Cadbury's Gems: Nonstop Excitement

Brand : Gems

Company: Cadbury's

Agency: O&M

Brand Count : 124

Cadbury's Gems is one of a kind product and brand. Unrivalled in all these years, Gems hold a special position in the consumer's mind. The brand which came to India in 1968 is still going strong.

Gems is still popular not because of its ads but because of the heritage or should I say nostalgia?

I still remember the excitement I had ( when I was a kid) when my father slowly pushed the Gems through the pack and we used to guess the color of the button that is going to come out. The same excitement I could see in my daughter's face now after almost 20 years. I still buy Gems for my kid not because of the ads but because it is a brand I grow up with. ( sorry for being emotional).

Although 38 years old, Gems managed to stay relevant. A lot can be attributable to lack of competition and the unique taste that the product has. I will say that the brand is still relevant because those consumers of yesteryear's are now the parents and inevitably, Gems will figure in their favorite list of chocolates.

In the recent past I have seldom seen an ad of Gems. A major change in the Product Mix came in the early nineties when Gems reworked on its pricing and packaging strategy. It made a clever move by inventing new price points at Rs 5 making the brand more affordable. In the recent past, Gems pack is available for even Rs 2.

2006 saw the first variant of Gems in the form of Fruity flavours branded as Gems Jungli. The chocolate core has been changed to fruit flavours which is a major change in terms of the brand. Gems is known for its chocolate core with sugar coatings. With this variant, Gems is in a way moving away from its core .

Jungli has given the brand something to speak about. Now lot of promos have started aiming at the target audience ( kids). The ads are OK but not upto the creative standards of O&M. I bought one for my kid but the excessive coloring is a dampener. The color of the sugar coating seems to be too much and caused alarm as to how healthy the color is. The classic Gems do not have that much coloring or the color don't seem to be unhealthy.

I don't remember the old ads of Gems but looking at some of the blogs like Vishalpatel.com , the ads seem to position the brand along excitement. Even during the 80's there was Gems Bond a mascot for the brand. The old ads also talked about creating pictures using Gems. Those campaigns have put this brand firmly on the kids mind that is still making impact.Now Gems has been promoted using events and contests .

Gems have a problem at hand. How to make this brand relevant to today's kids. With lot of action in the confectionery market with lot of brands, Gems cannot rely on the old brand equity. May be the Jungli launch was to make the brand more visible in the segment now but are we not forgetting the classic Gems ?

Although positioned on excitement, right now Gems do not have a solid positioning. I agree that it is one of a kind and there has been imitations that have failed but success should not lead to marketing myopia.

Gems has to consolidate and nurture its core brand to be relevant to the much more dynamic and highly evasive consumer of today. Gems has to make sure that the excitement is nonstop.

Harpic : Ready For The Challenge?

Brand : Harpic
Company: Reckitt Benckiser
Agency: Euro RSCG

Brand count : 123

Harpic is the market leader in the small category of toilet cleaner segment in India. With a commanding market share of 80%, Harpic is a brand that withstood or escaped unhurt the lazy marketing efforts from its owners.

Harpic is a European brand that came to India way back in 1950s. Toilet cleaning market is traditionally dominated by the unbranded Phenols and when considering phenols, the market is worth Rs 500 crore. But the branded toilet cleaner market is minuscule estimated to be around Rs 50 crore.

Harpic unlike other Reckitt brands were given some marketing support from the brand owners. The brand had changed with times and had some careful innovation with regard to the packaging. During 1990's the product came out with a unique nozzle which ensured better reach. Harpic also introduced a Flushomatic variant in line with the changing preference of consumers towards European closets and Flushes. Harpic also initiated a co branding initiative with Parryware to get into consumer mindset early even when he is completing his house.

These efforts together with the lack of competition enabled Harpic command a major share in the segment. But of late the segment is witnessing competion. The major competition is from Sanifresh from Balsara. The challenge of Harpic is to get into the households that are using the cheap Phenol products. The venture of Reckitt with a phenol product bombed in the market.

Harpic is positioned along its triple benefit Stain removing, freshness and germfree. The ads which are criticised for lack of creativity speaks about the Harpic challenge. Celebrity like Aman varma entering a house and cleaning the toilet was rated as the most distasteful ads. But my personal opinion is that the ad conveys the core message. It is a no nonsense ad and is targetted towards the households using phenols and not the educated sophisticated users.

The innovative flushmatic variant was well received in the market But personally I find it difficult to open the flush and place it. Some flushes need screw drivers to open it. But it was a innovative effort that has to be appreciated.

Harpic is a brand that has been trying to break the segment barrier. It is still considered the urban product. In a lighter sense : with millions of toilets around, the potential is immense. I am not sure whether small sachets for single use will work for toilet cleaners ?

May be to break the price barrier, Harpic may have to think out of closet.

Source: India today, agencyfaqs, economictimes,magindia

Quaker Oats : Tough Task Ahead

Brand : Quaker Oats

Company: Frito Lay ( Pepsi co)

Brand Count : 122

Quaker Oats is the latest entry into the tough market of branded breakfast foods. Indian Branded Breakfast market is worth around Rs 300 crore. In volume terms it is 140000 tonnes. Oats market is worth around 4000 tonnes.

After the Kellogg's foray in to the breakfast market in 1990, Quaker is the only high profile product launch in this segment. Kellogg's grew the market from 1000MT to around 3000MT through heavy spent in advertising. Now Kellogg's is ruling the breakfast market but yet to break even.

Quaker's launch is significant because it comes from the Pepsi stable. With the marketing muscle and deep pocket, Will Pepsi be able to displace Idli from the Indian consumer's breakfast table ?

All through this decade, Kellogg's has been trying to do that: changing Indian consumer' s breakfast habit. With high decibel promotion targeted at adults and kids alike, Kellogg's was able to make a mark in the Crispy Cornflakes category with excellent brand recall and shelf space. But the breakfast habit still remains the same.

Quaker started testing the Indian market in 2005 and in 2006 the brand was launched across India. Quaker is a brand that has a heritage of over 125 years and is world leader in the Oat meal segment.

The Indian breakfast market assumes significance because of the growing " Health Consciousness" among the Indian middle class. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and it accounts for 1/3 rd of all nutrient need of a person. Although Indian consumers were not bothered about the nutritional content of their foods, increasingly a trend is visible in Indian consumers becoming more aware about their nutritional needs.

Taking a lesson from Kellogg's, Quaker has launched their products at a reasonable price range even introducing trial packs for Rs 8. The idea is to induce the consumer to try the product and then make it a habit. The 400gm pack with a price of Rs 70 and 200gm for Rs 35 seems attractive compared to other brands. As a sales promotion campaign, Quaker is selling its 200gm for Rs 25.

All these promotions may cause the existing Oats takers to Quaker but how about our man who takes Idli , Dosa ?. That is a million dollar question.

Quaker is launched with a positioning based on Nutrition , Taste and Easy To Cook. The ads says that it takes only 3 minutes to cook ( same as Maggi) But as in the case of Maggi, that proposition will not work with Indian consumers. Nutrition is an important factor and regarding the taste, Quaker has cleverly came out with Masala and cardamom flavours to appeal to Indian Palate.

The main question is should the marketer try to break the habit or circumvent it. Maggi effectively introduced Noodles in to Indian market by not breaking a habit but come around the habit by targetting kids. Kellogg's is still steadfast in breaking the habit for a decade now.

I can tell from my case that I will not prefer oats for a breakfast because of the perception that it is not filling ! I may eat it for nutritional purpose but may not substitute the breakfast. I have seen people who take oats at night after the dinner for health reasons. So taking a cue from my experience ( disclaimer: I can be wrong) Oats will have a better acceptance as a nutritional component in the Indian consumer's meal. Let Oats be a part of Idli and Sambhar for complete nutrition. Once you get to the table then the brand can easily command the Indian consumer's habit.There will be more takers if this food can be positioned as "any time nutrition" rather than as a breakfast cereal. As an aggressive marketer, Quaker is head on in competition with the traditional breakfast foods.

Since this market is small ,the direct competition is less for Quaker. Bagerry is the other brand in the Oats segment . Bagerry is an Indian company which is in the market for over a decade. They are not aggressive marketer and is more of a regional player.

It is going to be a tough and expensive war for Quakers.

Source : estrategicmarketing, economictimes,magindia, sify.com,agencyfaqs.

Ray-Ban : Change Your View

Brand : Ray-Ban
Company :Luxottica Group
Agency : Law & Kenneth

Brand Count : 121

Ray-Ban is one of the major brands in the Rs 1200 crore Indian Eye Care market.Ray-ban came to India in 1990's .At that time the brand was owned by Bosch & Lomb. In 1998-99 the brand was acquired by the Italian Major Luxottica group.

Ray-Ban originally was born in 1937. Over these years it has created a cult status worldwide. The brand also have a huge fan following in India. Ray-Ban was created as a brand for US Air force during 1937. The Aviator brand became an instant hit and the brand attained a huge cult status after the Movie Risky Business had Tom Cruise wearing the Wayfarer range. All these years, RayBan used movies to popularise the ranges of sunglasses.
The brand had tough times in India. During the late nineties the brand had quality problems. The brand also faced problems in the pricing also. The Shade range of RayBan priced below Rs 1000 eroded the premiumness of the brand.

After taking over the operations in India, Luxoticca group revamped the Indian operations.The brand was aligned to the global positioning and the company decided to have a single positioning worldwide.The quality level was raised. The brand also shed its segmentation based on price points. The low priced brands were removed and the minimum price point was fixed at rs 1500.

In India Ray-Ban had lot of interesting positioning statements. It had the famous tag line " My Ray-Ban and Me" which highlighted the individualism to the latest tag line " Change Your View".
The brand is now trying to consolidate its premium positioning while appealing to the youth.

Although the Indian eye wear market is worth 1000 crores, the organised sector is only worth Rs.400 crores .Sunglass market is worth only 80 crores. With premium brands like Gucci and Armani rules the super premium segment, the lower segment is ruled by unbranded cheap sunglasses. Ray-Ban is in the mid segment range . Titan has ventured into the sunglasses segment with its mass market range with its Fast Track brand extension.

With over 1200 models and an established brand image, Ray-Ban is ready to explore the rising lifestyle market in India. It is again surprising that no Indian brands is existing in this category ruled by Ray-Ban. The sunglass market is facing the culture issue rather than the competition. Unlike other accessories like watches, Indian consumers have a social stigma with the sunglasses. Eye care against sun rays are not popular concept with the Indian consumer . Still sunglasses are just a fashion accessory rather than a necessity. The tendency to use cheap glasses which is more harmful still remains a habbit with the Indian consumers. RayBan have to spent lot of money to keep sunglass as a priority purchase for Indian consumers.

Will Rayban can change the view is something to wait and watch

Source: Indiatoday.com, magindia,agencyfaqs, rayban website,ebay

Fair &Lovely Menz Active : Change Your Story

Brand : FAL Menz Active
Company: HLL
Agency: Lowe

Brand Count : 120

2006 saw the launch of Fair And Lovely’s brand extension Menz Active in the Indian market. Menz Active is HLL’s reply to the much hyped and much discussed launch of Fair And Handsome by Emami Limited.

In 2005 when Emami launched India’s first fairness cream for men, I thought it was a joke on the famous Fair and Lovely brand. Later I found out that it is a serious affair and a not bad idea at all. As I discussed before in one of my blogs, Indian fairness cream market is worth around Rs 1000 crores. But why fairness cream for men? Research suggests that 28 % of all fairness cream users are men. That makes sense for a serious brand in that segment isn’t it?

Fair and Handsome made noise in the market for two reasons First it was a shock Secondly the ads were lousy. Lousy and ridiculous: I must say. But it served the purpose. It became the talk of the town. This year’s launch of FAL Menz Active proves that Emami ‘s brand made business sense.

HLL is using its most famous brand to endorse the new brand. FAL is being used as an endorser to create a positive impression on the potential users. I foresee that once the volume is achieved, the FAL endorsement will go.

But in both these product, the execution of the message is some thing that is not FAIR.
It is true that men like to look good, fair and handsome. I feel that contrary to popular belief modern (or otherwise) men are not shy about trying to look good. It is a fact that marketers seldom looked into men’s shaving kit. Marketing myopia made them believe that it contained and will contain only shaving products. Hence no products for men and it became a self fulfilled prophecy.

Since there are no face creams for men, we started using products meant for ladies. My argument is that since men uses soap, shampoo, powder, deo, perfumes, moisturizers, shaving cream, hair gel, after-shave, paste etc, how can one think that he cannot and will not use face creams?

Now with the launch of Menz Active, this market for men’s face creams is going to witness lot of activity. But the sad part is that both these products failed to grasp the essence of men’s psychology. Men’s product cannot be marketed using lousy marketing campaigns. It had to be Macho (Pulsar) or emotional (Raymond) or Sexy (Axe). But a successful marketer like HLL has messed with Menz Active by putting it in the same league as Fair and Handsome.

It would have created more impact if Menz Active used subtle message to promote this product. Given a choice, men prefer a macho and sexy product. If Gillette extends it to face creams, Menz Active will have tough time. Competition is already in the form of Garnier. Menz Active is positioned along the same line as FAL when it was launched. Menz uses the Statement “ Change Your Story”. The ad features a stuntman succeeding to become the model after using the brand. It is a typical “Before & After” kind of stuff. Rather than the message of “ using and then becoming successful” “successful and using the product” appeals more to men.

This is a segment that is worth watching. Will Menz Active Change the story?

Source : agencyfaqs,businessline,bbc website,estrategicmarketing,stylestation.typepad.com

Prestige Pressure Cookers : Long Way To Go

Brand : Prestige

Company: TTK Prestige
Agency: Mudra Communications


Brand Count : 119


Prestige pioneered the pressure cooker market in India. Launched in 1950’s this brand has popularized pressure cooker as an essential cooking device.
When Prestige was launched, Indian consumers were somewhat afraid about using pressure cookers. The product category was looked upon by the consumers with suspicion and fear. Prestige changed all that. The brand using careful communication messages were able to establish itself as the safest cooker.

Prestige brand was able to address the initial concerns of the consumers like the nutrients getting destroyed using the cookers and more importantly the normal inertia in changing the way of cookers.

Long before the Product Demonstrations began to be popular among marketers, Prestige started highly successful house to house demonstrations to popularize the efficacy of this product category. These steps enabled the market to grow very fast. The pressure cooker market is estimated to be around 6mn pieces.

Not resting on laurels, Prestige was careful enough to innovate. In 1980, it came out with the first Pressure Pan which can cook a variety of Indian dishes. In 2003, to tap the premium segment, Prestige launched the Deluxe range of pressure cookers. The safety features like “Gasket Release System” and the “Gasket Offset Device” was invented by Prestige.Prestige also introduced a unique concept of separator cooking which means that two dishes can be cooked in the pressure cooker at the same time thus increasing the utility and reducing the fuel costs.

Later Prestige ventured into Non stick cookware category extending the brand. The company was leveraging the brand equity of Prestige to this new category. There also Prestige tried to provide freshness through innovation. It launched India’s first Metal friendly nonstick cookware range.

The reason for the brand extension is that the market for pressure cookers was not growing. The branded cookers faced lot of competition from unbranded cheap products. The unbranded cookers corner about 50% share in this market.
The pressure cooker market plus the nonstick market is worth around 600 crores, making it more sensible for the company to extend the brand.

In the early 2000 the company took the brand into a higher level by launching small kitchen appliances under the concept of Prestige Smart Kitchen. The small appliances along with cookers and nonstick is worth around Rs 3000 crores. Hence Prestige was hoping to cater to a larger market with its new range of Small appliances like Mixies, gas stoves grinders etc. The small appliance market although is large is crowded with small and large competitors and is tough to crack.

Although market reports suggest that Pressure Cooker market is almost stagnated, the figures show another picture. The penetration of Cookers in Indian households is as low as 36% and rural market penetration is only 18%.There is also a huge market for replacements. But the players are not able to break in to this market. It will take some marketing disruptor (new term from me) to break into the untapped market.

The major competitor for Prestige in Pressure cooker market is Hawkins. Launched in 1959, Hawkins is neck to neck with Prestige in market share estimated to be around 25%.

Hawkins in 1993 tried to break into the premium range of cookers by launching its Futura range of Pressure cookers. Although the design and the ads were catchy the price if Futura will give “Pressure “the Indian consumer. The price is around 200% more than the ordinary cookers. Hence Indian consumers have given thumbs down to this range. Futura has cornered a niche in the market but the growth is limited because of unreasonable price.
Although the early campaigns of Prestige brand has been able to create the brand equity, the share of voice of this brand still remains low. The brand does not remind you of any meaningful positioning except for the safety factor in Pressure cookers. If this brand has to transform itself to be a small appliances brand, it has to discover some core values of the brand and position the brand around it ( Which it has not done). For example, a regional brand “Preethy “which is a major player in the Mixie category is using a homemaker (model of course) to endorse the brand by using the tagline “ I guarantee” which can be extended to any product categories.

Prestige has to strategically position the brand inorder to use it as an Umbrella brand to endorse multiple categories

Source :Agencyfaqs, Bharathidasan Institute of mgmt website, indiatoday.com, magindia