Marketing during Recession

The global economy has already moved into recession. Reading business dailies has become akin to watching horror movies. Predictions about job losses and credit crunch makes one nervous about the near future.

Lot of bloodshed happening in United States, the reverberations of problems in the World's largest economy is bound to hurt many countries including India. Much of the problems are happening in the financial sectors but analysts are predicting that consumer markets are going to face the music in the near future.

The next three quarters are going to give marketers sleepless nights. For the past one decade, Indian marketers were facing a vibrant consumer markets which was heavily supported by an aggressive credit market. Banks were luring consumers with loans and prompting them to buy as if the world ends with in one year.

The euphoria is slowly dying down and the credit crunch is going to take a toll on the consumer market also. Housing markets are already facing the heat.

So what should a marketer do in times of recession.

Time to introspect :
Recession is a good period for marketers to take an objective look at their brand portfolio. When there is euphoria, value takes a backseat and consumers indulge. When the time goes tough, consumers tighten their purse strings and value comes to the driving seat.
This is the time to see which brand in your portfolio offers more value to the consumer. If your sales are going down like hell , its the time to re-engineer the brand's value proposition.
Invest in brands
Usually the initial reaction by marketers in respond to recession is to cut marketing cost. On the contrary its time to invest in brands. You will be heard when all others are shutting their marketing mouths . Bargain with the media for the rates and invest in building your brand.

Seth Godin says its an opportunity of a lifetime

Be a paranoid
India is not yet in a recession but this is the time marketers should be paranoid about recession. Only those brands will survive who is prepared for a recession even during the sunny days. So meet your brand managers and ask them what to do when India moves into recession. Have plan B, C D and E ready.
If India does not move into recession, thats a great news. If it does, then your brand will be ready.

Cut Costs
Even if you are selling a premium brand, cut costs like hell. Cut costs and not investments. Invest in your brand, put lot of advertisements but cut cost in media, raw materials etc. Strive to lower your brand's break-even points to new lows.

Partner your stakeholders
You may not be able to survive recession on your own. So partner your stakeholders be it your lenders or customers or employees or your channel partners. Create an ecosystem of trust and kinship and face the downturn together. It will be worth it.

Trade Up or down
Super Luxury brands are often less affected by the downturn. Those who can afford a Merc is not going to buy a Maruti 800. Its those brands aiming at the middleclass who are going to be hit by the downward slide.
So if your brand is somewhere in between super luxury and low-priced, its time to get into the drawing board. Remember Walmart makes more money during the recession than during good-times.

Listen to your customers
Your customers will tell you how to beat recession. Only thing is that you have to ask them. Atleast understand them . So when customers starts tightening their purse, you can do that too. Also they will tell you how much they can pay you. Listen to that and do it.


I agree that its more risky to invest in new products during recession times, if you cannot ,then cut your cost. If your company is the lowest cost producer then you have a better chance of survival.

Kalikkudukka : Catching them Young

Brand : Kalikkudukka
Company : Malayala Manorama


Brand Analysis Count : 352

Kalikkudukka is one of my favorite brands - as a marketer and as a customer. Kalikkudukka is a Malayalam publication for nursery and primary school children. Kalikkudukka is from the Malayala Manorama Group which is one of the largest publishing house in the state of Kerala . The group publishes the largest circulated regional language newspaper in India which is Malayala Manorama.

The group publishes some of the popular publications in the state and also the national news-weekly brand - The Week.

Kalikkudukka is India's largest selling pre-school publication in India. The brand has a circulation of over 1,15,945 copies ( ABC Jan-June 08).

From a parent's point of view , Kalikkudukka is the best product that a pre-schooler can have. The magazine is full of pictures and stories that can keep a child engaged for hours. Till this September, the brand was a publication aimed at pre-schoolers but the brand repositioned itself last month targetting primary school students.

The new Kalikkudukka is following he format approved by Society for Early Learning ( source : company news ) and includes a new section prepared in line with the nursery school syllabus.
The repositioning of this brand is in line with the customer needs. Keralites are too concerned about the education of the kids and I should say that we are too bothered about kid's exam and syllabus. The brand knows this psychology and has changed to suit the customer's needs.


My child is only four year old and she is eager to get this magazine. Parents also get a chance to spent quality time with the kids reading and drawing together . There are songs, stories, quiz, coloring sections, cartoons, action songs, riddles etc. Every section carries pointers to parents and teachers regarding the utility of these items.

What I like most about this publication is the care that the editors has put on the continuity of the content. For example, if the cover of the issue feature an animal lion, then there will be a story about lion, pictures of lion, a song about a lion, coloring picture of lion etc in that issue. This makes sure that the kid is reinforced again and again and he/she is able to identify this animal after reading that issue.

The most challenging issue for any publication marketer is the content. For a pre-school magazine, the challenge is more . But this brand has the backing of a major publishing group and the brand has been able to maintain the standard of the publication.

In a marketing perspective, the brand fills in an important need for a customer. There was a strong need for a pre-school publication for kids during the time this brand was launched.

Although there was lot of coloring and story books for kids, there was no regular weekly type of publication targeting this segment.
Malayala Manorama always had a strategy of looking at filling the publication needs of an individuals' life-stages. The segmentation strategy of this group was life-stage segmentation . Now the group has a publication for every life-stage of a typical Malayalee.

When the publication was launched in 1994, it was instantly well accepted by the parents. The brand also did lot of below-the-line marketing like road shows in schools, sampling and also made teachers recommend this publication to the parents.

More than these marketing efforts, it was the quality of this magazine which propelled it to become highly successful.
Taking inspiration from the success of this magazine, the group launched the English version branded as " Magic Pot " . Magic Pot is a fortnightly and is aimed at the national market. The brand already have crossed the 1 Lakh circulation figures since its launch in 2000.

Kalikkudukka is retailing at Rs 9 per issue and Magic Pot at Rs 12 per issue. These brands are also a stepping stone for kids towards other publications from the group. Typically the kids move from Kalikkudukka to Balarama- another publication from Malayala Manorama targeting older kids ( primary schoolers ).

According to Business Today the pre-school market is estimated to be around $ 985 mn and will be around $ 3426 Mn by 2012. After food, Indians spend maximum for education constituting around 9 % of the total household expenses. It is this willingness of the parents to spent that is driving the success of brands like Kalikkudukka.


The success of any brand lies in loyalty of its core customers. My little child have never seen the ad of Kalikkudukka. But she identifies this brand and demands that she gets this publication every week. To make a 4 year old brand loyal is not a child's play.

Your views on this brand is important and will add lot of value to the readers. Please share your valuable thoughts on this brand as comments.

Snickers : For the 4'O'Clock Hunger

Brand : Snickers
Company : Mars INC

Brand Analysis Count : 351

To the joy of all chocolate lovers, the world's largest selling chocolate Snickers is now officially in India. The brand has been selling like hot cakes in India as an imported chocolate. Now Mars INC has formally launched the brand in India.

Snickers is owned by Mars Inc which is a $21 Billion company headquartered in US. The company belong to Mars Family which has a rich heritage dating back to 1911. Snickers is the largest selling chocolate in the world with a sales of over $ 2 Billion. Mars Inc is famous for its famous Mars chocolate which have a huge fan following across the world. It also markets the brands like M&M and Bounty.

Snickers has been a favorite of Indian chocolate lovers who devoured this chocolate bought either from the duty paid shops or brought in by the NRIs. But over the last two years , the brand has been available in most bakery's across the country . A report in Business Standard ( June 08) suggest that the imported Snickers and Mars outsold Cadbury's and local brands.

Snickers was born in 1930. The brand acquired the name from one of the favorite horses owned by Mars family

Snickers has been soft launched in India. There are no media reports or Press releases announcing the launch of this brand. I am not sure whether Mars Inc has started producing this chocolate from Indian factories or its still imported.

Snickers is a heavy chocolate with peanut, milk chocolate and caramel. Globally it is positioned as a snack rather than a chocolate . In India too, Snickers has been positioned as a snack.
What is interesting about Snickers launch in India is that the brand chose to localise the brand communication . The first TVC of this brand is made for India and made in India.

Watch the TVC here : Snickers India

Usually MNC brands try to import their global communications to India to create that global image. How ever Snickers chose to be Indian from the very beginning.

Snickers is positioned as a snack food. More specifically , the brand is being positioned as a snack food to fight the Four' O ' Clock hunger. The brand has the Hindi Tagline " Hunger Baja Char . Snicker Khol Yaar " , translated to " When 4'o'clock hunger strikes, open Snickers bar".

The positioning of Snickers is not very different from its competitors. Remember that CadburyPerk had the same positioning as a snack. However Snickers have a strong fan following in India even before its official launch.

For many years chocolate marketers have been struggling to teach Indians to take chocolates when you feel hungry. But so far they are not able to break into the mindset of Indian consumers. Indians don't consume chocolates when hungry. Chocolates are mostly taken after you take some food or they take it when they want some thing sweet . Why because Indian consumers don't consider chocolate as a food. So Snickers will be fighting the age old perception and will have a tough time teaching Indian consumers new lesson.

Snickers will have a tough time in India. Most of the chocolate manufacturers are faced with stagnant sales . To sustain the initial momentum is not going to be easy. Globally the brand has been trying hard to prove that Chocolates are good for health. It had undertaken many studies which prove that chocolates can be good for health. These studies are also very controversial and sparked many debates about its validity.

Snickers has the advantage of a strong cash rich parent and a strong brand equity. It will be interesting to see how this global brand breaks into Indian market.

Brand Update : Whisper

It has been long time I updated about the brand Whisper. Whisper has been a challenger brand . During the launch in 1989, this brand challenged the market leader Stayfree which was rather complacent from being the market creator and the leader. 

By smart brand building, Whisper made Stayfree shudder by garnering 40% share in the market. 

The last two years has seen a brilliant marketing fight between Stayfree and Whisper. Johnson & Johnson sharpened their marketing skills and regained its dominant position by waging a price war. 

J&J knew that P&G was burdened with high cost and it could not lower the price of Whisper. Further Whisper was positioned as a premium brand. The price was enabled Stayfree to retain the leadership position in the Rs 700 crore Sanitary Napkin market in India.

But Whisper did carry the fight on price by launching Whisper Choice which was the affordable variant for the price sensitive consumer. Its expected that Whisper Choice will bring in the volumes and take on the fight for leadership position.

Another significant development which prompted me to update this brand is the current campaign. 

Whisper has recently launched its global campaign "  Have a Happy Period " campaign in the Indian market. I sat in a state of disbelief when I first came across the campaign that boldly used the word " Period " ( common usage for Menstrual period) .  I think its the first time in India that some brand has expressively used this term in the mass media. 

Most of the ads for sanitary napkins shy away from the usage of  word 'Periods'  in their ads . Most used term was " Woh Din " meaning ' those days ' to denote the menstrual periods. So the new campaign made me curios as to whether Indian consumers have  matured enough to hear such terms through mass media. 

The campaign " Have a Happy Period " was created in 2005 by Ms Denise Fedowa who was a VP at Leo Burnett Chicago. This campaign is still running across various countries.  According to a report in Adweek, research shows that consumers are telling the marketers to be transparent and frank in their communications. 

The success of this campaign is a proof that consumers are  accepting frankness in marketing communication as long as it does not cross the limit of decency . 

Read a wonderful article in adweek here : Talk Dirty

P&G thinks that Indian consumers are also mature enough to understand the new found frankness with regard to Whisper. I agree because the TG of Whisper belongs to the educated sophisticated ladies who have more liberal world view. We are living in a generation where parents are not shy in telling their kids about menstrual periods and physiological changes. 

What is more interesting is that along with these campaigns, P&G is also running a below-the-line campaign called  Whisper School Health and Hygiene Education . The program tries to educate the teens about hygiene and care during these periods. The samples of Whisper is also distributed to the Teens. 

The idea behind the campaign is to catch the customers at the Point of Market Entry Stage . ( source ET). The kids are introduced to the brand at a time when they are about to use the category. And once the customer uses these kind of products, they stick to the brand. 

In order to build a community around the brand and also to encourage customers to talk about the brand, Whisper has launched a website specifically for this brand. The site is beinggirls.com which encourages the customers to interact with each other. The site also serves as a media to spread product information and new launches from the brand. 

I used to tell in marketing classes that one of the ways to increase the sales of a product is to find new uses for the product. I found an interesting report that AIIMS is planning to use sanitary napkins as bandages because its hygienic and have excellent absorbing qualities. Read here . 

Related Brand

Whisper

Tic Tac : The New Hello

Brand : Tic Tac
Company : Ferrero
Agency : Orchard

Brand Analysis Count : 350

Tic Tac is world's leading mint confectionery. This brand belongs to the Italy based Ferrero Group which owns some iconic confectionery brands like Ferrero Roche and Kinder Joy.

Tic Tac is trying its luck in the Rs 180 crore mint confectionery market in India which is dominated by the likes of Polo , Chlormint and the likes.

Tic Tac is differentiated from the rest of the crowd on the following aspects :

Packaging : Tic Tac comes in a special transparent plastic box with a flip open lid. The compact box acts as a clear differentiator for the brand. The packs are easy to carry and easy for the customer to use.

Form : Tic Tac is also different in terms of the product form. The small mints are called tic tacs are uniquely shaped and looks beautiful.

Flavors : Tic Tac 's main differentiator is the flavors. The brand is available in many flavors including fruit flavors. This helps the customer to break the monotony . Since consumers exhibit variety seeking buying behavior when buying confectionery , the many flavors help the brand immensily .

Ever since the launch last year, the brand has been investing heavily in communication.The initial communication was focusing on the main benefit of freshness . The tagline of the brand was " Natural Mint , Natural Flavors ".

The ads of Tic Tac was well made which showed the rain following a young man. Rain indicating freshness. The focus of the ad was to reinforce the connection of mint and freshness.

Currently the brand has repositioned itself on a new platform. The brand is now running a commercial positioning the brand as a conversation starter. (similar to Timex )
The brand has a new tagline " The new hello ".

Watch the commercial here : the new hello
What I like about the ad ( library ad ) was that the models look very ordinary and that makes the brand more approachable.
Tic Tac also made sure that the brand is available at a reasonable price point. The brand is retailing at Rs 10 which makes it attractive .

Tic Tac in a way has made every marketing mix elements right for the Indian market. The product is good and well differentiated . The brand is at an attractive price point , the product is available at most of the outlets and the company has been investing in brand communication.
The new positioning statement also has the strength to sustain few years .

Brand Update : Titan

Titan has launched a new series of watches. The series is called Titan-WWF series. This series isbeing launched in collaboration with the International NGO -Worldwide Fund for Nature ( WWF).

Titan and WWF had entered into a tie-up to celebrate the World Environment Day. World Environment day is celebrated on June 5 every year. This year's theme is on Low Carbon Economy.

The current launch is an extension of the tie- up between Titan and WWF.

The aim of the collection is to raise the awareness about endangered species among Indian consumers. The new series is inspired by six species of animals who are fast getting endangered. The six species are

Indian Tiger
Indian Rhino
Gangetic River Dolphin
Red Panda
Whale Shark
Oliver Ridley Turtle.

The collection is targeted at the new generation consumers who wants to express their concern about animals and nature .

According to press reports, some contribution will go to the WWF from every sale of these series of watches.
More than the monetary part, this collection is aiming at the non-monetary benefit of awareness among the public. These series of watches are priced at the range of Rs 3000- 38000 and comes in 13 different styles.
Already the brand is running a series of print ads featuring the brand ambassador Aamir Khan.

The launch of this series is a good move by the brand to add a touch of social equity to the brand. Its a way for a brand to show concern to matters that affect the consumer . Another positive about this series is that the designs looks good and may prompt many customers to buy this brand because of the style rather than the cause.

On the negative side , Titan is far ahead of its time because Indian consumers are less sensitive towards Nature ( my opinion ). Hence I am doubtful about the actual number of customers who will opt for this series for the actual cause. The sale of this series will be a good indicator of Indian consumer's sensitivity towards this cause.

Related Brand
Titan