Brand Update : Cadbury Dairy Milk For Shubh Aarambh

Cadbury's Dairy Milk has recently launched a new campaign " Shubh Aarambh" ( meaning Auspicious Beginning ). The campaign is the refined version of the earlier Payday campaign which evoked mixed response from the Ad analysts and consumers.

The Shubh Aarambh campaign reinforces the occasion based positioning of Dairy Milk. The brand has been trying to position itself as a symbol of enjoyment and celebrations. Indians have the tradition of sharing sweets on auspicious occasions and also when one initiates a venture/activity. Whether the activity is small like writing an exam or huge like starting a company, sharing of sweets is an integral part of the event. The belief is that good things happen when one starts a venture on a positive note ( like sharing sweets).

Dairy Milk very cleverly captured this tradition and incorporated into its brand story. The new campaign takes the brand to the center of this tradition linking Dairy Milk to Sweet and Auspicious Beginning.

While the previous PayDay campaign was a narrow interpretation of the occasion based positioning , Shubh Aarambh has given the brand a broad playing ground. In my opinion, the brand has hit upon a really great Big Idea. The concept is very much Indian and offers huge opportunity for creatives to weave great stories for the brand.

Watch the launch ad here : Shubh Aarambh

The concept also gels with the brand's tagline " Kuchch Meetha Ho Jaye ". The launch campaign is targeted at younger generation and hence the brand added a little humor and twist into the campaign.

Shubh Aarambh is a great idea for this great brand. It will be interesting to see how Dairy Milk milks this idea to the fullest.

Nature Valley Granola : 100% Natural , 100% Delicious

Brand : Nature Valley
Company : General Mills

Brand Analysis Count # 452

Last day when I was shopping in a grocery store, a young guy came rushing in to the cash counter to tell the staff that he is going to consume a granola bar which is placed in front of the counter without waiting for billing because he is feeling very hungry.Welcome to a new way to satisfy your hunger pangs.

Granola bars is an emerging new category in the Indian market. Granola is a snack food made from oats, honey, nuts etc which are baked till crispy ( Wiki). Granola Bars are the bar form -packed like a typical chocolate bar. Granola bars are popular in Western and European markets as a convenient healthy snack food.

Nature Valley is a brand from the US Foods giant General Mills. The brand claims to be world's first granola bar brand with its origin dating back to 1975. The brand is said to have an iconic status in the US market.

Nature Valley was launched in India in 2006. The brand had a very soft launch and the distribution was restricted to certain markets. I think that now the brand has gone for a national launch.

Granola bars comes under the broad category of functional foods. The functional foods market in India is estimated to be around Rs 1700 crores. The bar form of functional foods emerged just recently.
Nature Valley is currently running a small campaign in some select TV campaign. The imported ad just shows a waterfall and a voice over explaining the nutritional benefits of the product. The brand has the tagline " 100 % Natural, 100 % Delicious ". The launch campaign is too small and basic that there is nothing much to talk about. The ad at best just introduces the brand name - nothing more, nothing less.

One would have expected some thing unique and creative from a marketing giant like General Mills especially when they launch an iconic product. But at present, nothing so far has been on air. Globally Nature Valley brand is pitching heavily on the " Natural " platform . Infact the name is a unlikely candidate for a snack food brand.

Brands like Nature Valley and Horlicks Nutribar have a difficult task of creating brand salience . Brand salience covers all aspects of brand awareness. Professor Keller describes two facets of brand awareness - Depth and Breadth of Awareness. Depth of brand awareness refers to the ease with which the brand elements can be recalled. Breadth refers to the awareness about the brand under various potential usage situations.

In the case of Nature Valley, Depth of Awareness refers to how easily a consumer can remember the brand. Breadth refers to the various usage situations and how easily the brand is recalled in those situations . For example, Nature Valley can claim breadth of awareness when consumers remembers the brand when hungry/ while traveling/ watching movies/ after a workout or a game etc. It may be easy to create awareness depth with high profile ads. To create breadth, marketers may have to convince the brand efficacy in various usage situations. So brands first must decide on the targeted usage situations and then device communication strategies to create the breadth of awareness.

It is interesting to see that both globally and in Indian market, the NatureValley pitches not on "hunger/food platform" but on the natural ingredient platform which is quite different. Even the global campaigns give a different view on the brand. Hopefully the brand will follow the same framework here also. It can work here because most of the functional foods including the brands that directly competes with Nature Valley like Horlicks Nutribar, talks about hunger . So the brand can stand out by taking such a different platform. The brand has priced itself smartly at Rs 12 for a single bar and Rs 20 for pack of two. This is significantly lower than Horlicks Nutribar.

Whether consumers will get hooked to the " green " nature of the brand is a different story altogether.

Related Brand
Horlicks Nutribar

DelMonte Sauce : Taste Like Never Before

Brand : Del Monte
Company : FieldFresh Foods
Agency : Contract Advertising

Brand Analysis Count #451

Del Monte brand is making lot of noise across various channels as well as marketing blogs these days. The brand is in news because of the launch of its range of sauces in the Indian market.

Delmonte sauces launched recently is bought to India by FieldFresh Foods Ltd which is a joint venture between Bharti Group and Philippines based Delmonte Pacific. The JV was formed in 2007 and the Del Monte products were available in select cities. I presume the company has decided to launch the products nationwide in 2010.

Del Monte is a global brand with a rich heritage of over 118 years. The Del Monte brand architecture itself is very confusing with different brand owners/licensees across the globe. The brand Delmonte is originally owned by US based Del Monte Foods and licensed to other firms across the globe. The detailed brand ownership details can be accessed here ( Wiki). FieldFresh Foods have the JV with Del Monte Pacific which has the Del Monte brand license for this part of the world.

FieldFresh Foods has launched a series of food products under the Del Monte brand name. The product range include Packed Fruits, Fruit Drinks, Ketchup and Sauces, Olives, Pasta and corn. I presume this is the first time that Del Monte brand has been promoted heavily in the media.

FieldFresh has launched two sauce brands under the Del Monte brand - Twango and Zingo. Twango is a fruit based sauce and Zingo is the traditional eastern style sauce with garlic, ginger etc. The brand is running the launch campaign for these products across various channels.

Watch the TVC here : Del Monte Sauce

The sauce product range has taken the tagline : Taste Like Never Before. The brand has taken the taste as the USP. Delmonte is promising refreshing new tastes for its range of sauces. The launch ad is at best amusing with the brand using hyperbole to drive home the taste USP. The histrionics of the lady in the ad and the theme has nothing new to talk about. I wonder why the brand chose to use one of the most common themes for the first major brand campaign. The Indian Ketchup/Sauce market is worth around Rs 220 crore and is dominated by Maggi.

Another interesting fact is that the company decided to focus on the Umbrella brand Del Monte instead of the sub-brands Twango and Zingo. Most of the viewers may have missed those sub-brands in the ads. It is very difficult of build and sustain individual brands in the foods business. Hence umbrella branding is the only sustainable economical branding solution. The company may use Point of Purchase promotions for pushing the sub-brands.

Although Del Monte has used " Taste Like Never Before" tagline, it may be used only for the sauce product line. As far as the umbrella brand Del Monte is considered, the brand mark resembles a Quality Seal rather than a Logo. Hence Del Monte does not really need a tagline for itself.

Del Monte will be an interesting brand to watch because it has the backing of two big companies - Bharti and Del Monte. It will be tough for these brands to break the stronghold of established brands like Maggi, Heinz ,Kissan etc. Distribution and retailer support hold the key for any such brands in cracking the Indian market. Bharti which has big plans to establish retail chain may be looking for pushing the brands through its own stores in future.

Brand Update : Knorr

Knorr recently launched another product line extension - Soupy Noodles. The brand is currently running the campaign featuring its brand ambassador Kajol. Soupy Noodles combines both the properties of soup and noodles. The brand is promoting this variant as a new category to be carved out of Noodles .

Knorr brand was doing well in the market after the company shed all the unwarranted product extensions and concentrated on soup category alone. Knorr retained its lost brand equity and is currently the market leader in the soup market in India.Knorr later extended itself into ready to cook range to expand the portfolio.

The launch of soupy noodles can be looked upon as just another interesting variant of soup product line or as a planned foray into Noodles segment. If the soupy noodles remain as a variant in the soup product line, the brand has done the right move in creating excitement in the market. Soupy Noodles will be attractive to the kids who has now the option of best of both worlds. Having said that Soupy noodles is not entirely an innovation since a similar version called Curry Noodles exists in the market.

The second scenario is where Soupy Noodles is a first step of Knorr into extending itself into noodles. If that is the case, then Knorr has not learned from its previous mistakes. Extension of Knorr brand to noodles will make the brand lose its generic status on the soup category. Of course the brand can point out the case of Maggi extending itself to various other categories. But Knorr had a bad history of extension failures and brand name confusion unlike Maggi.

I think soon Maggi will also launch its version of soupy noodles. If the taste is good, Indian market will see the emergence of a new category of soup + noodles.

Related Brand
Knorr
Maggi

Hippo : Fights Hunger

Brand : Hippo

Company : Parle Agro

Ad Agency : Creativeland Asia

Brand Analysis Count # 446

Another brand has entered into the highly competitive snack- food market. The brand Hippo was nationally launched recently by Parle Agro. The Indian branded snack-food market is worth Rs 6500 crore has now become a battle ground of titans.

Indian snack-food market growing at 25% p.a is witnessing marketing fight worth watching. The players are trying every tricks of the trade. This intense marketing competition has expanded the market and also created new segments. One such new segment is the healthy snack segment.

Marketers were aware of the gradual trend among consumers towards healthy foods. Although this trend is limited to certain sections of society, marketers are calculating that healthy snack-foods will become a mainstay category in the snack-food market. Infact Ms Indra Nooyi of Pepsico had openly stated her vision of Pepsico leading the healthy food movement.

The healthy snack segment in the Indian Snack market has got a big boost in recent times with the launch of Aliva brand by Pepsico and Monaco Smart Chips by Parle. Earlier, Lays tried its hand by launching a low-calorie version to counter Bingo's claim of 'baked not fried 'proposition. The high profile campaign of Monaco Smart Chips featuring Aamir Khan put the spotlight on the healthy angle of snacks.

Hippo calls itself " Delicious Baked Munchies ". This baked wheat based munchy is neither a potato chips nor a biscuit, but something in between ( source Business India). The munchies are available in Pizza flavor,Chinese Manchurian, Hot N Sweet, Thai Chilly , Yoghurt Mint Chutney and Indian Chatpatta. The brand is priced at Rs 10 per pack.

Hippo is currently running its launch campaign across channels.

Watch the ad here : Hippo

Hippo has tried to position itself differently from the rest of the brands. While the other snack brands have positioned itself on product properties, Hippo brand tried to take the generic need platform.

For example :
Lays is positioned as a convenient snack,

Bingo on the different tastes,

Aliva also on health + taste

Monaco Smart Chips on health ( baked ).

Hippo is being positioned as a hunger- killer. The brand wants to be a guilt-free snack for hunger moments. The brand is banking on two properties - made from wheat and free of MSG & GMO to prove its healthy snack claim.

The brand also chose a different way to communicating its positioning to the consumer . The brand is trying to tell a story. The story is based on the premise that ' Hunger is the root cause of all evil. So the brand motto is ' fight hunger, fight evil'. The brand has adopted the mascot Hippo who is in the forefront of eliminating hunger and thus eliminating evil. Hippo has the tagline " Hippo Fights Hunger ".

Although the brand has tried to tell a story and successfully created an initial hype, I have serious reservations about the differentiation of the brand. The brand has taken the " Hunger" platform, but how is it different from other snack-foods that offer same qualities ? How is Hippo different from a Bingo or Monaco Smart Chips ? .

I feel a lack of uniqueness in the brand. The problem of lack of differentiation will come into forefront when the initial consumer interest dies down. Without a clear USP, the brand needs to constantly stay on top of the Share of Noise to drive the sales. If you observe the campaigns of Parle Agro brands, the company adopts a " On/Off " kind of advertising strategy. Sometimes there are lot of ads, and sometimes, there is no sign of any brand communication. In a category like Snacks such intermittent burst of ads may not work. One needs to have a steady continuous stream of campaigns ( ATL and BTL) to drive the sales.

From the first campaign, I don't see any attempt from the brand to create a differentiation. What the brand had tried to do was to establish brand familiarity which it had done successfully. But the brand needs to find a meaningful differentiation if it wants to survive for the long term. The brand can develop its positioning further using its core brand promise of " Guilt-free snack for hunger moments ".

One of the most striking aspect about this brand is the packaging. The company has put in lot of work behind making the packaging stand out in stores. Since the purchase of snacks are highly spontaneous, the packaging offers immense strategic importance. Hippo has really differentiated itself from the rest of the crowd in the packaging front.

Another aspect of the brand is its emphasis on ' After-Marketing". After- Marketing is what the brand does after it has sold itself to the consumer. Like Appy Fizz, Hippo has cleverly used the packaging to engage the consumers after the purchase. The pack contains interesting information and one-liners which takes the brand-consumer conversations beyond advertising .

As a new product launch, Hippo has done all the right marketing moves. The brand has a catchy name , good product qualities, excellent packaging, nice pricing, distribution reach etc. It has also created right kind of noise in the media during the launch. The real test is after the initial euphoria. The brand is fighting players with deep pockets. It will be interesting to watch how Hippo takes on the giants.

Related Brands
Lays
Aliva
Bingo
Appyfizz

McVitie's : Taste Ki Nayi Language

Brand : McVitie's

Company : United Biscuits

Brand Analysis Count # 445

Another global brand has come to India. United Biscuits which is World's third largest biscuit manufacturer has launched its flagship brand McVities in India recently. United Biscuits is a $1.6 bn giant which has brands like BN, McVities, Jacob's, Phileas Fogg, Hula Hoops etc. United biscuits has already acquired a manufacturing facility in Himachal Pradesh .

McVitie's is a whole wheat based digestive biscuits. The brand is currently running its launch campaign in various channels.

Watch the launch ad here : McVities

United Biscuits has entered a highly fragmented fiercely competitive Indian market. The biscuits market in India is around Rs 6000 crore with major players like Britannia, Parle , ITC, Unibic etc fighting for the share. Along with these players, there is also a fair share of competition from private labels and local players..

McVities has a rich heritage. The origin of the brand dates back to 1892. The brand derived its name from the original owners McVities & Price Ltd.

The first product to be launched in India by the brand is McVitie's Digestive. Infact McVitie's digestive is worlds first digestive biscuit ( source) created in 1892.

McVitie's is positioned as a healthy biscuit . Worldwide, the brand is positioned based on its " Whole grain " content. Globally, the brand has the slogan " Whole Wheat At Its Heart".

Regarding the launch campaign, I feel that the ad was not able to do justice to the brand. I came to know about this only after some desktop research for this blog. For an ordinary consumer, the advertisement conveys nothing much about the rich legacy of this global brand.

McVitie's positioning in India is based on two attributes . It focuses on Health ( whole grain) and Taste. The brand has adopted the tagline " Taste Ki Nayi Language " translated to " The new language of taste ".

In my personal opinion, the ad was poorly made. The concept of people speaking caves as maves, thank you as Mhank you , Wow as Mow etc after eating McVitie's was little overboard and out of woods. I feel a total disconnect between the brand and the current communication. The segmentation and targeting of the brand is also unclear. The products like Digestive biscuits will not appeal to all customers. The brand may be thinking that taking a positioning platform like taste will bring in all customer.

The brand wanted to bring in some humor in the ad but failed miserably. At the end of it, the launch ad was a very hastily made poor one which failed to do justice to this global brand. Regarding the positioning, McVitie's choice of taste as the major platform is also flawed. I don't think that taste can act as a powerful differentiator for McVities. All brands talk about taste at one time or the other. The powerful differentiator for McVities would have been its global image and the quality factor which made it one of the most respected brands in Britain. The brand could have projected itself as the REAL Digestive biscuit which invented this product category. The packaging mentions the brand as " The Original " , the brand should have focused on that.

Having said that, the critical factors for success in this business is the distribution reach and the shelf space. Since biscuits is largely a spontaneous purchase, retailer support is the key. McVetie's has the back of a global major. So marketing support may not be an issue. But it will take a long time for the company to reach to the nook and corner of the market. It will be interesting to see the subsequent launches of United Biscuits also into the Indian market.

Brand Update : Maggi

I recently saw an ad featuring Maggi Sauce. The ad was commemorating the 25 year celebration of the Maggi sauce brand. The ad was a collage of all the ads of Maggi Sauces that features Javed Jaffery and Pankaj Kapoor. The duo was instrumental in making the Maggi sauces famous through the intriguing tagline " Its Different".

But the new ad also had a shocker. Maggi Sauces has decided to change the tagline ' Its Different ' to " Make A Difference ". Regular readers of this blog will be knowing that I despise when brands changes their famous tagline. This time also, its true. Maggi over this 25 years has built consistently the tagline " Its different " and the tagline has been very famous. Now how in the world should the brand change its famous tagline ?? Who was bored with the tagline- is it the customers or the ad agency or the brand manager ??

There is a lot of positioning difference between " Its Different " and " Make a difference ". "Its different" is a tagline that directs towards the product characteristics. The brand had earlier changed the tagline " Its different " to " Enjoy the difference " but later reverted back to the classic tagline. The tagline was able to act as a differentiator for the brand without clearly mentioning the difference. But " Make a Difference" is something that is directed away from the brand. I am not sure how the brand is going to communicate the new idea . What I have seen is only a teaser announcing the change of tagline.

What ever said and done, changing a tagline which has become an integral part of the brand and which has become a powerful brand element is not at all a good idea.

Go Cheese : From 100% Cow's Milk

Brand : Go

Company : Gowardhan Dairy ( Parag Milk Foods)

Ad Agency : Scion Brand Incubation

Brand Analysis Count : 444

GO is the new brand of Cheese from Gowardhan Dairy which is a part of Pune based Parag Milk Foods. Gowardhan Dairy is one of the largest players in the dairy market in India. The company owns India's largest cow farm and also has constructed Asia's largest cheese plant near Pune.

GO cheese brand is the company's venture into the value added product category. The Indian cheese market, although in a nascent market stage ,having a market size of about Rs 2000 crore is dominated by brands like Amul, Britannia, Mother Dairy etc.

GO cheese has entered a market which is growing at around 20% p.a. But the market is dominated by established players on one side while there is a large unorganized market on the other side.

GO Cheese in now running the launch campaign in various channels.

Watch the ad here : Go Cheese

GO cheese is positioned on the basis of the attribute that it is made from 100% cow's milk. The ads are really good and infact I thought GO is an international brand. More than the 100% milk factor, what is more striking about GO cheese is its packaging.

GO cheese has took packaging very seriously and it will be one of the brand elements that is going to help the brand with lot of customer trials. The packaging looks international and the wedge shaped Cheese pack SKU is appealing to kids and will help the brand get lot of customer trials. It is good to see lot of Indian brands utilizing the potential of packaging in their branding efforts.

Besides the smart packaging and interesting communication, GO brand also has a brand mascot - the cow. The mascot ( although the name is not mentioned anywhere) is shown in the pack and reinforces the positioning of 100% cow's milk.

The 100% cow's milk positioning is a good strategy but not new. Infact Amul used the same positioning for its icecream product range. The problem with 100% cow's milk is that competitors can easily copy the USP and hence negate the point of difference created by GO Cheese. If Amul or Britannia starts showing that their cheese is also made from 100 % cow's milk, GO Cheese may lose its USP.

Hence GO Cheese either needs to OWN up this platform or find another USP which could be sustainable over time. GO can only own this positioning through heavy ad spends reinforcing the consumers about their claim. I am not sure whether the brand can spend that much on the promotions . Another way is to create an ingredient brand which can own up the 100 cow's milk proposition . How ever , the brand needs to protect this proposition from the competitors.

There is always a space for new brands in the large untapped Dairy market in India. GO is in the right position to create a space for itself. There are larger issues to consider like the distribution reach and supply chain management. Cheese is a perishable item and needs a very strong supply chain set up if the brand wants to create a national impact.The brand's task will be to get the distribution and logistics correct and ensure enough retail support for the brand. The brand is expected to go on a phased approach while catering to a large market like India. Even Amul is finding it difficult to get its distribution right in many markets. For example, in my city Cochin, Amul dairy product's distribution is erratic with the products not available in many retail outlets. I hope that GO will go after volume only after setting up a strong distribution reach across the markets.

Brand Update : Horlicks

I was shocked to see an ad in todays newspaper announcing the launch of a noodles brand by Horlicks. I was wondering how can a company like GSK mess up a power brand like Horlicksby launching a totally unrelated extension ?

Horlicks has launched a new extension in the noodles category . The extension has the brand name Foodles and is endorsed by Horlicks. Foodles is positioned as a healthy noodles. The brand has launched two variants of noodles. - Regular and Multi-grain The main USP of Foodles is the " Health Maker" sachet which comes along with the noodles pack. The health maker sachet contains the essentials of 5 vitamins.

Frankly , this is one brand extension which I cannot understand.Theoretically Foodles by Horlicks cannot be termed as a brand extension. In this case Foodles is the main brand and Horlicks is the endorser brand. But for all practical purposes, Foodles is going to impact Horlicks just like any other brand extension.

Horlicks off late has been on a extension spree. It recently launched the Nutribar snack bar with an aim of transforming Horlicks in to an umbrella brand for launching health related food products.

My first contact with Foodles happened last week when my wife tried to trick me with Foodles instead of Maggi. I hated the taste of it and wondered whether Maggi changed the taste of its noodles again. It is only then my wife revealed that she tried to make me eat " healthy " noodles.


What can be the possible logic behind Horlicks trying its hand into launching a noodles brand ?

One reason or argument can be that Horlicks is only an endorser brand . Once the brand is accepted in the market, Foodles can remain as a standalone brand.

If that is the logic, then has the marketers thought about the brand equity dilution of parent brand? Horlicks in no way can be associated with noodles category. Noodles is perceived to be unhealthy , junk food and by associating with this category, Horlicks is definitely going to dilute its core positioning of a health drink.

Secondly, why should a multinational giant like GSK launch a brand with an endorsement from its power brand ? What is restricting the company from launching a new standalone brand ? Only reason seems to be the lack of confidence of the marketer or the search of a short cut to market acceptance.

Has the company thought of the impact of Horlicks if Foodles fail ? If Foodles succeed, does it add value to Horlicks brand or will it dilute the core proposition of a health drink ?
What is Horlicks now - a health drink for kids, health drink for adults, health drink for women, a snack brand, a biscuit brand and a noodles brand .... where is the connection.

Foodles is not going to revolutionize noodles market in India. All the noodles brands are now on the health plank and having a vitamin sachet is not going to do big things for Foodles.

Earlier, my students used to ask me about my favorite brand and I would tell them it is Horlicks because of the focus and smart marketing moves. Now I would say that Horlicks 'used' to be my favorite brand.

Brand Update : Maggi

Maggi has launched its product in the growing Pasta market recently. The variant called Maggi Nutri-licious Paazta is Maggi's major new brand extension in recent times. The Indian pasta market is still in nascent stage with a market size or around Rs 50 crore ( source) but growing very fast.

Maggi pioneered the noodles market in India 25 years back but was not the brand which created the pasta category. The credit goes to Sunfeast which first launched a National brand in this category.

Maggi decided to jump into this Pasta bandwagon for obvious reasons. There is a lot of customer interest in this category. Indian consumers are now more adventurous in their food habits. The Gen Y is mesmerized with the exposure to various cuisines thanks to the media. So there is no dearth of innovators in this segment. Once you get into the good books of these foodies, the flock follow.

Maggi's move was further endorsed when Domino's forayed into the Pasta market with their offerings . So this market is going to see lot of action.

Maggi is currently running a TVC for their Pasta variant : Watch it here

The ad is very similar to the Noodles positioning and both pasta and noodles are sharing a common tagline(with a slight variation) . Paazta uses the tagline " Health bhi, taste bhi, happiness bhi"

One marketing practice reader observed the risk of Maggi moving into a different product category ( brand extension) . He opined that the equity of Maggi will be lost because of this extension . Personally , I differ because Nestle had slowly but surely developed Maggi as an umbrella brand for their food products. They have launched the soups and sauces under this brand. And the brand is doing well in these extensions.


Maggi is currently addressing a category competition. The brand feels that pasta can have a negative impact on its noodles business. For consumers, they view these products as snacks. For such customers, Maggi needed to offer pasta choice otherwise they will move to a competing brand. The current brand extension will have all the disadvantages of brand dilution and cannibalization . But on a broader perspective, it is a matter of survival and category leadership.

Related Brand

Maggi
Sunfeast

Snack Break : Creating new Category

Brand : Snack Break
Company : Agrotech Industries ( ConAgra )
Agency : FCB Ulka

Brand Analysis Count : 429

There is a new kid in the market for snackfoods. Agrotech Industries, which is an affiliate of the US food giant ConAgra, has launched Snack Break brand of snackfoods.
There are two interesting things about this new product. The first one is the category. Snack Break is the first major brand that has introduced "pudding " as a snack. Although Indians love pudding, no one has so far ventured into launching a branded pudding.

Snack Break is inspired from the Snack Pack brand from ConAgra. The Snack Break brand shares the same brand /product characteristics as the parent brand.
Snack Break is positioned as a tasty snack with the goodness of milk. The brand has three variants - Chocolate, Butterscotch and Chocolate Mud-Pie. The brand is priced at Rs 25 for 99gm and Rs 100 for a pack of 4.

The brand is currently running a campaign highlighting the " taste " factor and the nutrition. The brand has adopted the tagline " Simply Irresistible".
Launching a pudding brand is definitely a good idea. The brand is aiming youngsters and kids alike and the nutritional value makes a good reason to indulge.

The second interesting fact about this brand is that Snack Break is endorsed by Sundrop. In theoretical terms, Sundrop is the endorser brand for Snack Break. Sundrop is the popular cooking oil brand from Agrotech. It was surprising that a cooking oil brand is endorsing a pudding brand. Frankly it does not make sense. Oil brand and a snack brand doesn't go together . More over it can be dangerous association since Oil is considered unhealthy and so do snacks.
One reason that prompted Agrotech to endorse Snack Break with Sundrop is to familiarize the brand. Since Snack Break is new and the category is also new, the brand owners felt that a stand alone brand will not be able to make consumers try it. By endorsing it with the popular Sundrop, there is an increased chance of trial by the consumers.

Snack Break is priced a little high compared to the competitors. This high price can be a deterrent for regular purchase for this brand. Once in a while indulgence will be what a middle-class customer will feel about this brand. But for the affluent youngsters, Snack Break offers a new product category to indulge.

Brand Update : Gems

Cadbury Gems is currently running a new series of interesting commercials. The brand has chosen a Giant Panda as the main character in the new set of ads.

Watch one commercial here : Rangeen Panda

Gems has been very consistent in associating with the attributes - color,fun and excitement. Over the last few years, the brand has been concentrating on associating " color" with Gems. The current campaign is trying to further reinforce the association.

Frankly , when I first saw the new Gems ad with the colored Panda, I did not understand any bit of it. Only thing I understood was that Panda became colored when it ate Gems. But my kid seems to enjoy watching the Panda.
Gems now have the new tagline " Rangeen Panda ka Rangeen Pasand". The earlier tagline of Gems was " Meri masti ka Partner ". The new tagline seems to be too tactical in nature focusing more on the Panda rather than the brand.

Gems is targeting the kids of age 8-14 yrs.(source) The way kids look at these messages are way different from how we adults look at the campaigns . Hence I am not venturing into analyzing the new campaign using my adult lens. However I think that the ad could have been more clear so that adults will also understand the essence of the message.

Having said that, the choice of Panda as the main protagonist is a very good idea. The animal evokes a sense of cuteness and stickiness to the ad. When marketing to kids, the presence of such a character will add more punch to the brand. The association of the attribute "color" to Gems also is a class act because it makes Gems unique compared to other brands.

Even though Gems does not have a competitor with similar product properties ( color candies), the consumer does not think in terms of categories while making a confectionery purchase. Most of the purchases are spontaneous and marketers can only wish that their brand is on top of the mind during that moment of truth. Let me hope that the Rangeen Panda helps Gems to capture that moment.

Related Post
Cadbury Gems

Smith & Jones : Tadka Marke

Brand : Smith & Jones
Company : Capital Foods

Brand Analysis Count : 425

When I recently saw the ad of Smith & Jones, I thought that a new foreign player has entered the Indian noodles market. Much to my amusement, Smith & Jones is an Indian brand and has been in the market for a while.

Smith & Jones is a brand from Capital Foods - which are famous for its Ching's secret range of Chinese food products especially instant noodles.Smith & Jones is popular in ready to eat, sauce and jelly etc.

Smith & Jones is making lot of noise in the media for its masala noodles. The brand is taking on the market leader Maggi Noodles head on .

Watch the TVC here : Smith & Jones

According to news reports , the brand is trying to redefine the Masala Variant in the noodles category. Masala is a highly popular variant in the noodles segment and has become a generic variant with the same kind of taste offered by different players in the category.

Smith & Jones wanted to differentiate by offering an innovative taste in this category . According to the reports, the brand is trying to woo customers by offering a " Tadka " taste to the masala.

Tadka is a popular garnish ( seasoning) made out of various spices which are added to the food to make it more tasty. Smith & Jones claims that its Tadka is made of 52 Indian spices. The brand is differentiating itself using the " Tadka " ingredient. The brand has the tagline " Tadka Marke".

I still wonder why Capital Foods chose to extend Smith & Jones to noodles segment when it already have Ching's Secret brand of instant noodles. Smith & Jones was having products in the Sauce, Ready to eat segment etc and Ching's Secret was a popular noodles brand. Rather than extending Smith & Jones, Capital Foods could have introduced the new flavor under Ching's. By having two brands in the same category, the company is going to lose both share and money. There is a chance of cannibalizing one brand over the other. And to fight a market leader like Maggi, one needs to be very focused both on brands and also resources.

Another aspect of the brand is its insensitivity towards the linguistic diversity across the vast Indian market. Although I know Hindi, I was totally clueless about what a Tadka is. I did not knew the meaning of it till I made a conscious search of the word. If the customer does not understand the meaning of Tadka, the entire brand promise will be lost. The brand will have tough time in communicating its core differentiation across non-Hindi speaking markets unless it takes pain to find apt word in all those languages.

The brand has initiated sampling across 3200 schools across India and is sponsoring lot of events and contact program with the consumers. The brand is also trying product placement in movies and sponsor programs in kid's channels ( Source).

It will be interesting to see whether Smith & Jones will be able to make a dent in Maggi's stronghold in the Rs 1100 crore noodles market. Differentiation based on flavor is not sustainable proposition. It will be easy for any marketer to launch such a variant. That was one of the reason why I doubted the effectiveness of Smith & Jones' foray into noodles .

Related Brand
Maggi
Top Ramen

Pediasure : Complete Nutrition , Complete Peace of Mind

Brand : Pediasure
Company : Abbott Pharmaceuticals

Brand Analysis Count : 422

Pediasure is a leading global brand in the pediatric nutrition segment.The brand is owned by the pharmaceutical giant Abbott. Pediasure was launched in India way back in 2000. But it is only recently that I noticed an ad for this global brand.

Pediasure is a food supplement for children aged 2-10. The brand is fighting for its share in the Rs 0.56 billion pediatric nutrition market in India. But compared to other competitors, the brand was virtually silent in the Indian market.

There is a reason behind this very soft marketing by the brand. Pediasure is basically a therapeutic supplement.According to the brand site, Pediasure is a food supplement for those kids who are picky eaters and those kids who are suffering from some diseases. This is a highly recommended supplement for those kids who are malnourished because they refuse to eat. So most of the sales would have happened through suggestions/prescriptions from doctors and also through word of mouth. A google search indicates that the brand has lot of equity among the consumers.

But by limiting its promotion, the brand had severely undermined its potential to become a popular choice among mothers. The brand has been perceived as a solution for those kids who have chronic problems thus alienating other consumers who are in need of a nutritional supplement.

The brand may have realized the potential now and have started advertising. The ad is projecting Pediasure as a supplement for all those kids who does not like taking food.The current strategy for the brand is to appeal to a larger section of mothers who feel that their child is not getting enough nutrition.

What will be a problem for Pediasure is its price. The brand is priced at around Rs 399 for 400 gm which is almost double the price of brands like Horlicks and Boost. Infact I did not buy this product for my kid ( not malnourished !!!) because of the price. The price is going to make this brand unaffordable for many middle-class customers. The brand could do well if it launches smaller SKUs of 100gms at a reasonable price point .
But for a parent whose child is severely malnutritioned , this price will not be a major issue because of necessity. I recently talked to my newspaper agent whose child was prescribed Pediasure by the doctor . The poor guy was lamenting about the high price of this product. For such consumers, smaller SKUs will make life little more easier.

The price problem becomes a sumbling block when the brand tries to get into the larger market of ordinary consumers. The brand's strategy as of now may be to explore the premium segment of the market.

Brand Update : Quaker Oats

I am a big fan of the concept of brands taking up cause marketing. Although academic research has two opinions about the impact of such cause based promotions, I strongly believe that brands will benefit positively if it can align with a worthy cause.

Recently Quaker Oats launched a new campaign " Make India heart healthy". The brand is trying to promote the cause of healthy heart. The brand has taken up the mission of spreading awareness about the risk of heart diseases and educate the public about healthy living. The campaign is being launched in association with Appolo Hospitals and Times of India.

The brand also launched a portal Goodmorningheart.com where individuals can do an online heart check. Once the person entered the details, he will receive customized diet plans and also his risk profile.

Quaker Oats needs to be lauded for taking up such an initiative. In this fast world where health is compromised for materialistic pursuits, some one needs to take the initiative to educate the public.

For a cause based brand promotion to work, brands need to focus on certain basic requirements.

a. There has to be a worthy cause

b. The cause should be related to the broad solution that the brand offers.

c. The brand should be consistent in supporting the cause.

d.The initiative should be long term.

Quaker has taken an initiative which is worthy and also aligns with the brand's core promise. Quaker is a healthy food and hence it makes sense for the brand to take up the cause of a healthy heart.

Time will only tell whether the brand's initiative is going to be consistent and long term. Currently the brand is spending its energy on awareness building. We have to see whether the brand will further the cause to next level.

Related Brand

Quaker Oats

Brand Update : Knorr Soups

Finally Knorr brand decided to do what it does best - Selling Soups.After messing up with extensions and brand name confusions, Knorr has decided to concentrate on soups. The brand is currently running its latest campaign featuring the brand ambassador Kajol.

Watch the Tvc here : Knorr Soups

The ad is interesting because it aims change the way Indian consumers look at Soups. Soup is not a popular part of Indian consumer's cuisine. According to Financial Express, Indian prepared soup market is worth Rs 120 crore and Knorr have a market share of over 70%. But given the size of Indian consumer space, the brand feels that the pie should be bigger.

The new campaign aims to do just that. HUL is a master in building and owning categories. The current campaign is aiming to build the soup category. To build the category, the brand has to bring in new consumers regularly buy and use soups.

Knorr is now being repositioned as a 7'o'Clock snack. Don't confuse the usage of the term Snack. Knorr is not going to compete with Lays or Bingo but aims to give the consumers a valid reason for buying this product by calling it a snack.

As a consumer, I never thought of regularly buying soups at my home. We used to indulge in soups at the hotel but seldom at home. Only some times I bought soups but not regularly because there was no perceived reasons for buying it regularly.

Knorr is giving consumers like me a reason for regularly buying it. It is common for little ones to become hungry at around 7-8 pm. This is a problem that most mothers face. You give something to kids and they will not take dinner .

Knorr is now offering a solution to this common problem.Give soups to the kids as a seven o clock snack. The brand tells mothers that giving soup to kids is a healthy option compared to any other snacks. Such a repositioning will help many non users to try out the product category. Kajol adds more punch to the entire exercise.

The brand now has a tagline " Tummy bhi Khush, Mummy bhi khush " meaning " Tummy is happy and Mummy is also happy ". The only issue whether the kids gets bored with soups.

The current campaign is a marketing lesson. Being a market leader does not make good brands complacent. Smarter brands build categories and end up owning it.

Related Brand

Knorr

Aliva : Thodi Sharafat, Thodi Shararat

Brand : Aliva

Company : Frito- Lay ( Pepsico Group)

Agency : JWT

Brand Analysis Count : 415

There is a new kid in the block in the Rs 10,000 crore snack food industry. Aliva is the latest launch from Pepsico in the intensely competitive Snack Food Industry. Every one in the branding world is excited about this launch since it is the major(food) brand launch from Pepsico since Kurkure.

Aliva comes in the category of Crackers. Cracker is a new category in the Indian market. The product is a combination of biscuit and Namkeen. Aliva ,if successful, will create a subsegment in the 1500 M ton Indian biscuit industry. According to news reports, the brand is trying to create a new category for itself just like what Kurkure did.Aliva comes in four flavors and is priced at Rs 12 for 60 gms ( introductory offer).

Since Aliva is trying to create a new category, it does not face any immediate brand competition . It faces competition from other categories of snacks . Aliva faces competition from the non-glucose biscuit brands like Britannia 50-50 and Parle Monaco and Sunfeast Snacky. ( read report here). Lays and Bingo also gives this brand a competition since all these brands are in the snack food business.

Aliva has roped in the actress Chitrangda Singh as the brand ambassador . Aliva is currently running its launch TVC across various channels

Watch the TVC here : Aliva

Just like Lays and Bingo, Aliva targets predominately youth and adults . The brand is being positioned as a healthy snack. The brand has adopted the tagline " Thodi Sharafat, Thodi Shararat " roughly translated to " Little Nice, Little Naughty ".

There has been various reactions to the launch ad. Read Afaqs review here and a view of ad man here

Frankly speaking, I think that the launch ad is nothing great to talk about. The theme is not new and there is no big idea. Britannia Bourbon is currently running a campaign similar to Aliva.

The brand could have come out with some clutter breaking stuff but chose to go for a lousy also-ran commercial.The tagline is also nothing to talk about compared to Lay's earlier campaign " No one can eat just one " or Bingo 's " No confusion, Great Combination". The launch ad also does not highlight the core positioning of a healthy snack. There was too much focus on the plot rather than the brand.

Having said that, the high profile media blitz will generate lot of trials.My 5 year old daughter has already demanded one. If the product delivers, then Aliva will just have to ride the wave. Lays became such a blockbuster product because the product delivered.

Aliva is a launch from a very powerful marketer . Hence the brand has a huge support base . It will be interesting to see how Aliva will make a space for itself.

Related Brand
Lays
Bingo

Brand Update : Horlicks Vs Complan

The fight between Complan and Horlicks has become more intense. Yesterday I saw the new ad for Horlicks and was shocked at the message. The ad started with a scene inside the classroom where the teacher is taking the attendance. The teacher calls out " Calcium" then a group of students raise their hands, then she calls out " Iron " another group raises their hands. Then the voice over talks about the deficiency of nutrients seen in kids.

Then comes the critical part, a Doctor ( model) comes to the picture and talks about 23 vital nutrients that is necessary for the growth and claims that these nutrients are present in HORLICKS....!!!!

This is one of the classic cases of brands trying to establish their competitive points of parity . Horlicks is trying to negate the core differentiation of Complan . Complan since its inception has been harping on the 23 vital nutrients. Now Horlicks is trying to create parity by claiming the same property. Complan has never been so aggressive and blunt.

Remember that Complan has been trying to negate the claim of Horlicks ( Stronger,sharper,Taller) through aggressive campaigns .


So what is the fall out of this fight.

I think the possible outcome of this fight is that media and the ad agency will make a lot of money. Complan will be the gainer in this fight and Horlicks may run the risk of losing its core brand identity because it is trying to become Complan.

What do you think ??

Related Brands

Horlicks Vs Complan Fight

Dollops : RIP (1989-1995)

Brand : Dollops
Company : Cadbury/HLL


Brand Analysis : 403

Dollops is another MNC brand that bite the dust in Indian market. This much hyped brand was launched in India in 1989 by Cadbury's in association with Brooke Bond. Dollops was one of the first high profile MNC brands to enter the Indian market.

Dollops gained instant consumer interest because of the endorsement from Cadbury's. The brand was positioned as a premium icecream and was able to make a significant hype during the launch.

Ice cream business at that time was dominated by local players and powerful brands like Kwality. Cadbury later found that the market was not as juicy as it thought to be. During 1993, Cadbury began the process of focusing more on its confectionery business.

This lead to the hiving off the unrelated businesses like ice creams. It was around that time Hindustan Lever Ltd began to aggressively pursue their interest in ice cream market. In an acquisition spree, HLL acquired Kwality and Dollops. Cadbury sold Dollops to HLL in 1993.

Typically, HLL played around with the brands it had acquired. HLL had its international Wall's brand which it was planning to launch along with Kwality and Dollops. HLL found that Kwality had a huge equity in the market and decided to keep that brand .

Dollops could not be fit into the planned portfolio strategy of HLL and had to be killed.By around 1995, Dollops was slowly eased out from the market.

Dollops had only a short life in the Indian market. Dollops shot into limelight only because of the Cadbury's brand endorsement. The brand was in a tough market which had even humbled the mighty HLL. For Cadbury's, Dollops became a liability when it chose to concentrate on its core business. For HLL, it was a costly exercise of killing a competing brand.

Dollops is a brand that failed not because of any product related reasons. Some of the flavors of Dollops were a hit with the consumers. It failed because of company related factors.

Picture courtsey : Business Line

Brand Update : Chlormint

Chlormint is back in the media space with a new campaign. There are two interesting things about the new campaign.

First is that, the brand has now a celebrity endorser ( infact two !) . Chlormint has signed up Bollywood Actor Salman Khan as the brand ambassador. The new tvc features Salman and his brother Sohail Khan.

Watch the Tvc Here : Chlormint Airplane Ad

The second most important development about this brand is the tagline. The brand has brought back the old famous tagline " Dobara Mat Poochna " . Chlormint had earlier changed the tagline to " Khao Kabhi Bhi ". I had criticized about the unnecessary change in the tagline in my earlier update about the brand. I had argued that the new tagline does not have lasting power and dumping " Dobara Mat Poochna " was a mistake.

The brand has made some changes in the tagline. The new tagline is " Bina Tayaari ke Dobara mat poochna " meaning " Don't Ask with out taking adequate preparation ". It is good that Chlormint decided to bring back the tagline that made this brand famous. It was a beautiful tagline with lot of room for creativity. The tagline also became a much used phrase by the youngsters.

I am little surprised by the brand's move to rope in a celebrity endorser. The question is whether Chlormint really need the support of a brand ambassador ? My personal opinion is that Chlormint have the strength to survive on its own. Any brand ambassador will only dilute the strength of this brand.

One reason for taking a celebrity is the category competitor Orbit taking Deepika as the brand ambassador. May be Chlormint felt threatened by this move.

The new TVC featuring Salman and Sohail is a pathetic one . The agency could have used this duo better. There is nothing funny or remarkable about the new TVC.

The brand could have fared better if it had concentrated on itself rather than on the celebrity.




Related Brand

Chlormint

Picture courtesy
Tarik Jilai Flickr Photostream