POSITIONING : DAIRY MILK & COCA COLA

The latest series of ads of Cadbury show the context of pay day and eating of Cadbury Dairy Milk. A visit to their web page gives us some idea of the thought behind the campaign.Directly from the website - Sanjay Purohit, Executive Director - Marketing, Cadbury India Ltd said, “This new campaign takes the concept of celebrations to yet another level. With Pappu and Miss Palampur campaign, CDM created a space for itself during the big, community celebration moments. This commercial keeps the core promise of happiness while introducing another 'moment of joy' in one’s life. The new commercial highlights the celebratory occasion of payday, which is an important event in the life of every middle-class Indian.” For more visit Cadbury India.

The second ad or rather series of Ads which I found interesting is the Aamir Khan series of "Thanda Mathlab Coca Cola". Most of us would remember the series, both because of Aamir Khan and the good story lines behind the series.The basic idea I felt behind both the campaigns is to go out and occupy a distinct space in the consumer's mind , and as has been said before if you are able to occupy a distinct space in the consumer's mind then it become very difficult for a competitor to dislodge you, the essence of positioning.

And it might be easier done if one is able to capture a word in the consumer's mind which already exists , in the case of cadburys that word is "Meetha" a generic to represent all and any kind of sweet. Similary in the case of Coca-Cola the attempt to build an association with the word "Thanda" which means in common parlance any drink which is served cold , be it the ubiquitous lemon based Nimbu pani or a soft drink. The only problem with this approach is it is long term and one has to stick to the same message.

Perfect Penetration : BRITANNIA

The introduction of a low-priced product into the product portfolio of a company can have many implications. Many a times it can change a company in many fundamental ways. Though even company introducing premium priced products , cannot afford to ignore many retailers while deciding upon the distribution network as for a company these may be a small retail top-up shops but in reality sales matter and these top-up shops generate more sales then organised firms.

One company which has gone through this sort of a paradigsm shift is Britannia industries. A premium biscuit and cookie manufacturer in the confectionary segment till the launch of TIGER biscuits. Tiger biscuit was launched in 1997 and brought a shift in the overall distribution and marketing focus of the company because tiger was pitched against PARLE-G Glucose biscuits , the Rs 40 per kg mass biscuits, a brand which gave the identity to biscuits and initiated its branding.

In the pre-tiger era there use to a gap between supply and demand for britannia biscuits, and the company had a laid-back approach towards distribution and in tier-II cities in the country a situation of non-avalibility of Britannia biscuits was always common . The launch of tiger biscuits brought the revolution in the company's supply chain management, the company was forced to think,that even their product had the potential still market share was questionable against Parle their was a need to act and distribute like a mass marketier and they ended up developing specific models for distributing Tiger biscuits in rural markets across the coutry....
with the introduction of the Rs1 Sachets of Tiger biscuits meant that the company had to even place the product in Tea shops and other smaller top-up shops where it would be cosumed with tea....
Today Tiger brand is a Rs 650 Crore plus brand in the market and the comapny itself has trasformed into a distribution powerhouse placing the PARLE into the tough situation...over the time...!!!

" Mahatma Gandhi & Customer Relation "

A New Marketing Approach...!! "Aircel & Virgin "

We are entering the absolutely new phase of marketing in India, for the first time we are witnessing a situation of categories entering into a stage where penetration would reach near 100% or even exceed it. Till now we have been working on marketing strategies to increase penetration , getting the first time users to try out offerings versus a situation where you have to either increase the usage of the product or a service in a well established market. This is where, we will see the true meaning of the statement "Customer is the King".Taking the example of what is happening in the mobile phone market, in most of the metro markets the penetration levels are reaching 80% and in some markets like Chennai the figure has exceeded 100%. So what does it mean for new operators like Aircel , and virgin mobile when it enters a market where the category penetration is so high. There would be two ways of gaining market share , first and more difficult option would be to try and attract users from established players or second way is to encourage users to go for another mobile.To push consumers to switch their operators would involve a different set of marketing strategies versus the ones which are used to increase the penetration in a particular category. I suppose, this is what we can see from the approach that both virgin and aircel are using , by focusing on value added services and non-typical offerings like paying for incoming calls. But this is just the beginning and we will see the manifestation of this change in the coming few years.......

Tough Battle : "TOYOTO V/S MAHINDRA"

Innova which created the luxury MUV (multi-utility-vehicle) segment in 2005 has reinvented itself . This January , Toyota launched a refurbished version of Innova. The new Innova has a new front bumper and have a sporty look . The interiors have also been spruced up.
Since its launch in 2005, the brand had a dream run. According to domain-b website, Toyota has sold over 1,60,000 units since its launch. The brand have a market share of over 36 percent in the segment.


The brand virtually ruled the premium segment without much competition. The brand also had the exemplary Toyota quality which created a benchmark for future competition.The relaunch of Innova is a pre-emptive strategy by Toyota because of the recent launch of Mahindra Xylo.

Toyota knew that Xylo can be a dangerous competitor. The simple fact that Mahindra shook the SUV market with Scorpio makes it a worthy comeptitor for Toyota.So as a market leader, Innova had to respond to competition. I am impressed with the speed in which Innova reacted to Xylo launch. According to reports, the MUV segment witnessed a degrowth in 2008. Mahindra is expected to bring consumer interest back to the segment. The pricing and the quality of Xylo is reported to be good enough to give Innova a tough year ahead.The degrowth of MUV segment is due to the lazy marketing by Innova. Innova also became laid back last year in terms of promotions and product improvements. The brand shot into limelight through some classy adverting featuring Aamir Khan. Later Aamir was dropped and Innova went into silence. There was just one campaign for Innova in 2008.Although the MUV segment have few intra-segment competition, they compete with other segments. Hence the high profile launches of premium cars in other segments will have its effect on Innova.In my personal opinion , consumers in India evaluate products across segments while making a decision. So a consumer may look at Scorpio and Skoda together and then make a choice. Hence when all other brands are making noise, Innova lost many customers because of its laid-back promotions.Xylo has really warmed up this brand and Innova has responded early to the competition. The brand does not have much issues on the product side but there is an issue in the promotional side.

The brand really needs a heavy dose of promotions to retain its glory.I am sure that Innova may be missing Aamir Khan......!!!!!

COMPLAN : "A Complete Planned Food"

Complan is a major brand in the 1200 crore malted beverage segment in India. A brand once owned by Glaxo was acquired by HJ Heinz in 1995. Heinz is a $9.2 Bn conglomerate that has operations in 200 countries and is famous for its Ketchups.Complan has always been positioned as a Complete Planned food with its famous baseline " I am a complan boy : I am a complan girl"The market for malted beverages has been stagnant for a while. But recent years it has been seeing some activity, the reason being that Indians are forced to be health conscious. Complan also found itself to be stagnant in terms of market share. The researches found that although the brand is established and popular among its users, the brand is not growing because it failed to attract new users.This can be dangerous because a brand can sustain only if it is able to attract new users to its fold. Hence Complan changed its promotional strategy from targeting the existing users to attracting new users. The baseline was changed to " extra growing power" and ads were mainly targeting the non users of the product.

The change in the positioning is also due to the increasing competition from Horlicks and other GSK products in the segment.Complan have also launched Complan: Family , a variant aiming at all members of family as a part of expanding the target market. Another interesting strategy was the launch of Complan sachet priced at Rs5 for 15gm complan .They have implemented this strategy to capture the lower level of pyramid, may be heinz have kept its eyes stable and read the nerves of rural Indians their desire to go for a health drink at the lowest cost possible or may be the sample users, may go for it.

Complan has been an established brand in the Indian health drinks market.The brand was carefully positioned and nurtured by its owners. With the competition getting hot all the time the brand is reinventing itself .

Hidesign : "Truly International"

Hidesign is a brand that is truly an international brand that is made in India. Born in 1978 as a one man craftsman workshop, this brand has gone places.

Hidesign is India's premier leather goods company that makes leather bags, briefcases and wallets. This 90 crore brand is the Indian brand that features in the premium international stores worldwide. The Indian leather market is expected to be around Rs 1000 crore and the branded market is around 120 crore.Hidesign is a brand that was built overtime through careful brand building . The brand which was launched as an export brand came to India and surprised to find the reception it had, despite astronomical prices. The brand came to India at the right time when the Indian consumers are splurging on lifestyle products.

Hidesign is targeting the upwardly mobile educated internationally minded executive. The brand is known for its craftsmanship and the quality of its products. All these years this brand has never compromised on quality. The main USP of this brand is its craftsmanship. The brand still uses the traditional craftsmanship and 70% of the work is by hand. The brand depends heavily on the craftsmanship. The core value of the brand is its attitude, tradition and its commitment to environment. Instead of using the much polluting dyes, the brand uses vegetable dyes .The brand is positioned along the core values and the craftsmanship. The campaigns are trendy and the media is mainly magazines. Earlier in 2000 the brand initially was projecting quality as its major focal point. Now they have realised that despite the positive feelings, the brand lacks the attitude and emotional attachment . Hence the brand is on a campaign to connect to the customer emotionally.
In the premium segment , the brand does not have any domestic brand competition.The competition is from the Italian brands that are available in the upmarket stores. The entire category is dominated by the unbranded players and there is little efforts to brand the products.

An Insight into Phoenix ' 09.

This article is being dedicated to my faculty cordinator for Phoenix'09 "The Mystique of branding", Prof.Jayaseelan.

It was a fine a afternoon,when I with my colleagues and Jay sir, were sitting in a brand committee room.We were discussing over a soft issue, to finalize the theme for the Phoenix'09.Before I take you, to the ride of Phoenix'09 let me introduce you Prof.Jay.

Working with him was a great pleasure and pressure as well.....ok now leaving jokes apart,i'll continue.

He made me do everything just to learn,he always told "we need only top advertising companies creative heads and no space for bargain.

At first,I thought "boss apne bass ki baat nahi hai"but believe me his firm belief on me made me believe that "karna hi hoga".His continuous support and can do attitude let me to believe on myself and guess what ? We did it best.

Speakers arrived at Phoenix ' 09 are mentioned below :

• Sanjay Khare - Creative Director - Euro RSCG.
• Sai Nagesh - Vice President - Inx Media.
• Satish Satyanarayana - CEO - Wunderman.
• Shashikant Kale - Senior Art Director - JWT.
• Kaushik Mitra - Creative Head - Bates 141.
• Kartik Mani - National Creative Director - Madison India.

All these above speakers belong to the top notch advertising companies of the world.

He made me learn the ground realities of marketing and the most important thing which I learned from him is game plan....he always said :What's the game plan dude? It sounds good but how would you do it? what is the back up.

Then i learned ,the planning pattern, before entering the market you need to do a lot of home work,its absolutely essential-----to know your own product so that to provide necessary stuff to delight your sponsors or speakers.

I'll not take your much time...

Then on one fine evening, i with Jay sir and two colleagues went to pune it was just three days before the event.He gave us a nice treat at Barista then during the mean time we had a discussion about the game plan and you people won't believe he was so confident that the plan 'll definately work...! I will not discuss the plan but at the end of it for me it was not even satisfactory.

He made me to stand infront of the corporates, he always left me free to go ahead and get results and atlast you people saw the variety of elite speakers who made Phoenix'09 a grand success.

But,its not over yet................

It was not only speakers but actually the integrated efforts of brand committee members and of course the real charm behind the success of Phoenix'09-Prof.Jayaseelan.

I hope, this would give you an insight of working with him.

Believe me its always great......with him learning never ends......................................................

Tropicana gets squeezed

Working in brand committee has inspired me to go ahead and give an insight about "Brand".
This article will give you an insight about pepsico's brand, tropicana.

Go ahead and have a ride about the journey of delicious fruit juice .....Tropicana.

The recent hubbub over the Tropicana packaging change shines a light on several marketing myths. Take note so you don’t make the same mistakes with your brand.Tropicana brand background :

Tropicana is a 60-year-old brand. Originally the company sold gift boxes of oranges, but looking for something to do with the smaller fruit that went to waste they got into the frozen concentrate business. But that category was well established and Tropicana was just another brand.
The key event that really built the Tropicana brand came in 1954. Not satisfied with being just another player in the concentrate category, the company pioneered a flash pasteurization method that raised the temperature of the freshly squeezed orange juice for a very short time, extending the juice’s shelf life to three months while maintaining its flavor. Tropicana then dropped the frozen concentrate product and focused entirely on the fresh, "not-from-concentrate" product.
Being first in a new category is the key to success. Tropicana got into the mind with a great name and built a new category. Tropicana owns not-from-concentrate in the mind and is the "real thing" in fresh orange juice. With the success of Tropicana, eventually the majority of the market for orange juice moved from frozen to fresh.
Today, Tropicana remains the dominant brand and the world leader in chilled orange juice. Since the original entrepreneur sold the company in the 1970’s, there have been several owners. Since 1998, PepsiCo has owned the brand.
Last month, PepsiCo introduced a major overhaul of the Tropicana packaging. Which was done after PepsiCo Chairman-CEO Indra Nooyi announced the company would embark on a sweeping revamp of all its brands. To be changed: "every aspect of the brand proposition: how they look, how they’re packaged, how they will be merchandised on the shelves and how they connect with consumers."
What? Is she crazy? Apparently. The last thing PepsiCo should do is totally redo all of its brands. The new Pepsi logo that is a little too close to Obama’s logo hasn’t been very well received. And results for Tropicana have been disastrous.
In just a few short weeks after the packaging change, the company bowed to consumer outrage and scrapped the Tropicana changes. The previous packaging will be brought back and Arnell will finally be humbled.
Unfortunately, the company will continue the advertising campaign by Arnell that accompanied the new packaging look. The tagline is "Squeeze. It’s a natural." Squeeze? That is not language that consumers would ever use. Tropicana should have remained focused on fresh not from concentrate orange juice.

"Squeeze" is a typical campaign that left-brain management loves. Management values cleverness in advertising. Advertising campaigns that are clever and new appeal to left-brainers. You see squeeze is used as a double-entendre in the ads. The advertisement are filled with people hugging. Peter Arnell says the campaign is all about love. Love? The worst part is there is not an orange in sight in any of the ads. How clever indeed! Reminds me of the Saturn ads with no cars.
Right-brain marketing values credentials in advertising. Advertising that is relevant, familiar and consistent is what works best at reinforcing a brand in the consumer’s mind.
Now that you know the background, let’s debunk some enduring marketing myths:
It is the product not the brand that consumers care about. Wrong.
Consumers care about brands. The brand is what gives the product its authenticity and credibility. The brand includes everything from the name, the look, the logo, the color and the package.
When you change the look of the packaging, you lose some of the power of the brand in the mind. It no longer looks authentic. And worse, consumers think you have also changed the contents.
"We underestimated the deep emotional bond consumers had with the original packaging," said the President of Tropicana. Consumers weren’t attached to the packaging! Consumers are attached to the Tropicana brand. And it didn't feel like their Tropicana brand when you changed the packaging. The packaging is the visual that signals the brand’s familiarity in the mind.
Suppose Coca-Cola changed its classic bottle. It would be a disaster. In fact, Coca-Cola has been aggressively increasing its use of that bottle imagery on cans, cups, and billboards to reinforce its brand. Good move.
The verbal is more powerful than the visual. Wrong.
Both are necessary and should complement each other. One of the worst things about the Tropicana redesign was the loss of the iconic orange and straw. It was a powerful visual that reinforced the fresh, not-from-concentrate idea in the mind. Instead they used the words “100% orange” on the containers. Bad move. But typical of left-brain management that thinks verbally rather than visually.
The strongest brands have powerful visuals that reinforce the brands in the mind.
Marlboro – Cowboys
KFC –Colonel Sanders
Pizza Hut – Red Roof
AT&T - globe
McDonald's - golden arches
Brands need constant change to keep up with consumers. Wrong.
Strong brands should not make radical changes. Leading brands in particular should be wary of change.
(Of course, if nobody knows your brand, you can change it as much as you want.)
Occasionally (like once a decade or two) brands may need some slight changes and updates. But only very infrequently and very subtly. The changes should be ones that few people even notice.
And sometimes it is a good idea not to change at all. Jack Daniels is proud of the fact it never changes. In fact, it is the theme of its advertising. “Not subject to change, not now, not ever.”
If your brand is facing an uncertain future because of a declining category, it might be better to launch a new brand. You can’t change a brand radically in the mind anyway. Think Kodak.
Here are some classic logo changes that kept the brand’s authenticity but made slight changes to keep the look current.

SANTOOR OVERTAKES LUX : WIPRO V/S HUL

When one talks about 'Wipro', the first thing people think of is about their IT business. The fact is that IT is a relatively new business for Wipro and they have been into others businesses which are much older, like lighting and consumer care . In fact they started their business in the vegetable oil business. These older divisions have for a long time been under the shadow of their larger younger cousin software, but of late the consumer business is coming to age, last three years it is one the fastest growing FMCG companies in the country.The flagship brand of the consumer care division is 'Santoor'. Since its launch in 1986 the brand has been doing quite well in the fiercely competitive soap business dominated by HUL. The industry estimates the brand to be worth more than Rs 500 crore. But the big news is that it has become No 2 brand in the south edging out Lux. (It is the largest selling brand of soap in Andhra). Nielsen data shows that it has 15.6% market share in south versus 12.4% of Lux. The fact that it has overtaken Lux is something which is commendable, looking at the history and support which a brand like Lux receives with Priyanka chopra and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan being the brand ambassadors for Lux. Wipro plans to leverage the brand by extending the brand into new categories like creams, moisturizers, body sprays and washes, after the relaunch of the brand.The company website describes the brand as "a truly unique soap that combines the goodness of natural ingredients - Sandal, Turmeric and natural Skin Softeners". The long standing positioning of the brand has been - a skin that is so healthy and beautiful, it lies about your actual age !. The product is available in three variants, Santoor (Sandal & Turmeric), Santoor White (Sandal & Almond milk) and Santoor Chandan. They have extended the brand into talc, face wash and fairness cream.For me santoor is an addition to my list of sucessful Indian brands which have done well against competition from much larger multinational companies. And as a marketer it is obviously interesting to find out more about how the brand become number two overtaking Lux which obviously has spending more money on ad and promotions. A successful case of low cost marketing....