1st Branding Assignment Ten Brands
1st Branding Assignment Ten Brands
1st Branding Assignment Ten Brands
Mysore Sandal Soap has a unique place in the Indian Soap market. This soap with a
history dating from 1918 has survived in a market which is witnessing cut throat
competition. Mysore Sandal Soap is manufactured by the Public sector Company:
Karnataka Soaps &Detergents ltd ( KSDL). Although this is a product from public sector,
the brand has been able to create a unique place in the Indian consumer's mind.
Mysore Sandal Soap is made from pure sandal oil distilled in the state government's
factory and the soap is devoid of any animal fat. Mysore sandal has the distinction of
being the world's only soap with pure and real sandal oil. The sandal range has four
products : super premium gold, baby soap, Winter version the normal sandal soap.
In the Rs 4500 crore Indian soap market, this brand has a minuscule share of only 80
crore ie 2%. The brand can be said to be a niche brand in the premium soap category.
According to the media reports, even the company officials feel that the brand has the
potential to be a Rs 400 crore brand but since the resources for brand building and some
laid back ness has limited the growth of this brand. The TG of this brand is right now 40
year olds with majority of consumers in the southern state of TamilNadu.
The brand typically faces the problem that all heritage brands faces, that is to stay
relevant to the new generation. Mysore Sandal is facing the issue that its loyal users are
getting older and the new generations are moving to more visible brands.
2006 saw a very surprising move from KSDL. It roped in an unusual brand ambassador
MS Dhoni to endorse the soap. The purpose was to make the brand attractive to the new
generation. But whether Dhoni and Mysore sandal will fit is something to be seen. It will
take some innovative marketing campaigns to merge the two different personalities: one
the brand which is traditional and the model which is so modern and flamboyant. The
current campaigns are ordinary which just shows Dhoni endorsing the brand.
This is a brand that does not need a model to endorse but what it needs is tonnes of
marketing support interms of advertising campaigns ( in other words lots of money).The
brand has a huge brand equity and recall. Those who have used this brand will vouch for
its quality and fragrance.I would say that the potential of brand is such that it should look
for extensions into perfumes and Deos. The brand is primarily seen a south Indian brand
and to have a pan Indian presence calls for some serious investment. I feel that with a
superior product like this , every penny spent on this brand will be worthwhile.
Here is a brand that rose to fame just because of the turmeric essence. Manjal is an
interesting brand. The brand was launched in Kerala in 2005 by SD pharmacy which is a
traditional ayurvedic pharmaceutical company. SD launched Manjal without much hope
of making this brand a blockbuster one because of the fact that the market is highly
competitive with brands like Medimix and Chandrika ruling the Southern markets. But
the company was surprised at the reception Manjal got from the public. Manjal is the
Malayalam of the word Turmeric.
Manjal's launch was a soft one with the company focusing on inducing trial purchase.
The company liberally gave sample packs with leading magazines together with placing
the product attractively at the shops. The smart packaging and the simple message
captured the attention of the consumers .At the super markets, the customers were
prompted to smell the brand to feel the essence of turmeric in the soap. These initiatives
together with the name Manjal ensured remarkable trial usage by the TG. The product
which is of high quality ensures that customers are satisfied with their usage experience.
Manjal Brand name had the magic that created a 9 crore brand within 8 months of its
launch. With such a blockbuster name, there was no need for further explaining the
benefits of the soap. The product was promoted in media as a natural herbal soap.
The success of Manjal had its share of problems for its owners. SD was not able to cope
with the growing demand of the soap because FMCG is a different ballgame altogether.
Thus stepped in Marico as a suitor.Marico acquired Manjal in January 2006. Marico was
looking for a brand in the soap category and Manjal was a high potential brand in the
southern states.
Manjal was repositioned by Marico giving more importance to the essence of turmeric
rather than as a family soap. The TVC features the use of soap replacing the traditional
bath using turmeric powder which is often messy. The ad targets the young girls rather
than the early TG of family.
Manjal is a brand that has a potential to be an important niche brand in the herbal soap
category. The brand name and the product attributes has impressed the consumers. With
an accomplished Marketer like Marico to support this brand, it is sure to go places.
Nivea is a German brand marketed in India by JL Morrison. This brand has a history of
around 96 years. Nivea came into existence in the year 1911. The brand has derived its
name from the Latin word Nivius meaning "Snow White".
Nivea has been in Indian market for more than 30 years. But this brand which is truly a
global brand has not met with success in India. Nivea globally is the brand that has its
presence in around 20 product categories in more than 50 countries. But in the 1300 crore
Indian skin care market, the presence of Nivea don't justify its rich heritage.
Nivea is famous worldwide for its face cream. Nivea Creme created by Dermatologists
was launched in 1911 . The brand is considered to be the first to take the skin care
category from the elite class to the masses. The brand worldwide is known for its Trust,
Reliability and Accessibility. Globally this brand is positioned in the platform of "Gentle
Care" and " Wellness". The brand has its elements of Color embedded firmly in the
minds of the customers. Nivea took its "Blue and White" color as its brand element as
early as 1924. From there onwards, this color scheme has been a brand identity for Nivea.
In India, the brand is known for its skin cream. Nivea cream is but perceived as a winter
cream because of its thickness and oily consistency. While in other parts of the world,
Nivea has successfully came out of this narrow perception, in India, the marketers were
not able to effectively take the brand forward. With most of Indian stated do not have
severe winter, the market for winter cream is very limited. Nivea has a market share of
19% in the Rs 108 crore skin cream market which is dominated by Ponds. Now Ponds
hold the position which Nivea could have taken had it been more aggressive in the
market.
Although JL Morrison tried to extend the brand to soaps, the extension has not been
successful because of the halfhearted effort. With sales promotion now being used to
promote this brand of soaps, further dilution of the brand equity is inevitable.
Nivea face serious marketing issues in India. The brand has not been aggressive enough
in this market which is crowded with established brands. Nivea was never bothered about
strengthening its positioning as a skin care leader. While Ponds successfully extended
itself to other product categories, Nivea is stuck with its cream. This is a brand that failed
because of marketing laziness. Nivea have huge brand recall and equity. It has the global
parentage, successful positioning opportunity but was not able to leverage the strength
because the Indian marketers did not want to invest in the brand. The problem is that
when the brand is licensed to a marketer in a country, the objective of the brand manager
will be to milk maximum out of the brand rather than invest in long term brand building.
Every ads and campaigns will be weighed in terms of the ROI and sales growth.
Successful brands required long term investment that will yield results over a period of
time. But in the case of Nivea, no such brand building efforts were to be seen.
The potential of the brand is evident from the fact that in the Grey market, the brand is
sold well. There is also significant difference in the quality of imported Nivea and the
local one. It is said that Nivea Deo is the best selling product in the grey market.
Nivea is sad story of a brand that failed to succeed in spite of having all essential Brand
qualities. If failed because of marketing laziness.
The Indian computer hardware industry is huge and growing. The sheer size of the Indian
middleclass is an ample evidence of the huge potential for personal computers in the
country. The computer penetration in India is barely 1 percent that makes the market
more challenging and attractive.
Although the numbers present a rosy picture, the reality is not as rosy as it seems. The
market is dominated by unbranded players and the computers today have a commodity
status with brands losing its relevance to a home computer buyer. This has put lot of
pressure for the organized player to reduce margins and cost to compete with the
unbranded players. In the earlier stages of the evolution of this industry, the factors like
reliability and service had given the organized players significant advantage over the
unorganized sector. But with the standardization of products and the outsourced service
elements becoming popular, the branded computers lost their edge.
Even with the price war raging , the branded version costs anywhere between 20-30%
premium over the unbranded ones. The rate at which the processors and technologies
becoming obsolete is forcing the customers to look for cheaper options. The rationale for
the customer is simple " The system I buy in 2006 is going to be obsolete in 2007, hence
why invest in a branded one?".
HP ( Hewlett Packard) is one of the major players in the organized market in India. This
multinational giant have around 20% share in the desktop market. Reports suggest that
HCL-the domestic player is leading the market.In this market which is typically
fragmented with chances of differentiations are slim, it takes lot of innovation and
marketing skill to survive. That is what HP is currently doing. In June 2006, HP launched
its global marketing campaign to reinvent the personal computer industry. The campaign
with the tagline " The computer is Personal Again" is an attempt to brand a commodity
again. Personal Computers or PC was what we used to call the desktops but later the term
lost its charm and we began to use the terms like desktops, laptops and notebooks. These
terms were technical terms and was a result of the market becoming more mature and as a
result more commoditised. Most of the campaigns by computer manufacturers were
focusing on technical specifications and price offers. There were little branding efforts
and most of the campaigns were dealer ads funded partly by the manufacturers. Branding
was slowly dying and sales promotions were gaining prominance.
HP's new initiative is to bring back the personal nature of the computers. Business Week
in a report has detailed that this campaign is intended to position HP as a company that
truly understands how central PC's has become to most people's life. The campaign
features a " Hand drawn graphic of a Hand" in every ads. Only select products will be
highlighted in this campaign and these products will be promoted using only their
striking feature. That means that the company is going back to the marketing basics of
USP, Positioning and Differentiation. The campaign has also roped in MTV for a
Advertiser Funded Programme titled " Meet or Delete" reality show as a part of its 360
degree brand campaign.
The print ads featuring celebrities stand out intheir designs and communication. The
sheer beauty and depth of campaign makes it one of the most memorable marketing
efforts of recent times. The campaign globally is conceived by Goodby, Silverstein and
Partners for the Personal Services Group of HP.
Another beauty of the current positioning platform is the flexibility and creativity that it
offers to the marketer. There is ample scope for extending this positioning to all product
ranges, new products and across segments.The campaign also gives the marketer an
opportunity to experiment with the product, change its design and sometimes make
mistakes all in the name of reinventing PC.
With regard to the current theme and its execution in Indian market, the ads mainly is
targeted at the affluent middleclass tech savvy customers. The ordinary lot will not
understand this communication because the execution of this ad is too complicated for an
ordinary buyer to understand. I am not sure whether HP is only aiming at Premium
customers ?The success of this campaign will depend a lot on how this strategy is being
executed at the customer moments of truth or touchpoints. Is he going to get a
personalised attention at the retail level? Will the company follow this strategy with new
product ranges and extend this campaign to a mass level?
Whatever be the outcome of this campaign, this will be rated as a classic marketing
initiative . As a marketer, I am happy because " Marketing is personal again"
Dinesh Beedi is one of the regional players in the Indian Beedi market. Manufactured
from the district of Kannur in Kerala state( Gods Own Country), this brand is facing the
dark prospect of extinction. Beedi's are Indian cigarette prepared by rolling tobacco
wrapped in Tendu leaf and secured with colored thread at one end. This is the cigarette of
the poor. But in recent years, this product category is facing a crisis.
Dinesh Beedi is the product of Kerala Dinesh Beedi Cooperative which is the largest
"worker owned cooperative " in the world. Besides It is also the largest women owned
cooperative in the world. Run by the communists, this society came into existence in
1965 following a bitter fight between the beedi workers and owners. The fight led to the
formation of a society that offer good management practices and owned by the workers.
The Indian tobacco market is huge and worth around Rs.10,000 crore .Predominantly this
market is dominated by Beedi's. It is estimated that beedi contributes 70-80% of Indian
tobacco market. The beedi market is highly fragmented and there are regional players
catering to respective markets. There is no one major player in the Indian market and no
more than 5% market share is held by a single player.
The beedi industry is faced by a many issues. Although this industry employs 44 lakh
workers, there are rampant cases of exploitation of workers, poor working conditions,
child labour etc. With the governments banning tobacco promotions and also the ban of
smoking in public places been enforced, this industry has been put into death bed.Along
with the rising input costs, labour issues, taxes has virtually removed all possibilities of
profitability.While large cigarette manufactures passing on the tax burden to the
consumers, beedi manufacturers cannot do it because of price sensitiveness of the market.
Dinesh beedi was the brand that was affected to the maximum. Once a profitable
company, this society is now in deep finacial trouble. With diversification projects
failing, the livelihood of thousands of workers are at risk. While private players in the
beedi industry can afford to reduce costs either by mechanization or reduced labour costs,
Dinesh Beedi could not do that because it has been constituted to give workers a decent
life. With the Government trying to demarket the entire category , the brand does not
have a chance to survive. The possible option before the company is to restructure the
entire process and eliminate costs, raise the prices to bring in profitability.
While Dinesh has tried to diversify into unrelated foods category, what could have been
more marketable is to venture into low end cigarette category although you will be
competing with the likes of ITC. There has been cases of failures in upmarket
diversification, but Dinesh had its competence in the tobacco industry .Hence any
tobacco related products in the like of chewing tobacco could have benefited the
company more ( I am not touching the ethical part of selling tobacco). Like Liqour
market what ever demarketing that government does , this is a market that is not going to
die and there is a good potential for players like Dinesh had it taken due care in ensuring
profitability.
Sierra is the first passenger car from Telco ( Now Tata motors). Tata Sierra was launched
in 1991 marking the transformation of a Truck manufacturer to a Passenger vehicle
maker. Sierra was an entirely a new product in the Indian car market at that time. This
three door vehicle was indeed the first SUV to hit the Indian roads.
Sierra was the baby of Ratan Tata and his first attempt to make a mark in the Indian
Business world after taking over Telco. But the product bombed inthe market. Sierra can
be said as a brand that came too early. The Indian market was not ready for this concept.
Sierra primarily failed in the market because of its steep price. Priced around Rs 5 lakh,
the brand failed to appeal to the value proposition of the Indian consumer. Another factor
was the corporate image of the company. Telco was rightly perceived as a truck
manufacturer and Sierra was the first passenger car. Hence the consumers were not ready
to shell out a premium for this brand
Then there was the quality issue. Sierra was a truck in the car form ( no problem with
that!) .The consumers knew that and the price don't justify the quality proposition given
in the product. Although steeply priced, Sierra had all the goodies that 2005 cars offered
like power steering, power windows etc. Yet.... Sierra failed to enthuse the customers.
Sierra was rightly positioned as a sporty beast. The ads and campaigns rightly promoted
the brand and it had all the potential to be an icon. Telco made a mistake in having high
hopes for this brand. At the best, the product could have been a niche brand and an
important one. The brand could have lifted the company to a higher level, had the quality
issue was rectified.
Even today , we can see this car on the road . And most of the owners who uses this
product because they like the brand not for any other reason such as low price.I read in an
article that the design guru Dilip Chabaria loves the look of Sierra. As the old ad of Sierra
says , "Sierra is not owned It is Possessed". Today Sierra's position is occupied by
Scorpio and rightly so.. If launched again with a right price , there is still a market for
Sierra.
Kwality Wall's is one of the major brands in the Indian icecream industry. The brand
Kwality icecreams which was one of the first icecream brand of India came in into
existence in 1940. In 1956, the brand which was a local brand began to spread its wings.
In 1995, Kwality Icecreams came into HUL's fold and is now marketed as Kwality
Wall's.
The Indian icecream market is estimated to be around Rs 1500-2000 crore with the
organized market hovering around 600 crore. Kwality Wall's had a market share of
around 40% of this segment. Although HUL and Amul is claiming leadership in the
Indian Icecream market, the fact is that the market is highly fragmented and increasingly
commoditized.
Amul entered the icecream market with a low price that changed the entire dynamics of
the game. Kwality Wall's could not sustain the price competition and withdrew from the
mass market. This has resulted in Amul gaining the market leadership position with
around 27 % and Kwality walls reduced itself as a premium player. ( the market share
figures are terribly confusing ).
With so many players in the market with little differentiation, the market is facing the
issue of commoditization. Flavor, taste, quality and Branding are the major differentiation
opportunities in this industry. Flavor and product varieties were the route taken by major
players. But flavors/varieties can be easily replicated by the competitors. Hence the only
meaningful differentiation could be the brand. Kwality Wall's has some of the
blockbuster product varieties up in its fold like the Cornetto, Feast, Viennetta. But could
not sustain because the same was imitated by the competitors. Cornetto became a generic
name but HUL could not capitalize on that popularity.
Amul took the life out of Kwality by positioning itself as " The Real Icecream" since
Kwality is mainly made of vegetable oils. Kwality Wall's since the onslaught of Amul
has faced positioning issues. The brand had struck a reasonably good positioning as a "
Connector of Hearts" . The brand had the famous tagline " ho Jaye Dil Ka Connection"
and some good ad campaigns. But the the brand began to go hay where.
The positioning changed and so has the quality of the campaigns. There was no need to
change the positioning. But someone at the company was bored by this.
The recent tagline of Kwality Wall's is " Pleasure Up" which could be mistook for a
tagline for an Aphrodisiac . The ads also could not be viewed with family . When I first
saw the campaign i mistook it for a condom Ad.
The marketers at HUL is totally confused about the brand values , the basic STP and all
marketing fundas. The owners are too obsessed with the dictum " Sex Sells", or they are
too desperate about this brand. While Amul carefully connecting its corporate image with
their icecream brand, Kwality Wall's is repelling its existing customers. Kwality Wall's
should be positioning itself as family brand with quality and variety as its major
strength's. There is also a space for a subbrand in the youth category . The task is to
create an excitement in the market with promotions and new product introductions. But
Kwality Wall's is wasting its money in positioning itself as a " Sexy " brand.
With the whole icecream segment becoming commoditised, it takes lot of careful
strategic brand management to survive. Kwality is facing its worst crisis in its life. It has
to find a platform otherwise, it is going to be out of this market.
source:businessline.walls,hul.com
Essilor is a Euro 2.4 billion company which is a world leader in Ophthalmic products
especially lens. India is a big market for ophthalmic lens. With an estimated population
of more than a billion people and more than two billion eyes, this is a market that cannot
be ignored.
As discussed in the RayBan case , the Indian eyecare market is estimated to be around Rs
1200 crore.
The ophthalmic lens category is different because these are prescription lenses and is
mostly unbranded. Usually the customers are unaware of the brand of lenses which they
are wearing and it is decided by the opticians as to which brand need be used. Hence this
category is a B2B category and the influencers are doctors and deciders are the opticians.
The users have no idea about the lens.
Essilor came to India as a joint venture between Essilor and SRF in 1998. Later the joint
venture was converted into a 100% subsidiary of the French parent. Essilor ,as reports
suggest has been able to garner a fair share of the Indian market.
Essilor came into the User's radar during the high profile campaign for Varilux range of
progressive lens; lenses used by people aged above 45. Essilor used the famous cricketer
Shrikanth to endorse the brand. The company is using TVC, print and outdoors to
promote this brand.
Essilor was also marketing savvy in developing a corporate brand. The ads were catchy
and I would say it is a bold initiative to brand a B2B product at the user level.
There are certain issues as far as marketing person is concerned.
a. Should Essilor needs to go in for consumer marketing? Mainly because the users till
now does not have a role in selecting the lens brand. Essilor is trying to make the
consumer ask for this bran
d ( at a premium price) . That calls for a significant investment in brand building.
b. Will the consumer believe the Ads or the Optician who is considered to be an expert?
Essilor is trying to bridge a huge gap that the users face in this category. ie the issue of
quality. We all know that we don't know what we are wearing over our eyes . We are not
sure about the price of the lens or the price of the frame ( they say that the margin for the
frames can be upto 1000%) . Hence there is a space for a branded player to establish
standards and set prices. Essilor is doing just that. The brand is trying to take the power
from the opticians to the company. It may not happen that consumer will ask for this
brand just as you do it for FMCG products, but over a period of time , the consumer may
prefer paying a premium for this brand.
It will take some time before the effect of this branding effort to show results. Varilux is
already established in the TG's mind ( premium customers). But the task is tough. Essilor
has a range of brands in this category like
Crizal: Hard multi coated lenses & Airwear: New generation polycarbonate lens and
many more.
The corporate brand is positioned as the best in the category with the tagline " Seeing The
World Better" talks about the quality of the brand. This brand should be in the watch list
of any persons interested in Brands
Singer is a 130 year old brand in India famous for its sewing machines. Singer came to
India in 1870 and is a Pioneer in developing the product category : Sewing machines.
Sewing machine was once a must in every households in India and was even a part of
one's dowry. Those aged >30 may have noticed the dusting old machine at their homes.
This once popular small durable is slowly fading into history.
Sewing machines are losing popularity in India because of the changing demographics
and lifestyle. With the couples working and the evolution of Nuclear Urban Families
(NUF) , the relevance of this category itself is now in doubt.
In olden days the brand was an example of Craft and Frugality. Craft in the sense that it
showcases the talent of the Bahu and Frugality in saving the stitching costs. Now with the
popularity of readymade clothes , this category has been thrown out of Urban households.
Singer is one of the largest manufacturers of sewing machines in India . The brand is
credited with pioneering the installment culture in India by offering sewing machines to
rural households on installment during 19th century. Still rural India contributes to the
sale of sewing machines where it is used as a wage earner.
The marketers of sewing machines have tried to create more interest in the urban
households by introducing electronic sewing machines ( userfriendly) and coming out
with " Sew yourself patterns" encouraging the homemaker to experiment and create her
own fashion wears. But these initiatives were not successful and it has forced these
players to diversify into other small appliances.
The basic issue with the machine being less popular is
a. The task is tedious.
b. It takes training to make a good stitch.
c. No longer an attractive pastime.
d. Machine not user friendly.
This product category is failing because it failed to change with the consumer. Although
there were innovations, the product was such that the users had to be trained in using this
product.
With the urban women not getting enough time to engage in attend classes, the category
began to lose popularity.
Unless the manufacturers address these issues , the product category will be limited to
industrial sewing machines and customers in the sewing machines. The category is
already a century behind the new generation. I bet that an urban 15 year old may not have
even touched this machine. May be the marketers have to come out with an automatic
computer aided machine that prints or stitches with the click of a button or something like
that which is fast and easy to use. Other wise this category will fade from the households
forever.
John Players is the mass market apparel brand of ITC. Launched in December 2002, the
brand is poised for becoming a major player in the Rs 6000 crore ready-to- wear market
in India.
John Players when launched in 2002 faced a Luke warm response from the market.
Primarily because of quality and positioning issues.
I mentioned about quality on the basis of my own experience about the brand. I
purchased this brand because of the ITC tag plus the price offer ( 1+1 free). I was terribly
disappointed with the quality of the material and the range. But I could see the rush at the
counter for this brand because of the offer.
John Players is competing with Peter England in the mass market range. ITC knew that
Peter England has established itself as a value for money brand and it is a tough brand to
compete with. 2005 saw John Players identifying the right positioning platform for itself.
John Players is positioned as a brand with a cool attitude. It is positioned as “Style With a
Playful Side" exemplified in its tagline “Play It Cool". The brand rightfully fills the gap
of a Cool Brand in the mass market category. The brand is being endorsed by the style
icon Hrithik Roshan and the advertising campaign featuring Hrithik was well executed.
The brand has a price range of Rs 500-900 for its shirts and Rs 800+ for the trouser
range.