Margo:lost in the Neem trees !

Brand : Margo
Company: Henkel
Agency: FCB Ulka


Margo is one of the oldest herbal soaps in India. The brand which is more than 85 years old is famous for its neem content. The product although famous for its positive effects to the skin is nowhere in the market. This is a brand which never changed with the customer. During its launch, the product had dedicated customer base and since the product was unique due to its medicinal value , customers tend to be loyal. The whole brand was having Neem as its core identity.

But Margo failed to understand the changing dynamics of Indian consumers, more and more choices began to unfold before the consumer and Margo was becoming a niche brand. Margo was positioned as a "complete skin care soap". When market became fragmented with lot of products positioning at different attributes, Margo was sidelined as a medicinal soap.

The product has inherent negatives, the fragrant was not attractive nor the shape. It was also less lathering compared to its competitors. Margo changed hands from Shaw Wallace to Henkel. Although Margo was relaunched in 2003 with a new fragrance and shape , it has not excited the market so far. The new positioning is " Margo skin clear skin". The brand had a following in AP, Tamilnadu and West Bengal ( am not sure about its present status). The single mistake the brand made was to miss the new generation. It failed to attract the young users.

With Lifebouy herbal variant and other established brands taking in the "neem" content away from Margo, this brand needs a hell lot of money to rejuvenate itself. May be a high decibel big celebrity endorsement may help this brand ( try Aishwarya for a change) . Can it change its avatar and fight lifebuoy in the health platform?

This is a brand that failed to change with the customer or changed very late.

Thums Up : Taste The Thunder

Brand : Thums Up
Company: Coca Cola
Agency:Leo Burnett

What will you do after buying a brand which has a market share of 60 % for 120 crore?

a. Build it further
b. Consolidate the position
c. Extend the brand equity
d. Kill it

Well a company took the choice ( d) .

A company known for its marketing prowess, owner of an iconic brand which is considered to be the most valued brand in the world. Does this choice seem totally … idiotic?

That was what Coca-Cola Company tries to do with Thums Up…

Thums Up was launched in India in 1977 when the multi national giants coke and Pepsi were asked to leave the country. Thums up ruled the Indian market for 16 years . A brand owned by Ramesh Chauhan of Parle was a carefully built icon. It could withstand the competition from Pepsi and was a market leader.
With the Cola war hotting up with the reentry of Coke into the Indian market in 1992, a very unusual event happened. Ramesh Chauhan sold Thums Up to Coke for 120 crores.

There after we saw a very unusual happening, an event very rare in Marketing history, a company killing a market leader bought for 120 crores to launch its global brand. In marketing this never makes sense. Why should you kill a leading brand for launching your own brand? Are you so smart ? Over confident?

History proved other wise….


Thums up even after 13 years sells more than coke and Pepsi. The brand is so strong that it has refused to die. After 1985 “ New Coke” failure, this is the greatest marketing blunder that Coke made.

Thums Up was our very own Indian brand. Launched as a very masculine brand with the baseline “ Taste the Thunder” stole the heart of millions of Indian youth. Thums UP is a strong tasting cola targeting at young adults. It has the highest carbonation among the cola brands which appealed to the palate of Indians. The brand is very popular in Andhra Pradesh , Maharashtra Gujarat, UP , West Bengal, and Karnataka with Andhra contributing 30% of the sales.

The brand personifies victory,achievement and celebration.

With Thums Up; the largest selling cola at its fold, Coca Cola initially tried to kill the brand to pave the entry of Coke. But they found that only Pepsi will benefit with the withdrawal of Thums Up and retracted the strategy. The new owners tried to reposition Thums Up as a manly brand. The famous tagline “Taste the Thunder “was changed to “I want my Thunder” But that change was a flop and the company retracted the old tagline. Later they again changed the baseline to “ Grow Up to Thums up” in tune with the strategy of blind taste campaign depicting Pepsi as a sweeter brand , hence not for men. It is said that the campaign was successful.

Right now Thums Up is degraded as a flanking brand for Coke. Coke is using it just to bash Pepsi. Coke has been using all macho film personalities like Akshay , Salman and Sunil Shetty to position this brand as a macho brand . We see sporadic bursts of promotions of this brand but one can see the dilemma of Coke about this brand. Full scale promotion of the brand can take away the share of coke which they cannot afford to do. Taking this brand away will help Pepsi. So he only choice is to push it along till it dies on its own.

Coke was never fully into the promotion of the brand. Half heartedly they tried to market the brand making all sort of repositioning and experiments. Even after all these messing up, the brand is strong. May be the consumers are not willing to let go the brand. This is a classic case of a brand getting an iconic status. A case where the customers take the ownership of the brand. Now Coke no longer owns the brand , consumers own it.

Had Coke promoted the brand, Pepsi did not have a chance in Indian cola market. By looking inwardly and taking a blind eye towards the consumer, Coke has compromised on the basic principles of marketing. Coke could have ruled the Indian market with Thums Up. But they could not stand the thought of Coca cola playing a supporting role to another brand.

Coke is trying to create a separate market for Thums Up. It is playing the regional game and in areas where coke is strong, slowly Thums Up is withdrawn. As a marketer I don’t see a future in this brand. This icon is going to fade into the annals of History of Brands

Thums Up: Lost its thunder.

Iodex : Ooh Aaah Ouch

Brand : Iodex
Company : Smithkline Beecham
Agency : Enterprise Nexus

Iodex is a classic example of a generic brand being dumped by consumers because it did not change with changing consumer expectation. Another classic case of marketing Myopia. A brand which once commanded 70% market share is now languishing at 20%. Moov have moved Iodex from the first place.

How can this happen to a brand owned by a gaint like Glaxo commanding a market share in excess of 50% suddenly become a laggard?

Iodex like Chetak, Robin, did not change with times rather these brands were resistant to change. May be blinded by the success of the brand, the managers did not care what a smaller company named Paras was doing.In the 400 crore pain and rub market, Iodex have left the position of a leader to a follower. David have humbled a Goliath.

Iodex although a quality product had certain shortcomings
1. Greasy
2. Bad smell
3. Unattractive packaging

Moov looked at that shortcomings and projected itself as a product which is white, nice smelling and no greasy. Iodex could have retaliated with a white version but did that only after the battle is over. Too late.

Iodex have a great legacy, a history of 86 years but all lost because company thought about themselves as invincible. The campaigns were good and the brand was accepted by the consumers.But that never means that customers will stay with you for life.

ooh aah ouch...

Tata Safari : Reclaim Your Life

Brand : Safari Dicor
Company: Tata Motors
Agency: O&M


Safari is the first luxury SUV in India. Launched in 1998 Safari have around 23% market share in the booming SUV market in India. Although Safari has been dwarfed by the success of homegrown Scorpio, it is an example of the guts of Tata to invest and built a brand.

Although Safari has been there in the market for 8 years, it has not been able to excite the market in the way Scorpio did. One of the major factor being the product quality.With the failures of Estate and Seirra, Tata motor's image had took a beating .
Safari is India's first full bodied luxury sport utility vehicle is known for its comfort and luxury. Launched as an off roader, the positioning of Safari has been changed thrice. Initially Safari was positioned as an offroader. the ads had jungle as the main locale and the baseline said " Make your own road". The ads created by O&M were catchy and rightly positioned the premiumness of the brand. Later consumer research revealed that Safari is used by urban folks and perceived as a City vehicle and not an offroader. Hence Safari shifted its positioning as a " Car for the urban Jungle".Tata projected Safari as a lifestyle product and promoted Safari using all media including Placement in Film ( ROAD) , sponsoring events and high decibel media blitz.

Safari recently did a major overhaul and launched it with new look and new engine DICOR and a new positioning. The new DICOR says " Reclaim your life" taking the campaign to a higher level and trying to connect with the customer at a higher plane ( Oops ! Am I becoming philosophical?).

It can be called as Laddering where initially you start taking about functional aspects but later when the brand awareness is high you connect with the need of the customer at a higher level. Here Safari dares you to break from your past and go after your dreams.

Personally I was really impressed by the ad, the message and the product. Going by the new strategy of Tata Motors to load their products with value, Safari is also loaded with all the hightechs that is seen usually in high end SUV's.

Safari has all the potential to Reclaim its Rightful Place .

Vicco : Lost in the woods?

Brand : Vicco turmeric
Company: Vicco lab

Vicco Turmeric cream is India's first fairness cream although it is not positioned as a fairness cream. The product which is based on turmeric have a 54 year old history. The product was launched in 1956 missed the liberalisation era all together.

Although the product is successfully exported, the potential of Vicco Turmeric is not fully utilized in the Indian market. Vicco was marketed as a skin care cream . Over the years this product is stereotyped as a brand for " would be brides" . The ads which was aired for a long time had this theme.

In olden times this theme perfectly works since marriage is the most important occasion in a woman's life. But Vicco failed to understand the changing consumer trends which Fair & Lovely correctly sensed. Women have changed and their attitude towards life have also changed. Instead of marriage, now there are many occasions where women celebrate . Infact the stereotype of marriage now don't work. In simple terms the TG changed.

Vicco never was aggressive. It continued with its conventional traditional strategies while HLL marched away with the market.

Vicco Turmeric ayurvedic cream is in the naturals segment of Indian skin care segment which is estimated to be around 1300 crore. Except for Vicco there are no pure naturals brands in this segment . All major brands have a naturals extension some of them have failed miserably.

Vicco had huge potential because of its excellent quality , brand recall and more importantly the ingredient "Turmeric". It should have owned "Turmeric" factor. Now we see lot of local manufacturers selling turmeric powder to women to be used as a cosmetic. That was a market that Vicco should have concentrated. Fairever succeeded because of the ingredient saffron. Vicco could have made a killing with turmeric which is one of the best ingredient you can ever have. But alas....

Although there is lot of concentration on fairness market, there is a market for pure beauty creams which can give a wholesome solution to the consumers, Vicco turmeric had all that to be a leader.

A brand is built only if there is a clear strategy and support . Vicco failed to understand the changing value system of the customers. What it needs is a repositioning strategy based on the wholesome properties of turmeric and lot of noise in the market.

What a potential to be wasted.......

Wagon-R: For a Smarter Race

Brand: Wagon-R
Company: Maruti
Agency: Hakudo Percept

This is one of the successful brands from Maruti portfolio in the premium segment of compact cars. Wagon R was launched in February 2000 and has gone through several makeovers during these 6 years.

Wagon-R which was priced very steeply during the launch did a drastic price cut to appeal to the customer. Initially Wagon-R struggled with the value proposition. The quality of the car was excellent and Wagon-R was rated as a top quality compact car by JD Power Quality surveys. Once it got the price right and with the demise of Zen, Wagon- R had a jolly good run.

Wagon-R has a unique Tall Boy shape is one of the original tall boy cars although the credit for tall boy design popularity goes to Santro. Wagon-R was initially positioned on the basis of the functionality platform. Initially promoted as a family car with the baseline “Feel At Home” Wagon-R is yet to find the right message to be given to the customer

Maruti calls Wagon-R as a Multi- Activity vehicle t with a unique look, more space and excellent drive quality. Maruti likes Wagon-R to be perceived as an Off-beat car.

Maruti struggling to find the right fit for the car in the minds of the customer,changed the positioning from “ Feel At Home “ to “ Inspired Engineering” to “ As Interesting as You Are “ and finally to " For a Smarter Race " to project the unconventional design and the off beat persona of the car. These changes have not so far affected the sale of the car either positively or negatively. The car sold very well because the product was good. Since the competitor Santro has really bored the customer, Wagon-R gave a choice to the customer.

Recently Wagon-R changed the positioning again. The new baseline says “For a Smarter Race”. The campaign shows the young man doing the unconventional act like starting his own business and the chick getting really impressed by that. Very unlikely fit; such kinds of guys drive a Scorpio or a Safari. Also the locale of the ad is a riverside; Wagon-R is not an off-roader!

Maruti is still confused.

Wagon-R has the record of a brand which has changed the positioning so frequently like a baby changing its diapers. The sale is going north because the product is good contrary to the fact that the positioning is going south (We may have to test whether positioning affect the sales of a product. Wagon-R proves it doesn’t). Personally I don’t think that Wagon-R is bought by unconventional offbeat thinking yuppie. All my friends have bought this car because of its functionality as a compact city car: nothing more,nothing less.

As long as the product is selling, anything goes …..