Market Statistics : IRS 2008 Round 2

The latest Indian Readership Survey Round 2 results are out. The top newspapers of India interms of their Average Issue Readership ( AIR) are as follows

1. Dainik Jagran : 1.62 crores
2. Danik Bhaskar : 1.30 crores
3. Hindustan : 92.73 Lakhs
   
4. Malayala Manorama : 84.17 Lakhs
5. Amar Ujala : 80.73 Lakhs
6. Daily Thanthi : 76.81 Lakhs
7. Enadu : 68.31 Lakhs
8. Times of India : 67.12 Lakhs
9. Ananda Bazar pathrika : 66.76 Lakhs
10. Rajasthan Pathrika : 66.71 Lakhs

There exists now a confusion between AIR and TR ie Average Issue Readership and Total Readership.

Media planners use AIR to decide on their media plan. AIR refers to the estimated readers for a single issue. Average Issue readership is derived from the recency. Recency denotes the number of people who have read the publication within the publication interval. For example for Dailies , the AIR is those who have read the paper yesterday.

Total Readership is the cumulative of AIR and Claimed Readership ( CR) . While AIR is the readership for one insertion, CR is used in a broader perspective to include addons and supplements.

The readership surveys use the Masthead method. In this method , the respondent is shown the Masthead of the publication and is asked whether he has read the publication.

The major difference between CR and AIR is that AIR denotes those who have read the publication with in the publication time interval. While CR represents those readers who claim to have read the publication but may or may not have read it in the interval .

So if a respondent say that he has not read a paper yesterday then he will not be considered as an Average Issue Reader. How ever if he claims to have been reading this paper but not yesterday , he will be considered in Claimed readership figure.


From IRS 2008 Round 2 , MRUC has moved to Total Readership as the standard rather than AIR. Some media planners are of the opinion that AIR provides better information about the reach of a publication rather than TR.

Usually Claimed Readership figures are more because of replication.

The latest IRS results also has thrown in some interesting trends in the media habits of Indian consumers.

Regularity of reading print media including both dailies and magazines have come down .The average frequency of reading also has come down for all print media. The average viewing / listening time for media like TV , Radio and Internet has increased.

The average time spent on media like TV , Radio increased while the time spent on print has declined. Average time spent in television is 99.4 minutes and 81.1 minutes on radio. How ever time spent on Internet has declined.

Another interesting fact is that the fragmentation in Television media has caused a decline in the time spent with one channel. That means that viewers are not brand conscious with regard to television channels but are program conscious. On the other hand time spent per title for print has gone up.
It was also revealed that print media is losing out in claiming the attention of young Indians. The readership for print among the age group 20-29 has declined by over 16 %.

Some interesting links for further reading
Exchange 4 Media
IRS

Rapidex English Speaking Course : Best Seller

Brand : Rapidex English Speaking Course
Company : Pustak Mahal

Brand Analysis Count : 357

Rapidex English Speaking Course is an offbeat brand. A brand which has been in existence for over 15 years has not come into limelight as an example of a good marketing practice.

Rapidex English Speaking Course is a book ( series) from the famous publishing house - Pustak Mahal. This is a book aimed at those people who would like to speak plain spoken English.

I was surprised to find that this book has been in the best seller list for long time. According to the publisher website , Rapidex has sold more than 25 million copies so far, making it one of the most successful book brands in India.

Its also a unique brand where the publisher has tried to promote this book as a product by carefully crafting all the marketing mix strategies.

The product is a very simple straight forward book. Rapidex English Speaking Course is designed as a self study book published in local language like Hindi, Tamil , Malayalam etc . The aim of the book is to give basic spoken English lessons to the reader.

The target segment consists of those who have education but lack the ability to speak English.
The product priced reasonably at Rs 150 also is in line with the value proposition. This book is often taken by those who are worried about getting a job and want to learn to speak basic English quickly.

Pustak Mahal has invested heavily in building this brand. The single column print ads were frequently placed in newspapers and magazines. The tipping point for this brand came when the legendary cricketer Kapil Dev endorsed this course. Kapil was frank in admitting that he benefited from this book. This singe endorsement took the brand sales to new heights.

Another interesting feature I have noticed is that all these years, the brand has never changed its looks. The color schemes and the calligraphy still remains the same. The brand has been able to create a distinct identity by retaining all these brand elements.

The brand buoyed by the success of the English course tried its luck by launching Rapidex computer course. But to my knowledge the extension was not as successful as the parent product.

Now India is seeing a new wave of English language courses. With the Call center boom, new format of language training has evolved and has emerged as a big business. Even in this period, Rapidex is holding on as the first step in the spoken English learning. To keep up with the changing needs, the book also now comes with tutor CDs.

Rapidex is a good example of successful marketing practice. The brand could do more if its able to raise its share of voice positioning itself as the best self study spoken english course available in the market. We already have a culture which consider English learning important. And Indian consumers are aware that the present education does not add much importance in enhancing English speaking skills.
In such a scenario, the relevance of Rapidex brand is as high as in the past.

Best Marketing Practice : Living the Story

Every brand has a story and the success of the brand depends on how well they tell the story to the consumers.
After a near -death experience in the Indian market, Yamaha have slowly started telling a compulsive story. In my last update on Yamaha, I had blogged about their new launch Yamaha YZF R15. Priced at Rs 1,25000, the brand has already made a strong start.

R 15 is positioned as the urban racing machine. The brand boasts about its racing instinct and most of the auto reviews have written positive words for this machine.

Last day I was watching the Auto Car show in UTV i and happen to see the report on the racing championship for R 15 owners held in October 2008. The first racing event was held in September.
I consider this event as one of the best marketing practice where a brand truly living the dreams it has painted for its customers.

The racing event promoted by Yamaha was not for the racing professionals but for the ordinary owners or R 15. But the entire racing was done on the professional race track. So many guys were able to realize their dream of participating in an actual race using their bike.

Its not the first time that a bike brand associating itself with racing . TVS Apache RTR was positioned along the racing platform. Even the market leader in performance bike - Pulsar also was associated with racing attributes.

But R 15 has gone the extra mile by making racing real by launching such an event. I bet that many of those R 15 owners who participated in the race was seeing the racing track for the first time. They also got the chance to burn the rubber and live their dream - thanks to the brand.
This event is also an outcome of the clear understanding of the consumers who buy such a bike.

Those who can shell out Rs 1 lakh for a bike will definitely a bike enthusiast who wanted to burn the rubber and make a statement. These customers will also be the key opinion leaders among their community be it students or professionals. So a racing event will be the best possible way to make them feel good about their purchase.

The customers of R 15 can participate the event by paying a nominal amount of Rs 500. According to the report , the company will handle the transportation of the bike to the racing venue. The riders are given enough training before letting them loose on the race track.

The brand is going to have lot of advantages by organizing such an event. First is the reinforcement of the brand's positioning of a sports bike. The event also will make the opinion leaders to hook on to their brand. Those who have participated this even will cherish those moments and will have generated lot of positive word of mouth . It also will strengthen the case of pricing the brand at Rs 1.25 lakh .

Another interesting factor is that this event is not for potential customers but existing customers. So this case is an example of a successful "After Marketing' . 'After Marketing ' is a jargon that is used for all marketing activities that are done after the sale is over.

Related Brand

Yamaha

Brand Update : i Pill

i Pill is a Morning - After contraceptive from Cipla . My earlier post on the launch of ipill in India has been one of the most popular post ( understandably so ! ) with lot of queries about this pill.

i-pill has not only generated lot of consumer interest but also many controversies. A google search on this brand will give you lot of opinions against this brand. There are reports suggesting that this brand is becoming popular among teenagers.

i-pill when launched was positioned as a product that will prevent unwanted pregnancy. The launch campaigns were carefully crafted in the family setting with a very relevant message highlighting the efficacy of the product as a solution to avoid unwanted pregnancy. The core message of the brand was that ipill will help you get on with life.

The brand has now launched another campaign with an entirely new message content.

Watch the new campaign here : I pill

The message of the new campaign is entirely different from the first series.

Now i-pill is being positioned as an alternative to abortion. The setting of the ad has been changed from family to a closeted conversation between two ladies.

In the new ad, the protagonist screams the word 'Abortion ' many times to highlight that ipill is an alternative to abortion.

I think there is a reason for this repositioning . When Ipill was launched, there were lot of criticism in the market that it is an abortion pill. And moral police in India consider abortion as a crime.

Cipla had to do lot of PR in order to convince the public that i-pill is an emergency contraceptive rather than a pill for abortion. The fight is still going on.

The new repositioning of i-pill as an alternative to abortion is a strategy by the brand to publicly tell the consumers that the brand is not a abortion pill. It also wanted to be projected as a safe alternative to abortion.

As a viewer, I think that the new campaign is of bad taste. The settings although realistic is little repulsive and the screaming of the word abortion also forced me to skip the ad . The launch campaign involving husband-wife , newly weds were brilliantly crafted and was far more superior to the current campaign.

I think that with the new campaign the brand gives a wrong message like " if you screwed up then use i-pill " . Although its true the brand could have communicated it in a better way.

Rather than pitching against abortion, the brand will make more sense if it rightly identifies the target segment. Abortion often is associated with infidelity. So when the brand positions as an alternative to abortion, there is a chance that it is perceived to be promoting infidility .

In a typical Indian family setting, suppose a couple encounters an unwanted pregnancy situation, there is a high chance that they will NOT go for an abortion. Abortion will be done if there are serious issues like financial and health issues. ( This is my opinion and not based on any data. If readers have further insights please feel free to comment. ) . Grudgingly the family braces to accept the new member.

If my hypothesis is true, then i-pill is taking the wrong stance.

It will be better for ipill to concentrate on the newly weds or young couple who often faces this dilemma stemming from sudden burst of love. Abortion is a negative word and why unnecessarily associate your brand with a negative term ?

Related Post
I Pill

Consumer Insight : The end of air travel as I see it !

This October 2008, in a move that surprised India Inc , Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines announced an alliance for sharing their resources and network. According to a report in Deccan Herald, the company announced that this alliance will share their resources in seven critical operational areas including routes and even employees but both these airlines will maintain their legal and brand entity.

Jet and Kingfisher controls approximately 60 % market share . While pundits and media glorified the swift move by the mavericks who head these companies, I see the formation of a cartel.

As a consumer I see it as the end of my air travels.

Both the companies cited the sluggish environment as the core reason for this deal. The rising fuel cost, the looming recession is definitely going to take a toll in the industry. It makes terrific sense for two major players to come together and share resources and cut costs. I also think this as a unique event when two competitors come together to face the looming threats.

But cartels are bad. Its very bad for a consumer.

I live in the state of Kerala where every sector is ruled by cartels. Where else do you find the Bus Owners forming a cartel in the name of union, auto drivers/owners forming cartels, Taxi owners forming cartels , Film stars have cartels, Film producers have cartels, Contractors have cartels, hotels have cartels, traders have cartels, jewelers have one and even the scavengers have formed cartels.

And Keralites suffer the highhandedness of these cartels. They hold the un-organized citizens at ransom to meet their demands. So we see buses off the road, traders shutting shop and even movie production getting stopped .

India currently lacks sufficient laws to identify and regulate such cartels. Sadly there is no political will to prepare one.

Coming back to the Jet- Kingfisher alliance.

What is going to be the result of such an alliance ? I foresee a significant drop in the competitiveness of the industry as a whole.

I am not a fan of Air Deccan but I credit the boom of Indian Airline industry to that brand. And the death of Air Deccan is going to be detrimental to the growth of this industry.( my personal opinion ).

I am not an expert in this domain but as a consumer I will try to defend my point. Please feel free to comment your thoughts.

I am not a frequent traveler ( not even a regular one ). My first flight where I paid from my pocket was with Air Deccan. Why I chose to fly was that it was affordable ( not cheaper).

There are three main customers for Airlines -

The rich travelers : These customers have the income to afford the travel. They either pay from their pocket or their business foot the bill. So whether there is a slowdown or not these guys will fly.
The Executives : These customers fly frequently but the bill is paid by the company. I feel this segment of consumers form a large chunk of air-travelers. When the economy slows down these class will travel less depending on the austerity measures of their organisations.

The ordinary ones : Well, I belong to this class. I would love to fly if its affordable. This category of customers may not travel regularly.

Air Deccan targeted the ordinary ones and that too successfully. But there was an interesting bonus to that strategy. Lot of corporates began to enable their executives to travel by air . The ceiling of air travel for executives have come down since the airline rates became affordable.

There was a time where an executive who earlier had only the eligibility to travel by First Class train was given the sanction to fly since the rate differential was negligible.

This saw a spurt in airline passengers. Both regular and first- time fliers. Those who have never flied before started looking for better rates.

And look at the way the infrastructure reacted to this new boom. New airports began to come up, jobs in the sector boomed and lot of new business catering to this sector began to evolve.

I agree that much of this boom can the attributable to the economic prosperity that we say in the recent past but the low cost airlines contributed significantly .

Now what is the scenario ?

With virtually no low-cost airlines , the entire industry is in turmoil. Companies have cut the eligibility for air travel why because it is now not affordable. So less number of regular fliers. Airports which came up anticipating large number of consumers see very few and they began to hike the airport charges which again is going to put off many fliers.

And the formation of Jet- Kingfisher is only going to make things tougher. This alliance is going to be a major entry barrier for any new player. And using the commanding postion, these two can silence the current competitors.

Rates will be high, service will be bad and ordinary people will travel by train...

Related Brand
Air Deccan

Samsonite : Life is a Journey

Brand : Samsonite
Company : CVC Capital Partners
Agency : TBWA
Brand Analysis : 356

A travel from luggage to footwear and watches can be an interesting journey for a brand. Samsonite is on such a journey. The global leader in luggage is on such transformational path from suitcases to a lifestyle travel brand.

Samsonite is a heritage brand with a history of 100 years. In 2010, Samsonite will be celebrating its 100 years of existence. The brand had its origin in 1910 when Jesse Shwayder started manufacturing luggage for travelers. The company was Jesse Shwayder Trunk Manufacturing company. The company was renamed to Samsonite in 1966. According to wikipedia, the brand was named after the biblical character Samson.

Samsonite is the second largest luggage brand in India trailing behind the market leader VIP. Samsonite is known for its premium luggage with major attribute being the strength and sturdiness.

The Indian luggage market is huge with a market size of Rs 2000 crore. But majority of the market is dominated by unbranded local players. The organised luggage market is only Rs 950 crores. VIP has a commanding market share of 60 % in the organized segment and Samsonite is having around 35-40% share.

When Samsonite was launched in India, it took on the fight directly with VIP by making the brand affordable to the Indian consumer. But in 2005, the brand took a major repositioning exercise by positioning the brand as a luxury brand. The repositioning was done using a series of print campaigns in leading magazines. The product portfolio was also rejigged by the inclusion of lot of bold colors and shapes.

The brand even had a campaign featuring the iconic Sir Richard Branson highlighting his choice for Samsonite. The brand has the tagline " Life is a journey ".

Samsonite has a multibrand strategy in the Indian market. It has a very powerful brand which offers affordable luggage solutions called American Tourister. Amercian Tourister is also an international brand which was acquired by Samsonite in 1993

American Tourister is famous worldwide as a study brand. Its famous among advertising fraternity for its iconic advertising of 1970.
Watch the iconic ad of American Tourister here : American Tourister

Samsonite also ventured into premium luxury luggage market in 2006 with its brand Samsonite Black Label. Black Label is a designer type series aimed at the luxury segment. The brand is priced above Rs 20,000.

The multi-brand strategy adopted by Samsonite is also an example of targeting different through different brands.

Samsonite Black Label : Targeting the elite travelers . The price range is above Rs 20,000
Samsonite Range : Targeting premium travelers . The price range is Rs 5000-20,000
American Tourister : Rs 1,000 - Rs 20000

In 2007 the brand did something unthinkable. It extended itself to marketing shoes.. Can you believe it ?
Samsonite shoes !!!!!!

When I first saw the print ad for Samsonite Shoes in a leading business magazine, I nearly fainted. I first thought it was crazy for a luggage brand to extend itself into shoes .
I never understood the connection between shoes and luggage in the first place ( may be I am not smart enough ! ).

Then came the logic. Samsonite is transforming itself from a luggage maker to a marketer of lifestyle products associated with travel. Now I get the connection.
The brand has expanded its scope to cover all products that are associated with travel. Hence we are going to see Samsonite watches , Samsonite Eyegear in the near future. This is the global strategy adopted by Samsonite across the markets.

I am not going to predict the outcome of this brand extension ( brand dilution ? ) . But does it make sense for a luggage maker to venture into shoes marketing and then making watches ?

According to reports Samsonite shoes will retail at prices above Rs 5000. So typically it will be competing with the major brands like Florsheim, Hush Puppies and the like.
Can a brand assume that if it is successful in a travel related product, it can succeed in marketing all products that have connection to travel ?

Take the case of watches. According to reports , Samsonite is planning watches that will automatically adjust to different timezones so a traveler need not correct his watch. But my question is whether a frequent flier choose an Omega , Cartier or a Samsonite watch ?

Marketing is a domain where there are no rules. If Apple can succeed in making ipod and then replicate their success with iphone then why not Samsonite ?

I have no answers... what do you think ? Will Samsonite taste success in its latest repositioning ?

Related Brand
VIP