Brand Update : Eveready

After a long period of silence, Eveready is back on the media space. The brand has launched a new campaign in 2009.The new campaign, known as The Red Light Painters in the ad world , is already making noise among the advertising community.

Watch the ad here : The Redlight Commercial

One of the welcome development with the new campaign is that Eveready has gone back to the famous classic tagline " Give Me Red". Earlier, Eveready has changed its iconic tagline to ' Kuch to hai extra".
The current campaign is for Eveready Ultima batteries.

Frankly speaking , I did not understand the new Eveready commercial. The commercial started with the message that it was made entirely from LED lights, torches and camcoders. And then there was a mouse and the Eveready cat ..... Finally the cat caught the mouse.. That is what I understood.

Today Afaqs carried a story on the new commercial. Read it here.

Only then I understood that there was a story behind the commercial. According to afaqs, the brand is targeting the 15-25 yr olds. May be I did not understood because I am not in the TG.

My feeling is that the new commercial does not tell anything to the consumers. There is no compelling story about Eveready and how the brand is different from its competitors.

The brand is going to face a critical survival issue in future. More and more products are now running on rechargable batteries. Except for clocks and torches, most products which used disposable batteries are now being used with rechargable batteries. For products like clocks, consumers are not too worried about the brand. They will choose any of the major players rather than be loyal.

So in such a scenario, Eveready should be chalking out a survival strategy. It is not about the brand but about the product category.
In my case as a consumer, let me give you the list of products that run on battery in my house : Three clocks
Two remotes
Two Torches

While the new age products like cameras, Ipods, Mobiles,laptops are using rechargable batteries that comes bundled with the product.
In such a scenario, the market for non-rechargable battery market will be limited to a certain households and certain products. There are chances that the entire category getting extinct in future .
I personally think that Eveready is suffering from marketing myopia. The brand has not forayed into mobile batteries or laptop batteries. India is a big market for mobile phones. And typically the batteries need to be replaced. But never seen the brand venturing into this market dominated by chinese makes.

Even in the rechargable segment , Eveready has not done anything to expand the market. These areas may drive the business in future. If the brand is focusing on urban market, without a presence in these segments, I doubt how the brand will survive focusing on the traditional non rechargable batteries.

How ever, I am glad that the " Give Me Red " is back .

Related Brand
Eveready

Brand Update : Fa

Fa has launched its range of deos for men branded Fa Xtreme. The brand has roped in the hollywood diva Bipasha Basu as the brand ambassador. The brand is running its first tvc across various channels.

Watch the TVC here : Fa Xtreme

Well.. Just like the brand Denver, Fa has also fallen into the stereotype trap. The theme is predictable and the execution is nothing but lousy.I wonder whether the creative and strategy guys of the agency had gone on a vacation entrusting this job to a school kid.

And the way Bipasha embrace the hunk looks as if she is acting in a Kamasutra movie..

Another issue is the core brand proposition of Fa. Fa is positioned on the platform of Freshness. It has the tagline " Feel Good Freshness ".

But look at the positioning of its line extension. Fa Xtreme is not complementing the core brand manthra of Fa . Instead it is moving in the direction of brands like Axe and Setwet . This is the main issue with extensions. If the extension is not in sync with the parent brand, there is bound to be brand dilution.

Fa could have used the same " freshness " platform for its men's range. No deo brand has taken the freshness platform ( except Cinthol ). Hence Fa Xtreme could have easily created a distinct place in the men's grooming category if it had followed its parent brand's positioning.

For a consumer (men) of deo, freshness is an important attribute. Guys use deos not just to seduce girls ( pun intended) but also to feel fresh . Most working guys slog in the field and deo is an absolute must for them to feel and look fresh.
It is a sad to see reputed agencies and brands failing to dig deep into consumer's mind and settling for mediocre insights and work.

Related Brand
Denver

Suzuki GS 150 : Drive Me Crazy

Brand : Suzuki GS 150
Company : Suzuki Motors
Agency :RK Swamy

Brand Analysis Count : 407

Suzuki Motors entered the two wheeler market in 1982 through a joint venture with TVS and launched their first two wheeler Ind Suzuki in 1984. Ind Suzuki was a success in the Indian market. After a rocky relationship, TVS and Suzuki parted ways in 2002.

Suzuki re-entered Indian market in 2006 with two brands Zeus and Heat . But both these brands failed to make a mark in the market.

2009 is witnessing another attempt by Suzuki to grab a pie of the two wheeler market. Suzuki recently launched a 150 cc motorcycle Suzuki GS 150. The 150 cc bike which is priced at around Rs 60000 is trying its luck in the highly competitive Executive bike segment.

As discussed in my other posts on automotive brands, the success of the brand is dependent heavily on product quality than anything else. Brands like Activa has proved that product performance is the best possible advertising.

How ever in the case of brands like Suzuki and Yamaha, brand promotion is of utmost importance because of the peculiar situations they are facing.

Suzuki is the market leader in four wheeler segment but it is surprising that the brand has failed miserably in replicating its success in the two wheeler market.
There are two reasons for this failure. The first reason is that Suzuki is not serious about their two wheeler business in India. The efforts of the company was half-hearted and the brand does not have a deep distribution channel .
Second is their selection of products for the Indian market. Suzuki is doing the same mistake which Yamaha earlier did - launching substandard products for mass markets. Yamaha learned from mistakes and came back with good powerful bikes. But Suzuki is adamant that it will learn only from its mistakes.

GS 150 is launched for the highly competitive executive segment aiming for the numbers. But I think it was not a good strategy for Suzuki to launch a product in that segment while making a come back.

Now look at the relaunch scenario. Suzuki motorcycles does not have any meaningful equity in the consumer's mind. Although Suzuki cars have excellent equity , there is no guarantee that consumers will feel the same in the two wheeler segment. The failure of its earlier models and the long absence from the industry has removed this brand from the consideration set of the potential consumers.

Consumers of executive segment are very pampered. The players in this segment invest heavily in product features aswellas branding. With Pulsar and Hero Honda leading the crowd, it is a very difficult market to crack.

So the chances of Suzuki making an impact in this segment looks bleak.

Having said that , a company like Suzuki can change the game by launching a product that Indian consumers has never seen before. Suzuki has the technological ability and money power to do that. A high profile product with a marketing blitzkrieg can make Suzuki a hot property...

But Alas.....

Look at the branding strategies of GS 150. The brand is currently running a television commercial in most channels.
Watch the Tvc here : Suzuki GS150
It is one of the boring commercials I have seen in recent times. A commercial which lacks both imagination and strategic intent. A girl getting aroused while pillion riding a bike is an idea which has been raped a million times.
The brand has the tagline " Drive me crazy " which is nothing but unimaginative. Frankly there is nothing much to speak about the campaign. No clarity in USP or differentiation.

What Suzuki needed was a powerful statement. A power bike which would showcase its capabilities to the consumers. Yamaha did the comeback with R 15 launch. More than the volume, R15 was aimed at rebuilding the Yamaha brand. Once consumers got the taste of Yamaha technology, mass models will reap the benefit.

Suzuki should have bought in their superbikes and should have unleashed a campaign revolving around these macho machines. Time should be spent on building the core Suzuki brand reminding Indian consumers about the capability and technological superiority of this brand.
But Suzuki went after the volumes thereby killing all scope of building a brand.

Consumer Insight : Customer Loyalty

This post is inspired by the article by Mr Prasad Sangemeshwaran in Brand Equity ( 09/09/09) titled "Goodbye Mr Loyalty". (Read it Here). I feel that the basic premise of the article is wrong.

The article starts with a very bold statement - " The Customer is Infidel" ( which is a nice attention grabbing technique). The author then went on to argue that the concept of customer loyalty is now a thing of past.

I feel that the author made an assumption that all marketers believe in customer loyalty. Customer Loyalty is a concept- an ideal state where the consumers keep coming back for your offering. Marketers know fully well that consumers will keep coming back for the offerings only if it satisfies the need continuously. Marketers are also aware that consumers are looking for new ways of fulfilling their desires.

The moment you think that consumers are permanently loyal to your brand, you are in a state of marketing myopia. Marketing myopia is a condition where marketers become too narrowly focused on the product rather than the consumer & his need. Why Nokia is highly successful in India is its constant endeavour to bring in new products in tune with the changing consumer needs. Even in the case of Nokia, it missed out the " touchscreen" mania and even the " smartphone" trend. Marketers today are more aware about the impact of disruptive innovations which can create havoc in the market. Successful brands today are focusing not only in meeting consumer needs but also in shaping those needs.

It is also wrong to say that in the past consumers were more loyal to brands. The choice before consumers in yesteryear's were very less forcing them to stick to certain brands. That is not an indication of loyal behavior.

Having said that, there are brands which are able to create not only brand loyals but also raving fans. Brands like Harley, Apple,Google,McDonalds, Disney etc are considered iconic because of its ability to create communities and fans. But even these brands needs to keep running very hard to keep those consumers from switching.

If Customer is the King, how can you expect him to be loyal ?

Brand Update : Horlicks

I was shocked to see an ad in todays newspaper announcing the launch of a noodles brand by Horlicks. I was wondering how can a company like GSK mess up a power brand like Horlicksby launching a totally unrelated extension ?

Horlicks has launched a new extension in the noodles category . The extension has the brand name Foodles and is endorsed by Horlicks. Foodles is positioned as a healthy noodles. The brand has launched two variants of noodles. - Regular and Multi-grain The main USP of Foodles is the " Health Maker" sachet which comes along with the noodles pack. The health maker sachet contains the essentials of 5 vitamins.

Frankly , this is one brand extension which I cannot understand.Theoretically Foodles by Horlicks cannot be termed as a brand extension. In this case Foodles is the main brand and Horlicks is the endorser brand. But for all practical purposes, Foodles is going to impact Horlicks just like any other brand extension.

Horlicks off late has been on a extension spree. It recently launched the Nutribar snack bar with an aim of transforming Horlicks in to an umbrella brand for launching health related food products.

My first contact with Foodles happened last week when my wife tried to trick me with Foodles instead of Maggi. I hated the taste of it and wondered whether Maggi changed the taste of its noodles again. It is only then my wife revealed that she tried to make me eat " healthy " noodles.


What can be the possible logic behind Horlicks trying its hand into launching a noodles brand ?

One reason or argument can be that Horlicks is only an endorser brand . Once the brand is accepted in the market, Foodles can remain as a standalone brand.

If that is the logic, then has the marketers thought about the brand equity dilution of parent brand? Horlicks in no way can be associated with noodles category. Noodles is perceived to be unhealthy , junk food and by associating with this category, Horlicks is definitely going to dilute its core positioning of a health drink.

Secondly, why should a multinational giant like GSK launch a brand with an endorsement from its power brand ? What is restricting the company from launching a new standalone brand ? Only reason seems to be the lack of confidence of the marketer or the search of a short cut to market acceptance.

Has the company thought of the impact of Horlicks if Foodles fail ? If Foodles succeed, does it add value to Horlicks brand or will it dilute the core proposition of a health drink ?
What is Horlicks now - a health drink for kids, health drink for adults, health drink for women, a snack brand, a biscuit brand and a noodles brand .... where is the connection.

Foodles is not going to revolutionize noodles market in India. All the noodles brands are now on the health plank and having a vitamin sachet is not going to do big things for Foodles.

Earlier, my students used to ask me about my favorite brand and I would tell them it is Horlicks because of the focus and smart marketing moves. Now I would say that Horlicks 'used' to be my favorite brand.

Brand Update : Can Ambassador be saved ?

Recently the good old Ambassador was in the news that the brand owners - Hindustan Motors is planning to relaunch /rejuvenate this heritage brand. Both the brand and company is in deep crisis with HM posting losses of Rs 43 crore last year and its networth declining by about 50%.

The company plans to relaunch the Amby in a new look and is planning to entrust a design house with the task. The report also suggest that the new Amby will have a retro- look and will be in the price range of Rs 5- Rs 7 Lakhs. The new Amby will be a niche product.

The interesting question is can this brand be saved with the new strategy ?

From the report about the new Amby launch, it will be tough for the brand to regain its lost glory if the brand is going for a niche variant. According to Economic Times, Ambassador sells around 600 units per month in a market of 2 lakh cars/month.

Ambassador is now in a rut which is its own creation. The brand is the classic example of marketing myopia. The company took the customers for granted and refused to change when the entire market changed. The brand did nothing when faced with competition from Tatas and Maruti. Instead of changing its core DNA, the brand relied upon cosmetic changes. When the brand needed a drastic revolutionary change, HM decided to get stuck with the old product.

The current strategy of a niche Amby is again a patch-up . This brand cannot survive on patch-up strategies. I don't think that the core brand Ambassador will revive with the launch of a niche high priced Ambassador. With the brand equity in shambles, how can the brand expect consumers to pay a premium for the new Amby variant ?

The high priced Marquee variant will work for iconic brand which are facing a decline. But Ambassador was not an icon. It was a market leader and consumers bought the car because they did not had a choice. Not because they were a die-hard Amby fan. Hence a high priced niche variant may not revive the sale of Ambassador.

Secondly HM as a company is now relying its future on Ambassador which again is a flawed strategy. A weak brand cannot save a weak company. And a niche variant will at best give some life support and not survival.

Another way to look at the current strategy is the transformation of Amby from a mass market car to a niche product. So instead of trying to sell large volume of Ambassador, the company hopes to sell high-end variant and hence generate more cash. In that perspective, the launch of a high priced Amby make sense. But the question is whether the brand has enough equity to support such a variant. Brands like Beetle and Enfield revived because these brands had strong equity existing in the market even after its previous life. The relaunch re-ignited the existing goodwill . But such a goodwill does not exist for Ambassador. Ambassador is known for its space and rugged nature .The product is also infamous for nagging problems and poor build quality. Still people bought because there was no choice. For such a product, the hope of renewal from a niche product seems too optimistic.

Having said that, Indian market has seen consumers embracing products with exceptional quality and/or utility. So if the new variant is exceptional, there are chances of getting accepted by the market.

Another interesting aspect of this issue is about the reliance of HM on Ambassador brand for its survival. Why didn't it think about an entirely new brand ? The trend in the Indian auto market is that multiple brands from different companies sporting the same engine. The engine becoming commoditized and design gaining prominence. In such a market why not come out with an entirely new brand with a proven engine ? Although building new brand is expensive compared to rejuvenation of old brand, in Amby's case, Ambassador comes with a lot of baggage and perceptions which is difficult to change.

If Ambassador wants to stay relevant as a brand, what it need is disruption. Disruption should happen both internally and externally. The brand should go for radical redesign and more importantly it should disrupt the market. The current price to value proposition of Ambassador is negative compared to the competitors like Indica . So if Amby wants to play the volume game, it needs to offer consumer something they cannot refuse. A diesel car below Rs 4 lakh can ignite interest in the brand but given the cost scenario, such a task is virtually impossible.

HM is again going for short-term strategy in pursuit of long-term results. For Amby, it seems to be the end of road .

Related Brand

Ambassador

Brand Update : Jazz Gets Reasonable

Finally common sense prevails over Honda Jazz. The brand is relaunched with a significant reduction in price marking the end of aggressive market posture by Honda. Honda have a terrific brand equity in the Indian market with its City being one of the most successful product which lead the premium sedan market in India. But with the aggressive product launches from Volkswagen, Toyota and others coupled with Honda's over confidence led to the situation where the brand was dislodged from its market leadership. This over - confidence has blinded the company from understanding the competitive landscape in the market which it operates. Even Honda is not immune to marketing myopia.

This attitude of aggression and over-confidence was evident in the company's attitude towards Jazz. Jazz was launched at a price of Rs 7-9 lakh INR and the attitude was Take It or Leave It. Indian consumers choose to leave the brand and sales floundered. But all through these years, the brand maintained its stance on not reducing its price and depending on the brand's strong image to lure customers towards expensive Jazz.

The sharp decline of the sales of Honda City  in 2011 was a wake up call for Honda. The company realized that a positive brand equity may not guarantee sales. The brand needs to make sense to the customer. It is a surprise that a reputed company like Honda was not able to understand the Psyche of Indian consumer . Honda also failed to see the changes that were happening in the Indian passenger car market. The entry of new players and the shift of consumer interest towards diesel paved the way for the Honda City's dethroning from the leadership position. These factors also made Jazz irrelevant in the Indian market. 

It is in this light that Honda decided to reposition Honda Jazz at the price point. The brand has reduced the price by almost 1.5 Lakh INR and Jazz is now available at price range of 5.5 Lakh to 6.5 Lakh INR . I think this price rationalization is too late too little for Jazz. The market is too negative for a premium priced petrol hatchback. Even at the current reduced price, Jazz is expensive compared to Toyota Liva and even Etios.

Having said that, the brand should be credited with an attempt to create the premium hatchback market in India but the timing was wrong and value proposition of Jazz was not good enough to justify the steep price.

Consumers may adore the brand but to make him purchase , the brand needs to make sense.

Related Brand

Honda Jazz