Marketing Funda : India's Most Trusted Brands 2007

Economic Times has published Brand Equity's Most Trusted Brands. Colgate for the fourth year in a row topped the list. The first ten positions in the list looks like this

1.Colgate
2.Vicks
3.Lux
4.Nokia
5.Britannia
6.Dettol
7.Lifebuoy
8.Pepsodent
9.Pond's
10.Tata Tea

The top ten service brands are
1.LIC
2.Airtel
3.State Bank of India
4.Reliance India Mobile
5.BSNL
6.Tata Indicom
7.Indian oil
8.ICICI Bank
9.Bank of India
10.Reliance Petroleum

Colgate has every qualification to be in the number one league because of its ability to understand Indian consumer and innovate interms of the product and marketing mix. The brands that feature in teh list is a testimony of successful marketing.

Cheers

Thirty Plus : Needing Energy

Brand : Thirty Plus
Company: Ajanta Pharma

Brand Count: 236

Thirty Plus is an interesting brand because of the brand name and marketing. The brand comes under the energizer category but perceived as an Aphrodisiac. This herbal capsule was launched in 1990 by a small time pharma manufacturer Ajanta Pharmaceuticals. This single product catapulted the company into the big league.

Indian Aphrodisiac market is huge valued around Rs 5 - 8 billion. The market is fragmented with majority of market dominated by local brands and unbranded remedies. The major branded players being Thirty Plus and Revital from Ranbaxy.

Although the website says that Thirty Plus is an energizer + Aphrodisiac, when the brand was launched , it was positioned as an energising capsule for Thirty Plus Males. The brand used Jitendra as its brand ambassador during the nineties. The ads were an instant hit and so was the product. The brand is now sold through the Over The Counter ( OTC) route.
But after the initial launch hype , the brand did not invest in itself. I don't remember any ads of this brand in the past 10 years or so. But because the product is an Aphrodisiac, the users may search and find it out.
The brands in categories of OTC or herbal drugs face serious regulatory issues regarding the brand promotion. The marketing of such products are regulated by Magic Remedies Act and any serious violation can take the brand to the court. So most of the manufacturers of such drugs are careful of not over exposing themselves.

There is another interesting issue that this brand faced.It is regarding the brand name. As the name indicates, the brand is meant for those who are Thirty Plus. When it was launched, the age Thirty was considered to be middle age where you become psychologically conscious about your decreasing vitality. Hence the brand name correctly conveyed the brand 's TG and its use.

But the brand now faces the issue where thirty is not now considered as a middle age ( not because I am past thirty). Most of the professionals start their family life in their late twenties and early thirties. The average age of Indians also has increased and now may be even Forty is considered to be a middle age. Hence a brand with a name Thirty Plus appeal to the new TG of 40 + ? It is just a theoretical observation because if the brand does what it promises, then any brand name will do.

Marketing Funda : India's Income Pyramid

India's consumption forecast and the burgeoning Globals and Aspirers are making the marketers drool.

Source: Economic times.

The large upper strata is now encouraging lot of marketers to look at premium products.

Johnnie Walker : Keep Walking

Brand : Johnnie Walker
Company: Diageo
Agency: Leo Burnett

Brand Count : 235

Johnnie Walker is a global icon in the Beverages business. The brand named after the founder Mr John Walker, this heritage brand was born in 1820. An umbrella brand that endorses may of the iconic variants like RedLabel , Black Label etc, this brand is considered to be a brand leader in the worldwide whiskey market.

Johnnie Walker came to India in 2001. Before that the brand and its variant commanded a whopping 65% share in the duty paid channel. India is a huge market for liquor and the estimated market for Indian Made Foreign Liquor is around Rs 34,000 crore.

Deviating slightly from the brand, I thing IMFL or Indian Made Foreign Liquor is one of the classic Oxymoron. I still cannot understand the logic of the IMFL. It is still a living example of the erswhile License Raj.
Johnnie Walker is an interesting brand to me because of the classic campaign " Keep Walking". Keep Walking is the brand's global branding campaign which began in 1999 .The campaign took the brand from a local player to a global icon. The idea is so simple that this could be used in any market and in anyway that the marketer chose to use it. The tagline is one of the most memorable and I rate this as one of the best taglines. The tagline became so hit that in some markets, the line has become a part of the lingua.
The tagline is splashed across the globe in billboards, posters and print ads. The brand and its agency was able to look at the current environments and communicate something similar to TOPICALS pioneered by Amul in India.
One such billboard in Lebanon captured attention in the media across the world. According to reports, the campaign is running in 125 countries. The local managers are given the freedom to adapt the message to suit their own market. For example, recently Keep Walking campaign was run in India taking a cue from the India's World cup debacle.

The brand is being positioned on the concept of Progress. The Striding Man logo was devised to convey the philosophy of the founder's belief that through perseverance, the dreams can be realized. The brand is basing its positioning on the spirit of hardwork and perseverance and will appeal to the customers who adore those values. I think the brand has segmented the market on the basis of values ( broadly speaking).
In India too, the brand is following its international strategy. The interesting feature of this campaign is the use of outdoor media to the maximum. The brand uses minimalistic approach to communicate to the audience. It is said that the " Keep Walking " campaign has helped the brand to increase atleast 60% of the sales. More over in the Indian scenario, Keep Walking Campaign also has helped the brand to touch a new level in surrogate advertising.
Johnnie Walker's Keep Walking campaign is a classic example of the power of Big Idea.

Brand Update :Royal Enfield

Royal Enfield this month has launched Machismo LB 500: a regenerated version of Bullet 500. The new launch is interesting to a marketer because it is a part of longterm brand building strategy for this iconic brand.

Machismo is a famous variant of Enfield with a distinct style from the classic Enfield. Machismo is available in the popular 350 cc engine.The new beast is powered with 500cc simply making it the most powerful of the two wheelers running in India( Am not sure about the fate of Kinetic Aquila)
Machismo 500 is a niche with in the niche. As every bikers know it, Enfield is not for an ordinary person. It is for someone who has a biker inside. The brand gives a motorcycling experience rather than a pure transporting vehicle. Within the niche that the brand commands, Machismo 500 aims to create another niche : for pure bikers.
Machismo is not for everyone, like all iconic brands, here exclusivity is the main differentiator. In a market where companies do every possible technique to woo the customers, this brand "selects" the customers. According to the reports, the company screens the customer before allotting the vehicle. This is something that is unbelievable in this era . But creating an iconic status also demands unconventional thinking. The announcement of limiting the allotment is definitely going to excite the biker. With a price of Rs 1.05 lakhs , the bike is above a normal person's reach.The product is having the export quality parts with the quality same as those exported to Enfield's Western markets.

Machismo 500 is a marketing move rather than a new product launch. The new variant is to reinforce the iconic status of the brand as the only available option for Pure Bikers. In marketing theory we use the term Line Featuring : ie using a variant or product to get the consumers to your product mix. Machismo 500 is set to bring lot of bike enthusiasts back to the Enfield's showrooms. The brand feels that the recent high profile launch of Pulsar 200 and the plans of Pulsar to come out with larger bikes can shake the status of Enfield.

Related Brand
Royal Enfield

Poppins : Goli Rainbow Wali

Brand : Poppins
Company: Parle

Brand Count:234

Poppins is a heritage brand. Although I am not sure when it was launched, I am pretty sure that this brand is more than 30 years old. Still this brand is existing in the market now in a second life. Poppins comes in the category of hard boiled candy in the Rs 1200 crore confectionery industry.According to businessline, the hardboiled candy market is estimated to be Rs 350 crore and is dominated by Alpenleibe.

Poppins is a unique product because of its product characteristics. For me, the brand evokes a feeling of nostalgia since this was among the most popular brand when I was a kid. Poppins was liked by us because of its taste, color and ofcourse economy. Where else can you get 10 candies in a packet that too in different flavours .
But things changed last decade with the entry of aggressive players and new products. The market witnessed lot of segmentation and new categories and product forms evolved. Poppins at that point of time had lost its way.
Poppins were positioned on the platform of its range of flavors and color. The brand during the early times spent lot of money on brand building. The brand used two characters Ram and Shyam and used cartoon stories to build this brand ( source:vishalpatel.com). Since there was not much competition from organised sector, the brand had a good run.
But during the recent times that is from 2000-2007, the brand kept a very low profile. Although there are reports of a rebranding exercise during 2002, I don't remember any ads on air during this period.
This year however, has seen some action for this brand. TVC's are now on air using the Colors as the main USP. The website and the wrapper shows the tagline "Goli Rainbow Wali" which points towards the rainbow colors of the candies. Although the TVC's looks OK, I don't see any meaningful positioning for the brand except that the ads highlight Rs 2 and also the colors.I think that the brand wants to say to the customers that in this expensive world, you still get a Poppins for Rs 2.
Parle Poppins like Cadbury's Gems is a unique brand because of its product characteristics. Although both of these brands face competition from fake products, there is no serious brand competition for Poppins. But still like all heritage brands, this brand also faces the issue of being relevant. I feel that Poppins is looking at small kids aged 5-10 as its target segment. Because the ads are too kiddish.But I am glad that Poppins is back...

Imagesource:vishalpatel.com

Brand Update : Mentos

Brand Mentos is getting smarter and smarter. The brand which broke into the confectionery market with its " Dimag ki Batti jala de" campaign has hit the Big Idea jackpot. This year saw a new campaign from Mentos in the same line as its earlier campaigns. The ad features a young man in an auditorium with his squeaky shoes.

Watch the ad here : Mentos
The ad is maintaining its " Makes You smarter" tagline and this has been a hit in the market place.According to agencyfaqs, the ads has helped the brand to increase its marketshare in the soft mint category from 33% in 2005 to 48% in 2007. The company attributes this to the smart advertising. I would attribute this to the excellent quality of the product. The ads are made by Mr Rajesh Krishnan of Footcandles.
Mentos has been using Ordinary Life & Mentos Life and the tagline " Makes You think Smarter" since 2005 . The first in the series was the Classroom ad followed by the " Haircut".
Mentos is a classic example of the power of Big Idea. The "Makes You Smarter" idea can be used by the brand for decades and it gives such a flexible platform for the ad film makers and the creative team to make the consumers laugh.

As a consumer,I would wait for the sugarfree version of Mentos which can take this brand to the next level of leadership.

Related Brand
Mentos

Source:agencyfaqs

Belmonte: Suits Your Style

Brand: Belmonte
Company: SKumars Nationwide

Brand Count:233

Belmonte is SKumar's new brand in the Rs 80000 crore Apparel industry.Belmonte is launched in the midprice segment where the company believes that there is a gap for a new brand.
The launch of Belmonte is an example of the theory of targeting . SKumar has been a serious player in the textile industry for a long period. The brand Skumar also had a good equity in the market. But with the textile market getting hot with a slew of brand launches, SKumar needed to relook their strategy especially regarding the segments.
Much of the branding action was taking place in the readymade segment . Skumar tried their hand in the readymade segment with their brand Tamarind, but failed miserably. This may have prompted the company to look at different segments in the suitings where the brand has its strength.
The initiative got a boost with successful launch of Reid and Taylor brand in the premium segment. The latest launch of Belmonte is the foray of the company into the highly profitable mid price segment.
Belmonte is targeting the youth ( as usual the executives) and I feel it is a masstige product.The brand is aiming at the Midprice segment. Belmonte is endorsed by Shah Rukh Khan and is being positioned as a " Stylish" brand. The brand takes the tagline " Suits Your Style". The tvs are on air right now.Belmonte offers total wardrobe solutions and that includes readymades also.
Watch the TVC here : BELMONTE ADS

Belmonte has taken up style as its differentiator and Shah Rukh projects himself as the style icon( is he regarded as a style icon?). I don't think that any other brand has taken Style as its positioning platform hence Belmonte stands to gain some advantage. Since SRK is the brand ambassador, there is a chance that consumers will think about this brand as a premium brand and does not check it out. The brand may have to do PR to make sure that Belmonte is not perceived as unaffordable.

While Reid and Taylor takes care of the premium segment, Belmonte takes care of the Midprice segment and the lower segment is targeted by SKumars Brand.Reid and Taylor and now Belmonte will definitely give a boost to Skumars' brand portfolio. The company is trying for new launches at the super premium segment with the launch of international labels. It will be better if the company depends less on brand ambassadors and focus more on the brands like what Raymonds has done. In the long run it will prove beneficial for the brand.

Source: Businessline,fibretofashion,skumarwebsite

Marketing Funda : Absurdism In Advertising

In an interesting research paper by Leopoldo, John and Gautam at Oklahoma University, Absurd Ads are defined as those which have pictures,words,visuals or sounds which the viewers perceive to be irrational, bizarre,illogical and disordered. Going by that definition, 90% of ads that we see can be classified as absurd ads.The origin of the concept of absurdity has its roots in drama and literature. According to theorists, the use of absurdity in advertising is derived from literature and drama.

There are different type of absurd ads.
a.Surrealism
b.Anthropomorphism
c.Allegory
d.Hyperbole.

Surrealism is associated with distorted images,dream imagery and imaginative worlds ( Sunfeast). While Anthropomorphism is trying to connect /explain a non-human with a human(Chintamoni of Icici?). Allegory is the description of something in the pretext of another( Hutch dog ). Hyperbole is gross exaggeration to make a point(Happydent). ( From the above authors).
What I feel is that Absurdism in Advertising is a continuum. There cannot be an ad that does not have a dash of any of the above four types.Hence we should be placing the ads somewhere in the continuum where one extreme is the absolutely absurd ads like that of Happydent and the other extreme of an ordinary ad with less absurdity like the latest print ads of SBI. So I can put a hypothesis saying that it is a choice of whether the communication should be rational or non-rational. Orbit for example chose an rational one for its main brand and an Absurd ad for its variant Orbit White.
It is interesting to look at the reasons for marketers to go in for absurdism in advertising.Primary reason is that they don't care because all these postmortem and analysis is done by academics. Marketers often create hyperbole or absolutely bizarre ads like Centershock
to

• Create excitement
• Aid Brand recall
• Change the mood of the brand
• Reposition
• Entertain the viewers
• Spent the money they have for advertising ( joking...)
• Reminder ads
• When they have nothing rational to say about the brand.
• When nothing rational works
• All positioning opportunities are taken by the competitors.

Source: EFFECTS OF ABSURDITY IN ADVERTISING: THE MODERATING ROLE OF PRODUCT CATEGORY ATTITUDE AND THE MEDIATING ROLE OF COGNITIVE RESPONSES by Leopoldo, John and Gautam

Brand Update : Tata Indicom

After a series of horrible ads featuring Kajol and Ajay Devgan, Tata Indicom has initiated a new series of ads trying to differentiate the brand from the rest of the service providers. Indicom retains Kajol as its brand ambassador, but has completely taken a new tone in talking to the customer. While Indicom was using Kajol and Ajay Devgan to lure the middle and lower middle segments with its Lifetime prepaid card and following it with cheap handset offer, the latest campaign is aimed at a different TG. The new campaigns are targeting the existing mobile users ( of competitors) and not the first time users which was the TG of the earlier ads.

View the Ad Here: Marriage ad. Love ad, Car Ad
This time the brand is talking to the Rational side of the brain. The new campaign is revolving around 6 key differentiators for the brand:

1.BroadSpan Network for constant signal accessibility across narrow subways,basement,elevators etc.
2.Breathing cell cites for seamless connectivity in trains lifts etc.
3.Echo free filters for clear sounds.
4.High security network for absolute confidentiality.
5.T-sim based service that enable customers to switch mobile handsets to latest ones.

6.Gentle waves for echo friendly system.

The brand communicates that these are the six reasons why one should switch to Tata Indicom.
Here again the brand has shown its ability to innovate. The above features are common features but Indicom has communicated effectively that the brand is good in these features.Atlast some sensible campaigns from Indicom...

Related Brand
Tata Indicom

Image source:agencyfaqs

Kissan : Totally Confused?

Brand : Kissan
Company: HLL
Agency:Lowe

Brand Count:232

Kissan in a way is a totally confused brand. Infact any brand from HLL's stable pass through a stage of utter confusion. The brand came into HLL's fold in 1993 when Brooke Bond India acquired the brand from UB Group.
In the year 2000 the brand was worth Rs 400 crore becoming a market leader in Jams squashes and Ketchup. The brand then went all the way south to become a spectator when its leadership positions was taken by new brands.
The utter confusion regarding the longterm strategy for Kissan brand was visible through the experiments that was conducted on this brand by Hll. HLL always wanted to make it big in the food business. Understandably so , the Indian processed food market is having a staggering size of Rs 2,80,000 crores and the market is highly fragmented. Now wonder an FMCG giant like HLL wants a slice of it.

But with a brand which had a tremendous equity during the late nineties and early 2000, HLL had weird plans. One of the major casualty of MS Banga's Power brand strategy was Kissan. During the early 2000, the brand Kissan was rebranded as Kissan Annapurna. Kissan Annapurna was marketing not jams and squashes by Atta,salt and other staple foods.Later Annapurna and Kissan was splited into two seperate brands , one concentrating on staple foods and other on processed foods. This migration strategy proved to be very costly for both Kissan and Annapurna brand.
Kissan was synonymous with Jams and Squashes during its initial years. Kissan Ketchup was a market leader in ketchup segment but these experiments and myopic strategies pushed the brand behind the focused and aggressive Maggi. While in squashes , the aggressive campaigns of Rasna and other cola marketers made the squash category irrelevant.

So all through the period 2001-2005, Kissan was in a sticky wicket. But now according to reports, the brand mandarins of HLL is now clear about Kissan as a brand for processed food like Jams ,ketchups and like.
That change is visible in the recent campaign of Kissan which takes a unique view of Ketchup. Taking the tagline " Ao banaye pakode bahetar" translated to " Making Pakode taste better". In these series of ads, the brand plays a second fiddle to the main snack. The brand takes the positioning of a "Great Accompaniment " .The same theme is reflected in the latest ad of Maggi featuring Javed Jaffri in a Jail.

Although the brand had problems at the strategic level, Kissan had its own share of innovations. It had a innovative squeezy package for the Ketchup which became very popular. Besides all migrations, its Jams were very popular . Kissan even used Rahul Dravid to endorse the brand.The brand also has came out with Low calorie jam to appeal to the health conscious crowd.

The unwarranted brand extension and migrations had made Kissan's brand equity suffer and that loss is not that easy to cover. Although Maggi had similarly extended itself to be an umbrella brand, the brand had a focus. But unlike Maggi, Kissan extended itself to Rice, Atta and even salt and also messed up by combining its name with Annapurna brand.
Kissan is a classic example of "Messing Up a Successful brand".

Brand Update : Titan

One of the most important components of a successful marketing strategy is innovation. Innovation can be interms of any of the marketing mix. This quality is clearly reflected in the brand strategy of Titan. This March, Titan has come out with a new collection of watches : Aviator Collection.

Aviator is the collection of watches inspired by the World War II fighter planes. The brand is targeting the upmarket global Indian. The range of watches are designed by the award winning designer Neil Foley . The designer has drew his inspiration from the rugged fighter planes like The Mustang,Spitfire, Hurricane , Messerschmidt ME 109 and the like.
The collection has 20 distinct styles and each watch has a name and a story behind it. The collection is differentiated by the unique sense of style and is following the psychographic segmentation.The price range is between Rs 4000-Rs 7000. The company press release also says that this watch is a celebration of JRD's first aircraft flight in India.

Titan has continuously experimented itself and this has helped the brand to be a superbrand. Aviator series, takes a cue from the Iconic Aviator of Ray-Ban and is trying to recreate the magic of RayBan Aviator. My doubt is whether the WWII series of aircrafts will inspire the new generation consumers?. Ofcourse there is no doubt that airplanes especially fighter aircrafts give a unique feeling to Men. Men always adore these beasts and the more ugly these fighters are, the more we tend to like it. The point is how many of us know the fighter planes of yesteryears?

Titan also has the answer, the answer lies in the unique tie-up with the National Geographic channel and the brand. Titan is sponsoring the Top Gun series of Natgeo which now airs a series on WWII airplanes. Hence the brand gets a boost and also free gyan to the TG about the warplanes. Interestingly Natgeo also has created a commercial for the Aviator Series showing real footages of the fighter planes.
So far so good. But my doubt remains.. But I feel that a watch collection that celebrates a Mustang looks more classy than a watch that celebrates an F16 isn't it?

Related Brand
Titan

Doy : Clear Skin, Healthy Skin

Brand : Doy
Company: VVF Ltd
Agency:Orchard Advertising

Brand Count:231

Doy is an interesting brand because of two reasons , first is that its an example of a contract manufacturer going in for forward integration ,second it was a brand that tapped a new segment in the highly competitive Rs 5000 crore soap market.

VVF is a company that was established in 1939 metamorphosed into a largest player in the Oleo resins and personal care manufacturer. The portfolio of VVF includes the Who is Who of the personal care industry ranging from J&J to Dettol.
Doy was launched in 1998 as a soap targeted at the segment of kids aged 3-11 years. At that time , there was virtually no competition in the category with only a single brand "Kids" from J&J. Interestingly VVF was manufacturing KIDS for J&J.
VVF launched Doy in 1998. The brand was a premium soap positioned as kid's soap. The brand differentiated beautifully from other soaps using Form as its point of differentiation. In Marketing texts we have learned about differentiating based on Form and Doy is a classic example for that. The brand came in shape and form that catch the attention of Kids. According to the brand website, Doy has Five basic variants

Pink Princess
Green Pixie
Samba Lion
Purple Mermaid
Mambo Elephant. Later the brand included more variants like
Lucky Duck
Bathman
Patch Eye
etc.

The unique shape of this soap made the brand very popular among the kids. Although the market share figures are not available, I feel that the brand had a reasonable run.
The brand's success is very much attributable to the right segmentation. When we look at the soap segment, J&J's soap is primarily targeted at infants and kids aged till 3. After that in most households, the kids use the same soap as the elders .Here is the gap that the brand has identified.
Not only that the brand used its form as a differentiator, it had its positioning based on its product qualities. Doy uses Olive oil as a major ingredient. Olive oil has many properties that suits skin care. Doy is positioned as a soap that makes the skin healthy. The brand has a tagline " Clear Skin, Healthy Skin. Initially the brand was promoted using TVC's

Watch the TVC here: Princess

Then the brand did some unthinkable act. It extended itself to an adult brand with the brand name Doy Care. The company launched Doy Care Creme : a cream based premium soap targeted at young women. The brand was aiming at the premium segment of the soap market. The brand also had a unique shape like the kids variants. Later came another variant aimed at the young girl's segment Doy Care Aloevera.

Watch the TVC here : Aloevera

In my experience as a consumer, the aloevera variant was a horrible soap ( I know its not meant for me...) because of its fragrance or lack of it....
As an academic , I feel that extending a Kids brand into adults was somekind of a suicide mission on the part of the brand manager. It is going to confuse both the consumers: Kids and young girls.
Regarding the parent brand Doy, the company is not at all aggressive in the market. Except for some sporadic ad campaigns, the brand is adopting a laid back attitude. There are news reports of many below the line promotions for this brand, but compared to its peers , the share of voice is very low.

With lot of competitors viewing this segment seriously, Doy better start getting more active. One comforting fact for Doy was that J&J 's venture into the Kid's segment with the brand KIDS was a failure despite its heavy campaigning and the backing of the equity of J&J.Now we can see that Johnson & Johnson is now communicating to the mothers that its baby soap can be used for Kids also. Pears is another strong brand eying this segment. The brand had a reasonable success in the TG also.

I personally feel that Doy failed to take advantage of the opportunity it had to create and own the kid segment. Primarily because of the lack of heavy investment in brand building.

source:agencyfaqs,financialexpress,doycare website

MotoRokr: Music Addiction

Brand : MotoRokr
Company: Motorola
Agency: O&M

Brand Count: 230

Indian consumers never had it good before especially in the mobile phone market. From Rs 777 to more than Rs 2 lakh price ponts and from basic phones to most advanced smart phones, Indian mobile phone consumers are being pampered like no other..
Indian mobile phone market is huge worth more than Rs 30,000 crore growing at a pace that makes even the most optimistic analyst speechless.With Reliance Communication launching a Rs 777 handset, the market for cell phones will reach new heights.

Indian mobile handset's market is dominated by Nokia. According to different statistics, the market share of Nokia is around 40- 50 %. The market share has comedown due to heavy competition from the players like Sony and Motorola and host of other players. The huge market and the revenue potential along with the increased competition has forced marketers to go in for hard core segmentation strategies in this market. The market leader Nokia was not really into serious segmentation in early days since the brand had commanding market share. But it was the challenger brands like Sony Ericsson and Motorola which started offering specialized products to specific segments.
I think it was Sony Ericsson which started offering specialised phones and communicating specified brands for specific segments. Although Nokia had such models, its communication was more general. Sony having left out of the mobile race started offering CyberShot Mobile Phones targeting the customers looking for camera phones, In the segment of music phones, it extended its Walkman brand to the mobile phones with the Walkman series.This has forced Nokia to specifically target certain models as music and cameraphones.

Motorola was left behind in the segmentation game. It was busy focusing on the design game with its MotoPebl and MotoRazr. But 2007 saw Motorola coming in to the music phone market with a bang. MotoRokr was the answer to N-Series and Walkman.MotoRokr came into the market with a bang. Not because of the product but because of the communication. Motorola had struck a chord with its brand ambassador Mr Abhishek Bachchan.It is very rare to see a brand striking such a perfect brand Ambassador. The agency was also able to use AbhishekBachchan effectively to promote the brand Motorola.
For MotoRokr, Abhishek was at his best. The ads for MotoRokr was hilarious and striking.

Watch the ads here : MotoRokr

Although the brand Motorokr is not a feature packed smart phone ( competitors has better features) , the brand communication has set its foundation as a music phone. The brand is targeting 18-35 who has a passion for music. According to a report in Agencyfaqs, the big idea is that there is a thin line separating Music Loving and Music Addiction. The brand adopts the line of Music Addiction .
Although the brand launch ad has firmly set a positive launch pad for Motorokr, things are not as rosy as it seems. The brand faces intense competition with Sony Walkman series which has successfully leveraged its iconic Walkman brand equity to its advantage. Recently it had roped in Hrithik Roshan to endorse its range of music phones. The new ad adopts the tagline " The thump is here" to announce the brand war.Nokia will also be looking at this segment seriously because such fragmentation of market will be dangerous for a market leader.

For the customer its is Music Time...
Related Brand
MotoPebl

source :agencyfaqs,technews

Orbit Chewing Gum : Its Working

Brand : Orbit
Company: Wrigley's
Agency: BBDO

Brand Count:229

Orbit is one of the world's largest selling chewing gum brand.In India, the brand shares the market leadership with Center Fresh brand.Orbit was launched in India in 2004. This was India's first Sugarfree chewing gum and together with Perfetti's Happydent, this brand has rejuvenated the chewing gum segment in India.
Orbit can be termed as a functional chewing gum. The brand when launched differentiated itself from the existing chewing gums with its "sugar free" property. Along with that, the brand had its USP of its ability to reduce the chances of tooth decay by 40%.... surprising isn't it?
According to the brand, its is clinically proven that by chewing orbit for 20 minutes after a meal can reduce the chances of tooth decay by 40%. This is done by stimulating saliva production.The brand is positioned as a functional gum which prevents tooth decay and its sugarfree feature makes it a healthy option.The brand uses rational advertising to promote this brand.

Within a short span of time, Wrigley's Orbit became a success in the market.Buoyed by the success, Orbit extended the brand with Orbit White which is a whitening chewing gum. Orbit white is pitted against Perfetti's Happydent. For Orbit White, the company adopted an entirely new marketing strategy. Unlike Orbit , Orbit White adopted the Absurdism concept in advertising to promote the brand. Absurdism is using bizarre concepts and hyperbole to promote the brand. According to a research conducted at Oklahoma University, Bizarre ads tend to increase the visibility of the brands. Also such messages acts as clutter- breakers in a highly competitive market. Now in Indian market, we can see lot of marketers coming out with bizarre ads like Happydent, Amaron etc.
For Orbit White, the ads use the protogonist Dr Bhatawdekar and the heroine is a cow. The ads are quite funny and outrageous. The brand uses the tagline "Its working". Although I have come across lot of people who dislike this commercials, I personally like it. The latest ad have even a jingle which says " Yellow Yellow Dirty Fellow, White White Orbit White". And one ad have Dr Bhatawdekar insisting " Orbit White is a must for Bachelor Mans and Bachelor Womans".

Watch The tvc's here: Orbit White

Globally the Orbit brand adopts the tagline "For a good clean feeling no matter what" in India, Orbit uses " for a healthy teeth and prevents tooth decay " as its main message.

The product category became popular with the kids initially with bubblegums promoted heavily using consumer promotions.The popularity of cricket also helped this category to become popular with the grownups too. With the television showing cricketers chewing gums while playing, the category soon become a hit with the youth. Slowly this product became a part of " being cool" accessory in the campuses.But Iam surprised to find no cricketers endorsing this products.

But chewing gum manufacturers are facing lot of issues in the market. The primary one being the hygiene issue regarding the disposal of the product. We know that after using this product, it has to be disposed and often careless disposal of gum can cause the issue of hygiene . The careless disposal of chewing gum has raised serious issues in other developed markets and even has caused a ban on chewing gum usage. In India too, most of the educational institutions ban the use of chewing gums in the campuses because of the careless disposal. Although most products advertise on their wrappers on method of disposal, seldom it is practiced by the users. In future also, this issue can cause some restrictions to the product usage in public places.The marketers have to think of ways to curb this problem since it can cause some serious regulatory obstacles in the future.

Source:agencyfaqs,businessline,dna

Brand Update: TVS Apache

Apache has done to TVS what Pulsar has done to Bajaj. TVS which was struggling to get hold of the motorcycle market has found its balance with Apache.The brand which was launched one year back has become a best seller.Apache is now second to the market leader Pulsar. The brand has won rave reviews for its performance and it provided an alternative to those who did not like Pulsar.

In my previous post on Apache ,I have criticized the promotion and positioning and predicted the failure of Apache but I was proved wrong by the brand. The brand had a wonderful year and analysts expect the brand to perform better in the coming days.

Meanwhile the company has been running various campaigns for the brand. After the first ad, the brand had two campaigns
The second campaign was a dampener ( in my view) which lacked the big idea. The story is how a chick got interested on a dude riding an Apache.

Watch it here: Flower
The latest campaign takes this brand to a macho image. Here the Apache is equated to a Cheetah chasing as usual a "Chick" . But what I liked about the campaign was the shift in the personality of the brand. The brand manager now is pitting the brand straight on Pulsar.I am happy that the brand became more male.

Watch the TVC here: Cheetah

Related Brands
Apache

Brand Update : Colgate

Colgate has started aggressively promoting its niche variant Colgate Sensitive toothpaste. This is a unique variant aimed at the segment of customers having tooth/gum problem.According to a report more than 80% of Indians have dental problems like gingivitis. Sensitive is a variant that specifically address this segment. The brand is said to give relief from pain after continuous use.Colgate sensitive also has anti plaque and anti-tartar properties. The promotion of Colgate Sensitive is to popularize the therapeutic segment which is not much popular in India. Colgate uses its famous and controversial tagline " No. 1 Brand Recommended by Dentists".
Related brand
Colgate

Lion Dates: Makes Your Day Complete

Brand : Lion
Company: Lion Dates Pvt Ltd

Brand Count:228

Lion Dates is an Off Beat brand in the sense that there is no glamour attached to this brand but it is an interesting brand because of its success. The brand has been successful in popularizing a foreign food in India but also brand a commodity.
Dates are popular fruit of the Middle East and 90% of dates are consumed in the producing countries. Lion Dates started operation in 1978 and in 1995, it consolidated its operations under the banner Lion Dates Pvt Ltd.

The company imports dates from Oman because Omani Dates are considered to be of superior quality. Starting from a mere three containers in 1995, Lion dates now imports 25 containers (500 tonnes) of Omani dates last year making India the second largest importer of Dates after France.

How did a small Trichy based company did that? The answer lies in smart marketing and brand building. Lion has been aggressively promoting dates as a product itself. In marketing theory , we talk about communication strategies vary according to the various stages of market development. Here the brand was dealing with an alien product and the primary communication task was to impress the consumer about the product's benefit rather than the brand.
Hence the earlier communication of the brand was around the qualities of dates.The brand concentrated on TamilNadu and later branched out to South India . The brand initially used a simple proposition of " Be Like A Lion" as its main theme. The brand mainly targeted Kids and Mothers as their TG.
The brand was aware that to brand a commodity, it has to take some serious points of differentiation. The brand used Quality and Hygiene as is POD's. Lion was the first branded Dates to come out with Seedless dates. As a consumer, I would vouch for the quality of this brand. Lion also came out with different packaging and convenient SKU's that made this brand a leader in the market.
Once the product became popular, the brand faced competition from unbranded dates. To counter the competition, the brand came out with a campaign highlighting the quality and hygiene of the brand.
The company also tried to leverage the popularity by introducing India's first Date syrup which can be used to make various drinks and even substitute sugar. In 2007 the company launched a new drink based on Omani Date seed with the brand name "Takof" which is made from roasted dates mixed with chicory.The brand is not yet promoted in the market.

Dates have exceptional nutritional value. The fruit contains Potassium,iron calcium,magnesium etc and is considered to be an energy boosting snack. Dates are also recommended by Doctors for older people.
The quality of brand communication for Lion dates has improved considerably over time
. The brand has now adopted new tagline "Makes Your Day Complete" highlighting the nutritional value in a more professional manner.I feel that the brand should position itself as an energy snack and raising the TG from Kids to a larger audience.
Buoyed by the success of Lion Brand, the company extended this brand to various other products like Honey, pickles etc ( in my opinion will dilute the parent brand).

Lion is a brand that has clearly demonstrated the ability of a marketer to brand a commodity.