MRF ZVTS : The comfortable radial

Brand : MRF ZVTS
Company : MRF Ltd

Brand Analysis Count : # 540

Tyres which are generally boring products belonging to a whopping Rs 45000 - 50,000 crore category has seen many interesting brands being built. Although tyres belong to a high-involvement category owing to the high cost of purchase ( replacement category) but the purchase is seldom enjoyed by the consumer.

MRF is the market leader in the Indian tyre market with a share of ~ 27 %. ZVTS is the radial brand from MRF. What is interesting about ZVTS is the care that the company has took in branding and positioning this brand.

ZVTS was launched in 2000 and was expected to drive the MRF's entry into the radial segment. The replacement market for tyres are huge and MRF was expecting that ZVTS would make its mark in this segment. What makes interesting about ZVTS is the consistency in the brand communication.

MRF ZVTS is positioned as the " Most Comfortable Radial ". The positioning has been consistent in the entire 14 year history of the brand. In the initial years, the brand was endorsed by Sachin Tendulkar. 

It is also interesting to see how the brand communicated the positioning in their ads. The brand has maintained a consistent imagery in most of their campaigns. The brand used  the imagery of a small child enjoying the drive , car floating in the air etc. These imagery has been consistent in the brand's communication and has effectively communicated the positioning clearly to the consumers

Watch the ad here : ZVTS ad

                              Zvts old ad

The imagery , in my opinion, is one of the best and very relevant one in communicating the brand's proposition of a comfortable radial. Hopefully the brand will not change is powerful imagery in future.

In the brand architecture , MRF has followed a policy of carefully creating sub-brands like ZVTS, Wanderer, ZLO and developing USPs for each of these sub-brands. For example, Wanderer is for SUV and ZLO is for " high speeds". Along with this MRF has been careful about building and nurturing the parent brand also.  

Brand Update : Kingfisher Airlines brand for sale. But who will buy ?

According to reports, the creditors of the defunct Kingfisher Airlines has decided to sell the brands - Kingfisher Airlines and other related trademarks. It is said that KFA owes Rs 7000 crores to the creditors.Naturally the news was carried with lot of importance by the media. 

My first reaction was who wouldn't want to get such a great brand ! I had the impression that Kingfisher brand was up for sale.

When we look at the fine print, things are not that attractive. According to media, the creditors have control over " Kingfisher Airlines " and not the Kingfisher beer brand. And reports also suggest that five years ago, Kingfisher Airlines brand was valued at Rs 3000 crore.

Now the question is who would be interested in Kingfisher Airlines brand ?

My guess would be that none would be interested in that because KFA as an airlines brand has lost the source of value. The value was lost in two aspects -

a) The airlines is defunct so there is no functional value for the brand.

b) The major source of equity for Kingfisher Airlines' brand was from the Kingfisher beer brand which remains with the UB group. 

I think the creditors had made a huge mistake in taking Kingfisher brand , which is an intangible asset, as a collateral without understanding how that brand derived its value. Kingfisher Airlines as a standalone brand does not have much value if de-linked with the beer brand and the brand owner with whom the brand had lot of linkage. Who ever that made the pitch to the creditors was a great salesman !

Now for a suitor, buying Kingfisher Airlines brand at a high cost doesn't make sense since this brand now has the liability of a  "failed brand "  image. One can buy this brand to prevent that brand from flying again for ever but its not worth it !

So who would be interested in buying  a dead brand ? 

Brand Update : Small deo brands gets celebrities to move ahead

In the cluttered Indian Deo Market, brands are keeping no options unused. Denver, has roped in Saif Ali khan to endorse while Envy - another deo brand has roped in Irfan Khan as the celebrity endorser. The 2100 crore Indian deo market is cluttered with local brands upsetting the majors like HUL and gaining market share. 

The competition is getting more intense with brands like Provogue, Park Avenue entering the deo market with their own variants. Recently ads were splashed across the media for Provogue Deo being endorsed by  Fardeen Khan. 

Having said that, the positioning of all the deos has remained almost the same- attracting girls. The exception was Fogg which became India's largest selling deo brand which was positioned differently . The Fogg's proposition of " No Gas " was liked by the consumers and Fogg dethroned Axe to become the market leader. Envy, another deo brand, was quick to imitate Fogg. While Fogg claimed to give 800 sprays for a bottle of deo, Envy claimed to give 1000 sprays. The fight still goes on. 

Now these brands are banking on the celebrities to create some space of itself. But as commonsense speaks, celebrities themselves have become commodities, so what kind of value that they can bring in ? However, these smaller brand will gain immediate brand-recall through the celebrity endorsement which may bring in results in the short-term. In this era of " Quarterly Performance Focus " who is interested in long-term !

Brand Update : Ferrero follows Kinder Joy with Schoko Bons

Its interesting and often painful ( as a parent) to see how marketers try to squeeze the money out of your pocket. After successfully launching the chocolate egg - Kinder Surprise, the Italian confectionery major Ferrero has followed it up with Kinder Schoko Bons Crispy which is essentially Kinder Joy minus the toy. 

As usual, the pack is pretty expensive at Rs 60 for a pack of 9 chocolates.

The pack with has the same color combination of the popular Kinder Joy is widely available across various retail formats thus ensuring that it will not miss the kid's eyes. 

Ferrero has been expanding the Kinder franchise and Schoko-Bons is a step in that direction. Kinder has many products under its belt like the chocolate bar, milk slice etc. I suppose the brand will be bringing in these variant in the near future. 

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Market Statistics :A/C &Refrigerator

Season :April to June accounts for 35 percent sales
A/c Penetration around 3.8 percent. Voltas and LG leading the a/c market ,Voltas share is 20% and LG at 17%. Samsung at 10%  & Panasonic at 8.5 %.
A/C sales stand at 3.4 mn units p.a of which 80% are split a/cs.
Refrigerator sales is around 7.5 mn units p.a of which 70% is direct ciol category.
Source :Business Standard

Brand Update : Prestige transforms itself !

Prestige in recent years has made a transformation from a pressure cooker brand to a premium kitchen appliances company. The transformation was executed by promotions and distribution. In the promotions front, the brand roped in the celebrity couple Aishwarya Roy and Abhishek Bachchan . The expensive branding campaign was intended for  establishing a premium image for the brand. Prestige is a brand which is very strong in the south. With the famous couple celebrities, the brand hopes to make itself popular in the North as well. The 2013 campaign also saw the coming back of the original tagline of Prestige -  ‘Jo biwi se kare pyaar, woh Prestige se kaise kare inkaar’.

Watch the campaign here : Prestige campaign

The small kitchen appliances market is highly fragmented and this calls for the creation of a powerful brand. The choice of the celebrities were motivated by the need for creating a powerful brand and also to bring in a premiumness to the brand. The campaign had six commercials which introduces the new products of Prestige thereby establishing Prestige as a kitchen appliances brand.

Along with the high profile brand campaign, Prestige also started a chain of Prestige Smart Kitchen stores across the markets. The stores brought all the products of the brand together thus reinforcing the brand's positioning as a appliances company.

The company in the branding perspective has made the right moves but the small appliances market is very tough nut to crack with highly localized competition and also lot of low price warriors. Its still a long-term play.

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