1.

Onida : The Devil is Back

Brand : Onida, Compnay: Mirc Electronics, Agency rediffusion

I am celebrating the Return of the devil, still wondering why it was taken away in the first
place. I was in my teens when they launched the TV with a " devil" . The marketers
predicted doom for the brand but the devil clicked.

The Devil was originally created by Mr gopi Kukde of Avenues in 1982. It was a
welcome break from the boring TV industry. If I remember correctly, Onida was the first
brand to advertise in Television, ie TVC about TV in TV.

The brand had a wonderful time and was in the top three brands in marketshare behind
BPL and Videocon. Then the Koreans came and rest is (Became) history. Onida had a
fair chance to succeed when the koreans came to the Indian market. Onida was perceived
to be a vibrant brand with technological superiority.

Then Mirc electronics decided the switch the agency to O&M.The creative hotshots there
convinced Mirc that Devil is outdated. Hence the company changed from the famous "
neighbours envy, owners pride" to some thing that i dont remember. What a tragedy......

Here is a time tested and successful positioning statement and a mascot that was so
wonderful but it was changed for no reason what so ever. Then the newspaper reports
quoted the agency telling that people resented the " neighbours envy" part so they have to
change it... it was a lie.

O&M used some funny creatives like two elderly women using TV to terrify some young
thing walking through the street. It was the death of a brand. The brand never recovered .
Its market share dwindled to abysmal 5% in the late 90's.

2001 marked the return of the devil and the account shifted to Rediffusion. The consumer
surveys showed high recall of devil even after 2 decades. The devil has to come back and
it came in style.

The first devil was acted out by David Whitbread who was a model coordinator. he
played devil for 14 years

The new devil is Matrix insprired and sports a contemprory look. Played by actor Rajesh
Khera, the devil now is rocking. Onida which has recovered its market share to 12 % is
aggressively playing on the marketing game. With a slew of product launches and careful
segmentation, the market is opening to the devil. Onida is careful in positioning itself as a
technologically superior premium brand although the prices are very competitive. It has
launched the Poison brand which is a premium brand and Oxygen , Black and KY for the
value for money segment.

In this Rs 10000 crore crowded market ,Onida has struck the right positioning .
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2. Frooti : Fresh N Juicy
Brand : Frooti Company: Parle Agro food, Agency: Grey worldwide

Frooti is the first tetrapak fruit juice in India. Launched in 1984, Frooti still holds a
dominant position in the Rs300 crore tetrapak fruit juice (TFJ) market.

Frooti over these years have carved out a niche for itself in the market. Frooti instantly
caught the fancy of Indian consumer with its tetrapak and some smart campaigns.
Initially the drink was positioned as a kids drink. The product was perceived as a healthy
fruit drink by the mothers . So within a short span of time ,the brand was an alternative to
the “unhealthy” colas. The tetrapak had other benefits also . Fruit juice is a perishable
product and tetrapak have extended the shelf life of Frooti because tetrapaks have 2
layers of paper and a plastic coating that ensured tamper proof and enhanced shelf life.

Lured by the success of Frooti, there was a lot of new launches in the TFJ market. Players
like Godrej with Jumpin, kissan etc tried their luck in this market but failed to dislodge
Frooti.

Frooti was positioned as a mango drink that is “Fresh-n-juicy” For over a 7 years, the
company promoted the product using that famous baseline. The product have tried to
create excitement in the market through a series of new variants and packing. But in late
ninetees the brand was facing stagnated sales. The company tried to excite the market
with an orange and pineapple variant but both the variant bombed. The came the
experiment with packaging . The YO! Frooti variant came with a slim paper can aimed at
the college going youth.

Worried by the stagnating sales, Parle tried to reposition the brand to appeal to youth
aged between 16-21. The positioning changed to be more fun based. The package also
changed. The old green color of the bottle changed to more bright mango color with lot
of graphics added to it.

One of the most famous marketing campaigns India have witnessed took place during the
repositioning. The campaign is the famous “ Digen Verma “ campaign. This campaign
was considered as one of the most successful teaser campaigns in India. The campaign
lasted for 15 days started in February 2001. The campaign was about a faceless person
Digen Varma

2
There were posters and outdoors all across the markets that had messages like “ Who is
Digen verma” “ Digen Verma was here” etc. This created lot of excitement in the market
and “Digen Verma “became the most talked about faceless name at that time. The
campaign was executed by Everest communication. But the campaign was not followed
up and the hype was not translated to long term brand building.

Frooti is basically a nectar based drink so it is not 100% fruit juice, it also have some
preservatives added to increase the shelf life. Although Frooti did not face much
competition in the category it created, competition came from a slightly different
category, 100% fruit juices. Parle saw the emergence of the “ 100% fruit drink market
and launched “Njoy” brand but it did not clicked. Parle could have extended Frooti to this
market also .The brand Real from Dabur is the main player in this category. Real
effectively positioned itself as a premium healthy drink for adults. Frooti was not able to
appeal to adults and was considered as a mango drink while Real is not restricted to any
flavour. Frooti also changed its positioning statement from ‘ Fresh-N-juicy” to “ Juice Up
your life” which have not clicked with the customers.

Although Frooti enjoys a commanding (75%) market share , Frooti is facing stagnation.
May be some serious steps should be taken to increase the usage of the product. The
launch of PET bottle Frooti is a step in this direction. Recently Frooti also launched a
“Green mango” variant just to create some hype in the market. Frooti may have to
reposition itself again to appeal to cola drinkers.

3. Ambassador : Marketing Myopia

Brand : Ambassador
Company : Hindustan Motors
Agency : Mudra/ Equus
Brand Analysis Count : 326

Ambassador can be called as the first Indian car. Although the car has a

British legacy, it is considered as definitive Indian car. Ambassador was born in 1958.
The car owes its design and technology to a British car model - Morris Oxford which was
built by Morris Motor Co at Oxford UK. Hindustan Motors launched the Indianised
version of Morris Oxford as Ambassador in 1958.

From 1958 to 1980's Ambassador ruled the Indian market. Infact there were only two
cars in the Indian market - Premier Padmini and Ambassador. The licence raj, lack of
capital and the unfriendly Indian economic policies ensured that no automobile
manufacturers entered the Indian market.

3
1983 saw the emergence of a new era in the Indian car market. Maruti Udyog Ltd
launched the Maruti 800. Soon Ambassador lost its leadership position to Maruti. The
family segment which is the largest segment in the car market embraced Maruti.
Ambassador was reduced to a marginal player within no time.

But Ambassador had some advantages over 800 which made it dearer to certain
segments. It was the only Indian car with Diesel option. During those times, there was a
significant difference in the prices between Diesel and Petrol. Second advantage was the
space and sturdiness of the Amby. These two factors enabled the brand to become
popular among big families and more importantly among the Taxi and tour operators.

Amby was perceived to be a sturdy car ideal for Indian roads. The brand also had a
positive perception of being less expensive to maintain. These two were only
perceptions . Infact Ambassador was expensive to maintain and even though the car
looked sturdy and well built, the car lacked the quality and refinement. Rattling sounds
and rusting was common complaints.

But consumers bought the car because of the significant economy of diesel cars which
made consumers to compromise on other parameters.

Another significant market for Ambassador was the Government. Over 16 % of the brand
sales came from the Government. Ambassador was the first choice for most bureaucrats.
Ambassador used to be the Prime Minister's car till 2002. That status was lost when the
PM of that time Mr Atal Bihari Vajpai replaced Ambassador with a BMW Limo.

Soon the officials also lost interest in the brand. With the emergence of new and better
models from other auto-makers, there was a significant drop in the orders from the
Government.

The fall of Ambassador from a leadership position to a marginal player is a classic case
of marketing myopia. For four decades, the brand has been taking its customers for
granted. There are many reasons that can be attributed to this brand's failure. The
fundamental issue was with the product and price.

If we look at the product, Ambassador never changed with times. The brand made many
cosmetic changes from 1958-2000 and three upgrades was made which was named as
Mark II, Mark III and Mark IV . There was no significant value addition between these
upgrades. The look and the built quality remained the same. A major change happened
when the brand introduced a 1800 Isuzu engine. The Amby with Isuzu again lifted the
sales of the brand. But the euphoria was short lived.

The apathy of HM to offer product changes in tune with the times made the brand stale.
Second factor that failed Amby was the price. HM never bothered to rationalize the price
of the brand. Even now Ambassador costs more than Rs 4,80,000. At that price one could
afford a more luxurious Indigo sedan.

According to reports, the HM plant had achieved full depreciation in 2000. But the
company did not thought of passing on the reduced cost to the consumer. Had the
company rationalised the price of Amby in 2000, the brand could have survived the
competition.

4
The nail in the coffin came with the launch of Indica. Indica took away the taxi car
market from Ambassador. Again the diesel loving individual consumers had a better
affordable modern car as compared to the ageing Ambassador.

In order to lift the sagging sales of the brand, HM launched a radically designed
Ambassador variant Avigo in 2004. Although the styling was radical, the customer
response was lukewarm.
Indian consumer is now spoilt with choices. The competition is immense and the quality
of cars has also gone up. Consumers now have new set of purchase considerations like
quality, brand, drivability, luxury ,cost of maintanence etc

In the value proposition domain, Ambassador is never in the radar of the consumers. The
narrowing price difference between petrol and diesel also eroded the value in investing in
an old dated Ambassador.

The company also has never invested in the brand. Without investing in either brand or
product, HM had sealed the fate of this brand. The question that arise is could a brand
like Ambassador maintain its position Indian market despite all the competition?

In the brand management perspective, its suicidal not to continuosly invest in a brand
.Often heritage brands wait till it becomes dated. Once the brand becomes dated, its
virtually impossible to rejuvenate the brand. The task is to prevent the brand to become
dated. For that the brand has to go to the consumer for ideas. Changes in product or
promotions can sustain the brand even in the light of emerging competition. Brands like
Lux , lifebuoy, Surf has been successful because of continuous investment in branding
and product development.

Ambassador should have learned from Maruti 800. The brand is still surviving because it
made changes along with the changing consumer values. Also the brand rationalised its
price in the light of emerging competition which made Maruti 800 relevant even in the
current market.

I am not saying that Amby had the potential to become an Iconic brand like Volkswagen
Beetle. But the brand could have been relevant to Indian market as a basic family car. It
is a herculean task to bring Ambassador back to life. A price below the price of Indica is
the only option for the brand to keep its fortunes alive

4. Bajaj Chetak (1972-2005), Brand: Bajaj Chetak, Compnay Bajaj Motors ltd

The brand which ruled the Indian roads have been laid to rest. Bajaj has officially stopped
the production of Bajaj Chetak from December 2005. The stocks will last may be upto

5
March 2006. The company says that the product no longer have any relevance to the
customer. To quote Rajiv bajaj " Any one who clings to the past is a failure".

I owned a Chetak: a gift from my father for having secured admission to MBA program.
It was in the year 1996. Later I exchanged it for a bike in 2001. Still Chetak lingers in me
( or rather haunts me) in the form of " Back Pain".

The brand which was launched in 1972 virtually owned the two wheeler segment. If
reports are to be believed, Chetak was an unavoidable dowry in 1970's and 80's. It had a
waiting period of more than 10 years ( can you believe it ? ) and now here I am after 34
years, writing the epitaph of this brand.

The brand which was named after the legendary stallion of the Rajput king Maharana
Pratap, was known for the reliability and sturdiness. The brand thrived during the license
raj with virtually no competition. It was during 1990-91 that the brand began the journey
to the end. Bajaj Chetak had a huge brand equity . The brand had the persona of a " work
horse”

With reasonable price and the low maintenance cost made this product a huge hit among
the middle class Indians.Promoted along the base line " Hamara Bajaj", this was the
Indian Family vehicle - a position now owned by Maruthi 800.

But then How can a brand that was so popular and successful fail?Frankly, I am not sure.
But here is what I think about this brand...

The primary reason is that the Brand forgot the customers. Another case of Marketing
Myopia. The company failed to understand the changing perception of the customers
towards scooters. Rather than looking at the customers, the company focused on
influencing Government to block the opening up of economy. Bajaj never did anything
with the product. For 40 years Chetak had the same look, same quality and style.

During the mid nineties the company realised lately that the segment has shifted to
motorcycles. Scooters were no longer the option. But did the company made a mistake in
discarding the scooter segment ? Looking at the way the share prices are going, the
market thinks that Bajaj Auto made the right decision. But I think that

6
they made a mistake in leaving the scooter segment completely. Contrary to expectation,
the scooter segment has not died. It has only changed.

Chetak lost its identity some where during the nineties. What should be the future of the
brand : no body knew. It was only in 2004 that company made any change in Chetak. In
1994 Bajaj introduced Classic another scooter with same style as Chetak, but failed.

Bajaj never was serious about product development. The R&D spent for a long time was
a miniscule 1%. The average cycle time for the new product development was 4-5 years
compared to 2-3 years of Japanese competitors.

Even after the opening up of economy, the scooter segment did not witness much
competition. The players like Vespa did not had much of success in this segment. Kinetic
Honda managed to carve a niche with its gearless scooters. Another segment which was
growing was the scooterette segment which was dominated by TVS scooty.

Bajaj never seriously looked at customer perception about Chetak. The product had
serious problems like starting trouble and riding comfort. The " Tilting the chetak to the
side for starting " was a common joke. Did the company do anything for that ? no

There was nothing wrong with the Promotion. " Hamara Bajaj " and " No one can beat a
Bajaj " were famous base lines. There was nothing wrong with distribution and the
pricing was very reasonable. The major problem was in the first P : Product.

So without addressing any problems regarding the product, can you expect the customer
to buy the product? Bajaj was never a leader in technology (now they are !!!). They never
bothered to and paid the price . Had Chetak pioneered Electric start, had it provided more
riding comfort, it could have survived. Somebody have just beat the Bajaj........ the
customer!

5. Big Fun : Rest- in - Peace

Brand : Big Fun
Company : Gum India Ltd
Brand Analysis Count : 335

Big Fun was one of the hottest selling chewing gums during the Eighties. The brand

evokes lot of nostalgia in me and reminds me of the countless fights that I had with my
parents to buy this brand.

Big Fun was launched in 1985. At that time the bubblegum market was at the nascent
stage. It was this brand which initially created the bubblegum market in India.

7
Big Fun was also one of the first brands in confectioneries to focus on sales promotion as
the core promotional strategy . The brand initially started by offering the pictures of
Disney characters to induce the kids . The brand was also harping on the BIG bubbles
that can be made with it.

But the real tipping point came with the 1987 Cricket world cup. Big Fun ran a highly
successful campaign focusing on cricket. The brand offered a series of collectible
pictures of cricketing stars along with the bubblegum wrapper.

Along with the pictures, there was also runs/wickets which the kids would collect and
keep score. At the end of the sales promotion, the kids can exchange the scores with some
gifts like comics and goodies.

The scheme was a super-hit. More than the goodies, kids started collecting these pictures
for the love of cricket. Favorite star's pictures was traded and kids began to buy the

product for the pictures rather than the bubblegum. Those were the days of Kapil, Viv
Richards, Holding, Gavaskar, Vengsarkar, Shastri
.
Bubblegum during those times was not as sophisticated as today's. Big Fun was hard
rectangular shaped with a syrupy taste. One has to do a lot of chewing to make it mellow
and also to make the first bubble.

The brand was cashing in on the cricket fever during those times. But in the early nineties
the brand died . I am clueless on the reasons behind the death of such a highly popular
brand. There is a possibility that the company ran into financial trouble and together with
the decline of the popularity of the entire bubblegum category may have caused the death
of Big Fun. The product also was not tasty enough to sustain the brand once the sales
promotions' effect is gone.

I was now wondering why companies were not running such promotions during IPL. If a
brand has done similar promotion during this era , will it create the same magic that Big
Fun has created 20 years back ?

8
Big Fun is yet another brand that has faded from the memory of consumers. Another sad
story of a home grown brand biting the dust.

6. Canada Dry : RIP ( 1995-1999)

Brand : Canada Dry
Company : Cadbury Schweppes ( Later Coca Cola)
Agency : Mudra
Brand Analysis Count : 371

One of my colleagues yesterday showed me a 1989 issue of Business India where he

pointed out an ad of a long forgotten brand - Canada Dry . We passionately talked about

the brand which we both liked. Canada Dry was launched in India in 1995. The brand
,from Cadbury Schweppes ,was a highly popular brand of softdrinks across the globe.
Canada Dry was a much hyped brand because it was from the house of Cadbury. Cadbury
Schweppes launched Canada Dry and Orange Crush in the Indian market with much

fanfare. Canada Dry was a Champagne Softdrink. The brand has positioned itself as a
champagne and the taste was different and refreshing.

The brand was also promoted heavily in various media. The ad featuring the snow and
tiger brings back the nostalgia about this brand. The brand was positioned as a premium
cooldrink . The brand gained immediate acceptance because of its association with
Cadbury. The brand had the potential to become a premium softdrink brand in India.

But alas, the brand did not last too long in the market. In 1999 CocaCola took over the
beverages business of Cadbury Schweppes and like GoldSpot and Limca , Coke killed
this brand.

It is sad to see such brands being killed for no reason connected with customers. The only
9
reason for Coke to kill these brands was to make way for Coke's original brands. In the
case of Canada Dry , the brand only had a negligible presence in the Indian market.

Look at the Indian market now - Is there a premium softdrink brand in India ? Neither
Coke or Pepsi was able to create a premium softdrinks category in India. They have not
even tried yet.......

7. Carona : RIP 1953-2003

Brand : Carona Company : Carona Ltd Brand Analysis Count : 361

Carona was a heritage brand of India which was once the second largest footwear
company in India. The brand is now no more. Carona is one of those brands which could
not withstand the competition which came after 1991.

Carona was a brand which thrived during the license raj. The brand thrived along with
Bata. Infact Carona was fighting head on with the market leader Bata. In my home town ,
Carona store was just opposite to the Bata store. There were only two choices for quality
footwear Bata and Carona.

Carona in a way imitated Bata in every possible manner . The shops and the products
were extremely similar. When Bata launches one style, Carona quickly followed suit.
Both Bata and Carona was instrumental in popularising canvas shoes in India. These
shoes was a rage among kids at that time.

In 1992, Carona tried to tap the premium segment by launching the German sports shoe
brand Puma in the Indian market. This was to counter the popular Power , Northstar and
Hush Puppies brand from Bata.

Carona made a big mistake while launching Puma. The company felt that the Indian
consumers will fall for the global brand . The Puma brand was priced above Rs 600. At
that time the Bata brands like Power and Northstar was retailing in the range of Rs 200
-300. Puma was a big flop in the Indian market because of wrong pricing. The joint
agreement was revoked by Puma in 1998.

The environment changed drastically during late 90's with the market opening up. All the
footwear companies faced the issue of tough competition and increased costs. The cost
was primarily attributed to the heavy workforce that these companies had.

New brands like Liberty, Action, Lakhani etc began to corner the market with new
designs and fashion. Foreign brands like Nike ,Reebok and Adidas began to market
aggressively which further worsened the position of Carona.

Both Bata and Carona went in for big trouble those days. Bata had the backing of their
foreign parent which helped them sail through the restructuring exercise. Carona did not
had that luxury.Bata was able to sustain itself by launching new models at affordable
price ranges. But Carona was not able to excite the market with new launches. Both Bata
and Carona had its own showrooms which became expensive to maintain. .Carona went
in to BIFR fold in 1998.

In 2003, BIFR recommended closing down of Carona. BIFR noted that Carona
Management did not have the will or the capacity to sustain the company. Carona went
into eternal sleep in 2003. Carona was a brand that failed because of mismanagement.

10
Somewhere the company lost its control over the costs. It failed to understand the
competition and respond to it.

8. Ceasefire: RIP 1989-2002

Brand : Ceasefire
Company: Real Value Appliances
Agency: Grey
Brand Count : 114
Ceasefire was India's first domestic fire extinguisher. It was one of India's best and worst
marketing stories. A brand that virtually created and ruled a category faded out after12
years.

Fire extinguishers comes in the category of unsought goods and it is Difficult& expensive

to create and survive in such a product category. Real Value Appliances owned by Mr.
Pheroze Engineer started operations in 1989 bringing to the country a new concept - a
domestic fire extinguisher. The fire extinguishers were not uncommon to Indian
consumers. We see it in large malls and theaters. But a domestic one was unique. Indian
consumers never thought of having one in their homes.

The product made perfect sense in Indian market ( infact every market). Our households
deal with fire all the time and the risk of fire being getting out of control is very much
there. Hence a marketing mind would easily see the prospect of cashing in that need : the
need for protection from fire. Thus came in to market Ceasefire. The product was
compact, unique had a catchy name, looked good and boasted of extinguishing all sorts of
fires.

Ceasefire was halon 1211 based fire extinguisher that was very compact and was handy
and easy to use ( with minimum effort). Much more than the efficacy of the use, it gave a
certain peace of mind to the Indian consumer against the possible fire mishap.

The product was well received in the market. The ads were focusing on building in the
consumer a fear about a possible fire mishap . The ads were backed by a sales campaign.
The company focused on direct marketing for promoting the product . Since the " Fear of
Fire" is so basic to human psyche, the success was imminent. The product was priced at a
premium and the customers never complained.

Fire extinguishers, like Insurance is one kind of product where customers are not
unhappy if it is not being used. Hence the success is in keeping the " Fear " alive in the

11
customer's mind. The success of Ceasefire was much discussed in Management classes
those days.

Then buoyed by the success, the company diversified to Vaccumizer and " rest became
history". From a brand that was among the top ten fastest growing brand in the country to
a company referred to BIFR, things moved very fast from 1997 onwards.

It happened not because the brand failed the company but it was because the company
failed the brand. The unsuccessful new product like vaccumizer and the alleged
mismanagement failed the brand once gloried as a marketing success story.In 2002, Real
Value Appliances closed down its operations. May be the brand / company tried to grow
very fast without consolidating, may be because of mismanagement.

It was a brand that lost its life because of faults not of its own. But surprisingly, no other
brands have come forward to take that position. The product category that was created by
Ceasefire is still void. May be the category may not be appealing to the other marketers.
But the potential is there and the fear is also there.

9. Dyanora : RIP( 1975 -1995)

Brand : Dyanora Company : Dynavision, Brand Analysis Count : 378

Dyanora is a brand which evokes lot of nostalgia in me. Dyanora was our first television.
I still remember the thrill of watching programs in Dyanora. Thrilled because I no longer
needed to plead with my mother to allow me to go & watch TV in our neighbour's house

Dyanora brand was launched in 1975. The brand belonged to a company known as
Dynavision which was JV between Tamilnadu Industrial Development Corporation and
the entrepreneur Mr Obul Reddy .

During those periods, there was severe restriction in the manufacturing and selling of
TVs because of licence raj. Those companies who got license minted money because of
lack of competition.

Dyanora also benefitted out of such limited competition. Dyanora started selling B/W
television and in 1982 it launched the Color Television.

The TV marketers started selling real volumes during 1980's when the government
started increasing the transmisson towers across the country.

The company was also going to face threat arisng out of the Government's liberal
economic policy during the 1980's where the licences for manufacturing TV was given
liberally. With the liberal license policy, many small and medium companies started their
manufacturing and marketing of television sets.

12
From a period where Dyanora faced competition from Solidaire and nobody else, things
started moving towards a highly competitive scenario.

Dyanora faced competion from large multinational and national players and also from
local regional players. It could not sustain itself in that competitive world. The demand
also began to go down which inturn affected the profitability.

Dyanora was a highly popular brand. The company also invested in brand building. The
brand had the tagline " keep in touch".

Watch the commercial here : Dyanora

The jingle were very popular at that time so was the visuals. I especially liked the dog
with spectacle visual.

The lyrics went on like this:

Are you in touch with whats going on

Are you in touch with the latest around
Get in touch with Dyanora
Get the best point of view
and the Sound that’s true
stay in touch with the times
keep in touch with the new
Get the latest Dyanora
Keep in Touch.......

The ad was well made and was very popular during that time. But the brand did not
survive. The company also was confused about the future of the brand. Faced with
competition from large companies, Dynavision also tried to prefer building a foriegn
brand over the home grown Dyanora.

In 1995, the company entered into a JV with French multinational Thomson International
to sell their brand in India. With the focus on Thomson, Dyanora was relegated to the
backyard. Consumers also preferred national and international brands which resulted in a
significant erosion of Dyanora's market.

Finally the company went into BIFR fold in 1999 and later into eternity.
Dyanora was thus a part of history

10. Ganga Soap : RIP

Brand : Ganga
Company: Godrej Consumer Products
Brand Count: 163

If the Western Media's projection or prejudice about the social and cultural makeup of
India was correct, then Ganga soap would have been the most sold soap brand in the
world. Those who have been watching India specific programs in BBC and National

13
Geographic may wonder how can such a brand fail in the land of elephants and Sadhus?

Ganga soap was launched with much fanfare in 1993. The soap was positioned on the
religious platform and was claimed to be made of water from the river Ganges. The soap
attained salvation in the early 2000.

The brand comes from an accomplished marketer who markets such iconic brands like
Cinthol. The brand was promoted heavily and even had the film stars like Govinda
endorsing it. Promoted using the tagline " Now bath in Ganga" very directly puts the soap
in a religious platform. Reports suggest that the brand's initial sales was encouraging and
also there are reports that blame on the P&G and Godrej break up caused the brand to
decline.

Ganga had a revitalisation effort in 1997 when Godrej tried to relaunch the brand under
the name Doodh Ganga. But those effort went in vain.

The primary reason why the brand failed was that the differentiation was not sustainable
over time. Although Hindu's are very religious in nature and revers the tradition but the
consumers are discerning when it comes to purchasing products. There is a clear divide
between religion and products. Consumers seldom like mixing the two. It is OK if
religion and politics are mixed not soups and gods. That may be the reason why the toys
of Hindu mythological characters are not popular in India.

The brand when launched was really praised for its innovative thinking. One could see
through the logic of the launch. Just looking at the crowd at Kumbh Mela would
encourage any marketer to think about launching a product for the devotees of Ganga.
But a closer look at the customers could have proved the marketer wrong. Why would a
customer buy a product? That is a question that could reveal that Love for Ganga would
not rake in sales.

Rather than using Ganga as a differentiator, Godrej could have positioned the product on
the basis if Purity and Gentleness like the Pears Soap. The can show the use of Water
from Ganga to reinforce the positioning. But the religious platform failed miserably.
More over this platform is too old dated for our new generation. Another funny element
is that although Hindus revere the Ganges, people are aware that the river is the most
polluted one. Hence there were consumer buzz that using a soap made from such water
may be dangerous. Sensing this consumer talk, Godrej had to tell that the water was taken
from places near the origin of Ganges hence not polluted. Overall it was a messy affair.

Ganga is a brand that could have survived as a small niche. I am still not sure about the
exact reasons that brand have failed in the Indian market.The failure of such a brand
should inspire a marketer to delve deep into the psyche of Indian consumer before
jumping into conclusions.

11. Gold Spot : The Zing Thing ( RIP 1977-1993)

Brand : Gold Spot Company:Coca Cola, Brand Count: 217

Gold Spot is a sad story in the Indian Branding world. This iconic brand was killed for
paving way for Coke's brands in India. Every one knows the story but still Gold spot was

Gold Spot was one among the three major softdrinks brand that ruled Indian market along
with Thums Up and Limca. The brand was built by Rames Chauhan of Parle after the exit
14
of Coca Cola from India during 1977. Chauhan spoted the opportunity and three mega
brands were born.

When Coca Cola came back to India in 1993, it bought out the three mega brands from
Chauhan for a consideration of $10 mn. These three brands had a huge market share
(combined) of over 69 % of India's SDC market. Then came the expected move. Coke
slowly began killing the Parle brands to make way for its own brands. Thums Up was
sidelined in favour of Coca Coala. Limca was sidelined and Goldspot was killed to make
way for Fanta.

Gold Spot was the orange drink with a Zingy taste. This iconic youth brand was
positioned as " Zing Thing" and was promoted heavily through all media. The jingle "
Gold Spot.. The Zing Thing" was one of the most memorable jingle at that time (still that
jingle lingers in the mind of old timers).

Gold Spot was positioned as the youth brand and the ads talked about being crazy about
the brand . You can watch the Gold Spot ad here .

But the brand was killed. Fanta was launched but till now the brand has not being able to
take the position of Gold Spot. Coke was not able to clearly focus on the segmentation of
Fanta. Fanta is never perceived as a youth brand. Fanta is not viewed or targeted at
college students/youth. This confused targeting may have crippled the growth of Fanta
and still it couldn't reach the status of Gold Spot. Coke expected that the users of Gold
Spot will migrate to Fanta but it did not happened. We saw Limca coming back in 2006..
can we ever hope Gold Spot coming back ?

12. Hero Honda Street : RIP

Brand : Street
Company : Hero Honda
Brand Count : 128

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.

15
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. The product was not good enough. It looked like a glorified M80
which was used by Fish vendors and the like. M80 was the cheapest and rugged step thru
from Bajaj aimed mainly at the vendors who had bought this product not for its looks but
for the price and utility. Since Street exactly looked like M80, it put off all the urban
buyers.

The brand was priced extremely high. Hero Honda thought that because of the success of
its bikes, they can charge the Street a premium but this price around 30% higher than
M80 failed to show value to the customers.

The campaign was also not successful. The initial campaign tried to teach the customers
the new Clutch less gear system and its efficacy, the customers was not impressed with
this feature. Infact this gear system is famous elsewhere in the world but in India it did
not click.

I wonder why Hero Honda ventured into bringing this model to India fully knowing that
an exact replica is selling here that too at a lower price and quality? It is plain arrogance
or myopia trying to sell such a product with out any design change. Hero Honda thought
that the brand name Honda will differentiate the product but it didn't happen. More over
the product did not offer any value proposition to the customer except that it has a unique
gear system.

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.

Brand Report Card for Street: 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.

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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.

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

13. Kelvinator : RIP 1963 - 2005

Brand : Kelvinator, Company : Electrolux Brand Count : 246

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. Any
marketer with common sense would not have done this to a brand like Kelvinator

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.

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.

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You can see that 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 had 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.

I would blame the death of this brand 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. But alas.... According to reports, Electrolux is
set to come back to Indian market in a new avatar.

Kelvinator will soon fade away from the memories along with it one of the coolest
brands.

14. Kinetic Blaze : Shortcut To Fame ?

Brand : Kinetic Blaze
Company: Kinetic Motors
Agency: Grey Worldwide
Brand Count : 130

Kinetic Blaze is the new launch from the beleaguered kinetic motors. The company
which pioneered the concept of gearless and self start scooters are now in crossroads.
Kinetic after breaking up the JV with Honda faced tough competition for Honda which

18
which virtually wiped off Kinetic scooters from the market.

Kinetic was not able to produce any blockbuster products other than the most popular
Kinetic Honda. The launches like K100 and Nova range bombed in the market. Honda
while captured and redefined the entire scooter market with its Activa.

2006 saw the launch of Kinetic Blaze. Blaze is the 1st product from the much publicised
seven vehicle Italiano series. These designs are bought from the world famous Italjet
Moto. The designs are done personally by Leopoldo Tartarini, the head of Italjet Moto.

Blaze is so far the most powerful scooter in India. This 165 cc mean machine is huge and

heavy. Blaze was all set to redefine the scooter market in India. So far so good....

Kinetic was clever in rightly identifying the problem. The brand had took a beating after
Honda left. The brand equity suffered a hit after many new product failures. So the
primary task for the company was to reposition and rejuvenate the brand and give it a
contemporary look . For that Kinetic needed something that could be the talk of the town.
So wisely it invested heavily in getting the best designers and conceived the seven series
with emphasis on style and "machoness".

But all these efforts went into mud because the agency played spoil sport. The launch ads
( TVC) was nothing but a marketing disaster. The agency just killed the product. The ad
talks about Rohit Varma.

We had enough of Digen Varma and Balbir Pasha. Then here comes Rohit Varma
jumping from the tenth floor of the flat on a Kinetic blaze and a bunch of cracks(fans)
cheering.I wonder how this guy managed to take this heavy thing all the way up. Then
the baseline says " Short cut to Fame". It is one of the lausiest positioning statements
ever.

The product is supposedly good; that is what most of the reviews say. The scooter is huge
with the size of Pulsar and wheel base of a Bullet and weighing 135 kg. Hell this is a
macho scooter that too with a mileage of around 50 kmpl ( under dream conditions), and
look at what the agency has done. No positioning and no creative thoughts only bull
shit.The brand had lots to talk about. It was male, powerful, stylish and safe. The TG
19
could have been those who wanted a powerful city rider.Here much more rational
communication was needed instead of hyperbole.

With a price tag of Rs.50000, this brand is going to compete with none other than Pulsar.
The question is will you opt for a Blaze or a Pulsar? Hence the success of this brand will
be heavily dependant on the way the company position the brand. No other bikes have so
far being able to dethrone Pulsar, so does Blaze have a chance? With this stupid
positioning, I will say No chance.

Blaze was the right vehicle for rejuvenating Kinetic Brand. It could have been a Pulsar
for Kinetic had it marketed it right. Pulsar captured the attention of TG with its Definitely
Male campaign. But what about Blaze?

Blaze if positioned properly at best would have been a niche product. The brand would
have appealed to people who did not like Bikes. But the current positioning dampens
every chance of its success. Kinetic have to realise that there are no shortcuts to fame.

15. Kristal Dtsi : Intelligent Scooter

Brand :Kristal Dtsi Company:Bajaj Auto, Brand Count :215

Kristal is Bajaj Auto's latest offering in the ungeared scooter segment in India. It is a
unique situation with the erstwhile king of scooters struggling to find place in the scooter

market which it once ruled. Kristal is a 95 cc ungeared scooter targeted at college girls.
The product was first showcased at Auto Expo 2006. This month the company has
launched this new brand in the Indian Market. Kristal takes on the market leader TVS
Scooty in the increasingly competitive Ladies' scooter market. Kristal is somewhere in
the middle of the 75 cc Scooty and 102 cc Pleasure.

Kristal Dtsi is positioned as an "Intelligent Scooter". The brand boasts about lot of
innovative features. The website of this brand focuses on 7 features that makes Kristal
different. The seven features are

1.Front Fuel tank: the company says that it is the first in this segment to offer this
facility.The fuel tank is in the front hence the rider needn't step out and lift the seats to fill
in the petrol. Also the fuel flap opens with the turning of the ignition key that is also a
great convenience to lady riders.

2.DTSI: No body knows what it means but every one has see this technology delivering
in the Pulsar. Bajaj has put this technology into the new scooter and hopes that it does the
magic
.
3.Extra large storage space: Kristal boasts about 22lts storage space and lot of additional

20
hooks aimed at making the product user friendly for the TG. The storage below the seat
also has an automatic light (like a fridge).

4.Pentalock: The brand has one key that opens many doors. The company has made use
of the ignition key to the maximum. With a single knob , the rider can open the fuel
flap,open the seat, accelerator lock ,steering lock and ignition.

5.Smart Lamp: The brand has sensors that look at the lighting conditions outside and will
adjust the front and panel lights. The front light will be automatically on when you go
through a tunnel or when the lighting conditions become low.

6.SNS suspension: Kristal also features Spring in Spring suspension to deliver more
comfort to the riders.

7.Low battery /fuel indicators: The scooter also have battery and fuel indicators.

Bajaj has put in lot of thinking behind Kristal. The failures of earlier scooter brands like
Wave, Saphire & Sunny may be still haunting the company.So they have put in all out
effort to regain the lost empire. According to reports, Bajaj is planning another Male
Scooter branded Blade and may launch it this year.

As a scooter with all those thoughtful features, Kristal has done it right at the product
front. The brand is now being promoted through television ads that calls this brand as an
Intelligent Scooter. To a certain extent, the communication is able to catch the attention
of the viewers. About the size of the scooter, I have a feeling that the brand is smaller
than its peers. If it is so, then Kristal will have a huge problem.

But the issue is with the price. Kristal is priced stiffly at Rs 35000 and I think if that is the
price , Kristal may not succeed in the market ( my view). Why because, the features that
the brand talk about doesn't justify the heavy price put on this brand. Another issue is that
except for the DTSI,all the features can be copied by the competitors. Kristal may have to
spent too much money convincing the customers about the value proposition. Why I am
skeptical is that the TVS Scooty has strong brand equity and to match that , Kristal has a
long way to go.

16. Liril : Bring back the Liril girl

Brand : Liril Company : HLL, Agency : Lowe

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If you are looking for a case of an iconic Brand that is going to be killed by poor
marketing strategy , look no further, here is Liril for you.

Launched in 1975, the year I was born, this is a brand that built a segment or should I say
category for it self in the Indian market. The brand is also the testimony to the genius of
India's Ad man Alyque Padamsee. This is what he says about the Liril Brand

“ The name Liril had been registered by Hindustan Lever from a list sent to them by
Unilever in London. Levers were very keen that the soap have striations, wiggly stripes
of different colours running across the tablet. I recommended the tablet be blue - because
waterfall is blue with white striations. Hindustan Lever was very excited and produced
1,000 tablets for testing.

At this point Derk Wooller, the Marketing Controller of Hindustan Lever's soaps
division, stepped in and suggested we add the freshness of lime to our story. He felt that
though the waterfall had tremendous emotional appeal, Liril needed a rational ingredient
to clinch the deal. I was not averse to this but suggested that we do an `As marketed' test:
Blue Liril versus Green Liril with limes. I was wrong and Wooller was right. The rest is
history." Alyque Padamsee in his book A Double Life.

The brand was a run away success and the Liril girl became the talk of the town. The
brand has been consistentt with its communication and the effective use of brand
imagery.

Further on brand imagery can be found in this article, visit

http://www.blonnet.com/catalyst/2004/09/23/stories/2004092300100200.htm

Liril was positioned on the freshness platform right from its birth. The girl and the
waterfall with the unique jingle ensured that the freshness is experienced by the audience.
Liril can be called as an experiential brand and the communication perfectly supported
that.

Liril did not change its positioning for 25 years although the models changed, the brand
communication was consistent. Then some nut in the company or the agency thought that
they should change the communication that worked so effectively. The rest as I say it "
Liril became history".

Liril has changed the imagery and the jingle in the name of freshness .The new jingle or
the ad never had that freshness. That is why Liril had to change the Ads twice with in a
span of five years. Mind you Liril never changed its imagery or the Jingle for 25 years...

22
Reports say that Liril had to change because of its stagnant marketshare. I think there are
reasons for declining market share which can be that the brand failed to understand the
changing consumer expectations. There was a flurry of brand launches during the past 10
years and Liril was sleeping all the time " may be resting on the laurels" . It should have
hold on its positioning of ' freshness " not by changing its communication but by
communicating more, developing variants, bringing in flanking brands or variants

thus owning the whole segment for itself and But it never happened , Liril tried to
introduce the Icy mint variant very late and that too with a different jingle and imagery.
We knew that the Old Liril had died. HLL could have used the same communication
strategy . Then came the horrible experiment of Orange Liril with a stupid Jingle
OOFYUMMA.... excuse me what the hell is that?

The product failed. Then came the new campaign involving a couple and a new jingle "
La-ira -ela", the ad was good but where is liril ? Like Onida , Liril has to come back with
the old imagery and old jingle that made liril what it Is ( or WAS?) [ It is a prediction].

When it does that consumers will take the brand to their heart . Laaaaa lalalala laaa

17. LML Vespa :RIP 1960-2006

Brand : Vespa, Company : LML Brand Analysis Count : 321

Vespa is an interesting brand firstly because it was a brand which was once bestselling
and now dead and secondly because of its unique history in India.
Vespa first came to India in 1960 with a collaboration with Bajaj Auto. The technical
collaboration ended in 1971 and Bajaj and Vespa parted ways. Vespa at that time was

considered an iconic scooter brand globally and the brand was owned by Piaggio. Piaggio
then joined hands with the Kanpur based Lohia Machines Ltd ( LML) in 1983 and started
to roll out the Vespa range of Scooters. By that time Bajaj was ruling the market with the
iconic Chetak. Vespa came to India with a more powerful 150 cc scooters but could not
met with success in the Indian market. But launch of LML Select in 1993 was an instant
success.

The company also revamped the NV series which began to shore up the volumes. during
1991, LML was facing its worst financial crises and the company was referred to BIFR.
It was Vespa NV that brought the company back to black . By 1998, LML was the
second largest scooter manufacturer in India with a market share of over 28 %.
23
But the JV between LML and Piaggio did not last long. In 1999 the JV was called off
with LML buying Piaggio's stake. LML decided to go alone with the scooters. It dropped
the brand name Vespa and continued selling LML NV and LML Select brands.

But during these times, the entire two wheeler industry was redefined . Scooters made
way to Motorcycles . Sensing this shift, LML ventured into motorcycles. In 2003, LML
launched its first bike in India branded as Freedom. But the entry into motorcycles was a
disaster.

LML was falling into severe financial crisis. A labour unrest at the Kanpur plant proved
to be the last nail. In 2006, LML closed down the operation of its Kanpur plant. And it
was the end of Vespa Scooters.

When scooters was considered a work- machine, it was Vespa which redefined the
market. Vespa was stylish and contemporary. It was elegant, youthful and more balanced
compared to the sturdy Chetak. While Chetak was the price warrior, Vespa was always
the premium scooter. Vespa was commanding the premium for the looks since the
technology that drove both Chetak and Vespa was the same.

But like Chetak, Vespa was also myopic. It failed to see the sweeping changes that was
happening to the two wheeler market. LML was not able to upgrade the scooters since the
JV with Piaggio was called off. It was also reeling under severe financial crisis. These
coupled with the shift in focus to motorcycles paved the way for the death of this stylish
scooter. LML still manufactures and exports Vespa to US where it sells as Stella and also
to UK.

LML could not emulate the success of TVS in launching indigenous technology and
surviving the aftermath of a failed technical collaboration. The company also could not
replicate the success of Bajaj which reaped rewards by entering the Motorcycle segment.
The failure of LML Vespa is a bitter lesson to all Indian business who depend on foreign
partners for technology. The problems with most JV's happen with the issue of control.
While Indian partners want technology, seldom does Indian entrepreneurs want to lose
control over their companies. During the licence raj , foreign partners used to succumb to
this because there was no other way to enter the Indian market. But post - liberalisation,
Indian market is a level playing ground. Indian business either have to shore up their
investment in R& D or may have to negotiate hard with the JV partner on power-sharing.

Piaggio have a presence in Indian market in the three-wheeler segment. The resurgance
of scooter market has inspired Piaggio to re-enter the Indian market with the Vespa
brand. According to news reports, 2008 may see the re-entry of Vespa once again to
India.

18. Margo:lost in the Neem trees !

24
Brand : Margo
Company: Henkel
Agency: FCB Ulka

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.

But 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 brand had a following in AP, Tamilnadu and West Bengal ( am not sure about
its present status). The single mistake the brand made was to miss the new generation. It
failed to attract the young users.

With Lifebouy herbal variant and other established brands taking in the "neem" content
away from Margo, this brand needs a hell lot of money to rejuvenate itself. May be a high
decibel big celebrity endorsement may help this brand ( try Aishwarya for a change) .
Can it change its avatar and fight lifebuoy in the health platform?
This is a brand that failed to change with the customer or changed very late.

19. Maruti Gypsy : RIP

Brand : Gypsy
Company: Maruti Suzuki
Brand Count : 182

Gypsy was one of India's first sports utility vehicles. The vehicle created a breakaway
category of SUV offroader from the existing jeep category which was dominated

by Mahindra. Born in 1985, the brand was considered as an aspirational one by many
young at hearts.The brand was positioned on the basis of its ruggedness. The brand was
promoted as a pure offroader. The ads used to say that Gypsy could even climb trees. The
positioning was reinforced by the success of the brand in rally and offroad events. Maruti

25
also promoted such events to boost the brand as the ultimate offroader. The brand had the
tagline of " There is a Gypsy in Everyone".

But the brand failed to capitalise on the first mover advantage although it is still
considered to be one of the sportiest looking SUV in the Indian market. The brand is now
confined to certain niche markets like Police and Army vehicle segments.
Gypsy was the rebadged version of Suzuki Jimny. Although Jimny is still surviving,
Gypsy is in the last stage of its product life cycle. The brand which pioneered the
offroader category sadly is dying when the SUV category has started growing. The brand
failed because of the apathy of the company in investing in the brand. The product had
inherent problem that created negative word of mouth and the company didn't cared to
look at the negatives of the brand.

Gypsy although considered as a tough vehicle lacked many important attributes valued by
a customer. The driving quality and the mileage was awful. The product was priced at a
ridiculous premium which was not justified interms of the delivery of value.
The brand was priced at around Rs 5 lakh which is comparable with a entry level sedan.

The product although looked excellent outside was a mess inside. The vehicle lacked
space and comfort especially for the rear seat. It had all the qualities for an offroader but
failed to understand that Indian consumers use offroaders on roads ( cities).The mileage
was awful and that ensured that only those who fall head over heals over the looks only
will buy this brand . Since MUL at that time was in the public sector, the brand was sold
to Police and army. For the ordinary consumers, the brand did not made any sense.
Gypsy also did not change itself in tune with the changing industry requirements. The
vehicle initially was severely underpowered for an offroader. The company enhanced the

power from 975cc to 1300 cc only after 11 years. Gypsy King was launched in 1996
sported the more powerful Esteem engine but was priced steeply.

The last four years has shown that SUV category is growing very fast fuelled by the
success of the likes of Mahindra Scorpio. Most of the global bigwigs in the SUV segment
is now there in India. Suzuki also has launched its brand Grand Vitara in this segment.
But in the current scheme of things, Gypsy was sadly not in the picture.

Compare the picture of the Suzuki Jimny (given in the blog) and Gypsy and see the
difference. Had this brand changed its looks and feel in tune with the emerging category
requirements, Gypsy could have been a major brand. But Alas.... the brand's fate is to be
cited as an example of Marketing Myopia or is it Marketing Laziness.

20. Tata Sierra : RIP

Brand : Sierra
Company: Tata Motors
Agency: O&M
Brand Count :144

26
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.

I personally love this car for its look. Most of you will agree that this vehicle is a stylish
one. Even with the entry of all major SUV brands in India, Sierra looks contemporary
( my opinion) and modern.

Why did Sierra failed in the market?

a. Price
b.Quality

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
27
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.

21. Maruti Versa : Traveling Together Is Fun

Brand : Versa Company : Maruti Suzuki Ltd, Agency : Lowe, Brand Analysis Count :
259

Maruti Versa is a sad story in Indian brand scene. This brand was launched with much
hype in 2001 but now is waiting for death in the Intensive Care Unit. Versa was the first

luxury Multi Purpose Vehicle from Maruti 's stable. Versa was the logical upgrade brand
for Maruti Omni. Omni was successful as a family van and Maruti thought that there is a
market for a luxuri van that can carry more passengers than an ordinary car. Versa is the
Indian version of the popular Japanese van EVERY/ Carry. Versa was called MPV which
is the acronym for Multi Purpose Vehicle

Versa had a dream launch. Maruti roped in the Big B and the small B ( Amitabh and
Abhishek Bachchan) to endorse the brand. The commercial featuring the father son duo

was a big hit at that point of time. According to reports, Versa was Abhishek's first brand
endorsement.

Versa was launched as an Affluent Microvan. The brand was positioned as " Two luxury
cars for the price of one" . The ads talked about twin A/C, comfort and space. Versa was
launched with a 1300 cc engine which was the same used in Maruti Esteem.

Despite the dream launch, Versa failed to generate volume . The basic issue was the
price. Versa was launched with a price of Rs 5.15 lakh for the base model and the top end
model costs around Rs 6 lakh. Those enthusiastic customers who flocked the showroom
28
after viewing the ads was shocked by the steep price of Versa. Versa was priced at par
with Maruti Esteem and other entry level sedans.

Maruti was totally wrong in estimating the customer's perception of price in this case. It
sounds little paradoxic because the company had blockbuster products like Maruti 800
and Alto which was in sync with Indian consumer's price value equation. In the case of
Versa, Maruti was little too ambitious. Versa was a large car and the initial buyers were
essentially those who had large family. For a small family , there was no logic in going
for Versa when a sedan was available at the same price. Moreover the ' mini bus ' shape
of the car also was a put off for many customers .

The lack of customer enthusiasm translated to inventory pile up and sluggish volumes for
Versa. In 2004, Maruti relaunched Versa with a base price of Rs 4 lakh which was a
drastic price cut. The positioning was also changed. The brand was relaunched with the
new positioning based on the joys of traveling together. The tagline was changed to "
Traveling in company in a car has its own kind of fun". New campaigns were launched
which highlighted the theme of traveling together . The TG was identified as families
which are large. The aim of the campaign was to inform the new price as well as drive
the message that Versa is ideal for large families.

Watch the TVC here : Maruti Versa. But these campaigns did not had the desired results.
Although sales peaked immediately after the announcement of price cut, Versa was not
able to sustain the volume. More over the brand was eclipsed with the success of Maruti
Wagon R which was priced higher than Versa but with less space and engine power.

Frankly I am perplexed with the failure of Versa especially after the price cut. Because
this brand makes a perfect upgrade for those users who was fed up with Omni. I feel that
again the prime reason is the price. Even after the price cut, the Versa still offers little
value to the Indian consumer. Now that there are many large comfortable vehicles with in
the price band of 4.5- 6 lakh range, Versa is not even considered an option by the
consumer. The brand recall is also very low. The success of Wagon R also have put this
brand in a very odd position in terms of the Product line logic.

Versa has only two options left before it : one is to reduce the price drastically so that the
price value equations are favorable Or await the slow death.

22. Moti Soap : RIP

Brand : Moti
Company : HUL
Brand Analysis Count : 341

Moti was India's premium brand of soaps during the seventies. Now there is no trace of
this brand. Moti originally was a brand of Tata Oil Mills Company ( TOMCO). In 1993,

29
TOMCO merged with HLL. Moti was a special soap which had certain differentiation.
The first differentiation point was the Shape. Unlike other soaps which came in cake
form, Moti was round soap. Moti is the vernacular term for Pearl . So the soap was also
in the shape of pearl.

Another uniqueness was the size of the soap. Moti was a big soap. Often one gets bored
of the soap and it never quite finish fast.

Moti came in popular fragrances like Gulab ( Rose) and Sandal.

Moti was promoted as a premium soap . The soap was expensive and during the eighties,
the soap was priced around Rs 25.

Tomco also promoted this brand heavily. Most of the campaign had a signature brand
imagery the soap surrounded by pearls. Those ads were in most of the magazines during

the peak stage of this brand. Pearls formed an important role in the entire brand
communication and pearl was an anchor which created an association with the brand in
the consumer's mind.

I was searching for an ad of Moti and thanks to Saumyadip's blog, I got a vintage ad of
moti.

Moti then moved to HLL following the merger. That marked the end of this brand.
I am not sure why HLL decided to sideline Moti soap. The brand was never promoted
and slowly the brand faded into oblivion.

The reason for this brand's death may be because it did not fit into the brand portfolio of
HLL. While Hamam ( another Tomco brand ) thrived, Moti was never in the picture.
Then with the Power Brand strategy, brands like Moti never had a chance to survive.

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The brand had prospects if HLL had done some serious product development. In the
branding perspective Moti had certain assets. The name and the imagery were wonderful
assets for a marketer. Moti had both these assets.

The problem was with the product. There was something missing in the soap which
ultimately lead to the death of this brand. Another factor was at the segmentation side.
Now also the market for a premium soap is abysmally low in India. Now also there is no
successful premium brand of soaps in India ( Essenza de wills is trying hard ).

So it was also a tough choice for HLL. The company may have felt that Moti did not
have a future as a premium soap. And it may cannibalize some existing brands if the
prices are rationalized. Moti may had to be repositioned if it had to survive . But HLL
was not prepared to invest in a brand which had a minuscule 2% of the market. So the
decision was to slowly kill the brand.

23. Sunfill : RIP (2001-2005)

Brand : Sunfill, Company: Coca Cola, Brand Count : 191

Sunfill was Coca Cola's foray into the Soft Drink Concentrate market in India. Globally it
was the company's first foray into the powder concentrate segment. This good product
died after 4 years primarily because the company did not consider worthwhile to focus on

marketing this product. Sunfill was introduced in 2001 and Coca Cola intended to take on
Rasna in the Rs 180 crore soft drinks concentrate market in India. Rasna was dominating
the market with a share of over 85%.

Sunfill was a powder soft drink concentrate . Powder concentrate occupy85% of the total
soft drinks concentrate market. Sunfill came in three variants : Regular,Anand and
Tarang.

Sunfill differentiated from Rasna by taking the convenience route. The concentrate had
added sugar in it so to make the drink was easy for the consumer. While other
concentrates, sugar need to be added hence was cumbersome for the consumer. The taste
of Sunfill was also better compared to other brands ( personal opinion). The brand also
innovated in packaging by coming out with single serve packs and also multi serve pillow
packs.
The biggest challenge for any FMCG/SDC products was distribution. Sunfill found an
innovative method to reach the market. It had alliances with other FMCG firms in
reaching the market. The brand had its own channel + third party alliance (Hybrid
network) to ensure that the brand is available in all stores.

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But somehow the product failed in the market. The issue was with regard to distribution,
product and the promotion.

The product had some quality issues. In my personal experience, some of the packs had
very bad quality concentrate . At one point of time, the product was not available in the
stores. The issue in promotion was regarding the positioning. When Sunfill came into the
market, Rasna countered Sunfill with its own range of powder concentrate with added
sugar.Hence the differentiation became negated for Sunfill. The promotion investment for
Sunfill was not adequate to counter the huge brand equity that Rasna enjoyed. I have a
feeling that Sunfill was a half hearted effort from the company.That was reflected in the
promotions for the product which ultimately lead to the death of a high potential brand

I still feel that the company did not do justice to the brand which had a potential to make
it big in the SDC market but the plug was pulled on Sunfill in 2005.

24. Tamariind : RIP ( 2001-2002)

Brand : Tamariind, Company : Skumar's, Agency : Percept, Brand Analysis Count :
380Tamariind was a brand which died inside the TV Tube. This much hyped brand

had only one year of existence in the Indian market.

Tamariind was the readymade brand from the textile major S Kumar's Ltd. The company
wanted to tap the emerging readymade segment . Tamariind was targeting the middle and
upper-middle class segment.

Tamariind had a dream launch. The brand had roped in Hrithik Roahan who was at that
time was a phenomenon. I think Tamariind was one of the first textile brands to take him
as the brand ambassador.

Riding on the pulling power of Hrithik Roshan, Tamariind had a huge brand recall during

the launch. Infact the ads were so effective that large retail chains were stocking this
brand within a few days of launch.
How ever, the euphoria did not last long . For some strange reasons, the brand was dead
in no time. In 2002, the brand was out of the retail shelves.

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Tamariind was positioned as a fashion wear. The clothes were designed by the famed
London based designer John Paul Vivian. The brand had the tagline " The Flavour You
Wear ". The brand was designed to be a fun,fashionable trendy brand.

Tamariind was also brought in the concept of Total Wardrobe Solutions by providing all
type of clothing to the target consumer.

Initially the company planned to use the brand name Cinnamon for its readymade
venture. But a retail chain having the same brand name moved to court and restrained
SKumars from using Cinnamon. That caused the company to come up with the new
brand name -Tamariind.

So here is a brand which had a trendy name, a big star, an international designer and a
reputed company ...... and how come such a brand fail that too so fast ?
I personally think that three major factors was the cause of this brand's failure.
Price and Distribution and Differentiation.

Price was the critical issue in this case. Tamariind was steeply priced and this repelled
many potential customers . Those who bought the brand could not be convinced about the
quality which did not justify the steep price.

The brand also tried to focus more on exclusive outlets which again severely restricted its
reach among the audience.

Tamariind spend around Rs 12 crore on the launch promotions but could not sustain or
convert the initial hype into sales. The brand ambassador Hrithik also faced so many
flops after the initial success which inturn affected the brand negatively.

Other than the brand ambassador, Tamariind has nothing to talk about. The product did
not have a meaningful differentiation that could justify its high price. When a brand is
aiming at the premium class, the product should have some meaningful qualities that will
justify the premium. A mere presence of a celebrity will not create a sustainable value for
the product .

PS : Tamariind brand has two "i" s and is not a spelling mistake.

25. Toyota Qualis : RIP (2000-2004)

Brand : Qualis
Company : Toyota
Agency : Dentsu
Brand Analysis Count : 294

Qualis is a puzzling brand for most of the marketing students. The simple reason is that
Toyota stopped the production of this brand when Qualis was having its highest market
share in Indian market.

Qualis was launched in India in 2000. At that time itself the brand caught headlines

33
because it was the first product of Toyota in India. Qualis was atleast two generation old
when it was launched in India. Qualis is Indian version of Toyota Kijang from Indonesia.
There were cases of globally dated models introduced in India biting the bullet like
Peaugot 306. So there were skeptics who forcasted doom for Qualis.

Those predicted failure for Qualis had real logical reasons. First, Qualis was a dated
model. Indian consumers are aware of global trends and may not accept an outdated
model. Second was the design of Qualis. Qualis was not good looking. Hence the chances
of the brand's acceptance was perceived to be minimal .

But Qualis proved everyone wrong. For Toyota, Qualis was a brand launched to test the
market. The brand was launched after careful market research and several consumer
insights gave the company confidence to launch this product in the market.
Qualis was a utility vehicle. The brand was competing with the Tata Sumo which was the
market leader in the nascent MPV segment. Sumo was a work horse and the product had
its problem regarding lack of refinement and brand image. But there was a need for a
refined, high quality multi-purpose vehicle.

MPV's are used by businessman and self employed and those who would like to take the

entire family around. Sumo was more of a commercial vehicle rather than a family one.
Sensing this gap, Qualis was launched as a family MPV.

Qualis was launched with much fanfare and the launch also saw some iconic advertising.
The brand was launched with " Touch and Try" campaign which encouraged the
customers to test drive the car. The brand initially focused on Space and comfort as the
main differentiator. The sales soared once positive word of mouth about the comfort of
the car began to circulate. Infact Qualis redifined the MPV segment in India.

From rugged product to a refined car, consumers were educated to new levels of comfort.
But things were not rosy for Qaulis . Rather than the intended consumers, this brand
began to attract taxi and tour operators. Qualis was selling like hotcakes as taxis. From
the initial 9% market share , Qualis dethroned Sumo and was the market leader with over
40% share.

The brand tried to bring back the individual consumer through a series of campaigns and
variants. The brand had the following taglines " Touch the perfection " and " Live the
34
Qualis Life" . New luxurious variants were launched to attract businessman and
individuals to buy this car. The TG for Qualis were businessman/self employed with an
annual income between Rs 600,000- Rs 800,000 who travels atleast 40-50 Km per day.

Qualis was known for Quality Durability and Reliability. With MPV segment taking off,
competition was getting hotter for Qualis. New launches from Chevrolet and Mahindra
began hurting the market position of Qualis. More than Chevrolet, it was Scorpio that
worried Toyota most. The company felt that the intended consumers ( individuals) were
moving away from Qualis. Market research suggest that consumer needs are changing
and Qualis did not fit into the consumer's schemes.

Toyota had the company policy that a model should have attained leadership position
before phasing out. Qualis has attained its saturation point. So the company had the
challenge of retaining the leadership position in the segment and also to expand the
market. It wanted to get out of the " Taxi " tag. Another development was the famous
Innovative International Multipurpose Vehicle Platform ( IMV) which was decided to be
the base for all international products from Toyota.

In 2004, Toyota announced the phasing out of Qualis. Interestingly, the month where the
phasing out was announced saw record sales for Qualis. Its difficult for a brand to
succeed and even more difficult for a marketer to kill a successful brand. Qualis ' death
was timely and paved way for a more successful Innova.

The natural question arises when a company decides to kill a brand is about the existing
customers. For products which needs after sales support and spares, usually companies
have a policy of supporting its phased out brand for over a decade. The existing
customers may feel less worried if they are assured support by the company for a
reasonable period.

26. TVS 50: RIP (1980- ........)

Brand : TVS 50 Mopeds
Company:TVS
Agency:McCann Erickson
Brand Count:212

TVS 50 is in the death bed. Anytime the plug can be pulled from the life support system
which supports this brand. The brand which was once the favorite two wheeler of

common man is at the end of its lifecycle.

TVS 50 has a special place in the automobile history of India. This brand was the first
twin seater moped in India. Moped is the combination of Motor + pedal ( nobrainer isn't
it).The history dates back to the time of first world war and later a resurgence during the
great depression.

Mopeds were pioneered in India by Kinetic with its single seater Luna. But TVS 50 made
35
the category popular. This simple machine which was a category between cycle and
scooter was a affordable transportation mode for a middle class person who couldn't
afford a scooter.

The success of this product can be attributable to two things : price and utility. At a low
price one could have something better than a cycle and also which was simple to handle
and no hassles. The brand became favorite for small traders and at one point of time an
entry level category for teenagers.

The Mopeds are now facing extinction because of the rise of certain categories within the
two wheeler segments . The emergence of scooterette took away lot of consumers who
was in the TG of mopeds. Along with that the product also had its inherent problems. The
most nagging one being underpowered. The pedal starting also distanced ladies from
considering this product. Although the product offered good mileage, the emergence of
scooterette virtually took the consumers away from mopeds.

TVS has tried to keep the brand afloat in the changing market. It introduced a 72cc
moped :TVS XL Super to make the moped powerful. Over its lifecycle the brand
changed from TVS 50 to TVS Champ to TVS Superchamp to TVS XL Super and TVS
XL Super heavy. The pedalling gave way to kick starting .So looking at the product
changes, the company has done all the right things. Even in 2001, the brand had 66%
market share. But the question is about the shrinking market for mopeds. In 2003 the
company officials announced that the brand is slowly being phased out.

TVS was once a brand that reversed the fortune of TVS motors. It was a cash cow for the
company and kept afloat the company during trying times.Now this category itself is
becoming irrelevant or is it? One significant factor to look is that the design was never
touched upon regarding the mopeds. The look remained the same.Globally mopeds are a
preferred product category for short distance commuters. Looking at the electric bikes
that are being promoted now in India, the performance is comparable with mopeds.

So are curtains being pulled a little too early? Theoretically there is a gap existing in the
market between cycles and scooterettes:Where TVS Scooty remains the leader. Price
wise also there is a scope for a product. But mopeds in the current design and image may
not bring in customers especially urban customers. A redesigned funky and attractive two
wheeler in the price range of mopeds still holds some market. In western markets there
are 50cc mobikes that teens use. No for an urban teenager, there are less options or settle
for a ladies scooterette.

27. Vanilla Coke : Wakaw

Brand :Vanilla Coke, Company: Coca Cola, Agency: McCann Erickson, Brand Count :
178

Vanilla Coke was touted as the greatest innovation since Diet Coke in 1983. It also has
the distinction of the greatest flops after the New Coke. Vanilla Coke came with a bang
in the Indian market in April 2004. It went without much noise in 2005.

36
The history of this product variant dates back as early as 1950's. The mass marketing of
this variant began in 2002.The brand went global in 2004.

2004 saw the unusual scream " Wakaw" played across mass media. We all looked up in
awe : a brand new variant from Coca Cola : Vanilla Coke. The brand was targeted at the
metro youth was different. It was different in taste, promotion, package, price etc.
Vanilla Coke was promoted in retro style. The brand had Vivek Oberoi , the then
bollywood flame endorsing the brand in an unusual style. Vivek sported the retro look
with typical combination of Elvis style + Shammi Kapoor style in an Old Lamby Scooter
screaming Wakaw.

The ads were surely clutter breaking and backed by 360 degree branding efforts that
ensured good publicity. The creative done by the famed Prasoon Joshi was discussed in
all media and that ensured truck loads of free publicity. The brand also got into viral

marketing. The campaign along with Contenst2win asked the customers to SMS Wakaw
to 8558 inorder to win goodies. According to media reports, the campaign resulted in
440,000 SMS in just 4 weeks creating a record of sorts.

According to Indiatelevision.com report, the media brief given to the agency was to
create a clutter breaking campaign targeted at youth. The campaign should create a
dhamaka in the market. And rightly so all the client requirements was achieved with in a
short span of time.

But how come a product with such a good start failed so easily. With in one year, the
brand has been taken out from most of the Indian states. The brand is said to be available
in Gujarat,Kolkatta and Delhi.

As a marketing person, I am also perplexed. Frankly I liked the ad the feel and wanted to
try it out. But soon the product was not at all available. The failure of this product line
extension may have delighted Alries and Trout .

37
 1. I am assuming that the following factors may have caused the failure of this
brand. The product may have been bad. The TG may not have liked the taste.
Although Coke has test marketed this product, there is always a chance that the
customers may have disliked the taste.
2. The campaign was not targeted at the right segment. This campaign had its fair
share of critics also. I liked the campaign because I have seen the old stars and the
lamby etc and could easily relate the old characters and the concept. But for a twenty
year old, he may not relate or understand the concept. The brand may have lost out in
that respect.
3. The brand was priced at a premium over the ordinary coke. This may have
discouraged the TG from checking out the brand. Together with the retro campaign
not clicking with the intended audience may have given a double whammy for the
brand
4. .Indian SD industry is a duopoly. Pepsi and Coke rule the roast and there are
brand loyal on both sides. The new variant will be tested first by the Coke loyal and
not the Pepsi loyal. Hence like most of the Product line extensions, the variant will be
pitted against the mother brand. Hence the customers may have compared the new
variant with the classic coke and not as a new drink. And surely the classic coke
won .

These are all assumptions because I am still confused.

The failure of Vanilla Coke is a classic case that proves that Marketing is not a perfect
science. There are no formula or theory that can make a brand successful. To Quote
Kotler " Marketing is easy to teach and understand but difficult to practice".

28. Yezdi (1961-1995) : RIP

Brand: Yezdi
Company: Ideal Jawa India Ltd
A brand that was once the heartthrob of Indian urban Youth is now resting in peace...
A case of marketing myopia...

I am not sure why I chose this brand , may be because of nostalgia. During my school
days me and my brother used to argue as to whether Yezdi or Bullet is the best.

This bike was manufactured by Ideal Jawa Ltd with technical collaboration with Jawa of
Czechoslovakia. Ideal Jawa started its operations in 1960 .Yezdi ( that time Jawa ) was in

38
Indian roads from 1961. During 1960's Indian roads were ruled by scooters. Bikes were
not at all popular due to mechanical issues and low mileage.

During that period, there were only three serious players in the Indian motorcycles
market. Bullet, Rajdoot and Ideal Jawa. Rajdoot was popular in rural areas because of
sturdy suspension. Bullet and Jawa were popular in the urban market.

Yezdi was targeting the youth with the positioning of " Forever Bike Forever Value".
Since it was a seller's market, what ever that was produced were lapped up by Indian
consumers.

1980's saw a sea change in the Indian two wheeler market. Japanese technology entered
the Indian market through joint ventures. The market saw lot of new 100 cc bikes which
were more fuel efficient and easy to ride.

Ideal Jawa was having a blind eye. It refused to accept the realities. When the consumer
attitudes changed, Jawa refused to change . Customers wanted Bikes that offered
mileage, style and comfort. Japanese bikes provided all that. This period also showed the
shift of Indian consumers from scooters to motorcycles.

Yezdi had serious mechanical issues, especially the starting trouble. One had to pump
about 20 times to get that machine started. It had no chance before the peppy new
generation Japanese bikes.

Yezdi realised this late and came out with some design changes and new launches like
Roadking which had a new styling. But it was too late.

Failing market and labour problems took its toll on Ideal Jawa . Yezdi was laid to rest in
1995. Had Yezdi changed its products in tune with the customer needs, we would have
seen a lot of this bike on Indian roads. but alas ....

Once an Icon, Yezdi has now faded in to the annals of history.

29. Zen : Surrendered To The New Generation
Brand : Zen
Company: Maruti Suzuki
Agency : Hakudo Percept

A brand that ruled the Indian midsegment car market will be laid to rest very soon.
Maruthi Zen which was considered to be one of the best cars on the Indian roads after a

39
long life of 13 years have become redundant. It is a sad news for all Zen owners who still

vouch for this hatchback. Marketers will also be sad because it was a marketing failure
and not a product failure. The good old zen is still valued as precious by its owners.

Zen was launched in India in 1993. Instantly this premium car became the favorite of the
upwardly mobile Indian middle class. The was something special about this jelly bean
shaped car and the driving and maneuvering quality was nothing but superb. In cities
where there is bumper to bumper traffic, the Zen was the most preferred one.

During the nineties all the cars from Maruti ruled the segment because of lack of
competition. Then came Santro and Zen had a competition. Although initially people
scoffed at the tall boy design of Santro, slowly through smart marketing, Santro began to
eat into Zen's market. Then came the major blow in the form of Indica which changed the
rules of the game in the hatchback segment.

Zen came out with Zen LXi in 2001, but the market share was slowly declining. The
major reason being, the owners of Zen were getting older and Zen was missing out on the
new generation. There was no excitement about Zen. Maruti is a poor marketer with good
products. All their products are of exceptional quality and all their marketing campaigns (
including the campaign of new Swift) is exceptionally poor. Customers buy it because it
is good.

While the competitors are gaining the share of mind of consumers using smart marketing
campaigns, Zen was no where in the picture. The launch of Zen with round headlamps
was a major disaster.

During 1999, Maruti launched Wagon R and 2000 saw the launch of Alto, With these
products, Zen was left in a no man's land. The segmentation became fussy. Since there
was no clear positioning for Zen, the new launches proved to be a major blow to this
brand. With the launch of sporty Swift , Zen has now become a liability for Suzuki's
portfolio.

To arrest the slide of the market share of zen, Suzuki, launched a redesigned Zen in 2003
with a new look with much fanfare. The campaigns were shot in Paris. The logic was to

attract the new generation and the positioning was " strong sleek and sexy". The base line
was " Surrender to the new Zen". The campaigns was lousy never excited the new
generation. The existing users were pissed off because the resale value of their old beauty
crashed. The new look Zen also bombed because of poor marketing.
40
Infact their was no need for such an upgrade because the problem was with positioning
and not the product. Zen was known for its power, easy driving and quality. It never
looked sporty and the colors were lousy. Zen could have excited the younger generation
just by introducing a sporty variant with some fantastic colours. The colors of Zen were
never exciting.I still believe Zen have that premium touch to it. So with some smart
colours and with some sensible advertisements, Zen could have zoomed. The positioning
can be a sporty and a smart car for the urban professionals. But alas....

Zen is a classic example of how poor marketing can kill a good product.

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