Suguna Poultry : Younger Tender Better

Brand :Suguna
Company : Suguna Poultry
Agency : R K Swamy BBDO

Brand Analysis Count : 346

Suguna Poultry is one of the major players in the fragmented poultry industry in India. Suguna is a classic case of commodity branding . Suguna Poultry started its operations in 1984. The company is based in Coimbatore in Tamilnadu.

The story of Suguna is interesting to a marketer for two reasons. First is obvious in that Suguna is branding poultry products which is a hardcore commodity business. Second is its unique business model.

India is the third largest egg producer and fifth largest poultry meat producer in the world. Indian poultry market is huge with an estimated market size of Rs 20,000 crore ( Business line) . According to Business Standard ( July 08), the size is estimated to be around Rs 12,000 crore.

The market is highly fragmented and dominated by local players. It is in this context that Suguna 's story becomes relevant.

Suguna came into a difficult market with a difficult idea. Branding chicken ! But through heavy investment in the media, Suguna was able to create a mind space for itself .
In the poultry market , the frozen meat market was around Rs 7500 crore. It was in this market where some amount of branding activity was seen.

The market further expanded with Godrej Agrovet entering the market with their brand Real Good.Suguna was promoting itself on quality and tenderness. I remember seeing lot of ads of Suguna during mid nineties. But in Indian market, consumers prefer live birds to frozen meat because of the easy availability of live birds. Suguna was able to make its brand prominent in this market also.

Suguna has sold live birds and eggs worth Rs 2020 crore in 2007 without owning a single poultry farm. That makes their business model interesting. The company pioneered contract farming in the poultry industry in India. The company source their produce through 12000 contract farmers across different states.

According to reports , Suguna owns the day -old-chickens , feed and feed medicine and the contract farmer is responsible for the day to day management of the farm. The farmer gets the assured income while the company takes care of the risk . In that way Suguna can channel its valuable resources to marketing and distribution.

Then the company entered into another lucrative market of selling branded egg. Each year India produces around 47 billion eggs worth Rs 10,000 crore.The market is growing at a rate of 15 % in an year ( Economic Times ).

Suguna has four egg brands and sells over one million eggs a month. Suguna launched these value added egg which is fortified with vitamins. This is done by feeding the laying hen with specialized nutrient feed.I am a regular customer of Suguna eggs.
The brands are
Suguna Pro
Suguna Active
Suguna Heart
Suguna Shakthi

Infact my wife started buying this brand of eggs for my child since she was impressed by the packaging which made the eggs look more hygienic and healthy. Priced almost 50% more than the usual eggs, Suguna had to show some differentiation in the product to justify the premium.

I closely looked at this simple product ( egg) for differentiation and it was evident. The eggs were clean , more shining and uniform in terms of size and shape. Another differentiation was in the packaging. In branding commodity, a marketer should be able to justify the premium and Suguna was able to do just that.

Suguna also has expensive range of eggs under the variant Suguna Heart which contains less cholesterol and rich in Omega-3 fatty acids.

Buoyed by the success of these businesses, Suguna has entered into front end retail by launching Suguna Daily Fresh retail outlets. Reports also say that the company is launching Ready To Eat Chicken products also.

Suguna is a case which proves that its possible to brand any commodity.

Brand Update : Tata Indica

Tata Motors recently launched the new generation Indica Vista. The best selling car from Tata Motors has become even better with a new look and a new positioning.

Tata Indica was launched in 1998 and has sold more than 9 lakh cars so far. It is the second largest selling car trailing Maruthi Alto. Indica is a classic example of managing product life cycle efficiently.

From a shaky start, Indica has come a long way. Written off by many skeptics as Ratan Tata's unachievable dream, Indica has proved skeptics wrong by selling huge numbers. The core strength of the brand being its value proposition.

To sustain in a highly competitive market for more than 9 years is no child's play. Tata Motors has invested heavily in both product and brand development over these years. The new launch is yet again another proof of the company's resilience.

Indica Vista is Tata's entry into the luxury hatchback segment. The segment is dominated by Maruthi Swift. Indica Vista replaces seven variants of the original Indica V2.
Over the last few months, the sales of Indica was showing a decline. A classic case where the product reaches the declining maturity stage. And as theory says one strategy is to go for product modification.

Vista comes with a new style, more space and a new set of engines. The car sports Quadrajet and Safire engines which was build jointly by Tata Motors and Fiat. The new Indica Vista comes in the price range of Rs 3.50 - 4.50 lakh price range.
The original Indica is also retained in the product line. Now Indica offers a wide choice to the customers from price points of Rs 2.80 lakh to Rs 5 Lakhs.

The brand Vista sports a refreshing next generation look . Indica had the weakness of not looking peppy or sexy. That put off many young customers. The new Indica Vista is more curvy and looks pretty cool . But not as sexy as its competitors like Swift or Getz.

The brand now sports a new tagline " Changes Everything ". The slogan is primarily telling the consumers that the brand has changed. The ads are also more tuned to attracting the new generation.
Watch the new tvc here : Indica Vista

More than looks , I feel that Vista will sell more because of value proposition. The acquisition of Land Rover and Jaguar and the Tata Nano has helped a quantum leap interms of brand equity for Tata Motors.

Best Marketing Practice : Customer Ombudsman

Best Marketing Practice #2

HUL has introduced a unique practice in India by launching a Customer Ombudsman. In July the company appointed a retired Justice Mr M S Rane as the customer ombudsman. It is for the first time that an Indian FMCG company has appointed an ombudsman for customer grievances.

Ombudsman are usually officials who are charged with the responsibility of representing the public by investigating and addressing grievances and complaints of the public. ( Wikipedia).

The current move was a part of the Lever Care initiative of the company which was started in 2007. Through Lever Care , the company wanted to provide a single point of contact for addressing consumer complaints and feedback .

The Lever Care works through a system of call centers and designated officials who will handle the complaint management process. The customers are encouraged to contact the Lever Care numbers/email etc in case of a grievance.

According to the company, the complaint pack will be replaced by the company with a new one . Then the complaint will be processed for further action.

According to the press release, those complaints which could not be resolved through Lever Care will be routed to the Ombudsman who in turn will investigate the complaint .The decision of the mediator will be binding on the company and not on the consumer.

I was intrigued by this news. Why should an FMCG company put so much pain in the complaint management process. I was under the impression that FMCG companies will not be facing much complaints compared to consumer durable companies and service firms.

According to a report in Livemint , HUL has around 200 cases in various courts against it ( I was surprised ). Court cases can take away lot of time energy and money from the company. HUL hopes that such an alternative will help both the customers and the company to handle complaints and grievances quickly.
I think its a good proactive move by the company to make things easier for the consumer to address his grievances. I think its a best practice because its usually a nightmarish experience for a customer to get his problem addressed. Ombudsman helps genuine customers to get a speedy unbiased redressal.

Secondly HUL really doesn't need such a mechanism when compared to other businesses.Most of the products are of high quality, less priced and the service element in its products are negligible. Still the fact that the company has invested its time and energy in reaching out to the customers is quite laudable.

Brand Update : Timex

After around two years of media silence, Timex has launched a new campaign for their latest collection of watches. The collection is branded as Conversation Starters.

Watch the campaign here : Timex

The new campaign is a repositioning exercise for the brand which was earlier positioned as a rugged watch for the outdoors.
The new campaign is trying to make the brand appeal for the hip-hop fashion conscious young generation. The brand is also not using the slogan " What Next " which it used for the last two years.

The brand is aiming the SEC A youth aged between 20 & 25. Earlier ads were targeting more mature guys like the young professionals who loves the outdoors. The new range of watches aims the younger generation who love socializing.
It makes sense for Timex to target these segments because there is no brands aiming this age group. Fastrack is aiming the college segment while Titan is for mature ones. Hence Timex through this collection is aiming to target the highly lucrative youth segment.

Related Brand
Timex

Hanung Toys : Bringing Smile to the World

Corporate Brand : Hanung Toys & Textiles
Agency : Oxygen

Brand Analysis Count : 345

Hanung is a less celebrated brand in India. This company is India's largest soft toy manufacturer and a preferred supplier to some of the well known global retailers like IKEA.

Hanung Toys & Textiles came into existence in 1991. Conceived by Mr Ashok Kumar Bansal, Hanung became a leader in the soft toy market in India within a span of ten years. The company started with a modest order of Rs 6 lakh from IKEA. From there on, Hanung was on the growth path becoming the largest exporter of soft toys and then later diversifying into soft furnishing products during the early 2005.

The company has collaboration with a South Korean company.It adopted the Korean name. Hanung which means - Stem of Tree. The logic is simple, to get the international look., you need an international name Even in India Hanung is perceived to be an International brand rather than an Indian one.

Hanung now manufacturers about 11,000,000 pieces of soft toys and about 1,250,000 furnishing sets per year. The company supplies to retailers across Europe, US , Latin America and Middle East. The highlight of the company history is the Rs 600 crore order it received from IKEA in 2007 which catapulted Hanung to the big league . Till 2007, Hanung was a licensee for Walt Disney in India.


But how many of us know about this company. Although Hanung is an exporter, the company has strong domestic presence too. Infact its the market leader in the soft toy category in India .
Indian toy market is estimated to be around Rs 2500 crore and the organised soft toy market is around Rs 200 crore. The market is in utter mess because of cheap Chinese toys.

With regard to the Hanung brand in India, the company have two domestic brands . Hanung has launched a chain of toy store under the brand Play-n-Pets which is a more upmarket brand. It also have another brand Muskan which is a more affordable range of toys.

What I feel about Hanung is that it is not utilizing its potential in Indian market . I have bought a couple of Hanung Toys ( thinking its a foreign brand ) and is absolutely satisfied with the products. The product has quality and affordable price.

The brands from Hanung gets a good retailer support but on the promotional front, Hanung is almost silent in the media. It could have made these products a rage in the Indian market. But I think they are more focusing on the export market which is more lucrative.

Both the domestic brands Muskan and Play-n-Pets are nice brand names and can catch the fancy of Indian consumers. As a parent, I am now concerned about the quality of toys which my child plays with. I think Indian consumers are slowly waking up to the quality issues in Toys.
Now I check the toys and the manufacturer before buying it and Chinese toys are now out of my shopping list. So there is a growing market for quality brands like Hanung.

Competition is also in the offing. Reports say that Reliance Retail is planning a category killer in the toy retail space. Hanung will only benefit out of these since they can supply to these retail giants .

As a consumer I accidentally discovered this brand and now become a loyal customer .There will be many customers who need such a brand but unaware of its existence.Its a marketing mistake to under utilize the potential of such a wonderful brand.

Related brand
Funskool

Brand Update : Sugar Free Gold

Sugar Free Gold now running an aggressive marketing campaign. It has roped in two celebrities . Now Sugarfree is endorsed by the Tamil actress Simran in the South and Bipasha Basu in the North.

Watch the TVC here : Sugarfree

The new campaign is interesting because of two factors.

As discussed in my earlier post, Sugarfree has been positioned as an healthy alternative for Sugar. Now the new campaign takes a slight variation in the positioning from health to fitness. While both health and fitness are in the same level , fitness platform is more appealing to a broader set of younger consumers than health.
Health is defensive while fitness is proactive.

Another interesting factor is that the new campaign tends to associate the unique shape of the Sugarfree with body shape. I think its a smart move by the agency to link the shape of the bottle and a perfect body shape.

But there is something for the brand to worry about.
Recently I was talking to a doctor friend of mine and the subject of this brand came into the conversation. He mentioned that these products contain Aspartame which is bad for the health.

Sugarfree has different variants which have different ingredients. Sugar Free Gold have aspartame while Sugar Free Natura have sucralose which is a healthy substitute to sugar than aspartame.

I think that its the price that is not making this product category to expand. Although I am health conscious and a tea lover, I have a perception that Sugar Free will burn a big hole in my pocket. So unless the prices of these products come down, this product will not be accessible to a large mass of potential customers.