Brand Update : Maggi

Maggi it seems have found success with the Atta Noodle variants. Following the success of its vegetable atta noodles, Maggi has come out with another variant Maggi Dal Atta Noodles with Sambar tastemaker.Personally I didnot like the taste of Atta Noodles. The new variants has effectively silenced the criticism that Noodles are bad for health. The new variant is being promoted heavily these days.

source:agencyfaqs,businessline



Related Brands
Maggi

Vanilla Coke : Wakaw

Brand :Vanilla Coke
Company: Coca Cola
Agency: McCann Erickson

Brand Count : 178

Vanilla Coke was touted as the greatest innovation since Diet Coke in 1983. It also has the distinction of the greatest flops after the New Coke. Vanilla Coke came with a bang in the Indian market in April 2004. It went without much noise in 2005.

The history of this product variant dates back as early as 1950's. The mass marketing of this variant began in 2002.The brand went global in 2004.
2004 saw the unusual scream " Wakaw" played across mass media. We all looked up in awe : a brand new variant from Coca Cola : Vanilla Coke. The brand was targeted at the metro youth was different. It was different in taste, promotion, package, price etc.
Vanilla Coke was promoted in retro style. The brand had Vivek Oberoi , the then bollywood flame endorsing the brand in an unusual style. Vivek sported the retro look with typical combination of Elvis style + Shammi Kapoor style in an Old Lamby Scooter screaming Wakaw.

The ads were surely clutter breaking and backed by 360 degree branding efforts that ensured good publicity. The creative done by the famed Prasoon Joshi was discussed in all media and that ensured truck loads of free publicity. The brand also got into viral marketing. The campaign along with Contenst2win asked the customers to SMS Wakaw to 8558 inorder to win goodies. According to media reports, the campaign resulted in 440,000 SMS in just 4 weeks creating a record of sorts.

According to Indiatelevision.com report, the media brief given to the agency was to create a clutter breaking campaign targeted at youth. The campaign should create a dhamaka in the market. And rightly so all the client requirements was achieved with in a short span of time.

But how come a product with such a good start failed so easily. With in one year, the brand has been taken out from most of the Indian states. The brand is said to be available in Gujarat,Kolkatta and Delhi.
As a marketing person, I am also perplexed. Frankly I liked the ad the feel and wanted to try it out. But soon the product was not at all available. The failure of this product line extension may have delighted Alries and Trout .

I am assuming that the following factors may have caused the failure of this brand.

a. The product may have been bad. The TG may not have liked the taste. Although Coke has test marketed this product, there is always a chance that the customers may have disliked the taste.

b.The campaign was not targeted at the right segment. This campaign had its fair share of critics also. I liked the campaign because I have seen the old stars and the lamby etc and could easily relate the old characters and the concept. But for a twenty year old, he may not relate or understand the concept. The brand may have lost out in that respect.

c. The brand was priced at a premium over the ordinary coke. This may have discouraged the TG from checking out the brand. Together with the retro campaign not clicking with the intended audience may have given a double whammy for the brand.
d. Indian SD industry is a duopoly. Pepsi and Coke rule the roast and there are brand loyal on both sides. The new variant will be tested first by the Coke loyal and not the Pepsi loyal. Hence like most of the Product line extensions, the variant will be pitted against the mother brand. Hence the customers may have compared the new variant with the classic coke and not as a new drink. And surely the classic coke won .
These are all assumptions because I am still confused.
The failure of Vanilla Coke is a classic case that proves that Marketing is not a perfect science. There are no formula or theory that can make a brand successful. To Quote Kotler " Marketing is easy to teach and understand but difficult to practice".

source:agencyfaqs,indiatelevision.com,wikipedia,magindia,businessline

Related Brands

Thums Up
Coke
Sprite

Market Statistics : Volume 1

This is the first volume of Market Statistics which will give the market sizes of various categories. The market size numbers are quite confusing because different sources quote different numbers. This is just a collection of market data and not verified. I will try to update it whenever I come across such data.

Pain Balm Market Size :Rs 90 crore

Total Balm Market Size :Rs 250 crore

Tooth Paste Market Size :Rs2700 crore

Events Market Size :Rs 330 crore

Domestic consumption of butter : 45,000 tonnes

Ready to stitch garments market :Rs 1600 crore

Imported wine Market Size: 1.2 lakh cases

Local wine Market Size: 3.8lakh to 4.6 lakh cases

Detergent Market Size :Rs 3000 crore

Popular Detergents Market Size : Rs1800

Premium, compact and Mid range detergents Market Size:Rs 1200 crore

Tea Industry :Rs 3000 crore

Iodised salt Market Size :Rs 500 crore

Toilet cleaners,utensil cleaner, mosquito repellent

& air freshener Market Size :Rs 2000 crore

Cookies Market Size :Rs 3000 crore

Music :Rs 750 crore

Denim Market Size :Rs 1200 crore

Indian Luxury Market :Rs 2000 crore

Ad Industry :Rs10,000 crore

Internet ads :Rs 100 crore

Chyavanprash Market Size : Rs 300 crore

Soap Market Size : Rs 4500 crore

Shaving cream Market Size : Rs 50 crore

Color Cosmetics Market Size : Rs.250 crore ( organized)

Skin care Market Size :Rs 400 crore

Total cosmetic Market Size :Rs 2000 crore

Total skin care Market Size :Rs 1300 crore

Premium Skin care Market Size : Rs 325 crore

Ketchup Market Size : Rs180 crore

Noodles Market Size :Rs 200 crore

Battery Market Size : Rs1800 crore

Automotive Battery Market Size : Rs1200 crore

Men’s innerwear Market Size :Rs 2500 crore

Premium Inner wear Market Size : Rs150 crore

Branded innerwear Market Size :Rs 750 crore

Hair Oil Market Size :Rs 1300 crore

Biscuit market Market Size :Rs 4000 crore

Marie biscuits Market Size:Rs 600 crore

Writing Instruments Market Size:Rs 1500 crore

Branded Writing Instruments Market Size:Rs 1200 crore

Gel pen Market Size :Rs 350 crore

Watch Market Size :Rs1300 crore

Premium watch Market Size :Rs 600 crore

Fast Moving Health Goods (FMHG) : Rs 4500 crore

Shoe shine category size :Rs 65 crore

Brand Update : Parachute

Marico has launched a new product Parachute Therapie. The product is for controlling hair loss.The product is supposed to contain " Root Activising Proteins" and is endorsed by International Association of Trichologists. The product is priced at a premium of Rs 190.Marico may be planning to convert Parachute brand as an umbrella brand for all its hair care products. Right now Parachute has tremendous equity as the coconut based hair oil. Through this new product, the brand may be seeing its makeover as a hair care expert.

Related brands
Parachute
Sparsh


Source: Businessline
image courtesy: businessline

Clearasil : For Clear Skin

Brand : Clearasil
Company: Reckitt & Benckiser
Agency: Euro Rscg

Brand Count : 177

Clearasil was a brand that was synonymous with skin care in India. The brand occupied a distinct space in the Indian market as the ultimate cream for Pimples and acne. But over the years this brand is facing the decline stage in its product life cycle. The brand reached this pathetic state because of reasons not of its own.

Clearasil is a global brand famous world wide as a cure for acne and pimples. The brand is 56 year old. Mr Ivan Combe of USA invented the product in 1950. It was the first dermatological brand for curing pimples and acne made especially for young skin. In 1961, the brand came into the fold of Richardson Vicks. In 1985 P&G became the owner of Richardson Vicks. Later the company sold of these brands to Boots Pharmaceuticals in the year 2000. In 2006, Reckitt &Benckiser bought the brand globally. The brand came to India in 1967.

Now you can easily see the reason why the brand failed. The brand went through too many ownership changes. Some companies did not feel that the brand was a part of its core portfolio. For example during the ownership of Clearasil by P&G there was no investment on the brand since for the company, the personal care business was not a core area. Hence during this period the brand was not at all promoted. Even though the other owners had tried to revive the brand, frequent changes made the brand vulnerable.

Clearasil during its peak years had the reputation as a strong cream for fighting pimples and acnes. At that time there was no direct competition for Clearasil although there were many skin creams. For a family having teenage girls, Clearasil was an essential brand. But over the years, because of the lack of brand building efforts, the brand became irrelevant to the younger generation. Clearasil slowly became the brand that “my mother used”. When Boots owned the brand, lot of variants were launched. The brand changed its packaging and was extended to soaps.Rather than limiting to acne control, the brand tried to position itself as a skin care brand. But the effort did not bear fruit because by that time, the market was flooded with modern contemporary brands.

The brand is now owned by Reckitt and marketers expect that the brand will get a new lease of life. The greatest challenge before the new owners is to make the brand contemporary and relevant to the new generation. Reckitt had to find a new differentiation platform for this heritage brand. It has to tap the existing brand equity and try to create a new space for Clearasil. Globally Clearasil is positioned on the basis of Confidence through better skin . The global positioning statement is “Get Clearasil , Get Confidence”. But in India, Cinthol uses this positioning . The brand faces tough competition from the likes of Ponds, Lakme, Loreal and so on .So to find the right space is going to be tough.I think that the brand could take the “ Clear Skin” positioning where by it is not limited to controlling pimples but overall skin care. With the brand Veet from Reckitt is in the same skin care market; the brand managers will have a tough time integrating Clearasil to the portfolio.

source:agencyfaqs,businessline,reckittbenckiser.com

Related Brands

Ponds
Fair&Lovely
Vicco
Loreal
Bodyshop

Brand Update :Surf Excel

Surf Excel has come out with a new campaign 10/10 ( pronounced 10 on 10). The campaign is aimed at raising fund for the educationally challenged poor kids. Every Surf Excel will have a piece of stained cloth. When washed, this cloth will reveal a number out of 10. SMS this number to 455 and that amount goes to a NGO that works in the field of education for poor. The campaign is set to collect Rs 25 lakh for the underprivileged..

These type of campaigns are aimed at making the brand more humane. The brand gains from the positive attitude created by such campaigns. Some theorist calls this Corporate Social Responsibility. But as Drucker said “ The main purpose of business is to make profit” and as we say to create wealth for stakeholders. The problem is that only a management student understands such concept. An ordinary person will view business as some thing that makes profit for a select few. Hence corporate are forced to display some actions to justify that they mean good to the society.

The latest Surf campaign also intends to do that. The brand is trying to ladder up to a higher level than just the Cleaning ability. Lifebuoy also has successfully taken up the cause of preventing diarrhea thorough its Swasth Chetana campaign. The brands like Surf and Lifebuoy uses children in the advertisements. There are some people who consider themselves as “ Moral Policemen” whose main job is to make the life of marketers difficult. These campaigns act as a Preemptive measure to silence those critics.

It is a laudable effort from HLL to take such initiatives for the brand. The brands benefits immensely by associating with such activities through the positive vibes created by such campaigns. Another brand from HLL , Fair and Lovely also has taken up such initiatives to contribute to the cause of women empowerment.

Image Source : agencyfaqs.com

Related Brands

Surf Excel
Lifebuoy
Rin
Fair & Lovely