Fizz - going, going, gone

Coke and Pepsi have always been leaders in the fizzi cola market. Targeting the youth - promoting their brands as cool, trendy, meant for the youth. Although targeted at the same segment their positioning varies - Pepsi uses the youth's passion for cricket while Coke uses the passion for celebrities and bollywood.
Me wonders...

• how long would any youngster drink a fizzi cola simply because their favorite cricketer or star endorses it ?
• aren't they exposed to articles (reams and reams of paper) telling exactly how much pesticide is permitted and how much used!
• aren't they getting health conscious and preferring fruit juices and gatorades to fizzi colas
• is the novelty associated with colas still there?...if yes, will it continue to last ?

As for me, I might sip a cola once in a blue moon when I feel like "having a cola" - not because I am madly thirsty or because anyone I know endorses it, but simply because "my tastebuds demand it".....and interestingly it has been really long since I actually felt like having one.

The Taste of India

Lately I was reading about Amul, the cooperative brand that has made it really big in the last few years. It's future plans look promising with entry into categories viz low cal (sugar free) chocolates for the diabetics (who form 1% of the Indian population). Recently they have also launched Stamina - a milk drink with added vitamin C aimed at the physically active/ those inclined towards sports. It competes closely with Gatorade, Red Bull which although energy drinks are not milk based. It remains to be seen how Stamina performs in the market. Even their cold coffee and cold chocolate shake have caught on quite well among the youngsters.

Additionally their probiotic - sugar free ice cream has also been in the market for a few months. Although in this segment it competes with MD,KW, BR, Natural's, my personal opinion is that they are a winning brand. They win "hands down" on quality. Their promise of "real milk....real ice cream" actually translates to better VFM for the customer. They hold ~35% of the ice cream market.
I speak this not as a researcher or a reader but as an ice cream consumer. Having researched brands like KW in the past, I have always been the first to check out an ice cream variant when it is launched. Nothing or no one can beat Amul ice cream for the quality they offer at the price. I myself like BR too but the price is too steep. Amul infact offers a range of variants - their Take home packs have interesting flavours like litchi, spanish balls, fruit bonanza to name a few.

In addition to these categories, they are also present in the dairy products lines - milk, butter, ghee, milk based desserts viz gulab jamun, chocolate. Am sure Mr.Vyas and his team's drive for excellence will ensure that Amul garners more share in the Indian market.

Whoa Amul - truly the Taste of India.

Who is the bigger brand?

Am sure this question is haunting most of our minds. All of us who have been closely tracking the Escorts -Dr Trehan fall out are keen to know - is it the Singh's Escorts Hospital or is it Dr Trehan - the man behind the success of the hospital who is the bigger pull for the consumers (the patients). It is believed that he is likely to pull along with him a team of 70 out of the 200 doctors at Escorts to Apollo. This waits to be seen.

It could be argued that - it is Dr. Trehan, the bigger brand. For consumers (patients) who have interacted with him/ been treated by him, he symbolises "customer service" or the "product" offered by Escorts. So Escorts is only a channel and not the actual service/ product.
While on the other hand it could be argued that - it is Escorts - its facilities, infrastructure, and all staff that symbolises "customer service" and Dr. Trehan is only a component delivering that promised service.

I ask myself - is it the Dr. or the hospital that is the bigger brand, and I would think it is the Dr. He is the "brand"

Best Buy and Walmarts of the world

Despite several attempts by the Biyanis and Ambanis of the retail world to disallow big International retailers from entering the country in a big way, players like Best Buy and Walmart are still going strong in their attempts to enter the Indian market.
Although FDI is not allowed in Retail, certain loop holes have been explored by these companies and they are now considering operating in the Cash and Carry Space (ala Metro) or the Croma system (the Tata - Wellworth tie up) which allows Croma to operate with Tata as the Indian partner.
While Croma has comfortably settled in its venture with the Tatas, Best Buy is exploring a tie up with Vivek, a consumer electronic chain that operates in multiple Indian cities.
Watch out!!!

Changing face of the MR industry

The news snippet read : "Hansa Research buys Oregon based US market research Co. GCR."
That, I thought sounded quite reassuring; an Indian firm buying a Global one. So far the research space in India has been dominated largely by MNCs like ACN, TNS, Kantar (IMRB/MB). It would interesting to see the reversal of trends.
The acquisition is understood to give Hansa a toe-hold into technology research and an entry into the US market research sector (total turnover stands at USD 7.72 bn) which is believed to be 70 times larger than that of the Indian counterpart(turnover stands at a mere USD 102 mn)
GCR customer base consists largely of companies in the tecnology and IT space, and includes MS,AMD, HP.
I say reassuring because inspite of having a good talent base in the Indian market research sector, the Indian agencies have been restricted to working as KPOs for international offices of Multinationals. This acquisition should probably see some action where talent gets adequately utilised rather than being a mere back stage operation.

Time Crunch

Has there ever been an instance in the recent past, when you had 'time at hand' and no tasks to be accomplished? I would be surprised if you said yes.
I remember, even until my b-school days I used to wait minutes at length to get that bus to class or to the place where we had some assignments to be done. Money was at a premium and no one cared much about time. Although time was important, its importance paled against money.
Today times have reversed - I would much rather spend that additional penny on fuel rather than waste time waiting. Earlier mom often wondered why I waste money on cabs....but today she understands that "Time is scarce".
It was not long back that I wrote a proposal for instant foods - understanding habits and attitudes of housewives towards the same. The key findings of the report were - the housewife thought that she did not want to seem uncaring and lazy by opting for instant foods, when she could go through the painstaking rigmarole to create the dish from scratch, "the maa key haathon ka khana" which the family appreciated.
Haven't times changed? Today she would consider herself smarter if she spent lesser time in the kitchen and more making money or even spending some quality time with her family. Time - such a rare commodity these days!
The products in the market all emphasise on how you could save time using them. A mobile phone with features such as push mail, voice mail, blue tooth, makes it possible to be accessible round the clock. Absolutely no question of 'wasting time'. Even while travelling people are busy at work.....punching away at their lappie buttons or following up over their cellular phones.
Earlier commute meant "peace between appointments". Today it only means "work while you are on the move".
This is great for India Inc which is growing at a formidable rate. But what about us......are we robots?....dont we need time to simply relax?
I wonder!

Developing talent

Nurturing and developing talent in the current economic scenario is key to a progressive future for India. Chief of Hewitt mentions : India's cost advantage is sustainable for atleast 45 yrs from now, provided there is continued training and development of talent.

The world is getting flatter and economies - specially the west, more agnostic. Let me explain - earlier India was a favourite with the USSR (when it still existed). There are no favorites anymore. Those offering the best deal bag it! If tomorrow Philippines or Vietnam was to provide the same cost advantage with on par or better talent, the economies wouldn't take time to shift there. What happened to Porter and "switching costs". Does that concept even exist anymore??

I am still not sure how could we remain competitive by developing talent ?.The current education system is almost punitive to the student class by encouraging and propagating reservation. Reservation to whom ? - the economically backward? no not really, it's the creamy layer amongst backward classes who are not exempt to benefits of reservation.

Both graduates and under graduates, who have some iota of talent are looking at the west for further studies and for better paying jobs. Whose talent do we develop then?

I would think we have a tricky future facing us. Is the economic/ financial boom in the country truly sustainable ? I wonder......

Packaging - English or multi-lingual?

Heard of 'Creator's bias' ? This is when the creator sees things from his mind's eye, where he believes that everyone around him sees things the way he sees them. Technically it would be defined as the tendency by the class creating a product to imagine that those consuming the product are very similar in orientation to themselves.

So accustomed to seeing the brand on the pack mentioned in English, I always gave this thought a miss. Is it a better idea to have the brand name on the pack, in a multi-lingual country like ours, in English or some other language???

Now let's imagine ; you walk into a store to pick one of your regular brands of toothpaste and other than the familiar red and white pack, the font seems unfamiliar. Not just unfamiliar but just not fit for my consumption. Imagine purchasing a pack of toothpaste which reads "colgate" (in hindi or telugu or even urdu for that matter). Just does not feel like your brand of toothpaste....does it? This is precisely one of the reasons that marketers of fmcg and such use English so profusely on the pack. They feel the same way - people associate English with some degree of premiumness.

Another reason that some leading fmcg companies provide for not having a non English pack is because it can prove to be a logistical nightmare. Just imagine, as a marketer, when you need to spend money not only on printing packs in different regional languages but also ensuring that the right one reaches the right region. One interesting observation by a Strategy officer from an ad firm - "how are multi-language newspapers managing logistics?!" so why is it so difficult for an fmcg marketer. Hmm good question!

The marketers however defend their stand by stating that the brand name in English, over a period of time and exposure, serves more as a mnemonic and what matters at the end is communication, which anyway is executed in various languages - whether it is PoPs, danglers or even inserts or instructions for use.

So what if the brand name on the pack is in English, so long as the brand gets identified, and the English language provides that 'dash of premiumness' to the brand!, marketers are smiling all the way :)

Spruce up Window Display

When was the last time you actually stopped by a window display to carefully look at trends in fashion, or a new technology gizmo, or even some jewellery designs.

Gone are the days, says Paco Underhill - the retail expert, who specialises in studying shopper behaviour, when passersby took time out to inspect a window display to understand fashion trends and be informed of the new brands on sale.

The reason as he explains is quite interesting. These days owing to high traffic conditions - both human and vehicular, there is always a cluster of people waiting/ moving at traffic signals (and on roads). This cluster is dense in some patches and sparse in others, and moves with a steady momentum. Any member of the cluster who might wish to go the other way or change tracks is likely to end up bumping, brushing past, or getting pushed around. So it is unlikely that people moving in a cluster will stop short in their track to look at a window display unless ofcourse it is eye-catching.

Most displays today, are cluttered. The intent of most shop-owners being to display all brands/ wares in the two by two ft space available. Paco observes that to make display truely eye-catching, one could use it to display social messages, jokes which could have brands as part of the message. A better idea than cluttering the space with merchandise!

Brand Sluts

This morning I was reading an article by Marian Salzman, the lady who popularised the term Metrosexual.

The new word doing the rounds - "Brand Sluts". A slut, as we understand, is someone who changes her sexual partners constantly with little "loyalty". A brand slut does something quite similar. (S)He changes brands at quite the same pace as a slut changes partners.

I have often wondered, when people talk brand loyalty, whether it does really exist. This article only made my doubt about its existence even stronger. How could a consumer be Brand Loyal when there is a slew of brands available to him/ her today. There is so much choice in terms of product offering, price and promotions. Why on earth would anyone exercise Brand Loyalty ? While in India there were close to ~15,000 brands in the late 1990s, today there are atleast over 1,00,000 of them.

Infact I remember whilst I worked at one of the firms, Loyalty was defined as willingness to repurchase or use more or recommend strongly a particular brand. Does it really work that way? If I decide to purchase an LG refrigerator primarily because the Company has a promotional offer which will help me exchange my older LG refrigerator for a newer LG one, then is it because I am Brand loyal ? or is it simply because of the promo offer ?

As Jean Noel Kaepferer writes in a Business Journal "Brand Loyalty can no longer exist because the very intrinsic nature of the definition of the term is contradictory to the actual relationship between the producer and consumer. Brand loyalty implies a type of matrimonial relationship based on EXCLUSIVITY and this relationship is impossible because the producer does not reciprocate the relationship" and our society is premised upon fluidity of choices.

People in the pro Brand loyalty camp would argue that it is not JUST the product offering, price, promo offer that matter....it is the experience...with the brand, the people servicing the consumer.

It is easier to believe the first theory than the next. Don't you think ?

Competitive Advantage

What if your competitive advantage is easily replicated. Does it still remain one?
I read an interesting piece which said that the best competitive advantage lies in providing a unique customer experience. It is so easy to replicate a product, price off, promotional offer with the current technologies....but it is definitely not the same with customer experience.

An interesting example is that of a Harley Davidson. The product can easily be replicated, but what Harley sells is the sheer experience to dress in leather, ride through rough roads and not so frequented areas, with people frightfully looking on and STILL get noticed!

Reaching brands to rural India

A few days back, a friend mentioned that he would like to help rural India progress. His idea revolved around creating a device which helps the small retailer in rural India to place an order through the device, the order gets financed by a microfinancer who is linked to the device, and executed by the Company whose product he orders. The intent was to ensure credit availability to the small retailer in rural India and reach of brands to the end consumer.

This came back to me today whilst I read an article. Companies are now tapping Fair Price Shops in rural areas to service the end consumer. The intent is to develop these FPS into rural malls. Companies like HLL are also willing to pay higher margins to utilise this network. These swank rural malls would be used to vend not just the usual grocery items but also sim cards and other fmcg products. The minimum requirement from these FPS would be an area of 300-400 sqft.

Quite an idea!.....so instead of tying in with the retailers, how about tying in with the FPS outlets?

Face of the industry

The Market Research industry is just about Rs.490 cr, with a growth rate of ~30%. Of late a lot of business is being outsourced from overseas. The increased business from overseas can be attributed to a booming Indian economy, looking hard one would see that it is primarily due to India figuring among the "researched countries".

With expanding markets, there is a need to gauge the growing demand and understand sentiments, attitudes of people, thereby India figures as one of the countries which is under the magnifying lens. And also an age old advantage of a growing economy being less expensive than a developed one. With manday rates much lower than that found in most developed countries, most overseas set-ups prefer to use India for key process outsourcing.

High attrition rates, to the tune of ~30%, lend to its similarity to the IT or the ITeS industry. Sadly however, although the attrition rate matches up to these industries, the remuneration does not. And although agencies claim that they are introducing processes to make their companies employee friendly, the pressures to meet the bottomline are far higher than the need to ensure work-life balance.