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.

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.

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.