Halls : Thandi Saans Ka Blast

Brand : Halls

Company : Cadbury India Ltd

Agency : Contract Advertising

Brand Analysis Count : 421

Halls is one of the largest selling cough drops brand in the world. The brand claims to have 50% share in the International cough drops market.Halls brand was born in 1930 when Halls Brothers invented a Metho- Lyptus formula that alleviates throat irritations. Later in 1964,

Warner- Lambert acquired the brand and began to aggressively sell the product in the US market.

Halls came to India in 1968. The brand was initially sold as a therapeutic candy in the cough lozenges market. In 2003, Halls came into Cadbury's fold when it acquired the confectionery business of Warner-Lambert/Pfizer network ( Source : Halls Brand Site).

Halls had a series of ups and downs in the Indian market. At one point of time during the ninetees, the brand was the market leader with a share of over 30%. But at point in time , Warner- Lambert increased the price of Halls from 50 paise to 75 paise. The effect was devastating. The brand began to lose its share because consumers found it difficult to find the change in order to buy the product. It was easy to find a 50 paise but finding 25 paise was not easy. And the shop keeper will never return the 25 paise if given Rs 1. (source ).

Halls was promoted heavily by both Warner- Lambert and Cadburys. Halls is one of the heavy spenders in the category. But despite the heavy share of voice, Halls had a huge positioning problem.

The Rs 200 crore throat lozenges category is an interesting category. With in these category, there are certain subsegments which may not be visible to the consumer. For example, there is a therapeutic lozenges category which are medicinal in nature and sold through chemists. Strepsils belong to this category. While Vicks is perceived to be medicinal in nature, the product can be sold in all kind of shops. Halls belongs to the candy sub-segment within the category.

While most of the throat lozenges products are sold on medicinal platform, Halls wanted to differentiate itself. Hence the brand chose to position itself on the " Cool and Refreshing " Platform. But instead of focusing and establishing this platform, the brand kept oscillating between " medicinal throat relief " and " Refreshing" platforms. If you look at the series of ads of Halls across its lifetime, the brand was confused about its core brand value. In one ad, the brand will be concentrating on " Sore Throat " while in another it is taking about refreshing breath,

The brand was not confident about ditching the " sore throat " and embrace the " cool + refreshing " platform. This confusion eroded the brand's chances to become the market leader in this category. The brand failed to understand that it cannot be everything to everybody. It is commonsense that brands should try to occupy a unique position rather than trying to please everyone.

It was in 2008 that Halls finally decided to focus on the " Cool throat " platform . The brand used hyperbole to communicate this message to the consumer.

Watch the ad here : Halls Airplane Ad

Personally I did not like the ad because the action of the person who took Halls was contradicting the " Coolness " factor promoted by the brand. But the hyperbole or the exaggeration worked to brand's advantage. The brand was able to clearly communicate its core brand promise to the consumer.

It shows when a brand understands its core brand mantra. The decision of the brand to focus on the " coolness " had its impact on the quality of brand communication. Halls came out with its latest ad reinforcing its core positioning.

Watch the ad here : Halls Polar Bear ad

It is again Hyperbole at its height. The message is spot-on and the exaggeration works well to reinforce the core positioning of the brand. The brand has the tagline " Thandi Saans Ka Blast " which communicates its coolness promise.

Halls is facing competition for its positioning also. Recently Parle Xhale also has started its campaign highlighting its 'coolness'. Watch the ad here.

I hope that Halls will stay focused on the current positioning platform. Ofcourse by doing so, it may lose some consumers but in the long run the brand will benefit with the focus.

Brasso : Branding without Advertising

Brand : Brasso
Company : Reckitt & Benckiser

Brand Analysis Count : 420

This post is inspired by an article which came in the Economic Time ( Source). The article mentions the brand Brasso as an example of a brand which has become a 100 crore brand without spending much on advertising.

Brasso is a 105 year old brand from Reckitt & Benckiser . The brand was born in 1904 when a Reckitt official traveled to Australia and discovered the potential of a such a product. In 1905, the company brought the brand Brasso into the market. ( source).

The brand has become almost synonymous with metal polish across the world. The brand became generic after the two world wars. Brasso is heavily used by armed forces across the world . In India too, Brasso is heavily used by the armed forces. According to ET, around 12800 litres of Brasso is used by the armed forces every month.

The brand gained its generic status purely by word of mouth. The very simple fact that this product is used by armed forces gave it tremendous authenticity. In the consumer space, the product has limited usage.The rich heritage and the word of mouth gave the brand enough recall when ever there is a need for a metal polish. Since the brand is selling without any advertising, the company is also happy to let the party run.

But the problem with such a brand is that there is a possibility that the brand misses out in opportunities. Many consumers does not know that Brasso can be used to clean scratched CDs and even repair scratches in plastic products. Unless the brand communicates regularly , there is a chance that the brand will miss out in capitalizing its strengths and in finding new uses for the product.

Marketing Funda : Articles on Marketing -2

Mont Blanc's first Television ad in India http://tinyurl.com/ox5szk II a story to tell..

Use a Human Sales Approach http://bit.ly/3xrSb7 II interesting read

How Corporate Responsibility Can Survive the Recessionhttp://bit.ly/38bpa7 II Nice read

The 7 Deadly Sins of Public Speaking http://bit.ly/2mmQJy II good read for students

Brand Perceptions, Slogans and the Mind http://bit.ly/2nRq7t II absolutely must read for marketers

Why Small Companies Are Better at Customer Servicehttp://bit.ly/D59x5 II sincere empathy & Commonsense..

Understanding business development http://bit.ly/PzeB1 II xcllent insights from Seth Godin

Creating The Brand Halo Effect http://bit.ly/4rmxZM II Must read for all marketers

Putting the Art of Leadership into Practice http://bit.ly/iyqxe

Where's Your Lean? http://bit.ly/4OJ8v excellent article on communication

Putting the Art of Leadership into Practice http://bit.ly/iyqxe nice insights

Creative Strategy Importance: Visual or Verbal? http://bit.ly/aWdVqII great funda

What gets measured must get done http://bit.ly/13J72H very true indeed

A case to spend money on advertising http://tinyurl.com/mc5q68from stanford

Branding lessons from Gillette http://tinyurl.com/klasud

Mastering The Multiple Brand Strategy http://bit.ly/Zslcp important lessons to be learned

The Art of Giving Praise http://bit.ly/9HzIk lessons for professors and salesmen

How to Be Childlike http://bit.ly/QcLTF II inspiring

Time or money, which one rules consumer choiceshttp://tinyurl.com/l28jys excellent article from Wharton

Managing in an upturn, keep expectations lowhttp://tinyurl.com/lmsqth niceone

Future Group's Mythological Marketing http://bit.ly/isF0v II atlast some Indian originated management principles

How to Make Solving Problems Fun http://bit.ly/olkfh II nice read and practical too

Decoding Leadership http://bit.ly/OVzAS II simple insights

Excellent story on 3M , 6σ Vs creativity http://tinyurl.com/26ywre

Sub-Brands & Line Extensions http://bit.ly/9L2ZE II subbrands can create confusion if not clearly defined

How Lakme brand is trying to change itself http://tinyurl.com/r4bpjy

Nice article on Carnation auto owned by Jagdish Khattarhttp://tinyurl.com/qztb5u

Inside Procter & Gamble's New Values-Based Strategyhttp://bit.ly/3wgUJw II excellent article

Understanding Indian consumer http://tinyurl.com/qofyxl by Rama Bijapurkar

Double Branding's Disadvantage http://bit.ly/AXlXV Alries says singlebrands r stronger

Use Salesmanship to Energize Your Organization http://bit.ly/uhlRi II couldnt agree more

Salespeople: Don't Talk About Price on the First Datehttp://bit.ly/Ixv4u xcellent, but will it work?

How to Make Metaphorical Magic in Your Speechhttp://bit.ly/2cUXA1 excellent article on communication

Do Interesting Things http://bit.ly/xXADM This really inspired me

Get off my land! Leading vs. Poacher Brands (Part 1)http://bit.ly/UG3Yi funda

Category Builders vs. Category Killers http://bit.ly/icPKj excellent article from Alries

Citizen Sweety Blouse: Draupadi Cheer Haran http://bit.ly/tzSLEhilarious

Marketing Funda : Articles on Marketing -1

Afaqs article on Sleepwell's ads http://tinyurl.com/yzdl56x nice read

How Strong is Your Business? Can You Pass the 3 to 6 Test?http://bit.ly/17ILuk II good read

Why the Wrong People Get Laid Off — And How to Prevent Ithttp://bit.ly/108nja II I have 2 make my job confusing!

Brand Positioning For A Better Night's Sleep http://bit.ly/KNVEB II

Family values help family owned business survive downturnhttp://tinyurl.com/yb44pjw

Understanding Product Management Role http://bit.ly/rrHJF II nice one on product management

Personal Kaizen: 15 Tips for your continuous improvementhttp://bit.ly/ouQmr II nice read on presentation skills

Shave more, get more, grow the core http://bit.ly/R76Qg II Gillette asking u to shave ur body.

Eight Questions to Assess Your Sales Organizationhttp://bit.ly/a5O8c II must read for sales pros

How Do Innovators Think? http://bit.ly/KDwCv II nice read

Management Consulting: Help or Hazard? http://bit.ly/19QGrD II hitting hard on consulting pros

The platform vs. the eyeballs http://bit.ly/19pjiz II excellent insights for marketers

Actively encouraging cannibalisation http://bit.ly/OCFOT II good read

Saturn’s Marketing Lesson Is One To Rememberhttp://bit.ly/4AhvqR important lesson for marketers

How to Deliver the Talk of Your Life http://bit.ly/NgJE8 II nice insights

A nice brand story of Zodiac http://tinyurl.com/bypx76

How to Pursue Your Passion: Understand the Essence of Your Passion http://bit.ly/2LQh9h nice read

My Best Innovation Advice? Be Promiscuous http://bit.ly/cFoww II nice read

Nike rides high even in recession http://adage.com/u/s3D9xb

Good communication skills outrank other core business competencies http://bit.ly/V6tCC

Brand Update : Wild Stone

Wild Stone has become milder. It is interesting to see a brand evolving and trying to find the right kind of positioning. Wild Stone which started off as a very very naughty brand is now moving to a mature , approachable platform.

In the last few years Wild Stone has been experimenting with its positioning. The brand looking at the huge potential in the deo market created a stir with its "explicit" controversial ads. But those ads were infact doing lot of negative word of mouth in the media space. Although Wild Stone brand got noticed, the image got entangled in the negative mindset. The brand had the tagline of " Wild By Nature " and its ads were nothing but wild.

Later Wild Stone's marketing was taken up by Future Brands ( source) . Then a shift happened in the brand's approach. The brand became subtle but of course it couldn't let go its " sexual overtones". The brand adopted the new tagline " Barely Legal".

Now the brand is running a new campaign for its variant Wild Stone Aqua.

Watch the tvc here : Wild Stone Aqua

The new ad is a refreshing change from the earlier campaigns of Wild Stone. The ad is nicely made and the brand's positioning theme fits in nicely with the ad. What is more interesting is that Wild Stone has adopted a new tagline " It happens". The new tagline is a far better one than the " Barely Legal " . More over " It happens " gives the agency lot of room to work on. And also it gives a message that Wild Stone man doesn't have to " Try Too Hard". Hopefully the brand will retain the new tagline and explore its possibilities.

The positioning of Wild Stone is not a remarkable one. Almost all the men's deo has adopted the same positioning of " Women Chasing Men". Brands like Axe Fuel,Denver, Set Wet Zatak all have adopted the same theme. The advantage that I see in Wild Stone is that the brand has adopted an Indian theme while all the other brands are going for foreign models and settings. This can prove to be a good advantage for Wild Stone. Although the market leader Axe is going great guns with regular product launches, its ads have become little detached with the Indian market ( my opinion). Axe may face the issue of a consume disconnect if it continues to import ads.

Related Brands

Wild Stone

Axe

Denver

Fuel

Fa

Rexona

Yakult : The Kiss of Good Health

Brand : Yakult
Company : Yakult Danone India Pvt Ltd
Agency : Hakudo Percept


Brand Analysis Count : 419

Recently I was intrigued by an ad featuring the bollywood actress Kajol where she endorses a drink in a small bottle. The brand name also sounded strange . The quest after that small drink brought me into an interesting brand - Yakult.

Yakult is a probiotic drink from Japan. The drink is brought to India by Yakult Honsha of Japan in collaboration with Groupe Danone of France. Yakult is a world leader in probiotic drinks and has a rich heritage dating back to 1935.

Yakult was launched in India in the late 2007. The brand was initially available only in Delhi. Now Yakult is being launched nationally in a phased manner.

Probiotic market in India is in a nascent stage. Although many players like Amul, Nestle has entered the market, the category has not yet witnessed a heightened consumer interest.

Probiotics refer to those drinks which contains live micro organisms which are healthy to human body. These micro organisms help the body in digestion and also in fighting diseases.

Yakult is fermented milk that contains healthy bacteria Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota. According to the brand site, a 65 ml Yakult bottle contains 6.5 bn probiotic bacteria ( Source).

Yakult has been testing its marketing strategy for around a year and is now ready for the national roll out. The brand is currently available in Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh and Jaipur. The entry of Yakult is expected to increase the visibility and growth of probiotic category in India.

What is interesting about Yakult brand is its marketing strategy. The brand has adopted a two prong strategy to crack the Indian market.

Yakult has roped in Kajol as the brand ambassador. The brand is also making enough noise in the media. These advertisements are bound to increase the brand visibility and also may prompt consumer trials. The choice of the brand ambassador also gels with the target market. The brand predominately targets the health conscious ladies as the primary consumer. The brand has taken the positioning of a " health enhancer " and adopted the tagline " Daily Piyo, Healthy Jiyo". The brand has the global tagline of " The kiss of good health".

But a product like a probiotic drink may not be easily adopted by the consumer since she may have lot of doubts about the product. It is in this context that the brand adopted its strategy of direct marketing.

Yakult has a strategy of direct marketing where the consumers can order the product through home delivery. Yakult has a DM team of ladies known as Yakult ladies who visit homes, educate the homemakers about the product and also regularly supplies the product. This ensures that the product is being regularly used by the consumers and also the Yakult ladies will be able to answer the doubts of the consumers.Yakult is also available in supermarkets.

Another interesting fact is about the pricing strategy of Yakult. The 65ml bottle is priced at Rs 10 and the product is available in a pack of 5. The price sounds reasonable for those consumers who are health conscious. The main challenge for this product is to make the consumers believe that the product is delivering benefit to them. Most of the health foods have the problem of giving measurable visible results to the consumers.

Yakult primarily targets those consumers who are health conscious and is aware of the importance of functional foods like probiotics. The brand will be initially operating in a niche category and its strategy will be to expand the niche category into a mainstream one. It has adopted the right marketing strategy to educate the consumers and also encourage them to make regular use of this product.