Volvo : Redefining Travel

Brand : Volvo
Company: Volvo India
Agency : Grey

Brand Count :158

India is one of the largest market for buses and trucks in the world. With most of the population depending on public transport systems , this product is tied close to the life of an Indian.
Buses come under the category of commercial vehicles and the marketing is mainly business marketing. In business marketing , the concept of customer is different when compared to the Consumer marketing. Here customers are the institutions /companies who uses this product for their business. Hence the branding of business products is a different ball game altogether.

Seldom do such brands become popular at the ultimate consumer level. There are cases where such b2b brands had successfully built equity at the consumer level. Notable examples are Intel , Dupont, Lycra etc. Volvo is a brand that had touched the consumer successfully and made a mark for itself in the Indian market.

Volvo changed the way Indians travel ( I have used this phrase for many brands, bear with me). The Indian bus market is huge with a size of around 10,000 -12,0000 units per month. The market is dominated by Tata with a market share of around 62%. With the economies of scale, distribution network and the equity of TATA serve as an entry barrier for any new players in the Indian market. This is applicable to the Truck market also.

Volvo entered Indian market in 1998 by launching high quality trucks. In 2001, Volvo launched its first bus in India. This virtually ushered in a new era in the Inter city bus travel . Volvo did not entered the city bus market which is the huge market because of the following reasons.
a. The entry barrier created by established players
b. Volume constraints
c. The purchases for city buses are done by state transport corporations. The market is not fully privatised. The STC's are cash strapped and hence they may not be able to afford the high cost of Volvo buses

This prompted Volvo to enter into a niche market of Inter City travel which is privatised and not regulated. Volvo introduced its Luxury bus B7R into this segment. Actually there was no segment called Luxury Bus segment. During the launch the Air Buses ( Not the plane but Bus with Air suspension) was considered as luxury buses. Volvo was A/C luxury bus and thus a new category of Luxury A/C Intercity Buses was created. Priced 2-3 times above the ordinary buses, Volvo offered unmatched luxury for the passengers.

Although priced steeply , Volvo buses made sense for the bus operators. It enhanced the image of the operators, the buses were fuel efficient and ushered in a new segment of customers who switched from rail to road because of these buses. For example , lot of people in Kerala prefer to travel to Bangalore by Volvo rather than take a train.

Volvo had a clear strategy when it entered the truck/bus market in India. It was to have a clear differentiation over the existing players. Hence the company opted to focus on niches rather than go in for mass markets. In the truck segment also , the company focused on large carriers rather than compete with Tatas and Ashok Leyland. Volvo trucks were differentiated on the basis of
a. Productivity
b. Transport economy
c. Customer education ( source: IBEF.org)
For example,the drivers cabin was a/c which ensured that he will not be exhausted even after a long drive and that will make him more productive.
The customers were trained about the products and safe driving methods that helped the fleet owners to get more returns on their investment. I think Volvo certified drivers are having great demand in US. The customers were also trained in optimising their vehicle for better performance. These factors together with excellent quality inspired many fleet owners to opt for Volvo trucks.

In the bus segment,passengers became the brand advocate. Volvo became a generic name for luxury buses. Passengers used to ask for a Volvo ticket rather than a Luxury ticket. The again prompted many travel operators to include Volvo in their fleet. It is to be noted that Indian bus majors were not looking at this segement at all . It another case of marketing myopia. Now after 4 years , Indian companies are thinking about luxury segment.

While Indian companies start thinking about having a product in this segment, Volvo is trying to enter the city bus segment. Here also Volvo is going in for unconventional route. The city bus they have introduced is large and very different from the normal buses that is currently plying. One of the issues that can affect the equity of the Volvo buses is the maintenance of Volvo buses by the fleet owners. To get more out of the bus, there is a chance that the operators put in more seats and reduce the luxury that this bus produce. My first experience with Volvo was not superlative and I felt the bus lacking enough leg space or comfort.

Volvo is a brand that has pioneered the concept of luxury buses in India. It has also showed that in the commercial vehicles segment, the customers look for quality and performance. The fleet owners in both truck and bus segment ordering Volvo is a classic example of " How a marketer can create value in the Indian Market".

source: volvo.com, ibef.org,hindubusinessline,autocar,agencyfaqs.

Ajanta Quartz : From Clocks to Tiles

Brand : Ajanta /Orpat
Company: Orpat Group
Agency: Mudra

Brand Count 157

Ajanta Quartz was established in 1971 and the story reminds us of a typical rags to riches kind. Starting as a small establishment at Morbi in Gujarat , Ajanta rose to become the world's largest clock manufacturer in 1999-2000 clocking 1 crore time pieces in that year.

The company was founded by Odhavjibhai R Patel ( O.R.Patel) who started manufacturing mechanical clocks under the brand name Ajanta. During the mid 1980's , Mr Patel was wise enough the foresee the end of mechanical watches/clocks and the evolution of Quartz technology in clocks. The company was quick to change over to quartz clocks .

Ajanta in a way changed the entire clock market in India. The market for watches and clocks are estimated to be around 30 million units. Surprisingly Ajanta during the eighties was the only Indian manufacturer of clocks. The brand came into limelight by creating a price disruption in the market. The clocks were priced ridiculously low and came in wide variety of shapes and sizes. The ever value conscious Indian consumers did not waste any time to lap up this brand. At one point of time Ajanta clocks were a favorite gift item in marriages. Favorite for the giver, because the product was cheap and had reasonable quality. For the receiver of this gift, he would be left with too many clocks that sometimes you can see more than two clocks in the same room! After my marriage, I was left with too many clocks that some of them are now still in a packed condition. The brand was also clever in coming out with various designs and the blockbuster religion based designs that was highly popular in the Indian market.

But competition was starting to create problems for this brand. Many Indian firms started to emulate Ajanta's business model and the market was flooded with cheap clocks. Added to that the low cost clocks was dumped to Indian market from China. Sensing that the business may soon become unviable, Ajanta tried to set up a manufacturing facility in China to balance the cost equation and to compete with cheap imports. At one point of time Ajanta commanded 70% of the market share.

Ajanta also ventured in to the manufacturing of calculators under the brand Orpat (derived from the founder's name O.R.Patel). In this market also the brand faced competition from the cheap imports.Then came the telephone set market where also Orpat has established itself as a major player.

2003 also saw the company diversify to totally unrelated areas like FMCG. Ajanta launched its toothpaste with much fanfare and tried to repeat the story in clocks to this segment. Ajanta shaked the toothpaste market with its low price of Rs 18 for 200 gm pack while the FMCG majors like Colgate retailed for Rs 54 for 200 gm. This caused ripples in the market and the Goliaths were to a certain extent humbled by the Davids like Ajanta, Anchor and Babool. But this story also went sour with Colgate and Hll flexing its marketing muscles with launching low priced flanker products like Cibaca Top and ended up regaining market share from these price warriors.

The Patels were unfazed by these setbacks and their entrepreneurial spirit should be really appreciated . The group then ventured into small appliances and then to CFL lamps under the Orpat name. In the CFL lamps segment, Orpat quickly established itself again using price as an advantage and is reported to have a market share of 50% in that segment fighting out with Philips. Now the company is venturing into Vitrified Tiles segment under the brand name Oreva. All these diversification are banking on the model of Low price, high volume and Economies of Scale.

Orpat has evolved into an umbrella brand for many product categories . The brand is positioned on the basis of "Low Price " platform. The brand is also facing challenges because of this positioning. Every company which is using "low cost " of production as a competitive advantage faces the problem of sustaining the cost advantage. With the trade barriers becoming a thing of past, most of the companies can take advantage of outsourcing from low cost countries to compete with low price warriors. The problem become dangerous when the Brand is being positioned as a " Low Price " brand rather than a " High value " brand. A classic example of High Value Positioning is Tata Indica where the company is not raving about its price but the value that it delivers.

Ajanta has relied on the distribution strength to build its business with low brand building activities inorder to cut costs.In the initial phases, the brand was very aggressive in promotions. But now the brand is facing competition with brands like Samay who is more aggressive in the promotions front.Ajanta now faces the issue of differentiation because the Price is now not a differentiating factor. The brand also faces competition in the technology front interms of the LCD clocks may replace quartz in future.Theoretically Ajanta should be pioneering the digital clocks if it want to get the first mover advantage.

Orpat as a brand in the electronics and small appliance market will have a bright future if it position in the platform of Value rather than price.


Source: orpatgroup,economictimes,agencyfaqs,businessline

Burnol : The Burn Specialist

Brand : Burnol
Company: Dr Morpean Labs
Agency: JWT

Brand Count: 156

Burnol is one of the oldest antiseptic cream brands in India. This 65 year old brand still holds tremendous brand recall among the Indian consumers. Burnol has changed hands many times in its existence in the Indian market. The first brand owner was Boots and the brand the brand was acquired by Knoll. Later Reckitt and Piramal bought the brand from Knoll. In 2002 the brand was acquired by Dr Morpean labs. This constant change over of this brand from one company to another has virtually undermined the equity of this heritage brand.

The Indian antiseptic cream market is estimated to be around Rs 210 crore. The market is dominated by Boroplus from Emami which commands a market share of around 60%. Burns market is specialised market with a size of Rs 30 crore. Burnol had a generic status in this market.

Burnol during the hay days had a strong demand in the market. It was perceived as a " must have" in households and offices in the first-aid boxes. Although in households , there is rare incidents of burns, Burnol was kept as a essential first aid medicine.

The market still remains the same. The homemakers still deal with fire and there is still a perceived need for such a burn specialist at home. Despite the market remaining unchanged , Burnol was pushed to a negligible presence because of reasons not of its own.

Burnol was positioned as a burn specialist from day one ( I think so). Customers also associate this brand with burns. The fact is that Burnol is an antiseptic cream that could be used for burns as well as cuts just like other antiseptic creams. Burnol was positioned so strongly that the association has become embedded in the mind of the customers. Even the name reinforces the positioning of this brand. During its life cycle, the brand had tried to change over from being a burn specialist to an all purpose cream but it was a mistake. Customers refused to accept the repositioning and the whole exercise was a failure.

When Dr Morpean relaunched the brand with the positioning based on being " Burn specialist", the customers reacted favorably to it. Burnol was promoted as a " must have " at every home.
The brand was not able to garner its potential share in the market for reasons related to the brand owners. Either some of the companies who owned this brand was in financial crisis or the brand was not in their core marketing plan. Because of these two reasons, the brand promotion was virtually nil and this apathy reflected in the market share of this brand. Although Morpean labs initially pushed the brand, the financial health of the company is limiting the brand promotion to a great extent. Morpean had initiated major repositioning campaign and even changed the product to a more acceptable cream composition.

The brand will remain a niche brand for the following reasons.
a. Unlike other antiseptic creams, the incidence of small burns are rare and hence the usage of this product is limited thus causing little or no repurchase. This creates stagnation in the sales of this brand.
b. Since Burnol is very much embedded as a burn specialist, the extension of this brand to other uses is virtually non existent because customers will not or may not accept such an extension.

The factors outside the control of the marketer is severely hindering the brand growth. With lot of money for promotion, one can see this brand regaining its lost position in the market.

Source: businessline, agencyfaqs,express4media,

Tata Salt: Salt Of The Nation

Brand : Tata Salt
Company: Tata Chemicals
Agency: Bates

Brand Count :155

Tata salt is India's first branded salt. The story of this brand is interesting because the brand came as bye product. Tata salt was launched in 1983. Tata Chemicals has their largest integrated chemical plant in Mithapur. The soda ash plant needed fresh water for their boilers. Hence to supply fresh water, the company started purifying sea water and it created high quality salt as a bye product in the process. This coincided with the government campaign with the support of UNICEF for promoting Iodised salt since iodine deficiency was a serious issue haunting the children's health.
This environment gave birth of one of the super brands and a classic case of branding a commodity in the Indian market.

The Indian salt market is estimated to be around Rs 1 Billion. The market is dominated by unbranded players. Tata salt have a market share of around 40% in the branded segment and 18% in the total market. The product salt is a low involvement and low value product with little scope of differentiation. Tata salt had the first mover advantage and was able to consolidate its position in the market thorough brand building.

1990 saw organised players eyeing the market. Captain Cook salt was launched in the market taking the " free flowing " feature as a differentiating factor. 1996 saw HLL extending its Annapurna brand to salts and positioning its brand on the platform of health and iodine content. 2001 saw the high profile launch of Dandi salt from Kunwar Ajay sari fame.Still 70% of the market is dominated by unbranded players.

Tata salt started its life positioning on the rational platform of purity. Since the corporate brand had the value of Trust engrossed in Indian consumer's mind, Tata salt was eagerly owned by the consumers. One of the major factors that accelerated the growth of branded salt and Tata salt was the effective campaign by the government to promote iodised salt. The campaign penetrated the market to as deep as 20% and the first mover Tata Salt benefited most out of it.

2002 saw the repositioning of Tata Salt on the platform of emotion. The brand owners felt that they should rise above the rational differentiation and try to emotionally influence the consumers. Hence Tata salt adopted its new tagline " Desh ka namak" translated " Salt of the nation". The brand is trying to associate itself to the nationalistic feeling of the consumers and is trying to fill a passion towards the brand. It is a herculean task for a brand that is in a category which is low involvement and low priced. To create involvement in such a category will be a tough task . But the campaign has raised the brand to new heights in terms of market share. Since customers usually are brand loyal and tend to use the same brand of salt every time ( convenience factor) , such high decibel campaigns helps in strong brand recall.

But the long term view of this category is challenging because the scope of differentiation has not been sustainable. There has not been any serious product development these years and this can recommoditise the category.The brand owners may have to think about value additions in the marketing mix to capture the 70% of unbranded segment.

source:tatasalt, superbrand, businessline, agencyfaqs,domainb

Kurl-on : Make Your House a Home

Brand : Kurl-on
Company:Kurlon ltd
Agency: Manipal MarComm

Brand Count:154

Kurl-on is the market leader in the Rs 600 crore Indian mattress market. The brand is a pioneer in branding the highly fragmented market. Founded in 1962, this brand has established itself in the market through its emphasis on quality,distribution and brand building.

Although the brand commanded more than 85% of the market during the eighties,at some point of time the brand lost its share to the price competitors. But the brand maintained its leadership position in the market.The company realised that the lowering of the profitability of the product is due to the inefficient supply chain management and the company went in to a massive restructuring of its SCM. This restructuring is a case study at IIMB.

Although huge, the mattress market is highly fragmented. The market had evolved from cotton mattresses to coir mattress and to rubberised coir mattresses. Even though world over, spring mattresses command 80% of the market, this type of mattress is not popular in India.

Kurl-On was positioned on the platform of 'Comfort for good sleep'. The product is promoted using the statement " Pure Sleep, Nothing Else" .The product category is such that there is limited scope of differentiation. Most of the players focus on Good Sleep and Back Support for their promotions. Duraflex is a brand that is trying to put emotion into the campaigns by positioning their mattress as one that can kindle romance in you.Reports suggests that the product like mattress are not an impulse product. Bought on special occasions like marriage and on new housewarming , this product often involves lot of information search by the consumer.

The market is also segmented along lifestyle and demographics. With higher income group going for well established brands, the mass market is price sensitive and the unbranded and local brand priced well below the branded players have a major share in this market.Another factor that favours the low price products is that by the first look, a consumer can never understand the quality difference. It will be after a year that the real difference comes into open.
Kurl-on is said to have more than 126 different configurations. The brand has been launching many new varieties of mattress like the Spine-care Ortho mattress that is good for those with backpain. The new launch was followed by some smart print ads by the ad agency mimicking the cover page of the famous weekly in which the ad appeared as a front page ad.

With market getting crowded with regional players and margins squeezed because of price competitors, the brand is extending itself into related categories like bed linen and bath market. The bed and bath market is much larger with an estimated size of Rs 1800 crore. The market is dominated by the likes of Bombay Dyeing.
With the aim of extending the equity of the brand, the positioning has changed into a broader theme of " Making your House a Home ". Although the statement is a oft used cliche, it makes perfect fit for a brand that aims to get into furnishing business.

With the strong brand equity built over the past years and with the strong distribution channel, Kurl-on has all the strength to make it big into the new segments. Again the same problem of unbranded players and fragmented market is going to worry this brand. The growing affluent middle-class which spend lot of money on such lifestyle products offer a good potential for Kurl-On in the new areas that it is trying to venture.

source: agencyfaqs,businessline,kurlon.com,magindia.com

Melody : Chocolaty

Brand : Melody
Company: Parle
Agency: Grey

Brand Count : 153

Melody is one the oldest brand in Parle's Portfolio. The brand which has made a place for its position in the market because of its unique quality and taste is making a comeback. Melody is a unique 2 in 1 toffee with chocolate inside and caramel outside. The brand which was premium priced in early days had used its chocolate content as its differentiators.

But somewhere in its life the brand lost its way. The brand was not visible in the media or in the stores. With the entry of high profile aggressive marketers like Perfetti almost pushed Melody to oblivion. Also the brand managers at Parle was not spending enough on this old brand. Confectionery products are bought impulsively and hence the store placement and brand recall performs an important part in the success of a brand in this category. At one point of time , Melody lost on both of these accounts.

The brand thus was slowly forgotten by the customers. Melody had some unique attributes that made it once successful
a. Its unique taste
b. The brand recall and equity
c.The brand elements like its jingle and tagline and packaging.

Melody was famous for its jingle " Melody hai chocolaty" and " Melody khao khud jan jao" emphasising on the rich chocolate core and the high decibel campaigns in the past was so effective that now also people remember the jingle.
But those who remember the jingle and the brand has now become older and the younger ones are not knowing this brand. That is a big problem that this brand faces.
2006 saw this brand coming back to the Rs 1200 crore Indian confectionery market. The brand handled by Grey Worldwide is retaining the famous positioning of "Chocolaty" .The latest ads shows the famous question 'Why Melody is so chocolaty" has made a comeback.

In the analysis of competition, we often say that there is a competition for an Idea among marketers. Brands compete for idea or positioning. Here the " Question" that made Melody famous was hijacked by Chlormint which ask the same question in a different way " Log Chlormint kyon khathe hain". Hence Melody lost the exclusivity of the Q & A that made it famous ( to a certain extent).

But for a consumer who has liked this brand and missed this brand, the comeback is a welcome event. If Parle sustains its product quality and maintains its share of voice, Melody will lift the fortunes of its confectionery business.

source: agencyfaqs,parle.com,businessline