Roma Switches : India's Largest Selling Modular Switches

Brand : Roma
Company : Anchor ( Panasonic)

Brand Analysis Count : 516

Indian switch market is estimated to be around INR1800 crore and is dominated by Anchor with a share of 50%. Anchor Electricals which is one of India's largest electrical  products company was formed in 1963 and virtually created the branded electrical accessory market in India. The company effectively filled the need for quality and reliable electrical products in a market dominated by unorganized players.

In 1976, the company launched India's first Piano type switch with the sub-brand Roma. The product was highly successful and Roma became India's largest selling modular switch. ( Source : superbrand). In 2007, Anchor was taken over by Panasonic and now is a subsidiary of the global giant.

Roma is the market leader in the INR 800 crore modular switch market. The brand was earlier promoted as a sub-brand of Anchor ( Anchor Roma) and was heavily supported by the company interms of its brand building efforts.

Anchor should be very much appreciated for building a brand in a boring product category like switches. The brand was able to change consumer's perception about products like modular switches. One has to take into account that consumers where not considering switches as style statements but as a functional product.

Roma was promoted by Anchor by highlighting its aesthetics and reliability. The brand earlier had the tagline " Zindagi Khubsoorat Banaye "  Watch the ad here : Anchor Roma 

After the acquisition by Panasonic ,  Roma was elevated as an individual brand endorsed by "  Anchor by Panasonic " . Roma also launched its premium range branded as Romoa Viola and promoted by a hyperbole type ad.

Roma is again in the consumer's mindspace because of the new campaign revolving around the brand's claim of being the " Largest selling modular switch brand in India". In positioning parlance, the brand has taken on Category Positioning .
Watch the ads here : Roma Butterfly ad
                                Roma Marble Ad
The ads are created for only one purpose i.e to highlight the fact that Roma is the best selling switches in the country. The brand also have the tagline " India's largest selling modular switches ". This is a straight textbook strategy of owning up the category and positioning as the category leader.
The basic premise of the campaign is that consumers are not aware of the leadership position and the brand wants to remind them so as to assure that they are buying the market leading brand. Although the theme of the ad, its setting has a total disconnect with the product, the campaign however drives the message to the mind of the consumer.
I remember Orpat and Ajanta brands positioning on the platform of being the " Largest ". Being the largest, biggest, etc give some kind of an assurance to the consumers regarding the quality, reliablity , support etc.
Although being the " Largest " has its own set of  advantages, Roma needs to cover its flanks because lot of brands like Legrand, Havell etc were able carve out mindspace by positioning on aesthetics , reliability etc.Harping on being " The Largest " may not be enough.

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Brand Update : Parachute Advansed Owns World's Best Hair

In an absolutely fabulous positioning initiative, Parachute Advansed has owned up the " World's Best Hair" proposition. I would term it as one of the smartest positioning move in 2012 so far. Parachute Advansed which is the line- extension of Parachute Coconut Oil brand takes care of all the value- added coconut personal care products. Under the Advansed sub-brand, Parachute has products like Ayurvedic hair oil, hair gel for men, cooling oil etc.

This year , brand has decided to own the most important positioning platform " World's Best Hair". The campaign featuring the celebrity endorser  Deepika Padukone is on air in most of the channels.

Watch the ad here : Parachute Advansed
The campaign which includes digital ( in a big way) is based on a research finding that users of Parachute Advansed hair oil has better hair than the non-users of hair oils ( source ).

It is not the research but the positioning platform which is an absolutely wonderful and powerful one. By taking the ownership of " world's best hair" and backing it up with a research ( which will be ignored by skeptics), Parachute Advansed moved a notch up interms of positioning. The ad agency did a smart job in passing the message in a beautiful manner.

" The world's best hair " campaign is one of the very thoughtful and powerful campaign in recent times. The brand has put itself into a powerful position and will force the competitor to negate this aggressive stance.As for the consumer is concerned, the current campaign will reinforce their choice of using hair oil for hair protection and may prompt non-users ( of category) to try out this brand.

Related brand
Parachute   

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Binani Cement : Sadiyon Ke Liye

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

Brand Analysis Count : 436

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Ambuja Cements : Branding a Commodity

Corporate Brand : Ambuja Cements

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

Brand Analysis Count : 423

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some other ads here : Ambuja 1,
Ambuja 2

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

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

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

Related Post
Ultratech

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Brand Update : La Opala

It has been a long time since I wrote an update on La Opala. There was nothing special that was happening about this brand till recently. The brand has been very consistent in its brand promotion focusing mainly on the print media.

Recently La Opala has roped in the Bollywood Diva Bipasha Basu to endorse its premium range of Opalware " Diva " . The brand is currently running a TVC featuring the brand ambassador. Diva is a brand for those consumers who are aware of the need to add style to their kitchenware. The brand has the tagline " Fine Art of Dining".

Watch the TVC here : La Opala

This is the first time that a crockery brand has roped in a brand ambassador. The new range " Diva " is a light weight crockery targeting the SEC A & B segment.( Source)

La Opala as a brand is trying to position itself as a lifestyle product rather than plain crockery ware. All its brand communications has been focusing on the " Style " factor. This has made La Opala ,a leader in the Rs 500 crore luxury crockery market. According to news reports, La Opala has around 25% share in the crockery market. Crockery accounts for about 25% of the Rs 2000 crore luxury utensils market.

The presence of a celebrity will definitely increase the brand recall for La Opala. The brand is operating in a market which is dominated by unorganized players and also cheap imports. In such a scenario, any investment in increasing brand recall and share of mind will not go waste.

Related Brand

La Opala

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Revive : Creating a Category

Brand : Revive
Company : Marico
Agency : Publicis


Brand Analysis Count : 409

Revive is an interesting brand. This is a brand which created the instant starch market in India. Revive can be considered as a classic example of branding a commodity.
Revive was launched in 1993. The brand was received very well by the consumer community. Revive targeted the urban middle and upper households which was willing to pay a premium for convenience.

Revive is also an example of a product that was developed to satisfy a unmet need. Indian households traditionally used starch to stiffen their clothes,especially cotton clothes. The process of making starch and using them was a tedious process for the homemaker. The homemade starch was quite messy and used to leave patches in clothes. It used to smell bad and was not suitable for color clothes.

Revive solved these issues at one go. The brand was initially launched in the powder form. The homemaker could make starch easy by just mixing the powder with water. It offered convenience and saved a lot of time. Another significant advantage of Revive was that it could be used in cold water. Traditional starch needed warm water. Revive also can be used in color clothes which was again a big advantage for the consumers.

It is difficult for the consumer to ignore a product that offers solution to their problems . Revive was successful because it made the life of homemaker little more easier. Revive too had its share of disadvantages. The problem was with the product form and the price. Revive was premium priced compared to the virtually "free" homemade starch. Hence convincing consumers to sample the product was tough. Since the product was in the powder form, consumers was confused about the quantity of powder that should be used.

The real challenge for Revive came when Jyothi Lab launched Stiff & Shine. Stiff & Shine was a liquid stiffener which was much convenient than the powder Revive. Jyothi Lab was trying the same strategy which it used to dethrone Robin powder blue.

But Marico reacted very fast to the challenge posed by Stiff & Shine. It launched the liquid version of Revive very fast and backed it with a heavy dose of campaign.
Revive is focusing on three main attributes in its campaigns- instant starch ( convenience),better stiffness for clothes and no patches.
The fight between Stiff & Shine and Revive is still raging with both brands now linking confidence and social acceptability . Both the brands are running similar campaigns ( using kids) claiming that clothes that are well ironed and shining will earn you self-respect and social acceptance.

Recently Marico took the fight to a new level by launching the liquid blue extension of Revive. I was surprised to see the ad of Revive liquid blue. No further details about this extension is available in the public domain .

Revive is a brand which is promoted heavily by Marico. The instant starch market is still very small and the task of the marketer is to increase the market size rather than to fight for the market share. The recent campaigns connecting the brand and social acceptance is targeted at non-users of this category motivating them to use the product.

The instant starch category has a great market potential and the brands should focus on increasing the category size. There is lot of room for growth for these brands when the category grows . Revive should resist the temptation of extension because the brand will reap rich rewards if it focuses on the category it created.

Related Brand
Ujala

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Pearlpet : Har Dil Ka Pet

Brand : Pearlpet
Company : Pearl Polymers
Agency : Imagine

Brand Analysis Count : 396

Pearlpet is a highly successful brand. So successful that the brand has become generic to the category. This is a brand that transformed the Indian kitchenware market. I still remember times where my mother used to store those curry powders in the Horlicks Glass bottles. Now a look the row of plastic containers in the kitchen speaks about the change that this brand has made to the Indian households.

PET stands for Poly Ethylene Terephthelate. PET bottles offered a very convenient safe storage solution for both the industry and households .

PET storage solutions have application in both industry and consumer segments. The pet bottles are used for packaging in various business like Softdrinks, Confectionery etc.

Pearlpet is a brand which was very popular at the home segment.The brand replaced the glass bottles and became the choicest storage solution for the households.
Pearlpet infact satisfied a need for a safe durable storage solution. Glass bottles were very good but had an inherent disadvantage of being unsafe and breakable.

PET jar offered a solution for this.The bottles were looking good, came in convenient sizes and shapes, was unbreakable and priced reasonable.

Pearpet was the first one to create a brand in this emerging category. Pearlpet was introduced in the Indian market in 1984. During those days, the brand advertised heavily and reports say that Malaika Arora was a model for this brand.

On the industrial market segment, the increasing number of brands in the fmcg ,softdrinks and confectionary segment increased the scope of PET products. Pharmaceutical segment also was a huge opportunity for such packaging solutions.

Pearlpet faces competition from two fronts. The greatest threat was from the unorganized local manufacturers. Since consumers do not significantly see a difference between branded and unbranded products, they choose the low priced unbranded bottles and packs. Chinese products also give a huge competition for Pearlpet.

At the higher end of the market, direct marketing giants like Tupperware and international brands like Rubbermaid has carved a niche for itself. They are giving competition at the premium end of the market.

In this highly competitive scenario,Pearlpet however is not aggressive in taking on the competition. The brand is still resting on its laurels. I do not remember seeing any ads/promos of this brand in recent times.Consumers now do not see much difference between Pearlpet and other unbranded ones. This is akin to leaving the entire market open for all competitors.

Pearlpet is missing out opportunities of grabbing maximum from a market which it had created. The brand still have a huge equity which it should nourish and invest . Although reports suggest that the brand have a larger share, the lack of brand promotion can be the Achilles Heel for this brand.

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Kohler : The Bold Look

Brand : Kohler
Company : Kohler India


Brand Analysis Count : 375

Kohler is a global brand which has a unique position as a designer kitchen and bathroom accessory brand. This American brand has a rich history dating back to 1883.

Kohler was launched in India in 2006. The company is in the business of power systems , kitchen and bath accessories. Indian bathroom accessory market is worth around Rs 2500 crore and Kohler is aiming the premium segment of the market.

The brand came into my notice when I saw the advertisement of Kohler, where the lady asks the famous architect to build a house around a faucet.

Watch the commercial here : Kohler Architect

I frankly did not like the ad. What in the world one would imagine such a situation where you fall in love with a faucet or a closet ? I thought it as absurd when a person wants the architect to build a house matching a bloody tap.

Infact that lousy ad prompted me to go and search for this brand. And surprisingly now I am impressed.Impressed because Kohler wants people to fall in love with their products. Impressed because of the kind of innovation that the company try to bring into a product like bathroom fittings, taps and closets.

It would not be an exaggaration to say that Kohler has an iconic status in this segment. The brand is in the forefront of innovation and some of the products are really mind-blowing.

For example, Kohler has a brand - Purist Hatbox toilet which is a one piece tankless toilet .It has electronic actuation and Quiet close toilet seats. The design is totally unique and minimalistic.

The brand hence want to be a desire- object. Another interesting thing about this brand is its commercials. It is sad that Kohler chose its worst commercial for India.

Actually Kohler is famous for some of their commercials. One such campaign is known as " As I See it " .
In this campaign, Kohler partners with nationally recognized artists and photographers and create ads . The artists are free to use Kohler products to create the imagery. This campaign has won several awards for the brand. The campaign was launched in 2002 and is executed by the brand's ad agency GSD&M Idea City. Kohler launched the campaign in India in 2008.

Kohler globally has been positioned as an object of desire, unconventional and bold. The brand has the tagline " The Bold Look " . The " Bold Look" campaign originated in 1960 when the brand tried to experiment with bold , unconventional designs. The Bold Look later bacame the reflection of the culture and attitude of the company. If you closely look at most of their products, the brand has tried to break away from the conventional mould.

Kohler is trying to create a new perception about bath fittings and accessories. The brand is targeting the upwardly mobile Indian consumer segment who would like to have the best of all worlds. More over , bathroom fittings and faucets have become lifestyle products. Indian consumers are now mimicking the west for their home designs. People now want " dry " bathrooms , bathrooms which look like " living rooms "....

All these have created huge potential for a designer brand like Kohler.

Related Brand
Parryware

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Zeiss : We Make it Visible

Brand : Zeiss
Company : Carl Zeiss India
Agency : Modern Medtech

Brand Analysis Count : 367

Carl Zeiss is a respectable name in the global lens' market. This decade old German company is named after its founder Carl Zeiss who was an optician. His company first started making lenses for microscopes and later extended his product range to cameras .

The company began its Indian operations in 1998. Although present in different verticals, the brand came into consumer space during 2005.

Carl Zeiss manufactures spectacle lenses under a joint venture with GKB Hi-Tech Lenses which is a home grown company. The spectacle lenses are sold under the brand Zeiss.

Indian spectacle lenses market is worth around $90 million ( Rs 360 Crore). Looking at the population, the potential is huge. But like many other products, this market is also dominated by unorganized sector which accounts for more than 75 % of the sales.

There are only two highly visible brands in the spectacle lenses category. One is the global major Essilor and other is Zeiss.

Zeiss has been trying to build its brand by consistently investing in media campaigns in India. It has been regularly advertising both in visual and print media.

The marketing of spectacle lenses is a difficult task because so far the category is regarded as a commodity. Consumers seldom ask for a specific brand of spectacle lenses since they are not aware of any brands neither they are aware of any specific advantages of using a branded spectacle lens.

So typically a consumer goes to the optician with his prescription and selects his spectacle frame and asks for the price of the lenses and gives the order. No where in the process , he asks for a particular brand for his lenses..
This offer tremendous opportunity for a marketer but it is not an easy task .
Zeiss has been trying to brand the commodity called spectacle lenses. But I am not impressed.

I have been watching the commercials of Zeiss for a while now. Frankly I did not knew that Zeiss was from the house of Carl Zeiss. I have heard about Carl Zeiss since the brand is famous as a camera lens. More over the latest mobiles from Sony and Nokia is now sporting Carl Zeiss lenses. Cameras which have Carl Zeiss lenses are often sold at a premium.


But the positioning strategy if Zeiss spectacle lenses is far from spectacular.

Watch the commercial here : Zeiss Spectacle lenses

The main USP of this brand is that it is branded...... Sounds funny isn't it ?

Zeiss is positioning itself as a spectacle with brand mark. For non-marketers, Brand Mark refers to the logo or symbol that the brand has.

I frankly does not understand the logic behind this positioning. Brand is defined as a name , term, symbol, logo which are used to identify and differentiate a product from the competitors .
But having a brand mark is never a differentiator. You cannot build a brand over its brand mark.....

Zeiss in their ads try to claim that " Brand nahi hai to style nahi " ( means if it is not branded, then it is not stylish ). It is true also. Consumers try to show off their brands. And successful brands are those where consumers are willing to act as living billboards.
Take Levi's or Nike, consumers are willing to show off. But not because they have brand marks.

First the company has to build a brand on certain core values or attributes . Once this is built, consumers will adopt the brand and act as the brand ambassadors. People does not buy Nike because it has the brand mark SWOOSH . But because they love the brand for its values embedded in " Celebrating authentic athleticism ". Consumers evangelize Apple not because of the brand mark but because of the innovation that is personified by the brand.

Here Zeiss has got it all wrong. Having a brand name or a logo is not suffice for consumers to love your brand. Brands should be built on strong attributes ( tangible or intangible). Brands with out brand values is at best a Label.

Zeiss thinks that its major competitors are the unbranded spectacle lenses. Hence the company feels that having a brand mark is the best differentiator. I was surprised to find that globally also the brand is positioned as a spectacle lens with laser marked brand mark.

Essilor has done a better job in promoting its brands like Transitions and Crizal. Consumers understand that these brands are having quality and certain important attributes.

Zeiss is a powerful global brand which has a reputation of being high quality manufacturer. The brand also has a powerful secondary association with the country of origin - Germany.

It should have taken some important attributes and promoted those attributes. Having a brand mark is an advantage but only after the brand is being built. People like others to see that their sunglass is a Ray-Ban because the brand has an image built on style and quality. Hence the Ray-Ban brand mark on the glasses make sense for the consumers.

First the brand has to understand the important attributes that customers look for in a spectacle lens. Then try to understand which are the most critical of those attributes which influences their decisions. Then develop the brand around those critical attributes. I don't think that the current USP of a brand-mark is considered important by consumers and is a sufficient reason for them to pay a premium for the brand.

Zeiss must go back and learn some basic brand building before investing such huge amount on money on meaningless campaigns.

Related Brand
Essilor

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