How marketers visualize deadly Germs !

Indian marketers are in love with germs. Many brands have taken up the task of protecting Indian consumers from the deadly attack from the germs. Keedanu is often the generic term used by Indian marketers to denote the germs. 

For many brands, especially in the cleaning segment, the basic USP of most of the brands is the germ-fighting. Marketers have chosen different ways to visualize the germs. While some brands have tried to make the visualization close to reality, some brands have chosen to go beyond reality. 

A peep into how marketers visualize the deadly germs.

DETTOL

Dettol has been in the forefront of fighting germs and the USP of the brand is " Be 100% Sure". This brand has visualized germs in a realistic manner.

Dettol Handwash 

Dettol Soap

LIFEBUOY

Lifebuoy  is a brand which fights Dettol in terms of the positioning. While Lifebuoy soap which boasts of protecting consumers from 10 types of Keedanu has chosen to depict these germs in a realistic manner.

On the other hand, Lifebuoy handwash has gone the exaggerated way with the deadly germs taking up the form of animals with hands legs and even tails. Some looks like octopus.

Lifebuoy Handwash

Pepsodent

Pepsodent is another brand which talks about fighting germs and the brand has also tried to visualize germs in a more realistic manner.

Pepsodent Germs

Colgate

Colgate which is the principal opponent of Pepsodent has gone to depict the germs in a comic fashion. The germs although deadly looks cute and funny. But beware : Looks often deceive !

Colgate Germs

Lizol

Floor cleaners are another saviors for consumers in the fight against the germs. Lizol which is the major brand in this category also have realistically portrayed the "Deadly Germs" 

Lizol germs

Danone Yogurt 

According to Danone, there is good bacteria and bad bacteria. Good bacteria are round shaped,  cute and colorful.

The award for the best creative visualization of the deadly KEEDANU goes  to

DOMEX !!

Nothing beats the visualization of germs as done by Domex. These germs comes from the labs of Steven Spielberg. The Domex germs are organized and there is a leader who is plotting war against the humans. But thankfully Domex saves the world.

Wikipedia

This is what Wikipedia gives as image for bacteria !

E Coli

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. 

Related post

Kinder Joy

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