Scotch Purple Glue Stick : Magic

Brand : Scotch Purple Glue Stick
Company : 3M
Agency : Grey

Brand Analysis Count : 411

3M is always known for its customer centric innovations. Scotch Purple Glue Stick is such an innovation. This brand was launched recently in select cities of India.

Scotch Purple Glue is India's first colored glue . The brand is targeting the school going kids.
What makes this glue different from other glue stick brands like FeviStick is its innovative coloring mechanism.

The Purple Glue rubs purple but dries clear. That means when the kids rubs the glue on the paper, it is in purple color that helps the kids to see where the glue is being applied. When the glue dries, it becomes colorless and clear. This is nothing but the magic of innovation.

Watch the TVC here : Scotch Purple Glue

The brand also has a large choke resistant cap which prevents accidental choking which makes it safe for the kids. How many Indian marketers has ever thought of making their products safe for kids ?

As a consumer, I am delighted to see the convenience that this product will offer to kids . Will I buy it for my child, absolutely. Will my kid love the product, I bet she will.

Related Brand
Fevistick
Kangaro

Revive : Creating a Category

Brand : Revive
Company : Marico
Agency : Publicis


Brand Analysis Count : 409

Revive is an interesting brand. This is a brand which created the instant starch market in India. Revive can be considered as a classic example of branding a commodity.
Revive was launched in 1993. The brand was received very well by the consumer community. Revive targeted the urban middle and upper households which was willing to pay a premium for convenience.

Revive is also an example of a product that was developed to satisfy a unmet need. Indian households traditionally used starch to stiffen their clothes,especially cotton clothes. The process of making starch and using them was a tedious process for the homemaker. The homemade starch was quite messy and used to leave patches in clothes. It used to smell bad and was not suitable for color clothes.

Revive solved these issues at one go. The brand was initially launched in the powder form. The homemaker could make starch easy by just mixing the powder with water. It offered convenience and saved a lot of time. Another significant advantage of Revive was that it could be used in cold water. Traditional starch needed warm water. Revive also can be used in color clothes which was again a big advantage for the consumers.

It is difficult for the consumer to ignore a product that offers solution to their problems . Revive was successful because it made the life of homemaker little more easier. Revive too had its share of disadvantages. The problem was with the product form and the price. Revive was premium priced compared to the virtually "free" homemade starch. Hence convincing consumers to sample the product was tough. Since the product was in the powder form, consumers was confused about the quantity of powder that should be used.

The real challenge for Revive came when Jyothi Lab launched Stiff & Shine. Stiff & Shine was a liquid stiffener which was much convenient than the powder Revive. Jyothi Lab was trying the same strategy which it used to dethrone Robin powder blue.

But Marico reacted very fast to the challenge posed by Stiff & Shine. It launched the liquid version of Revive very fast and backed it with a heavy dose of campaign.
Revive is focusing on three main attributes in its campaigns- instant starch ( convenience),better stiffness for clothes and no patches.
The fight between Stiff & Shine and Revive is still raging with both brands now linking confidence and social acceptability . Both the brands are running similar campaigns ( using kids) claiming that clothes that are well ironed and shining will earn you self-respect and social acceptance.

Recently Marico took the fight to a new level by launching the liquid blue extension of Revive. I was surprised to see the ad of Revive liquid blue. No further details about this extension is available in the public domain .

Revive is a brand which is promoted heavily by Marico. The instant starch market is still very small and the task of the marketer is to increase the market size rather than to fight for the market share. The recent campaigns connecting the brand and social acceptance is targeted at non-users of this category motivating them to use the product.

The instant starch category has a great market potential and the brands should focus on increasing the category size. There is lot of room for growth for these brands when the category grows . Revive should resist the temptation of extension because the brand will reap rich rewards if it focuses on the category it created.

Related Brand
Ujala

Brand Update : Popy

Rainy season has started in Kerala and the ad blitz of the umbrella marketers has reached the pinnacle. As usual, the umbrella marketers of Kerala has proved that innovation can be a game changing strategy.

This season is also no different ,where the two major brands in the Kerala umbrella market - Popy and John's vying for consumer attention with mind-blowing new umbrellas.

Popy has come out with a new commercial for its Nano sub-brand. Popy Nano claims to be the smallest folding umbrella which has a hieght of 16 cm when folded. The brand is being promoted as the " World's smallest big umbrella " .

The company claims that the umbrella when opened covers a larger area compared to ordinary umbrellas. The brand also claims to be the lightest and strongest in that category of 3 fold umbrellas. Popy Nano has come out with a decent catchy campaign which superbly communicates the brand promise.

Watch the TVC here : Popy Nano

While Popy Nano is aimed at older customers, it is the kid segment where there is intense competition.
In the kid's umbrella segment, Popy has come out with a new product " Popy Kuppi Kuda ". Kuppi in Malayalam language means bottle. So Kuppi Kuda means umbrella in the shape of a bottle.
The brand has introduced this product using a teaser campaign.
Watch the ad here : Popy Kuppi Kuda

The competition is not sitting idle. The main competitor John's has also come out with two new products . John's Air was launched this year which claims that the umbrella will be able to withstand wind speed upto 50 Kmph.

In Kerala we can see lady pillion riders of two wheelers desperately trying to hold the umbrella during the rain. Most of the time, these umbrellas cannot withstand the wind and will collapse creating an embarrassing situation. John's Air is aiming to fill that need for a stronger umbrella that can withstand wind.

John's also came out with a product for kids branded as John's Macha Mia. This is an umbrella with a bubble maker and bubble breaker. Kids can make bubbles with an attachment fitted with the umbrella handle and then try to break those bubbles using a dart gun fitted along with the umbrella. Sounds complicated isn't it ?

Both Popy and John's are flooding the media with their campaign and kids are a happy lot with lot of options to choose for.

Popy and John's are proving once again that innovation can bring life into a once dull product category like Umbrella.

Related Brand
Popy

LMN : Emergency Lemon Refresher

Brand : LMN
Company : Parle Agro
Agency : CreativeLand Asia

Brand Analysis Count : 395

This summer is special . Special because this summer , Indian softdrink/beverages marketers suddenly found that Indians love lemon flavored drinks. They realised that despite Shahrukh, Aamir and host of celebrities endorsing cola brands, large section of Indian consumers quench their thirst with nimbu paani.

And surprisingly the revelations came to Indian marketers all at once and this summer everyone is after NimbuPaani-- our very own lime juice or in malayalam (my native language)- Naaranga vellom .

Ofcourse marketers are forced to go after numbers. Even if their friends and relatives chose lemon juice over bottled drinks, marketers are forced to look at numbers, trends and statistics. This summer statistics have told them that the market for lemon based drinks have a potential.

According to a report in Business Standard, out of the Rs 7500 crore sparkling drinks market,colas comprise of only 38% of the total market while flavors comprise of 54%. The realization came only after Sprite dethroned Pepsi to become the number two selling beverage brand in India.

What marketers did not see was the big picture. Business Standard estimates that out of 120 bn litres of beverages consumed in India, packaged drinks account for only 5%. Marketers failed to look at consumers but too focused on categories and micro segments. It is not this summer, every summer, Indian consumers were taking lots of lemon drinks but marketers failed to see the bigger picture while spending their energy on outsmarting competition.

The fire cracker in the lemon based drink segment was started by Pepsi with the launch of Nimbooz . Soon to follow was the brand LMN.

LMN is from the house of Parle Agro. This summer Parle Agro is in an over drive with new launches like Saint Juice, LMN and Grappo Fizz. It is encouraging to see an Indian company aggressively taking on the Cola majors.

When I first saw the ad of LMN, what striked me was the brand name. It is one of the best brand names I have seen in recent times.Pepsi has done a masterstroke by taking in the generic name Nimbu by launching Nimbooz. I thought Nimbooz will score because of the powerful brand name. But LMN proved to be a equal worthy competitor for Nimbooz.

Having a brand name which is generic has many advantages. It is easy for consumers to understand what the brand promise is and what the product will do for them. The downside is that the generic name restricts further brand extensions. There cannot be an Orange flavored Nimbooz or Orange LMN.

LMN is indeed a powerful brand name and the brand benefits out of that. While Nimbooz is desi LMN is modern. So the brand is aiming more at the younger crowd by the way the packaging is designed and also the way the brand is positioned. Having said that even Kids may like the brand because it is very simple and easy for them to understand what it is.

While Nimbooz is directly taking on the ordinary nimbu paani ( generic lemon drink), LMN is positioned as a refreshing drink little away from being pitched right against the ordinary lemon juice.

LMN is running the launch television commercial across channels. The brand is being positioned as a refreshing lemon drink and has the tagline " Emergency Lemon Refresher ".

Watch the TVC here : LMN

LMN compete with brands like Limca, Sprite, 7 Up and Nimbooz. But the interesting fact is that all these brands represents different categories.The basic difference between LMN and Sprite is that Sprite is a carbonated beverage while LMN is not.
Limca is a cloudy drink while 7 Up and Sprite are clear drinks. LMN and Nimbooz are non carbonated drinks while others are carbonated.

But am not sure whether Indian consumers are aware of these categories . But the situation in the beverage market is that marketers are too much focused on categories and micro categories. We have juices ( 100%,85% 50% ), fruit drink,fruit juice,nectar, artificial,carbonated,non carbonated and what not.. What consumers want is a very simple solution- quench the thirst. Brand that do it with style wins.

LMN has tried to innovate interms of its brandname and also its packaging. It has comeout with a 110ml package that costs only Rs5. This sounds attractive and many consumers would try out this mini tetra provided the quantity satisfies their thirst.

The primary issue for the Indian beverage players is the distribution reach. Pepsi and Coke had built a robust distribution reach. The power of distribution is evident in the case of Kerala. Here Pepsi rules the market with over 80% because of robust distribution strategies. The key to LMN success is how well Parle Agro is able to leverage its distribution reach for this brand.

LMN has a headstart with a good brand name and a cool packaging. The brand has a potential to be a serious player depending on the investment that the company will put in for the brand. To build a brand in the highly competitive beverages market, one should invest continuously and consistently. Hope that LMN will get refreshers from the company interms of brand building investments.

Related Brands

Sprite

Limca

Coke

Appy Fizz

Brand Update : Boomer

Boomer has launched a unique variant Boomer Gumlairs. Gumlairs is the chocolate eclair bubblegum. The company claims that it is a new category which is being created by Gumlairs. The brand is trying to combine the taste of chocolate eclairs and chewing gum together. Eclairs for a large part of the confectionery market and Boomer wants to attract those eclair lovers into chewing gum category.

Chewing gum brands has been experimenting a lot with taste . The brands till now was concentrating more on fruit based flavors. It is the first time that a chewing gum brand is experimenting with chocolate flavor.

It is important for brands in markets like confectionery to constantly bring out new flavors to keep the excitement going. Consumers of this category are very fickle in their choices and they keep on experimenting with new brands and flavors.In that perspective, Gumlairs is a smart move by Wrigley.

I have a mixed opinion about the taste of chocolate in a chewing gum. These are perceived to be two extereme categories and the concept of both the categories coming together is truly unique.Kids are obviously going to be excited since there is something new and they truly love to experiment.
The claim of creating a new category will fully depend on whether kids like the taste or not. My personal take is that Gumlairs will remain as yet another flavor. Nothing more , Nothing less.


Related Brand
Boomer

Orient Fans : More Air, Everywhere

Brand : Orient

Company : Orient Paper Industries Ltd

Agency : Mudra

Brand Analysis Count : 392

Orient is a very interesting marketing case study. This is a brand that shows how to create a sustainable differentiation in a market which is highly commoditized. Orient is a brand which has a long history. The company was started in 1940 

as Calcutta Electrical Manufacturing Co. In 1954, the company was taken over by CK Birla group.

Orient is one of the largest fan brand in India. It is also the largest fan exporter in the country. The Indian fan market is huge with an

 approximate size of 2 crore units being sold every year. But the market is dominated by the small industries which account for about 55% of the total market. 

The organized market is dominated by players like Usha, Crompton, Orient and Khaitan.These players are facing stiff competition from the local players who compete on the basis of price. The organized players try to defend their position banking on their brand equity.

The price competition was so huge that at one point of time all major brands launched a lower priced product range to compete with the local players.

Fan is an important consumer durable. It is one of the largest selling consumer durable category in India . Although the category is the largest selling one , consumers perceive the product more as a commodity with little or no differentiation among the various players.

In a way consumers were indifferent towards the brands. Urban and upper SEC segments preferred brands because of quality but lower SEC segments were more price oriented and preferred the local brands. Local brands had high equity because they advertised heavily in their market, gave more margin to the retailer and was significantly lower priced. As a consumer, one really could not evaluate the difference between a local made fan and a branded one. There was no compelling differentiation among the fan brands.

What Orient did was a masterstroke.

1993-1994 was a bad year for the brand.Faced with dropping sales, Orient had to do something to defend its position. The brand rightly identified the need for a clear differentiation. After a thorough research on the consumer, the advertising agency Mudra suggested that the brand focus on three core areas

Air Delivery

Sweep Area

Electricity Consumption

Thus born the famous acronym PSPO. PSPo stands for Peak Speed Performance Output. 

The brand has a formula for PSPO 

PSPO = [Total Air Delivered /Electricity Consumed] X incremental factor

Increment factor = Significant Air Speed X Specified Sweep Area Plan

In simple terms, this is a design which can deliver more air to a large area . Orient has designed its motor and blades in such a manner that the fan can cover more area and deliver more air.

More than the technology, the brand was smart enough to brand this new feature as PSPO. This is a classic case of Ingredient Branding. The brand had found its differentiation. According to marketing theory, a good differentiator has to be meaningful, sustainable and not easy to copy. PSPO was a meaningful differentiator. By branding it , Orient had made it proprietary and its competitor could not copy that.

Next came the challenge of communicating this proposition to the consumers. Orient used its resources to bombard its consumers with PSPO and its meaning.There were lot of TVC which continuously conveyed the acronym PSPO and its benefits and there was a strong recall and association with Orient & PSPO.

In 2004, Orient Fans was chosen as a supplier for Walmart which gave the brand an entry to the US market.

Despite the success, Orient continued to invest in the brand. In 2006 , the brand roped in the Ace Cricketer MS Dhoni to endorse the brand. A cricketer and a fan have no connection with each other but the purpose of the brand was to reinforce its brand and its association with Dhoni gave some brand recall. The association continues even today and recently there was an ad campaign featuring Dhoni . The new campaign is also focusing on the USP of PSPO. 

The brand has the tagline " More air, Everywhere " and its core proposition has remained the same all these years. This benefit proposition  or More Air, More Area and less Electricity is still relevant for the consumer. 

Orient and its PSPO is one of the most consistent brand campaign India has seen. The theme is running for almost 15 years and the brand managers are intelligent and wise not to tamper with the winning formula. That is the power of the big idea. When you have one , use it to the maximum.

Related Brand 

Khaitan

PS: There is  an interesting case on Orient PSPO by Mudra. Read it here 

Brand Update : Tata Nano

After a long and treacherous journey, Tata Motors have finally launched Tata Nano. No other product had such an excitement in the Indian market as Nano. And no other product had to face those hardships that this brand had to face.

Although the brand has been officially launched, consumers may not be able to get hold of Nano anytime soon. The first car is expected to be delivered only in June and the company will be able to meet the entire consumer demand only in a phased manner.

Nano now comes in three variant. The basic version is the One Lakh car and there are two upgrades. The basic version will cost around Rs 1,30000 on Road and the premium version will cost around Rs 1,80,000.

Nano is a special brand. It is a brand that symbolises an entrepreneurial dream. It is also a brand that symbolises determination , hardwork and innovation.

With the launch, Nano also have its tagline " Now You Can " derived from the famous campaign of Barack Obama. The new tagline symbolises the brand's promise of an affordable car for the masses.

Nano also gives a very valuable lesson to the marketers. It shows that low cost does not necessarily mean a 'cheap ' car. Nano suprised many with its stylish look, spacious interiors and a good quality drive. All these comes with a very low cost.

Usually when we think about a low-cost product that is targeting the lower rung of the consuming class, the focus is more on functionality and compromises. The resultant product is a poorly designed functional product with rugged look and zero aesthetics.

Professor CK Prahlad famously remarked in the book " Fortune at the Bottom of Pyramid " that the consumers at the bottom of pyramid wants an affordable product and not a cheap low quality product.

Many Indian consumers irrespective of social class is going to buy this car because it is a very good looking , highly functional car and not because it is a cheap car.

Tata Nano also gives the marketer a golden key to tide over the recession. Come out with a product that catches the imagination of the consumers.


Related Brand
Tata Nano

Kohler : The Bold Look

Brand : Kohler
Company : Kohler India


Brand Analysis Count : 375

Kohler is a global brand which has a unique position as a designer kitchen and bathroom accessory brand. This American brand has a rich history dating back to 1883.

Kohler was launched in India in 2006. The company is in the business of power systems , kitchen and bath accessories. Indian bathroom accessory market is worth around Rs 2500 crore and Kohler is aiming the premium segment of the market.

The brand came into my notice when I saw the advertisement of Kohler, where the lady asks the famous architect to build a house around a faucet.

Watch the commercial here : Kohler Architect

I frankly did not like the ad. What in the world one would imagine such a situation where you fall in love with a faucet or a closet ? I thought it as absurd when a person wants the architect to build a house matching a bloody tap.

Infact that lousy ad prompted me to go and search for this brand. And surprisingly now I am impressed.Impressed because Kohler wants people to fall in love with their products. Impressed because of the kind of innovation that the company try to bring into a product like bathroom fittings, taps and closets.

It would not be an exaggaration to say that Kohler has an iconic status in this segment. The brand is in the forefront of innovation and some of the products are really mind-blowing.

For example, Kohler has a brand - Purist Hatbox toilet which is a one piece tankless toilet .It has electronic actuation and Quiet close toilet seats. The design is totally unique and minimalistic.

The brand hence want to be a desire- object. Another interesting thing about this brand is its commercials. It is sad that Kohler chose its worst commercial for India.

Actually Kohler is famous for some of their commercials. One such campaign is known as " As I See it " .
In this campaign, Kohler partners with nationally recognized artists and photographers and create ads . The artists are free to use Kohler products to create the imagery. This campaign has won several awards for the brand. The campaign was launched in 2002 and is executed by the brand's ad agency GSD&M Idea City. Kohler launched the campaign in India in 2008.

Kohler globally has been positioned as an object of desire, unconventional and bold. The brand has the tagline " The Bold Look " . The " Bold Look" campaign originated in 1960 when the brand tried to experiment with bold , unconventional designs. The Bold Look later bacame the reflection of the culture and attitude of the company. If you closely look at most of their products, the brand has tried to break away from the conventional mould.

Kohler is trying to create a new perception about bath fittings and accessories. The brand is targeting the upwardly mobile Indian consumer segment who would like to have the best of all worlds. More over , bathroom fittings and faucets have become lifestyle products. Indian consumers are now mimicking the west for their home designs. People now want " dry " bathrooms , bathrooms which look like " living rooms "....

All these have created huge potential for a designer brand like Kohler.

Related Brand
Parryware

Brand Update : Idea

Idea cellular has been hit by the Idea Virus. The brand has been investing heavily in its " Ideas that Change " theme.

The latest in the series is the Idea for participative democracy.

Watch the tvc here : Idea for the people

The new campaign revolves around the idea of using mobile for understanding the public opinion and thus encouraging public partnership in development and encouraging participative democracy. ( What an Idea ! Sirjee )

As usual , this brand is making the best use of its brand ambassador.

The earlier campaign was addressing the issues of
Caste
Disability
and Education.

As a part of the current campaign, the brand has started a new website : bythepeople .in
There is nothing special in the website except for a voting form.

What I like about Idea's marketing initiatives are the effective use of media like OOH. You will never miss the Idea hoarding and these hoardings changes in line with the campaigns.

The brand also makes use of its brand elements like the color and the tagline to its advantage.

" What an Idea , Sirjee " have already become a hit lingo .

As a pure promotion strategy, these social themes work well primarily because it is different. Atleast one brand is taking about things that matters.

But these initiatives are not carried over to the implementation by the brand . Hence no serious change can be expected out of such initiatives. The campaigns just serve as a sounding board for ideas that has possibilities - nothing more and nothing less.

What happens is that when the brand is talking about Democracy, its earlier pitch for " Education for all " takes the backseat... The caste issue has long been forgotten.

I am not saying that the brands should spend their limited resources in trying to change the world.

But little sad that these ideas only have life till the next big idea...

Related Brand

Idea
Brand update

Nestle Milkybar : Dum Hai To Bahar Nikal

Brand : Milkybar

Company : Nestle
Agency : JWT

Brand Analysis Count : 372

Milkybar is the leader in the white chocolate market in India. Launched in 1998, the brand is now making lot of noise in the media as a part of its repositioning exercise. In a typical market challenger strategy of Byepass attack, Nestle always avoided fighting head on with the market leader Cadbury's Dairy Milk.

Nestle chose to attack the market by launching brands like Kit Kat , Munch and Milkybar and thus create a new market for itself away from the market leader. Milkybar is one of such brands.

Milkybar is a white chocolate. White Chocolates are those which contains Cocoa butter, milk and sweets and no cocoa solids.

Milk Chocolates are those which contains milk solids in addiction to chocolate. In some reports, Milkybar is considered as a white chocolate while in some it is referred to as a milk chocolate. Nestle have anothe milk chocolate brand hence Milkybar can be positively confirmed as a white chocolate.

When I was indulging in chocolates, milk/white chocolates were a regular part of my indulgence, especially when bored with brown chocolates.

Although Milkybar was around in Indian market for a while, the brand came into aggressive state during the relaunch in 2006. During that time, Nestle relaunched the brand on the platform of healthy chocolate. The chocolate was fortified with calcium and positioned as a chocolate bar for energy and strength.
"Milkybar gives me power " was the brand's positioning platform.

Milkybar not only created the white chocolate segment but expanded it through product innovations. The brand launched a soft chewy fudge form of Milkybar branded as Milkybar Choo. This was a big hit for the kids who loved the soft fudge form of chocolate. The brand also made itself affordable by pricing the variant at Rs 5.

Currently the brand is running a campaign with a new tagline " Dum hai to bahar nikal " ( if you have guts, get out and play ) . The brand asks the youngsters to just get out and play.

Watch the campaign here : Dum Hai to bahar nikal

The ad is well made and drives a point. The campaign is backed by events and contests to reinforce the new positioning.

What is interesting is that the brand is addressing the higher age group of the target segment . I think that the previous TG audience for Milkybar was the kids of age 5-10 yrs. But the current ad is targeting pre-teens (8-12).

Milkybar is has competition from Milk Treat from Cadbury's.


Milkybar is a global brand from Nestle's portfolio. The brand was born in 1937. Globally the brand is positioned towards small kids. The brand have a mascot which is the " Milkybar Kid".
In India, instead of Milkybar kid, we have the picture of cow to reinforce the " Milk " factor.

The positioning of Milkybar was a healthy chocolate works well with parents. I was surprised when our family doctor suggest that we give milk chocolate to our child rather than the brown one. As a parent, I am also influenced by the " Goodness of Milk " factor. But often kids prefer the brown one over the white one.

Milkybar is a nice example of a brand carving a place for itself in a market which is dominated by an iconic brand. The new positioning may broaden the consumer segment for this brand. But how the older kids are impressed by the brand is something to watch for.

Brand Update : Axe

Axe is a marketing phenomenon. This brand knows how to keep excitement ticking in the market. Last year saw the controversial Axe Dark Temptation making headlines . The brand has started 2009 with yet another launch - Axe 3 deo.

This is a unique innovative product where the brand asks the consumer to use two Axe Deos to gether to make a new fragrance. So Axe 3 comes in a combi-pack of two fragrances and the consumer can make a third one by spraying the two deos together.

Watch the ad here : Axe 3

Smart move indeed. Has anybody thought of combining two deos for a new fragrance ? ..

Axe 3 was launched in other markets in 2007 as a limited edition product.
A typical Axe 3 packs contains two deos marked 1 & 2. These cans should be sprayed together for a new fragrance.
The question is why should a consumer spend double the money for deos ? Why should he use two together and blow away double the money ?

The answer is that the brand does not expect every one to do so...

This is a product launched to keep the excitement going. That is the purpose of limited editions. All those Axe fans will try out this new product and competitors will have tough time matching this brand .

Axe has always been an unconventional brand. These seemingly outrageous innovations are in line with the brand's core positioning. And these launches gives enough reasons for Axe to advertise and that keeps the brand on top of the share of mind.

Related Brand

Axe

End Note : Neither the HUL website or the Axe Effect website carry any information about this new product launch. It is sad that a professional company like HUL did not have the common sense of regularly updating its websites.

Bosch : Invented for Life

Corporate Brand : Bosch
Agency : Saatchi & Saatchi


Brand Analysis Count : 364



Have you ever thought about the brand of wipers you have in your car? Ever thought about the brand of spark-plug of your bike ? How many of us have insisted to the mechanic that we need a specific brand of spark-plug or a wiper ?

Compare that to a consumer insisting on Pentium Core Duo for his computers.

Welcome to the world of ingredient branding.

Bosch want to be the Intel in the auto world or I would rephrase it to Bosch has the potential to be the Intel of Automotive industry.

Bosch is world's largest auto-component manufacturer with more than 275 subsidiary companies spread across the globe.Bosch has a history dating back to 1886 when Robert Bosch founded the company which was known as Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering.

The company came to India in 1951 as Motor Industries Company Ltd ( MICO) . The company established itself as a leader in spark-plugs . Infact MICO was almost generic to spark-plugs. At the not-so visible engineering industy, Bosch is famous of its motors, power tools, braking systems, etc.

Bosch India has operations in for verticals
Automobile components
Industrial technicals
Consumer goods and
Engineering and IT services.

In 2008 the company decided to rebrand its entire operations in India under the name Bosch .
Under this rebranding exercise , the company is currently running a heavy campaign across various media.

Watch the TVC here : Bosch

Before rebranding , MICO also invested heavily in building its brand presence across the country. Most of us are familiar with these names although we are not quite directly in touch with the products.

There are two markets for most of Bosch's products ( automotive) - Institutional and After market .

The institutional segment consists of the OEM segment where the consumers use Bosch products as a part of the standard equipment. The after market segment consists of the replacement of the worn-out products .

Bosch have a strong foundation in the OEM segment and has relationship with most of the major automotive companies in India. The brand was in news recently for collaboration with Tata Motors for the Nano project.
In the replacement market, the consumers leave the decision of spare parts to the workshops and the marketing is done through the distributors and dealers.

Bosch is a brand known for its engineering excellence and innovation. According to Superbrands.org, Bosch registers 2750 patents every year. The company is famous for its inventions like
Diesel fuel injection
Power tools
ABS
Bosch Traction control
Electronic stability program etc.

Infact the Bosch founder Robert Bosch was the first to introduce the eight hour work schedule long before it became a norm.

Another interesting fact about the company is that 92 % of Bosch is owned by a charity foundation and most of the profits are ploughed back to the company for growth and expansion. It is one of those rare private companies which are owned by a charitable foundation.

Bosch is a brand founded on innovation . The core brand value is innovation and engineering excellence. In 2004 , the brand acquired the tagline " Invented for Life " . The brand has lived up to its promise of innovation.

Another interesting fact which I discovered during my study on this brand was about Blaupunkt. Blaupunkt is a brand owned by Bosch ( I never knew that ! ). In 1929 Bosch launched the first car stereo radio system which created the way for the world famous Blaupunkt brand.

Bosch's branding initiative come under the ingredient branding. This is a special case of co-branding where we brand ingredients, components or parts which are contained within other branded products ( Kevin Lane Keller ) .

Although the current brand campaign by Bosch is driven by the rebranding exercise, I see an opportunity for Bosch to create an identity in the consumer's mind also. From my personal experience, my wiper for my car was not working properly and I changed it twice but still it shows problems. After seeing the ad, I am going to ask my mechanic to put Bosch wipers.

Although this may be a one-off case, it shows an opportunity for the brand in the after market. Battery marketers like Exide , Ameron etc had built the brand slowly using consumer targeted campaigns. Now consumers have started insisting on these battery brands.

Bru : Happiness Begins with Bru

Brand : Bru
Company : Hindustan Unilever
Agency : O & M

Brand Analysis Count : 359

Bru is a power brand from the HUL's stable. A brand which pioneered the instant coffee category in Indian market in 1969 is also an example of many successful marketing practices. According to HUL, Bru is the market leader in coffee segment with a value share of 46.9 %.

Prior to 2004, HUL had many brands in the coffee category. It had Deluxe Green Label and Bru instant as the main brands and small brands like Dilkush, Cafe and Cafe Gold. In 2004, as a part of the power brand strategy, HLL decided to phase out Dilkush and Cafe brands . It then consolidated the coffee brands under the masterbrand Bru.

Bru before becoming the family brand was positioned as a coffee that tasted just like filter coffee. But after the elevation to master brand, Bru took the positioning around happiness.

Bru was synonymous for instant coffee and had an astounding 21% market share in the first year of launch itself. All these years, the brand has been fighting for the numero uno position with Nestle whose iconic Nescafe brand was the market leader. But in 2008, the brand pushed Nescafe to the second position.

Much of the success of Bru can be attributed to following factors

Innovation in new products
Innovation in packaging &
Aggressive campaigns

Nestle lost out because of lethargy. The company failed to consistently invest in its Nescafe brand. I do not seeing any memorable campaigns from Nescafe in recent past. This has cost the brand dearly.

HUL's marketing acumen is vivid in the rise of Bru as the market leader. It has never stopped innovating for this new brand.

Bru was able to give new offerings to customers on a regular basis. One of the recent successful new product was the cappuccino packs. The new flavor gave the brand a new thrust in the market. The new flavors even prompted hardcore tea lovers like me to try out these flavors . The best part was that these cappuccino was available in single serve sachets which prompted consumers to test the flavors.

Another innovation was the cold coffee. Bru launched the cold coffee variants which again captured the attention of the consumers.
These thrusts in new product development and roll out is visible when one visits a super market. The coffee section is full of various flavors and packs of Bru which itself creates a positive vibration for the brand.

Another factor which made Bru successful was the campaigns. The brand is famous for two campaigns. One featuring Amritha Rao was a big hit. The theme revolve around the shy girl wanting to introduce her boyfriend Sagar to her father.
Watch the TVC here : Bru Sagar

Another campaign which was highly popular was the 'little cup' ad. The ad shows the wife announcing the " good news " through a symbolic ' little cup'.
Watch the ad here : bru Little cup

Bru is positioned on the theme of happiness. The brand has the tagline " Happiness begins with Bru ". The positioning and communication has been consistent with the brand's promise of kickstarting one's day with a Bru.

These slice of life ads put Bru in a growth orbit. Consumers started loving the brand for its innovation and campaigns. For the Bru Cappuccino, it had roped in the Bollywood Director Karan Johar to endorse the brand.

Another critical factor that aided Bru's success was the innovation in packaging. The brand made the entry barrier low by launching small affordable SKUs. There are single serve and large packs at different price points making the brand affordable .The brand although is positioned as an aspirational brand is priced affordable thus making it a perfect example of a Masstige brand.

Recently the brand has yet again came out with a customer centric innovation in the form of a flavor lock. Most of the customers worry about losing the flavor of coffee powder once the pack is cut open. The flavor lock is a plastic clip which will lock the flavor from escaping. More than actually locking the flavor, the lock gives a psychological belief that the flavor will not the lost.

This little plastic lock also gives more convenience to the home maker. Typically when buying powders in packs, home makers have to transfer the powder to a container to preserve it for long. This lock effectively eliminates the need for such a container.

Bru is a brand which has reached the commanding position following methodologically all the critical elements for marketing success : customer centric innovation, aggression and new product development

Brand Update : Sprite

On September 2008, Sprite launched a new variant Sprite Xpress with much fanfare. The various news reports celebrated this launch as a packaging innovation which Indian market is witnessing for the first time.

Sprite Xpress is the 350 ml Pet bottle from Sprite. The innovation that the company boast is that this is an " On The Go " Pack. That means that you can carry it with you when you are traveling..

What's new in that ?


According to the Press Release,
"
the new pack is a strategic initiative aimed to build strong connect with the youth. It is designed to offer convenience and adapts to the dynamic and on the move lifestyle of the consumers "

Frankly I did not knew that a simple packaging can do lot of strategic " things " to the consumers.

Coca Cola has been heavily promoting the Sprite Xpress. The variant is being promoted using a long peppy television advertisement .

Watch the campaign here : sprite xpress

The ad is catchy with a good background song . The ad revolves around the theme " outwit to outrun " and have a new tagline ' Ghumo Ghumao'.

The issue with this ad is that the entire foundation of the ad is based in Hindi. The song and the taglines are Hindi. When the ad is to be shown in the South Indian market, the agency will have tough time translating these in local language without losing relevance and sounding funny.


After seeing the ads I couldn't understand the innovation. After a little googling, I finally understood.

The innovation is in the pricing. Sprite was available in three packs : 300 ml glass bottle pack, 500 ml Pet bottle and large one litre Pet bottle.

Now the new pack is 350 ml in Pet bottle priced at Rs 15. The new pack is aimed at those customers who want single use packs while on the move. So offering the single use Pet bottle makes marketing sense.

With regard to the pricing, the new Xpress pack is priced Rs15 . Although psychologically seem to be lower than Rs 20 for 500 ml, in actual sense, the consumer is paying more for less.

In that way Coca Cola is gaining more than Rs 1 per bottle as margin. In a business with wafer thin margins, getting Rs 1 more is nothing but innovation.

That also justifies the extravagant promotion for this variant. The ads have been shot in Malaysia and runs for a full 60 seconds which really costs a bomb at the current advertisement rates.
The true innovation is with regard to the use of OOH media by this brand. According to reports, Sprite has launched a series of 3 D outdoor creatives on various outdoor platforms like elevators, buildings, hoardings etc.

Sprite has to create a big hype around Xpress and brand it as a packaging innovation because it is priced high. As customers , we have to pay more for such kind of " innovations ". The paradox is that this is from a brand which says " No Bakwaas " only seedhi bath ( straight talk !)

On a marketing practice perspective, Sprite has done a good job in launching such a variant. There will be lot of customers especially youngsters who want such single serve bottles which can be taken along with them. The problem with the existing 300 ml glass bottle is that one cannot take it on the go.

According to reports, the company is planning to launch Xpress packs for its brands like Coca Cola, Thums Up, Limca etc.

For customers : you have to be clear about what you are paying for... baki all bakwas

Related brand

Sprite

Bio Fresh : Making Fruits and Vegetables Healthy

Brand : Bio Fresh
Company : Blue Saffire Trading Corporation


Brand Analysis Count : 355

Bio Fresh is a new product that has been launched in Kerala recently . Marketing is about meeting needs profitably and successful marketers are able to identify the needs by closely watching the marketing environment. Bio Fresh is such an initiative by a little known company.

Bio Fresh is an organic cleanser which can be used to clean fruits and vegetables. We all are aware that there is an indiscriminate use of pesticides and harmful chemicals on fruits and vegetables . There are cases where fruits like Apple are waxed inorder to preserve it and make it look fresh.

Although there are many incidence of poisoning reported because of this indiscriminate use of harmful chemicals, nothing has been done by government or authorities to check such contamination. Infact India does not have a regulatory and infrastructural framework to check such contamination on vegetable and fruits.

One one hand, doctors and health practitioners exhort public to eat more fruits and vegetables and on the other hand there are growing concern about the harmful chemicals being present on raw fruits and vegetables.

It is in this context that a product like Bio Fresh gains importance. According to the company website and newspaper reports :

" Bio Fresh is an organic cleanser made of extracts from microbes and citric acid which has the ability to clean fruit and vegetables from pesticide and insecticide residues. It is even able to clean the waxing on fruits . The product does not leave any after tastes or residues"

The pesticide and insecticide residues normally cannot be cleaned effectively using running water. The company claims that Bio Fresh can clean fruits and vegetables from such contamination.

The brand is currently available in select cities in Kerala. Bio Fresh is retailing at Rs 79 for 200 ml bottle.
The company has been running some print and visual campaigns in Kerala.

My first impression about this product is highly positive. It really address a common problem faced by households. But that does not guarantee the success of a product.

Although most of the households are aware of the problem of contamination, Bio Fresh has the tough task of convincing the homemakers that this brand is the savior.

The problem I see is that how will Bio Fresh convince the customer that it cleans these fruits and vegetables from pesticides ? The benefit cannot be visually seen by the consumer. Hence convincing the homemaker is not going to be an easy task . For a brand to be able to convince the customer about its benefits, the benefits must be observable.

Although I have not used the product, I feel that the benefits cannot be observed by the consumer. ( I will use it an update on this soon ). And if it is not observable, will the consumer pay and use this brand continuously believing the claims ?

So how can a marketer be able to convince a customer on some intangible un-observable benefits ? The idea will be to tangibilise and make it observable. The brand can use clinical and laboratory tests to prove its efficacy and use those test results to convince the customer.

Using influencers like doctors and health specialists can go a long way in building trust among the consumers. Brands like Colgate and Johnson and Johnson use doctors ( or models posing as doctors) to build the trust for their products. Bio Fresh also need endorsements from such trust -worthy source inorder to break into homemaker's mind.

If the claims are true Bio Fresh is a product that can give lot of homemakers relief specially in households where there are kids .

Brand Update : TVS Scooty

Scooty never ceases to innovate. That is one quality that makes this brand my favorite. Being the market leader has never made this brand laid back. When customers began to look at electric scooters, TVS responded by launching an electric variant of Scooty- Scooty Teenz Electric.

The latest innovation in TVS Scooty is the balancing wheels. Now Scooty comes with two small balancing wheels that will help the users to learn riding scooters by themselves. Balancing wheels are common in bicycles but its the first time a scooter brand is trying out this.

I think its one of the best consumer centric innovation I have seen in recent times. One of the biggest stumbling block in marketing of scooterette is inhibition of customers to learn riding scooters.

Most of the ladies often feel lazy in going through the entire process of learning to ride and then appearing for licence test . This has severely affected the growth of this market. While most of the girls/ladies agree that using scooters will significantly enhance their lifestyle and offer them freedom, the thought of investing time in learning to ride puts them off.

To tide over this obstacle, TVS Scooty had initiated a program ' women on wheels ' . The brand had started a chain of driving schools for ladies where the brand guarantees that the ladies will be taught how to ride a Scooty in one week.

The latest innovation is a direction in this regard. I think its a cool idea to have balancing wheels in Scooty. First it will encourage the TG to take the vehicle on road with confidence and also they need not beg their dad/brother/husband to help them learn riding. So this small innovation will go a long way in empowering the TG to learn riding by themselves.

More importantly this will help break the hesitation for first- time users to buy Scooty. From my own experience, my wife sometimes tell me about buying a scooter but then dismisses the thought by saying " oh I now have to go to a driving school and learn riding, don't have time ".

Ofcourse balancing wheels alone can help one to learn riding but it will instill confidence in ladies to think about Scooty as a serious option.

Kudos to the brand.

Suguna Poultry : Younger Tender Better

Brand :Suguna
Company : Suguna Poultry
Agency : R K Swamy BBDO

Brand Analysis Count : 346

Suguna Poultry is one of the major players in the fragmented poultry industry in India. Suguna is a classic case of commodity branding . Suguna Poultry started its operations in 1984. The company is based in Coimbatore in Tamilnadu.

The story of Suguna is interesting to a marketer for two reasons. First is obvious in that Suguna is branding poultry products which is a hardcore commodity business. Second is its unique business model.

India is the third largest egg producer and fifth largest poultry meat producer in the world. Indian poultry market is huge with an estimated market size of Rs 20,000 crore ( Business line) . According to Business Standard ( July 08), the size is estimated to be around Rs 12,000 crore.

The market is highly fragmented and dominated by local players. It is in this context that Suguna 's story becomes relevant.

Suguna came into a difficult market with a difficult idea. Branding chicken ! But through heavy investment in the media, Suguna was able to create a mind space for itself .
In the poultry market , the frozen meat market was around Rs 7500 crore. It was in this market where some amount of branding activity was seen.

The market further expanded with Godrej Agrovet entering the market with their brand Real Good.Suguna was promoting itself on quality and tenderness. I remember seeing lot of ads of Suguna during mid nineties. But in Indian market, consumers prefer live birds to frozen meat because of the easy availability of live birds. Suguna was able to make its brand prominent in this market also.

Suguna has sold live birds and eggs worth Rs 2020 crore in 2007 without owning a single poultry farm. That makes their business model interesting. The company pioneered contract farming in the poultry industry in India. The company source their produce through 12000 contract farmers across different states.

According to reports , Suguna owns the day -old-chickens , feed and feed medicine and the contract farmer is responsible for the day to day management of the farm. The farmer gets the assured income while the company takes care of the risk . In that way Suguna can channel its valuable resources to marketing and distribution.

Then the company entered into another lucrative market of selling branded egg. Each year India produces around 47 billion eggs worth Rs 10,000 crore.The market is growing at a rate of 15 % in an year ( Economic Times ).

Suguna has four egg brands and sells over one million eggs a month. Suguna launched these value added egg which is fortified with vitamins. This is done by feeding the laying hen with specialized nutrient feed.I am a regular customer of Suguna eggs.
The brands are
Suguna Pro
Suguna Active
Suguna Heart
Suguna Shakthi

Infact my wife started buying this brand of eggs for my child since she was impressed by the packaging which made the eggs look more hygienic and healthy. Priced almost 50% more than the usual eggs, Suguna had to show some differentiation in the product to justify the premium.

I closely looked at this simple product ( egg) for differentiation and it was evident. The eggs were clean , more shining and uniform in terms of size and shape. Another differentiation was in the packaging. In branding commodity, a marketer should be able to justify the premium and Suguna was able to do just that.

Suguna also has expensive range of eggs under the variant Suguna Heart which contains less cholesterol and rich in Omega-3 fatty acids.

Buoyed by the success of these businesses, Suguna has entered into front end retail by launching Suguna Daily Fresh retail outlets. Reports also say that the company is launching Ready To Eat Chicken products also.

Suguna is a case which proves that its possible to brand any commodity.

Dip Trix : Just for Kids

Brand : Dip Trix
Company : General Mills

Brand Analysis Count : 339

Dip Trix is a unique brand. This iconic US brand debuted in India in 2005.Already the brand has become a hit in the Indian market.

Dip Trix is a snack food targeted at kids aged 4 - 12. The product is a Cookie and Cream snack which consists of fun shaped cookies and Cream.

Trix brand was launched in US in 1959. The brand has an iconic status in US with a range of products like cereals and yogurts. Dip Trix is the Indian avatar of Trix.


Dip Trix is a result of a careful consumer observation . The brand found that the users ( Kids ) wanted to play with food . But parents usually does not permit their kids to play with food.

Thus born this product which allows kids to play with the food with out getting rebuked. Dip Trix satisfied this need in a most simple way. The product comes in a unique tray pack with two compartments. The product comes with fun shaped cookies in one compartment of the pack and there is a cream in the another compartment.
Kids can then eat cookies either by dipping it in the cream, make sandwich , dunk or lick thus making the whole process fun-filled.

In India the brand has been doing pretty well. Going by the rate in which I buy it for my kid, Dip Trix has achieved its share of success.

Even before Dip Trix came to India, HUL has tried its luck on a similar product branded as Bistix. But the brand failed to took off.

There are two main reasons for success of Dip Trix. One is the smart pricing. Unlike other foreign snacks , Dip Trix is priced reasonably at Rs 5 . This is a magical price point which allows the parents to buy it because its perceived to be affordable. The fact that one pack can keep the child occupied for 10 minutes add more value to the product.

Second success factor is the marketing strategy adopted by General Mills. The brand has adopted a 360 degree marketing effort to capture the consumer mindset. It has successfully aligned the brand with films like Krrish . The brand gave away Krrish masks along with the product thus increasing popularity many times. Last year the brand has promoted itself through Spiderman 3 by giving away goodies.

The brand also have a highly interactive site at diptrix.com where kids can log in an play games. According to reports, the brand site has tremendously enhanced the brand's salience among the target group.

The brand also have a mascot. The mascot is the Trix rabbit which is always in the lookout for the creams. The cookies usually comes in the shape of the Trix rabbit.

Selling snacks to kids is a tough job. To catch the attention and loyalty of kids is a marketer's acid test. In a way Dip Trix has achieved that.

From my experience, I have observed that kids are also influenced by the peers. For instance, when I first bought Dip Trix, my child was not impressed. But when she saw one of her friends eating it, she also began to ask for the product. So these sales promotions help the brand to get into those 'little' opinion leaders and thus breaking into the rest of the TG.

Inkfruit : Always On

Corporate Brand : Inkfruit

Brand Analysis Count : 338

Infruit is a unique brand with a special business model . The company is a e-retailer of designer T shirts. But there is a specialty in its business model. The brand aims to source designs from the consumers itself . It is another attempt to co-create with the consumers.

Inkfruit in its earlier avatar was known as Gnome was launched in December 2007. The company aims to discover the design talents in the country and provide a platform to exhibit their designs to a broader audience.

The model work like this :
The aspiring designers can send their designs to Infruit and these designs will be put to vote inside the Inkfruit community. The designs which gets maximum votes is eligible for a honorarium .
These designs are screen printed on T shirts which will be put on sale in the website. The company claims that the T-shirts are made of high quality and the screen printing delivers to the designs.

The T shirts is available for Rs 349 ( Plus delivery charges ) which I think is a reasonable price .

India does not have a pure T-shirt brand. Although most of the readymade brands have T shirts I feel that there is a scope for a pure-play T shirt brand. Because there is a wide acceptance of this category among all demographic profiles in the Indian market. Ladies, Kids, Gents, youth ;all like wearing T-shirts.

In this perspective, Inkfruit has done the right move in tapping this market. Here the differentiation is with design. The company smartly is trying to tap the design talents in the country in a very economical way. We know that reputed designers are costly while there is a huge design talent in India who are looking for platforms to express their skills. Inkfruit offers them the much desired platform.

But all are not rosy for the business model of Inkfruit. The concept of e-retailing is in the nascent stage. The penetration of Internet among the consumers is a vital variable in the success of any e-retailing venture.
There are security fears among consumers in using internet for shopping . To tide over this fear, Inkfruit has introduced Cash-on- Delivery at an additional cost of Rs 30.

With regard to the branding, Inkfruit has to have more clarity. Is it going to be a corporate brand or the T-shirt brand or is it going to be the store brand ?

From the pictures of T-shirts in the website , It is not clear whether there is Inkfruit label in it.According to the company, the name of the designer features on the label which would be a highly motivating factor for the designers.

So with regard to the brand, Inkfruit has to decide and convey its basic brand values to the consumers.
In the marketing perspective, I feel that Inkfruit should be branding its T shirts either using the corporate name or other suitable names. Then they can develop designer series based on the results of the community voting.

Another factor is the sustainability of the model . Inkfruit has tapped the enormous potential of ' Word of Mouse ' and the marketing team has been proactive in reaching out the bloggers and CGM publishers. So far Inkfruit has got tremendous support from the bloggers and online publishers. The brand has to take it forward to the next level of engagement.

T shirt is more of an experiential product which the consumer would like to see, touch and feel before going to make the purchase. So the challenge for the company is to tide over this experiential nature of this product and make the consumer to look at the design and then buy.

To do that , the company may have to induce the customer to make trial purchases. Although the price is reasonable at Rs 349, if a customer wants to order it through COD, then the cost will come to Rs 409. This can put off those customers who wants to try it off. So the company can rethink on the delivery/ COD cost to induce more trial purchases.

It is not easy to make the customers vote for designs and then buy from the website. That require lot of effort from the company . In branding jargon , the level is the Active Engagement where the consumer will use their personal time to participate in activities connected with the brand.

Inkfruit is a unique brand with lot of potential . The realization of this potential is dependant on the effort of building a community around this brand.
Checkout the brand site : Inkfruit.com

Brand Update : Parachute

Parachute Advansed is running a campaign featuring the brand ambassador Deepika Padukone. The current campaign aims to address an important issue faced by this brand, stagnant sales.

Watch the commercial here : Parachute

This commercial is interesting because it addresses an important competition for Parachute which are shampoos. I think that a major competitor for Parachute is shampoo in a broader point of view. Shampoos may not directly compete with hair oils but can affect the purchase of hair oils. In my personal experience and observation, I feel that hair oils are not preferred by some customers because its oily ( what a paradox ! ).

The brand feels that those customers using shampoos are either not using hair oils or has reduced the use hair oils.
In the new campaign Deepika Padukone advice the girls to massage the hair with Parachute Advansed for one hour and then use the shampoos inorder to look " Gorgeous Hamesha ".

The move is a part of the " one hour champi " movement initiated by Parachute. Champi in local lingo means oil head massage. It is known that oil massage is found to be good for the strength of the hair. Even Parachute Advansed has a Massager in its product portfolio.

The aim of this commercial is to co-exist with the shampoos .The brand knows that it cannot fight with this category and replace the use of shampoos. Hence it has decided to join with the shampoos rather than fight for the customers.
Through this campaign the brand is also advising customers on how to use hair oil while using shampoo. Most of the consumers are confused about using hair oils and shampoos together . So they either doesn't use oil when using shampoo or use oil in small quantities. So here the brand is telling the users not to worry about using it both. Both these products can co-exist.

I am not sure how many of the consumers are going to buy this argument , but Parachute should be appreciated for this marketing move .

Related Brand

Parachute