Brand Update : Jazz Gets Reasonable

Finally common sense prevails over Honda Jazz. The brand is relaunched with a significant reduction in price marking the end of aggressive market posture by Honda. Honda have a terrific brand equity in the Indian market with its City being one of the most successful product which lead the premium sedan market in India. But with the aggressive product launches from Volkswagen, Toyota and others coupled with Honda's over confidence led to the situation where the brand was dislodged from its market leadership. This over - confidence has blinded the company from understanding the competitive landscape in the market which it operates. Even Honda is not immune to marketing myopia.

This attitude of aggression and over-confidence was evident in the company's attitude towards Jazz. Jazz was launched at a price of Rs 7-9 lakh INR and the attitude was Take It or Leave It. Indian consumers choose to leave the brand and sales floundered. But all through these years, the brand maintained its stance on not reducing its price and depending on the brand's strong image to lure customers towards expensive Jazz.

The sharp decline of the sales of Honda City  in 2011 was a wake up call for Honda. The company realized that a positive brand equity may not guarantee sales. The brand needs to make sense to the customer. It is a surprise that a reputed company like Honda was not able to understand the Psyche of Indian consumer . Honda also failed to see the changes that were happening in the Indian passenger car market. The entry of new players and the shift of consumer interest towards diesel paved the way for the Honda City's dethroning from the leadership position. These factors also made Jazz irrelevant in the Indian market. 

It is in this light that Honda decided to reposition Honda Jazz at the price point. The brand has reduced the price by almost 1.5 Lakh INR and Jazz is now available at price range of 5.5 Lakh to 6.5 Lakh INR . I think this price rationalization is too late too little for Jazz. The market is too negative for a premium priced petrol hatchback. Even at the current reduced price, Jazz is expensive compared to Toyota Liva and even Etios.

Having said that, the brand should be credited with an attempt to create the premium hatchback market in India but the timing was wrong and value proposition of Jazz was not good enough to justify the steep price.

Consumers may adore the brand but to make him purchase , the brand needs to make sense.

Related Brand

Honda Jazz

Brand Update : Daikin focuses on Country of Origin Positioning

It has been 5 years since I updated about this brand. Last time I wrote about this brand, Daikin was having a fair share of  voice with lot of ads focusing on the Silence attribute. The brand was running the " Complete Silence " ads for a while and then went into silence for five long years. I don't remember any campaign from Daikin  during the last five years ( atleast in my place). But even without any hype, the brand still commands around 5% of the Indian  residential A/C market. The brand may be doing the sales activities in the B2B market in these years but in the consumer market, Daiken was having complete silence.

In this IPL 2011, the brand started making some noise. The brand is now showing some reminder ads and the presence is also felt in OOH media. 

What is interesting about the brand now is that it has been repositioned. The brand has done away with the attribute based positioning and is trying out the Country of Origin proposition. The brand has adopted the positioning " With Love from Japan " . From a highly creative Complete Silence to basic Made in Japan  tag seems intriguing.

Along with the tag, the brand seems to have adopted some aspects of  parent company's approach to branding. Infact the brand has imported some brand elements from the parent. Daikin now introduces a mascot for the brand - a character called  Pichon- Kun. Pichon-Kun is a mascot which is a droplet with a small body. The mascot embodies the brand's philosophy of best of nature, fresh and eco-friendly. 

Globally, the brand uses the tagline " Here , There , Everywhere". 

The new brand line " With Love from Japan " at first sounded very archaic to me. I thought that the era of Made in Japan tag was over. But on thinking, I have a feeling that this could work in practical sense better than high profile branding stuff. The association of quality and innovation is still very much connected with  Japanese products. But the issue is that most of Japanese brands sell their Chinese made products so the manufacturing excellence associated with Japanese products have diminished significantly. If Daikin could reinforce the connection of quality and Country of Origin, then the consumers will embrace the product.

The brand has been existence in India for the last 10 years . The brand has a market share of hardly 5 %. This surely means that the brand has not reached its potential. One of the factor being the lack of investment in brand building. 

The brand can boost its sales if it could position itself as a true blood Japanese product (like Toyota) emphasizing on quality , innovation etc. But that need a series of campaigns reinforcing each of those attributes rather than just advertising the  " Made in Japan " tag.

Related post

Daikin - Complete silence  

Tata Manza : A Class Apart

Brand : Manza
Company : Tata Motors
Advertising Agency : Draft FCB Ulka

Brand Analysis Count : 473

Philip Kotler once famously said " Marketing is easy to understand and difficult to practice ". The concepts of marketing are no rocket science and hence we can see those concepts being casually treated.Marketing practitioners know the difficulties in cracking the marketing code and making the product successful in the market. It may be the simplicity of marketing concepts that make marketers to defy common sense and make marketing mistaks.

The same casual treatment of branding is visible in the case of branding of Manza and the brand is now investing heavily in undoing the mistake done in the past. Manza was launched as a sub-brand of Indigo in 2009. The Indigo Manza was the premium variant of the popular entry-level sedan brand Indigo. 

Indigo Manza was an effort of  Tata Motors for breaking Indigo from the perception of a Cab Car. Since Indigo was one of the most value for money diesel car in India, it was popular as a cab. Indigo Manza was styled differently and sported the state-of -the art engine from Fiat. 

Indigo Manza was positioned along the same lines of Tata Indigo. Indigo was positioned as a luxury + VFM brand and had sported the tagline " Spoil Yourself ". Indigo Manza had the tagline " Indulge in Style " . 

The brand was positioned as a stylish luxurious car and as usual Tata Motors added lot of goodies to the product to make it worth the price paid for. Another big leap for Manza was the engine. Tata Motors used the tested Fiat engines into the Manza and concentrated more on the style and product packaging . The variant was heavily promoted across the media.

Watch the TVC here : Indigo Manza

Interestingly the confusion regarding the brand started in early 2011. Tata Motors made that significant strategic decision to disassociate  Manza from Indigo. The company decided to make Manza an independent brand and dropped the Indigo endorsement from all communication. Indigo Manza became Tata Manza. Along with the decision came  the launch of Manza Elan which is the premium hatchback variant of Manza.In its independent avatar, Manza did not change the core brand DNA of luxury. Manza reinforced its " Luxury " positioning with the new tagline " A Class Apart ". 

Manza is now investing heavily in creating an independent image for Manza and also moving away from Indigo. Interestingly Indigo is now more associated with its Compact Sedan variant Indigo CS and has left the luxury + VFM positioning to Manza.

The important question here is why didn't Tata Motors think about Manza as an independent brand at the time of its launch itself. Why did the brand spend hell lot of money to promote itself as Indigo Manza for more than two years and then decide to go independent. 

Was it not a bad decision to launch Manza as a sub-brand of Indigo ? What may have prevented Tata Motors to hesitate from creating a new premium brand rather than trying to extend a VFM brand to premium segment.

It is this dilemma that makes marketing decisions difficult.One argument can be that the company wanted to establish Manza in the market first and then gradually make it independent.  My personal opinion is that Tata Motors did a branding mistake in launching Manza as a sub-brand of Indigo. Its common sense that it is always better to launch a new premium brand rather than extend a VFM brand to premium segment using a variant. The decision to sub-brand Manza also shows a lack of long-term strategic thinking on the Tata Motors part regarding the brand porfolio decisions. The company is little confused about how Indica, Indica Vista, Indigo, Manza are to be managed. There was a recent report which suggest that Vista will be disassociated from Indica and launched as a standalone brand. 

One of the reasons for disassociating Manza from Indigo is the threat from the launch of Toyota Etios. Etios  is being offered at a terrific price point and is a direct threat to Indigo's position in the market especially at the premium end . Tata Motors feel that potential Indigo Manza owners will move to Etios because of brand equity of Toyota. Indigo Manza may not be capable to fight Etios because of the baggage of Indigo association. That can be one of the reasons for such a decision.

It is easy to criticize the branding decisions as an observer because the brand managers are bound by lot of internal pressures which force them to take these kind of decisions. 

Regarding Manza, the road ahead is not going to be easy because the association with Indigo is still strong. It will take a lot of money to erase or at best reduce the level of association between Indigo and Manza. 

Ideally the brand owners should have charted the vision for every brand in their portfolio before launching to the public. This creating of brand vision is of extreme importance and should be undertaken for every variants and sub-brands. It should be this vision that will guide the brand's path to future and protect it from the short-term thinking of individuals. 

Related brand

Tata Indigo

Brand Update : Perk Struggles To Find Right Positioning

Perk which went in for a massive brand repositioning exercise last year is now struggling hard to find the right positioning. The brand which created ripples in the market with its perky campaign with Priety Zinta, is now searching for a positioning that makes sense.

Perk and Kit Kat created much sensation during the late 1990's with both brands trying to outsmart each other with smart campaigns. But soon the market turned cold towards this wafer based chocolate brands and the wafer chocolate category never grew as expected.

In 2010 , Perk went for a major repositioning/ rebranding exercise where the entire product properties and brand elements were changed. Perk began advertising focusing on its glucose content. The brand also changed the tagline to " Sapnoan se race kar le". The theme was more emotional and the brand was trying to ladder up to a higher level concept of " reaching out to dreams".

Now within 8 months of the rebranding, Perk was again forced to change its positioning. The brand chucked its attempted laddering and crash-landed to a very rustic and " funny stuff". The brand retains its focus on Glucose content but the execution strategy has been drastically altered. The brand now has the tagline " Perk Ghao , Glucose Chadao" roughly translated to " Eat Perk and Inject Glucose". Just see the drastic shift the brand made from its earlier positioning of " Chasing dreams".

Watch the ad here : Tired Son ad

There is no point in commenting on the individual merit of this ad,

I have a strong feeling that the brand has lost its way. For the past few years, Perk has been struggling to find a strong positioning. Earlier , the brand ran a few commercials featuring a young guy lost in an island and the tagline was " Take it Lightly". Now the positioning is miles apart from the past campaigns.

The basic marketing theory demands that positioning be consistent and significant/meaningful. Most marketers try to make the positioning meaningful but does not think that positioning should be consistent. While a positioning based on glucose content is meaningful for a consumer , the lack of consistency in the positioning of Perk makes the message less sticky or worth remembering. Such frequent drastic changes in positioning will do more harm for the brand in a long-term perspective.
What Perk needs to do is to do some soul search to find the right brand manthra. Once that is found then resist all temptations to deviate from the core manthra.

Related Brand Story

Perk

Brand Update : Ceat wants you to be Idiot Safe

Ceat went in for a major rebranding exercise in 2008 when it changed its logo, the mascot and the famous tagline " Born Tough". I was very critical about the whole rebranding exercise especially the decision to discard the Rhino (mascot) and the tagline. The logic for the rebranding was to make the brand contemporary and relevant to the new generation consumers.

Although the company spent some money on rebranding campaign in 2008, it again went in on a silent mode for almost two years . There was virtually no campaign for Ceat in this period. Recently the brand has started making some noise in the media with a series of brand campaigns.

The current campaign for Ceat is for its bike tyres. The campaign is dubbed " Be Idiot Safe ". The campaign runs on the theme that ' Roads are full of idiots and be idiot-safe with Ceat Tyres".

Watch the ad here : Be Idiot Safe

The ads are currently focusing on the " better road grip " feature of Ceat bike tyres. Road grip is an important ,relevant feature as far as tyres are concerned and Ceat has tried to own up that feature.

Along with the 'Be Idiot Safe " television campaign, the brand has tried to take up this idea into the internet by launching the brand site " beidiotsafe.com". The brand tried to engage users by inviting interesting videos about those idiots on the road. Users can upload the videos about rash driving and careless road habits onto the sites. The brand expects that these funny videos will be viral and increase the brand's visibility on the web. I am not sure whether the site had managed to sustain interest among the netizens.

Another interesting aspect of Ceat's brand strategy is that it chose to have different theme for its different product-lines. While " Be idiot-safe " theme is for bike tyres, the brand have a different theme for its SUV product range. For the SUV range, the brand has adopted the tagline " Takes the wild out of wilderness ".

That means Ceat will have separate positioning for its various products. In branding perspective, that is not a good strategy. The multiple positioning can dilute the core brand's positioning unless there is a common thread passing through the various positioning campaigns. MRF uses multiple positioning campaigns for its various products but these product lines have sub-brands. In the case of Ceat, there is no sub-brands but only product descriptors .

It would work well if Ceat can think of a core brand positioning for the brand - CEAT. This core brand positioning will be reflect what the brand CEAT stands for. Then use sub-brands for its product-lines like SUV, bike tyres, car tyres etc .The brand can then use different positioning campaigns for the sub-brands. The sub-brand's positioning should be in line with the core brand's positioning but the sub-brands will have freedom to chose its own relevant themes.

Related brand

Ceat

Brand Update : Amul Macho Repositions with Saif Ali Khan

In a significant move, Amul Macho brand has repositioned itself. This season, the brand shed its raunchy image and moved into the ordinary . The brand also roped in Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan as the brand ambassador. Amul Macho is currently running the campaign with the new brand ambassador.

Watch the ad here : Amul Macho

In the current repositioning exercise, the brand dropped the earlier theme of " sexy " and moved into a theme that talks about brand personality. Along with the repositioning, Amul Macho also changed its tagline " Ye To Bada Toing hain " to " Bede Aaram se ".

According to news reports the brand wants to be perceived as cool and more sophisticated. The earlier campaign projected the brand as raw sexy one and now the brand logically wants to be more urban/upmarket while appealing to the mass market.

The new tagline implies that the brand user is one who get things done effortlessly. The ad tries desperately to convey the message of effortlessness rather unsuccessfully. The concept of effortlessness is highly attractive to men but in this case the brand failed to convey the promise effectively to the audience. The tagline " Bede Aaram Se " talks about comfort as well as effortlessness but how ever the poor execution of the positioning concept made the tagline look very old and familiar.

Amul Macho is one of the fastest growing innerwear brand in India. The brand currently has a turnover of over Rs 355 crore.

While the earlier campaigns ( although of poor taste and raunchy) helped Amul Macho to break the clutter. But the current one places the brand right inside the crowd of other innerwear brands . Brands like Lux, Rupa etc also uses celebrity endorsers and with the current repostioning, Amul Macho made itself undifferentiated with the rest of the crowd.

Very few brands were able to successfully integrate itself the concept of effortlessness . Although everyone likes the concept it is very difficult for a brand to project that as a brand promise in a convincing manner. It will take a real big idea to really drive that promise into the consumer's mind. Amul Macho may have to try little more harder to reach that place.

Related Post

Amul Macho

Brand Update : Horlicks Becomes A Megabrand !

This had to happen.

Horlicks officially has become a mega-brand. Mega-brands are those brands which have their presence across various product-lines and categories. There will be a wide range of products under the same brand name across multiple product categories.

GSK has recently launched the first integrated brand campaign for Horlicks which positions the brand as a Mega-brand endorsing products across categories like beverages, biscuits , snack bars,etc

Watch the ad here : Horlicks mega brand campaign

This is the first time that the brand brings all the various extensions under the same campaign. Horlicks as the umbrella brand retains the classic tagline " The Great Family Nourisher ".

Along with the new campaign, the brand also has redesigned the critical brand elements like the Logo and the Packaging. The brand had made some changes with regard to the logo color and made the logo + color scheme standard across all extensions. The brand also made the packaging standard for all its beverages viz Horlicks Lite, Women's Horlicks , standard Horlicks etc.

The official acknowledgement of Horlicks as a mega-brand in a way clears the ambiguity regarding the future of the Horlicks brand. In recent blog posts, I had criticized the brand for their aggressive brand extensions. In this one move, Horlicks has given an answer to the critic in me . Horlicks is no longer a health-drink brand. It is a mega-brand which has interest in foods,beverages, snack-bars and all the future opportunities that arise in the market ( whether you like it or not).

This move thus gives lot of clarity to the brand managers. The brand has boldly made a decision whether it is right or wrong. The brand can aggressively pursue any opportunity in the market because that is what is implied in this strategic move of making Horlicks -a mega brand.

Horlicks is now a Rs 1500 crore brand. The brand is having around 52% share in the health food drinks category ( which is estimated to be Rs 2000 crore). The brand also has presence in biscuits ( total market size - Rs 11000 crore) and in snack-bar ( total mkt size -Rs 250 cr0re).

With the new brand architecture , Horlicks is looking at a larger market which comprises of all kinds of health foods and packaged/branded beverages which is having a total market size of over Rs 100,000 crore ( Source : Campaign India). So one should be prepared to see the launch of products like Horlicks Icecreams, Horlicks Oats etc in future.

On the brighter side, the repositioning of Horlicks as a mega-brand will rationalize the marketing cost for GSK. Although there will be individual brand communications for categories, the brand can now put more money on pushing the core brand which will inturn help all products under the umbrella.

But as major critics of such branding like Alries would point out, Horlicks has now lost its identity. Now consumers will find it difficult to assign a unique position for Horlicks. This dilution can be an opportunity for specialized products which can threaten the strongholds of Horlicks which is the health-food-drink. A focused health food drink brand can now challenge Horlicks's position but the fact is that there is none so far. Complan too has launched products outside the HFD category.

As a keen observer of marketing I feel that the move of making Horlicks is the biggest risk taken by this brand. The brand has moved into the current architecture when competition has become tough in the health-drink category. It will be worthwhile to watch the future of this mega-brand.

Related Post

Horlicks

Vivanta By Taj : Discover

Brand : Vivanta

Company : Indian Hotels Company Ltd ( IHCL)

Ad Agency : Rediffusion Y&R

Brand Analysis Count : 464

Vivanta is the new brand from Indian Hotels Company Ltd ( aka Taj Hotels & Resorts) launched as a result of a brand restructuring exercise. The new brand Vivanta will replace the Taj Residency brand and will represent IHCL's presence in the Upper Upscale segment of Indian hotel/hospitality market.Vivanta was initially launched in 2008 when IHCL rebranded three Taj Residency properties to Vivanta. IHCL tested and tweaked the brand for two years before the national roll out in 2010. Now around 19 Taj properties has been rebranded to Vivanta.

The rebranding of Taj Residency to Vivanta is a part of the Tata group to move from a " Branded House " to " House of Brands " brand portfolio structure. The move towards a basket of brands started with the launch of Ginger brand of hotels for the domestic budget business traveler. The Ginger brand launch was followed by the launch of The Gateway Hotels brand which saw many Taj properties being rebranded to " The Gateway Hotels ". Now the launch of Vivanta completes one phase of the very important brand restructuring exercise.

Now IHCL has the following brands in the Indian hotel segment :

Taj brand -- Targeting the most luxurious segment. The brand will have properties on the best locales and attract the most premium customers.

Vivanta : Will be 10-15 % cheaper than Taj Hotels and target the upper upscale segment of the market. The brand will have presence on major cities and tourist destinations and will attract the affluent customers.

The Gateway Hotels - Will be 10-15% cheaper than Vivanta and will target the upscale segment and the business travelers. This brand will be located in most cities which are frequented by business and leisure travelers and will attract young professionals.

Ginger : Will be the lowest priced hotels targeting the frequently traveling businessmen. The brand has successfully tapped the need for a chain of quality hotels which targets the travelers with limited budget.

The important question is regarding the rationale for such a brand portfolio decision. Isn't it better to have a branded house portfolio where all hotels will have the Taj brand ?

The move is very relevant for IHCL because this restructuring will prevent dilution of Taj brand which is perceived to be a premium luxury brand. The use of Taj brand for all hotel properties of IHCL made sense in all these years because the market was not highly segmented.

Now Indian hotel/hospitality market has matured and is witnessing lot of interest from domestic and international players. The who is who of hospitality industry is already in the Indian market and a lot is waiting to enter. It is in this context that IHCL had to relook the brand portfolio decisions. The consumers also have evolved and different class of consumers has evolved in recent years.

Since Taj was used to endorse all properties of IHCL, there is always a chance of different types of properties carrying the Taj brand. So in a city there will be two type of property - one luxurious and another upper scale carrying the same brand name. This can create problems interms of brand positioning. If IHCL needs to position Taj as a luxurious brand, it needs to have a consistency in terms of the physical evidence ( hotel properties ) and the core product ( service). This consistency cannot be possible when there are inconsistencies in terms of size of hotel properties and the level of service in those hotels.

Another issue with Branded House is that the firm will be constrained by the values /positioning of the core brand.Hence IHCL may not be able to tap into opportunities other than luxury hotels if they follow branded house strategy. The launch of Ginger in the budget segment is an effort by the company to move into tapping other opportunities presented by the market.

Now with the introduction of two brands - The Gateway Hotels and Vivanta, IHCL is now able to arrange the properties in accordance with the respective brand's positioning. Taj will now be an exclusive brand associating only with best properties and service promises. The other three brands will enable IHCL to tap into the opportunities of the market without being constrained by Taj 's brand positioning.

The next issue is whether the new brands will be able to retain the equity of Taj. According to press reports, IHCL was able to establish " The Gateway Hotels " as a credible brand. Ofcourse it cannot match the equity of Taj but the heritage and the loyal customers will see the brand through this transition period. The advantage is that IHCL can give a separate identity to these brands.

Vivanta is positioned as a young brand. The brand is targeting the new breed of young affluents. The service architecture also reflects the focus on the young rich traveler. According to the recent report in Business Standard, the brand has identified critical touch points where it could differentiate itself from other brands.To help the brand establish itself, Vivanta is currently endorsed by Taj brand. In the marketing communications, the branding is done as " Vivanta by Taj ". This endorsement will continue till Vivanta establish itself as an independent brand.

Vivanta brand name is inspired by the term Bon Vivant . The typical consumer profile for Vivanta is one who is sophisticated and have appreciation for good things in life.

Vivanta is currently running a print campaign announcing the launch. The ad positions the new brand promise and the youthful look for the brand. See it here.

Consumers will definitely miss the Taj brand. The status and the feeling of pride when staying in Taj brand of hotels is now restricted to a select few.

In the long - term perspective, the move of IHCL has done the right thing. The brands need to be nurtured and it will be the service promise and delivery that will help these new brands to establish themselves as worthy successors of Taj.

Related brand

The Gateway Hotel

Ginger

Brand Update : Hajmola Repositions as Audio Candy

It has been a while since I updated about Hajmola Digestives. The most significant development happened last year ( 2009) when the brand undertook a major repositioning exercise . The brand started calling itself an Audio Candy.

Hajmola which is a unique digestive tablet is a very powerful brand. This Rs 1 billion brand has been able to stay relevant in the consumer's mind through consistent campaigns and some smart distribution strategies. Hajmola digestive tablet is now selling approximately 2.5 crore tablets daily.

Hajmola is known for its unique taste ( Khatta Meetha taste ) and the taste has been its USP ever since its launch. The unique taste with its digestive properties made it a post-meal habit of many Indian consumers.

While Hajmola tablets are consumed for its utility, candies are a different ball game altogether. Candies are consumed for fun rather than utility. Hence Hajmola candy should be positioned more on the fun side rather than the utility . Hajmola has already established itself on the utility ( digestive ) platform , the challenge was to put fun aspect to it.

Dabur then found a very smart way of putting fun into this digestive. The brand named itself an Audio Candy. The name is derived from the insight that the Zingy Tangy taste of Hajmola in your mouth will be accompanied by a lip-smacking sound. The idea of Audio Candy was born.

The concept of Audio Candy was reinforced by the campaign that followed

Watch the ad here : Hajmola Audio Candy

The idea of Audio Candy is a very smart idea which communicates the positioning of unique taste in a very fun filled manner. The TG - mainly kids will like the concept of the audio candy. And the concept makes the USP of Hajmola difficult to copy. Along with the repositioning , Hajmola also launched a couple of variants like Imli and Kachcha mango which gave more reasons to buy this product.

It is interesting to see the evolution of Hajmola from a functional tablet to a fun filled candy. The brand has successfully extended itself to a larger market but retaining its core strength and not diluting the utility for which it is loved for.

Brand Update : Tic Tac moves from Hello to Refreshment

Tic Tac , the mint confectionery brand from the Ferrero group has gone for a new positioning. The brand has changed its positioning from " Conversation Starter " to a " Refreshment that needs to be Shared ".

The brand had gone for a similar repositioning in 2008 when it adopted the tagline " The New Hello ". The brand was then positioned as an " ice-breaker" or " Conversation Starter". The brand after two years is embarking on a new communication route.

Tic Tac is a unique brand. The shape, taste and packaging sets this brand apart from the rest of the mint-based confectionery brand. The brand has also gained good penetration interms of distribution.

The uniqueness of the brand has poised certain positioning issues for the marketer. Since the brand is different from the conventional mint-based products, the positioning should also reflect the uniqueness. Polo is a brand that has used its unique form to its advantage by its positioning based on the " Hole " factor. Tic Tac ideally should have discovered some smart way of communicating its uniqueness. But so far it failed to do so.

Tic Tac so far has not able to find a differentiated communication platform that reflected the uniqueness of the brand. That is the reason why this brand failed to came out with any clutter-breaking campaigns.

The current campaign and the positioning is no better. Infact it is worse than the earlier proposition of " The New Hello ".

Watch the new ad here : Refreshment to be shared

The theme of a group of bored youngsters breaking into ecstatic dance after consuming the product is an idea from pre-historic era. The new positioning based on " Sharing " is also not capturing/communicating anything unique about Tic Tac.

The brand globally had the positioning statement " Its not just a mint. its a Tic Tac " which is a very powerful positioning platform. I wonder why the brand discarded such a powerful statement and settled from something sub-standard ? It has to be mentioned that the brand also adopts the concept of " Sharing a Tic Tac " in the values but it is not the primary talking point. The current global theme for the brand is centered around " Refreshment " but in India , the brand failed to reflect any of the original brand values.

The new campaign and the positioning of Tic Tac is a big letdown. The brand lost its USP of shape, taste and freshness in the current campaign. I think the brand should first talk about why use it and then talk about sharing it.

Related Post

Tic Tac