Marketing Funda : Articles on Marketing #4

The Secret Sauce: Leveraging Social Media for Business http://bit.ly/1yDGr6 II common sense tips

Mobile App’onomy – Mobile users aren’t Loyal to Cool Apps http://bit.ly/RqXCk interesting stats

How To Attack The Leading Brand http://bit.ly/zAgmf II Must read for marketers

Sir, May I Clean Your Glasses? http://bit.ly/O276F II WOW Tom Peters love Kingfisher airlines..

Kill the Elevator Speech http://bit.ly/1GVPua II must read article on business communication

10 Traits of High-Performance Leaders http://bit.ly/3GltNa II how many u have?

5 Questions with GTD's David Allen http://bit.ly/CsHrm II getting things done tips

Top 5 Things to Remember When Doing a Social Media Campaign http://bit.ly/ICGgC

How Entrepreneurs Should Handle Succession http://bit.ly/ZarC9 II good one

Create a Special Unit to Drive Growth http://bit.ly/2OaTdr II nice read

Procter & Gamble and the Beauty of Small Wins http://bit.ly/Ebr69 II good one

Mobile Handset Market in India – The Great Indian Growth Story http://bit.ly/1bolTU

The Smart Way to Influence Your Boss http://bit.ly/3amYng II let me try :)

The Upgraded Brand Extension Threat http://bit.ly/4G0EK4 II must read for marketers

5 Retail Marketing Trends for 2010 http://bit.ly/Ptedg II nice one

The Business World's Biggest Wasted Opportunity http://bit.ly/ZLwgz II nice read

The Price of a Poor Experience http://bit.ly/2dDBuq II lessons in customer service

Best Practices For Social Media: The Basics of Program Planning http://bit.ly/NI660 II nice one

10 Ways to End Your Speech with a Bang http://bit.ly/1llZDC II xcellent article

Santander Brasil and the $8 Billion "Noble" Prize http://bit.ly/fFydI II lessons for Nonprofits

Too Big to Fail — Or Too Complicated to Succeed? http://bit.ly/XOZ3Q II nice read

How Smart Leaders Talk About Time http://bit.ly/gBlOJ II lessons for leaders

To Buy Or Launch A Brand? http://bit.ly/Y06Sa II vital lessons for marketers

Really this brand's story gave me goosebumps http://tinyurl.com/cr5nw4

More on Toms Shoes brand http://tinyurl.com/yktqaku

When will the world make fun of you? http://bit.ly/2XKDb5 II Toms shoes- what a brand !!

The three elements of full employment http://bit.ly/1ivoRx wisdom from sethgodin

Want to see worst possible PowerPoint presentation? Check out these videos:- http://bit.ly/XeJ0G

Why companies see prospects in rural india http://tinyurl.com/ns8wg3

Organisational structure can reveal manythings http://tinyurl.com/yfegtv6

The Brand Launch Myth http://bit.ly/QPBYr absolute funda...

innovative marketing by Moov http://tinyurl.com/yjvpmpl

Effect of context on branding http://om.ly/KUHj

Hero Honda business model http://tinyurl.com/yzqwdg6

A story of Reva electric cars http://tinyurl.com/yzfssac

Mobile Social Networking in India – Orkut rules the chart, followed by Yahoo and Facebook http://bit.ly/g3yMk

Social Media Usage Policies: Less Lawyering, More Encouraging http://bit.ly/4nAebL II practical ??

Three Questions to Remove Ego from Decision Making http://bit.ly/3W6juO II but is it possible ?

3 Ways to Pitch Yourself in 30 Seconds http://bit.ly/AngZR II the elevator pitch

When a Colleague's Mistakes Affect You http://bit.ly/Cb1BG II highly insightful

Why Entrepreneurs Sabotage the Succession Process http://bit.ly/1bkvbm II excellent one

If goods and services become more valuable... http://bit.ly/1rW9gs II nice perspective

Live Simply, and Save the Drama for Your Mother http://bit.ly/H2uu2 II That is it

The water purifier war http://tinyurl.com/yebocjv

The dove story in india http://tinyurl.com/yabxucg

Fighter Brand Strategy Considerations http://bit.ly/xnQVj II funda for marketers

Sumi-e, color, and the art of less http://bit.ly/jKm3A II nice tips 4 powerpoint presntions

Relentless renovation: Apple's App Store http://bit.ly/8yieu II nice read for online retailers

Festival advertising – lighting up hearts or lightening the wallet? http://bit.ly/9xlaj II interesting view

Think route to consumer, not route to market http://bit.ly/QJ5m2 II nice idea

Can an Online Community Shape a Strategy? http://bit.ly/2BJqCo II nice read

Brand Personality Inspiration http://bit.ly/6fKdG II inspiration from Brand Apple

Anchor Your Brand With Credentials http://bit.ly/MW4SH II must read for marketers

Five Ways to Realize Profits and Missions http://bit.ly/1gsR4d II interesting read

Apple's Next Revolution — And What You Can Learn From It http://bit.ly/4kZDW II insightful article

Marketing Funda : Articles on Marketing 3

Selling Simplicity — Not Just Marketing It http://bit.ly/23tGgd II simple is complex

Five Mind-Blowing Web Stats You Should Know http://bit.ly/MXCna II interesting

Becoming a Collections Expert: Seven Basic Tips http://bit.ly/2uPWp8 II the most difficult part

Celebrate Your Customers http://bit.ly/4SSHn II I wish business listened to this

Becoming P2P: Principal characteristics of the new Social Business http://bit.ly/1XdTc7 II nice read

Can We Break the Tyranny of Quarterly Results? http://bit.ly/9ETLL II nice insights

The Martial Art of Difficult Conversations http://bit.ly/uiD2q II nice on on communication

HOW TO: Become an Expert in Your Industry http://bit.ly/HeaRg II i would like to be one

How to Get Found http://bit.ly/sMo5h II wisdom from guy Kawasaki

Customer Service Sells (No, Really, It Does) http://bit.ly/lVCYq II nice one

Some people are better than others http://bit.ly/gPdjO II common sense from Seth godin

Marketing Is Not Communications http://bit.ly/drrIc II wonderful insights

Top Ten Integrated Marketing Trends for 2010 http://bit.ly/SoMZy II must read for marketers

Product Promise & Product Pillars – What you need to know http://bit.ly/7RSut II nice one

India Inc loses $2.46Bn due to disconnect in customer service http://bit.ly/1lFGB II too bad

Twitter's Business Model: Brilliant or Non-Existent? http://bit.ly/24Nv0h II nice one

When To Launch A Second Brand http://bit.ly/My4yI II must read

Facebook Overtakes Orkut in India! http://bit.ly/2uoS6v

How Cisco Created Their Own Talent Incubator http://bit.ly/Z4M7K II nice read

Post-recession branding: What Next? Part 1 http://bit.ly/Oq24R II nice one

Getting Started with Disruptive Business Design http://bit.ly/15O9Nv II must read

Do HR Managers Have the Skills They Need? http://bit.ly/16Nj0P II very very relevant

Kiva: A Cautionary Tale for Social Entrepreneurs? http://bit.ly/1bEv9c II excellent insights

The Breath of God Inspiration Method http://bit.ly/1pm9vx II inspiring as usual

Do you really need to use eye contact when delivering a business presentation? http://bit.ly/gDyv9

New ad for appyfizz and grappo fizz http://tinyurl.com/yzjc6ez ..cool

The Smartest Choice We Can Make http://bit.ly/tQhF0 II inspirational - perhaps ;)

Steering a Small Company Through a Turnaround http://bit.ly/A4GxK II nice read

Smith & Jones : Tadka Marke

Brand : Smith & Jones
Company : Capital Foods

Brand Analysis Count : 425

When I recently saw the ad of Smith & Jones, I thought that a new foreign player has entered the Indian noodles market. Much to my amusement, Smith & Jones is an Indian brand and has been in the market for a while.

Smith & Jones is a brand from Capital Foods - which are famous for its Ching's secret range of Chinese food products especially instant noodles.Smith & Jones is popular in ready to eat, sauce and jelly etc.

Smith & Jones is making lot of noise in the media for its masala noodles. The brand is taking on the market leader Maggi Noodles head on .

Watch the TVC here : Smith & Jones

According to news reports , the brand is trying to redefine the Masala Variant in the noodles category. Masala is a highly popular variant in the noodles segment and has become a generic variant with the same kind of taste offered by different players in the category.

Smith & Jones wanted to differentiate by offering an innovative taste in this category . According to the reports, the brand is trying to woo customers by offering a " Tadka " taste to the masala.

Tadka is a popular garnish ( seasoning) made out of various spices which are added to the food to make it more tasty. Smith & Jones claims that its Tadka is made of 52 Indian spices. The brand is differentiating itself using the " Tadka " ingredient. The brand has the tagline " Tadka Marke".

I still wonder why Capital Foods chose to extend Smith & Jones to noodles segment when it already have Ching's Secret brand of instant noodles. Smith & Jones was having products in the Sauce, Ready to eat segment etc and Ching's Secret was a popular noodles brand. Rather than extending Smith & Jones, Capital Foods could have introduced the new flavor under Ching's. By having two brands in the same category, the company is going to lose both share and money. There is a chance of cannibalizing one brand over the other. And to fight a market leader like Maggi, one needs to be very focused both on brands and also resources.

Another aspect of the brand is its insensitivity towards the linguistic diversity across the vast Indian market. Although I know Hindi, I was totally clueless about what a Tadka is. I did not knew the meaning of it till I made a conscious search of the word. If the customer does not understand the meaning of Tadka, the entire brand promise will be lost. The brand will have tough time in communicating its core differentiation across non-Hindi speaking markets unless it takes pain to find apt word in all those languages.

The brand has initiated sampling across 3200 schools across India and is sponsoring lot of events and contact program with the consumers. The brand is also trying product placement in movies and sponsor programs in kid's channels ( Source).

It will be interesting to see whether Smith & Jones will be able to make a dent in Maggi's stronghold in the Rs 1100 crore noodles market. Differentiation based on flavor is not sustainable proposition. It will be easy for any marketer to launch such a variant. That was one of the reason why I doubted the effectiveness of Smith & Jones' foray into noodles .

Related Brand
Maggi
Top Ramen

Brand Update : Lux

Lux got bigger. The brand has come back in style. Lux released its first commercial featuring the most famous "Star Couple " of bollywood - Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan. The brand is currently running this high profile campaign across the media space.

Watch the ad here : Lux new ad

HUL has been facing lot of heat from the competition. Most of its best sellers were losing market share and competition getting aggressive day by day. Despite having very popular brands, HUL began losing shares especially in the personal care category.
The HUL brands are facing tough competition from players like ITC , Wipro ,Godrej and the like.

Recently I checked on the HUL products purchased at my home , I was surprised to find that we have dropped many HUL products from our shopping list. In the soap category itself, we never purchased an HUL soap for the past 3 months or so. These spaces are now occupied by brands like Vivel,Dettol, Santoor etc.

In my earlier update on Lux, I mentioned that HUL is not promoting the "original " Lux and not using the equity of Aishwarya Rai. The new campaign involving the two biggest stars of bollywood gives a huge thrust to the brand.

Ordinary consumers seems to be very much impressed by the new campaign. My mother liked the ad so much that she plans to buy Lux soon.

Personally I feel that the ad could have been different. The theme is nothing new and is used by many brands before. But the Star Couple makes the theme irrelevant. The charm and the chemistry of the couple make good the flaws in the "big idea".The ad has a sticky factor and in that sense Lux benefits.

The current campaign although expensive gives the required thrust for Lux. Lux badly needed some thing new to bring back the consumers who switched to other brands and never returned. The brand had made a strong comeback and that too in style.

Related Brand
Lux

Sparx Shoes : Add Sparx to Your Life

Brand : Sparx
Company : Relaxo Footwears
Agency : Arms Communications


Brand Analysis Count : 424

Sparx is a brand from Relaxo Footwears which is India's second largest footwear company. The company which started its operations in 1976 is famous for its hawai slippers. Relaxo footwears has a turnover of around Rs 400 crores.

Sparx is the foray of the company into the high end sports shoe market . The sports shoe market is worth around Rs 400 crore and is expected to grow very fast owing to the changing lifestyle and demography.

The Indian sports shoe market is now dominated by global icons. The fight is intense between Nike , Adidas and Reebok and the new generation is lapping up these brands . It is in this market that a domestic brand is trying to make its mark.

It is true that in the Rs 10,000 crore Indian footwear market, there is plenty of space of various brands and Sparx is aiming for the same segment that the global icons are fighting for.

Sparx is relying on the celebrity power to position itself as a premium sports shoe brand. Premium interms of image and not interms of price. The brand is using the Bollywood hero Neil Nitin Mukesh as the brand ambassador . Sparx has adopted the ad slogan " Add Sparx to your life" and the brand has the tagline " Go for It" . The brand could have added some more imagination while selecting the taglines.

Watch the TVC here : Sparx

The ad which looks nice,definitely gives the brand a premium look . But there is no Big idea. The theme is old and often used by lot of brands in the past. There is no positioning nor a differentiation . What the ad generates is a fair amount of brand familiarity.

The question is whether brand familiarity is enough to generate sales. To a certain extent it helps. Shoes is an experiential product . The customer has to first try it out and feel the comfort/design etc before the purchase. So if the brand is familiar, consumers may try it out and if the product is good, they will buy. But a brand cannot just rely on familiarity to promote its purchase. It should offer a compelling reason for the consumer to reject Nike or Adidas and go for this brand ( assuming that Sparx is aiming at that segment).

If the brand is looking at a segment that cannot afford global brands like Nike, then the current strategy works. Sparx brand is priced around Rs 1300-1500 range but the problem is that with a little more money consumers can trade up to a Reebok or a Nike. That calls for a serious look at the marketing basics of Positioning and Differentiation.


Sparx is a brand from a very established footwear maker. It has the resources and the reach which are essential pre-requisites for success in the Indian market. The brand has evoked lot of curiosity with its association with the celebrity. Its success will depend a lot on how it takes the communication from curiosity to engagement.

Ambuja Cements : Branding a Commodity

Corporate Brand : Ambuja Cements

Company : Ambuja Cements Ltd ( Holcim Group Company)
Agency : Grey

Brand Analysis Count : 423

Ambuja Cements formerly Gujarat Ambuja is one of India's largest cement brands. The company came into existence in 1984. Ambuja Cements is a classic example of a successful commodity branding.
Indian cement market is different from the rest of the world because the largest segment of buyers of cement in India is the individual home owners rather than the institutions. Although this scenario is witnessing a change due to the boom in the organized realty sector, individual home owners form a significant segment that no cement marketers can ignore.
Although these individuals shell out the money to purchase cement, they are not the decision makers in the buying process.

The intermediaries like the contractors , masons etc take up the role of the influencer/decision makers in the purchase of this product. Since the consumers view this product as a commodity, the involvement of ordinary home owners in the purchase .

Ambuja Cements is one of the companies that realized the potential of brand as a differentiator. Even in the eighties, Ambuja cements started its activities for building the brand. Infact according to Superbrands report, Ambuja cements is the first cement brand to start advertising in television. Ambuja Cements also used the outdoors extensively to reinforce the brand image and enhance brand recall.
Ambuja Cements also focused on influencing the other players in the business like the contractors/masons and engineers through camps and meets.

These initiatives helped Ambuja to charge a premium over other brands. With the competition hotting up from Grasim + Ultratech, Ambuja Cements could hold on to its share because of the brand equity it had created over these years.

While branding the cement commodity,Ambuja Cements concentrated on its core brand promise of " Strength ". All through its campaigns, the brand was very consistent on reinforcing its positioning as the " Strongest " cement . The brand was also very clever in selecting a unique logo.

Commodities are boring products . But for smart marketers, this is also an opportunity to make a difference. Ambuja cements bought in lot of humor to this ( otherwise) boring product. Most of its campaigns are humorous which makes the consumers stick to the advertisements . The ad which I like most is the ad where the brothers ( Boman Irani) try to break the wall which they put up to separate their houses when they were fighting with each other.

Some other ads here : Ambuja 1,
Ambuja 2

These ads reinforce the core positioning of Ambuja as a strong cement. Strength is a very highly relevant attribute as far as customer is concerned.

While branding a commodity, the critical question is whether these ads can influence the consumers to change their commodity mindset towards this category. The answer is definitely affirmative. I have noticed many home owners directly procuring these products for their home construction because they don't trust the contractors. In these scenarios, high brand recall will give the edge for the brands.

Branding can change the perception of consumers towards commodity. The point is to create a compelling reason to do so.

Related Post
Ultratech