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Amrutanjan Rebranding: It’s   Gone

22 Sep

Amrutanjan, creator of the pain and congestion management category, has recently gone through re-branding, in an effort to reach out to more consumers across the globe.

Their flagship product Amrutanjan Pain balm is also falling. In 2006, Amrutanjan could has a market share of 25% in Rs 380 crores pain balm market in India but now in 2011, it just commands 10-11% market share.

According to the S Sambhu Prasad, managing director, Amrutanjan Health Care, “Many loyal users of our products including the yellow balm may not be there in the next 10 to 20 years. So we need to keep the product current even with the younger generations and the focus is on the brand makeover,”

Well the statement seems logical from Mr. Shambhu Prasad since the Amrutanjan Healthcare is diversifying into Health drinks, ready to eat food segments.

But does the Amrutanjan Pain Balm needs a makeover?  I have some concerns:

Declining share of Flagship Brand : Amrutanjan Pain Balm is the flagship brand of Amrutanjan healthcare. In the 380 Crore market Amrutanjan has a share of only 10% and declining which means that out of revenues of Rs103.41 crore, approximate 50% of revenue comes from Amrutanjan Pain Balm. So Instead of reviving the old dying heritage brand through advertising and promotion Amrutanjan is rebranding it.

Amrutanjan management should learn from Rohit Surfactant (Ghari Detergent). Three years ago, Ghari had a share of 10% which now stands at 17%, second largest in Indian market. Out of Rohit Surfactants’ (Parent Company) Rs 1,940-crore turnover in 2009-10, Ghari contributed as much as Rs 1,825 crore.  Ghari detergent is a cash cow for Rohit surfactant and it keeps reviving it time to time. For more information of Ghari detergent marketing strategy read my other post here

Neglecting the loyal Consumers: Amrutanjan bottle with green logo with yellow colored balm was one of the most recognized logo. With its “it’s gone” campaign it had become the household name and gained the set of loyal consumers.

I believe that targeting the youth generation was still possible without the rebranding effort. Amrutanjan could have launched the new brand exclusively targeted to youths

Playing with old well recognized logo: Amrutanjan is a 118 years old brand which is etched in the minds of consumers. In all these years it has gained the trust of the people in the pain management space. Green logo with yellow colored balm is synonymous with Amrutanjan and differentiates the product. Shedding the heritage brand logo with identity makeover is incomprehensible. Look at the Dabur how beautifully it has changed the old logo

Lack Financial Strengths to convey the new Message: For the year ended March 2011, Amrutanjan recorded revenues of Rs103.41 crore and a profit of Rs9.46 crore. With only profit of 9 crore I don’t believe that Amrutanjan will have the financial strengths like that of Vodafone and Airtel to effectively communicate the new identity of consumer.

Pure Healthy Essence: I don’t understand what this line conveys and what it means to the existing product line.

I believe that it’s a wrong decision made by the company to go for rebranding. We still have to wait and see the effect of rebranding on revenues of Amrutanjan Healthcare

 Leave a comment

Posted by World of 4Ps on September 22, 2011 in Branding, New Launches and Strategy

 

Tags: Amrutanjan Logo Change, Amrutanjan Pain Balm, Amrutanjan ReBranding, Pain Balm Market, positioning

Quco Hair Perfume: Lauch of a New   Category

19 Aug

Vini group of companies has launched a new product named Quco hair perfume spray. The product has also started a new category of perfumed spray for hairs

When I first watched the advert (see below) I felt that there is no need for a product like this as hairs are automatically get perfumed while shampooing.

But considering Vini’s smart product launches in the past and after some googling I found that in fact there is a segment of population which is affected by bad odor from scalp and even a website is dedicated to this problem (www.smellyscalp.com ).The product is an example of finding a latent need and filling it with a product. Moreover, finding new categories like this are good for smaller companies like Vini. First smaller companies get the first mover advantage and second it keeps the large companies at bay because of small segment sizeIn the end I believe that the product could have been better positioned as a pure hair perfume (minus the hair odor part) considering the hairs as an important part of the grooming of Indian women. It should be like body perfumes A must haves for every woman but to be used for special occasions.

Thanks a lot of reading and please offer your suggestions to improve my posts

 6 Comments

Posted by World of 4Ps on August 19, 2011 in Uncategorized

 

Tags: Hair Sprays, Marketing to Women, Quco hair perfume spray, Vini Group

Extend it (Brand) Like   Gillette

20 Jun

Hi All,

Recently The Procter & Gamble Company announced the introduction of Gillette Fusion ProSeries, an advanced lineup of male skin care products for men. The products contain

1. Gillette Skin care Moisturizer2. Gillette Face Wash and Scrub

There are two reasons why P&G launched the skin care brands

1. Men’s skin care market is growing more than the women’s market. In India the growth is 25-30%. Women’s skincare market, in contrast, is growing at 10-15 per cent per annum.

2. Sale of Giillette has declined 2-3% last year and P&G needs to revitalize the brand

Gillette was the first choice for P&G because of its high brand equity among men in shaving segment which is characterized by innovation in shaving technology. Secondly P&G could save time and money builds new brands

But the problem with the Gillette is that it’s a product brand which is strongly linked to men’s shaving segment and mere extension to the skin care segment would have been disastrous.

So what did Gillette do to make the extension credible?

According to P&G Press Release

Gillette’s deep understanding of men and shaving combined with P&G’s expertise in skin science has resulted in Gillette Fusion ProSeries, an advanced line of skin care products that drive incredible comfort before, during, and after the shave. This new skin care line features the first mass market men’s thermal facial scrub, as well as a skin care lotion and moisturizer to deliver comfort throughout the shaving process.

 

1. Gillette Fusion ProSeries Thermal Scrub warms, deep cleans and helps soften facial hair before shaving

2. Gillette Fusion ProSeries Instant Hydration UV Moisturizer + SPF15 is a non-greasy formula with Vitamin E and SPF 15 UV Protection that immediately restores moisture and provides all-day hydration to help reduce dryness and tightness after the shaving is  over

Interestingly all the Gillette skincare line products are designed to make the shaving process smooth which is the sphere of influence for Gillette.

So Gillette Fusion skin care line now complements the Gillette’s core identity of making shaving a pleasure, smooth, hassle free experience.

Regards,

Anurahul4

 

 Leave a comment

Posted by World of 4Ps on June 20, 2011 in Branding

 

Tags: Brand Extension Case Studies, Gillette Brand Extension, Gillette Branding, successful Brand Exension

Garnier Opens Up New Segment with First Ever Shampoos for   Kids

07 Jun

Hi All,

Reecently Garnier created new segment by launching Shampoo  for kids. Shampoo market is demographically divided into two segments:

Baby Shampoo: For Infants aged 1 -5 years. Dominated by J&J Shampoos for 18 above: This is the category where most of the shampoo brands are

competing like Head and Shoulders, Sunsilk.

So there is Gap in the market for age group say (5- 14). Garnier Targeted this segment which either uses baby shampoos or shampoos for 18 and above. It has also positioned itself as a “no tears no tangle just strength shampoo”, which again communicates that shampooing is fun to do with no crying and tears.

Communiction directly targets the kids through adverts in various cartoon channels.  In coming days we could see more companies entering this segment if segment seems profitable.Well this crops another question. Is there an opportunity to launch similar product  for middle aged and Older people (35- 55) and clearly segmenting the market under Baby shampoo, Kids, Youths and Older generation.Thanks 2 Comments

Posted by World of 4Ps on June 7, 2011 in New Launches and Strategy

 

Tags: GArnier Kids Shampoo, Kids Shampoo, Marketing to Kids, Segmenting

Rebranding of   Bajaj

27 Jan

People should now get used to saying Humara Pulsar’ or ‘Humara Discover’ instead of ‘Humara Bajaj’. The reason Rajiv Bajaj, MD, Bajaj Auto, has decided to drop ‘Bajaj’ from the two wheeler brand name.

According to reports, the company has decided to overhaul its distribution set-up and rename all its consumer touch points to just Pulsar or Discover with an estimated total cost of 21 Crores

Is this rebranding exercise makes sense? Does removing the parent company name make sense?

The Rationale

I would rather see this as a product portfolio management exercise which would give a clear vision to the product strategy and helps in streamlining promotional and product launch strategies.

Bajaj and Pulsar contributes more than 70% of Bajaj auto two wheeler sales and broadly these two brands serve the two distinct segments of Indian consumers.

So, instead of adopting product centric segments (like pulsar 150 CC, Discover 135 CC) Mr. Bajaj has created customer centric segments with Discover, a economy class segment with high fuel efficient bike for the families and Pulsar, a sporty bike for the youths.

Again if you look at consumers’ perspective, these brands (Pulsar and Discover) have a better recall due its high brand value rather than the brand equity of name “Bajaj”. Ask someone which bike they have? 8 out of 10 would say Pulsar or discover not Bajaj Pulsar or Bajaj Discover. So removing the brand name from the customer touch points and communications of two bikes would not harm the company.

Coming to the name Bajaj, it is associated with ‘broad’ values such as trust and reliability, especially in the two-wheeler category. While the strength of the Bajaj brand ‘identity’ is undeniable, its ‘equity’ is far from being well focused. The name Bajaj does not stand for any thing (Think of Volvo for safety, Mountain dew and Thumbs up for Adventure).

Ultimately it’s the brand value that drives the revenue not the parent name. It is up to the Bajaj to keep Pulsar and Discover relevant and refreshed.

 2 Comments

Posted by World of 4Ps on January 27, 2011 in Strategy

 

Tags: Bajaj, Bajaj Pulsar and Bajaj Discover, Rebranding Bajaj, repositioning

Ghari Detergent did the Nirma   Act

04 Jan

Hi All,

Wish You all a Very Happy New Year

Recently Ghari detergent has surpassed several multinational brands to become the second largest-selling detergent in the country. Three years ago, Ghari had a share of 10 per cent which now stands at 17%, second largest in Indian market. Out of Rohit Surfactants’ (Parent Company) Rs 1,940-crore turnover in 2009-10, Ghari contributed as much as Rs 1,825 crore.

Question arises how Ghari Detergent, a Kanpur based brand with low advertising and promotional activities managed to defeat brands such as Tide and Nirma.

The answer lies in beautifully carfted strategy, but before that let’s have a look on some industry statistics to gain a better understanding

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Ghari Did (The Strategy):

1. Select a Profitable  and Force Concentration: In military terminology Force concentration is the practice of concentrating a military force, so as to bring to bear such overwhelming force against a portion of an enemy force that the disparity between the two forces alone acts as a force multiplier, in favour of the concentrated forces. Ghari also realized that it can not beat Giants like HU and P&G due to their financial muscle. So it selected Uttar Pradesh, with a population of 167 million (highest in India) and accounts for over 12% of the country’s FMCG sales. Ghari also implemented extensive dealer network throughout the state. Thus, of the 3,000 Ghari dealers in the country, 900 are in Uttar Pradesh — 25 of them in Kanpur alone. Furthermore, nine of the company’s 18 manufacturing units are in Uttar Pradesh 

2. Know your consumer and reason to people consumer your product: Ghari focused on housewives in small town and villages which are extremely value conscious buyer and willing to switch brands. Ghari realized that the only differentiating factor it can offer is the value of money. To offer value for money Ghari management settles the net profit margin of 9% against the industry standard of 12 to 13% for the premium brands. What

may work in Ghari’s favour is the higher profit margin of 9% the company offers its dealers; rivals seldom offer better than 6% or 7% 

3. Be innovative in reaching the consumers:  With only 35 crores of budget allotted to Marketing and promotional activities. Ghari detergent goes to train.  

4.1. The first campaign was the Ghari Detergent Express (a summer special) in 2008

that ran between Lucknow and Guwahati for two months2. Taking the cue from there, Ghari has now advertised in Pushpak Express that runs

between Lucknow and Mumbai. The brand can also be seen on railway crossings in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. Advertisements also being displayed inside the bogies of Swarna Jayanti Express (from Trivandrum to Hazrat Nizamuddin in Delhi) last year that cuts across three or four states in south India

In addition, Rohit Surfactants promotes Ghari at roadside shows, magic shows and exhibitions in smaller towns and cities. Customers are unlikely to see other brands at these places — an innovative idea to break the clutter. The magic shows have given Ghari good visibility in cities like Jaipur, Indore, Kota, Alwar and Kanpur. About 30 company-owned vehicles are used for out-of-home advertising. Of late, the company has taken some tentative steps towards the popular media. It has sponsored a show, Rakt Sambandh, on NDTV Imagine.

Case of Ghari detergent highlights that how a mediocre brand can compete successfully with big brands with a clear strategy and vision.

But in the same time sacrificing your margin and competing on the basis of price alone are not the part of sustainable competitive advantage and journey ahead is not going to be a cakewalk for Ghari Detergent.

Thanks for reading this post. Please leave your comments

Bye for now Guys

 9 Comments

Posted by World of 4Ps on January 4, 2011 in Brand War, Strategy

 

Tags: Detergent Market in India, Low Price Strategy

Sunfeast Yippee Noodles: Targeting Maggie with Benefit   Positioning

20 Dec

Hello World

Top Roman failed and so did Foodles. This time Maggi with 80% market share in India is again being targeted by ITC’s sunfeast Yippie noodles with a slight different and a well thought out stratgey

The below commercials of Sunfeast Yippee noodles are based on clear benefit positioning over Maggie. Lets have a look at them one by one

1. The above advert  attacks the largest selling variant of  Maggie, Maggie Masala, and gives consumers the choice of two masala “Magic” and “Classic”.  The advert emphasizes that since we use choices in everything why should we settle with only one choice with maggie masala

2. The advert focuses on advantage of Yippee noodles on Maggie. Usually Maggie comes in rectangular shape and while cooking it is broken into two pieces (remember maggie adverts). It results into short pieces of noodles. On the contrary Yippee comes im round shape and can easily fits into round vessel with no breaking which results in long noodles

3. The biggest problem with cooked maggie is that it is to be eaten when freshly cooked. If you keep it for some time its noodle get sticky becomes inedible. This advert exposes the same disadvantage with Maggie and promises that Yipee noodles can be eaten even after some time.

In the end Kudos to branding and research team of Yipee noodles for  such a good positioning for its noodles brand.

But still I feel lot to be done for Yipee. The biggest advantage for brands like Maggie is its taste and first mover advantage in the instant noodle market. The brand Maggie is now become generic for the category and mere advertising is not going to do any harm to Maggi.

But the key to success for Yipee will be the taste  (trials) and targeted promotional activities and good distribution (A key element since I believe some purchases for Maggie are not planned and Maggie acts as a substitute for meal)

Some where deep down also believe that most of the noodle brands target children only. Since the noodles in India is vastly consumed by Young population also, then why not target this group and segment the market. ”Divide and Conquer”

Any thoughts on this will be greatly appreciated

See you soon Guys

 3 Comments

Posted by World of 4Ps on December 20, 2010 in New Launches and Strategy

 

Tags: benefit positioning, Maggie, maggie market share, positioning, sunfeast Yippee

Nutritional Value: The New   Mantra

06 Dec

Hi All,

Dabur giving its juice brand ‘Real’ an image makeover as part of its strategy to garner a sales of Rs 700 crore from its food division in the next three years. he company said it is now focusing to highlight the nutritional aspect of its juices as against the earlier practice of promoting the brand for taste.

As part of the exercise, the company has changed the logo and also the packaging of all its Real products. Besides, it has also signed on actress Sonali Bendre to promote the brand.

Well, It seems that going healthy is the latest trend in the Indian branding space. Recently Britannia cake also started emphasizing the nutritional value of its products

Earlier also GSK launched Foodles with nutritional value.

No doubt that these brands are trying to influence the  moms and house wives who have to choose between health and taste for their family.

Good bye for now

 

 

 2 Comments

Posted by World of 4Ps on December 6, 2010 in Branding

 

Tags: branding, Dabur, Food Category, foodles, Health Food, Maggie, Real Juice, rebranding

Crowd   Sourcing

18 Oct

Hello World,

We have heard the term “in sourcing” and “outsourcing” but for the last few years the term crowdsourcing is in the news.

According to Wikipedia Crowd sourcing is the act of outsourcing tasks, traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, to a large group of people or community (a crowd), through an open call

In simple terms when you know your in sourcing capabilities are not enough to get the desired outcome, Crowd Sourcing is the answer.

 

An Early Example

 

How the Crowd sourcing Works

A problem statement is broadcast along with associated incentives, and people with expertise apply their talent to solving the problem

 

Financial or Nonfinancial Rewards are the Key

 

The biggest advantage in the crowd sourcing model is availability of large pool of internally motivated global experts working towards a single objective of solving your problem.

A Canadian gold mining company, Goldcorp. had outsourced it talent by offering a 500,000 prize for whoever could find gold in their property. The company had released it’s private mining data which was always keep internal and allowed externals geologists to utilize to find gold. Rob McEwen , Chairman and CEO of Goldcorp had innovated in this industry and the company managed to re-coop more then $3 billion in gold.

The popularity of  face book, orkut and wordpress are due to its  application and themes. These are again developed by enthusiastic folks around the globe with decent web programming knowledge. They downloaded the SDK (Softeare Development Kit) develop the app and hosted it all for free.

After it gets uploaded, the importance of these applications is decided by other users. As more people  add a particular application to their profile, its rating goes up. If the application is not interesting enough for the community, it gets automatically pushed down the stack. From the user’s perspective, they can choose and install applications of interest to them, thereby ‘personalizing’ their profile. This is the real power of crowdsourcing – consumers as creators

Wikipedia is another good example of Crowd Sourcing where the content is added and edited by a large group of experts in their respective fields.

Internet is playing a vital role in bridging the gap between the crowd and solution seeker. A website www2.innocentive.com brings the solution seeker and problem solver together. The seeker lists the problem and award on the website and solver from around the glode with related expertise tries to solve the problem.

 

Innocentive Provides a Platform Where Seeker and Solver Comes Together

 

 

Crowdsourcing in Indian Marketing Context:

Crowd sourcing in Indian marketing arena is just beginning with more and more organizations are acknowledging its importance.

In the field of marketing Crowd Sourcing can be the perfect tool for consumer engagement as well as gaining insights and product development

Take the example of Frito lay which crowd sourced started a contest for new flavor development with a reward of 50 lakh rupee and 1% of sale of that flavor

Another good example is Tata Do Co MO which has created a website http://create.tatadocomo.com/ where consumer can create their own animations and the best animation used for advertising the brand Tata Do Co Mo

In his recent work on ‘New age of Innovation’, renowned management thinker C.K.Prahalad calls this phenomenon as ‘N = 1 R = G’. In order to provide one unique user experience (N = 1) firms need to leverage resources (R) globally (G). It is mainly because every consumer has his unique preferences when using a product, which cannot be satisfied by the firm hiring more people

The potential for crowdsourcing is so huge that It can not be summarized in this post.  The only challenge is to find right experts / communities / consumers who are willing to listen and motivated enough to solve your problem

So the next time you are out to develop / innovate some thing just ask yourself: Am I involving my customers in the process?’

 Leave a comment

Posted by World of 4Ps on October 18, 2010 in Crowd Sourcing

 

Tags: branding, Crowd Sourcing, Crowd Sourcing and Marketing, Crowdsourcing in INdian Marketing, Effect of Crowdsourcing, Facebook, Idea Generation, innovation, Orkut

Why Nokia is Losing Market   Share

06 Oct

Nokia is losing market share in India’s 30,000 crore-a-year mobile handset market. Recently IDC said Nokia’s share of the Indian handset market  plunged to 36.3% at the end of June from 54% at the end of 2009. At the same time IDC report showed that sprightly domestic handset makers led by Micromax, Spice, Karbon and Lava had capitalised on Nokia’s misfortunes, with their share of the market doubling to 33% during the last six months.

The numbers are particularly embarrassing for Nokia, which commanded a market share of more than 70% just two years ago. By contrast , homegrown handset makers had a meagre 0.9% share of the market in 2008.

The question is why it is happening.

According to the various articles on Business Magzines the growth of local mobile phones is almost entirely on the back of socalled dual-SIM phones (even triple-SIM ) which allowed thrifty consumers to have two numbers on a single device and effectively exploit plunging tariffs in a cut-throat mobile services market.

But I believe that Nokia is crushed between brand conscious consumers and aspiring youngs who look for value for money. The aspiring youngs and primitives are enticed by brands such as Micromax, Lava and Max mobiles with their value for money offerings and pushing Nokia to the corner.

Analyzed by World of 4Ps

Clearly Nokia has not been able to identify changing consumer preferences and is quickly running out of the options as local bands are coming out of better mobiles and nokia is losing market share.

With technological barriers are going and so the entry barriers its high time for Nokia to define its battle grounds

 Leave a comment

Posted by World of 4Ps on October 6, 2010 in Brand War, Strategy, Uncategorized

 

Tags: Business war, Indian Mobile Market, Micromax, mobile handset manufacturer, mobile handset market, mobile market share, Mobile War, Nokia, nokia strategy, Price War, strategy

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