Marketing Confetti

I have moved

2009-02-04T00:03:00.000+05:30

Dear Patrons,

Finally I have given in to my friends' persistent advice to move my blog to Wordpress. Blogger vs Wordpress debate had been going for too long and I admit that Wordpress surely has many advantages over Blogger. Fortunately I have been able to import all my posts and comments at the new address.

I have moved my Marketing blog to following URL:
http://www.jasginder.com/bizblog

I have brought my technology, marketing and finance blogs under single blog - Business blog. Please update your Blogroll and bookmarks (if any!).

When ads forget the connect, focussing on gloss only

2008-10-12T17:08:00.007+05:30

On Indian TV sets, two banks are having their re-branding advertisements running. Ideally its not an easy task to change the image of a PSU bank which has been there for long time and has already made a place in people's mind. It can be good or bad, but people have that image firmly in the mind. So one would see the re branding effort to be having a high marketing cost and some of the big ad agencies are roped in to do the magic. And as Union Bank of India and IDBI takes on to refresh their image in this financial turmoil, lets see how one strikes the chord with customer and how one strikes the chord with only viewers while customers are left out in gloss.

Union Bank of India
New Tagline: Your Dreams are not your alone

Background Info

This $13.45bn assets worth bank is one of India's largest state-run banks and is also listed on theForbes 2000. It was inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi. Starting September 01, 2008, UBI has changed its corporate logo to identify itself differently in changing times.

Critique

Best part about the ad is that it is related to a normal middle class family.The TG (Target Group) group for this bank is largest group of people who would be depositing their savings and maybe salary too, essentially Indian Middle class. These people doesnt calculate the exact benefits in terms of money but focus more on safety of deposits. So the campaign should ideally be targeted for emotional connect and thats exactly where this ad campaign scores. The situations are taken from life of an oridinary person where they are overpowered with emotions from a family member, when this is feeling is connected with bank using tagline 'yours dreams are not your alone' it conveys the point home that bank worries about your hard earned investments as your family member would.

Endpoint, it drives the point home with the intended customer and hence the money spent on marketing should result in increase in sales; so I would give it 5 stars.

IDBI (Industrial Development Bank of India)

New Tagline: Not just for big boys

Background Info:

Established in 1964 by an Act of Parliament to provide credit and other facilities for the development of the fledgling Indian industry, IDBI is currently the tenth largest development bank in the world. Some of the institutions built by IDBI are The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE), The National Securities Depository Services Ltd. (NSDL) and the Stock Holding Corporation of India (SHCIL) IDBI BANK , as a private bank after government policy for new generation private banks.

Critique

IDBI Bank, true to its name, was mainly an industrial development bank. It has now started focus on its retail banking operations (earlier it was more on Corporate banking, SME solutions and agricultural loans) and hence the campaign. The ad shows that two kids are playing football when the ball lands somewhere beyond. When they go to retrieve it they meet a pachyderm and retreat.

Next day when they start to play, the same elephant comes now with a kiddo elephant. The baby approaches the ball and starts playing with the kids. And comes the tagline – Not just for the big boys.

Am sure most of the people will like the ad, thanks to the affection angle and presence of a kid elephant. I agree its fun to watch, but the good charm ends here. How many of the viewers will goto IDBI bank on viewing this account and put their savings there? How many will understand that ad wants to convey to its target group, same middle class, that not only big corporates but they too can use savings account there and other investment services. Even if its for upper middle class, I really dont see any effect; unless the ads start coming in channels like NDTV, Moneycontrol and Economic Times. Nevertheless the targets will be given to sales team for opening accounts and it has to be done by hook or crook. So eventually the money spent on marketing wont contribute efficiently to balance sheet. I would give 2 starts to it.

Also whatever they do on media, it needs to be backed by warm customer service in the branches as marketing isnt just advertisement alone! (remember Kotler?)

Now loyalty programs in search engine

2008-07-24T13:09:00.002+05:30

With information gaining vital importance in our daily lives, many people have started saying that we have entered an information age since last few years. IT companies are covering the distance between zero and billion in the shortest time for any company. The media has seen a bursting high in last decade as information has never been so easy to interchange, and when information is bombarded in our lives so heavily the next major thing is searching for the right information. So stress has been lately on how to structure the information, index it, make relationships between various information units so as to have a meaningful search. To reach this we need heuristic information, where the 'thumb of rules' are identified from experience.

We have seen search engine in text form changing to clusters and tags. But now a new search engine called Scour has been launched to encourage and reward consumers to vote and comment on search results called up from Google, Yahoo! and MSN. taking clues from popular site Digg, Scour allows its (human) members to evaluate, vote on, and comment on the results they receive from the usual major search engines like Yahoo, Google and MSN. Those votes and comments are then available to others in the Scour.com community to help them decide which results are likely to be most useful or trustworthy.

Scour differentiates itself from other social search, rating and community web sites in that it allows its users vote and comment on search results, provides absolute privacy control, gives weight to each user's preferred search engines, and allows members to redeem their search points for Visa gift cards. By associating itself with Visa, it has entered the well established Loyalty domain.

Points scheme:
* Searching: 1 point;
* Voting: 2 points;
* Commenting: 3 points;
* Friend referral: 25% of each friend's points.

In a scenario cited by Scour.com, an average of 4.5 searches per day could translate into rewards worth as much as US$25 per year. And, when adding in the value of friend referrals with an average of 3 searches per day for each friend, 25 friends who sign up and use Scour.com regularly could earn the original member up to an additional US$100 or more each year.

"We're not trying to provide users with an alternative income, but the Scour points programme is a good way for us to reward users for helping to build up the community, to refine search results beyond the ordinary algorithms," concluded Yomtobian. Scour.com is owned and operated by ABCSearch, a part of Internext Media Corporation.

You can visit the search engine at http://scour.com

Billboards, viewerships and efficacy measurement

2008-06-06T09:13:00.006+05:30

Billboards have been one of the most favored and ever green options for the advertisers. Eras have passed, technologies are changed and companies have been made or destroyed but advertisers still hang on to this mode although the technologies on it have changed. Gone are the days when just putting a big billboard was enough, now marketers want to know how much of the viewings have been converted to purchases.

As Puru Gupta put it in his blog, measurement of the efficacy of the traditional media is no longer treated with enthusiasm by the industry professionals and new requirements and expectations are emerging for innovation, insight, experimentation, and measurable returns. There is a need for much more precision in targeting consumers. A whole lot of money is being spent on understanding consumer and making sure the product is a bang on.

Now just look at this publication by BCG, Darwin Pays Visit Advertising. According to it, the traditional value chain has been disintegrated and has led to an evolved framework in the advertising industry with “targeted marketing” as their measurable goal (see BCG Exhibit). A concerted effort is being made towards an integrated, holistic campaign across alternative channels. And this surely needs more investment and budget. Measurement is getting much more attention and investment today—as much as 5 to 10 percent of total initial spending. What is being measured is changing as well. There’s no point in determining how many consumers have seen an ad if you don’t also measure how effectively awareness leads to purchase. Many companies are experimenting with new ways to isolate and test the impact of such key factors as the advertising mix, range of coverage, and message on each targeted segment. The results will go into a knowledge database to help ensure that future campaigns projected to generate high returns get ample funding, while those with lower projected returns get cut.

And with the cutting edge technology the measurement has taken a totally new dimension. Companies like Xuuk, TruMedia Technologies and Quividi are equipping billboards with tiny cameras that gather details about passers-by — their gender, approximate age and how long they looked at the billboard. These details are transmitted to a central database. The cameras, these companies say, use software to determine that a person is standing in front of a billboard, then analyze facial features (like cheekbone height and the distance between the nose and the chin) to judge the person’s gender and age. So far the companies are not using race as a parameter, but they say that they can and will soon.

Quividi’s technology has been used in Ikea stores in Europe and McDonald’s restaurants in Singapore, but it has just come to the United States. Another Quividi billboard is in a Philadelphia commuter station with an advertisement for the Philadelphia Soul, an indoor football team. The Philadelphia billboard was installed by Motomedia, a London-based company that converts retail and street space into advertisements. It installed the A&E billboard in association with Pearl Media, a Butler, N.J., company.

Meanwhile, privacy concerns about cameras are growing. In Britain, which has an estimated 4.2 million closed-circuit television cameras — one for every 14 people — the matter has become a hot political issue, with some legislators proposing tight restrictions on the use and distribution of the footage. People when told about the camera get uncomfortable about being captured. Billboards anyway have a old problem, it distracts (but thats what it is supposed to do, no?) and that isn't too good a thing on a road! Whatever, these billboards are here to stay, and for long, way long!

Vodafone pug gets new avtaar

2008-05-05T10:16:00.003+05:30

As any marketer would swear, brands are made in years and it takes lot of toil and sweat to maintain one. The kind of the effort and streamlining that it takes to develop a successful brand pushes the brand manager in later years to go by what remains basic to the brand identity. Now it may be the color, the packaging, the association with some event or person or any strong identity or a jingle (remember “Kya aap close up karte hain” or “Raamu tumhare daant to motiyon jaise chamak rahe hain” or music of “You and I… in this beautiful world…”?)

Problem is once a strong brand is built, it produces a drag effect wherein the brand manager would not dare to change any constituent of the brand lest it loses the brand recall; hence he is dragged by the already set associations. One has to always remember that brand exist not physically but only in the mind of consumers. So if there is decline in recall then the brand manager just eroded the brand! But at the same time a brand can’t exist eternally without a change. There has to be an innovation to make sure the brand connects to the present need of consumer and that is the reason why the drag effect can kill.

Now a very valid question may arise – If the brand can’t be changed for fear of losing on brand recall and then brand has to be changed to make sure that it is relevant to today’s consumer needs; it’s a dead end as both are complementary! The answer lies in making the change slowly, in steps and most important of all making the consumer to learn the change. It was best shown lately by Sony Erickson mobile phone ads in India where the logo of company was put between various sentences like, “I (logo) music”. Here the sentences were shown with logo at the places where our mind would automatically put the word as “love”. And then the use was further expanded once people learned to replace the logo with that word.

Coming to Indian telecom market again, Hutch (now Vodafone) is one brand that has tinkered a lot with the brand elements. It is one really successful brand that has kept its customers although it changed some very basics of its brand. Few years back it changed its strongest identity – Orange color. But then there were extensive campaigns which made customers learn the change and accept it. (Many times loyalists won’t accept the change to the brand as they are emotionally linked to it). Then last year after its controversial take over by global giant Vodafone, it was decided to change a series of things – Pink was changed to Red (it clashed a bit with Maroonish Red of Airtel, the market leader in India in same domain), its boy was out of the famous duo of a boy and a pug and its jingle gave way to just the music of the composition.

If you see the latest ad campaign (see video below) that is being shown extensively; even the jingle has gone. Guess whom do they upset with this change… it’s me! Always been a fan of the way the pug was used and how the jingle or even its music was used in ads to join the dots between the changes ; it surely was disappointing to not hear the tone anywhere. Although I also like the new song “…be my side” but then … :)

Here is the latest ad:

The baby logos of automotive car giants

2008-04-26T00:50:00.010+05:30

“It is never too late to have a happy childhood"
- Tom Robbins (American Novelist. b.1936)

Well I guess that quote was heard by some designer having interest in the automotive industry and what came out was a treat to the eye! You must have seen the product and the brand logo of famous automotive giants Ferrari, Jaguar, Lamborghini and Maserati, ever wondered how would these logos look in their younger years? Absurd question, no?

Not for some. Here is a list of all these brand logos when they were 'young' !! And in case you don't know/remember the actual logos, they have been put alongside just for you!

Artists! They never fail to amaze me, a imaginative Piscean :)

PS: Click the thumbnail image below to see full resolution image.

via: http://www.minichamps.de

DLF - The entertainment's daddy

2008-04-13T20:39:00.004+05:30

After the much hyped about auction of players by BCCI and then selling the title sponsorship to DLF and media rights to Sony, here comes another high decibel advert for Indian Premier League (IPL). Famous or say notorious now by the the title - ManoRanjan ka baap - IPL (Entertainment's daddy - IPL) this advert is a big hit. The 75-second TVC which will run all through the 44 days of IPL and is directed by Rajesh Krishnan of Soda Films. DLF IPL kicks off at 4 pm on 18 April.

StoryBoard

The ad starts with a lady delivering twins but the irony is that the father of the kids is unknown. The twins are named as 'Ranjan' and 'Mano'. During the next eight years, it’s become the norm for people such as the local pujari (priest), kiranawala (small shop owner) and chapris (roadside romeos) to torment the kids with the question, “Kab aayega tumhara baap?”, and to tease their mother lecherously.

Tired with all this, the three lead a hopeless life. One day the mother thinks its enough and decides to jump in a well; but suddenly the bells in the temple ring and the kids holler for their mother, saying, “Maaaaa! Baaaapppuuuu!” in a typical Rajesh Khanna style. The mother knows that the wait is over. She puts red sindoor in her hair and enters the house. The scene is hilarious as the voiceover says: “Aa gaya Mano-Ranjan ka baap (father). DLF Indian Premier League. Sirf Max par.”

The best part is that if you are watching the advert for the first time, you won't get any idea of what is going to happen. The names are spelt as Ranjan Mano, with only once going as "Mano Ranjan". Its not easy to hold on to the idea when you know you have got a winning ad coming out.

Going by the public appeal, this is one of the most funny and clever commercials currently on air. Its a simple idea, executed really well. Ads like this more often than not, go wrong in the execution phase, but this one is bang on the target. That filmi eighties kind of look and dialogs from Indian cinema, perfectly suit this ad.

Rediff wrote that , ‘An industry source said BCCI had allocated roughly Rs 100 crore as its (IPL) advertising budget,’. And aptly mentioned by Adholik, normally with such high bugdets, creativity goes for a toss, because its easy to get all the stars with such money and have them sing and dance, shoot it on camera and call it an ad. But thankfully, things din't become figurative over here.

"The campaign projects IPL more than a sport. It redefines the entertainment by taking this sport to a new level," said Max VP marketing T Gangadhar. The radio campaign has a different treatment as it is a listener's medium. Out-of-home (OOH) hoardings displaying the IPL event have been erected in 150 towns. Besides the channel will have on-ground promotional activity across India as the tournament approaches.

"Males were always skewed towards cricket but with a 360 degree approach our attempt is to get the entire family to view IPL as the matches are scheduled for prime time," added Gangadhar. The biggest challenge is to predict the viewership, admits CD Mitra, CEO, Optimum Media Solutions: "It is a big gamble for all those who have invested in it and also for those who haven't. For most programmes the value and money is preceded by some evaluation. But in case of IPL the variations of prediction are very large."

Bajaj Pulsar - Corporate Ad

2008-04-06T00:17:00.003+05:30

I had written about a quarter back that how the companies across India are increasingly focusing on the corporate brand identity and not just its brands. The advertisements have been carrying the main logo in the end to make a uniform mental impression and instigate a consumer bookmark. Latest to join the wagon is Bajaj Pulsar.

While Bajaj is primarily known for its line of retro-style scooters in America, Bajaj is a major player in their home country of India back here in the motorcycle market. Their flagship model, the Pulsar, is a very respected motorcycle in India. This bike has virtually redefined biking in this country. Pulsar launched in 2001 is the market leader in the 150 cc + performance bike segment. More than that , this brand changed the fortune of Bajaj Auto Ltd.

In the wonderfully executed latest TVC, the ad gets what it was made for. Good videography, professional stunt riding and well planned choreography make quite a display, even when the riders are mounted on machines with a mere 200cc of engine capacity. In case you were wondering, that 0.2-liter manages 18 horsepower, which looks to be plenty to have fun with, especially as I have been really happy with the 13.3bhp (@8000rpm) from my darling Honda Unicorn.

Story of success for Pulsar starts with the elder son of Rahul Bajaj coming to India and pushing for higher power bikes. Bajaj had been making mainly scooters and had small range of bikes with technological collaboration with Kawasaki. To prove himself, Rahul gave his son Rajiv (fresh post-grad in engineering from Warwick then) made a new plant - Chakan (near Pune). And that is from where a new bike called Pulsar rose from the ashes of Bajaj Scooters! And a good part of the success is also attributed to the 'Definately Male' campaign made by O&M for bike's launch.

According to agencyfaqs, the birth of the "Definitely Male " campaign is interesting. The creative honchos found the new product from Bajaj distinctly different. It was Bajaj's first bike without Kawasaki label. The new bike was an R&D and design marvel. Pulsar was designed by the renowned design house Tokyo R&D. O&M knew that the communication of this brand should also be different.Starting with lot of ideas, O&M stuck upon the Big Idea of India's He-Bike. Although lot of bike take the persona of Macho bikes it was more oriented towards being "sexy". The Big Idea was to position the bike as World's first bike endowed with a Sex ( Gender).Thus born the classic campaign of all times " Definitely Male". The campaign together with the design and performance catapulted the brand into stratospheric sales level.

Bajaj targeted the 18-24 with Pulsar but later found that the brand appealed to a much older audience. This helped Bajaj to change its target audience to 21-35 years.

Unlike its old ways of doing things, Bajaj did not rest with the laurels. It knew that Pulsar is the golden key to control the entire bike market. Hence Pulsar got undivided attention from the company. In 2003 another milestone event happened in the product lifecycle of the brand. Bajaj launched its new technology DTSI. DTSi stands for Digital Twin Spark Ignition which delivered more power and efficiency. The increased performance of the brand took Pulsar to greater heights. 2004 and 2005 saw some cosmetic changes in the brand which excited the customers and thus cementing Pulsar's position in the market.

I agree with Bajaj here that its high time they start focusing on the brand image of Pulsar. The adverts now need not to target sales but the brand building - to make Pulsar reach the status of a cult bike. These kinds of adverts, mainly seen from biggies like Nike, Coca Cola, Dove etc make you gasp and maybe even clap! And this ad is no less. Take a look here (ad culled from YouTube)

Cannes Winners 2007 - A creativity treat

2008-03-13T01:50:00.005+05:30

Last Friday Advertising club of Hyderabad held a special screening of lion winners from Cannes Lions 2007. A three hour show, I expected to meet some people from industry and discuss advertising and the opinions. I had thought of setup as an anchor on a stage and a big makeshift screen. What it came out was a makeshift white screen placed in a pub sans anchor or for that sake anybody. Though it turned out to be a bland affair with continuous play of ads one after another; still it was a creativity treat to see all the winners at same time.

Here are some the videos that I really appreciated. One thing we can observe in these lion winners is that most of these go to the brands which have already established themselves with high brand loyalty and hence they move from sales pitch to the brand building or maintained. For example one can see a consistent outflow of some great ads coming from house of Coca Cola, Nike, Bud Light, Dove, Wonder Bra etc. And then there will be some creative flashes from the ones with no so great advertising budget, and I really appreciate these ads. For example you can find below the ad about the blind student's hostel.

I have put on some videos below, but there are few more worth appreciating, am putting youtube links for the same. Here you go!

Apple´s funny Get a mac commercials, they really ruled the roost. I have placed the Bullet ad by Amnesty international , but there is another moving Signature spot too.

Then there is amusing Smart car´s Backseat. The amazing thing of the Smart commercial was that all scenes were filmed especially for this spot with employees, their friends and families acting as the characters.

The poetic Breathe in, Breathe out for Greenpeace.

Shown at the Superbowl for BudLite, the commercial He has a BudLite. Expressing a guy point of view, it was shown brilliantly!

For Shera Ceiling Board the truely tragic Shakespearian Gecko. It infact was one of the most famous virals of last year. Another highly passed on viral that too won a lion was Happy Dent with the funny and vivid Happy Dent Palace.

And last but not least the hilarious The Breakup by Microsoft. It was shown at the Night of Lions in Germany as an opening for the sponsor of the Cyber Lions.

Now to some inline videos here:

Nike - body by dance (Spanish)

Bullet - Execution (Amnesty International)

Dove
Created by Ogilvy. Directed by Tim Piper

Coke Happiness factory

Vaseline

Blind Students Hostel

A treat!

Margabi Eye Hospitals go guerilla on carrots

2008-03-02T04:15:00.002+05:30

To know what is best for your eyes, come to Magrabi.

These guerrilla campaigns never fail to amaze me; the latest has been by Fortune Promoseven advertising agency of Oman. Established as the first private specialized facility in the Middle East and North Africa, Magrabi has gone to become largest medical care network in Middle East. And as I have written before, the guerrilla works either to please loyalists or to create a new buzz, breaking the mental block created due to advertising noise.

One must appreciate that it was a completely novel idea of using the carrots in supermart to attract one's attention to eye care. Carrots, known well for its high Vit A content are taken to be best natural source for healthy eyesight. But to comment on ad's effectiveness I would like to know about the class to which the store was catering to. Point is that guerilla campaign has to be very customer specific. The place of execution should be one where you will find lot of intended customers. Now to define the intended customers for a private eye hospital, I would say that it has to be SEC A and B; with disposable income high enough to take care of normal family expenses. As Maslow pointed out, your basic needs need to be taken care of before you delve in these issues present on higher side of ladder.

At the same time I feel that the campaign could have been more vocal. Just asking one to come to hospital for knowing what is good for eyes may not move one to go for a check up or catch information from doctors, who are anyway busy enough to sit with you and discuss the good, bad and ugly stuff for eyes! They could have offered a free eye check up or could have arranged for an eye camp and advertised for it. We must not forget that a normal healthy person would not ideally want to gofor check up as there is a kind of cognitive dissonance there, its not the desired state as we all want to be see ourselves fit and believe that bad wont happen.

Advertising Agency: Fortune Promoseven, Oman
Copywriter: Vikramaditya Maity
Illustrator: Renjith pillai
Released: November 2007

Via: Ads of the world

Understanding Undercutting of prices

2008-02-25T21:00:00.003+05:30

Undercutting is defined as offering to sell at lower prices than or to work for lower wages than (a competitor) or as required officially. Undercutting, hence, is done at the cost of one's profit.

In short, and as used mostly by field salesmen, undercutting means to sell cheaper than one's competition.

The word would be easily recognized by anyone who has ever gone to dealers and tried raising their sales targets. The moment you do so they will start crying that some dealer is undercutting in the market and that the 'evil guy' is actually selling at almost nil margins, giving discount more than that you give to the dealer himself.

Now lets understand the reason for undercutting; while we admire how well kept the products are in retail stores are we never realize the efforts and pains taken by the salesman there to get them up. And similarly we may see some ad of a new product and we would run to the nearest shop next day to buy it; but takes a lot of persuasion, arm twisting, margins game and target adjustment to get those new and 'unreputed' products on shelf. But every month the targets rise for these dealers, salesmen and zone offices; and then comes the most novel uses of undercutting. A dealer dumps in neighboring place or across border and completes one's targets. Or you may see the large wholesale dealers dealing in volume indulging in undercutting to earn bread and butter. So a big stockist in Delhi can dump stock in Faridabad, or a Rajasthan stockist take benefit of VAT induced difference to dump in Ferozpur (Punjab) etc.

Lets talk maths now, generally FMCG products have about 10% of retailer margin and about 5% of stockist/wholesaler margin (direct supply from company). Now there will be some schemes from time to time which increase this margin by some points, generally 1-2%, lets take 1.5% here. Now there are targets set for these stockists and wholesalers, if they perform full quarter, they will get more percentage as reward. Say this target completion margin is 0.75%. So the final margin of stockist is :

Wholesaler Scheme	1.50%
Extra Margin if target completed	0.75%
Wholesaler/stockist margin	5.00%
	--------
	7.25%
	--------

Hence instead of having 7.25% and giving other stockist's retailer his 10% margin, the stockist gives 12.25%; and keeps only 5%. Due to this the retailers take supply from him and the stockist of that area suffers.

But if you understood the concept well, you should have got that its not workable for a long time. And if you think a bit further, you will realize it will actually work as a cyclic process. It brings us to an important price cycle called as Edgeworth price cycle. It's an asymmetric price variation that has the following characteristics:

The good/service is a homogeneous commodity and customers are extremely price-sensitive. If one vendor undercuts another, they will capture all or a very large portion of the market (where "very large" means "as much as they can handle").
Beginning from an equilibrium, one competitor will initiate a round of undercutting by pricing below the equilibrium. Because of (1), competitors will respond immediately, the same day if possible, with a match or a slight undercut.
Undercutting will continue until they bid the price down to the wholesale cost.
One competitor will then restore prices. Everyone will follow as quickly as possible, and the cycle repeats.

Because of (1), smaller competitors have a greater incentive to initiate cutting. Larger competitors will generally be the initiator of restorations. The cycle is asymmetric because restorations happen nearly simultaneously, but undercutting is generally slower. Competitive gasoline markets with a high degree of independent or small retailers typically demonstrate Edgeworth cycling, while markets dominated by majors (vertically integrated firms) will tend toward sticky pricing.

Is Rupert really interested in Yahoo?

2008-02-15T13:32:00.001+05:30

When a kill is done/cornered by lion, its the hyenas who start crowding for a feast. With Yahoo under hostile bid, one can see lot many hyenas lining up to cater to their self interests. Word leaked out yesterday (Wednesday) that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. is looking at taking a stake of 20 percent or more in Yahoo in exchange for MySpace, some cash and other online properties. An infusion from News Corp., the reasoning goes, could boost Yahoo’s stock price high enough to outstrip Microsoft. But as pointed out by BigTech , Fortune Blog, there’s a good chance that News Corp. is more interested in peeking at Yahoo’s secrets at the bargaining table than in actually stealing Microsoft’s prize.
The author has questioned the potential News Corp and Yahoo deal on three points. First, he says, because Yahoo and News Corp. would have to convince Yahoo shareholders that the abstract deal is worth more than the cold hard cash Microsoft is offering. Convincing Yahoo shareholders to embrace a MySpace deal would be difficult enough, because it would assume that MySpace is worth billions of dollars. According to The Wall Street Journal, News Corp. would likely push for a valuation between $6 billion and $10 billion. But then for a harsh fact that much of MySpace’s revenue comes from its $900 million advertising deal with Google , in which the online giant has agreed to pay about $20 million per month until mid-2010. So far, that deal doesn’t seem to be working out so well for Google. In its most recent conference call with analysts, Google blamed its disappointing performance in part on its inability to make the MySpace deal pay off as quickly as it would like. That makes it doubtful that MySpace is really worth billions today. And if investors don’t believe in the value of MySpace, they won’t believe that this deal makes Yahoo more valuable than the more than $40 billion in cash and stock Microsoft is offering.

Second he points out, its’s not clear who would run the MyHoo combination. Third, because there’s a good chance that News Corp. is more interested in peeking at Yahoo’s secrets at the bargaining table than in actually stealing Microsoft’s prize. In business, everybody knows about Rupert's shrewdness.

Finally there’s the strong possibility that News Corp. doesn’t really want to do a Yahoo deal at all, and is only dangling the MySpace idea as a way to gain information.After all, as a media baron who has struck big deals with both Google and Microsoft, Rupert Murdoch stands to be affected quite a bit if there’s a power shift in online advertising. There’s arguably no better way to prepare for the changes than to get an up-close look at what Microsoft would get by purchasing Yahoo — and that’s perspective Murdoch would be likely to get if he at least pretends to be interested in taking a stake in Yahoo.

But then, its business after all; and all is fair in love and war!

Motorola - is climax coming?

2008-02-03T14:21:00.001+05:30

When a company announces that it is going to do away with one of its key business units it is definite to impact the stock price in exchange. And if the stock rises by something like over 10% then it surely rings a bell (and in case you haven't noticed, even the trade volume is high). It doesn’t take much of analysis to understand that Motorola had been doing badly in handset business. Its only ticket to cash registers was Razr, except for that one model, rest all just came and were lost in clutter. After grabbing world market share of 23% in 2006 on momentum led by its Razr phone, the company has lost nearly half that as rivals outpaced it with successful new products. So it was not surprising to see Motorola slip to number three spot behind market leader Nokia and now runner up Samsung.

I personally feel that Motorola has been too laidback, they are trying to catch the market based on some engineering innovations and aren’t really able to connect to the normal consumer who can give them volumes. Nokia relies on design innovations rather than engineering innovations in the electronic part. The ease of operation and sturdiness has been two main selling points of Nokia. If you have used Nokia once, you can use almost all Nokia phones as they are similar on usage, unlike other phones which are difficult to learn and the interface change with the handset.

Motorola has come up with another model W230. Looks like the handset was launched after a careful gap analysis of features and market need. With features like expandable memory upto 2GB,MP3 player,FM with recording, large phonebook memory and USB1.1 data connectivity, its loaded with features; I felt the handset was priced quite aggressively at Rs.3,400. The ad for the set is again a very typical of Moto phones with TG of middle class. It’s targeted at youth and boils down to the same word - Attitude. But it is actually a nice ad than the earlier one where father loses his head!

Microsoft hostile bid on yahoo

2008-02-01T16:14:00.000+05:30

Just heard of Microsoft's hostile bid on Yahoo at 62% premium at Thursday's stock price. What is exciting is how the people are actually looking at Microsoft as a savior for Yahoo. They think that yahoo has never used its full potential in internet domain and the aggression needed in the competitive world of today is just missing.

Microsoft's proposal to Yahoo's board of directors represents $31 per share (a 62% premium over yesterday's closing price) or about $44.6 Billion. Steve Ballmer, CEO and big fan of developers, says, "We have great respect for Yahoo!, and together we can offer an increasingly exciting set of solutions for consumers, publishers and advertisers while becoming better positioned to compete in the online services market." Apparently, the deal was laid out in a letter sent by Ballmer to Yahoo's board just yesterday. Seriously. The letter confirms that the two giants have been discussing the topic since late 2006. It also appears to be a direct response to the Google threat as outlined in the following paragraph:

"Today, the market is increasingly dominated by one player who is consolidating its dominance through acquisition. Together, Microsoft and Yahoo! can offer a credible alternative for consumers, advertisers, and publishers."

The deal, of course, rests on the two coming to a "merger agreement" and Microsoft having the time to conduct the required due diligence. Microsoft is ready to begin immediate discussions and have a draft merger agreement ready for consideration.

Well I am traveling right now, but the outcome should definitely bring me back for yet another post! Will appreciate posts on the brand value comparison of the two.

Airtel scores over Kumble gandhigiri

2008-01-16T02:15:00.000+05:30

Today's newspapers were filled with the news of Kumble's "humble" goodwill gesture not to press charge against Hogg. It was splashed on the main page India wide and going by the reaction of public lately, the news was nothing less than a wild fire. More than any fan or sportperson or cricketer himself (except maybe for the main characters of the story) , no one would have bitten more nails than the newspaper wallah's and TV channel people (TRPs scored a high for it).

But if you would have seen the morning newspaper, you'd know one company that left them way behind in branding - Airtel. See the ad below, Airtel came up with the tagline Barriers brake when people talk a month back. There couldn't have been a more apt situation for the ad insert.

Whopper Freak Out

2008-01-12T19:25:00.000+05:30

In the time when virals have just become a norm, stings are outdated and launching a new website just for a viral campaign is anything but hot; there is a fresh air of innovation to all this with the Burger King's latest campaign - Whopper Freak Out.

In this hidden camera style video, we get to see how people react when they are told the Whopper (the most popular burger from Burger King) has been permanently discontinued, as well as how customers react when the bags they are given contain not Whoppers, but Big Mac��s or Wendy��s burgers. A dirty game maybe, but surely works for their customers.

I was wondering how ling would they go, and even if you end it all up saying it was all a small joke ; I bet you will lose some loyalty. But thats where the campaign scores, it ends in a wonderful way which you have to see the campaign to appreciate.

Click the snapshot below to see the campaign live.

Website: http://www.whopperfreakout.com/

Vodafone Alert TVCs

2008-01-03T10:40:00.000+05:30

I was at home for last one week, and whatever time I spent along with our idiot box proved the same point - advertising is becoming more of a noisy clutter! But among the indifferentiables in this clutter, there come some fresh changes that really brings back the charm of advertisements. One among this lot is Vodafone's new series of ads promoting its Value Added Services (VAS) - alerts.

Indian telephony has already become a commodity product. Today people easily switch between the brands whenever they get an eligibility (the serious users of one SIM card are also the long term users, as they prefer to keep same number. Hence switching is not frequent but only on special occasions like location change, serious differences with operators etc will the person change the operator.) Due to this only differential is the VAS.

One of these ads start with a guy entering the life but not getting down on any floor. From the morning, it changes to afternoon, then evening and finally night when even the lift attendant leaves. Then a charming lady enters the lift and acknowledges the guy's encouraging looks. The screen then changes to the SMS alert the guy had got in the morning - "You will find your soul mate in elevator today".

There are series of ads and each one is very nicely executed, backed with a fresh idea and a synergised background music. These ads showcase how the role of a professional advertising team helps in the branding exercises. Last few years have seen lot many ads which appealed a lot, were loved by the general audience but still didn't move the sales figures much. But this ad scores well on all fronts; it hits the right chord to the right target group. Its only the SEC A and B mostly which use three or more VAS and hence the subtleness of ads is apt. But the VAS like astrology, news, stocks etc have the scope of volumes due to attractiveness to SEC C which is quite large in number. It will be nice to see how they react to these advertisements.

Here are the the ads on the roll-

Elevator

Husband and Wife

Onion

Goat

PS: Although all seems well with these new series of Vodafone campaigns, just that only one question remains in heart of Hutch loyalists - where has the Hutch dog gone and why!

Customizing credit cards to individuals

2008-01-02T17:23:00.000+05:30

Capital One has launched America's first - "Do-it-yourself" credit card. It has come up with a Web site called Card Lab that gives consumers the opportunity to “build their own” credit card. The customer can choose among various options for introductory and ongoing interest rates, rewards, annual fee (or none), and card design.

The process is essentially comprised of following steps:

Indicate Credit Level based on past history
Select Features and Rewards - like if one wants rewards in form of miles/points or cash back; the introductory APR, annual fee etc
Pick a Design - one can choose from a given set of 9 designs or one can add own image to the card (now thats customization!)
Review and Apply

The choices are then packaged together to create a card customized to each cardholders' personal preferences. This concept is being used in the USA for the first time whereas this has been tested before in UK and Turkey.

However, there are some trade offs in this venture. Once the applicant makes a choice, a certain number of other choices are closed for him. So, if you want no-frills, no rewards, you can get a lower interest rate. Want points or air miles? The interest rate goes up. Want a 0% interest rate for a year? Expect a higher ongoing rate. Want two points per dollar charged instead of one? Prepare to pay an annual fee.

From a marketing point of view, it does make an impact on consumers for following main reasons:

1. Empowerment
This concept gives the power in the hand of consumer to design what ever they feel like. This brings in more brand loyalty as consumer identifies more with the product.

2. Transparency
The selection process allows consumer to see the trade offs with every selection, hence consumer can know how the APR or annual fee change on selecting the desired cash back for example. The generic way of personalization was to have an online interview approach and make a product recommendation at the end of the process. This is an abstract way as consumer doesn't know what is full platter looking like.

3. Personalization
The site not only allows user to choose the features but also the card image, which can be of a memorable sunny day you enjoyed at Las Vegas. This creates an emotional connect with the consumer, an important building block in marketing.

4. Behavioral data
The data so accumulated from online behavior of consumers will go a long way in helping Capital One to understand consumer and help them design things better to command more loyalty and consumer base.

All said and done, this is one initiative a lot of marketers in cards domain will be watching out for.

User generated advertising

2007-12-07T02:48:00.000+05:30

From plain (textual) word of mouth advertising, it got refined to viral advertising and now with user generated content being on a steep rise on the internet, it wasn't too far that a firm would come up user generated advertising campaigns. Here below is an example of such a campaign. The project was to make an advertising campaign for a gel pen brand Pentel-EnerGel Deluxe

The video may not give you a well planned, enacted and executed ad campaign, but looking at the mode of medium and target audience; it really strikes aptly. Rather than the stress on its abilities the campaign uses them as a metaphor to associate the word - expression with the product.

For more videos, rollmio.com

McDonald now advertising in Report Cards!

2007-11-20T22:12:00.000+05:30

With the consumer mind being bombarded with so much of ad communication these days, the BTL (below the line) ad campaigns have gained quite a lot of popularity among th advertisers. Also the campaigns have started attracting the complete set of consumption chain i.e. from consumer to the decision maker. Thats why you will find ads of McDonald's happy meals being targeted at parents in India rather than the children themselves. Positioning is that such an outing of a happy time is best enjoyed by kids with McD's Happy Meal. To face the competetion, McD is also one company which has a high focus on BTL campaigns.

But this one may still surprise you. McD picked up the $1,600 cost of printing report-card jackets for the 2007-2008 school year in Seminole County, Florida, in exchange for a Happy Meal coupon on the card's cover(see picture). With 27,000 elementary school kids taking their report-card jackets home to be signed three or four times a year, that's less than 2 cents per impression.

The issue came to light last week when Susan Pagan’s daughter, Cathy, a fourth-grader at Red Bug Elementary School, brought home her report card and wanted to get a free Happy Meal because she earned good grades.Pagen told her daughter, "Our family does not eat at fast food chains," Pagan said. "And, now I’m the bad guy."

Pagan said she complained to school officials in an e-mail about the advertising and received a telephone call from Superintendent Bill Vogel. She said he told her that she was the only person who complained and he noted that McDonald’s offers some healthy alternatives.

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood is demanding that McDonald’s immediately stop advertising on children’s report cards. “This promotion takes in-school marketing to a new low,” said Susan Linn, director of CCFC and a psychologist at Judge Baker Children’s Center. “It bypasses parents and targets children directly with the message that doing well in school should be rewarded by a Happy Meal.”

Lufthansa banks on rumors

2007-11-16T20:16:00.001+05:30

One of the very novel ways to involve your customer with your brand/ product is to come out with something interesting that most of your intended customers will like to be involved in and then bring yourself in. Many companies do it by way of "Issued in public interest" or "For more information on this (non product) contact us at xyz" which may happen for some awareness or plain virals. Such methods do not call out at the customers showing off their features or benefits, in fact its mainly not about the product at all, it caters to the peripheral persuasion method. Even though you may not be going for the product/service but still you may end up 'consuming' it.

This idea bird has pecked Lufthansa (Airlines) also and as a result it has launched RumorTravels, a campaign which highlights the prevailing stereotypes about countries around the world. We all have such stereotypes for the countries, something that we have been hearing or reading since childhood like many of my friends whom I met during my French exchange program thought that many people in India still travel by elephants! (and I affirmed some, telling them that I have a pet elephant which I got as a gift when I turned eighteen, the age when one gets a driving license in India). Then I have heard a lot about the Italian gentlemen pinching the bottoms of damsels, Paris being a city where people are just lost in romance 24X7! These are the things that "You'll never know if you don't go.", as summed by the tagline of the campaign. In several videos, countries such as Sweden, Germany and France are imagined by would be travelers.

To pep up the viewership and following, there's also a contest which encourages people to submit rumors about a foreign country in the form of a video or a story for chance to win two round trip tickets from the U.S. to anywhere in Europe. I reached a bit too late for the contest, but still the results are coming.

In case you have always thought of Paris as City of Love, thinking romance is everywhere - from metro trains to jail, then here is a video clip for you. Is Paris really the City of Love and Romance?

But what remains to be seen is that how much additional traffic does this kind of campaign bring to Lufthansa, I haven't checked the fares of it much but I have an opinion that whosoever will be pulled up by the campaign and decide to go to that destination will be a common man going for non business reason. This category will be more inclined towards the usage of low cost airlines. But there is no point putting sausages on bar-be-cue without first arranging for coal, so Lufthansa, after taking the low cost route in 2005 does provide a strong reason to fly it with this campaign.

Addendum
Low cost-No frills concept was triggered by Southwest--which actually jumped the gun on deregulation, taking advantage of Texas' enormous size to avoid onerous interstate commerce regulations--ushered in the low-cost revolution with four revolutionary insights:
1) Flying just one type of aircraft will save a company millions on maintenance and bulk purchasing.
2) Point-to-point flights between smaller airports, rather than hub-and-spoke operations centered on a single large airport, allow each airplane to be used for several more flights a day, and more cheaply.
3) Passengers will appreciate the elimination of perks such as business lounges and free meals if the savings are passed on directly to them with a smile.
4) Air travelers will flock to the lowest prices, period.

And the impact? By the late 1990s, Southwest was the world's richest and most profitable major airline, inspiring successful copycats (such as JetBlue) and even forcing money-bleeding behemoths like United Airlines to launch low-cost hopefuls like TED. Lets see how Lufthansa addresses this market now!

Newspaper Falls for con-artist's fake Gucci Ad

2007-10-25T20:17:00.000+05:30

What would the name Switzerland ring in your mind? Is it beautiful landscapes, watches, chocolates, women, secret bank accounts or UN? Well ask Gucci and they will have different words. In what appears to be a great publicity stunt by a con artist, a swiss weekly SonntagsZeitung was called up to book the expensive full page color spread in Sunday's edition. But that's not it, he not only managed to get his own picture for this ad but also made whopping 60,000-Swiss-franc (about $50,000/ INR 2,000,000) bill to be sent to Gucci.

The newspaper later apologized to Gucci and told newspapers that it was trying to get the money back from the guy, but was quick to add that they didn't rate their chances very high!

It wasn't the first time that the mysterious model — a dark tanned, handsome man appearing to be in his late 20s — tried to sneak his way into the limelight. According to the Zurich-based daily Blick, the man attempted to book concert venues by passing himself off as Puerto Rican singer Chayanne. The paper said it narrowly avoided also being conned, but was tipped of the hoax by record company Sony BMG, which represents Chayanne.

You can see the con artist himself in this picture that spelled a dumbness doom for paper.

Cadbury India repeats innovation success

2007-10-18T15:35:00.000+05:30

Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai, India
Creative Directors: Anup Chitnis, Rensil D'silva, Piyush Pandey

They did it with Perk about a decade back and they have done it again with 'Ulta Perk' now. Cadbury brought the chocolate coated wafer category to the Indian cocoa confectionary market with launch of its highly successful brand - Perk, then popularized by brand ambassador Priety Zinta.

Perk was launched in the market in 1995 and has seen consistent growth through the years. The cocoa confectionary wafer market is around 35 % of the total chocolate market and has been growing at around 13% annually. Perk has been one of the best sellers in impulse buy market. Priced at Rs5 these days for regular size and at Rs10 for 'Bada Perk' (Bigger Perk), the Perk set the trend for Nestle's Kit Kat and Munch to be followed.

Cadbury has come up with a new innovative product line extension now, by having wafer on outside and chocolate inside. Lucratively priced at Rs.5; the new concept is surely going to pull many consumers. According to Cadbury, extensive consumer research and testing has been undertaken to determine the product taste, format and the communication campaign. ‘Ulta Perk’ has been test marketed in the South Markets – Tamil Nadu & Karnataka (South of India) for over 6 months and has received excellent response from the consumers.

Even the advertisements are really interesting ones. The problem with these impulse buys is that in starting, a good amount of money needs to be pumped in marketing activities before a significant return can be achieved. And Even after you have done, you still need to keep pumping a decent money to make it rememberable on impulse. The TVC is featured below while the print adverts take on the mantra of situations in a totally opposite context than it would be normally. Like man chasing a dog up a tree, a fly complaining about a man in its food, a balloon playing with a child floating in air etc; all going with the tagline -
"Cadbury's reverse bar. Wafer outside, chocolate inside."

What is best part for Cadbury is that its a festive time in India and according to the recent urban practices, people have started giving dry fruits and confectionery items instead of traditional sweets / mithai. So in assortment packages, which by the way are quite popular from Cadbury, may be having few Ulta Perks embedded adding to sampling opportunity. This may soon give it desirable sales, provided the taste and texture is nice.

Sources: Cadbury India website, Ads of the World

Guerrilla by Motorola Razr

2007-10-14T10:35:00.000+05:30

Use of phone while driving is banned in many countries. But to encash on this ban by a mobile company itself should be a great piece of work, no? With Motorola's new found aggression in marketing you sure can bet on it.

Motorola found an impressive way to send the don't mix phone and driving message across in an effective way. Drivers who drove down the Russian roads were surprised to see an accident where a car had broken glass panes with a huge Motorola phone peeping through the driver’s seat.

Ah! Its deadly, but will it be of any surge to handset use? I personally think that Motorola should have used various handsets in different locations, and keep the mental association of razor like sharpness with Moto Razr. When you are making a brand, you don't mix and dilute much, do you?

Sources - http://englishrussia.com

A mark in marketing - WonderBra

2007-10-06T23:05:00.000+05:30

They are bold, they are funny, they are creative, they are hilarious and most important they are subtle (ok, only some!)... like them or hate them, but you just can't ignore them!

Here I come on the with one of my most awaited posts, the writeup on the adverts of WonderBra. The brand has been criticized by many for the obvious but the sales of the brand has always been successful to make the brand have the last laugh. It comes as a default choice for many for functions and social interactions; while others are still wondering what the hoopla is all about. What ever, the only 'point' am concerned over here is the advertising done by the brand. Its brand are one of the most subtle ones and many times are requires a long perplexed view by people to understand them.

Question is are these adverts targeted at the consumers? A majority feels against it, they say that the ads are made just for the jury of advertising awards. Ask me and my opinion is - Maybe yes, obviously not! Why do you think such a product will be sold? Or lets answer what is being sold by WonderBra? Is it just an inner wear? I register a denial. An inner wear is for a personal use, the use here is for others, the product's money spent will be taken recovered by the consumer when she gets the glances being promised by adverts. So target one is the base consumer here who is wearing the product. Target two is the rest of public, especially men. With these adverts they actually will be recognizing the use of such a product whenever they see one, this builds up the response that the consumer of the product is actually looking for, hence drives the sales in other way. So target two here is the intended evaluator of product (not necessarily the men).

Hence to make it an iconic brand, the marketers have done the best thing : attach it to the behavior, derive the impact of social cognition and consumer behavior. Who doesn't want to be recognized ? and thats where these marketers target. And when we say that intended impact is on social cognition, then it in itself encompasses both the targets, making the mental constructs or schema in consumer as well as the evaluator (society and esp men). Just look at this - there was one print advert which shows just a blonde model wearing a black WB, and only one sentence

I can't cook, who cares!

But I wont deny that some of these ads are more inclined at awards' jury rather than any of the two targets. And not to mention that even after guessing the meaning you are not very sure in some adverts that if you got the meaning! Here are some of the ads, though I couldn't find some of my favorites coming from WonderBra's stable -

Some video adverts, really interesting -

This ad was launched at the 10th anniversary of WB in 2005:

Now this is one of the ad campaigns for which I appreciate the ad agencies of WB, see if you can understand it :)

And let me know if you can understand this one, I couldn't!

i-pill :The emergency contraceptive pill

2007-10-03T14:12:00.000+05:30

Year 2005 onwards Indian government has allowed the sale of emergency contraceptives (EC) in the chemist shops without prescription, better known as OTC (Over The Counter) sale. Following this Cipla has launched its product pill 72 as i-pill in Indian market, making it the first ‘morning after pill’ to be marketed in India. It is already available in market and its single dose tablet is priced at Rs 75.

The pill is significant for Indian market as different studies have pointed out that nearly 30 per cent of conceptions in the country end in abortions. It has also been proved that 75 percent of pregnancies are unplanned (!!!!). It is just one of the EC products available in market and with its huge marketing the category itself will benefit a lot.

For those curious about the pill functioning, the product's website reveals that i-pill can work in any of the three different ways depending on where the consuming female may be in her menstrual cycle.

It may stop an egg being released from the ovary.
If an egg has been released, i-pill may prevent the sperm from fertilizing it.
If the egg is already fertilized, it may prevent it from attaching itself to the lining of the womb

To encourage responsibility in the use of the medicine, the company has started a toll-free helpline (1800-22-9898) and Web site to share information on the product. According to Cipla, i-pill is 95% effective if taken within 24 hours of unprotected sex, 85% between 25-48 hours and 58% if taken between 49-72 hours of unprotected sex or contraceptive failure.

Coming to the marketing and the advertisements which are aired widely across channels, the product is targeted at SEC A and B, the urban class. With tagline " Get Back to Life" the TVC strikes bang on the target. The packaging and the ad theme all relate to a new age Indian female. Lets analyze it one by one.

Firstly, the choice of models has made sure the urban ones relate to her, the simplicity of the character, with white as dominant color stresses on the lifestyle any female of today's rising India will want to be related with.

Secondly, the ad stresses on the relation between the couple. The pill has already been christened as "abortion bill" or "infidelity pill" by NGOs and many others as they suspect it will be used for wrong reasons. So a strong image needed to be portrayed, which has been done beautifully.

Thirdly, the full focus of brand is on its consumer - female. The men even though they are there in ads, still are subtly left out as the decision maker has to be female and its aptly depicted that she is taking things in her control. Attack is on the tension that comes 'the morning after'.

Have a look at the adverts here: http://www.ipillcipla.com/resources.htm

Ad campaign rating -

Rs500 adverts on Gandhi Jayanti

2007-10-02T17:48:00.000+05:30

On the eve of Gandhi Jayanti (meaning birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi), here lets see an advert by UNICEF, a real brilliant piece. In case you aren't able to understand why, try concentrating at the lower side where the promise to pay is written. But although its a nice idea as a concept but its a bad ad as the result of ad wont be as required by business. I mean such an ad will be appreciated as an idea but wont ever stop a person from giving a bribe! So thanks but no thanks...

But there is another ad using same Rs500 note thats worth its salt, its of Iodex. The film opens on a man walking on a lonely road. Seeing a five hundred rupee note he stops in his tracks and is tempted to pick it up but then he ponders over something. After much deliberation he moves on in disappointment without picking up the note.

The ad ends with the super and product shot: “Peeth dard? Iodex.”

Indian fragrance mkt looks promising

2007-09-28T03:07:00.001+05:30

My last post on eau de perfume had received quite many hits from India and quite a few lot even had a discussion it with me personally. What surprised me most was the interest level of people in these brands, even the mild ones. India being a climatically rough country does not hold itself in a very right perspective for milder tones of perfumeries. One can remember that when an Indian wears a perfume in some public function, one can smell it easily before one can see the person wearing it! Most of our scents scream rather than talk. And in case you have tried a mild one you will know that it won’t last even few hours and only person who can appreciate it then will be only you at the max.

But no, some people have worn these; others have tried it or at least appreciated it; and with India booming on the world tourism that actually comes as the by product. Not only are Indians thronging for packages to the tourist places all over the world, even the major names in this market are coming to India to have a promising Indian buyers. The north especially is targeted as they are the heavy spenders on personal grooming and not to forget the show offs. With money has come the need to maintain social status as most of the Indians care more about their image in society rather than one’s own individuality. But the younger generation is talking more and more of its personal yet private space and these are the consumers that look for something different, they may be happier experimenting for self rather than for others. (Such exuberance reminds me of Sushmita Sen than anybody else). But all in all they are all welcome customers for the fragrance giants who are looking at India as a high potential market. Fragrances are proving increasingly popular in India, as the population continues to increase its expenditure on increasingly sophisticated personal care products containing greater amounts of fragrance (check your consumption basket!)

A fortnight back I had gone to Hyderabad Central for a weekend hang out; I must say I was surprised to see the range and abundance of some of the best fragrances over there (first floor towards front exit). Even the latest ones could be seen lavishly exhibited there.

As for me I was taken aloft by Chanel’s Allure Sport. This Eau de Toilette is a 2005 Fifi award winner, and is really refreshing. It starts with a 'fresh' and fruity note and is really refreshing but then with time you can have it changed to base note quite fast. But make sure you are trying Allure Sport and not plain Allure Homme as latter is more like feminine scents of Allure range. So in case you end up buying latter one, you know, "I warned you!" :)

Allure Sport
Top Notes Aldehydes, Mandarin, Orange, Aquatic Note
Middle Notes Black Pepper, Neroli, Cedar
Base Notes Tonka, Vetiver, Amber, White Musk

In case the top note, middle or base note sound as jargon to you, let me explain what I have learned about scents. A fragrance is composed of three different 'layers' of scent called notes. It has top notes, which you smell as soon as you apply the fragrance; you have mid notes, which you smell in about 10 to 45 minutes depending on the fragrance, and then there are base notes, that stay on the longest, say hours. So when I said early in this post that we Indians wear screaming scents, it means we tend to choose fragrances with strong base notes.

My other possession is Ko2 by Diamond, its more than mild and has a strong base note which stays for quite long. When I was trying to buy a cologne for my friend in Paris, I actually was trying to look for a nice, strong manly screaming scent. I don't know if I did a right choice or not, but I bought Armani Code. No comments on that as I havnt ever tried that, my friend told me that the fragrance was nice but it was a bit mild (I told you so! we Indians!).

Am no socialite but yes I have interest in all these things that flirt with my senses, be it food, drinks or fragrances. And not to mention that one visit to western Europe and you really feel like following your senses much closely; be it first/second taste of wine or the three tones of fragrances, they certainly made me realize the nuances! So, do you have any suggestions on what to try further? I remember one of my classmate using Tommy Hilfiger's; guess will check it out in some months. But in case you have some good reviews about some aqua based strong fragrance or cologne, am all ears! Lets wait and watch for comments ;)

Stress on corporate images

2007-09-17T02:37:00.001+05:30

Few years back I read a report detailing how HLL was considering to change its then green colored leaves logo to something that was closer to its mother brand Unilever, which itself was undergoing a plastic surgery for fresh image in consumer mind. Now HLL has changed to HUL, company board deciding to use the word Hindustan (with reports that its probably only occurrence in world that Unilever has allowed a local name). After each advertisement of a Lever's product you can see the new 'vitality' filled sign of Unilever with Hindustan Unilever written below it. This branding fo corporate identity along with the brand makes sense for the obvious. But is it just because of changing corporate image or is due to higher competition in market? Is it that HUL now wants to leverage its larger than life corporate image and add the benefit to its brands?

In case you are ready to negate the argument then have a look at other happenings. Check the FMCG battlefield where the goriest of battles have been fought - soft drink industry. After the Pepsi ads you would now see the branding of PepsiCo. Post liberalization PepsiCo was allowed to use its international brand name in India (earlier it had to use 'Lehar' alongside), but since then it hasnt done any branding. Infact I was surprised to see the name PepsiCo used in US instead of Pepsi as the corporate name 3 years back, and here in India nobody had heard about PepsiCo! PepsiCo India even has its own website now, which I once tried to find helplessly 2 yrs back (for assignment purpose). The impact may have been because of pesticide issue.

Coke too has worked a lot for its corporate image with McCann Erickson, with Prasoon Joshi coming up with new ad line "Boond boond khushi khushi" or "Little drops of joy". He was the one who changed Coca Cola's fortune with hugely popular "Thanda matlab Coca Cola". According to Joshi,

In a growing, constantly changing market like India, a brand needs to have an emotional connect. In small-town India, which is the next big market, marketers are constantly trying to find the right lingo that will guarantee the right connection. Boond Boond Khushi Khushi is their connect with the brand. One isn’t supposed to look at the drops in isolation, but see them as drops of a larger vision, aimed at mutual growth and development. Boond Boond Khushi Khushi will refresh the consumer on an everyday basis. We are not saying that Coca-Cola cause miracles. What is very real about it is that we don’t claim to transform lives but simply envelop a moment with joy.

The entire campaign, “Little Drops of Joy”, is based on moments of joy in the daily lives of consumers. The TVC portrays how little drops of Coca-Cola transform drab moments of life to a more cheerful one. One of these commercial opens with the shot of a couple, walking on the road and fighting over daily chores. Suddenly, drops of Coca-Cola engulf them and the boy spots a beautiful dress on a mannequin and decides to buy it for the girl in order to pacify her. The second section of the commercial shows an old Parsi lady in a pensive mood. Again, the bubbles appear and immediately the old lady spots her friend in a car and they go out. In the end the message appears: “Coca Cola India — Boond Boond Khushi Khushi.” If you ask me, my point will be that big things give you excitement but its the small things that make you feel happy and contended, hence crucial for branding.

Also, as part of its re-positioning strategy, Coca-Cola has revealed its five-pillar growth strategy, that of 5 Ps -

People
Planet
Portfolio
Partners and
Performance.

The company is testing a foray into dairy-based products as well as introducing in India energy drink major Glaceau’s brands that it recently acquired for $ 4.1 billion. This is in response to shift of Indian consumer towards healthy drinking habits. Pepsi had beaten Coke on this with its Tropicana range of juices. and with report of Pepsico India Holdings Pvt. Ltd., being close to purchasing a juice brand in India, the battle is surely gonna hot up

Working on the skin change...

2007-09-14T02:10:00.000+05:30

Hey all!

It has been a long time a long time since I had used this skin. It was picked especially for the launch of this blog along with my Tech blog and have a consistent feel of all three blogs, giving them a site kind feel.

But there will be a few changes now, lets see if the trio still has same skin or they all get different! Keep watching...

Photo Credit

Scintillating Fragrances

2007-09-04T23:07:00.001+05:30

A twenty thousand euro dress, two thousand hairdo, 24carat diamond set jeweled in platinum... still your dress-up wont be complete without that subtle or expressive élan by virtue of a fragrance. How many times has just a sniff of it changed our mood? or made us float in air, brim with confidence or just bring a smile with closed eyes!

With such a stake they don't command a cost based price, but get based on perceived price. It becomes a high involvement and in many cases the highest. As such it becomes a marketer's dream turf. Some reach the zenith and other get branded for life in nadir.

Idea always is to make the customer move to non rational purchase, make it go through heart and not mind. Once its done then it paves a huge path for extraordinary profit, changing of brand name to a symbol or an icon.

Chanel No.5 has been such a brand that has ruled now for almost a century (it came out in 1921) and is still fresh. Coco Chanel had once commissioned Ernest Beaux to make six perfumes, which were labeled No. 1, No. 2, etc. through No. 6. It was bottle No.5 that was to Chanel's liking and became the chosen formula. No. 5 is famous for being the first perfume to heavily rely on synthetic floral aldehydes as a top note. Before synthetics, perfume either had to be applied very heavily before going out to ensure that the fragrance would last, or frequently throughout the night. The expensive manufacturing process of No.5 had made it to be the most expensive perfume at that time; which still holds true.

The cost to marketer for maintaining such a brand? The following 180 seconds commercial for television broadcast and cinema advertisement was made at whopping budget of $42 million USD which was financed exclusively by Chanel.

Now Keira Knightley is all set appear as the new face of Chanel,to launch an advertising campaign to promote the fragrance Coco Mademoiselle. Keira has replaced star model Kate Moss as the latest face of the firm. Chanel had earlier decided to abandon Kate Moss from its promotional campaigns after her drug scandal.

The second brand that has been catching my eye is the range of Bulgari (BVLGARI) which has come up with innovative designs of packing or 'vials'. The packing of perfumeries is amazing to eyes and the olfactory organs of our body. I in particular liked the product on my right. An impressive packing, then the usage leads to a complete experience of having this perfume for self. Quoting from wiki, The company was founded in 1884 in Rome, Italy. The current flagship store was opened in 1905 by Bulgari with the help of his two sons (Costantino and Giorgio) and the store quickly became a place where the world's rich and famous came for the unique, high quality jewelry designs combining Greek and Roman art. Although the company made a name for itself with jewelry, today it is a recognized luxury brand that markets several product lines including watches, handbags, fragrances, accessories, and hotels.

TVC with cupid's touch

2007-08-29T17:12:00.000+05:30

What would a successful advertisement be composed of? A catchy jingle some say, others argue a video that prompts consumer to wait and search for it, and the mainstream critics would point out on the tangibles and intangibles that the company gets from the ad say brand equity, sales surge, brand loyalty.

While the mainstream critics will have to wait to react on this Parachute Advanced ad, the others are all up in cheer; me being just one of them. A perfect ad to my eyes and ears ! The other results can wait ;)

*sigh* yes, I AM in love with this ad!

RAZR2 launched in India

2007-08-24T15:43:00.000+05:30

I have covered the RAZR2 in my technology blog, here is the post. Motorola launched it on 23rd August in India.

Kajol as brand ambassador of Alpenliebe

2007-08-23T18:54:00.000+05:30

As has been from some time I agree even this post is coming bit late. It’s about Alpenliebe roping in Kajol as its brand ambassador. Mind it; this is the first time in fourteen years of successful existence of the brand in the India that Perfetti Vanmelle is relying on celebrity endorsement. Earlier it tagged on children and their innocent naughtiness.

The new campaign has taken from what has been the ad strategy of various mint based candies like Mint-o-Fresh or ChlorMint. They all use what has been labeled as the 'Absurdism'.

Plot is that Kajol pops the candy at an Alligator at a zoo and the alligator starts following Kajol everywhere. The brand now uses the tagline "Lalach Aha Laplap" instead of hugely popular "Jee Lalchaye Raha Na Jaaye". According to a report in AgencyFAQs, the company feels that Kajol is the right fit for the brand and will help to take the brand to the next level. In Kajol I have no doubt, question is whether the ad is a right fit for the brand or not? All these impulse buy brands have one problem; getting consumers to buy them which is driven largely by mind recollection when one visits purchasing point. Hence the absurd ads; so that the people remember or a jingle or tagline. Now with already a hugely famous tagline "Jee Lalchaye Raha Na Jaaye"; I guess its dilution of brand image in mind of consumer to shift from there. Striking gold with such a concept is not easy so it’s a gamble that Alpenliebe has taken.

As has been talked about, the brand would have paid a good amount for the animation and even Kajol would have cost them nicely as she has showcased her ad presence very profitably as far as attention and recall is considered. But would it take the brand to further levels of sales is a question I really doubt!

Pepsodent Center Fresh

2007-08-23T18:12:00.000+05:30

Finally! finally HUL (Levers) has come up with the gel and fluoride combo under the fluoride category. When Levers had launched the gel-fluoride combo I had written about it in my marketing blog, the post can be accessed here

What I had discussed in that post was that the product was per se heading for a failure just because it was positioned in a wrong way; launching the gel-fluoride combo in gel segment.

Now Levers may have come up with the combo in fluoride segment due to just failure of Close or because it really understood the difference or maybe its just another fighting platform for Colgate war. But whatever, it has two brands in market and each offering almost similar product but marketed fewer than two entirely different consumer segments!

For me the ideal ad campaign would have been where the mother stresses the benefits of paste and the younger one(s) excited at freshness aspect and they are shown at peace preferably physically too e.g. younger one giving a hug and both oozing the happiness and energy or both giving a high five etc. But the current campaign is decent enough.

Now we know that the sales margin would have been higher for the product in initial months making it reach the shelves of good amount of retailers, and going by the plain Pepsodent packing or retailer pursuing, some buyers would have picked it only to find the new combo at home. Now the job is for the product innovation guys, if they have the product made good the sales registers would start ticking! This stage was the one that the gel one would not have reached.

Carrefour vs WalMart, the Indian perspective

2007-08-22T23:23:00.000+05:30

The GDP growth is more than heartening, money has effectively been trickling down in most part of the country, local retailers are investing in hypermarts and mall outlets, people have opened up to the spending lifestyle, disposable income has risen nicely and living on credit has been gaining acceptability. All these things make India not just a favorable but a hot market for these retail majors. Europe and American land has already been saturated, to survive in international arena, the retail majors will have to beat each other to gain the promising fresh ground across the world.

On the other half of the story, one thing that many in India would be waiting would be the war of Carrefour and Walmart. With government delaying the direct investment by any foreign retail chains and these players evaluating the local players (WalMart with Bharti and Carrefour with Wadia Brothers) the time has surely become the critical hinge to hang on for a while.

The plans of slow and steady growth of Carrefour has long been eroded by Walmart, since it began its european rampage, and announced its arrival with thud by acquiring Asda (WalMart doubled its international sales to more that US$25 billion at that time with the acquisition). Carrefour had replied by having a friendly bid rival Promodes at Euro 15.9b, thereby potentially creating Europe’s largest retailer with a market value of US $48 billion. Though the sentiments could have been affected by the failed attempt of Carrefour to enter American market in 1980s, still what mattered was the global pie; and it was too large to be fought by gimmicks.

Here is where Asian countries come into picture. The land has yet been riding on its own unorganized distribution network, making road tougher for these retail chains. But the largest investment - land and labor has been cheap, making it lucrative. These retail chains thrive on local sourcing, private brands and strong distribution network. The last option is yet to be seen that how these majors can exploit. Because the evading market for these majors - South East Asia, is driven by trust, mutual understanding and credit. It’s very normal for a person to tell the retailer while walking on the road to send purified water container, x kg aata and y kg sugar to his home. The price may be paid at the end of the month when he is given a list of purchases in previous month. You can’t expect that in Europe or America. Europe especially, being low on labor, is mostly a self serving model based. All this leads to development of organized format.

So when the fight is on between the two for markets they also understand how tough the path further would be. The market is held by the unorganized wholesale setups who have been effectively been driving the sales since more than century. All the major cities have a wholesale market from where the sales of area of anything between 60 to 200kms radius are operated. And mind it; it’s the wholesale and not operator, so retailers have to come by themselves over here.

This setup may be rendered low on effectiveness by these giants and that will be a trouble for a government of a democratic country. So it is yet to be seen how and when their entry is allowed. The markets across world today can be classified under five formats:
· Hypermarts
· Discount Department Stores
· Hard Discounts
· Category Killers
· Warehouse Clubs and Cash and carry

For now, the cash and carry seems to be a nice backdoor available and last week Walmart braced it in full publicity. The cash-and-carry model is being followed by the German retailer Metro AG in India which has set up two distribution centers in Bangalore and is in the process of setting up more in Hyderabad and Kolkata.Whatsoever, the time will make the fight only grimmer. Will the culture also make a difference in this acceptance is also a yet another point!

Marketing – Google google goooooogle!

2007-08-22T23:18:00.000+05:30

If one talks about those few companies that are head over heels in building a fortress continuously and consistently, it has to include Google. With innovation as its marketing plank for normal public and investors alike, the company keeps popping surprises and awe. Google Labs is one area that needs to be checked every now and then as something or other deadly keeps coming out. Latest of this quality is Google Business Referral program.

Google has understood well the importance of knowledge availability at right time. After having made a collective mapping of world in Google maps, the company has launched a program that will pay people to take digital photos of local shops and verify their operating hours and payment options – essentially, creating a digital Yellow Pages to layer on top of Google Maps.

According to the company and program terms, the representatives can earn up to $10 for each business they catalog for Google – $2 for the business's information, and $8 for getting the company to verify that the information is correct by either sending in a postcard or approving it online.According to Utility belt at Business2.com, if Google can get people to add business details to its maps, the referrals effort could prove to be financially rewarding in the long run. As part of the program, representatives also will be telling local businesses about Google's AdWords program. It discusses that Google’s move is also important as it fights with Yahoo, Microsoft and others for the future of mobile advertising. As more devices, particularly mobile phones and in-car navigators, gain access to the Internet, companies will have more chances to reach consumers through mobile advertising. If Google can create the most comprehensive directory of local venues, it will have both a better shot at recruiting them as advertisers, and a more comprehensive local product.

Mumbai high on Guerrilla innovation

2007-08-07T17:52:00.001+05:30

This is one area that always catches my attention and my awe, came across this new campaign which came out to be pretty old (2006 infact).

An entry in a club is clubbed with an ink stamp to identify a proper entry. Now (according to reports) Marriott's nightclub Enigma in India wanted a low-budget campaign that cautioned their patrons against drinking and driving. They replaced the simple logo stamp with a call-a-cab number and a reminder against drinking and driving. Not only did the cab company receive approximately 30 calls a night, the exercise generated such strong word-of-mouth that it was taken up by the Mumbai Police and has now been adopted by several other clubs in the city.

(Credit: Art Director: Sanket Pathare, Copywriter: Sonal Chhajerh)

Then there was another campaign by a restaurant named Spar by placing artificial clams on the beaches of Mumbai. When you open thhe clams there´s a text inside saying: " Looking for seafood? Spars Seafood festival" The campaign is again quite old :)

Credits

And lastly i would like to point this Bloody Coasters campaign. These Bloody Coasters (for Mumbai Traffic Police) were printed using a special invisible red ink, wich spreads only when moistened. They were placed at tables and bar counters in Mumbai’s prominent bars and watering holes. When a customer places his frosted, moist glass of alchohol on it, the red ink starts spreading; and the normal face starts bleeding.
Alongside, the message reads: Just a reminder: Drunken driving kills.

Agency: Contract, Mumbai, India.

Credits: Directdaily

Adobe CS3 raises the BTL campaign quality bar

2007-07-24T23:02:00.000+05:30

Last few years have seen a huge rise in innovative BTL campaigns; companies have also been engaging advertising marshals as Ogilvy, Saatchi and Saatchi and likes to come up with innovative guerrilla campaigns in developed as well as developing countries. The stress has been on the innovation, going away from the trodden path to engage the intended consumer. With the new age media, this has already taken another giant lead. This July’s first Friday saw Adobe launching its eye catching outdoor advertising campaign for Creative Suite 3 (CS3) at Union Square, New York.

The ad, placed on a 7 feet high and 15 feet wide wall, showcases to the pedestrians the unbounded creative ability of CS3. As pedestrians walk past the wall, infrared sensors locks on to the person closest to the wall; as he/she continues walking and moves the slider along, randomly-generated, colorful animation and music will springs ‘out of the wall’, developing or receding at the pace that the person advances or retreats. When each selected pedestrian reaches the end of the wall, "their" design reaches its full blossom, above the campaign's message: "Creative license: take as much as you want."

The ad is a part of online campaign that was launched last month, with similar sliders coming up in online ads. This ad effort took (rightly) six months of development and was done with Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. The agency, which is part of the Omnicom Group, has been working with Adobe since 2001. The ad is supposedly made by using all of the Adobe CS3 tools.

The campaign had few tough tasks to be taken care of. Major being that the majority of these Adobe products are the amateurs and not professionals, so the campaign had to talk to the normal public. Especially after the rise of social networking websites and platforms wherein anyone can come and express him/herself, the avenues of these products have increased exponentially. Many Adobe users, claims International Herald Tribune, are amateurs who use Photoshop to spruce up their Facebook photos or Premier Express to edit their YouTube videos. So the campaign looks at individual’s unique expression on the wall.

The wall was designed to switch its attention, and the control of the slider, to anyone who gets closest to it - but even the activity and movement of people in the background was designed to affect some of the incidental animation. That’s what the producers of campaign call making the wall "a single and multi-user experience simultaneously".

Also Creative Suite 3 brings together the earlier Adobe CS products along with the acquired Macromedia biggies like Dreamweaver, Flash etc. The success of the suite and the impact on Adobe’s share prices will be a thing to watch this quarter.

Selling new product launches to retailer

2007-07-22T19:25:00.000+05:30

Whenever a new product is launched, its felt that the burden of success is on marketing. If the campaign is well structured, well executed, and the time, effort, competition and logistics are taken care of, then the consumer need becomes the only significant driver, no? Well you may say that if you have not been to the ground. Coz all said and done, the last leg of new launch is in hands of the salesman who is working with the retailers. He is the man who will make your new product reach the hands of consumer, but then he has a 'catalyst' - retailer.

But here comes the problem, normally when there is a launch the retailer is quite skeptical of buying it, leave alone placing it. The older brands are doing well, he is having his share of margin, so why buy something from these salesmen which doesn't have a reputation yet? At same time the dilemma for salesman is that unless the product reaches shelves, how will it move?

Solution? Higher retailer margin, promotional schemes for retailers, larger credit period etc. Smaller brands may even have to place it for free wherein the retailer pays them after the sale of any SKU. But even with established brands, sometimes they won't buy the newer product. Its not that consumer wont buy the product, it hasn't reached its hands yet. But if you try selling the retailer, you will meet the exact excuse. Underlying problem is that its the retailer's mindset that the product wont move / consumer wont buy and hence he will not place it.

Some other times you will see that you manage to sell the product to retailer assuring that he buys for this month and see the sales, vouching for the high sales of your other brands. Many times its another of a cheaper on pocket version or smaller SKU or maybe a smart but big packing. Say the product is a hit too, but after few months the retailer will get skeptical as he finds that his returns are lessening. I will take case of Pepsico coming out with Uncle Chips' promotions. Say the margins on both Ruffles and Uncle Chips is 10% (assumption on my part). The retailer's returns will lessen here. Reason is that the volume a retailer can buy from you is fixed, so his earlier returns on selling 10 packets of Ruffles will be much higher than that he gets by selling 10 packets of Uncle Chips of same volume (mind it, not grammage). Until the margin compensates for the loss, be doubly assured he will cry in next coming month ends (sales guys will understand this pain!)

But the story doesn't end here, if the margin is lower for the retailer then its most probably lower for the manufacturer too. But the company district sales head will settle the equation by pushing the sales targets, which again puts the salesmen in tougher position. The more the newer product eats into the sales of its predecessor instead of competition, lower will be the market share in terms of value while the volume share may show a different picture. Instead of this I have seen quite few companies being more comfortable with just volume share.

Marketing Practices - JCDecaux

2007-06-13T17:00:00.000+05:30

Focus : JCDecaux

JCDecaux is a strond example of the changes in the marketing industry of Europe and the need for innovation to get higher returns from the saturated market. The moment you enter France, the homecountry of JCDecaux, you can realise that every bus stop, almost every strategic road crossing, and the buses have been taken by JCDecaux.

Idea was simple, in 1964, Jean Claude Decaux invented the now world famous concept of "street furniture" wherein he would maintain the street furniture free of charge to cities and towns in exhange for right to place advertisement on some of these structures. In some cases, later on, he would also contract to build new bus stops aprt from maintainence. The concept was evidently a huge hit as for administration, it would be a healthy outsourcing and to advertisiers it would give the access to advertising space in the city centres where otherwise advertising was very restricted and the returns were quite high. And so it went on as JCDecaux spread from bus shelters to free-standing information panels, automatic public toilets, kiosks for flowers etc, public trash bins, benches, citylight panels, bicycle racks and shelters, interactive computer terminals and so on. The list is a long one.

Another starking project of JCDecaux is Cyclocity. Cyclocity, (registered by JCDecaux) is a self-service bicycle racks. It has presence in Paris, Lyons, Marseilles, Aix-en-Provence, and Brusassels. Started just an year back, Cyclocity has become in its own as a true means of “individual mass transit”. With Vienna in Austria, Cordoba and Gijón in Spain and Lyons, Brussels, Aix-en-Provence, Marseilles, and most recently Paris lapping up the concept. Cyclocity is now the number one provider of selfservice bikes in the world. JCDecaux is now pumping up the project with advertising revenues completely or partially paying the cost of making bicycles available to the public. But again the main stress is on the advertisement opportunity and not teh rental. Infact in connection with bid solicitations made by local governments, provision can be made for the franchisee to keep all or part of the proceeds from bike rentals.

Cyclocity - It works like this, the Cyclocity bikes are kept parked in some of the busiest of places with each bike attached to the holder. Just near the parking area a automatic ticket vending machine is installed, one can get a monthly card and can use the bike for 0.5 euro per hour, the first hour is complimentary. In case the parking lot is full, you can check for the closest parking lot and the machine awards you some free time so that you can submit the cycle there. But the system workd hard to save this situation from happening. As soon as the cycles racks start getting exhausted, a signal is sent to the main controls and the trucks replenish the cycles from the part where they are in excess. The idea is a huge hit with people who use it for mid night travel when public transport isnt available or also while going to work.

The whole idea for JCDecaux is to conquer the outdoor advertising market. The competetion is from Clear Channel Outdoor (American) and CBS Corporation (American again). The revenues of Clear channel Outdoor, JCDecaux and CBS Corporation are 2898 , 2432 and 2103 (in millions of $ as in 2006, as given bu JCDecaux Annual Report).

Acording to UN study, people are becoming more and more mobile and are spending more time outside of their homes, whether driving or walking on the street, or in trains, railway stations, or airports. To amplify the effect, the average commute of drivers in the European Union from home to work has also been reported to be high, same study says that it took 37 minutes for these drivers to go from home to work, and that automobile traffic on major
British roads had increased by more than 200% between 1994 and 2004. In lieu of these facts the outdoor market becomes more potential to giver higher returns and the strategy of the future.

Outdoor market can be divided into three segments:
1. Billboards
2. On and in public transportation vehicles, stations, and airports (“Transport”)
3. On street furniture (“Street Furniture”).

JCDecaux derives more than 50% of its revenue from Street Furniture Segments. It has presence in Europe, United States, Asia-Pacific, North & South America. Coming back home, in India, JCDecaux Advertising India Pte Ltd (a wholly-owned subsidiary) won the exclusive 15-year bus shelter advertising contract for central New Delhi, in response to a bid solicitation. It will now handle 197 bus shelters, representing 591 advertising faces in the most prestigious locations in the centre of New Delhi as per the contract.

The success of JCDecaux is yet to be seen in India. India being a not at all a mature market, the local unorganised players are many and are infact willing to work for quite small an amount. Maintainig of bus stations wont be easy. But actions of JCDecaux tell that it has understood well the difference and is open to look Indian market in its own focus. Also with time, the domestic shoal is inevitable to be gulped by big fishes. So watsoever, the future of outdoor advertrising will be anything but passive.

Sources: JCDecaux website and annual report

Bingo! by ITC

2007-05-02T23:30:00.000+05:30

If you are an Indian who has an access to TV then there is no doubt you would have gone through the ad-space bombardment by "Bingo" snacks. After venturing into biscuits and Pasta food segment, Bingo is the third attempt by ITC to enter into the Rs 20 billion fast-moving branded snack market. The market has been growing at an impressive 30% rate and has already made Pepsi gain its double figure growth rates in last two years. Kurkure, the only second Indian brand where an MNC developed a product for Indian market and then took it abroad based on its huge success, has already shown the preference of Indian taste. Not to be shunned by market, ITC has poured in months of research of consumer behavior and consumption habits insights. Its team of people, according to the strategist (the Strategy supplement of Economic Times), had visited all over India to come up with these research results.

The adverts, done by O&M, are being perceived by many as irritatingly boring. Some feel that these are worst TVCs done by ITC as there is no entertainment factor. Irritating - Yes, but these adverts arent that boring. The idea of any advert is not to be entertaining, it may become one as a consequence, but the aim is to get the person buy the product. Now with heavy bombardment of these ads ITC has made sure everyone knows about the brand Bingo, and that too not as just another local snack maker's but from some respectable name. The quality of ad execution does make an imprint. One may not like the ads but when one goes to marketplace, then a string of Bingo's is sure to catch attention. Then one can remember the Mad Angles from the TVC and connect to present visual. And then is when this TVC does a goal.

Ready to eat food segment is an impulse buy segment, so top of the mind recall is very necessary. And with such advertising, it surely will get more first time testers. At second step comes the consuming experience, if the snacks are able to hold back the consumer for a next consumption, the cycle gets complete. Now how will consumers respond to the taste is yet to be seen. So lets see if Bingo will go the Sunfeast biscuits way up or the Pasta way down.

Rin Supreme is now Surf Excel Bar

2007-04-16T01:10:00.000+05:30

Recently HLL has changed the naming of Rin Supreme washing cake to Surf Excel. The advertisement that accompanies the change also comes in a typical HLL package - kids-light-fun, the tried and tested by HLL in basic toiletries. But then Rin has been a highly successful brand and infact a superbrand. So changing the name may sound absurd. But lever has been looking forward with a plan to unify and reconstruct its brand portfolio and aiming at changing to Unilever in next coming years. Moreover once Tide launched its Tide bar last year, industry expected an action from HLL's side.

According to an HLL spokesperson, as quoted by www.financialexpress.com, the rationale behind HLL’s recent move is, “The migration was done to enable better differentiation of brands within the existing portfolio. Rin Supreme was on the stain removal platform which goes with the Surf Excel platform of stain removal and therefore the migration was synergistic.”

So much for strategy, now lets see the consumer's likely reaction to the brand change. Thing is that both Rin and Surf Excel enjoy a brand status in minds of people, so the consumer mind will have a strong brand recall of both. It comes in fact as a brand extension of Surf Excel clubbed with trimming of Rin. Now with both brands being popular one, it may seem a smooth change. But it wont be as both the brands have their own associations. Rin's associations will be different to those of Surf Excel.

Surf Excel being premium brand in relative to Rin will have more expectations. And a washing bar has been seen as an inferior product as compared to washing powders, so lending a bar the name of Surf Excel will not go down strongly in starting. But then Indian middle class will be the main target group of the re-branded product and they may see the product as a better product from house of surf excel. While Rin has been associated majorly with effective wash of white clothes, the new bar will present an image for whites and colored clothes, good for Levers.

While the Surf Excel bar wont fail but then the faring of change from whiteness to Daag achhe hain will a nice case to watch...

Clash of Civilizations

2007-03-20T16:45:00.000+05:30

Stumbled upon the video 'Clash of the Civilizations'. Although execution may not be that good but the idea really is thought provoking. The initial part starts with the image of an average American from the point of view of an average Arab national and then it shows the vice versa. I guess most of Americans may feel amazed and be critic about these views but then its the actions that speaks louder than words.

The compassion of problems, emotions, hopes and grief in two civilization strikes at the heart. And the final logic that the largest superpower is not any country but the countrymen themselves hits at the bulls-eye.

Source::http://www.avaaz.org/en/

McDonald to offer Pepsi products too

2007-03-17T10:01:00.000+05:30

McDonald is going to change the association it had with Coca Cola since 1955, by having a pilot program wherein it will offer Pepsi products Gatorade, Propel Fitness Water, Lipton Iced Tea, Tropicana orange juice and Mountain Dew in its select outlets in U.S.

It justifies McDonald to have such a step because of the following facts:

Why Pepsi -

Stats show that Pepsi has a lead in convenience stores, where consumers have freedom of choice.
Consumers have begun to favor drinks that are perceived to be healthier and are switching off from carbonated drinks
Pepsi realised this non-carbs segment early and now has a significant lead there.

Justifying for Coca Cola too, stressing the 52yr old association, a McDonald executive said that "It's fountain that tips the scales for Coke, and it's McDonald's that tips the fountain scale." And by not keeping Fountain Pepsi, they are keeping the association on the top. Moreover the products are available in bottles and cans only and Mc Donald doesn't plan to go ahead with fountain option for Pepsi.

But McDonald says that the pilot will not affect the 52 yrs old association. "We value our relationship with Coke," a McDonald's spokesman said. "They are a preferred beverage supplier."

With non carbonated drinks gaining ground, Coke is going to suffer more. And in case such a pilot is conducted in India, where Pepsi has a lead over Coke (though lower than Thumbs Up), its going to have a significant impact. Mc Donald has definitely seen the trend and must be worried of losing its customers to other fast food chains.

Marketing Redefined by Microsoft

2007-02-03T15:28:00.000+05:30

Have you noticed any of the new ads of Microsoft Vista, Office 2007 and Exchange Server 2007? Ah... what a stupid question,you must be saying; in case you aren't then check your lane, if you had been in right lane, moving alongside the right consumer segment, there is no doubt that you have not noticed the adverts of these three product suites (u may have just missed, but be assured, they surely were there in your eye span)

The ads have been in colloquial versions too, and MS has gone quite a lot miles in online marketing. The concept of ribbon* in Office 07, about fastness of it, the ease of information availability in Vista OS, stress on being up to date and synchronization of multiple versions of files etc has been very well depicted in all these adverts.

Note: The traditional menus and toolbars have been replaced by the Ribbon — a new device that presents commands organized into a set of tabs. The tabs on the Ribbon display the commands that are most relevant for each of the task areas in the applications.

Pic 2 - 'Ribbon'

On the day of launch MS had a dance trope performing at the back of Taj Mahal and the pic was duly printed on back page of TOI the next day with a semi page cover of same with Vista ad. A comprehensive media plan indeed. Suddenly it was all Vista and Office (along with its smart art feature in dailies and tabloids)

Here is the Indian viral ad for Office, chitthi... ;online since Dec 06.

MS is also trying out an Office Comic Strip- Enchanted Office. With online marketing having an impact on media plans, the rage is fast picking up innovative ideas on web. You can visit www.enchantedoffice.com for a complete office comic strip.

Fully knowledge oriented, the script tells user about why Office 2007 and where all does it makes you a better person in office. Betting on viral mode, the website name is taken very different from its product.

PowerPoint 2007

Excel 2007

Sources:
http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/archive/2006/03/09/547281.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/inside_office_online/
http://blogs.msdn.com/inside_office_online/archive/2006/11/30/gallery-of-today-s-launch.aspx
http://chitthi.webchutney.net/

Other:
http://news.com.com/Marketing+campaign+for+Vista+high-steps+it+in+New+York/2100-1016_3-6154227.html
http://laughingsquid.com/microsofts-vanishing-point-game/
http://microsoftwowlaunch.com/?gclid=COup4_b5kYoCFQyATAod1VURkA

Xmas marketing

2006-12-28T08:42:00.000+05:30

Ah...! A post after a real long break indeed :)

With the festive season around, let me dedicate this post to X-mas (related marketing). With many companies realizing the potential for the sales surge they can achieve these days with out of the box ideas and newer media options available, ideas is actually the key, everything else is in front of you to cast it.

1.

One option that really excites me is that of YouTube. Since google lapped it up, it has shown some real good options to companies to market themselves or to advertise their products. It knows that the key to better viewership is making people have the feel good factor. They have already done their own part, now the companies are coming up with options to YouTube. There will be contests all round the year and all managed, paid by companies. Google has already done a lot of research on non obtrusive display of their fame - Google Ads, and its used very effectively in YouTube. People can join in as plain viewers or as directors, have own channels, people can reply to the video posts with text or video and hell lot of options. Coming back to X-Mas, YouTube has joined hands with Coca Cola to co-market Holiday Wishcast, a mini-site based on YouTube service which allows visitors to upload and share their video greetings.

While many videos have been uploaded by Coke itself, it allows users to send their own videos with following graphic appearing on right side:

Not to mention, the popularity of this greeting browser has been enormous! And its not just Coke, many other companies like Levis, CBS, Logitech are now having their own channels and mini-sites with YouTube.

2. StarBucks

Another hype this winter is on interactive websites. Microsoft has launched an online competetion for innovative ideas for its US retail interests. But what caught me was Starbucks' online Christmas campaign: it's Red Again. It really makes the feel of Christmas coming to you. You can send personalized cards to your friends and you can explore (and share) Christmas traditions from around the world. They have done a lot of sequences to make the view non monotonous.

The campaign includes a "cheer pass" that tracks how far the "chain of cheer" has gone. Participants are encouraged to visit It's Red Again to share holiday stories and create greetings.

3. Adding Indian Flavor

No comments, just see this marketing effort :)

http://cw.swivelmedia.com/tivo/working/rev3a.html

Scent Marketing !!

2006-11-01T02:38:00.002+05:30

There is a term called activation. A company may have a very good distribution network, a decent product, making the final product rightly available at the retail counter and promising a value to the user but it all reduces to ashes if the product doesn’t register in the mind of consumer and he just passes away. Its not that the product is bad, its just that the mind of consumer is not receptive to that category of product because of some reason. This will happen if either the product is a low involvement one or if it has become one, which may further happen due to many reasons, loyalty being one.

Some companies focus on packaging to make the registration; others try shouting, and many these days go for guerilla. Idea is to INDULGE the consumer, and this essentially has to be by involving or rather pushing to involve his senses. Attractive packaging catering to sight, asking people to touch and feel the product related to skin and so on. The consumers have been getting used to innovations and marketers to innovating. Add those two together and you get some really creative marketing campaigns. Say, lately the trend of Scent Marketing has picked up. Being true to its name, it’s blowing nice aromas at you to get you to spend more and keep coming back.

ScentAir, a firm from North Carolina has indulged itself in this marketing. It makes specialized smells for the companies. These are then used in retail outlets, in hotels, in magazines and lot more open avenues left to be innovated. Sometimes smells of actual products are pumped into the room. In one case, says Van Epps, CEO, ScentAir, that it actually lured more people, step by step, to a basement ice cream shop by wafting the essence of sugar cookie and waffle cone down the stairs. He claimed that the shop found a tremendous lift in their sales as a result of using that like a sign. “It's why we call it an aroma billboard.” he points.

Aroma based signatures is the other popular trend. Many companies are going for a signature aroma and associate it with their deliverables. Idea is that scents are much more associated with our memories than our sight, so help in making an emotional bond. This very thing inculcates the high involvement of product. So next time one smells the same scent, the brand is recognized. ScentAir is already selling the devices for this kind. A typical machine lasts for 300 hrs, can detect motion and is a small enough one to miss out on the general attention. With 1000 smells to choose from, one can customize it fully.

And companies are embracing it with a big smile. Mars, PepsiCo, Kraft and Procter & Gamble, hope scents will help them get attention among fragmented audiences.

Big 92.7 launches DM in Delhi Metro !!!

2006-10-29T01:37:00.000+05:30

Had gone to chandni chowk today for a nice treat at the famous old eateries like Kake di Hatti and Giani's Faluda & had taken metro for traversing. What i witnessed on my way back to hostel had my eyes and attention fixed.

Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-ADAG) promoted Adlabs launched a new FM Radio, Big 92.7FM, in already cluttered FM radio market. To market its launch in Delhi it came out with a direct marketing stunt of putting Big 92.7 triangular boxes on the holding straps in Delhi Metro. Well my first reaction was - awesome !!! Covering every alternate strap, it made a great sight. Well atleast many of the people who had to stand holding the strap surely gave it due attention. Due to restrictions I could not click a snap though.

The new entrant is planning to go across 45 cities, 1000 towns and 50,000 villages to reach 200 million, the largest private Indian endeavour till now. It also emboldens the dream of Anil in media industry, which one may think of have been started with wedding with Tina Munim ;)

What cheers me is the use of direct marketing as a choice by industry majors now in India. India has been scoring high on various ad awards lately and this trend is surely gonna impress the juries now. Atta boy agencies !!!

PS: Have been short, its exam time :))

Ogilvy and Sify do a direct marketing campaign

2006-10-28T00:15:00.000+05:30

OK, am late for this :) The news may be about a month old, but it just never caught my senses, any one of those for the record...

After hollywood came out with much appreciated action flick - Troy , almost every one knows about the history behind famous Trojan horse. Just for the unpardonables, the legend goes, the long drawn out Trojan War was fought over Helen of Sparta (a Greek polis) who had been carried away by Paris of Troy. Finally, the Greeks tricked the citizens of Troy into accepting a large wooden horse (in which they had hidden their warriors) as a sign of the latter's victory. During the night, the warriors emerged and overran the city. Helen was returned to her husband, Menelaus.

Years have gone by and the legend still enthuses and amuses people. So when Sify came to Ogilvy for a direct marketing campaign for Sify Assure what came out was an innovative ad campaign. "One of the reasons for choosing this concept was that our target audience identified/related to it as computer virus as well as for the ever popular story. We thought it would be appropriate as it related to both the breach of Troy, which was always thought to be impenetrable, as well as a computer virus which could destroy your precious data," says Madhok, adding that today's corporates are not sensitive to information security despite the great risk.

Sify's strategy was to drive home the point to 439 CEOs and CTOs by sending them a wooden horse with a trapdoor in its belly which contained a note saying `Your security has been breached.' It urged them to log on to a Web site with a unique password (for each person) mentioned in the note and greeted them by name with a letter introducing Sify Assure and case studies of security breaches in firms.

This very unique password enabled Sify to identify which CEO or CTO had logged in. Sify's call centre would then call him or her to judge their interest, and if they were classified a hot prospect, would go on to fix an appointment to discuss the product. Those who had not logged in would be sent a reminder three days later.

Of the 439 mailers sent, 199 prospects logged in, which is a 44.6 per cent response. For any DM campaign, this is a great success. Each hand-made wooden horses cost Rs 350 a piece. "If we had branded the horse, the campaign may not have been such a big success," says Madhok, "people wouldn't have liked to display it." They also decided not to make the wheels move because people would then tend to turn it into a toy. Rather than recognise it for the reminder it is meant to be!

This is yet another guerilla by Piyush Pandey's team, which is now known for its out of box ad ideas. A halcyon reminder of Fevicol campaigns. *sigh*

Google strengthens its internet lordship!!

2006-10-18T12:29:00.000+05:30

Post placements am having a browse to check what all have I missed out on in that 1.5 week; and this one was just awesome- Google buying out YouTube and finalising a search partnership with MySpace. The computer market is poised for a mega war sometime in future. A computer is majorly used with internet interaction these days, so where Microsoft is making sure that it captures the desktop market and strengthens its hold on internet market too, Google is doing just the opposite, capture the internet market and seep into desktop too to complete a backend for its powerful tools. And mind it, Google has beaten Yahoo to get this buyout, while Yahoo is just wondering where its kingdom suddenly vanished !!

The still-unprofitable YouTube is the most expensive acquisition by Google yet. Google had flirted YouTube with an offer of $1.6 billion which finally came to $1.65 billion, and with beating out Yahoo, Google will gain access to the nearly 100 million users of MySpace too, providing web search and sponsored search links for the social networking site. MySpace's 115 million plus registered users are a vital source of traffic to YouTube, the internet's largest video-sharing site.

With this Google surely has gone a lot ahead in field of Online Marketing. According to MarketingVox, the deal with MySpacem will begin in the fourth quarter, with Google guaranteeing at least $900 million to FIM over three years, so long as the latter meets traffic and other commitments.

After Orkut, AdSense and Blogger (beta), lets see if Google also comes out with YouTube beta wherein one has to log on using the google account and password. Finally one fine day I see myself working out my way with technology with just ONE Google account :)

Sources: MarketingVox

New Age Marketing, or is it?

2006-10-17T02:12:00.000+05:30

Have been going through the new marketing adverts lately; though many argue that this kind of marketing has suddenly taken world by surprise, I prefer not to agree with this argument. Let’s first take a look at the new marketing, the in-thing for most of the blogs.

With traditional marketing being equated to ennui, the ad gurus have thought of new and innovative ideas for long to cater to the slow paced results of traditional marketing. But this was to change suddenly in 1982 with launch of a book by Mr. Jay Conrad Levinson, named Guerrilla Marketing. Defined as, “Unconventional marketing intended to get maximum results from minimal resources.” by www.marketingterms.com , this kind of marketing is best suited for small businesses which otherwise cannot take on the market leaders using traditional marketing. And these campaigns are none of the traditional adverts too, they either showcase a differential attribute of the product, or else create an image or perception using non- product attributes i.e. which is not an actual or rational benefit from that product but may be perceived as such; the whole idea being to transform cold prospects into consenting partners.

Wikipedia defines it as a descriptor of many other types of non-traditional media:

Viral marketing -- through social networks
Buzz marketing -- word of mouth marketing
Undercover marketing -- subtle product placement
Astroturfing… etc

The list is a long one. But something that’s really interesting is the tactics used. Some of these are Word of mouth campaigns, Personal canvassing, Forehead advertising/Headvertise campaigns, blue jacking, Telemarketing, Personal letters, Circulars and brochures distributed at parking lots, homes, offices, malls, etc.; Billboards, Truck and automotive signs, Direct mail campaigns, T-shirts and even Interactive Urinal Communicator !!!!

Check some of these:

1. HAUB (Heat Activated Urinal Billboards) - based on heat sensitive ink technology, the ad gets visible when the (warm) urine falls on the ink delivering an interactive message to a captive audience. The cold water in flush makes the ad disappear again.

2. Another toilet billboard. When Zee Studio premiered Kill Bill, it launched following promo in Asia.

3. This one is superb! The campaign for HBO Sopranos in Russia and Spain!!!

4. This one will beat your spirit out of you. With Halloween around the corner, marketers found a sexy way to gain publicity for Britain ' s new show Afterlife

5. Finally on the kinky side - the text reads “ You do not know when it can be necessary ”. It was posted on the entrance floors of men’s toilets by Jontex, a condom brand. Country: Brazil, Agency: McCann Erickson

So convinced that the new marketing is catching up these days? WRONG!!! I would like to say that this kind has caught the attention because of easy information sharing on net, it was always there and dint need a Jay Conrad to be invented but only to be named. It may work wonders for small time, but for mature corps and bigger brands, the majority of sales will always be through the traditional channel of marketing, and that requires bucks, strategy in long term and much more resources than this. I would say that this is not even 10% of traditional one in sales revenue, and the day it becomes, that would be the day we can say that it has finally arrived! Till then these flashes wont harm :) and are a nice welcome.
~Jasginder

Sources: http://adverlab.blogspot.com/; www.wikipedia.com; http://www.spotanatomy.info/; http://www.coloribus.com/blog

Close Up Calcium Minerals - Targeting Faux Pas

2006-10-07T20:09:00.000+05:30

Had a discussion with fellow batchmates on toothpaste market in last few days, and that invariably reminded me of the summer experience and the learnings that i got. Specifically the launch of Close Up with Calcium Minerals. Now that is one brand which has managed to get a stronghold in Indian toothpaste market.

Toothpaste market is divided in two dimensions: fluoride and gel. While the former is basically bought as a family product and is having (perceived) benefits of strong and white teeth; the latter is looked for fresh breath and personality enhancement. Because of this the fluoride market is basically targeted at families, parents (with concern on children) and gel market is targeted at youth.

Now lets take the case of HLL coming out with a Calcium Mineral with Milk variant of Close Up (CloseUp Milk Calcium). This was the first time,the format called 'Core-in-Sheath' consisting of a white paste core surrounded by a gel was used in India. Anyway a visit to market and you wont find many people trying out the variant. Many retailers soon found this Fast Moving Consumer Good to be actually a slow mover!

But why did the product fail to register in mind of consumer? many argue that there is a need for gel and flouride mix paste and that is very evident from the success of such variants launched earlier. But then the crucial points are:
1. Who is attracted by the combination?
2. Who is the prime consumer of gel pastes?

When you try to answer, you will see an incongruency. The Close Up consumer is looking at freshness, and adding milk isnt really a great idea for fresh breath! So the idea isnt very appealing to him/her. Yes if you launch a new variant with lemon, mint or Eucalytus, it strikes the vibe as they too stand for freshness. And who is the right customer for gel pastes - youth, and you get them by showing product usage as one which increases either the self image of him/her or that leaves his/her impression on others (basically inc appeal)

Now look from fluoride's POV. Customer is mainly the buyer for family, so cost, basic benefits of strength, no cavities and 'jhaag' are the strong pullers. What's the perception now that what happens if one doesnt brush? One will have cavities? thats basic puller? (which also explains the large market share of dhishum dhishum paste - Pepsodent as compared with market leader and the old horse - Colgate). So now if you also give benefits of freshness to this user, does it make sense? Of course!!

So thing is such a variant of gel and white should have been launched under the name of Pepsodent by HLL. A problem of wrong targeting, indeed.