Brand Update : Jazz Gets Reasonable

Finally common sense prevails over Honda Jazz. The brand is relaunched with a significant reduction in price marking the end of aggressive market posture by Honda. Honda have a terrific brand equity in the Indian market with its City being one of the most successful product which lead the premium sedan market in India. But with the aggressive product launches from Volkswagen, Toyota and others coupled with Honda's over confidence led to the situation where the brand was dislodged from its market leadership. This over - confidence has blinded the company from understanding the competitive landscape in the market which it operates. Even Honda is not immune to marketing myopia.

This attitude of aggression and over-confidence was evident in the company's attitude towards Jazz. Jazz was launched at a price of Rs 7-9 lakh INR and the attitude was Take It or Leave It. Indian consumers choose to leave the brand and sales floundered. But all through these years, the brand maintained its stance on not reducing its price and depending on the brand's strong image to lure customers towards expensive Jazz.

The sharp decline of the sales of Honda City  in 2011 was a wake up call for Honda. The company realized that a positive brand equity may not guarantee sales. The brand needs to make sense to the customer. It is a surprise that a reputed company like Honda was not able to understand the Psyche of Indian consumer . Honda also failed to see the changes that were happening in the Indian passenger car market. The entry of new players and the shift of consumer interest towards diesel paved the way for the Honda City's dethroning from the leadership position. These factors also made Jazz irrelevant in the Indian market. 

It is in this light that Honda decided to reposition Honda Jazz at the price point. The brand has reduced the price by almost 1.5 Lakh INR and Jazz is now available at price range of 5.5 Lakh to 6.5 Lakh INR . I think this price rationalization is too late too little for Jazz. The market is too negative for a premium priced petrol hatchback. Even at the current reduced price, Jazz is expensive compared to Toyota Liva and even Etios.

Having said that, the brand should be credited with an attempt to create the premium hatchback market in India but the timing was wrong and value proposition of Jazz was not good enough to justify the steep price.

Consumers may adore the brand but to make him purchase , the brand needs to make sense.

Related Brand

Honda Jazz

Brand Update : Horlicks Goes Premium With Gold

GSK's megabrand Horlicks has launched a premium variant - Horlicks Gold in select cities. The new variant is priced around 30% premium over the regular Horlicks. The new variant's USP is the presence of double nutrients and a premium looking packaging.According to news reports, Horlicks Gold has better taste and aroma compared to regular one.

Horlicks has been on an extension spree in the last couple of years launching both product-line extensions and brand extensions. The brand touted itself to be a megabrand which endorses a wide range of products across categories. The latest is the foray of Horlicks into Premium Health Drink market.

Infact there is no such category in the Indian market. Most of the brands are priced in similar lines and it is the first time that a brand is aiming to create a premium segment in the Malted Health Drink market. The move also marks a shift in the segmentation strategy of Horlicks. Horlicks has used predominantly Age based segmentation for all its product development . It used gender as a segmentation when it launched Women's Horlicks. Now the brand has used Income as a segmentation variable. Although Age, Gender , Income etc comes under Demographic segmentation, using Income as a segmentation is first in this category of products.

The challenge for this variant is to convince the customer to pay a premium for Horlicks Gold. In the store shelf both Horlicks regular and Horlicks Gold will be dispayed and what will prompt consumer to chose Gold over Regular is the critical question. I don't think that double nutrients or packaging is a strong enough reason for consumers to pay a 30% premium. Does that mean Regular Horlicks is inferior product to Gold ? Is the brand targeting first-time users or expect the regular users to switch to the premium brand ? These questions will be cleared once the brand starts communicating. 

Horlicks is now in a extension trap. The brand in pursuit of market share is using extensions as a strategy . Too many extensions are bound to confuse the customers. As I understand, Horlicks Gold is aimed at the entire family . But this Premium variant so far fails to offer a very powerful differentiation to justify its premiumness over its own Regular variant. That can be a problem for Horlicks. Its too early to make a prediction but in the store both these variants looks the same except for the price. It is now upto the brand communication to do the convincing.

Maruti A Star : Stop @ Nothing

Brand : A Star
Company : Maruti Suzuki India Ltd

Brand Analysis Count : # 490

A Star was an ambitious brand for Maruti Suzuki India Ltd ( MSIL). The brand was expected to consolidate the massive leadership position of MSIL in the A2 segment of Indian passenger car market. The brand was also expected to penetrate into the highly lucrative demographic market of young Indians.

Launched in 2008, A Star was a global car made in India. The brand was touted as a World Strategic Model and was the first car to be fitted with the famed KB series engine. The brand was expected to fit in between Zen Estillo and Ritz priced around Rs 3.5 lakh to 4,.5 lakh.A1 and A2 segment ( together called as Small Car Segment ) constitutes around 80% of the Indian passenger car market.

A Star was launched with two objectives - to tap the export market and also to launch a model in the premium A2 segment. The first objective was met through a series of strategic alliances with Nissan and Volkswagen. The grand plans for the Indian market however hit a rough patch over these years with A Star failing to impress the Indian consumer after the initial enthusiasm

.

The brand started its journey with an aspirational note positioning itself as an aspirational- loaded- young- car for the successful ones.The brand was also a highly eco-friendly car that met the toughest European emission standards. The brand roped in Farhan Akther as the brand ambassador and adopted the tagline " Stop @ Nothing ". Farhan Akthar was reigning hot with his movie Rock On and A Star tried to capitalize on Farhan's image as a cool successful young man.

Watch the ad here : A Star Farhan 

The brand was projecting itself as a sports car for the youth and was one of the first car brands to show car stunts in their campaigns - Watch another ad here

Despite these attempts to position the car for the youth, the sales started sliding and was not meeting the expectation of the company. One of the major complaint about A Star was the space. Although the car was rated high on drive quality, the interiors was totally cramped even had less space than Alto. The back seat virtually was too crampy and as one of the reviewer commented - the car is suited for a bachelor . This single disadvantage threatened the entire life of the brand coupled with the fact that A Star was launched during the beginning of recession. It is an irony that Zen Estillo sold more car than A Star because it was more spacey although less modern.

In 2010, the brand faced another blow interms of a recall because of a fuel leak. The recall dented the image of A star as a unreliable car. 

To counter the sales decline, A Star tried to change the promotional strategy by adopting a functional thrust to the messages than the earlier emotional take. The brand also began to talk about A Star consumer profile inorder to boost it image as a car for youngsters who believe in themselves. Watch the ad here

2010 also saw a slew of product innovations for A Star. The brand launched an automatic version which was very well received by the consumers. Another innovation was the introduction of personalization option for A Star. The brand launched Wrapping kits using which consumers could personalize their car. The kits was pricey at around Rs 16000 which scared many consumers away from that option. 

2011 was the year when the brand got really aggressive and bold . The brand is currently running a campaign which talks about Whakypedia which is A Star's dictionary of commonly used terms like Stepney ,censored  test drive , etc. The brand uses the tagline " New Definitions for New Generations " for this campaign.

The ads definitely bring lot of youthfulness and energy to the brand and after the campaigns, there are lot of  A Stars on the road ( discounts too are a reason). But the brand's product deficiencies cannot be masked by smart campaigns. 

A Star will do well as a first car for youngsters. The brand will fit those customers who cannot afford a Swift or a Ritz but would love to have a reliable car ( predominantly Maruti choosers). Beyond that , A Star will not be able to impress a family man solely because of lack of space. 

Brand Update : Hole New Fashion from Polo

The new campaign " Hole New Fashion " is one of the best campaigns I saw in recent times. The communication  once again brought back the humor, excitement and freshness into the brand. Polo has always been an interesting brand. The " Mint with a Hole " virtually made mint candy category very popular in the Indian market.

The brand was on a hiatus after the " what is your hole story " campaign which took a different take on the concept of " Hole ". 

The current campaign introduces four new flavors for Polo - Lime Mojito, Watermelon Sorbet, Peach Schnapps, and Cocoa Mocha. The most interesting factor being that these new variants are positioned as signature flavors which are "designed" by the Goa based Designer Wendell Rodricks. The brand achieved new heights in creativity when it partnered with a designer to launch a Fashion Range. The new range of Polo is known as Signature Flavors and is a classic case of a Celebrity - Brand co-creation.

What is most important in the new campaign is the new thinking that Polo brought in to mint candy. It is a great big idea to see variants as a fashion range and the execution is perfect. According to Economic Times, the flavors was such a big hit that the entire stock was sold out in two weeks in markets where it was introduced. 

Watch the ad here : Polo Signature

The new campaign will significantly help the brand Polo to reinforce its positioning as an off-beat interesting fun loving brand. The epitome of the brand's personality is its ability to think out of box which is conveyed by the tagline " The Mint with a Hole ". The brand tied to maintain its personality in most of the campaigns. The current campaign brings in much needed freshness to the brand in every sense. The new variants will also bring lot of new consumers to the brand . It also gives the existing fans of the brand to indulge more of the brand.

I am not sure whether these signature flavors are limited editions or permanent addition to the product-line. What ever be the life of these variants, it has achieved in elevating the brand to a higher level of positioning.

Related Brand

Polo

Vi-John : Building Brand on Celebrity Power

Brand : Vi-John
Company : Maja Healthcare (Vi-John Cosmetics)

Brand Analysis Count : # 489

Do you know that Vi-John is the largest selling Shaving cream in India ? I didn't knew that till I saw Shah Rukh Khan spreading this message across the media. The marketing world is full of surprises. Vi-John which is from the house of Maja Healthcare is an interesting brand. There are lot of interesting facts about this brand which has virtually grabbed attention nationally through the endorsement from none other than Shah Rukh Khan.

Vi-John is not a new brand. The brand has been in existence from 1960 and has a strong presence in the rural market.According to certain reports, the brand has around 60% penetration in the rural market. That makes the claim of " largest selling shaving cram " valid.

Vi-John is also known for its innovation in the distribution strategy. Unlike the usual personal selling brands which focus on retail formats, Vi-John tried to innovate on the distribution by pushing it through saloons. The brand also have huge equity in saloons which has helped the brand tremendously. One of the main reason for the success of Vi-John is the keen awareness about the consumer needs. While global giants like Gillette failed to impress the rural consumer, Vi-John understood that rural consumer needs are different and its shaving cream produced more lather, better fragrance ( strength) than the competitors. 

Vi-John is not only into shaving products but a whole range of personal care products. The company has roped in celebrities like Sonali Bendre, Bipasha Basu etc. 

Vi-John has come into limelight with the endorsement from SRK for its shaving cream range. The brand is currently running a commercial featuring SRK.

Watch the ad here : Vi- John 

The advertisement is very basic with the usual stuff like Women , Smooth Shave and Keedanu (Germs). The brand ambassador stresses the fact that Vi-John is the largest selling Indian shaving cream and that adds lot of power into the brand's plan  to enter the national market.

 The brand has moved from its low-key channel based strategy to a highly aggressive celebrity based pull strategy to cater to the larger market. Although this strategy gives immediate results interms of popularity and trials, the sustainability of such a pull strategy will depend on the investment on promotions. These expensive celebrity based pull has a potential of draining valuable resources over-time and the brand hopes that the market returns will justify the investment made on such promotions.

The high profile campaigns how ever fails to give a brand identity to Vi-John. The umbrella brand Vi-John does not have a positioning on its own. The brand neither has a tagline nor a core positioning which could be extended into various product categories. Since Vi-John is an umbrella brand, the company should have tried to develop a positioning for the core-brand and then used various campaign for its products. But instead, the firm tried to promote its shaving products first. The only issue is that people will start perceiving Vi-John as a shaving product brand rather than a personal care brand.

When promoting a brand which endorses multiple product categories, it is essential to develop a brand positioning hierarchy which shows how each of these products will be positioned and how the umbrella brand will be used to promote these products. It will be wise for Vi-John to think of developing a brand personality for its parent brand and then leverage that across its product range.

Brand Update : Mentos needs Mentos

Mentos recently launched a new variant Mentos Watermelon flavor. The brand is currently running a campaign for the new variant. Mentos has been a very interesting brand because of the unique product features and famously humorous campaigns. The tagline " Demaag Ki Batti Jalao " has been one of the most famous taglines in the Indian context .

The new ad somehow was way off the creative standards that the brand had set for itself.The ad features a young man using a watermelon carved as a helmet to evade a traffic police check really tests the common sense of the audience.

Watch the ad here : Mentos Watermelon ad 

The policeman's expression of  " what the hell " sums up the creative execution of the positioning of the brand in this campaign. The protagonist of the ad looks like an idiot wearing that watermelon helmet and the only saving grace being the " yeh Jawani " song.

I used to look forward to Mentos' ads because there was refreshingly new ideas that were being tested in those campaigns. From the campus to the last animated ad, Mentos ads were bang on the positioning of a " refreshing chewy". The current campaign really lacks the standards of the early campaigns.

For a brand like Mentos, each of these ads are important for two reasons - the brand does not have too many campaigns in an year. Typically it is one or two ads. Those ads usually are very good and is often used again and again throughout the year. Second reason is that consumers expect really high quality creatives from this brand which boasts of being a " brilliant " brand. So in this case of watermelon flavor, the agency failed to deliver a quality creative. 

Related Brand

Mentos