Brand Update : Fastrack

This January, Fastrack has launched a new range of wrist gear and eyegear branded as the Army collection. The new series of rugged looking accessories is inspired by the military equipment and weapons.

The watches and sunglasses have a gun-metal finish and looks rugged and cool.

The launch of Army collection is a smart marketing move. The launch coincides with the recent Mumbai attacks and the Indian Public is filled with admiration towards the valor and commitment displayed by the security forces during these terror attacks. Knowingly or unknowingly, the army collection will greatly benefit from this current positive vibes towards the Indian armed forces.

The Army collection of watches and sunglasses are priced upwards from Rs 1400 to Rs 3500.
As a consumer, I have a doubt whether the brand is pricing itself out.

Fastrack is a brand that is targeting the youngsters. And as we know youngsters are on a limited budget and they look for fashion statements which are affordable. Here I am talking about the large section of middleclass consumers.
Fastrack had been a huge hit among the young consumers owing to their smart pricing and also careful branding.

But I have a feeling that Fastrack is slowly raising its prices and losing its pricing advantage. Look at the latest Army Collection. The prices starts with Rs 1500 which is above the reach of those youngsters who are students and live on their monthly pocket money. We haven't moved into a situation where consumers splurge on watches and own multiple watches.

Hence the new collection with its aggressive pricing will definitely takes the charm out of this brand. The name Army Collection will definitely bring in lot of consumers but in my personal opinion, the price will definitely put off a large number of consumers.

Fastrack also lost an opportunity to make an emotional statement with this range. The brand could have touched the heart of millions by contributing a part of the sales from Army Collection to some welfare fund for Army men. This could have taken this brand to a higher platform and customers would have loved the brand for gesture.

Related Brand

Fastrack

Bajaj XCD : Positioning Problem ?

Brand : Bajaj XCD
Company : Bajaj Auto


Brand Analysis Count : 381

Bajaj XCD was launched in September 2007. The brand was expected to boost the fortune of Bajaj Auto and intended to give nightmares to the market leader Hero Honda.

XCD was a 125 cc motorcycle planned by Bajaj to pip the largest selling motorcycle brand Splendour. Indian twowheeler market is dominated by the 100 cc segment which constitutes around 60% of the total volume sold. Bajaj so far was not able to come out with a brand worthy of competing with Splendour . Its major challenger brand Discover , although was moderately successful failed to dethrone the Splendour.

XCD 125 was launched with much hype and fanfare. After Pulsar, everyone had high expectations over new product launches from Bajaj.

The launch ad for XCD 125 was a hi-fi ad which frankly I did not understand. The ad seemed to be expensive with lot of digital effects but conveyed nothing. May be the company wanted to position the brand as a hi-tech brand.

watch the launch ad here : XCD launch ad

Then came the down-to -earth campaigns for XCD. These campaigns were highly popular . The ads had two characters meeting at different places and the non-XCD owner getting pissed off at all these encounters.
Watch the campaigns here : XCD- Traffic signal
XCD Basement
XCD Showroom

The traffic signal advertisement was the most popular one and was really a cool ad. The characters were so popular that Sun Direct Digital TV used the same characters and theme for their commercial - watch here : sun direct

During this phase , XCD directly pitched against 100 cc bikes. Bajaj forecasted that over a period of time, 100 cc bikes will be replaced by more powerful 125 cc bikes. Since Bajaj had earlier failed to foresee the shift of consumer from scooters to motorcycles, it did not wanted the history to repeat itself.

So in a pre-emptive move, Bajaj launched the 125 cc brand XCD ahead of Hero Honda.

Hence, during the launch phase, Bajaj tried to convince the potential 100 cc bike customers to switch to 125 cc. These customers were in the middle-class segment and the price of these bikes were in the range of Rs 40,000- Rs 45,000.

In the campaigns, XCD tried to tell the consumers that 125 cc bikes are more powerful , fuel efficient and had lot of features like electronic start, LED lamps and digital speedometers that 100 cc bikes does not have.

More over the brand had the legendary DTS-Si engine which was proprietary technology from Bajaj.

Despite all these, the XCD failed to take-off. The company expected XCD to even overtake Pulsar interms of the sales volume. But after the initial spike, XCD failed to enthuse the market.

The first reason was the product failure. Immediately after the launch, there were reports on product problems and recall. Although there was no PR disaster, consumers were taken aback by the newspaper reports. ( report) The product also failed to deliver on the expectations generated by the advertisements regarding the mileage.

Another significant reason was the positioning issue. Bajaj XCD was destined to fight with Splendour . So through out the campaign , it wanted to establish the Points of Parity with Splendour and other 100 cc bikes.

But contrary to Bajaj's expectations, the consumers established Points of Parity of XCD with Pulsar. The main culprit was the ingredient brand DTS-Si. Since Bajaj XCD also had the DTSi technology, consumers expected the same level of performance with that of Pulsar.

Also consumers never put XCD 125 in the same category as 100 cc. Hence the comparison was with higher CC brands like Pulsar. Since XCD was no where near Pulsar, obviously consumers never was happy. Bajaj wanted to do a break-away positioning but the strategy failed.

Bajaj also confused the consumers by launching Platina 125 DTSI. Platina is the entry level brand and launching that brand with 125 cc engine killed any remaining prospect of XCD 125, since there is not much difference between the two brands except the price.

In 2009, Bajaj is trying a second luck with the XCD brand. In January , the company launched XCD 135 DTS-Si. The new variant is touted as India's first commuter sports bike.

The brand is currently running a television commercial in all channels : Watch it here

In my personal opinion, it is a lousy commercial which is a sheer waste of money. It is totally absurd and the idea is nothing new. I think some other brand had earlier advertised about the " one pillion rider " theme. Two girls fighting for a pillion ride is not a big ' aha' and the ad is too lengthy one which is a waste of money at this time of cash-crunch.

Here again Bajaj is trying to create a new category of bikes. The new XCD boasts of 5 speed gear box, front disc brakes, digital speedometers etc which is seen on the premium bikes. XCD also is powered with DTS-SI engine and is priced at Rs 45,000.

I don't think that Bajaj has learned from the mistakes from the failure of XCD 125. Here again the positioning of XCD is strikingly similar to Pulsar. Now the only difference between Pulsar and XCD is interms of engine power and price. Even the styling has become almost the same.

XCD 135 brand is again creating points of parity with Pulsar .I am sure that XCD will not match the power of Pulsar and those customers who expect the Pulsar's qualities in XCD are bound to be disappointed.

I don't understand why Bajaj has not been able to create a seperate identity for XCD rather than
keep its association with Pulsar. The advertising agency has also done the damage of creating a campaign which is strikingly similar to Pulsar campaigns by including the famous stunt called Stoppie where the biker lifts the rear wheel and balances using the front. .These stunts and visuals were trademarks of Pulsar ads.

Bajaj is also ignoring its best-selling Pulsar brand . It was not able to create new memorable campaigns for the flagship Pulsar and now they are messing up Pulsar by using same positoning platform for other bikes.

I have a feeling that Bajaj is now panicking because of the comeptition from Yamaha and Honda. In the Panic, it is creating strategies to boost short-term sales rather than investing for the long term. Brands take time to establish but Bajaj is trying to do things fast.

Having said that, the most important determinant of success in the two-wheeler segment is the product's performance. Splendour has been ruling the Indian roads on pure performance than anything else. If XCD 135 is able to create new benchmarks for performance, then there is nothing that can stop it from becoming successful - even lousy positioning cannot block its success.






Related Brand

Pulsar
Brand Update on Pulsar

Book Review : Outliers

Book : Outliers
Author : Malcolm Gladwell
Publisher : Allen Lane ( Penguin Books)


Price : Rs 399


Book review # 8

I bought this book with lot of expectations . I was thoroughly impressed by Malcolm Gladwell's previous books - The Tipping Point and The Blink.
The main motivation for me to buy this book was the " tagline" of the book. Gladwell marketed this book as one which will explain the story of success and honestly I fell for it.

I am disappointed .
Unlike the earlier creations, Outliers is nothing to write about. It is an ordinary and often a very boring read, except for the first two chapters. I found the book boring may be because I expected too much out of it. I knew that it was not a self- help book that will give you a step by step approach to success but I expected a hell lot of insights into those beautiful minds that created successes.

The author defines Outliers as those who have achieved extraordinary success in their lives.

As a reader, my only take-away from this book is his 10,000 hours rule. It is a remarkable insight and may be that single insight makes the money spent on this book worthwhile.
The ten thousand hour rule is simple
If you want to be a genius in a chosen field , you have to put in 10,000 hours of practice/study.

That is it...

This is not a new insight . We all knew that hardwork is essential and hardwork = success equation has become a cliche. But nobody has put a quantitative benchmark to the amount of hardwork needed to become a success.
Malcolm Gladwell did a great service by putting a magical number to hardwork. I thank him for that. Now I can tell my daughter and students about the quantum of work they have to put in to become a genius.

To my surprise, after giving away a powerful insight, Gladwell tried to undo and negate this 10,000 rule in the rest of the chapters. By quoting outdated examples , Gladwell tried to establish that external circumstances play the major role in shaping outliers. So effectively he says that even if you put in 10,000 hours of study , you may not become an outlier ????????

Then he goes on proving his contradictions with examples from history and most of the examples were alien to me.

But in the marketing point of view, this book was marketed well. There will be lot of readers like me who may have bought this book thinking that Gladwell will reveal the secret key to success....
and the message given to us by the author was :

fool... try working hard.. nobody has become successful by reading a book...

Tamariind : RIP ( 2001-2002)

Brand : Tamariind
Company : Skumar's
Agency : Percept

Brand Analysis Count : 380

Tamariind was a brand which died inside the TV Tube. This much hyped brand had only one year of existence in the Indian market.

Tamariind was the readymade brand from the textile major S Kumar's Ltd. The company wanted to tap the emerging readymade segment . Tamariind was targeting the middle and upper-middle class segment.

Tamariind had a dream launch. The brand had roped in Hrithik Roahan who was at that time was a phenomenon. I think Tamariind was one of the first textile brands to take him as the brand ambassador.

Riding on the pulling power of Hrithik Roshan, Tamariind had a huge brand recall during the launch. Infact the ads were so effective that large retail chains were stocking this brand within a few days of launch.

How ever, the euphoria did not last long . For some strange reasons, the brand was dead in no time. In 2002, the brand was out of the retail shelves.

Tamariind was positioned as a fashion wear. The clothes were designed by the famed London based designer John Paul Vivian. The brand had the tagline " The Flavour You Wear ". The brand was designed to be a fun,fashionable trendy brand.
Tamariind was also brought in the concept of Total Wardrobe Solutions by providing all type of clothing to the target consumer.


Initially the company planned to use the brand name Cinnamon for its readymade venture. But a retail chain having the same brand name moved to court and restrained SKumars from using Cinnamon. That caused the company to come up with the new brand name -Tamariind.

So here is a brand which had a trendy name, a big star, an international designer and a reputed company ...... and how come such a brand fail that too so fast ?
I personally think that three major factors was the cause of this brand's failure.
Price and
Distribution and
Differentiation.

Price was the critical issue in this case. Tamariind was steeply priced and this repelled many potential customers . Those who bought the brand could not be convinced about the quality which did not justify the steep price.

The brand also tried to focus more on exclusive outlets which again severely restricted its reach among the audience.

Tamariind spend around Rs 12 crore on the launch promotions but could not sustain or convert the initial hype into sales. The brand ambassador Hrithik also faced so many flops after the initial success which inturn affected the brand negatively.

Other than the brand ambassador, Tamariind has nothing to talk about. The product did not have a meaningful differentiation that could justify its high price. When a brand is aiming at the premium class, the product should have some meaningful qualities that will justify the premium. A mere presence of a celebrity will not create a sustainable value for the product .

Print ad source : afaqs
PS : Tamariind brand has two "i" s and is not a spelling mistake.

Brand Update : Sprite

Summer is setting in and beverages companies are upping their marketing ante. Sprite have heavily started their summer campaign by launching two television commercials. Last time Sprite launched a high profile ad blitz for its variant Sprite Xpress.

This time Sprite is doing the campaign for the core brand. Since its launch, Sprite has been experimenting with its tagline ala positioning. It has changed its famous original tagline of " Buchaye Only pyaas, baaki all bakwas" to
No Gyan only Sprite ,
Seedhi Bath, No bakwaas
then to the last one " Clear hai"

The brand had also experimented with celebrities by roping in Sania Mirza as the brand ambassador. All those efforts have created astounding results.

Sprite had a spectacular 2008. According to Economic Times dtd 11.2.09, Sprite has become the second largest softdrink brand in India thus trouncing Pepsi to No.3 .

Quoting the AC Neilsen study, the following are the market share figures of soft drink brands in India
Thums Up leads the pack with a share of 16.6%
Sprite is the second largest brand with a share of 15.6%
Followed by Pepsi with a share of 13%.

This should have shocked Pepsi .
Sprite has reached the top because it delivered its promise of a no-nonsense simple brand.

Sprite now is an overdrive to cash in on the new found leadership position. Currently the brand is running two TVCs.

Watch the tvc here : Sprite Killer
Sprite Wedding
True to the spirit of the brand, the ads are cool and humorous. It is also interesting to note that the brand now have a combination of all taglines it used in the recent past.
The new tagline is :
Seedhi Baath, No Bakwas, Clear Hai ?

I liked the ads because the characters are cool, plot is simple and funny and even after seeing it for more than 10 times, it is not boring.

Pepsi is also not sitting idle, it had rejuvenated the 7UP brand with some new ads. The ads focus on the lemon content. But the problem with 7UP is that Pepsi has not invested in the brand as consistently as Sprite. 7Up have not yet found the correct positioning platform and Pepsi was little confused in terms of focus with their two brands 7Up and Mountain Dew.

Sprite has reached the top because of consistent investment in brand building. Although it had aberrations, the brand was also consistent in its positioning platform.

Kudos for the marketing team.

Related Brand
Sprite

Book Review : Tribes

Book : Tribes
Author : Seth Godin
Publisher : Hachette India

Price : Rs 375


Book Review #7

Tribes is one of the best books I have read in recent times. This book from the marketing guru Seth Godin is inspiring and insightful. It is a book with contains simple truths of leadership in the current era.

Tribes, as the term denotes, is a book on leadership. In the first page itself, the author cites the example of an ordinary person like Joel Spolsky who created a tribe of its own through the careful use of blogs , books and conferences.

Seth Godin defines Tribes as a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, connected to an idea. He argues that in this era , any one can create and lead a tribe. The penetration and popularity of internet has opened a unique opportunity for anyone to create and lead .

The book is also refreshingly different. The book does not have chapters. It is a collection of insights and anecdotes that will stir you to think about this opportunity.
According to Seth, the concept of leadership has changed . While the traditional leadership concept is built around power, the new age leadership is built around idea and passion and ability to tell stories that inspire. The election of Obama as the President of United States is the classic case that shows the power of ideas and passion.

Seth also wisely identifies the powerful inhibition that pulls back ordinary people like me and you from becoming leaders. It is FEAR. He paraphrases Peter's Principle as " In every organization, everyone rises to the level at which they become paralyzed by fear.. How True...

Internet has made boundaries irrelevant. If you are connected, then world will become your playground . With social networks like Youtube , Facebook , Twitter etc, it has become easy for us to spread our thoughts and become a leader.

But creating and leading a tribe is not an easy task. The leader should be able to clearly and passionately advocate his ideas . The leader should be able to devote his time in nurturing and monitoring the Tribe.
Towards the end of the book , the author tells that building and leading a tribe is more of an obligation rather than an opportunity. He says " To have all these advantages , all this momentum, all these opportunities and then settle for mediocre and then defend the status quo and then worry about corporate politics - What a waste"
He then says
' I think we have an obligation to change the rules, to raise the bar, to play a different game , and to play it better than anyone has any right to believe is possible".

Tribes is a must read for all of us . It is simple and tells you the obvious. But often ,most of us fail to see the obvious. That is the tragedy.