Nataraj Pencils : Aur Yeh Lega Sixer

Brand: Nataraj pencils
Company: Hindustan Pencils
Agency: O&M

Not much has been written about pencils these days. Pencils have always been an integral part of ones academic life. From the lower kindergarten to the class where students are allowed to use pens, Pencils were our "comrade in arms". Now those who read this blog may be using pencils now at the office (some times more than a pen) after a long gap. I have seen many of senior executives use pencils rather than pen in scribbling their notes ( not for official circulation). Still this pencil is ubiquitous. May be if we plot the usage of pencil in ones life, it will be some thing like this
0-4 : no pencil
4-10 : only pencil
10-19 : pencil only for drawing/graphs etc
19-35: Pencil what is that? May be for bank exams.
35-55: Pencil for scribbling ( if u are in a senior position in corporate)

Nataraj is a brand from Hindustan Pencils Ltd which is one of the largest pencil manufacturers in the country. Nataraj is their oldest brand. Nataraj is famous for its quality and its feature of not breaking easily . The brand was positioned as the " pencil with special bonded lead". The old cartoon ad and the jingle " Nataraj still champion " is still having some recall with the public. Nataraj took a break from ads for the past five years. Now they are planning to relaunch the brand in the Indian market where Camlin is the market leader.

Pencil market is sustaining in the Indian market because there is a restriction in using pen in the lower primary schools. Even in China , pens are taking over the market. The time is not far enough for restrictions in using pens in lower classes to be lifted. Then where will the pencil go.

Pencils are used in schools mainly to improve handwriting. We know that despite using pencils ours are not better so is there any point in this restrictions? Secondly wooden pencils are harming our nature (Iam no Medha Patkar, but isn't it so).

Hence just like what Hercules did to cycle market ( discussed in my previous blog) there has to be a redefinition of this product. Already there are pencils which have plastic body and lead refills. Camlin have segmented the market and have launched Exam Subbrand for pencils to be used during exams ( a smart move). But when pencils are not going to be used at all , what is the solution? Is it going to be a tool only to be used for drawing? If there are no pencils , what about erasers and sharpener?

Frankly I dont have an answer. It is going to be like scooters, it took Honda to redefine the scooter market.

Pencils : How long will they be in Crease?

Lays : No One Can Eat Just One

Brand : Lays
Company: Frito Lay ( Pepsico Group )
Agency: JWT

If you believe that it is not possible to brand a commodity that too a food product and sell it at a premium, think again. You are mistaken. Ask any youngster what would he like as a snack food.Chances are that he will say Lays..

Lays from Fritolay : a group company of Pepsico India is the only money making machine for this global giant in India. Indian snack food business is a huge market to the tune of 17000tonnes out of which the branded foods contribute around 6500 tonne. In revenue terms, Indian snack food business is worth around Rs 2500 crore and growing. Lays commands a monopoly sort of position in the Potato chips category which is around 85% of the snack food market.

Lays is competing head on with the unbranded players in the market and if you look at the broader levels of competition , this brand is competing even with the snacks from our own kitchen. It is interesting to see how this brand has succeeded in the commodity business. It followed all the rules to perfection.
1. Quality: the brand offered superior quality compared to the other unbranded snacks there by reducing the risk to the customer . The crisp and beautifully packed chips were a new experience for the Indian consumer.
2. Value addition: the brand offers unimaginable range of potato chips with many flavors made especially for India. Together with many new international flavors, it easily caught the imagination of Indian consumer
3. Aggressive brand building: No one needs to teach Pepsico How to build a brand! Lays spent lot of money on brands building and once established were able to charge a premium for the brand.
Although initially Indian consumer were pissed off by the high price, slowly the brand established its credentials. The so called "Liberation child' and the software yuppies caught hold of this brand. These trend setters made this brand a must for looking cool in campuses. " Lays with Cola" began to take its toll on "Samosa and Tea".

Lays lavishly spent money on brand building. The ads were catchy and was positioning the product on the platform of "Taste" .The baseline ' No one can eat just one " is one of the most successful baseline in Indian advertising. The baseline is true also since the taste is compelling that no one can eat just one. The brand ambassadors Saif and Priety gave a cool attitude to this brand making it more interesting for the new generation. Lays have always tried to excite its fans by launching new flavors frequently. This ensured that the brand is never boring. The latest flavor is the Latino style. The company is going to focus on Music as a base for building this brand.

With ITC foraying into this business will see the market expanding . But Lays have put itself in a formidable position that is difficult to match. For now , No one can eat just one ...

Zodiac : Finest Quality Shirt Makers

Brand : Zodiac
Company: Zodiac clothing
Agency: FCB Ulka

Zodiac is India's premium and one of the oldest brands in the readymade menswear category. The company started off as an exporting firm launched Zodiac in the domestic market in late 80's. In the Indian readymade menswear category which is estimated to be around 6000 crore, Zodiac have a market share of 17 % in the branded premium category.

Zodiac as a brand is promoted very subtly. You seldom see the campaigns in mass media. But if you read magazines, you are not going to miss the ads either in the back cover or inside cover. The ads are crafted in similar format and without any celebrities or fantasies, it is shirt all the way.

Zodiac is positioned as shirts from " Finest Quality Shirt Makers". The core qualities of the product are the unmatched quality and the designing. Zodiac follows the design and retail focus. The shirts which is available across the globe take fashion cues from the west and the designers back in India puts it into the shirts.

From the eighties, the readymade menswear have undergone drastic changes. We saw the emergence of categories like Smart casuals from Color Plus, Friday dressing from Allensolly, Premium range from Loius Philippe which changed the way Indians dress to work.

Zodiac targets at the upwardly mobile executives and is still sticking to the traditional concept of formal wear. Not wanting to lag behind the emergence of new breakaway categories, Zodiac launched its club wear brand ZOD! in 2002. Zodiac have also an impressive range of Ties where it have captured a commanding position in that category.

Zodiac have maintained its positioning through these years as World's finest shirt makers.But with the competition taking the categories and discovering new categories, Zodiac cannot afford to be silent. The brand needs larger doses of promotion to survive in the Indian market.

Limca : Lime N Lemony

Brand : Limca
Company: Coca Cola
Agency:O&M

When Ramesh Chauhan sold his soft drinks brands to Coca Cola for 10 mn $, he may had some clue that the brand babies that he is selling will be left to die.But he may not have a clue that some of them will survive, Thums Up did. Now we see a very unusual ads in TV, ads of Limca, Who?

Limca was one of the brands that was sold along with Thums Up, and Gold Spot. Launched in 1971, Limca was the quintessential Isotonic drink that quenches your thirst, it was the lemon drink from Parle. Limca was virtually dead since it had no place in Coca Cola’s Indian plan.
This summer has proved that some brands have life of their own, Thums Up had that, now Limca reinforces it. Limca was a powerful brand of our times, it was the major Lime flavoured drink and was positioned as “ Lime and Lemony”. As usual the ads were catchy and depicted fun and enjoyment.How did Limca resurrected at this juncture? The answer is that in the first place there was no reason for it to die. Coke did not have a lemon flavored drink but some on in Atlanta thought that it could come out with such a variant later.
Now the Indian SD market is hotting up. With the traditional Coke- Pepsi war is hotting up with lousy ads from both sides : Pepsi with the rubbish Pepsi TV and Coke with an equal bullshit ‘ Thande ka Thadka” While Sprite has messed up with Sania, Mountain dew is stuck with the three Hooligans. While 7 up is trying to be more Clear, its agency had forgotten the fact that every time you talk about being Clear, Sprite comes to the mind. The brand element Fido has not been able to connect with the Indian psyche.The only silver lining is Thums Up surprisingly is back with its “ Taste the Thunder “ campaign ( it could have avoided the hyperbole). While Mirinda is nowhere remembered so is Fanta.

Hence there is enough space for a different flavour , a flavour that is most popular in India, lemon. And Limca makes perfect sense. The ads of Limca is in line with the earlier campaigns that shows lots of water and really urges you to take some liquid . In the earlier avatar, Limca had that COOL attitude while Gold Spot was the Zing thing.In India , lemon flavored drinks had to compete with our very own Nimbu pani, that is a reason why earlier nimbu version of Mirinda failed in Indian market. Hence Limca have to bypass the direct comparison with the cheaper Nimbu paani.

The resurrection of Limca is indeed a nostalgia and good news for all who knew this brand , we welcome you …

Reid & Taylor : Bond With The Best

Brand : Reid & Taylor
Company: S Kumars
Agency: In House agency

To build a premium Indian brand, start globally and ride locally. Reid&Taylor did just that. This brand had revitalized the India suiting market. Launched in 1998, this brand ranks no.2 in the 2000 crore worsted suit market.

Indian suit market was lying idle for a long time because of the onslaught of ready to wear garments and the lack of any excitement in the category as such which was dominated by established players like Raymonds, Grasim etc.
Reid and Taylor is a Scottish brand created by Alexander Reid along with financier Joseph Taylor. This brand has a rich heritage dating back to 1830.

Reid&Taylor had a dream opening. The strategy was accurate and the icon was non other than Bond... James Bond. The brand was launched just before World cup 1999. The campaign was executed in a military like fashion.There was lot of firsts in their product launch. The brand was the first one to use TV as the primary medium with Print playing the second fiddle.

The positioning was purely as a " Luxury Suiting". The brand owners knew that the brand launch should live upto the expectation of the Indian consumers roped in none other than Pierce Brosnan as its brand ambassador. With the high profile launch and the charisma of Bond worked wonders with the brand . The brand had second best recall during the world cup series.

Later the consumer survey revealed that even though the brand was aspirational, customers perceived it to be expensive because of its international icon. This prompted the company to look for an Indian icon. They did not have to search harder, the choice was our very own Amitabh Bachchan. Big B fitted perfectly to the brand persona. He was the style icon and commanded immense equity with the customers. Amitabh lifted the brand to a much higher level in connecting with Indian consumer. The positioning was not changed but the message was to create an image of affordability. The baseline was " Bond with the Best" was in line with the positioning.

S kumars plan to take this brand to ready to wear segment also where it will be competing with Louis Philippe , Van Heusen, etc. It is where this brand will prove its mettle. With the current positioning and the careful marketing campaigns, this brand will make an impact in ready to wear segment .

SBI : Not Quite Surprisingly SBI

Brand : SBI
Agency : O&M

SBI is the largest bank in India, It has the largest number of ATMs in the country. The Vehicle loans cover Insurance cost also. The home loans cover furniture also. 80% of India's corporate world depends on SBI. Surprisingly SBI

SBI employees are on strike from 3 April 2006 ( after getting their salary). Even after 4 days, the strike is going on, cheques are not cleared ( my salary is still in cheque form). The largest number of ATMs are already dried up. 80% of corporate are worried about their funds. Not so surprising because it is SBI.

SBI was set up in 1806 at that time called the Imperial Bank of India.Later after our independence SBI was formed. The bank still carries the Pre- liberalisation culture which has now come to the full circle.

I am not commenting whether the strike is legal or ethical. Employees have to stand united for their rights. I am talking about the brand SBI. SBI in recent years are facing hot competition from the new generation banks like ICICI, HDFC etc. SBI was able to hold its fort against these new players because of sheer size and reach. With ICICI close to their heels, SBI took a decision for an image make over.

The customers were surprised to see the new campaigns and billboards teaching customers about SBI. O&M did a nice job in subtly changing the image of SBI from a monolith to an agile banker. But this strike have put all those money used for brand building into waste basket. SBI is facing the nightmare of all the employers of the world: strike.

SBI is going to pay a heavy price for this debacle and ultimately it is the employees who is going to get affected in the end. News reports suggest that SBI customers will look for other alternatives ( am sure most of the corporate are pissed off) , the deposits will take a run and the brand equity will be hit hard. ICICI may have already started their work on SBI clients and I am sure not much persuation is needed.

In a pure marketing perspective, this could have been managed better. There was no contingency plan in place. The notice for strike was given much before, had some alternative arrangements be made, this problem could have been solved. But efforts was to focused on strike and not on customers. If a contingency plan had been made, the strike would not have been there. Since SBI have some responsibility towards its customers, contingency plan should have been there in place. But it was not. Even if the strike ends this week , it will take another 15 days to normalize the operation which is going to cost this bank dearly.

I am sorry for the striking employees because they will get a pension only if the bank is in good health.They are making it sure that it is not.