Tata Indigo : Spoil Yourself

Brand : Indigo
Company: Tata Motors
Agency:FCB Ulka

Brand Count : 196

Tata Indigo is a super brand in the Indian car market. The brand is my choice as a Super brand not only because it was successful, but also because this is India's own brand. In a segment where the World's "Who is Who " is present luring the customers, Tata Indigo is the only truly indigenous presence. With the government exiting Maruti, Indigo and Indica represent the only domestic car manufacturers having their presence in the car market.

After the success of Tata Indica, Indigo was a riskybut bold move from Tata motors. Indigo is a sedan in the C-segment of the 600,000 new car market in India. C- segment represents around 20-25 % of the total cars sold that makes the c-segment market size around 1,50,000 units.

Indigo was launched in 2002.The car was developed on the highly successful Indica platform and was targeting the entry level C-segment. The brand was positioned as a truly value for money car in line with Indica.The brand from the launch itself wanted to pamper the customers. The car offered more space and comfort than even its high priced competitors.

The C-segment is one of the fastest growing and most competitive segment . The brand competition include Accent,Sienna,Esteem, Ikon,Corsa and the like.
Indigo did not compare itself with the immediate competition but wanted to offer what the premium brands in the D segment offered. The car was known for the space and the accessories it offered as a part of the standard equipment was seen only in premium segment cars. Indigo (like Indica) came out with different variants at different price points. One variant even had DVD player and Screen attached to the seat -a feature that you see not even in luxury cars.All these at a very affordable price.

The brand adopted the tagline " Spoil Yourself" and all the ads, highlighted the goodies that came with the product. Another series of ads promised the customers, business class experience. The basic focus of the brand was to drive home the fact that Indigo has more legroom and space compared to most of the C-class sedans.
This campaigns and the reasonable performance of the car with the tempting price tag ensured the brand's success in the market. Indigo has now 33% market share in the c-segment.

2004 saw the launch of a product variant of Indigo : Marina. Marina was the estate version of Indigo. The brand harped on the extra space that the Estate version offered and was promoted with the baseline " We like to carry our world with us".

In January 2007, Tata motors surprised everyone by launching India's first stretch limousine - the Indigo XL. Indigo XL marked the entry of Tata into the premium segment. Indigo XL has a longer wheel base that gives the rear passengers legroom comparable with the Limousines. Even the premium sedans in the E segment do not offer the leg space that XL offered. So Tata chose to call it a stretch Limousine. This straight comparison has irked some auto watchers who could not believe an Indian automaker calling their car a Limousine. XL has already created enough buzz in the market. Indigo XL as usual is positioned as a value for money car. The car offers comfort and accessories that is seen only in super luxury cars and comes with the price of a luxury sedan.

Despite all the right things that Tata Motors has done, the brand faces issues regarding its image. Whether be it Indica or Indigo, the brands does not carry the image of a Hyundai or a Honda. The main reason is that this brand does not get the support of the media. The media has only tried to degrade these brands and most of the time tried to find fault with these brands. I saw an Indian author berating the Indigo XL 's positioning as a stretch limousine by comparing Cadillac and the like with XL. But the comparison showed that Indigo has a comparable Wheel base with these super brands. Even in the auto shows, the anchors are blinded by the glamour of global brands. I am not stressing on being patriotic (am not a swadeshi jagron manch member) but Indica and Indigo should be treated at par with the global giants because they have proved their worth ?

Indigo is another classic example of Masstige product and is a proof that we also can make world class product.

Source: businessline,agencyfaqs

Cross : For a Lifetime

Brand : Cross
Company: AT Cross

Brand Count : 195

Cross is an iconic brand in the Indian writing instruments market.The brand which is around 160 year old has a unique place in the Pen market across the globe. The brand has its origin in 1846 when American Richard Cross passed his pencil making secret to his son Alonso T Cross. Cross family later in 1916 sold the business to Walter Boss who went on to create one of the most respected pen brand in the world.

Cross existed in India for decades. The pen is marketed through UAE based Jashanmal group’s Harmony.Cross is a niche product in the Rs 1600 crore writing instruments market.

Cross became popular in India without any brand promotion. The Pen which adored the pockets of “ Who is Who” did not need advertisements. I remember seeing the ubiquitous golden Cross adoring the pockets of the rich businessmen and executives. When I got my job, I realized my dream of owning a Cross (a silver one) for Rs 875. The most popular Cross is the slim Century Classic,which was launched in 1946 to commemorate the brand’s 100 years.

In the earlier days, the brand was a much sought after brand because there was supply constraints because of import restrictions. Cross was the premium pen available in the market. It competed with Parker and Sheaffers at the premium end. But the stylish design set this brand apart from the competitors.Cross was the preferred gift item for corporate and individuals alike

Now the situation is entirely different. The writing instrument market is witnessing huge competition as well as growth.All the premium brands are now available in the market. Now Cross is no longer considered to be the aspirational brand that position is now taken by Mont Blanc. But Cross has some thing special, the image that it had created not luxury but premium.

Cross all through its life was never a luxury product but it was a Masstige brand even before that term was invented. Priced at the range of Rs 875-7500, the TG can afford to buy a Cross by stretching a little.One cannot say that for a Mont Blanc.

In the Indian market, the brand is now the only affordable premium pen .Parker sadly has diluted itself by offering plastic cheap pens for Rs 50 thereby diluting its equity. Sheaffers is not available in the market and does not have the popularity of Cross.

Cross globally is positioned as a brand for life. The brand is famous for the company’s assurance of repair and replace against any mechanical failure. The product quality is absolutely marvelous .My Cross did not have a single problem even after rough use for more than 8 years. According to a report in Business India Dec 2006 issue, the VP of AT Cross say that the brand’s USP includes Life time guarantee, continuous innovations and ongoing enhancement of product portfolio. Globally this brand is positioned as a preferred gift item.

The brand has extended itself to become a Personal Accessory rather than limiting itself to pens. Cross also has a range of pens for ladies too. The specially designed pens for men include Platinum Plated Verve, Merlot, Cross Townsend,Apogee,Century II, Aventura.The Classic Century still continues to remain a favorite (Source: Business India).

With the Writing Instruments moving away from functionality to Lifestyle,Cross has immense potential in the Indian market. But the low profile existence should pave way for more aggressive marketing and distribution strategy. I came to know only recently that Cross gives a lifetime guarantee.

Related Brands
Parker

Source:BusinessIndia,AT cross website

Scotch Brite : Makes Cleaning Fast and Easy

Brand : Scotch Brite
Company: 3M
Agency: Grey

Brand Count: 194

Scotch Brite is an interesting brand from a very interesting company. Scotch Brite is a niche product created by Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co ( 3M). The brand which was born in 1958 was launched in India in 1990 .
Scotch Brite is a Scrub which is used to clean the kitchen utensils.The product comes under the Kitchen Tools market which is estimated to be around Rs 30 crore.3M has around 2000 products in India across diverse industries and application.
Scotch Brite was the result of an effort to produce a non woven fabric. Later the technology was spun off to produce scrubs and other related products.In 1958 Scotch Brite was launched as a consumer product.

3M is considered as one of the world's best innovative companies. 3M has a corporate goal which states that 30% of its sales should come from products less than 5 year old. Further 10% of the sales should come from products that are less than a year old. The innovationsof the company are so relevant that one third of world's population is either using or has used a 3M product.Most of 3M products are complex to make and simple for the customers to use. 3M is best known in the consumer space for its Post-it notes.

Scotch Brite is one such innovation which is a simple product : a Scrubber.The brand has been slowly penetrating into Indian Kitchen. The brand is targeting SEC A and SEC B households.The brand faces competition not from any established brands. I can say that this brand face no brand competition. But the competition is from the traditional methods of cleaning the utensils.Although the home makers are discerning customers for most of the products , in the case of the kitchen tools, the home makers do not think much. Most of the households use either cloths or plastic and nylon scrubs or steel scrubs with the dishwash bar to clean the utensils. In rural households , coconut fibre is used as the scrub.
Another challenge that the brand face is the fact that in urban households ( SEC A) , 60% of the cleaning activity is performed by the housemaids rather than the home maker. So the challenge is to get the housemaid to use the brand rather than the traditional ones. 3M has countered this problem true to its innovative nature. In 2006, the company undertook a massive campaign targeted at the housemaids. In Pune, it organized a march by housemaids ( walkathlon) and they took the pledge to keep the houses clean ( using Scotch Brite of course). Reports suggest that the campaign was successful. The company also conducted a 10 day training program for housemaids and rewarding them with goodies for participating. This is a proof that the brand realises the impact of " Primary Users" in making the brand successful.The whole campaign is expected to be rolled out nationally , if the initiative results in positive sales.

The company is aiming to create a market rather than looking at market share. The market for such scrubs are in the emergence stage. Hence the primary aim for the brand promotion is to create awareness about the product and its attributes.More emphasis is being put on below the line activities rather than other promotions. The promotion is aimed at highlighting the hygiene factor in using Scotch Brite.
As a consumer I still feel that the brand is not user friendly in the sense that since Scotch Brite is small in size, it often slips from the hand ( When I tried using it).Hence something like a small strap will help in a better grip for the product ( just a suggestion !).

Scotch Brite is a classic case of Customer centric Innovation.

Related Brands

Vim

Source:magindia,3mwebsite,businessline,indiafirstfoundation.org,agencyfaqs

Vim : The Vim Challenge

Brand : Vim
Company: HLL
Agency: Lowe

Brand count : 193

Vim is the market leader in the Rs 400 crore branded dishwash category. This 100 year old brand has evolved with the changing Indian consumer and is a power brand of HLL stable. The Dishwash market in India is estimated to be in the range of Rs 600-1000 crore ( conflicting reports on the market size) while the branded dishwash market is roughly 40%.The dishwash market consists of three categories: Powder, Bar and Liquid. Bar is the largest category followed by Powder and then liquid. Bar category constitutes 60% of the total market.

Vim has created the dishwash bar category in 1993. Till that time urban households used dishwash powders. The bar offered many advantages to the homemaker over the powder which was messy and uneconomical.Since then Vim Bar ruled the dishwash market .Currently the brand has a market share of over 60%.

Vim was initially positioned on the lemon content in the bar. The brand using its ingredients positioned itself on its Stain Removing benefit. The positioning was consistent through these years. A terrific marketer HLL is, invested heavily in this brand and made sure that the brand stayed on the growth stage of its PLC. The brand changed its form,added new features and expanded the market to stay on the growth path. To reinforce the stain removing property , the brand repositioned in 2003 by introducing the Stain Cutter feature .The company was trying to extend the brand from "Dish wash" to Kitchen Care market.The brand also created much inroads into the market with its Vim Challenge campaign which directly compared the brand with competition.

By looking at the kind of promotions that the various players in this category , I often wondered what is the logic behind these high spends on promotion. The logic lies in the potential of this category. The percapita consumption of this category ( value terms) in India is hardly Rs 4 while in UK it is Rs 150. There is long way to go for this category...

Vim faces intense competition in this category not only from other brands but also from the traditional methods. In rural areas, Ash is used to clean utensils and the biggest hurdle in rural penetration of this category is to educate the rural folks to use Soap instead of ash.
In the branded segment, Vim faces competition from brands like Exo from Jyothi Lab , Pril, Sabeena and host of other local brands. Exo is the challenger brand forthe market leader Vim. Exo brand has effectively differentiated itself by using its anti-bacterial property and uses the ingredient Trichlozene to reinforce the germ fighting positioning.

The emerging category in dishwash market is the liquid dishwash. Pril from Henkel commands this market with a share of 72%. Although Vim has launched its own variant, it failed to create an impact and was withdrawn in 2003. 2006 saw a relaunch of Vim drop with Actor Madhavan endorsing the brand. Pril has countered the campaign using Shobana as the brand ambassador.Marketers beleive that over a period of time, consumers will shift to Liquid since it offers more economy and convenience. But there is a problem with this category: Liquid dishwash is targeted at urban upper middle class home makers and here the users are home maids rather than home makers. It will be difficult to teach house maids to use the liquid efficiently .
The powder segment is dominated by Sabeena brand from ECOF. Sabena is very strong in the southern market and has a market share of over 65%.

To stay on top of this highly competitive market, Vim has invested not only in promotion but also in product improvements. In 2005, the brand took on the most problematic aspect of this category i.e the dishwash bar getting soggy. The reason is that these bars are kept near the sink and is always in contact with water and with in days, the bar gets messy. Vim then launched one of the most customer centric innovation at that time : Poly coated Vim bar. The coating prevented the bar from becoming soggy and hence the brand became more economical. This innovation is a testimony to HLL's ability to understand Indian consumer and translate that to product improvements.

Although these innovations can be copied by the competition, Vim has constantly improved upon the marketing mixes and has stayed relevant and different in the consumer's mind.Vim is also a classic example that even a boring category like Dishwash can be made exciting through smart thinking.. cheers !

source: businessline, agencyfaqs,magindia financialexpress

Boost : Is The Secret Of Our Energy

Brand : Boost
Company: Glaxo Smithkline Beecham
Agency:JWT

Brand Count : 192

Boost is one of the major players in the Rs 1400 crore Indian Health Food Drink ( HFD) market. The brand was created in 1975 by the company R&D team and test marketed in 1976. The brand became national in in 1980's. Glaxo rules the Indian HFD market with a share of around 64 %. The market is ruled by Horlicks and the leader is flanked by flanker products Maltova and Viva.

Boost takes on Bournvita from Cadbury's which is the market leader in the brown powder segment. The HFD market is having two segments : White powder segment and brown segment. The market is dominated by white powders. Boost is a malt milk additive with the flavour of chocolate.Boost has a share of around 12% in the HFD market.
HFD is targeted at children aged 5-18. The market is huge since this is the age group that demands some kind of energy drink. The kids are active and playing during this age and the pressure is on the home maker to keep the energy level of the kids high using some drinks.

Boost is positioned as an energy drink. The tagline " Boost is the secret of my energy" has remained a blockbuster all through these years.The tagline has highest recall among the TG. Boost is also the first HFD brand to be endorsed by a celebrity.

After the initial growth, the brand landed in the mature stage of PLC during 1980's with sales plateauing. The brand repositioned itself through a careful planned strategy backed by consumer insight. The brand realised that kids are strong influencers of the purchase process for such products and once kids get hooked onto such drinks, brand loyalty can be assured. GSK also identified cricket as the vehicle to Boost the Sale of Boost.
During 1980's Kapil dev was roped in as the brand ambassador for Boost and as a cricketer, Kapil was considered an Icon by many . Boost got the energy from Kapil and GSK had found the success mantra.
During 1990's Kapil gave the baton to Sachin. Sachin endorsed this brand when he was in his teens. During those times, the ads showed both Kapil and Sachin together endorsing the brand and thus ensured that the transition is smooth. From 1990-present, Sachin has been endorsing this brand. I think Boost and Sachin hold the record for longest association between a brand and celebrity at least in India. (The kid who starred with Kapil for the ad was Nikhil Chopra who later played for India0
in 2000, the brand also roped in Sewag to endorse the brand. At that time, Sewag and Sachin was at fire as the opening pair.
Boost was innovative not only in the promotion front but also in product improvements. in 2002, as a part of its repositioning, the brand came out with Power Boosters : which contains Copper and Biotin.It was first of its kind in this segment.Boost also innovated in packaging. Over these years, the packaging became contemporary and stylish to reflect the changing consumer preferences.
A brand will become successful only if the owner invests in the brand for the long term. Boost is a testimony of that. Over these years, the brand has been positioned and repositioned in tune with the consumer. During the late nineties, consumer insights showed that although the kids liked the promos involving Sachin, they felt somewhat distant from the brand ( because Sachin was perceived to be extraordinary). Realising this the brand changed its tagline to " Boost is the secret of my energy' to " Boost is the secret of OUR energy". The ads increasingly gave importance to kids rather than the celebrity.
In 2005, the brand came with Choco Blast ( more chocolate) and Advanced Energy Boosters to counter the threat from Bournvita who now has the Chocolate taste of "Five Star" in it.
watch the commercial here: Boost chocoblast

Boost is a super brand with lots of lessons for a marketer to learn.The brand continues to invest in it and has remained the favorite of marketers and kids..

Source: Superbrands,agencyfaqs.
Imagesource; agencyfaqs,superbrands

Sunfill : RIP (2001-2005)

Brand : Sunfill
Company: Coca Cola

Brand Count : 191

Sunfill was Coca Cola's foray into the Soft Drink Concentrate market in India. Globally it was the company's first foray into the powder concentrate segment. This good product died after 4 years primarily because the company did not consider worthwhile to focus on marketing this product.

Sunfill was introduced in 2001 and Coca Cola intended to take on Rasna in the Rs 180 crore soft drinks concentrate market in India. Rasna was dominating the market with a share of over 85%.
Sunfill was a powder soft drink concentrate . Powder concentrate occupy85% of the total soft drinks concentrate market. Sunfill came in three variants : Regular,Anand and Tarang.

Sunfill differentiated from Rasna by taking the convenience route. The concentrate had added sugar in it so to make the drink was easy for the consumer. While other concentrates, sugar need to be added hence was cumbersome for the consumer. The taste of Sunfill was also better compared to other brands ( personal opinion). The brand also innovated in packaging by coming out with single serve packs and also multi serve pillow packs.
The biggest challenge for any FMCG/SDC products was distribution. Sunfill found an innovative method to reach the market. It had alliances with other FMCG firms in reaching the market. The brand had its own channel + third party alliance (Hybrid network) to ensure that the brand is available in all stores.
But somehow the product failed in the market. The issue was with regard to distribution, product and the promotion.
The product had some quality issues. In my personal experience, some of the packs had very bad quality concentrate . At one point of time, the product was not available in the stores. The issue in promotion was regarding the positioning. When Sunfill came into the market, Rasna countered Sunfill with its own range of powder concentrate with added sugar.Hence the differentiation became negated for Sunfill. The promotion investment for Sunfill was not adequate to counter the huge brand equity that Rasna enjoyed. I have a feeling that Sunfill was a half hearted effort from the company.That was reflected in the promotions for the product which ultimately lead to the death of a high potential brand

I still feel that the company did not do justice to the brand which had a potential to make it big in the SDC market but the plug was pulled on Sunfill in 2005.

Related brands

Rasna

Source: Agencyfaqs,businessline,magindia