Studds Helmets : Safety and Style

Brand : Studds

Company : Studds Accessories Ltd

Brand Analysis Count : 391

Studds is a brand that brings back memories of my two wheeler days. I hated helmets and I bet most of the youngsters do hate helmets. It is a glamour killer. What is the use of having an expensive bike and a handsome face when what those chicks will see is the dark full faced Red Helmet ???

My first helmet purchase was a grudge purchase. One fine morning, Kerala Government had a revealation that its citizen's head was very important. Government decided to  " enforce " the helmet rule and a fine of Rs 500 or more ( depending on the value of the head !) were to be imposed on those who chose to ride two wheelers without helmets.

There was a frantic run for helmets. At one point of time, there was a shortage of helmets and we guys had to play hide and seek with the traffic police who were determined to keep the keralites head safe. Those smart ones bought fake helmets from roadside and put ISI sticker on it. Some even used Cricket helmets to fool the cops.

The helmet game had been a regular feature in our state for a while. Government keep on enforcing and relaxing helmet rules in the state. Last year there was a directive that even the pillion riders should have helmets. This move created an uproar among the lady pillion riders who felt that their hair-style would now have to be at the mercy of their helmets. 

Having said that , majority of fatalities involving two wheelers is caused by head injuries . Helmets definitely is a life saver and I am of the opinion that the helmet rule should be enforced.

Studds is a major player in the helmet market in India . The Helmet market is estimated to be around Rs 200 crore but 85 % of the market belong to the unorganized segment. Studds is a major player in the organized helmet market in India.

Rs 200 crore seems to be a very small size compared to the size of our two wheeler market. India sells about 6 mn two wheelers in an year and that is a huge market for helmets. Helmet marketers are not able to tap this huge market .

One reason for that is the enforcement of the helmet rule across the country. Helmets are compulsory for two wheeler riders as per the Central Motor Vehicles Act Section 129. But this is not enforced in most of the states. 

The second reason is the lack of marketing effort on the part of helmet marketers to create an awareness among the riders about the need for helmets. Even in the states where the helmet rules are enforced, riders use helmets only to evade the cops. Hence they buy sub-standard helmets and put the ISI sticker on it. The helmet marketer are still dependent on the government to make the rule strict so that they can sell helmets without much effort.

It is in this context that Studds brand becomes interesting. Studds brand came into existence in 1970. The founder of this brand was Mr Ravi Khurana who was an R&D Head at Escorts at that time. He witnessed a fatal accident involving several of his colleagues during a test ride which prompted him to start a helmet manufacturing unit. 

Ironically in 1999, the group split into two and the Studds brand now rests with Studds Accessories Ltd and Ravi Kurana had to start a new company Ergo .

Studds is a well known and well respected brand in the industry. Without much advertising, Studds built a brand through positive word of mouth. The brand had a high perception of being a high quality helmet. It was able to charge a premium because of this thrust on quality.

Compared to other brand, Studds also was innovative interms of designs. My last helmet was Studds Ninja which I bought because of the stylish design.

Studds is not without competition. It faces competition from brands like Aerostar, AVG, Vega and host of local players. India is also witnessing the emergence of a new segment of premium helmets.

The single reason why the helmet market has not grown in value terms is the laid back marketing behavior of helmet makers. Despite being an important accessory, seldom we see any ad campaign from helmet marketers. No road shows or sponsoring of helmet-awareness campaigns. The marketers are still banking on the free lunch offered through enforcement of helmet rules by governments.

It is true that helmet is a messy accessory. It is heavy, it spoils the hair, it has to be carried around and unless you have an accident you seldom realizes its use. But it is a life saver for the biker. Every other excuse becomes irrelevant when it comes to the matter  of life and death.

It would have been wonderful if the helmet marketers come togther to increase the awareness and importance of helmet wearing among the riders. Studds could have done far better if it had invested heavily in brand building .

It is also interesting to note why two wheeler marketers have missed this opportunity for selling their own brand of helmets . 

All the marketers are waiting for the natural process of emerging segments which are conscious about the use of helmets. But in my opinion it is marketing laziness at its best.

Volini : Asli Aaram

Brand : Volini
Company : Ranbaxy
Agency : Saatchi & Saatchi

Brand Analysis Count : 390

Volini is a pain relieving brand from Ranbaxy. This brand was one of the most prescribed pain killer gel in its earlier avatar as a prescription product . In 2007 , Volini became an OTC brand. The pain relieving balm market is worth around Rs 700 crore and is dominated by powerful brands like Moov and Iodex.

I am a regular user of Volini thanks to the nagging backpain which I attracted as an incentive from my sales career. And as a customer, I can vouch for the effectiveness of this brand . When I started using Volini, it was a prescribed product. That means you need to have a prescription for buying it.

For products like Volini , once the consumer is satisfied with the results, he starts purchasing it irrespective whether the brand is an OTC or not. Volini had developed a huge brand equity because of its sheer effectiveness.

It may be because of this strong equity that Ranbaxy decided to take Volini to the OTC route. When the brand is moved to the OTC, the company have to depend on advertising and brand building to drive the sales. Once in the OTC segment, these brands often lose doctor's support.

Ranbaxy launched Volini with a campaign which landed the brand in trouble. Ranbaxy tried to put this brand directly against the market leader Moov. The brand used the tagline " Asli Pain Reliever "( meaning Real Pain Reliever) indirectly mentioning that Moov is not a real pain reliever.

The competitors took the brand and the ad to the court and Ranbaxy had to amend the advertisement. So now the brand has the tagline " Asli Aaram " meaning " Real Relief ".

Watch the ad here : Volini Ad

I think that Volini made a big mistake by positioning itself against Moov. It had the potential to stand on its own and create its own identity away from the market leader. Moov had been trying to position itself as a back-pain specialist .

As a consumer, I prefer a brand which is the most effective and the strongest of the lot. I chose Volini because I had the perception that it is the strongest pain relieving gel available. The smell and the sensation and the gel form further reinforced this perception. I have a perception that gel is more powerful than ointment.

As a person who suffers from back-pain, my immediate need is to get fast and quick relief from the pain so that I can carry on with my job. There is a sort of panic when this pain prevents you from leading a normal life. So consumers look for the most effective solution. And consumers have a way of categorising these products on the basis of their effectiveness and in my opinion the strongest wins.
The current positioning of " Real Relief " in a sense is playing down the effectiveness of Volini. " Real Relief " is a highly vague concept compared to Fast relief and Quick Relief. There is a real need for a good effective pain relief product. Doctors suggest that these back pains and muscle pains are lifestyle diseases. The increasing stress levels and the decreasing activity levels make an average Indian prone to these diseases.

Related Brands
Iodex

Brand update : Frooti

Frooti has come out with a new campaign this summer. The brand had gone in for a complete makeover. The packaging and the positioning has changed. Infact Frooti for the past few years has been trying to catch hold of a consistent theme.

It had earlier moved away from the " Fresh'N'Juicy " positioning . From there onwards, the brand was on a sticky wicket and was not quite settling on a positioning. It had the Bindaas positioning and later " Frooti- another name for Mango " theme. But the brand was not quite stable on those platforms.

The new Frooti has a new modern packaging. The choice of colors and the logo has been tweaked to make the brand more contemporary. Now the packaging is lot more neat and cool.

What is more stiking is the change in the positioning of Frooti. Last year , the brand tried to pitch itself as an alternative to mango. Now the brand is trying to be more radical and a little mad.

Watch the new TVC here : Mango Frooti

The new campaign is based on a simple consumer observation. Most of us which drink Frooti Tetrapack will try to chase the last drop of Frooti. This habit has been continuing for generations. Last day I saw my daughter trying her best to capture those evasive last drops trapped inside the pack. Knowingly or unknowingly we make funny sounds using the straw when indulging with Frooti. And we all had the habit of breaking those packs for that sound. The agency had tried to capture all these in the new communication.

The brand also has adopted a new baseline " Why Grow Up". I think this positioning is a powerful idea which can be sustained for many years provided the creatives are able think fresh.Even in the new avatar, the brand is retaining the old famous tagline " Fresh N Juicy " which is good since Frooti has a very strong association with that tagline.

Another interesting move by the brand is the creation of Mango-emoticons . The brand will now be using mangoticons in its communication which is a really smart idea. The brand using emoticons can further strengthen the association of Mango and Frooti.

Also this mangoticons can generate instant recall with the brand. So even a 1 second splash of this emoticons in the TV screen can give the same effect of a 30 second ad. The brand currently have 3 emoticons and according to the agency , it is planning to increase it to 25 by next year. I hope that Frooti uses this emoticons beyond the product package. It is a powerful brand element which can be an asset to Frooti.

Regarding the new campaign, although the idea is good, I frankly did not get the idea the first time . I liked the ' Why Grow Up' Tagline but not the ad- may be because I did not like the look of the main character in the ad. Somewhere down the line, the ad lost the " Cool" factor .

You can read more about this repositioning from Raj Kurup of CLA here : Raj on Frooti repositioning

Related Brand

Frooti

Brand Update : KitKat

Kitkat now has become more chocolaty. The brand has changed the product to appeal to Indian Palate .
The brand is currently running a campaign highlighting its chocolaty nature

Watch the new tvc here : Kitkat Chocolaty

What is interesting is that the brand has gone back to its famous tagline " Have a break,Have a Kitkat ". The brand had adopted a new tagline : Kitkat break banta hai...

The question again lingers.. if you have a very famous tagline and consumers like that and if your brand has developed a strong association with that tagline, why change it ???

Indian consumers has been lukewarm to wafer chocolate brands like Perk and Kitkat. After the initial sales boost, both these brands are facing the issue of stagnant growth. Both Perk and Kitkat have tried to boost sales by product innovations. Kitkat launched Kitkat Chunky and Kitkat Lite while Perk launched Ulta Perk. They have even tried coming out with different SKUs inorder to increase consumer usage. But consumers seem to prefer the chocolate bars over wafer ones.

A tricky situation indeed....


Brand update

Kitkat

Brand Update : Tata Nano

After a long and treacherous journey, Tata Motors have finally launched Tata Nano. No other product had such an excitement in the Indian market as Nano. And no other product had to face those hardships that this brand had to face.

Although the brand has been officially launched, consumers may not be able to get hold of Nano anytime soon. The first car is expected to be delivered only in June and the company will be able to meet the entire consumer demand only in a phased manner.

Nano now comes in three variant. The basic version is the One Lakh car and there are two upgrades. The basic version will cost around Rs 1,30000 on Road and the premium version will cost around Rs 1,80,000.

Nano is a special brand. It is a brand that symbolises an entrepreneurial dream. It is also a brand that symbolises determination , hardwork and innovation.

With the launch, Nano also have its tagline " Now You Can " derived from the famous campaign of Barack Obama. The new tagline symbolises the brand's promise of an affordable car for the masses.

Nano also gives a very valuable lesson to the marketers. It shows that low cost does not necessarily mean a 'cheap ' car. Nano suprised many with its stylish look, spacious interiors and a good quality drive. All these comes with a very low cost.

Usually when we think about a low-cost product that is targeting the lower rung of the consuming class, the focus is more on functionality and compromises. The resultant product is a poorly designed functional product with rugged look and zero aesthetics.

Professor CK Prahlad famously remarked in the book " Fortune at the Bottom of Pyramid " that the consumers at the bottom of pyramid wants an affordable product and not a cheap low quality product.

Many Indian consumers irrespective of social class is going to buy this car because it is a very good looking , highly functional car and not because it is a cheap car.

Tata Nano also gives the marketer a golden key to tide over the recession. Come out with a product that catches the imagination of the consumers.


Related Brand
Tata Nano

Brand Update : Bournvita

Cadbury's has launched a brand extension for Bournvita - Bournvita li'l Champs. The new extension is targeting the little kids aged 2-5yrs. The brand is competing with Junior Horlicks in this segment.

It seems Bournvita has taken this new extension seriously. The brand is on a high gear and has roped in the tennis sensation Sania Mirza to endorse this product.

The Television Commercial is right now on air in most of the channels : Watch it here

I think the brand has jumped into this segment for two main reasons. The first being the potential of the market. The current lifestyle and the family profile has increased the need perception for health supplements/ drinks for the little ones. Mothers are always worried about the food intake of the kids and it is a universal phenomenon that during this age, kids hate food.

Hence it is easy to attract mothers towards such products that promises well being for their little one. Another reason is that there is only one major player in this category. Hence there is room for Bournvita to explore this market already created by Junior Horlicks.

Bournvita Li'l Champs is touting on its nutritional content and its 5 Star taste to catch the target segment. The packaging is refreshingly new and attractive. The brand is promising the mothers to make their kids champions like its brand ambassador.

There is a difference in the positioning of Junior Horlicks and Li'l Champs. The Junior Horlicks has positioned on the functional benefit while Li'l Champs is riding on the a higher platform of emotional benefit. How ever since both these parent brands are well established, there is enough room for growth without eating to each other's shares.

Like Junior Horlicks, Li'L Champs will also ride on the equity of the parent brand.

Related Brand
Bournvita
Horlicks