Accu-chek : Live Life The Way You Want

Brand : Accu-chek
Company : Roche

Brand Analysis Count : 293

Accu-chek is a unique brand. The brand is a pioneer in home blood sugar monitoring device market in India. Accu-chek is the brand of global diagnostics major Roche. Roche introduced the revolutionary blood monitoring device in 1983.
India is the facing the huge problem of burgeoning diabetic patients count. According to media reports 20% of world's diabetic patients are in India. This has created a market for diabetic related products in India which is estimated to be over Rs 1236 crore growing at 16%.
Like the brand " Sugarfree" discussed elsewhere in the blog, Accu-chek also treats diabetes as a lifestyle issue rather than a disease. Accu-chek is positioned as an lifestyle enabler rather than a medical device.
This smart positioning comes from the customer insight that diabetes is an obstacle to a person's way of life. Once detected, the person's life changes forever. The lifestyle changes and the enjoyment withers away.
One of the most important part of treatment for diabetes is the regular blood sugar monitoring. Doctors assure the patients that if they are able to monitor sugar levels and adjusts their life, diabetes can be contained. But monitoring blood sugar level involves visits to the lab which is a real boring and damning experience.
It is from this problem that innovative products like home blood monitoring devices were created.These devices are a boon of diabetes patients because of the convenience factor.

Accu-chek is actively promoted by Roche in India. The brand has the ace cricketer Wasim Akram as the brand ambassador. Wasim was diagnosed with diabetes during his peak career point. Most analysts predicted end of career for Akram. But with careful monitoring and control, Wasim came back to cricket and proved the doomsayers wrong. WasimAkram fits perfectly with Accu-chek's positioning of lifestyle enabler. Akram features in the ads of this brand and often participates various events sponsored by the brand.

Accu-chek uses the classic slogan " Live life the way you want". The slogan actively captures the brand's vision and I am quite impressed by the vision of the brand. The brand assures the customers that one can life a healthy life with diabetes.
To reinforce the positioning, the brand is very active in promoting information regarding diabetes. The brand had a CSR initiative in 2004 called Inspiration Series where the brand took up the cause of juvenile diabetes ( kids suffering from diabetes). The brand also leads in observing November 14 as World Diabetes day by organizing awareness camps and road shows.
The brand also is a smart innovator. Accu-chek has lot of variants like Accu-chek integra which was launched in 2007. This product is a premium product which has more advanced features. A typical blood monitoring device consists of a a meter, strip and finger pricker .

Accu-chek is not without competition. The biggest competitor is One Touch Ultra from Johnson and Johnson. The list is long with every major pharma players launching their own brands. All these products are priced higher starting from Rs 2500 and above. The testing strips are also very expensive and now there is a trend where companies sell the meters for low prices and make money on the strips. However for a consumer, these products are a boon and the increased competition may see the prices becoming less and the product becoming more affordable.

Brand Update : Amul

Amul has launched India's first Probiotic Wellness Icecreams. Probiotics are live beneficial culture which when administered in adequate amounts confer a beneficial health effect on the host. Probiotics help in digestion, fight allergic reactions and even helps in controlling traveler's diarrhea. It also prevents colon cancer and is said to enhance brain activity. Amul will gain a huge first mover advantage by launching this product now. The Indian Wellness market ( including beauty ) is huge with a market size of around $ 9 billion. Icecreams are considered to be a junk unhealthy food . The wellness range is expected to change the way Indian consumers look at Icecreams. Now consumers can indulge in icecreams without worrying about the health.
Great thinking ....

Icecreams were often a dream for Diabetic patients...but not any more...Along with the Probiotics, Amul is set to shake up the icecream market with the launch of India's first Sugarfree icecreams.The icecreams contain digestible sugar substitutes which enable the diabetic patients to indulge. The company communication excerpts is given below:

"For diabetics, consuming ice-cream had remained a dream. Amul is all set to change that with the launch of India's first specially created SUGAR FREE low fat diabetic delight. In Amul Sugarfree Probiotic diabetic delight Frozen Dessert, Sugar has been replaced with ZERO calorie and low calorie sweeteners. Fructo-oligo saccharides are soluble dietary fibre that improve the mineral absorption and bone health in addition to increasing the disease fighting ability of the body. Digestive enzymes sparingly digest these sweeteners in stomach or small intestines and therefore do not cause fluctuations in blood sugar levels unlike in a diabetic condition where intake of digestible sugar causes fluctuation in the blood sugar level.

In diabetic condition it is advisable to consume less fat, less calorie to maintain proper metabolism. Amul SUGAR FREE probiotic diabetic delight contains 50% less fat and half of the calorie than normal ice cream. Further, it has been supplemented with pro-biotic cultures for health improvement. All these special range of ice creams/frozen desserts would be available in 125 ml, 500 ml and 1.25 litre packs in five flavours, vanilla with chocolate sauce, strawberry, chocolate, shahi anjir and fresh litchi. They would be available in the price range of Rs. 15 (125 ml.) to Rs. 120 (1.25 ltr.) "

India has 37 million diabetic patients and around 400 million overweight. That is a huge market for healthy foods. With the media and doctors in an overdrive to educate Indians on the efficacy of healthy foods, the market is expected to grow multifold. With the launch of healthy icecreams, Amul is all set to ride the healthy foods wave.

Kwality Walls Are You Listening .....

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Kwality walls

Brand Update : Sugar Free Natura

Sugar Free Natura has come out with a new campaign featuring the master chef Sanjeev Kapur. The ad tries to pitch the brand against the ordinary sugar. Targeted at heavy tea drinkers ( and other beverage drinkers too), the ad clearly hints at the risk of taking sugar with tea. The consumer insight is that doctors tell diabetic patients to have " tea without sugar" which is dreaded by the heavy tea drinkers. And more sugar is consumed daily along with tea rather than through other sweets. Hence the ad makes perfect sense. great insight . great work.

Related brands
Sugar Free
Parry's sugar

source: agencyfaqs.com
image courtsy:agencyfaqs.com

Sugarfree : Freedom From Calories

Brand : Sugarfree
Company: Zydus Cadilla
Agency : Rediffusion

Brand Count : 150

Sugarfree is the market leader in the emerging category of Sugar substitutes. The sugar substitute market in India is estimated to be of Rs 60 crore growing at 15%. The market is expected to grow even faster because of the changing lifestyle of Indian elite. Sugarfree has around 70% market share in this segment.
The category will be of interest to marketing practitioners because of its potential. Primarily marketed as a sugar substitute for diabetic patients and diabetic prone middleaged Indians, the market is witnessing a change in the positioning of this products.

The major players in this markets are Sugarfree, Equal and the new aggressive entrant Zero from Alembic. These products are now targeted at the more " Proactive " consumers who are health conscious and non diabetic. This is a risk that the marketers are taking. The rationale is that these proactive consumers have seen their friends and relatives suffering from the consequences of diabetics . Hence will be looking for options to substitute sugar in their daily diet. Hence the product is positioned as a substitute for sugar ( to a certain extent). The rationale behind this positioning is to create a positive image about this category. If these brands are marketed as sugar substitute for diabetic patients, the consumers will hesitant to publicly buy this product. But when these products are marketed as a healthy option to stay fit, there is a positive perception towards this category.

The segmentation for this category will be SEC A1-A2 aged between 30-40. Although marketing campaigns are trying to position this as a healthy alternative to sugar, I feel that the actual buyers will be those who have been diagnosed with diabetics or youth in the risk category who have diabetic parents .

Since this product category is new, the task of the marketers are manifold. The consumers has to be educated about this product. Since the TG is not diabetic patients, the task is more difficult because the competition will be with ordinaryl sugar. Another task is to make the consumer to try the product. Then comes the price, these products are priced at a premium and hence it will be a tough task to convince the value conscious Indian consumer.

Should you spent so much money in repositioning this category away from diabetic patients? The reason for this question lies in the fact that India will have large number of diabetic patients owing to the changing psychographics. It takes minimum effort to convince the diabetic patients to take this product .( I am not sure whether diabetic patients can take this product, correct me if I am mistaken). I feel that there is a good market for a brand that targets this diabetic patients rather than beating around the bush and spending hell lot of money on repositioning. Hence " Enjoy life with Diabetics " will sell more than " freedom from calories".

Sugarfree has the ingredient of Aspartame which is a low calorie sugar substitute. The competitor Zero is having sucrose based sugar substitute.Sugarfree has recently ran into trouble because of some health issues regarding its ingredient Aspartame.

Sugarfree is positioned on its " Low Calorie" attribute and the campaigns promote this brand as a healthy option for consumers who have less time for exercise and targeting mainly at the SEC A category. Lack of product awareness and high price will limit this product category to a niche ( a profitable one) .

Source: agencyfaqs,timesfood,businessline