Brand Update : RIP Tata Indicom ( 2006-2011)

Tata Indicom is dead. The CDMA brand from Tata Teleservices is going to be integrated ( migrated / replaced/exorcised) to Tata Docomo. According to various newsreports, the Indicom brand will be killed and the entire mobile telephony and related services will be brought under the Tata Docomo brand. 

By bringing the entire services under a common brand, Tata Teleservices will be able to reduce the marketing costs and avoid brand confusion. 

But a dead brand is a dead brand. For me every dead brand is a failed brand. 

The new move also marks the larger role played by NTT Docomo in the mobile services JV with the Tata. The branding to Tata Docomo shows the prominence of DoCoMo brand which is the primary brand and Tata brand name is being used as an endorser brand. 

Tata Indicom as a brand was not able to create any strong image in the consumer mindspace. The poor quality ads and confused positioning put the brand way behind aggressive competitors like Vodafone, Idea and Airtel. But compared to Tata Indicom , DoCoMo is an aggressive brand and the promotions are clutter-breaking. By bringing all services under a single brand especially in a low-margin, highly competitive market like cellular services make immense business sense. 

CDMA services also did not quite clicked in the Indian market and consumers were not convinced about the technological supremacy of CDMA over GSM. Now that Tata Teleservices got a foothold over the GSM services through the Docomo JV, the relevance of Tata Indicom's CDMA services has diminished considerably. I wouldn't be surprised if the entire CDMA services will be put in the backburner by Tata Teleservices. 

RIP Tata Indicom ..

Related Brand

Tata Indicom

Vodafone Blue : For Facebook Lovers

Brand : Vodafone Blue
Company :Vodafone

Brand Analysis Count : 502

Vodafone Blue is a Facebook dedicated mobile phone from Vodafone. The brand is thoroughly interesting because of its unique positioning. Vodafone Blue was launched in September 2011 targeting the ultimate Facebook fan. 

It is not unusual for a mobile service provider to dabble into the hardware . But most of such launches went largely unnoticed by consumer. This bundling of hardware and software although very much popular in the Western market is not yet being popularized in the Indian market. 

Vodafone Blue is manufactured by Alcatel and is co-branded by Vodafone and Facebook. This brand is an example of co-branding between two service providers. India is witnessing a huge surge in social networking usage. Facebook is leading the pack with an estimated 33 million Indian users. Vodafone is a leading player in the Indian mobile telephony with an estimated subscriber base of around 143 million. So coming together to tap synergies is the aim of this co-branding exercise.

Since most of the mobile service providers are grappling with the issue of wafer-thin margins, data usage is being viewed as a revenue generation & survival opportunity by most players. The rise of popularity of social networking sites provides ample opportunity for mobile service providers to gain revenue and also increase subscriber base. Vodafone's interest in this venture will be to increase its data usage subscriptions. For Facebook, India is a crucial market both interms of users and also advertisers. Partnering with a major player like Vodafone will bring in more users and importantly more usage of its site. So on paper , everything sounds logical and good.

Vodafone Blue's USP is its tight integration with Facebook. The product can be said as a Facebook phone and the product is aiming to give a pure Facebook experience to the consumers. This is not the first brand to come out with a Facebook phone. Earlier HTC has launched HTC ChaCha brand with a dedicated  Facebook button. Vodafone Blue has product features like - dedicated F button, FB is always working on the background, easy sharing of photos and messages etc.

The big question is whether Indian consumer needs such a product that is heavily integrated to only one social networking site ? The product is a niche but only time will tell whether this product is going to have enough takers to justify its existence. It is true that Facebook is hugely popular in India but will a consumer be willing to shell out Rs4500 for a dedicated phone is  a doubtful proposition.

There are many good things about this phone. The hardware is decent so are the looks. But there are many other phones in the same price range that offers many more features than Vodafone Blue. Hence for an average consumer, Vodafone Blue may not be a compelling buy. 

Another interesting facet of this brand is its communication. The brand is running a high profile tvc for its launch.

Watch the ad here : Vodafone Blue 

The ad conceived and executed by Ogilvy  is being shot as a Broadway Musical. This is the first time that an Indian brand has taken up a Broadway musical theme. The ad was interesting as a first-watch then became too long and boring. 

Although the ad had some elements of creative brilliance, the purpose of the ad baffled me. Is that ad for Facebook or Vodafone Blue ? Do Facebook needs such a campaign explaining FB features ? Why such a long ad failed talk any single feature about the phone ?? 

According Business Standard,  the brand is targeting non-metro consumers. The brand feels that the next social networking wave will come from these tier II cities. In that case the advertisement is way off the mark. Secondly, the consumers who already are the users of FB need not be re-educated about FB features. So an expensive advertisement made to show creative brilliance and no strategy.

According to the reports, Vodafone is offering one year unlimited FB access to the buyers of Vodafone Blue. The phone comes locked with the service providers and the consumer has to chose a pre-paid plan for this phone to enjoy the FB services. 

I am no expert in forecasting the success of brand launches. Vodafone Blue is an interesting experiment in the social networking space. A dedicated social networking phone without over-focus on any one social networking site would have worked better, but here in the case of Vodafone Blue, it is a co-branding initiative. Time will tell whether this experiment was worth it or not. 

Brand Update : Scooty becomes Sinful

Last year saw a dramatic change in the brand personality of Scooty- the Scooterette brand from TVS.The brand is attempting a makeover to woo the young Indian consumer. In that process, the brand changed its entire persona to cater to the new target segment.

The change in the brand personality of Scooty also reflects its change in its targeting strategy. The brand is now targeting a much younger consumers. Earlier, Scooty was targeting lady consumers who were looking for a personal transport to office/college. The brand's initial communication was catered to young women who just started going to office. The message of a successful independent women was the positioning platform adopted by the brand.The brand also tried to ladder up using " Empowerment " as the core value. 

Last year, the brand went in for a complete makeover. The brand has become much younger, colorful and naughty. This was a drastic change from the earlier positioning based on style and power. The brand also rationalized its portfolio  to three sub-brands - Scooty Pep, Scooty Teenz and Scooty Streak. 

For Scooty Pep, the brand has made it more youthful and colorful by changing the advertising strategy. The brand has adopted the new tagline " Go Babelicious ". The brand campaign features the new age girl with the so-called bold attitude. The brand message is " Do your own thing, girls ". To support the new positioning, the brand has launched more colorful variants. 

Watch the campaign here :Go Babelicious

The brand is now running another brand campaign for its Streak  sub-brand. Scooty Streak was launched in 2009. The brand was aimed at young girls with more styling and colors. The brand also introduced additional features for the Streak . Scooty Streak used the ( then ) tennis sensation Sania Mirza as the brand ambassador.The styling was the key differentiator for Streak at that time. 

This year, Scooty became more bold for its sub-brand. The brand is currently running a campaign for Streak called " Sinfully Black ".

Watch the ad here : Sinfully Black 

The new campaign is a big shift in the overall brand personality of Scooty. From a positioning based more on rational aspects like features and style, the brand moved to a kind of hedonistic form of advertising. In the Sinfully Black campaign, the brand is featuring seven sins -

Lust

Greed

Pride

Envy

Gluttony

Sloth

Rage.

The brand is running ads for each of these sins. The brand is clearly targeting the new urban youth and is following the clichéd  image of the young urban Indian consumer. Most of the brands are now using a kind of a rebel, indulgent, sexy, naughty, independent image to portray the Indian youngsters. Scooty Streak is no different. So from a " empowered, rational " personality, the brand has moved to a naughty, indulgent, personality. For the campaign , the brand uses foreign models which again is to position itself as an aspirational brand. 

What I liked about the campaign is the use of seven sins in the campaign which makes the ads different and interesting. The use of positioning statement " Sinfully Black " is also different and I think the brand has done away with other color choices for Streak and is now focusing on black Streak with colorful graphics. This also is something that is not seen in campaigns targeting ladies. Earlier Bajaj Pulsar had launched a campaign for Black Pulsar 180cc. 

Another reason for the Sinfully Black campaign is to make the sub-brand relevant and different from Scooty Pep. Since Scooty Pep has also changed its targeting towards younger consumers, the Streak sub-brand will be occupying the same mental space with Scooty Pep. So by relaunching Scooty Streak with focus on black color + new personality, the company has effectively differentiated the two sub-brands from each other ( atleast in image).

The new campaigns of Scooty marks another interesting change for this brand. Scooty has been a market leader in this category for long . The brand is careful in making itself interesting to the TG. This time, the brand smartly uses promotional strategies to keep the interest alive in the market. 

Related Brand

TVS Scooty

Tata Grande : Size Matters

Brand : Grande
Company : Tata Motors

Brand Analysis Count : 501

Another Indian brand has moved from a sub-brand status to an Independent brand. Tata Motors has upgraded the Grande brand to an independent brand status delinking it from Sumo Brand. Tata Sumo Grande was launched in 2008. the brand was expected to raise the sagging fortune of Tata Sumo.

Tata Sumo which was launched in 1994 was a poster boy in the Multi-Utility Vehicle segment. The brand became hugely popular in the Taxi segment .

 But the launch of Innova, Scorpio, Xylo etc soon began to eat into the share of Sumo. Soon the brand began to be perceived as dated. Coupled with the bad PR and image about Tata Cars, the consumer interest began to shift to new MUVs and SUVs.

Tata Sumo Grande was launched as an attempt to shift the consumer's interest back to Tata MUVs. The Grande design was very different from Sumo and the positioning of Sumo grande was also different from the Sumo's positioning. Tata Sumo Grande had the tagline " More than Meets the Eye " focusing on the personality of the brand owner. 

In 2011, Tata Motors decided to make Grande brand independent. The new brand was soft launched and the brand is currently running the launch campaign in various channels.

Watch the campaign here : Tata Grande

The new brand has the tagline " Size Matters ". From the tagline itself it can be assumed that the brand is 

positioning itself as the most spacious MUV ( common sense !). Grande is also hoping to be perceived as a family car , rather than a commercial vehicle. The brand is priced at Rs 7.5 lakh +.

In one of my posts, I had criticized the Tata Motor's strategy of launching Grande under the Sumo brand. Now that that error was rectified, it needs to be seen whether consumers will perceive Grande as different from Sumo. My judgement is that it will be difficult since that association is already being made. So the task for Tata Motors is to put Grande out of the Sumo association as quickly as possible. Interestingly Grande is focusing on the USP - Size which is also the same USP of Sumo.  The brand has been priced competitively but Tata Safari is also priced in the same range so it has to be seen whether these two brands will compete with each other .

The launch of Grande is a move to strengthen the MUV portfolio of Tata Motors which suffered heavily because of sophisticated competing products. Sumo although was a well accepted product was rather getting old in terms of product and image. Tata Motors was not aggressive in making radical product innovations on Sumo or its image to counter competitors like Mahindra and Toyota. Tata Grande is expected to complement Sumo Victa in its fight against the sophisticated competitors. 

Image wise, Grande's launch campaign has done nothing. The ad is very basic and rational and will appeal more to the taxi segment rather than family segment. How ever the pricing and the spruced up interiors will definitely put Grande in advantage over its competitors. The brand could have burned the market if it had priced it less than Rs 7 Lakh. Tata Grande should have aimed at disruption and not incremental value addition since the market is mature and highly competitive. Mahindra is currently doing that with its XUV 500. 

Brand Update : Parachute Extends to Skincare

In a significant move, Parachute - the flagship coconut oil brand from Marico has extended itself to skincare. Recently Parachute launched its new brand extension- Parachute Advansed Body Lotion. This is a major brand extension from Parachute since its After Shower hair cream launch.

According to newspaper reports, this category extension is to de-risk the brand's dependence on the hair oil segment . The move to launch body lotion also marks a significant shift in the brand's positioning and its image. Parachute now will have to shed its close association with hair oil segment and move to another set of brand attributes and image. 

Parachute is currently running its launch campaign across various media.

Watch the Parachute ad here : Parachute Body Lotion

The ad is very sensuous in nature  trying to convey the message of soft skin that tempts you to touch it again and again. The brand extension has used the tagline " Love Dobara ". The idea and the theme of the campaign is not new. The concept of  a husband rediscovering his love for his wife has been used many a times in Indian advertising for various product categories. Parachute body lotion's campaign hence was not able to make any creative distinction in the launch campaign. The ad also raised some eyebrows among certain consumers owing to the overdose of sensuality in this ad. The use of hedonistic advertising is becoming very popular in the personal care category in recent times.

The brand has retained its focus on coconut based ingredient in this product. The brand is claiming to have 100% natural moisturizers promising a smooth skin. More than the promise, Parachute Advansed Body Lotion is using its price to lure the consumers to it. The brand is priced very competitively at Rs 99 for 250 ml which makes it one of the most value-for-money body lotion available in the market. I think the brand has priced itself to success . Smart Pricing + Existing Brand equity  will ensure that consumers will try out this product for sure.

Body Lotion segment is witnessing lot of activity these days with many brands vying for consumer attention. Consumers are also waking up to this product category and the frequency of usage also has increased. Earlier, these products were predominantly used in winter season. 

Marico has used Parachute Advansed ( sub-brand) to launch value added products to the brand line of Parachute. While parent brand Parachute is being used in the pure coconut oil category, Marico has launched many variants under the Parachute Advansed brand-line. 

The launch of body lotion has made Parachute brand  an umbrella brand endorsing a range of products in various product categories like - Skin care, hair oils, hair care , cooling oil etc. This also necessitates a shift in the overall brand positioning of Parachute brand.

Marico may be looking at making Parachute a personal care brand in future. The brand should then come out of its perception of a hair-care brand. It will be interesting to see how Marico makes this transformation for Parachute. The brand had earlier ran a campaign " Gorgeous Hamesha " for Parachute. The tagline seems very apt for a transformation to a personal care brand for this brand. 

Related Brand

Parachute.  

Tata Aria : Luxury That Thrills

Brand : Aria

Company : Tata Motors

Brand Analysis Count : # 500

Game Changer, New Breed, Super Luxury, Most Awaited, Eagerly Awaited, Flagship ... These were the terms that were used during the much publicized launch of Tata Motor's luxury offering - Tata Aria. Aria was launched in 2010 - touted as the most luxurious, sophisticated and most expensive offering from Tata Motors in the passenger vehicle segment. After a year of the launch, Aria is struggling to reach the position where the brand expected it would be. 

Tata Aria was publicized as India's first 4x4 Crossover. Crossovers are those vehicles that combine the attribute of cars and SUVs. Tata motors aimed to create a new segment of luxury crossovers with the launch of Aria. Tata Motors has been trying hard to create new niches in the Indian automobile market the last attempt was through the brand Tata Xenon.

Tata Aria which was expected to create new market and a new image for Tata Motors however is now struggling hard to create volumes. According to news reports, the brand is finding it difficult to convert the interest  and good reviews to sales. 

Tata Aria was launched with an expensive price tag of Rs 12 -15.5 Lakh making it the most expensive model from Tata's brand portfolio ( excluding JLR). To compensate for the high price tag, Aria came with many features, attributes and gadgets which was available only in super luxury segments. Many gadgets was even not present in those expensive sedans. But even with this heavy loading of features and goodies, consumers were reluctant to accept the high price tag.

Blame it on the Positioning.

It is easy to put the blame on the pricing strategy of Tata Aria. There are critics who argue that Aria could have priced at around Rs 10 lakh and  blazed the sales chart. To a certain extent the argument has lot of validity. But I feel that more than the pricing , there is a larger issue of positioning. Not only with regard to Aria, but it points out to the luxury foray of Tata Motors as a corporate brand.

First let us look at the positioning issue. Tata Aria wanted to position itself as a pioneer of a new category - a Crossover between a sedan and an SUV. 

Positioning theory talks about Points of Parity and Points of Difference as the two main focal points of positioning process.Marketers use Points of Parity to establish a membership in a category and also to establish parity with competitors. For brand launches in existing product category, category membership is automatically established because of similarity in product form, pricing, attributes etc. For example a new soap brand need not establish category membership since consumers know that the brand belongs to soap category just by seeing the product. Category Points of Parity is important for "really new products" where consumers are not able to connect any existing category to the new product. In such cases, marketers try to tell the consumers that the new product is related to an existing product category. 

Here Tata Motors failed to understand the perceived points of parity of Tata Aria with brands like Innova and Xylo. It is obvious to any person that Tata Aria looks very very similar to Toyota Innova which is the market leader in the premium Multi-Utility Vehicle segment. So just by looking at Aria, consumers establish its membership in the MUV category of Innova. Whether Tata Motors likes it or not, Aria's category membership is with Innova and not as a crossover. 

What Tata Aria did was to ignore this obvious similarities with an existing category products and tried to establish a new category which it called a Crossover. The brand wanted to use breakaway positioning strategy where by Aria will be positioned as a new category vehicle different from the existing category of MUVs. 

The first launch campaign was expected to identify Tata Aria with the new category - Crossover

Watch the ad here : Tata Aria Crossover 

For a brand that aims to create a new category that too a luxury one, the launch campaign failed miserably to communicate the concept of a new category. A sedan and an SUV colliding ( mating) to form Tata Aria  crossover was too basic , too amateurish communication strategy. The brand initially had the tagline " A New Breed ". The campaign managers failed to understand that just by labeling the product as a crossover does not make it a crossover. The brand should produce sufficient evidence that it belongs to a new breed. In the case of Aria, the campaigns failed to provide a significant reason to be called as a new category pioneer.

For any product aiming for breakaway positioning, the acid test is to differentiate itself from the category from which it is moving away. A classic case of breakaway positioning is that of Swatch brand which successfully positioned itself as a fashion accessory rather than a watch brand. For that the brand created strong identity interms of design, price , distribution etc which convinced consumers to consider Swatch as a fashion accessory rather than a watch.

Here there was no significant WOW factor in Aria which made consumer think that Aria belonged to a different category distinct from MUV brands like  Innova. So when consumers checked out the brand Aria, they began to compare it with Toyota Innova. Innova had established itself  as one of the most reliable and comfortable MUV in India. Innova was priced at around Rs 12 lakh. When consumers began to compare Innova and Aria, Aria was perceived to be expensive despite the presence of many new features and attributes. 

Sensing the mood of the market, Tata Motors launched a lower priced version of Tata Aria in the form of a 4x2 variant. The brand priced the product at par with the competitors and launched it with a different positioning. 

Watch the ad here : Tata Aria Spy ad

Here again Tata Aria was unsure about the positioning. The brand discarded its Crossover positioning and began to focus on features. The tagline was changed from " A New Breed " to " Luxury that Thrills". Within one year of launch , the brand had to make significant positioning changes which again proved to be a disadvantage for establishing a consistent brand image. The plot of the repositioning ad which shows foreign models with an unbelievable storyline and an attempt at humor creates a confused positioning to the audience ( my personal opinion). Along with these campaign in TV, the brand also ran a series of print campaigns highlighting the 36 new features of Aria. Those campaigns helped the brand to create a positive image of a fully loaded premium MUV. But the steep pricing dampened the enthusiasm over the features.

If Tata Aria wanted to be perceived as a new category pioneer it should have looked very distinct from the pack. But since it looked exactly similar to Innova, the brand shouldn't have ventured into creating a new category positioning.

The brand had a better chance of survival had it accepted the similarities and competed with Innova using the features and goodies and a competitive price. Still fighting Toyota's reliability is a uphill task but with better value offering, Aria could have raked up enough volume to keep the enthusiasm up in the market. 

If at all the brand Aria wanted to create a crossover category, it should have created a design which had no similarity with any of the existing product categories in the Indian passenger vehicle market.

Tata  Motors always nurtured an ambition to compete in the luxury segment in the Indian automobile market. It tried with brands like Estate, Safari, Manza etc but couldn't find huge success because Tata Motors was perceived to be a value-for-money brand and consumers were never comfortable with paying a premium for Tata cars. 

A radical move for the company can be to create a separate identity and a division which is not endorsed by Tata Motors. Honda , Toyota and Nissan used this strategy successfully for entering the US luxury car market. Honda used Acura, Toyota used Lexus and Nissan used Infiniti as separate brands ( divisions) and found success in the US market. They used this strategy to tide over the perception that Japanese car brands are utility vehicles rather than luxury vehicles.Likewise Tata Motors can create a luxury division which will not have the Value-For-Money baggage of  the parent brand Tata Motors.

 

I love the Tata brand and always wished that its products met with success. But these brand launches were disappointments because very obvious , fundamentals are overlooked and valuable time and brand equities are lost. But Tata Motors are know for perseverance and resilience. Hope that Aria will clean up the positioning mess and reach its rightful destination.  It needs to redefine its identity by answering this simple question - What exactly is Tata Aria ??