Saturday, April 3, 2010

Closure 2 Youth: JOHN PLAYER

ITC has a clear game plan for its mid-priced menswear: Careful store expansion and the star power of a new brand ambassador.John Players, the mid-priced menswear brand of ITC, is set to begin a new innings after the retail slump that hit apparel brands in the last two years. And a new brand ambassador — actor Ranbir Kapoor who replaced Hrithik Roshan — is just one part of the game plan.

With consumers freeing their purse-strings once again, ITC is betting on opening more John Players exclusive stores. The brand is increasing the number of stores to 300 by this month-end from 225 earlier. But once bitten by overzealous expansion, ITC is now careful about where it sets foot. It does not want to shut shop as it had to do with 30 stores in the last two years.

Strategy behind rapid expansion-
John Player is a mid price brand and according to me "Churn Rate" is very high for mid price brand because of competition from local players and unorganized players.
mid priced segment has strong regional players like Madura garments ,Peter England and private levels of different retailers across geography. And since John Player is a mid price brand, not a destination for customer like Wills Lifestyle or any other premium brand and hence wouldn't be able to make customer to travel far for brand..
ITC want their presence at every potential corner so that customer can be reached effectively and efficiently and that is why they are taking route of rapid expansion and increasing number of stores.

With existing retail store John Player is growing at a slow relatively slow pace of 12% a year which is expected to reach 25% a year once expansion is underway.
To achieve this projected growth rate, ITC has attractive and smart plan to implement.The new stores that are set to open would be smaller but numerous.For an area which needs a 5,000 square feet store to cater to it, we will have five 1,000 square feet stores. The profitability also improves with smaller stores. The brand is also available in 1,000-1,100 multi-brand outlets across India. The idea behind opening small outlets in numerous number is to increase foot print and reach to various places(because for mid priced garments nobody want to travel much). So the focus is on high traffic streets rather than Malls, because volume can be generated through these high traffic streets rather than Malls who accounts more for premium brands.
Also, more than 60% sale of John Player come from it's own stores rather than multi-brand stores.Exclusive stores also let the brand display its range of denims, jackets, apart from shirts. That is also a reason company is eying to have more and more exclusive outlet for JP, which will lead the way to position it as a youth iconic brand.
Brands have been introducing youth-centric sub-brands under their flagship. John Players gets 50 per cent of its volumes from its casualwear range including T-shirts, shirts and denimwear. Its denim range launched in 2009, has been growing faster than the others at 20 per cent and accounts for 15 per cent of John Players’ sale. The brand is obviously banking on its new star endorser heavily. Ranbir Kapoor’s selection is justified  by saying that JP needed a strong connection with the youth. At this leg of the brand's journey, Ranbir personifies the changes in the youth’s attitude.

John Players had been repositioned in 2004 as a semi-formal brand across India, a year after its launch as a formal menswear brand.When John Players repositioned, the brand needed a fashion icon like Hrithik Roshan. John Players is now ready for the next stage of moving closer to the youth.
Slotting 10-12 per cent of the brand turnover (market estimates put John Player's annual sales at Rs 200-250 crore), the brand will make Kapoor the epicentre of its brand communication. “We have lined up on-ground promotion, tying up with his films for promotions and also contests in the social media.” While the mass media campaign is slated to release in April, the Internet already has the making of the ad onYouTube.
The next few months will show if Kapoor can give wings to the brand’s designs on the consumer.

Key Facts-
The demand for ready-made garments in rural India will surge at a CAGR of 16.50% to reach Rs. 42918 Crore by 2010.
Increasing at a CAGR of 24%, branded apparel industry for men will cross Rs. 25,000 Crore by 2010.
Per capita GDP spending on apparel increased to 5.8% in 2006 from 4.9% in 2003.
In 2007, men’s apparel industry was mainly dominated by shirts (in value terms) accounting for 36.5% of total men’s segment.
The Indian fashion industry is expected to rise at a stupendous pace of 22.67% through 2012 from 2007.

Mid priced brands have been estimated Rs 4000 crores and dominated by several local players private brands.   

Talking about ITC group, i have never seen  anyone working the way they are. If one has to learn diversification, learn it from ITC Ltd. take company's recent forays-school bag, cigar, opening new hotels and now expanding their existing network of mid priced apparel. Till now they have successfully completed every planned work. hope for the best. soon result will be opened whether JP will be able to position itself as Youth Iconic Brand or not?

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

i-pill: Changing ground

You may not seen very often that company is selling one of the power brand to it's competitor. But Cipla is doing that. After so much hard and smart work in developing and marketing emergency contraceptive pill(ECP)over the counter(OTC- because these pills have been used only on prescription of doctor for a long period of time,but after launching of i-pill they are available at chemist store).
Now the question is why Cipla is selling this successful brand?
Though they have worked too much to develop this segment which was considered as niche segment. only for last 12 months i-pill earned Rs. 31 crore. ECP market is valued at around Rs 100 crore in India. i-pill has 1/3 rd market share.

Now let's have a quick look how Cipla launches that brand, communication strategy over a period of time, how they grew and why they are looking to leave this segment?

i-pill is an offbeat brand that has just being launched in Indian market. i-pill is an emergency contraceptive pill which prevents unplanned pregnancy. Although emergency contraceptives pills ( EC Pills) were earlier available in the market, its only in 2005 that Government has allowed the sale of this product over the counter ( OTC). i-pill is special because it is the first brand which has been promoted heavily in media after the government has allowed the OTC sale of this drug.
EC pills were also popular as Morning After Pills because this drug is taken the morning after the " Accident " has occurred. Before 2005, the product was available only with a doctor's prescription.

This product category has lot of social significance in the Indian market. Out of more than 50 million conceptions that happen in India , 30% end up in abortions. There are also reports that suggest that 75% of pregnancies are unplanned ( My Goodness !). And an estimated 20,000 deaths happen because of complication during abortion. Hence EC pills offer a safe and effective second chance for those unprotected events and also a second chance for those contraceptive failures.

In 2005 Government has put this product under the Government Reproductive and Child Health Program. That means , there is going to be a reduction in the price of this drug. According to reports, the product price is expected to come down from Rs 40 to Rs 5. Government will also undertake advisory as well as awareness creating campaigns to promote this product category.

Coming back to the brand i-pill, this brand was existing in the ethical market as Pill 72. The company has relaunched pill 72 as i-pill in the OTC market. Although Government is taking steps to promote the product through campaigns, Cipla is not aiming the social class that government is aiming at.



Although it took a little time for me to understand the ad when I saw it the first time, I feel that its a cool ad that captures the essence of the brand. The brand uses the tagline " Get Back to Life" .

The tagline indicates the core idea of the brand which is explained by an advertorial :" Take a pill as soon as you know that things have gone wrong . And you can prevent an unplanned pregnancy . That's it. And do be little careful the next time. Now there goes the alarm.Switch it off and begin a new day".
i think the positioning is very clear that to prevent unwanted pregnancy.

Although worldwide , EC pills has been popular, it also has its share of controversies. Some argue that these pills are abortion pills , encourages unsafe intercourse , immorality and so on and so forth. But Government of India has recognized the importance of this product category.

The launch campaigns were carefully crafted in the family setting with a very relevant message highlighting the efficacy of the product as a solution to avoid unwanted pregnancy.
Then brand launches new advertisement with completely different massage. second time i-pill positioned as alternative to abortion. The setting of the ad has been changed from family to a closeted conversation between two ladies.

In the new ad, the protagonist screams the word 'Abortion ' many times to highlight that ipill is an alternative to abortion.
From very beginning brand was under fire that this is a abortion pill and abortion is crime.that is why brand repositioned it as a safe alternative to abortion, but not a abortion pill. but somewhere in it's second advertisement, bbrand thrown a negative massage that,"if you have screwed up, use i-pill".

Now after developing this particular market for OTC, Cipla sold out i-pill to it's close competitor Piramal Healthcare in Rs 95 crores. The only reason which support the decision to sell out i-pill is they got Rs 95 crores as against annual sale of 31 crore for last 12 month. again from known source it has been found that Cipla is major player in doctor prescribe medicines and they want their position strong in this prescribe market. they want to focus here that is why they sold out i-pill.

Now if I would have been decision maker then i would have never sold i-pill, the power brand. There are reason behind my decision:
1- This particular segment was never existing before. Cipla has the credit to develop this segment.
2- Over a period of time Cipla established i-pill as power brand in the market in terms of awareness, recall etc. today i-pill has one third share in emergency contraceptive pill market.
3- Over a period of time i-pill persuade people to use. Acceptance come over a long period of time and this will help brand to be leader for next many years.

Now let's see what will happen with the brand. But now the brand will be marketed by Pirmal Healthcare. Let us hope for the best.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Jugaad Marketing: Lesson from India's Indigenous Genius

In case of India, it is very true that, "Necessity is the mother of invention". people here are likely to do things in their own fashion. i have been witnessing these things from very beginning of my life,but suddenly somethings turned me for writing about this.
during my recent visit to one of rural village, i went to a "Thelawala" for juice. let me show you pics of that "Thelawala"-



look at the juice shop and think what is worthy to note.
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yes, there is a small box containing ice cubes. juice vendors in India use thermocol box for keeping ice. this is what called jugaad.
another instance when i was traveling in rickshaw and rickshaw driver told me that instead of having double layered roof, it become too hot to sit inside. then I watched at roof of rickshaw, driver inserted thermocol between the roof support and roof cover which keep rickshaw a bit cool from inside.
I hope everyone of us is familiar with one jugaad- our mechanic who can repair your Bike or car without changing any part. even if your Tyre is burst, they will manage with same old Tyre by fitting a piece of Tyre inside wheel.

now the biggest question: how to define this jugaad marketing?
Jugaad can described as satisfying all the needs which exist at a viable cost.
These need exist, and must be fulfilled at affordable cost.jugaad is how the mechanics in India and Pakistan manage to keep very old and outdated machines running with crudely made parts, long after the original manufacturers have discontinued making them.

let's have some more Indian sophisticated jugaad marketing in India:

during my visit to Barelee, i saw a a two wheeler being used as career. this is a classic example of jugaad for transport.
another instance- over a long period of time we are using "Mataka" for cooling water. even today in village you can find packaged water warped in wet clothes to keep it cool.let's look some more pics-



Everything that had to be discovered has been discovered. But that should not deter us from exploring a little more. One never knows what good may come out of it.now, let's move to more complex jugaad brands.
take the example of your green grocer(sabji wallah). with unerring regularity, day after day this man makes trip from wholesaler to do rounds of your locality. he is the ultimate example of building customer relationship. He knows what you like and what you do not like. He knows what you had yesterday and he remember to get what you asked for. perhaps sometime i think, these big retailer like Wall Mart, Big Bazar have stolen this idea from a Green Grocer to have Customer Relationship Management, to track what they have purchased last time and in what quantity and many more information.That grocer is so much important in case of retailing. He continuously spray water on vegetables so that it will look fresh and he distribute items efficiently and effectively without any increase in cost.

now again i have reached to another classic example which fits best for service industry. This person has so much persuasive power that he will put knife on your throat and you will feel comfortable. Yes, I am talking about a Barber.Barber has proved that The audience is captive, waits patiently for its turn and has nothing much to do except leaf through some magazines or watch a small TV placed high in the corner. The radio is the substitute. Let us not forget the power of the hajjam of old as a carrier of messages. These hidden persuaders have the potential for non-disruptive, subliminal delivery of a brand or a social message. They are relevant for sectors where a concept sale necessarily precedes the product sale. Now I wonder why this barber concept is not being used by by marketer for promotion of their brands. this can suit the insurance products well.

Now there are three more marketer are left who daily visit your home. The Washman,Milkman and the newspaper boy. You open the door willingly because they ensure that you look well,you talk well and are well informed about what is happening around you and you be fresh.These distribution model are suppose to be copied by big marketer because our milkman deliver product same time everyday and so does newspaper boy.
Then there is the favourite haunt of the young — the chai-wallah! Ideological and heated exchanges aside, the tea-stall remains the place where they sit and exchange views on life and the world in general. There one sees evidence of evolution. The chai-wallah becomes the first outpost of retail and vending expansion. The counter, across which money changes hands, holds a variety of packaged products from edibles to personal care products to tobacco. More often than not, the stove has a pan on top, on which eggs and paranthas are fried. Thus is born instant food. This may hold interest to the many ready-to-eat, heat-and-eat and instant food preparations.

This Jugaad spirit can find a role in the supply chain of many a business. But to do that, businesses will need to think true to the meanings of this word: Improvisation, inventiveness, ingenuity and cleverness. And taking it literally, it seems a leading soft drink company has started using the Jugaad, the rural transport solution, to spread its distribution to rural areas!

Why have these not been exploited or explored in adequate measure? To be fair, some brands have tried this. Some of us will not forget the return of Coca-Cola to India splashed on the cover of business magazines with Jaydev Raja standing proudly beside a push-cart in the streets of Agra. Was that an idea before its time? Perhaps, it was. Now, to promote on-the-go opportunities, soft drink brands have taken to the streets, in a manner of speaking. The wheel does come full circle. Closer home, the Samaan Foundation seems to have taken a step in this direction. It has given rickshaw pullers an opportunity to increase their income by carrying advertisements on the vehicles, stocking bottled water, fruit juices, mobile phone top-ups, newspapers and magazines that they vend as value-added services to their fares. The rickshaw puller gets a certain commission on the sale of every item!

It’s only a matter of time when some enterprising mind will come along and amaze us with the simplicity of his quintessential Indian Jugaad tactic and show us a business model that always existed, right here in front of our own eyes.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Advertisement war: Tide vs Rin

Over a long period of time everyone continue to attack on HUL for gaining some market share.Whether it was P&G reduced price of Ariel(competitor of Surf Excel)drastically to compete HUL within 24 hour or Nirma attacked in lower end segment, Wipro took market share of Lux. But for the first time Hindustan Unilever Limited directly attacked it's rival P&G and air a TVC that "Rin offers better whiteness than Tide".

The gloves are off, and it seems a bare-knuckle fight between consumer product majors Hindustan Unilever and Procter & Gamble is inevitable in the market. HUL has landed the first punch on Cincinnati-headquartered P&G on air, in front of millions of viewers on primetime television.In the first move of its kind by HUL, the latest on-air communication of homecare brand Rin has openly taken on rival P&G’s Tide, without the typical airbrushing or pixellation to hide the rival brand name on TV. The Rin washing powder commercial, which went on air on Friday, Feb 26,2010, claims to be a better quality product in comparison to Tide. The visual clearly shows a variant of Tide, Tide Naturals, shown against Rin with the audio saying ‘Tide se kahin behatar safedi de Rin’ (Rin gives better whiteness than Tide).

HUL is currently under sever pressure from it's aggressive competitor who are eating into market share of it's product.Market share of HUL products came down drastically for last 2 years. Company loose market share of it's power brand like LUX, Lifebuoy, Close-up and many more.The brands are facing pressure at all price point. Last year company tried to restructure it's brand portfolio and increases it's ad spend very much. Company spend more than Rs. 1,500 crore on advertisement and also practice ROADBLOCK for better brand communication. HUL slipped to number 2 company(profit wise)behind ITC Ltd.(though sale wise HUL is still number company). Reason behind slipping to number 2 was huge spending in restructuring the brands, launching new brands as well as increased advertisement spend throughout year(HUL was biggest advertiser in year 2009).

HUL is worried about the Tide variant eating Rin's share riding on superior attributes. P&G offering same kind of detergent at comparatively lower price and most importantly, Tide is neutralizing the USP(UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION: the point of difference)of RIN that is "whiteness" very slowly. so HUL is trying to communicate it's USP to it's consumer through this ad because what they think that consumer is in dilemma what to choose and because of low price tide is gaining market power.

Reaction-

till now, P&G has only file a case against HUL regarding new advertisement and spokeperson said that P&G will continue to gain market share by incraesing customer base through new varients and product innovation.
But in history,such advertisement has been shown only once by Horlicks. Horlicks started the direct comparative ad and got a very very aggressive reply from Complan. The current status is that Horlicks stopped the comparative ad and Complan is continuing its aggression against Horlicks. It was an unnecessary move from Horlicks which woke up a laid-back competitor like Complan. I think that in that ad war, Complan won over Horlicks ( not in sales terms but in share of noise ).

The same thing is going to happen with Rin. It is going to lose this war primarily because there was no need for a direct comparison with Tide atleast in the ads. . If you observe the ad, 22 seconds of the 30 second ad is dedicated to Tide alone. That means in around 75% of the time, the ad talks about Tide. Interestingly the ad even mentions the USP of Tide as " It has fragrance and has whitening property". Then the rest of the 8 seconds talks about Rin. So if HUL has blasted some 30 lakh in the current promo, 22.5 lakh of it was spent on promoting Tide. Why should you ever mention your competitor in your ads ???

HUL benefit-
HUL May have to withdraw ad, but they have won a war.because Madras High court has ordered P&G to reconstruct it's tide natural advertisement which says that it contains natural ingredients.P&G admitted that it's entry level detergent powder contains only natural flavors(lemon and chandan), but no natural ingredients.One of the features of ‘Tide Naturals’ is the addition of synthetic compounds to bring out the fresh smell of lime and sandal.

Fair game--
I think HUL should not think of any such movement in future. first of all they are voilating all rules. this is not allowed in india to show comparative ad.
again, HUL has seen an increase of 150 basis points in volume share of its laundry portfolio in the six-month period from August 2009 to January 2010. It touched 28.9 per cent in January 2010 from 27.4 per cent in August. Washing powder, on the other hand, grew by 160 basis points, touching 33 per cent in January 2010 from 31.4 per cent in August 2009.But P&G’s laundry business has been growing, too. For the October-December 2009 period, for instance, the volume share of its laundry business touched 16.5 per cent from 11.6 per cent in the April-June period.

market for laundry products worth Rs. 11,000 crore, in which market share of rin is 4.4% while market share of tide is just double, i.e. 8.8%.
whatever the investment has been done in developing such advertisement and airing then on tv, that can be better utilized by company by having more POP's or discount to customer. You can not win the game by showing others down. HUL has strong distribution network and rural reach, they must utilize their power brands as well as their deep distribution network to increase sale. HUL will be hit more if P&G will air any such advertisement showing Ariel and Surf Excel. they might do this very soon. so HUL need to be very vigilant and careful.
Let's hope that ASCI will take any strict action against this ad and in future no one will try to do so.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

HIPPO: intense distribution network of Parle Agro


Since i work for ITC Ltd, one of the best known FMCG company in India, i keep close eye on what is changing in marketplace. For the last 1 month during my visit to market, i have seen a drastic change. Earlier it was only BINGO from ITC Ltd and LAYS from FRITOLAYS which was available at most of retail and wholesale counter. One other name we can take is BALAJI in Maharastra, having very strong distribution network and pricing strategy. But today, if you visit a small retailer or a big wholesaler, you will find a good display of newly launched HIPPO from PARLE AGRO. Suddenly i saw advertisement of the product on TV.You can watch the video by clicking on following link-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOv7F_Tw4ko

the ad clearly show that there is a war going on,mob smashing up a car,Adulterators are spoiling our milk and polluters our rivers, innocent child are forced to work. Everything is bad. But don't loose hope. First understand the reason behind all above mentioned activities.. It is hunger. Hey, society needs to learn a few profound things from the advertising industry and its dipstick surveys. Then think of a solution to all this violence and injustice.

There he … er … she … er … it … is! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it Superman? No, it's a Hippo! And it is giving away snacks that are not fried, just baked. Finally, oil-free nirvana for a troubled world! Peace comes packaged in different colours, backed by a nice old filmi song and distributed by the hand (paw?) of a hippo.

Credits

Client: Parle Agro
Creative agency: Creativeland Asia
Chief creative officer: Sajan Raj Kurup
Executive creative director: Vikram Gaikwad
Creative director: Anu Joseph
Copywriters: Sajan Raj Kurup, Anu Joseph, Huzefa Kapadia
Client servicing: Jay Gala
Production house: Equinox Films
Director: Ram Madhvani
Post-production studio: Pixion
Media agency: OMD

The TVC is seen through the hippo's (brand mascot) view as he goes to every scene of crime, war or conflict, offering each of the involved parties some Hippo chips. Everybody happily obliges and takes a bite, and this is shown to resolve all issues. As the series continues, the voiceover goes on to say that the root cause of all evil in the world is hunger. "So please, don’t be hungry," it appeals. The song ‘Pyaar baat te chalo’ (Keep spreading the love) which doubles up as the background music, plays a pivotal role in helping the TVC communicate its message.

Background-
The maker of Frooti and Appy entered into Rs. 6500 crore branded snacks market with the launch of HIPPO.Incidentally, Parle Agro's R&D team tried over 50 flavours before launching the final five that has been introduced in the market.

Each variant will be priced between Rs. 5 and Rs. 10, initially. The new brand is being manufactured at Parle Agro's plant at Vatwa in Gujarat. The company also plans to pump in funds to increase its manufacturing capacity, distribution network and market infrastructure.



Distribution efficacy and expectation-

Hippo being distributed throughout the company's existing distribution network for confectionery, which was created keeping in mind the entry into the snack category. The brand is being rolled out from Maharashtra in the western region and will soon be available nationally. Parle Agro has created a good confectionery distribution network and good holding in market due to confectionery item.
if i trully write about launching of HIPPO, I'll say that this is a successful launching. Parle Agro is successful in placing there snack at most of the retailer and wholesaler.

Company successfully arrenged hanger and stand for everyone taking upto particular amount to place the HIPPO. since company arrenged stand and hangers, there concept of visibility also came to realisation. now they have a separate stand for HIPPO.
now, PLANOGRAM of any product while doing display is important to success. and if you roam around market, you will find out that all display has been done in a particular brand order.
so, in a way Parle Agro has utilized it's distribution network very cleverly, placed product to everywhere in a way that it is visible to everyone.

Future challenges-

HIPPO has been reached to villages within a few month of it's launching. but still i am not sure that it would be able to continue it's agressive stratrgy. again, competitor are really very very strong, having very great distribution network along with acceptance and market power.

If we take example of BINGO of ITC Ltd, which work on theme of Availability, Visibility and Freshness (where visibility and freshness are important part of distribution along with increasing availability), running 50% extra scheme currently, best in taste and also has been widely accepted by customer,has developed such a great distribution network over more than 100 years, has reach from metros to small village panwala, tapari or if we take LAYS which work on concept of Availability, Acceptability and Affordability and also widely acceptable throughout, has great distribution network developed over period of time, has complete coverage on particular channel of distribution network.
For Parle Agro it will be very difficult to crack this huge distribution network of ITC Ltd and Fritolays. what will happen in future, no one knows till now. But if they have to break these two giants, they need to be very careful in market place about there service, scheme, pricing and distribution strategy. let us hope for the best.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

In Practise: ROADBLOCK

The very first roadblock to be attempted on Indian television was way back in 1994 when a small fire extinguisher making company decided to use 9 different commercials to launch its diversification into keep fresh kitchenware. A creative indulgence that a smart media planner chose to capitalize upon by acquiring the telecast rights of a full-length feature film and airing only these commercials in every break, so that the viewer got the whole message about the range at one go.
Term is used when an advertiser buys up all the advertising on a channel for a given length of time like a full day (vertical roadblock), or across a band of channels at a particular time, say an hour (horizontal roadblock), thus preventing any other advertiser from being present at those times.


Vodafone-



International mobile communications group Vodafone collaborated with STAR India to launch an unprecedented 24-hour nationwide re-branding campaign on all commercial airtime across the Star India network starting Sept. 20, 2007 for mobile service Hutch Essar, which is being renamed Vodafone Essar following Vodafone's purchase of a controlling interest in Hutchison Essar, spend an upward Rs. 10 crore.
Vodafone ran TV commercials, transition bumpers and contest spots to promote the Vodafone Essar brand from 9 pm on Sept. 20, to 9 pm the following day to potentially reach 63 million viewers in five languages of Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Marathi and English through 13 channels including Star Plus, Star One, Star Gold, Star Movies, Star World, Channel [V], Star Utsav, Star Vijay, Star News, Star Ananda, Star Majha, National Geographic Channel and History Channel to build awareness in the shortest possible time.

Vodafone’s roadblock initiative with Star brought in 90-95% brand recall and opened up a new avenue for advertisers wanting to make a splash.


Airtel way-one brand, one mall


In August, 2009, Airtel came out with a first-of-its-kind deal with RK Cineplex — a ‘branded’ mall in Hyderabad. It guaranteed exclusive advertising and naming rights to Airtel for two years. The RK Cineplex in Hyderabad’s up market Banjara Hills has been renamed “Airtel RK Cineplex”. The deal disallowed other products from any static branding in between. The complex is home to Airtel’s mobile, broadband and DTH kiosks and 18,000 sq. ft of exclusive Airtel branding that caters to 5,000-7,000 visitors a day. With Blackberry and DTH service inquiries on the rise, the mall itself functions as a retail store for the telecom giant

CADBURY

Introduced one of its commercials for Dairy Milk, “aaj pahali tarikh hai” through three-day roadblock advertising on MTV in July 2009.


HUL-

Hindustan Unilever has blocked a whole day on Star India’s entire network of channels. Brands of Unilever alone will be advertised on Thursday across Star Plus, Star One, Star Gold, Star Utsav, Star Movies, Star World, Channel V, Star Jalsha, Star Pravah and Star Vijay. Lifebuoy will lead the pack. Though roadblocks cost between 100% and 200% over regular advertising rates, the popularity of the concept has been on the rise among large advertisers.
Unilever embarked on traffic plans of its own, blocking the Star roads on the 17th, the Zee roads on the 24th and the ETV ones on the 29th. Every roadblock so far has been for a brand, these were the first ever for an advertiser, across several brands
Lintas Media Group met 240 housewives and working women across four cities, all in the age group of 15 to 44 years, the day after the Star and Zee network roadblocks. We primarily checked out whether recall levels of advertised brands were higher than normal , and whether viewers noticed anything different about their viewing experience that day. Were any extra special brand benefits understood beyond achieving higher recall?
HUL's two-day roadblock cost the company a fourth of Godrej's overall advertising expense.
On an average day, the Star Network enjoys a 24% share of total Unilever GRP’s , while the Zee Network garners another 19%. On the roadblock days, this shot up to 55% for the Star Network (ensuring, we hope, an excellent bonus for Uday Shankar and his team), and 47% for the Zee Network (joy for Joy!) . Overall average daily GRP’s for the company doubled from 860 to 1650.
79% of the women we met did not notice anything different about the day’s viewing. The ‘shock and awe’ factor was therefore limited to the media planning community, and rightly so, since that did not appear to be the objective of the exercise. Recall levels for Unilever brands were however an outstanding 40 to 50% of all brands recalled. (In a day after recall exercise, not-advertised brands will also inevitably enjoy a baseline recall level). Average recall levels per HUL brand ranged from 7 to 16% of the women we met. Perhaps there were specific brand objectives that were met as well.


IDEA-




On June 30th last year, Idea Cellular made a quiet attempt to win over its customers without upsetting the traffic cops. A horizontal roadblock from 9 to 10 pm across 30 national news, movie, music and entertainment channels announced the start of “what an idea, Sirji!” Prior to that, newspaper ads and teaser tv commercials promoted the new campaign like a movie release. Spontaneous awareness scores within a week of the campaign breaking with the roadblock were the highest ever for the brand.

Volkswagen ‘Road-block’ for India-




The date was 11th November 2009, when I started reading the Time of India, front full page ad by Volkswagen, 12 pages out of the 22 had ads for Volkswagen. Then over and over again as each page was turned on there was only Volkswagen in the newspaper that day. I was confused & in awe only because of the gravity of the money that had been spent by Volkswagen for the day, 11th November 2009. This was a 40 crore campaign by Volkswagen India, who have also come up with a Television ad recently, showcasing their brands.



The media agency that has created the roadblock is MediaCom.
The print ads were showing the fact that the company is trying hard to indianize itself, with the front page ad showing the pronunciation of the word ‘Volkswagen’ in different Indian regional language. The print ads also introduced and appraised readers to the various Volkswagen brands that are currently available (Passat & Jetta) & the ones that are lined up for India (Polo, Beetle, Touareg). The media spend will include print, TV, outdoor & the internet. Expect the internet & outdoor impact to be similarly innovative as their creative agency is DDB Mudra Group.
The 40 cr. question?
is whether this will boost their numbers, which were poor in Oct’ 2009. They operate in the very niche top end of the business, which accounts for less than 2% of overall car industry sales. India is touted as one of the growth markets for Volkswagen and they are not that far behind Mercedes or BMW in their numbers. April to October sales show that they are only around 700-900 cars behind.

My Name is Khan-


Like the big advertiser HUL, Cadbury India, Vodafone, Airtel etc, “My Name is Khan” is the first movie to implement roadblock strategy for promotion of the movie. The roadblock, which will be the film’s three-minute trailer, will be on air on all Star India channels. "This kind of roadblock has never been done before for a film. About eleven Star India channels including Star Plus, Star One, Star Gold, Channel V and Star Pravah, will telecast a three minute trailer of the film. Movie is produced and directed by Karan Jauhar is set to release in Feb, 2010.Fox Star Studios ( a production and distribution company, is a joint venture between Twentieth Century Fox and STAR) has acquired the worldwide distribution rights for this film for around Rs 80-90 crore for a 15 year period. It covers all rights except music, which has been bagged by Sony Music.

ITC-

Vertical roadblocks can take the form of ‘day associations’ to work wonders for a brand and its essence, thus delivering impact not just by hogging up all the inventory, but also by fitting in with what the brand stands for. Bingo worked with MTV to sponsor April fool’s Day this year, turning it into a Bakra Din, so much in character with the brand’s irreverent whacky persona. All commercial breaks were exclusive to Bingo of course, but beyond that the content itself was recreated to showcase the brand and its ‘no confusion, great combination’ message. Fake cricketers, spoofing VJ’s, all paid ‘tribute’ to the brand as ‘foolishly’ as possible!

Nokia-

If anyone knows how to make a vertical roadblock work, we have to say it’s MTV. They associated with Nokia on Independence Day last year, promoting the launch of the new N96 through Freedom of Expression. Not a single normal commercial was used. Instead the entire day was peppered with celebrity vignettes branded by the N96, teasers showcasing the features of the product, interactive scrollers offering special mobile downloads of the national anthem, and so on.

now, it is becoming the trend in advertisement to adopt roadblock strategy for faster reach and better effectiveness. media person are also contacting big advertiser for such activities. big advertiser are adopting this way for faster reach, like Vodafone did it successfully and spread word of mouth that hutch is vodafone now. i hope that we will see such campaign frequently in future.

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Trends in 2008-
The November 26, 2008 terror attack and incursions into sovereign Indian civil space by a bunch of terrorists with AK 47s in their hands and terror-indoctrination in their hearts is going to make your cappuccino more expensive. 26/11 is going to give a big boost to the security product and security service industry at large. Everything impacts everything. Every event of our daily life impacts every marketing action there is going to be. I will flag 26/11 as the one date that is the defining moment that epitomizes the loss of innocence of the Indian marketing man at large. It means that the hospitality sector in India will view everyone who enters its portals as a potential terror threat. If you live in a hotel, you will feel very secure inside from now on. So secure that you will love being viewed as a potential terror threat even. And this is not a temporary phenomenon. The security hackle and mantle, once up, is a mantle of cover forever. The Indian hospitality industry in the five-star space has lost its innocence
That’s obvious. The advertising you are approached by will change. The theme, tone, tenor and decibel of Indian marketing will change as well. Just peek into the trends that shaped our marketing lives in 2008, and peek further into the crystal ball for 2009, and you have it all. Life changed in 2008. The marketing man morphed his every appeal to the needs, wants, desires, aspirations and fantasies of consumer 2008.
Let me then wear my annual trend-spotter’s hat and paint the picture of the year just gone by. Let me dig and go a little deeper than skin-depth marketing to draw the blood and gore of marketing the way it was in 2008. The trends that shaped Indian marketing.

Public utility spaces got branded
Public space has been very much under-utilized in India for branding and advertisement. Gone are the days when companies painting entire rocks and walls with their brand massage. The year 2008 saw the emergence of systematic play in the utilization of public utility space. Road stretches got branded inputs. Roads such as the ones that ply between a Chennai-Pondicherry, Mumbai-Pune, Delhi-UP, and more. Branded milestones (would the cigarette brand want to take that 555 km milestone just outside of Bangalore that has Hyderabad and its distance listed out there?) Add to it the potential of building brand and brand romance in the roads of yore, such as the Grand Trunk Road. Or the Great Silk Route.

Low cost bows out
The space Air Deccan vacated is being filled in by a GoAir and a SpiceJet. One doesn’t know for how long, though. The trend is clear. Low-cost models in the aviation space just don’t seem to work. If one looks into the bottom lines of the airline experiments in this space, one nearly baulks at what might have been termed predatory-pricing tactics in another country altogether.
International airlines reserve anywhere between 40 and 50 per cent of their ad spends for brand building; Kingfisher and Jet spend 20-30 per cent on branding while other domestic airlines concentrate primarily on tactical advertising.In 2008, all Airlines were under intense pressure because they have to advertise to fill their seats. Airlines continued with tactical and promotional advertisement, but brand advertisement took a hit. Very les number of hoarding and very less advertisement in specialty magazine were seen. That shift would be more visible and Full page ads could thus shrink to strips
In an effort to increase revenues, airlines will also look at their registrations and use their database of both frequent fliers and others for marketing. The category being a lucrative one and attracting more visibility, used to get better deals from print media, but those could also be renegotiated in the near future


Singh is King
Though our Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may not really be the king behind the kingdom that is India, Singh surely was king in many, many ways in 2008. The branding of movies took a new turn. Hindi cinema adopted the tone, tenor, mood, lingo, food, dress and everything else from Punjab. Punjabi cinema and Punjabi lingo went mainstream. The two big hits of the year were certainly Singh is King and Rab ne Banaa di Jodi. While box office collections of the first grossed Rs 48 crore in the first ten days, the Rab Ne option actually notched up Rs 60 crore in the same period. Punjabi lingo became the lingo to use in a Chennai and a Kovilpatti alike. Many a discotheque across the country played music from both movies to get their dance floors scorching. In many ways, Hindi cinema did yeoman service to the task of knitting this country together. Race no bar, language no bar, culture no bar, food no bar. At least for now.

IPL did it
Five-day cricket played in whites is boring today. It’s for the oldies. One-day cricket played in colors is better, but still not the best. As the attention span of the new generation of Indians shortens, IPL is the best there is to savour in cricket. A short game of 20 overs each.
IPL did one more thing. It removed national jingoism and replaced it with city-jingoism. A Kolkata Knight Riders (KKRs) now vies for attention that is local in a unique manner. Never mind where you live, just as long as you are a Kolkata fan, you will root for the KKRs.
IPL did one more thing. The multi-country composition of teams has erased international boundaries in one quick stroke of a set of matches of one IPL season. Today, an Australian will root for the Chennai Super Kings just as a person of British origin will root for the Rajasthan Royals (the country’s players are part of the team).
The nation kept breathing cricket. The game remained the lowest common denominator that unites the rich, the poor, the partisan and the political. If there is one thing that can pan out as a conversation point across income groups, religious, political and social divides and divides of every kind, it sure is cricket. And IPL is king!

“The Indian Premier League (IPL) added an inflationary spike to television rates, at the same time advertisers on general entertainment channels during the IPL tournament ended up paying more money for a smaller audience, or higher Cost Per Rating Point. Gross rating points of general entertainment channels (GEC’s) is 1,100 from an earlier 800-900. In terms of share of viewership, GECs now account for 36 per cent of total viewership from 30 per cent earlier.
In late 2008, it was believed that there is no slowdown, advertisement and sales have been growing at a double digit rate. I feel that those who are in lead space would hardly suffer. It is those at bottom of the pyramid who should worry because when ad spends are reconsidered, advertiser continue to stick with the leaders for maximum coverage.

Security services see a boom
The events of 26Eleven got every Tom, Dick and Harish very, very awake. Every hotel of every star category reviewed its security arrangements. Every apartment owner’s association woke up to the threat possibility that looms large on soft-targets as well. IT companies invested in sniffer dogs. The dogs are happy. The demand is big in this space, I hear.
High-end hotels went back to every vendor who offered superior technology. Sniffer room cards that find and report electronically of traces of petroleum or RDX alike were explored. The demand for electronic surveillance systems is up. Scanners are in short supply, I hear.
Employment booms in this category. Many a call centre cab driver in Noida, Gurgaon and Bangalore is now getting trained to be a security guard. As BPOs lay off operators, they are forced to lay off outsourced drivers as well. The driver now finds a new avenue.

Advertising morphed
Advertising rose from an acute clutter of its own making in a remarkable manner. While most brands kept experimenting with themes, some brands went the way of the long-running story. Advertising as we see it today can be divided into the tactical promotional pieces that talk of the latest price and the latest gifts that go with the brand. A superior form of this is the advertising that is theme-centric. One product story brought to life with a 30- or 60-seconder that established the long term brand proposition. This year, advertisers went one step forward. Airtel experimented with the format of story-advertising. Madhavan and Vidya Balan did cameo roles as a couple on-the-move. This did Airtel a lot of good. Story replaced the boring single-theme led advertising of last year. Idea Cellular did similar stuff with its “What an idea, sir-ji’ series. There is a new version every other month. Way to go.

Blank noise. Blank hoardings
The year saw a lot of these all around. The outdoor industry is a bellwether industry. The first signs of recession typically translate themselves into the visual displays on the hoardings of our cities and towns. The moment you see blank hoardings with messages that advertise numbers and names of the hoarding owners, be sure recession is here. The depth of such recession can be gauged by the width of such blank hoardings.
It works this way. The marketer, who is on a cost-cutting spree as he watches his sales volumes and values touching lows as never before, chops the advertising budget. And the first one to face the axe is outdoor advertising. Next comes point-of-purchase. Simultaneously with that is the cut on TV expenditure. Print falls next.
November saw loads of hoarding spaces looking blank. December has seen a deepening of that. Wonder how the month of January will pan out!
With that point to mull over, let me close this piece. Remember, there are only two kinds of people in the world – the marketing person and the other is the marketed-to person. Whichever you are, wish each one of you a Happy Marketing New Year!
FM radio in India believes it is finally coming of age as an efficient and cost-effective medium of advertising. That belief manifested itself as a 15-20 per cent hike in ad rates in the last couple of months after a gap of more than a year. Also, th e launch of more radio stations during that period gave rise to much unsold inventory which had to be disposed of at throwaway prices and established radio stations had to compromise on their rates to take on the new competition.

Expectation from 2009-

I am trying to recollect what the New Year, 2009 hold for marketing, advertising and the consumer who is really going to be the key.
In my view, the mood was worse than the actual situation but I guess corporate India believes that it is better to be safe than sorry which is perfectly understandable given all that has just hit us. But in the same breath, there is no denying the fact that it has had an impact on consumer sentiment. The reality is that many of us have become poorer and our ability and our confidence to spend have been reduced if not completely eroded. There is a palpable erosion of confidence as some of us fear for our jobs as well. Industries such as the automotive sector that grew exponentially on the basis of easy and poorly administered credit are now probably much harder hit than other sectors and I am sure that other industries such as real estate that expanded as though there was no tomorrow are now licking their wounds
The troubled agency
There is no denying the fact that the agency business has been booming over the last three years and for many of us the first six months of the current financial year too have been exceedingly good. And then we walked into a Brett Lee bouncer, without a helmet.The other reality is that multinational business, which is no small proportion of our Indian advertising pie, could be guided by the poor sentiments globally. The head of the local operations of a multinational company had received directives from his boss in North America asking him to stop all advertising in India. His protests that India needed advertising to build the brand locally and was doing comparatively better fell on deaf ears. In the same breath we must mention that large categories such as FMCG have to continue their advertising spends. People will hopefully brush their teeth, bathe and on occasion wash their hair, downturn notwithstanding.
While the financial markets have been the cause of a lot of the global turmoil, in India at least there is still an opportunity for advertising agencies in the form of public sector banks which are being frequently asked to reduce their lending rates and raise their deposit rates. Let’s not forget too that these banks are being politically induced to advertise these changes at frequent intervals in tune with the actual and frequent change in rates. Advertising agencies too would do well to remember that there is an election due next year and irrespective of the quality of candidates who would be fielded and irrespective of the creativity in the advertising that some of the political parties might approve, there is no denying the fact that crores of rupees will be spent on advertising. Something to look forward to even if the result at the end of the exercise may not be all that heartening!
The cement industry had a dream run over the last three years as prices kept going up without any real marketing efforts from the cement companies, though one tended to hear whispers of a cement cartel, not that it called for a great strategy. Many of the cement majors have significantly enhanced their capacities in recent times and have also been hit by the palpable slump that the real estate industry has been exposed to and the lethargy of the Government to get into infrastructure with the seriousness that the sector and the economy deserves. The cement industry will have to spend in 2009 as the attractive home loan rates of the public sector banks will make a difference to individual construction. At least that is the hope!

The client’s world
The client had the very reason for our being and the very centre of our business. And today the client is troubled, to put it mildly. She needs the agency’s empathy, not criticism. And there is another reality too. There was a time and an age when clients did not give the agency the respect or the ears that they deserved. But today the client is willing to listen as she needs all the advice she can get on what might work in these troubled times. Of course, the flip side to this is that the agency and its personnel must be in a position to provide value.

2009- not very good for advertisement-
I just think of commercial of the early Nineties for Band Aid, made by Johnson & Johnson. A kid has hurt himself playing football and his father who is a doctor (incidentally the model looks amazingly like Bhaskar Bhat, Managing Director of Titan Industries) tells him of the need to use Band Aid and how the injury should not be left open and the boy repeats the messages mechanically, his mind obviously on something else. Both of them leave the frame and as we expect the commercial to end the boy comes darting back into the frame and shouts, ‘ Bhoolna math match jeet gaya!' (‘Don't forget we won the match!').
Strikingly, perhaps the most significant recall factor of 2009 for me is the fact that India is the No. 1 test team in the world and was also the one-day leader for approximately 24 hours.
The US and the Western world would like to forget 2009 in a hurry and wish it would end soon but the happenings in September 2008 spilled over for most of the year and had far-reaching implications for many countries, including India. Let me stay with the impact on advertising during the year that is chugging to a painful close. I think the year served more than ever to remind us of the fact that the truly Indian agency is a rarity and every second agency is part of a global network. The headquarters of global agencies panicked, and how! It is fair to say that India in real terms was not as badly affected as the rest of the world. But this did not prevent extreme reactions.
India was administered the same medicine as the rest of the world, never mind the fact that it did not have the same degree of sickness. There was a ban on recruitment, travel, training … you get the drift? Agencies for once took their eyes off the headline and focused on the bottom line.
I dare say agencies treated talent in a harsh manner, to put it mildly, and let a number of people go. It is perhaps correct to say that the industry has alienated a whole lot of talent which was unable to understand or appreciate the steps being taken. In a sense it has been beneficial as it has spawned a few start-ups of disenchanted creative people who quite rightly want to do their own thing. Of course, agency heads, like their clients in the IT industry, kept parroting that they were only asking non-performers to leave and were improving the quality of their talent. I did feel sorry for the people in the advertising business, some of whom lost their jobs, forgot about raises and were not even trained during the year as all budgets were frozen.
If advertising is ailing can media be far behind? Media has become the truly lowest common denominator and television is the primary offender as media woos eyeballs and revenue. Television seems to be going the David Dhawan way and we seem to revel in the era of ‘manufactured reality'. The Raakhi Sawant show is a case in point. People, it seems, are avidly switching on to things that you love to hate.
Thankfully, cinema, which people used to castigate readily, is moving up in creativity, technique and a lot of young talent is moving into it. What about news channels and their enormous capability at branding non-events as ‘breaking news?' I guess one of the commercials for the Hindustan Times where an anguished mother has a child in hospital thanks to defective medicine while an intrusive reporter asks her obnoxious questions best sums up the pathetic state of the channels.
About newspapers, the distressing trend of ‘paid editorial' is spreading like the AIDS virus. Recently when we were speaking about possible PR coverage for one of our clients, a prominent challenger newspaper, not the leader as one would suspect, asked “Why do you want PR coverage for this client? In any case they are not advertising in our paper; surely our readers are not the target audience?” I think the newspaper industry needs to step back for just a moment and consider its very reason for being. The world has enough products and services that are marketed mindlessly, often without the slightest consideration for truth, honesty and the consumer. Must the newspaper be just another product like these or must it stand for truth and fairness?

What about creativity?
The advertising industry seems to have lost its penchant for storytelling. Of course, the Zoozoos were a beacon of light in an otherwise dark and often depressing creative environment.
Mind you, this is not to ignore some isolated campaigns which still stood out from the clutter. But this has been a lean year for creativity as perhaps it has been for Ishant Sharma who was the greatest thing that happened to Indian fast bowling not so long ago.
There were very few campaigns that made one stand up and cheer as David Ogilvy would say, or make one wistfully say, “I wish I had written that.” There was the trend of some brands such as Idea Cellular and Tata Tea trying to tap into the social consciousness of the country, particularly of youth which may have some implications in terms of future possibility.
If one were to sum up the mass media creative, we probably delivered a plateful of advertising that one did not want. There was too much advertising and too little engagement, as an expert said, and advertising runs the risk of killing the reason why we are watching the media.
I think this is affecting the customer adversely. Have you ever tried to watch an interesting Hindi or Tamil movie on TV on Sunday? More than ever advertising needs to remind itself that at the best of times it is an interruption. People do not switch on the TV to watch the ads or buy a newspaper to see the ads, unless, of course, they want a job or wish to sell their apartment.
The advertising of today which tries so hard to be different is actually getting commoditised. While a good trend is that people from advertising have moved to films and are directing noticeable, popular films - the most visible of them being Balki and his second film Paa – clients too must realise that unless they give their agencies elbow room, the best of them will drift away to pastures where their creativity is recognised and rewarded and that will be disastrous for the industry as a whole.

Innovation the name of the game
Obviously advertising is moving down the value chain and is becoming more low-involvement as a career, which is in fact affecting the overall perception of the industry. Tata DoCoMo revolutionised the mobile services market with its per-second billing. Where is the innovation from advertising? I know that agencies will talk about roadblocks that they have created for Volkswagen and Hindustan Unilever. My take on this is slightly different. Are agencies being self-indulgent or are customers noticing these innovations that agencies are so proud about?
And as a prospective customer I am taken aback at the advertising for the Volkswagen Beetle here in India.
Will I pay over Rs 22 lakh after seeing this ad or even ask for a test drive? Is this aspirational? What a fantastic opportunity to work on an iconic brand! Has the opportunity been seized? I wonder. I remember seeing the room that Bill Bernbach used to work from in Madison Avenue.
We have no way of knowing what Bill would have to say about the creativity of Indian advertising in 2009, but something tells me that the advertising legend who created campaigns which conformed to the 3 Ss of ‘simplicity, surprise, smile' might have for once been ‘stumped' for an answer!