The part 3 mainly deals with poor execution,implementation and use of brand ambassador.

I will start it with an ad.Just have a look at it

After watching the whole ad,you just see Hritik Roshan and that is only what you see in the ad.The ad happens to be Parle Hide and Seek Bourbon.Majority of people don’t even know that,they just think its Hide and Seek ad that’s it.An advertisement is supposed to be for creating awareness about a product which should ultimately lead to a purchase.

In the ad,you just see Hritik and not the product.The product and the name just comes in the end till then the interest is lost.The agency had a super brand ambassador and an extremely successful brand name.They could have come up with a better ad in which HR actually talks about how good the product is or its taste or something similar concentrated on the product rather than his dancing skills(even those are funny in the ad).Just remember the Hide and Seek Milano cookies HR ad,that is precisely what had to be done with bourbon too.

Here due to poor execution and improper mapping the ad bombed and hence the product suffered.

Lets take the second case of a recent Ad featuring Akshay Kumar in new Micromax Game phone ad.

This ad could have been THE AD for Micromax who have been trying hard to come in the big league.They sponsored the last cricket tournament in india in which Sachin scored 200*.

Now they got Akshay Kumar as their brand ambassador.AK is a big star with large fan following.They could have capitalized on his star power and made a much better ad which could have placed Micromax where it wants to be seen.

But they chose to do a childish commercial in all the mess and fuss over one app in their phone.The worst part is the AK laugh which has been used over and over in the background.AK is losing ground these days for his comedy skills.All the people whom i asked about the ad said that the ad is irritating.

When you have a big brand ambassador and lot at stakes you should go for a mature sophisticated ad rather than a childish one which Micromax chose.With such an ad they cant challenge the likes of Nokias,Samsungs,Eriksonns etc.

Now last but not the least the last example which is a typical case of wrong mapping of an ambassador with a product.

Just imagine Salman Khan selling Wheel.I and my friend had a good hearty laugh when we saw this ad for the first time.Salman Khan is a superstar.I agree but he cant sell Wheel.Can he ? I think he can but still this is not a kind of ad you would want to see Salman in.

He acts good,the concept is great but still neither the ad nor the product goes with the image of the style icon.Wheel is not even a premium brand.Prachi Desai is a right choice but Salman doesnt fit in at all.From the same ad remove wheel and put in some premium electronic brand like LG or Samsung (with obvious changes),that would have been great.

But you never know Salman is loved by the masses and Wheel is for the masses so the combination might just  click.

But at present,you just enjoy this ad because its funny.

Just note how Salman says,”Ismein hai nimboo ki shakti aur hazaaron phoolon ki khushboo” in his typical English accent.:)

What Say ?

© 2010, TMSBee. All rights reserved.

This style of advertising is called Combative advertising.

Just have a look at the ad.

Poor Quality Regretted

The ad is just too direct.There are two ladies.One lady praises Tide(the packet is also shown),suddenly the bus carrying their respective children arrive on the scene.The guy who comes out first has a dull shirt but the guy who comes out next has whitening light shirt and he goes to the lady who uses Rin.

The line’Aunty Kyun Chaunk Gai ?’ is also a satire on Tide which has a tagline “Chaunk Gaye !”

One more interesting point here to note is that HUL has adapted a flank attack strategy on Tide through Rin.Tide and Surf Excel are supposed to be the competitors but now Rin is being positioned as the competitor to Tide.P&G has to concentrate on Rin now to make way easy for Surf Excel.One more thing is that Tide naturals has been used in the ad rather than the more generic orange packaged Tide.

But would P&G fall into the trap or ignore Rin’s effort ?

Combative advertising like this is not new,about an year back Complan and Horlicks too had gone into a similar tussle.They still had shown a glimpse of each others pack but not as direct as Rin has shown.

Horlicks vs Complan

Even in past,Coke and Pepsi have fought it out in the open.I still remember the ‘eat cricket sleep cricket drink only coca cola’ fight between Pepsi and Coke.

Offlate Cadbury’s CDM and Nestle Munch also had a similar ads but were quite indirect not straight on.

Now Rin has taken the combative advertising in India to a new level lets see how Tide reacts to it.

That defintely would be interesting.

Will it be HUL vs P&G ?

What Say ?

Update : Regarding legal implications of the Ad : As far as i know,in combative advertising,you can make any claim as far as you can support it with a proper research or hard facts.Rin have claimed it in the ad.There is a starred line “As tested by an independent lab” in between the ad,which could just be enough.

© 2010, TMSBee. All rights reserved.

I even heard that people used to refer any general cheaper substitute as Dalda.e.g.any cheaper brand for any product would loosely be referred to as Dalda.On the pack ‘VEGETABLE GHEE’ was written always as it was positioned as a subsitute to ghee.

You can read more about Dalda on wiki.

Over time as Indians became more health conscious,dalda and ghee were seen less on the cuisine.More healthy and edible cooking oils like groundnut,mustard, rice bran,soyabean and even olive came into picture. For more details on cooking oils you can refer to this article on rediff.It kept on losing market share to these new categories.Dalda also came up with its healthier version.It was called Dalda Activ but it didn’t taste much success in market.

in 2003 a company called Bunge bought Dalda from HUL.In 2004, it’s market share in vanaspati had come down to 16% and the market kept shrinking. To grow Bunge needed to enter the cooking oil market with an ‘oil’ and not a ‘fat’ (vanaspati). Bunge extended the Dalda brand into oils. It launched oils like; Sunflower, Mustard, Groundnut, Soyabean, Gingelly (Til). They aimed at market leadership in two years.Did that happen ?

No

The growth Bunge envisaged for Dalda never happened. It has grown from 350cr in 2003 to 550cr in 200 (a decent growth of 8-10%, mainly because the industry also grew by the same percentage). But the market share never moved up. Today Dalda has a 2% market share in oils and fats in India.

Basically Dalda never was able to come out of its old cheap ghee substitute image.

But few days back i heard about a relaunch of DALDA.

A new logo,a new look,a new tagline,a new positioning.

It has a new tagline ‘husband’s choice‘.

They are launching a range of new products.To make housewives see Dalda as a healthy oil Bunge has planned a spend of 22 crores over the next two years. They are planning TV commercials, FM spots and retail activation to spread their message. Two more variants (Rice Bran Oil & Coconut Oil) are also in pipeline.

I am a bit surprised by the tagline.The consumer study by Shining Emotional Surplus and Bunge’s marketing team revealed a particular worry for most housewives — health of the husband who is overworked, stressed and often eats outside.This means that housewife will chose this brand because its good for her husband’s health but then it should have been ‘Healthy choice for My Husband‘ or something similar as they are targeting housewives.

Nevertheless Dalda is a heritage brand marred by a poor brand image which needed something like this to revive itself.

What Say?

© 2009 – 2010, TMSBee. All rights reserved.

TATA hai to achcha hi hoga ! (If its TATA,It would be good).This is general public perception about TATA.

TATA is built on trust and quality.

Now yet again TATA has diversified and stepped into a new market (where trust is paramount ) i.e. Cold Beverage market.They have a new offereing called TATA TiON.The market is not exactly cold beverage but non carbonated and natural cold drinks to be precise.

TATA TiON is a branded,packaged and flavoured Iced Tea.Iced Tea as a refreshing drink has become quite popular in recent past.But mainly Iced tea was not branded and packaged per say.It was available as an option at vending machines at McDonalds,Subway or Nestle vending machines installed at various places.

Its priced at Rs 22 for 400 ml which is quite competitive if we see the simlar offerings in the segments such as Real,tropicana,Minute Maid etc.The Iced Tea which i normally have at outlets are also costlier than this.I remeber paying even 15 -20 bucks for a small glass(150 ml approx) so Price is not at all an issue for TiON.

I would definitely prefer a Ice Tea rather than a coke or a pepsi if it available at such a good price.I have not seen it in Mumbai yet.One of my friends in Chennai told me about it.In Chennai it has been launched with OOH campaigns.

The drink is available in 3 fruit flavours which gives consumer the much needed choice.

“This is a defining moment in the history of Tata Tea as it symbolises the transformative change taking place in the company,” Tata Tea, executive director Sangeeta Talwar said in the release.

The competition includes Nimbooz,Minute Maid,Tropicana,Real,LMN,Frooti,Slice and even Red Bull as you would notice later in the post.And yes the usual suspects,all the aerated drinks would definitely compete for their share.

Would people prefer TiON over normal soft drinks ?

TiON takes the question and answers it too on the label as

“It is a fact of life. You can’t let go off the new T!ON. Why? It’s delicious. It’s refreshing. It’s absolutely buzzing with active energy. And, best of all, its good. Na, good isn’t good enough. It’s good 3 times over. With 3 good things – tea extracts, fruit juice and ginseng. That’s (count them) 1. health, 2. nutrition, 3. energy. All in one bottle. The new T!ON with 3 good things. So why let go!”

One thing which i noticed in the above copy was the word Ginseng.On googling i came to know that its a plant that is useful in Stress Relieving,But not without some Side Effects and concerns but overall its a friendly substance.

Even HUL is coming up with its own Lipton Tea Ice Tea variant and they also are stressing on a chemical called ‘Theanine’ to appeal to working professionals.

Theanine is known to increase alpha brain waves associated with “relaxed yet alert” state of mind and the ability to focus attention and stay sharp, HUL said.

A new competition is about to begin where a chemical(or biological) warfare would be used for the first time in the field of marketing.

Ginseng vs Theanine

Both are supposed to be Stress Releasing substances but i wonder what would be the stress levels of the professionals involved in the launch and marketing of the products containing them.

The competition in the beverage market will only become fierce with the entry of such natural and health drinks.Pepsis and Coca Colas of the world are definitely feeling the heat.

What Say ?

© 2009 – 2010, TMSBee. All rights reserved.

They very professionaly told us about this new Water Purifier from Hindustan Unilever.They kept explaining it and the word Hindustan Unilever was very prominent in their description(Unilever were attaching their heritage with it to sell it as part of their strategy).

I asked them is it real or fake.

1) I had not seen any ad for it very unlikely for a Hindustan Unilever product

2) The perception of HUL was of a typical FMCG company dealing with Soaps,oils etc etc but a water purifier???

He showed me few docs and pamphlet and my stupid doubt vanished and then he told me the model of HUL for it.They said being an unconventional product,HUL is going for Direct Marketing Approach(the name Eureka forbes was ringing in my mind already).

No advertising direct approach to customers.I was impressed.We exchanged numbers and then next day my roomie recieved call.By evening a guy came to our home for demonstration and man i liked the demo.We ordered one.Next  day it was at our home.

It worked well and now i have bought a second one in the new flat.

From past few days the ads have actually started THE ONE CRORE CHALLENGE and all.

The price has also been raised from Rs 1800 to Rs 2000.

This all has happened only after setting up a strong base already.The direct marketing approach actually worked wonders for Pureit.

My sales management professor was telling us in the last lecture that Eureka Forbes created a monster named Direct Marketing Channel (Direct Sales Channel) which now needs new products to feed it.Eureka Forbes is still not able to get out that.

I was thinking that these new ads by Pureit is a part of getting away from the monster. PureIt might soon be available at retail stores.

By the way The So called Non Electric Water Purifier segment(Resin Based) is growing,Even Eureka Forbes has their own version called AquaSure

Its priced at Rs 1950

They also have a premium non electric version called Ultra.

This one is charged quite high at 7350 rs as compared to 2000 rs for Pureit.It claims to be better than Pureit on performance.These products have not really picked up as well as Pureit.

HUL took on Eureka and other water purifiers in the channel they were dealing in for a long time.I remember Eureka Aquaguard coming to our home 15 16 years back.

HUL always have been known to be a great marketing firm same it has proved with Pureit.They have proved Marketing is just not about advertisements,brand ambassadors and all.Marketing is art of selling and art can be practised in any way provided its considered an ART.

© 2009 – 2010, TMSBee. All rights reserved.