The ninth Brand Derby was all about the need to innovate and communicate. |
What do a Hindi box-office hit, a hit TV serial and a niche cable channel have in common with a corporate brand, a mobile service provider and a milk additive? |
If you guessed that they're among the top 10 successful launches of 2003-04, as decided by the respondents in the ninth Business Standard annual Brand Derby, you'd be spot on. |
It's been the year of the entertainment and media sector and the automobile industry. And the FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) sector, once the vanguard of brand launches "" and relaunches "" is still spitting the dirt out of its mouth. |
It was left far behind in the race to be the most recalled, the most successful "" even the most alive "" in a decade that's seen brands being taken off shelves just as fast as someone puts them up there. |
Did the ninth Brand Derby reflect this change? Certainly. Of the 34 brands that respondents to the survey named as launches they remembered from the previous 12 months, only 10 "" less than a third "" were from the FMCG sector. On the other hand, entertainment, media and automobiles accounted for half the listings. |
It was different with brand relaunches, though. For the first time, the Brand Derby this year also quizzed respondents on successful and unsuccessful brand relaunches in the previous year. |
Of the 15 brands that respondents named, nine were from the FMCG sector. That may perhaps be as expected. The surprise element in the relaunches section was the inclusion of four entries from the automobile industry. Looks like car and truck buyers, too, are allured by promises of "new, improved". |
The novelty factor |
So who were the winners? A Cinderella story, man-woman relationships, a D-segment car and dirt-cheap air tickets. Do you see the common thread running through these four? It's innovation. |
Whether it's a new idea for a television serial or Hindi movie "" and new ideas of marketing them "" new communication strategies for selling another product in a rapidly crowding market, or a new way to travel "" 2003-04 was all about novelty and new "" perhaps better "" ways of doing the same old things. |
It certainly worked for Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin, which has redefined prime time entertainment "" 77 per cent of the Derby's respondents believe it is a "very succesful" brand. |
Building on the premise that working women in the 18 to 34 age group weren't getting their money's worth from the deluge of saas-bahu soaps that had flooded television sets over the past couple of years, Sony Entertainment Television decided to offer them a modern-day fairy tale instead. |
And as women sat glued to their TVs watching the tug-of-love between Jassi and Armaan Sir, SET moved in for the marketing kill "" strategic product placements, co-branding with other programmes and of course, a rush of ads during commercial breaks. When it comes to raking in the media spends, there's really no one like Jassi. |
Or like Hum Tum, for that matter. Here was a Hindi movie that spliced animation sequences between songs in the rain and long shots of Central Park, thumbed its nose at rural India, instead playing determinedly to urban Indian and non-resident Indian viewers "" and it was a blockbuster! More importantly, it was a box office hit for marketers. |
Targeted communication before and after the launch, tie-ups with potato chip brands, newspapers, music channels and TV serials "" Hum Tum's marketing team unleashed a promotion blitzkreig that demolished any hint of a lacklustre performance. |
Chevrolet and Air Deccan were more subtle "" but with the same devastating results. Chevrolet's communication was driven along emotions "" appeal to the senses and the heart of customers "" rather than the oh-so-obvious route of emphasising the features of its cars. |
That touched a chord with customers; overall, 86 per cent of Derby respondents believe Chevrolet is a successful brand, with 6 per cent ranking it first among the "very successful" brands. |
Air Deccan used a simple proposition and focused on it fully "" make air travel accessible to all. With tickets costing less than rail travel, it's not surprising that it's among the top three brands "" 90 per cent of the respondents believed it is a success. |
Talk to me |
If innovation was the linking factor between the winners in the Brand Derby, what joined the losers? In a word "" communication. Ineffective, lack of, misplaced.... whatever the reason, the flaw lay in addressing the target groups. |
When Coca-Cola India decided to cash in on the retro-rage with its commercials for Vanilla Coke, it forgot to account for one thing "" fads are, by definition, shortlived. Retro was on its way out when "Wakaw" came in. |
Like our story on page 4 says, Elvis had left the building "" and Coke didn't notice. But Derby respondents are an unforgiving lot; they gave Vanilla Coke a resounding thumbs-down: 67 per cent said it was not successful, and 32 per cent said it was the least successful brand launch. |
Godrej Soaps' Nimin soap and Ladakh Foods' Leh Berry juice, too, underestimated the importance of staying in touch with customers. Over a third of the respondents were not even aware of Nimin, and 61 per cent wrote it off as unsuccessful, citing poor communication and a lack of USP. |
Back with a bang "" or is it a whimper? |
Do the same lessons remain relevant for marketers interested in relaunching old brands? Innovation certainly remains a key factor. |
Understandably, perhaps "" would you buy a revamped product if you didn't perceive anything better about it? The Strategist next week will have a detailed report on the findings regarding brand relaunches, but here's sample: |
Interestingly, the best and worst relaunches in this round of the Brand Derby are from the automobile industry. While the Derby applauded the return of Hyundai's Santro as the Xing and Honda's City, the Petra (nee Fiat Siena) was dismissed summarily as old wine in new bottles. |
While 74 per cent felt the City was very successful and 73 per cent felt the Santro Xing was very successful, only 1 per cent believed the same about the Petra. Incidentally, these are the highest and lowest ratings among all the 15 brands that were considered in the relaunches segment. |
One finding from the relaunches results is that if the parent company and the earlier avatar of the brand were successful, the relaunch, too, is likely to take off. Which explains why Cadbury's Temptations, Dabur Real, Horlicks' and Lifebuoy scored well, while Promise, Mediker and Petra fall by the wayside. |