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

Brand Update : Mentos

Brand Mentos is getting smarter and smarter. The brand which broke into the confectionery market with its " Dimag ki Batti jala de" campaign has hit the Big Idea jackpot. This year saw a new campaign from Mentos in the same line as its earlier campaigns. The ad features a young man in an auditorium with his squeaky shoes.

Watch the ad here : Mentos
The ad is maintaining its " Makes You smarter" tagline and this has been a hit in the market place.According to agencyfaqs, the ads has helped the brand to increase its marketshare in the soft mint category from 33% in 2005 to 48% in 2007. The company attributes this to the smart advertising. I would attribute this to the excellent quality of the product. The ads are made by Mr Rajesh Krishnan of Footcandles.
Mentos has been using Ordinary Life & Mentos Life and the tagline " Makes You think Smarter" since 2005 . The first in the series was the Classroom ad followed by the " Haircut".
Mentos is a classic example of the power of Big Idea. The "Makes You Smarter" idea can be used by the brand for decades and it gives such a flexible platform for the ad film makers and the creative team to make the consumers laugh.

As a consumer,I would wait for the sugarfree version of Mentos which can take this brand to the next level of leadership.

Related Brand
Mentos

Source:agencyfaqs

Belmonte: Suits Your Style

Brand: Belmonte
Company: SKumars Nationwide

Brand Count:233

Belmonte is SKumar's new brand in the Rs 80000 crore Apparel industry.Belmonte is launched in the midprice segment where the company believes that there is a gap for a new brand.
The launch of Belmonte is an example of the theory of targeting . SKumar has been a serious player in the textile industry for a long period. The brand Skumar also had a good equity in the market. But with the textile market getting hot with a slew of brand launches, SKumar needed to relook their strategy especially regarding the segments.
Much of the branding action was taking place in the readymade segment . Skumar tried their hand in the readymade segment with their brand Tamarind, but failed miserably. This may have prompted the company to look at different segments in the suitings where the brand has its strength.
The initiative got a boost with successful launch of Reid and Taylor brand in the premium segment. The latest launch of Belmonte is the foray of the company into the highly profitable mid price segment.
Belmonte is targeting the youth ( as usual the executives) and I feel it is a masstige product.The brand is aiming at the Midprice segment. Belmonte is endorsed by Shah Rukh Khan and is being positioned as a " Stylish" brand. The brand takes the tagline " Suits Your Style". The tvs are on air right now.Belmonte offers total wardrobe solutions and that includes readymades also.
Watch the TVC here : BELMONTE ADS

Belmonte has taken up style as its differentiator and Shah Rukh projects himself as the style icon( is he regarded as a style icon?). I don't think that any other brand has taken Style as its positioning platform hence Belmonte stands to gain some advantage. Since SRK is the brand ambassador, there is a chance that consumers will think about this brand as a premium brand and does not check it out. The brand may have to do PR to make sure that Belmonte is not perceived as unaffordable.

While Reid and Taylor takes care of the premium segment, Belmonte takes care of the Midprice segment and the lower segment is targeted by SKumars Brand.Reid and Taylor and now Belmonte will definitely give a boost to Skumars' brand portfolio. The company is trying for new launches at the super premium segment with the launch of international labels. It will be better if the company depends less on brand ambassadors and focus more on the brands like what Raymonds has done. In the long run it will prove beneficial for the brand.

Source: Businessline,fibretofashion,skumarwebsite

Marketing Funda : Absurdism In Advertising

In an interesting research paper by Leopoldo, John and Gautam at Oklahoma University, Absurd Ads are defined as those which have pictures,words,visuals or sounds which the viewers perceive to be irrational, bizarre,illogical and disordered. Going by that definition, 90% of ads that we see can be classified as absurd ads.The origin of the concept of absurdity has its roots in drama and literature. According to theorists, the use of absurdity in advertising is derived from literature and drama.

There are different type of absurd ads.
a.Surrealism
b.Anthropomorphism
c.Allegory
d.Hyperbole.

Surrealism is associated with distorted images,dream imagery and imaginative worlds ( Sunfeast). While Anthropomorphism is trying to connect /explain a non-human with a human(Chintamoni of Icici?). Allegory is the description of something in the pretext of another( Hutch dog ). Hyperbole is gross exaggeration to make a point(Happydent). ( From the above authors).
What I feel is that Absurdism in Advertising is a continuum. There cannot be an ad that does not have a dash of any of the above four types.Hence we should be placing the ads somewhere in the continuum where one extreme is the absolutely absurd ads like that of Happydent and the other extreme of an ordinary ad with less absurdity like the latest print ads of SBI. So I can put a hypothesis saying that it is a choice of whether the communication should be rational or non-rational. Orbit for example chose an rational one for its main brand and an Absurd ad for its variant Orbit White.
It is interesting to look at the reasons for marketers to go in for absurdism in advertising.Primary reason is that they don't care because all these postmortem and analysis is done by academics. Marketers often create hyperbole or absolutely bizarre ads like Centershock
to

• Create excitement
• Aid Brand recall
• Change the mood of the brand
• Reposition
• Entertain the viewers
• Spent the money they have for advertising ( joking...)
• Reminder ads
• When they have nothing rational to say about the brand.
• When nothing rational works
• All positioning opportunities are taken by the competitors.

Source: EFFECTS OF ABSURDITY IN ADVERTISING: THE MODERATING ROLE OF PRODUCT CATEGORY ATTITUDE AND THE MEDIATING ROLE OF COGNITIVE RESPONSES by Leopoldo, John and Gautam

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