Kiwi : Dont Worry,Be Happy

Brand : Kiwi
Company :Sara lee
Agency : Grey worldwide

Kiwi is the challenger brand in the Rs 60 crore shoe care market in India. Kiwi was an active player in the shoe care market from 1994 onwards. The brand is owned by $18 billion Sara Lee corporation. In India, Sara Lee started as a joint venture with TTK corporation. In 2002, it became an independent venture. Now SaraLee has tied up with Godrej to market its products.

The shoe care market in India is small. This market was dominated by Cherry Blossom from Reckitt and Benckiser which earlier had a market share of 80%. Kiwi was the challenger brand and right now it holds a market share of 40 % and Cherry's market share decline to around 50%.

Kiwi has a history that dates back from 1906 when William Ramsay developed an unusually fine boot polish. He put the Brand name as Kiwi since his wife is a native of Newzealand. The brand grew so big that in 1967, the products were used worldwide under the banner Kiwi International. In 1984, it became the part of Sara Lee Corporation.

Shoe polishes are infrequently purchased products with very less involvement from the customer. Cherry Blossom had a generic brand status in the market. Wax polishes constitutes 70% of the market while liquid polish constitutes 20%.

In order to displace the leader, Kiwi banked on Innovation strategy which the market leader failed to anticipate .
Kiwi was the first one to bring International standard Liquid shoe polish in India .It also pioneered the Shoe shine sponge which was a blockbuster. Kiwi was also the first brand to launch Suede and Nubuck range.

These new product launches and careful campaigns helped Kiwi to have a top of the mind recall for the brand. As in the case of Robin Liquid, which failed to respond to Ujala's challenge, Cherry Blossom also failed to respond. While Kiwi talked about quality shoe care, Cherry Blossom was stuck with Poor " Charlie Chaplin look alike " ads.

Most of the new product launches of Kiwi was in line with the changing consumer preferences. When the consumers opted for semi casual Suede and nubuck shoes, Kiwi was quick to launch Shoe care products for that category.
Today in this hectic rush , seldom do we get time to polish our shoes every day. Understanding this Consumer insight, Kiwi launched Express shoe polish which can be used to shine shoes when you are in a rush. These innovations surely helped the brand to create a market for itself.

Sara lee also markets Metal Polishes and Drainer cleaner under Kiwi brand.

The Shoe care market has all the potential to grow since the shoe market is growing ( Derived Demand ?)


Kiwi is a good example of how innovations can help in challenging a market leader.

Vicks: Vicks Ki Goli Lo , Khich Khich Door Karo

Brand : Vicks
Company : P&G
Agency: Ambience

Vicks is a brand that is more than 50 years old. Vicks is a leading brand in the Fast Moving Health goods ( FMHG). FMHG industry in India is worth around 4500 crores. This market is dominated by products like Rubs & Balms, medicated skin treatments,cough syrup and drops, digestives and health supplements.
Vicks Brand was launched in India in 1951 . It was manufactured by Vicks Products Ltd. Later in 1964, Richardson Hindustan Ltd was formed to manufacture the product .In 1985 RHL became the affiliate of P&G. In 1989 RHL became P&G hygiene and health care.

Vicks in India is known for its VapoRub and cough drops. Globally Vicks brand is worth around 3000 crores.

Vicks vaporub is the market leader in this segment with a share of 50%. Vaporub was initially targeted at children but later the company found out that it is used mostly by adults. Vicks Vaporub is positioned along Mother's Love platform . Vaporub pioneered the concept of " Touch therapy" linking it to the rubbing of vaporub on the child's chest. Vaporub advertises itself as having 6 key benefits
1. Clearing blocked nose
2, Cough relief
3. Body ache relief
4. Head ache relief.
5. Relaxing muscle stiffness
6. Easing breathing difficulty.

Vaporub also ranks best among the consumers in the following parameters : Non greasy, Smells better, Long lasting relief. Greasyness was important because Iodex ( a different category product) failed because of greasyness.

The rencent ad campaign also involves " father " in to the picture. The ad shows a father taking care of the child using Vaporub when the mother is away. The smart positioning and campaigns has ensured the brand retaining the top position in the market.

Vicks Cough drop is another blockbuster from the Vicks stable. Vicks commands a generic recall in this category. Using brand imagery and the catchy charachter " Kitch Kitch", Vicks commands a major share in this market. With unique shape and the long lasting positioning "Vicks ki goli lo Kitch Kitch door karo" , Vicks is a super brand in this category .Vicks coughdrops were careful in not messing up "Kitch Kitch" .This has ensured that the brand enjoys excellent recall .The recent campaigns of Vicks-Honey also strengthens the time tested positioning of the brand.

Vicks Action 500 has been in the market for more than 25 years. Launched in 1979 this is the first advertised OTC brand in India. Over these years the brand has carved a position for itself with around 40% market share in the category. This brand which is now relaunched talks about its ability to provide relief from cold related symptoms. This product is in Caplet shape ( capsule shaped tablet) which makes it different from its competitors and reinforces its ability to cure two symptoms of cold : blocked nose and headache .

Vicks Inhaler was launched in 1951 created and own the inhaler category is one of the first products launched in India from Vicks.

Vicks recently ventured in to the 550 crore cough syrup market with its Formula 44 in October 2003. The brand's usp is 8 hours relief from cough. The product is targeted at kids .The insight is that the power of most of the Cough syrups wanes after 5 hours and long lasting relief is the platform that Vicks is banking on for this product.

Vicks is a brand that is enjoying tremendous equity in the market. It has established its trust with thee customers. The FMHG market calls for Umbrella branding since it is difficult and expensive to create trust for individual brands in that category .That is the reason behind Vicks extending its equity across the various categories. Vicks has used careful branding and packaging for promoting the products. The unique shapes of cough drops, inhaler and caplet are examples of using product form as a differentiating factor.

Vicks is a testimony to the marketing genius of P&G

Titan watches : What is your style ?

Brand : Titan
Company : TATA
Agency: O&M

Indian Watch industry is estimated to be around 1600 crores and Titan is riding on top of it with a market share of over 50%.
This is a super brand that has changed the way we look at ( or wear) watches. A marketing success story, Titan is a brand that will be of interest to most of the marketers.

Titan , a brand from TATA was launched in 1987. During that time Indian watch market was dominated by HMT . At that time watches were seldom stylish and was catering to the basic need of knowing the time. Titan changed all that. With its stylish watches and smart advertising ,Titan took the market by storm. Titan infact changed the way watches was manufactured and marketed in India.
HMT , a public sector company seldom bothered to respond.

Titan initially pioneered the concept of " Gifting watches". The ads captured the essence of gifting and along with the trendy music, easily caught the imagination of the market.
Customers who were fed up with ugly time machines welcomed the brand and Titan had a dream run for many years.

Titan faced lot of problems later when the competition began to eat up the lower end of the market. Besides that, there was another problem. The brand was lacking innovation. To be more precise, the customers were bored by Titan.There was nothing new. Gifting proposition was no longer working .

During this period, Titan made a big mistake. It wanted to play the volume game. For that Titan launched another brand Sonata. Sonata was a huge success because it was a cheap product but at the cost of the mother brand Titan. Titan was perceived to be a premium brand but with Sonata ( at that time " Sonata from Titan") endorsed by Titan took away the premium image from the mother brand. It was a big costly mistake.

Titan realised this mistake and took away the Titan brand from Sonata. Now Sonata is endorsed by Tata not Titan.

Titan realising that the market wanted something to be excited about watches began an extensive marketing campaign. Titan carefully segmented the market and developed different subbrands for each segment. Sub brands like Edge, Steel, Dash, Nebula , Classique, Royale, Fast Track , Raga, and the recently launched Wallstreet . By having various products / models and subbrands, Titan was able to create freshness about the brand.

Titan also moved away from gifting . Titan was positioning itself as a fashion accessory rather than a time keeping device.
Titan also found its persona in Aamir. Aamir provided the much needed edge to the brand. Titan was careful in keeping the brand above the celebrity.
The ads were fresh and neatly executed.

Titan also was pushing another strategy . Watches was perceived as a one time buy and consumers seldom owned multiple watches. So Titan pushed the concept of " Matching Watches to Clothes" in the recent commercials.

Since men are becoming more serious customers of fashion accessories, this is strategy that is worth trying out. For Titan, even if the concept fails, It has created the much needed freshness in the brand.
Titan also made its presence in the ladies watch segment. It have a sub brand Raga targeting the upwardly Mobilee ladies in the premium segment.

Titan also relaunched the FastTrack brand of watched aiming the target segment of 18-30 yrs old.

Earlier Fasttrack was targeted at 20-25 year olds and positioned along the line " Cool watches from Titan". Then the company found out that the youth in the age group of 11-20 years account for 42% of watch buying in India. Based on this insight the company relaunched the brand lowering the target segment to 18-30 year olds with the baseline " How many you have?". Again the strategy aimed at promoting the multiple watch owning concept. Fasttrack also launched a range of fashion accessories like Sunglasses trying to be a lifestyle brand.

Indian watch market is clearly segmented and lot of serious players are fighting out in these segments . The lower volume segment has HMT, Sonata , Maxima fighting it out. The mid segment has Titan, Timex etc and the premium segment has Titan ,Citizen etc. The super premium segment is also hotting up with lot of international brands setting shops in India.

Titan has carefully created a market for itself through careful segmentation and branding strategies.It is a brand that showed the world that Indians are good in Branding.

Yezdi (1961-1995) : RIP

Brand: Yezdi
Company: Ideal Jawa India Ltd

A brand that was once the heartthrob of Indian urban Youth is now resting in peace...

A case of marketing myopia...

I am not sure why I chose this brand , may be because of nostalgia. During my school days me and my brother used to argue as to whether Yezdi or Bullet is the best.

This bike was manufactured by Ideal Jawa Ltd with technical collaboration with Jawa of Czechoslovakia. Ideal Jawa started its operations in 1960 .Yezdi ( that time Jawa ) was in Indian roads from 1961. During 1960's Indian roads were ruled by scooters. Bikes were not at all popular due to mechanical issues and low mileage.

During that period , there were only three serious players in the Indian motorcycles market. Bullet, Rajdoot and Ideal Jawa. Rajdoot was popular in rural areas because of sturdy suspension. Bullet and Jawa were popular in the urban market.

Yezdi was targeting the youth with the positioning of " Forever Bike Forever Value" . Since it was a seller's market, what ever that was produced were lapped up by Indian consumers.

1980's saw a sea change in the Indian two wheeler market. Japanese technology entered the Indian market through joint ventures. The market saw lot of new 100 cc bikes which were more fuel efficient and easy to ride.

Ideal Jawa was having a blind eye. It refused to accept the realities. When the consumer attitudes changed, Jawa refused to change . Customers wanted Bikes that offered mileage, style and comfort. Japanese bikes provided all that. This period also showed the shift of Indian consumers from scooters to motorcycles.

Yezdi had serious mechanical issues, especially the starting trouble. One had to pump about 20 times to get that machine started. It had no chance before the peppy new generation Japanese bikes.

Yezdi realised this late and came out with some design changes and new launches like Roadking which had a new styling. But it was too late.

Failing market and labour problems took its toll on Ideal Jawa . Yezdi was laid to rest in 1995. Had Yezdi changed its products in tune with the customer needs, we would have seen a lot of this bike on Indian roads. but alas ....

Once an Icon, Yezdi has now faded in to the annals of history.

Parker : Why use a pen that's not a Parker!

Brand: Parker
Company : Luxor Writing Instruments Ltd
Agency :Lowe

Indian writing instruments industry is worth around 1600 crores . Luxor is a major player in the market with a market share of around 15%.

Parker is a brand that is well established in this market. Parker is manufactured and marketed in India by Luxor Writing Instruments Ltd (LWIL). Parker was launched in India in 1996. Luxor had a joint venture with Gillette which owned the brand at that time. In 2000 Gillette sold the brands to $9 Billion major Newel Rubbermaid. That included the 50:50 joint venture with Luxor. Later the Jains bought the entire stake in the joint venture. Now LWIL have the 100 right to manufacture and market Parker Pens in India.

The writings instruments market can be classified into premium, middle and economy segment. There are many established players in this market like Reynolds, ADD Gel,Todays, Camlin etc.

While the premium segment is dominated by super expensive brands like Mont Blanc , Cartier etc, the economy segment is dominated by local players. All the action is in the middle segment which consists of College students, Executives Businessmen etc.

Parker pen was born in 1888 in Janeswille Wisconsin US. The pen was created by George Safford Parker who was a teacher of telegraphy. He started the business as a source of additional income.

The famous Arrow Clip that is the trademark of Parker was created by Joseph Platt in 1933.

Parker pens have a rich heritage. The treaty of peace ending the 1898 Spanish- American Civil war was inked using Parker pen. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle drafted the stories of Sherlock Holmes using Parket pen. The list contains the Who is Who of American History.

Parker was considered to be a premium brand in India ( before Mont Blanc and Co's landed with rs l lakh and above pens) . The brand had an aspirational value attached to it. Then LWIL decided to shed the premium image to play the volume game.

Earlier Parker was priced above Rs100. Research found that the price put off a large segment of the market. The market was dominated by Reynolds ( again a Rubbermaid brand) marketed by GM Pens. The TG for this segment was the school/ college kids and this segment was growing. Reynolds is leading with a market share of 12% and Luxor umbrella brands are next with 10% market share followed by players like Cello and Todays.

Parker then launched Parker Beta for Rs 50 aiming this segment and play the volume game.

Parker is endorsed by none other than Big B. Some ads are lousy and some very good. I like the ones with the baseline " Why use a pen that's not a Parker" .

Since the lower segments of the pen market lacks brand loyalty, BigB can make a difference . LWIL by using BigB aims to connect and identify with young and old alike.

There are other players like ADD Gel which carved a niche in this crowded market with their Gel pens. Now Gel pen market is worth around 350 crore.

Parker was a brand that had the elegant premium touch to it with its rich tradition and quality. But with the launch of lower priced Parker range, the premium and the exclusivity has been compromised . Now the Parker range is available from Rs 50- 5000. Big B to certain extent salvage the pride of Parker. But when the brand tries to play the volume game, it is difficult to sustain the premium. Thus Parker is losing out the Executive segment where pens are used as Accessory. Its is a void that is waiting for a brand.

As one of my colleague after buying a Parker Beta commented " Parker has become Cheap".

Sunfeast : Spreading the smile

Brand : Sunfeast
Company : ITC Ltd
Agency " FCB Ulka

Can a cigarette manufacturer succeed in marketing Biscuits? What do management thinkers say about unrelated diversification? Unrelated diversification will succeed if it is based on the core competency of the firm. So What is the core competency of ITC that is being leveraged when it decided to enter the Foods market. ITC relies on three core competencies

1. The depth of distribution

2. Its brand building capabilities.

3. The ability of Quality outsourcing.

Sunfeast has been a success because of these three competencies of ITC. Sunfeast was launched in 2003 was one of the diversification forays of ITC which wanted to establish itself as a serious FMCG player from its position of Tobacco products leader. ITC had the advantage of the well entrenched distribution setup which is matched only by HLL.

Indian biscuit market is estimated to be around 4500 - 5000 crore. The market is dominated by Parle and Britannia. Parle is the volume leader with brands like parle- G, Krackjack and Monaco while Britannia is the value leader with brands like 50: 50, milk bikis, Tiger, Goodday etc. The biscuit market has now moved from the core Glucose base to more value added categories. The key markets are UP, Maharashtra, and Tamilnadu. The percapita consumption of biscuits in India is only 1.2 kg per annum while the percapita consumption is 15 kg p.a in developed nations. While the glucose biscuits are popular in Rural India , Urban market prefer Cream biscuits.

To establish a brand in this tough market was never easy. Sunfeast using heavy promotion and careful brand building have already garnered 10% market share in this market. Sunfeast is positioned as an exciting brand. This platform is supported by a series product launches. Since Biscuits are convenience goods , new tastes and new products are essential to built excitement in the market. Sunfeast have maintained continous series of new launches like Milky Magic, Coconut, strawberry, pineapple cream etc. Recently Sunfeast launched a product for the premium segment named " Dark Fantasy" with chocolate flavour and cool advertisements.

Sunfeast have used the baseline " spread the smile" as the brand essence and the brand is endorsed by Shah Rukh Khan. The use of SRK makes sense since the TG is mainly kids . SRK have the energetic persona that goes well with the brand. The mascot of Sunfeast is the Animated Sun which is the symbol of contentment, satisfaction and Pleasure. This mascot has been well received by the TG. The ad campaigns are catchy and full of colors and excitement. The product is also of very high quality. Thus Sunfeast has managed to get all the winning combinations in the right mix.

Sunfeast is also trying to garner more share in the Marie category which is estimated to be around 600 crore. It launched the Marie with different flavours that has enabled it to gain a strong foothold in that category. To expand the brand in to the snack category Sunfeast has launched Pasta Treat which talks of a healthy snacking option for kids.

Sunfeast also uses lot of Below the line promotions for brand building. It sponsors Sunfeast Open, a recent initiative aiming at the school kids by providing them an opportunity to enhance creativity through painting competitions, " Hara Bano " campaign which set a world record in planting maximum number of saplings etc.

The constant product launches and careful promotions have enabled Sunfeast to move to the top league in the biscuit market with in a span of 3 years. We may see this brand expanding to many categories .Hope they don't mess the brand by extending it to underwears.

Sunfeast : A marketing success story.