McCain : Fresh Banega , Baat Banegi

Corporate Brand : McCain
Company : McCain Foods India Ltd

Brand Analysis Count : # 495

McCain is one of the World's largest frozen foods manufacturers. This Canadian giant is known for its potato based frozen foods. McCain is a leading supplier of potato based items like French fries to leading quick service restaurants like McDonald. This giant has big plans for India.

McCain came to India in 1998. The brand primarily set up shop in India to cater to the  requirement of its major customer- McDonald's. The company started with the import of potato based products later commissioned its first production plant in India in 2007.

Frozen foods is a category in nascent stage in India.The category is now worth Rs 1000 crore including B2B segment. Bulk of this business is contributed by B2B segment which consists of restaurants and fast food joints. Slowly the B2C category is growing and McCain is making all out efforts to tap this segment.

Frozen foods has low penetration due to many reasons. Firstly the consumers are not open to the idea of frozen foods yet. Another major impediment to the growth of this category is the distribution inefficiencies. The lack of freezer space at retailers, supply chain issues , retailer reluctance to stock this product category has created huge issues for marketers trying to create this category. How ever things have changed. Consumers have started to use frozen foods and the presence of large retailers gave the much required supply chain support to this category.

Although McCain started selling its branded products in India since 1998, the effort was largely restricted to BTL activities. The brands like Smiles existed in the market for long but there was not much promotions for the brands. 

It was in 2011 that McCain launched its first TVC in India. 

Watch the TVC here : McCain 

The first commercial set in a typical modern Indian household is aimed at introducing the brand to Indian consumers . The brand did certain research on Indian consumer's mindset regarding  frozen foods found that consumers doubted the freshness of such frozen foods ( common sense !). Frozen foods were often viewed by consumers as 'Old ' stale foods. The brand also found that this impression changed after they tried out these products. So the challenge was to convince the non-users about "freshness " of frozen foods. 

It is a Herculean task for marketers to convince customers that Frozen foods are Fresh.The first ad successfully managed the difficult task of connecting the two attributes which are poles apart - Frozen & Fresh in a very subtle but effective manner. The ad makers used a story telling approach and by including the entire family unit in the ad addressed the concerns of all stakeholders of the family. 

The brand has the tagline " Fresh Banega , Baat Banegi " which emphasis on the freshness aspect. 

Although McCain's competency is in potato based products, the brand has tried to cater to the local tastes of Indian consumers. Its product range includes Indian dishes like Aaloo Tikka etc.The brand surprised the Indian market by introducing Frozen Idli which can be cooked within 3 minutes. The product is still in the market testing phase. The company has now focused on the snack food market and once the consumers are opened to this idea of frozen foods, more products like frozen meals will follow.

One of the best practice of McCain is its keen understanding of Indian consumers. The brand spent lot of time in understanding the market before entering the consumer segment. It strengthened its distribution and ensured retailer support before launching its promotions. The brand also took care of pricing to ensure that the value conscious Indian consumers are not scared away by the high prices. Usually frozen foods are expensive but McCain launched packs at price points like Rs 25 which entices consumers to try it out. Also the firm introduced its products in smaller packs because Indian refrigerators are usually small or have small freezers. The products like Smiles attract young consumers because of the form factor. So on many fronts McCain has put in lot of thoughts and innovation which will yield positive results.

The Frozen Foods category is now having lot of players including Godrej . The changing lifestyle has further strengthen the potential of frozen foods in the Indian market. It will be interesting to see how these players shape this market.

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Best Marketing Practice : ZOOZOO

One of the best campaigns I have seen so far is the Vodafone's ZooZoo campaign. Never in the history of Indian advertising we witnessed a campaign that generated so much interest and curiosity among all the segments of the society be it young or old.

So much has been written about ZooZoo in various media. Hence I am not going to repeat it all over.

Read a wonderful analysis in afaqs here : Afaqs on ZooZoo

Another nice one in Businessline : Business Line on ZooZoo

Rajesh of Blogworks on ZooZoo : Here

Some ZooZoo ads here : ZooZoo collection

I never expected Vodafone to be a creative volcano.When Hutch became Vodafone, I was little sceptic whether the creative spark of Hutch will be carried forward by Vodafone. The news of the famous Pug being discarded deepened my scepticism.

But the brand just beat all those cynicism . The Happy to Help campaign and the VAS campaign all proved that this is a brand that will do anything to be creative.

ZooZoo was created to promote the value added services ( VAS) of Vodafone. Vodafone was trying hard to capture the VAS Space because it is a potential cash cow for cellular companies.
Vodafone also wanted to make the most of the IPL season 2. Although IPL is a crowd puller, it is also a marketer's nightmare because of the clutter. IPL attracts all the deep pocket advertisers and to standout, one needs to think out of the box.

Thus ZooZoo was born. ZooZoo is a semi alien semi-human character living in an earth-like place ( lot of which is left to the viewer's imagination).These are very very simpe biengs who are very expressive. They laugh aloud , cry loud and have a child like simplicity around them. I think many of us wanted to be such an expressive being which makes ZooZoo very personal .

The success of ZooZoo is the success of minimalism and simplicity. Although the production process of ZooZoo ads are not simple, as a consumer I was attracted to the simplicity of the concept and the execution. ZooZoo also highlights the power of storytelling. Each ads tells a very simple story. Afterall brands are made through story telling.

Another factor that aided the success of ZooZoo is the scale of the campaign.Reports suggest that there are around 25 different ads of ZooZoo to be aired during this IPL season. This unprecedented scale has kept the curiosity high among the viewers. It has infact dwarfed all the other advertisers in this season.
There is lot of risk being taken behind this campaign. The Vodafone managers who okayed this campaign may have risked their jobs to bring out such a massive campaign. The agency also risked their credibility. One should appreciate the creative talent of O&M and Nirvana Films who proved that Indian Advertising has come of age.

Vodafone has taken ZooZoo beyond advertising. The fanclub in the facebook page of ZooZoo has already touched 70,000 and counting. The brand has comeout with an interactive quiz that shows the type of ZooZoo you are : here
There are also mobile downloads of wallpaper, screensaver etc.

All these has transformed into a great viral movement. There are already a plethora of mail forwards and blogposts celebrating ZooZoo.

ZooZoo is a great marketing story. Vodafone has benefitted immensely by this campaign. It caught the attention and fancy of the consumers, aroused curiosity, told stories and made people retell the story.

Marketing Guru Seth Godin always emphasised that Brands should be Remarkable. He defined remarkable as " Worthy of Making a Remark about "

The ZooZoo is a classic example of being Remarkable...

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As I See It : Creativity Vs Extravaganza

Frankly I was shocked to see today's ( 30/04/09) Hindu Business Line. The front cover page was just a blank white sheet with the Business Line Masthead. A closer look reveals a two figures at the middle of the sheet with a "turn overleaf " message below.

In the middle it was written 2009 crore (2007-08) --- 3007 crore (2008-09)netprofit

Turning overleaf revealed that the ad was for Bank of India which announced its annual results. The results' details were published in the full innercover page advertisement.

The result is pretty impressive - a net profit growth of 50%.
But the Ad is not ....

White spaces are good... but too much white space shows that there is a hole in the pocket.

This is a time where every penny is precious. Whether it is a bank which is making huge profits or a business which is trying hard to survive. Here we see a full page wasted just like that with no purpose whatsoever.

There is no big idea . Remember it is not a brand building ad. It is an ordinary process for publishing annual results. That is why such a spending is nothing but a sheer waste of valuable marketing money.

There are many ways of telling the public about this stellar results. Let the top management visit all channels and give interviews, let the PR department make this result come in the front page of all newspapers. That is how such results should be marketed not by blasting money publishing white spaces in the front cover.

I had worked in media and I know how much such an ad costs. Definitely this is not the time for such lavishness. Every Paise counts.

John Wanamaker once said "Half the money I spend on Advertising is wasted;the trouble is I don't know which half ".

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As I See It : The Death of HR Function

Human Resources Development ( HR) was a glamorous function. A much sought after specialization in business schools (especially by girls) HR came into limelight with the Software Industry boom in India.

The HR function broke away from the Personnel and Industrial Relations Department ( P&IR) which was later relegated to dealing with Unions and Payrolls. HR became the focal point in organizations and took over the glamorous functions like recruitment,selection and training.

The software boom resulted in a huge demand for talent. Firms began to scout for the scarce talent and retaining talent became the major worry for the top management. Suddenly ,from a mere Staff Function, HR became a strategic function.

Management Gurus began to praise the importance of HR in a firms' strategy. HR professionals were touted to play a major role in the board. When Mohandas Pai of Infosys voluntarily remitted his CFO position to take up the role of Director - HR, everyone thought that HR has come off age.

Since money was not an issue, training was on overdrive. HR made training mandatory for all officials including Chairman and Managing Directors. Even thoughts about corporate universities began to shape up.

Stories began to spread about the lavish perks and mouth-watering work environments. Companies began to compete to build smartest workplaces.Employees were considered vital resources. Firms began to inventory human resources fearing that competitors will grab them. Sometimes employees in the bench exceeded those who are doing real work.

The traditional sector like manufacturing , FMCG and durables also faced issue of retaining talent because talent was moving towards sunrise industries that offered better packages.

Employees tried to take advantage of the talent crunch by transforming themselves into Job Hoppers.Commitment was out of fashion , No Shows became the order of the day.


Then......

Recession struck... Markets tumbled, customers stopped buying , panic spread and the dreaded word - Cost Cutting became the Manthra.

Suddenly there was a change in the HR lexicon.

Resource became Expense.
Human Resource became Human Cost - the focal point of Cost Cutting.

Talent Retention became Talent Rationalization.

Sitting on Bench Became Sitting Ducks

Training became a discretionary Expense.

HR became a dreaded function relegated to the difficult task of retrenching people and identifying weeds.

Now no one is talking about talents retention, training ,development.


It is sad that only very few organizations identified and understood the true nature of HR. They are still hiring, retaining and training their employees . For others , HR was just a fashion.

The problem was in numbers. Just like filling sales targets, HR began to fill in the numbers. Blinded by the growth, the Qualitative factors never made sense. The current scenario proves that the HR forecasting models needs to be redefined.

I still don't understand why a person should be recruited if they have no job to do ?

If training is considered to be the key to organizational development, why is that it is cut ?

If HR's job is to recruit the right person for the right job, why are people leaving just for a higher salary ?

When organizations grow in breakneck speed, opening offices at every district and recruiting people enmasse, is it the responsibility of HR to remind the company to go slow ?


The current scenario is a painful lesson for the HR Function and it is a time to redefine the role of HR in organization. The principal role of HR should be to imbibe a culture in an organization that naturally attracts and retain the best talent irrespective of good times and bad times.

Otherwise HR will only be a king of good times.

End Note : I am not a HR professional or an expert in this function , hence I may be wrong in some of the observations. Please give your views as comments.

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Marketing In Recession : Hope is the Key

Everyone is feeling the pinch of the economic slowdown. Recession and Cost Cutting is the most used terms across offices. Consumer confidence is at the lowest. It is not that consumers (both business and consumers) does not have the need or the money to purchase, the real fact is that they are afraid to splurge.

As a consumer,I have needs and aspirations. I also have some disposable income to purchase but I am not buying because I am afraid of what is in store for me in future.
Many business customers are postponing purchase because they are facing an uncertain future. We are in a vicious cycle which ought to be broken.

Today is Akshaya Thritiya. This is an auspicious day to purchase gold. The story is that if you purchase gold today, it will bring you wealth and happiness in future. Gold Merchants were making a huge marketing push for this day. For the past two weeks, Jewelers across South India were advertising like hell trying to promote gold purchases on this day. And as expected, most jewelers in my state is witnessing brisk sales.

That is the power of Hope.
The success of Barack Obama was an important lesson for all marketers. Hope sells in Recession.

We humans have a innate love of life. We cling to life. Other animals don't cling to life as we do. They don't worry about death as much as we do. We have a built-in -system of Hoping . This trait has been helping us to counter serious dangers to our existence.

Hope is something that help us to slog.

So if you want to your consumers to buy your products, give them hope. Give them a hope that your product will make their life/business easier. Give them hope that you will be with them riding the storm. Give them hope for a better future or else atleast make them feel good.

Hope and greed are different. Hope is realistic while greed is a fantasy. Obama was communicating realistic hope and that was why people believed him.

People are buying gold on Akshaya Thritihiya not because of the flashy advertisements but they have hope .

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Marketing in Recession

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Consumer Insight : Please Play it Straight

Today, I got an email from an Indian e-retailer announcing a 50% value-back offer on purchase of any product from their website in the month of February. Greedy as Iam, I decided to check out the website which is owned by a premier media company.

As usual, all these offers comes with the ubiquitous term " Conditions Apply". Of course the company is definitely offering a 50% value back offer but as a consumer, it pays to know a little math.

Here is how the offer works.

When you buy a product from the website, the value-back offer is not given to the customer in cash but by Gift Certificates. The gift certificates are of value Rs 500, Rs 200 and Rs 100.

Ok so far so good.

Here comes the catch..

These gift certificates carry a minimum order value....

That means , a customer has to purchase ( again) a product of a minimum order value inorder to redeem this certificate.

For redeeming Rs 500 gift certificate, you have to make an additional purchase of Rs 2500.
For Rs 200, the additional purchase requirement is Rs 1000 etc.
And these certificates are valid only till March.

Further , you cannot club two gift certificates together.

If I purchase a product worth Rs 10,000,I would have got coupons worth Rs 5000. But if I wanted to redeem those coupons, I must purchase products worth Rs 25000 in the next month.

Frankly speaking, these sales promotions may do more harm to the marketer because there will be customers who may fall into this trap and then repent having given into the greed.Those customers may never come back to the website for purchase.

Is it beneficial to the company ?

In one way, such " Big " offers will prompt many consumers to visit the website. So the site benefits from the traffic generated by such offers. There are also chances that these consumers get attracted by either the price or merchandise and thus becoming a regular user.

In my personal opinion, these offers is akin to exploiting the greed of consumer. It pays more to be playing straight to the consumer. Give a straight discount or a plain cash-back offer rather than offers which puts the consumer into a trap . Make him feel happy about a bargain purchase.If he gets a bargain, he will come back for sure when ever he has money.

In this period, where consumers are wary about making big ticket purchases , these offers lure them into parting with their valuable cash. But if they feel that they got a raw-deal, the consequences will be terrible for the marketer's long term brand equity.

The primary aim of a marketer is to create a customer NOT making a sale.

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Best Marketing Practice : Creating Consumer Centric Innovations

Read my article on consumer centric innovations in Adclub bombay Website : Creating consumer centric innovations

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Best Marketing Practice : Building a Brand Tribe

Read my article on building brand communities in the Ad Club Bombay website : Building brand tribes

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Consumer Insight : Insurance is a Subject Matter of Solicitation

If you have seen any advertisement of Insurance products, you may not have missed this disclaimer " Insurance is a subject matter of solicitation ".

As a consumer , this disclaimer/warning is of utmost importance but often ignored.

What is the meaning of the clause " Insurance is a subject matter of solicitation".

The dictionary meaning of solicitation is " Ask For". Hence insurance is a subject that should be asked for . It means that customers have to talk to an adviser who will suggest the right product for your needs. Insurance should not be SOLD but Solicited......

Sounds out of the world isn't it ?

How many of us have asked for Insurance ?

In India, insurance is sold not solicited. Hence this dictum seem totally meaningless OR is it ?

If you read the terms and conditions put forth by Insurance companies, one will find relevance to this dictum.

The above dictum have relevance to consumers because it puts the responsibility for selecting the right product on the consumers than on the company. The website of a leading insurer states " Customer's participation in the insurance products are purely on a voluntary basis ".

As a consumer, the responsibility lies in
Understanding one's insurance needs .
Planning
Meet with a trained financial adviser.
Selecting the right product
Signing the contract.

But we know that most of the consumers are not aware about either their needs or the various options available before them. Hence the consumers have to obtain the help from a trained insurance advisor who will " advise " the customers and then help them to select the right product .

In practice, we find that none of the above applies. Insurance advisers take up the role of pure selling machines trying to " close" the sale rather than " advice " the customers. Companies put pressure on their agents to achieve targets often forgoing the basic dictum that drive this business.
While in the developed markets like USA , the actions of financial planners are highly regulated, here the onus is on the customers . CAVAET EMPTOR.... Buyers beware....

Most of the insurance firms also does not practice the dictum iof solicitation in its pure essence. If you have listened to any of the recent " sales talk" of advisers, they pitch the ULIP plans irrespective of whether you like investing in stock market or not.

There is no analysis of one's financial position or insurance needs. ( There are professional financial /insurance advisers who do all the right things but many doesn't) .

It is because of this non-professional selling approach that makes customers run away from an important product like insurance.

If insurance firms practiced what they preached, then insurance would have gained a much higher value as a product. And insurance sales persons would be regarded as a friend rather than a nightmare.

99% of my MBA students hate to get into a job in an insurance company. Much of this hatred happened because we forgot that we should sell the right kind of product to the right kind of consumers. As a customer I believe that insurance is one of the most important products which helps a consumer to be secure. But alas.....

In my experience as a prospective customer, I met only one advisor who professionally and systematically explored my insurance needs. Rest of all were trying to " sell " me insurance.

The million dollar question for an Insurance salesperson is

Will you walk away from a consumer for whom you do not have a right product ? Will you recommend your competitor's product to him if it fits his need ?

Its time for the insurance companies to Walk the Talk.... It is tough... your quarterly results will show negligible growth. But consumers will love you for it.....

Insurance is a subject matter of solicitation.

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Best Marketing Practice : Be Proactive to Rumours

Yesterday my wife told me about an internal mail she received at her office. It said that Kurkure contains plastic which makes it more crispier than other snack foods . Further Appyfizz contains cancerous substances and if you take Mentos and Pepsi together, you will die.....
So no Kurkure and Appyfizz for our child from now on.

I tried to show my " Professorial " knowledge by telling her that these are baseless rumors and all these products are safe. But she rubbished it aside saying that the mail come from a very trusted friend of her.......

I was little upset by her comments, not that she doesn't trust me but by the fact that such emails and rumors can create lot of issues for the brand. A call to one of my friend in advertising confirmed that these rumors were running around for more than three years.

Although internet offers lot of opportunities for brand promotion, the biggest threat comes in the way of such rumors.
There are two typical responses to such a kind of malicious rumor. Do nothing hoping for this rumor to die a natural death or be proactive and do something about such rumors.

Marketers should take proactive steps in countering such malicious rumors that can later snowball into a viral negative campaign.

When I did a small google search on Kurkure, I was surprised by the results. The first result that came was a Kurkure blog which negated the rumors. More than that there was a paid link to the FAQ site of Kurkure which clarified further than the rumor was baseless.

That is a proactive approach to handling such rumors by Kurkure.

Marketers cannot stop anyone from making such malicious rumors. But they can effectively negate such rumors by acting on it.

Have a website : Its important for brands to have a place for them in the virtual world. Since internet is a media one cannot ignore, it becomes important for the brand to have a site.
Scan the net for such rumors : Marketers should need to scan the negative news that spread across the internet. This should be done on a regular basis.

Negate the rumor using Search engine optimization : The brand should negate the rumor immediately with out waiting for it to spread. Most of the Search Engine Optimizers will help the company to keep their information on top of the search engine listing. My logic is that when a netizen gets a rumor email, he will search for further clarification. If the company is not providing such a clarification then he will take decision based on the judgement. I am sure that those people who forward such malicious email believe that it is true . Otherwise he will not forward it and risk his credibility.

Use Public Relations : The best tool to handle such events is to use the PR department. Use all mass media to convince the customers that the product is safe. Have a permanent link in your website to offer clarification about such reported rumors. If the rumor has snowballed into a big crisis, have your senior executives issue statement clarifying the issue. It it is health related, have doctors endorse your product's safety standards.

Open a channel for customers to contact you : The channel can be either an email or a phone number where the customers can clarify any doubts about the brand.

I know it will be difficult for a brand to react to each and every rumor that does the round. But the effort is well worth it.

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Marketing in Recession

In my earlier post , I had pointed out some strategies for marketers to counter the recession. I think that Indian firms have realized that there is going to be a significant slowdown in the coming quarter.

Auto companies have taken a proactive step by reducing the prices. Most of the auto giants like Maruthi, Hyundai, Tata etc have reduced their prices by a significant amount. This move was further aided by the Central Government reducing the excise duty. These companies hope that the price reduction may boost sales.

But there is a limit to what a marketer can do inorder to tackle the slowdown. The marketer have limited option of reducing prices , increasing promotions etc . But these actions will not be sufficient to tackle the systemic issues that created this meltdown.

I am not an economist and hence I may not be able to give a detailed economic view of the current crisis. For that you may check out Harvard University Professor Greg Mankiw 's blog ( warning : its full of economics ) or IIM A Professor Jayanth Varma's blog ( warning : its full of finance ).

I am presenting my view about the larger issues that both the industry and the policy makers should be addressing. I am talking not as a marketing academic but as a middleclass consumer.

The current crisis that we face in India is different from that of USA. We currently do not have the sub-prime crisis . Although there is a real estate bubble, our banking system is sufficiently protected ( I hope so !) . But we face the ripple effect from the global crisis.

Indian Government has been proactive in its steps to ensure liquidity and providing confidence to the consumers and industries. To that extent, things are moving in the right direction.

I think that we have failed to understand the real issue behind this slowdown. The real problem is the slowing down of consumer demand and not the liquidity. Many marketers are pressuring governments to allow liberal credit to the consumers. That means banks will be offering easy credit to consumers which will then boost demand.

It will be suicidal to boost demand using cheap credit. The US market suffered because most of the growth was based on cheap credit.

I think that the consumer demand is going to go down more rapidly in 2009, because of the negative news spreading ( that includes this post also). If you examine the reason behind the eroding consumer confidence , there is only one - Job security.

When people lose jobs, they stop spending ( common sense). When the news of lay offs spreads, everyone stops spending and starts saving. The more the job losses, the more the fall in demand.When demand drops, companies cut jobs.....This is a vicious cycle

So when firms cut jobs, they are contributing to the bigger mess. This problem has a bigger magnitude in Indian context. Unlike USA, we don't have social security and most of the companies also doesn't provide one.

When Barack Obama talked about protecting US jobs and creating new jobs, I think he is moving in the right direction to tackle the fundamental issues.In India also , Prime Minister had made an appeal to corporates not to cut jobs ( there are political reasons for that since elections are around the corner).

It is time for the government to think about a broader social security plan in India. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is one of such initiative but not enough. I am not sure whether government is in a position to create a social security system , but some thinking has to be done in this direction.

Instead of social security , India have a provident fund system which has been made mandatory by law to certain class of employees. When economy was in a boisterous mood, we do not think about any of these things. Concepts like long-term growth, life long employment, loyalty all became old fashioned. I think this is the time where we have to revisit those old values.

Consumers tend to spend lavishly when he feels secure. Jobs offer him security. India saw a consumer boom when there was plenty of jobs. When the jobs started losing, demand also came down.

Any move to ensure easy credit without creating stable jobs will have serious repercussions. It would take an effort from both the employees and owners to start building a new culture .

I don't know whether this post make any economic sense ?... What do you think ?


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Marketing During Recession

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