Polo : Mint With A Hole

Brand : Polo
Company : Nestle
Agency : Lowe


Polo is the market leader in the mint candy category in India. This is a brand that has created lot of excitement in the market with its smart advertising and promotion.
The history of Polo dates back to 1725 when Rowntree opened a tea and coffee shop in York. In 1948, they began selling Polo Mint candy. The company changed hands and in 1988 Nestle bought the company over. Polo was launched in India in 1994.

The word Polo is said to be derived from the word Polar . The word points to the cool and fresh feeling gained after taking a freshener like Polo.
Polo comes under the Adult confectionery market which is estimated to be around 1100 crores. Polo is the market leader in the mint based lozenges category.
Polo is famous for its positioning as a " Mint with a Hole " which created lot of excitement for the brand. The campaigns portrayed the unique shape as a differentiating factor. The campaigns was humorous and the product gained instant market.

The category is now facing lot of competition. Big players like ITC and Perfetti is eyeing this category seriously. ITC have acquired MintO from candico in 2002 and aggressively promoting the brand with the positioning " unusually Cool". Candico earlier pitted MintO as a Mint without a hole thus challenging Polo headon. Then ITC repositioned Minto as a cool brand. There are other players like Chlor-Mint getting aggressive in this market.

Nestle recently have done away with its successful positioning based on the Hole. The brand changed the agency to Lowe. The current campaign talks about the cosmetic benefit and value addition. The ads talks about whistling while eating Polo with the baseline " Polo ghao seethi bajao" which does not create any meaningful impact on the TG.

Polo was successful in the market because of smart ads and some innovative product strategies like Polo holes in sachets at a very low price point. But recently the company has discarded the age old positioning of Mint with a Hole . This shift together with some ineffective ads can prove to be a watershed for the brand. The fresh breath proposition is already taken by the competitors.The competing brands are also making innovations in the products like coming out with flavours other than mint, sugar free variants etc.

Polo will have to work hard on its product strategy to keep the market it had created.

Fair & Lovely : Chand ka Tukda

Brand : Fair & Lovely
Company : HLL
Agency: Lowe


Fair & Lovely ( FAL) is the brand that revolutionized the Indian Skin care industry. This brand is World's first and largest Fairness cream brand with a presence in 40 countries and a value of around Rs. 6 billion

Indian skin care market was dominated by conventional beauty care products like Bezan,Multani Mitti etc. FAL changed all that. Launched in 1975, FAL is the product born in the Unilever research center. In 1988 the brand went international. FAL commands a market share of over 70% in the Rs 1000 crore fairness market in India.

FAL virtually created and owned this category for long. In the fairness market, FAL enjoyed monopoly till Cavin Kare entered this lucrative segment with Fairever. The success of Fairever prompted many players like Godrej to tap the market.

FAL sustained the pressure from the competitor by careful branding and new product launches. The brand never failed to emulate and learn from the competitor .When Fairever launched the ayurvedic variant, FAL launched a much better variant. Then came the competition from Ozone Ayurvedics with their brand No Marks trying to carve a niche. HLL countered with FAL Antimarks and launched a controversial comparative ad that took the steam out of No Marks.

When Fair ever launched the soap, FAL also responded with soap. FAL never allowed the competitors to gain an upper hand in the market which it created.

FAL achieved such tremendous success because of careful branding and ad campaigns. Initially HLL to do some ugly talking about fairness. Some of the ads were controversial because of gender inequality and stuff like that. It was necessary at that period because the category was new and the brand should first talk about the need to be fairer.

Now the brand has laddered up to more aspirational values like "Transformation of Women" The insight is that the transformation will be more than skin deep. The ads showing a girl achieving the ambition of being a cricket commentator ( a male bastion) were very much effective in connecting with the TG.

HLL has also extended the brand to more aspirational values by launching Fair& Lovely foundation that works for Women Empowerment achievement and Transformation which are the qualities for which FAL stands for.

FAL have also launched a premium subbrand Perfect Radiance to tap the premium segment of the market.

Fair & Lovely was able to dominate the fairness market because of careful marketing and is a showcase of the marketing genius of HLL.

Ultratech Cement : The Engineer's Choice

Brand: Ultratech Cement
Company : Ultratech Cemco ( Aditya Birla Group)
Agency : Leo Burnett


2005 saw one of the high profile brand launches in the country. The launch was significant and different because it was the launch of a cement brand. Another uniqueness was that it was a rebranding exercise. L&T's cement business was acquired by Aditya Birla Group in 2004 for Rs 2200 crore making Grasim the 8th largest cement producer in the world.

Grasim was having cement brands like Birla plus and Birla super in the 150 mn TPA Cement market in India. L&T was a leading brand in the premium segment of the cement market. The acquisition gave Grasim an entry into the premium segment of the market.

L&T cement which enjoyed leadership position in the premium cement market epitomized engineering prowess , technology quality and modernity. This has enabled the brand to command a premium over the other cement brands. Grasim was allowed 8 months to use the L&T brand.

Grasim was faced with a tough task. The time was short and there were two choices, merge the L&T brand with existing Grasim brands or launch a new brand . The company decided on the later and did it with style.

The name Ultratech was chosen after careful marketing research. Since L&T does not mean anything by virtue of the brand name, Grasim wanted the new brandname to portray significant intrinsic value of the brand. Hence the name Ultratech was chosen. Since Grasim didnot want to dilute the premiumness that L&T enjoyed, a high decibel ad blitz was launched to announce that L&T is now Ultratech. The campaigns was backed with direct marketing where the company officials met the 5500 odd stockists and authorised dealers explaining the new brand and company policies.

The campaign had lot of significance.

1. It had to make sure that the new brand did not lose the qualities of L&T

2. The new brand should be able to command the same level of premium of L&T.

3. Time was short

4. It was a risky affair.

Cement is basically viewed as a commodity and the industry is fragmented with around 50 players. So inorder to command a premium, the brand had to show a significant differentiation.

Ultratech was positioned as the ' Engineer's choice" cement emphasizing on the qualities such as Quality, Modernity and technology. The gamble has paid off well for Aditya Birla group and Ultratech was able to carry the legacy of L&T cement.

Ultratech is a classic case of Marketing a commodity.

Parle Digestive Marie : Can u build a brand on Bullshit?

Brand : Parle Digestive Marie
Company : Parle
Agency : Everest


Parle digestive Marie is the new launch by Parle in the 600 crore Marie biscuit segment. The brand is being promoted heavily across the mass media making it one of the high decibel product launches in 2006.

The brand is endorsed by Kajol who according to media reports charges around 80 lakh per endorsement. The brand according to the company is first of its kind in the segment. The product claims to have five times the fiber and low calorie. The campaign is also revolving on this platform. According to the agency the idea of the campaign comes from the insight that " the biscuit is so healthy, it is criminal not to consume this biscuit".

Having raved about the product qualities, let me come to the brand promotion. I feel that the campaign is crap. I may buy the product because the product is good but not because some Anti Marie bureau has ignited the passion in me.

The celebrity endorsement and the crap ad have caught the attention of the market for sure ( may be for the wrong reasons). But where will the brand go from here?. The competition will have their version within no time, so what is the future of Anti-Marie bureau? Did the brand highlighted any significant positioning. ' Yehi Marie Sahi Marie " and the Anti-Marie bureau are self contradictory. Is Digestive Marie not a Marie?

I think the target audience are not kids but adults who are health conscious. And the ads may have amused the TG. But should you promote such a good product with some seriousness?

With the teaser ads and the 60 minutes TVC may have burnt a hole in Parle's pocket and Iam sure that the initial sales will justify the cost. But Parle may have to spent that much money too often to sustain the sales.

Is short termism becoming a disease among brand managers?

No one have ever built a brand over a Bullshit.....

Palmolive : Palmolive Da Jawab Nahin

Brand : Palmolive
Company: Colgate
Agency : Rediffusion

Palmolive is one of the oldest brands in the country. It was launched in India in 1937. Owned by Colgate- Palmolive ltd, the origin of this soap dates back to 1898 . BJ Johnson company, owned by a person known as Caleb Johnson introduced a soap made from Palm and olive called as Palmolive. The soap was such a huge success that the company changed the name to Palmolive in 1917. It merged with another soap making company Peet Brothers to become Palmolive Peet. It later merged with Colgate in 1928.

Palmolive in India did not have a success story to boast about. Colgate marketed its personal care products like soaps , shampoo and shaving preparation products under the Palmolive brand name.

Palmolive was a reluctant brand which was never a serious player in the Indian personal care market. Although the brand comes from one of the most respected FMCG companies in the world, it never fully realised the potential.

Palmolive soaps were of high quality and competed in the premium segment of the soap market. The cream soap and the nice fragrance were a hit during the eighties and nineties. But some where the brand lost its way. Palmolive was not able to create a meaningful differentiation in the crowded soap category. Facing stiff competition, the brand shed the premium image and went after price discounts and freebies.

Compared to the soaps , Palmolive shaving cream fared well. In the 150 crore shaving preparation market , Palmolive had a share of 21%. Palmolive earlier used Kapil to endorse the shaving cream and the baseline " Palmolive da jawab nahin" is still famous. In the shaving cream market also , the brand is languishing because of lack of support from the company. The shaving preparation category is more functional oriented where what matters most is the product performance. The category is witnessing a sea change with the customer preference shifting from cream to gel and foam. At present, the category is dominated by Gillette.

Of late Colgate is now focusing on personal care with a series of product launches. In 2003 Palmolive launched Aroma variant with extracts from Orchid and jasmine. The product has been well received. In 2004 Palmolive launched a shower gel variant which is a new category . The product is promoted along the baseline " Ignite your senses".

I have been researching this brand but there is very less data available with regard to the campaigns and launches which shows that there is nothing much to write about this . Well for a marketer it is the most pitiable situation when nothing can be written about the brand: be it good or bad.

Palmolive is a brand that is trying to revive itself. But for that the brand should decide on what it want to be? May be the answer is with the customer.

Bajaj Chetak (1972-2005) :RIP

Brand : Bajaj Chetak
Company : Bajaj Auto Ltd

The brand which ruled the Indian roads have been laid to rest. Bajaj has officially stopped the production of Bajaj Chetak from December 2005. The stocks will last may be upto March 2006. The company says that the product no longer have any relevance to the customer. To quote Rajiv bajaj " Any one who clings to the past is a failure".

I owned a Chetak: a gift from my father for having secured admission to MBA program. It was in the year 1996. Later I exchanged it for a bike in 2001. Still Chetak lingers in me ( or rather haunts me) in the form of " Back Pain".

The brand which was launched in 1972 virtually owned the two wheeler segment. If reports are to be believed, Chetak was an unavoidable dowry in 1970's and 80's. It had a waiting period of more than 10 years ( can you believe it ? ) and now here I am after 34 years, writing the epitaph of this brand.

The brand which was named after the legendary stallion of the Rajput king Maharana Pratap, was known for the reliability and sturdiness. The brand thrived during the license raj with virtually no competition. It was during 1990-91 that the brand began the journey to the end.

Bajaj Chetak had a huge brand equity . The brand had the persona of a " work horse". With reasonable price and the low maintenance cost made this product a huge hit among the middle class Indians.

Promoted along the base line " Hamara Bajaj", this was the Indian Family vehicle - a position now owned by Maruthi 800.

But then How can a brand that was so popular and successful fail?

Frankly, I am not sure. But here is what I think about this brand...

The primary reason is that the Brand forgot the customers. Another case of Marketing Myopia. The company failed to understand the changing perception of the customers towards scooters. Rather than looking at the customers, the company focused on influencing Government to block the opening up of economy. Bajaj never did anything with the product. For 40 years Chetak had the same look, same quality and style.

During the mid nineties the company realised lately that the segment has shifted to motorcycles. Scooters were no longer the option. But did the company made a mistake in discarding the scooter segment ? Looking at the way the share prices are going, the market thinks that Bajaj Auto made the right decision. But I think that they made a mistake in leaving the scooter segment completely. Contrary to expectation, the scooter segment has not died. It has only changed.

Chetak lost its identity some where during the nineties. What should be the future of the brand : no body knew. It was only in 2004 that company made any change in Chetak. In 1994 Bajaj introduced Classic another scooter with same style as Chetak, but failed.

Bajaj never was serious about product development. The R&D spent for a long time was a miniscule 1%. The average cycle time for the new product development was 4-5 years compared to 2-3 years of Japanese competitors.

Even after the opening up of economy, the scooter segment did not witness much competition.

The players like Vespa did not had much of success in this segment. Kinetic Honda managed to carve a niche with its gearless scooters. Another segment which was growing was the scooterette segment which was dominated by TVS scooty.

Bajaj never seriously looked at customer perception about Chetak. The product had serious problems like starting trouble and riding comfort. The " Tilting the chetak to the side for starting " was a common joke. Did the company do anything for that ? no

There was nothing wrong with the Promotion. " Hamara Bajaj " and " No one can beat a Bajaj " were famous base lines. There was nothing wrong with distribution and the pricing was very reasonable. The major problem was in the first P : Product.

So without addressing any problems regarding the product , can you expect the customer to buy the product ?

Bajaj was never a leader in technology ( now they are !!!). They never bothered to and paid the price . Had Chetak pioneered Electric start, had it provided more riding comfort, it could have survived.

Somebody have just beat the Bajaj........ the customer!