Vivel Di Wills : Beauty with Confidence

Brand : Vivel Di Wills
Company : ITC
Agency : Law & Kenneth


Brand Analysis Count : 313

Shortly after launching the up-market personal care brand - Fiama Di Wills, ITC has launched another personal care brand - Vivel Di Wills. Not only that, another two brands has been launched - Vivel and Superia in close succession .

Vivel Di Wills can be termed as a brand for the middle class and priced well below Fiama Di Wills . Vivel Di Wills has been launched even before the brand Fiama Di Wills settled in the market. In a way ITC is flooding the personal care market with its brands.

Vivel Di Wills - as the name suggests shares the term ' Di Wills ' with Fiama and Essenza. Vivel Di Wills comes in two variants : Sheer Radiance and Sheer Creme. Sheer Radiance contains Olive Oil while Creme variant contains Shea Butter.
What differentiates Vivel Di Wills is the ingredient branded Actipro-N which was developed by ITC R & D team. Actipro -N nourishes, protects and hydrates the skin thus enhancing the beauty of the skin.
Vivel Di Wills comes in an attractive carton package with some elegant color scheme. The brand is priced at Rs 16 for 75 gm cake.

Now comes the interesting part. When I was shopping, the attractive packing and display of Vivel Di Wills prompted me to take one ( for my wife ) . But when I reached the section for soaps, I was surprised to see another set of soaps with the brand name Vivel . This was confusing to me and I thought that it was a fake brand taking advantage of Vivel Di Wills. On closer examination, I was surprised to find that Vivel also belong to ITC. Then I checked the price and it was less that Vivel Di Wills. The packaging was ordinary and there was even a sales promotion offer attached with the soap ( Price off) .

So there are two brands Vivel Di Wills and Vivel priced differently and even the brand elements are different. News reports say that Vivel has four variants : Satin soft, Young Glow, Ayurvedic Essence, Sandal Sparkle.

So the natural question is about the logic of these two brands with similar brand names launched simultaneously. In a press release available in the ITC portal, the category head Sandeep Kaul mentions that they are going to use price and positioning difference to separate the brands Fiama and Vivel Di Wills since Fiama also launched a soap recently.

But the question is with Vivel Di Wills and Vivel. I am a little confused but a parallel can be drawn between Vivel Di Wills, Vivel , Lux and Lux International. Lux International is positioned as a premium soap while Lux is a mass market one. ITC may be adopting the same strategy. ITC is looking at two segments within the medium priced soap category and using a small price differential, it is tapping customers who can pay a little more for extra benefits ( Masstige brand). The campaign for Vivel Di Wills will indirectly draw customers ( Value conscious ) towards Vivel.

Vivel Di Wills is being promoted using TVC and the message is that the lady is so beautiful that the husband does not notice any other ladies. My initial impression about the soap is positive and I find the fragrance refreshing and new. The brand name Vivel Di Wills is urban and will definitely appeal the educated urban consumers . The brand also has its advantage interms of the ingredients. Indian consumers will be impressed by the ingredients like Olive Oil, Active Clay, Shea butter which gives this brand a unique healthy natural perception.

The idea behind these fast launches is to provide a complete range of soap brands to the Indian consumer. ITC knew that it is a late entrant to the market. Time is too short for phased launches. Hence the strategy is to offer a full portfolio at one go and then try to manage the differences.

Brand Update : Coca-Cola

This summer, Coca-Cola has launched the latest campaign featuring Hrithik Roshan.

Watch the TVC here : Coke Ad

The new ad has a new theme and a new positioning. According to news reports, the brand is trying to project a new young image to counter its rival Pepsi. Hence this summer , the brand will be using Hrithik for the communication .

The brand is now trying out a new theme endorsed by the slogan ' Jashan mana le ' meaning ' celebrate '.
The concept is that Coca-cola is an integral part of every celebration and with coke , there is celebration. The celebration is often spontaneous . The brand is now trying to project enjoyment and exhilaration. All said and done, the ad is nothing special. The theme and the execution is only average and I remember seeing the same type of ad for many brands. Even Cadbury has done the same theme.
Again Coke can relax because Pepsi is doing much worse. The new ad of Pepsi featuring Ranbir , SRK and Deepika is one of the horrible ads I have seen in recent times.

From both Coke and Pepsi ads , what I make out is the panic that these brands face to project themselves as youthful. Saying that the brand is young will not make a brand young.Creating a new name Youngistan or getting a youth icon to endorse the brand is not going to make the brand young.
To be young needs these brands to develop an attitude and attitude takes good thoughts to be built around the brand. Somewhere down the line Pepsi lost the connect with the youth. Coke is yet to discover that thought.

Brand Update : Amul Macho

So here it is, Amul Macho's sequel to the controversial first ad has been launched.

Watch it here : Amul Macho orangutan

Like the previous one , this one is less spicy but have all the elements to rake up some controversy.But the ad is not raunchy or bad taste as the previous one. Interestingly the first ad involving the newly wed created huge interest among the public with blogs and forums discussing the ad in detail. In that aspect, the first one was a remarkable success.

The second ad features orangutans and the ad is definitely well made. I am not referring to the storyboard but the filming. It would have burned a big hole in the companies pocket to make those orangutans act.
However the brand is sticking to its earlier positioning of " crafted for fantasies " . The idea is nothing new and I remember a couple of Indian innerwear ad like Rupa having ads which shows ladies chasing men in underwears . The difference here is that the protagonist is an orangutan. Some scenes in the ad makes us squirm if we are watching with our family and the intention is to generate some controversy. The lady looks like the same one from the earlier controversial ad and the song is also the same.

Related Brand
Amul Macho

MotoYuva : Aab Apni Suno

Brand : Motoyuva
Company: Motorola
Agency : O&M


Brand Analysis Count : 312

After creating a rage with some smart campaigns for Motorockr, Motorola is back again with another brand MotoYuva. Motoyuva , as the name suggest is a brand targeted at the youth . It is Motorola's latest venture into the fast growing entry level mobile handset market in India.

Indian mobile handset market is huge with an annual sale of any where between 60- 70 million handset. The entry level mobile phones dominate in the volume share . Motorola had another couple of models in this segment like C118 but Motoyuva is different.
The difference is that this is the entry level brand targeting the youth segment ( age 18-29) and also it is a brand rather than a dry model number.
It is worthwhile to note that it was Motorola which had started branding various models deviating from the practice of the market leader Nokia. Nokia followed the model numbering because of the ever changing models and technology.
But Motorola tackled this issue by branding a series. For example Motorazr was the series brand name and there were different models under this series.
Similarly Motoyuva started with the first model Motoyuva W180. The brand was an entry level phone with FM Radio and Hindi dictionary and speaker phone.

The brand was launched with a crazy ad which took me a while to understand when I saw it the first time.
Watch the ad here : Motoyuva 180

Motoyuva W180 had a tagline " Motoyuva aaya to aapka beta gaya " meaning ' when Motoyuva comes you will lose your son to it ' .
The idea is that the phone is fully loaded that the young ones will be lost in the phone.

The success of W180 prompted Motorola to extend the series with a basic music phone. Thus came the new variant MotoYuva W230. 230 comes with MP3 player with expandable memory at a tempting price of around Rs 3100.

What was interesting was the campaign.
Watch the campaign here : Motoyuva 230.

The ad shows a young boy using the music phone to escape from the nagging father. According to agencyfaqs, the consumer insight that drive this ad is that today's youth use music as an escape route. The ad is well made with a catchy score ( Adnan Sami) and a cool dude and a very realistic papa character. The brand uses the tagline " ab apni suno " meaning ' Now hear what you want to hear'

Soon after the ads was on air, one of my students raised a point that this ad will be offensive/irritating to the father and thus may not allow the son to buy this model. The reason he pointed out is that the TG for this brand may have to depend on the father for the money.
I also read a couple of blogs which aired similar views.
So the question arises as to the logic behind such a campaign berating father who can be the sponsor for the purchase of this phone.

The fact is that everything about the ad is realistic. It is a fact that for teenagers and youngsters , fathers are usually perceived to be nagging , complaining and criticizing . Often fathers become a big stumbling block in their quest for freedom. It is a fact that music mobiles are a rage among youngsters and it is a fact that they use music to shut themselves from the external world.
But whether to use these facts for a TV commercial is something that is debatable......

The simple fact that this campaign has become a talking point justifies the purpose of this ad. In this season where almost every brand is making hell of a noise trying to sell a '5 mp mobile camera phone ' to music mobile with a thump, it is not easy to make us discuss Motoyuva .

The company knew that this ad may create some murmurs , but the main purpose was to break the clutter. The ad achieved that to a large extent. The ad makes us chuckle and we watch because the characters look so natural.

The larger question remains whether the PAPA will object to buying this phone.. Some will and some may not. In majority of the cases, Parents leave the choice of the mobile phones to their sons and thus the ad may not affect the sales.
For these segment, it is the value that matters. At Rs 3100, if the customers including PAPA feels that Motoyuva provides value, the purchase will be made and other wise it will not.

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