Benadryl : Triple Action Formula

Brand : Benadryl
Company : Johnson & Johnson

Brand Analysis Count : # 498

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Time Spent Pooping

Japan be Cray-Zay

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

Quco Hair Perfume : For Great Smelling Hair

Brand : Quco
Company : Vini Cosmetics

Brand Analysis Count : # 497

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

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

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

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

Watch the ad here : Quco TVC

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

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

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

Last Day in Portugal (for a little while)

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

We think we have created some real stars

And the most wonderful displays

Just wait until you see them all cured and ready

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

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

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

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

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

Quinta do Cobral - our lovely home

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

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

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

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

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

White Chocolate and Strawberry Gateaux

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

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

Really nice night time forage and protection

the very cool and matsterfull Billy

Soo lovely

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

Everyday goats bells for when they forage far from home

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

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

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

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

Bare naked pile of our fab Puro trugs

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

Painting hard, - Mrs Barnes

Me busy making soap

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

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

Exo : Anti-bacterial DIshwash Bar

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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