Marketing Funda : India's Most Trusted Brands 2007

Economic Times has published Brand Equity's Most Trusted Brands. Colgate for the fourth year in a row topped the list. The first ten positions in the list looks like this

1.Colgate
2.Vicks
3.Lux
4.Nokia
5.Britannia
6.Dettol
7.Lifebuoy
8.Pepsodent
9.Pond's
10.Tata Tea

The top ten service brands are
1.LIC
2.Airtel
3.State Bank of India
4.Reliance India Mobile
5.BSNL
6.Tata Indicom
7.Indian oil
8.ICICI Bank
9.Bank of India
10.Reliance Petroleum

Colgate has every qualification to be in the number one league because of its ability to understand Indian consumer and innovate interms of the product and marketing mix. The brands that feature in teh list is a testimony of successful marketing.

Cheers

Thirty Plus : Needing Energy

Brand : Thirty Plus
Company: Ajanta Pharma

Brand Count: 236

Thirty Plus is an interesting brand because of the brand name and marketing. The brand comes under the energizer category but perceived as an Aphrodisiac. This herbal capsule was launched in 1990 by a small time pharma manufacturer Ajanta Pharmaceuticals. This single product catapulted the company into the big league.

Indian Aphrodisiac market is huge valued around Rs 5 - 8 billion. The market is fragmented with majority of market dominated by local brands and unbranded remedies. The major branded players being Thirty Plus and Revital from Ranbaxy.

Although the website says that Thirty Plus is an energizer + Aphrodisiac, when the brand was launched , it was positioned as an energising capsule for Thirty Plus Males. The brand used Jitendra as its brand ambassador during the nineties. The ads were an instant hit and so was the product. The brand is now sold through the Over The Counter ( OTC) route.
But after the initial launch hype , the brand did not invest in itself. I don't remember any ads of this brand in the past 10 years or so. But because the product is an Aphrodisiac, the users may search and find it out.
The brands in categories of OTC or herbal drugs face serious regulatory issues regarding the brand promotion. The marketing of such products are regulated by Magic Remedies Act and any serious violation can take the brand to the court. So most of the manufacturers of such drugs are careful of not over exposing themselves.

There is another interesting issue that this brand faced.It is regarding the brand name. As the name indicates, the brand is meant for those who are Thirty Plus. When it was launched, the age Thirty was considered to be middle age where you become psychologically conscious about your decreasing vitality. Hence the brand name correctly conveyed the brand 's TG and its use.

But the brand now faces the issue where thirty is not now considered as a middle age ( not because I am past thirty). Most of the professionals start their family life in their late twenties and early thirties. The average age of Indians also has increased and now may be even Forty is considered to be a middle age. Hence a brand with a name Thirty Plus appeal to the new TG of 40 + ? It is just a theoretical observation because if the brand does what it promises, then any brand name will do.

Marketing Funda : India's Income Pyramid

India's consumption forecast and the burgeoning Globals and Aspirers are making the marketers drool.

Source: Economic times.

The large upper strata is now encouraging lot of marketers to look at premium products.

Johnnie Walker : Keep Walking

Brand : Johnnie Walker
Company: Diageo
Agency: Leo Burnett

Brand Count : 235

Johnnie Walker is a global icon in the Beverages business. The brand named after the founder Mr John Walker, this heritage brand was born in 1820. An umbrella brand that endorses may of the iconic variants like RedLabel , Black Label etc, this brand is considered to be a brand leader in the worldwide whiskey market.

Johnnie Walker came to India in 2001. Before that the brand and its variant commanded a whopping 65% share in the duty paid channel. India is a huge market for liquor and the estimated market for Indian Made Foreign Liquor is around Rs 34,000 crore.

Deviating slightly from the brand, I thing IMFL or Indian Made Foreign Liquor is one of the classic Oxymoron. I still cannot understand the logic of the IMFL. It is still a living example of the erswhile License Raj.
Johnnie Walker is an interesting brand to me because of the classic campaign " Keep Walking". Keep Walking is the brand's global branding campaign which began in 1999 .The campaign took the brand from a local player to a global icon. The idea is so simple that this could be used in any market and in anyway that the marketer chose to use it. The tagline is one of the most memorable and I rate this as one of the best taglines. The tagline became so hit that in some markets, the line has become a part of the lingua.
The tagline is splashed across the globe in billboards, posters and print ads. The brand and its agency was able to look at the current environments and communicate something similar to TOPICALS pioneered by Amul in India.
One such billboard in Lebanon captured attention in the media across the world. According to reports, the campaign is running in 125 countries. The local managers are given the freedom to adapt the message to suit their own market. For example, recently Keep Walking campaign was run in India taking a cue from the India's World cup debacle.

The brand is being positioned on the concept of Progress. The Striding Man logo was devised to convey the philosophy of the founder's belief that through perseverance, the dreams can be realized. The brand is basing its positioning on the spirit of hardwork and perseverance and will appeal to the customers who adore those values. I think the brand has segmented the market on the basis of values ( broadly speaking).
In India too, the brand is following its international strategy. The interesting feature of this campaign is the use of outdoor media to the maximum. The brand uses minimalistic approach to communicate to the audience. It is said that the " Keep Walking " campaign has helped the brand to increase atleast 60% of the sales. More over in the Indian scenario, Keep Walking Campaign also has helped the brand to touch a new level in surrogate advertising.
Johnnie Walker's Keep Walking campaign is a classic example of the power of Big Idea.

Brand Update :Royal Enfield

Royal Enfield this month has launched Machismo LB 500: a regenerated version of Bullet 500. The new launch is interesting to a marketer because it is a part of longterm brand building strategy for this iconic brand.

Machismo is a famous variant of Enfield with a distinct style from the classic Enfield. Machismo is available in the popular 350 cc engine.The new beast is powered with 500cc simply making it the most powerful of the two wheelers running in India( Am not sure about the fate of Kinetic Aquila)
Machismo 500 is a niche with in the niche. As every bikers know it, Enfield is not for an ordinary person. It is for someone who has a biker inside. The brand gives a motorcycling experience rather than a pure transporting vehicle. Within the niche that the brand commands, Machismo 500 aims to create another niche : for pure bikers.
Machismo is not for everyone, like all iconic brands, here exclusivity is the main differentiator. In a market where companies do every possible technique to woo the customers, this brand "selects" the customers. According to the reports, the company screens the customer before allotting the vehicle. This is something that is unbelievable in this era . But creating an iconic status also demands unconventional thinking. The announcement of limiting the allotment is definitely going to excite the biker. With a price of Rs 1.05 lakhs , the bike is above a normal person's reach.The product is having the export quality parts with the quality same as those exported to Enfield's Western markets.

Machismo 500 is a marketing move rather than a new product launch. The new variant is to reinforce the iconic status of the brand as the only available option for Pure Bikers. In marketing theory we use the term Line Featuring : ie using a variant or product to get the consumers to your product mix. Machismo 500 is set to bring lot of bike enthusiasts back to the Enfield's showrooms. The brand feels that the recent high profile launch of Pulsar 200 and the plans of Pulsar to come out with larger bikes can shake the status of Enfield.

Related Brand
Royal Enfield

Poppins : Goli Rainbow Wali

Brand : Poppins
Company: Parle

Brand Count:234

Poppins is a heritage brand. Although I am not sure when it was launched, I am pretty sure that this brand is more than 30 years old. Still this brand is existing in the market now in a second life. Poppins comes in the category of hard boiled candy in the Rs 1200 crore confectionery industry.According to businessline, the hardboiled candy market is estimated to be Rs 350 crore and is dominated by Alpenleibe.

Poppins is a unique product because of its product characteristics. For me, the brand evokes a feeling of nostalgia since this was among the most popular brand when I was a kid. Poppins was liked by us because of its taste, color and ofcourse economy. Where else can you get 10 candies in a packet that too in different flavours .
But things changed last decade with the entry of aggressive players and new products. The market witnessed lot of segmentation and new categories and product forms evolved. Poppins at that point of time had lost its way.
Poppins were positioned on the platform of its range of flavors and color. The brand during the early times spent lot of money on brand building. The brand used two characters Ram and Shyam and used cartoon stories to build this brand ( source:vishalpatel.com). Since there was not much competition from organised sector, the brand had a good run.
But during the recent times that is from 2000-2007, the brand kept a very low profile. Although there are reports of a rebranding exercise during 2002, I don't remember any ads on air during this period.
This year however, has seen some action for this brand. TVC's are now on air using the Colors as the main USP. The website and the wrapper shows the tagline "Goli Rainbow Wali" which points towards the rainbow colors of the candies. Although the TVC's looks OK, I don't see any meaningful positioning for the brand except that the ads highlight Rs 2 and also the colors.I think that the brand wants to say to the customers that in this expensive world, you still get a Poppins for Rs 2.
Parle Poppins like Cadbury's Gems is a unique brand because of its product characteristics. Although both of these brands face competition from fake products, there is no serious brand competition for Poppins. But still like all heritage brands, this brand also faces the issue of being relevant. I feel that Poppins is looking at small kids aged 5-10 as its target segment. Because the ads are too kiddish.But I am glad that Poppins is back...

Imagesource:vishalpatel.com