I BROUGHT MYSELF PRESENTS!

Not actually today, I brought them a while ago when the new Spurious Crafts Folksy site went live.

The maker, Peter Jeffs, is my last boss, a bit strange I know, but he left our local council around the same time as I left my Arts Officer job.   He was one of the Directors and one of the 'Good  Guys'.  Interestingly, while Peter was always very supportive of the work I did as a passionate Arts Officer and Play person, I knew he really "got it" (and most don't in my experience), I had no idea he was also a very competent and interesting artist in his own right.  Funny the things you find out outside the workplace.

As most of you know, I am now a full time soap maker and very happy to be so, however, it is still scary as my two-day-a-week job was my bill payer and I am now struggling a bit to find the housekeeping each month.  Hey ho, thats the way it goes and I know things will improve.

Anyway, Peter has been making his quirky ceramic tribal (kind of) masks for a while and decided to put them on a dedicated site, I got the heads up email and went to look right away.  I fell in love!  I think they are lovely.

I love this Shaman, I know I should not say it but he is tiny and sweet, and I am in love!

I'm not totally sure of the backing boards he uses, sometimes I think they are not quite right, the Shaman is great but the next one, which I love, does not work on the board.

I think she (and it is a she) is beautiful, she has a really serene look

Apparently the hair is made from plants from the garden (I thought it was from a broom!).  I think I will take her off the backing board and see what she looks like then.  She is quite a bit larger than the Shaman, but has a lovely texture to her skin.  I am also not sure about the crystal on her forehead, its plastic and not right, also the pearl?  I would love to know what you all think.  Should I remove them or would that be wrong, or somehow in defiance of the artist and his creation?

Basically, I love them, do go and have a look at the Spurious Crafts Folksy site, it is great.  Also Spurious Crafts has a new facebook page so please check it out and 'like' if you do!

I think these pieces of art are very individual, you either like them or they leave you a bit non plussed.  I think they are great and am very happy with my present to myself!

Do let me know what you think, do you like them?

Breaking News!

Via

The 40 Best Grunge Bands Ever

The first thing I considered in compiling a list of the best "grunge" bands, is what who do I consider to be "grunge" bands? Grunge is a sub genre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars

Tata Aria : Luxury That Thrills

Brand : Aria

Company : Tata Motors

Brand Analysis Count : # 500

Game Changer, New Breed, Super Luxury, Most Awaited, Eagerly Awaited, Flagship ... These were the terms that were used during the much publicized launch of Tata Motor's luxury offering - Tata Aria. Aria was launched in 2010 - touted as the most luxurious, sophisticated and most expensive offering from Tata Motors in the passenger vehicle segment. After a year of the launch, Aria is struggling to reach the position where the brand expected it would be. 

Tata Aria was publicized as India's first 4x4 Crossover. Crossovers are those vehicles that combine the attribute of cars and SUVs. Tata motors aimed to create a new segment of luxury crossovers with the launch of Aria. Tata Motors has been trying hard to create new niches in the Indian automobile market the last attempt was through the brand Tata Xenon.

Tata Aria which was expected to create new market and a new image for Tata Motors however is now struggling hard to create volumes. According to news reports, the brand is finding it difficult to convert the interest  and good reviews to sales. 

Tata Aria was launched with an expensive price tag of Rs 12 -15.5 Lakh making it the most expensive model from Tata's brand portfolio ( excluding JLR). To compensate for the high price tag, Aria came with many features, attributes and gadgets which was available only in super luxury segments. Many gadgets was even not present in those expensive sedans. But even with this heavy loading of features and goodies, consumers were reluctant to accept the high price tag.

Blame it on the Positioning.

It is easy to put the blame on the pricing strategy of Tata Aria. There are critics who argue that Aria could have priced at around Rs 10 lakh and  blazed the sales chart. To a certain extent the argument has lot of validity. But I feel that more than the pricing , there is a larger issue of positioning. Not only with regard to Aria, but it points out to the luxury foray of Tata Motors as a corporate brand.

First let us look at the positioning issue. Tata Aria wanted to position itself as a pioneer of a new category - a Crossover between a sedan and an SUV. 

Positioning theory talks about Points of Parity and Points of Difference as the two main focal points of positioning process.Marketers use Points of Parity to establish a membership in a category and also to establish parity with competitors. For brand launches in existing product category, category membership is automatically established because of similarity in product form, pricing, attributes etc. For example a new soap brand need not establish category membership since consumers know that the brand belongs to soap category just by seeing the product. Category Points of Parity is important for "really new products" where consumers are not able to connect any existing category to the new product. In such cases, marketers try to tell the consumers that the new product is related to an existing product category. 

Here Tata Motors failed to understand the perceived points of parity of Tata Aria with brands like Innova and Xylo. It is obvious to any person that Tata Aria looks very very similar to Toyota Innova which is the market leader in the premium Multi-Utility Vehicle segment. So just by looking at Aria, consumers establish its membership in the MUV category of Innova. Whether Tata Motors likes it or not, Aria's category membership is with Innova and not as a crossover. 

What Tata Aria did was to ignore this obvious similarities with an existing category products and tried to establish a new category which it called a Crossover. The brand wanted to use breakaway positioning strategy where by Aria will be positioned as a new category vehicle different from the existing category of MUVs. 

The first launch campaign was expected to identify Tata Aria with the new category - Crossover

Watch the ad here : Tata Aria Crossover 

For a brand that aims to create a new category that too a luxury one, the launch campaign failed miserably to communicate the concept of a new category. A sedan and an SUV colliding ( mating) to form Tata Aria  crossover was too basic , too amateurish communication strategy. The brand initially had the tagline " A New Breed ". The campaign managers failed to understand that just by labeling the product as a crossover does not make it a crossover. The brand should produce sufficient evidence that it belongs to a new breed. In the case of Aria, the campaigns failed to provide a significant reason to be called as a new category pioneer.

For any product aiming for breakaway positioning, the acid test is to differentiate itself from the category from which it is moving away. A classic case of breakaway positioning is that of Swatch brand which successfully positioned itself as a fashion accessory rather than a watch brand. For that the brand created strong identity interms of design, price , distribution etc which convinced consumers to consider Swatch as a fashion accessory rather than a watch.

Here there was no significant WOW factor in Aria which made consumer think that Aria belonged to a different category distinct from MUV brands like  Innova. So when consumers checked out the brand Aria, they began to compare it with Toyota Innova. Innova had established itself  as one of the most reliable and comfortable MUV in India. Innova was priced at around Rs 12 lakh. When consumers began to compare Innova and Aria, Aria was perceived to be expensive despite the presence of many new features and attributes. 

Sensing the mood of the market, Tata Motors launched a lower priced version of Tata Aria in the form of a 4x2 variant. The brand priced the product at par with the competitors and launched it with a different positioning. 

Watch the ad here : Tata Aria Spy ad

Here again Tata Aria was unsure about the positioning. The brand discarded its Crossover positioning and began to focus on features. The tagline was changed from " A New Breed " to " Luxury that Thrills". Within one year of launch , the brand had to make significant positioning changes which again proved to be a disadvantage for establishing a consistent brand image. The plot of the repositioning ad which shows foreign models with an unbelievable storyline and an attempt at humor creates a confused positioning to the audience ( my personal opinion). Along with these campaign in TV, the brand also ran a series of print campaigns highlighting the 36 new features of Aria. Those campaigns helped the brand to create a positive image of a fully loaded premium MUV. But the steep pricing dampened the enthusiasm over the features.

If Tata Aria wanted to be perceived as a new category pioneer it should have looked very distinct from the pack. But since it looked exactly similar to Innova, the brand shouldn't have ventured into creating a new category positioning.

The brand had a better chance of survival had it accepted the similarities and competed with Innova using the features and goodies and a competitive price. Still fighting Toyota's reliability is a uphill task but with better value offering, Aria could have raked up enough volume to keep the enthusiasm up in the market. 

If at all the brand Aria wanted to create a crossover category, it should have created a design which had no similarity with any of the existing product categories in the Indian passenger vehicle market.

Tata  Motors always nurtured an ambition to compete in the luxury segment in the Indian automobile market. It tried with brands like Estate, Safari, Manza etc but couldn't find huge success because Tata Motors was perceived to be a value-for-money brand and consumers were never comfortable with paying a premium for Tata cars. 

A radical move for the company can be to create a separate identity and a division which is not endorsed by Tata Motors. Honda , Toyota and Nissan used this strategy successfully for entering the US luxury car market. Honda used Acura, Toyota used Lexus and Nissan used Infiniti as separate brands ( divisions) and found success in the US market. They used this strategy to tide over the perception that Japanese car brands are utility vehicles rather than luxury vehicles.Likewise Tata Motors can create a luxury division which will not have the Value-For-Money baggage of  the parent brand Tata Motors.

 

I love the Tata brand and always wished that its products met with success. But these brand launches were disappointments because very obvious , fundamentals are overlooked and valuable time and brand equities are lost. But Tata Motors are know for perseverance and resilience. Hope that Aria will clean up the positioning mess and reach its rightful destination.  It needs to redefine its identity by answering this simple question - What exactly is Tata Aria ??

Guy Playing Star Wars Theme On Bagpipes Riding A Unicycle

Sorry kids, but if you were hoping to be the first one to blow part of the Star Wars theme on the bagpipes while riding a unicycle in a kilt, you might as well tell your mommy to cancel the rest of your music lessons this guy beat you to it.

Via

Tri-Activ : Anti-Bacterial Protection

Brand : Tri-Activ
Company : Piramal Healthcare

Brand Analysis Count : # 499

Tri-Activ is an anti-bacterial soap from Piramal Healthcare. Piramal Healthcare has been increasingly active in the OTC and personal care space. Tri-Activ was launched in early 2011 and will be competing against the like of Dettol and Lifebuoy. 

Tri-Activ is positioned as an anti-bacterial soap with germ killing property. The brand is claiming to be India's Grade 1 anti-bacterial soap. The brand belongs to medicinal soap category of the Rs 8000 crore toilet soap market.

The medicinal soap/ hand-wash category got lot of attention in the Indian market recently after the outbreak of H1N1 epidemic. Marketers cashed in on the opportunity by scaring the hell out of consumers and presenting their products as the ultimate protectors of humanity against such epidemics. The medicinal personal care products which was a niche category before these outbreaks suddenly began to be a part of the mainstream category. 

It is in this context that the launch of Tri-Active become significant. The brand is a pure medicinal type soap with strong clinical positioning focusing on germs, protection, doctors etc. The brand is currently available only in medical shops further reinforcing its medical positioning. This restricted availability will reduce the scope of sales of such a product .

The brand will be initially looking at consumers who are too worried about getting sick. Over these years , such kind of consumer segment is increasing in size. Despite the economic growth , Indian cities are prone to such outbreaks. Take the case of my state Kerala which boasts about high human development index and 100% literacy, the state is now reeling under frequent outbreaks of epidemics like Dengue fever, H1N1, hepatitis etc. The fear evoking coverage across media about these diseases force the consumers to scramble for whatever protection that they can avail of. Products like Tri-Activ will benefit from this hysteria.

Indian soap market has always accepted these germ killing soaps wholeheartedly. India's largest selling soap Lifebuoy is ruling with its health positioning so is the mega brand Dettol. Tri-Activ will be vying for a respectable position among these big players.

Having said that, the challenges for Tri-Activ are many. First challenge is the distribution. Piramal Group is well known in the pharma market but its distribution expertise in FMCG market is very limited. This may be the reason for Tri-Activ 's initial retail strategy being done through medical stores. To reach the vast Indian market is not that easy and Tri-Activ may have to leverage its strength in pharma segment to fmcg segment and that is not easy. 

Second challenge is the value proposition. Tri-Activ being a specialist is expensive and it will take lot of effort to convince the consumers to accept premiumness of this soap. Consistent brand promotion is key to such convincing and going by the current promotional strategy, Tri-Activ has gone silent after the initial launch campaign.

Tri-Activ with in a few months of launch, introduced a brand extension - liquid hand sanitizer. That was surprising move since the parent brand was not even well established to support an extension. 

The success of Tri-Activ will largely depend on the brand's ability to garner the retailer support and the investment it makes in brand promotion. Infrequent campaigns will not help for such a product if it wants to fight brands like Dettol and Lifebuoy. 

Alternatively Tri-Activ can thrive as a niche brand which is positioned as a specialist. Such brands thrive on positive word of mouth and attracts that segment of consumers who either is affected by problems or are too concerned about health issues. In a highly competitive market like India, such niche strategy often makes more sense than going mainstream.

Benadryl : Triple Action Formula

Brand : Benadryl
Company : Johnson & Johnson

Brand Analysis Count : # 498

Benadryl is one of the most popular cough syrup brands in India. Benadryl have a high brand recall among Indian consumers and at one point in time was the second largest selling cough syrup brand in India. The brand was originally owned by Parke Davis which later got acquired by Pfizer. Pfizer then sold this brand to Johnson & Johnson in 2008.

These ownership changes have affected the brand to a large extent. The brand virtually had no growth in the past few years. There is virtually no news or noise about this brand in the media. 

When the brand was in the fold of Parke Davis, it was a prescription product. In 1999, the brand became an Over-The- Counter (OTC) brand. Benadryl was known as an anti-allergic cough syrup. Benadryl is the brand name for the molecule Diphenhydramine. The product was created by George Rieveschl and was first prescribed in 1946. ( source) 

The brand had a huge equity in the Indian market. Although most of the cough syrups are prescription products, Indian consumers generally bought these brands over the counter. Most of the sales happen through word of mouth recommendations. Indian consumers have a feeling that consuming cough syrups does not result in any side-effects and hence they buy it without consulting a doctor. This practice has prompted many cough syrup brands to move into the OTC segment. Having said that the largest selling cough syrup brand is Corex which is still sold as a prescription product.

The problem started when Benadryl brand came into Pfizer's product portfolio when Parke Davis was merged with Pfizer. Pfizer owned the market leader Corex . The new owner had the dilemma of having two competing brands under the portfolio. Although technically Benadryl is an OTC and Corex is a prescription product, in effect these brands were cannibalizing each other. The confusion resulted in Pfizer selling this brand to Johnson & Johnson in 2008.

Benadryl was positioned as an anti-allergic cough syrup. The brand talked about a triple-action formula which gave relief to three issues- Cough, Cold and Sneezing. The brand launched several communication highlighting these 1-2-3 action. These campaign was based on the insight that Benadryl was narrowly positioned as a pure cough syrup while in reality cough is the end result of severe cold and sneezing. Benadryl offered relief to the other symptoms also.

Last two to three years, the brand is being virtually silent in the media. Globally Benadryl faced negative publicity for its recall of Benadryl ( for kids). This may be one of the reasons for the brand being silent in the media. The cough syrup market is heavily crowded with both prescription brands and OTC ones. There is a new wave of ayurvedic/herbal cough syrups entering this market. This long silence of Benadryl is going to hurt is position in the market very badly.

Time Spent Pooping

Japan be Cray-Zay

Japan be cray-zay. They're all like, "Oh look at us, we're Japan and we do crazy things, like eat with sticks and..." Well I don't know, whatever, but they are crazy. WTF Japan Seriously? has compiled lots of videos and pictures to prove it. Check it out!

Quco Hair Perfume : For Great Smelling Hair

Brand : Quco
Company : Vini Cosmetics

Brand Analysis Count : # 497

Have you ever thought of buying a perfume specifically for hair ? Were you ever conscious of how your hair smells ? If not, then marketers are out there to make you conscious about how your hair smells. From armpits to hair, perfume/deo brands are indeed expanding their horizon !! 

Quco is a hair perfume brand from Vini Cosmetics. Vini Cosmetics was founded by Mr Darshan Patel who was the co-promoter of Paras Pharmaceuticals. In 2010 , Mr Darshan Patel sold his stake in Paras to start on his own venture. Quco hairspray is one of the many products the company has launched in recent times.

Quco is trying to create a new category of hair perfume in the Indian market. The hair perfume products are virtually unheard of in Indian market and the launch of Quco has created lot of buzz in the market . 

There are lot of ! and ? about the scope of such a product category in India. One of the most important challenge that Quco face is to establish its usefulness in the mind of consumers. The brand is attempting to create a new category. The product is virtually unheard of in the market and consumers are not even aware of the need for a hair perfume spray . So even before establishing the brand, Quco needs to educate the consumers about the need for a nice smelling hair. The brand has launched its campaign in Television and is attempting to create awareness about the need in its first TVC.

Watch the ad here : Quco TVC

There are many factors that influence consumer adoption of new products like Hair Perfume . Some of the factors are Perceived usefulness, Perceived risks , attractiveness etc. The brand has addressed the perceived risk by claiming to be alcohol-free and safe for hair.

The fundamental problem is whether this product category has perceived usefulness in the mind of the consumers. Many consumers are not aware about the " hair smell " and even if they are conscious , the consumers depend on shampoo to handle the problem. Another issue is whether the consumer feels compelled to purchase a specific product to solve this issue. 

Quco will be a niche brand because of the nature of the product. It has to be seen how Indian consumers will warm up to the idea of a perfume for hair. Just like Rexona and Close Up taught Indian consumers about odor, Quco will have to educate and convince consumers about hair smell.Will Indian consumer will find the need strong enough to invest in a new product and use it on a continuous basis. These are the questions which the market will answer in future.

Last Day in Portugal (for a little while)

The last two weeks have been frenetic, frantic, fantastic and fun!! I have learnt how great it is to work with another soap maker and we really have had so many laughs along the way. It has been such hard work designing and making our wonderful new range together, but I do believe we have done it.  Long may it continue.  Our new range Puro has been growing and growing, we now are the proud owners of 3 beautiful, totally natural, exclusive Olive oil soaps, 4 fab new Christmas soaps and 8 really great fun soaps, all made using wonderful natural ingredients from our local region in the mountains of Portugal.  Along with actually making these lovely soaps we have created a new brand, new logo and labels as well as packaging, exhibition information. fabulous new display trugs (hand crafted and painted), website, new facebook page and some of the best marketing photographs I have ever seen. All (well almost all, a lot of thinking and talking has gone on first) in two weeks!!!............................

We think we have created some real stars

And the most wonderful displays

Just wait until you see them all cured and ready

Yes......................  we have had a disaster along the way, please meet MR F'UGLY

But then we have also had some very lovely successes..............  Please meet MISS PRETTY SPARKLE

All in all, the two weeks have been totally brilliant, I hope my Naturally Made Soaps customers have appreciated the skills of my lovely daughter Aimee, who has been doing my packing and posting while I have been away.  I will be back at the NMS helm on Friday with a few new ideas of my own, new Christmas soaps to be launched, October courses and generally lots of great things going on, watch this space - as they say.

Please do also keep watching our new Puro Facebook page as this is where you will see what we are planning and hopefully all come and share a new, exciting soap making venture.  If you are interested in stocking Puro soaps or want to find out more about our wholesale offers please keep following this blog, our new website will be launched soon and details will be shared on this site.

And lastly......  Because I have been working so hard with Shelley, I have not spent much time in the last two weeks at our lovely Quinta.  So this morning I went out and photographed it in the early sun, it is such a wonderful, peaceful place, just a stones throw from the village of Lagares da Beira and Paul and Shelleys place.  I hope you dont mind my final photo of this fantastic soap making journey coming from here.....

Quinta do Cobral - our lovely home

Dont worry, there will be lots more from both England and Portugal, keep watching this blog for the latest news.  Please do leave a comment, it would mean so much to Shelley and I to hear what you think of our new soaps and ideas.....  thanks in advance

Last post from Portugal for a while! - sorry Im late - My Week!

What a week, both Shelley and I are knackered, walking and thinking, inventing, making, designing, inspiring all soap, soap, soap in our sleep!!   its crazy, the two of us working together has been a revelation - its fab, we just cant stop bouncing ideas and thought off each other!  We gave ourselves a day off on Sunday and spent it thinking about soap!

We have made such lovely things since our disaster (see previous post and F'ugly) -4 huge Christmas batches and 8 new fun soaps as well as our market leader and best Olive oil soap ever - Puro.

Our new, beautiful Christmas soap with berries,  nuts and figs

White Chocolate and Strawberry Gateaux

So, part of this trip was to discover new sources for our soap making, we want to create soaps that are made using the most local ingredients possible and one of our essential ingredients is fresh goats milk, it makes the best ever soap - see previous blog about why I use fantastic fresh goats milk

Shelley had found some great local contacts but it seems, they could not supply us on a regular basis, then the barman  and general village oracle Artur told Shelley about another goat farm not too far from our village, gave us directions and we went.  Found a really lovely Portuguese goat farm, all goats, they looked lovely, really well looked after with free access to a nice pasture, day and night (very rare) and very pretty.

Really nice night time forage and protection

the very cool and matsterfull Billy

Soo lovely

We found the farm, turned up amid lovely little kittens, dogs not chained up but lovely and friendly, cant tell you how unusual this is in Portugal, We were met by a nice lady who took us to the house, where the previously ordered 10 litres of lovely creamy milk were waiting for us in the fridge.  It was such a fab visit, Shelley and I were so pleased to be buying from such a wonderful place where they really loved and looked after their goats, it was so obvious.

Everyday goats bells for when they forage far from home

Such a fantastic selection, the really big goats bells right down to the little babies

The really special ceremonial bells used during village parades - these are huge!

The milk was fantastic, really clean and fresh and so very creamy, lets hope Puro can maintain this supply.

We have also been working on our new display, driven a little by Naturally Made Soaps we decided to go for fabulous, handmade wooden trug style display boxes, coloured in a fantastic aray of tints that would show off our soaps to their best, as well as a smaller, more subtle set to display our exclusive Puro soaps.

Bare naked pile of our fab Puro trugs

Beginnings of colour, just wait until you see them all done!

Painting hard, - Mrs Barnes

Me busy making soap

Oh, woops, just forgot to show you my office window, please dont feel too sorry for us both!

Our new range PURO is not yet available, we have been working on our exhibition display only, however, if you are interested, and they are fabulous, keep watching our new facebook site, we are soon to launch our website too, you will not be disappointed. We will soon be launching our wholesale prices.

Exo : Anti-bacterial DIshwash Bar

Brand : Exo
Company : Jyothi Laboratories Ltd
Brand Analysis Count :  # 496

Exo is a dishwash brand from Jyothi Labs. Exo is a challenger brand in the Rs 10,000 crore dishwash product category in India. The brand currently focuses on South India and is slowly spreading its wings nationally.

Exo was launched in 2000. The brand was launched as a part of the diversification of JLL whose bread and butter was from a single brand- Ujala. Exo entered a very tough market which was dominated by the market leader Vim.

In competitive strategies, theory talks about various strategies like Frontal Attack, Bye-pass attack etc. Exo chose to attack Vim directly and aggressively. When a competing brand chose to attack the market leader, it needs to have a credible differentiator inorderto compete and succeed. Vim have tremendous brand equity in the market and it is a tough task to fight such a leader.

Exo's marketing strategy is a notable example of successful frontal attack. The brand was able to find a credible and sustainable differentiator against Vim. Exo took the position of an Anti-bacterial dishwash bar to fight Vim. 

Exo was India's first Anti-bacterial dishwash bar.As usual, the poor Keedanu ( germs) was at the receiving end. Exo positioned itself as a dishwash bar that killed all the bacteria in the utensils. The positioning was very smart since Vim was positioned on the basis of cleanliness. 

Exo was innovative in creating an awareness about the possibility of germs in utensils. There was also another smart idea from the brand. In theory, we often say that the differentiator should be relevant, sustainable and not easily copied by competitors. Exo's positioning of anti-bacterial benefit can be easily copied by the competitor . In order to counter this, Exo used an ingredient "Cyclozan " to protect its differentiation. The ingredient brand " Cyclozan " ensured that the differentiation of Anti-bacterial benefit cannot be easily countered.

By launching Exo with anti-bacterial property, Exo created both point of parity and point of difference with Vim. The brand talked about cleanliness thus created parity with Vim and then used Cyclozan to establish point of difference thus creating a powerful position in the mind of the consumers.The results was visible . Exo became the second largest dishwash bar in South India. 

To fight the aggressive attack by Exo, Vim launched its own anti-bacterial variant using neem as the ingredient. 

Exo later went into a brand extension mode by launching Exo dishwash liquid and later Exo Scrub. With the acquisition of Henkel in India by JLL, the fate of Exo dishwash liquid appears bleak since  Henkel's Pril is the market leader in the dishwash liquid market. Exo will now be restricted to only dishwash bar category.

Exo is a brand which is promoted exhaustively by Jyothy labs. The brand has very high share of voice and ads keep on driving the USP of germ-killing property. Since the dishwash bar category is not a high involvement category, the brand had benefited greatly by this share of voice. 

With the acquisition of Pril brand from Henkel, Jyothi labs now have two formidable brands in the dishwash category. Vim now faces the most intensive threat to its leadership position. It will be interesting to watch how the fight will turnout to be.

Halloween Jewelry Giveaway!

The giveaway has now ended. Thanks for participating!
So the other day I got to thinking about how terrible my readers lives must be, if they have the time or desire to read this blog. So to put a little light into your dreary world, just in time for Halloween, I've teamed up with Manic Silver Jewelry to host a giveaway of this awesome Gunmetal Skull and Swarovski Crystal Bracelet. Not only that,

Thuderstorms

The mysteries of science never cease.

Fresh Milk

Via

Want: Kohler Numi Bidet Toilet

Only $6,400? I'll take one for every room in the house.

Portugal, soap and lots more!

Hi, I did promise I would blog about the soap we are making, rather than other things.  Well, we had a bit of a disaster - so I was reluctant, but then got to thinking, well hell, these are the things that help soap makers gain experience and ideas as well as growing in confidence about their ability to control what is a very difficult science!!.....................................

Now, those of you who make soap will know exactly what I am talking about, those who dont, just enjoy!  As you know, from the last post, we picked up our olive oil (150L) from our local co-operative, we took his old oil, suitable for soap making, not the years best virgin (which is not that great for soap making, its lovely to use in the kitchen but tends to be very green in colour, and really is not worth spending the additional £'s on)

So, we used our first recipe and decided to make our first joint bar of Puro soap, a really lovely castile recipe that uses lots of lovely essential oils, no fragrance oils, Coconut oil as well as cocoa butter, castor oil and beeswax.  Well it should have been a doddle, apart from the fact that Shelley and I really had not made soap on this scale together before, not a problem, we are both pretty experienced, then, as I use Brambleberrys iphone soap calc. (which is only in oz) and Shell uses the proper and more modern grams and kilos - Nightmare!!
Just trying to sync the recipes/lye/liquid amounts/fragrances was a mind bender.  We did it though and mixed up our first batch, added the essential oils and mixed.........................  THEN PANIC, it started to move so fast, we had to rush to mix, no chance of using the blender, pushing it into the mold and trying to whip up the tops into something that looked vaguely nice.  It got so hot, the centre of the soap seemed to turn black, but as it started to cool, it looked a bit better.

Lots of soul searching, what had we done wrong? the oil did smell a bit weird but could that be the problem? the beeswax was very, very local and a bit smelly to start with, Shelley did a great job filtering it and it looked fine, if a bit dark, could that be the problem? Could we have got the recipe totally wrong, bearing in mind we were both used to using different units of measurement?  Well, that night, heads were whizzing with ideas and a very broken night of sleep was had by both.  Next day did look better, at least worth cutting.

Next day - we jointly decided it could have only been the beeswax or olive oil after sychronising our recipes once again.  the soap looked a lot better, its seemed to have evened out in colour, if a bit darker than normal.  So this time, we mixed 3 of the different olive oils we got, they were different colours and some smelt a bit like engine oil! to see if that helped, we also decided to do without the beeswax completely, deciding that was the problem.....................ARGHHHHHHH YOU DONT EVEN WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED!  it was about 10 times worse that the last batch.  We managed to get it in the mold just, then it got soooo hot, almost went totally dark brown, like jelly, started oooozing horrid little oily patches, generally the most F'ugly soap ever on this planet, and the worst that either of us had ever done before!!!! Take a look and see what it was like the day after..........

Greasy, slimy little F'ugly

Ready for disposal, asap.  Now I really dont want you to think we have not had a lot of laughs too, it has been brilliant, I am sooooooo loving making soap, planning, thinking, chatting, designing, weighing, buying and generally doing all soap stuff with someone else, and I would not want to do it with anyone else, Shelley is brill, a really experienced maker who brings whole new dimension to my soap making.  She is much better at accuracy and recording that I am, and I need that, so we are good together, its so good to make soap with someone who loves music, having a laugh, chatting, and, best of all, the odd beer/wine o'clock at the end of a busy, hot working day!

Making trugs yesterday was a perfect example, we both just got on a roll, it was so hot, we were using power tools, sanders and making lots of dust and mess, then this happened.............

Shell just started laughing, and we both fell about when I realised what she had done - spot the deliberate mistake, based on the one in the front?!!!

Well, today was brilliant, we made a perfect batch of Puro, after using better, normal olive oil (meaning it was definitely the old stuff from the press that was giving us the trouble - yet to decide what to do about this), two further batches of fun soap and our first Christmas soap, all perfect.  It has given us the kick we needed, we are good at making soap, we can do it and its still great fun.  See what you think?

Perfect trugs waiting for their handles

Just one last thing, after I got back yesterday and the horrors of the F'ugly - soon to be destroyed soap, I got a bottle of cold beer from the fridge and sat on our rock watching the mountains and the sun going down/moon coming up, noticed our cactus was flowering, thought about sky colours and new soap inspiration, everything gets better so fast!!!  That is the joy and beauty of Portugal........ 

The beautiful new moon coming up over the Serras

Soap layer inspiration?

Sorry, a very long blog, I hope I have kept you interested until the end?  Life here is good, its hot, beautiful, natural and very, very hard work but worth every minute.  Thanks for reading, do leave a comment if you feel like it?

McCain : Fresh Banega , Baat Banegi

Corporate Brand : McCain
Company : McCain Foods India Ltd

Brand Analysis Count : # 495

McCain is one of the World's largest frozen foods manufacturers. This Canadian giant is known for its potato based frozen foods. McCain is a leading supplier of potato based items like French fries to leading quick service restaurants like McDonald. This giant has big plans for India.

McCain came to India in 1998. The brand primarily set up shop in India to cater to the  requirement of its major customer- McDonald's. The company started with the import of potato based products later commissioned its first production plant in India in 2007.

Frozen foods is a category in nascent stage in India.The category is now worth Rs 1000 crore including B2B segment. Bulk of this business is contributed by B2B segment which consists of restaurants and fast food joints. Slowly the B2C category is growing and McCain is making all out efforts to tap this segment.

Frozen foods has low penetration due to many reasons. Firstly the consumers are not open to the idea of frozen foods yet. Another major impediment to the growth of this category is the distribution inefficiencies. The lack of freezer space at retailers, supply chain issues , retailer reluctance to stock this product category has created huge issues for marketers trying to create this category. How ever things have changed. Consumers have started to use frozen foods and the presence of large retailers gave the much required supply chain support to this category.

Although McCain started selling its branded products in India since 1998, the effort was largely restricted to BTL activities. The brands like Smiles existed in the market for long but there was not much promotions for the brands. 

It was in 2011 that McCain launched its first TVC in India. 

Watch the TVC here : McCain 

The first commercial set in a typical modern Indian household is aimed at introducing the brand to Indian consumers . The brand did certain research on Indian consumer's mindset regarding  frozen foods found that consumers doubted the freshness of such frozen foods ( common sense !). Frozen foods were often viewed by consumers as 'Old ' stale foods. The brand also found that this impression changed after they tried out these products. So the challenge was to convince the non-users about "freshness " of frozen foods. 

It is a Herculean task for marketers to convince customers that Frozen foods are Fresh.The first ad successfully managed the difficult task of connecting the two attributes which are poles apart - Frozen & Fresh in a very subtle but effective manner. The ad makers used a story telling approach and by including the entire family unit in the ad addressed the concerns of all stakeholders of the family. 

The brand has the tagline " Fresh Banega , Baat Banegi " which emphasis on the freshness aspect. 

Although McCain's competency is in potato based products, the brand has tried to cater to the local tastes of Indian consumers. Its product range includes Indian dishes like Aaloo Tikka etc.The brand surprised the Indian market by introducing Frozen Idli which can be cooked within 3 minutes. The product is still in the market testing phase. The company has now focused on the snack food market and once the consumers are opened to this idea of frozen foods, more products like frozen meals will follow.

One of the best practice of McCain is its keen understanding of Indian consumers. The brand spent lot of time in understanding the market before entering the consumer segment. It strengthened its distribution and ensured retailer support before launching its promotions. The brand also took care of pricing to ensure that the value conscious Indian consumers are not scared away by the high prices. Usually frozen foods are expensive but McCain launched packs at price points like Rs 25 which entices consumers to try it out. Also the firm introduced its products in smaller packs because Indian refrigerators are usually small or have small freezers. The products like Smiles attract young consumers because of the form factor. So on many fronts McCain has put in lot of thoughts and innovation which will yield positive results.

The Frozen Foods category is now having lot of players including Godrej . The changing lifestyle has further strengthen the potential of frozen foods in the Indian market. It will be interesting to see how these players shape this market.

My Week!!

 Why pine nuts cost so much and other things...............................

And what a week it has been, firstly jetting off from Bristol Airport in the pouring rain and landing in Lisbon 2 hours later 28 degrees and full sun!  Travel is so strange, I can never get over the changes, every thing happens so fast there is no time to adjust at all.
So all our soap making ingredients have arrived at Shelleys house and we are all go for making lots of soap.  Firstly, we decided to have a go at making the trugs that we will paint up and use for our display during the exhibition in November and our first proper selling fair at the Meruge Medieval Pork Festival!  I tell you, it is all kicking off. So for those of you who don't know, I have teamed up with my very best mate in Portugal Shelley Barnes, and we are launching a brand new company 'Puro' which is designed for the Portuguese market using local ingredients (and I mean local).  First pick up your olive oil, from our local co-operative press in Lagares da Beirra where we both live.

Beer and Power tools, should not really go together, but it was the end of the day!!

So we made two sample trugs, one for the hotels, a bit smaller, and one for our stalls, now we know what we are doing!!  we will make them in no time at all.

Then coming home last night, after seeing Shells lovely pine cones with pine nuts falling freely from the trees, I decided to make my own pesto for supper!!  Armed with my trusty rucksack I went up the drive to our one really big pine tree, which happens to be a pine nut bearing one and found lots of ripe cones.

our big pine nut tree

So then you have to get the nuts out of the pine cones, not an easy job, you get covered in pine sap and the cones are really tough.  After this, the nuts are covered in a really strange black dust, a bit like soot, so I decided to rinse them off before trying to crack the shells.

Shells, garlic, cones and bioligical (organic) olive oil from our local press

washed pine nuts ready for cracking to get the kernals out

Very hard work, see the empty shells V the tiny amount of kernals

But I got enough for my pasta sauce last night and it was very good indeed, fresh pine nuts taste different, more sweet and oily, really lovely, I have never tried this before but definitely will again.

Then today, what a day, I was invited to our wonderful neighbors and very best Portuguese friends, Grandaugters Baptisma - Very, very important and quite a celebration.  lots and lots of family and friends, it started at 9am with food at their house, dressing the little girl Eva Margerida in her outfit and generally drinking (I stuck to coke - lots were already on the red and white wine!), we then all paraded up to the church for the ceremony.  it took ages but was really lovely.

she really is a little sweetie

More to follow.  I finally got home after an amazing lunch, at 5.30pm after eating so much I think I could burst.  I got right into the shower, then decided to start on this blog.  I have run out of energy now, I will post more later in the week. I hope you are all having a good time, keep reading and following my Portuguese soap making adventures.  More actual soap stuff this week.

Dont forget to leave a comment.......................