Guy Kawasaki rates Marketing Practice as Cool

Its one of the best things that has happened to Marketing Practice, My favorite blogger Guy Kawasaki rates this blog as one of the three cool Projects/Sites.

See the blog post here : Guy's Endorsement
When I started of my blog, I have drawn much inspiration from Guy's blog and was elated at his endorsement.
I am filled with Joy and Pride, and thanks a lot Guy for making me one of the happiest bloggers in India right now.

Cheers!

Brand Update : Vim

HUL is in an overdrive to promote the liquid variant of its popular Vim Dishwash bar. The new campaign is on air featuring two men ( I don't understand who they are and what they do !) spying on the households using the Vim drops.

Although the ads are poorly executed and can be rated as horrible, there are certain interesting facts about the new variant. There are two basic inhibitions that prevent Indian households from using the Liquid dishwash:
1. It is perceived to be expensive
2. As discussed in my post on Vim, since the TG uses home maids , they will use the drops in an uneconomical manner since they are not educated about using this new product.

One of the main purpose of the new high profile campaign is to pass the message to the customers that Vim Dish Drops are inexpensive.Another message address the second point which is critical i.e to prevent uneconomical usage. To counter this issue, Vim has yet again come out with a customer centric innovation. The brand now comes with a special cap that allows only one drop when squeezed thus preventing the over usage of this product. This innovation will also help the homemaker to make use of the economy of this highly concentrated variant.This is the second customer centric innovation after the popular Poly coated Vim bar.

But the new campaign is a let down and fails to communicate effectively the serious innovation that Vim has created.
Related Brand
Vim

Book Review : Ten Deadly Marketing Sins

Book Title : Ten Deadly Marketing Sins, Signs and Solutions
Author : Philip Kotler

Publisher : Wiley India
Price : Rs 299
Pages : 152
Edition : 2006

Book Review Count : 3

A book that is a must read for all marketers, Ten Deadly Sins is a simple but a thought provoking book. Yet another masterpiece from th Marketing Guru Kotler. When you read through the first few pages, it will seem to be the repetition of marketing funda from his text. But as you move along, the importance of these concepts will slowly unfold.
This book authenticates what Dr.Kotler used to say " Marketing is easy to understand but difficult to practice". All the concepts explained in this book are very simple and some what obvious to even the uninitiated , but how often even the best companies fail to practice these ideas and concepts are quite surprising.
What Dr Kotler aims with this book is to provide the marketing practitioners a ready reckoner of marketing mistakes which they ought to introspect.
Prof.Kotler identifies the Ten deadly sins as :

1. Your Company is not sufficiently market focused and customer driven.
2. Your company does not fully understand its target customers.
3. Your company has not properly managed its relationships with its stakeholders.
4. Your company is not good at finding new opportunities.
5. Your company is not good in finding new opportunities.
   
6. Your company's marketing planning process is deficient.
7. Your company's product and service policies need tightening.
8. Your company's brand building and communication skills are weak.
9. Your company is not well organized to carry on effective and efficient marketing.
10. Your company has not made maximum use of technology.

These sins explained in ten chapters virtually covers all the pitfalls that a company faces in the marketing domain.
What I like most in this book is that the author tries to drive home the point that CUSTOMER focus is the Key to marketing success. Although this is an oft quoted Cliche , we know that some of the largest companies are myopic in their customer management.
If the renowned author and venture capitalist Mr Guy Kawasaki faces the issue of having to spent 68 minutes to cancel a service which he hadn't ordered, what will be the fate of an ordinary customer. Read the full transcript of Guy's experience here : Customer Service

After having explained the sins, Kotler went on to prescribe Ten Commandments to all marketers.He exhorts us to frame them on our walls

1. The company segments the market, chooses the best segments,and develops a strong position in each chosen segments.
2. The company maps its customers' needs,perceptions, preferences,and behavior and motivates its stakeholders to obsess about serving and satisfying the customers.
3. The company knows its major competitors and their strengths and weaknesses.
4. The company builds partners out of its stakeholders and generously rewards them.
5. The company develops systems for identifying opportunities, ranking them and choosing the best ones.
6. The company manages a marketing planning system that leads to insightful longterm and short term plans.
7. The company exercises strong control over its product and service mix.
8. The company builds strong brands by using the most cost-effective communication and promotion tools.
9. The company builds marketing leadership and a team spirit among its various departments.
10. The company adds technology that gives it a competitive advantage in the market place.

Here in this book, Mr. Kotler yet again proves that marketing is too important to be left with marketing people. In Chapter 4 he emphasis on how satisfied stakeholders can build marketing effectiveness. He asks the CEO's to manage he employees better so that at the end of it customers are better managed.
Ten Deadly Marketing Sins is for CEOs to sit with the colleagues and examine each of these deadly sins. Then determine which is the most serious and then find solutions for it. One of my favorite quotes is this " Marketing's work should not be so much about selling but about creating products that don't need selling". .... How True...

Verdict: Highly recommended.

Thank You Dear Readers

Today Marketing Practice is celebrating its 250 th brand. What started of as a curiosity now has reached a milestone. This has become possible because of the encouragement and support of its readers and my students. Marketing Practice is now aiming its next milestone of 500. Keep Supporting and drop in your valuable comments.

Thank You Very Much


Harish

CBZ Xtreme : Live Extreme

Brand : CBZ Xtreme
Company : Hero Honda
Agency : JWT

Brand Count : 250

CBZ is India's first sports bike . The brand came into existence in 1999 when Hero Honda decided to trade up its customers to premium segment. The brand created the premium segment of motorcycle in India.
But the first mover advantage was short lived. In 2001, Bajaj stealed the thunder right under the nose of the market leader. Pulsar just took the entire market away from CBZ. CBZz struggled hard to gain an advantage over Pulsar, but in vain. In 2005, the company decided to take the brand out of the market.
In 2007 saw Hero Honda relaunching the brand with a hope of getting a slice in the fastest growing segment in Indian automobile market which is estimated to be of 600,000 units. Premium segment is expected to be around 10% of the total market.
What really happened to CBZ is a sad story.
The company failed both in the product front as well as in the marketing front. CBZ when launched got rave reviews because it was some thing that the market has not seen. The styling was also good so was the power. But when the product got to the actual road test, problems began to surface. There was issues regarding fuel consumption and the high price also dampened the initial enthusiasm .The product also had some glaring issues, for example a simple fact like one has to push up the Foot Rest inorder to kick start showed that the company took the customer for granted.
The price - performance mismatch and the lethargic marketing/branding activities took its toll in the sales performance of CBZ. With the blockbuster Pulsar coming in, CBZ soon was in death bed. The company also had focused more on retaining its leadership position in the executive segment rather than looking at the premium segment. These factors aided Pulsar to dominate the segment .
This year showed Hero Honda's renewed interest in the premium segment which translated to the relaunch of CBZ as CBZ Xtreme. The new CBZ comes with a spruced up design and a more powerful engine. But still the product lacked the refinement of Pulsar. One of the CBZ owner told me that the Foot rest vs the Kicker issue is still there in the new CBZ ( thankfully there is a selfstart option).
The marketing campaign of new CBZ Xtreme is also horrible . The brand failed to communicate anything to the consumer about the product. There is a severe lack of BIG IDEA which is evident in the new commercial.
Watch the Commercial here : CBZ XTREME
The main aim of this commercial is to put a JAMES BOND kind of image about CBZ but failed to the extreme. I would give it a 1/10 . The brand uses the tagline " Live Extreme" to promote the product. The idea is to project the brand as an Extreme machine for those who like challenges. But the execution of this concept was horrible.
Marketing of CBZ is going to be very crucial in the success of this relaunch. The reason is that CBZ Xtreme sports the same engine as Honda Unicorn and its own Achiever. So technically there is not much scope of differentiation. The only available differentiation is interms of branding. And Branding is the weakest link in Hero Honda's scheme of affairs. Yet again the brand has failed to deliver a meaningful communication. The brand could have faired if there was no competition. In this case the competition is having an iconic status and CBZ 's only weapon is to match the brand strength of Pulsar. But Alas, the agency has let down the brand. The company has failed to highlight a USP for CBZ or does CBZ has any ?

Market Statistics : Indian White Goods Market

Refrigerator Market

Market Size : 3.75 mn (Units) . Rs 3781.92 Crore (Value )
Growth : 7.1% ( Units) 10.70% ( Value )

Direct Cool
Market Size : 2.73 mn (Units) . Rs 2239.83 Crore (Value )
Growth : 6.19% ( Volume) . 7.7% (Value)

Frost Free
Market Size : 1.02 mn (Units) . Rs 1542.09 Crore (Value )
Growth : 9.0% ( Volume) . 15.2% (Value)

Washing Machine
Market Size : 1.67 mn (Units) . Rs 1,46,803 Crore (Value )
Growth : 6.7% ( Volume) . 10.6% (Value)

Fully Automatic
Market Size :0.53 mn (Units) . Rs 727.27 Crore (Value )
Growth : 18.2% ( Volume) . 19.7% (Value)

Semi Automatic
Market Size : 1.14 mn (Units) . Rs 739.68 Crore (Value )
Growth : 3.3% ( Volume) . 3.4% (Value)

Microwave Oven
Market Size :0.63 (Units) . Rs 472.24 Crore (Value )
Growth : 49.6% ( Volume) . 39.0% (Value)

Air Conditioner
Market Size : 1.05 mn (Units) . Rs 1998.39 Crore (Value )
Growth : 51.6% ( Volume) . 49.8% (Value)

Market size according to AC Neilsen as in Jan Dec 2006 .
Source : Business World 28 May 2007