Hit : Quit India Movement with a Difference

Brand : Hit
Company : Godrej Sara Lee
Agency : Publicis


Brand Analysis Count : 301

Hit is a major brand in the Rs 900 crore home insecticide market in India. The home pesticide market can be divided into two segments : one that is used as repellents like cream ,coil, lotion ,liquidator etc which does not kill the insects and the other category is the Insect Killers which consists of aerosols, chalks, poison etc. Hit belongs to the insect killer category.

Godrej Sara Lee are considered as pioneers in creating and developing the home pesticide market in India.Brands like Goodknight, Jet, Banish ,Hit makes the company the industry leader.
Most of the marketing action takes place in the repellent segment where there is war between brand like Goodknight , Mortien, Allout etc.

Insect killer category is minuscule in size compared to the other segment. According to a report in Equity Master, the insect killer segment is only 15% of the total market. Hit is a major player in this segment especially in the aerosol category.
What is interesting about this brand is the effort that the company has put to develop the aerosol category and also to build this brand.
Hit was launched in 1991. The brand came with two variants : one for killing flying insects and another for killing cockroaches. The brand separated these two variants by using two different colors : one red and another black.
Hit was well received in the market but there was issues regarding the price. The aerosols were too expensive costing around Rs 120 for a pack. Consumers found it less value-for-money and this severely restricted the popularity of aerosols. Only large 350 ml cans were available which again inhibited customers from buying the product. The use of aerosols were restricted to households which had grave insect/cockraoch problems and other households managed with crude methods . Within the two variants, the Cockroach killer was more popular among households.

Hit was marketed heavily by Godrej Sara Lee. This brand is in a product category that is less glamorous. But Hit was promoted smartly by the company. The brand was giving an important promise of a "Pest Free Home " to the homemaker. The brand was essentially targeting the homemakers.

Hit started a series of ads with the theme of a smart homemaker killing all the cockroaches and making her home ' pest free' . The homemaker after killing the cockroaches said " Kyonki ye mera Khar hain " ( This is my house ! ) . That was a perfect tagline for a pesticide. The ads were very effective in positioning Hit at a place above the functional utility of the product.

Another interesting campaign showed the homemaker in a James Bond style chasing and killing cockroaches. The idea was communicated effectively and humorously by these campaigns. The consumer insight is very simple : We feel that pests are intruders. So when the house is infested with pests, we feel that our house is taken over by them and by killing them we take back OUR house.Unwelcomed guests/pests are not allowed.

Despite these campaigns , the category did not grew because of the higher price. Then came the price reduction. Along with the price reduction brand also came out with smaller cans of 250 ml .The price of Hit was dropped drastically . The brand launched smaller SKUs and when the price went below Rs 50 , customers began to look at this product category.

In 2007 Hit ran a very interesting commercial to announce the price cut. It talked about a QUIT INDIA Movement with a twist. The news-like commercial showed a Chinese news reporter reporting an insect invasion of China. Lakhs of insects invading the country. In the climax , it is shown that because of the price of Hit being reduced to Rs 49, insects from India are fleeing to neighboring countries.
Watch the ad here : Quit India

The ad is aimed at bringing the customers into the category of aerosol and thus developing this category as a preferred solution for the problem. The brand also has a cockroach- killing chalk which is highly popular solution for the cockroach menace .
Besides these campaigns, the brand also improved upon the product by introducing a unique applicator which can reach many places where the cockroaches hide.

Hit faces competition from Baygon brand from Bayer. Baygon is not as aggressive a marketer as Hit so not much problem in that front. But a threat is brewing in the form of some new brands that has hit the market. One brand is STOP and another is Quitmos. Stop is running a campaign in the visual media highlighting a major differentiating factor : Non Pesticidal.

As a consumer, I have a strong belief that all these pesticides are harmful to humans. Since it kills insects, some harm is done to us also. But the problem force us to take the risk of using such products. STOP promotes itself as a safe insect protector ( especially flying insects) . On a closer look at STOP reveals that it is not an insect killer but a repellent. I bought it because of its non- pesticidal property which I found a compelling reason to choose it over other aerosols. There is a possibility that such 'safe' aerosols can eat away the market share of the Hit Fly Killer variant.

However there is going to be a huge potential for brands like Hit because the insect menace is going to stay . Consumers like fast and effective solution of such menaces. Hit has rationalized the price making the category more affordable. The heavy investment that Godrej has made on this brand is definitely going to take this brand to new heights.

Wishing All A Rocking 2008

Time to say good bye to 2007. A year that saw India shining and rising. 2007 was great for all marketing lovers. The year saw more consolidation than new launches. Marketers was busy concreting their own positions in the market place rather than setting the markets on fire with new product launches.Fireworks were in communicating rather than in new launches.

As usual HUL proved its marketing might with some ground breaking campaigns for Surf and Lifebuoy.HLL transformed itself to Hindustan Unilever Ltd this year.

The new product winner 2007 was Bingo which is giving Lays sleepless nights. Motorola gave jitters to Nokia with some cool commercials. 2007 also saw the rejuvenation of marketer's interest towards celebrities. Now ordinary models are replaced by celebrities and celebrities almost became commodities.2007 also saw the rise of retail. The impact on this will be seen in 2008 when these majors starts launching their private labels.
This year also saw an old icon reentering the scene. Reliance relaunched Vimal in 2007 as a part of their overall retail strategy.
2007 will be remembered as a year of confectioneries. The new launches and branding was like crazy in this category .

The dampeners of 2007 are clearly the Cola majors Pepsi and Coke. Both these brands could not impress either the consumers or the media.

2008 is going to be exciting with lot of marketing fireworks across domains. This blog will be there tracking all the happenings.

Wishing all readers a very happy new year

Brand Update : Alpenliebe

Alpenliebe has launched a new chocolate variant named Chocoduet Alpenliebe . The campaign features the brand ambassador Ms Kajol and the animated crocodile . Infact recently only I came to know that the name of the crocodile is Mr Munch. One of my readers has jokingly remarked that the crocodile is the symbolic representation of Ajay Devgan . Although personally I hated the new campaign, there are ofcourse a lot of people who liked the freshness of the campaign (???) .However I think that the croc and Kajol is set to stay for Alpenliebe.
Watch the ad for Chocoduet here : Chocoduet

Perfetti had entered the chocolate echlair market with the brand Chocoliebe. The company also has a chocolate flavored candy Chocotella. This time, the company is filling the line with the chocolate variant of Alpenliebe.
It is interesting to note the brand name strategy of Chocoduet. The brand name is set in such a manner that the new variant will not affect the core brand Alpenliebe. Alpenliebe is a pure sugar filled caramel candy.When a chocolate variant is launched, the new taste & form is totally different from the core brand can dilute the primary association of the core brand. Hence the name Chocoduet is being promoted as the primary brand and Alpenliebe in a sense endorses Chocoduet. If successful, Chocoduet may be developed as an individual brand otherwise it will be silently taken off the market.
On the promotions front, the brand has not been using the Mr Munch to the fullest. Mr Munch could be used in OOH aswellas through cartoons and virals - something like adventures of Mr Munch ( targeted at kids). There is one problem also in promoting Mr Munch because Nestle owns the brand Munch and this can land Perfetti in trouble over trademark violation.
With regard to the core brand Alpenliebe, I still have the opinion that the new positioning ' lalach aaha Laplap" does not come anywhere near the earlier positioning of ' every moment is an occasion to celebrate '

Related brand
Alpenliebe

Another Milestone for Marketing Practice

Marketing Practice reached another milestone. The blog now has information and analysis of 300 Indian brands. To mark this milestone, I selected a true case of successful branding- Hyundai Santro .
I also thank all the readers and my students who has inspired me keep this project going.

I wish all the readers MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Santro : The Sunshine Car

Brand : Santro
Company : Hyundai Motors
Agency : Saatchi & Saatchi

Brand Analysis Count : 300

Santro is a fine example of successful branding. It is a classic example of successful marketing in Indian context. Santro was launched in India in 1998. When Hyundai was contemplating its foray into the Indian market, it was planning to launch a C segment car ( Accent) . But however, Hyundai changed its strategy and launched Santro in the tough small car market.

Santro is the Indian version of the successful Hyundai model Atos. Hyundai was faced with lot of perception issues prior to the launch of Santro. The issue was with regard to the country of origin. Indians were unsure about Korean products especially automobiles. Hence the first task was t o ensure that Indian consumers develop a positive association with Korean car makers.
Second issue was developing a corporate image for Hyundai. Since cars are high involvement product, customers will make a choice looking on the maker, service support, spares availability , quality etc. Hence the launch of Santro should also launch the corporate brand Hyundai.
Third issue was about the design of Santro. Santro was designed to be a tall boy car and initial product testing revealed that Indians didnot liked the tall boy design. So the unenviable task for Hyundai was to make Indian consumers like Santro.

The fourth issue was the grip of Maruti on the Indian car market. The B segment was dominated by Zen which has proved itself to be a reliable workhorse. Zen was the preferred and logical upgrade to 800 and the car was considered to be the most reliable and powerful in that segment. To convert the potential Zen users to Santro was really a nightmare for any marketer.
Hyundai marketers had a tough task ahead. A lot was dependent on Santro's success. For the brand launch, Hyundai roped in Saatchi & Saatchi as the ad agency.
Thus came the first commercial : Watch the first Santro commercial here : Santro 1
The ad introduced Kim and Shah Rukh and a glimpse of the car. Kim was the Hyundai official who wanted SRK to be the brand ambassador for Santro. The name Kim was chosen wisely because the only familiar Korean name known to Indians was KIM .The ad introduced the brand and the company with a subtle statement from Kim : We settle only for the best.
The first ad was followed by teaser ads where Kim tries to convince SRK that Hyundai is serious about India, the quality issue and the brand Santro.
Watch the two launch ads : Here & Here
These ads really created a hype in the market about Santro. Teaser ads are dangerous and expensive. Dangerous because if the teaser failed to click, the entire product launch will land up in trouble . Another issue is that the brand should follow up the hype built by teaser ads. In the case of Santro, the teasers were intelligently made and clicked.
Finally came the launch ad which showed Shah Rukh who represented the Indian consumer saying " I am Convinced" to Kim. Shah Rukh fitted perfectly to the promotional scheme of Santro.
Along with the launch came the criticism. Understandably the criticism was towards the tall boy design of Santro . There were reports which called Santro the Ugly car. Santro answered that through its performance. Indian consumers experienced a new way of driving comfort. More than the campaigns, it was the performance that made Santro a runaway success.
With in 4 years of launch , Santro became the second largest selling car in India displacing Zen. Those who wrote bad about the tall boy design began to write about the advantages of this tall boy design.
Santro was initially positioned on the design aspect. It turned its biggest disadvantage into an advantage. But later , Santro was positioned itself as a complete family car. The brand was targeting those 800 users who wanted to upgrade into the B segment. The target market was the 35-45 yrs middleclass Indians.
All through these years, Hyundai also came out with product improvements and upgrades. Santro Zipplus was launched focusing more on the zippy nature of the car. But then came the competition. Maruthi launched Alto and Wagon R and came Indica which displaced Santro from the second position. The brand was also facing the issue of looking dated. It was time for Hyundai to reposition the brand.
Hyundai changed Santro completely in 2003. The entire design was changed and new Santro was launched as Santro Xing. Santro Xing launch ad also featured SRK and Kim. Santro Xing gave a new life to Santro. The car looked more spacious and the looks was contemporary.
Santro along with the new looks also changed its TG from 35- 45 to 25 -30. The brand felt that Santro should be considered as the first car rather than the upgrade. The brand wanted to appeal to the first time car buyers . To catch the young buyers, the brand was positioned as "Sunshine car' . Santro roped in Priety Zinta also as the brand ambassador.
Watch the commercial here : Sunshine car
Sunshine was communicating two intangibles : Freshness and youthful attitude. The brand was moving to a " Change your life " positioning. Priety was the sunshine girl. The big idea was that Santro will bring sunshine to your life. A car that can change the life of a young Indian.
As usual the campaign and the new Santro was a big hit. Along with these campaigns, Santro also ran some ads focusing on promoting the brand as the first choice rather than as an upgrade.
The last campaign of Santro was highlighting the virtues of a Santro users.
Watch the campaign here : Santrowale
The campaign was to portray Santro users as smart and intelligent and the ad was pitted against a similar campaign of Wagon R

After nine years of launch, Santro is facing its maturity stage in its PLC . The sales have stagnated and price war from Maruti and a slew of launches like Chevy Spark , have hurt the sales of Santro. Santro is also banking on price cuts and sales promotions to stay afloat. Hyundai has recently launched a new brand i10 to take the place of Santro. With the imminent launch of Tata's 1 lakh car in 2009, Santro may be used as a low priced flanking brand for i10 in future.
Santro is the best example of managing a product lifecycle. Santro has managed to keep its market position by regular upgrades, product changes , relaunches and repositioning. It has been consistent in delivering excellent quality and functional performance through out its life. The brand is still a preferred upgrade for many middleclass car users.
On this context, I wish to cite a personal experience at the dealership experience I had while choosing my car. I inquired about Santro aswellas Alto at respective dealers in Cochin . While the Maruti dealers were constantly following up with offers and schemes, I was surprised to find that Santro dealer was least interested in making a sale. Complacency has already crept in at the dealer points ( my perception). Understandably so because sales were happening without much effort. As a marketing professional, I feel that Santro is losing some 10 % sale because of this laidback approach of its dealers.

Santro still has lot of fuel to keep itself going. But for that Hyundai may have to keep the price down so that potential Alto users can strech a bit and buy Santro. There is a chance that with the launch of i10, the focus on Santro will slowly decrease and that is a bad news for all those who love this brand.

Kangaro : Organizing Documents World Over

Brand : Kangaro
Company : Kanin ( Kangaro Industries Ltd)

Brand Count : 299

This is a short post about an offbeat brand. I have neither seen an ad nor any promotions of this brand but for over a decade I have been using this brand. If you work in an office ( in India) you may have definitely used Kangaro staplers.
Kangaro is a major player in the office stationery market especially in staplers and paper punches. The brand is from Janki Dass Jain group from Ludhiana. The company was established in 1958-59 and has been a leading player both in domestic and international markets.

The only reason why one may have never seen an ad of Kangaro is that it operates in the B2B market where more than ad, the stress is on personal sales. Having been a user of Kangaro products, there are certain factors that makes this brand stand out.

The first factor is the quality of both the staplers and the stapler pins. Kangaro has offered exceptional and consistent quality because I have personal experience in using local staplers which either rusted very fast or caused problems while stapling. According to the brand website Kangaro has won some international awards in quality which has enabled it to build its reputation worldwide.

Another factor was the attention the company has given to packaging. Kangaro staplers and pins comes in packages which looks truly international. The use of white and green ( usual color of Kangaro stapler box) gives it an elegant look.There has been some trademark lawsuits when Kangaro challenged some players who copied some of the design elements.
Third factor is the support that the retailer gives for this brand. Ask for a stapler or a punch , more often, the retailer choice is Kangaro.

The brand since it operates in the B2B segment faces the issue of competition from local players aswellas cheap products from china. That is where the issue of branding comes into prominence. When the product faces competition from similar low priced manufacturers, brand makes the difference. Kangaro have already made its reputation across the business segments worldwide and the quality has been the prime differentiator.
Starting from staplers, the brand has extended itself to clips, gun takers, lever arch mechanisms etc. The company has also added a slew of staplers for various uses both business and houses. From the ordinary looking staplers, the product has evolved to become more stylish and elegant.
Kangaro is an example of branding without advertising. But with the market becoming cluttered with price competition and a segment of home-office growing, there is a good reason for this brand to start campaigning.