McCain : Fresh Banega , Baat Banegi

Corporate Brand : McCain
Company : McCain Foods India Ltd

Brand Analysis Count : # 495

McCain is one of the World's largest frozen foods manufacturers. This Canadian giant is known for its potato based frozen foods. McCain is a leading supplier of potato based items like French fries to leading quick service restaurants like McDonald. This giant has big plans for India.

McCain came to India in 1998. The brand primarily set up shop in India to cater to the  requirement of its major customer- McDonald's. The company started with the import of potato based products later commissioned its first production plant in India in 2007.

Frozen foods is a category in nascent stage in India.The category is now worth Rs 1000 crore including B2B segment. Bulk of this business is contributed by B2B segment which consists of restaurants and fast food joints. Slowly the B2C category is growing and McCain is making all out efforts to tap this segment.

Frozen foods has low penetration due to many reasons. Firstly the consumers are not open to the idea of frozen foods yet. Another major impediment to the growth of this category is the distribution inefficiencies. The lack of freezer space at retailers, supply chain issues , retailer reluctance to stock this product category has created huge issues for marketers trying to create this category. How ever things have changed. Consumers have started to use frozen foods and the presence of large retailers gave the much required supply chain support to this category.

Although McCain started selling its branded products in India since 1998, the effort was largely restricted to BTL activities. The brands like Smiles existed in the market for long but there was not much promotions for the brands. 

It was in 2011 that McCain launched its first TVC in India. 

Watch the TVC here : McCain 

The first commercial set in a typical modern Indian household is aimed at introducing the brand to Indian consumers . The brand did certain research on Indian consumer's mindset regarding  frozen foods found that consumers doubted the freshness of such frozen foods ( common sense !). Frozen foods were often viewed by consumers as 'Old ' stale foods. The brand also found that this impression changed after they tried out these products. So the challenge was to convince the non-users about "freshness " of frozen foods. 

It is a Herculean task for marketers to convince customers that Frozen foods are Fresh.The first ad successfully managed the difficult task of connecting the two attributes which are poles apart - Frozen & Fresh in a very subtle but effective manner. The ad makers used a story telling approach and by including the entire family unit in the ad addressed the concerns of all stakeholders of the family. 

The brand has the tagline " Fresh Banega , Baat Banegi " which emphasis on the freshness aspect. 

Although McCain's competency is in potato based products, the brand has tried to cater to the local tastes of Indian consumers. Its product range includes Indian dishes like Aaloo Tikka etc.The brand surprised the Indian market by introducing Frozen Idli which can be cooked within 3 minutes. The product is still in the market testing phase. The company has now focused on the snack food market and once the consumers are opened to this idea of frozen foods, more products like frozen meals will follow.

One of the best practice of McCain is its keen understanding of Indian consumers. The brand spent lot of time in understanding the market before entering the consumer segment. It strengthened its distribution and ensured retailer support before launching its promotions. The brand also took care of pricing to ensure that the value conscious Indian consumers are not scared away by the high prices. Usually frozen foods are expensive but McCain launched packs at price points like Rs 25 which entices consumers to try it out. Also the firm introduced its products in smaller packs because Indian refrigerators are usually small or have small freezers. The products like Smiles attract young consumers because of the form factor. So on many fronts McCain has put in lot of thoughts and innovation which will yield positive results.

The Frozen Foods category is now having lot of players including Godrej . The changing lifestyle has further strengthen the potential of frozen foods in the Indian market. It will be interesting to see how these players shape this market.

Xpert : Fast Action

Brand : Xpert
Company : Rohit Sufactants  Private Ltd

Brand Analysis Count : # 494

Xpert is a dishwash bar brand from Rohit Surfactants Pvt ltd (RSPL) which is now on an promotional overdrive. The brand is from RSPL  which is famous for its Ghari detergent brand. Ghari literally made the large FMCG MNCs a run for their money. The Ghari brand is infact larger than the HUL's Surf and is the second largest selling detergent brand in the country ( source). 

Xpert was launched in 2006 by RSPL as a part of its diversification. The brand is now competing in the Rs 800 crore utensil cleaner market. The market is dominated by HUL's Vim with a share of around 60%. The market is characterized by one big player and several small players. The nearest rival is Exo diswash bar  and Pril with a share of around 8% each. As history has shown, fighting HUL's Vim for market leadership position is not an easy task but that is the risk that a challenger brand needs to take.

Xpert has chosen celebrity endorsement as a route to attract consumers towards the brand. For this Xpert chose Madhuri Dixit as the celebrity endorser. The brand is currently running a campaign in TV featuring the celebrity.

Watch the ad here : Xpert  

The brand is using its Aquashine formula as the USP and like any other brand , it is talking about quick and easy cleaning. 

The ad is very basic and rather than using  Madhuri Dixit for testimony, the brand chose to use her as Gangu Thai ( a housemaid character in the movie Ganesha) for the campaign. If one has missed the Ganesha movie, the ad plot will be half lost.  

Xpert is priced around Rs 10 for 200 g bar while Vim around Rs 12. Exo is priced at par with Xpert. The brand hopes that the price differential together with celebrity will tilt the consumer choice towards Xpert. This aggressive pricing + promotional strategy is going to affect the smaller brands rather than Vim in the short-term.

What is lacking in the current strategy of Xpert is the absence of a clear differentiator. While Aquashine formula is the USP, the brand fails to communicate what it means and how it is going to benefit . May be in future campaign, these will be explained. Without a powerful differentiator, Xpert may not be able to break into the market of Vim. Exo tried with its aggressive promotions and anti-bacterial properties with limited success. It is very difficult to create a differentiator in a market like dishwash bar and almost all options has been used up by the players.

It will be interesting to see how this high profile attack of Xpert will play out in the future. In the short-term we will see some action in this dull category . 

Otto : The Symbol of Success

Brand : OTTO
Company : Pothys Group

Brand Analysis Count : # 493

Otto is the readymade brand from Pothys Group. Pothys is one of the most reputed textile retail group in South India. The brand Pothys is a known name in Silk sarees and commands tremendous brand equity across South India. 

Otto brand of men's wear started off as a private label has now moved to become a brand ( theoretically). The brand which was available at various retail stores in TN has now moved to other markets as well. Advertisements of this brand has began showing in various media across markets other than its core TamilNadu market. 

What is striking about the current campaign of OTTO is its celebrity driven brand strategy. OTTO although was in the market since 1997 is now upping its ante across various markets this season. The brand has roped in the Tamil Superstar Vikram as the brand ambassador. Print ads featuring the star is now running across Kerala where the shopping season has started coinciding with the Onam festival.

Watch the television campaign here : OTTO shirts

First it is one of those rare instances where a retailer upgrades a private label to a brand and puts that brand through other retail outlets.In that way Pothys deserves to be appreciated for the risk it has taken to build a brand in the hyper competitive readymade market. 

Having said that , the brand had fallen prey to the celebrity endorsement trap where more than anything, celebrity over shadowed the brand. It is true that celebrities like film stars command huge respect and credibility in markets like TN, AP etc and the endorsement by a star like Vikram will take the brand to new heights, in the long run it is not a good strategy for the brand.

The brand seems to be heavily depended on Vikram to deliver results. There is no mention of product features, USP, positioning or differentiation. The brand also did not try to leverage the equity of its parent Pothys. By not addressing these critical brand building basics, OTTO has lost valuable opportunity to build an image for itself that would sustain even after the contract with the celebrity is over. The brand name OTTO is a German term meaning Wealthy. 

The brand has chosen a positioning loosely on being a success symbol. The brand has the tagline  " Symbol of Success " and uses the celebrity as the proof. But given the power of the celebrity, OTTO could have done better if it had a proper brand building strategy aimed at long-term. Ideally the brand should have done these things 

• Identified a strong sustainable USP 
• Positioning statement 
• Endorsement by parent brand Pothys
• Campaign combining product feature + Positioning 

But the current campaign focus on earning short-term brownies riding on the popularity of Vikram.

Velocit : First Joys of Motherhood

Brand : Velocit
Company: Dr Reddy's

Brand Analysis Count : # 492

Velocit is a unique brand. The product belongs to Rs 1000 crore Indian diagnostic market. Velocit is a Pregnancy Diagnostic Kit launched by Dr Reddy's in 1998. The brand had grown the category and  has built a leadership position in the market.

There has been a significant growth in home diagnostic kits due to the larger incidence of diseases like diabetes, BP etc coupled with increasing awareness among the public about detection and monitoring of such diseases. Doctors also began recommending such home based diagnostic kits which further resulted in the growth of the market. This category of products are called Point of Care ( POC) testing market. POC refers to any testing made outside the traditional testing centers like labs, hospitals etc.

Home pregnancy kits gained popularity in India owing to the convenience and confidentiality it offered regarding testing pregnancy. Gone are the days when pregnancy was guessed with symptoms like Vomiting. Doctors also began advising women to test their doubts using such kits.

Home pregnancy kits like Velocit uses the presence of a hormone called Human Chorionic Gonadotropin in the urine to confirm pregnancy. 

Products like Velocit marketed itself through recommendation from doctors during the launch phase. The ethical route to promotion was adopted since consumers was unsure about the efficacy and accuracy of such products. The emergence of competition and the growth of the category prompted these brands to promote itself aggressively through advertisements.

Velocit started its branding focusing on functional benefits. It was positioned as  "3 Minute Wonder " referring to the speed with which the consumer will get the result. Now Velocit has moved to a higher positioning platform focusing on " First Joys of Motherhood ".  The brand says that the news or confirmation of pregnancy is the first joy of motherhood and the campaign puts the brand right at that first moment of joy.

Watch the ad here : Velocit

The brand also runs a print campaign along the same lines in major women's magazines. This emotional positioning will work well for the brand. The insight behind the " first joy of motherhood " should be appreciated since it strikes a chord with the consumers.

The increased number of competitors has made promotions crucial in category like that of Velocit. Most of the sales happen through word of mouth /referrals. But that WOM should be reinforced and complimented using ATL campaigns. Velocit has done this effectively.  

Brand Update : Amrutanjan wants to be Sexy

It has been a long time since I updated about Amrutanjan. A lot has happened with this brand including a rebranding exercise and launch of various variants. Amrutanjan which once had a generic status in the pain balm market is now the third largest player in the Rs 1700 crore pain balm/rub market with a market share of around 10%. The balm which was projected as a one-stop solution for all kinds of pain found it difficult to position itself in the increasingly fragmented market. With more and more specialized brands entering the market, Amrutanjan's positioning of an all-purpose brand became largely diluted.

Realizing this, the brand came out with a slew of variants and a change in the positioning. The brand also rebranded itself with a change in the logo to make it more contemporary and appealing to younger generation. Amrutanjan launched a sub-brand Amrutanjan Relief specifically for Cold management product range. The brand also introduced Roll-On variant positioning it on the basis of convenience in carrying.

In the promotional front, the brand changed its famous " Its Gone " ( Fast Relief) positioning and experimented with various other positioning platforms. In 2010,the brand roped in celebrities like Asin to endorse the brand. 

Another experiment in promotion was the " Be Ready " campaign where ten  ' slice of life ' situations were shown in the TVC where people accidently  got injured. The campaign wanted consumers to be ready with Amrutanjan because one never know when injury will happen. The campaign further asked consumers to share their own videos of such instances. 

When its main competitor Zandu Balm sizzled the market with Malliaka Arora , Amrutanjan followed suit with an attempted sizzling ad for its roll-on variant. According to Soumyadip of Cutting The Chai blog, the ad is inspired by the (in)famous Savita Bhabhi . 

Watch the ad here : Amrutanjan Roll on

The ad also gives a new tagline " Kick Out Pain " for the variant.

In my opinion, the new campaign qualify for one of the worst brand campaigns in India. The ad which is of poor taste neither talks anything sensible about the brand nor it is interesting. The brand thought that this campaign would become viral but that also did not happen. Overall it was a mega flop campaign.

Amrutanjan never found a strong positioning ever since it ditched its " Its Gone " ( fast relief)  platform. There was no reason for the brand to ditch such a strong memorable positioning. Now it is paying price for that mistake. 

Related brand

Amrutanjan

Wella Kolestint : Deep, Longer Lasting Color

Brand : Kolestint
Company  : Wella ( P&G)

Brand Analysis Count : # 491

Competition is hotting up in the Rs 1200 hair color market in India. World's leading hair color brand Wella's Kolestint is upping the ante in the fast growing premium hair color segment in the Indian market. Wella is World's biggest cosmetic company based in Germany. Wella has a rich heritage dating back to 1880 and was  created by Franz Stroher. 

In 2003, the company was acquired by P&G.

Kolestant is the premium hair color brand from Wella. The brand was launched into the Indian consumer market in 2010. The brand is currently on a promotional overdrive with a series of campaigns across the media.

Indian hair color market has seen significant shift over these years. The segment was pioneered by Godrej Ltd with its hair dye products. From hair dye targeting the greying Indian consumer, the category has seen a remarkable shift in the last few years. Hair coloring has now become a part of  urban Indian consumer's personality. From a product used to mask ageing, hair color has become a part of fashion . While hair dye was predominantly used by the greying consumers, hair color has found tremendous acceptance across various age groups. Hair Colors infact has consumed the hair dye market atleast in the urban market.

This product category has found so much acceptance that ET puts the urban hair color market at Rs 600 crore growing at the rate of 25% per annum. This stupendous growth has got the attention of all major cosmetic brands to enter into this segment.

Kolestint is a premium hair color brand directly competing with the market leader Loreal. Hair color market is classified into three product categories - powder/cream/henna. Powder form is popular in the economy segment while premium segment prefers the cream product form. The top end brands target the SEC A segment of the Indian consumers.

The market leader Loreal is positioned on its brand equity and premiumness while the new entrant Kolestint is taking the benefit positioning. Kolestint's USP is that the hair color lasts much longer compared to competing brands. The brand had a consumer insight that most of the time, hair coloring goes unnoticed.Consumers complain that even after spending lot of money on hair coloring , the effect is not noticed and the coloring lasts only for a few days . Kolestint has used this insight to position the brand as a hair color that not only lasts longer but also will get you noticed. The brand has used this proposition very effectively using celebrity testimonials.The brand has used Noticability Attribute in its launch ad with John Abraham and Bipasha Basu.

The brand used popular television/bollywood celebrities like Shruti Seth , Ragini Khanna etc in the subsequent campaigns which talked about their own experience with the brand. In the follow up campaigns, the brand focused on Long Lasting Color benefit as the USP.

Watch the campaigns here : Shruti Seth

Here the brand is using the same strategy of Loreal to break into the market leader's position. Loreal have also used celebrity testimonial ads to boost its image.  Kolestint was wise enough to not to chose high profile celebrities for the testimonial ads because most of the time consumers discount those testimonial ads. The choice of popular cine/television artists like Shruti Seth gave more authenticity to the testimonial ads compared to high profile celebrities. 

In the hair color market, longer lasting colors and noticability are two major attributes that consumers look for. Kolestint has made a major marketing gain by focusing on those two important attributes. The brand has followed up its brand campaigns with a below-the-line activity of running a Switch Event across the markets. Consumers are asked to bring their unused non-Kolestint hair color packet and exchange it with Kolestint hair color. Since hair color products are experiential in nature, getting consumers to try the brand is very essential. These switch events aims at encouraging the users of competing brands to switch to Kolestint.

The premium hair color market is going to witness huge competition in the coming months. The market leader Loreal is not going to wait in the sidelines and will rather fight Kolestint directly . It will be a category worth watching.