Slice : Aamsutra

Brand : Slice
Company : Pepsico
Agency : JWT

Brand Analysis Count : 388

Slice is the fruit drink brand from the Pepsi stable. Slice was launched in India in 1994. But even after 15 years, the brand has not been able to make a mark in the Indian market. The product was good, had the backing of world's best marketing company but could not become the market leader in the segment.

Slice was a neglected brand in Pepsi's portfolio. These Cola majors are too centered on their flagship cola brands that they fail to cash in on the opportunities for other brands. Indian consumers love mango drinks but Pepsi was too engrossed with Pepsi Cola that they forgot to put their resources behind this brand.

Slice was originally launched as a mango drink. But over time, the brand lost its focus and introduced many flavors. In 2002, Slice was launched in multiple flavors. This extensions cost the brand dearly. While the competitors Maaza and Frooti concentrated on the mango flavor, Slice tried to become an umbrella brand for all fruit based drink in the Pepsi's portfolio.

It could have become an umbrella brand had Pepsi invested in the brand. But the promotional investment behind the brand was never consistent.According to Afaqs, there was no ad support for the brand from 2002 to 2006. The brand went into obscurity during these period.

It was in 2006 that Pepsi began to seriously look at Slice. But by that time Maaza had established itself in the market along with the market leader Frooti.

Slice never had a proper consistent positioning. While Frooti and Maaza positioned itself on the Real Mango Flavor platform, Slice was a confused brand. In 2006, the brand took the positioning of a provider of simple joy platform. The tagline was " Simple Joy ka Raas " . But there also the brand did not catch the imagination of the consumer.

Slice was relaunched in 2008 in a new avataar. Atlast, Slice anchored itself as a mango drink. The brand launched a very smart campaign - Aamsutra .
The campaign was a real clutter breaker. The brand wanted to position itself on the basis of exprience or pleasure of having a mango drink. The brand took the attribute of Pleasure, Sensuality and Indulgence as the core brand attribute that delivers that Experience.

Slice also roped in the Bollywood Diva Katrina Kaif as the brand ambassador. The brand launched its first Aamsutra campaign during the summer of 2008

Watch the TVC here : Slice Aamsutra 1

I think that the Aamsutra campaign shook the brand from its inertia. There was lot of noise about the campaign and I think the brand sales also benefitted from the noise.
This summer of 2009 saw Slice launching the next edition of the Aamsutra campaign.

Watch the 2009 campaign here : Slice Aamsutra 2

The Slice story shows the power of the Big Idea. A brand will thrive when it gets that " Aha " or the " Wow" factor. Aamsutra is a definite WOW factor for this brand .

It is also interesting to see that this summer all the mango drinks marketer has chosen to target the younger generation ( 25 + ) rather than kids. Maaza in particular chose to put a much older character in their recent advertisement. Frooti also is now focusing on the youth. This may open the door for a brand to target specifically Kids while other brands fight it out for the younger gen.

Personally speaking , I liked the Aamsutra concept and also the way it was executed. The ad was able to completely use the brand ambassador's charm and looks . The only doubt is whether the brand is looking at a more mature audience rather than a younger segment.

Aamsutra as the name suggests has a very sensual connotation. The brand will be moving in a thin line between sensuality and sexuality. Too much sensuality makes the ads less veiwable while too less becomes a bore. But the current campaign effectively manages to deliver the right kind of message. It is also a significantly different positioning from its competitors hence manages to get and hold eyeballs. It will be interesting to see how Slice will be able to extend its new found formula.....

7 Up : Bheja Fry, 7 Up Try

Brand : 7 Up
Company : Pepsico
Agency : BBDO

Brand Analysis Count : 393

7 Up is a neglected brand. This brand despite being a Pepsico brand had failed miserably in the Indian market. Sadly it is not because of the product that the brand failed but because of the marketing mismanagement.

7 Up was launched in India in 1992. According to reports, it had a wonderful start becoming the largest selling brand in the category by 2002 . 7 Up is a lemon drink similar to Limca.

Seven Up globally is closely associated with its mascot Fido Dido. When launched in India, 7Up also bought in the famed mascot. Fido came to India in 1992 along with the brand but had a very erratic relationship with 7 Up.

Despite being in the Indian market close to 19 years, 7 Up was not a successful brand. The fault lies in the confused marketing strategy adopted by Pepsico with this brand. Pepsico is one of the world's best marketers. But when we look at individual brands like Mirinda and 7 Up, we see a confused product mix strategy from the company.

Pepsico never had a long term plan for 7 Up. When the brand was launched, the lemon flavored drink segment was perceived to be a small market with the market leader Limca ruling the market. But both Coca Cola and Pepsi was not interested in developing the category or the brand for a long time. Limca was killed by Coca Cola while Pepsi after the initial enthusiasm dropped investing in 7 Up.

The problem with 7 Up was two fold. First was the company's lack of interest in the brand and the category and second was the positioning confusion.

When launched, 7 Up was positioned as a cool drink. The brand used Fido Dido and certain imported commercial to position the brand as a cool drink for the youngsters. But the mascot and its international style failed to impress the audience. Every one liked Fido Dido but there was no connect with the mascot and the Indian audience. The company was in a dilemma because 7 Up had a strong association with Fido Dido but Fido Dido had a disconnect with the Indian audience.
This is a typical problem faced by those brands that import their foreign mascots to India . Pillsbury had a mascot Doughboy which is very famous in US but less popular in India . Fido Dido was a foreigner and hence the lack of connect was evident.The brand was really confused on how to use Fido Dido in the Indian market.

Fido Dido has an interesting background. The character was born in 1985 in a cafeteria napkin T he founders Susan Rose and Joanna Ferrone was in a discussion during which Susan Rose scribbled a figure in the napkin which later became Fido Dido. Fido became the brand ambassador for 7 Up in 1989. Another interesting fact is that Fido Dido trademark does not belong to Pepsi but belong to the founder Joanna. Hence the mascot is highly controlled by the owner and not the brand.

This lack of control has prevented Pepsi from Adapting Fido to Indian audience. It does not have the freedom to change the mascot's personality. This is an absolutely awkward situation for the brand where it had a wonderful mascot but could not change anything about the mascot.

Another factor that aided for the failure of 7 Up was the thinking among Pepsi marketers that taglines and positioning statements should not remain constant. So they keep on changing taglines and statements. One of the highly popular taglines for 7 Up was " Keep it Cool ". But the marketers at Pepsi wanted to change it for the sake of changing it. " Keep it Cool' was perhaps one of the apt and best tagline which could have lifted the brand to new hieghts had Pepsi invested in developing it.

Seven Up and Fido Dido had a short affair. In 1995 Pepsico globally stopped using Fido Dido and in India too the company stopped using the mascot. Later in 2003, the brand began using Fido Dido but again it was a half- hearted approach.

The investment of Pepsico in 7 Up was no where consistent. The brand tried some marketing gimmicks like launching a curvey bottle named 7 Up Curvey in 2006. The brand took the hot bollywood Diva Mallika Sherawat as the brand ambassador since she had those curvey look. There was an initial hype behind this launch but later it died a slow death. Beyond such stunts, there was no marketing thinking for this brand.

The brand also faced competition internally from Mountain Dew. Pepsico launched its iconic brand Mountain Dew and put lot of investment behind the brand. As a consumer I do not see any difference between Mountain Dew, Sprite and 7 Up. Limca was perceived a little different because it was cloudy. Pepsico was also confused on how to clearly differentiate Dew and 7 Up when consumers perceived both as similar.

The easiest way to end the confusion is to sideline the brand. 7 Up was thus sidelined for almost 8 years. In 2007-08, the company began to look into this brand. A new theme was prepared to take the brand away from Fido Dido and focus on another theme. The brand took the tagline " Bheja Fry, 7 Up try " which talked about the refreshing feeling of Seven Up . The campaign featured many Bheja Fry situations and how 7 Up can lift your spirits in those occasions.

This summer saw the extension of this theme. Pepsico realized that Lime Juice was the largest selling drink and most favorite flavor among Indians. So it started to pitch 7 Up as " The Lemon Drink " . The brand had the new tagline " Mood ko do Lemon ka Lift ".

In 2009, Pepsico launched another brand Nimbooz which is a drink having the original lemon juice taste. Nimbooz is launched as a brand endorsed by 7 Up.Nimbooz has been launched with the tagline " Ek Dum Asli Indian ". The brand is trying to compete with the ordinary lemon juice which is one of the favorite thirst quencher of Indian consumers. The question remains as to why a unsuccessful brand is used to endorse a new brand ?

The new launch is going to be further problematic for 7 Up. 7 Up has recently pitted for associating itself with Lemon Flavor. Now Nimbooz is saying that it is the original lemon drink. One is artifical and other is original .

What ever be the argument of the marketers, consumers seldom see the difference between a cloudy drink, a clear drink, artifical, flavored etc etc. These micro segmentation actually confuses consumers and force them to go for the simplest solution. Sprite became the largest selling beverage brand because it was simple for consumer to understand what that brand did.

Keep it Simple please.....

Brand Update : Lays

Lay's is on a repositioning mode again. The brand is currently running a new campaign with a new tagline " Be a little Dillogical ".

Dillogical is the new manthra for the brand. The newly coined term represents the logic of the heart ( I think So !). The new campaign with the new tagline how ever does not speak much about the new positioning.

Ever since the brand dropped its famous " No one can eat just one " tagline, Lays has never really caught the consumer's share of mind. None of the campaign with the tagline " Har Program Ka Main Food " really was as effective as the previous campaigns.

In my last post about this brand, I had criticized about the decision to change a famous tagline just for the sake of change . I think the brand never found its soul in the " program ka main food " tagline. This may have created the need for a new tagline.

I don't think that the Dillogical tagline is going to be any better than the last one. Pepsi is obsessed with Hinglish words , the recent one being Youngisthan.

In sheer share of voice and creativity, Bingo has clearly outsmarted Lays. The campaigns of Bingo has always been clutter- breaking and funny. Lays never was able to bring out a classy campaign after its repositioning.

Related Brand
Lays

Aliva : Thodi Sharafat, Thodi Shararat

Brand : Aliva

Company : Frito- Lay ( Pepsico Group)

Agency : JWT

Brand Analysis Count : 415

There is a new kid in the block in the Rs 10,000 crore snack food industry. Aliva is the latest launch from Pepsico in the intensely competitive Snack Food Industry. Every one in the branding world is excited about this launch since it is the major(food) brand launch from Pepsico since Kurkure.

Aliva comes in the category of Crackers. Cracker is a new category in the Indian market. The product is a combination of biscuit and Namkeen. Aliva ,if successful, will create a subsegment in the 1500 M ton Indian biscuit industry. According to news reports, the brand is trying to create a new category for itself just like what Kurkure did.Aliva comes in four flavors and is priced at Rs 12 for 60 gms ( introductory offer).

Since Aliva is trying to create a new category, it does not face any immediate brand competition . It faces competition from other categories of snacks . Aliva faces competition from the non-glucose biscuit brands like Britannia 50-50 and Parle Monaco and Sunfeast Snacky. ( read report here). Lays and Bingo also gives this brand a competition since all these brands are in the snack food business.

Aliva has roped in the actress Chitrangda Singh as the brand ambassador . Aliva is currently running its launch TVC across various channels

Watch the TVC here : Aliva

Just like Lays and Bingo, Aliva targets predominately youth and adults . The brand is being positioned as a healthy snack. The brand has adopted the tagline " Thodi Sharafat, Thodi Shararat " roughly translated to " Little Nice, Little Naughty ".

There has been various reactions to the launch ad. Read Afaqs review here and a view of ad man here

Frankly speaking, I think that the launch ad is nothing great to talk about. The theme is not new and there is no big idea. Britannia Bourbon is currently running a campaign similar to Aliva.

The brand could have come out with some clutter breaking stuff but chose to go for a lousy also-ran commercial.The tagline is also nothing to talk about compared to Lay's earlier campaign " No one can eat just one " or Bingo 's " No confusion, Great Combination". The launch ad also does not highlight the core positioning of a healthy snack. There was too much focus on the plot rather than the brand.

Having said that, the high profile media blitz will generate lot of trials.My 5 year old daughter has already demanded one. If the product delivers, then Aliva will just have to ride the wave. Lays became such a blockbuster product because the product delivered.

Aliva is a launch from a very powerful marketer . Hence the brand has a huge support base . It will be interesting to see how Aliva will make a space for itself.

Related Brand
Lays
Bingo

Brand Update : Quaker Oats

I am a big fan of the concept of brands taking up cause marketing. Although academic research has two opinions about the impact of such cause based promotions, I strongly believe that brands will benefit positively if it can align with a worthy cause.

Recently Quaker Oats launched a new campaign " Make India heart healthy". The brand is trying to promote the cause of healthy heart. The brand has taken up the mission of spreading awareness about the risk of heart diseases and educate the public about healthy living. The campaign is being launched in association with Appolo Hospitals and Times of India.

The brand also launched a portal Goodmorningheart.com where individuals can do an online heart check. Once the person entered the details, he will receive customized diet plans and also his risk profile.

Quaker Oats needs to be lauded for taking up such an initiative. In this fast world where health is compromised for materialistic pursuits, some one needs to take the initiative to educate the public.

For a cause based brand promotion to work, brands need to focus on certain basic requirements.

a. There has to be a worthy cause

b. The cause should be related to the broad solution that the brand offers.

c. The brand should be consistent in supporting the cause.

d.The initiative should be long term.

Quaker has taken an initiative which is worthy and also aligns with the brand's core promise. Quaker is a healthy food and hence it makes sense for the brand to take up the cause of a healthy heart.

Time will only tell whether the brand's initiative is going to be consistent and long term. Currently the brand is spending its energy on awareness building. We have to see whether the brand will further the cause to next level.

Related Brand

Quaker Oats

Hippo : Fights Hunger

Brand : Hippo

Company : Parle Agro

Ad Agency : Creativeland Asia

Brand Analysis Count # 446

Another brand has entered into the highly competitive snack- food market. The brand Hippo was nationally launched recently by Parle Agro. The Indian branded snack-food market is worth Rs 6500 crore has now become a battle ground of titans.

Indian snack-food market growing at 25% p.a is witnessing marketing fight worth watching. The players are trying every tricks of the trade. This intense marketing competition has expanded the market and also created new segments. One such new segment is the healthy snack segment.

Marketers were aware of the gradual trend among consumers towards healthy foods. Although this trend is limited to certain sections of society, marketers are calculating that healthy snack-foods will become a mainstay category in the snack-food market. Infact Ms Indra Nooyi of Pepsico had openly stated her vision of Pepsico leading the healthy food movement.

The healthy snack segment in the Indian Snack market has got a big boost in recent times with the launch of Aliva brand by Pepsico and Monaco Smart Chips by Parle. Earlier, Lays tried its hand by launching a low-calorie version to counter Bingo's claim of 'baked not fried 'proposition. The high profile campaign of Monaco Smart Chips featuring Aamir Khan put the spotlight on the healthy angle of snacks.

Hippo calls itself " Delicious Baked Munchies ". This baked wheat based munchy is neither a potato chips nor a biscuit, but something in between ( source Business India). The munchies are available in Pizza flavor,Chinese Manchurian, Hot N Sweet, Thai Chilly , Yoghurt Mint Chutney and Indian Chatpatta. The brand is priced at Rs 10 per pack.

Hippo is currently running its launch campaign across channels.

Watch the ad here : Hippo

Hippo has tried to position itself differently from the rest of the brands. While the other snack brands have positioned itself on product properties, Hippo brand tried to take the generic need platform.

For example :
Lays is positioned as a convenient snack,

Bingo on the different tastes,

Aliva also on health + taste

Monaco Smart Chips on health ( baked ).

Hippo is being positioned as a hunger- killer. The brand wants to be a guilt-free snack for hunger moments. The brand is banking on two properties - made from wheat and free of MSG & GMO to prove its healthy snack claim.

The brand also chose a different way to communicating its positioning to the consumer . The brand is trying to tell a story. The story is based on the premise that ' Hunger is the root cause of all evil. So the brand motto is ' fight hunger, fight evil'. The brand has adopted the mascot Hippo who is in the forefront of eliminating hunger and thus eliminating evil. Hippo has the tagline " Hippo Fights Hunger ".

Although the brand has tried to tell a story and successfully created an initial hype, I have serious reservations about the differentiation of the brand. The brand has taken the " Hunger" platform, but how is it different from other snack-foods that offer same qualities ? How is Hippo different from a Bingo or Monaco Smart Chips ? .

I feel a lack of uniqueness in the brand. The problem of lack of differentiation will come into forefront when the initial consumer interest dies down. Without a clear USP, the brand needs to constantly stay on top of the Share of Noise to drive the sales. If you observe the campaigns of Parle Agro brands, the company adopts a " On/Off " kind of advertising strategy. Sometimes there are lot of ads, and sometimes, there is no sign of any brand communication. In a category like Snacks such intermittent burst of ads may not work. One needs to have a steady continuous stream of campaigns ( ATL and BTL) to drive the sales.

From the first campaign, I don't see any attempt from the brand to create a differentiation. What the brand had tried to do was to establish brand familiarity which it had done successfully. But the brand needs to find a meaningful differentiation if it wants to survive for the long term. The brand can develop its positioning further using its core brand promise of " Guilt-free snack for hunger moments ".

One of the most striking aspect about this brand is the packaging. The company has put in lot of work behind making the packaging stand out in stores. Since the purchase of snacks are highly spontaneous, the packaging offers immense strategic importance. Hippo has really differentiated itself from the rest of the crowd in the packaging front.

Another aspect of the brand is its emphasis on ' After-Marketing". After- Marketing is what the brand does after it has sold itself to the consumer. Like Appy Fizz, Hippo has cleverly used the packaging to engage the consumers after the purchase. The pack contains interesting information and one-liners which takes the brand-consumer conversations beyond advertising .

As a new product launch, Hippo has done all the right marketing moves. The brand has a catchy name , good product qualities, excellent packaging, nice pricing, distribution reach etc. It has also created right kind of noise in the media during the launch. The real test is after the initial euphoria. The brand is fighting players with deep pockets. It will be interesting to watch how Hippo takes on the giants.

Related Brands
Lays
Aliva
Bingo
Appyfizz

Brand Update : Slice

This season, Slice has come out with another campaign further reinforcing the highly successful positioning of ' Pure Mango Pleasure '. Slice has found a perfect match in the brand ambassador Katrina Kaif and the ad agency has extracted maximum from the celebrity.

Watch the ad here : Slice

I am not a spoil sport but when the celebrity and the brand gel too much the inevitable question arises as to " What Next". When I raised this question in one of the forums, lot of my ex-students asked me this very important question " Why should you ask What Next ?" . If things are working perfectly fine, why be a cynic ? There will be many other celebrities who will be taking place of Katrina . Frankly I did not have answers for that .

When we look at branding as a long term strategy, it is important to look at all brand associations on a long term perspective. Slice had hit upon a terrific idea of " Pure mango pleasure " and Aamsutra concept. The brand also found a perfect match in Katrina Kaif. There is an intense chemistry between the positioning concept and the celebrity now. It reminds me of the Accenture - Tiger Woods relationship.Accenture consciously built that singular pivotal association with Tiger Woods that landed up in trouble. Now Accenture had to break the earlier association built over a number of years and getting some equally good creative campaign for the brand is not going to be easy.

The lesson is that brands must have a plan to take the concept forward independently. I assume that marketers at Pepsi may have thought about it. Marketers should feel jittery when there is too much association with any celebrity for that matter. Be it Akshay Kumar for Thums Up or Katrina for Slice.

For now, Slice is on a roll. Insiders say that the brand has grown more than 300% in Kerala alone in the last quarter.
Great Going

Related Post
Slice

Fryums : Eat Smart

Brand : Fryums

Company : TTK

Brand Analysis Count : 466

Fryums is a very interesting brand. Infact how many of us know that it is a brand ? Recently when two of my students visited my home, my wife served them a bowl of Fryums which invoked a sense of nostalgia and we discussed about this Indian snack which failed to fight the invasion of Lays.

Fryums was launched by TTK in 1990. This ready-to-cook Indian snack quickly gained popularity in the Indian market . The brand became so popular that soon consumers began to use the brand name as the generic name for such snacks.

Sometimes too much popularity can be bad for the brand. When brand names become generic, marketers should worry because there is a chance that they will lose the brand. The same happened with Fryums. Consumers started to refer to Fryums as a generic name for all such ready-to-fry snacks. Soon competitors also started using the term Fryums in their packs.

When consumers started using Fryums as generic name, retailers too made use of that opportunity to push the similar product that offered better margins. Soon Fryums became more of a commodity than a differentiated , protected brand.

Along with this unique problem came the competition from Lays. Fryums was not able to counter the competition from Lays. Lays were more up-market, aspirational, convenience and had more perceived quality than Fryums. The fact that one needs to fry this product in oil before use also made it less appealing to the younger generation .

From a generic brand , Fryums fell into oblivion. The brand soon went off the shelves or became one among the many " Fryums " at the stores. The company also was clueless about the future of this ' famous' brand.

However in 2000-2001, the brand went in for a makeover. Fryums was rebranded as Fryums Yummies and the brand had a new logo and even a mascot. In the new avataar, TTK tried to rev up the brand's fortune by launching it in new flavors and also in new product forms. But even this rebranding did not work in the favor of Fryums. The problem was that the brand did not have enough steam to fight the competitors.

Fryums 's issues highlight the need for marketers to fiercely protect their brands from becoming generic. The brand should pursue and protect itself from being used as a verb or as a category identifier. Once the brand become generic, there are chances that legally it cannot be protected by the owners. This fate happened with the likes of Aspirin.

There is future ahead for Fryums. The brand needs to reinvent itself and position itself as a healthy alternative to existing snackfoods. The brand is cholesterol free and contains no MSG or trans fats. The new flavors + new brand campaign can raise the interest about this Indian snackfood in the market.

Brand Update : 7 Up gets into Anger Management

After a long period of neglect, Pepsi has given some life to its sparkling lime brand 7UP. Ever since the spectacular brand launch in 1992, the brand went down in its share of mind and the market share. Pepsi is to blame for not nurturing the brand enough. The space left vacant by 7 Up was successfully taken by Sprite and Pepsi still is confused between Mountain Dew and 7 Up.

Now after almost 3 years, some decent marketing campaign has been launched for this brand. The last campaign was in 2009 for the launch of 7 Up Nimbooz which further diluted the existence of the parent 7 UP brand.

For the summer of 2011, 7 Up has roped in the Bollywood star Sharman Joshi as the brand ambassador. The brand is currently running a series of TVC featuring Sharman.

Watch the ad here : 7 Up Truck 

Along with the new celebrity comes the new positioning platform. The brand has taken up the role of Anger Management Expert. The new ad puts 7 Up as the best way to chill the anger. The ad can be seen as a continuation of the earlier positioning of " Bheja Fry , 7 Up Try".

One of the grave problem that this brand faces is its positioning. The brand has never been able to find a right positioning for itself  in the Indian market. Although it came first, it had to play second fiddle to Mountain Dew and Pepsi was confused about the position of 7 Up  in the brand portfolio. This confusion enabled Sprite to become the third largest soft drink brand in the country.

The new ad and the positioning of Anger Manager is not going to do anything better for 7 Up . The ads are quite catchy and Sharman offers some amount of  " cool factor " . The brand has the new tagline " Chill Machao " . Again the tagline is skewed towards the Hindi speaking consumers and I cannot find a better English translation for that. Anyways the brand talks about keeping cool.. 

The new campaign and the celebrity will raise the share of mind for the brand. 7 Up still have strong awareness in the market. Fido Dido is still alive in the mind of the consumers and in this era of ZooZoos, Fido could have done wonders to the brand if it made a comeback now.

In my personal opinion,7 Up still has not found a right positioning but has come close. By explicitly focusing on Anger, the brand lost a chance to position itself as a " Keep it Cool " positioning . The brand should have taken a broader platform than just Anger . Anger is just one of those instances where one loses cool.   Hopefully the follow up commercials may take the brand to a much broader positioning platform than just anger management. 

Related Brand 

7 Up

Brand Update : 7UP Wants You to Feel UP

Certain brands change its taglines at the drop of a hat. 7Up, the lemon flavored softdrink brand from Pepsico is one such brand. The brand which re-energized the lemon flavored softdrink market in India after the demise of Limca is in a way struggling to find a sustainable positioning.

The brand which was launched in 1990 quickly gained traction in the Indian market largely due to the branding exercise centered around the mascot Fido Dido. The brand , for some reason or the other, decided to drop the famous mascot and began to concentrate on the " lemon " factor. The brand then adopted the tagline " The lemon drink'.
Later the brand decided to focus on the brand benifit - refreshing taste and adopted the tagline " Mood ko do lemon ka lift ". Then yet again in 2010, the brand went into anger management mode using the  tagline " Bheja Fry, 7Up Try " . In 2011, the brand roped in bollywood actor Sharman Joshi as brand ambassador and  adopted the positioning strategy centered around the coolness factor . The brand had the tagline  which was then changed to " chill machao " .

The brand couldn't find a tagline which really worked or established a sustainable positioning platform . One saving grace is that the brand however kept revolving around the coolness factor in these brand communications.

This summer , 7Up again changed its positioning and had a rebranding exercise whereby the logo has been changed to reflect the brand's international persona. Along with the new brand logo, 7UP is also running its 2012 summer campaign.

The new campaign is around the theme of "optimism" or upliftment.. The brand uses the " UP" term in the brand name to further reinforce the current positioning of optimism

Watch the new campaign : Sharman Joshi ( 7UP)

The brand has adopted yet another new tagline . The new tagline is " Dil BoleI Feel UP " . The positioning theme is that the brand lifts your optimism ( mood). The new ad features Sharman Joshi shaking a leg with a penguin. Other than that , there is not much wow in the new campaign. Another interesting fact is that 7UP decided to bring its Nimbooz brand also in the current campaign thus saving on the cost.

According to a report in ET, lemon flavored drinks were growing at 16-17% in the last year making it the fastest growing category in Rs 10,500 crore Indian softdrinks market. This season is expected to witness lot of action in this segment.

7UP in my opinion is struggling to find its positioning. Frequent changes in the slogan and advertising theme reflects this confusion. That confusion is not good for the brand in long-term. How ever practitioners argue on this citing freshness and rising sales . But to create a sustainable brand equity ,consistency in the positioning theme is a must. Otherwise the sales of the brand depends purely on the promotional spend and every year the brand needs to reinvent the wheel. Globally, the brand has the slogan " Be Yourself, Be Refreshing " is a wonderful positioning platform. But 7UP however chose to ignore it and the eternal search continues.,

Related brand

Brand Update : 7 UP Anger Management

Brand Analysis : 7 UP

Brand Update : Lays Wants to Make Your Moment Magical

This year, Pepsico has brought about another positioning change in its most successful snack brand- Lays. The brand  never really found a sustainable positioning platform ever since it ditched its " No One Can Eat Just One " tagline. The last tagline of the brand was " Be Dillogical " which was introduced in 2009. So for around two years, the brand managers tolerated the positioning. 

This year, the brand decided to experiment yet again with the tagline , bringing in the new one -  "Pal Banaye Magical " meaning " Making Moments Magical ". The brand is running the new campaign featuring the brand ambassador Saif Ali Khan.

Watch the ad here : Lays Pal Banaye Magical

The ad follows the usual theme of group of friends or protogonist ( disappointed because of  cancellation of some event, boredom, etc)  and how brands liven their moments. The idea ( theme) is not at all new and has been used by brands across the world. Recently Titan Raaga used similar theme using Katrina Kaif , Tic Tac also used similar theme and Nano has used somewhat similar idea for their new positioning effort. The expectation of something different was not met by Lays in the current campaign.

Regarding the tagline " Pal Banaye Magical " sounds good and the creatives can work on this theme with a variety of stories. But I would say that it never comes anyway near to the brand's original tagline.And these frequent changes in the positioning doesn't augur well for the brand's overall strength. 

The brand which started its journey by positioning on taste later moved on to occasion based positioning ( har program ka main food) then moved to a higher attribute like Dillogical and then finally to celebrate friendship and togetherness. How ever in the execution front, the brand was not able to bring in any magic to these concepts.

On the other marketing practices, Lays innovated on its range of flavors using customer co-creation. Through a nationwide campaign , the brand solicited ideas of new flavors from the consumers and was able to create lot of buzz in the market. This move also gave the brand lot of innovative flavors to work upon, engage with the customers and also strengthen one of its core attributes - taste and flavors. The move was the blunt or in other words establish points-of-parity with its competitor - Bingo. ITC's Bingo was highlighting its " variety of flavors "  as its USP. Through the co-creation campaign, Lays was able to convince the customers that it is able to innovate on flavors too.

Related Brand

Lays : No one can eat just one

Brand Update : Lays Dillogical

Brand Update : Slice ditches Aamsutra under competitive pressure

The summer of 2013 is witnessing a mega war in the mango drink segment. With Frooti launching their campaign with SRK, Maaza roping in Imran Khan, Slice is facing the heat. The brand has responded with a taste-challenge in their new campaign featuring the celebrity Katrina Kaif.

Watch the campaign - Slice 2013

The new campaign has ditched the earlier positioning of Aamsutra and has gone retro with the blind taste test - literary !. The ad shows Katrina along with the competing brand's model taking a hunk in to the middle of the forest ( why ??) , blind-folded him and perform the taste-test. I didn't knew that Katrina was a market-researcher. The ad finishes with a heavy Hindi tagline " Iske Saamne Sab Pheeka Padh Jayega " which a South Indian like me find it hard to decipher. 

From the ad, I understand that Slice is particularly worried about Maaza rather than Frooti. My assumption is based on the visual showing bottle similar to Maaza in the new Slice TVC.

Maaza and Slice are both positioned based on the " real mango taste". Here through the new campaign Slice is desperately trying to convince the customer that it tastes better than the competitor. How ever, while Slice is telling that it tastes better than competitor, Maaza says it is having the real mango taste. So Slice has made a strategic error in the message. "Real taste of mango " is a powerful positioning than " tastes better than the competitor". So by ditching the Aamsutra, Slice has conceded a valuable space to its competitor especially Maaza. 

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Slice

Brand Update : 7 Up , I feel Down !

7 Up's 2013 commercial is undoubtedly the worst campaign I have seen in the recent times. Especially the ad featuring Kathakali - which is a very revered art-form of my state Kerala.

This feeling has been shared by many of my friends who felt that the art-form was cheaply depicted in the advertisement. Ofcourse the creatives who did the ads have every right to do their stuff but it should make some marketing sense . I felt bad not because of any soft-corner for the artform but the ad makes no sense at all. 

Watch the ad here : 7 Up Kathakali

                              7 Up Japanese Ad

The brand has been losing its charm these years and is struggling for finding a meaningful mindspace. The last campaign was featuring the bollywood actor Sharman Joshi . The brand is right now having the tagline : 7 Up : I feel up.

The current campaign is plain amusing than anything else. Both the Kathakali and Japanese ad does not convey what the brands aims to communicate. Its sad that a brand like 7 Up can stoop to such a creative low when competition is too hot.