Band-Aid :Continuous Care

Brand : Band-Aid
Company: Johnson&Johnson
Agency: McCann Ericson

Brand count: 167

Band-Aid can be considered as an classic case of branding success. The brand which is almost 86 year old has become generic to the category. Band-Aid is an Adhesive Bandage used to cover minor cuts and bruises. The brand has come a long way to become one of the classic marketing case study.

The brand came into existence in 1920. The person behind this innovation was Ms Josphene Dickson, a homemaker and wife of Mr Eric Dickson who was cotton buyer at Johnson & Johnson. Josphene during her daily chores inevitably encounters numerous minor cuts and bruises, wanted an easy solution to cover the cuts to prevent it from worsening while continuing her work. Eric prepared a readymade bandage using cotton and adhesive tape so that Josphene can cut from the readymade bandage and use it when in need. Eric told his boss about the invention and thus the concept took shape of Band-Aid ( source:superbrand.com).In 1924 the world's first machine cut band-aid was marketed and it was a huge success.

In India, Band-Aid was launched in the year 1978. Band-Aid was successful because it identified the need in the households for wound care. But to reach the dominant position in India was not easy. Band-Aid had to fight the tradition rather than the competitors to succeed. Traditionally, Indians prefer not to cover the cuts and bruises because there is a feeling that wounds should be kept open inorder to heal faster. Further, Indian consumers typically used traditional methods to heal wounds. In earlier days most of the households had the bottle of tincture iodine which was considered as the best solution for cuts and bruises. Kids used to hate this because the pain will be excruciating when tincture iodine is applied to cuts. Band-Aid comes with red coloured medicine inside ( I think it is Benzalkonium) which resembled Iodine. This had enabled early adoption of this brand and Band-Aid was called " Lal Dhawa Wali Patti" which became the USP . Had the medicine color was not red, Band-Aid would have tough time convincing mothers. The Kids also loved the brand since they were relieved of the pain of Tincture iodine.

Band-Aid also tried to educate mothers about the possible problems in keeping the wounds open because of dust infections caused by it. This also boosted the brand acceptability. One of the major factors that aided the success of this brand was the distribution strength of J&J. Band-Aid was a mass market product and hence it has to be there at every shop in the market.

Band-Aid was a brand that changed with time and it keenly watched the consumers and tried to identify their needs. The company had valuable consumer insights that created the first water proof band-aid in India. The main weakness for bandages was that it used to come off easily when wet. This prevented the category usage to certain extent. The waterproof band aid made the brand usable in any condition. This innovation catapulted the brand popularity to newer heights. Band Aid focused on the area of application and was clever enough to come out with various size and shapes. This come from the insight that different wounds in different parts of the body needs different shapes. For example, a small cut in the forehead needs a round band-aid .These insights made the brand a market leader in the category with a market share of over 60%.

Johnson& Johnson also saw an opportunity for the brand in the traditional cure for cuts. In India, turmeric is used as a medicine for cuts and blemishes. Band-Aid launched a turmeric variant of the plaster much to the delight of the Indian consumers. The brand was also promoted heavily. Band-Aid was the first in the category to advertise in electronic media. According to Superbrands.org, Band-Aid was the first product endorsement of Sachin Tendulkar.
Initially positioned as a wound care brand, Band-Aid was repositioned as a product that encourages kids to be active. Kids have the innate desire to be active and Band-Aid makes sure that cuts and bruises will not be hinder that desire. The brand also roped in Virendra Sewag as its ambassador during the cricket season.
Band-Aid has been lying low in the media for a while. The brand has already become generic to the category. Being generic has its share of problems also. When the customer uses the brand as a generic name for the category , the retailer can offer him any brand in the category. There are many local players in the market who gain by a brand major becoming generic. Competition is also from players like Handyplast and Dettol. Although the Indian wound care market is estimated to be around Rs 512 crore, the domestic adhesive bandage category is small at Rs 25 crore. The brand equity of Band-Aid still going strong is a an entry barrier for any one looking to enter this category.
The brand is currently being positioned on " Continuous Care". The positioning is pitting this brand against the ointments and other external applications. The concept is to educate the customers that use of plasters will heal wounds better than the use of ointments.

source: superbrands.com,jandjindia.com,agencyfaqs

Jaquar : Too Good To Resist

Brand : Jaquar
Company:Jaquar & Co
Agency: Crescent Communications

Brand Count :166

Jaquar is the market leader in the Rs 1000 crore Indian tap and bath fittings market. This superbrand has revolutionised the bath fitting industry. A classic case of brand building in a commodity market, Jaquar is the pioneer in creating the premium bath fitting market in India.

Jaquar was born in 1984. The company which owns this brand started its operations in 1960 and was selling taps under the brand name Essco. Soon the owner saw the opportunity for a premium range of bath fittings and thus born the brand Jaquar.
Traditionally bath fittings and taps were low involvement products. Most of the products that were in the market where basic products and had little differentiation and devoid of any dash of aesthetics. The reason behind this was usually the bath fittings are purchased towards the end of the house construction. That leaves little money with the customer to spent. Hence the orientation was towards buying low cost basic products.

But the Indian consumers were changing.. ( cliche). The increasing disposable income together with the changing pychographics opened a window of opportunity for Jaquar. Indian consumers were traveling and was slowly getting tuned to the lifestyle in the developed nations. Bath fittings and taps were slowly recognized as products that can enhance the beauty of the home.

Jaquar pioneered and rode the concept of aesthetic designer taps and fittings. The brand was built on the platform of quality ,design and aesthetics. Positioned initially as a " better tap" the brand metamorphosed to an aspirational brand with the latest tagline " Too Good to Resist".
The brand has many first to its credits. The brand is the first to offer a range of bath fittings that merge with the design of the house itself. The concept of "Range" was first introduced by Jaquar. A series of products were launched as "'Collections" .The collection branded " Stealth " was the first bath fittings range in the Indian market. Jaquar communicated with the customer about the brand in a different way compared to its competitors. For the collection series, the brand talked to the consumer about the inspiration behind the collections. For example the Inspiration behind the Queens Collection was the Royals.
Jaquar was also the first brand to advertise in the electronic media. The earlier TVC of the thieves stealing the tap forgoing other valuables were memorable one and effectively reinforced the brand image as an aspirational brand.

Jaquar was clever enough to realise that Indian consumers are not price sensitive but Value sensitive. The brand was priced at a premium. But the company ensured that the product offered the value for the price customers paid. The brand is the first to offer after sales service to the customers which was unheard of for bath fittings category.

Jaquar was also promoted through a multifaceted promotion strategy involving all channel members. The effort has given results for the company . Jaguar now dominates the organised tap/bathfitting market (Rs 500 crore) with a market share of 50%. The creation of the premium bath fittings category has attracted lot of competitors to the market . Jaquar now faces competition from players like Marc and other foreign designer fittings. To stay in the leadership position, Jaquar has tied up with global majors to introduce global range of bath fitting products into the Indian market. It has tie up with the German major Hansgrohe in the shower products, the swiss major Aquis in the sensor bath accessory segment and the Swarovski crystals for the ultra premium range.

Through careful brand building Jaquar has created and virtually owned the segment of premium bath fittings market. The brand is now extending its equity into related category like electrical fittings and accessories.

source: Superbrand.org,jaquar.com,magindia.com

Mastercard : Priceless

Brand : Mastercard
Company: Mastercard Worldwide
Agency: McCann Erickson

Brand Count ; 165

Mastercard is one of the pioneers in the global credit card business. Born in 1967, the brand is the second largest player in the Indian plastic money market trailing behind the global leader Visa.
Diners Club issued the world’s first universal credit card in 1920. Mastercard was born from an alliance created by United California Bank, Wells Fargo,Crocker National Bank and Bank of California. This alliance was pitted against the Bank Americard issued by Bank of America that later became Visa.

The original name of Mastercard was Master Charge Inter Bank Card which later shortened to Mastercard in 1979. In 2002, Mastercard International was absorbed by Europay International SA and in 2006 the company changed its name from Mastercard International to Mastercard Worldwide.

The business of credit card works in different layers. There are four players in the business.

1. Network
2. Issuer
3. Users
4. Establishments

The networks consists of players like Mastercard ,Visa who are the credit card companies .These companies have linkages and association between different banks and facilitate transactions between users , the establishments and the banks .The issuers are the banks that issue the credit cards like the ICICI, HDFC etc.The users are card users and establishments are those who accept credit cards as a mode of payment.

How credit card works?
When the user buy something, the network ratifies the user’s credibility and authorize the establishment to proceed with the transaction.The netwok then instruct the bank to make the payment to the establishments.(This the layman’s description of how credit cards work).

The credit card companies make money through the association fees paid by the banks and the fees paid by the establishments. The issuers make money by the interest charges paid by the users when they avail the revolving credit facility. Issuers also charge the users annual fees for issuing the card.The establishment benefits by the higher purchasing power of the users .

Mastercard is positioned on the emotional platform rather than on the rational platform that Visa uses. The brand has the famous campaign “ There are somethings money can’t buy, For everything else there's Mastercard”. The campaign known as Priceless campaign was launched in 1996.The campaign executed by Mccann Erickson rejuvenated the sagging fortunes of the brand during 1996. The brand at that time was facing disaster, the sales was sliding and the competition from Visa was slowly pushing Mastercard to oblivion.The Priceless campaign was indeed Priceless for the brand.

The main attribute that consumers look for in a credit card was its acceptability in shops ( reach). Visa was a leader in this and the positioning was based on its awesome acceptability.Together with the reach, the Visa also was building its equity through celebrity endorsements.

Mastercard at that time had no clear positioning and was not focused on any one attribute.This diluted all the previous campaigns for Mastercard. What the brand needed badly was some meaningful differentiation.

The Priceless campaign was aimed at differentiating this brand on the basis of intangibles ie emotions. The campaign is based on the big idea that cost of ownership is one thing and the emotional value that one derives out of it is another thing. Mastercard wanted to say to the consumers that the Mastercard is the best way to pay for every thing that matters. It wanted to show how the purchases can enhance the quality of the consumer’s everyday like. So the brand takes Money as a competition rather than other cards. This campaign is cited as an example of breakaway positioning .The campaign is already 10 years and some 170 campaigns old .This is a classic case of a successful global positioning and one of the most successful campaigns ever.

In India too the brand is riding on the Priceless campaign. The company very cleverly mixes local version of the campaign and the global versions to keep the excitement live. This campaign has established the brand recall for Mastercard in the Indian market. The Indian credit card market is a large one with a market size of $4 bn and there estimated to be around 17 mn cards and growing very fast. The market is skewed towards Visa but Mastercard has gained its rightful share with the help of the Priceless campaign.

Priceless campaign was extended not only to the credit cards but also to other retail products of Mastercard. The campaign is now extending itself to consumers and asking consumers to share their Priceless moments with the company through its website “ Priceless.com”. The brand is an example of the power of Big Idea and a lesson for all who are bored with a successful positioning and want to change the positioning for the sake of change.

Source: Breakaway branding by Kelly &Silverstein, Wikipedia,mastercard.com

Body Shop : Profit With Principle

Brand : Body Shop
Company: Loreal


Brand Count 164

Body Shop is a brand with a difference. Marketers consider this brand as an Icon. Body Shop has created a brand image without the aid of conventional advertising.2006 saw this iconic brand draw up serious business plans for India.

Body Shop brand was created in 1976 in Brighton United Kingdom. The brand and the brand owner share a common personality that is very much linked to each other. Anita Roddick the legendary founder of the Brand created this brand from a small shop in UK started to support her family.

Body Shop in India is sold through the master franchise Planet Sports . The brand is expecting to ramp up the operations to major metros by the year 2008.

Body Shop is differentiated from other conventional cosmetics by the values that the brand adheres to and the brand image created through the unique association with those values.
The brand is famous for its association with ethical practices and the environment friendly world view. The products reflects these values through the use of only natural ingredients and the products are never tested on animals.The packaging and the merchandising are carefully prepared to highlight the brand values. For example , Body Shop uses refillable packs and recycled /recyclable papers. Although the use of refillable packs were used to keep the price low, it evolved into an element that reinforced the brand positioning. The brand also was careful in the messages displayed in the shop and other POP merchandises. The messages were simple, enthusiastic and informative. These elements made Body Shop a different cosmetic brand.

The brand was essentially an extension of the founder herself. Anita Roddick is an ardent environmentalist and naturalist. Her views about the nature supported with her activities and associations created a positive reinforcement for the brand. Customers were seeing a brand that does things while others just give hope. More over Body Shop was able to communicate with the customers at a higher level rising above beauty and fairness that other cosmetics talked about. There was honesty associated with the brand. The shops also reinforced this attribute. All the shops reflected an environment of honesty, excitement and fun. It is reported that Ms Anita Roddick takes personal interview with the franchises to ensure that they share the same passion with Body Shop principle.

Although Body Shop is starting serious business with Indian consumers only now, the association with India dates back to the initial years itself. India was a sourcing partner for Body Shop during the creation of the brand.

The success of the brand was because of the unique business model of Body Shop. The brand relies on PR and word of mouth to make sales. The Indian launch was also a low profile one . The brand has gone against most of the conventional marketing practices. The products are simple and the new product ideas are derived from the wisdom of the ordinary people. For example, When the founder was traveling in Srilanka she found women rubbing their faces with freshly cut pineapple flakes that gave a special look to the faces. This translated to a product Body Shop Pineapple face wash. Many products were resulted from this experiences of the founder from the numerous trip she made around the world.

In 2006, Body Shop was acquired by Loreal for 650mn Pounds. Body Shop will function as an independent entity retaining the management and the principles that made this brand an icon.
In India too the brand is expected to appeal to a niche market. Niche in the sense that the level of awareness about "environment friendly" and " ethical" product positioning is a novelty in India. We often relate environment friendliness with unprofitablity while the basic principle of Body Shop is " Profit with Principle" . Another factor is that in India, celebrities are not associated with nature activism. We have the prominent naturalists in Medha Padhkar and Baba Amte and not AB or Susmita Sen.

In the market where high decibel advertising and sales promotion rules, it will be interesting to see how Body Shop will gain the iconic status it deserves in the Indian market.

Source:Harvardbusinessreview,strategicbusinessmanagement(keller),
bodyshopinternational.com,businessline.

Ganga Soap : RIP

Brand : Ganga
Company: Godrej Consumer Products

Brand Count: 163

If the Western Media's projection or prejudice about the social and cultural makeup of India was correct, then Ganga soap would have been the most sold soap brand in the world. Those who have been watching India specific programs in BBC and National Geographic may wonder how can such a brand fail in the land of elephants and Sadhus ?

Ganga soap was launched with much fanfare in 1993. The soap was positioned on the religious platform and was claimed to be made of water from the river Ganges. The soap attained salvation in the early 2000.
The brand comes from an accomplished marketer who markets such iconic brands like Cinthol. The brand was promoted heavily and even had the film stars like Govinda endorsing it. Promoted using the tagline " Now bath in Ganga" very directly puts the soap in a religious platform. Reports suggest that the brand's initial sales was encouraging and also there are reports that blame on the P&G and Godrej break up caused the brand to decline.

Ganga had a revitalisation effort in 1997 when Godrej tried to relaunch the brand under the name Doodh Ganga. But those effort went in vain.
The primary reason why the brand failed was that the differentiation was not sustainable over time. Although Hindu's are very religious in nature and revers the tradition but the consumers are discerning when it comes to purchasing products. There is a clear divide between religion and products. Consumers seldom like mixing the two. It is OK if religion and politics are mixed not soups and gods. That may be the reason why the toys of Hindu mythological characters are not popular in India.

The brand when launched was really praised for its innovative thinking. One could see through the logic of the launch. Just looking at the crowd at Kumbh Mela would encourage any marketer to think about launching a product for the devotees of Ganga. But a closer look at the customers could have proved the marketer wrong. Why would a customer buy a product? That is a question that could reveal that Love for Ganga would not rake in sales.

Rather than using Ganga as a differentiator, Godrej could have positioned the product on the basis if Purity and Gentleness like the Pears Soap. The can show the use of Water from Ganga to reinforce the positioning. But the religious platform failed miserably. More over this platform is too old dated for our new generation. Another funny element is that although Hindus revere the Ganges, people are aware that the river is the most polluted one. Hence there were consumer buzz that using a soap made from such water may be dangerous. Sensing this consumer talk, Godrej had to tell that the water was taken from places near the origin of Ganges hence not polluted. Overall it was a messy affair.

Ganga is a brand that could have survived as a small niche. I am still not sure about the exact reasons that brand have failed in the Indian market.The failure of such a brand should inspire a marketer to delve deep into the psyche of Indian consumer before jumping into conclusions.


source:economictimes. Mouthshut .com

TVS Scooty : Playful + Powerful

Brand : Scooty
Company: TVS
Agency: McCann Erickson

Brand Count:162

TVS Scooty launched in 1994 is one of the super brands in India. The brand has created and ruled the Scooterette market in India. Scooterettes are sub 100 cc variomatic scooters targeted specifically at the fairer sex.

The brand was an instant hit in the market because of its low price and smart positioning.The brand effectively identified the need for the TG and the product was lapped up in the market. The segment for this brand are

a. College going teenagers
b. Working ladies
c. Even Men

The market can be divided broadly into two based on the customer preference. One set of customers prefer Functionality and another segment prefers style. Scooty has been able to maintain the balance between both.
The entire market for scooters (75-125cc) is dominated by Honda with its Activa and Deo range. Scooty has a market share of about 30% in the segment. The scooterette market is hotting up with lot of competitors eyeing for the share . The latest in the block is the Hero Honda Pleasure which is positioned as a stylish brand exclusively for ladies. The competition also have prompted the players to enhance the power of the scooters.
Scooty has been consistently successful because the brand was quick to change with times.The brand never failed to emulate the competitors when they come up with added features. The brand always had two set of campaigns: one stressing style and the other stressing the functionality.

Scooty has now launched a more peppier Scooty Pep+ with more power. The engine has been upgraded to 90 cc from 75cc. The change was warranted because of the following reason:

a.There is an assumption that ladies/girls prefer less powerful vehicles. Although it is a fact that the segment prefer lighter vehicles, the " powerlessness" is just an assumption. The success of Honda is an ample proof that ladies too prefer powerful vehicle . There is also a distant possibility that the segment preference for more powerful vehicle will increase in days to come. The reason is that those who use these vehicles often need to carry either their kids or their friends along with them. Also the road conditions and the traffic calls for a powerful vehicle.Scooty aims to be the lighter powerful vehicle for them

b. Another factor is the segmentation issue. Scooty is more appealing to the college going girls because of the style. While in the case of working ladies, the segment is targeted by scooters rather than scooterettes. So unless Scooty take this segment seriously, it will be an opportunity lost for the brand. It has to be recalled that their scooter brand Spectra has failed in this market.

Scooty Pep+ is promoted heavily by TVS. The brand is positioned on the basis of Power and Style. The brand got a big boost with Priety Zinta as its brand ambassador. Priety and Scooty gels so well that I call it a perfect example of Successful celebrity endorsement ( my opinion). TVS has been lucky or smart enough in identifying right celebrities to endorse their products like Sachin and Dhoni for Victor and Star respectively.

Scooty also launched another campaign taking the brand to the next level talking about women empowerment and success. The brand is trying to ladder up to a higher state of connectedness with ladies. I think the brand has taken some lessons from Dove and Fair & Lovely which has been successful in laddering up. According to Professor Keller Laddering is the progression from attributes to benefits to more abstract values of motivations.Failure to do so will reduce the strategic alternatives to the brand. ( strategic brand management: Kevin.L. Keller).

The product category of scooterettes are showing more potential in the urban markets in coming days. This category is non existant in the semi urban and rural markets which will be a tough call and in the current conditions, it may not be possible also. The possible competition is from electric scooters and second hand Maruthi cars . Another issue for the brand is to sustain the value proposition for Scooty. Scooty is priced around Rs 32000 which is a premium. It is walking on the thin red line between benefit and cost. The price -value proposition will be biggest challenge for this brand. Having a no frill low cost Scooty has to be there to keep away the treat from the price warriors.

source: businessline,indicar, tvsscooty.com,economictimes,strategicmarketing