Oxemberg : Body Music

Brand : Oxemberg

Company : Siyaram

Brand Analysis Count : 457

Whenever my wife purchases a shirt for me , 80% chances are that the brand will be Oxemberg. Although she knows my brand preferences which does not include this brand, Oxemberg will finally make it into her choice list.

The reason is that she looks for design/patterns and often other brands

fails to impress her.

Oxemberg is one of the pioneers of readymade branding in India. The brand which was launched in 1995 rightly envisioned the trend towards readymade clothing in the Indian market.

The brand has been in existence for more than 15 years and is worth over Rs 80 crore. In this highly cluttered and fragmented market, being existing itself is a big achievement for Oxemberg.

However I wonder whether the brand was able to realize its true potential ? Was it left out in the sidelines by the aggressive competitors ?

Oxemberg is a brand targeting the higher middleclass segment. The brand is priced little higher than the brands like Peter England , John Players etc.

One of the factors that has slowed the brand's growth was the limited distribution and the low brand promotion. The brand is being retailed only through select MBOs and is not highly promoted across the media as compared to the competitors. The lack of brand promotion together with the high price may have caused many customers to opt for value brands like Peter England.

One of the reason for low brand promotion may be because the brand chose to grow very slowly. The brand never went for a high profile national launch but moving slowly from one geographical market to another. Despite being in existence for 15 years, I don't remember any memorable campaign run by this brand through any national media . Despite these constraints, the brand sustained itself all these years.

It seems that Oxemberg is now aiming for a much higher play. The brand is now very visible across the print media with the new campaign featuring the celebrity Niel Nitin Mukesh. The brand has adopted the tagline " Body Music " which contains the brand message : Clothes that Move to my Rhythm.

" Body Music " is a very good tagline and positioning of Oxemberg fits to the body like Music is a remarkable idea. The tagline perfectly conveys the message of " perfect fit " property of the brand . The use of word " Music "also gives a sense of coolness to the brand.

The print ads are well made and catches the attention of the readers very well. It is also nice to see the brand taking the positioning based on "body fit ".

As a brand user, I feel that the real strength of Oxemberg is the design. Its patterns have some quality which is not seen in other brands. Even though the cloth quality may not be the best, Oxemberg scores high in the design which should be highlighted in the marketing communication. The current positioning platform is flexible enough to talk about design also.

It is good to see aggressive marketing activity for Oxemberg at the national level. The brand commands fair share of brand awareness because of its long existence. The new communication thrust will take the brand to the next level of growth.

Twilight is Like Soccer...

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The BabyKeeper

Behold, the BabyKeeper. Need to poop, but don't want to hold your child on your lap when you do it? Need to pee, and the baby won't balance on your head? Well then the BabyKeeper is for you. As a bonus, your baby will look like a cute little paratrooper, ready to storm the enemy. I know what you are thinking, why not just hang them from the coat hook on the inside of the door? I have no problem

Bad blogger but Good soaps!!

I have been such a bad blogger lately and I am very sorry!  No really I am, life has been so hectic, we finally made it to Portugal in the plane as you know and then came back to lots of orders and full on work mayhem.

The gallery I manage the Thelma Hulbert Gallery in Honiton had its official opening on 29th May which was great, it went really well with over 200 people attending, Peter Randal-Page the brilliant international sculpture and Graham Liverton Chairman of East Devon District Council officially opened the newly refurbished building and it looked spectacular.
Since then its been all hands to the pump, working round the clock to keep up with everything and settle in to the new offices, shop and cafe. My team have been great, I am so lucky to have such a wonderful bunch and we have 35 new volunteers who have signed up too!

Soap is going well too, I have signed up with a company called "It's Cold Outside" who specialise in Google adwords and they have helped me to put together a new campaign which seems to be going well.  I will keep you all informed as to their/my progress regularly, if they are good I will be sure to let you know.  In the meantime, you can find out more about their work by following this link http://www.itscoldoutside.com/

And finally.... for the moment anyway, I have been working on a fantastic wedding cupcake commission, the theme of the wedding is the mad hatters tea party and I was asked to design 12 special guest soaps using the theme as inspiration.  These are the samples I sent off to the bride- tiny cupcakes on a plate with jam tarts, on a table cloth on a mini cupcake, all made out of soap!!

55 Story High Infinity Pool

55 storeys up, this infinity pool could glide you straight over the edge of Singapore, if not the world. It's part of the $6 billion Marina Bay Sands Skypark hotel, which just opened this week.Ok, so if you were really to propel yourself over the edge, you'd fall into a catchment-area which sends the excess water straight back into the pool. But where's the fun in that? The pool itself is three

Putty Nuggets - Silly Putty ingredient found in McNuggets

My wife hasn't eaten McDonalds since I posted about the year old Kid's Meal that looked brand new. The recent CNN investigation found that the same chemicals found in Silly Putty can be found in McNuggets certainly won't help: American McNuggets (190 calories, 12 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat for 4 pieces) contain the chemical preservative tBHQ, tertiary butylhydroquinone, a

Because Rock, Paper, Scissors is Old

Monkey
* Monkey fools Ninja

* Monkey unplugs Robot

Suggested noise: ee-ee-eek!

Robot

* Robot chokes Ninja

* Robot crushes Zombie

Suggested noise: ex-ter-min-ate!

Pirate

* Pirate drowns Robot

* Pirate skewers Monkey
Suggested noise: arrrrr!
Ninja
* Ninja karate chops Pirate
* Ninja decapitates Zombie
Suggested noise: keeee-ah!
Zombie
* Zombie eats Pirate
* Zombie savages Monkey
Suggested

Tow Boat Sucked Under a Bridge - Survives

These are real pictures of an incident that took place at Rooseter Bridge on the Tombigbee River in southwest Alabama in 1979. The photos were taken by a photographer for the Linden Democrat-Reporter.
Scenario plays out like this. The captain was dropping 2 of his 4 barges through the east span of the Rooster Bridge, with the intent of running around through the lift span, and then catching the

Marketing Strategy : How to Market The Intangible

Marketing the Intangible

Originally Published in Adclubbombay.com

Services contribute about 5o% of India’s GDP and have become an important growth engine for our economy. The growth in the service sector has opened up immense opportunities for new products and also newer markets. The huge service economy of India has attracted many players into the market. The market is now flooded with new players and new products.

Marketing of services is a challenging task primarily because services are largely intangible in nature. Because of this intangible nature, consumers find it difficult to visualize the service or evaluate the quality of service before purchase. For established services this problem is less because customers already have formed their opinions because of their past interactions. For a new service firm, getting the customers to try out the service is a very difficult task. This calls for a strong branding effort on the part of the service marketer to lure the customers into their offerings.

Creating a service brand is not the task of the marketer alone. The entire organization is responsible for crafting that brand experience. This is because of the fact that service cannot be separated from the service provider. When the brand promises a consumer of a definite experience, the entire organization should be working as a single unit to provide that expected experience. People who are a part of the organization form an important element of the consumer’s perception about the service brand. For example, the behaviour of the cabin crew in an airline service is a critical factor that defines the perception of the consumers regarding that brand. Hence managing a service brand is more of a strategic function rather than a mere functional task.

According to the branding guru Kevin Lane Keller, marketers should employ a full range of brand elements while crafting a brand strategy for service. The brand elements like Logo, Symbols, characters and slogans play an important part in the formation of brand image. These brand elements becomes important because services are intangible unlike physical products.

The first task for marketers is to make services more tangible so that consumers can visualize the service easier. This is done by adding tangible elements into the service. Hotels and resorts create tangibility by creating excellent infrastructural facilities which gives the consumer a fair idea about the service. For pure services the task of creating tangible elements becomes more complex. For insurance and financial services, the marketers have to build a strong brand image which acts as an equivalent of a tangible element.

For a consumer, evaluating a service before purchase is a difficult task. There is a strong element of risk which is perceived by the consumer before availing the service for the first time. Marketers’ task is to reduce the risk perception and encourage trust so that consumers try out the services. Many companies use branding as a tool to build trust and thus create a long lasting relationship with the customers.

Professor Leonard Berry in his article “Cultivating Service Brand Equity “in Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science” talks about four ways to build service brand equity. According to him, the service brand should be (a) Different (b) Determine your own fame (c) Make an emotional connection and (d) Internalize the brand. Strong service brands create powerful differentiators to convince the customers that they are different from the rest of the crowd. Service brands should also be very clear about their core strengths which will inturn makes customers to come back to their service offering. The brand should then build emotional connection with the consumers. Another important requisite is that the employees of the service organization should internalize the brand values and then only they will be able to provide outstanding customer service.

While communicating the service brand’s message, firms should be able to project its credibility, expertise and trustworthiness to the customers. Brands use characters, logo,symbols,colors etc to reinforce its service promise. ICICI Bank successfully used celebrities to build its image as a trustworthy new generation bank. Global consultancy firm Accenture firm uses Tiger Woods to convey its core brand value of “Performance”. These brands have used brand elements like slogans to reinforce the brand promise. Brands like Bajaj Allianz use characters to convey its message. Bajaj Allianz uses the animated “Super Agent “character to convey the message of reliable customer service. These brand elements help the customers to visualize the services even in the pre-purchase stage thus reducing the perceived risk of service failure.

Marketing a service require a holistic approach where the entire organization is focused at fulfilling the brand promise. It becomes the responsibility of every employee in the service organization to take part in creating the experience promised by the brand.

20 Fake Movies From Seinfeld That Really Need To Be Made

1-"Rochelle, Rochelle:" - It is, of course "a young girl's strange, erotic journey from Milan to Minsk" and manages to find its way into the lives of the characters over and over. And, of course, as Susan tells George, it has lots of nudity.

2-"Chunnel:" - In "Chunnel," there's an explosion in the Chunnel. And, apparently, the U.S. President's daughter gets stuck in there. The convoluted plot

The Grilled Challenge at Melt Bar and Grilled

I'm moving to Akron soon, and after seeing about this Melt Bar & Grilled on Man Vs. Food, I think I am going to have to stop by, and take on The Melt Challenge.
Our monster grilled cheese featuring 13 different cheeses, 3 slices of grilled bread and a pile of hand-cut fries & slaw. Over 5lbs of food!
Finish it all without any help or trips to the bathroom and you will be awarded a Melt t-shirt

Forever Lost

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16 WWII Nazi Propaganda Posters

Before: Unemployment, hopelessness, desolation, strikes, lockouts. Today: Work, joy, discipline, comaradarie. Give the Führer your vote!"Germans buy German goods.” The bottom text translates: "German Week/German Goods/German Labor."We build body and soul.Yes! Führer, we will follow you!Comrades at the front — Comrades for life. Advice and assistance in all areas of need.This genetically ill

Dinosaur Meat

Apparently Bosch makes refrigerators and have created this clever dinosaur meat marketing campaign to showcase how their VitaFresh appliances can keep foods fresher, longer. Get it? Because dinosaurs haven't been around for a long time. So if this meat was still fresh, that would mean that their fridges are really awesome... Yeah, I don't get it.Via

Jawbone #275: A Brick Of Gross

Man loses arm. Nora and I are different. Melt Grilled Cheeses. Man Vs. Food. Extremely Large Beagle. Enjoy the show!

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Time-Lapse Watermelon Carving

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Been There, Done That

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WTF Receipt

Someone is in for a wild and crazy night.
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12 Worst Movie Accents of All Time

It takes a lot of skill for an actor to master a foreign accent. But when they pull it off, like Heath Ledger did as a cowboy in Brokeback Mountain or Gwyneth Paltrow as a Brit in Sliding Doors, it's a huge success. When they fail, however, it can ruin the movie and their reputation. Some actors actually become famous for their botched dialects, like Keanu Reeves in Bram Stoker's Dracula. Others

Gallery of Cannibal Food Mascots

Why do foods think it's ok to eat their own kind? It's not, it's disgusting, and it's just plain wrong? Have you no morals, just because you are inanimate objects? I would argue no, no you do not. Oh man, I beat myself in an argument again. Oh well. Here is a nice gallery of cannibal food mascots:

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The Pushpin Artwork of Eric Daigh

Artist Eric Daigh makes mosaics with pushpins. It's no big deal really, I've already mastered the smiley face (the tricky part is the eyes).
“With the push pins, I don’t have every color in the rainbow to use. It’s a limited color palette,” he explains. “Push pins only come in a few colors.”

Daigh gets his multi-colored packs of 500 pins through local retailers. He and his wife, Meghan,

10 Surprisingly Lethal Animals

Everyone knows cobras, sharks and lions are killers. But there are plenty of other animals that are just as dangerous as the usual suspects. We’ve found some rather surprising, not to mention frightening, species that if bothered, can kill humans. Whether it’s their bite, sting or strong limbs, these animals are some of the most lethal in the world, so read on to find out which wild things not to

Boat with 8 Motors

No officer, why would you think I use this boat for drug smuggling?

Artwork Made With Office Supplies

For most of us, the materials scattered throughout our offices, whether they be Post-its, pencils, paper clips or staples, are mere tools of the trade. But clearly we’re just not being very creative—some people consider them inspiration for art. Office supplies can do wonders when they fall into the right hands.

Burger with Two Grilled Cheese Sandwiches as its Bun

This is The Grilled Cheese BurgerMelt from the restaurant. There are two grilled cheese sandwiches for buns. No bacon? Disgusting, take it away.
The Grilled Cheese BurgerMelt appears to be inspired by similar "Fatty Melts" and "Chubby Melts" that have been served in the South for a few years now, as well as the Midwest.
What's the nutritional content of this delicacy? According to the Friendly's

Sure : No Sweat

Brand : Sure

Company : HUL

Brand Analysis Count : #456

HUL has launched a new brand in the Indian market - Sure . Sure is an antiperspirant brand from Unilever's global product portfolio. The brand is claiming to be the largest selling antiperspirant brand in the world. Sure is sold extensively in UK and Europe.

Sure is an interesting brand for a variety of reasons. The launch of Sure brand marks another era in the deodorant market in India. The deo market is divided into categories like Body Spray, Deo with germ fighting properties and Antiperspirants. The Rs 700 crore Indian deo market is dominated by the body spray categories. The launch of a global brand like Sure is going to develop the antiperspirant market in India.

For the promotion of Sure, HUL has roped in the actress Asin. The brand is currently running the launch campaign across South India featuring the celebrity.

Watch the launch ad here : Sure

Since the antiperspirant category is new to the Indian market, the brand has tried to educate the customer about the product category in the launch phase. The launch ad essentially talks about what the product is and the comparison between ordinary deo spray and antiperspirant.

Another interesting aspect of Sure brand launch is the question mark over the fate of Rexona. The fact is that Sure is Rexona !!!

While Sure is marketed across England and Europe, the same product is marketed as Rexona in other global markets including India. There are rumors that with the launch of Sure in India, HUL may kill Rexona deo brand in near future.

According to newspaper reports , Rexona which created the deo market in India is now a marginal player in the market with hardly 5% share. HUL virtually messed up the Rexona brand (soap) with lot of experiments like migrating to Hamam. Even in the deo category, Rexona was virtually neglected in terms of promotional spend.

Sure is marketed with the same tagline and brand elements as Rexona. Both Rexona and Sure carries the same logo - the Tick mark and the same tagline " It won't Let You Down". Sure is also using the slogan " No Sweat " in the launch campaign to reinforce the product benefit.

It is unlikely event where you see two different brands using the same logo and tagline. It does not make any marketing sense unless there is an underlying thought of migrating one brand to another. It can be assumed that Sure will launch its full range of deos and Rexona will be slowly taken off the shelves.

The deo market is witnessing intense competition these days with n number of launches happening. The trend these days seems that get a good fragrance, outsource production and do high profile marketing.

Even the antiperspirant market has seen new launches with Garnier launching its product in the category recently. By launching Sure , HUL is making sure that it does not leave any part of the category to the competitors.

22 World War II Posters

Source

Ukrainian Folk Version of Highway to Hell

Questions answered:

1) Yes, I think that's a used wine bottle and

2) Yes, it needs more screams and is better than Los Colorados.

Thanks Will!

Brand Update : Vivel Extending to Fairness Cream

ITC's soap brand Vivel has launched its fairness cream extension in the Indian market. The brand has been launched in Kerala and is expected to offer stiff competition to the market leader Fair & Lovely.

Vivel's fairness variant is branded as Vivel Active Fair and comes in three SKUs - the 50 gm pack is launched at a price of Rs 70, 25 gm at Rs 38 and 9 gm sachet at Rs 5. The brand is running its launch

campaign with big splash in major newspapers . Vivel Active Fair is banking on its ingredients like vitamins, minerals and moisturizers along with SPF 15 sun protection rating.

In a direct challenge to Fair & Lovely, Vivel is selling its sachet at Rs 5 ( introductory offer) compared to FAL's Rs 7. Indian personal care market is driven by sachets and the Rs 5 price point will help Vivel to achieve the important customer trials. Rs 5 price point is also beneficial

to both customers and retailers because of the coinage factor. This pricing may force HUL to lower the price of FAL's sachet.The Indian Fairness Cream market is worth around Rs 1700 and growing at 15% .

ITC is making lot of headway in its personal care business. The brands like Fiama and Vivel has successfully made their mark in terms of brand visibility. Although the company may not be making money in the personal care business because of the heavy promotional investments, these brands have built a strong foundation that can fuel further growth.It is common for brands in the personal care business to go for brand extensions. Vivel is trying to transform itself to a personal care brand rather than just a soap brand.

It is interesting to see that the brand refrained from using celebrity to endorse the fairness cream. I wonder why ?

Related Brand

Vivel

9 Unusual Car Rims

For those who have never seen a car, the rim of a wheel is the outer circular design of the metal on which the inside edge of the tire is mounted on automobiles and other vehicles.

I can't afford custom rims, or lugnuts for that matter, I just use duct tape. But for those who can, they can be pretty cool and even strange. Check out these 9 unusual tire rims:
These ones are particularly cool. The

Where Americans are Moving

More than 10 million Americans moved from one county to another during 2008. Where Americans Are Moving shows a map visualizing those moves. Click on any county to see comings and goings.
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Comedians Before They Were Stars

Jimmy FallonRobin WilliamsJerry SeinfeldZach GalifianakisConan O'BrienTina FeyVia

Marketing Strategy : Customer Service Starts From The Top

Customer Service Starts From The Top

Originally published here in Adclubbombay.com

The $847 million deal between Amazon and Zappos.com was making lot of waves among academicians and practitioners across the globe. The discussions were not about the valuations or the deal but about the unique customer service culture of Zappos.com.

Zappos.com is an online retailer of fashion accessories predominantly shoes. The retailer is famous for its focus on customers. The key factor behind the stupendous success of Zappos.com is their customer service culture. The company is passionate about their customers and the culture of putting customer first runs through the entire company. The entire business model of this company is centred on customers and the CEO is the driving force behind this customer oriented culture. The company has a warehouse that is open 24X7 so a customer who orders at 11 PM gets a next day delivery. The company also has a 365 day return policy where a customer, if he is not satisfied, can return the product with in 365 days of purchase and get a refund.

Every company understands the need for customer service. But it is interesting to see that the understanding seldom translates into actual practice. One of the primary reasons for the huge disparity between understanding and execution of customer service initiative is the lack of customer service culture.

Top Management Involvement

The quality of customer service is directly proportional to the involvement of senior leaders of the company. Although the actual execution of service is done at the lower levels of management strata, unless the senior leaders are held responsible for customer satisfaction, the process will not excel. But for that, customer service should be given its legitimate position in the management functions. In service firms it is natural that customer service is given its due importance. But in other companies there is no reference to customer service as a function.

When senior managers become involved in managing customer service and satisfaction, the function gets recognized in the organization. Priorities change and service does not become an irritant but a priority. Firms like Zappos.com,Ritz Carlton, Mitchells and Marriott thrive because of the intense involvement of top leadership in monitoring customer service. In firms like Zappos and Marriott, the CEOs take personal interest in customer service initiatives.

Employee Motivation

Although it may seem very basic to state that employee motivation is critical to any customer service initiative, many firms fail to practice this obvious dictum. Since the frontline employees are the implementers of customer service, it is absolutely essential that they are given the necessary authority and responsibility to handle any request from the customers. This perhaps will the main reason why consumers do not appreciate being serviced by call centre executives. These outsourced firms usually do not have any authority to solve the issues of customers.

In the famous book “The Last Lecture “author Late Mr. Randy Pausch writes about a memorable incident of a $ 100,000 salt and pepper shaker. The author during his childhood days was taken to Disney Land by his parents. Randy and his sister bought a souvenir salt and pepper shaker for their parents. But immediately after they purchased the shaker, it fell and broke. Randy and his sister were terribly upset because they had spent their entire pocket money on that gift. Then a fellow guest suggested the crying Randy that they tell the store what happened.

Randy and his sister approached the store and was surprised when the store staff replaced the shakers for free and even apologized for not packing it correctly. The author then mentions that his family later went on to give more than $100,000 worth of business to Disney Land. The salt and pepper shaker was not worth more than $10 but the small gesture by the Disney Staff created goodwill that is worth millions.

Such customer service excellence will not happen unless the employees are intrinsically motivated. The motivation comes from the responsibility and the freedom that comes with the job. It is in this context that organisational culture becomes critical. While processes can make customer service error free, spontaneity can come only from individuals. Organizations should strive to bring that spontaneity into the customer service.

Another story about customer service spontaneity -

Bill Marriott , the Chairman and CEO of Marriott International, in his blog once narrated a story about an Associate who gave his pants to one of the guests . The guest who came for a business meeting found that he accidently packed his wife’s slacks instead of his own. He realized this only minutes before the meeting began. The chances of going to a store to buy one and making it to the meeting on time were minimal. One of the Marriott Associates noticed that he happened to be of the same size as the guest and offered him the pair of pants he was wearing. The pants were of perfect fit and the guest went to the meeting on time. The Associate managed with his extra casual pants till the grateful guest returned.

(source : http://www.blogs.marriott.com/search/default.asp?item=2358646).

It is not that companies today are not aware of these basics but the fact is that in pursuit of high growth, often these fundas take the backseat.

There is Hope Ahead

If you still don't get it, look in the background.

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Look Inside 6 Unusual Homes

Also check out:
Underground House
House in a Old Church
Houses Made of Strange Materials
Cool Treehouses

12 Strange Pizzas

Ah pizza, everyone who isn't a jerk loves it (yeah, I'm talking to you, jerk). Here are 12 strange pizzas to sink your virtual teeth into. Also, don't forget about these other 12 interesting pizzas.

Here is a $1000 pizza with caviar, chives, lobster, and creme fraiche. What? No black truffles? Take this back, I'm no peasant!A choco pizza with all sorts of strange dessert like items.A fried egg

Prevention is Key

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Look a Whale!

Hey, look everyone, a whale! Via

Sausage Log Cabin

A log cabin made of sausage? Those pioneers of the wild west, was there nothing they couldn't do? Wait, waffles for a roof? I think grilled cheese sandwiches would have worked much better.
From Via

Causality

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Sweet Combover

This guy is awesome. Check out more sweet combovers here.
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Cake

So my wonderful coworkers, upon hearing that I would soon be leaving for graduate school, got me this wonderful cake. Thanks guys! I'll miss you!Via

Jimmy Dean Dies, Age 81

Who says you can't cram your gullet with pork products and still live to a ripe old age?

Jimmy Dean, a country music legend for his smash hit about a workingman hero, "Big Bad John," and an entrepreneur known for his sausage brand, died on Sunday. He was 81.

His wife, Donna Meade Dean, said her husband died at their Henrico County, Va., home.

She told The Associated Press that he had some

18 Beautiful and Strange Trees

I love trees, they provide so much paper and fire wood beauty. Here are 18 beautiful and strange trees. Also, check out my post about trees growing around things that get in their way.

Sources: 1 2 3 4

Brand Update : Sugar Free Natura - Expanding Brand Usage

Sugar Free Natura , the sugar substitute brand from Zydus has been slowly and consistently expanding the scope of the brand. In marketing theory , different ways to grow a brand is to expand the usage situations and finding new uses for the brand and through new variants. Sugar Free has been trying exactly that.

Sugar Free launched itself as a sugar substitute for beverages. So instead of using sugar in beverages like tea, coffee, cool drinks etc, the brand tried to position itself as a healthy sugar substitute.

Rather than specifically focusing on diabetic patients ( who obviously needs such a product), Sugar Free concentrated on a larger consumer base by positioning itself as healthy alternative to sugar.

But the brand realized that focusing just on beverages severely limits the usage of the product. Hence the brand launched a campaign expanding the usage of the brand by telling the consumers to use Sugar Free not only for beverages but also for all other delicacies which require sugar like home made sweets. The brand also roped in the popular Chef Sanjeev Kapoor as the brand ambassador.

The brand has now moved into the next level of value addition by launching flavor sachets for tea. The new product is Sugar Free sachets which contains flavors like Ginger, Lime along with the sugar substitute. The new variant gives another reason to buy the brand.

Sugar Free is a brand that has realized the potential for a healthy alternative to sugar. India has an exploding diabetic population and such a product hold tremendous scope in future. The only factor that limits the growth of Sugar Free is the higher price. The price severely limits the repeat purchase and regular use of this product. The category will grow only if the brand is able to break the price barrier.

Related Brand

Sugar Free

Jawbone #274: All w00ted Out

On this show, it's all about the w00tstock wrap-up. I chat about the aftermath of my experience in Chicago and Minneapolis and what it was like drawing in front of 600 and 700 person crowds. Also, Nora chats about a mimicking neighbor.

Photo of me by rianpie

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Pictures from my Vegas Trip

Bacon Pancakes

I love me some bacon, and I love me some pancakes, why didn't I think of this? I see no need to eat anything else, ever again. From Via

Criss Angel Chopper at Circus Circus, Las Vegas

In the Circus Circus lobby, they have this Criss Angel chopper on display. I thought I'd share a few pics:

W00tstock Wrap-Up

I'll have a proper wrap-up via podcast later today, but I wanted to share a taste of the awesome experience I had at w00tstock Chicago and Minneapolis. Cue awesome video below.

Now it's Our Fault?

Worst Luck Ever

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Tastes of the World - 16 International Coke Flavors

 So while we were in Vegas, we stopped by the Coke store to sample some tasty beverages. I had heard that they have fountains with all the different drinks, free to try. Well, they might have, but now you have to pay. So, I plopped down $7 (now my son can't afford new shoes) and got two trays with 16 different drinks from around the world. My wife and I sampled them all, and here are our

12 Funny License Plates

Well, I'm back from Vegas, and I missed all of you dearly. I'll post about my trip later. For now, enjoy a dozen funny license plates.
Ode to South ParkAgina? I don't get it. Oh, wait...Enter the SandmanArrr.Darn tootin.Virginia already has their disaster plans in place.If you plan on speeding...Teehee. But seriously, don't shake babies.Funny because it's true.Straight shooter.Screw you

Sometimes the Bull Wins

Mmm boy, yeah it's real suckas.Spanish bullfighter Julio Aparicio is gored in the throat by a bull during the San Isidro Fair bullfight on May 21 at Las Ventas bullring in Madrid. Aparicio was recovering at a hospital after undergoing several hours of surgery to reconstruct his throat, jaw, tongue and roof of his mouth.
Thanks Riley
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Brand Update : Vanish Gets a Brand Ambassador

Vanish, the stain remover product from Reckitt has found a celebrity endorser in the actress Sridevi. The brand is now running a campaign featuring the celebrity.

Watch the ad here : Vanish

The new ad shows a move by the brand away from the previous campaign formats. The brand has been consistently using the global communication format till now. The brand has thought of using celebrity to penetrate more into the market. The choice of a " retired" actress like Sridevi is intriguing.

What will be the benefits that the brand expects out of this new strategy of celebrity endorsement. The first benefit is obviously more acceptance for the product in the consumer's mind ( hopefully) aided by the brand equity of celebrity. More brand familiarity. Use of celebrity in POP materials will have lot of impact on the purchases. Boosting the brand acceptance in semi urban markets.

The new campaign has discarded most of the brand elements especially the pink T shirt clad girls who were an integral part of the earlier campaigns. I feel that it was a mistake to remove that important component from the new ad.

Related Brand

Vanish

Marketing Strategy : Four Pillars Of Customer Focus

The Four Pillars of Customer Focus

Originally Published Here at Adclubbombay.com

Customer focus is one of the most used jargons in the marketing lexicon. Despite being accepted as an important strategy, many firms have not yet been capable of delivering exceptional customer service and focus in their operations.

Customer focus is a choice and the choice has to be made at the highest management level. Being customer focused is an expensive proposition. It is resource intensive and needs hands-on management from senior leadership of the company. More than money, customer focused strategy depend on human resource. The investment needed for maintaining customer focus is the time and dedication of all management levels towards the goal of service excellence. Most of the firms which aspire to be customer focused fail because of the lack of involvement of top management in customer-related activities.

Most companies invest their resources in creating processes and automating customer touch points. After this investment, the management leaves the customer management to these insensitive machines and algorithms. The entire process will be a waste unless there is a human element in it.

For any organisation who aspire to be customer-centric should start by building a strong foundation .Without a strong foundation, customer centric activities will lack in their effectiveness.

Customer knowledge, Culture, Human Resources and Conflict resolution are the four pillars of a customer focused organisational strategy.

Customer Knowledge

Customer profiling is the first step towards building customer focus. This is one of the most difficult phases in the quest towards customer focus. The depth of customer focus in a company is directly proportional to the depth of the customer information collected. The effectiveness of all customer-related promotions will depend on the extent to which the collected information is being used at the customer touch points.

For example in a business to business environment, firms are sitting on a huge pile of customer information. The information from the past interactions with the customer, the information from the past sales data are all available with the company. How well this information is available to the sales force will determine the effectiveness of any customer related campaign run by the company. While most firms collect customer information, this information are seldom updated or distributed to the concerned personnel.

Another important task for the managers is to identify the customer group that the organisation should focus on. It is near impossible for organisations to satisfy every customer. Some customers may be unprofitable for the company to serve. The management should be able to take informed decision on the customer groups which it will have to focus on. Once these groups are identified, firms must orient its organisation to deliver exceptional service to these customers.

Customer-Centric Organisational Culture

The second most important pillar of customer focused organisational strategy is the culture. Customer-centric organisational culture is where the entire organization is tuned to deliver exceptional service to the customer. Customers become the centre around which the organization is built.

The Chief Executive becomes the Chief Customer Officer. Every process and actions of the firm is prepared with customer in mind. Although this proposition may sound theoretical, companies like Marriott, P&G and FedEx have built their business around a customer focused strategy.

Human Resource

People form the third pillar of a customer focused organisation. The employees are the vital interface between the customer and the company. Customer focused organisations invest huge resources in developing a team of highly trained customer- care executives.

It is critical for organisation to understand the importance of front-line employees who deal directly with the customers. These employees represent the face of the organisation. There has to be clear role clarity for employees who interact with the customers. Customers always prefer a single contact point with the selling organisations. Customer focused organisations thrive because their entire organisation is created to optimize customer touch points. The customer –care executives are given enough authority and responsibilities to deal with customer requirements. Cases which are beyond their authority are escalated to higher levels.

Conflict Resolution.

Handling customer conflicts is the litmus test of the effectiveness of any customer-centric organisation. When there are no conflicts or complaints, customer management is not a daunting task.

The real depth of customer focus is revealed when there is a complaint or a conflict. As customers, we all have faced situations where our complaints go unresolved. A recent survey conducted on mobile phone users revealed that unresolved complaint was one of the major reasons for customer churning in Post-paid customer segment.

Customer focused organisations have a robust complaint handling mechanism backed by strong process and also sufficient budgets. These organisations have a system where complaints or conflicts are addressed within a stipulated time frame. The unresolved complaints are escalated to higher levels of management and necessary actions are taken at each levels of management for proper remedial actions.

Headed to Vegas

Well, my wife, son and I are headed to Vegas in the morning. I'm cheap, so we are staying at Circus Circus. Plus, I think my son will love the atmosphere there.

As I said, we'll have my son with us, so immediately that limits our activities, but we'll still have fun. We're gonna hit the buffets (I can fit a lot of shrimp in my pockets - suckers), see the sites on the strip (so many colorful

10 Out–of-the-Ordinary Scholarships

College is expensive—no surprise there. But while academic and sports scholarships can help foot the bill, they aren’t the only funding options. There are plenty of other cash prizes out there to help pay for school, and you may not even need a high GPA. Many organizations are rewarding students who satisfy certain criteria or excel in unconventional areas (like duck calling, nudism or marble

20 Dishes and Drinks Named After People

We get so used to the names of foods and beverages that we just take them for granted. But did you ever wonder who “Nacho” is? Or why Arnold Palmer has a drink named after him? We’ve found 20 items that are specifically named in honor of someone special. Read on to find out little-known food facts guaranteed to impress your next dinner date.
Thanks Jessie
Photo by Shutterstock

The Reoccurring Prop Newspaper

If you watch enough television shows and movies, then you might notice that a bunch of the same props are used over and over again. Someone on Reddit recently put together a compilation of photos from various television shows, commercials and movies, showing how one newspaper prop gets around and is reused, and reused again.

I don’t know the story behind this prop newspaper, but I assume it was

Mice Missionaries

Via

Art Made From Money

We all know the image of the poor, starving artist, but the reality is, it can be costly to create art. Whether for supplies, workspace or even classes, most artists are constantly throwing money into their passion—but there are a select few who do it literally. These creative minds take cold, hard cash and turn it into art. So read on for 10 masterpieces made of money.

Thanks Jessie!

Titan Zoop : Be Cool

Brand : Zoop

Company : Titan Industries

Ad Agency : Ogilvy

Brand Analysis Count # 455

Titan has re-entered the kids' watches category with a new brand Zoop. Titan has been launching a series of watch brands in recent years. According to a newspaper report, the company is transforming itself into a house of brands with a number of brands catering to various segments. The company had recently launched brands like Xylus, Obaku, Zoop etc all endorsed by the corporate brand Titan.

Zoop is a brand targeting the kids aged 5-12. Through Zoop, Titan is filling a gap in their brand portfolio. Kid's watch segment although a high potential market is dominated by unorganized players.

In 1998-99, Titan tried to tap the market with a brand Dash. But the brand failed to catch the fancy of the market at that point of time. Analysts says that Dash was too early for the Indian consumers. During that time, parents were not that interested in spending on kid's accessories like Watches.

Now the company feels that the market is ripe for a brand like Zoop. Zoop is being positioned as a cool , must-have accessory for kids. The brand is running a launch campaign in most of the channels.

Watch the ad here : Zoop

Zoop is endorsed by brand Titan. The brand has the tagline - Be Cool ; which will be well liked by the target customers.

While researching on the brand, I found a couple of articles which mentioned that Zoop's positioning itself as "Be a Star ". The brand wanted to talk directly to the kid and acknowledges the star in him. But from the launch ad, it seems that the brand is focusing on " coolness " quotient rather than the " stardom". Hence the brand has focused on bringing in new funky designs in its range.

Zoop will be definitely a brand to watch out for . The brand has the equity of Titan and the pricing is exceptionally good. Zoop is priced between Rs 350-Rs 900. And it makes a perfect gift to kids too.

Zoop faces competition from the host of unorganized players in the market along with cheap Chinese imports. For Zoop, budget competition will also be something to be concerned about. Budget competition is the competition for the money . Budget competition for Zoop will be those kid's products across various categories that falls in the price band of Rs 350- Rs 1000. That include toys, clothes, video games, etc. If you look at the launch campaign of Zoop , the brand subtly addresses that competition by pointing at the ' need ' for a watch.

Although there are many positive things going for the brand, it is not easy to catch the attention of this segment. The kids get bored with products/brands easily. Functionality may not be on the priority list of this segment of customers. It may not be realistic for Titan to assume that kids will pester their parents to buy more than one watch to quench the style thirst of kids. So the task is to get more and more kids to purchase the brand and be happy about it. So constant campaign innovation will be the key to brand success.

Zoop has rightly positioned itself on the style factor and I am sure many young customers will fall for it.

Gulf Oil Spill, Who is to Blame?

I think most people agree that the oil spill in the gulf is a terrible, terrible thing. I think most people are very frustrated at the failure of those in charge to stop the leak, and clean up the water. But who is to blame?


Who is to blame for the gulf oil spill?
BP
Obama
Government
Transocean (Owner of the dilling rig)
Halliburton (In charge of cementing)
Other


  
pollcode.com free polls

25 Cool Motorcycle Helmets

I'm sick of seeing people riding motorcycles without helmets. Too many people have their brains scraped off of the asphault each year; you would think people would learn from other's mistakes.

Helmets don't have to be nerdy, they can be cool too. Here are 25 examples of cool helmets:

Predator.Spiderman.Boba Fett.Ghost Rider?Steel shark.Venom.Camo pattern.Alice Cooper.The Incredible

8 Month Year Old Boy Hears Mommy for the 1st Time

Oh man this is cute. If I wasn't so wicked tough, I might even get a little moist eyed watching it.

Via

Dirty Dog saves the day!

This is why I invented Dirty Dog Soap!! 

Perdita (Perdy) my German Shepherd, who is normally quite clean showing me today just why she needs Dirty Dog soap and that she is about ready for a bath.  Picture number 3 shows my Springer in the background (Blue) who is about to get up totally black as always!  I love Woodbury Common, I always say Woodbury Common and Dogs go together like fish and chips but boy do they come back dirty!!

This is how she normally looks

A very special (clean) and beautiful GSD - well that is after using by lovely Citronella and Tea Tree oil Dirty Dog soap full of lovely good ingredients including olive oil which is why, I swear, she has such a lovely glossy coat. Go on give it a go, you know your pups deserve a real pamper!!

Bucky Balls

Ever heard of Bucky Balls? They are these cool little rare earth magnets that you can form into all sorts of cool shapes, or just smoosh as a stress reliever. Anyway, after some fiddling, I made these cool shapes. Thought, I'd share. There are other similar products, but I've never used 'em, so I can't vouch for them.