powerful brand exclusively for men. It already have brands like Denim, Aramusk etc which could have been used for this opportunity. Why Ponds ?

Brand Update : Colgate rules the toothpaste market with 57% share

Today's Business Standard has an interesting report on Colgate which despite facing tough competition from major brands was able to hold on to the market share. Infact the brand was able to improve upon the market share. ( read the report)

According to the report, the Indian toothpaste market is around Rs 5000 crore and Colgate has around 57% volume share. Even in the Rs 2000 crore toothbrush market, Colgate commands over 42% share. This is despite the fact that there is an increased competition in the market and the competitors are the likes of HUL, P&G etc.

Some of the lessons of marketing is outlined in this report.

• Consumer Awareness
• Innovation in plugging product gaps
• Rural penetration through distribution augmentation

I feel that the brand's consistency in communicating and its aggressive media communication has helped the brand in good stead . The brand was quick to respond to competition although in the case of Sensodyne, the brand was outsmarted.The launch of Active Salt , Visible White also helped the brand to keep itself in the top of the mind of consumer.

Brand Update : Axe in deep trouble

The Times of India ( 23/05/2014) has a disturbing news for all Axe ( brand) fans. According to the report, the brand which had an iconic status and which was a market leader in the Rs 2100 crore Indian deo market has slipped into 3rd position. ( Source)

According the newsreport, Fogg is the leader in the deo market with a share of 17% and the second player is Park Avenue with a market share of 8%. Axe has been relegated to third position with a share of only 6%.

The reason is very simple. Axe failed to differentiate !

How ironic isn't it ? The brand which virtually built the deo market in India and ruled for many years but then fail at marketing ! 

To top it , the brand comes from one of the best marketing companies in the world - HUL .

The brand should have seen the writings on the wall . There were a plethora of brands copying the " seduction" theme . But the brand put up a brave face and refused to react . Soon Axe lost its mojo . 

I am not saying that Axe should have changed the basic proposition but it should have drove the agency guys to come up with break-through campaigns ( I know its easy to say) But rather than reacting strongly at the competition , the brand steadily imported its global advertising to the Indian market and watched its share go down the drain. 

Usually when I criticize the HUL, I get nasty comments about being an armchair critic . But let me stick out my neck and say that Axe failed in marketing and that is sad !

Philips Aquatouch : Shaver for the modern man

Brand : Aquatouch
Company : Philips

Brand Analysis Count : # 542

Philips has been recently pushing its electric grooming products aggressively in the Indian market. The company has been seriously building its product portfolio in the Indian market with focus more on small appliances, LED , audio devices and personal grooming products.

The big push came in 2012-13 when the company launched ad with the celebrity John Abraham for the Philips Men grooming range. Watch the ad here 

The company estimates that the men's grooming range would be around Rs 1500 crore and the market especially the young consumers are moving towards the more convenient electric devices. 

The company cites several market research studies which show that youth views these shavers to be convenient and consumers are worried about the cuts and nicks which they get by using traditional shaving products.

Although Philips' electric shavers are in the market for the last ten years, the bigger marketing push has come during this season. 

The company is now pushing the wet shavers branded Aquatouch primarily because Indian consumers are habituated using the shaving cream + water combination. The brand is running as series of ads featuring the benefits of the Aquatouch.

Watch the ad here

The brand is rightfully positioned itself as the " Shaver for the Modern Man " and the product directly attacks the traditional shaving razors. This is indeed a warning signal for Gillette. 

What is interesting about the product is not the strategy of Philips but the silence of the competitor - Gillette .

The pioneer and innovative powerhouse of the grooming market is surprisingly silent about electric shavers and trimmers.

Let me pen down my take on the Philips' thrust on the electric shavers. 

My prediction is that there is a high possibility of electric shavers and trimmers becoming a large category. The combo products which enables men to trim and shave will be a very profitable category and will dominate the higher end of the market. This is going to have serious problems for Gillette brands like Mach range and the Fusion range. 

The reason is the increasingly the consumers are now experimenting with their facial hair. Especially the younger market. They have now all types of mustache and beard and the conventional shaving razors are not flexible enough to cater their needs. 

Now many dabble with a trimmer and the good old razor. But soon time will come when these convenient electric shaver + trimmer will capture the upper end of the market. This can drive the expensive Mach and Fusion brand to be irrelevant to the Indian consumer. Looking at the economics , electric shaver is more economical than the expensive cartridges of Gillette . 

Wondering why Gillette which practiced " Planned Obsolescence " to the core by cannibalizing the existing products with innovative new ranges silent on the direct attack by Philips ? Are they practicing Marketing Myopia ??

Marketing Insight : What drives brand trust ?

Last day, I went to buy a small appliance as a gift, there were two brands- one was an instore brand and another a very well known brand. The in-store brand product looked very good with more features than the national branded product. At the similar price point , the instore brand looked a very good buy.  

When my wife asked my  " expert" opinion, I urged her to go for the national brand despite the fact that I knew that the private label brand would have been a better choice. 

On introspection, I found that what I was doing by choosing the national brand was risk-reduction. That is what branding is all about isn't it ? The national brand offered a much less featured product so on a value calculation, the private label offered more value. But as a consumer, the national brand offered less perceived risk.

So why did I as a consumer felt that the national brand offered less risk compared to the private label ? 

Firstly, the brand was reputed ( familiar) and its legacy gave me comfort that it would not fail me in terms of performance. Secondly, as a consumer, I had a positive experience with the brand which made me trust the brand more than the private label. Thirdly since the product was an electrical appliance, the perceived risk is more compared to another product category. 

So for marketers, creating trust for a new brand is not easy especially in product categories have high perceived risk ( common sense !) . And brand's role is that of risk-reduction. And as a consumer, I can say that for me a brand would be trusted if it is familiar and has perceived product expertise. 

What do you think are the drivers for brand trust as a consumer ?

VWash : Creating Intimate Hygiene category

Brand : VWash

Company : Glenmark

Brand Analysis Count : # 541

After making the face and under-arms of the Indian consumers fairer, marketers are moving to uncharted territory. Indian market is witnessing the development of Intimate wash category in the Rs 1500 crore female hygiene market. This category came into public domain with the brand " Clean & Dry " from Midas Care. 

Clean & Dry with its very explicit campaign raged lot of criticisms owing to the way the brand message was executed. 

Watch the ad : Clean & Dry

The controversies helped the market to notice this category but I have a negative opinion about the way the brand executed its communication message. 

VWash is the competing brand in this category from the pharmaceutical major Glenmark.Unlike Clean& Dry, the brand has took the positoning in a much more subtle way.

Watch the ad here : VWash ad

While Clean & Dry focused on the fairness which repulsed many opinion ( also opinionated) leaders, VWash chose to take the less controversial hygiene route. VWash is positioned as a hygiene product and talks about common issues like irritation and itchiness. 

So VWash in my opinion was able to take the category out in the public domain in a much more civilized fashion than the category innovator.The health pitch would also prompt the Indian consumers to buy these products without any inhibition. 

 And interestingly the company was able to put the product displayed in prominent places in the chemists shop owing to the brand's relationship with that channel.  

Increasingly Indian market is seeing lot of new products and pitches which raises the question whether marketers are testing the " Line of Control " . Similar question marks were raised when Nivea launched the Under-arm fairness deo. But now many brands including the likes of Dove has a variant for that purpose. 

May be this category of intimate wash products may become a part of the female hygiene market in India too. 

Market Statistics :Soaps

According to Business Standard ,Indian soap market is worth INR 10000 crore. HUL's lifebuoy is the largest selling soap with 15%share.
Lux market share is 13-14 %
Dettol at 8.5 % and Santoor at 8.2%.

Brand Update : Cadbury India to be rebranded as Mondolez India, What it means to brand Cadbury

According to Economic Times report, Cadbury India is going to be rebranded as Mondolez India. This was predicted after the iconic company was taken over by US based Mondolez International. It is interesting for a brand enthusiast as to see how this affect the iconic brand - Cadbury.

Cadbury has a huge equity in India and is consistently rated high in most of the brand ratings in terms of trust and popularity. So what happens to Cadbury after the company is renamed to Mondolez.

Firstly, Cadbury after the re-naming of the company will no longer be a corporate brand. Then what will it be ?

If one looks at the brand architecture of products from Cadbury India, Cadbury acts as the brand endorser for most of the products - whether it is 5 star or Dairy Milk or Shots. Cadbury thus extends its powerful equity to all the chocolate brands from its stable. So powerful is the equity that when Mondolez launched its Oreo biscuits, it chose to endorse the brand with Cadbury .

Cadbury had its equity derived from the rich heritage dating back to 1824 . The brand has grown to an iconic status through the brands like Dairy Milk. So this is one of those family brands which derived its equity through the success of the brands it endorsed and also as a leader in the chocolate category. As a corporate , Cadbury became strongly associated with chocolates and became the world's second largest confectionery company. 

In my opinion, although the Cadbury has lost its status as Corporate brand, it will be retained by Mondolez India as a family brand which endorses the chocolate products from its stable. 

While earlier, Cadbury earned its equity in the capacity of a corporate brand ( being the largest, most respected confectionery company) that source is now lost because it is no longer a corporate brand. So from where will the brand gets its equity from ?  Now since Cadbury is no longer a corporate brand, Mondolez needs to create new sources of equity for this iconic brand. Cadbury needs to be nurtured as a family brand and the company no longer can take the strength of this brand for granted. If it is going to be relegated as logo on the pack of the products, that will be  a sad state for an iconic brand. 

How marketers visualize deadly Germs !

Indian marketers are in love with germs. Many brands have taken up the task of protecting Indian consumers from the deadly attack from the germs. Keedanu is often the generic term used by Indian marketers to denote the germs. 

For many brands, especially in the cleaning segment, the basic USP of most of the brands is the germ-fighting. Marketers have chosen different ways to visualize the germs. While some brands have tried to make the visualization close to reality, some brands have chosen to go beyond reality. 

A peep into how marketers visualize the deadly germs.

DETTOL

Dettol has been in the forefront of fighting germs and the USP of the brand is " Be 100% Sure". This brand has visualized germs in a realistic manner.

Dettol Handwash 

Dettol Soap

LIFEBUOY

Lifebuoy  is a brand which fights Dettol in terms of the positioning. While Lifebuoy soap which boasts of protecting consumers from 10 types of Keedanu has chosen to depict these germs in a realistic manner.

On the other hand, Lifebuoy handwash has gone the exaggerated way with the deadly germs taking up the form of animals with hands legs and even tails. Some looks like octopus.

Lifebuoy Handwash

Pepsodent

Pepsodent is another brand which talks about fighting germs and the brand has also tried to visualize germs in a more realistic manner.

Pepsodent Germs

Colgate

Colgate which is the principal opponent of Pepsodent has gone to depict the germs in a comic fashion. The germs although deadly looks cute and funny. But beware : Looks often deceive !

Colgate Germs

Lizol

Floor cleaners are another saviors for consumers in the fight against the germs. Lizol which is the major brand in this category also have realistically portrayed the "Deadly Germs" 

Lizol germs

Danone Yogurt 

According to Danone, there is good bacteria and bad bacteria. Good bacteria are round shaped,  cute and colorful.

The award for the best creative visualization of the deadly KEEDANU goes  to

DOMEX !!

Nothing beats the visualization of germs as done by Domex. These germs comes from the labs of Steven Spielberg. The Domex germs are organized and there is a leader who is plotting war against the humans. But thankfully Domex saves the world.

Wikipedia

This is what Wikipedia gives as image for bacteria !

E Coli

MRF ZVTS : The comfortable radial

Brand : MRF ZVTS
Company : MRF Ltd

Brand Analysis Count : # 540

Tyres which are generally boring products belonging to a whopping Rs 45000 - 50,000 crore category has seen many interesting brands being built. Although tyres belong to a high-involvement category owing to the high cost of purchase ( replacement category) but the purchase is seldom enjoyed by the consumer.

MRF is the market leader in the Indian tyre market with a share of ~ 27 %. ZVTS is the radial brand from MRF. What is interesting about ZVTS is the care that the company has took in branding and positioning this brand.

ZVTS was launched in 2000 and was expected to drive the MRF's entry into the radial segment. The replacement market for tyres are huge and MRF was expecting that ZVTS would make its mark in this segment. What makes interesting about ZVTS is the consistency in the brand communication.

MRF ZVTS is positioned as the " Most Comfortable Radial ". The positioning has been consistent in the entire 14 year history of the brand. In the initial years, the brand was endorsed by Sachin Tendulkar. 

It is also interesting to see how the brand communicated the positioning in their ads. The brand has maintained a consistent imagery in most of their campaigns. The brand used  the imagery of a small child enjoying the drive , car floating in the air etc. These imagery has been consistent in the brand's communication and has effectively communicated the positioning clearly to the consumers

Watch the ad here : ZVTS ad

                              Zvts old ad

The imagery , in my opinion, is one of the best and very relevant one in communicating the brand's proposition of a comfortable radial. Hopefully the brand will not change is powerful imagery in future.

In the brand architecture , MRF has followed a policy of carefully creating sub-brands like ZVTS, Wanderer, ZLO and developing USPs for each of these sub-brands. For example, Wanderer is for SUV and ZLO is for " high speeds". Along with this MRF has been careful about building and nurturing the parent brand also.  

Brand Update : Kingfisher Airlines brand for sale. But who will buy ?

According to reports, the creditors of the defunct Kingfisher Airlines has decided to sell the brands - Kingfisher Airlines and other related trademarks. It is said that KFA owes Rs 7000 crores to the creditors.Naturally the news was carried with lot of importance by the media. 

My first reaction was who wouldn't want to get such a great brand ! I had the impression that Kingfisher brand was up for sale.

When we look at the fine print, things are not that attractive. According to media, the creditors have control over " Kingfisher Airlines " and not the Kingfisher beer brand. And reports also suggest that five years ago, Kingfisher Airlines brand was valued at Rs 3000 crore.

Now the question is who would be interested in Kingfisher Airlines brand ?

My guess would be that none would be interested in that because KFA as an airlines brand has lost the source of value. The value was lost in two aspects -

a) The airlines is defunct so there is no functional value for the brand.

b) The major source of equity for Kingfisher Airlines' brand was from the Kingfisher beer brand which remains with the UB group. 

I think the creditors had made a huge mistake in taking Kingfisher brand , which is an intangible asset, as a collateral without understanding how that brand derived its value. Kingfisher Airlines as a standalone brand does not have much value if de-linked with the beer brand and the brand owner with whom the brand had lot of linkage. Who ever that made the pitch to the creditors was a great salesman !

Now for a suitor, buying Kingfisher Airlines brand at a high cost doesn't make sense since this brand now has the liability of a  "failed brand "  image. One can buy this brand to prevent that brand from flying again for ever but its not worth it !

So who would be interested in buying  a dead brand ? 

Brand Update : Small deo brands gets celebrities to move ahead

In the cluttered Indian Deo Market, brands are keeping no options unused. Denver, has roped in Saif Ali khan to endorse while Envy - another deo brand has roped in Irfan Khan as the celebrity endorser. The 2100 crore Indian deo market is cluttered with local brands upsetting the majors like HUL and gaining market share. 

The competition is getting more intense with brands like Provogue, Park Avenue entering the deo market with their own variants. Recently ads were splashed across the media for Provogue Deo being endorsed by  Fardeen Khan. 

Having said that, the positioning of all the deos has remained almost the same- attracting girls. The exception was Fogg which became India's largest selling deo brand which was positioned differently . The Fogg's proposition of " No Gas " was liked by the consumers and Fogg dethroned Axe to become the market leader. Envy, another deo brand, was quick to imitate Fogg. While Fogg claimed to give 800 sprays for a bottle of deo, Envy claimed to give 1000 sprays. The fight still goes on. 

Now these brands are banking on the celebrities to create some space of itself. But as commonsense speaks, celebrities themselves have become commodities, so what kind of value that they can bring in ? However, these smaller brand will gain immediate brand-recall through the celebrity endorsement which may bring in results in the short-term. In this era of " Quarterly Performance Focus " who is interested in long-term !

Brand Update : Ferrero follows Kinder Joy with Schoko Bons

Its interesting and often painful ( as a parent) to see how marketers try to squeeze the money out of your pocket. After successfully launching the chocolate egg - Kinder Surprise, the Italian confectionery major Ferrero has followed it up with Kinder Schoko Bons Crispy which is essentially Kinder Joy minus the toy. 

As usual, the pack is pretty expensive at Rs 60 for a pack of 9 chocolates.

The pack with has the same color combination of the popular Kinder Joy is widely available across various retail formats thus ensuring that it will not miss the kid's eyes. 

Ferrero has been expanding the Kinder franchise and Schoko-Bons is a step in that direction. Kinder has many products under its belt like the chocolate bar, milk slice etc. I suppose the brand will be bringing in these variant in the near future. 

Related post

Kinder Joy

Market Statistics :A/C &Refrigerator

Season :April to June accounts for 35 percent sales
A/c Penetration around 3.8 percent. Voltas and LG leading the a/c market ,Voltas share is 20% and LG at 17%. Samsung at 10%  & Panasonic at 8.5 %.
A/C sales stand at 3.4 mn units p.a of which 80% are split a/cs.
Refrigerator sales is around 7.5 mn units p.a of which 70% is direct ciol category.
Source :Business Standard

Brand Update : Prestige transforms itself !

Prestige in recent years has made a transformation from a pressure cooker brand to a premium kitchen appliances company. The transformation was executed by promotions and distribution. In the promotions front, the brand roped in the celebrity couple Aishwarya Roy and Abhishek Bachchan . The expensive branding campaign was intended for  establishing a premium image for the brand. Prestige is a brand which is very strong in the south. With the famous couple celebrities, the brand hopes to make itself popular in the North as well. The 2013 campaign also saw the coming back of the original tagline of Prestige -  ‘Jo biwi se kare pyaar, woh Prestige se kaise kare inkaar’.

Watch the campaign here : Prestige campaign

The small kitchen appliances market is highly fragmented and this calls for the creation of a powerful brand. The choice of the celebrities were motivated by the need for creating a powerful brand and also to bring in a premiumness to the brand. The campaign had six commercials which introduces the new products of Prestige thereby establishing Prestige as a kitchen appliances brand.

Along with the high profile brand campaign, Prestige also started a chain of Prestige Smart Kitchen stores across the markets. The stores brought all the products of the brand together thus reinforcing the brand's positioning as a appliances company.

The company in the branding perspective has made the right moves but the small appliances market is very tough nut to crack with highly localized competition and also lot of low price warriors. Its still a long-term play.

Related Post
Prestige 

Market Statistics

Branded Tea market :Rs 9500 crore growing at 5%
Branded Green Tea market :Rs 150 crore growing at 21 %
Retail Market size : $500 bn ~Rs 30 lakh crores
e commerce market excluding travel :Rs 18600 Crore
Home and Furnishings market Size :Rs 1.2 lakh crore
Furniture market :Rs 600 crore
Total Households in India ~234 mn
Household with Television ~ 153 mn
( Source :Business Standard, Businessline)

Brand Update : 5 Star repositions as the cure for seriousness disease !

Rest in Peace : Ramesh and Suresh

5 Star, it seems, is on a repositioning mode. In the new ad released recently, the brand has found a new disease that is creating havoc in the entire world- Seriousness. And the only solution for this is 5 star !

Watch the campaign here : 5 Star 

5 Star  has been promoted for the last 3 years on the " lost in taste" platform anchored by two characters- Ramesh and Suresh. The brand had the tagline " Jo Khaaye Kho Jaaye ". Ramesh and Suresh ads had mixed reviews from the ad world . Although the characters had recall effect, I personally felt that the theme did not do justice to the brand. The first ad featuring the duo was funny but later these characters became irritating.

Characters that are shown in the advertisements have lot of relevance to the brand's personality. Ramesh and Suresh were depicted as stupid guys and hence that had a rub-off on the brand also. 

Now the brand decided to change the positioning and hence I suppose that Ramesh and Suresh will be taken off the air.

The new  positioning theme is " Anti-Seriousness". The brand is now positioned as a fun brand which cures seriousness . As an idea, I feel that anti-seriousness is a good platform with lot of creative options. The first ad featuring the new positioning is not that great. 

Although the ad theme is good, the question arises as to what  the brand try to convey to the consumers ? Earlier theme of  'lost in taste' had a credible reason or attribute focus. But being a fun-brand is some thing very commonly used by many brands across categories. Example Mirinda. So 5Star , trying to move from a product-based focus to more abstract proposition has taken the risk of being losing focus in future. Further, I have doubt whether positioning 5 Star as a fun-brand  fit into the 5 Star's brand personality.  

Along with the repositioning of 5 Star, Cadburys have also launched a variant 5 Star Chomp in the Indian market. The variant or Product Line Extension is expected to fight the Snickers brand of Mars International. In other markets, Chomp is promoted as a stand-alone brand while in India it is launched as an extension. 

Related post 

5 Star

Marketing in Practice : The Online Marketplace Conundrum

The blistering growth of e-commerce in India (estimated to be around a size of $ 1.6 billion) has thrown up a Pandora's box of problems for marketers. The channel conflict has become intense between the traditional brick and mortar channel members and the online market place. The conflict is real and brands are caught in between the fight for the customer's wallet. 

The issue has come to the forefront  with brands like Toshiba, Lenovo and Cannon publishing advisory to customers on purchasing their brands from online retailers. ( read news here : Lenovo, Cannon). The basic issue between the online retailers and the traditional channel members is the predatory pricing adopted by the online retailers. Traditional retailers with their huge overheads and investments are not able to match the pricing of the online retailers.

The issue has become more complicated with large online retailers like Flipkart, Snapdeal adopting the 'market place' model . The eCommerce market has two models- Inventory model where the online retailer owns and controls the inventory and the market place model where the online retailer acts as the platform which connects the consumers and the retailers. 

In India, the trend is that many major players like Flipkart, Snapdeal etc have moved to the market place model. So these big online brands using technology as the enabler connects the customers and retailer partners and ensures seamless transactions between them. 

Online retailers like Flipkart and Snapdeal are able to patronize large number of retailers to its market place thus offering a huge spread of categories and brands to the customers. The online market place is a Two-Sided market where the success of the online retailer lies in his ability to increase the number of partner retailers and also the number of shoppers to the site.

Because there are large number of retailers in the online market place, the pricing becomes predatory and huge discounts can be offered to the shoppers. This has proved to be the point of contention. It was impossible for traditional channel partners to match the price cuts offered by the market place. With increasing popularity and adoption of e-commerce in India, its normal for the traditional channel members to cry foul.

To pacify the traditional channels brands has been adopting major initiatives like

• offering additional services like additional warranty on products purchased through traditional channels.
• Policy on uniform discounting across channels. 
• Issuing advisory to consumers on benefits of purchasing through authorized retailers.
• Issuing certification to authorized retailers who agrees to abide by common rules.
• Advisory against un-authorized retailers. 

However in many cases, consumers overlook the advisory and take the risk of purchasing from unauthorized retailers. The price takes the front seat in comparison with the warranty offers. 

Experts opine that these issues will be sorted out but will take time. Brands are now increasingly asked to provide clear differentiation to traditional retailers so that their business is not suffered . It has to be noted that traditional retailers offer many valuable services to consumers in terms of information , product display etc. Consumers being smart avail these services at the traditional retailers and make the final purchase at the online retailers.

Brand Wars : Perk Vs Munch

Its been a long time since Indian advertisement world saw a humorous fight between the brands. There has been high profile competitive wars between the brands like Horlicks Vs Complan, Vim Vs Dettol, Dettol Vs Lifebuoy, Pepsodent Vs Colgate etc but these were serious fights. 

Recently the new war started between the arch rivals Perk and Munch. These brands were keeping different paths between each other for quite some time. Both were trying to position themselves on different attributes ; Perk focusing on the glucose content while Munch was focusing on the crunchier proposition. However, Perk decided to poke Munch by launching the first TVC featuring the son - Monu leaving home because his father gave the bigger, heavier Perk to his brother Sonu.

Watch the TVC here : Perk Monu

Not to be left behind, Munch countered with another TVC which features Sonu leaving the father because he gave the tastier Munch to the brother Monu.

Watch the TVC : Munch Sonu

The Perk TVC was hilarious with the brand trying to outsmart Munch by talking about the difference of 1 wafer and 5.5 grams with the Perk. 

Munch however tried to downplay the grammage comparison by focusing on the taste. The brand humorously counter's Perk's claim by stating that chocolates are eaten for taste and not weight. While this argument is weak counter for Perk's claim, what saves Munch was the humour and the instant fight back to Perk's offensive.

 Had Munch not reacted , Perk could have used the "high grammage " value for money proposition  very effectively 

Munch was recently investing heavily in the promotion by taking in cricketer Virat Kohli as the  brand ambassador . Perk was struggling with the positioning proposition and was in my opinion had a weaker platform based on the glucose content. Perk was trying the break away from that weaker spot by launching an offensive against Munch.

With the two brand's paths crossing now, it will be a interesting space to watch for.

Read more brand war
Brand war : Sensitive Toothpaste
Brand war : Colgate Vs Pepsodent

Marketing Strategy : Toothpaste majors fights challengers effectively

A recent article in ET mentions that the challengers in the Rs 7000 crore toothpaste market like Anchor,Ajanta Babool and Vicco were wiped out by the major brands like Colgate, HUL etc. A few years ago the major toothpaste brands like Colgate and Pepsodent were shocked by the huge challenge from brands like Anchor ,Babool etc . The challenger brand used price as the major USP and gained more than 15% share in the market.

Its interesting to understand how the majors fought these challengers. The following are the strategies used by the major brands to fight the price competition -

• React aggressively : The assault from the challenger brand was faced by the major brands aggressively. Brands like Colgate, Pepsodent etc reacted sharply to the competitor first by reducing the price to arrest the severe market share loss.
• Flanker brands : The major part of the success of market leader was the use of flanker brands to ward off price competition. Colgate effectively used Cibaca as the flanker brand to fight the price competition thus preserving the price premium of the market leading brands.
• Use smart SKUs : The toothpaste market leaders also used less prices SKUs to neutralize the price competition. The availability of big brands in affordable packs in a way prevented the consumers from switching to a less priced local brand.
• Advantage in differentiation : The age old concept of Positioning and Differentiation helped the leading brands to effectively fight the price competition. The low priced brands failed to counter the brand-equity with price alone. 
• Deep pockets : The deep pockets of the likes of Colgate and HUL enabled a large aggressive and sustained offensive against the challengers. Regional brands didn't had a chance fighting the deep pockets.

The lesson for the challenger brand is not to fight the big players without credible differentiation. 

Marketing In Practice : When Celebrities de-endorse !

Pepsi was in a soup recently when the celebrated endorser Amitabh Bachchan publicly told the media that "  he stopped endorsing Pepsi some years ago, after a young girl asked him why he was advertising a drink her teacher said was “poisonous " ( Source ET)

The brand was obviously embarrassed since Bachchan was endorsing Pepsi for more than 8 years.  Although the media took the  sensational issue initially, the issue died down thanks to the clout of Pepsico. 

The problems that brand faces when celebrities turn rogue is nothing new. There has been a spurt in the recent past on these kind of mishaps because more and more celebrities are being roped in for endorsements. But things are different here in this case of Pepsi where BigB has virtually de-endorsed ( new word) the brand by subtly saying that he made a mistake in endorsing .

Celebrity like Big B is not going to be affected and may even will be praised for saying such things. But for sure this is a thoroughly unprofessional act . It is the brand that suffer when such de-endorsement happens.

What is the lesson learned ?

There is no new lesson but a reminder that brand and not celebrity should be the highlight in campaigns. Although obvious, brands tend to forget this simple dictum. Brands try to derive maximum equity from the celebrity hence would act as a second fiddle in the campaign. 

Brands should try to balance the power sharing with the celebrity. One way to balance is to portray that celebrity is also deriving much benefit from consuming the product. 

 Understand that the celebrity-brand relationship is contractual and transactional. Hence if the entire equity of the brand is going to rest with celebrities, then these events will hurt more. 

There is not much a brand can do when celebrities de-endorse. Just sulk  and move on and pray that no one noticed .And probably build a clause in contract to prevent such de-endorsement.

In the long term,what the brand should do is the plan the nature of engagement and dis-engagement while using celebrities in campaigns.

What's your take ?

TRESemme : For Salon Style Hair

Brand : TRESemme
Company : Hindustan Unilever

Brand Analysis Count : # 539

TRESemme launched in 2012 was an attempt from Hindustan Unilever to prevent the competition from attacking from the flanks. There premium shampoo from HUL was Dove which was more of a Masstige brand rather than a luxury brand. Hence HUL feels that there is a gap in the product porfolio in the premium shampoo segment which is open for competitors. Already the shampoo brands from HUL stable is facing increasing competition from Lo'real, P&G  and the likes. 

TRESemme was born in 1950. The brand name was coined in honor of Edna Emme who was a cosmetologist and a community leader.The brand came to Unilever from the acquisition of Alberto Culver in 2010.Originally the brand is sold only to salons.

The positioning of TRESemme is interesting .The brand is positioned as a salon like experience for the hair. The insight is through a research which stated that ladies feel that they get more satisfaction when they get salon treatment. Also they trust the salon stylists advice when choosing the brands.This insight made the brand adopt the USP of a 'Salon Like Experience '. The brand initially target the salon frequenting  consumers who was usually the opinion leaders in the category. 

The brand which is priced at a premium is positioning itself as an expert in hair-care. The ads are styled internationally and the message is very rational. 

Watch the ad here : Tresemme ad

The brand over the last one year also have used Youtube very effectively . The brand's youtube channel is rich with videos on hair styles and hair care thus reinforcing the positioning as a premium expert. 

TRESemme will force the competing brands to think about launching their own version of professional endorsed shampoos. Right now Lo'real and P&G have salon products which are not sold outside . It needs to be seen whether the competitors will bring in those brands to fight  TRESemme. 

Brand Update : Is Titan's re-positioning worth it ?

The recent campaign of Titan featuring the "farewell to the professor" was very well received by the audience. Across the media, there are columns talking about the brand rediscovering the joy of gifting. As we know that the brand exploded into the market as the perfect gift that you can give to others. 

Watch the ad here : Titan Prof 

Although the theme of students spontaneously singing in the class is a not a new idea ( remember Airtel's HFZ campaign), the execution of the ad was perfect.The re-introduction of the signature tune was also well appreciated and brought in some nostalgic memories about the brand.

The interesting question is- if reports to be believed that Titan has truly rediscovered the Joy of Gifting, then what happened to 'Be More' positioning ?

In the TVC, the tagline of Titan is shown as " The Joy of Gifting" . So one can safely assume that the brand has re-positioned to its old platform based on gifting. 

I initially thought that the campaign which began during Christmas was just for the occasion but news report suggest otherwise.

Was it a right move to discard the Be More campaign ??

Be More campaign which was heavily promoted using Aamir Khan was a good proposition and matched the premium positioning of Titan. Aamir also fitted perfectly in the entire positioning campaign. After building up so much over the positioning, I think it was unwise for the brand to ditch a positioning for which it has invested so much. 

Regarding the gifting proposition, although it had helped Titan to gain a prominent position in the Indian watch market in the past, has lost its novelty.

Be More was a powerful platform which offered the brand lot of scope for creatives and also had helped to connect the brand to a higher order attribute . From that higher order attribute, the brand had slide down to a object that can be gifted. 

While 'Be More' campaign clearly talked about the user - that the user of Titan is one who wanted to grow, suddenly one finds that the brand stopped talking about the user and started talking about the object. Brands investing so much in building a positioning and then ignoring it for no reason has now become a common feature which will hurt the brand in the long-term.

Brand Update : Choclairs says " Fruit of patience is Chocolate"

After the rebranding of Echlairs to Choclairs, Cadburys has launched another tvc for the brand. This time, within a short span, the brand changed its focus to the chocolate part. In the rebranding campaign, Choclairs was giving the message that Choclairs will not stick in the mouth. This time the brand is focusing on the chocolaty core of the product.

Watch the ad here : Choclairs Ummm

The ad is just ordinary and the theme is nothing new. The theme of sudden burst of activity after consuming chocolate has been used plenty of times ( for example Tic Tac) . Even in the execution also, there is no novelty. I would pass it as an ordinary ad with no wow factor. The brand now adopts the tagline " Sabar ka Phal Choclate Hota Hain " roughly translated to " Fruit of patience is chocolate " which is the parody of " Fruit of patience is sweet". The idea is good but when it got executed, the freshness was lost.

I think that to bring in humor, the brand somehow has messed up the whole plot. The exaggeration also spoils the entire ad. Since its Cadburys one expects a certain level of class in ads which was surely missing in the current tvc.

Kwiknic : Freedom from Tobacco

Brand : Kwiknic
Company : ITC

Brand Analysis Count : # 538

Kwiknic is an interesting brand. A nicotine replacement therapy brand from India's leading cigarette maker . Its a paradox of sorts - India's largest cigarette maker promoting a product that helps you break free from tobacco. So at one end, ITC is encouraging people to smoke and then helping them to quit smoking - marketing has come to a full circle.

Sarcasm apart, the business angle is that the nicotine gum market although small is growing at 45% per annum. The market was estimated at around Rs 20 crore in 2013 ( source ET, Business Standard). So it makes perfect sense to launch a product in a market where there is a huge market for cigarettes.Also the increasing demarketing done by NGOs and Governments also ensure that this product category is bound to grow.

Before the launch of Kwiknic, there were other players also . The main players in the nicotine gum category are : Nicorette by Johnson & Johnson

Nicotex and Nicogum by Cipla.

ITC is trying to leverage the distribution strength to push the product to the consumers. 

What is interesting about the brand is the promotion strategy . The product is used as a tool to reduce dependency of tobacco. So one expects the brand to talk about the harm that tobacco causes with graphic details of cancer and other ailments. But surprisingly Kwiknic chose to use humor to communicate the brand's message. 

The brand also has taken a very different approach to addressing the addiction issues. Rather than scaring the people with gory details of diseases, the brand chose a lighter humorous situations to drive home the point.

Watch the ads here : Kwiknic Hospital ; Kwiknic marriage

One of the advantages of using such an approach is that it takes the seriousness or taboo out of the brand. Consumers may not feel inhibited to buy this product because it is not projected as an addiction therapy. One downside is that it is risky to take the seriousness out of the product so the effectiveness of the product may be doubted.

The ads are hilarious, repeatedly watchable and hence would help the brand in building awareness. Its also interesting to note that Kwiknic talks about freedom from chewing tobacco and not smoking.

Related brand : Nicorette

Britannia NutriChoice : Tasty Health Biscuits

Brand : NutriChoice
Company : Britannia

Brand Analysis Count : # 537

NutriChoice ,which was launched in the nineties, is leading the Briatannia's efforts to create a new position of health in the biscuit market. The brand is now worth more than Rs 280 crore . The health and nutrition based biscuit segment in the Indian market is now worth around Rs 500-600 crore and growing at a faster rate ( Business Standard).

NutriChoice although launched in the nineties had its graph shooting up after the relaunch in 2006. The relaunch coincided with the general trend of the market moving towards healthy foods. The brand is credited with the creation of a healthy biscuit segment in the market. 

The success of this brand can be attributed to the timing, persistence and constant improvement. The brand went for a change in the packaging along with the rebranding which made the brand look more up-market and attractive.

Secondly the brand constantly launched relevant variants to keep the interest level high. In 2008, NutriChoice launched 5 Grain biscuits which really caught the fancy of the health conscious consumers. It was then followed by high fibre digestive crackers. 2010 saw the launch of diabetic- friendly NutriChoice variant which really became a hit in the market. These initative saw the brand grow from around Rs 190 in 2010-11 to Rs 280 in 2011-12. 

NutriChoice's positioning was purely based on the health platform. The brand considered itself a cursader for healthy lifestyle. The brand's message was conveyed not only through advertising but also through many innovative below-the-line activities. The brand pioneered India's first health social networking site iHealthU.It also partnered with many agencies in conducting events which promoted healthy lifestyle. The brand had adopted the slogan of a Honestly Good Biscuit which cared for your health. 

The basic premise of the brand is to provide a healthy alternative to snacks. NutriChoice  at a point had Rahul Dravid endorsing it. 

Watch some of the campaigns here : NutriChoice 1

This season, the brand has comeout with a new campaign which is very interesting. In Advertising classrooms, we teach the concept called Two- sided arguments as a message strategy. This is where the brand talks about both the positives and negatives to the consumer. The latest NutriChoice ad is a typical two-sided message strategy executed perfectly.

The brand is now comparing itself with the alternatives like Brown Bread and Pizza or a Salad and Doughnut

The brand says it may not be as healthy as a large bowl of salad but definitely more healthy than a  chocolate doughnut, but the brand has come half-way so asks the consumer to do their part.

I find the ad extremely well executed and more importantly honest.The message is simple and drives home the point that NutriChoice is a tasty alternative to junk foods. 

NutriChoice's success has prompted many players like McVities and Horlicks to enter the market but the distribution strength and the brand's equity has so far stonewalled the attack on this brand. 

Market Statistics :FMCG

According to Neilsen India, FMCG industry experienced slowdown in the last three quarters of 2013. Non-food categories experienced considerable slowdown than food category. Hair care and personal care suffered most . Cooking oil and impulse foods saw better growth. Categories such as household insecticide, hair color and fabric whiteners were not hit by slow growth.
Analyst say that slowdown is seen in discretionary and premium segments and in saturated categories like soaps and oral care.The volume growth in most cases are driven by price cuts and offers. (Source:Businessline)