The Gateway Hotel : Smart and Sophisticated

Brand : The Gateway
Company : Indian Hotels Company Ltd ( Taj Hotels)

Brand Analysis Count : 360

Following the success of the budget hotel brand Ginger, Tata owned IHCL has launched a new hotel brand The Gateway.

The Gateway is a new contemporary modern hotel aimed at the new generation travelers. The hotel is positioned one level above Ginger and two level below the Taj Residency brand. Gateway is aiming at the business travelers who look for comfort and convenience.

IHCL now has four aiming at different segments
Taj : The high end luxury hotel aimed at the super rich.
Residency : The upscale premium hotel.
Gateway : Medium range hotel
Ginger : Budget

Gateway is positioned as a smart ,upscale, midmarket full service hotel providing hassle free contemporary superior service. The brand aims at perfect service without much fuss .
In the case of hotel industry, the predominant segmentation criterion is based on the room tariffs. IHCL feels that there is a gap between the budget hotel and the Residency brand.
This mid market segment offers maximum potential and consists of business travelers and tourists. The tariffs vary according to the locations but reports say that the range is between Rs 3000-Rs 6000.

During the first phase of the launch, the company plans to rebrand some of its Residency Hotels into Gateway. The company has identified sixteen hotels for the rebranding .

Gateway is trying to have an independent identity which is removed from the Taj brand. IHCL is now planning to retain the Taj brand as its Luxury brand. Hence it had the task of creating the distinct identity for the new brand -Gateway.

The Gateway brand is built on contemporaryness while Taj is rooted in heritage. So in the branding parlance, both these brands are poles apart.
The logo of Gateway is designed by the global design firm Landor Associates which had designed the logo for Ginger. The logo reflects the brand values of modernity and simplicity.

The Gateway hotel has already run a series of print campaigns as a part of its launch. The series of ads feature some offbeat successful personalities like Rahul Bose and Shobha De.
The choice of these celebrities was aimed at positioning the brand as a hotel for the new age successful personalities.
The brand has tried to differentiate itself through careful drafting of its service offering. Inorder to create a better service output, Gateway has divided its offering into seven zones which are
Stay
Hangout
Meet
Work
Workout
Unwind
Explore.

The brand thinks that its customers may have needs in any of these 7 zones.The brand aims to satisfy the customers in all these zones. The brand also offers flexibility like breakfast till 2 pm , option for night workout etc. The chain of Gateway hotels also provides a convenient choice for the frequent travelers. In the segment which Gateway targets, there is a need for such a hotel chain.

Although Gateway is trying to create an independent identity, the endorsement of Taj brand will go a long way in establishing the brand during the initial years.

Consumer Insight # 6 : Do You Have a Plan B

Last weekend I took my family to a pilgrimage to the famous temple of Guruvayur . I booked the rooms at a decent hotel and was glad that we got rooms during the rush season. We landed at the hotel and greeted by the service staff and all went well in the beginning.

But in the evening the lift ( elevator) of the hotel stopped functioning. We reached the hotel after the tiring visit to the temple only to find that the elevator will not be functional for atleast one hour ( that's what the service staff told us). Our room were at the 4 th floor . I sat there looking perplexed since my old parents and my 4 year old child were to climb all the four floors.

There were also another family at the lobby looking equally worried since they had booked rooms for relatives who were to arrive at the hotel to attend their daughter's wedding . They looked hapless having to ask their guests to climb the stairs to the 4 th and 5 th floors.

The hotel staffs were looking equally helpless and the only action they performed was to ask their guests to climb the stairs.

At the end, we had to climb the stairs and hit the bed with all the exhaustion . We hoped that next day things will be taken care of. But in the morning , I found that still the elevator is not functioning. To much of the dismay, the room service told us that breakfast will be served only at the restaurant in the ground-floor.

This really blew my temper and I had to release all my anger on the reception staff. Then to my surprise, they offered us the Service Lift !!!! Infact the hotel had another lift that is used by the housecleaning department ( commonly known as service lift ) which was working.

They could have offered this to the customers immediately when the main lift stopped working. It could have made all the guests happy but the hotel failed to use it.

The issue here is two fold . The hotel did not have a plan B. They had one elevator and there are always a chance that these kind of problems can arise at any point of time. So in the service delivery process, the management had to forsee these kind of exigencies. If there was a plan B, then the service lift could have been made available on the spot.

Secondly the front office staff was not given enough empowerment to act during such kind of issues. The service script should be prepared in such a manner that the staff could make such kind of decisions to help the customers.

As of now, the hotels in Guruvayur can afford to make such kind of poor customer service since the demand far exceeds the supply . But tide always turns.

Brand Update : India Post

Its more than two years since I posted the critical analysis of India Post. I had criticized about the wastage of immense potential of a service which had unmatched distribution reach across the length and breadth of India.

In 2008, Indian Government had decided to restructure the entire postal department. The restructuring exercise is called Project Arrow. The project aims to make India Post a logistics giant by leveraging the core strengths of the institution. The restructuring is being done in consultation with Mckinsey.

As a part of the restructuring exercise, the institution has redefined its business. According to Professor Theodore Levitt, Every business should ask this fundamental question : What Business are You In ? The answer to this question can throw up lot of opportunities for growth. Narrowly defining the business can create Marketing Myopia which may wipe out the business in the long run.

From just a postal institution , the department has reframed its business to be in the logistics service rather than just a postal service. The move is a significant step in broadening the scope of services that could be handled by this giant.

It is important to reinvent the business definition since the postal service is facing competition which could make its business irrelevant. The e-mail and the rise of affordable private courier services has taken away a significant chunk of profitable business of this institution. Since it is a government department, India Post could'nt change fast to accommodate the changing environment.

In line with the restructuring exercise, the department has also rebranded India Post by launching a new logo. The rebranding was done by O&M.

The new logo retains the signature red color but has made significant changes to the logo. The new logo sports a yellow color which signifies happiness , hope and joy. Red stands for passion. The wings from the old logo has been retained with some modification. The new look brand take Passion, Power and Commitment as the core brand values.

According to the press reports, 50 post offices will be refurbished to make it a new-look hi-fi post offices in the first phase of Project Arrow. The number will be scaled up to 500 post offices in the near future. The new post-offices will be technologically enabled to provide faster service to the customers. A lot of new products have also being created for meeting the new demands of the customer.

It gives me joy to see that the brand has slowly waking up to the new realities. I was surprised to find that India Post was losing almost Rs 1300 crore every year on its operations. This is despite the fact that India Post handles 10 crore Money orders and 17 crore savings accounts with deposits over Rs 5,40,000 crores. The deparment has 1,55,000 post offices out of which 89% is in the rural areas. India Post is the largest postal service in the world.

The government hopes that with this restructuring, India Post will be able to make profits rather than bleed the exchequer .

Related Post
India Post

LIC Health Plus : Scaring The Hell Out of You

Brand : Health Plus
Company : LIC

Brand Analysis Count : 318

Indian health insurance market is nascent but with huge potential. With only 10% of the population having some form of health insurance, Indian Insurers have seen just the tip of a gold mine. In a very wise move to unleash the potential of the Indian health insurance market, IRDA gave license to many life insurers to enter the market with new innovative health insurance products.

Surprisingly LIC also got itself into this lucrative market. Reports suggest that there are 315 million insurable persons in this market with an estimated market size of over $ 812 million . The market is estimated to reach $ 5 Billion by 2010.

The major issue facing health insurance market is the lack of awareness. Even in the urban market, the awareness about health insurance is very low.

It is not only the lack of awareness about the insurance policies but also the need for having a health insurance policy. This blind eye towards the need for health insurance is rampant in the middle-class who really needs such kind of insurance cover.

The basic reason behind this lack of awareness is because of two reasons :

a. The availability of inexpensive health care. Historically health costs were considerably low in the Indian market. This is because of government control over medicine costs .

b. In early days the kind of diseases and the cures were very much limited. Diseases were less and cures were also less.

c. The false belief that major illness will not happen to oneself.

d. The premium paid in Health Insurance is lost unless there is a claim to it. This is a major negative since premiums paid is lost.

Both these have changed. The cost of health care has risen beyond one's imagination.Government has limited the support on health care and medicines are becoming expensive.

The new lifestyle began creating lifestyle diseases which only have lifestyle cures that has lifestyle expenses attached to it . Now new diseases has arisen and new cures too. And no one has a guarantee of not getting a major illness.

It is in this context that health insurance attain paramount importance to ones life . From my observation, a major illness or a major accident can ruin the finances of a family. With the family size becoming smaller, the avenues of getting financial support is also thinning. Health insurance is a backup against such disasters. I remember a couple of instances where the entire savings of a family wiped out because the guy met with an accident.

Coming to the brand in context, LIC has launched its health insurance plan branded as Health Plus. Health Plus is an unit linked health insurance plan where the money invested will grow investment rather than lost as in the case of conventional health plans. But the premiums are expensive compared to the conventional types.

The new launch is backed by heavy advertising . The ads are scary and will scare your hell out of you. The ad shows a lady reading a magazine on her bed and suddenly the room morphs into a hospital room . The next scene shows a guy watching television sitting on a chair and suddenly the chair morphs into a wheel chair. The voice over says " Anything can happen to you anywhere and anytime " .

The ads and the message are very very disturbing. The message is hard truth but some truths can be really disturbing. A typical human reaction to such truth is denial and not acceptance. And most often the consumer will turn their head against such disturbing visuals rather than embrace the message. I am a person who has taken such insurance policies but for me also the ad was repulsive. You need not scare your consumers to purchase the product.

What Indian consumers need is real education about the need for having health insurance. The issue is not to make him disturbed so that he denies the truth and get on with life. So the message ought to be on a softer side. Since HealthPlus is a unit linked plan, one can add savings on premium as an attraction. Reliance Insurance had launched a campaign health + wealth which is more an attractive proposition.


The print ad for Health Plus also features a visual from hospital. These are displayed in hoardings too. It too is of bad taste. The execution of the message is with out taking the viewer's emotions into context.

The challenge is making the consumer realize the importance of protection against possible loss of financial security rather than worry about hospitalization expenses. The reason why I took health insurance is to protect my family from any financial shocks rather than cover the expenses ( which was secondary). I remember a friend asking me whether I expect any diseases to occur, when I explained to him the details of health insurance. He failed to understand that I took health insurance to safeguard my existing financial security from such shocks.

The consumers for these products are those who are healthy , alive and rocking. They hate to see themselves in wheelchairs or hospital beds. During this phase of life , one expects to live healthily always. To make him aware of a potential shock should be done in a more subtle way.

Idea : An Idea Can Change Your life

Brand : Idea
Company : Idea Cellular
Agency : Lowe Lintas


Brand Analysis Count : 317

Idea is an interesting brand in the mobile service provider market in India. The brand is interesting because of its troubled history and the current marketing practices.

Idea in its earlier avatar came into existence in 1995 as Birla communications. In 1996 the company was rechristened Birla AT &T. In 2001, the company again restructured into Birla Tata AT&T. During that time, this combine was the talk of the town. Here you have three major players coming together to tap the promising Indian cellular market. But nothing happened. Soon the much touted JV failed and Birlas bought out the entire stake from the other two players.

In 2002, the birth of the " Idea " brand took place. By looking at the history, its obvious that nothing may have happened to the brand. I would say that the market also did not demand heavy investment on branding during those times. Much of the connections happened based on tariff and offers.Idea was more focused on expanding the network and improving the infrastructure during those years.

Idea as a brand began to take shape in 2006. I think that till that time, the brand owners were not sincerely committed to the brand ( My Assumption). However by the end of 2005, major investments were seen in the brand.

According to the Idea website, the brand has taken Innovate, Stimulate & liberate as the core brand values. But its doubtful whether these brand values are communicated to the consumers.
Idea is now having a market share of around 15- 17% share in the entire mobile communications market.

Even after 2006, Idea as a brand was never in the limelight. A major factor was that the investment on the brand was erratic. Most of the ads were highlighting the new tariff plans. During that time, companies was frantically rolling out new tariff plans trying to bring in customers through attractive offers.

Idea displayed its brand value - innovation through various offers and schemes. Idea My Gang was an example of such an innovation. The Closed User Group specifically targeting young customers was the first of its kind.

Idea brand got a major boost in 2007 when the brand roped in Abhishek Bachchan as the brand ambassador. Reports suggest that Abhishek and Idea had a 3 year contract which cost the company around Rs 30 Crore.
The entry of Abhishek gave the brand a lot of eyeballs. The brand had chosen a tagline " An Idea Can Change Your Life " and the entire brand communication was around this theme of ' an idea changing the life '. Before Abhishek coming in the campaigns, the brand had done a series of campaign highlighting the positioning around the theme.

In my opinion, the major breakthrough for the brand came from the campaign involving Abhishek as the Sarpanch ( village chief)
Watch the Tvc here : Number & Name

Although many viewers scoffed at the ' idea ' , the ad gave the brand lot of mileage. Also it gave some confidence behind further investment in the theme revolving around " idea" and 'Communication' changing ones life.
The latest commercial where Abhishek plays the role of a guide and using sms to communicate with a deaf tourist further popularised the brand
Watch the tvc here ; Idea guide

I must say that both these campaigns had a sticky factor. The sticky factor was indeed the performance of Abhishek Bachchan. This single factor has made the brand Idea and the tagline " An Idea can change your life " very popular. The latest campaign has a new additional slogan " What an Idea " which also has the potential to become a popular lingo.

My personal view is that despite getting these eyeballs , Idea has not been able to get its acts together. I still feel that the brand has not yet found its true essence. There is a glaring disconnect between the message in the ads and the brand. Infact as far as cellular service market is concerned, Idea as a brand does not stand for anything.
I feel that despite the ads being sticky and well made, there is nothing mentioned about the brand Idea. No message to the consumer as to what the brand stands for , what it means, and what it does. At best these campaigns will do is to increase the brand recall. Nothing further than that.
Idea is also heavily investing in events as a media to build the brand. It is associated with some of the popular shows like Idea Rocks India, Idea star singer & Idea Andhra idol ( reality shows).

The brands in this industry has already recognized the importance of investing in brand building and is trying to corner as much mental associations possible because many aspects of the services are getting commoditzed. The features like connectivity, tariff plans and coverage are almost standardized. There is intense fight in the Value Added Service domain but I feel that it will also get standardized. Vodafone is now on an overdrive to position itself as a VAS leader. The new entrant Virgin Mobile is also started coming out with new ideas life incoming calls which pays the subscriber money !

So the challenge is to get the brand embedded in the mind of the consumer so that they chose the brand instead of the plan or a feature . For that Idea may have to define a certain position.

My personal opinion is that Idea has not found its true self. The brand has everything going for it except the idea !. The brand has a good name , a good logo, a catchy slogan , a cool brand ambassador and lot of money but what a paradox - the right idea is missing.

The slogan and the theme focusing on the idea concept is powerful. However when executing, there has to be a connect between the Idea brand , the function ( the service provider) and the Idea ( concept). The latest TVC is the closest interms of connecting the functionality of the brand and the concept. But not enough.

An Idea can change your life . But which idea will change this idea's life ?

Barclaycard : You Are in Control

Brand : Barclaycard
Company : Barclays
Agency : Mccann

Brand Analysis Count : 310

When I was a college student, my dream was to flaunt a credit card ( infact more than one) . Then on to my first job, I ran to my bank to rightfully claim for my first creditcard. I was in for an unpleasant surprise. I then realized that not everyone was eligible for one. Then after three years of constant followup and lots and lots of document, I landed up my first credit card ( not exactly because later I found out that it was a chargecard). It was a Cancard with a credit facility for Rs 5000 and credit period of 30 days.

Then after two years, something happened. I would call it the financial sales revolution. The new generation banks like ICICI and HDFC bank began appointing Direct Selling Agents for opening the Savings Account, loans and creditcards. For the first time, customers ( like me) were treated like worthy of a credit card. I remember filling out numerous forms and getting rejected by Citi and ICICI . Infact I remember a bank official saying that they rejected my application because I work with a media. At that time they don't give loans or creditcard to Media or Police officials .

When I was running around after creditcards, wise-owls warned me of impending danger. They said - credit cards can ruin your financial stability so use it wisely. I vouched that I will not take credit for my creditcard and use it wisely. But the fact is that I have taken loans, I have splurged, have bought products on EMI all through creditcard.... I realized that you will never win against the creditcards.
As always the thumbrule in any financial service dealings involving banks or insurance firms is to play by the rules. That is critical in the case of creditcard business. The fact is that only they know the rules and as customers , we don't bother to read the 60 page terms and conditions booklet that is printed in 5 point font size.
I realized this when the creditcard charged me fine and interest for late realization of a cheque owing to a bank strike. I tried to fight but they showed me the rules.
It is in this context that a new bank has comeout with a credit card that says that the customer is in control...
In 2007 Barclays Bank launched its retail banking operations in India. Barclays is the UK based financial services group which boasts of a heritage of over 300 years. The operations of Barclays started in India in 1970's and was more focused on investment banking . Barclays began the commercial operations in 2006 and retail operations in 2007.

The bank is now aggressively pitching for its creditcard business in India. According to Businessweek , the size of Indian Credit-card market is about $4 Billion and growing at 35% per-annum. No wonder global majors are queuing up in the Indian market. But the going is tough because competition is tough with ICICI bank leading the pack.

Barclaycard chose to break into this market with a clear differentiator . The differentiator was ' giving power to choose the billing cycle and fix monthly payment amount ' to the customer. The brand is now running a high decibel campaign in all media

Watch the TVC here : Barclays
Here the idea is that banks treat customers like kids with little or no power in the hand of the customers.
As a customer, I think that this differentiator comes from consumer insights. Infact in my case I have to pay my credit card during the middle of the month and by that time all money would have gone up in smoke. Barclaycard lets you decide which week of the month the customer would like to be billed. That means that the customer can select the appropriate week when his salary is being credited or when he has the maximum cash-flow.

The brand in that way has come up with a meaningful differentiator but I think that differentiator is not sustainable in the longterm since all other players can easily achieve parity with that feature . But the brand has made its presence felt using that meaningful differentiator.

For any new bank, the issue of payment of creditcard bills also act as a significant demotivator for the customers. In the case of Barclaycard, the brand has tiedup with BILLDESK so that the payment can be done online using internet banking of other banks. So one does not have to search for the drop-boxes. For a new brand to break into the clutter, Barclaycard has done the homework right and has made the right moves.

Apart from these differentiators, the other things remain the same, the interest rate is as high as 36% ( annualized) and charges comparable with other players .

As a customer, I have learned a hard lesson of using a credit-card. I still don't understand why these cards charge so much interest on the cards and still want customers to use it. I somewhere read that credit-card companies lose money when the customers pay in time. But these heavy interest rates are charged to make customers pay in time. ( is it not a paradox ?).

Credit-card firms will realize their next path to growth only if they rationalize their interest rate in favor of the customers. In this era of sophisticated CRM algorithms, the banks should be able to give differential interest rates to customers who are credit worthy. Till that time I am gonna pay my bills on time.

Accenture : High Performance , Delivered

Corporate Brand : Acccenture
Agency : Rediffusion /DYR ( In India)


Brand Analysis Count : 307


Accenture is a unique marketing case study because of two reasons . It is one of the most aggressive corporate brand in the service industry globally and the second reason is the rebranding exercise which it undertook in 2001.

Accenture was formerly known as Andersen Consulting. Anderson consulting was the consulting arm of Anderson Worldwide. Anderson Consulting was established in 1989 when the consulting practice of Arthur Andersen was hived off to form a separate company. Arthur Andersen had established itself as one of the major accounting firms and had a global presence.
The consulting boom of 1990's boosted the image of Andersen Consulting. Soon Anderson Consulting had built a strong brand equity across various consulting domains. Both Arther Andersen and Andersen Consulting was independent business units under Andersen Worldwide.

The fledging consulting business prompted Arther Andersen to enter the consulting domain. This entry of Arther Andersen into the domain of Anderson Consulting started a messy fight between these two units which ended in the arbitrators courts. In 2000 Arbitrator ruled that Anderson Consulting was granted independence from Andersen Worldwide . Andersen Consulting had to forgo the brand in favor of Andersen Worldwide.

This forced the consulting firm to scout for a new brand name and identity. The brand name was selected among 500 alternatives. The process of selection of brand name was itself a unique event. Anderson Consulting had a huge brand equity among various business houses across different domains and geographies . Hence the new brand name had to reflect the existing brand values and should be relevant in the various geographies in which the company operated. More over the brand name and trademark should be available in the markets where the company was operating.

The company made use of legal experts from each country it operates to check whether the list of brand names are viable in respective countries. The process of screening also involved linguistic analysts from 47 countries and 200 languages to check the cultural sensitivities of the brand names considered. The company also checked with senior executives of the clients to get their perspective. All these efforts ended with the name ' accenture' . Incidentally the name was suggested by an employee named Kim Peterson . This fact itself that gave the name more charm.

On January 1, 2001, the rebranding happened. For the first 3 months 6000 TV spots were aired and over 1000 print ads were splashed across the world. The entire campaign cost the company around $ 175 mn. The new campaign highlighted new capabilities in consulting, technology , outsourcing & alliances. The brand took the tagline : High Performance. Delivered. At the end of 2001, the brand achieved the same recall and equity of the earlier name Andersen Consulting.

Now Accenture is valued at $ 6.5 Billion and is a respected consulting firm across the world. Now the entire brand promotion revolves round Tiger Woods who is the brand ambassador. Since 2003, Tiger Woods has been an integral part of Accenture's branding. Tiger Woods is the embodiment of high performance so is Accenture. The latest campaign runs on the theme ' We know what it takes to be a Tiger '

Accenture came to India in 2005. The brand now has serious business in India and the brand is running their campaigns aggressively in the Indian market. The branding campaign is predominantly in print. The brand looks at the following audiences :
a. Domestic and potential clients
b. Potential employees
c. Existing employees.

What is more important in this brand's strategy is that Accenture celebrates performance. The campaign is not restricted to Ads but also lot of events and research. Accenture's research on High Performers and high performing companies are path-breaking. The website is also rich with case studies and insights.
Accenture is a true case of a brand living upto its values and manthra.

Brand Update : Kingfisher Airlines

Kingfisher is right now running a print campaign in major business publications. To be frank , the campaign did not catch my eye because it is too ' Un-Kingfisher " ads. I expected the Kingfisher ads to be flashy, glamorous but these ads were totally against my perception.

The new series of campaigns are focused on the functional attributes of the airlines. Deviating from the usual flashy ads, Kingfisher is now appealing to the Left- brain of the consumers. The ads are targeting the three segments of users i.e Children, Ladies and Males but the ads are talking to Men who are the key decision makers .

The ad for the young travelers talks about special kids meal,wide seats and games. The ad ends with an appeal to the father that " Your little prince deserves to feel like a King ".

The ad for the lady travelers talks about the seats that bend all the way back, the footrest that will pop up , life valets when your lady lands at the airport at midnight and helping hands that lift her bag. The ad ends with the message " Queen of your heart deserves to fly like one ".

The third in the series aims at the decision maker itself. The ad aimed at male traveler as usual talks about the ' flying models ", the smile that tastes better than the icecream, spectacle cleaner and the air-boutique. The ad ends with the message ' Every man's seat feels like his throne'.

The new campaigns aims to reinforce the service differentiation of this airline. Kingfisher has humbled Jet Airways through its clever service differentiation. But to sustain the service differentiation is not easy because the competition can easily emulate or even make good on your service strategy. Also the brand should keep its costs under control when offering service differentiation. That requires a clear understanding on the consumer expectation regarding the service quality .
With regard to the quality of campaign, it may miss some eyeballs because of not being an eye catchy ad. But the message surely is smart. The basic premise in this ad campaign is that Men are the decision makers with regard to this service. May be a campaign aimed at lady executives may also come in the future.

One strategic reason behind this campaign is to broaden the user base for this brand. Kingfisher has been a hit with the young ( at heart) male fliers and the 'flying models ' , inflight service were well taken by this segment. May be the brand managers feel that Kingfisher is not perceived as a airline for " Family " . The campaigns, the positioning , the hostess all make the brand to be perceived as an airline for men. This can create certain issues in the future and there is a potential problem of the brand restricting itself to a specific gender. The new campaign tries to address this issue and is wooing the non-business travelers as well as the family members of the TG. By way of addressing the larger audience , Kingfisher is trying to take on the Jet Airways' main customers.

On the promotional front, Kingfisher has signed up the latest diva of bollywood Ms Deepika Padukone as the brand ambassador.


Related Brand
Kingfisher

Brand Update : Airdeccan

It seems this is a season of rebranding. Along side the mega rebranding of Hutch to Vodafone, another high profile rebranding is taking place .... at Airdeccan. After the high profile and highly surprising " acquisition " of Airdeccan by Kingfisher, the brand is going through a makeover.

When the media announced that Kingfisher has taken control over Airdeccan, one thing that will have popped up in the mind of a marketer is about the brand "Airdeccan ".
How will Mallya treat Airdeccan ? was the million dollar question. Personally I thought that Vijay Mallya will keep the two brands in two different platforms. How dare one can even think of integrating a low-price brand with a lifestyle brand ? My reading was that Mallya will definitely try to cut unprofitable routes , may tweak a little with the level of service at Airdeccan but keep the brand at arms length from Kingfisher.
But what Mallya did with Airdeccan made me realize again that I am still a student of Marketing.
Airdeccan has changed completely. From the brand name, the logo, positioning and all the brand elements. Airdeccan is now " Simplifly Deccan " . The earlier logo of Hands has paved way for the Kingfisher logo. The color of Yellow and Blue has changed to Red. The old tagline has been integrated to the new Brand name and the new positioning statement is " The Choice is Simple ".
According to agencyfaqs.com, the rebranding exercise is costing around Rs 15 crore ( media spend).
The rebranding and the heavy secondary association with Kingfisher was surprising to me because I thought that it is highly risky for a premium brand to be associated with a price warrior brand. So any association of Kingfisher and Deccan may hurt the Kingfisher brand most. But having seen this repositioning exercise, I now have a changed point of view.
The new Simplifly Deccan is promising many things to the customer :
Excellence in timely performance
Wider Network
and more importantly " Little Delights all the way ". The new repositioning identifies all the weakness of Airdeccan. There were constant harping about poor customer service, delays and no free food. In blogs and forums , harried customers aired not so good words about Airdeccan while conveniently forgetting the fact that " You get what you paid for ".
Kingfisher has now bought in a breath of fresh air into Deccan. The Kingfisher airlines brand has established itself as a clear leader in delighting the customers by managing the Moments of Truth. Now that promise is being given to Airdeccan customers. And interestingly Mallya need not do much but just bring in the culture to Deccan. Deccan already have good planes, crew and infrastructure. Bring in Kingfisher culture will be the key change that we are going to see in Airdeccan... sorry... Simplifly Deccan.
The new positioning is also significant. The positioning of " The choice is simple " takes strength from the famous old tagline :Simplifly. It builds on the old platform and aims to be the " preferred airline " for the discerning customers.
So the questions remain. Will Kingfisher brand suffer by associating with a low price brand ? May be no because price was not what Kingfisher is all about. Whether it is Kingfisher airlines or the beer, the brand never was an expensive one. The focus was on experience and lifestyle. There can be huge expectations about the new Deccan and people ( including Kingfisher loyalists ) will try out the new Deccan but will see a clear demarcation on the service levels between the two. The Kingfisher experience will be limited to Kingfisher airlines but you will get a teaser of that in Deccan ( that may be the idea). Having said that , this rebranding exercise is definitely a risky affair for Kingfisher brand.

Related Brand
Airdeccan

Brand Update : Tata Indicom

After a series of horrible ads featuring Kajol and Ajay Devgan, Tata Indicom has initiated a new series of ads trying to differentiate the brand from the rest of the service providers. Indicom retains Kajol as its brand ambassador, but has completely taken a new tone in talking to the customer. While Indicom was using Kajol and Ajay Devgan to lure the middle and lower middle segments with its Lifetime prepaid card and following it with cheap handset offer, the latest campaign is aimed at a different TG. The new campaigns are targeting the existing mobile users ( of competitors) and not the first time users which was the TG of the earlier ads.

View the Ad Here: Marriage ad. Love ad, Car Ad
This time the brand is talking to the Rational side of the brain. The new campaign is revolving around 6 key differentiators for the brand:

1.BroadSpan Network for constant signal accessibility across narrow subways,basement,elevators etc.
2.Breathing cell cites for seamless connectivity in trains lifts etc.
3.Echo free filters for clear sounds.
4.High security network for absolute confidentiality.
5.T-sim based service that enable customers to switch mobile handsets to latest ones.

6.Gentle waves for echo friendly system.

The brand communicates that these are the six reasons why one should switch to Tata Indicom.
Here again the brand has shown its ability to innovate. The above features are common features but Indicom has communicated effectively that the brand is good in these features.Atlast some sensible campaigns from Indicom...

Related Brand
Tata Indicom

Image source:agencyfaqs

Brand Update : SBI

After surprising every one with Surprisingly SBI campaign, the bank has now moved into the second phase of campaign rationally explaing why SBI is better than other banks.

The bank has taken the positioning of Pure Banking emphasizing that SBI does what it does best : Pure banking. Th bank has now took the tagline" Pure Banking , Nothing else" takes a dig at new generation banks that spent lot of time doing non banking financial services.
A new Tvc is also running which shows a young guy getting impressed by the services offered by SBI which is his old parent's bank. The recent print and tvc is aimed at shedding the " old public sector bank" image of SBI and make it more relevant to the young customers. The bank is now running a mix of Rational, Humor and emotional advertisement to promote the bank. Laudable and Surprising.

Watch the hilarious Chiman Lal campaign here: Chiman Lal Charlie

Related Brand
SBI

Ginger Hotels : Luxury of Simplicity

Brand : Ginger
Company: Roots Corporation ( Taj Group)


Brand Count : 209

Recently I was intrigued by a simple ad of a hotel in Television with the tagline " Please Help Yourself" because seldom we see hotels advertise and decided to read more about the brand Ginger. There was many surprises in store for me about this brand. Ginger is the new version of Indione chain of hotels touted as the budget hotel chain from the Taj Group. Owned by the TATA's Ginger brand is expected to shake up the hospitality industry for the better.

Indione launched in Bangalore in June 2004 was Taj's first foray into Budget hotels. The hotel chain was expected to tap in the growing population of Business and leisure travelers and expected to satisfy the need for a hotel that offers service at affordable price. The Bangalore property was a test market of this concept.The test market results was encouraging and the Bangalore hotel averaged 85% occupancy rate. After testing and fine tuning the process and service, the company nationally launched the chain of hotels.

Tata's however decided not to use Indione for the chain of hotels ( for some reasons). The brand Ginger was chosen to this new chain of hotels. The brand Ginger was developed with the help of Internationally renowned Brand consultancy firm Landor Associates. Ginger brand radiates simple unique,basic, lighthearted,very different, Indian, innovation as its Brand values. The company wanted the brand to radiate Freshness and Ginger communicates that freshness.
Although the concept of budget hotels looks attractive, it is not easy to sustain the cost and the service expectations. Hence Taj conducted an extensive consumer research to fine tune the service delivery and the ambiance.The national rollout of Ginger Hotel was on March 2006. The brand already has its presence in 6 locations.

Ginger differentiates itself from other budget hotels by its SMART BASICS feature. Smart Basics concept was co-created by Ginger with the help of the Renowned Management Guru CK Prahlad. Smart Basics provide a value proposition of a different kind. It represents a Next Generation category that signifies Simplicity, convenience,informality,style ,modernity and Affordability.The hotel offers a mix of high end facilities with an affordable price tag. Ginger offers a customer following facilities: A/C, electronic lock,comfortable beds, work area, 17" Flat TV,Direct Dial with STD, Gym,cyber cafe etc at a rate of Rs 999 for single and 1175 for double room.The hotels operate with skeletal staff but is highly process oriented so that most of the necessities of the customers are taken care. Some of the services are outsourced but available to the customer on call. As the tagline says " Please Help Yourself", most of the services are self service ( to reduce cost) including check in. The trick is to be process driven so that customers will just have to follow the process and things will be taken care by the process.That also gives the company an option to charge for specific services demanded for the customers.

Ginger effectively fills a gap that existed in the hospitality sector, a need for a budget hotel that delivers reasonable/assured service. Ginger helps that decision making easier for the customers.
Ginger is an example of Masstige service and holds huge potential in the Indian market. The budget hotel market in India is estimated to be around Rs 6000 crore and Ginger is all set to conquer this market.

Source: hospitalitynet.org,gingerhotels.com,businessline, economictimes

American Express : Membership Changes Everything

Brand : American Express Platinum
Company: American Express
Agency : O&M

Brand Count : 202

American Express is one of the world leaders in travel, financial and network provider business. The brand is synonymous with traveller's cheque and is a world leader in travel related financial services.

American Express was created in 1850 as a express delivery service provider (courier/moneyorder service). It metamorphosed to a financial service giant through a series of innovations. In 1891, American Express invented the first traveller's cheque. In 1958, world's first charge card was created by the company.American Express is currently the world's largest issuer of traveller's cheques.

American Express started its Indian operation way back in 1921.In India too , the brand is known for its travel related services. The brand extended to credit card business in 1986 for International travellers and in 1996 consumer card for domestic use was introduced. American Express was the first brand to introduce balance transfer facility for credit cards which later became a standard for all credit card issuers. ( Source : superbrandsindia.com)

Although American Express and Diners Club was the first companies to introduce credit cards in India, over the time, these brands failed to capitalise on the credit card boom. Visa and MasterCard through their aggressive promotions have cornered major market share in India. The aggressive schemes from the issuing banks like ICICI has virtually tripled the market for credit cards in India. But all through this hungama, American Express chose to take the backseat. The Indian creditcard market is estimated to be around $4 billion and there are around 17mn cards in circulation in India.

American Express only occasionally invested in brand building in the credit card market. I believe that the company was concentrating more on its travel related business rather than into credit cards. I remember only one TVC of American Express which shows an Indian traveller in a foreign location who get caught in a holi celebration. The ad was a memorable one but again the target was the travelling segment. The ad projected American Express as the card which is globally accepted.

November 2006 saw a major initiative from the brand to tap the domestic Indian credit card market. American Express launched the Platinum club in India which targeted the young Rich and Famous Indian. Platinum club is an exclusive club which offered the member wide range of privileges. Platinum Club is a premium service that gives exclusive service and pamperin a year , travels abroad three times a year and dines out three times more than the average Indian ( source :g to the privileged owners. The members of the club receives the new American Express Platinum credit card which provides the key to a host of premium services. Amex has tied up with premium service providers like Taj, Kingfisher etc which offers special benefits to the member. The club is targeted at Indians who is at the age group of 30-45 who earns 20-25 lakhseretailbiz.com)

To become a member one has to pay a lifetime fee of Rs 50,000.The member gets a welcome gift worth more than Rs 70,000 which includes a Longines watch and Two Kingfisher airline round trip tickets. Other benefits include dining privileges with Taj hotels, special treatment with Kingfisher etc..
The brand is clearly on an overdrive to woo the affluent Indian. The logic is simple, an affluent Indian spend around Rs 3.67 lakh on his credit card a year which is ten times more than an average credit card user.
Platinum Club is the special way through which American Express plans to build its credit card business in India. Worldwide the brand is known to pamper its customer. There are some unique stories about this pampering like one given in the super brand site which talks about how the company arranged to courier a sample of Dead Sea sand for a child's (of Amex cardholder ) school project.
Platinum club is endorsed by Abhishek Bachchan who is also the first member of the club. Already TVC is running in all media followed by an aggressive print campaign. The brand is using the tagline " Membership Changes Everything". The brand is directly taking the route of creating an aspirational value for the product. This campaign is going to create a positive effect on all American Express cards . The campaign also will increase the brand awareness which is one of the problem that American Express faces. Still there are lot of merchants that do not accept this card because of ignorance. Although the brand is aimed at premium segment, the entry cost is kept low at Rs 50,000 that will definitely drive volume for this card.
Platinum club is a smart marketing move by American Express which will also force other card companies to start pampering their customers.

Related Brand
Mastercard

Source: superbrandsindia.com,eretailbiz.com,businessline
image courtsey:superbrandsindia.com

Mastercard : Priceless

Brand : Mastercard
Company: Mastercard Worldwide
Agency: McCann Erickson

Brand Count ; 165

Mastercard is one of the pioneers in the global credit card business. Born in 1967, the brand is the second largest player in the Indian plastic money market trailing behind the global leader Visa.
Diners Club issued the world’s first universal credit card in 1920. Mastercard was born from an alliance created by United California Bank, Wells Fargo,Crocker National Bank and Bank of California. This alliance was pitted against the Bank Americard issued by Bank of America that later became Visa.

The original name of Mastercard was Master Charge Inter Bank Card which later shortened to Mastercard in 1979. In 2002, Mastercard International was absorbed by Europay International SA and in 2006 the company changed its name from Mastercard International to Mastercard Worldwide.

The business of credit card works in different layers. There are four players in the business.

1. Network
2. Issuer
3. Users
4. Establishments

The networks consists of players like Mastercard ,Visa who are the credit card companies .These companies have linkages and association between different banks and facilitate transactions between users , the establishments and the banks .The issuers are the banks that issue the credit cards like the ICICI, HDFC etc.The users are card users and establishments are those who accept credit cards as a mode of payment.

How credit card works?
When the user buy something, the network ratifies the user’s credibility and authorize the establishment to proceed with the transaction.The netwok then instruct the bank to make the payment to the establishments.(This the layman’s description of how credit cards work).

The credit card companies make money through the association fees paid by the banks and the fees paid by the establishments. The issuers make money by the interest charges paid by the users when they avail the revolving credit facility. Issuers also charge the users annual fees for issuing the card.The establishment benefits by the higher purchasing power of the users .

Mastercard is positioned on the emotional platform rather than on the rational platform that Visa uses. The brand has the famous campaign “ There are somethings money can’t buy, For everything else there's Mastercard”. The campaign known as Priceless campaign was launched in 1996.The campaign executed by Mccann Erickson rejuvenated the sagging fortunes of the brand during 1996. The brand at that time was facing disaster, the sales was sliding and the competition from Visa was slowly pushing Mastercard to oblivion.The Priceless campaign was indeed Priceless for the brand.

The main attribute that consumers look for in a credit card was its acceptability in shops ( reach). Visa was a leader in this and the positioning was based on its awesome acceptability.Together with the reach, the Visa also was building its equity through celebrity endorsements.

Mastercard at that time had no clear positioning and was not focused on any one attribute.This diluted all the previous campaigns for Mastercard. What the brand needed badly was some meaningful differentiation.

The Priceless campaign was aimed at differentiating this brand on the basis of intangibles ie emotions. The campaign is based on the big idea that cost of ownership is one thing and the emotional value that one derives out of it is another thing. Mastercard wanted to say to the consumers that the Mastercard is the best way to pay for every thing that matters. It wanted to show how the purchases can enhance the quality of the consumer’s everyday like. So the brand takes Money as a competition rather than other cards. This campaign is cited as an example of breakaway positioning .The campaign is already 10 years and some 170 campaigns old .This is a classic case of a successful global positioning and one of the most successful campaigns ever.

In India too the brand is riding on the Priceless campaign. The company very cleverly mixes local version of the campaign and the global versions to keep the excitement live. This campaign has established the brand recall for Mastercard in the Indian market. The Indian credit card market is a large one with a market size of $4 bn and there estimated to be around 17 mn cards and growing very fast. The market is skewed towards Visa but Mastercard has gained its rightful share with the help of the Priceless campaign.

Priceless campaign was extended not only to the credit cards but also to other retail products of Mastercard. The campaign is now extending itself to consumers and asking consumers to share their Priceless moments with the company through its website “ Priceless.com”. The brand is an example of the power of Big Idea and a lesson for all who are bored with a successful positioning and want to change the positioning for the sake of change.

Source: Breakaway branding by Kelly &Silverstein, Wikipedia,mastercard.com

India Post : Chitti Aayi Hai

Brand : India Post
Company: Government of India

India Post is the backbone of India’s communication structure. This juggernaut reaches the nook and corner of India . The system of carrying messages were said to exist even during the time of Allauddin Khilji in 1296. The first Post Office was established in 1766 by the East India Company . They opened the PO in Mumbai Chennai and Kolkatta. It was Mr Warren Hastings that made the postal service available to general public.

India Post is functioning under the Ministry of Communication. This huge organization haver around 1,50,000 offices and around 500,000 Post boxes. Till recently India Post was enjoying the Sole Supplier Status in this market. With the popularity if E-mail and the competition from courier companies, India Post is facing a crisis.We have long being taking this service for granted. But some point of time India Post have to change other wise it will collapse. India Post has been making loses continuously and is surviving on subsidy from Government.

With the private players taking up major share in the 1200 crore Courier market in India , India Post is left with the unprofitable business.

India Post has a huge advantage over the private players in the reach factor. No one can match the reach of post offices and our very own “ Post man”. Through these postmen, India Post reaches all over India. It is these Post Men who is going to save India Post.

To survive, India Post has to redefine its business. It is a paradox that even with this reach, India Post have not been able to convince the corporate players to give them business. The problem was with the service delivery. This public sector giant has not yet learned the art of marketing. To my knowledge there is no marketing people running around to capture business for this company. With the postmen taking a visit to each locality everyday, India Post has not used this reach to capture any business.

Let us look this business in another angle. Here is a company who knows each lane, each house and each corner of India have its staff visiting the houses and is more often welcomed by the households. If you are in charge of such a business, what will you do?
Would you like to sell some thing to these households? Yes India Post is selling financial services like Insurance and savings. Infact Postal bank is one of the largest savings bank in India with a whopping 120 Mn customers. But I haven’t come across a single person who tried to sell me a Savings account or a Kisan Vikas Patra or a recurring deposit. Yes I get mail from ICICI bank to invest in PO savings scheme through them!!!!!!


Just like the resurrection of Indian Railways by focusing on the profitable freight business, India Post has to wake up and leverage on the massive network they have created. It requires a cultural change in the organization. The cutthroat competition calls for cutthroat selling attitude. With the Postman reaching the houses everyday, India Post has to refocus their business strategy for mere delivery of letters to doing business with the households.

SBI : Not Quite Surprisingly SBI

Brand : SBI
Agency : O&M

SBI is the largest bank in India, It has the largest number of ATMs in the country. The Vehicle loans cover Insurance cost also. The home loans cover furniture also. 80% of India's corporate world depends on SBI. Surprisingly SBI

SBI employees are on strike from 3 April 2006 ( after getting their salary). Even after 4 days, the strike is going on, cheques are not cleared ( my salary is still in cheque form). The largest number of ATMs are already dried up. 80% of corporate are worried about their funds. Not so surprising because it is SBI.

SBI was set up in 1806 at that time called the Imperial Bank of India.Later after our independence SBI was formed. The bank still carries the Pre- liberalisation culture which has now come to the full circle.

I am not commenting whether the strike is legal or ethical. Employees have to stand united for their rights. I am talking about the brand SBI. SBI in recent years are facing hot competition from the new generation banks like ICICI, HDFC etc. SBI was able to hold its fort against these new players because of sheer size and reach. With ICICI close to their heels, SBI took a decision for an image make over.

The customers were surprised to see the new campaigns and billboards teaching customers about SBI. O&M did a nice job in subtly changing the image of SBI from a monolith to an agile banker. But this strike have put all those money used for brand building into waste basket. SBI is facing the nightmare of all the employers of the world: strike.

SBI is going to pay a heavy price for this debacle and ultimately it is the employees who is going to get affected in the end. News reports suggest that SBI customers will look for other alternatives ( am sure most of the corporate are pissed off) , the deposits will take a run and the brand equity will be hit hard. ICICI may have already started their work on SBI clients and I am sure not much persuation is needed.

In a pure marketing perspective, this could have been managed better. There was no contingency plan in place. The notice for strike was given much before, had some alternative arrangements be made, this problem could have been solved. But efforts was to focused on strike and not on customers. If a contingency plan had been made, the strike would not have been there. Since SBI have some responsibility towards its customers, contingency plan should have been there in place. But it was not. Even if the strike ends this week , it will take another 15 days to normalize the operation which is going to cost this bank dearly.

I am sorry for the striking employees because they will get a pension only if the bank is in good health.They are making it sure that it is not.