Brand Update : Tata Safari Dicor

Safari has got better and more powerful. Last month Tata Motors launched a new variant Tata Safari Dicor 2.2 with a price starting from Rs 7.33 lakhs. The new variant is more powerful than the existing Dicor machines. Tata has also incorporated many cosmetic changes in the new Avatar. The changes are both external and internal and includes :

New Front Grill with chrome
Bumper Grill
Spare Wheel Cover
Two Tone beige Interiors
New Design leather seats
Wood Finish Control console etc etc

Safari has been struggling to carve out a space for itself in the highly dynamic SUV market in India. Tata Motors has been very patient with this brand and has been adding value to this product at frequent intervals. The new TVC is on air now and Safari retains the tagline " Reclaim your life ". One of the problem that old brands especially in the premium segment faces is that over a long period of time, the brand becomes dated. Customers are seeing this brand for a while and there is nothing new or exciting in that brand. Highly successful brands like Ford Ikon, Scorpio ,Accent and even Mercedes Benz face this issue of being perceived as dated. So marketers try to either change the look of the brand drastically or come out with a new brand and slowly phase off the existing variant. Safari has been trying to change itself in looks aswellas in positioning. There are rumors that Safari may be phased out in 2008/2009 and will be replaced by a new brand. Highly successful Scorpio is also feeling the pinch of being an old one and the new Ingenio is expected to take the center stage. This kind of issues become critical in the case of premium brands because Novelty and Exclusivity are serious attributes in the Product Choice.

Related Brand
Tata Safari

Dinesh Suitings : Take the World in Your Stride

Brand : Dinesh
Company : Shri Dinesh Mills

Brand Analysis Count : 281

Dinesh Suitings is a heritage brand which commanded much share of mind in the late 1980's. This 7 decade old brand may be a forgotten brand for the new liberalized generation. The brand is a sad story of how a premium textile brand lost its way amidst a rush of competition.
Dinesh is a brand famous for its Worsted Suitings. The brand shot to limelight with its association with the Cricketing Icon Sunil Gavaskar. Sunil Gavaskar endorsed this brand for more than 11 years which I think is a record in the world of celebrity endorsements.
Sunil Gavaskar was in his prime when he endorsed this brand. Luckily for Dinesh, Gavaskar fitted perfectly into the brand's persona. Gavaskar was a unlikely celebrity to endorse a suitings because of his frame : Short and Stout. How ever Gavaskar had a charmed which worked well for this brand
I still remember two TVC of Dinesh featuring Sunil Gavaskar : One featuring him playing baseball which hits the icecream of a fellow and another one with an Egyptian Mummy ( my favorite) . The brand had the famous tagline " Take the World in Your Stride.... Dinesh " . The brand was positioned as a premium stylish brand.
But along came the competition from brands like Raymonds and Vimal. These brands had more financial muscle and more importantly had the production capacity and product range. Dinesh Mills could not match the product range and the capacity of these heavyweights. So slowly Dinesh Mills began to concentrate on being a supplier rather than a marketer.

Dinesh also faced the issue of its brand ambassador losing the cricketing form and getting into issues. This had a rub off with the brand since Dinesh was highly associated with Sunil Gavaskar.Also Gavaskar was becoming too old . The brand tried to change track by roping in Bollywood Macho Jackie Shroff as the brand ambassador. But Jackie and the brand did not match.
Watch the TVC : Jackie with Dinesh
Then slowly the brand went into silence so did its market share.
Now suddenly out of blue, Dinesh is making some interesting noise in the media . The brand now have found a new Saviour in Bollywood Actor Akshaye Khanna. The TVC featuring Akshaye is already on air. The brand retains the original tagline and expects that Akshaye can rejuvenate this failing brand.
Why Dinesh has chosen Akshaye as its brand ambassador is an intriguing question to me . Akshaye has never been a successful brand ambassador. He had a roller coaster ride in bollywood and I have always seen him in funky outfits. However the brand may be looking to break away from its past. But as always Celebrity endorsements alone can never lift up a brand. That too with a celebrity like Akshaye, one can never be sure how he is going to deliver in his field.
I think that Dinesh's rejuvenation effort is halfhearted. The brand feels unsure whether it could fight against the large number of brands aiming for a share of market. The company feels that it should stay in the comfort zone of being a supplier rather than a hardcore marketer.

Brand Update : Perk

Perk has launched a new variant this year . Ulta Perk. This is an interesting variant since it is the the complete opposite of the product form of the parent brand Perk. Perk Ulta is the wafer chocolate with Wafer Outside and Chocolate Inside. ie Complete Reverse of the original Perk.The brand is making much noise in the media with some hilarious campaigns.

Watch the TVC : Ulta Perk
Ulta Perk is rather a smart way to rejuvenate a stagnant brand. The brand was desperate to create some newness into Perk. The brand was not facing competitive pressures but the category is facing stagnation. So these kind of tricks ( innovations) will work. Confectionery market works on inducing impulsive purchases. Ulta Perk may bring in customers who have long forgotten this brand.
Another positive effect is that the agencies will have something to work with. O&M already have some outrageous commercials ( print and tvc) based on this idea. Ulta Perk is having the tagline " Full Palti" means " Complete Reverse" . The new variant has a highly extendable Big Idea which the creatives can work on.
Ulta Perk is targeting the Teen and Youth with this variant. Priced at Rs 5, Ulta Perk is going to Perk Up the market for sure.
Picture courtsey : adsoftheworld.com

Related Brand
Perk

Oral-B : Dentist's Choice

Brand : Oral-B
Company : P&G
Agency : O&M

Brand Analysis Count : 280

Oral-B is a special brand. The brand is the global leader in the toothbrush market. Oral-B is a special brand since it bought so many innovations in a low involvement product like Toothbrush. Infact, Oral-B is a brand that made Toothbrush a high involvement product category.
Oral-B was created in 1950 by a Dentist Dr Robert Hutson. The first product was Oral-B 60 which had 60 tufs. In 1984 Oral-B was acquired by Gillette and in 2006 it came into P&G's fold with its acquisition of Gillette worldwide.
Oral-B came to India in 1996.Although globally Oral-B is a market leader, it could not replicate its global leadership position in India. In India, it is the second largest player behind Colgate.India is considered to be the second largest market for toothbrushes and the market is estimated to be around Rs 600-700 crore.
Oral-B is known worldwide for its innovation. Oral-B is a favorite example in marketing classes for Planned Replacement. The case in point is the innovative brand Oral-B Indicator. Oral-B Indicator was introduced in 1991. It had fading bristles which indicated to the customer that its time for him to change the brush. The innovation won Edison award for product innovation. Through the Indicator Bristles, Oral-B overcame a serious issue of delay in repeated purchases due to overuse. Typically consumers do not have an idea of when to replace a toothbrush. Often they stretch the planned life of the product thus posing a problem for the marketers. Oral-B Indicator changed all that.Dentists recommend that the toothbrush should be replaced every three months. Oral-B indicator is designed to remind the customer that time schedule for replacement. Now Indicator Bristles have become a standard feature in all Oral-B toothbrushes.

Although Indicator was referred in most of the marketing textbooks, the innovations of Oral-B is mind blowing. Some noteworthy innovations are listed below :
1984 : Oral-B revolutionized Kid's toothbrush market with its Star Wars range which had the characters in the toothbrush
1984 : The first Power Toothbrush launched under the Braun brand.
1987 : Oral-B Ultraplus was launched which had round head
1991 : Oral-B Indicator with fading bristles.
For the entire range of innovations , visit the brand website at : Oralb.com
2007 saw another mindblowing futuristic innovation from this brand- Oral-B Triumph with Smart Guide Technology. The toothpaste now comes with a wireless digital monitor which will guide the consumer to use the toothbrush in the ideal manner. The wireless digital monitor have a timer which guide the customer to brush for 2 minutes and also indicates the various motions and even indicates the replacement of the toothbrush head.
For details visit the brand website : Triumph with smartguide

These innovations have made this product category a highly segmented and a high involvement category. Earlier, the choice available for a consumer was whether the bristles are soft medium or hard. Now the choice is numerous. The introduction of power brushes ( battery powered) created a new premium segment of toothbrushes. The shape and the size of the bristles and toothbrushes also have changed. From the typical rectangular head to round shaped head. From straight bristles to Zigzag . Many things are happening to the good old toothbrushes. The interesting fact is that these innovations have created a change in the mindset of consumers. Earlier consumers believed that Toothpaste is the central product in the oral care/hygiene. Toothbrush's role is limited in the oral care. The innovations from these players have prompted the customers to think that toothbrush is also an important product that needs some serious thinking before purchase.

Oral-B is positioned as Dentist's Choice of Toothbrush. The brand uses the tagline " The brand more dentists use themselves worldwide". In India too, the brand uses the same tagline. The brand is currently on a hyperactive mode in India with lot of promotions in the visual media.

Oral-B also is getting on the volume game by launching a variant ShinyClean with a amazing pricetage of Rs 13.ShinyClean comes with five features :
Zigzag bristles for better cleaning
End Rounded Bristles.
Translucent Contour handle for better grip
Hygiene Cap
Indicator
At a price tag of Rs 13, ShinyClean is expected to rejuvenate the toothbrush market for Oral-B. Earlier Oral-B was positioned as a premium brand.
Oral-B is a marketer's icon. A brand which has brought so much value into a dull product category.

Future TV : Media Where it Matters Most

Move away TAM, Move away SEC, Move Away Saas Bahu and Woh, media will never be the same again. There is something now media planners across the country will be watching : the emergence of a new media : In-store media.

This year Kishore Biyani's Future Group kickstarted a new division Future Media which is its aggressive foray into In-store Media. The division which integrates all instore media within the retail formats of the Future Group. The division expects to rake in Rs 200 crore as the non retail revenue for the group.
Future TV is the in-store electronic media offering airtime to the advertisers. The network consists of numerous TV's placed in strategic locations throughout the stores. The concept of in-store TV was pioneered by WalMart. WalMart TV Network which began operation in 1997 is the largest TV Network in US reaching a whopping 127 Million Shoppers. WalMart TV Network is shown in 1,25,000 screens spread across 3100 US Stores.

Future TV is following the same way as WalMart TV and is set to create a trend in the development of this new media.
There is lot of impact of this media over the traditional media like Print and TV. In-store media reached TARGET CONSUMER while traditional media reaches the TARGET AUDIENCE. Future Media uses this beautiful phrase to capture the essence of this media " This media is trying to convert / influence customers in the ambiance of consumption ". Its reaching the customers while shopping compared to reaching the customers while sitting on the couch. That's real targeting. The impact of this media is huge given the fact that most of the purchases (FMCG) in supermarkets are impulse. So catch them with their wallets open !!!!!

For a brand manager, this new media offers yet another opportunity and also more complication. The media again gets fragmented. But its also an opportunity because the reach is more precise. Also for products that need more explanations, in-store electronic media is a boon . For example, in US , Listerine uses WALMART TV effectively since the customers needs to be taught how to use this brand effectively.
For the mediaplanners, once this kind of In-store media become popular, its going to be tough task to allocate the budget. New models of understanding the influence of this kind of media needs to be created.
For the creatives , the task is to make the communication appropriate . In-store ads need more creative juice since it is reaching the customer at the point of sale. The ad is not for building the brand but to make the sale.
For the media owners like Future Media , the challenge is to make this media less annoying for the customer. WalMart TV faced an issue where the customers complained that the screens are put way too above their eyelevel thereby causing inconvenience. WalMart later changed the entire design to keep the screen at convenient eye level. Another challenge is to make the content interesting to the customer. According to reports, a customer spends 6-7 minutes watching WalMart TV. So the task is to get their eyeballs along with the wallet.
For media analysts and academicians, some serious rethinking on concepts like reach , frequency, media effectiveness measurements needs to be done.

Will in-store TVs kill ordinary TV advertising ? No, but its definitely a competition for the traditional media. In-store media acts as a complimentary media for brand managers. I think that in future, traditional media will be used for brand building while in-store TV will be used for sales promotion ( the trend is already there).
In-store media can be defined as all media opportunities available to an advertiser within the retail store. Other than TV, In-store media offers other media formats also like
Kiosks
Staircases
Carrybags
Elevators
Pillars
Trolley
Dropdowns
Shelf branding
Traditional POP's
Banners and what not....
Future Media is now in the process of rolling out Future Radio.
In-store media is in its infancy now in India. The media will grow only with the growth of large retail networks like Big Bazaar. The advertisers will look at this media seriously once it acquires the critical mass.
source : futuremedia.in , financial express,agencyfaqs.

NDTV Good Times : A Unique Co- branding

Brand : NDTV Good Times
Company : NDTV
Agency : Equus Redcell

Brand Count : 279

In September 2007, NDTV launched India's first hardcore lifestyle channel branded NDTV Good Times. This new channel is unique in two ways - its India's first lifestyle channel and secondly its the first time where a product brand has co-branded with a channel.
Co-Branding is where two brands operating in two different domains coming together for a common cause ( objective) . The objective can be anything from tapping a common market or sharing promotions. The oft quoted examples in classrooms were the co-branded credit cards .
NDTV Good Times is promoted by NDTV alone and not with any equity stake by the UB Group.
The new channel is all about lifestyle. In theory , we tend to describe lifestyle with the three descriptors
Activities
Interests &
Opinions ( AIO).
Truly like this concept, Good Times is all about activities, opinions and interests. The channel devotes its time to Health, Fashion, Food, Luxury, Technology , Chats with celebrities, life of rich and the famous etc. The channel also wants to create a class of its own by roping in HOT Properties to anchor respective shows. These include the actor Rajat Kapoor, Chef Manju Malhi, Techie Rajiv Makhni etc. The channel is full of aspirational lifestyle programs and contains about 50-60 original programs per week.
The channel is looking at the target market comprising of socially upbeat 20-40 yr old SEC A viewers.
The questions arises as to the benefit of these two different brands coming together in a channel. For NDTV, the brand association with Kingfisher gives it the revenue cushion. According to Agencyfaqs, UB group has committed around Rs 100 crore worth of ads in the next five years. For NDTV this takes away the risk of launching a lifestyle channel with is atmost a Niche . Kingfisher will provide the much needed ad revenue till the channel began to attract other advertisers.

For UB Group, its a boon. We know that Indian law does not permit Kingfisher Beer to advertise. The rules are getting stricter day by day. Hence there is nothing better than a channel that carries your tagline and the mascot. Besides that every businessman knows the power of having a media under its fold. UB Group may not have the capability to run a media, so why not associate with the best brand in the media domain NDTV. Also Kingfisher as a brand epitomizes lifestyle positioning. Whether its the beer or the airlines, Mallya has built the brand on lifestyle platform . Hence Co-branding with a lifestyle channel makes perfect sense.

But things are not as rosy as it seems. This whole concept will work only if NDTV can bring in quality content to the channel. NDTV has proved its capability in the news front but entertainment is a different ballgame altogether. Right now cost of the new launch maynot be a headache since NDTV has its processes and systems in place. What is going to make or break this channel is the quality of programming and the innovation that this channel will bring in to get the eyeballs sticking. For NDTV , Good Times is testing waters since it plans to roll out an entertainment channel in collaboration with the ace director Karan Johar. For Kingfisher, its a promotional expenditure ( nobody ever has perfectly measured the effectiveness of advertising as yet !!!). I feel that Good Times channel will be an integral part of inflight entertainment in the airlines too in future.
So as of now its a win-win game for both the brands. Time will tell if GOOD TIMES will last.
Related Brand
Kingfisher