Fiat : It is the Service, Stupid !

Corporate Brand : Fiat
Brand Analysis Count : 525

World's 7th largest automotive company, a company that markets iconic brands like Ferrari , a company whose diesel engine powers the best selling hatchback ( marketed by a competitor) is having a market share of ~0.3 % share in World's 5th largest automobile market. Isn't it ironic !

Fiat had so far three avatars  in the Indian market. In its first avatar , the company licensed its product to an Indian company Premier Automobile Ltd. Premier sold these cars under the brand name Premier Padmini and Premier 118 NE. That was in the early 1990s.

In the next avataar, Fiat came to India as Fiat India Automobile ltd ( FIAL) in 1997 . During those times, the company launched Fiat Uno in India. The product although  had a dream launch with over 30,000 booking , the dream went sour since Fiat's partner PAL couldn't deliver the orders. The lack of delivery created a backlash from the customer. 

Besides once the product was in the market, there was a feeling that Fiat bought an outdated model to India.

In 1997, Fiat formed a JV with Tata Motors to jointly manufacture and distribute cars in India. Under the JV, Tata Motors would allow Fiat to use its dealers for selling the Fiat models. The Fiat engines were inturn used in Tata Motors models like Indica, Manza etc.

Fiat launched Palio during these times. Palio initially gained lot of customer attention. The brand was endorsed by Sachin Tendulkar. The car earned a reputation for being a very sturdy car with a good engine. During this time a sedan brand Sienna was also launched. But yet again, Fiat was not able to build on the momentum generated by the initial launch of these cars. 

In the  early 2010, the company launched two modern models Fiat Punto and Fiat Linea. These cars had drop-dead gorgeous looks and like any other Fiat launches, gained lot of customer interest but again the take -off in sales never happened. 

In 2012, the Tata Motors -Fiat JV collapsed. According to newsreports, Fiat is now on its solo life in India and has incorporated Fiat Group Automobiles India Pvt Ltd as a fully owned subsidiary . 

It is interesting to note that India's best selling car brands run on Fiat's engines. The best sellers like Maruti Swift , Dzire, Indica, Manza all run on Fiat engines but how come Fiat is not able to produce a best-seller. 

Only one reason- commitment. Fiat so far was trying to avoid committing itself to Indian market. It never had a serious intention to build itself in the Indian market. When companies like Ford, Tata Motors, Maruti etc had took pains to establish dealerships and service centres all across the country, Fiat opted to take a short-cut by roping in partners who never delivered. 

Service is a very big component in the decision making process of a car buyer. Its common sense that Indian consumers who typically kept a car for more than five years ( earlier even 15 years) look for a trusted brand who offered good service back-up. That is why despite all short-comings, Maruti still rules the Indian market with more than 60% share
Fiat's biggest mistake was its lack of service support for the consumers. It had all the time to build a robust network atleast in the key markets. But rather than that Fiat outsourced a very critical component of a automobile brand's building block.
Fiat had realised this and is now building its own channels and it is not easy. Concurrently, the brand is trying to build its trust back through campaigns pitching its two models Punto and Linea.
Watch the ad here ; Fiat Corporate campaign
Fiat has taken the slogan " Make the Move" urging consumers to take the leap of faith and buy a Punto or a Linea. But Faith needs to be built in the mind of the consumers through actions and ads only serves to reinforce the faith.

Fiat, due to its lack of commitment  , was never in the choice list in the buying process of an average Indian consumer. The typical reaction was " the car is good but I am worried about service ". It takes lot of time and effort to change that. 

MeriiBoy Ice cream : Fighting Frozen Desserts

Brand : MeriiBoy
Company : Cousin's Group

Brand Analysis Count : 524

MeriiBoy is a brand from my home state Kerala. The brand is an interesting marketing story because it virtually changed the perception about ice-creams in the consumer's mind to a certain extent. The brand was created in 2003 as a part of the diversification of the parent group which was in the plastic moulding business.

MeriiBoy is interesting because it is on a task of educating the consumers about " real" ice-cream. The brand is positioned on the fact that it is made of pure milk and hence it is THE ice- cream. Most of the brands that is perceived to be ice-creams are " Frozen Desserts ". 

So what is the difference between Frozen Dessert and Ice Cream.

According to Prevention of Food  Adulteration Rule 1955 , Ice-cream is a product which contains not less than 10% of milk fat while Frozen Dessert contains vegetable fat ( source Business Line)

Many so called ice-cream brands are selling frozen desserts in the pretext of ice-creams because of the perception factor. No frozen dessert brands have advertised themselves as a part of the frozen dessert category and played on the consumer's inclusion of frozen desserts as a part of the ice-cream category. And till brands like MeriiBoy began to advertise the difference between the ice-creams and frozen desserts, consumers were not much bothered since these tasted quite similar .  

What Meriiboy has done was to run campaigns not only highlighting the difference between these two products and also subtly hinting that frozen desserts are less healthy than ice-creams since it contains vegetable oil (fat). Many frozen dessert's marketers has since then objected to this pitch with complaints to ASCI. 

However, the campaign has  created lot of buzz in the consumer's mind. MeriiBoy succeeded in creating a space in the consumer's mind as a brand which is " real" ice-cream . Ofcourse brands like Amul also was in the fore-front in creating the perception of " real ice-cream" . Infact Amul ice-cream's tagline itself is " Real Milk, Real Ice-cream". But in terms of share of voice, MeriiBoy has been quite vocal about the claim of being a real ice-cream.

Will this strategy work in the long term ? 

Having the positioning of  " real ice-cream " is a credible proposition now since not many brands now can claim that positioning. The task is to convert the awareness generated by the campaigns to real sales. This can be done only with a strong distribution back-end. Now although MeriiBoy has a presence in major shopping centres, it has not been able to built strong dealer network in the state. Given a choice between a frozen dessert and ice-cream, my hunch is that consumers will prefer an ice-cream. But the brand ought to be available to give that choice. That is not an easy task for a small brand like MeriiBoy. 

Monkey 555 Brooms : Branding a Commodity

Brand : Monkey 555 brooms
Company : Vibhava Industries, Hubli

Brand Analysis Count : # 523

It takes lot of guts to venture into branding a commodity. It requires more than guts to brand your product as Monkey 555. Meet a unique brand " Monkey 555 " - brand of broom sticks which the company sells nationwide. 

I was surprised to see the ad of a grass broom brand on the back-page of a leading Malayalam weekly . The brand name was too loud to be missed by anyone. The offer was buy a broom and get a dust-pan free. This evoked lot of laughter from the ladies at home.

The brand name of Monkey555 is very unique and I am sure there will be some story behind that name however when one starts advertising this brand, it evokes some amount of laughter.There was a period in Indian branding scene where companies used the name of animals and birds as brand names. Eg: Robin Blue, Camel, Kiwi, Lion Dates. Even now firms use such names as Mango , LMN etc so why not Monkey !

Probably this Quirky name may benefit the brand in creating " stickiness" or awareness.The logo of the brand is a monkey sitting on a brand with a broom .  The picture of the ecstatic lady with the broom adds to the fun.All these, although seems funny, makes this brand a little different. Sometimes being funny or quirky is the best way to break the clutter.

Brooms are a  commodity. No one really cares what brand of brooms that they buy. Although I have heard ladies at home complaining about the broom's quality, purchase of brooms were never on brands. Ofcourse, there is a new set of household mops from the likes of 3M which is carving a niche in the market.

In my home state Kerala, the popular brooms were made from Coco- sticks. But increasingly the coco-stick based brooms are being replaced by the grass brooms especially for use inside the home.

Monkey 555 brooms are priced at around Rs 55 which makes it expensive compared to other brooms. The brand has tried hard to convince the customer about the quality of the broom through the copy in the packing. One blogger has written a funny piece on the same ( read here)

Monkey 555 boasts that it is made of the finest " Garo Hill Grass" which refers to the place in Assam and North-East where these grasses are cultivated in plenty. Secondly the brand talks about quality handle which is perfumed !. Monkey 555 also claims to be the largest selling grass-broom brand in India .

What ever said and done, Monkey 555 is a bold move indeed. The brand may be releasing one or two such campaigns ( or ads) but it is sufficient to create the awareness and probably the consumer may chose this brand from the market when the need arises.

  

Brand Update : 7 Up , I feel Down !

7 Up's 2013 commercial is undoubtedly the worst campaign I have seen in the recent times. Especially the ad featuring Kathakali - which is a very revered art-form of my state Kerala.

This feeling has been shared by many of my friends who felt that the art-form was cheaply depicted in the advertisement. Ofcourse the creatives who did the ads have every right to do their stuff but it should make some marketing sense . I felt bad not because of any soft-corner for the artform but the ad makes no sense at all. 

Watch the ad here : 7 Up Kathakali

                              7 Up Japanese Ad

The brand has been losing its charm these years and is struggling for finding a meaningful mindspace. The last campaign was featuring the bollywood actor Sharman Joshi . The brand is right now having the tagline : 7 Up : I feel up.

The current campaign is plain amusing than anything else. Both the Kathakali and Japanese ad does not convey what the brands aims to communicate. Its sad that a brand like 7 Up can stoop to such a creative low when competition is too hot.

B'lue : At Your Best , Hamesha

Brand : B'lue
Company : Danone Narang Pvt Ltd

Brand Analysis Count : # 522

Danone, the French foods major has launched a new product in India branded as  B'lue. B'lue is a restorative water drink enriched with proteins and minerals. With the launch of B'lue, the Rs 10,000 crore packaged drinking water market is going to see the emergence of a new segment.

The bottled water segment has more than 3300 registered plants manufacturing this product. The branded segment is lead by Bisleri followed by Kinley and Aquafina. 

 The popularity of the bottled water among the Indian consumer has prompted the market to explore the possibility of fortified water based drinks. These drinks have the advantage of " healthy" tag since it is devoid of any additions compared to the bevarages like colas.

B'lue hence can be termed as the first brand to nationally launch a water based restorative drink. The brand is running a campaign across television channel featuring the celebrity Vir Das.

Watch the ad here : B'lue ad

The ad positions the brand as a drink that makes you alive, restores the freshness naturally. The brand  is  launched in two flavors - Apple and Guava.The brand has the tagline " At Your Best , Hamesha".

The price of B'lue is Rs 30 for a 500 ml bottle.

The challenge for the brand is to convince the customer to see value in spending Rs 30 for a " small bottle" of water. Why because, the brand has taken membership in the category of " Water" hence naturally there will be comparison with the ordinary 1 litre bottle which costs Rs 15.

The USP of the B'lue is that it is water-based and is fortified with vitamins and minerals. The target group would be the upwordly mobile consumers who would like to have something more than just bottled plain water . 

B'lue would definitely create a new segment in the other wise boring bottled water market. The young consumers would take a look at this product although the product is priced steeply. The dampener is that the competitor can kill this brand's first-mover advantage by launching a flavored water at a lower price. The current positioning of B'lue doesn't seem to justify the premium and offers room for competitors to move in and kill this brand by predatory pricing. " Fortified with minerals and vitamins " is a claim that can be made by any marketer and thus B'lue lacks a defendable sustainable advantage against competitors. B'lue could have invented some formula or ingredient brand and promoted that as the USP rather than the generic 'vitamins and minerals 'stuff.

With many major beverage marketers have announced interest in the value-added bottled water segment , this will be an interesting segment to watch.

Parodontax : For people who see blood when they brush

Brand : Parodontax
Company : GSK Consumer Healthcare

Brand Analysis Count : # 521

After the success of Sensodyne, GSK has launched another specialist toothpaste in the Rs 6000 crore Indian toothpaste market. While Sensodyne was a specialist for sensitive teeth, the new launch is in the gum-care category. GSK launched its global niche brand Parodontax recently in the Indian market.

The emergence of the niche products like sensitive , gum-care shows the new phase of the evolution of  Indian toothpaste market. According to ET, Sensodyne which was launched two years back is already a Rs 100 crore brand in India. The niche segments are growing at a faster pace than the core segment and marketers are rushing to cash in on this evolution.

Parodontax is a gum-care specialist. The brand is targeting those who are already suffering from bleeding gums. According to newspaper reports, the incidents of gum-related issues is as high as 33% which itself is a huge market waiting to be tapped.
The brand is now promoting awareness about the gum-related issues and advising customers to take bleeding gums seriously. The brand is now running its standard global TVC in the Indian market.

Not to be left behind , the market leader- Colgate has already launched its Pro-gum variant -Colgate Total Pro-gum health . The leader was quick to spot the threat of this GSK to its stronghold in the Indian market. Sensodyn has infact created a dent in the market position of Colgate. Pepsodent also has Pepsodent Sensitive and Pepsodent -G for the sensitive and gum-care segment respectively. Bu the share of noise of Pepsodent is abysmally low in these segments and I feel that Pepsodent has lost out in the race atleast for now.
Alries and Jack Trout had argued that line-extensions tend to be less effective when fighting specialist brands. Here the market leaders are fighting the specialist brands using variants. It remains to be seen how effective these defense would be .