Kinder Surprise : A Surprise Inside

Brand : Kinder Surprise
Company : Ferrero International

Brand Analysis Count : 264

Those who have visited supermarkets recently may not have missed a unique bright red and white colored egg shaped confectionery stocked at strategic locations. Its Kinder Surprise eggs for you. Kinder Surprise is a world renowned brand which has iconic status in some important markets in Europe.

I came to know about this brand from the latest book of Philip Kotler titled " Lateral Marketing". This brand is exhaustively quoted in the book. When I first saw this brand in the super market, I checked whether it was serious about India. Later media reports confirmed that the brand have serious plans about Indian market.

Kinder Surprise is an Italian brand launched in 1972 by Ferrero SPA . Kinder Surprise is a hollow milk chocolate in the size of a hen's egg. Inside the chocolate egg, there is a surprise toy for the kid. Usually the toy requires fixing of smaller parts. Kinder Surprise got the name from the combination of two words Kinder ( in German means Children) and Surprise. It is also known as Kinder Eggs.

This brand attracted Kotler's attention because it redefined the confectionery market in Europe. When this brand was launched, the entire snack market was fragmented. Especially in the category of chocolate bars, the brand saturation was also high. The company wanted to launch something different and attractive to both the end user ( Kids) and the influencer/decider/purchaser ( Parents). Thus the idea of Kinder Surprise eggs was born.
The idea was a lateral one . A toy inside a chocolate. That too a series of toys that can be collected by the kids.
Why the brand was popular among both parents and kids was simple. Most of the time when parents bought chocolate for the kids, they are almost always worried about the health factor. Secondly , seldom kids are satisfied with one chocolate. That creates a hell of an issue at home.
Kinder Surprise aimed to erase these two problems. The brand was advertised in the media as a healthy product rich in energy and carbohydrates. The Egg size ensures enough quantity of chocolate for consumption by the kids. The tricky part is that when the kids open the egg, he/she finds the toy and plays with it and the parents are relieved of being asked for more chocolates. That prompted many parents to opt for Kinder Surprise . For the kid the gets a chocolate , a toy and a collection. ( source : Lateral Marketing by Kotler )
Although Kinder Surprise is a rage in Europe but the product is not available in US because the regulations does not allow non nutritive products to be embedded in food products.

Kinder Surprise had a soft launch in India. I doubt whether they still is test marketing the brand in select market.There are no ads but only in-store promotion/ display. The brand is targeting young children and the differentiation is the toys inside the chocolate egg.

The brand was a surprise to me for another reason. The price. Kinder Surprise is priced at around Rs 25-Rs 30 which I consider too premium for a chocolate brand. ( Slow Skimming ? ) Those customers who are not aware of the surprise inside the brand may not opt for it. With out much promotion, customers are also not going to know about it. That makes the new launch a little troublesome for the company. We may see certain price rationalization in days to come.

Although the brand has established its position in global market, it is in for a certain surprise in the Indian market. I feel that the brand has got its initial pricing wrong. Indians are too choosy to spend Rs 30 on a chocolate as small as an egg. Secondly the USP of the brand is the toy inside. But in Indian market, this concept has been hijacked by ITC for its Sunfeast range of biscuits . Although the toy is not embedded in the product, Sunfeast have the toy which it calls FIXOS which is the same kind of toys found inside Kinder Surprise. And the Sunfeast biscuits are priced much below the Kinder Surprise' price. Hence Kinder Surprise may not result in a big surprise.

I am not writing the epitaph of a product that is newly launched but trying to cite the challenges faced by this global brand entering into the highly competitive Indian market. World over Kinder Surprise has succeeded because of its ability to create unique collectible toys . The company is very careful in the design of the toys and there are lot of exciting series like German Series, MPG, Limited edition , hand painted toys etc. In India too, the brand may be trying to replicate the global model.
With this high price and little surprise will Kinder Surprise can make it big in Indian market will be an exciting story to watch.

Source : wikipedia,lateral marketing

Brand Update : Gems Does a Kinder Joy

Gems recently launched a new variant Gems Surprise. The product is a new pack of Gems that comes with a surprise toy inside. The new variant is in the shape of a ball attractively packaged. Right now Gems Surprise will contain Ben 10 toys. The new variant is priced at Rs 30.

Gems Surprise is inspired ( copy ?) by the Kinder Surprise . Kinder Surprise has met with success in the Indian market. I do not have the figures but as a consumer, I have been a regular buyer of this product so are my friends.
The consumer acceptance of the Kinder Joy may have been the reason for the launch of Gems Surprise.

Kinder Surprise was never a competition for Gems. Kinder Surprise has created different niche where Cadbury does not have a presence. Cadbury does not want any product to rule any part of the chocolate market that easily. Through Gems Surprise, Cadbury is addressing the industry competition.

There is no product in Cadbury's brand portfolio that is similar to Kinder Surprise. Gems was chosen because it is a unique brand with lot of equity among the consumers. The form factor of Gems also made the brand worthy of being a competitor for Kinder Surprise.

Gems Surprise is going to create holes in the Parent's pockets. Gems was always affordable and right product to buy for the Kids. Gems Surprise priced at Rs 30 is an upward stretch for the brand.
The question is whether the consumer will buy Gems for Rs 30 because there is a gift free with it ? For all those customers who has been buying SKUs of Gems for Rs 5 and Rs 10 may find it difficult to justify the purchase of Gem's Surprise at Rs 30.

What I understand is that the product ( chocolate ) will be the same in Gems Surprise. What you pay more is for the toy.In the case of Kinder Surprise, consumers did not have a benchmark about the price so Rs 30 for Kinder Joy was accepted by the consumer.

Gems will definitely get lot of consumer trials and purchases .Whether the purchases will be sustainable will depend a lot on the variety of the gifts that is inside the pack. Kinder Surprise is the master in this game. Will Gems beat the master will be a fun ( expensive though) to watch.

Related Brand
Kinder Surprise

Brand Update : Cadbury tries to fight Kinder Joy with Dairy Milk Lickables

Cadbury is taking the fight to Ferrero's turf by attacking its best-selling Kinder Joy. Kinder Joy which was launched in 2007 quickly gained acceptance from the young consumers. Kinder Joy is holding 7% market share in the INR 7500 crore Indian organized chocolate market. 

Initially, Cadbury tried to fight Kinder Joy with Gems Surprise. But however ( in my opinion) it failed to get any big traction in the market. 

Recently Modolez launched Lickables as a variant of Dairy Milk. Just like Kinder Joy, the new product comes with a gift inside. The brand is running a campaign featuring aliens for this variant.

 

Now the difference between Kinder Joy and Lickables is the way they have looked at the toys that come free with the chocolate. For Kinder Joy, the toy is the key. It is not something that is given free, more than that, the company takes a lot of efforts in designing various themes and series of collectibles. This focus is often reflected in the quality of the toy that comes with Kinder Joy.

This was not the case with Gems Surprise. The toys were not exciting and not of high quality. If Lickables is trying to follow the story of Gems Surprise, it will not be able to achieve the desirable goal of arresting the growth of Kinder Joy. 

With regard to the campaign, I do not see anything significantly attractive about the ad except that the alien theme resonates with the spaceship looking packaging. Cadbury Dairy Milk Lickable needs a little more than just aliens to catch the attention of the discerning customer. 

Brand Update : Gems wants you to Raho Umarless

Gems Surprise launched in 2010 is a poor cousin of Kinder Joy. The variant launched to fight the Kinder Joy  became a poor second cousin because of unimaginative gifts and poor campaigns.Last week my daughter demanded she wants a Gems Surprise but I flatly refused saying that the toy that comes with it may not be attractive  and we settled for Kinder Joy for Girls.

Now Gems Surprise has corrected the mistake by launching a new set of toys featuring the Panda which has been  the main character in Gem's campaign.
The variant is currently running a TVC featuring adults in line with the brand's strategy of targeting adults .

Watch the campaign here : Gems Umarless

The TVC is well made but one wonders whether there is some confusion regarding the targeting part of STP.

As I understand, Gems Surprise is fighting against Kinder Joy which is targeting kids. Now Gems Surprise wants adults to buy the brand and collect the toys. Now that is ridiculous. Expecting that adults would indulge in a product like Gems Surprise is imagination running wild. Now if the brand expects the kids to buy Gems Surprise by seeing the campaign is also a highly optimistic thought since the ad is appeals to adults rather than kids.

So this is another brand which got confused because of its own actions. The brand should have left this variant to kids. Infact my feeling is that Gems is beginning to alienate the kids and is not making right noises to get adults on board. 

Ideally the brand should have found some universal message that has appeal across age groups. Cadburys has done that with Dairy Milk. In the case of Gems, the brand is just saying that it is Umarless ( Ageless) but not saying Why ?. What Gems needs is the universal brand mantra that appeals to everyone regardless of age.

Related post

Cadbury Gems : changes segment

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

Brand Update : Kinder Joy sharpens its Offering

Despite its higher price, Kinder Joy has found lot of popularity among the consumers. Recently Kinder Joy sharpened its product offering by launching a variant - Kinder Joy for Girls. This is a very significant and smart move by the brand . As a regular purchaser of the brand for my  girl child, often I find that the toy, that is the main attraction for kids, is usually more skewed towards boys. The cars and other characters appeal more to the boys than girls . Most of the time, my kid is not enthused by the toy but she keeps  hoping for a toy she could play with.

I was surprised to see when the shopkeeper gave me the option of choosing Kinder Joy for girls. And my girl was thrilled when she got a Barbie bracelet from the egg.

Now Kinder has made life easier for parents of girl child but if you have a boy and a girl, then you are in for trouble.

The move by Kinder offer lot of challenges in the distribution side, Firstly it needs to convince the retailer to stock these two SKUs . So more shelf space means more effort by the sales team. Since one cannot expect that both these SKU will move in the same way. So it will take some time for Kinder to get a grip on the demand of these two SKUs.

The launch of Kinder Joy for girls is an example of brand listening to customer needs and proactively addressing the needs. 

Related Brand

Kinder Joy : Surprise Inside

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

Marketing Strategy : How to Create Brand Experience

Creating Brand Experience

Originally Published here in Adclubbombay

We are living in an experiential society. The consumers are moving towards selecting products based on experiential factors and marketers have the opportunity to sell products at a premium if the product is able to deliver the right kind of experience.

Bernd Schmitt in his book Customer Experience Management: A revolutionary Approach to Connecting with Your Customers; has defined customer experience management as the process of strategically managing a customer’s entire experience with a product or a company. Experiential marketing aims to engage the consumers so that he gets a complete experience of the product or service. Rather than depending on features, brands are looking at ways to deliver a holistic experience to the consumer.

There are many factors that drive this experience economy. Consumers are now armed with lot of information. This information has made many a differentiation irrelevant. Hence more than the product’s features, consumers tend to evaluate products based on their experience with the product and the company.

Marketers earlier had tried to create brand experience through standalone promotional activities. These activities were short-term and were intended to give a peek into the brand’s projected experience. But the situation now demands that the brand deliver its experience every time the consumer makes a contact with the brand or the company.

In this period where product feature based differentiation is hard to sustain, marketers must create a brand experience which can act as a sustainable differentiation platform.

Understand consumer’s world.

The first task for the marketer is to thoroughly understand the consumer’s world. Consumers live their experience from their own world. Hence when the marketers try to create brand experiences it should resonate with the consumer’s own world.

Brands which target children practice this principle very effectively. Take the example of Cadbury’s Diary Milk Wowie. The brand takes the kids through a chocolate world where the hero Mickey Mouse helps the kids to enjoy the chocolate world and protect them from harm. This fantasy world appeals to the kids intensely and the level of involvement of kids in this campaign is very high.

Be Relevant

Another critical factor for creating effective brand experience is the relevancy of the experience. For creating relevant brand experiences, marketers must get inside the life of a customer. In the highly insightful book “The Game Changer” P&G CEO: A G Lafley describes the importance of understanding the life of the consumers. P&G made it compulsory for its marketing team to involve deep into their consumers life so that they could come out with products that made their life easier.

Credible

The brand experiences that marketers create should be authentic and credible. Fantasy works best for children but for adults, the experience must be based on realism. The promise has to be delivered. This calls for the organization to be highly customer centric.

Kingfisher Airlines created a very meaningful credible experience by making the most of customer touch points. The ushers who helps the traveller at the entrance of the airport to the cabin services and food served created a new brand experience for the travellers.

Memorable

Consumers should cherish the experiences created by the brand in their memories. The experience should appeal both to the rational and emotional mind of the consumer. Catering to the emotional self of the consumer will help the brand to build attachment with the consumer. Appealing to the rational self will enhance the credibility.

Asian Paints in its clutter breaking campaign “ Har Rang Kuch Kahta Hain “achieved both these objectives. The campaign touched the emotional chord with the consumers and also appealed to the rational mind of the consumers. The brand made the experience more rational by launching sample packs where the consumers can paint a portion of the wall to see how the colour will actually look like.

Involve

It is absolutely important for a brand to involve the consumers in any brand related activity if it wants to create a complete experience. The popularity of internet has opened many opportunities for the brand to involve the consumers. The brand can motivate consumers to sign up in an online community, visit the website or play games, share experience etc.

Brands can create involvement offline too. Kinder Joy has a unique method of creating a brand experience by bundling its chocolate with a surprise gift. Kids eat the chocolate and play with the toy and it created a unique brand experience for them which compel them to buy more.

Brands can create involvement by devising interesting brand rituals. Kitkat smartly taught its consumers a unique ritual of eating KitKat. Consumers willingly adopted this brand ritual making the experience of eating Kitkat unique. Brands can extend the involvement with the consumers by introducing memorabilia and collectables which will further enhance the brand experience.