Brand Update : Amul

Amul has launched India's first Probiotic Wellness Icecreams. Probiotics are live beneficial culture which when administered in adequate amounts confer a beneficial health effect on the host. Probiotics help in digestion, fight allergic reactions and even helps in controlling traveler's diarrhea. It also prevents colon cancer and is said to enhance brain activity. Amul will gain a huge first mover advantage by launching this product now. The Indian Wellness market ( including beauty ) is huge with a market size of around $ 9 billion. Icecreams are considered to be a junk unhealthy food . The wellness range is expected to change the way Indian consumers look at Icecreams. Now consumers can indulge in icecreams without worrying about the health.
Great thinking ....

Icecreams were often a dream for Diabetic patients...but not any more...Along with the Probiotics, Amul is set to shake up the icecream market with the launch of India's first Sugarfree icecreams.The icecreams contain digestible sugar substitutes which enable the diabetic patients to indulge. The company communication excerpts is given below:

"For diabetics, consuming ice-cream had remained a dream. Amul is all set to change that with the launch of India's first specially created SUGAR FREE low fat diabetic delight. In Amul Sugarfree Probiotic diabetic delight Frozen Dessert, Sugar has been replaced with ZERO calorie and low calorie sweeteners. Fructo-oligo saccharides are soluble dietary fibre that improve the mineral absorption and bone health in addition to increasing the disease fighting ability of the body. Digestive enzymes sparingly digest these sweeteners in stomach or small intestines and therefore do not cause fluctuations in blood sugar levels unlike in a diabetic condition where intake of digestible sugar causes fluctuation in the blood sugar level.

In diabetic condition it is advisable to consume less fat, less calorie to maintain proper metabolism. Amul SUGAR FREE probiotic diabetic delight contains 50% less fat and half of the calorie than normal ice cream. Further, it has been supplemented with pro-biotic cultures for health improvement. All these special range of ice creams/frozen desserts would be available in 125 ml, 500 ml and 1.25 litre packs in five flavours, vanilla with chocolate sauce, strawberry, chocolate, shahi anjir and fresh litchi. They would be available in the price range of Rs. 15 (125 ml.) to Rs. 120 (1.25 ltr.) "

India has 37 million diabetic patients and around 400 million overweight. That is a huge market for healthy foods. With the media and doctors in an overdrive to educate Indians on the efficacy of healthy foods, the market is expected to grow multifold. With the launch of healthy icecreams, Amul is all set to ride the healthy foods wave.

Kwality Walls Are You Listening .....

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Kwality walls

Lux : Celebrating Beauty

Brand : Lux
Company: HLL
Agency : JWT

Brand Count :190

Lux is a super brand that celebrated beauty across the world since 1925. The soap which was endorsed by the beautiful film stars came to India in 1929. Lux has been the largest selling personal wash brand in the country.

Lux has effectively managed its PLC through careful brand building and changing the product in line with the changing consumer. The brand is being positioned as the favorite soap of Film stars has been consistent interms of communication and positioning. The brand is also the classic example of successful celebrity endorsement. The first celebrity to endorse the brand was Leela Chitnis . From Leela to Aishwarya , From Madhuri to Madhubala, Lux has been endorsed by more than 50 film stars ( a sort of record isn't it). But in all these communications, the celebrity never shadowed the brand.

Lux was always changing with the times. Whether it be interms of the product or interms of promotions, the brand kept the consumers excited. Lux has two basic extensions interms of segments. Lux beauty soap and International Lux.
Lux was initially a premium brand. Lux was being projected as an aspirational brand and the endorsements by stars further reinforced the positioning. The increasing competition in the soap category forced Lux to rethink on its targeting strategy. The brand had a choice either to compromise on market share and uphold the premium positioning or to retain the market share and dilute the positioning. Lux wanted to ensure that the brand be positioned as premium but also did not wanted to compromise on the share. Thus born International Lux which is the premium variant and the affordable segment was catered by Lux beauty soap.
Lux beauty soap is available in Four variants : Exotic Flower Petals,Fruit Extracts,Almond and Sandal. Lux has a common ingredient of Milk cream in all the variants.

Although the brand enjoyed success and has sustained its leadership position, of late this brand has been facing issues of stagnation. The stagnation is caused by the plethora of brands competing for the market share and the scope for differentiation has reduced to almost nil. Together with the rush for celebrities to endorse anything from salt to cars, Lux is finding it difficult to sustain growth in this cluttered market.

In 2005 Lux celebrated its 75th anniversary sparking of a controversy. Deviating its tradition of roping in Bollywood Divas , this time none other than Shah Rukh Khan endorsed Lux. The ads created instant controversy with marketers discussing whether the brand has suddenly become MALE.Paul Newman also has endorsed Lux soap which shows that Lux makes such stunts to excite the market. Whatever be the controversy, the brand again succeeded in creating excitement in the market. Some argue that HLL was testing a new positioning to appeal to male users while others say that it was a one time endorsement to break the clutter. For marking the 75th year Lux came out with a celebration range endorsed by Kareena Kapoor . The Celebration range too created news because of its variant :Chocolate Seduction. These innovative products created lot of excitement that ensured that Lux remained in the top of mind of the consumers. Another variant which I like personally is the Lux with Orchid which looked cool in terms of packaging and looks.
Over these years, the positioning of Lux also evolved. Earlier the brand used the positioning " Beauty soap of Film stars" . But as the customer evolved, the positioning lost its charm because customers began to doubt whether the film stars actually used this brand. Taking a cue from the customers, Lux changed the positioning appealing to the need for becoming a star. The new positioning is communicated with the tagline " Bring out the star in you".Although worldwide the brand is being endorsed by film stars, the actual package usually contains picture of international models and not film stars.

While Lux beauty soap is sticking to the age old positioning, Lux international has moved from being a soap brand to a skin care brand. Lux International has the tagline " Not Just Soap, Its Skin Care". Under the Lux umbrella brand, HLL has introduced variety of personal wash products like body shampoo,hair shampoo etc.
Lux is the classic example of HLL's marketing genius. The brand will experiment and explore more in the days to come....

Related Brands
Santoor

source: hll.com,superbrandsindia,businessline,yahoomoney
imagesource: superbrandsindia

Santoor : For a Younger Skin

Brand :Santoor
Company: Wipro
Agency: FCB Ulka

Brand Count : 189

Santoor is the second largest soap brand in the Popular segment in India. This Rs 500 crore brand comes from the Software giant Wipro. The brand was launched in 1985 as an ordinary soap with sandalwood and turmeric as its main ingredients.

The brand was initially test marketed in Bangalore and encouraged by the positive response, the brand became national a year after.The brand was positioned as the beauty + skin care at a reasonable price and the brand derived strength from the efficacy of the ingredients. At that time the brands which had sandal as the main ingredient was Moti and Mysore Sandal Soap.

The brand derived the name from combining Sandal + Turmeric and it is not from the musical instrument that it got the name Santoor.
Although the brand became popular, the company was not satisfied with the results. The customers was not buying the ingredient story : says MG Parameswaran in his book on Brands: FCB Ulka case studies. The research suggested that customers are not correlating the brand with skin care and beauty.

Thus started the brain storming on getting the " WOW " factor to build the brand. The wow factor came in the form of the new positioning " For Younger Looking Skin". The positioning come from the consumer insight that ultimately the customers look for a younger skin which is another smart way of defining beauty. The focus on " Younger Skin" also act as a powerful differentiator because other brands were focusing on "beautiful skin" or "looking beautiful".
The next big idea came in the form of communicating the " Younger Skin " concept using "Mistaken Identity " theme ( source : MG Parameswaran's Book). The brand has consistently developed this theme over these two decades of its existence.

Santoor is a brand has consistently understood the consumers and was not complacent to change. The brand was the first one to use a Mother and her five year old daughter to endorse the brand. Most of the ads showed spinsters in their campaigns while for Santoor, the protagonist were Mothers. But showing Mother as the protagonist had its share of issues also. The customers felt that since this brand is meant for adults, it will not be soft on skin. This made the company to change the size texture and the shape of the product.

In Brand Management , I used to teach that changing consumer values were one of the major forces that affect a brand. The case was true for Santoor also. Indian women's mindset were evolvingand breaking free from the traditional mindset. The Mother-daughter equation and the campaigns set in the supermarkets, wedding and bangle shop did not do well with the achievement oriented customers. That was a message to the marketers that the product communication has to change. The achiever protagonist was introduced in 2004. The campaign showed the mother as a successful fashion designer with the same positioning and theme.The brand also extended itself to a range of beauty products and to talc. Now Santoor have face wash, talc , soap and fairness cream.
2006 saw a big change in the marketing strategy for Santoor. The campaigns showed Saif Ali Khan ( in North ) and Madhavan ( south ) in the TVCs. The TVC's shows these celebrities along with the Mother and child in the usual mistaken identity theme. Many were asking whether the brand is going to appeal to males also. I was also taken by surprise seeing Male celebrities endorsing ( acting ) in the Santoor ad. The following questions remain unanswered:
a. Whether this brand needs celebrity endorsement?
b. Is bringing in a male celebrity going to make this brand less appealing ?
c. Has the equity of the protagonist getting diluted with the introduction of celebrity?

For the first two questions, my personal opinion is that using a celebrity without a change in the overall positioning will have a positive impact to the brand. The use of celebrity will make the ad sticky thus making the campaign more effective. For the question C, I believe that with the celebrity, the power of protagonist will get diluted because she is plays a second role in the campaign( debatable point). But as long as the positioning remains consistent, there are no issues isn't it?
Santoor is a super brand that has build itself to a Rs 500 crore brand with its own strength and not piggy banking on any celebrity. The brand is facing tough competition from heavy weights and is now seeking support from outside to stay as a leading FMCG brand.

Related Brands
Pears, Mysore Sandal Soap, Margo, Lifebuoy,Rexona,Dyna, Johnsons,Fair and lovely, Cinthol,Dove, Ponds

Source: Businessline,wiprowebsite,FCB Ulka on brands.

Brand Update : Lays

Lays has launched its new variant Lay's Stax in India. Although this brand was launched way back in 2005, the brand was limited to select outlets in select markets. This year saw the national launch of Stax. Lay's Stax is a fabricated potato chips which is positioned as healthy snack. The product launch is in line with Pepsico's new orientation towards healthy foods. Stax contains zero trans-fat, no added MSG and is cholesterol free. The brand is targeted towards the young health conscious people. The brand comes in a canister pack which has the unique pullout tray. Pringles was the only brand that has this packaging. The rationale behind this variant is to keep the brand ahead interms of being the innovation leader and also tap the increasingly health conscious Indian consumers.The brand comes in 7 flavours which is enough to keep the Indian consumers testing (tasting) the brand for a long time. These innovations keep Lay's exciting and creates a strong entry barrier for competitors. Lay's have a market share of around 50% in the Rs 1800 crore organised salty snacks market in India. Low fat snacks is definitely a high potential market taking into consideration the changing lifestyle of Indians.

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Brand Update : Taj Mahal Tea

Taj Mahal tea has changed its Brand Face ( brand ambassador). Recent TVCs show Saif Ali Khan endorsing the brand. Taj Mahal has been using the Tabla Maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain as its brand ambassador from 1990's. Since Ustad Zakir was endorsing only this brand, the recall was high. Over the period of time, the brand ambassador became synonymous for the brand. Ustad and Taj Mahal was touted as the classic example of a successful celebrity endorsement. The collaboration with the brand and the ambassador went that far that Ustad once challenged in a TVC in 2001 that he will stop playing tabla if he come across a better tea. That TVC created lot of controversy.

The new brand ambassador is Saif. HLL may have reasons for changing the brand ambassador. The brand manager may have been bored using the same face?. Saif may be an attempt to make the brand more contemporary. Ustad and his fans are getting older. Hence there is a chance that the new generation may miss out on the charm of Ustad ( generation gap?). So the attempt may be to make the brand relevant to the new generation. In theory we site examples where the users of the brand getting older and the brand not able to connect with new generation. HLL does not want this to happen with a power brand like Taj Mahal. But by using Saif, the brand is losing its face. Taj Mahal had an exclusive face which was something that made a difference to the brand. Saif does not have that exclusivity. The transition could have been more effective if the TVC had both endorsers......

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Brand Update : Tata Salt

Tata salt has introduced a new brand of salt in South India named " i-shakti". Although no TVC is aired, the brand is being promoted through ads in regional magazines. The ad in this post is in the regional language- Malayalam. Surprisingly the website of Tata Chemicals do not have any information about this brand. There is a possibility that i-shakti is test marketed in Kerala.The brand is being positioned as Iodised Free Flow salt that will help your child to become smart. Tata Salt do not have that much popularity in South India . That may be the reason for the new brand launch.The packaging and the color usage seems to be eye catching . Although the ads are in place, the product is yet to reach the supermarket -it seems.The brand is also endorsed by ICCIDD which stands for International Council for Control if Iodine Deficiency Disorders. i-shakti will take the competition head on from HLL's Annapurna brand. Annapurna is positioned on the iodine platform

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