Maa : Sweet Taste of Success

Brand : Maa
Company : Cavin Kare

Brand Analysis Count : # 480

Maa is a serious challenger brand in the Rs 500 crore Indian fruit juice market. This South Indian brand is on the way to a national launch is expected to give a tough competition to brands like Frooti and Maaza. Maa brand was originally created by Maa Fruits Pvt Ltd. The brand was acquired by CavinKare in 2008. Ever since the acquisition, the brand has been growing consistently in the markets like Kerala and TamilNadu. 

The Indian non-carbonated Beverage market is around Rs 3500 crore and of which fruit based drinks constitute around Rs 3000 crore. The market is divided into various categories like 100 % fruit juices, fruit based drinks ( that has less than 20% fruit pulp) , nectars which has fruit pulp between 25% -85%.

Maa for the last two years has been consolidating its position in the South India. The brand has scored well interms of distribution reach and brand awareness. The brand is closely associated with the mango flavor but also has three more flavors - Apple Guava and Pineapple.

Maa has also invested lot of money in brand promotion. The brand had adopted a positioning strategy based on aspiration and success during the relaunch in 2008-2009 under Cavinkare. The brand targeted the young consumers and positioned itself as a brand that will refresh you to move towards success in life.

Watch the ad here : Maa Success

In 2010, the brand resegmented the market and ran a campaign targeting kids rather than older consumers. The brand is running this commercial in the media this season.

Watch the ad here : Maa Mother 

The two ads however are poles apart interms of marketing strategy. Since the company is going to fight the likes of Frooti and Maaza, it will be proper if the brand identifies the right STP.

The success of Maa in South India is largely driven by smart distribution strategies. The brand is heavily promoted by the retailers and in some cases the retailers stock only this brand and no other mango drink. Since consumers are willing to switch between brands in the case of beverage category , Maa was able to boost the sales and establish connection with the consumers. The brand will be hoping to recreate the same strategy in the Northern market also.

In the branding front, the lack of a clear positioning is evident from the past campaigns. Maa needs to have clarity in its brand manthra and core value proposition. The brand is highly associated with Mango drink and the brand should be clear whether it should reinforce that association or try to position itself as a multi-fruit drink. Getting retailer support will also be a key determinant of the success of Maa in the National market. 

It is good to see a brand growing and scaling up for more challenges and a larger market. Maa should get its marketing funda sharp and clear and then take on the leaders with confidence.

Brand Update : Spinz

Spinz now has a new brand ambassador. The brand has roped in the new bollywood diva Genelia as the brand ambassador replacing Asin. According to a report in Business Line, the brand had revamped its entire portfolio. Spinz had launched men's deo versions trying to make the brand unisex.

According to BL, Spinz has a market share of 5 % in Rs 450 crore deo market. Axe leads the market with a share of 23 %.The report also pegs the talc market at Rs 800 crore and Spinz has a share of 7 %.

The brand will retain its youth positioning. It came as a surprise to me that Spinz had launched male deos. I don't remember seeing any ads but if it is true, then the brand will have trouble because Spinz will essentially be perceived as a female brand. And Genelia will further reinforce the brand as a girly brand.

Spinz has not been able to leverage the opportunity of an affordable fragrance brand. The new brand ambassador may give some push to the brand but in my personal opinion, rather than depending on a celebrity , the brand should identify and invest in its own USP

Related Brand
Spinz

Meera : Healthy Hair for Years

Brand : Meera
Company : Cavinkare
Agency : Bates 141

Brand Analysis count : 336

Meera is a classic example of ethnic marketing in Indian context. Ethnic is defined as that which is pertaining to or characteristic of a people ( group) sharing a common and distinctive culture. Ethnic marketing is understanding those distinctiveness and adapting product and marketing strategies inorder to appeal to that group.

Meera is famous for its herbal hair wash powder. The tradition of using powder hair wash lies in our culture and tradition. Traditionally Indian women relied on powdered herbs to nourish their hair.

Then along with changing lifestyles, new products like shampoos began to take the place of these herbal powders. While hair oils have retained their position in the hair care market, the use of hair-wash powder was reduced to a niche.

It is in this context that Meera as a brand becomes interesting. The brand not only catered to the niche but also has developed this market and evolved to become an umbrella brand for more traditional hair-care products.

Although there was many companies who were selling powder hair wash, most of these players belong to the unorganized sector . Shaw Wallace had a similar product but the firm was not promoting that line. Cavinkare began to aggressively built the brand and Meera became the market leader in that category.
Herbal hair wash product typically consists of powder/essence from Shikakai , green gram, tulsi, veliver, reetha , hibiscus ,feenugreek etc.

When time passes by, these traditional products tend to lose relevance . Traditional products fade from the market for many reasons like
a. Better new products : New and better products make some traditional products less relevant.
b. No marketing : Because of lack of marketing, many traditional products fade from the consumer's mental space.
c. Product availability.
d. Changing consumer preferences
e. Non-viability of manufacturing and marketing traditional products.

In the case of herbal powder market, the products are unattractive to urban market because these are not easy products. Herbal powders are often messy and the user has to spent lot of time in using the product. In this fast life, the urban consumers are looking for fast solutions.

In my observation, consumers with grave hair problems tend to go back to these herbal products because of they feel worthwhile to invest time in using these products.

Meera as a brand has made the choice easy for the consumers. Instead of using unbranded products, consumers trusted Meera since it came from a well known company. The brand also is available in sachets thus making it convenient for the consumer to buy the product in smaller quantities. Meera uses the slogan " Healthy hair for years " highlighting the efficacy of the product.

Buoyed by the success of the hair-wash product, Cavinkare extended Meera into shampoos and soaps.
In 2004, the brand extended itself to the highly lucrative hair-oil market. Indian hair-oil market is worth around 1800 crore.

Inorder to differentiate Meera herbal oil , the company relied on a smart packaging design. The oil bottle had a visibly suspended porous cylinder containing the herbal ingredients and the consumer can see the oil deriving the nourishing from these herbs on a continuous basis. The brand virtually put into practice the dictum - " The differentiation should be observable ".

Meera is a popular brand in South India. Infact in another classic case of localising the marketing /product strategy, the brand launched Meera Chemparathi Thali in Kerala. Chemparathi is the regional name for Hibiscus. Hibiscus powder is used by Keralite as a traditional hair-care solution. Meera cashed in on this and launched the variant.

Meera is a brand which keep the hope of traditional products alive. The acceptance of this brand by consumers also gives a proof about the efficacy of traditional solutions.

With regard to the brand, Meera has extended itself to many product categories where the brand lacked competence. For example in the shampoo segment, Meera does not have a clear differentiation . In the case of soap also Meera does not have a USP. The brand was successful in offering some differentiation in oil but there the competition is huge.

Its a tough choice for a marketer to resist the temptation of leveraging a successful niche brand to mass market categories. But on hindsight, it is always wise to keep niche brand a niche brand.