Thursday, July 30, 2009

Scotch Purple Glue Stick : Magic

Brand : Scotch Purple Glue Stick
Company : 3M
Agency : Grey

Brand Analysis Count : 411

3M is always known for its customer centric innovations. Scotch Purple Glue Stick is such an innovation. This brand was launched recently in select cities of India.

Scotch Purple Glue is India's first colored glue . The brand is targeting the school going kids.
What makes this glue different from other glue stick brands like FeviStick is its innovative coloring mechanism.

The Purple Glue rubs purple but dries clear. That means when the kids rubs the glue on the paper, it is in purple color that helps the kids to see where the glue is being applied. When the glue dries, it becomes colorless and clear. This is nothing but the magic of innovation.

Watch the TVC here : Scotch Purple Glue

The brand also has a large choke resistant cap which prevents accidental choking which makes it safe for the kids. How many Indian marketers has ever thought of making their products safe for kids ?

As a consumer, I am delighted to see the convenience that this product will offer to kids . Will I buy it for my child, absolutely. Will my kid love the product, I bet she will.

Related Brand
Fevistick
Kangaro

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Suthol : Soothes All

Brand : Suthol
Company : GD Pharmaceuticals


Brand Analysis Count : 410

Suthol is a brand from GD pharmaceuticals - the manufacturers of the famous Boroline brand. Suthol is a liquid antiseptic. Suthol was launched in 2006. The brand was first launched in West Bengal.

I noticed this brand through an advertisement in a leading magazine. Frankly I have never seen this brand in any of the stores. I guess that Suthol is just being launched in Kerala.

The brand is fighting in the Rs 120 crore antiseptic market which is dominated by Dettol.
Suthol brand name is derived from two words : Soothe All. The brand's positioning is also in line with the meaning of the brand.

Like Boroline, Suthol also believes in subtle promotions. Boroline has grown not because of ads but because of product efficacy. Suthol is also following Boroline's path.

Suthol is being positioned as an antiseptic lotion that help fight/prevent rashes and infections. The brand claims to have skin soothing properties as well as germ killing properties.

The brand is fighting in a very difficult market. Dettol is almost generic to this category. As a market leader, Dettol is very aggressive over competition. Cracking such a market is not very easy. There are two options for a challenger brand - to fight with the market leader or to carve out a niche. Suthol has to make a choice between these two options.

To fight a brand like Dettol, one needs to have a serious differentiation. This is a market where even J&J and HUL failed to displace Dettol.

Suthol is a liquid antiseptic which is different from Dettol. Unlike Dettol, Suthol is not a concentrated antiseptic. That means you can apply Suthol directly to the skin ( See website for more details) . And unlike Dettol, it does not have that burning sensation and claims to be soothing . Suthol even asks consumers to pour some drops on the palm and rub it on the body which is unthinkable for Dettol. That means , Suthol has an edge over Dettol when it comes to personal care application .

In a sense, Suthol has some powerful differentiators compared to Dettol . But it lacks the brand equity or the financial muscle to fight a power brand like Dettol. That may be the reason why the brand has chosen a phased soft launch.

The best way for Suthol is to carve a segment of users who look for a daily-use antiseptic which is not as strong as Dettol. The brand has the right attributes to appeal to such consumers.

The campaigns of Suthol is nothing but very basic.
Watch the tvc here : Suthol

Even the print ads are not focused on building a positioning platform. Most of the ads are just informative ads focusing on product attributes. I think the Suthol needs to focus on building its brand around its core differentiation of " a Soothing antiseptic " . A dose of celebrity endorsement will also help the brand to get consumer trials.

Suthol is slowly expanding its market from Bengal to down south Kerala. It will be interesting to see how the brand puts up against the mighty Dettol.

Related Brand
Dettol
Savlon

Friday, July 24, 2009

Brand Update : Santoor

Santoor has become the market leader in South India dethroning Lifebuoy , according to a report in Economic Times. Santoor has registered a 18 % growth this year. Now Santoor has 15.7 % value share in the South India market . In the national level, Santoor is the third largest soap brand with a share of 7.5% (value share).

Read the report here



Santoor's success can be attributed to its penchant for consistency. The brand is highly focused in its communication message and consistently invest in building brands.

Kudos for the brand

Related Brand
Santoor
Chandrika

Appreciation for Marketing Practice

Bachelorsdegreeonline.com thinks that Marketing Practice is an awesome blog for business education. The blog post also gives links to several amazing blogs which is highly informative.

Read the post here : Bachelorsdegree

Thanks

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Revive : Creating a Category

Brand : Revive
Company : Marico
Agency : Publicis


Brand Analysis Count : 409



Revive is an interesting brand. This is a brand which created the instant starch market in India. Revive can be considered as a classic example of branding a commodity.
Revive was launched in 1993. The brand was received very well by the consumer community. Revive targeted the urban middle and upper households which was willing to pay a premium for convenience.

Revive is also an example of a product that was developed to satisfy a unmet need. Indian households traditionally used starch to stiffen their clothes,especially cotton clothes. The process of making starch and using them was a tedious process for the homemaker. The homemade starch was quite messy and used to leave patches in clothes. It used to smell bad and was not suitable for color clothes.

Revive solved these issues at one go. The brand was initially launched in the powder form. The homemaker could make starch easy by just mixing the powder with water. It offered convenience and saved a lot of time. Another significant advantage of Revive was that it could be used in cold water. Traditional starch needed warm water. Revive also can be used in color clothes which was again a big advantage for the consumers.

It is difficult for the consumer to ignore a product that offers solution to their problems . Revive was successful because it made the life of homemaker little more easier. Revive too had its share of disadvantages. The problem was with the product form and the price. Revive was premium priced compared to the virtually "free" homemade starch. Hence convincing consumers to sample the product was tough. Since the product was in the powder form, consumers was confused about the quantity of powder that should be used.

The real challenge for Revive came when Jyothi Lab launched Stiff & Shine. Stiff & Shine was a liquid stiffener which was much convenient than the powder Revive. Jyothi Lab was trying the same strategy which it used to dethrone Robin powder blue.

But Marico reacted very fast to the challenge posed by Stiff & Shine. It launched the liquid version of Revive very fast and backed it with a heavy dose of campaign.
Revive is focusing on three main attributes in its campaigns- instant starch ( convenience),better stiffness for clothes and no patches.
The fight between Stiff & Shine and Revive is still raging with both brands now linking confidence and social acceptability . Both the brands are running similar campaigns ( using kids) claiming that clothes that are well ironed and shining will earn you self-respect and social acceptance.

Recently Marico took the fight to a new level by launching the liquid blue extension of Revive. I was surprised to see the ad of Revive liquid blue. No further details about this extension is available in the public domain .

Revive is a brand which is promoted heavily by Marico. The instant starch market is still very small and the task of the marketer is to increase the market size rather than to fight for the market share. The recent campaigns connecting the brand and social acceptance is targeted at non-users of this category motivating them to use the product.

The instant starch category has a great market potential and the brands should focus on increasing the category size. There is lot of room for growth for these brands when the category grows . Revive should resist the temptation of extension because the brand will reap rich rewards if it focuses on the category it created.

Related Brand
Ujala

Monday, July 20, 2009

Guru Speak : Advertising During Recession by Lakshmipathy Bhat

Marketing Practice is happy to present a guest post from an Advertising professional par Excellence- Mr Lakshmipathy Bhat. Mr Bhat is currently Vice President at DraftFCB+Ulka Advertising, Bangalore. Mr Bhat has over 17 years experience in various marketing functions. He has worked on BAT, P&G,GSK among others

An ardent lover of Advertising, Mr Bhat is a prolific blogger and runs a blog at lbhat.com

In this post, Mr Bhat talks about advertising strategies that should be adopted during difficult times like recession.

Advertising during recession

It is not unusual to find companies who regard advertising as a wasteful, unnecessary expenditure. The belief is that as long as you have a great product, people will buy. Even with companies who place a great emphasis on advertising, the urge to cut the advertising expenditure is huge, especially during recessionary times.

But it is a well known fact that advertising during recession is a smart thing, maybe even a mandatory thing to do. It’s virtues are well-established and oft-repeated perhaps from 1929, the time of the first Great Depression in the US. But human tendency is such that what seems practical and beneficial in the short term is usually chosen path. The long term benefits of sustaining advertising during tough times far outweigh the possible short term benefit of saving money.

What are the broad guidelines for advertising during recession? The general approach to advertising during recession and advice to marketing companies have been provided by several experts. So what I am going to outline below will not be startlingly new - just my views on the important guidelines:

1. Evaluate the role of your product in the consumer’s life

What might be right for a manufacturer of office furniture may not be relevant for a hair oil marketer. Every product fulfills a certain need in the consumer’s mind. The starting point could perhaps be to evaluate the role of the product. In an article titled Yes, you can raise prices’, Geoff Colvin of Fortune Magazine illustrated the point about being able to even raise prices during recession through a simple 2x2 matrix. Where does your product fit in that kind of a matrix? Is it a necessity like a washing soap or light bulb? Or discretionary like a spa treatment? The answers may provide direction for your approach to pricing and advertising during recession. Of course, such a matrix may be interpreted differently in different markets. In India for example, is an airline brand a discretionary commodity or unique? Everyday purchases that can’t be done without need to stay top of mind. Unique ‘necessities’ are products where certain brands are irreplaceable in that category - it is usually about brands whose loyalty measures are high.


Another useful tool is The FCB Grid, developed by Richard Vaughn, a Senior Vice President of Foote, Cone and Belding Advertising. It shows how consumers approach each category and provides cues for advertising & media strategy for these brands.


For example, for brands in Quadrant 2 - the impact could be that the advertising execution has to be top class with emphasis on impact. Whereas for brands in Quadrant 3, the emphasis could be about repetition, memorability (jingle, perhaps) and so on.

2. Stretch the advertising rupee

Well, there is no reason why a lot of the stuff that is prescribed and done during the tough times is not practiced otherwise! Is every advertising effort meant to produce great ROI? Yes. Is it applicable only during tough times? Obviously not but this aspect is somehow stressed only now. Certain categories will find their incomes being hit - financial products, air travel, hotels, for example. They should research and invest in media that minimize wastage. It could be direct marketing, Online advertising that is measurable and so on. On television, evaluate if you really need that 40-sec commercial or can an equally impactful message be sent across in 30-sec?

3. Focus on changing behaviour, not just attitude

One of the perennial accusations about advertising is it’s fuzzy role in generating sales. Many see advertising as being limited to creating awareness and not really driving sales. The agency would argue that the sale did not happen for reasons beyond their control - pricing, distribution etc. Both valid. But it perhaps makes sense to engineer not just advertising but the entire marketing process to effect a change in behaviour during tough times. It’s not enough for the consumer to feel that XYZ airline is the best airline in terms of service. He must be motivated to make that booking and fly the airline. Perhaps this is more relevant for high value, high interest categories. But even for everyday impulse purchases, SKUs with lower price points could be an option. Advertising should work hand in hand to push the consumer into making a decision focusing on the reason-why he should consider the brand not just a generic message.

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Lakshmipathy Bhat

The views/opinions expressed here are the personal views of the author.