Hide&Seek: Building brand on bull shit again!

Brand : Hide & Seek
Company : Parle
Agency : O&M

I have no personal grudge against Parle but seeing how they waste their money in so called brand building is terrible. First it was Parle Digestive Marie now it is their Hide & Seek. Parle is so scared of ITC and Shahrukh endorsing sunfeast that they are pumping in money on celebrities ( not brands) desperately.

Hide & Seek is India's first and only chocolate Chip Cookie, Although the basic difference between a biscuit and cookie is that Cookies are considered to be more Sweet and chewy while biscuits are brittle.
Hide & Seek was launched in India in 1998. Although there were certain variants of Hide & Seek like orange flavour, only chocolate flavour survived. Later Parle tried with butter and cashew variant to fight Britannia Good Day brand but failed miserably. Now Parle is concentrating on Chocolate Hide & Seek.

Hide & Seek is positioned as a premium snack cookie. The cookie market is estimated to be around 500 crore in the 5000 crore biscuit market. The baseline for Hide & Seek is " Taste itna ki Dil Aa Jaye" meaning your heart will love the taste( I suppose, since I am a south indian, these hindi baseline are sometimes difficult to understand: are marketers listening?)

With ITC tasting success with Sunfeast and the dislodging of Parle from Premium market of biscuits, Parle is trying out the celebrity game. This time the agency O&M has roped in Hritik Roshan against the mighty SRK of Sunfeast. Playing the supporting role is Isha Shravani .

I watched the TVC of Hide & Seek with horror. I am not explaining the story board but believe me it is ridiculous. Like the Digestive Marie ad, this ad does not talk about the product but its Hrithik and his dancing skills, nothing more nothing less. Celebrity should endorse the brand and the brand should be the star.... but alas. Any one who have seen that ad for the first time will miss it for a cola ad. May be the Star discovering the taste Hide & Seek in a party makes more sense than this Dance hungama. It is hyperbole at its worst form.

Hide & Seek is a good product with certain premium touch to it. You have signed Hrithik which still have some brand value but this ad is nothing but a waste of money. The ads should have talked about the chocolate and the taste and surprisingly there are no kids around? May be parle is trying to target the adults then it is competing with Lays not sunfeast. Look at how Lays is using Saif and how it had understood the youth's psyche perfectly. But the current Hide & Seek campaign is uncool.

Once again " You cannot build a brand on bullshit".

Reva : The ElectriCity Car

Brand : Reva
Company: Reva Electric Car Co. Ltd


Reva is India's first electric car. The car that can change the way Indians transport and the car which can solve the rising oil prices and the connected inflation problem is waiting for the government of open its eyes. Reva is the brain child of Chetan Maini who conceived this car while he was studying. The company was incorporated in 1995 and the first prototype was launched in 1996. Reva was officially launched in May 2001.

Reva is so far the worlds cheapest commercially produced electric car. This is a two door hatch back that can accomodate two adults and two children. The car uses electricity as the fuel and it can be charged with a 15 Amp socket. A full charge takes 9 hours and 9 units of electricity. The full charge can take you through 80 km making it one of the cheapest mode of transportation in our country.

But so far less than 1000 Reva is sold in our country. While the gas guzzling cars are sold like hot cakes and Indians cursing the oil price hikes, how come this car is selling less? The major problem lies in the price of the car which costs around 2.5 lakh for the standard non ac model. The price is a major deterrant for the potential buyer . The government so far has not given an aota of support for this venture. Had it offered some duty cuts to this car, it would have intensified the interest of auto majors to enter this segment thereby creating more efficient electric cars which will inturn reduce the oil import burden on our exchequer.

But nothing happened. The car is still expensive and suited to small drives . Without government support , this product will remain a niche player. But I feel that this product will have a great future if it can circumvent the price barrier by inventing a vehicle that is in between two and four wheelers ( not kidding), because Reva cannot compete with the Cars, so it have to create points of parity with the two wheelers and with the current price , it cannot target the mass users. So how about a three wheeler for office goers ? If you think I am crazy, check out the BMW c1

Reva have to think out of the box to be a revolution. But Reva is concentrating more on the premium segment with new models with gizmos that costs a fortune some thing similar to VW beetle . While government is acting blind, it is the middle class' pocket that is getting drained with the rising oil prices.

Mentos : Dimag Ki Batti Jala De

Brand : Mentos
Company: Perfetti Van Melle
Agency : O&M


Perfetti Van Melle ,the $ 1.3 Billion confectionery giant launched its Indian Operation in1994 with one brand Centerfresh. From that one brand it has grown to command a 25% value share in Indian confectionery market with around 13 brand that include Alpenliebe Chlormint, Mentos, Big Babool, Coffitos , Marbles, Centershock Fruitella etc.

Mentos is its brand in the 1200 crore sugar confectionery market in India. The brand comes under the category of Chewy dragee. Dregee is a candy with smooth and relatively hard candy coating.

World wide Mentos is positioned on the freshness platform, the baseline being “The Freshmaker” .Here in India, initially the brand was launched in the freshness platform but later the brand has slightly extended the global positioning from Freshmaker to Smart thinking. The baseline “ Dimag ki Batti Jala De” has been an instant hit with the target audience.

The campaigns are humorous and simple and O&M has been able to move flexibily with this “smart thinking “ platform. Perfetti is known for its clutter breaking ideas and campaigns, the success of the horrible tasting Centershock is a proof of the marketing acumen of Perfetti. The campaigns of Chocotella and Chlormint has created a humour fashion in confectionery ads which resulted in a clutter of confectionery ads which claims to be humorous.

Perfetti has been very successful in launching this brand although market share figures for individual brands are not available. Besides spending enough money on brands, the company has also strengthened its distribution network. The brand has also been able to capture the 50 paise price point making it affordable. The target group is the youth with a cool attitude who considers themselves to be smart.Confectioneries comes under the low value, low involvement impulsive product in the convenient goods category. Here much one has to maintain the brand’s share of mind and share of voice since the purchase is impulsive. Although Mentos is a sugar confectionery, it is perceived to be in the mouth freshener candy category. With the smart advertisement, this brand has created a place for itself in this category.

Daikin : Complete Silence

Brand : Daikin
Company: Daikin Shriram Ltd
Agency : Dentsu

Indian A/c Market is growing at a scorching pace and more and more international players are lining up to take their share of the pie. The Indian domestic A/c Market is estimated to be around Rs 3600 crore is dominated by Window A/c's. The market is dominated by LG with a market share of 30% followed by Voltas (16%) and Samsung (13%).

Daikin was launched in 2000 as a joint venture between the Japanese Major Daikin and Shriram group. Daikin was initially not concentrating on the home market. With the upwardly mobile Indian family started shopping heavily, Daikin was not able to resist the temptation of tapping this market.

In India A/C is always considered a luxury owing to the price and the cost of maintaining the machine. The entry barrier was removed by our home grown Voltas with the launch of India's first sub 10000 A/C. The product was a block buster and took away the price barrier from the mind of the Indian consumer. A/C became more affordable. But the popularity is restricted to upper class because of the electricity cost associated with A/C's.

Although Voltas changed the rules of the game, much of the action is taking place in the premium segment. It is interesting to see the positioning of the major players in the value added category

LG is positioned on the basis of its time tested health platform
Voltas on the basis of pricing.
O'General on Cooling (lousy ad)
Hitachi is positioned on the size ( Hitachi Atom range)
Samsung on Breathing safe
Blue star on Fresh Air
The new entrant Onida is focusing on the cooling power telling the customer that an A/C that does not cool at 45 degree is just a cooler ( smart positioning given the fact that Samsung have models that cool even at 54 degree).

Given that most of the players have taken on one feature or another, Daikin differentiate on the basis of the " Silence " factor. The A/C taking the feature of its "Silent working " as its USP. Launched with this USP, the brand is now extending the Silence to being Calm. The latest ad clearly shows this USP. The ads of Daikin stands out from the other A/C ads since it is devoid of any noise. These ads are critically acclaimed and gives the brand a premium touch. Daikin also boasts of "Variable Refrigerant Volume " technology which allows the A/C to be more flexible in its installation.

The positioning has to be relevant to the consumer so as to influence his purchasing decision. It has to be seen how much is the relevance of "Silence" feature in the purchasing decision of a functional product like A/C. In the hierarchy of importance in the case of features, Silence plays second fiddle to Cooling and Fresh Air. That may be the reason Daikin have changed the Postioning from Silence to a much more flexible "Calm" option.

Daikin have upped its share of voice in the Indian market, with smart campaigns backed with good product, this brand is worth watching.

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 ...