Brand Update : Xenon Updates to Xenon Yodha

Tata Motors launched Xenon in 2008. When the brand was launched, it was positioned as a lifestyle pick-up truck. Nine years down the line, the brand has grounded itself as a pickup truck. Tata Motors has always been thinking ahead of times.In 2008, Xenon was trying to create a new market for urban pickup trucks which are very popular in western world. This was targeting people who owned small businesses or adventurers who would like to travel with a lot of stuff. 

But somehow the market was not warming up to Xenon to the extent which Tata Motors expected. The product is in a niche market. Now suddenly there is a renewed interest in the segment resulting from the launch of Isuzu D-Max pickup truck. The launch of Isuzu may renew a lot of interest in the segment which has very few brands like Mahindra Scorpio Getaway and Xenon.

In terms of branding, what is interesting is that Xenon has become more Desi in the new avatar. The relaunch of Xenon is now as Xenon Yodha. The positioning also has changed from a lifestyle product to a utility vehicle. That is a big shift as far as the brand is concerned. The ad features the brand ambassador Akshay Kumar who now endorses all the commercial vehicles of Tata Motors. 

Another interesting thing is that Isuzu has positioned its D-Max as a lifestyle pickup rather than a utility vehicle. One of the reasons for the slow offtake of this lifestyle pickup truck is the government regulations probably insists that these trucks can only be registered as commercial vehicles. A twin cab pickup truck costs more than 10 lakhs and the value for money proposition does not match up for a non-commercial use. 

Maruti Suzuki Stingray : My Thing ,Everything

Brand : Stingray
Company : Maruti Suzuki

Brand Analysis : #532

Maruti Suzuki recently launched another brand in the crowded Indian hatchback market. The new brand is Stingray. The launch has created a hell lot of confusion in the branding of the new car. While most of the media has touted the new brand as a variant of Wagon-R , actually the company intended it as a brand separate from Wagon-R. But media killed that scheme. If you look at the campaigns and the brand micro-site, Maruti had intended to position this brand differently from Wagon-R.

Wagon-R has been one of the best-selling models of Maruti. All though the looks were not the best, it was one of the most practical cars especially for city drives. Launched in 1999, the brand had sold a phenomenal 12.77 lakh units till date.

Maruti had tried to push the car through its life-cycle through incremental product and design changes. The latest was the " Blue-eyed Boy" campaign in 2010. However, the intense competition has somewhat pushed Wagon-R behind. According to ET, the brand was now in the fourth position in the segment ( link).

According to reports, Stingray was first launched in Japan as a sportier variant of Wagon-R. 

Stingray is targeting the younger crowd. The brand is positioned as a cool car that have it all. The ads typically is trying to convey hip & cool attribute. Watch the ad here : Stingray

The new trend in the market seems to be the mad rush to attract the youngsters. Tata Nano is the new entrant in the mad rush with their new " Awesomeness" campaign.

The tagline of Stingray is " My thing, Everything" which in a way is trying to be everything that an young consumer needs.Stingray is priced premium over the Wagon-R. The starting range of Stingray starts with Rs 4.09 lakh while that of Wagon-R is Rs 3.5 Lakh.

What is interesting about this brand is the unique situation that it fell into. The brand tried to distance itself from Wagon-R but media has forced the label of Wagon-R Stingray into it. One cannot wish away the power of association. The new brand looks very very similar to Wagon-R so one cannot blame for this association. Similar issue is there with Vista which was launched as a new brand but is strongly associated with Indica.

I am not implying that the company doesn't know that such a kind of association will happen, its commonsense that it will happen. But its interesting that media explicitly put Stingray as an extension of Wagon-R without blinking an eye. 

The association with Wagon-R is good for Stingray because of the immense equity that Wagon-R enjoys in the market. Maruti feels that the life-cycle for Wagon-R will slowly move to the decline stage . So there needs to be a replacement for this bestselling car. By launching the new product without the endorsement of Wagon-R, Maruti hopes that the young consumer will not consider it as a " Old and Dated " brand and over a period of time, Stingray will have a position distinct from Wagon-R and in future will takeover the position of Wagon-R.

Brand Update : Tata Safari rejuvenates through Storme

Tata Safari  which is in a critical stage of its lifecycle has launched the much awaited Storme recently. The new Storme is a completely updated Safari and is expected to bring back the much desired consumer interest .

Tata Safari which is a true-blood Indian SUV failed to capitalize on its long innings and a hard-core fan following. The brand although came up with some wonderful brand campaigns however failed to address the quality issues that nagged the brand from its earlier days. Safari did not have any big mechanical issues but many customers opined that the brand failed to rise itself to the higher standards of quality that the competitors were delivering. But still there were lovers for the brand because Safari had a character which was unique and appealing to certain customers.

Despite the fact that Safari had a distinct brand character, the marketing minds of Tata Motors failed to address the quality issues which was creating a negative perception among the consumers. The laid-back approach of Tata Motors in addressing the nagging issues of Safari virtually put Safari in  to the sidelines .
Safari also failed to see the changes happening to the SUV market in India. The brand failed to see the rise of more compact SUVs and was less aggressive in addressing competition from Scorpio. The laid-back attitude of the brand owners has virtually made Safari a nominal player in a category which it once pioneered.
Although the brand tried to come out with newer versions, most of the changes were cosmetic rather than a radical one.

The new Safari Storme is reported to be a 100% new vehicle rather than a modified Safari. The entire product has been changed for the better. One can only hope that Storme will change the quality perception that is haunting Tata Motors ever since it ventured in to passenger segment.
What is sad about the new Safari is the promotion. Tata Motors has decided to do away with the " Reclaim Your Life " positioning of Safari. Instead, the brand has the tagline " The Real SUV" which I think has undone what ever brand equity which the earlier campaigns has built.
The new " Real SUV " campaign does not give any power to the brand.The promise should be believed by the consumers. In the new market where all global SUV brands are present, Safari's claim to be the Real SUV is only a joke. I don't understand why and how a brand can just discard a powerful story like " Reclaim your life " .
Watch the new campaign here : Safari Storme
The new tagline is big downer for the brand. The brand suddenly switched to a functional positioning from a highly abstract positioning . This sudden shift may confuse the brand's positioning in future.

Tata Motors should be appreciated for investing in Safari and making it survive for the last 15 years. The brand is now pinning its hope on Storme for delivering results. As a die-hard Safari admirer, I too hope the same.

Brand Update : Can SRK save Lux ?

SRK is once again featuring in the ad of Lux. It was in 2005 that SRK stunned brand watchers in an ad for Lux. At that time Lux was celebrating 75 years of stardom. Circa 2012, Shah Rukh Khan again stars in Lux ad  not for  celebration of any milestone but a desperate attempt to rejuvenate the brand.

Lux which always centered around celebrities has been struggling for the last few years.Reports suggest that Lux is witnessing a de-growth thanks to competition from the likes of Santoor. Lux over the years has been facing a positioning problem which I have highlighted in my previous posts about the brand. Too many variants shifted the HUL's focus from strengthening the core brand to leveraging or rather squeeze the brand equity. This virtually made the core Lux brand vulnerable to competition. The commoditization of celebrity endorsement further diluted the celebrity-focused positioning of Lux. Virtually the differentiation of Lux was no longer existing. 

Lux is now in an un-enviable position. The core positioning of Lux- beauty soap of stars is virtually being killed by competition. Celebrities now are no longer differentiators. Lux also cannot risk going for a heavy repositioning sans celebrities because of its connection with Stars for over 75 years. The brand is in deep trouble.

With SRK, the brand is attempting another come back. Last year, Lux successfully leveraged Abhishek and Aishwarya and smartly took the platform of  ' Beauty'. 

The current campaign features SRK with the current Lux Diva Katrina Kaif. The brand completely changed its beauty based positioning ( benefit)  and decided to focus on fragrance (product feature ).The brand is pitching that  it contains international quality fragrances. From  benefit to  feature based positioning is a step backward for the brand. Usually brands start with feature based positioning and later graduate to higher -order attributes ( Laddering). Here Lux chose itself to downgrade from a higher -order positioning to basic stuff.The brand is absolutely confused about its future direction. 

Lux in the new campaign has the tagline : "Bas Zara Sa Lux " roughly translated to " Just need a little Lux" . The tagline is ideally suited for a detergent rather than a beauty soap. The treatment of the ad is below average with zero creativity and usual theme. No wonder the brand is on a downward spiral.

Watch the ad here : Lux SRK

What Lux right now needs is a thorough clarity about its brand manthra and its positioning.No amount of celebrity endorsement will work if the brand is confused about its positioning. It had earlier focused on beauty oil and now it is saying that fragrance is the key USP. This confusion is only going to kill this brand unless the marketing brains of HUL sit together and decide on the brand manthra for Lux. Other wise we are going to see the slow death of an iconic brand.

Denim : For the man who doesn't have to try too hard

Brand : Denim
Company : Hindustan Unilever

Brand Analysis Count : 515

Denim is one of the oldest deodorant brands in India. Although the brand's original launch date is not known, the brand is in existence even before Axe deo's launch in 1996. The brand had a fair share in the Indian market before being eclipsed by Axe Deo. 

Axe deodorant's launch was the event that triggered the near annihilation of Denim brand in India. Axe virtually captured the entire male deodorant market and Denim was left in the sidelines. 

HUL felt that there was no need for two brands with almost similar brand personalities and decided to choose Axe as the major focus area.During that time, there was a brand rationalization exercise code named " Power Brand" strategy where Levers decided to prune the number of brands in its portfolio.

How ever Denim had a small but loyal customer base ( like me). There was something innate for the brand which forced HUL to retain the brand but not as a standalone brand. In 2002, Denim was merged with Axe . Denim had a reasonable presence in the men's grooming market with Talcum Powder ( 4% share) , After Shave ( 18%) and Shaving Cream (8%). The deo was retained as a Product Line Extension of Axe and other products were axed. 

From then on, Denim was staying in the Indian market as a variant thus satisfying many loyal consumers who ware initially charmed by the fragrance, brand name and the character of this brand.

In early 2012, HUL began to turn its attention to Denim . Without much promotion, Denim was  again relaunched as an independent brand. Denim was heavily pushed at the retailer shelves as a low priced deo and Axe endorsement was removed. When most of the deos were at Rs 130 -200 price point, Denim was retailed at Rs 100. Now the company have started promoting Denim through television campaigns. 

Watch the ad here : Denim Deo ad 

The brand retains the original positioning and the classic tagline " For the man who doesn't have to try too hard". 

The Denim brand has moved from an Independent brand to a Line Extension and then to an Independent brand. The brand name has moved from Denim to Axe Denim and to Denim. Where in the marketing textbook we see such a branding strategy !!! We can see these kind of funny experiments only from HUL which houses the best marketing minds of India. In a span of ten years a brand being repositioned twice and brand name changed twice !!

One thing needs to be appreciated is that even though Denim was migrated to Axe, HUL made sure that Denim's brand character is not lost by retaining the brand elements like the color. This has helped the firm to relaunch Denim as an independent brand without confusing the consumer. 

Denim is now the low priced flanker brand for Axe. Denim will protect the Axe brand from the low priced local brands which is nibbling away Axe's share by imitating the positioning. Denim also stands a chance to develop volume from the loyalists and also those looking for a VFM deo brand. 

As a consumer who loved the brand, I am happy that Denim had regained its individuality.Beyond price, there is some powerful brand elements like the brand name , fragrance and a character that still have potential to make this a worthwhile player in the deo category.

Vespa : Fashion Unchanged

Brand : Vespa
Company : Piaggio

Brand Analysis Count : # 512

Vespa is back in a new avatar or rather in its Original avatar. The brand which died in 2006 is being resurrected by its original owners is set to change the way Indian consumers think about scooters. Vespa initially came to India in 1960 with partner Bajaj  and later through LML. The brand had a tough ride in the Indian market with some few successes like LML Vespa Select. But the brand failed to bring in volumes which eventually led the demise of this stylish brand.

Although Vespa had a different image compared to its rival Bajaj, the brand was never considered to be lifestyle oriented. Consumers considered it as a stylish scooter and the image ended with that.

This 2012, Vespa has come back to Indian market with its original persona of an Italian Scooter. The launch is significant because of the iconic status that Vespa enjoys elsewhere in the world. It is also interesting to see how Indian consumer will welcome the second homecoming of the brand.

The main reason behind the relaunch of Vespa is the increasing interest shown by consumers towards the scooter segment. According to Economic Times, Indian scooter market is around 2.5 million units growing at CAGR of 20%. Lot of new launches are happening in this market and consumers seems to prefer the utility of this product.

What is interesting in Vespa is the brand's positioning as a fashion statement. For the first time in this segment, a brand is exploring the possibility of creating a new market - lifestyle scooter. The target segment is youth who wants to be different, make a style statement. Essentially a psychographic segmentation. The brand is now focusing on print campaigns which makes sense .

The brand has the tagline " Fashion Unchanged" and is drawing power from its legacy dating back to 1945. The brand uses funky colors and evokes as sense of youthfulness that fits a fashion brand.

The brand has done it right in terms of the product design. The scooters looks cute and stylish and the advertisements looks chic. Although the product reviews are average, Vespa is expecting to sell for its looks and more importantly its brand image. The brand owners are repeatedly telling that Vespa is not for power-hungry as an excuse for the poor engine specifications. But hope they don't forget that consumers should get a decent deal when the brands commands a premium. Poor specs cannot be masked through colorful advertisements and lifestyle positioning.

The challenge for the brand is to show value. The brand is expensive and the specifications is nothing special so getting Indian youth to open up their wallet for the sake of looking fashionable seems to be a tough task.

The silver lining is that this is the era of design and experience. Lot depends on the brand's ability to convey fashion statement through the product. 

The steep price will force customers to compare value with the workhorses like Activa, although Activa is not a style statement. There is a chance that the brand will remain aspirational restricted to a few. The brand could have done wonders if it was priced at an affordable range and get more on the road - some thing like an affordable fashion statement. But Italian arrogance is visible in the pricing. The brand with the styling and premiumness can make Indian consumers drool or will they ?

Related brand

LML Vespa

Brand Update : Indica Vista Goes Sedan Class

Brand Indica got a big boost recently by the launch of the new Tata Indica Vista . The new Vista comes with a spruced up looks and classy interiors packed with goodies. While the competition is hotting up in the premium hatchback market in India, Tata Motors is leaving no stones unearthed to regain its position in the Indian car market. Tata Motors launched its Vista product-line in 2008. The attempt was to strengthen the brand's foothold in the growing premium hatchback segment. 

Although Vista was launched as a sub-brand of Indica, the car was built on an entirely new platform and the refinement and the quality was entirely superior to that of Indica V2. However, Tata Motors decided the new launch to be under the umbrella of Indica brand. This move however was faulty and the response to the premium offering from Indica product-line found reluctant takers despite being value-for-money package.

This year, the brand relaunched the Indica Vista with lot of refinement and tweaking in the pricing. The frequent fuel price hike proved to be a boon to the predominantly diesel focused Indica range. 

The new Indica Vista  finds its point of parity with the sedans. The brand compares itself with a sedan and tries to convey the message that the car is  " Like Sedan".

Watch the ad here : Sedan Class

The new Indica Vista has the tagline " Sedan Class " reinforcing the new positioning. The ad is very sensible and conveys the message quite forcefully. The brand's idea of exemplar comparison with another category is quite effective in communicating its USP of better space and comfort.

During the early months of 2011, there were several reports of the plan of Tata Motors to make the Vista brand independent. The visibility of Indica brand name has been made insignificant and Vista is made prominent. So technically, Vista has become the primary brand in this case. The question is why Tata Motors is reluctant to let go of the Indica endorsement of Vista and make Vista a completely independent brand ? The damage has already made by associating an value-for-money brand ( Indica) with a premium offering ( Vista). Vista is going to suffer by continuous association with Indica brand. Other wise, the brand should be priced significantly lower than the other premium competing brands. 

The confusion regarding the branding of the premium hatchback offering from Tata Motors is evident in the case of Vista. The initial mistake was to stretch the Indica brand to a premium offering. It is very difficult for a VFM brand to build an equity in the premium segment. Second was the reluctance to make Vista an independent brand together with the fact that the premium offering had lot of similarities in features with the VFM offering. On hindsight, I feel that Tata Motors lost an opportunity to build a premium hatchback brand Vista. Three years is pretty long lost years in branding world. Would be interesting to see how the New Tata Indica Vista going to play up in the market. The timing has never been so perfect for a diesel car launch. 

Parx : Live Easy

Brand : Parx
Company : Raymond's Apparels

Brand Analysis Count :  # 503

Parx - the premium readymade casual wear brand from Raymonds Ltd is in a relaunching mode. This Rs.185 crore brand from Raymonds wants to play an aggressive role in the hyper competitive ready-to-wear category in the Indian market.

Parx was launched in 1999 as a premium ready to wear brand targeting the highly mobile young corporate customer. The brand was targeting the users for their after- office hour dress requirements. Despite the backing from one of India's reputed textile brand and perceived high quality & expertise, Parx did not quite make it to the big league. It was dwarfed by the success of brands like Color Plus ( which was later acquired by Raymonds) and Allen Solly.

The Indian ready-to-wear market is highly lucrative in terms of market size of approximately Rs 24000 crore. The casual wear market is expected to be around Rs 7200 crore.  

Despite the fact that Parx belonged to one of the most respected textile houses , the brand did not quite caught the fancy of the consumer. As a consumer, I found the brand very pricey and failed to give any meaningful justification to the pricing either interms of brand or product features. Over a period of time, the brand also failed to keep itself aspirational due to increasing competition from global brands.

Parx was also laid-back in its branding efforts. The brand owners was not quite clear about the positioning of Parx. Neither the brand had any meaningful positioning. The brand was neglected by Raymonds and most of the promotional investment was given to the flagship brand Raymonds and Park Avenue.The brand was perceived to be just another casual wear brand from a reputed manufacturer. This lack of a clear positioning failed the brand to justify its premium pricing. Having said that, Parx has a good fan following in tier II cities. The brand is pushed back in metros and large cities by the competition. 

The promotions of Parx was also very erratic. I don't remember any work of this brand nor any of its taglines. This lack of proper investment on brand promotion also weakened the brand's position in this highly cluttered market.

In 2011, the brand went in for a relaunch. The brand redesigned its logo and also introduced a brand- symbol  :- a Racing Stag. This symbol will be in all garments from the brand. The brand also launched its first ever television campaign since its birth.

Watch the tvc here; Parx

Parx now has a new tagline " Live Easy ". The brand is focusing on building a personality traits of independence, attitude, casualness, freedom  through these commercials. The use of foreign models aims to bring an aspirational  touch to the brand. The attempt is to brand ladder to the higher attribute of freedom rather than product characteristics.

The new effort is commendable but little too late for a brand like Parx. The positioning idea of Live Easy is nothing new and the same theme is used by various brands across categories. The brand lost precious 12 years in creating a space for itself in the Indian consumer's mind. The brand now needs to tell compelling stories of the brand attributes it is trying to tell. It needs a lot of catching up to do. 

Brand Update : Blackberrys wants to Go Sharp

India's premium textile brand- Blackberrys has been relaunched with a new positioning. The brand which earlier expressed itself as 'Sharp, Smooth and Sure ' now decided to be Sharp. Blackberrys is now running a television campaign with the new positioning.

Watch the new ad here : Blackberrys Go Sharp

The brand has not gone for a major repositioning exercise but has attempted to tweak its positioning and focus on one core brand value. The brand Blackberrys had three brand values which formed its positioning strategy. The key attributes were Sharp, Smooth and Sure ( Intelligent, Classy/Fashionable and Confident). Now the brand decided to focus on one attribute ie Sharpness in the brand communication. The tagline of Blackberrys has been changed to " Go Sharp". 

Having said that , the brand has not fully removed the other attributes. The new campaign also touches on fashion and confidence attribute but the most visible communication is anchored around ' sharpness'. According to a newsreport , the brand owners feel that the earlier positioning is too lengthy for the consumers to understand. Hence there arouse a need for a shorter positioning statement . Hence from the three attributes , the brand decided to chose to Go Sharp. The thinking is very correct because there is no need for a brand to communicate all its brand values through its positioning statement.  The positioning statement would ideally focus on the most important of the brand value ( or attribute). 

The current ad went above my head, and  I found it difficult to decipher the exact meaning conveyed by the brand through this advertisement. Thankfully this report gave lot of insights into the current campaign. As per the report, the protagonist represent the sharpest mind who is chased by the paparazzi .   

" Go Sharp " is a nice tagline and the concept and thinking behind the branding is also good .The ad also aims to be clutter-breaking ( although I couldn't get the idea). The problem now most textile brands face is the clutter. All brands now talk about their protagonists to be the best in the world. Hence Blackberrys ' current pitch will be lost in the sea of celebrities and super-human brand ambassadors. 

Related Brand

Blackberrys 

Brand Update : RIP Logan ( 2007-2011) , Welcome Verito

Logan is being laid to rest. Mahindra Rise , the new owner of Logan has decided to rebrand Logan to Mahindra Verito. The death of Logan marks the volatile life of a brand and the logical end of a sour Joint Venture between Renault and Mahindra.

The death of Logan brings into life a new brand Mahindra Verito. The product has a new brand name and a new set of marketing mix elements too ( may be except distribution  channel). It is expected that Mahindra will make some cosmetic change to the existing Logan and bring in a new identity for Verito. Verito is derived from the Latin word Veritas which means truth. It is said that Mahindra is particular that its vehicles name should end with O hence the name change !

The good news is that Verito will ensure that the car which is considered to be a good product suited to Indian conditions will continue its life. Mahindra is keen to develop new products based on the Logan platform and this ensures that the legacy of the brand will go on. And the existing owners of Logan can be relieved because the service support will continue. All these however depends on the success of Verito and the future relationship between Renault and Mahindra.

The rebranding of Logan to Verito makes sense to Mahindra because it marks the formal entry of the company into passenger car segment. Since the product is good, Mahindra needs to work on the branding part and the service support and I am sure that Verito will be a formidable brand in the market. 

Related Brand

Mahindra Logan 

Brand Update : Perk Struggles To Find Right Positioning

Perk which went in for a massive brand repositioning exercise last year is now struggling hard to find the right positioning. The brand which created ripples in the market with its perky campaign with Priety Zinta, is now searching for a positioning that makes sense.

Perk and Kit Kat created much sensation during the late 1990's with both brands trying to outsmart each other with smart campaigns. But soon the market turned cold towards this wafer based chocolate brands and the wafer chocolate category never grew as expected.

In 2010 , Perk went for a major repositioning/ rebranding exercise where the entire product properties and brand elements were changed. Perk began advertising focusing on its glucose content. The brand also changed the tagline to " Sapnoan se race kar le". The theme was more emotional and the brand was trying to ladder up to a higher level concept of " reaching out to dreams".

Now within 8 months of the rebranding, Perk was again forced to change its positioning. The brand chucked its attempted laddering and crash-landed to a very rustic and " funny stuff". The brand retains its focus on Glucose content but the execution strategy has been drastically altered. The brand now has the tagline " Perk Ghao , Glucose Chadao" roughly translated to " Eat Perk and Inject Glucose". Just see the drastic shift the brand made from its earlier positioning of " Chasing dreams".

Watch the ad here : Tired Son ad

There is no point in commenting on the individual merit of this ad,

I have a strong feeling that the brand has lost its way. For the past few years, Perk has been struggling to find a strong positioning. Earlier , the brand ran a few commercials featuring a young guy lost in an island and the tagline was " Take it Lightly". Now the positioning is miles apart from the past campaigns.

The basic marketing theory demands that positioning be consistent and significant/meaningful. Most marketers try to make the positioning meaningful but does not think that positioning should be consistent. While a positioning based on glucose content is meaningful for a consumer , the lack of consistency in the positioning of Perk makes the message less sticky or worth remembering. Such frequent drastic changes in positioning will do more harm for the brand in a long-term perspective.
What Perk needs to do is to do some soul search to find the right brand manthra. Once that is found then resist all temptations to deviate from the core manthra.

Related Brand Story

Perk

Crocodile : Will It Realize Its Potential ?

Brand : Crocodile

Company : SP Garments ( Crocodile International Pvt Ltd)

Brand Analysis Count : 468

Crocodile is a brand from Singapore based Crocodile International Pvt Ltd ( CIPL) . The brand came to Indian in 1998 as a JV between Shivram Associates and CIPL. Within a span of three years, the brand gained much attention in the Indian market.

Crocodile as a global brand had its origin in 1949 in Singapore . The brand later became very popular across Asia as an affordable fashionwear for men. The brand is also famous for the controversy and long legal battles for the logo with the iconic French brand Lacoste.

Crocodile's brand logo has much resemblance with the logo of the French casual wear brand Lacoste. Both the brands has crocodile as the logo. Although there is some difference in the logo, for a consumer both the logo looks the same. In Lacoste logo, the crocodile is right facing while in Crocodile brand - it is left facing. Both the crocs are in green color and is strikingly similar for a casual observer.This has caused a very long legal battle in markets like Hongkong and China.

Later in 2003, both the brands went for an out of court settlement where Crocodile agreed to make some changes with regard to the logo.

The new Crocodile logo has the tail more vertical, the color of the croc is grey and the croc has scales and bigger eyes.

Controversies apart, the brand had a good initial run in the Indian market. The brand was priced at a premium but the international image , the resemblance with Lacoste and some heavy media campaigns took the brand to a level of high popularity. It is interesting to note that the brand owners had registered for Crocodile trademark as early as 1950s but the brand actually entered the market only in 1998.

The brand initially launched its range of innerwears and I still remember the TVC where girls at a pool party ogles the hunk wearing Crocodile inners and the TVC ends with girls saying " There is a crocodile in your pants ". The brand later added its entire range of casual wears in its promotions.

Another striking branding strategy of Crocodile was its merchandising . The brand had lot of Single Brand Outlet in upmarket malls which increased brand visibility to a large extent. Although the price was at a premium, it was affordable.

Despite these positives, the brand struggled to make profit. In 2006, the brand changed owners and Coimbatore based SP Garments bought the stake of Shivram Associates . Ever since SP Garmets took over, the brand has been on a restructuring exercise. According to news reports, many unviable stores has been closed and the new owners are looking at Company Owned Outlets to promote the brand.

The brand was initially targeting men of the age 30 +. The current strategy is to target much younger consumers from age 20 +. The brand will be positioned as a young fashionwear which is affordable and has an international legacy.

The brand is yet to launch a media campaign and hence cannot comment much on the positioning strategy.

Crocodile brand has lot of positives on its side. The brand has a good recall in the market. The brand name Crocodile has a charm factor in it.The logo similarity with Lacoste is a definite advantage and there is still a gap for an affordable casual wear brand in the Indian market. But one of the mistakes that the International brands do in the Indian market is to price themselves out of the game. Crocodile has a huge potential if it plays the afford-ability game rather than try to cash in on its faded international image.

Crocodile will be an interesting brand to watch for.

Brand Update : Ceat wants you to be Idiot Safe

Ceat went in for a major rebranding exercise in 2008 when it changed its logo, the mascot and the famous tagline " Born Tough". I was very critical about the whole rebranding exercise especially the decision to discard the Rhino (mascot) and the tagline. The logic for the rebranding was to make the brand contemporary and relevant to the new generation consumers.

Although the company spent some money on rebranding campaign in 2008, it again went in on a silent mode for almost two years . There was virtually no campaign for Ceat in this period. Recently the brand has started making some noise in the media with a series of brand campaigns.

The current campaign for Ceat is for its bike tyres. The campaign is dubbed " Be Idiot Safe ". The campaign runs on the theme that ' Roads are full of idiots and be idiot-safe with Ceat Tyres".

Watch the ad here : Be Idiot Safe

The ads are currently focusing on the " better road grip " feature of Ceat bike tyres. Road grip is an important ,relevant feature as far as tyres are concerned and Ceat has tried to own up that feature.

Along with the 'Be Idiot Safe " television campaign, the brand has tried to take up this idea into the internet by launching the brand site " beidiotsafe.com". The brand tried to engage users by inviting interesting videos about those idiots on the road. Users can upload the videos about rash driving and careless road habits onto the sites. The brand expects that these funny videos will be viral and increase the brand's visibility on the web. I am not sure whether the site had managed to sustain interest among the netizens.

Another interesting aspect of Ceat's brand strategy is that it chose to have different theme for its different product-lines. While " Be idiot-safe " theme is for bike tyres, the brand have a different theme for its SUV product range. For the SUV range, the brand has adopted the tagline " Takes the wild out of wilderness ".

That means Ceat will have separate positioning for its various products. In branding perspective, that is not a good strategy. The multiple positioning can dilute the core brand's positioning unless there is a common thread passing through the various positioning campaigns. MRF uses multiple positioning campaigns for its various products but these product lines have sub-brands. In the case of Ceat, there is no sub-brands but only product descriptors .

It would work well if Ceat can think of a core brand positioning for the brand - CEAT. This core brand positioning will be reflect what the brand CEAT stands for. Then use sub-brands for its product-lines like SUV, bike tyres, car tyres etc .The brand can then use different positioning campaigns for the sub-brands. The sub-brand's positioning should be in line with the core brand's positioning but the sub-brands will have freedom to chose its own relevant themes.

Related brand

Ceat

Brand Update : Amul Macho Repositions with Saif Ali Khan

In a significant move, Amul Macho brand has repositioned itself. This season, the brand shed its raunchy image and moved into the ordinary . The brand also roped in Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan as the brand ambassador. Amul Macho is currently running the campaign with the new brand ambassador.

Watch the ad here : Amul Macho

In the current repositioning exercise, the brand dropped the earlier theme of " sexy " and moved into a theme that talks about brand personality. Along with the repositioning, Amul Macho also changed its tagline " Ye To Bada Toing hain " to " Bede Aaram se ".

According to news reports the brand wants to be perceived as cool and more sophisticated. The earlier campaign projected the brand as raw sexy one and now the brand logically wants to be more urban/upmarket while appealing to the mass market.

The new tagline implies that the brand user is one who get things done effortlessly. The ad tries desperately to convey the message of effortlessness rather unsuccessfully. The concept of effortlessness is highly attractive to men but in this case the brand failed to convey the promise effectively to the audience. The tagline " Bede Aaram Se " talks about comfort as well as effortlessness but how ever the poor execution of the positioning concept made the tagline look very old and familiar.

Amul Macho is one of the fastest growing innerwear brand in India. The brand currently has a turnover of over Rs 355 crore.

While the earlier campaigns ( although of poor taste and raunchy) helped Amul Macho to break the clutter. But the current one places the brand right inside the crowd of other innerwear brands . Brands like Lux, Rupa etc also uses celebrity endorsers and with the current repostioning, Amul Macho made itself undifferentiated with the rest of the crowd.

Very few brands were able to successfully integrate itself the concept of effortlessness . Although everyone likes the concept it is very difficult for a brand to project that as a brand promise in a convincing manner. It will take a real big idea to really drive that promise into the consumer's mind. Amul Macho may have to try little more harder to reach that place.

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Vivanta By Taj : Discover

Brand : Vivanta

Company : Indian Hotels Company Ltd ( IHCL)

Ad Agency : Rediffusion Y&R

Brand Analysis Count : 464

Vivanta is the new brand from Indian Hotels Company Ltd ( aka Taj Hotels & Resorts) launched as a result of a brand restructuring exercise. The new brand Vivanta will replace the Taj Residency brand and will represent IHCL's presence in the Upper Upscale segment of Indian hotel/hospitality market.Vivanta was initially launched in 2008 when IHCL rebranded three Taj Residency properties to Vivanta. IHCL tested and tweaked the brand for two years before the national roll out in 2010. Now around 19 Taj properties has been rebranded to Vivanta.

The rebranding of Taj Residency to Vivanta is a part of the Tata group to move from a " Branded House " to " House of Brands " brand portfolio structure. The move towards a basket of brands started with the launch of Ginger brand of hotels for the domestic budget business traveler. The Ginger brand launch was followed by the launch of The Gateway Hotels brand which saw many Taj properties being rebranded to " The Gateway Hotels ". Now the launch of Vivanta completes one phase of the very important brand restructuring exercise.

Now IHCL has the following brands in the Indian hotel segment :

Taj brand -- Targeting the most luxurious segment. The brand will have properties on the best locales and attract the most premium customers.

Vivanta : Will be 10-15 % cheaper than Taj Hotels and target the upper upscale segment of the market. The brand will have presence on major cities and tourist destinations and will attract the affluent customers.

The Gateway Hotels - Will be 10-15% cheaper than Vivanta and will target the upscale segment and the business travelers. This brand will be located in most cities which are frequented by business and leisure travelers and will attract young professionals.

Ginger : Will be the lowest priced hotels targeting the frequently traveling businessmen. The brand has successfully tapped the need for a chain of quality hotels which targets the travelers with limited budget.

The important question is regarding the rationale for such a brand portfolio decision. Isn't it better to have a branded house portfolio where all hotels will have the Taj brand ?

The move is very relevant for IHCL because this restructuring will prevent dilution of Taj brand which is perceived to be a premium luxury brand. The use of Taj brand for all hotel properties of IHCL made sense in all these years because the market was not highly segmented.

Now Indian hotel/hospitality market has matured and is witnessing lot of interest from domestic and international players. The who is who of hospitality industry is already in the Indian market and a lot is waiting to enter. It is in this context that IHCL had to relook the brand portfolio decisions. The consumers also have evolved and different class of consumers has evolved in recent years.

Since Taj was used to endorse all properties of IHCL, there is always a chance of different types of properties carrying the Taj brand. So in a city there will be two type of property - one luxurious and another upper scale carrying the same brand name. This can create problems interms of brand positioning. If IHCL needs to position Taj as a luxurious brand, it needs to have a consistency in terms of the physical evidence ( hotel properties ) and the core product ( service). This consistency cannot be possible when there are inconsistencies in terms of size of hotel properties and the level of service in those hotels.

Another issue with Branded House is that the firm will be constrained by the values /positioning of the core brand.Hence IHCL may not be able to tap into opportunities other than luxury hotels if they follow branded house strategy. The launch of Ginger in the budget segment is an effort by the company to move into tapping other opportunities presented by the market.

Now with the introduction of two brands - The Gateway Hotels and Vivanta, IHCL is now able to arrange the properties in accordance with the respective brand's positioning. Taj will now be an exclusive brand associating only with best properties and service promises. The other three brands will enable IHCL to tap into the opportunities of the market without being constrained by Taj 's brand positioning.

The next issue is whether the new brands will be able to retain the equity of Taj. According to press reports, IHCL was able to establish " The Gateway Hotels " as a credible brand. Ofcourse it cannot match the equity of Taj but the heritage and the loyal customers will see the brand through this transition period. The advantage is that IHCL can give a separate identity to these brands.

Vivanta is positioned as a young brand. The brand is targeting the new breed of young affluents. The service architecture also reflects the focus on the young rich traveler. According to the recent report in Business Standard, the brand has identified critical touch points where it could differentiate itself from other brands.To help the brand establish itself, Vivanta is currently endorsed by Taj brand. In the marketing communications, the branding is done as " Vivanta by Taj ". This endorsement will continue till Vivanta establish itself as an independent brand.

Vivanta brand name is inspired by the term Bon Vivant . The typical consumer profile for Vivanta is one who is sophisticated and have appreciation for good things in life.

Vivanta is currently running a print campaign announcing the launch. The ad positions the new brand promise and the youthful look for the brand. See it here.

Consumers will definitely miss the Taj brand. The status and the feeling of pride when staying in Taj brand of hotels is now restricted to a select few.

In the long - term perspective, the move of IHCL has done the right thing. The brands need to be nurtured and it will be the service promise and delivery that will help these new brands to establish themselves as worthy successors of Taj.

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Ginger

Brand Update : Can Katrina Boost Yardley's Fortunes ?

In November 2009, Wipro acquired the rights for marketing Yardley in Asia , Middle East, Australasia and parts of Africa. That was an important turning point for this 240 year old heritage brand.

The acquisition of a brand like Yardley makes sense for Wipro whose personal care portfolio is having only one major brand - Santoor. Yardley range of personal care products gives Wipro an instant access to the premium segment of the personal care market.

Yardley , though a brand with high recall and recognition, was languishing in the Indian market because of the lack of marketing support. There was seldom any campaign for the brand neither it was promoted at the store level. The new owner in Wipro has a very successful marketing history demonstrated by the success of the brand Santoor.

Wipro has made its first major initiative for Yardley by roping in the current Bollywood Diva Katrina Kaif as the brand ambassador for Yardley. The brand expects to ride in the current sensation's popularity to make a comeback in the Indian personal care market.

The brand is currently running a campaign featuring Katrina

Watch the ad here : Yardley

Before going into the quality of the campaign, its important to understand the tactical significance of such a move. Yardley wants to move fast in terms of reinforcing its brand credentials. It want to announce its resurgence fast and make an impact. For that celebrity endorsement offers a reasonable strategic sense.

But as usual , the execution failed the brand strategy. The ad was poorly made in the sense that there was no creative spark in it. The theme, execution, message everything was so cliche that the ad never made any impact (in me !). At best it reminded about the brand nothing more nothing less. The ad give Yardley a new tagline " My Yardley, My Fragrance ".

The ad wanted to give the message of heritage , London Connection, Signature fragrance , attributes of Yardley.But although these messages were conveyed, the ad failed to create a premium image for the brand.

As an immediate tactical move, the current campaign does achieve its purpose but like Santoor, Wipro needs to find a sustainable positioning platform for Yardley. It should push the creatives working for the brand to do another Santoor.

Lets hope that Yardley achieves its true potential under Wipro.

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Brand Update : Can Ambassador be saved ?

Recently the good old Ambassador was in the news that the brand owners - Hindustan Motors is planning to relaunch /rejuvenate this heritage brand. Both the brand and company is in deep crisis with HM posting losses of Rs 43 crore last year and its networth declining by about 50%.

The company plans to relaunch the Amby in a new look and is planning to entrust a design house with the task. The report also suggest that the new Amby will have a retro- look and will be in the price range of Rs 5- Rs 7 Lakhs. The new Amby will be a niche product.

The interesting question is can this brand be saved with the new strategy ?

From the report about the new Amby launch, it will be tough for the brand to regain its lost glory if the brand is going for a niche variant. According to Economic Times, Ambassador sells around 600 units per month in a market of 2 lakh cars/month.

Ambassador is now in a rut which is its own creation. The brand is the classic example of marketing myopia. The company took the customers for granted and refused to change when the entire market changed. The brand did nothing when faced with competition from Tatas and Maruti. Instead of changing its core DNA, the brand relied upon cosmetic changes. When the brand needed a drastic revolutionary change, HM decided to get stuck with the old product.

The current strategy of a niche Amby is again a patch-up . This brand cannot survive on patch-up strategies. I don't think that the core brand Ambassador will revive with the launch of a niche high priced Ambassador. With the brand equity in shambles, how can the brand expect consumers to pay a premium for the new Amby variant ?

The high priced Marquee variant will work for iconic brand which are facing a decline. But Ambassador was not an icon. It was a market leader and consumers bought the car because they did not had a choice. Not because they were a die-hard Amby fan. Hence a high priced niche variant may not revive the sale of Ambassador.

Secondly HM as a company is now relying its future on Ambassador which again is a flawed strategy. A weak brand cannot save a weak company. And a niche variant will at best give some life support and not survival.

Another way to look at the current strategy is the transformation of Amby from a mass market car to a niche product. So instead of trying to sell large volume of Ambassador, the company hopes to sell high-end variant and hence generate more cash. In that perspective, the launch of a high priced Amby make sense. But the question is whether the brand has enough equity to support such a variant. Brands like Beetle and Enfield revived because these brands had strong equity existing in the market even after its previous life. The relaunch re-ignited the existing goodwill . But such a goodwill does not exist for Ambassador. Ambassador is known for its space and rugged nature .The product is also infamous for nagging problems and poor build quality. Still people bought because there was no choice. For such a product, the hope of renewal from a niche product seems too optimistic.

Having said that, Indian market has seen consumers embracing products with exceptional quality and/or utility. So if the new variant is exceptional, there are chances of getting accepted by the market.

Another interesting aspect of this issue is about the reliance of HM on Ambassador brand for its survival. Why didn't it think about an entirely new brand ? The trend in the Indian auto market is that multiple brands from different companies sporting the same engine. The engine becoming commoditized and design gaining prominence. In such a market why not come out with an entirely new brand with a proven engine ? Although building new brand is expensive compared to rejuvenation of old brand, in Amby's case, Ambassador comes with a lot of baggage and perceptions which is difficult to change.

If Ambassador wants to stay relevant as a brand, what it need is disruption. Disruption should happen both internally and externally. The brand should go for radical redesign and more importantly it should disrupt the market. The current price to value proposition of Ambassador is negative compared to the competitors like Indica . So if Amby wants to play the volume game, it needs to offer consumer something they cannot refuse. A diesel car below Rs 4 lakh can ignite interest in the brand but given the cost scenario, such a task is virtually impossible.

HM is again going for short-term strategy in pursuit of long-term results. For Amby, it seems to be the end of road .

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Brand Update : Logan Loves India

Automobile enthusiasts were curious about the future of Logan after the brand was taken over by Mahindra. The Renaulth - Mahindra JV was in trouble after Renault began to aggressively pursue multiple JV in the automobile market. The issue resolved after Mahindra buying out the JV. As of now Mahindra will be promoting the Logan brand.

The first move that Mahindra made after the buyout was to rationalize the price of Logan. The price of Logan was reduced by a massive Rs 60,000 and the brand is now retailing at Rs 5.35 lakhs . Logan was struggling to make decent numbers because even at Rs 6.5 lakhs, it was finding it difficult to convince the customers about the value proposition. The market is also witnessing a new consumer attention towards premium hatchbacks which is eating into many sedan's market share.

Once Logan got the attention of consumers with its attractive pricing, the brand moved into the next marketing step - communicating its new value proposition to the consumers. Logan is currently running a new campaign " Logan Loves India " ( which is also the new tagline). The new campaign is highly rational and talks about the brand's strong points like Space and Mileage. Although these attributes are talked about by every brand in the class, Logan is trying to project itself as a brand made for India.

Watch the campaign here : Logan Loves India

In the new campaign , the brand uses testimonials of customers to drive home the value proposition of the brand.

One of the burning issue between the Mahindras and Renault was over the product specifications. Mahindra wanted the size of the Logan to be trimmed to take advantage over the tax rules but Renault was cold on such a move. With Mahindra now in full charge of the brand, such a move can be seen in future.

Logan was always trying to position itself as a value brand and the latest commercial only refreshes the brand's core positioning. When the brand was launched , consumers were convinced about the brand's value but the brand messed it up. Now the onus is on Mahindra to bring back the trust factor in consumers. With Renault exiting from JV, there are serious doubts about the future of Logan. The task of the brand is to convey that trust to the consumers that Logan is here to stay. "Logan Loves India " campaign may be trying to do just that

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Brand Update : The New Rejuvenated Wagon R

One of India's best selling car brand got better. Recently Maruti Suzuki launched the new Wagon R in the Indian market. The new spruced up model features the famed K Series engine and with a brand new look.

Wagon R has been a run away success since its launch in 1999. So far the company has sold around 8.8 lakh units of Wagon R (source). Infact Wagon R is the second largest selling car brand ( annual sales ) from Maruti's product portfolio.

Wagon R operates in the A2 segment of Indian car market which is witnessing most of the competition in recent times. Most of the car majors are viewing this segment seriously and some of the new brand launches like Chevrolet Beat and Ford Figo has been highly welcomed by the consumers.
This intense competition has prompted Maruti to relaunch the upgraded version of Wagon R with a new engine and renewed look. It is interesting to note that Wagon R recently launched a high profile brand campaign featuring the Celebrity Madhavan.

Maruti have aggressively responded to the competition from Chevy and Ford by keeping the price point of the new Wagon R at the range of Rs 3.5 lakh - 3.85 lakh. Maruti has taken the risk of cannibalizing other brands like Estillo and A Star. The rejuvenation is also a part of Maruti to take the brand from the Maturity stage of the lifecycle stage to the growth path.

The new launch is expected to give much needed boost to the brand. Wagon R is still relevant in the Indian market. The users have vouched for the comfort and drive-ability of this car in the urban jungle. The company feels that the brand still have lot of steam left in it.

The company is calling the new Wagon R as the Blue Eyed Boy. The brand has retained Madhavan as the brand ambassador in the new avatar also.

Most of the auto review comparing Wagon R , Figo and Beat has rated the competitors as better than Wagon R. But what will be driving this brand will be the Maruti endorsement . Although Chevy and Ford have established themselves in the Indian market, Maruti still holds tremendous brand equity among Indian consumers. But competitors are not sitting idle. When Chevy launched Spark to take on Alto, it ran a highly successful campaign guaranteeing Zero maintenance cost for three years. That gave lot of boost to the sale of Spark.
Wagon R in a way offers less risk for the discerning Indian consumers compared to the new entrants in terms of cost of maintenance, spares , service etc. That will help Wagon R hold on to its pivot position atleast for now.

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Brand Update : Perk

Perk has gone in for a makeover. Cadbury has launched the new Perk with Glucose Energy. According to the company website, this is the first time that a chocolate brand from the company has come out with glucose energy. The brand is running a campaign announcing its new avatar.

Watch the TVC here : Perk with Glucose Energy

When I first saw the ad, I took it just as another line extension by the brand. But was really surprised at the news report suggesting the new product as a relaunch of the original Perk. Infact DNA reports that the original Perk will be phased out soon ( Source).

The reports are little vague as to whether the Perk with Glucose Energy is the New Avatar of Perk or a line extension.

If the report of relaunch is true then it is a big change for the brand. The entire brand personality is changed and frankly I am upset.

Perk always had a charm and its persona of a bubbly youthful brand was always there since its launch in 1996. Priety Zinta is still remembered along with the brand. But the new face of the Perk is entirely opposite to the brand's current image.

According to the company version, the new Perk is targeting the youth 14-18 year olds which are looking for a snack which is refreshing. The new launch is the result of a study conducted by the company which showed that youth prefers a tasty snack which also refreshed them ( source).

In my personal opinion, the relaunch campaign is a big let down. When I saw it the first time, I mistook it for some telecom ad - with all the usual stuff of a young man doing lots of stuff, trying hard , loved by all etc. But was surprised to find that it was an ad for Perk. Disgusted after finding that it is a relaunch ad.

The new campaign just poured cold water on the entire positioning of the brand. The brand lost is bubbly , cool , irreverent character and instead acquired an uncool, rational , conforming kind of a personality. Today's youth prefers those personalities who takes things easy, without effort accomplishing tasks and enjoying life Bindaass.. But the main character seems to be taking lot of efforts which just killed the brand's established persona.

The brand also has changed the packaging color. The new tagline of Perk is " Sapno se race kar le" roughly translated to " Race with your dreams " which I think may miss the mark with the young crowd. I still miss the magic that this brand brought about in its earlier campaigns. The last campaign of " Take it Lightly " was also a smart move of the brand. But the current relaunch is too off mark.

Having said that Perk has already an established equity which will prompt customers to reach for this brand. The new Perk is priced attractively and the " Glucose " factor will entice many consumers to buy this brand. Despite all these campaign, both Perk and Kitkat were not able to create any significant growth for the wafer based confectionery in the Indian market. This category still remains in the periphery of the larger market of confectioneries

Perk has changed for better or worse, the sales figures will say. But on a branding perspective, the brand just started dying..

Another thought ... what about Ulta Perk ???

All my above criticisms are based on the assumption that Perk has been relaunched and the older Perk is being laid to rest. If the new Perk with Glucose Energy is a line extension and the older Perk is going to remain in the market, then it is just a new product line extension with a lousy campaign.

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