We all need good associations

After Godrej and Samsung, food and beverages major Pepsico India is rethinking its association with Indian Premier League after allegation of wrongdoings, money laundering and corruption were labled against the league. Earlier Godrej and Consumer durables major Samsung revealed that they are waiting for the outcome of the probe against IPL and will find it suitable to opt out id the league is found to be guilty. From this incident what we all can infer that brands act mostly as human beings. We always want to be associated with good things, good people and good environment, so does a brand. To build a brand image and maintain it over a period of time is very essential for any brand. So they always go for positive influential brand association, it may be brand ambassador, brand elements or brand communicator. Something that can hamper the brand's equity isn't entertained. GSK opt out from endorsing Sania Mirza after the tennis player entangled into controversies recently. IPL is still a big brand to be associated with and i am sure few more brands will join in tandem to raise it. I swear Cricket is a religion in India

Product recall-double edged sword

I constantly feel, product recall from the market can be really hazardous for any company. Because it leaves an impression on customers that you are not leaving up to the expectation of customers or not withstanding on your brand promise. Toyota, Nokia, Maruti all were involved in such product recall in recent times creating lot of chaos in the market as well as consumer minds. Do the product recall decision helps brands to gain more faith or erodes the brand equity, that is a big question. The way Nokia recalled its faulty BL5c battery from the market and exchanged them with new ones was tremendous. The way they communicated to the customers and resolved the issue was commendable. So gaining more brand equity was never in question. But I feel Toyota and Maruti missed the plot somewhere that tinted their brand image, which was eventually shown in declining price of their shares. Brands are like friends that is what i feel. If a good friend does some mistake we tend to forgive him and accept him wholeheartedly, same happens with brands also. We ignore some hiccups if we are loyal to the brand. But if the case is just opposite then definitely the brand loses much ground. So i hope those customers are loyal to Toyota will still appreciate the decision of product recall as it was intended for their safety concerns. A good friend always thinks good for his friends. Let me know what you feel about this.

Finding the Right Green

When it comes to shining a spotlight on specific sustainability issues, count on NGOs and consumer groups to target the most respected and trusted brands in the world. Overnight issues will make front pages and leaders will be pressed to make changes. The list of recent targets reads like a Who's Who of branding: Home Depot (sustainable harvested wood), Nike (child labor practices), McDonalds (Styrofoam clamshells and now obesity), and Coke (sugar and packaging). What does this all mean for your business? Simply stated, if you don't manage your business with respect to environmental and social sustainability, your business will not be sustained!

But the converse is true, too: A strong commitment to environmental sustainability in product design and manufacturing can yield significant opportunities to grow your business, to innovate, and to build brand equity. All you have to do is get the word out...right?

As with any other major business endeavor, easier said than done. Many a responsible company has run into trouble with these very same sustainability minded NGOs and consumer groups thanks to a poorly planned and crafted marketing message. Protect your company from these common pitfalls and start taking advantage of new opportunities by heeding my Five Simple Rules of Green Marketing:

1. Know your customer. If you want to sell a greener product to consumers, you first need to make sure that the consumer is aware of and concerned about the issues that your product attempts to address. Whirlpool is just one company that learned this lesson the hard way. Even after winning a $30 million "golden Carrot" prize for being first to market with a CFC-free fridge, they discovered that consumers wouldn't pay the premium because they didn't know what CFCs were - and there were no other value-added benefits.

2. Empower consumers. Make sure that consumers feel, by themselves or in concert with all the other users of your product, that they can make a difference. This is called "empowerment" and it's the main reason why consumers buy greener products. This powerful principle underlies so many campaigns laden with tips.

3. Be transparent. Consumers must believe in the legitimacy of your product and the specific claims you are making. Caution: There's a lot of skepticism out there that is fueled by the raft of spurious claims made in the "go-go" era of green marketing that occurred during the late 80s-early90s - one brand of household cleaner claimed to have been "environmentally friendly since 1884"!

4. Reassure the buyer. Consumers need to believe that your product performs the job it's supposed to do. They won't forego product quality in the name of the environment. (Besides, products that don't work well will likely wind up in the trash bin, and that's not very kind to the environment.)

5. Consider your pricing. If you're charging more for your product - and many environmentally preferable products cost more due to economies of scale and use of higher-quality ingredients - make sure that consumers can afford the premium and feel it's worth it. Many consumers, of course, cannot afford premiums for any type of product these days, much less greener ones, so keep this in mind as you develop your target audience and product specifications.

Source:Jacquelyn Ottman

It's storm but it will pass

Can IPL sustain the blow and emerge out with flying colours is a common question that is troubling legions of cricket fans not only in India but also around the world. A chaos existing from last few days is gripping the whole nation over the future of one of the most successful sports league in world which is evaluated to be $4.13 in 2010. But when i look at the issue, i find more positives than negatives in this league. Let put aside all the allegations and controversies and think on our feet, the benefits of IPl. The foremost thing which comes into my mind is the development of infrastructure for sports in our country. Better Stadiums, sitting facilities, playing conditions have improved. New avenues have been staged e.g. Dharamsala and Barbati. Domestic players are getting a chance to play cricket at top level which is very necessary when India is looking forward to be the cricketing superpower. Think of the Brands involved with IPL and the job opportunities it is creating-i will say it is enormous. So i strongly feel IPL is a brand to reckon and it will grow bigger and better with time only. That is what the new interim chief of IPL Mr Chirayu Amin said when asked about the future of IPL. He quoted " it will be bigger, better and transparent next year." BCCI played a big game again when they appointed Chirayu Amin , owner of "Alembic" a pharma giant in India as interim chief of Indian Premier League which is battling allegations of money laundering, benami holdings in franchisees and tax evasions hanky-panky.

It's all about you, I will tell you why !

I do not know what new year brings exactly and why people get so excited to celebrate it, but one thing i am quite sure that we promise ourselves too much on that day and really start up new things with great enthusiasm. Who does not make New Year Resolution and i am no exception. Wait! Here i should mention what my dad said me once on this NY resolution," Its like a birth day,goes with one day."

Why i am saying this? We all agree that wisdom can come from anyone. While discussing about "resolution" with one of my friend i got a very true essence. She told that to take resolution you don't have to wait till new year. If you feel like doing something which is good for you and society then why to wait till new year, why not today? I took a pause and thought. Yes who is stopping us, everyday is a new beginning for us. Nice thought.

But i don't buy one concept of her. That's what motivated me to write this. She told she would like to change herself ( if she finds something wrong in her ). It's all about you and the way you look at yourself. I may sound chauvinistic but i will tell you why ! You have to love and respect yourself as you are. And most of the time we are ignorant about our hindrances. So bury it. Add positive qualities and attitudes to life. That's the way we should be.

They buy with gusto

Once while having a discussion on consumer behavior of rural people, Somun a very constructive thinker highlighted few points that i would like to mention here. Brand hardly matters for rural people, rather what appeals to them is" value pricing". They prefer smaller packaging ( sachets of shampoo and masala) because it is affordable for their wallet. Moreover he stressed on the fact of counterfeiting and cloning that actually affect the rural market t. I do agree with his arguments except one that rural customers are not brand loyal. Let me tell why?
Most purchases in rural customer's purchase basket tend to be unbranded. That's fine. But when they actually buy brand, they buy true brand. Rural customer trust brands as friends. The brand is perceived as a reliable mate, an entity that promises and delivers. Before buying they also have a pool of considerations and evaluate each and every options and go for the best one. Owning a good brand also gives them a social affiliation and status in that cohort. It differentiates the owner from the rest villagers in terms of esteem also, as Indian villages are still social strata bound. So they do not hesitate to spend in bulk to get the best brand and keep telling others about the benefits of that brand.

Are you a brand addicted?

Customer mind-set includes everything that exists in the minds of consumer with respect to brand: thoughts,feelings, experiences, images, perception and attitudes. Creating the right customer mindset can be critical in terms of building brand equity and value. But once the brand awareness is raised and brand attitude is created then you can't stop the brand growing exponentially. The degree of loyalty towards a brand is called brand attachments. Hard core loyals are dubbed as brand addicted. I find in very common among my friends. They are addicted to particularly some brands. If they have a plan to buy something in that segment then they will go for that brand only, never mind what other options they have. That's brand addiction. It is the reflection of an attitude that they form towards a brand. Overall evaluations of the brand in terms of its equity and satisfaction that it generates fuels the brand attitude and finally cause adherence leading to addiction. When i analyze myself then i find myself to be a hardcore loyal to few brands but in certain categories i belong to switch loyal( who switches to different brands according to value proposition). Now ask yourself. Are you brand addicted?

Brand appeals in sync with value pricing

The recent recessionary trend show us how big brands succumbed to the pressure and finally tumbled while smaller players survived. Its not that those brands succumbed were bad in strategies but what i feel their brand appeal was not in sync with pricing. Pricing is relative and when we use the term value pricing it can differ more. But what pertinent is how the consumer perceives the price of goods and commodities. So redefining value is very important for companies to sustain in the market. Do not get carried away by value that is defined by lofty advertisements and retail appeal. Get down to the basics and focus on basic brand appeal. Brand appeals needs to be in sync with value pricing. Reduce obscene margins that are typically made and taken for granted in categories. Brands must not distance themselves from customers by creating wall of unfair means. What is more important is mass appeal. You should not sacrifice width and breadth of appeal for mere margins. Bargaining power of consumer is increasing day by day. The awareness level among them is very high now a days. So if you adopt unfair pricing then the customer will definitely say bye bye to you. At the end of the day Brand appeals should sync with value pricing.

Lose the bargain but win the customer

I always admire one of my friend's bargaining skills ( where there is an option of bargaining ) during purchase, not because he used to grab the best deal but how he does it. During my last outing with him we went to a shop to buy some stuffs. The shop keeper asked a price of two hundred bucks for that. Then my friend started all the bargaining tricks and narrowed it down to one hundred and thirty bucks. Then the shopkeeper pleaded that he would hardly extract any profit out of it and asked to bind the deal at one hundred and fifty bucks.My friend said no and finally zeroed on one hundred and forty bucks. Shopkeeper agreed to it. My friend was elated with a sense of pride, again sealing the best deal. Then while returning he told me that the shop is the best one where we can find value for money. I simply nodded.

Now i knew that the product he bought costs only hundred bucks( same brand ) in my place. Shopkeeper set the price high and allowed the customer to bargain. When customer bargained and managed to get that at his best perceived value, he felt good. What i am trying to say is that the shopkeeper took his profit in a big way and customer thought he won also. So for them it was an win-win situation. Thus made the customer a repeat customer as well. All know repeat customer turns into loyal customer bringing the profit to the company. So the shopkeeper lost the bargaining battle but won a customer.

Oh..i forgot his birth day

Deepak: Stalin, you did not wish me on my birthday
Stalin : Oh, i am so sorry. Your birthday just went right.
Deepak: Anyways you forgot. That's the truth
Stalin : Why you removed your birth day stauts from Orkut
Deepak: I was just checking who were wishing without knowing it from Orkut, but i was expecting your call.
Stalin : I am really sorry. Belated happy birthday.

This is a part of my conversation with my friend Deepak two days after his birth day. No body can deny the fact that we are used to web,internet and social networking sites now a days. I can even say that we are totally dependent on internet. Previously we have to remember so many things , but now no need. On social networking sites friend's,relatives birth day keep coming and we simply by watching that wish them. But if someone will hide his/her birth day status, then we will not be able to wish him/her. There comes the problem. The person who may be expecting your wish will definitely feel bad. Because emotion plays a very crucial role in every human's life. Unintentionally we will keep hurting our beloved persons. What can i term this fault of human or technology?

"Got Milk" -the sensational campaigns of all time

For more information on " GOT MILK" Campaign, please check the link given below
http://inventorspot.com/articles/got_milkinventive_marketing_5569

Region status for india-PepsiCo's big plan

Recently PepsiCo awarded "Region" status to India. The company will hold its annual board meeting in India for the first time in mid-September. India will be the second country after Mexico to have the annual board meet. The $43-billion beverages and snacks company has been very successful in India, even if when the parent company was facing the global down turn. Chairman and CEO of the company hails from India that may be a reason for getting this Region status, but what I feel there are more solid reasons behind it.

1. Decentralization: Allocating the "region" status will facilitate more independent decision making process and faster allocation of resources. It has integrated its beverages and snacks under a common leadership in line with Indra Nooyi's "power of one" strategy. Indian brass of management will take decision according to the Indian market only, which is best suited for India.
2. The Indian wing has given them an all time high growth of 33-35% last year at a time when its parent was struggling to make profits. That shows the high growth opportunities that India has for the comapny. Besides this it has to tackle Coca-Cola in Indian market which is a big task itself. The investment of PepsiCo in India is already $1 billion and it has plan of investing a total of $500 million over three years.

So hope to see a complete turn around, when the biggies will confront each other.

Force India-Fisichella makes India proud

It was a great moment of pride for every Indian, when Force India's driver Fisichella grabbed the pole position in Belgian Grand Prix. Vijay Mallya, the aviation and liquor mogul could not have asked anything more than that. He responded by saying this "I am so proud of Giancarlo, the team in the garage and the factory and also for the entire Indian nation. There is nothing more to say. We've done both ourselves and the country proud." It was the Force India team's first-ever pole and the fourth for 36-year-old Fisichella, who has been heavily linked with a switch to Ferrari for next month's Italian Grand Prix. His last pole came at the 2006 Malaysian Grand Prix. After this, he will be under pressure to stay with the team that has given him a new lease of life - and added to the lustre of the 'golden oldies' running in Formula One. When we are facing a turbulent time in our country from our own sports ministry, at that moment basking such glory is really commendable. Here some people are trying to term it as entertainment rather then a sport and hence neglecting the evolution of this sport in our country. But don't they feel proud after getting this news. We have talented indigenous drivers who can really make it big at international stage. So why we are not providing them the facilities for that.

You need to be a human

Doing business in this time and without the help of information technology is like next to impossible. I read so much about just in time (JIT), TQM, ERP, GPS, RFID etc..actually a long list to mention here. Every dreaming big companies are setting their operation on high -end technology. But are we moving away from the classic human touch!!! I am quite skeptical about it. I read an article on Sam Walton( founder of WAL-MART) during a case discussion in my class. There it was mentioned that he never went for technological help to make his business decision. He said"a computer or machine can only tell how much you have sold, but it won't be able to say how much you could have sold". It make sense to me actually. A computer will not be able to predict the unexplored potential of any business, it's the human touch intuition,gut feelings that can drive. Being in business, its not necessary to have great policies, being human is a great thing. Go where your customer are and respond to them. that is where you can have the big advantage over big guys. Creating a healthy atmosphere at work place and caring for your employees can propel your business like anything. Rocket science is not needed to handle the man power, few simple loving words and gestures can create a great company.

Advertising influencing consumer behavior

Advertisements are developed to influence the way people think about products and brands. More specifically it is designed to affect consumers beliefs and brand attitude. Attitude is the nearest variable to buying decision. Advertisers use multi-attribute attitude models to help them ascertain the attitudes of target consumers. However consumers have perceptual defenses that allow them to ignore or distort most most of the commercial message to which they are exposed. While passing by roads we are exposed to so many advertisements and billboards. Initially they are able to catch our attention, but over a period of time we distort them. Because they fail to create the stimuli that is needed for attention. If a TVC is shown repeatedly on television, we tend to swap channels whenever it is telecasted or do other things in the mean time.So it becomes a challenge for the ad maker to create the innate stimuli. But when we are exposed to something new, different and abstract we tend to focus on it. This things create a stimuli in our brain and we pay attention to these creative ads. When consumers are not motivated to thoughtfully process an advertiser's message, it may be in that advertiser's best interest to feature one or more peripheral cues as part of the message.

Ads-It's not really new-new

There’s a new wave of advertising sweeping over Indian channels, only it’s not really new-new. So many heyday Ads are coming now a days. What I strongly feel is there’s more to this reuse of old ads than just the effort to tap nostalgia. Let it be Garden saree Ad by Lisa Roy or Bajaj Electrical s " jab mein chota ladka tha" Ad. Old Days Ads have created a resonance in the minds of consumer and when ever the Brand comes into mind somehow the unique Ad comes into mind automatically. So it makes sense to me bringing back the old ads.It makes sense for us to go back to a property that was iconic. It is less about nostalgia and more about juicing value out of what we still consider is a strong meaningful property in difficult times. As long as the target consumer is same and message strategy is unchanged, i think use of old ads are ok. It will definitely evokes the sense of loyalty and brand recall to a great extent.

But there is a paradox to it also. Could companies have run the same old commercial? Perhaps not in all cases, as the imagery won’t be contemporary enough, but they can try to stay true to the original.

Nimbooz bags sponsorship of King's XI Punjab

When Leading soft drink manufacturer, PepsiCo launched its non-carbonated packaged nimbu paani 'Nimbooz', under its brand 7Up in India it created a lot of hype in the market. To promote the product which claims to contain no artificial flavours and contains real lemon juice IPL2 was the best option in India. But after IPL2 shifted to South Africa the pre-planned promotional campaign was hit badly. The drink which is targeted at Indian tastes, finally grabbed the opportunity to become the official beverage sponsor of the IPL franchisee team Kings XI Punjab. It has also got the branding rights on the players’ uniform with the logo at the back.PepsiCo has drawn up an intensive consumer activation campaign to market Nimbooz. The 360 degree marketing communication plan will build awareness through multi-city launches and road shows, 3D activation, leveraging Out-of-Home (OOH) media, radio, press and outdoors. The on-ground initiatives will be supported by a TV commercial that reflects Nimbooz’s ‘Ekdum Asli Indian’ proposition.Besides, the company has also launched a marketing initiative ‘Nimbooz Highway Gadi’, in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal, offering consumers to buy scratch cards and win a trip to South Africa. So go grab your bottle, who knows may be you are the lucky one to fly South Africa !

Is "young" the undisputed flavour of the day?

Recently a headline grabbed my attention Sushmita Sen loses ad deal to Asin,the Ghajini fame. The perfect diva who was associated with Pantene for a longtime paved the way for young,pretty new face but no where as charismatic as Sush. It is not the case with Sushmita alone. List is very long. Pepsi khan was dropped from team pepsi, Ash Rai Bachchan, Rani Mukherjee and preity Zinta all lost their previous lucrative deals. On the cricket front too similar trends have been observed. Yesterday’s iconic players like Sourav, Dravid, Kumble and even genius Sachin have suffered in the hands of power of youth. In my opinion the reason behind this trend is:
• There is definite a point of saturation when a celeb endorses a brand for a long period of time in today’s novelty driven market
• Success is all that matters at the end of the day
• Youngistan is drooling over youth icon
People like change. They love to watch something fresh and exciting. The age of loyalty is over , it is the age of return on investment(ROI). Success is the mantra of money now. Dhoni’s dynamic leadership, success as captain as well as batsman has earned him endorsement of Rs. 300 crore. T20 players of our country have replaced the old faces in Indian cricket. Be it cricket or Bollywood expect the sponsors to keep pampering and pouring money on successful persons only. So Nestle dropping Rani for Trisha and Nakshtra Diamond sagging Aishwarya for Katrina Kaif is not at all a surprise. Youth is definitely in and here to stay on as long as they are successful but is it possible for them to retain the charm for long. Does a Yusuf Pathan or Praveen Kumar can ever match the charisma of Sachin or Shahrukh? Are they brand fit? Do they go with the profile of Pepsi? Is it that the marketer are following the trend just like a brainless follow-the herd mentality !!!

" Jai Ho" for The congress !!!

The Congress is ecstatic about "Jai Ho" the Oscar winning song by AR Rehman from the movie Slumdog Millionaire. With an eye of using it in its central election campaign for the 2009 polls, the Congress party has bought the rights of Jai Ho from T-Series for an undisclosed sum of money. Ignitee digital solution has created the video using the song jai ho showcasing the footage of computer revolution, Chandrayan, women empowerment and many policies implemented during the Congress regime. The video is considered as the most viewd video on orkut for the last month, having nearly 35,000 viewership. As general Election is nearing fast it is not just congress but all parties are opting for the digital and online media for campaigning. Political campaigns and advertisings were very much there,but this time they have metamorphed into a bigger scale. Every party is eyeing the 40 million online voter base. Youth generation is the voter base who spend maximum time on internet and online campaigning is the best way to reach them, because every vote counts. Digital media is the best way to reach maximum numbers of voters of different ages, races and communities. It is a very accountable medium which facilitates pin pointed targeted messaging with zero wastage. So if you are finding political party's election campaigns on social networking sites like orkut,facebook,myspace and metacafe, then it is nothing astray. INDIA IS SHINING !!!

Appy Fizz got new cousin Grappo Fizz

Recently I saw one of my friend sipping a new packaged carbonated drink, I asked him what was that and answer came lemon. Eyebrows raised suddenly.I checked that being curious and it was LMN from Parle Agro . when I hear Parle Agro the first thing come into mind is "frooti"(the largest contributor to parle agro’s sales) delicious mango drink,yummy ! Company’s other offerings include Appy fizz, saint (a juice brand), bailey mineral water and Parle-G (largest selling glucose biscuit in the world) and many more. But this summer Parle Agro is in a mood to capture as much share it can grab in soft drinks segment.Appy fizz got its new cousin Grappo fizz-a carbonated grape drink. After the huge success of appy fizz among the youth , the grappo fizz is also aimed at youth persona and is introduced as a “youthful rapper” and the cousin of the appy fizz character. So after apple its grapes now in the carbonated drink form. Certainly as the youth is moving away from the consumption of cold drinks being health conscious, this type of drinks are real alternative for them and Parle Agro is leaving no stone unturned to make it popular among the consumer.Parle Agro plans to tap into this segment through various activities including a television commercial, which will be on air this weekend. Grappo Fizz i am waiting for you.