Scotch Purple Glue Stick : Magic

Brand : Scotch Purple Glue Stick
Company : 3M
Agency : Grey

Brand Analysis Count : 411

3M is always known for its customer centric innovations. Scotch Purple Glue Stick is such an innovation. This brand was launched recently in select cities of India.

Scotch Purple Glue is India's first colored glue . The brand is targeting the school going kids.
What makes this glue different from other glue stick brands like FeviStick is its innovative coloring mechanism.

The Purple Glue rubs purple but dries clear. That means when the kids rubs the glue on the paper, it is in purple color that helps the kids to see where the glue is being applied. When the glue dries, it becomes colorless and clear. This is nothing but the magic of innovation.

Watch the TVC here : Scotch Purple Glue

The brand also has a large choke resistant cap which prevents accidental choking which makes it safe for the kids. How many Indian marketers has ever thought of making their products safe for kids ?

As a consumer, I am delighted to see the convenience that this product will offer to kids . Will I buy it for my child, absolutely. Will my kid love the product, I bet she will.

Related Brand
Fevistick
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Mont Blanc : A Story to Tell

Corporate Brand : Mont Blanc
Agency : Meridian

Brand Analysis Count : 432

Mont Blanc is an iconic brand. This luxury iconic brand is now making waves in India. Mont Blanc has a very rich heritage. Created in 1906, the brand was born in Germany. Mont Blanc was founded by stationer Claus Johannes Voss , banker Alfred Nehemias and engineer August Eberstein in Hamburg. The company was earlier christened as Simplo Filler pens but was later changed in to Mont Blanc in 1910.

Mont Blanc which started off as a writing instrument brand soon became an iconic accessory brand selling wallets , watches, jewelery, eye wear and fragrance. This brand thrives on luxury and exclusivity. More than a writing instrument, Mont Blanc is more of an art item, something to show off your success than a functional instrument.
The brand is also carefully crafted. Mont Blanc takes special care in ensuring that the brand communication is reflecting its exclusivity and premium positioning.

Mont Blanc entered India in 1995. The brand has adopted the strategy of slow skimming was initially available in premium boutiques at places like Taj Hotels.
Globally, Mont Blanc built its brand through print media. The brand crafted exquisite ads in the premium lifestyle magazines. This year, the brand deviated from its time tested media strategy and launched its first Indian TVC featuring Bollywood Actor Anil Kapoor and his daughter Actress Sonam Kapoor.

Watch the TVC here : Mont Blanc

Mont Blanc has the tagline " A story to Tell" . This is a positioning that takes the brand from a functional perspective to a higher level positioning. The brand talks about pen as a power to write one's own destiny. This is one of the best positioning statement I have seen in recent times.
In India, Mont Blanc is trying to tell stories of successful personalities who had achieved success not because of heritage but hard work.

The television commercial surprised me because of the choice of Anil Kapoor as the brand ambassador. Even though Anil Kapoor fits well in the brand's positioning based on " story to tell" and rags to riches kind of stuff, Anil Kapoor does not really gel with the over all brand personality of Mont Blanc.
He is an actor who has now virtually retired . Even during his hay days, Anil Kapoor was never considered as an iconic star. So by choosing a star who has faded from limelight seems to be a wrong choice for the brand.
Another question that came to my mind is whether Mont Blanc really needed a brand ambassador ? In the Indian advertising world, stars have become a commodity. These stars only give some 'stickyness' to the ad and other than that there is virtually no value addition to the brand equity.
In my personal opinion, Mont Blanc lost some its premiumness by choosing to get help from a celebrity.

Mont Blanc also was in limelight in India as a part of a controversy. The brand launched a limited edition Pen inspired by Mahatma Gandhi. The pen which was priced at around Rs 12 lakh generated enough controversy for the brand ( worth millions of dollars of free publicity).
The limited edition pen had Gandhiji's image engraved in the nib and also the top of the cap and cone was inspired by the spindle which Gandhiji used to spin cotton.
The limited edition pen with its huge price tag quickly captured the imagination of media and politicians who began a high profile debate on " commercialization of Gandhiji".

As an individual , I was happy that Mont Blanc chose to celebrate one India's finest son with a special edition product. I was more happy because they chose to price this special product with an exorbitant rate. I believe that Gandhiji is not cheap. He lived a humble life does not mean that everything about him should be cheap or priced low. If politicians can choose to use Gandhiji for furthering their goals, why can't brands ? And marketers are not fools to mess with a highly revered icon like Mahatma.

Mont Blanc is a brand that changed the way pens were looked at. The classic white flower-shaped symbol that adored the cap of this pen is considered an ultimate symbol of success. Mont Blanc does not need someone to make it a success it is the other way around.

FfUuNn : Full Marks + Fun

Brand : FfUuNn

Company : Navneet Publications

Ad Agency : Euro Rscg

Brand Analysis Count : 443

FfUuNn is a brand of non-paper stationery products from the publication major Navneet Publications. Navneet is a well known brand in the publications field. The company which formed in 1959 , soon emerged as a major player in the educational books in the Indian market. Later in 1993,the company diversified into paper stationery market through products like notebooks, long books etc.

Ffunn ( Fun) brand launched in 2006 was Navneet's foray into the non-paper stationery products. The brand has gained lot of ground in the last four years.

The Indian stationery market including notebooks , printer/copier papers, scholastic products like geometry boxes , pencil boxes, erasers etc is worth around Rs 10,000 crores ( source). The notebook/paper stationery market is worth around Rs 4500 crore.

Business line gives another set of numbers for the Indian stationery market as on 2007. According to Business Line , the stationery market can be divided into different categories with the following market sizes -

Files and Folders - Rs 220 crores

Writing Instruments - Rs 1215 crores

Desktop Accessories - Rs 90 crores

Glues, Adhesives, tapes etc - Rs 260 crores

Computer Consumables - Rs 1700 crore

The non-paper stationery market is estimated to be around Rs 1500 crores in 2007.

The non-paper stationery market is dominated by brands like Camlin . Natraj is a famous brand in the pencils segment. It is in this market that Navneet launched the Fun brand.

Although the size of the Indian non-paper stationery market is large. , the per unit sales per consumer will be low. Consumers may not buying a pack of pencils but one or two. Since the per unit price is also low, consumers are not that brand loyal and the key is to have the distribution reach and channel support. Brands like Camlin has a generic status in the various categories within this market.

For a challenger brand like Ffun, the brand must own a larger share of mind in the consumer. The brand should also have a fair share of voice inorder to achieve this share of mind. Navneet was investing heavily in building the brand. The brand broke into the market with some smart campaigns.

The best thing that Navneet has done for the non-paper stationery entry was to create a new brand for the category. Navneet could have chosen to extend the corporate brand ( Navneet) into this market hoping to extract the equity of Navneet. Instead, the company took a bold and wise decision to create a new brand.

The next smart act was the selection of the brand name. Navneet was wise enough to choose a brand name which appeal to the target segment ie kids. To take a name such as " FUN " creates a huge leverage interms of brand promotion and communication. The brand created some uniqueness to the brand by coining the brand name as FfUuNn.

The brand interprets itself as Full Marks + Fun. That explains the rather unique name spelling. By combining two important attributes like Fun and Study, FfuUNn created one of the best positioning platforms in the category. Although it sounds good, integrating the two divergent concepts like Fun and Study is not easy.
Luckily for the brand, the agency created some smart campaigns for FfUuNn and the brand had a very very good start in the market.

Watch the campaigns here : Fun Giraffe Fun Sea

Fun is now category brand of Navneet under which the entire range of stationery products are launched . The brand launched its range of colors, erasers, sharpeners and whole lot of products in the category. Again for colors, the brand came out with some very good commercials. Watch it here : Fun colors 1,Fun colors 2 .

FfUuNn is a good brand with some good brand properties. The communication also supports the brand's core positioning. The brand virtually has all the marketing mixes going right for them . It will be interesting to see how this brand going to shake up the stationery market.

Totem Pens : Carving Out a Segment

Brand : Totem
Company : Win Pens Pvt Ltd

Brand Analysis Count : # 518

Totem is an interesting brand. You may not have seen an ad of this pen but this pen is selling like hot cakes in various markets across India. Totem ballpoint pens are manufactured by Win Pens Pvt Ltd which is based in Culcutta. 

What is so special about Totem is that this simple pen effectively met  the need of the customers. Forget the fancy expensive pens or the highly advertised ones because many does not serve the basic function as effective as Totem. Many customers have realized that products like these perform much better than the high profile ones. 

Totem which is priced at Rs 3 is now one of the fast selling brands in the category. There is strong demand for this brand among students and also from office segment. The reason being the utility. Many pens in the sub Rs 10 category have serious quality issues. Most of the pens smudge , are not ergonomic and often the ink gets messy . I have seen many students (during their exams) carrying a piece of cloth to remove the smudge from their gel pens which messes up their answersheets. Many consumers say that products like Totem has more quality than its expensive counterparts. 

Brands like Totem virtually created a new segment of Rs 3 pens. Consumers ask for Rs 3 pens and many well known brands have started selling their products in this segment. The success of these products can be attributable to 

a) Value For Money

b) Utility

c) Better Performance

The Rs 3 category is now getting crowded with many brands entering the space. Totem has not invested in any brand building activities. Its playing the commodity game and soon can be outperformed by more established players. The company will be losing a big opportunity if its not able to capitalize on the current demand. Right now consumers are not asking for specific brand in this category and its a matter of concern for brands like Totem. Brands like Nataraj, Linc etc are capitalizing on their brand's awareness to make their way into this high volume category and for Totem, its losing an opportunity to build a brand .