Deal Sites and the truth behind them…

Contributed By Rohit Mittal




Recently a lot of websites like Snapdeal, Bagittoday, mydala etc have come up which offer deals on local businesses to the customers and by now, there are over 100 such websites. Most of these have been inspired by western sites like Groupon and have garnered a lot of media attention. They have been touted as a “win-win-win” model: customer gets the product or service at a discount, business gains publicity & new customers and the website gets a cut in the coupon price. However, even in US where the concept originated businesses have not had too good experience with the idea as the following post by Posies Cafe owner clearly shows. If you are a small business owner and seriously considering using one of those sites, first be clear on the amount you are willing to spend and what is it that you are expecting to gain out of such service. For a student/executive in Marketing, this demonstrates the stark difference between the promise and delivery of Return on Investment(ROI) in social media based promotions.

Post publish date: Sep 11, 2010

For months I’ve been thinking about whether or not to write a blog post about Groupon, and sharing the kind of experience it has been for the business. I’ve been weighing the possible repercussions of such a candid post as well, but after today, and having to decline a longtime customer’s Groupon for being past the expiration date, she asked that I share with everyone the reality of Groupon.
Today one of our most loyal customers, Lucinda, came in and asked if she could use her Groupon that had expired the day before. I felt terrible, but I had to say no. I knew she was upset, and I wanted to explain, but there was a line, and it would take longer than the few seconds we had together there to share why I couldn’t. She came up to me later when there wasn’t a line to tell me that she was really disappointed, that she had been a longtime supporter of Posies through the Mamananda Group, and that this experience made her never want to come back. I knew she felt my declining was personal. So I explained to Lucinda, and now to all of you, how Groupon works for the businesses, and why it has been the single worst decision I have ever made as a business owner thus far…
I heard about Groupon in January of this year from a friend, and after doing my research, I thought the idea was pretty clever. I, the business owner, would offer a discount to the consumers utilizing Groupon’s social network, and we would get noticed by many who may never have seen us otherwise. A great marketing opportunity and way to increase future foot traffic! I assumed Groupon would take a percentage, but that it wouldn’t be that huge… maybe 5-10%? I spoke with John, a Groupon rep, and we started formulating the idea. He didn’t have to sell me on the concept, I understood and thought it was genius. Then we talked pricing. We were going to offer a $6 for $13 (pay $6 and get $13 worth of product) because John told me people really respond to deals that are over 50% discount. It wasn’t starting off as that great of a deal for us, but we kept talking. Then we talked the percentage split. John told me that when the consumer pays less than $10, Groupon usually takes 100% of the money. What?! He reassured me that most customer buy more than the $13, and that we would never have to advertise again after taking advantage of their network. In my mind I thought “false. You can never stop advertising as a business,” but outloud I said, “Ok, let me think about it.”
I hung up and thought it over. I called him back and said we would have to get at least 50% to cover our costs of product… to this day I don’t know why I thought even 50% would be a good deal for us. Maybe because I thought since we were covering our food costs. What I didn’t think clearly enough about was that that margin we mark up is what covers all of our other costs… like staff, rent, utilities, etc. Our overhead is roughly $25,000/month, and this decision was about to make it so that we didn’t cover any of those other costs.
Against my husband’s advice, I decided to do it knowing how many other businesses I admired had utilized Groupon. We were featured on March 9th and sold nearly 1,000 Groupons. When I talked to Lucinda today, she asked if there was a cap on how many were sold to help protect the business from too much loss, and the simple answer is, no. When you sign up for Groupon, you are agreeing to sell as many as get sold… and why would Groupon want it any other way? They get half of the earnings.
We were bombarded the first weekend after our feature because our feature had come out a month late, and unfortunately coincided with the Kenton Library’s grand opening. Over the six months that the Groupon is valid, we met many, many wonderful new customers, and were so happy to have them join the Posies family. At the same time we met many, many terrible Groupon customers… customers that didn’t follow the Groupon rules and used multiple Groupons for single transactions, and argued with you about it with disgusted looks on their faces, or who tipped based on what they owed (10% of $0 is zero dollars, so tossing in a dime was them being generous). Or how about the lady that came in the day of Groupon (though you’re not technically allowed to use them until the day after) and asked for the Groupon discount without an actual Groupon in hand because she preferred to give us all $6 rather than half of it to Groupon. While the idea is noble, this causes mass confusion among the staff and makes it seem that without commitment, anyone should be able to get anything off of our menu for 50% off.
After three months of Groupons coming through the door, I started to see the results really hurting us financially. There came a time when we literally could not make payroll because at that point in time we had lost nearly $8,000 with our Groupon campaign. We literally had to take $8,000 out of our personal savings to cover payroll and rent that month. It was sickening, especially after our sales had been rising. Sure, maybe thinking of it as just marketing may seem justified, but anyone that knows me well knows that I would never pay more than $100 for advertising, much less $8,000, because I don’t believe that regular advertising had much return on investment at all. So the experience jaded me, and the interactions with the few bad Groupon customers we had jaded our staff. After all of this, I find myself not even willing to buy Groupons because I know how it could hurt a business (side note: service industry businesses do quite well with features like this because it is just the cost of time – you are not paying for a product for resale. Resale, in my opinion, get hit the hardest).
In short, to dear Lucinda and anyone else that comes in with a Groupon in hand, please know that our respectful decline of your coupon is not personal. It’s because we cannot afford to lose any more money on this terrible decision I made, and the only saving grace we had was an expiration date.

These deal sites work only for specific cases such as:

1) New businesses where you need to advertise anyway to get the word out,
2) High margin businesses where you can give away some profit
3) Businesses like dentists, where you’re almost guaranteed a revisit after that discounted teeth cleaning or the customer is mostly likely to come back and pay full price,
4) Venues like museums where most of the cost is fixed.
5) Very targeted discounts at time’s you’re normally slow, or for higher margin products that you’re able to pair up, as some have mentioned here.

Pre-Purchase Dissonance

Contributed By NIKHIL KAPOOR

Post Purchase Dissonance has for decades been a very important tool for marketers to influence consumer behaviour. Here the customer after purchasing a product thinks that if he had purchased some other item it would have been better than the one he bought. This has led to cognitive dissonance theories as a solution where the job of marketers is to convince the consumer that the purchase made by him is the best one and it will satisfy all of his needs. The customer is reassured that he or she has made the right decision.

But now things are different. In recent times the change in technology is so rapid that even before a product is launched its successor is already visualised and half way through its development. This ushers in the concept of Pre purchase dissonance.

Pre purchase dissonance occurs when even before purchasing a product you are dissatisfied with it as you realise that a better version is under works and still you purchase the product. It is a new trend that can be viewed as emerging especially in technology driven products, Like Mobile phones and Cameras.

Let’s take a real life example. In February Samsung announced a dual core 1.2GHz Phone called the Galaxy S2. This phone is simply the most powerful commercially available phone till date. The phone was to be Available in May 2011 in markets. In March Samsung announces that a 2GHz Dual core processor had been developed and would see the market in January next year. That is almost 50% more powerful than the yet to be launched ‘most powerful phone The Galaxy S2’. In the same month NVIDIA announces its quad core processors. These are 200% times more powerful than the Galaxy S2 and would also be available in January 2012.

Now let’s look at what a buyer goes through. He is excited about the Galaxy S2, very powerful. Then he realises that it is obsolete even before it is launched. It is easy to assume that he would wait 7 months for the new line of phones. But this is not the case always.

The buyer is already saving up and waiting for the Galaxy S2 for 4 months and then if you ask him to wait for an additional 7 months, he would totally get un-settled. Most consumers won’t wait the extra months. They will go ahead and buy the Obsolete yet to be launched phone in May, knowing that they are not that satisfied with their purchase. Thus Pre-Purchase dissonance.

This has a chance of creating a dissatisfied feeling in the consumer regarding the product for apparently no reason. The phone is still the best at the time. But an unwanted negative feeling towards it has been created.

Marketers need to understand that this trend is there to stay. They cannot simply stop announcing technology as and when they are developed. Because if they don’t their competition will. And then they would just be reacting to the competition. Being pro-active is a very important part of technology driven industries. Marketers now have to accept Pre-Purchase dissonance as a trend to stay and try to leverage it in a positive way through further study.

BlackBerry - Changing Its Communication

Tracked By KARTHIK RAJA

When we hear the word BlackBerry, the first thing that comes to our mind is Corporate. The brand over the years  has built its position as an indispensable tool for today’s executive. Loaded with business friendly features like its highly successful and controversial push email service , its qwerty keypads , instant services and robust build quality, blackberry had few major competitors for a significant period of time.

If anything is constant in the technology world , it is the phenomenon of drastic and radical change. With a fresh start  in the humble Ipod, a rejuvenated Apple came up with an overwhelming product the IPhone. Add to it the evolution of tablets led by Ipad and the very successful Android operating system, Blackberry suddenly saw threat to its position.

Blackberry started of its response with the launch of its first touch screen based device named the Storm. It all set to enter the nascent but astoundingly growing tablet market with its Blackberry Playbook.

Blackberry’s communication in recent times however has gone a seemingly drastic with it looking to shed its hitherto official phone image and moving on to represent a cooler and stylish brand. It is aiming to catch its customers young.

The new set of very popular ads from the Blackberry stables represents this very trend with protagonists in their mid twenties. The first ad focused on the purchase of a first car is an effort in this direction with the brand seeking an emotional connect with the target group. The second is targeted at teenage customers and aims to build a sort of coolness about the brand in the minds of this segment.

The  company has also been investing in BTL activities with participation in prominent college festivals and corporate events. How well the brand manages to appeal to a new set of customers while keeping its original positioning intact is going to be  widely watched in the coming few months.

Nestea - Icy Cool And Animated

Tracked by KUMAR RAUNAK

Beverage partners worldwide (BPW),a joint venture between Coca Cola and Nestle, recently launched their ready to drink iced-tea brand, Nestea across the country after test marketing it in Mumbai. The product would be manufactured at Coca Cola India bottling plant at Guntur,Andhra pradesh. This launch could not have come at a better time for both the partners.With Nestle's almost stagnant market share in the chocolate category(25%) making it a distant second to Cadbury(70% share) and Coca cola's struggle to make inroads into non-carbonated beverage market dominated by players like Pepsico's Nimbooz and Tropicana, and Dabur's 'Real' fruit juice, it became imperative for both the companies to create buzz in the market with some exciting new launches. 

This product is expected to accomplish three objectives-

1.Take on Lipton iced-tea, the ready to drink brand from Unilever-Pepsico joint venture's stable.

2.Bolster Nestle's market share and growth performance in non-chocolate category to make up for the stagnant market share in the chocolate category.

3.Support Coca cola's only product in the non-carbonated beverage category, Minute Maid and take on a slew of products from the competitors' stable.

There are some conspicuous facts about Nestea which makes it an interesting launch, first the brand communication of being a refreshing and fun drink with a lemony flavour and yet predominantly a tea brand, a category which is relatively new and unique to India. Second the brand is targeted at 20 something youth as well as kids in the age group 5-12 through different skus and forms of product. For youth it is available at the price point of Rs 25 in 400ml PET bottle emphasizing its communication as refreshing on the go drink for today's youth hard pressed for leisure time and for kids it is available in powdered form in tetra packs with the name Remix.The idea seems to be to avoid placing the bet entirely on the cluttered youth beverage segment and have presence in kids segments also as in India there is no non-malted drink (malted ones are Horlicks, Complan etc) catering exclusively to kids. Third and the most salient fact about this brand is its marketing communication reflected in its television commercial for Nestea Remix which has animated characters, more precisely kangaroos and the communication of it being a fun and refreshing drink for kids is driven home. In India the use of animation in ad films is still very much restricted to a few brands like 7up, Mortein etc. Through the use of animation the idea is to create a novelty factor and enhance brand recall, moreover this advertising strategy of using animated characters in TVCs is adopted across the markets where nestea as a brand is a name to reckon with like UK, Germany, Italy etc.

Nestea India TVC - 

Coke Studio - Not Music To Their Rival's Ears

Tracked By VARUN VASUDEVAN

Ever since Coca Cola India announced that it would be launching its cult musical property ‘Coke Studio’ in India, a deceptively simple question has been plaguing us at Brandwagon – Is it going to really work out for Coke? See Coke Studio Season 4 Promo (Pakistan version) -

Coca Cola’s flagship drink Coke (hereafter referred to by this name in the article) is one of the most famous examples of mass marketing. Over the years, Coke has stood for ubiquitous consumption as a product to be enjoyed by people of all ages. If any targeting has been done at all, its has been to up their sales in the country by focusing on consumers who were not taking note of their presence – targeting small town India through the ‘Tanda Matlab Coca Cola’ promotion or the lower income strata through the ‘Paanch Matlab Chotta coke’ campaign. On the other hand, their chief rival Pepsi has built a proposition clearly targeting the youth of India – teenagers and young adults.

Wooing the youth

Of late however, with the series of ‘Khule Toh Bat Chale’ advertisements, Coca Cola started signalling its intent of stepping into Pepsi’s territory. And Coke Studio is Coca Cola’s rocket to the moon. To quote Mr. Abhijit Datta - “Teens are the future of our business. We need to inculcate the habit of consuming our beverage at an early age. Through this association, our objective is not to tactfully drive sales in the next quarter but help strengthen the equity of the brand. Given that teens as a segment forms a critical part of Coca Cola’s spend, a significant part of the annual budget will be spent on Coke Studio.”

With so much riding on Coke Studio, the following questions need answering –

Will this concept really take-off in India?

With more than 96000 fans on facebook a month before its launch on TV (as I write this), there seems to be an enormous spill over effect of Coke Studio Pakistan. While sky high expectations and doubts of Bollywood’s interference may be weighing down some Coke custodians, they can take heart from the positive reviews posted on facebook by the lucky few who got to see it live.

There however remains a nagging question – Will there be a sizeable audience for indie music, classical music and rock on mainstream TV? Luckily for Coke, young India seems to be increasingly acceptable to new sounds (influenced by both home grown acts as well as the increased penetration of cult international acts like Porcupine Tree, Katatonia etc in India through college fests). It is a pleasant surprise that nearly one-third (Indian Classical, Indi Pop and Rock) of the youth fall into this category considering Bollywood’s all pervasiveness.*

Who will Coke really be targeting through this initiative? Will Coke and Pepsi end up spelling out the same positioning with only the product acting as a differentiator?

Continuing from the previous point, Coke is likely to end up catering to the more ‘serious music lover’ youth of India - the kind who would be listening to bands you don’t hear every day, appreciating specifics like guitar chords and riffs, the singer’s vocal range and not just humming the tune in a simple sing-a-long manner. One can almost see Coke getting positioned as this ‘cult-underground type youth brand’ as against Pepsi’s on your face and populistic ‘Youngistaan’.

So relax, there is a while to go before the only differentiator is a blind-taste test.

What tangible benefit is Coke looking at with respect to understanding its consumer?

Coke Studio has already been inviting facebook fans to watch episodes live and this offers a great touch point for Coca-cola to qualitatively understand its target audience first hand. Really, a small interaction with a fan waiting to see his idols perform will reveal some of his interests, traits etc.  

Also, a recently quoted incident by a fan where some Coke officials helped him out with his headphones again increases good-will towards the brand.

Besides, it serves as a platform for new coke offerings and promotional schemes.

Obviously, all this has to be carried out in the most unobtrusive manner possible, as the consumer has come mainly for the music.

 What advantage does such an entity offer Coca Cola vis-à-vis Pepsi?

Coke and Pepsi try to ensure top-of-mind recall through associations and sponsorships. If this concept works in India, Coke will reap the benefits of a proven tie-up running for a long time, something like a ‘Barclays’ Premier League giving it enormous recall mileage as consumers will discuss about the show all year round or importantly - atleast during the four summer months every year when the show is aired. Pepsi, on the other hand has no signature event of its own.

So all in all, the concept seems to be a ‘sound’ vehicle for Coke to carve a greater niche for itself in the minds of the Indian youth.

*References for data -
http://www.hindustantimes.com/specials/coverage/YouthSurvey/Habit-Belief.aspx

Kya Cool Hai Hum?

Contributed By AMAN OBEROI


It's not just about cooling anymore. Most Air Conditioning brands are having to sweat it out in order to differentiate themselves from the rest.The basic function of cooling simply isn't enough for these brands to sell.
Carrier still focusses on their core competency of Even Cooling , Just like in the Office.


On the other hand we have Voltas which focuses on Sensible cooling, and reduced power bills. A very TATA way of going about things - solid and sensible products for the value conscious and discerning Indian customer. They have continued their concept of using Kids to showcase the fact that even kids know that Voltas provides Sensible Cooling techniques.The latest series of commercials have kids using Nursery Rhymes such as Jack and Jill, Humpty Dumpty etc. to drive home the point of reduced power bills.

Hitachi i-Clean AC

Hitachi seems to promote itself on the ease of maintenance factor that its AC's feature. The new line of i-Clean AC's do not require the tedious process of the yearly cleaning that is required for other AC's.


Panasonic Hide and Seek AC

Panasonic seems to use the dual strategy of a Brand Ambassador as well as a product Innovation. They have come up with a cube AC,which is a slightly squared to rectangle shape and will be in the shape of cube on the whole and thereby giving you an aesthetic look to your interiors and may look unique unlike the regular split ACs.


Samsung Virus Doctor AC

Samsung has decided to bank upon the popularity of its brand ambassador as well as the fear that viruses have created in the mind of the public . They try to showcase the AC as an effective way to keep the house Germ free and Virus Free.This AC seems to be certified by various organizations like Kitasato, Yeonsei, Retrosceen, Chungnam National University, BAK UK, RTI test.  This is the first of its kind air conditioner to hit the market, made possible by Samsung.


Onida Pre Cool AC

Onida makes use of an everyday situation in the life of most people , the problem of entering a heated home and then having to switch on the AC.
Onida Air Conditioners have come up with this Pre Cool ACs which just does that without any hassles.  Just before you are about to enter or nearer your home just send an SMS from your regular Onida Pre-Cool Mobile Phone to the AC receiving device and now your Airconditioner will be switched on automatically without any manual intervention and when you enter your home, then you can enjoy the full coolness of the AC immediately upon your entering.  You will need to send the SMS “AC ON” to the receiving device to make your air conditioner switched on automatically. They have clearly differentiated themselves with respect to the competition and have created a strong impact in the consumers mind, who remembers it as the SMS wala AC at the time of purchase.


LG active AC

LG uses its status as the official sponsor of the ICC world cup to draw attention to its tagline STAY HEALTHY, STAY ACTIVE. It focuses on the benefits of clean germ free air conditioning, and how it leads to a more active lifestyle.

Axe - The Googly Commercials

Tracked By ANIKET KHARE

Perhaps in the west, a group watching them would chorus “AWESOME!!!”

In India, the reaction, when asked in public would perhaps be closer to outrage!!!

But privately, the same question would perhaps evoke amusement and a little admiration too for the guys who designed them!!!

Yes people, I am talking about the latest set of Axe-Googly advertisements -

Now, naughty ads with more than a normal hint at sensuality has generally been the flavour of most Axe advertisements, but for once they seem to have gotten really creative . . .

With a host of cricketing terms that have then been interpreted in the AXE-way, the advertisements certainly increased the fun component of cricket in IPL, not that the IPL was fun-starved in any way.

Critics of these ads say they are a tad too close to being raunchy than being all that entertaining and to that extent cater to more basal instincts than are common amongst the Sec-A and Sec-B customers (target of AXE). But it is exactly on these points that the advertising strategy needs to be looked into, a few salient points of which are listed below:

•    The ads weren't and haven’t yet been launched on TV. The ad makers were very clear that they did not want to incur the wrath of social-acceptability brigade by broadcasting it through media where bigger social units like families/friend circles/elderly circles would view the same. The ads were launched only on Internet TV knowing too well that viewers of this medium would often be watching the telecast alone on their laptops/mobile phones/occasional desktops. Thus they very craftily negotiated a lot of pressure on the social acceptability of these ads.
•     Many brands went to ridiculous extents to have their ads have something to do with cricket while the Cricket World Cup 2011 was on. From Hair Oil and Shampoos to Telecom service providers and auto companies, everyone wanted a piece of the World Cup action. Not AXE!!! They waited for the IPL, knowing very well that the sanctity associated with cricket as it is played in the World Cup is quite different from the seriousness with which people would look at things during IPL, thus not rubbing any of those very very serious cricket lovers on the wrong side.
•     And subtly somewhere, I got the feeling people would’ve been much more offended had these ads been released stand-alone. However, the AXE super models seemed just a variant of the IPL cheerleaders . . . I mean, if you could have the White Mischief Girls, not reason AXE-mischief Girls should be frowned upon!!!

A look around the Sec-A and Sec-B crowd would tell us that the crowd using laptops, their age groups and habits matched the AXE identity better than any other singular group entity.

To conclude, while the debate of aesthetics vs. acceptability of these ads could be a long-drawn one, they have certainly given a breath of fresh air to the world of advertising that so revolves around cricket in this country!! 

ESPNSTAR - Changing The Game

Tracked By VARUN VASUDEVAN

Make no mistake about it. The massive outpouring of love, support and idiosyncrasies of 1.2 billion Indians played a big role in pushing Team India across the boundary in the 2011 cricket world cup. So when 1.2 billion people cried tears of joy with Sachin and co on that fateful day, a certain sports-production house was weeping copious tears of happiness*. There was only one thing left to do and they did it exactly a month later, but with a difference! Piqued? Read on...

When NDTV comes out with clippings of terror attacks or other big stories along with a slogan ‘You saw it first on NDTV’, you know that the channel is trying to brand itself as the quickest news provider in the country. No doubt, you would have seen similar advertisements by other media houses – print, TV or radio.

While this self-effusive branding has started to become rather stale, media houses are unable to resist similar slogans when they pull-off some coverage of significance. What media houses fail to understand is that these TV promotions fail to connect on an emotional level with most consumers – it’s too cold and business like. It goes in through one ear and out the other. Popular press consumers are just an extension of the you and me of today – they will shake the achiever’s hand just for the heck of it, caring not a tuppence as long as they have no mention in the achievement. 

But finally, when one felt that egoism will continue to ignore this cold reasoning, ESPNSTAR and their agency – Image Communications bucked the trend. See TVC –

There is little doubt about the fact that ESPNSTAR wanted to pat itself on the back and remind its viewers about where they watched the world cup (You saw it here, baby!). But, where this creative and brand exercise stands out is in its consumer (viewer) connect, not perhaps on a direct level like some ‘khelo and jeeto’ contest, but on a more emotional level.

The channel did well to understand that there is a sentiment of ‘this world cup belongs to every Indian’ running deep in India. They just needed to check out the number of ‘I am a proud Indian’ posts on facebook that day. 


Every Indian - from a granny to a kid follows some superstition for the greater good of the Indian Cricket Team. When India wins, you hear the usual – ‘Thank god, I did not shift out of my lucky seat’. And generally, when we are watching the match in a group, we make a great fuss over such people, and they feel good about it - leading to a good deal of bonding between the fuss-maker and the superstitious friend.

ESPNSTAR simply tapped into this typical Indian behavior, donning the fuss-maker’s hat, thanking the fan for his role, knowing that he would feel happy about it. What's more, he would even return the wishes and compliment the channel for its coverage, thereby establishing a greater bond between the two entities. Don't we see it everywhere - a mutual admiration society!


This might be game changing as far as 'media-house' branding is concerned.


As for the TVC itself - it has the feel of one of those classic commercials from the 90s.

*Source for data - http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-04-01/news/29370596_1_semi-final-advertisers-india-vs-sri-lanka

Maggi - The Mystery Marketing

Tracked By KUMAR RAUNAK

Nestle maggi has come out with another marketing masterstroke to engage its target consumers and create excitement around the brand by launching the all new maggi with a mystery flavour. Under this campaign the consumers are asked to taste and name the flavour and send in their entries via sms, facebook fan page and email. This campaign is being supported by some good television commercials and print ads. The entire campaign is designed by advertising agency Publicis India.

This is an engaging way to keep the target consumers excited about the brand and maintain the novelty factor. Maggi which has had virtual monopoly in India in packaged noodles market has off late seen some good competition from players like Glaxosmithkline’s Foodles, HUL Knorr soupy noodles, Ching’s secrets, and Smith & Jones. In order to avoid ceding ground to such players this kind of marketing strategies would stand them in good stead.

The Royal Wedding

Contributed by AMAN OBEROI

When I read reports of people waking up at 4am to watch the Royal wedding , I knew that this was the Wedding of the decade. One can understand UK going all gaga over the wedding but such was the kind of global hype surrounding the wedding that the hysteria was not limited to the UK alone. People from Australia to India to the US have been talking about this event.

Analysts have estimated that the economic impact of the Royal Wedding is around $3.3 billion, although there were no direct sponsors for the wedding, the TV channels had a great spectacle to cover, which meant more eyeballs that translates to higher advertising revenues.

Brands such as Pond's White Beauty(The reason for Princess Kate's flawless glowing skin), Maggi Pazzta (Italian delight For those hungry moments during the extremely stretched wedding), Volkswagen (The German People's car sponsoring the Royal Wedding), MakeMyTrip (Royal Honeymoon Packages) , 

Tanishq (the wedding ring), Slice ( Aamasutra??), Yardley (The only British Brand in this list) - All of them lined up to be sponsors of this Mega Event. This was in India!

In the online space we had the the Royal Wedding Channel on Youtube, which was the most viewed channel that day with live streaming of the Royal spectacle. But the single most impressive Royal wedding Stunt was pulled off by T mobile, who spoofed the Royal Wedding Entrance Dance in this Video 

They used Royal Look alikes to create an impressive sequence which has attracted 18million views so far. They had a channel named the Life is For Sharing Channel which showcased their creative genius.

Shaadi.com chose to take advantage of the Royal Wedding by using the Royal Wedding theme to revamp their website and ran a survey on which do their members think is the best Indian celebrity to match Prince William. The survey showed that Katrina Kaif as the top voted celebrity with 75% votes followed by Priyanka Chopra and Sonakshi Sinha. 

The Kodak ad, which was a corny pun intended at Middletons (Middletones).

TLC has been offering viewers 89 hours of programming with royal themes, among them “Royally Astounding: 30 Defining Days of the Monarchy,” “Untold Stories of a Royal Bridesmaid” and “Wild About Harry.”

Betty Crocker has been a symbol for the American Kitchen Values since 1921 but even they found a reason to get associated with the British  Royal Wedding, with a special Royal wedding cake recipe.

The Papa John's commemorative pizza was too much for Advertising Age, which said, "There is no excuse for this sort of marketing tie-in".

Such a neutral event allowed brands to jump onto the advertising brandwagon and get associated in anyway that was possible. Such a stunt works only if executed properly , otherwise they might end up like Kodak , whose Middleton ad is being severely criticized (only a 34% approval rating).But if pulled of with grace they could end up becoming Legendary campaign like the T Mobile Dance.

Volkswagen - The Company That Stands By Its Meaning

Contributed By TEJA BANDARU

Germany is known for cars. The country is so connected to cars that whenever the word ‘Germany’ comes up, BMW, Benz or VW flash almost in an instant; well beer also flashes for some people but since I am a teetotaler, cars usually come up. VW was created by the Nazis. Though they were notorious, the company that they created was pure, classy and a brand in itself. It has got some of the best brands in the auto industry under its umbrella and is one of the largest auto companies in the world. Such a company which has conquered most of the major world car markets was late to enter India but is quite ahead of what it does when compared to its competitors. It has done some brilliant work in all kinds of media; be it digital, print, TVC.

It is also the first automobile company to use ‘road blocking’; which is blocking the entire newspaper for its ads. The result: superb visibility. Similarly its talking newspaper created a quite a flutter. Digital marketing or ‘whatever’ marketing should be more interactive in order to capture potential customers. The world is evolving with lots of knowledge at disposal to the common man. Marketers should understand that the future customers no longer respond to static promotion. They should involve the audience and this is what VW has done. It involved the audience. It connected to people. One example of this can be seen in this video:

Same is the case with the talking newspaper.

Now you must be thinking “alright! Promotion is excellent .But what about cars?” I am coming to that point. In India, VW initially launched Jetta and the Passat. Unlike the west, VW in India is perceived as a premium brand, hence the launch of the ‘premium’ cars (actually Jetta is not while Passat is somewhat premium). And price? The price WILL be expensive as the company sources most of its components from abroad as VW doesn’t compromise on quality and is still trying to find local suppliers to match its requirements. Next it launched the Taureg and the Beetle a little later (sorry if I interchanged). Now why Beetle? Beetle, in Europe is the actual people’s car that Hitler conceived (stolen, to be precise). Well yeah, though it sells for 20 odd lakhs in India. Now for a late entrant like VW, it is foolish to assume that a country whose per capita income is less has lot of potential for an iconic two seater car whose power, mileage is less than a small car that comes for 5.5 lakhs (Its Swift, if you’re thinking). So why did it launch? The answer is that the company launched Beetle to propel its brand further in India. VW is not clearly looking at the numbers but is looking at the intangible benefits it obtains and with Beetle’s iconic design; it isn’t tough to capture the audience mindshare. This was a clever move and has really paid off. Next was the stunning Polo that arrived; solid build quality, nimble etc. etc. were there. The numbers took off and opened a new avenue for VW in India.

So, the essence is that VW has made a pioneer in itself in one of the world’s fastest growing auto markets. It is really a tough task to enter a new market when the competition is already at logger heads. It is a lesson that needs to be learnt by not only its fellow competitors but also other companies.

Tanishq - Shining Out From The Crowd

Tracked By VARUN VASUDEVAN

In a first for this blog, Brandwagon forays into the luxury branding space (that’s one P less to worry about) to make sense of the recent Tanishq promotion featuring the Big B and Jaya Bachchan.

Question. Who is the target audience for branded diamond jewellery? Off the top of my head, I would say – women, belonging to sec A and sec B socio-economic class, either engaged or married. So obvious, ain’t it? Given this background, on what lines do you position your diamond jewellery?

To the above target group, XYZ diamonds are more than just pretty stones, they elevate you to your most beautiful self (ala Nakshatra) or they radiate your true inner beauty (ala Asmi). Really, it’s like most apparel positionings you see in the popular press – You rack your brains to break the clutter and you come up with the same thing again and again. So, what’s the way out of this quandary? Get a better looking model than Katrina Kaif?

This is where consumer research came to the aid of Tanishq. The marketing guys here decided to dig deep and found that –

• There is a huge diamond gifting market in India – hubbies or fiancés buying diamonds for their better halves
• Diamonds are expensive. Needless to say, all its quality parameters must be A grade. “Hey, but what are these parameters” – ask not only men but also women. So there is a need to educate the masses about discerning the quality of a diamond  
• Men find it very difficult to choose jewellery for their partners, put in effort and expect that elusive ‘wifey’s appreciation’

Armed with these precious insights, Tanishq set off to create the following TVC –

The new positioning can be seen targeting both men (as the buyer) and women (as the ultimate consumer) and can be stated as – To the above target audience, Tanishq is a brand of diamond jewellery that brings with it the stamp of quality – with each of the parameters taken care of and is your trusted guide to diamond gifting. Thus, Tanishq positions itself as a diamond expert expertly conveyed by the male characters of the TVC.

We at Brandwagon think that this TVC is truly clutter breaking. Hey, but don’t take our word for it. See what the facebookers have to say about its efficacy –

Ah, you know its working when they say.....'so sweet'. Now maybe, Tanishq should teach a thing or two about standing out (and not up!) to its cousin brand – a certain Docomo.

Cafe Coffee Day - The Logo Change

Contributed by ADITI NAGPAL

While enjoying my vacation at home, I happened to come across a very interesting series on Bloomberg UTV by the name of "Beyond Logo”. Why I am mentioning it here before starting my article is because all I write here is completely derived from the series and no contribution whatsoever is there from my side in it except a viewpoint in the end.  It talked about how Cafe Coffee Day had undergone a logo transformation recently and how the chain has come to be recognised as providing a complete social hub experience through its new logo. It had become a symbol of one-stop chat and enjoyment for youngsters years ago when it was established but now the new logo has even managed to attract corporates to its fold with a plethora of deals signed under its roof everyday.

THE OLD LOGO

While the old logo was in a square box, the new logo appears as that of a dialogue box creating a greater conversational effect on its audiences.

THE NEW LOGO

With Starbucks announcing to make its entry in India with Tata Coffee and Hindustan Unilever deciding to launch "BRU World Cafe", will the competition eat up the home grown coffee chains and is that a reason for logo change? No, according to K.Ramakrishnan, the CMO, Cafe Coffee Day. Because according to him, there are enough coffee chains already existing in the market namely Barista Lavazza, Costa Coffee and The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf to give CCD its run for money. The market itself, he claims, is far from saturation even in the metro cities. With all the coffee outlets combined in Mumbai coming out to 250, the number itself stands quite less in comparison to the suburbs of this metro, let alone the colonies and the societies within each suburb. Further, according to his explanation, all these outlets have just been able to cover close to 180 towns and the number of towns existing in the country is too huge. So there is enough scope for each of the existing chains and also the new entrants to venture into the underutilised and unutilised space going forth with more and more chains in the towns where little exist or where none exists. Currently CCD has 1080 outlets across India and Ramakrishnan describes CCD as provider of a cafe experience which has led people to reduce their entertainment and enjoyment distance from inter-city distance to intra-city distance to walking distance and then to arms length distance. What it means is people are seeking their valuable time (spent with friends) at arms length distance today.

Whatever the CMO says, changing of the CCD logo has indeed come considering the competition in its wake, according to me. Ramakrishnan, who may not be ready to accept it today, maybe will do it later after the flip phase is over.

The findings of the flip revealed by CCD after the flip of close to its 350 cafes concluded that the flip has helped to increase the residence time of an average customer in the flipped cafes in comparison to the non-flipped ones. Further, the average growth rate of flipped cafes has increased by 15% yoy in comparison to the non-flipped ones, declaring it a success any day. The results clearly indicate that an effort is being made in the direction of making CCD a provider of a complete “social hub experience” in parallel to the Starbucks aura of aspirational appeal and global experience.

Adding onto these efforts of repositioning, introduction of new format outlets by the names of “COFFEE DAY LOUNGE” (the first few have opened quite recently) and “COFFEE DAY SQUARE” catering to local populations and having customised menus are being planned as well. (The company plans to introduce 65 lounge outlets of 1200 sq feet and 8 square outlets of 2000 sq feet area in the first phase in the non-metro cities of Bhubhaneshwar, Durgapur and Ranchi to start with).

One step at a time, CCD has big plans to increase its appeal, to garner unutilised space and to face the competition….and indeed a day will come when K. Ramakrishnan will look back and say that “the flip” was a right FIRST step in the RIGHT direction!!!After all, a lot can happen over a cup of coffee!!!

Cadbury Oreo

Tracked By KARTHIK RAJA  

In what is its first major launch since the merger with Cadbury, Kraft foods has launched its globally best selling cookie powerbrand Oreo. With its price tag of Rs 5 for 3 biscuits, Rs 10 for 7 biscuits and Rs 20 for 14 biscuits, Cadbury-Kraft has made its intentions clear.


Cadbury has kicked of an agressive promotion campaign 'Twist,Lick, Dunk' to promote it.It used the ICC Cricket World Cup to announce itself to India. The prime target group are school going kids and its advertising has is designed to catch the attention of them. As is evident from the ads, it is also aiming to capture the attentions of parents with a sweet tooth as is the storyline of the ad. It is also running promotional events in malls and prominent city locations.The brand has also been active on social media platform,Facebook with Oreo Brand Ambassador campaign

The company has also put in significant efforts on its distribution ensuring the product is available at not only premium grocery outlets but also at kirana stores and other specialty channels. POS presence through special racks,dispensers,table tops which are easily accessible as well as posters and adequate presence in the category handler. The company however faces a stiff challenge .Before OREO could enter Indian market, local brands had tried to imitate the global brand and have reaped success in the local market. ITC Sunfeast created "Dark Fantasy" brand and Britannia created "Pure Magic" and "Treat-O" brands and today enjoy a distinct image in the cluttered market.

Is Kizashi 'Something Great'?

Tracked by TEJA BANDARU

Kizashi, means ‘Something great is coming’ in Japanese. So is the car worth the meaning? May not be in this country with a billion people who know about Maruti in and out. It can be seen that Maruti is trying to break the notion that Indians have towards the company. Currently the D segment and the upper D segment are ruled by Honda, Toyota, Skoda and Volkswagen who have a very high brand recognition which is difficult for Maruti Suzuki to overcome as they have been and still making small cars and they stand for it.

I would say, it might not make a mark in this particular segment. It had previously tested waters through Baleno. Baleno is a good car. It’s got decent looks, if not great and a very efficient mill under its hood. But everybody knows what happened to the ‘product’. Same happened with Grand Vitara, futuristic looks, great promotions et al but no luck. I fear that same might happen with Kizashi.

To add to this dilemma and apprehension; is the TVC’s brought out. What does it convey? Nothing. What I could deduct was that Maruti is trying to showcase that kizashi IS a luxury car but the audience might not recognize it because nothing apart from a quarter of the steering wheel is shown and every car from 8 laksh have those buttons on the wheel . Are they special? Then put it in the ad! BUT, there’s a flipside to my point; it can be a teaser ad but nowhere is it mentioned like that. So I assume that the TVC is a proper one and is not captivating enough to make the prospect close the sale.

Next, an innovation that is being done by MSIL specifically for Kizashi is that they are establishing a direct sales force for the brand. This can steal the hearts of its prospective buyers. Nevertheless one can’t guarantee the model’s success. Hence, to overcome this, there is a time tested strategy which might work, it is the creation of a sub-brand bearing no relation to Suzuki. Yes, you are right, like the Lexus. The Japanese have been pioneers in this strategy especially in the automotive space. Though this is not as simple as giving this idea but the most benefit able solution given that Suzuki is partly owned by Volkswagen. Hence, let us see if Kizashi can really make a dent in the Indian market.