Yo bykes : Ab Rasta Hai Mere Pass

Brand : Yo Bykes
Company : Indus Electro-trans ( Electrotherm)
Agency : Canvas Communications

Brand Analysis Count : 373

Yo Bykes is the first electric Scooter to be launched in Indian market. Launched in 2006, this brand is a market leader in the Rs 500 crore electric scooter market in India. Yo is from Indus Electrotrans which is a division of Electrotherm India which is a major player in the foundry and steel industry.

When electric bikes & scooters were launched in India during 2006, there were lot of expectations about this category. The rising fuel prices , air pollution , growing concern about environment provided enough opportunity for such a product. The rising fuel costs were the most significant factor behind the growth of this category.

Yo Bykes rode on the back of the higher fuel prices. Electric scooters are dirt cheap to run compared to petrol vehicles. Compare the cost of Rs 50 for 500 km for electric scooters to Rs 50 per 60 km for petrol scooters.

Besides the advantage in running costs, electric scooters had also another advantage .There is no need for license or registration for certain variants. According to Indian rules, those vehicles which are powered by engine less than 250 watts and has the maximum speed less than 25 kmph do not need license.

Yo Bykes launched the first scooter in this category branded as Yo Smart.

The electric scooters gained rapid consumer attention across the country. The market saw the evolution of a new category . In 2007, the electric two wheelers sales was around 10,000 units thus taking 10% share in the two wheeler industry.

These figures attracted lot of players into the market. Most of the bicycle marketers ventured into this segment. Even large companies like TVS and Bajaj began to view this segment seriously.

TVS felt that electric scooters was a major threat to its Scooty brand. It proactively launched the electric version of Scooty to counter this threat.

How ever, the euphoria over electric scooters could not sustain its initial momentum. The sales peaked when there is a fuel price hike but then it is back to low volumes.

The main issue was the power of the vehicles. The standard electric scooters were severely underpowered. This was because of two reasons. To sell scooters that do not need registration, the power had to be kept low. Another reason was that when power was increased, the fuel efficiency will come down.

To counter this issue, Yo bykes launched another variant Yo Speed which was having an engine output of 750 watts . This was the first scooter to get the approval of Automotive Research Association of India. But these high powered scooters had a price equivalent to the petrol scooters.

Even after two years of launch, electric scooters have not been able to give a threat to its petrol competitors. These brands still occupy a niche rather than becoming the mainstream category.

All brands of electric scooters including Yo is positioned on the basis of its fuel efficiency. Although fuel efficiency is an important attribute for a consumer, it is not a determinant variable for purchase of a scooter.

Due to the lack of power, these electric scooters does not appeal to men. And many would also use scooters to travel with family, e-scooters is definitely not a choice in such a scenario.

Most of the customers for this category are ladies and self -employed men who travel short distances. The common perception is that e-scooters are like underpowered scooterettes. Although the running cost is low, the cost of ownership is at par with the ordinary scooters. There is also a yearly recurring cost for the replacement of battery. So when a customer does his mental accounting, electric scooters' fuel advantage is not compelling enough.

So will electric scooters replace petrol scooters ?
No.
Then what is the future of electric scooters ?

The current differentiation of electric scooters on fuel efficiency will work only for certain segments of consumers. Yobykes have to find some other interesting propositions for the consumers to opt for such scooters.

Rather than competing with mainstream scooters, e-scooters should expoit multiple niches.

These scooters are excellent option aiming at students and pre-teens. It could be the First Scooter for everyone..

Another small niche are those environment conscious segment which are growing but now a very small one. Yo can partner with NGOs for a cleaner environment thus promoting the concept of such scooters.
Rather than focusing on fuel efficiency , YoBykes should be able to provide reasons for customers to chose an underpowered scooter. Otherwise, the brand will be highly dependent on the whims and fancies of OPEC 's oil barons.

Nestle Milkybar : Dum Hai To Bahar Nikal

Brand : Milkybar

Company : Nestle
Agency : JWT

Brand Analysis Count : 372

Milkybar is the leader in the white chocolate market in India. Launched in 1998, the brand is now making lot of noise in the media as a part of its repositioning exercise. In a typical market challenger strategy of Byepass attack, Nestle always avoided fighting head on with the market leader Cadbury's Dairy Milk.

Nestle chose to attack the market by launching brands like Kit Kat , Munch and Milkybar and thus create a new market for itself away from the market leader. Milkybar is one of such brands.

Milkybar is a white chocolate. White Chocolates are those which contains Cocoa butter, milk and sweets and no cocoa solids.

Milk Chocolates are those which contains milk solids in addiction to chocolate. In some reports, Milkybar is considered as a white chocolate while in some it is referred to as a milk chocolate. Nestle have anothe milk chocolate brand hence Milkybar can be positively confirmed as a white chocolate.

When I was indulging in chocolates, milk/white chocolates were a regular part of my indulgence, especially when bored with brown chocolates.

Although Milkybar was around in Indian market for a while, the brand came into aggressive state during the relaunch in 2006. During that time, Nestle relaunched the brand on the platform of healthy chocolate. The chocolate was fortified with calcium and positioned as a chocolate bar for energy and strength.
"Milkybar gives me power " was the brand's positioning platform.

Milkybar not only created the white chocolate segment but expanded it through product innovations. The brand launched a soft chewy fudge form of Milkybar branded as Milkybar Choo. This was a big hit for the kids who loved the soft fudge form of chocolate. The brand also made itself affordable by pricing the variant at Rs 5.

Currently the brand is running a campaign with a new tagline " Dum hai to bahar nikal " ( if you have guts, get out and play ) . The brand asks the youngsters to just get out and play.

Watch the campaign here : Dum Hai to bahar nikal

The ad is well made and drives a point. The campaign is backed by events and contests to reinforce the new positioning.

What is interesting is that the brand is addressing the higher age group of the target segment . I think that the previous TG audience for Milkybar was the kids of age 5-10 yrs. But the current ad is targeting pre-teens (8-12).

Milkybar is has competition from Milk Treat from Cadbury's.


Milkybar is a global brand from Nestle's portfolio. The brand was born in 1937. Globally the brand is positioned towards small kids. The brand have a mascot which is the " Milkybar Kid".
In India, instead of Milkybar kid, we have the picture of cow to reinforce the " Milk " factor.

The positioning of Milkybar was a healthy chocolate works well with parents. I was surprised when our family doctor suggest that we give milk chocolate to our child rather than the brown one. As a parent, I am also influenced by the " Goodness of Milk " factor. But often kids prefer the brown one over the white one.

Milkybar is a nice example of a brand carving a place for itself in a market which is dominated by an iconic brand. The new positioning may broaden the consumer segment for this brand. But how the older kids are impressed by the brand is something to watch for.

Canada Dry : RIP ( 1995-1999)

Brand : Canada Dry
Company : Cadbury Schweppes ( Later Coca Cola)
Agency : Mudra

Brand Analysis Count : 371

One of my colleagues yesterday showed me a 1989 issue of Business India where he pointed out an ad of a long forgotten brand - Canada Dry . We passionately talked about the brand which we both liked.

Canada Dry was launched in India in 1995 . The brand ,from Cadbury Schweppes ,was a highly popular brand of softdrinks across the globe. Canada Dry was a much hyped brand because it was from the house of Cadbury. Cadbury Schweppes launched Canada Dry and Orange Crush in the Indian market with much fanfare.

Canada Dry was a Champagne Softdrink. The brand has positioned itself as a champagne and the taste was different and refreshing.

The brand was also promoted heavily in various media. The ad featuring the snow and tiger brings back the nostalgia about this brand. The brand was positioned as a premium cooldrink . The brand gained immediate acceptance because of its association with Cadbury. The brand had the potential to become a premium softdrink brand in India .

But alas, the brand did not last too long in the market. In 1999 CocaCola took over the beverages business of Cadbury Schweppes and like GoldSpot and Limca , Coke killed this brand.

It is sad to see such brands being killed for no reason connected with customers. The only reason for Coke to kill these brands was to make way for Coke's original brands. In the case of Canada Dry , the brand only had a negligible presence in the Indian market.

Look at the Indian market now - Is there a premium softdrink brand in India ? Neither Coke or Pepsi was able to create a premium softdrinks category in India. They have not even tried yet.......

Best Marketing Practice : Cause Branding

Read my article on cause branding published in Adclubbombay site here : Cause Branding

Brand Update : Bournvita

After building the brand over a beautiful concept of confidence, Bournvita has gone down the ladder in the latest campaign.

I was virtually shocked to see the latest campaign for Bournvita ++ ( a new variant ?) which talked about the merging of Science and Nature !!!

In my last update on Bournvita, I had applauded Bourvita in taking up Confidence as its positioning platform. But it all has been virtually killed in the latest campaign.

I will share the Advertisement once I have it..

The ad which is poorly executed talks about Science and Nature coming together in Bournvita thus helping the kid to succeed. The ad shows a ( poorly made) Robot and a Grass covered man ( indicating nature) helping out the kid who is doing the homework.

If the ad is made aiming at kids, the agency have no idea about the new generation kid's standards . If the ad is aimed at parents, then again the agency have no idea about Parents either.... This ad is ideally suited for a kid in the year 1965....

I wonder why this sudden change in positioning ? Science , Nature and Bournvita have nothing in common. Bournvita is a tasty Malt Food Drink... it was like that and it will remain like that for consumers.

Bournvita has been selling on taste which was again reinforced by the association with the company brand- Cadbury's . The earlier campaign has taken the brand to a better positioning platform of Confidence against the arch rival Boost's focus of 'Winning Energy'.

The only logic I see in this ad is that the brand feels that consumers perceive Bournvita to be unhealthy because it is brown and tasty. Hence the sudden love for this nature- science crap. There were lot of other sensible ways available for this brand for developing association with health .

I think the brand has done a terrible mistake in forgoing such a valuable positioning platform as Confidence and accepting a crap positioning which is not at all relevant to the target segment.

Related Brand

Bournvita

Brand Update : Axe

Axe is a marketing phenomenon. This brand knows how to keep excitement ticking in the market. Last year saw the controversial Axe Dark Temptation making headlines . The brand has started 2009 with yet another launch - Axe 3 deo.

This is a unique innovative product where the brand asks the consumer to use two Axe Deos to gether to make a new fragrance. So Axe 3 comes in a combi-pack of two fragrances and the consumer can make a third one by spraying the two deos together.

Watch the ad here : Axe 3

Smart move indeed. Has anybody thought of combining two deos for a new fragrance ? ..

Axe 3 was launched in other markets in 2007 as a limited edition product.
A typical Axe 3 packs contains two deos marked 1 & 2. These cans should be sprayed together for a new fragrance.
The question is why should a consumer spend double the money for deos ? Why should he use two together and blow away double the money ?

The answer is that the brand does not expect every one to do so...

This is a product launched to keep the excitement going. That is the purpose of limited editions. All those Axe fans will try out this new product and competitors will have tough time matching this brand .

Axe has always been an unconventional brand. These seemingly outrageous innovations are in line with the brand's core positioning. And these launches gives enough reasons for Axe to advertise and that keeps the brand on top of the share of mind.

Related Brand

Axe

End Note : Neither the HUL website or the Axe Effect website carry any information about this new product launch. It is sad that a professional company like HUL did not have the common sense of regularly updating its websites.