Brand Update : Tata Indica Brand Portfolio

Indica is a brand that is an epitome of persistence. Tata Motors through Indica has demonstrated how to manage product lifecycle effectively. The brand which was launched in 1998 has passed through many hurdles. The brand successfully transcended the initial flaws, bad customer /expert reviews and brickbats to become one of the largest selling cars in the Indian auto industry.

The brand survived and thrived because of the constant focus of Tata Motors to improve the product continuously. More than the product innovation, it was the value proposition that forced customers to choose Indica despite all those nagging troubles. You can see lot of Indica customers cribbing about the bad service and constant trip to the service centers but sticking to the brand because of the value proposition. You cannot get a diesel car with that much space at the price at which Indica is selling ( so far).

Tata Motors has been continuously tweaking the brand over these years sometimes making quantum leap in the quality and refinement of the product. A snapshot of the brand's evolution is given below

1998 - Indica announced
2001 - Indica V2
2004 - Rejuvenated Indica V2
2005- Indica V2 Turbo Diesel
2006- Indica Xeta
2008 - Indica Vista

The brand made a quantum leap in 2008 with the launch of Indica Vista. The entire brand personality changed with the launch of Vista. The product's looks and feel had changed completely and it was a rebirth for Indica.
The changes in the product was not limited to exteriors. Indica began sporting different types of engines from Fiat which gave a new perception of quality to the brand.

At the pricing also, Tata Motors consciously raised the Vista brand to a higher level . The Vista is pricier than the original V2 thus reducing the attractiveness of the brand to the Taxi segment. At a price range of Rs 4 - Rs 5 Lakh, Indica Vista is not a cheap diesel car. It was an upward stretch by the brand.

The Indica Brand portfolio is given below.

















The Indica brand portfolio consists now of three sub-brands V2, Vista and Xeta.

V2 is the most economical of the lot and is the original Indica. This product is retained because there is still huge demand for V2 at that price point. Within the V2 range, there are three variants which includes the Indicab which is for the Taxi segment. Price of this sub-brand ranges from Rs 3,50,000 - Rs 3,95,000

Next sub-brand is the Vista. Vista is the new generation Indica and Tata Motors would like this brand to take over the leadership position from V2 in future. The brand is targeting the discerning Indian consumer with its value proposition and good looks.Vista has lot of variants satisfying the various needs of the customer. The Indica Vista Aura is the premium range that sports many goodies that premium brands claim like ABS, Airbags etc. Vista also comes in Petrol version sporting the Saphire engine. Prices range from Rs 3,90,000 - Rs 4,90,000 ( apprx). Within the Vista range, customers are given lot of engine option including engines from Fiat.

Xeta is the petrol variant of Indica V2. I am not sure about the future of Xeta since the petrol segment is heavily competitive and compared to Maruti and Hyundai, Indica Xeta's value proposition is not that attractive as the diesel option. Prices range from Rs 2,72,000- Rs 3,00,000).

The positioning across the brand portfolio remains the same. All the brands focus on the value proposition. But these sub- brands sports different taglines

Indica V2- More car per car
Indica Vista- Changes Everything ( Surprise Yourself is the new tagline)
Indica Xeta - Makes much more car sense.

Vista recently relaunched itself with Drivetech 4 technology and is now sporting a new tagline Surprise Yourself .

Indica in a way is an example of good marketing practice. The brand continues to evolve and is a pleasure to watch.

Brand Update : Indica Vista Goes Sedan Class

Brand Indica got a big boost recently by the launch of the new Tata Indica Vista . The new Vista comes with a spruced up looks and classy interiors packed with goodies. While the competition is hotting up in the premium hatchback market in India, Tata Motors is leaving no stones unearthed to regain its position in the Indian car market. Tata Motors launched its Vista product-line in 2008. The attempt was to strengthen the brand's foothold in the growing premium hatchback segment. 

Although Vista was launched as a sub-brand of Indica, the car was built on an entirely new platform and the refinement and the quality was entirely superior to that of Indica V2. However, Tata Motors decided the new launch to be under the umbrella of Indica brand. This move however was faulty and the response to the premium offering from Indica product-line found reluctant takers despite being value-for-money package.

This year, the brand relaunched the Indica Vista with lot of refinement and tweaking in the pricing. The frequent fuel price hike proved to be a boon to the predominantly diesel focused Indica range. 

The new Indica Vista  finds its point of parity with the sedans. The brand compares itself with a sedan and tries to convey the message that the car is  " Like Sedan".

Watch the ad here : Sedan Class

The new Indica Vista has the tagline " Sedan Class " reinforcing the new positioning. The ad is very sensible and conveys the message quite forcefully. The brand's idea of exemplar comparison with another category is quite effective in communicating its USP of better space and comfort.

During the early months of 2011, there were several reports of the plan of Tata Motors to make the Vista brand independent. The visibility of Indica brand name has been made insignificant and Vista is made prominent. So technically, Vista has become the primary brand in this case. The question is why Tata Motors is reluctant to let go of the Indica endorsement of Vista and make Vista a completely independent brand ? The damage has already made by associating an value-for-money brand ( Indica) with a premium offering ( Vista). Vista is going to suffer by continuous association with Indica brand. Other wise, the brand should be priced significantly lower than the other premium competing brands. 

The confusion regarding the branding of the premium hatchback offering from Tata Motors is evident in the case of Vista. The initial mistake was to stretch the Indica brand to a premium offering. It is very difficult for a VFM brand to build an equity in the premium segment. Second was the reluctance to make Vista an independent brand together with the fact that the premium offering had lot of similarities in features with the VFM offering. On hindsight, I feel that Tata Motors lost an opportunity to build a premium hatchback brand Vista. Three years is pretty long lost years in branding world. Would be interesting to see how the New Tata Indica Vista going to play up in the market. The timing has never been so perfect for a diesel car launch. 

Brand Update : Tata Indica

Tata Motors recently launched the new generation Indica Vista. The best selling car from Tata Motors has become even better with a new look and a new positioning.

Tata Indica was launched in 1998 and has sold more than 9 lakh cars so far. It is the second largest selling car trailing Maruthi Alto. Indica is a classic example of managing product life cycle efficiently.

From a shaky start, Indica has come a long way. Written off by many skeptics as Ratan Tata's unachievable dream, Indica has proved skeptics wrong by selling huge numbers. The core strength of the brand being its value proposition.

To sustain in a highly competitive market for more than 9 years is no child's play. Tata Motors has invested heavily in both product and brand development over these years. The new launch is yet again another proof of the company's resilience.

Indica Vista is Tata's entry into the luxury hatchback segment. The segment is dominated by Maruthi Swift. Indica Vista replaces seven variants of the original Indica V2.
Over the last few months, the sales of Indica was showing a decline. A classic case where the product reaches the declining maturity stage. And as theory says one strategy is to go for product modification.

Vista comes with a new style, more space and a new set of engines. The car sports Quadrajet and Safire engines which was build jointly by Tata Motors and Fiat. The new Indica Vista comes in the price range of Rs 3.50 - 4.50 lakh price range.
The original Indica is also retained in the product line. Now Indica offers a wide choice to the customers from price points of Rs 2.80 lakh to Rs 5 Lakhs.

The brand Vista sports a refreshing next generation look . Indica had the weakness of not looking peppy or sexy. That put off many young customers. The new Indica Vista is more curvy and looks pretty cool . But not as sexy as its competitors like Swift or Getz.

The brand now sports a new tagline " Changes Everything ". The slogan is primarily telling the consumers that the brand has changed. The ads are also more tuned to attracting the new generation.
Watch the new tvc here : Indica Vista

More than looks , I feel that Vista will sell more because of value proposition. The acquisition of Land Rover and Jaguar and the Tata Nano has helped a quantum leap interms of brand equity for Tata Motors.

Tata Indica : Truly more car per car

Brand : Tata Indica
Agency : FCB Ulka
Company: Tata motors

Baseline : more car per car

India is a lucrative market for automobile manufacturers. If we believe the fancy numbers floating around regarding the industry size, this is a market no one can ignore.

Fighting with all the big names in the auto industry is our very own Tata Motors.

Let me be patriotic and say " we have done it". We have our own Indian Car: Indica.
Well You may say that the design was outsourced from IDEA ITALY so this is not 100% Indian. I would say that Tata's are smart so they outsourced it.....

Any way as hypocritic as we are by birth, although we say " sare jahan se acha " , we were ruthless towards Indica. Everyone looked down upon this car from Tata talking about all the negative points about the performance and writing off this dream of an Indian to build an Indian car.

Despite the initial setback with Indica, Tata motors reworked on the engine and relaunched Indica as Indica V2. Now indica is the second largest selling car in India.

Indica is positioned as a value for money car. I have said in my earlier blog that this is a proposition that will always work on Indian consumers, provided the promise is delivered.
Indica delivered its promise. It promised that it will give more car per car and delivered that.

The success of this proposition had an interesting side effect ( positive of course). Tatas have discovered its vision : deliver more value at a reasonable price. The recent launches prove that Tatas have imbibed this "value for money " proposition . The latest products like Safari Dicor and Indigo give many features which were seen only in premium cars.

Tata Motors : What ails the brand ?

India's largest automobile company is struggling with its passenger car business. The company which owns best selling ( once upon a time) brands like Indica, Indigo, Safari and the " Iconic" Nano is finding it difficult to sell their cars in a market which is diesel crazy. Isn't it ironic that Tata Motors is not at the top of a market where diesel models are selling like hot cakes ?

I was reading a very critical piece of analysis in Forbes India ( read here) which throws in many pertinent issues. My two cents is that there is a larger issues of marketing in play here. Tata Motors has a big marketing problem and the company is not doing anything on that. It is sad.

Tata Motors virtually changed the Indian passenger car market in 1998 with the launch of Tata Indica. Although Indica faced lot if teething issues , the brand became a trail-blazer creating the diesel car segment which is affordable and durable. But along with the success came the baggage of perception. Indica despite being highly successful was perceived to be a car riddled with nagging problems. The lack of refinement and the not-so-perfect build quality became the hallmark of Tata passenger cars. Consumers accepted those nagging issues because the value offering was so good.

But market began to change with competitors catching up with better quality diesel engines and superior built quality. Tata motors , in my opinion,  was  stuck in the past. Although the company came out with product refinement, it failed to make the quantum leap in changing the perception problem.

Now a time has come where Tata cars are not in the ' choice list ' of the customers. It is a grave problem that needs to be addressed quickly other wise the firm will enter into a league of Ambassadors and Premier Padminis.

 Tata Motors need a new face. The company is desperately trying to improve upon the Indica platform which has a huge perception issue. If the firm wants to get back into the game, it needs a new brand which is distinct from Indica and Vista as a brand has not been effective since it was launched as a sub-brand of Indica. So a new product with a new brand would be the ( expensive) option available for Tata Motors to make a comeback. At the product level, nothing less that a sort of quality revolution is needed to bring consumers back to Tata showrooms. Aria was a leap in terms of built-quality but priced beyond common sense.

The product related drive should be followed by a strong branding campaign for Tata Motors to change the quality perception. This should be  backed by a strong change in attitude of dealers towards Tata Motors ' customers. The dealers still live in the era where there is a beeline of customers for Indica. That attitude needs to be changed and a strong responsive action at the moments of truth touchpoint is needed in this crisis.

Tata Motors need a strong product pipe-line backed by a strategy to change the perception of the market towards its products. This needs to be addressed at the highest level and Tata Motors has the wonderful JLR resource to do this within no time.

Tata Indigo : Spoil Yourself

Brand : Indigo
Company: Tata Motors
Agency:FCB Ulka

Brand Count : 196

Tata Indigo is a super brand in the Indian car market. The brand is my choice as a Super brand not only because it was successful, but also because this is India's own brand. In a segment where the World's "Who is Who " is present luring the customers, Tata Indigo is the only truly indigenous presence. With the government exiting Maruti, Indigo and Indica represent the only domestic car manufacturers having their presence in the car market.

After the success of Tata Indica, Indigo was a riskybut bold move from Tata motors. Indigo is a sedan in the C-segment of the 600,000 new car market in India. C- segment represents around 20-25 % of the total cars sold that makes the c-segment market size around 1,50,000 units.

Indigo was launched in 2002.The car was developed on the highly successful Indica platform and was targeting the entry level C-segment. The brand was positioned as a truly value for money car in line with Indica.The brand from the launch itself wanted to pamper the customers. The car offered more space and comfort than even its high priced competitors.

The C-segment is one of the fastest growing and most competitive segment . The brand competition include Accent,Sienna,Esteem, Ikon,Corsa and the like.
Indigo did not compare itself with the immediate competition but wanted to offer what the premium brands in the D segment offered. The car was known for the space and the accessories it offered as a part of the standard equipment was seen only in premium segment cars. Indigo (like Indica) came out with different variants at different price points. One variant even had DVD player and Screen attached to the seat -a feature that you see not even in luxury cars.All these at a very affordable price.

The brand adopted the tagline " Spoil Yourself" and all the ads, highlighted the goodies that came with the product. Another series of ads promised the customers, business class experience. The basic focus of the brand was to drive home the fact that Indigo has more legroom and space compared to most of the C-class sedans.
This campaigns and the reasonable performance of the car with the tempting price tag ensured the brand's success in the market. Indigo has now 33% market share in the c-segment.

2004 saw the launch of a product variant of Indigo : Marina. Marina was the estate version of Indigo. The brand harped on the extra space that the Estate version offered and was promoted with the baseline " We like to carry our world with us".

In January 2007, Tata motors surprised everyone by launching India's first stretch limousine - the Indigo XL. Indigo XL marked the entry of Tata into the premium segment. Indigo XL has a longer wheel base that gives the rear passengers legroom comparable with the Limousines. Even the premium sedans in the E segment do not offer the leg space that XL offered. So Tata chose to call it a stretch Limousine. This straight comparison has irked some auto watchers who could not believe an Indian automaker calling their car a Limousine. XL has already created enough buzz in the market. Indigo XL as usual is positioned as a value for money car. The car offers comfort and accessories that is seen only in super luxury cars and comes with the price of a luxury sedan.

Despite all the right things that Tata Motors has done, the brand faces issues regarding its image. Whether be it Indica or Indigo, the brands does not carry the image of a Hyundai or a Honda. The main reason is that this brand does not get the support of the media. The media has only tried to degrade these brands and most of the time tried to find fault with these brands. I saw an Indian author berating the Indigo XL 's positioning as a stretch limousine by comparing Cadillac and the like with XL. But the comparison showed that Indigo has a comparable Wheel base with these super brands. Even in the auto shows, the anchors are blinded by the glamour of global brands. I am not stressing on being patriotic (am not a swadeshi jagron manch member) but Indica and Indigo should be treated at par with the global giants because they have proved their worth ?

Indigo is another classic example of Masstige product and is a proof that we also can make world class product.

Source: businessline,agencyfaqs

Logan : The answer is Here

Brand : Logan
Company : Mahindra Renault
Agency : Saatchi & Saatchi

Brand Analysis Count : 340

Logan was launched in India in 2007. With in a year's time, this brand has achieved reasonable success in the tough Indian auto market.

Logan is a brand from Mahindra Renault , the joint venture between Mahindra and the French auto major Renault. Renault is a global auto major known for innovation ,technology and racing. Mahindra is our very own company who hit a jackpot with the Scorpio.

When the Jv was announced, the entire auto enthusiasts were looking forward to a new experience to be delivered from these celebrated manufacturers. But soon the company made it clear that the product that they envision will be an affordable sedan rather than a premium one.

In 2007, Logan was launched. The brand was able to get good PR during the launch. The PR was there because of two reasons :
a. It was a launch from Mahindra who claimed lot of appreciation for the success of Scorpio. Hence every media was expecting a similar successful product.

b. The price of Logan was a major driver of the PR. Logan was to be sold at around Rs 4,50,000 which made it one of the cheapest sedan on road.


The initial hype created a huge flow of booking orders for Logan. There was 3000 bookings in the first three weeks itself.

Then came the commercials. In my personal experience, the campaign was a big let down. It was a meaningless ad which showed a foreign lady in some James Bond type plot and blah blah....
The car was initially positioned on the basis of the benefit of space. The slogan talked about Logan as a ' Wide Body ' car.

Although I did not understood what a wide bodied car is , commonsense told me that it is a more spacious car.

Logan has been a success so far . With in one year of launch, it has notched up 12% marketshare in the respective category . At one point of time, it surpassed the veterans like Honda City in sales.

Logan is yet another example of a brand understanding the value proposition of Indian consumers. When the brand was launched, many pundits decried the poor looks of the car. They wrote off the car saying that Indian consumers will vote out this ugly duckling.

But Logan survived. Survived because the product delivered. It was a spacious large well built car which came at a mouth watering price of less than Rs 5,00,000. The surprise came when Logan delivered big on mileage. Consumers began to see beauty in the beast .
In India, consumers give weightage to functionality than design. Toyota showed to us with its Qualis.

In June 2008, the brand went for a repositioning. Infact the brand has took a serious take on the image aspect. Kunal Kapoor was roped in as the brand ambassador and new campaigns were aired.

The brand also has repositioned from a functional angle to a mix of functional and emotional framework.
While the presence of Kunal added some spice to the image, the brand still talked about the deliverables like more mileage , better handling and great value for money . The new campaigns are far better than the initial ones and Kunal Kapoor gives some push to the image aspect.

The brand now tales the slogan " The answer is here " . The brand also has an interactive interesting site butwhy.in where readers can post questions that usually does not have a typical answer. For example : Superman and Batman wears underwear outside. But Why ?.

The logic behind the new slogan is that Logan is the answer to most of the questions asked by the customers . For example : Why can't a sedan give more mileage than a small car ?


A typical issue that most of these value for money brands face is on tackling two segments : the tour taxi segment and the individual segments. Brands like Indica, Indigo , Qualis and now Logan face the issue of the use of these brands as Taxis.

Brands worry that the popularity of a car as a taxi will tarnish the image of the brand. Indica and Indigo have the issue of being popular as a taxi thus repelling some customers from owning it.

Logan also have the same issue , go to Hyderabad, you see a lot of Logan as taxi cars. But will it really hurt the brand ?
I think popularity as a taxi car will be helpful to the brand if its able to provide some distinction to the individual owners.
Being popular as a taxi car means that the car is good. As we know , the taxi's cannot afford to have a car which is expensive to run and maintain. So if taxi owners are buying it, it must be good.
Second, more number of taxi's the more affordable will be the spares.

The major downside is about the image of a taxi car. My question is whether image is a significant factor when one decides to buy an Indica or a Logan . My take is that although image is important for these customers, the main driving force will be on functionality and cost of ownership. People buy Indica because it is the most value for money car in that segment.

But bad image can act as a repellent. So what can a company do about it ? .

I think that the brand should bring some distinction to the non-commercial cars by adding some feature that makes Logan ( or Indica ) different from taxi car . Either it can restrict these commercial cars in to one color or add some thing like graphics so that private Logan is different from the Taxi Logan .

To give the brand a boost. Logan recently launched a limited edition Logan Edge for those who wanted more from Logan. Edge also is aimed at repositioning the brand as an aspirational product to all those who are looking for an upgrade to a sedan.

Logan is not without threats . Tatas are on a marketing offensive now and has launched Indigo CS to take on the price competition. The compact sedan from Indigo has been a success since it made the sedans more affordable.
Service is another area for concern. Although Mahindra has excellent network of dealers, whether it can give excellent service to Logan customers is something to wait for. From the market feedback, Mahindra is not known for excellent service delivery compared to peers like Maruti. Renault has to work closely on the service front .

Logan has yet again proved that there is always a space for a product that functions well and priced reasonably. The success of Logan has prompted the parent company to explore more categories in the Indian auto market. Logan also has raised the bar for most of the car marketers. Now consumers are truly pampered.

Related posts
Indigo CS

Tata Manza : A Class Apart

Brand : Manza
Company : Tata Motors
Advertising Agency : Draft FCB Ulka

Brand Analysis Count : 473

Philip Kotler once famously said " Marketing is easy to understand and difficult to practice ". The concepts of marketing are no rocket science and hence we can see those concepts being casually treated.Marketing practitioners know the difficulties in cracking the marketing code and making the product successful in the market. It may be the simplicity of marketing concepts that make marketers to defy common sense and make marketing mistaks.

The same casual treatment of branding is visible in the case of branding of Manza and the brand is now investing heavily in undoing the mistake done in the past. Manza was launched as a sub-brand of Indigo in 2009. The Indigo Manza was the premium variant of the popular entry-level sedan brand Indigo. 

Indigo Manza was an effort of  Tata Motors for breaking Indigo from the perception of a Cab Car. Since Indigo was one of the most value for money diesel car in India, it was popular as a cab. Indigo Manza was styled differently and sported the state-of -the art engine from Fiat. 

Indigo Manza was positioned along the same lines of Tata Indigo. Indigo was positioned as a luxury + VFM brand and had sported the tagline " Spoil Yourself ". Indigo Manza had the tagline " Indulge in Style " . 

The brand was positioned as a stylish luxurious car and as usual Tata Motors added lot of goodies to the product to make it worth the price paid for. Another big leap for Manza was the engine. Tata Motors used the tested Fiat engines into the Manza and concentrated more on the style and product packaging . The variant was heavily promoted across the media.

Watch the TVC here : Indigo Manza

Interestingly the confusion regarding the brand started in early 2011. Tata Motors made that significant strategic decision to disassociate  Manza from Indigo. The company decided to make Manza an independent brand and dropped the Indigo endorsement from all communication. Indigo Manza became Tata Manza. Along with the decision came  the launch of Manza Elan which is the premium hatchback variant of Manza.In its independent avatar, Manza did not change the core brand DNA of luxury. Manza reinforced its " Luxury " positioning with the new tagline " A Class Apart ". 

Manza is now investing heavily in creating an independent image for Manza and also moving away from Indigo. Interestingly Indigo is now more associated with its Compact Sedan variant Indigo CS and has left the luxury + VFM positioning to Manza.

The important question here is why didn't Tata Motors think about Manza as an independent brand at the time of its launch itself. Why did the brand spend hell lot of money to promote itself as Indigo Manza for more than two years and then decide to go independent. 

Was it not a bad decision to launch Manza as a sub-brand of Indigo ? What may have prevented Tata Motors to hesitate from creating a new premium brand rather than trying to extend a VFM brand to premium segment.

It is this dilemma that makes marketing decisions difficult.One argument can be that the company wanted to establish Manza in the market first and then gradually make it independent.  My personal opinion is that Tata Motors did a branding mistake in launching Manza as a sub-brand of Indigo. Its common sense that it is always better to launch a new premium brand rather than extend a VFM brand to premium segment using a variant. The decision to sub-brand Manza also shows a lack of long-term strategic thinking on the Tata Motors part regarding the brand porfolio decisions. The company is little confused about how Indica, Indica Vista, Indigo, Manza are to be managed. There was a recent report which suggest that Vista will be disassociated from Indica and launched as a standalone brand. 

One of the reasons for disassociating Manza from Indigo is the threat from the launch of Toyota Etios. Etios  is being offered at a terrific price point and is a direct threat to Indigo's position in the market especially at the premium end . Tata Motors feel that potential Indigo Manza owners will move to Etios because of brand equity of Toyota. Indigo Manza may not be capable to fight Etios because of the baggage of Indigo association. That can be one of the reasons for such a decision.

It is easy to criticize the branding decisions as an observer because the brand managers are bound by lot of internal pressures which force them to take these kind of decisions. 

Regarding Manza, the road ahead is not going to be easy because the association with Indigo is still strong. It will take a lot of money to erase or at best reduce the level of association between Indigo and Manza. 

Ideally the brand owners should have charted the vision for every brand in their portfolio before launching to the public. This creating of brand vision is of extreme importance and should be undertaken for every variants and sub-brands. It should be this vision that will guide the brand's path to future and protect it from the short-term thinking of individuals. 

Related brand

Tata Indigo

Ambassador : Marketing Myopia

Brand : Ambassador

Company : Hindustan Motors

Agency : Mudra/ Equus

Brand Analysis Count : 326

Ambassador can be called as the first Indian car. Although the car has a British legacy, it is considered as definitive Indian car. Ambassador was born in 1958. The car owes its design and technology to a British car model - Morris Oxford which was built by Morris Motor Co at Oxford UK. Hindustan Motors launched the Indianised version of Morris Oxford as Ambassador in 1958.

From 1958 to 1980's Ambassador ruled the Indian market. Infact there were only two cars in the Indian market - Premier Padmini and Ambassador. The licence raj, lack of capital and the unfriendly Indian economic policies ensured that no automobile manufacturers entered the Indian market.

1983 saw the emergence of a new era in the Indian car market. Maruti Udyog Ltd launched the Maruti 800. Soon Ambassador lost its leadership position to Maruti. The family segment which is the largest segment in the car market embraced Maruti. Ambassador was reduced to a marginal player within no time.

But Ambassador had some advantages over 800 which made it dearer to certain segments. It was the only Indian car with Diesel option. During those times, there was a significant difference in the prices between Diesel and Petrol. Second advantage was the space and sturdiness of the Amby. These two factors enabled the brand to become popular among big families and more importantly among the Taxi and tour operators.

Amby was perceived to be a sturdy car ideal for Indian roads. The brand also had a positive perception of being less expensive to maintain. These two were only perceptions . Infact Ambassador was expensive to maintain and even though the car looked sturdy and well built, the car lacked the quality and refinement. Rattling sounds and rusting was common complaints .

But consumers bought the car because of the significant economy of diesel cars which made consumers to compromise on other parameters.

Another significant market for Ambassador was the Government. Over 16 % of the brand sales came from the Government. Ambassador was the first choice for most bureaucrats . Ambassador used to be the Prime Minister's car till 2002. That status was lost when the PM of that time Mr Atal Bihari Vajpai replaced Ambassador with a BMW Limo.

Soon the officials also lost interest in the brand. With the emergence of new and better models from other auto-makers, there was a significant drop in the orders from the Government.

The fall of Ambassador from a leadership position to a marginal player is a classic case of marketing myopia. For four decades, the brand has been taking its customers for granted. There are many reasons that can be attributed to this brand's failure. The fundamental issue was with the product and price.

If we look at the product, Ambassador never changed with times. The brand made many cosmetic changes from 1958-2000 and three upgrades was made which was named as Mark II, Mark III and Mark IV . There was no significant value addition between these upgrades. The look and the built quality remained the same. A major change happened when the brand introduced a 1800 Isuzu engine. The Amby with Isuzu again lifted the sales of the brand. But the euphoria was short lived.

The apathy of HM to offer product changes in tune with the times made the brand stale. Second factor that failed Amby was the price. HM never bothered to rationalize the price of the brand. Even now Ambassador costs more than Rs 4,80,000. At that price one could afford a more luxurious Indigo sedan.

According to reports, the HM plant had achieved full depreciation in 2000. But the company did not thought of passing on the reduced cost to the consumer. Had the company rationalised the price of Amby in 2000, the brand could have survived the competition.

The nail in the coffin came with the launch of Indica. Indica took away the taxi car market from Ambassador. Again the diesel loving individual consumers had a better affordable modern car as compared to the ageing Ambassador.

In order to lift the sagging sales of the brand, HM launched a radically designed Ambassador variant Avigo in 2004. Although the styling was radical, the customer response was lukewarm.

Indian consumer is now spoilt with choices. The competition is immense and the quality of cars has also gone up. Consumers now have new set of purchase considerations like quality, brand, drivability, luxury ,cost of maintanence etc

In the value proposition domain, Ambassador is never in the radar of the consumers. The narrowing price difference between petrol and diesel also eroded the value in investing in an old dated Ambassador.

The company also has never invested in the brand. Without investing in either brand or product, HM had sealed the fate of this brand .

The question that arise is could a brand like Ambassador maintain its position Indian market despite all the competition?

In the brand management perspective, its suicidal not to continuosly invest in a brand .Often heritage brands wait till it becomes dated. Once the brand becomes dated, its virtually impossible to rejuvenate the brand. The task is to prevent the brand to become dated. For that the brand has to go to the consumer for ideas. Changes in product or promotions can sustain the brand even in the light of emerging competition. Brands like Lux , lifebuoy, Surf has been successful because of continuous investment in branding and product development.

Ambassador should have learned from Maruti 800. The brand is still surviving because it made changes along with the changing consumer values. Also the brand rationalised its price in the light of emerging competition which made Maruti 800 relevant even in the current market.

I am not saying that Amby had the potential to become an Iconic brand like Volkswagen Beetle. But the brand could have been relevant to Indian market as a basic family car. It is a herculean task to bring Ambassador back to life. A price below the price of Indica is the only option for the brand to keep its fortunes alive.

Brand Update : Tata Indigo

One should admire the engineering team of Tata Motors for their path breaking efforts. Ofcourse the Tata Nano was the ultimate display of their talent but here I am talking about the new variant of Indigo . i.e Indigo CS..... CS means compact sedan.

Indigo has become smaller. The engineers in Tata tweaked the boot of Indigo and squeezed the length of the sedan within 4 meters. The cars which have less than 4 meters length qualifies for an excise rebate. Thus Indigo CS comes with a mouthwatering price of Rs 3.80 + ( ex-showroom) making it one of the cheapest sedans on the Indian roads.
The logic behind the launch of compact Indigo is to pre-empt competition and also to make the sedan more affordable to the consumers.
Recent launch of Logan had the potential to threaten the Indigo's position in the market. Logan - with its low price and good package had met with a good response both from consumers and auto-experts. Indigo CS variant will act as an effective Flanker brand for Indigo. Another reason is the huge potential space between a hatchback and a sedan.

Typically for a middleclass customer Sedan upgrade usually was a difficult dream. The entry level sedan costs anywhere from Rs 5 lakh + ( before the launch of Logan ) .The withdrawal of Esteem from the market also opened up a new opportunity for an entry level sedan. Even now for Indian consumers Sedan is preferred more than a hatchback ( preferences are changing) . Hence these customers opted for a luxury hatchback. Many marketers has used this opportunity to create the luxury hatchback segment which is now growing very fast.
This has affected Indigo verymuch. On one side , the competition from players within the segment and then competition from luxury hatchbacks. With the launch of Compact Indigo, Tata Motors is taking the fight into the hatchback's camp.
Indigo CS is launched with the slogan ' Class starts early '. The brand is eying the first time car buyers to stretch their budget a little and own a sedan rather than a small car. Now a potential Santro buyer have an option.
A usual question that comes to mind is whether the new variant cannibalize the original Indigo. I feel that to a certain extent it will cannibalize . But its better that the customer stays with the Tata models rather than go for a Logan or a i10. By launching this variant, Tata's sedan product range is now complete . In the entry level, there is CS, there are Indigo variants at the middle level and the lengthier Indigo XL at the higher end. Tata has ensured that in all these levels , customers get maximum value for money.
Will Indigo CS cannibalize Indica. The answer is Yes, but Tata will be happy since customers are paying more .

A reader had earlier commented that I am too emotional about Tata Motors and often forget the fact that their products lacks refinement . I know of Indica/ Indigo owners who are delighted with the performance of their cars and even chosen their upgrades from Tata Stable. Also I have seen many owners who had complaints about their Tata cars. I prefer to say that luck plays a part in whether your Tata car's performance. As a marketer, I feel that this should be an area of concern for the brand. Time is now ripe for Tatas to make their brands perfect interms of their performance. If Tata's could deliver Maruti like performance ( in terms of product quality) , nothing can stop them to become global majors.
Related Brands
Tata Indigo

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. 

Brand Taglines : G to L

Brand Slogans and taglines ( G to L)

G

1. Gatorade : World's No 1 Sports Drink
2. Gariner : Take Care
3. Grasim Suitings  : For the self made
4. Graviera : Feel of Life
5. Gems ( Cadbury) : Rangeen Panda ka Rangeen Pasand
6. Gillette : The best a man can get
7. Go Cheese : 100 % Cow's Milk
8. Golgappa ( Parle) : Goli mein Golgappa
9. Getz ( Hyundai) : Getz You
10. Gold Winner : G For H, Gold Winner for Health

H

1. Horlicks : Taller Stronger Sharper/Family Nourisher
2. Hippo :Hippo Fights Hunger
3. Hero Motocorp : Hum Mein hain Hero
4. Hyundai : New Thinking , New Possibities
5. Honda  : The power of dreams
6. Happy Jam : Makes Everybody Happy 
7. Halls : Thandi Saans ka Blast
8. Hanes : America's No 1 Apparel Brand
9. HP : Computer is personal again
10. Harpic : Ready for Harpic Challenge ?
11. Havells' ECB : Shock Laga Kya ?

I

1. Idea : An Idea can change your life
2. ICICI Bank : Khayal Aapka
3. Indigo ( Tata) : A Class apart
4. Indica (Tata) : More car per car/ Sedan class ( Vista)
5. Indigo Airlines : On Time is a Wonderful Thing
6. Intel : Intel Inside / Sponsors of Tomorrow
7. Infosys : Building Tomorrow's Enterprise
8. Indigo Nation : Young Like That
9. IFB: Set Yourself Free 
10. Imperial Leather : Everyday Luxury
11. Inkfruit : Always On
12. ING Vysia Life : Mera Farz
13. IFFKO Tokyo : The life you desire

J

1. Jazz ( Honda)  : Why So Serious
2. J Hampstead : Nothing but the best
3. John Miller (readymades) : Good looking Rascal , Make it look easy
4. Johnny Walker : Keep Walking
5. Jeeva  : The complete Ayurvedic Soap
6. Jaguar : As Alive as you are
7. JK Tyre : Total Control
8. J&K bank : Serving to empower
9. Jumpin ( Godrej) : Peeke sub kahe mmmm/Sip sip mein boing boing
10. Joy Alukkas Jewellers : World's Favorite Jeweler

K

1. Kurlon : India's Largest selling mattress
2. Kamasutra : What do you want to be tonight
3. Kingfisher : The King of Good Times
4. Kohler : The Bold Look
5. Kara Skincare Wipes : At Your Best Always
6. Khaitan : Bas Naam hi Kaafi hain
7. Kinder Joy : Surprise Inside
8. KitKat : Have a break, Have a KitKat/ Kitkat break banta hain
9. Kelvinator : Its the coolest one
10. Kent Water purifier : Now Live a healthy life with Kent
11. Kangaro : Organizing documents world over
12. Kinley : Boond Boond Mein Vishwas
13. K-Series Engine : Leaner Meaner Fitter

L

1. Lux : Filmi sitaroan ka soundarya sabun
2. Lifebuoy : Lifebuoy hai jahan thandurusty hain vaham
3. Louis Philleppe : The Upper Crest
4. Lays : No one can eat just one/ har program ka main food/Dillogical/ make your moment magical
5. Limca : Lime'N'Lemoni/Doobo Taazgi Mein
6. LMN : LMN LMN LMN ( Emergency Lemon Refresher)
7. Lux innerwear :Apna luck pahenke chalo/ Comfort for everybody
8. La Opala : Adding style to your lifestyle
9. Lenovo : For those who do
10. Levi's : Go Forth
11. Lee : Sticks to you like it loves you

Brand Tagline A-F

Maruti Suzuki Stingray : My Thing ,Everything

Brand : Stingray
Company : Maruti Suzuki

Brand Analysis : #532

Maruti Suzuki recently launched another brand in the crowded Indian hatchback market. The new brand is Stingray. The launch has created a hell lot of confusion in the branding of the new car. While most of the media has touted the new brand as a variant of Wagon-R , actually the company intended it as a brand separate from Wagon-R. But media killed that scheme. If you look at the campaigns and the brand micro-site, Maruti had intended to position this brand differently from Wagon-R.

Wagon-R has been one of the best-selling models of Maruti. All though the looks were not the best, it was one of the most practical cars especially for city drives. Launched in 1999, the brand had sold a phenomenal 12.77 lakh units till date.

Maruti had tried to push the car through its life-cycle through incremental product and design changes. The latest was the " Blue-eyed Boy" campaign in 2010. However, the intense competition has somewhat pushed Wagon-R behind. According to ET, the brand was now in the fourth position in the segment ( link).

According to reports, Stingray was first launched in Japan as a sportier variant of Wagon-R. 

Stingray is targeting the younger crowd. The brand is positioned as a cool car that have it all. The ads typically is trying to convey hip & cool attribute. Watch the ad here : Stingray

The new trend in the market seems to be the mad rush to attract the youngsters. Tata Nano is the new entrant in the mad rush with their new " Awesomeness" campaign.

The tagline of Stingray is " My thing, Everything" which in a way is trying to be everything that an young consumer needs.Stingray is priced premium over the Wagon-R. The starting range of Stingray starts with Rs 4.09 lakh while that of Wagon-R is Rs 3.5 Lakh.

What is interesting about this brand is the unique situation that it fell into. The brand tried to distance itself from Wagon-R but media has forced the label of Wagon-R Stingray into it. One cannot wish away the power of association. The new brand looks very very similar to Wagon-R so one cannot blame for this association. Similar issue is there with Vista which was launched as a new brand but is strongly associated with Indica.

I am not implying that the company doesn't know that such a kind of association will happen, its commonsense that it will happen. But its interesting that media explicitly put Stingray as an extension of Wagon-R without blinking an eye. 

The association with Wagon-R is good for Stingray because of the immense equity that Wagon-R enjoys in the market. Maruti feels that the life-cycle for Wagon-R will slowly move to the decline stage . So there needs to be a replacement for this bestselling car. By launching the new product without the endorsement of Wagon-R, Maruti hopes that the young consumer will not consider it as a " Old and Dated " brand and over a period of time, Stingray will have a position distinct from Wagon-R and in future will takeover the position of Wagon-R.

Brand Update : Can Ambassador be saved ?

Recently the good old Ambassador was in the news that the brand owners - Hindustan Motors is planning to relaunch /rejuvenate this heritage brand. Both the brand and company is in deep crisis with HM posting losses of Rs 43 crore last year and its networth declining by about 50%.

The company plans to relaunch the Amby in a new look and is planning to entrust a design house with the task. The report also suggest that the new Amby will have a retro- look and will be in the price range of Rs 5- Rs 7 Lakhs. The new Amby will be a niche product.

The interesting question is can this brand be saved with the new strategy ?

From the report about the new Amby launch, it will be tough for the brand to regain its lost glory if the brand is going for a niche variant. According to Economic Times, Ambassador sells around 600 units per month in a market of 2 lakh cars/month.

Ambassador is now in a rut which is its own creation. The brand is the classic example of marketing myopia. The company took the customers for granted and refused to change when the entire market changed. The brand did nothing when faced with competition from Tatas and Maruti. Instead of changing its core DNA, the brand relied upon cosmetic changes. When the brand needed a drastic revolutionary change, HM decided to get stuck with the old product.

The current strategy of a niche Amby is again a patch-up . This brand cannot survive on patch-up strategies. I don't think that the core brand Ambassador will revive with the launch of a niche high priced Ambassador. With the brand equity in shambles, how can the brand expect consumers to pay a premium for the new Amby variant ?

The high priced Marquee variant will work for iconic brand which are facing a decline. But Ambassador was not an icon. It was a market leader and consumers bought the car because they did not had a choice. Not because they were a die-hard Amby fan. Hence a high priced niche variant may not revive the sale of Ambassador.

Secondly HM as a company is now relying its future on Ambassador which again is a flawed strategy. A weak brand cannot save a weak company. And a niche variant will at best give some life support and not survival.

Another way to look at the current strategy is the transformation of Amby from a mass market car to a niche product. So instead of trying to sell large volume of Ambassador, the company hopes to sell high-end variant and hence generate more cash. In that perspective, the launch of a high priced Amby make sense. But the question is whether the brand has enough equity to support such a variant. Brands like Beetle and Enfield revived because these brands had strong equity existing in the market even after its previous life. The relaunch re-ignited the existing goodwill . But such a goodwill does not exist for Ambassador. Ambassador is known for its space and rugged nature .The product is also infamous for nagging problems and poor build quality. Still people bought because there was no choice. For such a product, the hope of renewal from a niche product seems too optimistic.

Having said that, Indian market has seen consumers embracing products with exceptional quality and/or utility. So if the new variant is exceptional, there are chances of getting accepted by the market.

Another interesting aspect of this issue is about the reliance of HM on Ambassador brand for its survival. Why didn't it think about an entirely new brand ? The trend in the Indian auto market is that multiple brands from different companies sporting the same engine. The engine becoming commoditized and design gaining prominence. In such a market why not come out with an entirely new brand with a proven engine ? Although building new brand is expensive compared to rejuvenation of old brand, in Amby's case, Ambassador comes with a lot of baggage and perceptions which is difficult to change.

If Ambassador wants to stay relevant as a brand, what it need is disruption. Disruption should happen both internally and externally. The brand should go for radical redesign and more importantly it should disrupt the market. The current price to value proposition of Ambassador is negative compared to the competitors like Indica . So if Amby wants to play the volume game, it needs to offer consumer something they cannot refuse. A diesel car below Rs 4 lakh can ignite interest in the brand but given the cost scenario, such a task is virtually impossible.

HM is again going for short-term strategy in pursuit of long-term results. For Amby, it seems to be the end of road .

Related Brand

Ambassador

Marketing Funda : Masstige

Marketing Funda is a new series from Marketing Practice. A lot is happening in the marketing field which has created new JARGONS. " Marketing Funda" series is aimed at keeping you and me updated on the new fundas.

Funda #1 : Masstige

Masstige is a term introduced by Michael Silverstein and Neil Fiske to refer to a new category of products aimed at providing "Luxury To the Masses". The term Masstige is derived from the words Mass + Prestige. Silverstein and Neil published a wonderful article in Harvard Business Reveiw (April 2003) titled "Luxury for the Masses" explaining this concept in detail.

Due to a variety of reasons, the luxury market has evolved into different types like
a. Accessible Super Premium products which are priced in such a way that middleclass will be able to afford it.
b. Old Luxury brands extending downwards to catering to mass market
c. Mass prestige brands or Masstige brands which occupies the sweet spot between Mass and Class.

The term has great relevance in the Indian context because Indians are more value conscious and the market for masstige is very large. According to the authors, several factors have caused the evolution of masstige brands. The causes are in the Supplier side, Company side and in the Customer side.
The rise of the income and the change in the retail sector ( discount retailing ) and the emotional awareness has sparked the consumption of such brands. This has forced many firms to look at tapping this market. The accessibility of global resources and efficient supply chain helps the firms to control the cost thereby offer more value. The customer also has evolved in the sense that they began to demand more for less. Indian society is moving towards NUF (Nuclear Urban Family ) where each individual has their own tastes and preferences.

The marketers also find ways to make the brand stand out as a prestige product without the 'expensive ' tag. Brands like Peter England has succeeded because of the prestige image and the value delivery. Pond's has moved to cater to wider mass without compromising the image.The authors point out that inorder to successfully implement the concept has to make sure that they create a ladder of genuine benefit to the customers. The firm should have a passion for innovation on the marketing mixes. More over an outsider ( outside-in)view of the category should be encouraged to ensure that managers are not myopic to the changing marketing environment.

Related Brands
Peter England
Pond's
Tata Indica

Ajanta Quartz : From Clocks to Tiles

Brand : Ajanta /Orpat
Company: Orpat Group
Agency: Mudra

Brand Count 157

Ajanta Quartz was established in 1971 and the story reminds us of a typical rags to riches kind. Starting as a small establishment at Morbi in Gujarat , Ajanta rose to become the world's largest clock manufacturer in 1999-2000 clocking 1 crore time pieces in that year.

The company was founded by Odhavjibhai R Patel ( O.R.Patel) who started manufacturing mechanical clocks under the brand name Ajanta. During the mid 1980's , Mr Patel was wise enough the foresee the end of mechanical watches/clocks and the evolution of Quartz technology in clocks. The company was quick to change over to quartz clocks .

Ajanta in a way changed the entire clock market in India. The market for watches and clocks are estimated to be around 30 million units. Surprisingly Ajanta during the eighties was the only Indian manufacturer of clocks. The brand came into limelight by creating a price disruption in the market. The clocks were priced ridiculously low and came in wide variety of shapes and sizes. The ever value conscious Indian consumers did not waste any time to lap up this brand. At one point of time Ajanta clocks were a favorite gift item in marriages. Favorite for the giver, because the product was cheap and had reasonable quality. For the receiver of this gift, he would be left with too many clocks that sometimes you can see more than two clocks in the same room! After my marriage, I was left with too many clocks that some of them are now still in a packed condition. The brand was also clever in coming out with various designs and the blockbuster religion based designs that was highly popular in the Indian market.

But competition was starting to create problems for this brand. Many Indian firms started to emulate Ajanta's business model and the market was flooded with cheap clocks. Added to that the low cost clocks was dumped to Indian market from China. Sensing that the business may soon become unviable, Ajanta tried to set up a manufacturing facility in China to balance the cost equation and to compete with cheap imports. At one point of time Ajanta commanded 70% of the market share.

Ajanta also ventured in to the manufacturing of calculators under the brand Orpat (derived from the founder's name O.R.Patel). In this market also the brand faced competition from the cheap imports.Then came the telephone set market where also Orpat has established itself as a major player.

2003 also saw the company diversify to totally unrelated areas like FMCG. Ajanta launched its toothpaste with much fanfare and tried to repeat the story in clocks to this segment. Ajanta shaked the toothpaste market with its low price of Rs 18 for 200 gm pack while the FMCG majors like Colgate retailed for Rs 54 for 200 gm. This caused ripples in the market and the Goliaths were to a certain extent humbled by the Davids like Ajanta, Anchor and Babool. But this story also went sour with Colgate and Hll flexing its marketing muscles with launching low priced flanker products like Cibaca Top and ended up regaining market share from these price warriors.

The Patels were unfazed by these setbacks and their entrepreneurial spirit should be really appreciated . The group then ventured into small appliances and then to CFL lamps under the Orpat name. In the CFL lamps segment, Orpat quickly established itself again using price as an advantage and is reported to have a market share of 50% in that segment fighting out with Philips. Now the company is venturing into Vitrified Tiles segment under the brand name Oreva. All these diversification are banking on the model of Low price, high volume and Economies of Scale.

Orpat has evolved into an umbrella brand for many product categories . The brand is positioned on the basis of "Low Price " platform. The brand is also facing challenges because of this positioning. Every company which is using "low cost " of production as a competitive advantage faces the problem of sustaining the cost advantage. With the trade barriers becoming a thing of past, most of the companies can take advantage of outsourcing from low cost countries to compete with low price warriors. The problem become dangerous when the Brand is being positioned as a " Low Price " brand rather than a " High value " brand. A classic example of High Value Positioning is Tata Indica where the company is not raving about its price but the value that it delivers.

Ajanta has relied on the distribution strength to build its business with low brand building activities inorder to cut costs.In the initial phases, the brand was very aggressive in promotions. But now the brand is facing competition with brands like Samay who is more aggressive in the promotions front.Ajanta now faces the issue of differentiation because the Price is now not a differentiating factor. The brand also faces competition in the technology front interms of the LCD clocks may replace quartz in future.Theoretically Ajanta should be pioneering the digital clocks if it want to get the first mover advantage.

Orpat as a brand in the electronics and small appliance market will have a bright future if it position in the platform of Value rather than price.


Source: orpatgroup,economictimes,agencyfaqs,businessline

Brand Update : Will Tata Motors be made great by Messi

In a really surprising move, Tata Motors roped in the football legend Lionel Messi as the brand ambassador. Tata Motors has been in a sticky wicket in the last few years. Once the Indica magic was over, Tata motors were not able to produce a volume player. Nano was a disappointment and the company watched its competitor  rolling out best sellers year after year. 

The company had been working hard behind the scenes under the revival strategy named Horizon Next. The first two products under this plan were the Zest and Bolt. Both gained good reviews in the market, but the baggage of the Tata Motors brand was pulling down any scope for a spectacular show.

Perception is powerful and often enduring and it is not easy to change perceptions. The  lack of perfection and nagging complaints of earlier Tata Motors cars created strong perceptions which are proving to be a tough nut to crack. Tata Motors is one of those brands which people know, like and trust but doesn't want to buy. 

The big endorsement from Messi is another effort of Tata Motors to change perceptions. The brand knew that it is losing out from the mind of the younger generation. With the competition in the Indian market is global, nothing less than a global icon will do for a brand like Tata Motors. 

The company is currently running the endorsement campaign named " Made of Great ".

Watch the ad here: Tata Motors Made of Great 

The ad is all about Messi. The new campaign is all about Messi and Tata Motors attempt to make some connect with this iconic football player. 

The Messi effect would come into play with the new launches of Tata Motors. According to news reports, the new launch Tata Kite was teased in the above-mentioned ad. The new launches would benefit from this high profile endorsement. 

While Messi would rekindle some interest in Tata Motors, what is important is to make good the flaws that created the perception that is preventing brands from Tata Motors to have customer preference in the buying process. Products from Tata Motors are in the bottom of the consideration set in most cases. Consumers will consider products for purchasing only if caters to some minimum requirements. Sadly somewhere the products of Tata Motors is lacking ( or perceived to be lacking ) on those vital parameters. 

Hopefully, as the ad goes, Tata Motors would rediscover those factors which make the products great. 

Santro : The Sunshine Car

Brand : Santro
Company : Hyundai Motors
Agency : Saatchi & Saatchi

Brand Analysis Count : 300

Santro is a fine example of successful branding. It is a classic example of successful marketing in Indian context. Santro was launched in India in 1998. When Hyundai was contemplating its foray into the Indian market, it was planning to launch a C segment car ( Accent) . But however, Hyundai changed its strategy and launched Santro in the tough small car market.

Santro is the Indian version of the successful Hyundai model Atos. Hyundai was faced with lot of perception issues prior to the launch of Santro. The issue was with regard to the country of origin. Indians were unsure about Korean products especially automobiles. Hence the first task was t o ensure that Indian consumers develop a positive association with Korean car makers.
Second issue was developing a corporate image for Hyundai. Since cars are high involvement product, customers will make a choice looking on the maker, service support, spares availability , quality etc. Hence the launch of Santro should also launch the corporate brand Hyundai.
Third issue was about the design of Santro. Santro was designed to be a tall boy car and initial product testing revealed that Indians didnot liked the tall boy design. So the unenviable task for Hyundai was to make Indian consumers like Santro.

The fourth issue was the grip of Maruti on the Indian car market. The B segment was dominated by Zen which has proved itself to be a reliable workhorse. Zen was the preferred and logical upgrade to 800 and the car was considered to be the most reliable and powerful in that segment. To convert the potential Zen users to Santro was really a nightmare for any marketer.
Hyundai marketers had a tough task ahead. A lot was dependent on Santro's success. For the brand launch, Hyundai roped in Saatchi & Saatchi as the ad agency.
Thus came the first commercial : Watch the first Santro commercial here : Santro 1
The ad introduced Kim and Shah Rukh and a glimpse of the car. Kim was the Hyundai official who wanted SRK to be the brand ambassador for Santro. The name Kim was chosen wisely because the only familiar Korean name known to Indians was KIM .The ad introduced the brand and the company with a subtle statement from Kim : We settle only for the best.
The first ad was followed by teaser ads where Kim tries to convince SRK that Hyundai is serious about India, the quality issue and the brand Santro.
Watch the two launch ads : Here & Here
These ads really created a hype in the market about Santro. Teaser ads are dangerous and expensive. Dangerous because if the teaser failed to click, the entire product launch will land up in trouble . Another issue is that the brand should follow up the hype built by teaser ads. In the case of Santro, the teasers were intelligently made and clicked.
Finally came the launch ad which showed Shah Rukh who represented the Indian consumer saying " I am Convinced" to Kim. Shah Rukh fitted perfectly to the promotional scheme of Santro.
Along with the launch came the criticism. Understandably the criticism was towards the tall boy design of Santro . There were reports which called Santro the Ugly car. Santro answered that through its performance. Indian consumers experienced a new way of driving comfort. More than the campaigns, it was the performance that made Santro a runaway success.
With in 4 years of launch , Santro became the second largest selling car in India displacing Zen. Those who wrote bad about the tall boy design began to write about the advantages of this tall boy design.
Santro was initially positioned on the design aspect. It turned its biggest disadvantage into an advantage. But later , Santro was positioned itself as a complete family car. The brand was targeting those 800 users who wanted to upgrade into the B segment. The target market was the 35-45 yrs middleclass Indians.
All through these years, Hyundai also came out with product improvements and upgrades. Santro Zipplus was launched focusing more on the zippy nature of the car. But then came the competition. Maruthi launched Alto and Wagon R and came Indica which displaced Santro from the second position. The brand was also facing the issue of looking dated. It was time for Hyundai to reposition the brand.
Hyundai changed Santro completely in 2003. The entire design was changed and new Santro was launched as Santro Xing. Santro Xing launch ad also featured SRK and Kim. Santro Xing gave a new life to Santro. The car looked more spacious and the looks was contemporary.
Santro along with the new looks also changed its TG from 35- 45 to 25 -30. The brand felt that Santro should be considered as the first car rather than the upgrade. The brand wanted to appeal to the first time car buyers . To catch the young buyers, the brand was positioned as "Sunshine car' . Santro roped in Priety Zinta also as the brand ambassador.
Watch the commercial here : Sunshine car
Sunshine was communicating two intangibles : Freshness and youthful attitude. The brand was moving to a " Change your life " positioning. Priety was the sunshine girl. The big idea was that Santro will bring sunshine to your life. A car that can change the life of a young Indian.
As usual the campaign and the new Santro was a big hit. Along with these campaigns, Santro also ran some ads focusing on promoting the brand as the first choice rather than as an upgrade.
The last campaign of Santro was highlighting the virtues of a Santro users.
Watch the campaign here : Santrowale
The campaign was to portray Santro users as smart and intelligent and the ad was pitted against a similar campaign of Wagon R

After nine years of launch, Santro is facing its maturity stage in its PLC . The sales have stagnated and price war from Maruti and a slew of launches like Chevy Spark , have hurt the sales of Santro. Santro is also banking on price cuts and sales promotions to stay afloat. Hyundai has recently launched a new brand i10 to take the place of Santro. With the imminent launch of Tata's 1 lakh car in 2009, Santro may be used as a low priced flanking brand for i10 in future.
Santro is the best example of managing a product lifecycle. Santro has managed to keep its market position by regular upgrades, product changes , relaunches and repositioning. It has been consistent in delivering excellent quality and functional performance through out its life. The brand is still a preferred upgrade for many middleclass car users.
On this context, I wish to cite a personal experience at the dealership experience I had while choosing my car. I inquired about Santro aswellas Alto at respective dealers in Cochin . While the Maruti dealers were constantly following up with offers and schemes, I was surprised to find that Santro dealer was least interested in making a sale. Complacency has already crept in at the dealer points ( my perception). Understandably so because sales were happening without much effort. As a marketing professional, I feel that Santro is losing some 10 % sale because of this laidback approach of its dealers.

Santro still has lot of fuel to keep itself going. But for that Hyundai may have to keep the price down so that potential Alto users can strech a bit and buy Santro. There is a chance that with the launch of i10, the focus on Santro will slowly decrease and that is a bad news for all those who love this brand.

Zen : Surrendered To The New Generation

Brand : Zen
Company: Maruti Suzuki
Agency : Hakudo Percept


A brand that ruled the Indian midsegment car market will be laid to rest very soon. Maruthi Zen which was considered to be one of the best cars on the Indian roads after a long life of 13 years have become redundant. It is a sad news for all Zen owners who still vouch for this hatchback. Marketers will also be sad because it was a marketing failure and not a product failure. The good old zen is still valued as precious by its owners.

Zen was launched in India in 1993. Instantly this premium car became the favorite of the upwardly mobile Indian middle class. The was something special about this jelly bean shaped car and the driving and maneuvering quality was nothing but superb. In cities where there is bumper to bumper traffic, the Zen was the most preferred one.

During the nineties all the cars from Maruti ruled the segment because of lack of competition. Then came Santro and Zen had a competition. Although initially people scoffed at the tall boy design of Santro, slowly through smart marketing, Santro began to eat into Zen's market. Then came the major blow in the form of Indica which changed the rules of the game in the hatchback segment.

Zen came out with Zen LXi in 2001, but the market share was slowly declining. The major reason being, the owners of Zen were getting older and Zen was missing out on the new generation. There was no excitement about Zen. Maruti is a poor marketer with good products. All their products are of exceptional quality and all their marketing campaigns ( including the campaign of new Swift) is exceptionally poor. Customers buy it because it is good.

While the competitors are gaining the share of mind of consumers using smart marketing campaigns, Zen was no where in the picture. The launch of Zen with round headlamps was a major disaster.

During 1999, Maruti launched Wagon R and 2000 saw the launch of Alto, With these products, Zen was left in a no man's land. The segmentation became fussy. Since there was no clear positioning for Zen, the new launches proved to be a major blow to this brand. With the launch of sporty Swift , Zen has now become a liability for Suzuki's portfolio.

To arrest the slide of the market share of zen, Suzuki, launched a redesigned Zen in 2003 with a new look with much fanfare. The campaigns were shot in Paris. The logic was to attract the new generation and the positioning was " strong sleek and sexy". The base line was " Surrender to the new Zen". The campaigns was lousy never excited the new generation. The existing users were pissed off because the resale value of their old beauty crashed. The new look Zen also bombed because of poor marketing.

Infact their was no need for such an upgrade because the problem was with positioning and not the product. Zen was known for its power, easy driving and quality. It never looked sporty and the colors were lousy. Zen could have excited the younger generation just by introducing a sporty variant with some fantastic colours. The colors of Zen were never exciting.I still believe Zen have that premium touch to it. So with some smart colours and with some sensible advertisements, Zen could have zoomed. The positioning can be a sporty and a smart car for the urban professionals. But alas....

Zen is a classic example of how poor marketing can kill a good product.