Cadbury Gems is currently running a new series of interesting commercials. The brand has chosen a Giant Panda as the main character in the new set of ads.
Gems has been very consistent in associating with the attributes - color,fun and excitement. Over the last few years, the brand has been concentrating on associating " color" with Gems. The current campaign is trying to further reinforce the association.
Frankly , when I first saw the new Gems ad with the colored Panda, I did not understand any bit of it. Only thing I understood was that Panda became colored when it ate Gems. But my kid seems to enjoy watching the Panda. Gems now have the new tagline " Rangeen Panda ka Rangeen Pasand". The earlier tagline of Gems was " Meri masti ka Partner ". The new tagline seems to be too tactical in nature focusing more on the Panda rather than the brand.
Gems is targeting the kids of age 8-14 yrs.(source) The way kids look at these messages are way different from how we adults look at the campaigns . Hence I am not venturing into analyzing the new campaign using my adult lens. However I think that the ad could have been more clear so that adults will also understand the essence of the message.
Having said that, the choice of Panda as the main protagonist is a very good idea. The animal evokes a sense of cuteness and stickiness to the ad. When marketing to kids, the presence of such a character will add more punch to the brand. The association of the attribute "color" to Gems also is a class act because it makes Gems unique compared to other brands.
Even though Gems does not have a competitor with similar product properties ( color candies), the consumer does not think in terms of categories while making a confectionery purchase. Most of the purchases are spontaneous and marketers can only wish that their brand is on top of the mind during that moment of truth. Let me hope that the Rangeen Panda helps Gems to capture that moment.
This post is not about the ubiquitous Blackberry smartphone but about an Indian textile brand. Blackberrys is a textile brand from Mohan Clothings. The brand just happens to share a common name with the world famous smartphone brand.
Blackberrys is one of India's leading premium textile brand. Blackberrys is known for its range of suits and trouser clothing. The brand was born in 1991 and was a pioneer in bring in fashion oriented suitings in India.
The brand have a strong presence in the North and East India and only since 2007, that the brand has made its presence in the southern states.
The brand was a silent player in the market so far. Most of the promotions were below the line and seldom did the brand ventured into high profile brand building. Even without much advertising, Blackberrys established a significant place in the premium suitings category. The brand which started off as a suits and jacket company is now offering full wardrobe solution to both men and women.
The intense competition in the premium textile category has prompted this brand to invest more in brand building activities. The brand is currently running a TVC across various channels.
The brand is targeting the upwardly mobile young executives who are looking for a fashion statement in formals. The brand has identified sophistication,confidence, youthfulness and power as its core brand values. Blackberrys has adopted the tagline " Sharp, Smooth & Sure " to communicate its brand value. Blackberrys is also a winner of many accolades and awards including the Lycra Image awards 2007 etc. Although the brand has proved its credentials, the TVC was not able to communicate all those good things about the brand to the audience. I was not exposed to the brand since it is not available in Kerala. From the perspective of a new customer, the ad communicated very less about the brand. According to the media reports, the brand wanted to convey the values such as style, confidence and easy-going attributes, but the TVC was not engaging enough. The theme was not fresh enough for a consumer to explore further about this brand. It is for this reason why textile brands will do much better if they concentrate more on print media because they will be able to talk more effectively to the consumer using the print space especially when entering new markets.
Blackberrys is a brand which believes in capturing the market in baby steps. The brand moves to certain market, consolidates and then move on. It is one of the reason why the brand took so long to cover the entire market despite being launched in 1991. The Indian premium textile market has witnessed a huge shift in the last decade. The premium category has witnessed segmentation with in itself and most of the global brands have reached the Indian shores. It will be interesting to see how brands like Blackberrys will hold up to the competition.
After acquiring Kinetic Scooters in 2008, Mahindra two wheelers is on an overdrive to capture a fair share of India's emerging scooter market. While retaining Kinetic Flyte, Mahindra has launched two new scooters - Rodeo and Duro into the market.
Rodeo is positioned as a power scooter . The brand sports a 125 cc engine which churns out 8 bhp . Rodeo competes with Honda's Activa, Aviator , Hero Honda's Pleasure and Suzuki Access.
Indian scooter market is a classic example which shows how difficult it is for marketers to predict the market pulse. This is a market which analysts predicted a demise. This is a market which humbled the mighty Bajaj Auto from a position of market leader to a market follower.
When every one predicted the demise of this category, Honda redefined this market through their Activa brand. Now according to press reports , scooter market in India is expected to grow more than 25% in the next 3-5 years. India produces around 12 lakh units of scooters every year. The market is dominated by Honda which has a market share of more than 55% ( source).
Mahindra is entering a market where there is no powerful No.2. It is common sense that there are always a space for a second player in any market. The million dollar question is how to break the stronghold of Honda brands in this segment.
Marketing wisdom shows that the challenger brands should have a powerful differentiation if it wants to successfully counter the market leader. And it is good to see that Mahindra twowheelers have found a powerful differentiation & positioning strategy.
Rodeo is being positioned as a " Power Scooter". The brand is claiming that it is as powerful as a motorcycle ( in a symbolic sense) and has all the advantages of a scooter. Power looks like a good attribute to differentiate because scooters never are perceived to be powerful. And by claiming that attribute, Rodeo will be able to get the attention of the youth. The brand is currently running a TVC across channels
The important question is whether a typical scooter buyer considers Power as an important attribute in scooters. Scooter is a functional product. The convenience matter most in this category. Honda scooters gave consumers a high quality refined product and consumers loved it.
Rodeo is trying to make a space for itself in the market by attaching it to the Power attribute. The brand at the same time achieves parity with the competitor's qualities like ride quality, storage etc. Mahindra also priced the product smartly at Rs 41299 a tad below the market leader's price. The power proposition + attractive price + Mahindra brand will prompt many potential consumers to put Rodeo into their consideration set.
Mahindra was able to successfully identify a relevant positioning platform for Rodeo. Although Rodeo may not attract the youth segment, it will definitely appeal to those who is looking for a powerful alternative to motorcycles.
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 .
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 .
gn is trying to further reinforce the association.
