Margo:lost in the Neem trees !

Introduction:
Margo is one of the oldest herbal soaps in India. The brand which is more than 85 years
old is famous for its neem content. The product although famous for its positive effects
to the skin is nowhere in the market. This is a brand which never changed with the
customer. During its launch, the product had dedicated customer base and since the
product was unique due to its medicinal value , customers tend to be loyal. The whole
brand was having Neem as its core identity.
Why did the brand fail?
Margo failed to understand the changing dynamics of Indian consumers, more and
more choices began to unfold before the consumer and Margo was becoming a niche
brand. Margo was positioned as a "complete skin care soap". When market became
fragmented with lot of products positioning at different attributes, Margo was sidelined
as a medicinal soap.

The product has inherent negatives, the fragrant was not attractive nor the shape. It was
also less lathering compared to its competitors. Margo changed hands from Shaw
Wallace to Henkel. Although Margo was relaunched in 2003 with a new fragrance and
shape , it has not excited the market so far. The new positioning is " Margo skin clear
skin". The single mistake the brand made was to miss the new generation. It failed to
attract the young users.
Margo soap comes under Dogs. The marketing strategy and positioning was poor. It
could not change with the changing needs of the customers. Growth rate and Market
rate was too low. It could not survive the competition.

Stage 4 is market decline with the cause or product beginning to lose appeal for the
client, donor or constituent. The brand is no more in market

Kelvinator : 1963 – 2005

Introduction:

Kelvinator which ruled Indian refrigerator industry is no more. The brand did not die on
its own. This heritage brand was killed by sheer negligence and marketing myopia.
Kelvinator came to India in 1963. The brand along with Godrej, Allwyn has ruled the
market for decades. A global brand, Kelvinator has its origin dated back to 1914.The
brand changed hands so many times and came to the fold of Electrolux in 1985.

Why did the brand fail?

In India, the brand's disaster started in 1996 when Whirlpool acquired this brand
globally. Whirlpool wanted to sacrifice Kelvinator for its own brand The entire episode of
the change of ownership of this brand will make any Hindi serial sops look like a kid's
story. According to Business World, When Electrolux bought the company White
Consolidated which owned the brand globally, In India during 1996 Kelvinator's Indian
licensee sold the license to market Kelvinator to Whirlpool. So Electrolux became a
contract manufacturer of its own brand which was being marketed by its competitor.
Whirlpool had the license to market Kelvinator brand in India till 1997. Because of this
Electrolux entered Indian market with its own parent brand. The fate of Electrolux in
India was also not good since it ran into huge loses.

Kelvinator brand lost its place because it fell into a cobweb of ownership issues.
Whirlpool did not invest in Kelvinator since it had the rights to the brand only till 1997.
So why invest in some other's baby. So during these years, Whirlpool harvested
Kelvinator while developing its own brand. When the brand came back to its original
owner, Electrolux did not have the money to build this baby. In 2005, Kelvinator was
killed. When the brand was taken off, it had a market share of over 14 %.

A look at the brand assets of Kelvinator will make every marketer drool. An International
pedigree and a whopping market share together with two great brand elements:
Mascot: Penguin
Tagline: Its the coolest one.
During its peak years, the brand was heavily built. During 2000 , the Australian circket
team endorsed Kelvinator and Adam Gilchrist was the main character in the TVC ran
during that time.Kelvinator's main positioning was based on its cooling power. The
tagline aptly captures the USP of the brand. Kelvinator's compressors was one of the
best available globally. Besides that , the brand was considered to be a tough and
reliable one.

One of the best and most apt tagline for any refrigerator brand " Coolest one" , this
tagline is still in the mind of many Indian consumers. The brand equity was so powerful
that even without much promotion, the brand had two digit market share during early
2000.

The blame of the death of this brand is on its owners Electrolux. In 2005, when
Electrolux decided to go for the parent brand, Kelvinator still had a life left. It could have
been a wonderful entry level brand for Electrolux. A brand with so much heritage could
have easily created volumes for this company.

Kelvinator will soon fade away from the memories along with it one of the coolest
brands.
Kelvinator comes under Dogs. The change of its owners forced it to fail. Growth rate
and Market rate was too low. It could not survive the competition.

Stage 4 is market decline with the cause or product beginning to lose appeal for the
client, donor or constituent. The brand is no more in market. Could not face the
competition

Hero Honda Street

Hero Honda Street was the first venture of Hero Honda to the the scooter category.
Street is not a scooter but a step through bike. The product category lies between a
Scooterette and Scooter. Street launched in 1997 died a slow and quiet death.
The product was launched as a step thru bike was not entirely new product category.
There was a step thru bike running in the Indian roads named Bajaj M80. Street wanted
to create a market for itself or perhaps a new category. But the product failed because it
was haunted by M80.
Street was the Indian version of the world famous Honda Cub series of stepthrus.
Honda Cub was the world's largest selling single model bike which has sold more than
2.5 crore units. But how come such a product fail in India.
The case is about marketing mistake.The product failed in all aspects of marketing mix
except the distribution.

Why did the product fail?

Brand Report Card for Street ( Dr Kevin Lane Keller)
Delivering on Customer's desires : Negative .
The brand failed to understand the need for the customer in the aspect of design of the
vehicle.
Relevance :
The category had some relevance since the customers were looking for a powerful
scooterette. Most of the mobikes were sub 60 cc. But the brand failed to capitalise on
this opportunity.
Value: Negative.
The high price of the brand did not offer any value proposition to the customer. Although
the product was of high quality
Positioning : Negative.
The brand was not positioned on any sustainable and important feature. This prevented
the effective communication of value to the customer. This was one of the major cause
of this brand's failure. Besides the Points of Parity with M80 created problems for the
brand. The owners failed to foresee this problem.
The brand was also not sure about the target segment ,whether it aims at the gender or
any specific category. Kick start mode eliminated the entry chance to the Ladies
category and the lack of styling repelled the guys.
Integrated Marketing Activities:
Since the problem was with the basic design of the product, there was not much the
other activities could do. The marketing activities was bound to fail.
Street could have been a success if it had changed its design. Indian consumers are
very discerning and value conscious. This brand failed to understand that.
Hero Honda Street comes under Dogs. The brand did not suit the youngsters. Growth
rate and Market rate was too low. It could not survive the competition.

Stage 4 is market decline with the cause or product beginning to lose appeal for the
client, donor or constituent. The brand is no more in market. Could not face the
competition