New launch:Cadbury Bubbaloo

Brand name: Bubbaloo
Company: Cadburys
Price: Rs 1
Flavours: Strawberry and mixed fruit
Category: Bubble Gum market
Category Size: Rs 180 Crore
Category leaders: Boomer (Wrigley’s) and Big Babol (Perfetti)

Cadbury intends to differentiate the brand ‘Bubbaloo’ with a liquid centre and targeting wider audience with existing pre teenage segment. Cadbury is introducing ‘Bubbaloo’ a brand from Adam’s business worldwide, which Cadburys acquired it in 2004. The company plans to use its existing distribution network to launch ‘Bubbaloo’ across the country.
Strategy for Growth: Bubbaloo will involve in a multi-media marketing campaign to connect with the target consumers. The 360 degree marketing communication will be anchored by ‘Bubba the cat’ the worldwide mascot for Bubbaloo
Cadburys plans to acquire confectionary companies in India as a part of its strategic development.

source: financial express

Parachute oil

Marico industries in one of the largest FMCG company in India, offering a customized brands, catering to the needs of the target audience. Marico also has a very strong nation wide network, which makes the brands available for the customers. Ultimately, for a FMCG company ‘distribution’ is the core focus area. Marico is well known for its brand, Parachute coconut oil. Parachute is one among India 's Top 100 Most Trusted Brands and is the world's largest packaged Coconut Oil Brand.

Brand name: Parachute
Positioning: As a purity brand.
Target Audience: The primary target audience of ‘Parachute’ is women of all ages in both urban and rural population of India.
Pioneering idea: Parachute pioneered the idea of selling the coconut oil in plastic.
Communication: Mass communication on the platform of ‘caring’ with mother daughter theme.

Innovation strategy:
Marico followed innovation as a major strategy in building Parachute brand. The following are some example.
20 ml Parachute - a Rs 5 SKU that enables loose oil users to upgrade to Parachute.


Flip Top Cap for Parachute bottles to enhance the safety and protect the purity of Parachute

Parachute Mini - a bottle shaped small pack being sold at an MRP of Re. 1

Easy Jar of Parachute to facilitate usage especially during winters


The strategy followed by the company and the quality of the product offers a customized product in all seasons, to grab the price conscious customers and to provide value for money.

Other extensions are:
Brand name: Parachute Advanced refined hair oil and Parachute Jasmine
Target audience: Young and appearance conscious consumer.
Positioning: Focuses upon the fragrance aspect of the oil.

Brand name: Parachute After shower Hair Cream
Target audience: Young men (SEC A, B)
Positioning: Focuses upon stylish look, non sticky and nourishing aspect.

Brand name: Parachute Sampoorna
Target audience: Women customers
Positioning: Focus on providing strong hair.

Brand name: Parachute Natural shampoo
Positioning: On the platform of ‘Naturals’ which makes hair healthier.

Branding strategies: Chik shampoo

When Cavin Kare launched Chik shampoo in the market, there was a severe competition in the market. For a company, the so called “retailer” is the primary customer and obviously the problem of margin arises. A study revealed that customers are purchasing velvette shampoo repeatedly, since they are the pioneers in introducing shampoo in sachets and the customers are not brand conscious. Hence Cavin Kare decided to enter into the competition to give quality products and create an awareness about the brand “chik” among the target audience. In 2003, Chik Shampoo was declared the winner of the best performing brand in 2003 by AAAI, amongst the top ten brands in household availability.

Target Audience: Girls and women of rural and semi urban population of India

Flavours: Chik Black, Chik Jasmine, Chik Egg, Chik cool, Chik anti dandruff

Branding strategies:
Cavin Kare decided to give away one sachet of Chik Shampoo free for 5 empty sachets of any shampoo brand and further extending this strategy in the next stage it restricted the free shampoo exchange only for empty sachets of Chik.

Retailers too got benefited from the idea. Apart from the service charges Cavin kare also gave retailers a Chik Sachet free for every 15 empty sachets they get from the consumer.
Cavin Kare also kept the prices of the brand higher than the rest of the shampoos in the market, to maintain profits.
They advertised more often and hired well qualified professionals to compete with the MNCs.
The iconic Chik Girl in every Chik Shampoo commercial showcased the possibility of soft and manageable hair for the customers.
Source: www.cavinkare.com
related post cavin kare

Branding strategies: Cavin Kare

Cavin Kare was established in the year 1983, with an investment of Rs 15000. The company was started with a single product by an innovative entrepreneur C. K Ranganathan. In the initial period, the company was named as Chik India Ltd and it was renamed as CavinKare Pvt. Ltd (CKPL) in 1998. The reason behind the name is, Cavin means beauty in tamil and ‘care’ is spelt as Kare. The name is also a special one as it denotes the initials C and K of Mr. Ranganathan. The company offers quality Personal care (hair care, skin care, home care) and Food products. CavinKare has touched a turnover of over Rs 5000 million in 2006-2007. The Company has employee strength of 576 and has a network of 1300 Stockists catering to about 25 lakh outlets nationally.

Strategies used:
The main strategy of Cavin Kare is to strengthen the distribution and marketing. The company made its brand available to the customer through out the country. Continuous concentration upon Research and Development is an added advantage to the company which has dedicated staffs. Their main job is to understand the needs of the target audience and to bring more innovative products

Innovative marketing strategy used for Chik Shampoo:

“During 1999, the penetration level of Chik Shampoo was not aggressive. Hence the company went back to the consumer to understand their basic needs that would help Cvai Kare to drive the sales growth and gain good market share in the shampoo market. Cavin Kare also discovered that soap usage was the biggest barrier and people did not see the need for using Shampoo. As part of the consumer study, the company tried to convey the message to the consumer that soap usage was bad for the hair and when a product exists specifically for hair it should be used. The consumers responded by stating that their fathers and grandfathers have used only soap and their hair continued to maintain good health. So the argument that Soap was harmful did not bear merit to them. However they did agree that Shampoo usage gave soft and silky hair. However their perceived value on hair wash was very less and they did not want to spend more out of their pockets to buy Shampoo. The study also revealed that though the aspiration to use shampoo was there, the need to spend more did not appeal. To arrive at a solution for this situation, Cavin Kare introduced the 50 Paise shampoo sachet, which easily satisfied a single wash. It was a calculated risk took, since the existing volumes of 1 rupee shampoo sachets was also in the market but when sales started picking up for the 50 paise shampoo, the 1 Rupee Shampoo also picked up pace once the consumer started making a habit of using Chik shampoo and Cavin Kare gained a good margin.

Another situation where innovation was required was the economy value consumers saw between using shampoo sachets and shampoo bottles. 65-70% of the shampoo sold in India is through sachets and only 30% is through bottles. Sachet sells more due to the phenomenal value it offers to the consumer.
As explained by Mr. C.K Ranganathan…..
“Let us assume 7ml of Shampoo in a Sachet is sold at Rs.2 and a 100 ml bottle of the same brand of Shampoo is sold at Rs.55. When a consumer buys 14 Sachets and stores them in a bottle, it would make 98 ml. The consumer would invest about Rs.28, which is roughly half the price as that of the bottle. Sachet thus offers high level of economy and also every use is measured. So to offer the consumer value for money we came up with the concept that bottles will be cheaper than the sachets. We had to be innovative and economize on the cost of bottle, packaging and other things and came out with a 50 ml bottle of Chik for Rs.6 with 2ml more in the bottle when costs are compared. This move resulted in a huge volume of sales and helped the growth of Chik from 5% market share to the current value of 21%. So this exercise revealed to us that the consumer would buy a product if he sees enough value for money.”

Source: www.cavinkare.com , www.exchange4media.com

Branding strategies: Pothys

Pothys is one of the leading textile shops in Tamil Nadu, specialized in all types of cloths, having many showrooms across the state. Pothys” was established 90 years back by K.V.Pothy Moopanar under the name “ Pothy Moopanar” to sell Cotton Sarees, Dhoties and Towels woven in his own loom. In the year 1977, the showroom was rechristened as “Pothys”. Pothys has opened the largest showroom in Panagal Park, Chennai in the year 1999.This six storeyed showroom with its majestic ambiences and gleaming marble and imposing atrium is popularly known as an “Aalayam” for Silks(Temple of silks).

Branding strategy:

The strategy of Pothys is, its presence in all the categories and price ranges. It mainly focuses to give affordable price for its customers. Even though, high income and low income groups can find their requirements in the shop, middle income group people are their main target customers.

The show room offers quality at an affordable price for value conscious customers.

Marketing strategy:

Urban Palace: In order to provide better ambience and a different experience for the customers, Pothys in Chennai has been converted into a palace for its shoppers. The ground floor has the scene of a king's durbar, where ministers and courtiers discuss various issues. Here, children queue up to take photographs with the majestic king.

Next time when you are visiting Chennai, don’t miss the aalayam of silks. Indisputably you will get an exciting experience.

Branding strategies: Rasna

The brand Rasna is owned by Pioma industries, that introduced the concept of soft drink concentrates (SDC), a segment that had been created and nurtured by the company in the Indian beverages market. During the introduction period the company launched it under the brans name, jaffe and it marketed with the help of voltas. Then it changed its name to Rasna in the year 1979. It was the first brand in the country that provided consumers real fruit-like flavor and taste

Strategies:

Rasna’s extremely popular advertisements with the tagline, ‘I love you Rasna,’ had become an integral part of the Indian advertising.
The company also had a efficient sales and distribution network across the country so that the product is available for the target audience. It also employed extra sales force during summer season to match the demand.
The company emphasizing to increase the number of segments to make Rasna products more affordable to larger various sections of society and extended its strategy of Rasna being a mass drink to its global markets.
The company focused on multi-media advertising and promotion, wherein an effective marketing strategy was adopted to communicate the brand message, using the different media such as TV, radio and print. Mudra Communications, a leading advertising agency, undertook the advertising and promotional activities.
Product lines were categorized into two brands Rasna Utsav, an improvement over Rasna SDC, targeted the lower income group in rural markets and Rozana, a mix and serve powdered drink (no need to add sugar) targeted the convenience seeking semi-urban and urban consumers.
A new ‘leaf’ symbol was added to the Rasna brand name, to get the new distinct identity and to increase brand awareness in the rural market.

Branding strategies: Cadbury Bourn vita 5 star

Cadburys Bourn vita was launched in the year 1948 that continuously reinventing itself till date in terms of product, packages, promotion and distribution. The communication of the brand also changes according to the changing customers and their preferences. During 1970s, "Goodness that grows with you" was the campaign which focused upon “good upbringing”. In 1980s, "Brought up right, Bournvita bright" campaign was used. During 1990s all the brands in the category, concentrated upon physical benefits, whereas Bourn vita focuses upon both physical and mental benefits. 'Real Achievers who have grown up on Bourn vita' was one of the successful campaign.

Branding Strategy:

As a consumer of the product, children will be expecting more taste and as a customer, mothers will give importance to the nourishment. In order to fulfill the desires, Cadburys had found a new way of branding strategy. The idea is combining the two most powerful brands of the company, five star and Bourn vita. This will further enhance the strength of both the brands, in terms of taste and energy. These two brands will be grabbing a distinct place in the mind of the customers. This new variant of Bourn vita 5 Star is positioned as a unique magical treat that offers the goodness of malt food drink and exciting caramelized taste. This is one of the new marketing strategies used to boost the presence of brand.
Dairy milk is also a good brand from Cadburys. Then why they didn’t use that brand. They would have associated dairy milk, like “Bourn vita dairy milk” by saying enrichment of the milk. By doing this, they would have got triple advantage, the brand value of two brands and the milk shakti. I think 5 star brand name is more catchier, so they decided to do so. Do you know any other brands did like this before….?

Gold winner sunflower oil: G for H

Gold Winner Sunflower Oil was launched by Kaleesuwari Refinery Pvt. Ltd. in 1995. The main strategy of the company is to provide quality, healthy sunflower oil at competitive pricing. Gold winner has 29 % market share in India and 72 % market share in Tamil Nadu

Strategy used:
The company involves in tease and reveals campaigns.The first one is G for H – Gold winner for health. It is also suggesting ways to improve the existing process and product characteristics and also develop new products that can be positioned on the health platform.
It has also signed an MoU with a leading U.S. Consultant Robert M. Pierce, Fats & Oils Refining Consultant, to add value to the Gold Winner sunflower oil brand.
The marketing strategy for the domestic market is mainly concerned, with consolidation and expansion. The company has already widened its distribution network to cover all the southern states, and has made inroads into Maharashtra, since these are the major markets for sunflower oil category. Gold Winner also has major export plans targeting Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and the Gulf region.
The brand’s chief strength is, it is not going on conventional marketing ways, rather it focuses upon spending time with customers, getting feedback from them for further development for a customized products.
Other brands of the company are Gold Winner Groundnut Oil, Gold Winner Vanaspati, Gold Choice Soya , Palm Super RBD Palm Olein , Puff King and Masterpiece range of bakery shortenings and Sree Gold range of dhalls.

Source: www.goldwinner.com

Brand Name: Is it an issue to be focused?

Growing high income groups and the concept of hedonism makes people more and more brand conscious. Marketers also have done enormous endeavors like choosing a beguiling brand name, promotional blitzkrieg and other marketing strategies to make their brands top of the mind recall.
Recently I have read an article in business line, stating “four letter words are the best” and Crisp brand names which are simple to recall, memorable and easy on the tongue will remain in the consumer’s mind for a long time. “Amul” is a good example which is easier to pronounce even though there are many languages spoken in India. But there are many brands having family names, brand names associated with corporate names are succeeded.
You should have noticed that even big corporate like HLL (see HLL origin here), RKN and others are displaying their corporate logos after the TV ads. HLL have is going to change even its name to Hindustan unilever Limited. My scrutiny is whether “brand name” is only the significant one. I think marketing strategy is far more important than brand name.
I will take two examples: containing five letters. Both are catchy brand names. First one Ujala and Cielo. Ujala is the brand which is started in a small factory but because of product features and their marketing strategies they succeeded well time. But in the case of Cielo, in spite of being a brand from big company Daewoo, poor positioning and marketing strategy made them stop working.
(I have just taken an example and we cannot compare both the products and their strategies)
My view is that mere brand name alone will not work, but a sincere marketing and branding efforts will make a brand success.
Comment your views with some examples.

Shivaji: A new brand mantra?

Nowadays we all must have noticed that marketers use movies to reach the target audience. The recent good example is Yash Raj Films' Ta Ra Rum Pum which chiefly focuses upon three brands namely Goodyear India, General Motors and Castrol. The real question is how these films are marketed before the release so that the brands in that film will get benefited.

I was astonished to the fact that all the tickets for first 20 days of the film “Shivaji”, starring Rajnikanth were sold out. But the film will be released on June 15.
Let us consider the film “Shivaji” as a brand. It contains all chief attributes like Tamil nadu super star Rajnikanth, Director Shankar, Music by the legendry AR Rahman and produced by AVM studio. I am sure that these attributes will deliver what people expect. Shankar has created (we can say marketed) an hype about the film by
Postponing the release date, gave regular interviews to Channels and news papers about its development.
A good example of this kind is “Balbir pasha campaign” which was a huge success.
The question is, Will this kind of creating publicity suits for the real brands? By creating this amount of excitement what are the things that a brand should do after the launch?
I think this kind of publicity, demands upon the type of brand and how much the people ready to pay? What you feel? Comments please….

As a fan of Rajnikanth I am eager to watch not only the movie, but also brands used in the film.
More pics click here:

Hedonism in marketing:

In my marketing classes our professors use to say, “Customers are buying the benefits and not the attribute of brands”. Today’s customer expects not only benefits, but also something extraordinary which can attract them towards the brand. In that way, Hedonism is one of the most powerful appeals as it is concerned with the sensual gratification of sensory experiences and it is concerned with how the products can appeal to the sensory aspects of consumer experience with or without the remuneration.

The marketing implication of hedonism can be classified as with regard to products and services.
With the product, concept called `just noticeable difference' comes into play where by a brand will be able to know the point at which consumers will notice a quality. Here we can say as hedonism. For example Ariel's `Spring Wash' and Tide's `Jasmine' fragrances appeal to hedonism where by Consumers, not only requiring clean, well washed clothes, but may feel better with fragrant clothes. The second aspect for products is concerned with how much consumers are going to pay for the hedonism.
With regard to services, hedonism is already blend with them like providing good ambience or experience which may appeal to the customers.

In developed markets, a number of leading car manufacturers try to make the interiors feel better and a few brands even spray a special fragrance when the cars are sold. So the feel factor has always been very important in a number of various offerings from well known brands.
With retailing boom and increase in competition, I think it is very important to concentrate upon benefits, attributes plus the feel.

source: businessline

For this summer: a chilly “Krd Rys”

It’s refreshing news for the travelers and the busy city people, which they don’t want to care about their food here afterwards….
One of the strong contender of south, Hatsun Agro Product Ltd has come out with “Krd Rys”. It is the world's first branded curd rice offering. The company launched this brand recently in some parts of Tamil Nadu. `Krd Rys' will be prepared entirely by machines in the company's ISO and HACCP certified dairies.
Other brands of this company are Arokya' milk, `Komatha' milk, `Santosa' milk which is targeted towards hotels and caterers and `Arun Ice cream'

Strategies used:

At an introductory price of Rs 10 for 275 grams, the curd rice is garnished with mustard, cashew nuts, raisin, green chilies, ginger, curry leaves and carrot.
The company also engaged in suspense marketing, in which “Prakash Raj”, a famous south Indian actor is the brand ambassador. The company involved in this type of marketing to create hype. It also selected several strategic locations, where huge hoarding is fixed with a smiling Prakash Raj announcing Krd Rys, at an introductory offer of Rs.10
Are you ready for this?