Brand Update : Cadbury

India's favorite chocolate brand has launched a new brand of chocolates exclusively for those suffering from diabetes . The new brand ' Cadbury Lite ' is currently test marketed in Tamilnadu and Andhrapradesh.

This is definitely a good news for that 10% of urban population who suffers from this condition. Cadbury Lite comes with no added sugar and has a sugar substitute Maltitol .Cadbury Lite is clear cut in its positioning. It is for those who suffer from/prone to diabetes rather than for the calorie conscious. May be Cadbury does not feel that its products are unhealthy .

On a branding perspective, it is interesting to note that Cadbury Lite is a new brand rather than a variant of Dairy Milk. The question arises as to why did Cadbury resisted the temptation to launch a variant rather than a new brand. Please note that Nestle launched the variant Kit Kat Lite for the calorie conscious.

One reason can be that the market for the sugarfree chocolates is high and unexplored and hence there is an opportunity for a new brand. Second reason is the seemingly conflicting positioning of ' sugarfree ' chocolate with the existing hardcore sweet positioning of Dairy Milk.
But I feel that the primary reason is the opportunity to develop a new category and a new brand. How ever the national launch is expected only after the results from the test marketing.

Brand Update : Minute Maid

This year, Minute Maid has launched a new campaign with a peppy tagline " Where is the pulp " . As discussed in my earlier post on the brand, Minute Maid is being positioned as a pulpy orange drink.
The current campaign is aimed at making the brand more young and also to reinforce the positioning of the brand. The campaign is based on a simple proposition that everytime this drink is consumed, an orange somewhere loses the pulp.

To be frank, although I liked the ad I did not fully understand the idea behind it till I read about it in agencyfaqs. ( i think I am getting old).
However the ad does convey the idea that Minute Maid contains pulp. As a consumer I again admit that I did not understand what it means by a pulpy drink. And that itself is the challenge for the brand. The current ad will definitely intrigue customers like me to try it out.
The ad also hope that the tagline " where is the pulp " will be popular and become a part of the youth lingo. The brand has gone national after encouraging results from the test market. Minute Maid is one of the most successful non-cola brand of Coca-Cola globally. Indian market is skewed towards non-cola drinks and Coke hopes that this brand catches the imagination of the young Indian consumers.
While the brand is reinforcing the ' pulpy ' nature of the drink, it has forgotten the ' refreshing' attribute which was a part of the initial campaign. Coke has to remember that there is no drink that offers ' refreshing ' benefit to the customer. That spot is still vacant. The benefit of being Pulpy can be communicated through the attribute of Refreshing. And a refreshing drink is a proposition that will work well with youth.

With the new campaign, Minute Maid also has stirred up the competition. I remember seeing similar concept of pulpy and orangy in the new campaign of Tropicana from Pepsi.

Related Brand
Minute Maid

Varilrix Vaccine : Suraksha Kawach

Brand :Varilrix Vaccine
Company : Glaxo Smithkline Beecham

Brand Analysis Count : 311

Most of you may not have heard about this brand Varilrix but may have seen the ad for this product. Varilrix is the vaccine for Chickenpox . The brand is owned by the global major GSK and is now marketed heavily in visual media as the chickenpox vaccine.
The vaccine market in India is to the tune of Rs 300 crore ( Businessline) while the website: Express Pharma puts a figure of $ 1o billion. The vaccine business for GSK accounts for around Rs 100 crore.

There is a lot of activity around vaccines for the last two years . The reason for this increased activity is propelled by the increased health consciousness together with the launch of new vaccines . The total vaccine market in India is dominated by the government sponsored/subsidized vaccines. The vaccinations are aimed at children and usually the process ends at around 5 years. Typically the parents go by the immunization chart given to them by the doctors/hospitals when the child is born.
The increased marketing activities of pharmaceutical firms at the end user level has created a new and growing market for vaccines in India. One prominent vaccine is the chickenpox vaccine.

Varilrix is the first marketed chickenpox vaccine in India. The brand is an interesting one to look at because of the nature of the disease. Chickenpox is a disease dreaded by children not because it is dangerous but because it causes havoc in a student's academic career. The typical season for this disease is February- March and this coincide with the annual examination in most academic institutions. Since this is a contagious disease, the patient is kept in isolation for over 20 days which is enough to mess his entire examinations.
According to a study conducted by GSK across schools in India, the findings showed that 59 % of students may be at risk of contracting this disease.
Varilrix is a combination vaccine which can be given to children aged above 1 year. This gives a lifelong protection against this disease. The brand is targeting the parents who have children studying in schools.
Currently the brand is running a campaign promoting this vaccine since this is the exam time. The ads are hardhitting and the storyboard goes like this :

The entire family is waiting to hear the performance of their child in the examinations. The kid tells the marks and the family members ask for the marks of the child's main competitor. For most of the exams the rival scores over the kid but when the marks of the Mathematics paper is asked , the hero says that the rival scored zero because he could not write the exam because of chickenpox. The entire family is shown to bask in the glory of their child's triumph.

Although the ad seems to be too cheeky and blunt it really puts the brand's functionality right on spot.I still remember having nightmares about this disease during exam time, when i was a kid. The reason for this high decibel promotion is that this vaccine is expensive in the range of Rs 1000-1500. Since most of the vaccines are painful, it takes lot of persuasion to sell vaccines for such diseases which are more of a nuisance than life-threatening.

Vaccines are marketed by GSK using a dual strategy: there is ethical promotion involving medical representatives visiting doctors and supplemented by DTC promotions. DTC means Direct- To -Consumer promotion. Varilrix is also cashing in on the fear factor among the TG of losing exam/career because of this disease. Varilrix is a prescription product and should be administered by a medical practitioner. According to Mr Sumer Dheri , GM of GSK, there are two things that motivate consumers for these products : Extreme Shock and Manifold benefits. Vaccines has lot of negative connotations like lack of knowledge , fear of needle etc . ( source : express pharma).The ad for Varilrix aims to propel the consumers into action by invoking the fear of losing out .

Brand Update : Mentos

Mentos has launched a new campaign much in line with the positioning of " makes you smarter " exemplified by the slogan " Dimag ki batti jala de". This time the agency took the idea far into the evolution era.

Watch the tvc here : Mentos evolution

The new campaign is different from the real slice of life type of earlier campaigns. The new campaign is refreshingly new and absolutely funny. In a low involvement category, one has to take this route to stay on top of the mind.
What I liked about this brand is the consistency of the positioning and the message. The brand was able to sustain the positioning all these years. By looking at the animation and the quality of the animation, the cost may have gone through the roof but this ad has the steam to stay longer in the media. Also this ad will be much circulated and discussed.

The brand has moved away from the real life to artificial world ( absurdism) without losing the original positioning, it is important that the brand keep a link with the real world. The earlier campaigns had made this brand 'cool' and attractive to the younger crowd and its important that the brand remains that way.
The current ad definitely has bought the consumers' renewed interest into the brand and the follow up campaigns should make sure that the idea does not go overboard. Too much of absurdism can take the ' coolness ' quotient out of the brand.

Related Brand
Mentos

Barclaycard : You Are in Control

Brand : Barclaycard
Company : Barclays
Agency : Mccann

Brand Analysis Count : 310

When I was a college student, my dream was to flaunt a credit card ( infact more than one) . Then on to my first job, I ran to my bank to rightfully claim for my first creditcard. I was in for an unpleasant surprise. I then realized that not everyone was eligible for one. Then after three years of constant followup and lots and lots of document, I landed up my first credit card ( not exactly because later I found out that it was a chargecard). It was a Cancard with a credit facility for Rs 5000 and credit period of 30 days.

Then after two years, something happened. I would call it the financial sales revolution. The new generation banks like ICICI and HDFC bank began appointing Direct Selling Agents for opening the Savings Account, loans and creditcards. For the first time, customers ( like me) were treated like worthy of a credit card. I remember filling out numerous forms and getting rejected by Citi and ICICI . Infact I remember a bank official saying that they rejected my application because I work with a media. At that time they don't give loans or creditcard to Media or Police officials .

When I was running around after creditcards, wise-owls warned me of impending danger. They said - credit cards can ruin your financial stability so use it wisely. I vouched that I will not take credit for my creditcard and use it wisely. But the fact is that I have taken loans, I have splurged, have bought products on EMI all through creditcard.... I realized that you will never win against the creditcards.
As always the thumbrule in any financial service dealings involving banks or insurance firms is to play by the rules. That is critical in the case of creditcard business. The fact is that only they know the rules and as customers , we don't bother to read the 60 page terms and conditions booklet that is printed in 5 point font size.
I realized this when the creditcard charged me fine and interest for late realization of a cheque owing to a bank strike. I tried to fight but they showed me the rules.
It is in this context that a new bank has comeout with a credit card that says that the customer is in control...
In 2007 Barclays Bank launched its retail banking operations in India. Barclays is the UK based financial services group which boasts of a heritage of over 300 years. The operations of Barclays started in India in 1970's and was more focused on investment banking . Barclays began the commercial operations in 2006 and retail operations in 2007.

The bank is now aggressively pitching for its creditcard business in India. According to Businessweek , the size of Indian Credit-card market is about $4 Billion and growing at 35% per-annum. No wonder global majors are queuing up in the Indian market. But the going is tough because competition is tough with ICICI bank leading the pack.

Barclaycard chose to break into this market with a clear differentiator . The differentiator was ' giving power to choose the billing cycle and fix monthly payment amount ' to the customer. The brand is now running a high decibel campaign in all media

Watch the TVC here : Barclays
Here the idea is that banks treat customers like kids with little or no power in the hand of the customers.
As a customer, I think that this differentiator comes from consumer insights. Infact in my case I have to pay my credit card during the middle of the month and by that time all money would have gone up in smoke. Barclaycard lets you decide which week of the month the customer would like to be billed. That means that the customer can select the appropriate week when his salary is being credited or when he has the maximum cash-flow.

The brand in that way has come up with a meaningful differentiator but I think that differentiator is not sustainable in the longterm since all other players can easily achieve parity with that feature . But the brand has made its presence felt using that meaningful differentiator.

For any new bank, the issue of payment of creditcard bills also act as a significant demotivator for the customers. In the case of Barclaycard, the brand has tiedup with BILLDESK so that the payment can be done online using internet banking of other banks. So one does not have to search for the drop-boxes. For a new brand to break into the clutter, Barclaycard has done the homework right and has made the right moves.

Apart from these differentiators, the other things remain the same, the interest rate is as high as 36% ( annualized) and charges comparable with other players .

As a customer, I have learned a hard lesson of using a credit-card. I still don't understand why these cards charge so much interest on the cards and still want customers to use it. I somewhere read that credit-card companies lose money when the customers pay in time. But these heavy interest rates are charged to make customers pay in time. ( is it not a paradox ?).

Credit-card firms will realize their next path to growth only if they rationalize their interest rate in favor of the customers. In this era of sophisticated CRM algorithms, the banks should be able to give differential interest rates to customers who are credit worthy. Till that time I am gonna pay my bills on time.

Brand Update : Lux

Lux has launched another variant Lux Provocateur. The new variant is the first BLACK bathing soap in the Indian market. Lux Provocateur is being positioned as a soap with bold attitude. No need to say , the color is its main differentiator. The campaign including animated fairyland type TVC is already in air.

HUL has been launching many international variants of Lux in the Indian market. The last one was the Lux Crystal Shine. Lux Provocateur is also an international variant. Like Crystalshine, HUL has made slight modification in its international campaign and put that in the Indian market.
Watch the International campaign here : Lux Provocateur
As you can see from the international campaign, Black Lux is really bold. In India, this boldness is slightly moderated to suit the audiences.
Lux earlier has made lot of excitement in the market with its Chocolate Seduction variant. With Black Lux, the brand is trying to recreate the same excitement. The popularity of Chocolate Seduction has proved that Indian market is mature to accept new experiments with color and fragrance. One has to remember that Black Color does not fit with the concept of cleanliness. However, the Indian consumers targeted by these variants is not bound by such restrictions. More so since Soap is a convenience product and the 'investment' from the customer side is negligible.
Lux Provocateur will see a lot of initial sales because customers will buy it because of novelty. The brand Lux will yet again be back in the consumer mindset and the PLC will show a spike. Whether Black Lux will become a mainstage brand will depend on the product performance.

I think it has been a long time since I saw an ad for the Primary brand Lux . I have a doubt whether there is something like the original Lux soap which was ' Filmi sitaron ka saoundarya sabun '. In the flurry of new variant launches, the Original Lux with milk proteins is lost somewhere. The cumulative brand sale for Lux may be rocking but what about the primary brand ? The logic may be that these variants may help the sale of the original Lux but that logic sounds little too short-term.

I think that HUL has to address the issue of positioning for the Lux brand. We know that this brand has been globally positioned on Celebrity Value. In India, the brand is in a confused state because every other soap brand is also endorsed by stars. Hence the celebrity centered positioning of Lux does not seem to be compelling. Lux has Aishwarya Rai, who is now at the peak of her career, as the brand ambassador and I feel that the brand is not taking advantage of her peak popularity. In marketing practice , one big mistake that one can make is to lose focus on the main brand and run after the variants. I feel that its time for Lux to reinvent itself , look inwards and search for the identity which has been lost among these numerous variants.

Related Brand
Lux