By far I assume you all know who they are , how they were created and who

they work for..... for those rare species who dont, these are characters from
vodaphone india's recent ad campaigns launched during the IPL. The ads
have been designed in manner to build recall, infact all the hoopla around
the characters is also created for the same reason. But to better understand
why these characters really had to be created lets go back a little into the
past. Not long time back Vodaphone was Hutch which enjoyed very high
recall rates with its classic "You and I" campaign. Post acquisition
vodaphone had the objective of communicating the transition to the
audience which it achieved through its campaigns till date. Now IPL was a
big moment and opportunity to take the Vodaphone brand on its own and
remove all Hutch baggage. Also it was a big opportunity to boost falling
recall rates as the IPL was supposed to provide great numbers in
viewership.
The next step was to design ADS which should
1) Describe product and features
2)Create curiosity
3)Connects instantly
4)Not markedly distanced from Hutch ADs(positioning)
5)Entertain across age groups as in earlier Hutch Ads
6)Be memorable

And the rest they say is history...

LESSON : Original work and innovative ideas are always rewarded

handsomely.... the Zoozoo's are turning out be atleast as big a success story
as Chika (the pug in the hutch ad) But will all this lead to any real gain in
volumes for Vodaphone...........I am waiting.
KINGFISHER BLUE

This summer promises to be very exciting for all beer drinkers. With a
number of international & domestic players having already launched or
planning to launch their products in the market this category is all set for
some high intensity fireworks.

The Major players in the domestic Beer market are United Breweries ltd.
(Kingfisher, Kalyani, Zingaro, Sand Piper, and London pisner.) and Sab
Miller (Haywards series, Fosters, Royal Challenge, Knockout, and Castle
Lager). The rest are brands by foreign majors like Carlsberg and Heineken.

Kingfisher blue is a premium, high end beer launched by UB (United

Breweries) to combat the threat posed by new entrants in the category like
Carlsberg, Anheuser-Busch, InBev and Asia pacific breweries.

Beer sales in India are primarily driven by premium and standard

products. There are hardly any economy brands available due to the heavy
duties and taxes on beer. The premium brands are growing faster than
standard or economy brands as consumers are trading up to better-quality
strong beer. Urban consumers increasingly prefer to buy well-known
premium brands such as Kingfisher or Foster’s rather than standard
brands such as Knock Out, despite the higher prices.

The upsurge in consumerism has been a result of changing demographics.

Changing consumer perceptions, lifestyles, media coverage and high-
profile promotions have prompted the strong growth in beer sales.

Domestically produced beer is the dominant force in the Indian beer

market, with a volume share of more than 99% in 2007. Restricted
advertising, high prices and the limited distribution reach of beer make it
difficult for foreign players with an imported brand to create brand
awareness and loyalty. Moreover, archaic legislation and high import
duties lend a helping hand to domestic manufacturers. This is mainly the
reason why many foreign players have started domestic production.

Major brands that are either already launched or about to be launched are
Carlsberg, Löwenbräu, Heineken, Tiger and Stella Artois. Domestic brands
also tend to have a higher alcohol content compared to imports, and
consumers prefer strong beer due to its faster intoxication effect.

Positioning Kingfisher Blue

With a positioning stability achieved in the mainstream segment of

premium and strong beer in the Indian market between the two major
rivals UB and SM. Major clashes are expected to happen in the high end
segment for beer (Rs.80 and upwards for a 700/500 ml bottle) where new
foreign entrants are positioning themselves. The Launch of Kingfisher Blue
by UB (and INDUS PRIDE by Sab MIller)is a response to this new
development in the market .

Kingfisher blue is positioned as fresh and easy to drink beer with a strong
kick (the alcohol quotient is upwards of 8%). Undoubtedly the company is
targeting the youth concentrated in the major cities and having high
income levels along with a hip and happening lifestyle. There is also an
attempt made in the communication to make a connect with the highly
adventurous personality of the present day youth. Though the texture has
been kept smooth to appeal to this segment (sensation of sophistication)
the alcohol quotient has been kept at a high level of 8%. This is logical
because typically Indian customers want to experience a quick high.

The packaging bears a sophisticated look which goes well with the
positioning but it remains to be seen how all this actually plays out in the
market place. My own personal take is, the upper end of the market is
comprised of highly informed and sophisticated customers who are more
likely to form association with a prominent international brand rather than
an extension from a domestic brand which generally caters to the masses.

To tap this segment the better strategy would have been to bring in some
international brand either through tie up or through acquisition and play
on the relevant plank. It’s worth mentioning here that the positioning
“fresh and easy to drink” might be quite relevant for a beer but it’s just that
the brand behind the positioning doesn’t quite have the stature to convince
the target audience.

The move in fact can prove counterproductive with the possible negative
connotations from the extension seeping into the parent brand and thereby
creating negative associations with the Kingfisher brand. The brand
accounts for most of the 50%+ share of the company in the Indian Beer
market. Certainly UB would have analyzed all possible outcomes before
making the move. As far as I am concerned for me it’s a “not so good”
move.

But not to worry there are going to be plenty of brands to gurge. This
summer’s really going to be great fun. CHEERS !!!

P OSTE D BY P RAVE E N K RA I AT 5: 19 P M 0 C OM M E N TS

T U E S D AY, F E B R U A R Y 3 , 2 0 0 9

Kitchens Of India ITC

Friends, I have a confession to make this is not exactly the brand I started
with, I thought of analyzing the Indian ready to eat segment and started
analysis for Veetee foods. But in between all this, the analysis took me to
the web page of Kichens of India (From ITC) and frankly speaking I fell in
 love with the website (and the brand). The site is a must visit for marketing
students.

ITC made its foray into the branded packaged food business in August
2001 with the launch of kitchens of India. ITC wanted to de risk its revenue
from the tobacco business and The packaged foods business was an ideal
avenue to leverage ITC's proven strengths in the areas of hospitality and
branded cuisine, contemporary packaging and sourcing of agricultural
commodities. ITC's world famous restaurants like the Bukhara and the
Dum Pukht, nurtured by the Company's Hotels business, was a proof that
ITC has a deep understanding of the Indian palate and the expertise
required to translate this knowledge into delightful dining experiences for
the consumer. ITC has stood for quality products for over 98 years to the
Indian consumer and several of its brands are today internationally
benchmarked for quality.

The Foods business is today represented in 4 categories in the market.

These are:

• Ready To Eat Foods

• Staples
• Confectionery
• Snack Foods
Kitchens of India falls in the ready to eat segment. It is present with two
broad range ( 1) Kitchens Of India priced at Rs.89. (2)Kitchens Of India
Ashirwaad priced at Rs.49.

Kitchens of India the flagship range offers major delicacies line from the
major ITC restaurants like Bukhara, Dumpukht, Dakshin etc. The other
range Kitchens of India Ashirwaad is a low priced range which offers
traditional Indian cuisines at affordable price.

The kitchens of India brand faces competition in the Indian market from
MTR foods, Haldiram’s Minute Khana, Veetee foods. It also faces
competition from other instant food categories like Noodles, Soups etc.

Analysing Positioning Strategy

Kitchens of India’s positioning can be best summarized as Feast of the

senses, which also is, by design (not default) its tagline. There is a lot of
care which is required to be taken before analyzing this brand and hence
we will proceed element by element only. After analyzing the brand
element s we will analyze the communication effectiveness of the Ads.

LOGO – The logo of the brand has a wooden plank with Kitchens of India
written on it in a stylized font . And a stylized India map in black and
golden borders in the corner of the plank, it has also got Kitchens of India
written on it. These elements together give a royal , exclusive and warm
feeling to the brand. The use of wood is good move because it is
traditionally believed that food prepared using wood for cooking is tastier.
Thus the use of wood helps evoke the memories for taste. One thing worth
noting in the logo is that INDIA is written in a greater font size than the
rest of the words. The main reason behind this may be that the product was
initially developed keeping in mind the export markets, where evoking
india and royalty centric emotions would have been necessary.

COLOUR – Mainly light golden colour is used to give a royal Indian feel to
the brand.

IMAGES – The images used are very high quality images of Tasty food in
precious/exquisite looking utencils. The imagery has been designed to
appeal to the visual senses and hammer the concept of high quality food
deep inside customers cognition.

GRAPHICS – The graphics used are those which can be described as

traditional Indian art used for crafting sides and borders, usually found in
Indian palaces and forts. This is also done to provide an india centric
identity.
FONTS – Stylised fonts which add to the india centric appeal. Moreover
they also evoke association with ITC.

PACKAGING- The outer packaging has been done In good quality hard
paper to preserve that “authentic” touch prominent with the brand.

NAMES- The names of the dishes have also been wisely choosen to reflect
the positioning which is “Authentic ,Tasty Indian Cuisines” . Names are
also choosen to reflect the association with ITC’s restaurants like
Bukhara,Dumpukht etc in its welcome group hotels.

ADVERTISEMENT – The advertisements reflect the positioning well

while sending strong visual stimuli to stimulate the senses and create
favourable perception. The marketer adopts a peripheral route to
persuasion by stimulating the senses. The brand tries to appeal to more
than one sensory receptor to make effective impact and there fore it has
started endorsing Indian classical music to complement the visual stimuli
with the auditory stimuli. The brand has come out with a range of classical
music albums to appeal to consumers hearing tastes. The website even has
a classical tune playing in the back ground. (I liked it..and even got it
downloaded). Thus Kitchens of India is really a feast for the senses.

HIMALAYA

The Himalaya Drug Company was founded in 1930 by Mr. M. Manal with a
clear vision to bring Ayurveda to society in a contemporary form and to
unravel the mystery behind the 5,000 year old system of medicine. The
company in 1950 came out with the block buster product in the form of
Live 52. Then nothing much happened until December 2001 when the
brand went for a complete make over and emerged with a new identity.

The brand, the company analysed, is targeted at the modern Indian

consumer who is willing to pay a premium for good medicine, and for those
who believe in ayurveda but are not inclined to go traditional ayurveda
clinics. This is a good example of effective concept development.

The company adopted a new logo to contemporise the brand

image. It was designed with a distinct font size so that the
consumers can easily identify Himalaya products. The labelling
and the print is bold, which makes it easy for customers to read
them, even when placed in displays at pharmacies.

The current Himalaya logo is a visual definition of the brand. The

leaf that forms the crossbar of the letter H evokes the company's
focus on herbal healthcare. The teal green represents proximity
to nature, while the orange is evocative of warmth, vibrancy and
commitment to caring, associating the Himalaya brand with the
promise of good health and well-being.

Once product positioning was clear, it was important for the

company to spread word to the consumers. Thus effective ad
campaigns were designed in a manner to serve objectives like 1)
Dispel Myths 2) Spread information 3)Be interesting 4) Link
Himalaya with ayurvedic concepts.

The company entered 3 broad segments i.e.

1)Pharmaceutical - health maintenance, eye, cardiac and skin

care, immune booster and cough control

2)Personal Care - Health Care, Oral Care, Hair Care, Skin Care
and Baby Care.

3)Naturals - Pure Herbs, Chavanprash, and Honey.

4)Animal Health – Livestock, Poultry, Aqua and companion

Now it is clear that the company thought it to be fit to extend the

brand in all areas where the construct “ayurveda”, “Natural” etc.
are relevant. Moreover the brand has a non-contemporary appeal
which can come in handy in the extensions. However, while it is
very good that the brand has extended itself into areas where the
brand extensions lends credibility to both the brand and the
category, it is also important to analyse how much of the
constructs can be infused into individual categories. While it may
be perfectly alright to heavily emphasize the concept in a
category like pure herbs. It may not be too appropriate to do the
same in a category like Chavanprash and skincare.

What I am trying to say is that though the brand has extended

itself in the right categories it has not extended in the right
manner. More appropriate would have been something on the
lines of a Sub Brand Strategy. The benefit of such an approach
would be that instead of the concept being applied uniformly to
all product categories, the concept can be applied to the extent it
is relevant for the category, The remaining space in
communication and positioning thus could be used for adding
category specific new concepts . This will provide the brand
strategists the flexibility to maneuver their strategies effectively.
This will also make the brand appeal more attractive to the
category user.

For example : The skin care category is sold under the corporate
brand Himalaya just like all other categories. Now skin care is a
category where “ayurved” and “natural” may be less important
than, lets say “beautiful” “White” “Soft” etc . So when the brand
enters the cognitive faculties of the consumer through senses
along with “ayurved” centric stimuli, chances are the user doesn’t
find acceptance with the product. Now if the category had been
branded in a way that some elements of “beautiful” “soft”etc are
added along with the primary element “Ayurved” chances are
that our customer who seeks to become/remain “beautiful” is
attracted towards the new stimuli. Moreover category/segment
specific sub-branding would result in strong categorizations in the
customers cognition, this will eliminate brand specific
confusions.

Mr. Ravi Prasad are you listening….??

P OSTE D BY P RAVE E N K RA I AT 9: 24 P M 0 C OM M E N TS

S A T U R D AY, J A N U A R Y 3 1 , 2 0 0 9

GAS

GAS is a leading Italian premium apparel brand owned by Grotto S.p.A

and promoted by the Grotto family. The founder, Mr Claudio Grotto, started
his business in fashion in the early '70s. In 1986 the Company was
incorporated as Grotto S.p.A. and beginning in 1990 commenced a new
phase: which was the launch the very first internally produced GAS
collection. The brand has strengthened its reputation by setting fashion
trends across 56 countries and 3000 points of sale. Foreign sales are
steadily growing thanks to a targeted sales strategy that receives the
support of six European branches (Italy, Germany, France, Spain, United
Kingdom and Hungary), the Japanese branch in Tokyo, the Hong Kong
branch for the Far East area and the newly born GAS India. The Company
has a strong Vertical Retail strategy that is being implemented on a global
scale.

The GAS brand in India was launched in August 2007 by Raymond Limited
in New Delhi. GAS' retails a lifestyle collection that includes its core
heritage in premium denim clothing. The brand seeked to offers Indian
fashion patrons an incredible fusion of contemporary international fashion
and quality clothing that represents GAS values of passion, positive
thinking, sensuality and essentiality.

With a total investment of approximately Rs. 500 million, this joint venture
was supposed bring together Grotto S.p.A's proven expertise in design and
managing a successful brand and Raymond Ltd.'s expertise in apparel
brand building and retailing along with its vast distribution network. Besides
exclusive stores, GAS is retailed through several multi-brand outlets
across the country.

Targeted at high purchasing power, fashion-intelligent consumers, men

and women who look for great quality and style with which they can
express their own personality. The apparel is priced between Rs.1500 and
8000.

The brand however has run into troubles 2 years after launch and there
have also been news in the media about Grotto evaluating the option of
quitting the JV.

Analysing Positioning

Since this is a little complex analysis lets take the identity-image route to
analysis. Apart from other things this will also present the problem and
solution in a more structured manner.

IDENTITY: The core identity of GAS revolves around two constructs

namely “essential’ and “sensual”. The brand tries to position itself in the
market place around these two constructs. The brand has been very
successful in the west because of its positioning on these dimensions so
the company deemed it fit that the brand should be brought to India as
well. However it seems the company or its JV partners in India (Raymond)
did a wrong assessment as to how much important these constructs are to
the Indian customers. There are some major problems in the brand logo
too. The double rainbow logo is good as a metaphor for synergy or
convergence but not sensuality…ateast not in the Indian context. Moreover
the logo colour hardly has any connotations of sensuality in it. Also the
name GAS doesn’t seem to have an element of sensuality in it …atleast
not to me. The stores do not exhibit the exclusive feel that should have
been typical for a brand priced at Rs.1500-8000. It is important to note
here that the identity may have been perfectly fine in some other culture,
but here in this culture the image it will eventually form is likely to be
different from that intended. (This is because each culture’s perceptual
process is conditioned according to the fundamental BVC of that culture.)
*BVC stands for beliefs,values,customs.

IMAGE: The brand is most likely to form a very confusing image in the
minds of the consumer this is because of the confusing identity. For eg the
products are priced high but the store ambience doesn’t reflect that.
Confusions in the mind of the customer as to what the brand stands for - is
it for sports wear, formal wear, day wear, night wear, casual wear etc etc.
The brand is available in exclusive showrooms as well as multi brand
outlets this adds to the existing confusion. But the major problem leading
to a confusing image is the fact that the brand’s positioning is very unclear,
customers simply “can’t see” what the brand is, what it stands for and for
whom it is. Unless a major revamp is done the brand is unlikely to become
effective in near future.

Someone needs to convey this to Mr.Grotto that changing JVs isnt going to
change the problem....repositioning the brand will.

I-PILL
I-pill is a female emergency contraceptive from Cipla, launched in 2007;
the product has already become a runaway success. Apart from marketing
consequences, the pill is interesting from the social angle too because it is
expected to have great social consequences. It is not that oral contraceptive
pills were not available in the Indian market before i-pill, Hindustan latex
limited has been marketing Mala-d and Saheli for a long time now. But the
introduction and success of I-pill assumes importance because it is for the
first time a contraceptive is directly targeted to the upper end of the
market. Traditionally, female emergency contraceptive or the “morning
pill’ have been sold targeting only the lower end of the market spectrum.
The consequence was that there was always a huge market in the urban
areas waiting to be tapped. Cipla made a good move when it decided to
launch such a product targeting urban women. The product received heavy
reviews from the media despite the fact that the category has already been
there for a long time.

The positioning of I-pill revolves around the construct “Consequence”

although the label never features in either the TVC or the print ads, the
whole communication has been designed around this label. Firstly lets
analyse the slogan i.e Get back to life. Unwanted pregnancy has serious
social and psychological consequence which may lead to Anxiety,
uneasiness, anger, fear, self pity, regret, loneliness, shame etc.
Furthermore an abortion can aggravate the existing trauma and result in
severe psychological problem. Thus normal “life” does gets affected
because of unwanted pregnancy. Now if the pill promises that it can help
the subject get back to “life’ is it likely to find a favour with the subject who
is facing/or likely to face the trauma in future….my personal stand is –
highly likely.

The TVCs and the print ads have also been skillfully executed. The
“tension’/’fear of pregnancy and the resulting trauma has been captured in
each TVC depicting different situations and consumer profile. The ad
activates tension in the minds of the subject by forcing them to think of the
consequences of getting unwanted pregnancy and then offers a solution in
the form of i-pill. The ads take a central route to persuasion and bring the
consumer on the evaluation mode even prior to a purchase intention – This
is the reason why the product enjoys high recall and recognition among
urban women. Two major risks have been highlighted in the ads namely 1)
social and 2) Psychological . What is commendable in the ads is the degree
to which the ads have been able to subtly create the tensions rooted deep
inside the cognitions of the subjects.

The packaging of the product is also appropriate because it does reflect

feminity, modernity and safety. Pink is a colour of feminity and has there
fore been incorporated in the packaging and print ads, White has
connotations of safety and has therefore been used to connote that the
“product can get you to safety from undesired consequences” The women
reflected in the TVC , print ads etc. all reflect the middle and upper middle
class urban women. The fluid graphics on the packaging also adds to the
modernity angle. You must be wondering how such subtle stimuli can have
an impact. Well , these factors are so designed to affect the unconscious
part of the customers cognition….and unconsciousness accounts for 95% of
total consciousness. Therefore it is highly likely that these stimuli, like
others will also have an impact.

No wonder that the product is doing well.

BLACKBERRY
The BlackBerry is a wireless handheld device introduced in 1999 as a two-way pager. In
2002, the more commonly known smartphone, BlackBerry was released, which supports
push e-mail, mobile telephone, text messaging, internet faxing, web browsing and other
wireless information services. It is an example of a convergent device. Developed by the
Canadian company Research In Motion (RIM), it delivers information over the wireless
data networks of mobile phone service companies. BlackBerry first made headway in the
marketplace by concentrating on e-mail.
On 25 Sep 2008, RIM announced the number of BlackBerry subscribers has reached
approximately 19 million.
The success of the brand was because of one core factor and that is that the company was
able to identify a genuine target customer need in the form of requirement for accessing
emails while being on the move. Corporate executives generally have to travel a lot and
therefore they value highly the idea of remaining “connected’ at all times. Blackberry
capitalized on this very need and provided a platform to individuals and corporate to
help the executives remain connected.
Blackberry’s positioning has always been as an business executive phone. The design of
the product, the incorporated feature, marketing communications have also reflected
this positioning. This positioning helped the company to carve out a niche for itself and
avoid any direct conflict with any other mobile handset player.

The Changed Scenario

Blackberry first with the “Pearl” and now with the “Storm” is attempting a change in
positioning and moving more towards the “Lifestyle segment” space. This can prove
counterproductive for the company because it directly places it in competition with
Nokia , LG, Samsung and Apple I phone. In fact the storm is being actively compared to
models like N95, LG Viewty, and Apple iphone. This situation can only work against
blackberry and in favour of Apple…. Apple stands for lifestyle blackberry does not.
One may put forward the argument that the offering of similar features (connectivity)
along with a host of other value adding features by the other players may have prompted
Blackberry to make such a move. But the mistake in such argument is it assumes that
Parity in the physical level has nothing to do with parity in cognitive level . The physical
always conditions the cognitive, physical cues act as ‘hints’ for the mind to form
interpretations or in other words “positions”.
I personally believe Blackberry could have done without this strategy of looking slick and
feature laden. There is plethora of other ways to expand market which the company
should have tried before resorting to change in positioning

Repositioning

Y our brand is in the midst of a huge controversy sparked by security concerns

over one of its most attractive features.

That's a good enough reason for your customers to shy away from your products.
So what else can you do apart from trying to convince the government against
banning the service? Ask Research in Motion, makers of Blackberry phones.

Even as the government is mulling a possible ban of the popular corporate email
service should RIM fail to provide it with decryption keys, Blackberry, in
partnership with Vodafone, has come up with an in-your-face kind of campaign
that makes no reference to the controversy.

"We are the Blackberry Boys" goes the latest Vodafone-Blackberry

advertisement. It starts with the image of a few suit-clad men claiming to be cool
because they use BlackBerry. But soon a bunch of youngsters join the gang and
start singing about chatting and surfing.

The new campaign called 'Not just the office guys' talks about how the mobile
device is now a favourite with youngsters who use it for BlackBerry messenger
(which is at the centre of the controversy) and social networking.

"Instead of trying to bore customers with a defence of its role in the controversy,
it's a great way of reassuring your customers that all is well and they should do
what only they can do the best – use Blackberry extensively," says an
advertisement expert.

The campaign also seeks to break Blackberry's only-for-the-corporate image and

targets the youth who is known for heavy data usage.

"The campaign is all about telling them that the BlackBerry service is no more
exclusive to a certain segment," says Rajiv Rao, National Creative Director of
O&M, the agency behind the campaign.

The promotion also talks about introduction of a pre-paid scheme by Vodafone

for BlackBerry users, thereby making these plans more affordable.

Until now BlackBerry was available only on post-paid connections as these were
used by enterprise users.

Anuradha Aggarwal, Vice-President-Marketing of Vodafone Essar, says the

BlackBerry brand is repositioning itself, as its primary audience is no longer
corporates.

"One would be surprised with the enthusiasm of young customers who save
money just to buy a Rs 15,000 Blackberry phone. With the pre-paid offering, they
can manage their budget better", Aggarwal says.

The pre-paid BlackBerry plans by Vodafone come with daily and monthly cycles
and range between Rs 599 a month to Rs 6,000 a year, depending on the plan
chosen. Pre-paid plans start from Rs 15 a day to Rs 399 a month.

Vodafone says that there is a lot of demand for the pre-paid segment for
BlackBerry service.

"There are BlackBerry users who do not use the entire suite of offerings and this
plan can help get them into the fold. We are also seeing new subscribers coming
and the rate of growth has increased," says Aggarwal.

A soft launch of this plan was done a month ago, but the advertising started last
week.

Analysts agree and say BlackBerry's advantage lies in pricing and its recent
move to strengthen its retail base.

The recent focus of RIM to tap the retail customer has helped it to penetrate the
market.

For instance, RIM, which earlier had presence in only nine cities in India [
Images ], has increased it to 70 cities.

There are 46 million BlackBerry users in over 175 countries and it is estimated
that there are at least one million BlackBerry users in India
"This ad will be very re-assuring to existing BlackBerry users as well as
confidence builder for new users to start using the service. It absolutely tells you
that everything is fine with BlackBerry," says an official who worked on the
campaign.

In India BlackBerry services are offered by carriers like BSNL, Bharti Airtel [ Get
Quote ], Vodafone Essar, BPL and Reliance Communications [ Get Quote ].