Sunfeast Yippee Noodles: Targeting Maggie with Benefit Positioning

Hello World

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

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU3WCgIDjb8&NR=1

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aIWsqb0jR0&feature=related

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

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIG5uUZQm9Q&feature=related]

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

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

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

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

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

Any thoughts on this will be greatly appreciated

See you soon Guys

Ghari Detergent

Hi All,

Wish You all a Very Happy New Year

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

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

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

Strategy:

1. Select a Profitable and Force Concentration: In military terminology Force concentration is the practice of concentrating a military force, so as to bring to bear such overwhelming force against a portion of an enemy force that the disparity between the two forces alone acts as a force multiplier, in favour of the concentrated forces. Ghari also realized that it can not beat Giants like HU and P&G due to their financial muscle. So it selected Uttar Pradesh, with a population of 167 million (highest in India) and accounts for over 12% of the country’s FMCG sales. Ghari also implemented extensive dealer network throughout the state. Thus, of the 3,000 Ghari dealers in the country, 900 are in Uttar Pradesh — 25 of them in Kanpur alone. Furthermore, nine of the company’s 18 manufacturing units are in Uttar Pradesh
2. Know your consumer and reason to people consumer your product: Ghari focused on housewives in small town and villages which are extremely value conscious buyer and willing to switch brands. Ghari realized that the only differentiating factor it can offer is the value of money. To offer value for money Ghari management settles the net profit margin of 9% against the industry standard of 12 to 13% for the premium brands. What may work in Ghari’s favour is the higher profit margin of 9% the company offers its dealers; rivals seldom offer better than 6% or 7
3. Be innovative in reaching the consumers:With only 35 crores of budget allotted to Marketing and promotional activities. Ghari detergent goes to train.

• The first campaign was the Ghari Detergent Express (a summer special) in 2008 that ran between Lucknow and Guwahati for two month
• Taking the cue from there, Ghari has now advertised in Pushpak Express that runs between Lucknow and Mumbai. The brand can also be seen on railway crossings in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. Advertisements also being displayed inside the bogies of Swarna Jayanti Express (from Trivandrum to Hazrat Nizamuddin in Delhi) last year that cuts across three or four states in south India

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

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

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

Thanks for reading this post. Please leave your comments

Bye for now Guys

We are the Confused Boys

Ogilvy & Mather has conceptualised a new TVC for the launch of BlackBerry services for prepaid users on Vodafone. Prior to this, only postpaid customers for Vodafone could access the BlackBerry services. Prepaid users will be able to access unlimited internet, chat and e-mail usage for Rs. 15 per day.The TVC is in the form of a song called “The BlackBerry Boys” which starts of with five top level management men shown singing the BlackBerry song. They think the BlackBerry adds to their already established ‘coolness’. But as they sing along, to their astonishment they see additional young people coming and joining them sing. The younger people through the song talk about the chat, e-mail and surfing features available on the move with BlackBerry. As the song goes on, more and more youngsters join in to sing the song. The film ends with a frame that reads, “BlackBerry on Vodafone Prepaid, not just for office guys, Unlimited Chat and Internet at Rs. 15 daily”. See the ad here

The commercial was great beautifully conceptualized and executed and able to convey messages that blackberry is available for prepaid plans also

But the problem is the positioning of the Blackberry. In last couple of years Blackberry is trying to position itself for the mainstreamSee the Every thing you love Commercial

Earlier blackberry was positioned as a executive phone, a phone that only high level executive uses. Due its niche positioning (Executive phone) blackberry was considered as status symbol and enjoyed a high brand image

As blackberry is going mainstream I believe that it will lose its niche image and corporate stronghold. Moreover, the move will make blackberry highly susceptible to competition from other established brand such as Nokia, Samsung, Iphone.

looking at the strategy adopted by blackberry I remembered reading the book The Blue Ocean Strategy. Blackberry it seems is rowing in the wrong directing, towards red ocean

Bye for now guys. Please do leave your comment

How Google Instant will affect the search Business

What is google Instant:

Last week, Google announced its new search service called Google Instant. Compared to the existing search process on Google – which suggests search terms and displays search results only after the user clicks on the ‘Google Search’ button or presses the ‘Enter’ key, the ‘Instant’ version not only suggests search terms but also displays search results as soon as the user begins to type or key in words in the search bar

For instance, if a user enters the key word ‘coc’, Google Instant will suggest words like ‘Coca-Cola’, ‘coco’, ‘coconut’ and ‘coconut water’ and simultaneously show search results for ‘Coca-Cola’. Now, if the user adds the character ‘k’ to ‘coc’, the search suggestions and results displayed below the search bar will change instantly. In the case of ‘cock’, it shows results related to cocktails

Similar to search results, the search ads served via Google AdWords programme on the right side or top of the search results page as sponsored links, will also begin to appear as the user keys in keywords, even before the user finishes or enters the complete search term. Thus, a user will get to see different and more search ads during the search process on Google Instant

Google instant was based on key technical insight that people type slowly, but read quickly, typically taking 300 milliseconds between keystrokes, but only 30 milliseconds (a tenth of the time!) to glance at another part of the page. This means that user can scan a results page while you type. Google expects that:

• Using Google Instant can save 2-5 seconds per search
• If everyone uses Google Instant globally, google estimate this will save more than 3.5 billion seconds a day. That’s 11 hours saved every second

Effect on the Organic search Business (search engine optimization)

Google Instant search will have more impact on the organic search business (search engine optimisation) as compared to the paid search (search advertising using Google AdWords programme). Earlier, the focus was on choosing the right set of keywords to make search engine optimisation (SEO) effective. However, from now onwards, the relevance of each word of a search term will become important and search agencies/advertisers will be required to focus on the order of keywords of search term. For example “cheap hotels in Delhi” and “Delhi cheap hotels” could predict different results while the search process is on - based on the order of keywords. However, in the earlier Google search system, both keywords/search terms were treated equally

So the real challenge for the search agencies/advertisers will be to optimize and create content/pages related to each word for a long tail search term

Effect on the Paid Search Business

The advertiser for paid search business pay on the basis of ad group (it represents a grouping or collection of keywords for which a search ad is being served) which means that the advertiser will end up buying more keywords.

In the US, various websites have already started reporting fluctuations in their traffic figures and only future holds the true proportion of the impact.

The Emami Way

In their 1981 book, Positioning: The Battle for your Mind, Al Ries and Jack Trout described how positioning is used as a communication tool to reach target customers in a crowded market place. They claimed that the easiest way to occupy a consumers mind is to be the first and much more difficult to remember who is second

Emami, once small-time manufacturer of ayurvedic medicines and cosmetics, is doing just the same. it is making a habit out of entering small, niche segments, developing them into lucrative business propositions and subsequently, spending big on advertising and marketing to retain a substantial share of the market in the face of growing competition

Let’s talk about some emami brands that created niche categories which turned out to be :

Fair and Handsome: The brand created a segment in Rs 1,400 crore fairness cream market. Fair and Handsome has become a Rs 100 crore-plus brand with 84 per cent share in the Rs 137 crore domestic men's fairness cream market, according to Emami's annual report.

Navratna Oil: It is Emami's largest brand that is positioned as a 'therapeutic cooling oil', the company has followed a similar paradigm of developing a niche segment . Launched in the early nineties, the brand continues to enjoy around 48 per cent market share of the Rs 550 crore 'cool oil' category.

Boroplus Antiseptic Cream: Flagship brand of Emami, Boroplus, now marketed as 'India's No. 1 antiseptic cream', accounts for about 74 per cent of the Rs 269 crore boro creams segment in the country

Taken together, these three brands – Fair and Handsome, Navratna Oil and Boroplus Antiseptic Cream - contribute about half of Emami's total revenues

The strategy of creating a niche segment and being the first mover have really paid very well for Emami because MNCs don’t to enter small or non-existing segments or until the segment gains a certain size and seems profitable to enter.

Brand Endorsement Dymystified

From ages marketing wizards are trying to demystifying the puzzle of brand endorsement. The questions are endless
What makes the brand endorsement successful?
Is celebrity endorsement affects the sales?
Can celebrity overshadow my brand? What is the proper mix?
Here in this new article I have tried my hand on solving the piece of puzzle.
Let’s take a look at the components of Brand endorsement

Perceived Brand Personality of the Product (PBP)
Perceived brand personality of the brand is what consumers think about your product. For example what do you think when you see Fast Track watches. Sporty Trendy, youth driven so these are the perceived personality of the product.

Perceived personality of the Brand Endorser (PBE)
Perceived personality of the Brand Endorser Is what consumers think is the most prominent attribute of the endorsers i.e. What is about the endorser which is most talked about in the media. For e.g. Bipasha Basu is known as fitness freak (sugarfree), Kareena Kapoor for Style ( Sony Vaio) and flamboyance nature, Akshay Kumar for his sporty and adventurous attitude (reality show Khatron ke Khiladi)
During endorsement two interaction happens which can make a difference between a successful and unsuccessful campaigns

Interaction between PBP and PBE
An endorser’s personality should match the brand personality of product and vice versa. Here I would like to emphasize the word “perceived” because how the consumers are perceiving the endorser that is the personality of the endorser in the minds of consumers’. The more the fit between the personalities of the two, more the consumers see the connection and credibility.

How consumer views the fitness between endorser and the product
A question for all of you. Would you believed Kareena Kapoor when she was featured in an Ad of Boroplus cream. I bet you wouldn’t. How a style diva of Indian film industry put a meager cream like Boroplus. This is what I am talking about.
When Product and endorser come together on a platform, consumer will always look for connection and ask will he/she use this product? In other word does both complement each other.

The last but the most important thing is the creativity. Brand endorser should be used creatively. I remember the how Tata Sky was launched using Amir Khan as an endorser and Dish TV with Shahrukh Khan. I ask you which one you liked and which one looks more credible.

I think all of you must have understood what is behind brand endorsement. I will keep updating this post with examples.
Till then Bye for now and please post comments , feedbacks and related examples, I would really appreciate it

Can Big B create Magic For Sony

Hello World,

Big B is coming back as the host of the fourth season of the decade old Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC). And this time it will be on Sony Entertainment Network and not the News Corp-owned Star Plus.

Sony is currently lagging at fourth place amongst Hindi general entertainment channels, behind Star Plus, Zee TV and Colors. Sony will be hoping the Big B can do for the channel what he did for Star Plus a decade ago - propel it to the top of the charts.

According to TAM Media Research (TAM), the first season of the property that had run for 270 episodes had an average television viewership rating (TVR) points of 14.1 while the average for the second and third seasons (the third was hosted by Shah Rukh Khan) dropped to 11.1 and 6.8 TVR points, respectively.

The big question: Can Big B create magic for Sony like he did for Star Plus. Well I am skeptical this time . My reasons are:

When KBC launched first it was the first reality show on television and the Big B's first TV appearance as a host of the show. The concept of reality show and appearance of big star such as Big B was unique to Indian audiences. I am afraid that this time around Sony is failing to create the buzz

The success mantra of realty shows is to provide content that appeal to masses, offer something unique and fresh each day to avoid boredom. According to media reports With KBC, Sony TV is looking to bring huge changes in the format. But how far it can go is a matter of conjecture, given this is an international format licensed from Celedor, a UK-based TV production firm. In the past also KBC did not offered anything new to the audience in the last two seasons.According to TAM Media Research (TAM), the first season of the property that had run for 270 episodes had an average television viewership rating (TVR) points of 14.1 while the average for the second and third seasons (the third was hosted by Shah Rukh Khan) dropped to 11.1 and 6.8 TVR points, respectively.

Looking at the kind of investment Sony is making on KBC I expect that the show will be telecasted in prime time (8:30-10:30) when the ad rates are highest. The problem here is the prime slot is already booked with number of highly popular tele serials. Just have a look at the TRP ratings as of 11^th August 2010

(1 ) Zee TV 2100-2130 - Pavithra Rishta

(2) Colors 2200-2230 - Uttaran

(3) Colors 2230-2300 - Naa Aana Iss Des Laado

(4) Zee TV 2000-2030 - Jhansi Ki Rani

(5) Zee TV 2130-2200 - Agle Janam

(6) Colors 2130-2200 - Laagi Tujse Lagaan

(7) Zee TV 2030-2100 - Yahaan Main Ghar Ghar Kheli

(8) Colors 2030-2100 - Bairi Piya

(9) Zee TV 1930-2000 - Choti Bahu

(10) Star Plus 2100-2130 - Bidaai ---

These TRPs tells the whole story behind the desperation Sony is facing. All the soaps listed above are well established. It will be very hard for Sony to get the share from this pie. The only positive that Sony can take from here is that not a single show is reality based

Sony for its part hasn't had much success in the past with such shows. Madhuri Dixit hosted Kahin Na Kahin Koi Hain, Govinda hosted Jeeto Chappar Phaad ke and Salman Khan hosted Dus Ka Dum, but none could set the fire

I am quite sure that executives in Sony must be counting on the charisma of Big B to create Magic for Sony.

Good Luck Sony