Ford Ikon : The Josh Machine

Brand : Ikon
Company:Ford India
Agency:JWT

Brand Count:208

Ford Ikon is a brand with a class. This brand has redefined the car marketing in India. Launched in 1999, Ikon in a way rejuvenated the fortunes of Ford Motors in India. Ford came to India with a dated model like Ford Escort.Escort was launched in 1995 and was one of the first international brand to enter the midsize sedan market.

Ford Ikon was launched in the event of phasing out of Escort. Since then Ikon has been a major player in the entry level sedan market with a share of over 20%. The most interesting aspect of the brand is in its positioning. Ikon dethroned the position of Esteem in the C segment through its breakaway positioning.

Till 2005 Ikon has sold over 100,000 cars and has occupied a special space in the highly competitive car market in India. Ford Ikon is actually an Indian adaptation of the highly successful European Fiesta model. But knowing the Indian market with the Escort example, the company decided to design and Indian car for Indian consumers. Thus born the brand Ikon.
The company virtually adapted the whole product to suit the Indian consumer taste and also Indian driving conditions.Ikon was one of the first examples of Global brand getting Local in the automotive industry.
Once the product is ready, came the question of marketing. Ikon was priced as an entry level sedan car and was positioned in the C segment. C segment was dominated by Esteem and there was a slew of competitors waiting to tap the market including Hyundai Accent. Most of the purchases in this segment was rational and the brands were also positioned on rational platforms. Ikon wanted to break the icons and decided to do away with the demographic positioning. Research and initial test marketing showed that Ikon is associated with the Attractive and Peppy attributes. The company decided to position the brand as a lifestyle brand. The TG was decided to be young professionals who works hard and play hard who are Full of Life and Affluent. This brand is the classic case of lifestyle segmentation.

Ikon had the sporty design and all the pep that a sporty car needs interms of engine capacity and performance. The agency hit upon the big idea of positioning the brand as the Josh Machine.I think the tagline JOSH Machine is one of the best taglines I have come across. Although the term Josh is hindi ( I have criticised Go Fida campaign) Josh term had a universal appeal across India. Although some of the ads were lousy, the product delivered the promise. The Brand clearly identified the TG and Josh satisfied the need for a sporty sedan ( that need is still there). Indian Yuppies lapped up this product and the brand which suffered most because of Ikon was the Maruti Esteem.Ikon was priced between Rs 5.5 lakh and 6 lakhs.The brand broke from the rational positioning into a more emotional plane.The brand had the famous tagline " The Josh Machine " which was later modified to " Live Life with Josh".

The brand hit a rough patch in 2003 with competition hotting up. The launch of Indigo changed the dynamics of the C segment. To compete with Indigo, Ikon launched a variant in the sub 5 lakh category with Ford Flair.

Last year Ford launched its Fiesta in the Indian market at a premium over Ikon. According to company reports, Fiesta is positioned as an Aspirational sedan and complements Ikon rather than cannibalise it. Fiesta became a runaway success because of its blockbuster performance.

Ford Ikon is now at a critical point in its lifecycle. Although the brand has came out with lot of variants over time like SXI, NXT, the brand is now perceived to be an old brand.The Josh in this brand is no longer there and the company is now focusing on its new baby Fiesta. This lack of marketing and brand building on Ikon can prove to be a big negative for the brand. Slowly the brand may lose its relevance in the Indian market . The Ford India site talks about the new Ford Ikon with spruced up interiors,but what the brand needs is a relook on the promotional front.The brand still holds significant relevance in the Indian market because there is no brand that has the sporty look and the positioning of Ikon. There is still an unmet need for a peppy car and Ikon if not promoted with Josh will be a great injustice to the brand. There is not even a need for repositioning. Only high profile well made advertisements will do the trick. Exciting colors and roadshows will pep up this sagging brand. Else this brand will die a very untimely and unwarranted death..

Source: Businessline,agencyfaqs,
image courtesy: agencyfaqs,ford website

Related brand
Ford Fiesta

Center Shock : Hilake Rakh De

Brand : Center Shock
Company: Perfetti Vanmelle
Agency: O&M

Brand Count:207

Center Shock is an interesting brand or rather it is a disruptive brand in the sense that the brand just makes all marketing theories look funny. Conventional marketing wisdom says that the product should deliver a promise ,satisfy a need and blah blah . Here is a confectionery brand that tasted sour making itself a market leader in less than 6 months time.

Center Shock was launched in 2001 and at that time, the chewing gum market was at cross roads. The market lifecycle was at the decline stage. Although the market was worth Rs 300 crore, it was declining at a faster rate at 25-30%. Perfetti then decided to break the category degrowth and make this category more exciting to the customers.

It still baffles me how a product like Center Shock become successful in the market. This peculiar gum gave a distinct fruit filled acidic taste to the customer which really gave the customer a shock. The TG for this brand was SEC ABC and age 10-19.The brand was an extension of the highly popular Center Fresh known for its Fruit Gel Center. Center Shock came in two flavors : Peach and Apple.
Center Shock broke into picture through two clutter breaking ads crafted by O&M . The first ad of the barber ( View Here) created a huge impact in the market. The ads won lot of accolades for O&M. According to reports, the brand became market leader within no time with a share of over 35% beating Center Fresh from the same company.The first tvc was followed by the second one featuring a dude visiting his girlfriend's home to meet the parents ( View Here) .According to Agencyfaqs, the creative brief for Center Shock was simple :break the clutter and make it funny and distinct and really shocking and the ads just did that.

I have no clue how and why the brand became successful. I was tricked into taking a Center Shock by my friend and I swear I have not taken product again. I think the company also doesn't have any dreams about repeat customers. But the brand done the trick with the market. There was a rejuvenation of the category which grew from 1000 tonnes to 3500 tonnes . The lack of excitement in the category was corrected by this outrageous product. The brand adopted one of the most funniest and best taglines " Hilake Rakh De " which translates to " Will Shake you UP". The brand was positioned as a fun brand and customers liked the change. The brand had virtually shaken the market. During those days most of the chewing gum brand were sold on sales promotions and seldom marketers invested any thing more on ads . Center Shock brought back the trust on advertising in the category players.

To sustain a brand like Center Shock for longer period of time is a difficult proposition. After launching the product in 2001, the last ad was aired in December 2002 and for one year the brand went into silent mode. In 2004 the company. In 2003 the brand launched a variant Center Shock Mirchi with another outrageous commercial. But the variant bombed since the novelty was lost for this brand.The brand had a funny tagline " Pilake Rakh De".After this launch , Center Shock faded from the scene.Its long time since I saw any promotion of this brand.
Although this brand had a very short PLC, the brand showed us the power of advertising. A good advertising can make people eat a sour candy and be happy about it . Hats Off to Perfetti for taking such bold and outrageous step .

source: O&M,businessline,perfetti website

Preethi Mixie : I Guarantee

Brand : Preethi
Company: Maya Appliances

Brand Count : 206

Preethi is an upcoming brand in the heavily crowded small appliances market in India. The brand has grown from a humble beginning to become the market leader in Mixer-Grinder market. Preethi is a brand from Chennai based Maya Appliances. The brand was born in 1978 and was no where in the main scene till the late nineties.
Preethi after 29 years is all ready to spread its wings . The brand which is famous in South India has started its journey to become national. The Mixer-Grinder market is worth around Rs 1000 crore and the market is dominated by local players. Almost 60% of the market is unorganised. Preethi is the market leader in the organised segment with a market share of over 30%.
Until late 1990's , Preethi was a small player and the market leader was Sumeet which had a huge brand equity among the consumers. Facing the issue of stagnation, Maya Agencies deputed a marketing and consulting firm Suhita Ethinic Marketing Services Ltd on a Channel and Customer research initiative. The research revealed lot of insight to the company regarding the product and also on the customer buying behavior. One major insight that the company got was the quality attribute that was highly associated with the brand. Both the dealers and customers strongly associated quality and ruggedness to the brand. These insights has helped the company to further sharpen their strategy.
The growth of the brand over the last 5 years has been phenomenal. The market leader Sumeet faced lot of internal issues that adversely affected their position in the market and Preethi became the market leader in the mixer-grinder segment.

Mixers and grinders are of three types : Mixer-Grinder, Juicer-Mixer-Grinder and Food Processor. Mixer-Grinder constitutes the largest category. This market faces the issue of price competition from local players. Hence all serious marketing activity takes place in the Rs 1500 + segment . It is estimated that there are 500 different manufacturers of Mixer Grinders in the country. Another issue is the frequency of purchase. Earlier a family would use the product for more than 15 years but over time, the frequency of purchase has been halved to around 7 years. Most of the time , these products are either bought/gifted at the time of marriage /housewarming and after repeated servicing , the family will opt for a new one. Hence the task of the marketer is to catch the new users everytime and often it is expensive.

I noticed this brand a few years back through the TVC. Preethi regularly uses television to promote the brand. The protagonist in the ad is a homemaker who guarantees the quality of the product . The tagline is " Preethi Mixie : I Guarantee". What impressed me was that the brand has used a homemaker ( Models are used) and the message is simple straight forward. The brand had a good share of voice in the local media. More interesting was the support that the brand enjoyed from the channel. When I inquired about this category, most of the dealers had high opinion about this brand.
Another factor that helped this brand was the product changes that the company made in tune with the trends. The brand comes in following variants : Ecoplus, Popular,Chefpro ,Supergrind and the latest one Blueleaf. In my opinion the strength of the brand is its understanding that Indian homemakers need powerful motor and Preethi Mixies delivered the maximum power.Even in my experience, most of the mixers are severely underpowered to meet the need of a typical Kitchen.

Blue Leaf is the latest offering from Preethi aimed at the upper segment .The new range is designed by Neil Foley of Titan Fastrack fame. The brand priced expensively at Rs 3500+ aims at the SEC A segment .BlueLeaf combine both design and power and is marketed heavily by the company. The brand takes a cue from the heavily promoted Philips Mixie who takes the USP of the silent mixer.Through Blueleaf, the brand intends to project the brand towards a lifestyle positioning.
Preethi has established its equity in Southern Markets by emphasizing its quality and with the new variant Blueleaf, it is all set to go national.

source: businessline,domainb

Medimix : Taking Care of Skin Problems

Brand : Medimix
Company: Cholayil
Agency: Grey

Brand Count : 206

Medimix is the second largest Ayurvedic soap brand in the country. This brand is a pure play ayurvedic soap and has been around in the Indian market for more than 37 years. The brand was born in 1969 by a virtually unknown company Cholayil . Over these years , Medimix has grown to become a Rs 140 crore brand.The brand was targeted mainly at SEC BC segment.

Medimix is a pure ayurvedic herbal soap and take pride in its herbal heritage. This brand can be said as one of the pioneer in the herbal soap category. The brand was one of the few brands that had positioned itself as a herbal soap when the market was full of synthetic soaps. The brand had 18 herbs in it and was positioned as a curative/medicinal soap. The brand was even prescribed by doctors for skin diseases.Medimix is the only brand which reveals all the name of its ingredients in the packaging. The name Medimix was derived by combining Medicine + Mix ( my guess). Because of its quality and medicinal properties, the bran has around 30% market share in the d has carved out a place in the Rs 660 crore herbal soap market. Medimixayurvedic soap market and 3.2% share in the total soap market.

Medimix was marketed heavily in South India. But often this brand fell into the trap of Sales Promotion driving the sales. The sales dropped sharply when the sales promotion schemes get over and company had to rely more on the sales promotion activities. The brand also went into totally unrelated Brand Extension into cough syrup category with Medimix cough syrup and also extended into Coconut oil segment : both of these extensions were not successful.

In 2006, the brand took a major initiative to take the brand forward. Medimix has realised competition getting intense in the soap market with brand coming out with variants and also taking the Natural/ayurvedic route. Although Medimix had the heritage, there was the issue of brand not being noticed by younger generation. Brands like Jeeva began to challenge the ingredient theory by promoting its 27 herbal ingredients vs Medimix's 18 herbs.
In 2006 Medimix initiated a relaunch exercise for Medimix. Medimix changed its packaging after 36 years into a new contemporary packaging designed by Bangalore based Ray+ Kesavan Designs.New advertisement campaigns were launched intended to appeal the brand to the younger crowd.According to company officials , the brand wants to be appealing to Mass Urban and younger crowd which is a tough task for any brand.The brand also came out with two variants : Sandal and glycerin to attract the Naturals segment. The brand also is tying to appeal as a beauty soap with out diluting its medicinal curative positioning.The brand also wants to appeal to SEC A segment .
The company wants to take the brand national and make it a rs 500 crore brand.The competition is intense but Medimix has a heritage to bank upon. May be in this case the brand may have to seek a celebrity push to reach the next level.

source:businessline,cholayil.com,agencyfaqs

Chandanam: Power of Brand Name

Brand : Chandanam
Company: SD Pharmacy
Agency: MAA Bozell

Brand Count : 205

Chandanam is an interesting brand. The brand is from SD Pharmacy which is a small player in the traditional ayurvedic medicine market. SD pharmacy came into limelight with the huge success of Manjal Soap( discussed elsewhere in this blog) which notched up an impressive turnover of around Rs 12 crore within a years time . Manjal Soap was later sold to Marico for an undisclosed amount.

Buoyed by the success of Manjal soap, SD pharmacy launched Chandanam Soap in 2006. The brand follows the same strategy of Manjal Soap i.e harnessing the power of brand names. Like Manjal ; which is the Malayalam word for turmeric, Chandanam is the Malayalam term for Sandal. The brand talks about the ingredient Sandalon which has the essence of sandal which will make the skin younger and also acts as a deodorant.
The brand unlike Manjal faces stiff competition from giants like Santoor and the heritage brand Mysore Sandal Soap. Also brands like Hamam has variants with Sandal ingredient.

Chandanam is marketed just like Manjal Soap, the packaging and the TVC's are strikingly similar and the company expects the market to accept this brand also. Another interesting fact is that SD pharmacy has not stopped with Chandanam. In 2007 the company launched its third brand of soap branded Mullappoo which is the Malayalam name for Jasmine. More amusing is the fact that the entire communication and packaging follows the same formula except that in case of Mullappoo the USP is the jasmine fragrance.It raises the question Whether a marketing formula works for all brands ? everytime?

One of the reason cited by the company for selling the brand Manjal was that the company lacked the resources to compete in FMCG segment . But in a report the company MD says he has no plans to sell Chandanam brand and will be marketed by the company itself. According to the website VCcircle.com, P&G has evinced interest in acquiring Chandanam.

The brands Chandanam and Mullappoo are classic case of the pulling power of brand names and these brands draw its strength from the ingredients. The brand names are derived from original generic local names.The brand is an example of a Descriptive brand. This strategy works because the consumers can easily identify the brand and its USP ( a very simple use of commonsense) . The company does not need to tell too much about either Chandanam or Mullappoo to a Malayali . The brand is also following the higly successful sampling strategy followed during the Manjal launch. Chandanam Samples are carried by popular magazines like Vanitha and Grihalakshmi followed by print ads and TVC's.Although the brand calls itself as Herbal soap, the soap is actually a Natural Soap.

The initial reports from the market suggests that Chandanam and Mullappoo has been well received. But the task to create volumes for this brands remains huge. The company may need heavy investment because two new brands were launched in quick succession and that too in a highly competitive market.These brands has to sustain the share of voice because otherwise the scope of these brands will be limited to a niche. Whether the company has plans to take this brand further or will it be sold of at a premium is something that has to be seen.

source: businessline,economictimes

Related Brand
Manjal

Brand Update : Colgate

Colgate is now rocking. The brand which commands the toothpaste market with over 53% share is leaving no room for competitors. This once complacent giant has now becoming very aggressive with new product launches and innovative marketing campaigns. This year the brand has come out with a new variant Colgate Max Fresh Citrus Blast.

According to news report, the variant is a result of customer analysis by the company on the tastes and trends. The company has found that customers are moving from monotony to variety, artificial/cosmetic to natural ,single to multi/combo etc. Citrus blast is a result of such a consumer insight. Since the launch of Max Fresh variant, the brand has doubled the sales. Citrus variant is expected to increase the brand's position in the market. The brand has embarked on a 360 degree campaign promoting this variant and Saif Ali Khan will be endorsing this range. The brand is targeting youth age group 18-35. ( source: Indiainfoline.com)

Related Brand
Colgate