Brand Update : Sugar Free Natura

Sugar Free Natura has come out with a new campaign featuring the master chef Sanjeev Kapur. The ad tries to pitch the brand against the ordinary sugar. Targeted at heavy tea drinkers ( and other beverage drinkers too), the ad clearly hints at the risk of taking sugar with tea. The consumer insight is that doctors tell diabetic patients to have " tea without sugar" which is dreaded by the heavy tea drinkers. And more sugar is consumed daily along with tea rather than through other sweets. Hence the ad makes perfect sense. great insight . great work.

Related brands
Sugar Free
Parry's sugar

source: agencyfaqs.com
image courtsy:agencyfaqs.com

Hajmola : Tasty Funfilled Digestive

Brand : Hajmola
Company: Dabur
Agency: Lowe

Brand Count : 176

Hajmola is one of the power brands from Dabur's portfolio. The brand is one of the oldest and most respected brands in the digestive market in India. The brand commands 75% share in the Rs 90 crore digestive tablet market in India.

Hajmola is a 31 year old brand launched in 1975. The brand has ayurvedic formulation and is sold through all kind of shops unlike the antacids. Hajmola is very popular in North India and North is the strongest market for the brand.
Hajmola although a digestive is not positioned as a digestive brand. The brand has moved away from the therapeutic aspects and is positioned more as a naughty mischievous brand. The brand is positioned as a mild digestive that can be taken any time anywhere. The brand uses kids as the main ambassadors and the campaign that features a boy in the dormitory( Hajmola Sir) is still most remembered classic.

The brand has been nurtured by Dabur carefully. The brand was endorsed by Kapil Dev during 1995.Not restricting itself to tablets, the brand extended itself to candies and other forms of digestives. Now Hajmola has Candy, Candy Fun2, Mast Masala and Hajmola Yumshell. The brand also has changed its package from the old rustic glass bottle to a new contemporary pack. Dabur has now promoted Hajmola as an umbrella brand in the digestive segment .The brand is now worth Rs 100 crore.

In 2004 Dabur roped in Amitabh Bachchan to endorse all Dabur power brands. Hajmola also got the power of Big B into its fold. The ads now feature the fun filled tussle between Big B and a kid. Hajomola has kept its positioning of being a fun filled product. The reason for not restricting to digestive is to give the brand more room for growth. If positioned entirely as a digestive, the usage of brand will be limited. Hence Hajmola tries to induce the customers to take it anytime anywhere. In all the campaigns the brand is positioned on its Zingy Zangy taste (Khatta Meeta).
The brand has also ventured into the highly competitive candy market . The hard boiled candy market is estimated to be around Rs 350 crore and Hajmola is reported to have a 9% market share.
Hajmola has always tried to focus on the Northern market. The ads are predominately Hindi and not at all targeting the south market . The tagline of Hajmola " Hazm Sab, Chahe Jab" will not be understood by most South Indians. The brand is also not being promoted heavily in this market. One reason can be that the taste of Hajmola may not suit the South Indian Palate.

Like the Chawanprash market , the digestive market also feels the issue of stagnation. The endorsements by celebrities and the heavy spending are the only way out for brands facing such stagnation issues.

Related Brands
Gelusil
Sona Chandi

source: dabur.com, agencyfaqs,businessline,magindia,domainb

Fem : Beauty With Care

Brand : Fem
Company: Femcare
Brand count :175

Fem is a small player in the FMCG market. This 50 crore pharmaceutical company has a significant share in some of the niche segments in the FMCG market in India. The company has followed the principle of concentrating on niche products rather than fighting a bloody war with the heavy weights .
Fem came into existence in 1982. The brand is famous for its range of liquid hand wash soap segment. In this Rs 20 crore market, Fem occupies a major market share of over 60%. Fem is positioned on the platform of beauty with health. The tagline of the Mother brand is “Beauty with Care”. The liquid soap segment of late has been witnessing intense competition from the likes of Dettol and Lifebuoy. Fem comes with fragrances like Lemon,Blossom,Peach,Bouquet etc.

Another niche product from FEM is the new brand Oxybleach. Oxybleach is the facial bleach from Fem boast of having the world’s first pre bleach cream. The brand is positioned on the unique attribute of “ Oxygenation”. The ad speaks about the problem faced by skin when exposed to sun, dust etc. The brand when used gives more oxygen to the skin making it refreshing and healthy.

Fem is a brand that also has significant presence in the female hair removing market. The brand has launched a new hair removing cream in a squeeze pack which acts as a differentiator.
Fem has introduced another brand in the cloth conditioner segment (entirely new category) named Bambi, which is a fabric softener.

Fem has been successful in finding niche areas in Feminine care and with good products and distribution network, the brand has created positive word of mouth for its products. The brands like Oxybleach and hair removers are being promoted aggressively by the company. But the company faces competition from established brands, which try to enter into these niches. Most of the personal care brands are trying to give all solutions to the customer rather than focusing on any one product. That has been the strategy of mega brands like Ponds, Lakme and Loreal. These brands, which have significant brand equity, will always post a threat to the niche brands like Fem. For Example, brands like Lifebuoy venturing seriously into liquid soap business will threaten the position of the cash cow of Fem.

The major issue with niche brands is the lack of resources to sustain the growth and fight competition. The lack of resources often forces the niche brands to either sell off or die in the face of competition from large brands. This problem becomes too dangerous when the company try to have too many brands . Too many brands sometimes creates resource allocation for brand building.

source: femcareindia.com,businessline

Brand Update : Sprite & Thums Up

The Economic Times on 7/12/2006 carried a front page news on Sprite becoming the second bestselling drink from the Coca Cola India operations edging out Coke to the third place. The report says that this phenomenon is seen in the Indian market only where the flagship brand Coca Cola trails the other brands. I had severely criticized the new positioning of Sprite " Clear Hai" and the endorsement from Sania Mirza in my earlier post. But I was proved wrong. Sprite campaign seems to do wonders for the brand. Consumers think that the brand is Clear.....

India's Macho drink Thums Up is now the No1 selling Cola from Coca Cola.In the earlier post, I wrote about the brand being made to play second fiddle to Coke. Coca Cola had rejuvenated the brand and the results seems to be terrific. The latest commercial features the current Bollywood poster boy Kunal Kapoor endorsing the brand in a well made commercial.

The Thunder is Back


source: economictimes
Kunal's image:smashhits.com

Rin : Whiteness Strikes

Brand : Rin
Company: HLL
Agency: JWT

Brand Count : 174

Indian fabric wash industry is worth Rs 5100 crore and Rin is one of the super brands in the detergent bar segment. Rin was launched in 1969. The brand came into existence when there was severe quota restrictions from the government in the Laundry bar segment. Rin was launched as a detergent bar.

For 37 years ,this brand has been the market leader in the segment. The brand faced all the issues of competition , customer preference changes and price warriors.But it withstood all the challenges.
Rin is positioned on the whiteness platform. For years the brand is associated with whiteness. This positioning is reinforced by the famous Mnemonic of Lightning. Initially the brand was facing competition from laundry bars. Hence the task for the brand was to educate the customers about the new category of detergent bars. The campaign positioned the brand as the better way to wash indicating the category supremacy over laundry category. Later when the category evolved the positioning based on whiteness was communicated.
The success of Rin prompted lot of competitor activity in the segment. Many products came into the market with lesser price. Rin countered the competition by the famous " Zara Sa Rin " claiming the brand to be more powerful than the less priced brands ( source: superbrands.com/india).
Rin had its fair share of extensions. The brand had variants Rin Supreme, Rin Shakthi and Rin Advanced . The brand later extended to detergent powders to bridge the gap between Wheel and Surf.
Rin is facing its toughest competition in the form of Tide from P&G. The brand which came to India as a detergent powder brand has extended to bar category. Tide is positioned on the same whiteness platform with similar communication.

HLL is known for its obsession with market shares. It never compromises on the market share and is not stingy in investing in brands. 2005 saw one of the boldest marketing initiatives for Rin. None other than Amitabh Bachchan was roped in as brand ambassador ( model) for the brand. The ads were trying to reinforce the positioning of Rin as the premium detergent soap. I was surprised seeing Big B endorsing such a brand.
There are reports that Surf Excel is extending to bar soap category and will be replacing Rin Supreme at the premium end. The logic is that Rin has a firm image of whitening bar while Surf has the strength of being a stain remover. HLL is trying to have Surf Excel to extend its leadership in the entire detergent soap category.
Rin has always tried to create the brand excitement alive by launching new variants or new promotions or some innovations. For example in 2002 , the brand came out with a direct comparison with other laundry bars telling the customer that the soap is mud-free . The positioning was focused on Pure Clean Technology that makes the brand mud-free.

2006 was another innovation of launching a cover for the soap that will prevent wastage of the soap. Although this innovation may be trivial, the brand is kept alive in the mindspace.And that is the strength that has helped this brand to manage its product lifecycle.

source:businessline,agencyfaqs,superbrands

Brand Update : Lifebuoy

Lifebuoy has extended its positioning from " Protection from germs" to Continuous protection from germs even hours after bath. Like the earlier award winning campaign of Little Gandhi, this time also Hll rightly uses kids to the brand's advantage. The new concept take a cue from the Surf's campaign 'Dirt is good". The new campaign of Lifebuoy assure mothers that the child gets protection even hours after bath. Traditionally soap ads used the concept of washing away dirt and germs during bath.
But no one thought about protection after bath. Toothpaste ads showed protection after brushing but not bathing soaps. Lifebuoy effectively takes advantage of this twist. Great work from a Great brand.