Brand Update - Axe gets further axed

Business Standard  reports that the woes of Axe continues unabated. In the quarter ended June 2014, Axe was relegated to third position,this time by WildStone . Fogg leads the market with 17% share followed by Wildstone with 6.9% and Axe with 6.8% share. The new entrant Engage from ITC has 6.5% share offers further headache for Axe.

Surprisingly Axe has been virtually silent atleast in Kerala market with virtually no promotions. If this trend continues, we are going to see this brand fading out from the Rs 2500 crore market which it created.

Brand Update : Now Alia Bhatt asks Why should boys have all the fun ?

Having tasted success as a women's only scooter, Hero Pleasure has set its sights on the younger ladies. The brand in its push to appeal to the younger crowd has roped in the latest bollywood star Alia Bhatt as the brand ambassador. 

Watch the new ad here : Hero Pleasure

Hero Pleasure was endorsed by Priyanka Chopra and with the change in the brand ambassador to a much younger actress, the brand is trying to bring in a much youthful persona to it. The positioning and the message from the brand remains much the same . Pleasure also has retained the tagline " why should boys have all the fun ". 

The theme of the new campaign is of nothing new and many things shown in the ad has been repeated by many brands. So as far as the new communication is concerned, the brand has taken the most- traveled route except for the new face. 

If one looks closely at the brand's logo in the TVC, the brand describes itself as a " Light and Zippy " scooter. The emphasis of light and zippy is aimed at the younger crowd. With the new push, Pleasure is also challenging TVS Scooty although later is a scooterette. According to newsreports, Pleasure sells around 25000 units per month. Together with Maestro and Pleasure, Hero Motocorp has around 19 % share in the Indian scooter market. 

Revotron : The 3 in 1 engine

Brand : Revotron
Company : Tata Motors

Brand Analysis Count : # 544

Revotron is the new hope of Tata Motors. Tata Motors which once was the number 2 in the Indian car market, is now finding it difficult to be in the top 5 thanks to the nagging quality issues coupled with a negative brand perception. This brand is another example of  ingredient branding.

But Tatas are known for its resilience and Revotron is the result of a serious introspection and investment in developing an indigenous petrol engine with global standards. And from the media reports , Tata Motors have managed to live up to the high standards set by itself. And after many years, media has been kind to Tata Motors with a fairly good reviews about the engine performance.

The 1.2 Ltr engine is being promoted heavily by Tata Motors ahead of the launch of the two major new products - Tata Bolt and Zest. The Revotron brand is endorsed by the Indian F1 Racing star Narain Karthikeyan.

Watch the TVC here : Revotron
The USP of the Revotron engine is the 3 driving modes which is usually seen in high end cars. There is a city mode, Eco mode and a Sports mode. For a value-driven brand like Tata Motors, this proposition is a very powerful differentiation.
Platforms and not products are now important to a company's success. For automakers, engines offer the platforms on which many products can be made. Honda has recently demonstrated the power of platform with the diesel IDtec engine.
Tata Motors hope that the better engineered Revotron would help build a better image for the cars produced under it.

Choco Moonz : Not Only But Also

Brand : Choco Moonz
Company : Perfetti VanMelle

Brand Analysis Count : # 543

Cadbury Shots now has a competition. Perfetti has launched its version of Shots branded as Choco Moonz. The new product has the same form factor as Shots but the difference is that Moonz has almonds inside it. 

Cadbury Shots has been a very successful product for Cadbury. It gained almost 3% value share within a year of its launch. The smart pricing and a very good campaign propelled the popularity of the brand. The brand's tagline " Man Main Laddu " has become a part of the lingo.

Every successful product attracts competition and Shots has got the match from the market leader of the candy-segment i.e Alpenliebe.

Choco Moonz is launched as an independent brand endorsed by Alpenliebe. 

One should appreciate the creativity in choosing the brand name- Moonz. The name is superb and apt for the form-factor of the product. 

The brand has chosen the value proposition as  - Not only Choco but also Almonds. The brand's micro-site informs that the tagline would be the quirky - "Not Only But Also " . This tagline indeed is interesting and can open many opportunity for creative promotional campaigns.

I think Perfetti has got most of the elements of the brand right. Pricing is at par with Shots and the brand is currently in a soft-launch phase and no ads has come to my notice as I write this blog. 

The only issue that I see is the emphasis on almonds as the differentiating factor. Moonz has put its entire USP in Almonds which in a way put a constraint on the brand. It would have focused on making brand a differentiator and gave more product flexibility to Moonz. 

Let us see how Cadbury Shots react to Moonz.