Bosch : Invented for Life

Corporate Brand : Bosch
Agency : Saatchi & Saatchi


Brand Analysis Count : 364



Have you ever thought about the brand of wipers you have in your car? Ever thought about the brand of spark-plug of your bike ? How many of us have insisted to the mechanic that we need a specific brand of spark-plug or a wiper ?

Compare that to a consumer insisting on Pentium Core Duo for his computers.

Welcome to the world of ingredient branding.

Bosch want to be the Intel in the auto world or I would rephrase it to Bosch has the potential to be the Intel of Automotive industry.

Bosch is world's largest auto-component manufacturer with more than 275 subsidiary companies spread across the globe.Bosch has a history dating back to 1886 when Robert Bosch founded the company which was known as Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering.

The company came to India in 1951 as Motor Industries Company Ltd ( MICO) . The company established itself as a leader in spark-plugs . Infact MICO was almost generic to spark-plugs. At the not-so visible engineering industy, Bosch is famous of its motors, power tools, braking systems, etc.

Bosch India has operations in for verticals
Automobile components
Industrial technicals
Consumer goods and
Engineering and IT services.

In 2008 the company decided to rebrand its entire operations in India under the name Bosch .
Under this rebranding exercise , the company is currently running a heavy campaign across various media.

Watch the TVC here : Bosch

Before rebranding , MICO also invested heavily in building its brand presence across the country. Most of us are familiar with these names although we are not quite directly in touch with the products.

There are two markets for most of Bosch's products ( automotive) - Institutional and After market .

The institutional segment consists of the OEM segment where the consumers use Bosch products as a part of the standard equipment. The after market segment consists of the replacement of the worn-out products .

Bosch have a strong foundation in the OEM segment and has relationship with most of the major automotive companies in India. The brand was in news recently for collaboration with Tata Motors for the Nano project.
In the replacement market, the consumers leave the decision of spare parts to the workshops and the marketing is done through the distributors and dealers.

Bosch is a brand known for its engineering excellence and innovation. According to Superbrands.org, Bosch registers 2750 patents every year. The company is famous for its inventions like
Diesel fuel injection
Power tools
ABS
Bosch Traction control
Electronic stability program etc.

Infact the Bosch founder Robert Bosch was the first to introduce the eight hour work schedule long before it became a norm.

Another interesting fact about the company is that 92 % of Bosch is owned by a charity foundation and most of the profits are ploughed back to the company for growth and expansion. It is one of those rare private companies which are owned by a charitable foundation.

Bosch is a brand founded on innovation . The core brand value is innovation and engineering excellence. In 2004 , the brand acquired the tagline " Invented for Life " . The brand has lived up to its promise of innovation.

Another interesting fact which I discovered during my study on this brand was about Blaupunkt. Blaupunkt is a brand owned by Bosch ( I never knew that ! ). In 1929 Bosch launched the first car stereo radio system which created the way for the world famous Blaupunkt brand.

Bosch's branding initiative come under the ingredient branding. This is a special case of co-branding where we brand ingredients, components or parts which are contained within other branded products ( Kevin Lane Keller ) .

Although the current brand campaign by Bosch is driven by the rebranding exercise, I see an opportunity for Bosch to create an identity in the consumer's mind also. From my personal experience, my wiper for my car was not working properly and I changed it twice but still it shows problems. After seeing the ad, I am going to ask my mechanic to put Bosch wipers.

Although this may be a one-off case, it shows an opportunity for the brand in the after market. Battery marketers like Exide , Ameron etc had built the brand slowly using consumer targeted campaigns. Now consumers have started insisting on these battery brands.

Brand Update : Tata Indicom

Tata Indicom is currently running a new brand campaign extending the concept of " Listen to your heart " ( suno dil i awaaz " ) positioning. The new positioning is being reinforced using several tvcs featuring various celebrities . The brand has roped in Himesh Reshammiya, Karan Johar, Lalit Modi, Prachi Desai, Irfan and Yusuf Pathans as the brand ambassadors.

The ads shows these self-made successful persons talking about how they listen to their heart and achieved their dreams. All these personalities chose their profession based on their interest often defying the advice of their relatives and friends. The brand is celebrating their success.

This is classic case of brand laddering is supported by a 360 degree campaign by Tata Indicom including events, outdoors and conventional media vehicles.

After some rustic campaigns using Kajol and Ajay Devgan, the brand has finally found its core positioning platform.
I liked the slogan and the execution of the repositioning exercise. But somehow I fail to see a strong connect between the current positioning and the product. When Airtel talks about " expressing yourself " , its easy for us to connect to their core service.

But it is little difficult " listen to your heart " and Tata Indicom service. Hence the brand should have first established the connection between the current positioning and the brand.
According to the reports, the brand 's core idea is to empower people to listen to your heart. But where will the product fit in ?
Is it that you listen to your heart using Indicom
or
Those who use Indicom are the ones who have listened to their hearts ?

May be the brand is using the second proposition. Tata Indicom in a sense is trying to create the brand personality using these celebrities.

But I still feel the disconnect ..........

What do you think ?


Related Brand
Tata Indicom

Marketing in Recession

In my earlier post , I had pointed out some strategies for marketers to counter the recession. I think that Indian firms have realized that there is going to be a significant slowdown in the coming quarter.

Auto companies have taken a proactive step by reducing the prices. Most of the auto giants like Maruthi, Hyundai, Tata etc have reduced their prices by a significant amount. This move was further aided by the Central Government reducing the excise duty. These companies hope that the price reduction may boost sales.

But there is a limit to what a marketer can do inorder to tackle the slowdown. The marketer have limited option of reducing prices , increasing promotions etc . But these actions will not be sufficient to tackle the systemic issues that created this meltdown.

I am not an economist and hence I may not be able to give a detailed economic view of the current crisis. For that you may check out Harvard University Professor Greg Mankiw 's blog ( warning : its full of economics ) or IIM A Professor Jayanth Varma's blog ( warning : its full of finance ).

I am presenting my view about the larger issues that both the industry and the policy makers should be addressing. I am talking not as a marketing academic but as a middleclass consumer.

The current crisis that we face in India is different from that of USA. We currently do not have the sub-prime crisis . Although there is a real estate bubble, our banking system is sufficiently protected ( I hope so !) . But we face the ripple effect from the global crisis.

Indian Government has been proactive in its steps to ensure liquidity and providing confidence to the consumers and industries. To that extent, things are moving in the right direction.

I think that we have failed to understand the real issue behind this slowdown. The real problem is the slowing down of consumer demand and not the liquidity. Many marketers are pressuring governments to allow liberal credit to the consumers. That means banks will be offering easy credit to consumers which will then boost demand.

It will be suicidal to boost demand using cheap credit. The US market suffered because most of the growth was based on cheap credit.

I think that the consumer demand is going to go down more rapidly in 2009, because of the negative news spreading ( that includes this post also). If you examine the reason behind the eroding consumer confidence , there is only one - Job security.

When people lose jobs, they stop spending ( common sense). When the news of lay offs spreads, everyone stops spending and starts saving. The more the job losses, the more the fall in demand.When demand drops, companies cut jobs.....This is a vicious cycle

So when firms cut jobs, they are contributing to the bigger mess. This problem has a bigger magnitude in Indian context. Unlike USA, we don't have social security and most of the companies also doesn't provide one.

When Barack Obama talked about protecting US jobs and creating new jobs, I think he is moving in the right direction to tackle the fundamental issues.In India also , Prime Minister had made an appeal to corporates not to cut jobs ( there are political reasons for that since elections are around the corner).

It is time for the government to think about a broader social security plan in India. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is one of such initiative but not enough. I am not sure whether government is in a position to create a social security system , but some thinking has to be done in this direction.

Instead of social security , India have a provident fund system which has been made mandatory by law to certain class of employees. When economy was in a boisterous mood, we do not think about any of these things. Concepts like long-term growth, life long employment, loyalty all became old fashioned. I think this is the time where we have to revisit those old values.

Consumers tend to spend lavishly when he feels secure. Jobs offer him security. India saw a consumer boom when there was plenty of jobs. When the jobs started losing, demand also came down.

Any move to ensure easy credit without creating stable jobs will have serious repercussions. It would take an effort from both the employees and owners to start building a new culture .

I don't know whether this post make any economic sense ?... What do you think ?


Related Post

Marketing During Recession

Tempo Traveller : Quality is the Key

Brand : Traveller
Company : Force Motors


Brand Analysis Count : 363

In 1983 the Firodia group entered into a collaboration with Diamler Chrysler for the production and use of OM616 engine for their vehicles in India. This was the beginning of the successful LCV manufacturer Bajaj Tempo.

In 1987 the Bajaj Tempo launched Tempo Traveller in the Indian market. The product powered by the famed Mercedes engine created a new experience in the commercial passenger vehicle segment.

Bajaj Tempo is a serious player in the LCV market in India with a series of products like the Tempo Trax, Matador etc. But among these products, Tempo Traveller has a special place.

In 2005, Bajaj Tempo went in for a Corporate rebranding .The company adopted the name Force Motors .

Tempo Traveller belongs to the LCV category which are essentially vehicles used for commercial purposes like passenger carriers , goods carriers etc. Tata Motors rule this market .

In the passenger carrier segment, Tempo Traveller occupies a niche. It belongs to the premium range of people movers . Tempo Traveller holds more than 80% share in its niche. It had virtually no competitors till Tata launched its LCV passenger carrier Winger. The total passenger LCV market is around 15000 units.

Tempo Traveller although popular in the people - mover segment, has its presence in the goods carrier segment also. The brand is also a major player in the ambulance segment.

Since this brand is in the B2B space, there is little promotional activity in the advertising front. For Tempo Traveller, the brand has immense visibility because it was existing in the market for two decades. The brand also has a reputation for its quality, ruggedness and reliability.

In 2005, Tempo Traveller also had to rebrand itself. Tempo is a brand name owned by Daimler Chrysler. Hence Daimler wanted Force to drop the term 'Tempo 'from the brand name. Hence now Tempo Traveller is known as Traveller. But for the customers, still the brand is known as Tempo Traveller.

Although the brand is having huge equity, there were concerns over the outdated engine and the looks for the brand. There was a feeling that the product was dated. Hence Force motors recently did an extensive make over for the product. The entire look of the vehicle was changed and the company introduced the latest CRDI engine from Mercedes for the latest version.

The new look and the updated engine for Traveller is expected to take the brand to new levels of growth. Traveller is a brand that was built solely on performance.

Brand Update : Complan

Complan has never been an aggressive player compared to the market leader Horlicks . This explains the reason why such a powerful brand is languishing in a distant position of 15% market share compared to the 60 % share of Horlicks.

While Horlicks has been breaking new grounds with a series of variants aiming at the entire family segment, Complan was lying low all these years. The major happening for this brand in 2008 was the launch of the new flavor Kesari Badam . In the promotional front, the brand was in a low key mode continuing with the extension of its earlier campaign focusing on EXTRA growth.

Today's newspaper had a stunner ad from this brand. It was a front page solus advertisement in the Malayalam Daily with a direct comparative ad targeting Horlicks.

What was striking in that ad was that Complan has put a direct comparison with Horlicks by showing Horlicks brand on the ad and then comparing the various attributes. I have seen such explicit comparative ads in automobile sector . In most of the comparative ads, the name of competing brands will not be directly mentioned to avoid litigation. The ads will either use letters or dummies for comparison.

The ad copy asks the readers to chose between the " low cost health drink " and " Complete Growth " . Then the ad talks about why Complan is better than Horlicks by comparing both in the parameters like
Main Ingredients
Protien Content
protien Quality
Number of nutrients .

The ad also reinforces the new positioning " Grow Twice Faster ".

Complan is also running a TVC around the same theme. The TVC is almost a Cut- Copy of the Horlicks' earlier campaign of " Taller, Sharper, Stronger ". The ad shows the before-after results of two samples and claim that Complan users grow two times more than the non-users.

I was wondering why this sudden provocation. A google search indicated that Horlicks has been running a campaign digging at Complan's main attribute of ' 23 vital nutrients '. I have not seen that ad of Horlicks.


The ad spoke of the high price of Complan and was claiming that Horlicks had more than 23 nutrients but costs less than Complan.

Complan had challenged this in Mumbai High Court but the ruling was not in their favor. Hence the brand has taken the war into the public.

Price always have been the weak point of Complan. Those who has used this brand know that its good but was terribly expensive compared to the other highly advertised brands. More over the brand was a little confused regarding its positioning and communication. However, the current spat has bought some life into this brand. It will be interesting to see how Horlicks reacts to this direct attack.


Related Brand

Complan

Horlicks

Brand Update : Setwet Zatak

Paras Pharma has been promoting its deo brand Zatak aggressively during the last two years. Its campaign featuring foreign models have been popular among the target segments. Moreover Paras has been able to give an international look for this Indian brands.

Last month Zatak has released a new television commercial which is a spoof of the popular Axe commercials. The ad has generated lot of media interests with various business portals discussing this move.

The ad shows a skinny man literally using the axe ( not the deo but the real one) in a movement that is the same as that in the Axe commercials.Then two girls walks towards him and the man thinks that they are coming for him but they walk past him towards another hunk ( the Zatak guy).

Watch the commercial here : Zatak Spoof

Although many reports suggest that Zatak is taking on the competition head on with Axe, I have a different view. Zatak is a small brand compared to Axe. Paras also has limited resources to fight the mighty giant HUL.So this strategy is aimed to gain more eyeballs at the expense of the big boy Axe.

I don't think that Paras is aiming to dethrone Axe from its leadership position not in the near future.

What could be the options available for a challenger brand in a category which is dominated by a big company ?

One option is to start small and carve a small market without directly competing with the leader or to attack players of its own size or local and regional players.

Another option is to go in for the frontal attack which is a high risk, high pay-off strategy. This strategy will work effectively if the current leader is not serving the customer segment properly . ( source - Philip Kotler's Marketing Management )

Zatak has chosen to attack Axe directly . Although it is a high risk strategy , for a brand like Zatak, it has some advantages.

This strategy reinforces the positioning of the brand . If you look closely , Zatak is having the same positioning as Axe. i.e Girls Chasing Boys.

Zatak has been driving this positioning using its various commercials. The current campaign is pitching the brand opposite to Axe and hence conveying to the customers that Zatak is the alternative to Axe.

Deodorant is a category where customers are loyal but willing to experiment. Since the investment is low, customers tend to try in new fragrances and brands. But most of the customers have their favorite brands and fragrances.
In the market Axe has been dominating and there are virtually no strong alternative for Axe except may be the Cinthol brand which was relaunched using Hrithik.
So by attacking Axe directly, Zatak is putting itself into a position alongside Axe. So even if it does not become number 1 it can be a successful number II

Now the risk is with regard to HUL's response to this spoof. Afaqs report says that HUL currently is not planning to retaliate. But it will definitely watching the moves of Zatak. Zatak should also be careful not to take these spoofs too far with follow ups. Too much spoofs can give a perception that Zatak cannot exist on its own.


Related Brand
Setwet