Jeeva : The Complete Ayurvedic Soap

Brand : Jeeva
Company: Jyothi Laboratories Ltd
Agency: Situations Advertising and Marketing

Brand Count : 203

Jeeva is a niche brand in the Rs 700 crore Ayurvedic soap market in India. The brand which was launched in 2002 is still restricted to the Southern Indian markets . Jeeva is the first initiative of Jyothi Labs into the highly competitive personal care market. Jyothi Lab which is famous for its Ujala Whitener will be fighting with the giants like HLL in this market. Jeeva competes with Medimix and Chandrika in the ayurvedic category. The market for ayurvedic soap is cluttered with all major brand's having an extension in this category.

Like all the brands of Jyothi lab, Jeeva was launched in the market with a clear differentiation. The brand boasted of 27 herbal ingredients that will smoothen, nurture, soften and deodorize the skin making it younger and beautiful. The brand is the brainchild of Mr Ramachandran MD of Jyothi Lab. According to the company website, the brand is the result of seven years of research by the R&D team.

Jeeva was launched with much fanfare in Kerala. Jyothi Lab always uses Kerala market as its launch market. There is an unwritten law ( my law) that if a brand succeeds in Kerala, there is a surety that it will succeed in the national market.
The company used the famous Southern Film Diva Simran to endorse the brand and the ad talked about only one thing: 27 ingredients. This differentiation was significant because at that time the market was dominated by Medimix which was positioned as a Curative soap. Medimix was well established and to take on that heritage brand, one needs to have one Big Idea.

All though there is no significance about the number 27, Jeeva tried to create a magic around the number. To a certain extent the positioning worked. The ads ensured a fair amount of trail purchase for the brand. Although some marketers say that the focus on 27 ingredients is sustainable because it can be bettered by another player. I feel that to launch the brand, the focus on the number has worked magically. The brand uses the tagline " The complete Ayurvedic Soap" which is further reinforced by the focus on 27 ingredients. The brand is targeting SEC B,C,D segment of the market.
But after a while the brand became silent in the market. Last year saw lot of action in the ayurvedic soap market with the relaunch of Chandrika , Hamam and Medimix. The category moved from pure ayurvedic to Naturals.

Jyothi Lab had big plans for Jeeva brand. According to the company website, the brand is going to be an Umbrella brand endorsing a range of personal care products . The first signs of that strategy became visible in 2007 when the company launched the first extension of Jeeva brand : Jeeva Naturals.
Jeeva Naturals is white soap that has coconut milk and ordinary milk protein extracts as the ingredients. The new product is positioned on the nourishment platform and currently TVC and print campaigns are on in the Southern States. The ads talk about the brand primarily as a beauty soap.

Jeeva is a challenger brand in the Soap market . But to sustain and grow in this market, the brand has to identify a theme or a positioning strategy that is sustainable.

source: businessline,jyothilabwebsite
image :businessline jyothilab

Brand Update : Horlicks

Horlicks is the market leader in the Rs 1300 crore health drink market in India. The brands owns more than 50% market share. As discussed in the one of my blogs, the success of the brand lies in its ability to change with the changing consumer. The new strategy of the company is to extend the brand into a family health drink brand with variants suiting every member of the family i.e Parents and Kids. The brand initially was aimed at kids aged around 6- 16 years and has been successful in establishing its present there. The brand in 2005 extended itself to a new segment : adults with its Horlicks Lite variant. The Lite boasts about Zero Cholestrol,Zero Added sugar is clearly aimed at the Parents. The brand also came up with another line extension Junior Horlicks aimed at pre-schoolers. Junior Horlicks claims to have DHA which is Docosahexaenoic Acid which is an Omega-3 fatty acid which will boost the brain power.With these three variants, Horlicks have covered all the life stages ( except infant) of a consumer.
The latest campaign of Lite aims at the lady in the house and reminds her to keep her husband active with Horlicks lite. The well made ad takes a cue from the cooking oil advertisements of Saffola and Sundrop.
To promote the Junior Horlicks, the brand has come out with a Piggy Bank shaped Horlicks Jar which is a consumer promotion scheme . Currently Horlicks is running a Topical that is related to exams. The campaign says that Horlicks can drive away the Exam GHOSTS.. Right now this brand is rocking..

Image courtsey:GSK

Related brand

Horlicks

American Express : Membership Changes Everything

Brand : American Express Platinum
Company: American Express
Agency : O&M

Brand Count : 202

American Express is one of the world leaders in travel, financial and network provider business. The brand is synonymous with traveller's cheque and is a world leader in travel related financial services.

American Express was created in 1850 as a express delivery service provider (courier/moneyorder service). It metamorphosed to a financial service giant through a series of innovations. In 1891, American Express invented the first traveller's cheque. In 1958, world's first charge card was created by the company.American Express is currently the world's largest issuer of traveller's cheques.

American Express started its Indian operation way back in 1921.In India too , the brand is known for its travel related services. The brand extended to credit card business in 1986 for International travellers and in 1996 consumer card for domestic use was introduced. American Express was the first brand to introduce balance transfer facility for credit cards which later became a standard for all credit card issuers. ( Source : superbrandsindia.com)

Although American Express and Diners Club was the first companies to introduce credit cards in India, over the time, these brands failed to capitalise on the credit card boom. Visa and MasterCard through their aggressive promotions have cornered major market share in India. The aggressive schemes from the issuing banks like ICICI has virtually tripled the market for credit cards in India. But all through this hungama, American Express chose to take the backseat. The Indian creditcard market is estimated to be around $4 billion and there are around 17mn cards in circulation in India.

American Express only occasionally invested in brand building in the credit card market. I believe that the company was concentrating more on its travel related business rather than into credit cards. I remember only one TVC of American Express which shows an Indian traveller in a foreign location who get caught in a holi celebration. The ad was a memorable one but again the target was the travelling segment. The ad projected American Express as the card which is globally accepted.

November 2006 saw a major initiative from the brand to tap the domestic Indian credit card market. American Express launched the Platinum club in India which targeted the young Rich and Famous Indian. Platinum club is an exclusive club which offered the member wide range of privileges. Platinum Club is a premium service that gives exclusive service and pamperin a year , travels abroad three times a year and dines out three times more than the average Indian ( source :g to the privileged owners. The members of the club receives the new American Express Platinum credit card which provides the key to a host of premium services. Amex has tied up with premium service providers like Taj, Kingfisher etc which offers special benefits to the member. The club is targeted at Indians who is at the age group of 30-45 who earns 20-25 lakhseretailbiz.com)

To become a member one has to pay a lifetime fee of Rs 50,000.The member gets a welcome gift worth more than Rs 70,000 which includes a Longines watch and Two Kingfisher airline round trip tickets. Other benefits include dining privileges with Taj hotels, special treatment with Kingfisher etc..
The brand is clearly on an overdrive to woo the affluent Indian. The logic is simple, an affluent Indian spend around Rs 3.67 lakh on his credit card a year which is ten times more than an average credit card user.
Platinum Club is the special way through which American Express plans to build its credit card business in India. Worldwide the brand is known to pamper its customer. There are some unique stories about this pampering like one given in the super brand site which talks about how the company arranged to courier a sample of Dead Sea sand for a child's (of Amex cardholder ) school project.
Platinum club is endorsed by Abhishek Bachchan who is also the first member of the club. Already TVC is running in all media followed by an aggressive print campaign. The brand is using the tagline " Membership Changes Everything". The brand is directly taking the route of creating an aspirational value for the product. This campaign is going to create a positive effect on all American Express cards . The campaign also will increase the brand awareness which is one of the problem that American Express faces. Still there are lot of merchants that do not accept this card because of ignorance. Although the brand is aimed at premium segment, the entry cost is kept low at Rs 50,000 that will definitely drive volume for this card.
Platinum club is a smart marketing move by American Express which will also force other card companies to start pampering their customers.

Related Brand
Mastercard

Source: superbrandsindia.com,eretailbiz.com,businessline
image courtsey:superbrandsindia.com

Mayur Suitings : Stars Ki Pasand

Brand : Mayur Suitings
Company: RSWM ( LNJBhilwara group)
Agency: Foresight Mkg & Communication

Brand Count : 201

Mayur Suitings is a brand from the Rs 600 crore Rajasthan Spinning &Weaving Mills( RSWM) and is one of the famous Indian textile brand. This 30 year old brand is famous for its penchant for celebrity endorsements. Mayur is having a market share of about 7 % in the 10,000 crore Indian suitings market.

Mayur shot into limelight during 1995 when the brand roped in Shah Rukh Khan to endorse the brand. Shahrukh has not reached the stardom during those days but everyone knew that he will one day become the King. ShahRukh endorsed Mayur for 4 years from 1995 to 1999. The ads which proclaimed ShahRukh "Mayur" Khan was a hit which propelled Mayur to the big league.
Later the brand was endorsed by Chandrachur Singh, Sharad Kapoor , Lisa Ray and Virendra Sewag.

Mayur is a classic case of Celebrity endorsement which shows both the positive and negative aspects of using a celebrity. Here is a brand that became successful because of celebrity but in the same case, the brand could not make use of the celebrity to its advantage.After ShahRukh, the brand was not able to sustain the momentum. With ShahRukh, the company hit upon a novel idea of catching the stars with potential to make it big. That may be one of the reason why Chandrachur Singh was roped in. But he could not make it to the big league. Later the brand moved from movies to cricket by roping in Virendra Sewag . Sewag was in the peak of the career when he started to endorse Mayur. In 2007, Sewag was dropped and Salman Khan became the endorser.
The brand is so addicted to the celebrity that the tagline is " Stars Ki Pasand". It sounds like the younger brother of Lux soap which is " Sitaron ka saundarya sabun". Like Lux, the brand also faces the issue of customers not believing that the celebrity actually use the brand ( are they ?).
The use of celebrity in the case of Mayur makes some sense because the brand is a mass market fashion brand that is aimed at SEC B,C and D category. Hence for these segment, celebrity endorsement gives instant popularity and credibility for the brand.

On theflip side, "Stars ki Pasand" offers no meaningful differentiation for the brand since the believability of the positioning is minimal. The brand is in the "Value for Money " category which itself makes " Stars Ki Pasand" unbelievable. For Lux, Celebrity is in the brand's DNA. But unlike Lux, Mayur could not build that to its DNA even after 30 years of existence. The reason is that Lux is endorsed by all the leading ladies in the Bollywood while Mayur could not afford that luxury. Mayur tend to use only one celebrity at a time ( till the contract expires) . A five or six stars endorsing the brand at the same time could have done wonders to reinforce the positioning but seldom companies can afford that. The failure of the celebrity to perform and excel also has acted against the brand. Chandrachur , Sharad and oflate Sewag has been at the lowest ebb of their career graph
The lacklustre performance of these stars have a huge negative impact on the brand equity of brands like Mayur who solely depend on the celebrity for the strength. While brands like Lux, Pepsi and the like uses celebrity, they do not derive the strength from the stars. The stars usually amplifies the already strong equity of these brands. But in the case of Mayur, the very existence of the brand is dependant on the celebrity. There is no innate differentiation for the brand. In other words , the brand fails to stand on its own. The question to ask is why do customers buy a brand ( Mayur) .People buy for its quality and value for money proposition which are the brand's innate strength. But all the ads of Mayur shows the celebrity and the brand and the celebrity will say " Mayur Celebrity Khan" .... thats it.

On the positive side, the endorsements by celebrities gave this brand a Masstige image which many marketers consider a competitive advantage in the Indian market.

The company has big plans for this brand. Currently Mayur is a Rs 100 crore brand and company wants it to be Rs 300 crore brand in five years time. The brand has been updating its product with the latest innovations in the category. Mayur already has a Nano tech collection and is slowly extending to ready-to-wear segments. The brand also has plans to move into premium category and has launched a collection branded Glazano.

Mayur faces the crucial issue of discovering a meaningful differentiation based on the brand rather than on the celebrity. The brand faces competition from super brands like Raymonds, Grasim and Reid and Taylor. The Ex-icon for Mayur, Shah Rukh is now endorsing another brand Belmonte from Skumars .Although Mayur is targeting a much lower end of the segment,the brand has to rediscover itself to reach its ambition.

Source: fibre2fashion,lnjbhilwara.com,businessline,agencyfaqs.

Brand Update : Maggi

A good marketer is never tired of innovation and is never bored about his brands . That quality is visible in Maggi's relentless pursuit to make its brand's position permanent in the Indian consumer's dining table. 2007 saw another innovation from this super brand in the form of Rice Noodle. The rice noodle comes in three flavours : Lemon Masala, Shahi pulao and Chilly Chow. The brand has given one more reason for Mothers to give Noodles to their children. The new products are in tune with the Nestle's vision of moving into healthy foods. This innovation will go a long way in reinforcing the brand equity of Maggi. Currently ads are running in all major channel for Rice Noodles. Although the ads are Hindi skewed, I am sure no one is complaining.

Related Brands
Maggi

Marketing Management by Philip Kotler : Walking the Talk

Brand : Marketing Management
Owner : Dr Philip Kotler
Publisher: Pearson

Brand Count : 200

Marketing Practice is celebrating its analysis of 200 brands. This post is dedicated to the Father of Marketing :Dr. Philip Kotler and his iconic book on Marketing branded "Marketing Management". Both the Author and the Book are considered to be iconic brands.

Dr. Kotler is SC Johnson & Son Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at Kellogg's School of Management at NorthWestern University. Dr Kotler is an Economist by education with Masters in Economics from University of Chicago and a PhD in Economics from MIT. He did his Post Doctoral Research In Mathematics from Harvard and in Behavioral Science from Chicago. Dr Kotler has around 35 books to his credit and has published more than 130 articles in international journals.

The first edition of Marketing Management was released in 1967. Prof.Kotler in an interview published in the book " Conversations with Marketing Masters" illustrates the origin of this iconic book. He recalls that at that time, he found most of the marketing books lacking theory and being shallow. He effectively understood the need for an organised and a scientific study of the marketing function. To quote from the book "They contained lists of the traits of good salespeople,the role of warehouses, a description of consumer demographics, and other definitions and lists. This was market anatomy but not market physiology."
Dr Kotler gave a new perspective to marketing in his first book by giving a behavioral,mathematical and consumer oriented view. He introduced new concepts and in a way made the theory more related to practice. Kotler gave a structure to the study of marketing. Kotler also was considered to be the first to define marketing.
In his book, Kotler used the framework of 4 P's of Jerry McCarthy. McCarthy had authored the book Basic Marketing which was the popular textbook at that period of time,but 4Ps became famous through Kotler. The first edition became very popular and the rest as they say is history.
Prof. Kotler was teaching Economics during his early stages in his career. He was introduced to marketing during his post doctoral research in Harvard. He was in a group that studied the application of mathematical models in business decision making especially in marketing. That kindled the desire in him to explore the science of marketing. Dr. Don who was the Dean at Kellogg's ignited the love for marketing in Kotler who then took up teaching in marketing at the Northwestern university.

The success of the book Marketing Management is the testimony of the author walking the talk. Even after 38 years of the launch, Marketing Management is considered as the bible of marketing. The book itself is a case study on " How to build a successful brand".
The brand practiced all that is being preached by Prof. Kotler. All the 4 P's are managed with perfection and the product is being consistently adapted with the changing world. It is not that Kotler's book is not having any competition. There are innumerable books written by Professors of high stature and calibre than Kotler. Even there are books written by Professors who taught Kotler. But none of those books have the brand equity of Kotler. The reason is simple : None of the books changed with times .
Have a look at the editions of Marketing Management :
1967- First
1971,1976,1980,1984,1988,1991,1994,1997,2000 ( Millennium ),2003, and
2006 ( 12th edition)
No other marketing text books can boat about this much editions. The other differentiating factor is that these editions are not reprints, the content and the examples are updated and made contemporary. Kotler also does not hesitate to make a drastic change in his approach for the new editions. That makes each editions new and often compels a student of marketing to buy every editions because every editions are new.Every new editions capture the changes that happens in the marketing world.
Another reason that propelled this success of this brand is the ability of the author to explain concepts in a simple style. By reading marketing, one gets the impression that it is simple and not a rocket science. There is no alpha beta theta or formulas or equations. Even a non management student can understand the concepts without the help of a teacher. That may be the reason why there are no Management Development Programmes titled " Marketing for Non Marketing executives" while there are finance for non finance executives and so forth. Prof. Kotler once remarked " Marketing is simple to understand and difficult to practice". But this brand is an example of practicing the talk.
The book also was adapted to different markets not only by having translations but also changing the examples and cases to make the concepts more clear to the target audience. So when Kotler teaches the strategy of GLOCAL , he practices it. The book priced reasonably is available across the market thus ensuring that all Marketing Mixes are perfectly balanced.

Of these 12 editions, 10 th edition of Millennium edition is the most theoretically strong edition ( my opinion). The edition clearly takes the book to a new paradigm ( if i can use that jargon). 11th edition reinforce the new thinking.
Sometimes I used to wonder , what will happen to Marketing Management after Kotler? Will it just fade into history?
Marketing Management 12th edition was the answer.12th edition was a surprise for every one. The brand now has been completely renovated .The book for the first time had a co-author in Professor Kevin Lane Keller. Dr. Keller is E.B Osborn Professor at Tuft School of Business.Keller is considered to be a Pioneer in Brand management. A young genius, Keller's book is widely used text in the Brand Management course.
The new edition of the book is a marked deviation from the rest of the collections. The book puts more emphasis on brand and delves deep into the concepts of customer value but without losing the Kotler touch. The new edition assures the continuity of this brand for the new generation.
The usual complaint that marketing teachers face in India was that students feel that the text books are westernised and has seldom any relevance to Indian market. I used to have tough time convincing the students to understand the universal relevance of marketing concepts.
2007 saw the adaptation of Kolter's text to Indian market.The new book Marketing Management : South Asian perspective has two Indian professors Abraham Kosy and Mithi Jha ( IIM A and IIM B) co-authoring Kotler and Keller.

A perfect gentleman he is ,Prof. Kotler deny that he ever marketed his book. He describe the book as an outcome of his Romance for Marketing.

Source: Wiley.com,pearson,nbs,kellogswebsite