Archive for the 'Branding and Marketing' Category

Goodbye to the Golden Arches?

charukesi October 14th, 2004

McDonald’s Replaces Golden Arches With Question Mark in the UK - from Adrants
(link thru adland). Imagine the McD without the golden arches…

McD has not been having it easy, has it? What with Supersize Me and beefat or not to beefat…
But is changing the logo and the line (as adrants says, just to make sure we noticed the change) all that is needed to change the image - so carefully spoilt over the years?

This is like Air India getting rid of the Maharaja and getting a flighty pigeon as its new symbol - to announce its intentions of being the all new friendly and punctual flyer service…

Targeting the ’senior’ segment

charukesi October 13th, 2004

From the adverblog, A cell phone for GrandPa.

The US mobile phone industry is ready to target a “new” generation of consumers: seniors. An article on the The New York Times (free reg. req.) highlights the senior population represents a great opportunity for the market to grow. It won’t be easy, since elder people have a lot of concerns around mobile technologies, but if the industry will meet their expectations, the success will be granted.

This is true. I find that in India, the “seniors” are potentially a huge segment for new products / services. I am thinking of my own parents as I write this…

Typically, they have completed their “responsibilities” in life and are looking for some peace and comfort.

They have a need
- to relax (holidays? restaurants?)
- to be connected (cellphones?)
- for entertainment (media gadgets? - my parents became the proud owners of a VCD player recently, and no child could be happier with his new toy…)
And, they also usually have the money… disposable money…

So far, the aged have only been targeted for insurance and other financial products - sure, they also have a need to be financially secure once they have stopped getting a steady income from work - but is that all ? I am sure it cannot be a pleasant thing to be constantly reminded about how old one is or how old one is going to get… all those ads about savings and insurance…

Why are marketers not thinking more about this segment as potential consumers for a variety of products? However, as the article says, the seniors also are not too comfortable with “technology” (and not just mobile technology), and marketers would do well to develop and target “simplified technology” for this segment… Right now, I cannot think of any brands / products in inda (apart from financial products) specifically targeted at this segment… can you?

Vanilla Coke and ‘Wakau’

charukesi June 1st, 2004

What is with Vanilla Coke? Vivek Oberoi and his retro ‘wakau’ act? I’d like to buy the world an ice-cream flavoured Vanilla Coke just doesn’t ring right…. Curious - what is the idea behind Vanilla Coke? Traditional cola drinkers? Non cola drinkers but ice-cream eaters? Pepsi loyalists?

Seems to me whenever Coke is faced with falling market shares, the buzz goes around the company, time for a variant. Just to make consumers realize, it could be so much worse…

As the New Coke fiasco proved. To combat declining market shares (caused by both Pepsi’s corresponding increasing sales as well as Diet Coke’s cannibalization into Coke), New Coke was launched in 1985. And as the world knows, Americans suddenly discovered and proclaimed their love for the original Coke and New Coke took a severe beating. Never mind that in blind taste tests, consumers consistently said that they liked the new formula better. Never mind also that these consumers were not drinking Coke then, but Diet Coke or Pepsi. Such was the bad feeling towards New Coke that Donald Keough (then the company’s President and Chief Operating Officer) said: The passion for original Coca-Cola — and that is the word for it, passion — was something that caught us by surprise . . . It is a wonderful American mystery, a lovely American enigma, and you cannot measure it any more than you can measure love, pride, or patriotism. Back came the original Coca Cola as Classic Coke.

Makes me wonder, is there any Indian brand that inspires the same kind of emotion in people… For God, Country and…? Chandru, think about this?

And to think Coca Cola was invented by John Pemberton, a pharmacist, as a cure for head aches….. and initially sold as a ‘brain and nerve tonic’. And coloured sugar water has never been the same again… Speaking of which, I read somewhere that a 500 ml glass of Coke (or a similar drink) contains 8 teaspoons of sugar…. So what does diet Coke have - 6.5 spoonfuls as compared to the customary 8?

(Rather rambling post…. Started off somewhere and been drifting ever since…. But, a few global questions I was thinking of along the way….

How is Vanilla Coke and how is it doing in the market?
What makes for such emotional attachment with a brand? And what can advertising do for such a brand?
And finally, why do people actually like drinking coloured water with 8 teaspoons of sugar and various Unidentified Floating Objects?)

Mobile dissatisfaction

charukesi April 16th, 2004

Some things remain the same….. A recent article in McKinsey Quarterly talks about complaints in the US against mobile phone companies.

A gist of the article (emphasis mine):

The US wireless-telecom industry is number one—in complaints. In 2002, more dissatisfied customers complained to the Better Business Bureau about their mobile operators than about any other type of company. Interestingly, customers complained not about the service itself or areas of weak coverage but rather about their carriers’ business practices. Billing problems were the most common kind, followed by the carriers’ responses to customer complaints and concerns that carriers had acted deceptively.

My sentiments exactly. As a highly dissatisfied customer of Reliance Telecom and as party to a long-standing fight with the company. I have no grievance about the ‘product’ as such; there is no doubt that Reliance never hesitates to bend the rules here and there to provide the best…..

But ’service’?? I have never got a bill (and I mean never) from Reliance so far in these six months…. I only get SMS asking for ‘interim payment’ of what I suspect is an arbitrary figure amounting to four digits (a random combination of numbers generated by the computer?)….. Where did this figure come from please? And non-payment of this only leads to disconnection (if only temporary) of service….. I am quite sick of this cat and mouse game….

And calling up Reliace service centres for information is tantamount to the proverbial bashing your head against the wall…..

McKinsey also gives this dire warning….. Given the importance of hanging on to customers, carriers should heed the warning in these complaints. They must improve the accuracy of their billing systems as well as the efficiency and courtesy of their customer service staffs.

Is anyone at Reliance listening ?

Neuromarketing ? What next ?

charukesi March 31st, 2004

Beware! Big Brother is not just watching…. He is getting ready to actually open your brain and look inside it to see the processes inside. And all in the name of research…. shudder, shudder….

Have been reading a lot about neuromarketing, the neurological study of a person’s mental state and reactions while being exposed to marketing messages. I keep writing (and ranting) about how marketing agencies are constantly in the search for ways and means of getting under the skin of their consumers…. And how research agencies keep coming up with fancy techniques that are increasingly intrusive and objectionable….

India as a market is still not so saturated and consumers here not so yet so cynical that marketers are thinking about such high-tech options…. We can make do with focus groups and surveys for a while…. But in the saturated Western markets, where reaching the consumer is a big big challenge for the marketer, it looks like anything goes….

Neuromarketing is the one of the latest such techniques…. Agreed, the good old focus group is passe….. Abuse and misuse has made it the F word of market research…. And most other techniques are still very subjective and limited in their effectiveness….. So, when all else fails, turn to science to unravel the big black box that is the consumer’s mind ?

And I am not even talking yet about the ethical issues behind peeping into a person’s mind, all for the sake of marketing….

Imagine a scenario when marketing agencies will no longer use the services of market research agencies but scientists for their research. And soon, we will have ‘professional respondents’ here too who have learnt to control and manipulate their brain waves to suit the research needs ?? The mind boggles at such thought….

Or worse, we will have market research agencies claiming to be experts in neuroscience, offering such services at ‘competitive rates’ to marketing agencies. In a scathing analysis, Jennnifer at brandmantra says, When people misuse low-tech options, it’s quite probable that they’ll misuse newer high-tech options. I’m not averse to new technology; I am averse to making it available to users who don’t often understand the basic principles…. Exactly what I mean….

The latest I read was at beyond-branding about neuromarketing being used on children….. ENOUGH !

The new cola

charukesi February 5th, 2004

Pespi (and Coke too, not one to be left behind) now has a new variant : Organic Cola…..

Go Organic With The Cooler Cola?

Branding ? What branding ?

charukesi January 8th, 2004

Yet another company falls for the brand ambassdor bait. After Nerolac Paints and then Dabur, it is now the turn of Cadbury’s to rope in the Big B as brand ambassdor.

To begin with, I have never understood how any brand justifies the cost of having a brand ambassdor - and what he or she does for the brand. It is not as if there is ever any ’syngery’ betwen the values of the brand and what the ambassdor stands for.

And in any case, in India, where the bulk of the market is in the rural areas, what exactly does such a concept mean? Where brands such as Kadberys and Caddburys exist (I have seen these with my own eyes - a survey in any shop in rural India will spring many more surprises). Where people point to the pack and ask for the product (why else do sprious brands exist - because people cannot read and they identify a brand by the colours on the pack and the sound of the name). Where distribution is the most important P of all (taking a leaf of Kotler’s Ps of marketing).

Given the fact that more and more marketers are focussing on rural markets for their volumes (including Cadbury’s), what difference will Amitabh Bacchan make to the brand?

Have a look at this picture to understand what I mean when I say that a ‘brand’ has little value….. This was shot in a small shop on the Tamilnadu - Karnataka border….. Truly, it happens only in India !

MTNL readies for market warfare

charukesi January 2nd, 2004

MTNL to launch SMS on landlines….. Have we come a long way or what ? From the days of ‘dead’ telephones and ‘trunk calls’ that never materialized…..

As opposed to BSNL’s SMS service, MTNL does not require a special SMS-enabled telephone set. True, the process is not quite as suave as keying in your message in your own words….. hola, gr8, c u soon, luv u and so on not possible…. But then, I am not part of Gen SMS….. So, no reason to crib….

Also this is a giant step for an MTNL….. And I am willing to give anything Government a chance….

As creative as it gets

charukesi October 16th, 2003

I came across some terms supposedly coined by advertisers to describe consumers :

Transumer : consumers in transit. Apparently advertisers are increasingly targeting transumers… Ever seen all those boards in airports and so on ?

Snobmoddities : commodities with snob value. Ah, good old Dalhi !

After spoiling date : age after which kids don’t fall for ads. The young adults.

As I was saying, our generation is of no interest to advertisers / researchers. Which is why I wanted to understand our age cohorts. But no response to it….. anyways….

Sympvertising : advertising with a pinch of sympathy. Didn’t quite understand this. Sympathy for whom ? The end - consumer ?

Oh, ok… infusing consumer advertising with a pinch of sympathy that acknowledges the tough times that most consumers are experiencing – LA-based ad professional James McLahan.

The best example I can think of is the Beetle ad created by Bill Bernbach just after the Great Depression in the US. Showing a man at a petrol pump (or fuel station, as they say!!) holding the petrol pipe (representing a gun) to his forehead….

Just imagine what is going on in the US market today….. Advertisers addressing son-of-the-soil type Americans….. We-know-How-It-Feels….. America and Apple Pie and so on….

Massclusivity : a product based on exclusivity from the masses. I am different….. which is why I shop at Shopper’s Stop and Lifestyle but take pride in being a First Citizen….. or gold member… or whatever it takes to be “exclusive”….

Any idiot can come up with a great ad. But it takes a truly creative mind to come up with such terms. After all, getting the terminology right is the most important and difficult step in the marketing process……
understanding your consumer? nah!

There’s always something happening with Reliance

charukesi October 15th, 2003

There is always something happening with Reliance mobiles. On the same day, in the ET, I saw two news items about Reliance Infocomm.

Reliance emerges No.1 cell co in the country, says one item. Taking only mobile services into account, Reliance (Infocomm and Telecom together) is the biggest operator with 47.96 lakh subscribers.

And why not ? Reliance has taken market blitzkrieg to new heights. The company has pulled all stops to ensure that one can hardly avoid having a Reliance mobile.

I shopped at Fabmall in Bangalore and found myself with a new Reliance connection, with a Nokia handset, all FREE….. I went to the Bangalore book fair, where it took all my wits to avoid finding myself with another Reliance connection….

You get the picture…… sell the phone, service issues can be sorted out later, feels Reliance. Good for them.

For most of us, a mobile phone is an investment to the extent that, having given my number to everyone I know, I would wish to retain that number at all costs. Which means that I am tied to the service, once I get into it. And RIM know this….

Now, they are the number one cell company, surprise, surprise…..

News item two says : WLL (Wireless in Local Loop) to be confined to local call area. Yet another Ambani manipulation. I came to Madras from Bangalore. And found myself with a new Reliance number. And my Reliance mobile is strictly ‘no roaming’ by law.

Where there is a law, there is also a loophole. And if anybody can find it, it is Reliance Industries…..

Apart from this, Reliance Infocomm is also being slapped by The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) for their misleading ads.

Will be good fun to wait and watch how Reliance gets out of this one. And the WLL codes of conduct.

And where they go from here…….

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