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.

Koutons : 50% + 40% Off

Brand : Koutons
Company : Koutons Retail India Ltd

Brand Analysis Count : # 483

Koutons is a brand story which has gone sour. This 1000 crore corporate brand is now facing the worst period of its existence- facing mounting debt and bad press regarding the financial position and the stock price moving southward. 

Koutons , the brand owned by Koutons Retail India Ltd was born in 1991. The original name of the company was Charlie Creations which was later rechristened as Koutons. Koutons is both the corporate brand and an individual brand . The company has a range of readymades with the brand name Koutons. Along with it , the company also has other brands of clothings like Charlie Outlaw, Le Femme etc. The current post focuses more on the individual brand.

Koutons Retail is a classic entrepreneurial story. The company was founded by Mr. DPS Kohli. Mr Kohli and his family owned a television manufacturing business which was destroyed during a riot. Mr. Kohli  had to suffer huge financial losses from that even and had to work as an insurance surveyor for long . Later he ventured into the retail textile business.

Koutons grew really fast. The company became India's largest retail apparel chain in a span of 10 years . In 2009, the company had around 1400 Exclusive Brand Outlets (EBO) making it the largest apparel chain. The company had a turnover of around Rs 1000 crore in 2008-2009.

Koutons was a brand built on a very unique strategy - deep discounting. Deep discounting is a pricing strategy where the brand offers huge  ( often mind-blowing) discounts on an unusually high MRP ( Maximum Retail Price) . So the consumers are attracted towards the product seeing the huge discounts which are actually not a discount ( in pure sense). 

Koutons has a popular discount scheme  known as 50% + 40 % off. So there is a 50% off on the MRP and then another 40% off on the discounted price. So  the consumers obviously are delighted to get a shirt with an MRP of Rs 1500 for as low as Rs 450. Another very successful offer was " Buy 4 garments for the price of One ". Seeing this unbelievable offers , consumers flock into the showrooms and buy what ever that is available .

Along with the deep discounting strategy, the brand also invested some money in the brand building.Koutons has the tagline " The way ahead, always " . It had campaigns featuring foreign models and usually the showrooms are located in upmarket malls thus giving the impression that Koutons are a premium brand.  But frankly no one really knows whether Koutons really sells a shirt for Rs 1500. 

But nobody was complaining because consumers got a feeling to getting a good bargain and that is what matters. So this model worked well for the firm for more that 20 years. As usual, 20 years is pretty long time for consumers to learn the discounting model. The sales started drying up and the cost and inventory started building up. More discounts followed and revenues started sliding. The company landed itself into a financial trouble. ( source).

The brand really was able to tap the " value for money " psyche of the Indian consumer. Indian consumers like a good bargain and for long years, the firm was able to capture profit out of it. But the popularity of other discount outlets of established brands and the quality issues of Koutons paved the way for the downside for the brand. According to some newsreports, the company faced the issue of inventory mis-estimates and huge debts. 

I also have bought the brand believing that I got a good bargain later found that I was a victim of a very clever marketing strategy. Often some students ask me whether Koutons will lose its brand equity if it gives discounts like that, assuming that they sell the product at MRP atleast in some outlets. In the case of Koutons, they sell by these discounts.

In the deep discounting model, the brand is secondary. What matters is the  attractiveness of discounts and high media spents announcing the discounts. It is not the brand that pulls the customers but the perceived bargain. Ofcourse the consumers should feel that the brand is aspirational . So it is a kind of a very risky , clever strategy. Project aspirational image and use discounts to pull the consumer in.

Koutons as a company is in financial trouble and the fate of the brand depends on how the company survives the crisis. The deep discounting model will work in a market like India as long as the firm is able to project the aspirational image. It lacks the glamour of brand-building but may work for short-term. In the long term such deep discounting will eventually kill the brand. 

Nerolac : Painting A Greener Tomorrow !

Brand : Nerolac
Company : Kansai Nerolac

Brand Analysis Count : # 478

Nerolac is an interesting brand story. This brand which has a rich heritage of over 97 years is on an aggressive mode in the Rs 2.1 Billion Indian paint market. The company which created this brand was born in 1920 as Gahagan Paint and Varnish Co in Mumbai.In 1957 the company was transformed to Goodlass Wall Pvt Ltd  later to Goodlass Nerolac Paints Ltd . The company was a part of the Tata Group till 1999 when its technological partner - Japan based Kansai Paint Co Ltd took a controlling stake in the company from the Tata Group. Now Nerolac is a subsidiary of Kansai Paints and the company has been rechristened as Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd.

Nerolac is a leader in the Industrial paint segment of the Indian paint market. The Indian paint market is huge with an estimated market size of over Rs 17000 crores of which decorative paint segment constitutes over seventy percentage. The market is typically Indian which means that it is fragmented. According to a report by the brokerage firm Equity Master, the unorganized sector commands around 35% of the market. In the organized  decorative paint segment, Asian Paints is the market leader with a share of 30% followed by Nerolac with 20% , Berger Paints with 19% and ICI with 12%. 

Nerolac from the beginning of 2000 has been trying to attain leadership position in the decorative segment and the fight makes it a really interesting brand story. Nerolac had to fight the tremendous brand equity of Asian Paints in that segment.

Nerolac is a brand which never hesitated to invest in promotions and brand building. The brand has a really commendable awareness which was created through heavy brand promotions. The jingle " Jab Khar Ki Raunak Badhana ho, Deewaroan ko jab sajana ho , Nerolac , Nerolac "  still lingers in the memory of the public. Such catchy jingles and campaigns lifted the brand to double digits market share levels but could not bridge the gap with the market leader. 

It was in 2003 , that the brand made a huge plunge in celebrity driven promotion by roping in Amitabh Bachchan. The endorsement from Big B was a big news at that point in time. One of the major positioning move for Nerolac also happened at that time.Nerolac was originally positioned on a beauty-enhancing  proposition. The brand talked about decoration and in a plain speaking style successfully associated itself with that proposition otherwise that jingle couldnot have survived this long.

In 2003, the brand tried to emulate the Asian Paint's positioning based on colors. The ads featuring Big B had the tagline " Ye Rang Jo Hain, Zindagi ko Chootha hai " ( This color touches your life). In my personal opinion, the adoption of a positioning similar to Asian Paints confused the consumer.Although the endorsement of Big B put the brand on a high awareness state, the similarity of positioning had a negative effect on the association of brand and celebrity. I remember reading a report which mentioned that during the Big B endorsement, when consumers where asked about the brand which Big B endorsed, rather than Nerolac, they mentioned Asian Paints.

Before that positioning change in 2003, Nerolac had many things going for it. The brand had very powerful brand elements like the jingle and even a popular mascot - a painting tiger named Goody. The mascot was very popular and shared a powerful association with the brand. But the mascot was discontinued in 2003. Goody was created in 1970 to act as a differentiator and also create an identity for the brand. Since there were many players, the owners wanted as mascot to make the brand stand out. The decision of dropping such a powerful popular brand element was a mistake that Nerolac made. The brand should have made the mascot contemporary and that could have added some additional power to the brand .

During the late 2008, the brand still felt that it is not able to close the gap between itself and the market leader. The association with Big B was discontinued and the brand went for non-celebrity campaigns.

This year, the brand decided to make another high profile attempt using none other than Shah Rukh Khan to endorse the brand. The brand is now running lot of TVCs featuring the new celebrity ambassador.
In a significant move the brand has repositioned itself. In tune with the global positioning of its parent Kansai Paints, Nerolac also adopted the positioning based on environment -friendly attribute. The new campaign positions Nerolac as a healthy paint with no lead content and Eco-clean property. Shah Rukh sells this idea through the TVCs

Watch the Ad here : Nerolac 
So far Nerolac's major marketing issue was its inability to create a meaningful differentiation from Asian Paints. While Asian Paints established itself on the Color platform , Nerolac was confused about its own strength. This was reflected in most of their campaigns. Although the campaigns were well made, these ads did not reflect any image for Nerolac. Now the brand seems to focus on the Environment Friendly Healthy Paint as its core positioning platform.

The question is whether this positioning is important and meaningful for the consumers. It is true that Indian consumers are aware of the harmful effects of paint fumes. But this issue happens only during paining and after the painting is done , the harmful effects are hardly noticed. So will a focus on the Healthy Paint attribute be considered a powerful differentiator ?
Healthy Paint is a meaningful differentiator but not a powerful or sustainable one. Asian Paints or any other competitor can easily achieve parity with this feature. Infact Nippon Paint is already running a campaign for its Odour free paint  product.

In comparison with Asian Paint's focus on colors, Nerolac needed a much more powerful emotional differentiator rather than a eco-friendly platform because eco-friendly has now become a most used one rather a passe . Every brand talks about its eco-consciousness in one way or other. So putting that as the main positioning may not stand against a powerful competitor like Asian Paints.

Having said that , the presence of  Shah Rukh Khan will give a terrific boost to the brand. But this boost will be because of the celebrity power rather than the brand power and will fade when the association stops. The brand have adopted the tagline " Kuch Change Karo, Chalo Paint karo " roughly meaning, " Change Something, Start Painting  " ( !!!!!!) . Frankly I did not exactly got the idea behind the tagline. The tagline is not at all related to the core positioning of a Healthy Paint. So there is some confusion regarding the core brand manthra . Theoretically  the taglines are derived from Core Brand Manthra and the lack of that core manthra is the reason for most of positioning errors.

On a branding perspective Nerolac still needs to identify meaningful positioning to beat Asian Paints. Environment Friendly or Healthy Paint is an idea whose time has not come to India as of now.

Dhathri : Evolution of a Corporate Brand

Corporate Brand  : Dhathri

Brand Analysis Count : #475

Kerala- the state where I belong , is famous as a consumption market with little or no manufacturing activity. The state, which is an ideal test market for most of  the consumer products, is dominated by trading & service business rather than manufacturing. Hence the number of brands that originate from Kerala is very less compared to other states.Kerala is well known for Ayurveda. The land is rich in terms of a very well organized and reputed ayurvedic treatment centers. An emerging brand in this genre is the brand Dhathri.

Dhathri Ayurveda Pvt Ltd  was started by Dr Sajikumar, a trained Ayurveda Doctor, in the early nineties. Dr Sajikumar belonged to a reputed family of Ayurvedic practitioners with a rich tradition tracing back to two centuries. Initially Dr Sajikumar's treatment centre was known as Warrier's Hospital and Pachakarma centre which later became Dhathri.

The origin of the brand Dhathri happened in 2005. Dr Sajikumar launched a hair oil under the brand name Dhathri. The hair oil quickly captured the market's attention and the brand became a blockbuster hit. The success of Dhathri hair oil prompted the company to launch a slew of products first in the hair-care segment and later in skin-care market. Interestingly the company decided to use Dhathri as the brand name for all the products across categories.

Along with the FMCG products, the company also ventured into wellness market through the launch of ayurvedic services like slimming centers under the brand Dhathri ABS clinics. Dhathri is now a Rs 250 crore company with interests in FMCG, traditional ayurvedic medicines , clinics and wellness centers.

Dhathri as a brand  is strongly associated with hair-care. The brand has followed a celebrity endorsement route towards brand building. All the launches from Dhathri is endorsed by celebrities and the consistent heavy investment in promotions has ensured that the brand had a top-of-mind recall among the consumers.The success of hair-care products prompted the brand owners to enter the skin-care segment. Dhathri extended itself by launching face-packs, skin creams and related products. Over a short period of time , the brand became an umbrella brand endorsing a plethora of products across various categories.

Watch the ads here  : Dhathri Facepack endorsed by Kavya Madhavan

                                 Dhathri hair oil endorsed by Samyukta Varma

                                 Dhathri endorsed by Usha Uthup

                                  Dheedhi shampoo endorsed by Revathi

Dhathri hair oil has positioned itself on effectiveness platform. The brand has the tagline " It really gives results " reinforces the promise of effectiveness of the product.

Later Dhathri ventured in to the shampoo and soap market with the launch of new brands - Dheedhi and Dhin. Later a toothpaste brand ( Mavila) was also launched. The company also added health-care products like Chyawanprash , diabetic supplement and a family nourisher ( Winsmart) under the Dhathri brand or endorsed by Dhathri.According to a news report, Dhathri has now 20 varieties of herbal products under its brand-line.

Along with these developments, the company adopted Dhathri as the corporate brand name and adopted the name Dhathri Ayurveda. In November 2010, Dhathri began to look at markets beyond Kerala and launched its hair care products in Tamil Nadu.

It is really good to see a regional brand spreading its wings and venturing into a highly competitive national market. But along with those good feelings comes certain thoughts on the current marketing practices of Dhathri.

There is no doubt that Dhathri has grown fast. I feel worried when brands grow fast and become too ambitious. The wide and unrelated products in the portfolio of Dhathri is a matter of concern as far as the brand is concerned. The company although has stated in their website that Dhathri is an umbrella brand , too much unrelated products will dilute the core brand.

Another important branding funda that Dhathri missed was the  core brand strategy . Dhathri has evolved from a hair-care brand to an umbrella brand but this evolution is not seen in the core brand Dhathri. When ever a brand moves from a product-focused brand to an umbrella brand, its DNA changes. The brand owners need to create a new positioning and set of brand values for the umbrella brand. The positioning and brand values of the umbrella brand should be in a  broader platform  so that the new umbrella brand can endorse a diverse set of products.

Now every product in the Dhathri brand portfolio uses the name without any common thread tying itself to the core brand. The company has left it to the consumer to create a distinct position for Dhathri which I feel is dangerous. 

Ideally Dhathri should have created a core brand strategy that should revolve around Ayurveda. The Dhathri umbrella brand should have a unique set of values and brand elements including a tagline that exemplifies its positioning. The umbrella/corporate brand should also have a set of campaigns for creating its own place and then only it should proceed to endorse other products. Each product will have their own campaign highlighting the product features and the umbrella brand will give credibility to individual products. Ideally individual products need to have a sub-brand which could later be developed as a standalone brand.
Now I think no one can answer this most important question " What is Dhathri ? " is it a soap, shampoo, hair care, skin care , food supplement or ayurvedic company that produces all these ?? As a  consumer, for me Dhathri is strongly associated with haircare products and rest of the products have secondary significance. It is important for this brand to comeout of this vague definition and project an individual powerful identity which can be used to endorse products across categories. Once that position is created rest becomes more easy.

The large number of products in the portfolio also may further create problems. The funds for brand promotion is limited and too many products will stretch the company's resources. Most of the products in the ayurvedic market are promotion driven and the growth will show as long as the brand invest in the ads. Larger the products, the thinner will be the investment for each products. This is a vicious cycle which has killed many startup brands which expanded fast riding on the success of one or two launches. 

Dhathri is aiming for a national launch and in that process may rub shoulders with powerful brands like Dabur , Himalaya etc. It is important for the brand owners to get the brand architecture correct before taking the leap.

Brand Update : Flipkart - From Bookstore to Store

Regular readers of Marketing Practice know that I am not a big fan of Brand Extensions. I always feel uneasy when a brand moves from its defined space to a broader field of play . Flipkart has done just that. From a simple , clutter free online bookstore, the brand has now become an online store selling not only books but mobiles, music videos and gift vouchers.

Reflecting the change in the business strategy, the tagline of Flipkart has also changed from " The bookstore at your door " to " The store at your door ".

Flipkart within a short span of time was able to quickly gain consumer interest because of the simple interface , better pricing and quick service. Customers like me who found other sites like Indiaplaza too cluttered began to look at Flipkart as a serious alternative. In my opinion, Flipkart was a classic example of a brand which offered a simple highly focussed solution for the customer.

Not any more !

Flipkart now is not a bookstore. It is now an online store just like any other online stores. The only differentiating factor is that it retains the simple interface.

The change in the business model of Flipkart will have a serious impact on the brand itself. The brand was built as an online bookstore and now has diluted its core positioning . Now what is the difference between Flipkart, Indiaplaza, Infibeam, tradus and numerous online stores that retails everything from books to innerwears.

While in the books' retailing Flipkart has demonstrated its strength in getting the best price and ensuring fast delivery, will it be able to do that in other categories like mobilephones ? The business logic behind Flipkart to get into other categories is to get more revenue, the question is whether it could demonstrate its success in other categories aswell.

There can be many reasons behind this move :

• Book margins may be underpressure and does not make business sense to concentrate on books alone because of price/margin/competitive pressure.
• Wanted to emulate the business model of Amazon which successfully moved from books to other categories
• Investor pressure to deliver more returns.
• Other categories offered lucrative opportunities.
• Want to cash in the brand equity.
• Founders want to build scale and exit ?

Does it not make sense for Flipkart to concentrate on books alone and become the best/largest/most profitable online bookstore in the country ? I assume that the founders may be under pressure to grow very fast and give more returns to the " angels " who have invested in the venture ( its my assumption !).

I am not going to predict the future of Flipkart as an ordinary store. But in a branding point of view, Flipkart will be diluting its current stature as a highly efficient online bookstore. Thus leaving its exclusive space to potential competitors.

I wish that the brand replicate its success in the current ' diluted ' avatar.

Related brand

Flipkart

DelMonte Sauce : Taste Like Never Before

Brand : Del Monte
Company : FieldFresh Foods
Agency : Contract Advertising

Brand Analysis Count #451

Del Monte brand is making lot of noise across various channels as well as marketing blogs these days. The brand is in news because of the launch of its range of sauces in the Indian market.

Delmonte sauces launched recently is bought to India by FieldFresh Foods Ltd which is a joint venture between Bharti Group and Philippines based Delmonte Pacific. The JV was formed in 2007 and the Del Monte products were available in select cities. I presume the company has decided to launch the products nationwide in 2010.

Del Monte is a global brand with a rich heritage of over 118 years. The Del Monte brand architecture itself is very confusing with different brand owners/licensees across the globe. The brand Delmonte is originally owned by US based Del Monte Foods and licensed to other firms across the globe. The detailed brand ownership details can be accessed here ( Wiki). FieldFresh Foods have the JV with Del Monte Pacific which has the Del Monte brand license for this part of the world.

FieldFresh Foods has launched a series of food products under the Del Monte brand name. The product range include Packed Fruits, Fruit Drinks, Ketchup and Sauces, Olives, Pasta and corn. I presume this is the first time that Del Monte brand has been promoted heavily in the media.

FieldFresh has launched two sauce brands under the Del Monte brand - Twango and Zingo. Twango is a fruit based sauce and Zingo is the traditional eastern style sauce with garlic, ginger etc. The brand is running the launch campaign for these products across various channels.

Watch the TVC here : Del Monte Sauce

The sauce product range has taken the tagline : Taste Like Never Before. The brand has taken the taste as the USP. Delmonte is promising refreshing new tastes for its range of sauces. The launch ad is at best amusing with the brand using hyperbole to drive home the taste USP. The histrionics of the lady in the ad and the theme has nothing new to talk about. I wonder why the brand chose to use one of the most common themes for the first major brand campaign. The Indian Ketchup/Sauce market is worth around Rs 220 crore and is dominated by Maggi.

Another interesting fact is that the company decided to focus on the Umbrella brand Del Monte instead of the sub-brands Twango and Zingo. Most of the viewers may have missed those sub-brands in the ads. It is very difficult of build and sustain individual brands in the foods business. Hence umbrella branding is the only sustainable economical branding solution. The company may use Point of Purchase promotions for pushing the sub-brands.

Although Del Monte has used " Taste Like Never Before" tagline, it may be used only for the sauce product line. As far as the umbrella brand Del Monte is considered, the brand mark resembles a Quality Seal rather than a Logo. Hence Del Monte does not really need a tagline for itself.

Del Monte will be an interesting brand to watch because it has the backing of two big companies - Bharti and Del Monte. It will be tough for these brands to break the stronghold of established brands like Maggi, Heinz ,Kissan etc. Distribution and retailer support hold the key for any such brands in cracking the Indian market. Bharti which has big plans to establish retail chain may be looking for pushing the brands through its own stores in future.

Binani Cement : Sadiyon Ke Liye

Corporate Brand : Binani Cement
Agency : By Design India Pvt Ltd

Brand Analysis Count : 436

Binani Cement is one of the mid-sized cement brands in the highly competitive Indian cement industry . Binani cements belongs to to Braj Binani group. The group ventured into cement manufacturing in 1997 . Binani Cements is now a 1900 crore company with significant presence in states like Rajasthan ,Delhi, Punjab , Haryana and Gujarat. The company also has presence in foreign countries like Middle East and China.

Indian cement marketers has long been trying to brand this commodity. Binani is one such player who has taken up branding in a serious manner. The brand is relying on the celebrity power to build its equity. Binani Cement used the cricketing master Sunil Gavaskar to promote its brand during the launch phase in 1997. After a long period of silence, the brand began to invest heavily in brand promotion from 2007.

The brand chose the ever green Amitabh Bachchan as the brand ambassador in 2007. There was lot of buzz during the time big B was chosen to endorse a cement brand.

Binani Cement started using Big B in the television commercials in a dignified manner. This is one of those brands that tried to make use of Bachchan's charisma to the brand's advantage. The ads were laden with subtle humor and according to the reports, Binani cement's sales surged during these campaigns.

Watch the campaigns here : Binani Cement 1, Binani Cement 2

The brand did a smart move by taking advantage of the fact that both the brand and the brand ambassador name starts with B. The cement brand began to call itself Big B. While the brand gains by the association, there were many critics who argued that now Big B will be associated with cement rather than celebrity.

Binani cement has the tagline " Sadiyon Ke liye" which means " for centuries ".

Although the ads featuring Bachchan was well made, I felt that it lacked a punch. The brand lacked a powerful message . I would even say that the brand is not able to convey its brand manthra to the consumers. That may be the reason why those ads did not stick with the consumers.

When trying to brand a commodity, the brand should stand for something significant. It should be either strength , quality , trust , heritage, etc. Although Binani Cement has a good tagline, the emphasis was not there on any significant USP. The brand could have done much better if it had focused on a key strength of the brand and used the celebrity to emphasis that strength. For example Gujarat Ambuja has owned the USP of Strength and Ultratech is taking the positioning as Engineers Choice. So when comparing with these competitors, Binani Cement does not have a clarity in its positioning. It seems that it is trying to derive some strength through association with a celebrity. Such a celebrity dependent positioning strategy is not advisable for the brand . Ideally Binani could have identified its strength and used celebrity to highlight that strength.

To be fair to the brand, it has to be highly appreciated to venture into investing money in building a brand in the commodity space.
Related Brands
Ultratech
Gujarat Ambuja

Hettich : A Home in All Furniture

Corporate Brand : Hettich
Agency : Crescent Communications

Brand Analysis Count : 433

It is not every time that you see a hardware manufacturer endeavoring into branding and above - the - line promotions. Hettich is one such brand that is now ventured into a national launch of their kitchen and furniture fittings.

Hettich is a German company with a rich heritage. The company was started by Karl Hettich in 1888. This $1.1 Billion company is one of the major players in the fittings market. Hettich was launched in India in 2000. The brand had a very soft phased launch and was available only in Mumbai, Kolkatta, Delhi, Gurgaon and Bangalore. Now they have started advertising in the national media which indicates their intention to grow further.

Fittings and accessories were never in the public media space. These were regarded as a b2b product and the major customers were the architects, contractors,builders , designers , hardware distributors etc. But even for the players in this category, branding became important because of the clutter and competition. No consumer was directly involved in the purchase of such items. But things are changing .The growing affluent Indian consumer class also brought in the need for a more differentiated offerings from the players in this category. Hettich is trying to cater to the need of the modern Indian homemaker who desires to have a very smart kitchen.

What is interesting about the brand is its attempt to create excitement in a category of boring products. What is so exciting about hinges, drawers, runner systems, folding and sliding doors. How can one expects customers to think about such products that he is not going to see in a cupboard or a door ?

It is exactly that brands like Hettich is trying to do. Take the case of modular kitchens. Usually consumers give less attention to the hinges and doors . Their attention is more on the look, durability , design and aesthetics. Hettich is trying to change the perspective by educating the consumers about the importance of having a smarter kitchen.

Hettich is running a very rational campaign aiming at introducing the Indian consumers about having a planned kitchen & wardrobes which utilizes maximum space and also maximum convenience. In the brand website, there is a download-able recipe which gives the homemaker fresh ideas about planning their kitchen ( download link here) .

Hettich is not without competition. Brands like Vineta Cucine and Hefele are also looking for this space. And convincing the customer to pay a premium for products like these is a tough task.Hettich's approach to slowly build the market is the right decision. The strategy is to educate, provide experience and convince. The brand has opened lot of such experience shops where customers can see the value for going for a little expensive brands like Hettich.

Flipkart : The book store at your door

Corporate Brand : Flipkart.com

Brand Analysis Count : 430

Flipkart is an Indian online bookstore modeled around Amazon . The site was started by two IIT graduates Mr Binny Bansal and Mr Sachin Bansal. The site became operational in 2007. Within a short span of time, Flipkart has created a lot of buzz among the book lovers.

I am a book lover and my job as an academician demands that I read a lot of books. I came to know about flipkart quite accidentally. I used to buy books from another famous e-commerce site where I was a loyal customer with a gold level book club membership.

Marketers know that it is very difficult to poach loyal customers from a competitor. Lot of factors cause customers to stick to a familiar brand. Inertia, trust , averse to risk are some of the factors that prompt customers to stick with their old way of doing things. I was also of that type.

One friend suggested me to check out flipkart and and when I did, it split my loyalty instantly. One of the main USP of flipkart is the ease of use. Unlike other e-commerce site, flipkart is very very easy to use. Searching books was very easy and the site was also minimalistic. During that time, my earlier bookstore revamped its interface and it became very difficult to search books in that site which prompted me to look for alternatives. The simple interface of flipkart and their fast delivery also inspired my colleague ( who is a voracious reader) to switch to this site.

In services marketing theory , often we teach that " high level of performance " is an attribute that can cause delight in customers. Flipkart is an example of a site that differentiate itself on its performance rather than low price.


According to reports, Flipkart 's USP is its simple interface, fast searching and free shipping. The owners have rightly identified the critical differentiating factors and their service delivery is also quite fast. According to the brand owners, the market for online bookstore is around Rs 25 crore out of the total market size of Rs 4000 crore ( source). Competition is slowly hotting up in this space also.

What is interesting about flipkart is that the brand does not rely on above the line promotions. Rather, the brand depends on SEO and word of mouth publicity to drive customer traffic to the site.

Not all things are perfect for this brand. I still buy from my old store after comparing prices. The lack of a loyalty program is a big minus for an e-commerce site like flipkart. I feel that bookstores' cashcow will be the loyal customers rather than unique visitors.

For a startup, flipkart has really succeeded in getting basics correct. The brand has the potential to lure or poach customers from other similar competitors because it can deliver its promise faster. But when the customer base grows, it is a challenge for the brand owners to keep the high level of performance intact.

Kudos for the flipkart team.

Ambuja Cements : Branding a Commodity

Corporate Brand : Ambuja Cements

Company : Ambuja Cements Ltd ( Holcim Group Company)
Agency : Grey

Brand Analysis Count : 423

Ambuja Cements formerly Gujarat Ambuja is one of India's largest cement brands. The company came into existence in 1984. Ambuja Cements is a classic example of a successful commodity branding.
Indian cement market is different from the rest of the world because the largest segment of buyers of cement in India is the individual home owners rather than the institutions. Although this scenario is witnessing a change due to the boom in the organized realty sector, individual home owners form a significant segment that no cement marketers can ignore.
Although these individuals shell out the money to purchase cement, they are not the decision makers in the buying process.

The intermediaries like the contractors , masons etc take up the role of the influencer/decision makers in the purchase of this product. Since the consumers view this product as a commodity, the involvement of ordinary home owners in the purchase .

Ambuja Cements is one of the companies that realized the potential of brand as a differentiator. Even in the eighties, Ambuja cements started its activities for building the brand. Infact according to Superbrands report, Ambuja cements is the first cement brand to start advertising in television. Ambuja Cements also used the outdoors extensively to reinforce the brand image and enhance brand recall.
Ambuja Cements also focused on influencing the other players in the business like the contractors/masons and engineers through camps and meets.

These initiatives helped Ambuja to charge a premium over other brands. With the competition hotting up from Grasim + Ultratech, Ambuja Cements could hold on to its share because of the brand equity it had created over these years.

While branding the cement commodity,Ambuja Cements concentrated on its core brand promise of " Strength ". All through its campaigns, the brand was very consistent on reinforcing its positioning as the " Strongest " cement . The brand was also very clever in selecting a unique logo.

Commodities are boring products . But for smart marketers, this is also an opportunity to make a difference. Ambuja cements bought in lot of humor to this ( otherwise) boring product. Most of its campaigns are humorous which makes the consumers stick to the advertisements . The ad which I like most is the ad where the brothers ( Boman Irani) try to break the wall which they put up to separate their houses when they were fighting with each other.

Some other ads here : Ambuja 1,
Ambuja 2

These ads reinforce the core positioning of Ambuja as a strong cement. Strength is a very highly relevant attribute as far as customer is concerned.

While branding a commodity, the critical question is whether these ads can influence the consumers to change their commodity mindset towards this category. The answer is definitely affirmative. I have noticed many home owners directly procuring these products for their home construction because they don't trust the contractors. In these scenarios, high brand recall will give the edge for the brands.

Branding can change the perception of consumers towards commodity. The point is to create a compelling reason to do so.

Related Post
Ultratech

Havells : Shock Laga Kya

Corporate Brand : Havells
Agency : Lowe

Brand Analysis Count : 399

Havells is one of the leading players in the Indian electrical products industry. The company which was virtually unknown 5 years ago shot into limelight through some clutter breaking campaigns in recent times.

Havells is a part of the Indian business group- QRG group. Established in 1958 as a trading company , Havells came into existence in 1983. The company is now a Rs 1600 crore company with presence in all major electrical categories.

Havells business is primarily focused on four key verticals.
Switch Gear
Lighting and Fixtures
Cables and
Electrical consumer deliverable.

What is interesting about Havells is their penchant for advertising. The company had been making major investments in promotions and has been using the recent IPL for brand building.

Havells shot into limelight with their campaign for Mini Circuit Breakers (MCB) which are used to prevent short circuits . Most of the new homes/offices have it but these products were never advertised.
Havells came out with a clutter breaking humorous ad for their MCB which caught the consumer's attention. The product ad had the famous tagline " Shock Laga Kya ".

Watch the ad here : Shock Laga Kya

The ad was a hit because of the creative execution. I think the positive response from the consumers prompted Havells to invest heavily in brand promotions.

Another classic ad was for Havells CFL bulbs. The Rimpoche ad too was a highly interesting ad for a dull product.
Watch the ad here : Rimpoche

Havells followed its ad campaigns with a touchy mother son campaign for its cable product range
Watch the ad here : Mother- son
I like this ad very much because it conveyed the " heat resistant " feature of the product very smartly and touchingly.

For its fan range, Havells came out with another funny campaign : Bijilee

Recently Havells made use of the Recession to come out with another creative one for its MCB range : recession ad

Havells also has been using the recent IPL for brand promotion. Whenever some batsman gets out or when he scores a six, the two second message ad comes on the screen " Shock Laga Kya"

These clutter breaking ads has significantly increased the brand familiarity and liking of Havells brand. The brand is fighting very well established players like Crompton Greaves, Usha,Anchor , Legrand etc. Havells scored over these brands through its higher share of voice.

Regarding the branding campaign, Havells has been focusing more on product advertising rather than building its corporate brand.
There is an interesting piece written about this in hindu : read here

If you see all these ads of Havells, the ads does not have a common thread . The cable ad and the MCB ad and CFL ads are all very different. Although it all comes from Havells, one cannot find a common thread.
This is a problem for Havells as a corporate brand. The company has so far not tried to bring in a corporate brand theme. Havells does not even have a tagline.

Now everyone associates Havells with the Shock Laga Kya tagline which is a specific tagline for its MCB range. I am not sure whether this is a planned strategy where the company tries to develop its corporate brand through product ads .

There is no doubt that these product ads are well crafted and has served the purpose. But when we analyse the branding , Havells as a corporate brand has built strong familiarity but no brand depth.

If you ask me what Havells stands for, I would say that it stands for " Shock Proof MCB". So Havells stands to be identified for a single product rather than as an umbrella brand.

One disadvantage of developing a common corporate brand theme is that every Havells ad should then have to align with that common thread which may constrain creative thinking. But a brand should own a distinct place in the consumer's mind. Havells corporate brand right now does not have than distinct space for it .
The logic of the current strategy is that through the product ads , Havells will gain familiarity and thus brand equity. There is now flaw in this logic. But the issue is about the brand personality.
A brand should have some core brand values and manthra which makes it unique and distinct. This mathra has to be created by the brand and communicated to the consumers.It is in this context that the current strategy of product ads driving a corporate brand becomes ineffective.

Havells need not stop its product based advertising, what it can do is to develop a brand manthra and a corporate tagline and when show the tagline in the product advertisements. The individual product ads can retain their taglines like " Shock Laga " . Thus Havells will be able to create a distinct corporate brand image which will be highly beneficial in future.

Nilkamal Plastics : Creating Value Through Convenience

Corporate Brand : Nilkamal
Agency : Triton

Brand Analysis Count : 385

Nilkamal is a company that successfully branded a commodity. Nilkamal is the market leader in the plastic molded furniture segment in India. The brand has a long history dating back to 1934. The company was founded by Mr Vrajlal Parekh. Mr Vrajlal Parekh started manufacturing metal buttons from his small factory. In 1950, he started producing plastic products and the company was called Standard Plastics. Nilkamal Plastics was born in 1956 and became and independent company in 1981.

The Indian home furniture market is huge with a market size of around Rs 14000 crores. Majority of the market is in the unorganized sector. Nilkamal operates in the moulded furniture market which is around Rs 950 crores. According to reports , 40% of which is in the unorganized sector.
Nilkamal is known for its plastic chairs . But the company is also a major player in manufacturing crates which are used for commercial purposes.

Nilkamal is a brand that popularised the use of plastic chairs at homes . Earlier households used to purchase only wooden /steel furnitures. But Nilkamal was able to break that mindset . Nilkamal did this by creating good designs and also taking care of the quality factor.

Households earlier was averse to plastic chairs because it looked ugly and was not perceived to be strong. Nilkamal changed that perception by introducing well designed chairs .This was backed by heavy promotions using various media.

In a market which was dominated by unorganized players, the brand building gave Nilkamal more mileage and also premium prices.The success of Nilkamal prompted many players to enter the segment. Since the designs could be easily copied, it was difficult for Nilkamal to sustain the growth momentum. Nilkamal is the market leader in the segment with a share of over 37%.But the market for moulded furnitures has become stagnant.


In 2005, the brand moved from molded furniture to home solutions. The brand introduced knocked down furniture and also sofa sets , dining tables ,baby chairs which became popular. The brand was slowly moving towards becoming a lifestyle furniture player.

The company also introduced a new range of office furniture brand Novella. During this time, the brand ventured into retail business by launching large retail format under the brand name @home. These retail outlets showcased the new range of home solutions from the company.

Recently the brand also launched a range of plastic Cupboards and cabinets branded as Freedom.
Nikamal is a brand that is heavily associated with plastic furniture. The brand has a high credibility among the consumers. The major problem faced by the brand is that plastic is associated with cheap furniture and this has prevented the penetration of this product category into high -margin household furniture segment.

But I think there is a huge potential for Nilkamal in developing itself to a highly creative furniture company. As a consumer, I have often found branded furniture to be terribly overpriced for the quality it delivers.Branded wooden furniture are out of reach for many middle class customers. Plastic furnitures lack the glamour and home makers tried to avoid these products. Hence there is a huge potential for affordable designer furniture. Currently this market is being captured by cheap imports from China. There is a flood of imported furniture which looks good and priced affordably.

Nilkamal have the brand equity to tap this potential. Although it is heavily associated with plastics, it could leverage that equity in creating an affordable range of home solutions to the Indian middle class.

Moser Baer : Rewriting the Future

Corporate Brand : Moser Baer
Agency : TBWA

Brand Analysis Count : 365

Moser Baer is a leading player in the optical media storage market in India. Not only that ,this Indian company is world's 5th largest manufacturer of Optical storage media. Founded in 1983, this brand has morphed from a business brand to a consumer brand.

Moser Baer started its operations by manufacturing time recorder units in collaboration with Maruzen Corporation of Japan. In 1998, the company diversified into manufacturing of 5.2 inch floppy disk. In 1999 the company went on to manufacturing of CD-ROMs and DVDs.

The Indian optical media industry is estimated to be around Rs 1500 crore. Moser Baer leads the market with a market share of around 40%. The brand is having a global share of around 20% in this industry.

The optical media storage industry is dominated by CD-ROMs. The trend is now moving towards DVD and latest Blu-Ray discs.

The CD/DVD industry is guided by the penetration of the respective disc drives . It is estimated that 75 % of the computers are sold along with the CD Drives and this factor have more impact on the sale of CDs at the consumer end.

If we look at the market evolution of these products, during the formative years, ordinary users never considered the CD drive as a part of the standard PC. CD Drives was considered as a luxury because of the high cost. This has severely restricted the popularity of CDs at the consumer end . CDs during those years was targeting the software segment.

When the CD drive price crashed, it became a part of the standard PC offering which paved the way for the popularity of CDs. Another big market for these products is in the entertainment sector.

Currently the market is moving towards DVD's since the cost of DVD writers/players have come down drastically.

Moser Baer operates in a market which is highly dynamic and volatile.This is a market which is full of disruptive innovations . One can never predict the lifecycle of a product. A small technological innovation can make a product irrelevant. It had happened in the case of Floppy Disks . The MP3 revolution has severely impacted the CD industry aswellas the entire music industry.

Hence to operate in such a volatile environment requires high flexibility in operations and strategy. The simple fact that Moser Baer was able to handle the Floppy to CD transition is a remarkable example of flexible product strategy. It takes corporate vision to identify the changes that are happening in the environment and then take a proactive step in addressing those issues.

It is not easy as we think. Take the example of CD replacing the Floppy Disk. The company has to first identify this as a disruptive innovation . Then they have to forecast the impact of this technology in their business. Then devise the strategy to handle that disruption. The problem here is timing. In technology marketing, timing is the key. We have seen big companies humbled by start-ups ( Microsoft Vs Google ) because the large firms fail to forecast the impact of these changing technologies on their business.

In the case of storage media disruptions are happening on a regular basis. We have seen Floppy Disk getting eliminated by CDs, CDs getting irrelevant by USB Disks, DVDs etc. There is heated argument whether DVD will be replaced by Blue-Ray discs

Look at the removable memory devises or the flask disks, these devices are increasingly making CDs irrelevant. These USB memory disks are portable , reusable and easy to use. These devices are a big competition for CD and DVDs. More over the various online file storing sites and file sharing sites makes life more dangerous for firms like Moser Baer.

So how will a company survive in such a very fluid environment.?

It calls for a very flexible product strategy. Such a strategy allows the managers to experiment and pull the company into different directions. Product Managers will be looking for emerging areas /technologies and will be investing in those new areas. Although this strategy is sexy, it is highly risky. Not all new technologies are disruptive. So it takes lot of wisdom and luck to spot and act on such a technology.

Last two quarters has been very bad for the company owing to the increase in the production cost and decrease in demand due to competition from other categories. One of the raw material for CD/DVDs is polycarbonate which is a byeproduct of oil industry. The rise in oil prices has increased the cost for this raw material.

It is this scenario which may have forced Moser Baer to undertake many related and unrelated diversification. In 2006, the company forayed into entertainment business. The company launched an entertainment division which focused on distribution of movie CD/DVD. The company procured around 10,000 movie titles and aggressively started distribution.

Moser Baer shocked the movie industry by launching movie CDs and DVDs for as low a price as Rs 28 and Rs 34 respectively. At that time, a DVD used to cost minimum Rs 150 and CDs at around Rs 80. The move made lot of sense because the expense for Moser Baer was limited to promotional and distributional expenses.

According to reports, Moser Baer adopted an FMCG model of distribution for these CDs. The reason was to drive the volumes in order to compensate for the low price. The low price of Moser Baer movie CDs was a deadly blow to the pirate- mafia which was a major threat to the entire movie industry.

This move of Moser Baer was complimented by the low priced DVD players that entered the Indian market. The price of a branded DVD player came to the level of 2000-5000 which enabled many households to own one.

Another diversification of Moser Baer was into the Rs 12000 crore PC peripheral market which include products like CD/DVD drives , hard disks, speakers etc. Moser Baer expects to corner 20 % of this lucrative market .
In the business market, Moser Baer has diversified into manufacturing of photo-voltaic cells which is used in harnessing solar energy.

A major unrelated diversification for this brand was into the consumer durables in 2008. Moser Baer entered the consumer durable space with a high decibel launch of LCD televisions and DVD players.

Watch the tvc here : Moser Baer

Although the corporate tagline for Moser Baer is " Rewriting the Future " , the company decided to have a seperate tagline " Ultra Life " for its consumer durable venture. The brand is projecting itself as the advanced fururistic technology brand. For the movie CD venture, the brand has another tagline " Hello Happiness ".

In a branding perspective, the same brand has three different positioning strategy in three different categories. Theoritically this will result in brand dilution.


I seriously doubt the logic behind Moser Baer entering a space where it has virtually no standing . It does not have the brand equity nor the marketing strength to fight the competition. In this space it will be fighting all the major consumer durable brands of the world like Sony, Philips, LG, Samsung, Onida, Panasonic and what not.

Moser Baer may be a well known brand in the CD category but it is a zero in the consumer durable space. The only advantage for the brand is the brand familiarity. Consumers have seen this brand but that is not sufficient to counter the competition of established brands like Sony.

Moser Baer is trying to fight the war using price as a proposition. The price of LCD TV is much lower than the established players. Hence the price + brand familiarity may give some head start for the brand.

Another serious issue for the brand will be the time and energy needed for Moser Baer to establish itself in the consumer durable space. The company may have to devote considerable resources , both money and managerial time ,to be successful as a consumer durable major. This will seriously impact the investment needed in its core business. In this period, when cash is the king, the brand may have to spend judiciously .

Moser Baer has also launched products like USB disks in order to pre-empt the competition from that category which makes more sense than the consumer durable venture. It could have spent more energy on establishing itself in the USB media space and even launch products similar to ipods.
It makes more sense if Moser Baer concentrated on Memory ,Storage and even PC peripherals space rather than spent valuable resources on highly competitive market like consumer durables

Bosch : Invented for Life

Corporate Brand : Bosch
Agency : Saatchi & Saatchi


Brand Analysis Count : 364



Have you ever thought about the brand of wipers you have in your car? Ever thought about the brand of spark-plug of your bike ? How many of us have insisted to the mechanic that we need a specific brand of spark-plug or a wiper ?

Compare that to a consumer insisting on Pentium Core Duo for his computers.

Welcome to the world of ingredient branding.

Bosch want to be the Intel in the auto world or I would rephrase it to Bosch has the potential to be the Intel of Automotive industry.

Bosch is world's largest auto-component manufacturer with more than 275 subsidiary companies spread across the globe.Bosch has a history dating back to 1886 when Robert Bosch founded the company which was known as Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering.

The company came to India in 1951 as Motor Industries Company Ltd ( MICO) . The company established itself as a leader in spark-plugs . Infact MICO was almost generic to spark-plugs. At the not-so visible engineering industy, Bosch is famous of its motors, power tools, braking systems, etc.

Bosch India has operations in for verticals
Automobile components
Industrial technicals
Consumer goods and
Engineering and IT services.

In 2008 the company decided to rebrand its entire operations in India under the name Bosch .
Under this rebranding exercise , the company is currently running a heavy campaign across various media.

Watch the TVC here : Bosch

Before rebranding , MICO also invested heavily in building its brand presence across the country. Most of us are familiar with these names although we are not quite directly in touch with the products.

There are two markets for most of Bosch's products ( automotive) - Institutional and After market .

The institutional segment consists of the OEM segment where the consumers use Bosch products as a part of the standard equipment. The after market segment consists of the replacement of the worn-out products .

Bosch have a strong foundation in the OEM segment and has relationship with most of the major automotive companies in India. The brand was in news recently for collaboration with Tata Motors for the Nano project.
In the replacement market, the consumers leave the decision of spare parts to the workshops and the marketing is done through the distributors and dealers.

Bosch is a brand known for its engineering excellence and innovation. According to Superbrands.org, Bosch registers 2750 patents every year. The company is famous for its inventions like
Diesel fuel injection
Power tools
ABS
Bosch Traction control
Electronic stability program etc.

Infact the Bosch founder Robert Bosch was the first to introduce the eight hour work schedule long before it became a norm.

Another interesting fact about the company is that 92 % of Bosch is owned by a charity foundation and most of the profits are ploughed back to the company for growth and expansion. It is one of those rare private companies which are owned by a charitable foundation.

Bosch is a brand founded on innovation . The core brand value is innovation and engineering excellence. In 2004 , the brand acquired the tagline " Invented for Life " . The brand has lived up to its promise of innovation.

Another interesting fact which I discovered during my study on this brand was about Blaupunkt. Blaupunkt is a brand owned by Bosch ( I never knew that ! ). In 1929 Bosch launched the first car stereo radio system which created the way for the world famous Blaupunkt brand.

Bosch's branding initiative come under the ingredient branding. This is a special case of co-branding where we brand ingredients, components or parts which are contained within other branded products ( Kevin Lane Keller ) .

Although the current brand campaign by Bosch is driven by the rebranding exercise, I see an opportunity for Bosch to create an identity in the consumer's mind also. From my personal experience, my wiper for my car was not working properly and I changed it twice but still it shows problems. After seeing the ad, I am going to ask my mechanic to put Bosch wipers.

Although this may be a one-off case, it shows an opportunity for the brand in the after market. Battery marketers like Exide , Ameron etc had built the brand slowly using consumer targeted campaigns. Now consumers have started insisting on these battery brands.

Group 4 Securicor : Private Security

Corporate Brand : G4S ( Group 4 Securicor)

Brand Analysis Count : 362

26 November 2008 was a day that has changed the life of an Indian forever. When 10 terrorists terrorized our financial capital , killing hundreds of innocent citizens , millions were watching those horror moments on television. An average Indian, suddenly was stripped of the false sense of security that he had.

The very fact that Indian security establishments was clueless about the entire event came as a rude shock. The fact that these terrorist held Mumbai siege for three days also throw light on the efficiency of our counter -terrorist mechanisms.

After seeing all these , I feel unsecure as a citizen. I am not sure how our policemen is going to protect us with his cane Lathi against the ultramodern Kalashnikovs.

As per the news reports, Mumbai terror attacks has left corporates scrambling for security cover. This is boom time for the private security agencies in India.

Indian security services business is huge . According to various business papers, the size of the market for Private security services is around Rs 22,000 crores growing at 25 %. Most of this market is unorganized and the organized security services market is estimated to be in the range of Rs 10,000 crores.

Group 4 Securicor ( G4S) is the market leader in India. Most of you may have seen the security guards from G4S manning the numerous ATM machines across the length and breadth of the country.
G4S is a global firm. and is the World's largest provider of private security services.

According to Wikipedia,the origin of this company is dated back to 1901 in Copenhagen. The company was called as Falck and was founded by Marius Hogrefe .
Group 4 was a security company founded in Belgium. In 2000 both these firms merged together to form Group4Falck.
Securicor was another firm founded in London by the Philip -Sorenson family. At that time the company was known as Securitas International. Later there was a split in the family business which gave rise to two companies Securicor and Securitas. The Securitas went on to form another company which is called Group4Securitas.

In 2004 , Securicor merged with Group4Falck to form Group4Securicor.

The Indian arm of G4S was formed in 1989. The company is the largest private security services company with operation in almost all states. Although the visible part of the businesses are the private security guards we see in companies and ATMs, the services offered by private security firms are vast.

Listing below are some of the services provided by these firms :

Cash Services : Includes cash processing, transportation, retail cash management, ATM guarding valuable escort services and treasury management.

Manned Security : Mobile petrol, VIP security ,Reception, Quick response ,detective services ,route vehicle controls, company security etc.

Security Systems : Alarm services, electronic security, fire alarms, perimeter protection etc
Other security consultation : Risk assessment, training etc

( source : G4S website)

Yesterday there was a news in CNBC talking about the increased demand for private security in the wake of the Mumbai terror strike. The increase in enquiries for private security was in the range of 5 times the average rate. According the Tops Security Services, the enquiries have increased from 50 enquiries per day to 400 enquiries per day after the Mumbai terror attacks.

Although the market is attractive, it is not without problems. The private security services is a human resource intensive business. The security agencies rely on Ex-military personnel for their staffing requirements. Now there is a trend of recruiting ordinary people and provide them training and then employing them as guards.

The major criticism against these firms are their treatment towards these employees. There are reports that the employees are given a raw deal with negligible pay and no employee benefits. The staffs of these firms are largely non-unionized and hence had to suffer the poor wage and lack of benefits.

The silver lining is the emergence of professional firms like G4S, Tops Security and Lancers which takes the employee welfare seriously . Even big firms like GMR group has ventured into the security business. These players are expected to professionalize this emerging industry.

The private security business is regulated by the Indian Private Agencies Act (2005) which has laid down certain conditions and parameters for regulation of this business. This act ensures that only players with sufficient infrastructure will be able to start this business. The act also restricts the entry of foreign firms to this industry.

Another issue that is facing these private security firms is the ability of the guards to face terror strikes like the Mumbai attack. Indian laws prevent the private security staff to be armed with sophisticated weapons. So most of these guards are armed with sticks while the new generation thieves and terrorists are armed to teeth with AK 56 rifles and grenades.

Seldom we see the ads of these security firms. These firms operate in a B2B environment and rely on references and direct marketing. In any high-contact service businesses, the employees form an important part in the marketing. For these service firms, the employees form the brand. Hence much care is taken on the grooming of these employees. Even the uniform of these guards create an impression about the security service firms. Most of the security service firms make sure that these guards are well trained and groomed.


These private security firms can play a big role in the internal security infrastructure in India. We have to take some lessons from the West where these security firms are closely associated with the Government security agencies in providing security cover to major commercial centers. There are instances where USA Government rely on firms like the Blackwater Group to provide security to vital installations in Iraq.

Brand Update : India Post

Its more than two years since I posted the critical analysis of India Post. I had criticized about the wastage of immense potential of a service which had unmatched distribution reach across the length and breadth of India.

In 2008, Indian Government had decided to restructure the entire postal department. The restructuring exercise is called Project Arrow. The project aims to make India Post a logistics giant by leveraging the core strengths of the institution. The restructuring is being done in consultation with Mckinsey.

As a part of the restructuring exercise, the institution has redefined its business. According to Professor Theodore Levitt, Every business should ask this fundamental question : What Business are You In ? The answer to this question can throw up lot of opportunities for growth. Narrowly defining the business can create Marketing Myopia which may wipe out the business in the long run.

From just a postal institution , the department has reframed its business to be in the logistics service rather than just a postal service. The move is a significant step in broadening the scope of services that could be handled by this giant.

It is important to reinvent the business definition since the postal service is facing competition which could make its business irrelevant. The e-mail and the rise of affordable private courier services has taken away a significant chunk of profitable business of this institution. Since it is a government department, India Post could'nt change fast to accommodate the changing environment.

In line with the restructuring exercise, the department has also rebranded India Post by launching a new logo. The rebranding was done by O&M.

The new logo retains the signature red color but has made significant changes to the logo. The new logo sports a yellow color which signifies happiness , hope and joy. Red stands for passion. The wings from the old logo has been retained with some modification. The new look brand take Passion, Power and Commitment as the core brand values.

According to the press reports, 50 post offices will be refurbished to make it a new-look hi-fi post offices in the first phase of Project Arrow. The number will be scaled up to 500 post offices in the near future. The new post-offices will be technologically enabled to provide faster service to the customers. A lot of new products have also being created for meeting the new demands of the customer.

It gives me joy to see that the brand has slowly waking up to the new realities. I was surprised to find that India Post was losing almost Rs 1300 crore every year on its operations. This is despite the fact that India Post handles 10 crore Money orders and 17 crore savings accounts with deposits over Rs 5,40,000 crores. The deparment has 1,55,000 post offices out of which 89% is in the rural areas. India Post is the largest postal service in the world.

The government hopes that with this restructuring, India Post will be able to make profits rather than bleed the exchequer .

Related Post
India Post

Dunlop : Always Ahead ?

Corporate Brand : Dunlop

Brand Analysis Count : 353

Dunlop is a failed brand. It was a brand that pioneered automobile tyres . But the brand failed miserably for reasons not of its own making.

Dunlop is a British brand that have a rich heritage and history. The brand has its origin dating back to 1889. Infact the brand is named after John Dunlop who patented the technology for making pneumatic tyres.

The brand has a fragmented ownership across the world. Dunlop tyre is sold in Europe and US by Goodyear. Recently Apollo Tyres acquired the brand in South Africa and the Japanese company Sumitomo is selling this brand in other countries . In India, the brand is owned by the Pawan Ruia Group.

Dunlop set shop in India in 1926. This is the brand that pioneered tires in India. Even after 82 years, the brand is still living in the minds of the Indian consumers.

Dunlop had been ruling the Indian market for a while . Being a pioneer and also being a British brand had its own advantage. After our Independence, the brand continued to thrive. At one point of time, even RP Goenka was on the board of Dunlop India.

But the brand was moving into rough patch. There were strikes and lockouts which hampered the smooth operations and in 1988 Manu Chhabria's Jumbo group acquired the controlling stake in Dunlop India.

The situation in the company went from bad to worse. The company was virtually bankrupt and was referred to the BIFR ( Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction ) in 1997. Much of the company's problem was attributed to the mismanagement .

Dunlop is a heritage brand in the tyre industry . Despite being the pioneer in tyres, the company had invested in developing the Dunlop brand. The brand offered excellent quality tyres and even in a category which belongs to slow-moving consumer goods ( SMCG), Dunlop made customers ask for this specific brand.

The brand started as a cycle tyre then became the generic brand for all tyres be it for commercial or passenger vehicles.
Dunlop was heavily promoted in the media. The brand had the memorable tagline " Dunlop is Dunlop, Always Ahead ".

Another interesting fact about the brand is that , although Dunlop is known for its tyres, the term ' Softness ' comes to my mind when I hear Dunlop . The reason is that the brand is famous for its pillows. The company diversified into manufacturing pillows which was branded as Dunlopillow. The pillow was famous for its softness and still Dunlop brand is associated with softness .

This brand went into trouble not because of marketing problems but for mismanagement of company operations. After a long while, almost ten years since referred to BIFR, the brand found its saviour in a maverick entrepreneur Mr Pawan Ruia who heads the Ruia Group.

Pawan Ruia took over this brand along with another tyre brand Falcon Tyres in 2005. Within a short span of three years, he has managed to turn the company around. According to reports, the company is set to make a notional profit in 2008.

But things are different now. Indian tyre market is crowded with Who is Who. All the major international brands are here fighting it out with Indian brands like MRF, JK and Apollo. The dynamics of the market also has changed.

Dunlop still has its brand equity intact in the consumer's mind. Although the consumers remember this brand, its not enough to make them opt for this brand in the new avataar. That may be the reason why the brand is now concentrating on OEM and other industrial markets.

Dunlop is a sad story of a heritage brand biting the dust. But the silver lining is that the brand is trying to make a comeback.