100cc bikes:evolution

Evolution of Bikes in India

In 70s we had Bajaj Vespa, Bajaj Chetak, Bajaj cub... And i remember an exciting booking session for a new model of scooter Vespa XE and a failed launch of the same brand.

Then came the launch of Hero Honda, Kawasaki Bajaj, Yamaha RX100, Kinetic Honda, Ind Suzuki, Enfield Explorer.

Ind Suzuki later became TVS Suzuki and then we saw the birth of Suzuki Samurai ( The no problem bike!).

Suzuki launched a much more powerful five gear bike in Suzuki Shaolin.

Yamaha launched Crux in the late 90s to capitalise on the lost Yamaha franchisee.

TVS launched Victor

Hero Honda was the only consistent player in this whole game till 2011. As they parted ways with Honda. Now its just Hero.

Kinetic Honda was the only button start, now we have almost every 100cc bike/ scooter with a button start

KRD Rice

Packed Curd Rice 

Hatsun launched a very interesting product "Curd Rice" in the market and attempted distributing it across all Arun Ice cream parlour outlets and later on into other retailers. The product was very tasty  as Arun's milk strength was leveraged very well. The product had a good media support with actor "Prakash Raj" endorsing the product named as "KRD rice".
I think product distribution issues and later on manufacturing bottlenecks pulled the product down from the markets. If i could recall specific issues were:

1. Arun Ice cream outlets were closer to colonies and not close to office areas, as the product was targetted at Bachelors / office goers etc., the availability was critical

2. Freshness of the product was questioned as consumers wanted it to have packed that day and hence it couldnt go beyond chennai. However in the rural and semirural, making  a consumer to buy curd rice would have been a bigger challenge.

3. 
I dont remember exactly, but i felt there was a pricing issue where in it was charged at Rs.25 per pack.
http://www.buzzar.tv/product/hatsun_krdrys

"Arjun Amma yaaru (who is arjun's mom?)"

4.5 Milk

Tamilnadu was taken by storm with this interesting set of teasers that flashed around during the early part of the millennium. The story was, Arjun is a very bright kid and an allrounder so to say... everyone wants to know who is his mother? 

An interesting take and a great introduction for a celebrity "Radhika". She comes in and does the product introduction of Arokya 4.5% fat milk. This communication was very fresh for the milk category. Bates was the agency that conceptualised this and the brand owner Hatsun Foods ( Arun Ice Creams). Arokya became synonymous to high fat milk. So much so that consumer still refers it as 4.5 milk (nallarai paal).

The downside was Arokya's other milk variants like low fat milk, 2% fat etc., couldnt succedd as consumers branded Arokya with 4.5%. Hatsun later launched the other milk variants under the brand name "Hatsun".

Brands love their products

Brands over a period starts loving the products and hence cause a major hurdle for product and brand extensions.
Britannia the brand loves biscuits and hence will be a flop with any other product. Cadbury, Horlicks, Boost, Kissan, failed with biscuits.

Pond's failed with soap, deodorant, toothpaste, nosestrips, etc.,
Maggi failed with pickles
Nirma failed with all they launched:toothpaste, salt, cosmetics etc., he changed the cosmetic soap to Nima and recovered
Cuticura launched deos and failed. Now they have a soap under the name
Liril couldn't survive beyond soap-had a lime talc
Axe deos were a hit. But not the talc, soap etc.,
Denim entire range of men's cosmetics failed
Cinthol range to be evaluated as they have just launched
Max ice cream from wall's was a hit but not the confectionary range

Firsts

Firsts

1.ICNET was the first email service provider in the country
2.Velvette was the first shampoo to have come in sachet
3.Arun Ice Cream was the only ice cream brand to have exclusive over 100 ice cream parlours
4.Sterling Holiday's was the first holiday timeshare brand in the country
5.Spartek was the first vitrified floor tiles in the country
6. Maxworth Orchards launched fresh vegetables store in chennai and it belonged to Sterling
7. Docomo was the first mobile service provider to launch per sec billing
8. First television to launch Picture in Picture (PIP) feature was Videocon
9. First claymation adfilm in India was for Amaron batteries
10.Citizen Washotex was the first Washing machine to have launched in India
11.First branded jewellery was by Titan under the brand name Tanishq
12.Citibank launched the first credit card business
13.Rexona was the first deodarant in the country
14.AR Rahman endorsed a brand for the first time : AIRTEL
15. First private airlines were from NEPC and Damania Airways
16. Hatsun launched Curd Rice in packed form to be available across outlets
17.Hatsun launched milk with 4.5% fat under the brand name Arokya
18.Parachute launched branded coconut oil
19. Translektra launched  "Good Knight" mats to fight against mosquitoes
20. Sun TV was the first private television channel in tamil, with programmes only in the evenings
21.NDTV was the first English News Channel
22.Kothari Pioneer was the first private mutual fund
23. First Television with built in Video cassette player

Finance and Tamil Nadu

Finance and Tamil Nadu

Overseas Sanmar, Harita Finance, Sundaram Finance, Cholamandalam Finance, TVS Finance, Ashok Leyland Finance, Dugar Finance, Alacrity Investments, Eswari Finance, Royapettah Benefit Fund, Devi Jewellers, Bharti Gems and Jewellery, Anubhav Finance, Ramesh Cars, GNS Nidhi etc., were some of the companies who were actively soliciting deposits and were promising lucrative returns. A very few mentioned above were concentrating on safety and did not go overboard in advertising and returns. There were these aggressive ones such as Bharti Gems, Devi Gold, Eswari Finance, Royapettah, Ramesh cars, Anubhav etc., painted the town with all colors and promised 32% returns for FD. Consumers were attracted through multimedia campaigns and finally didnt get their principals back. The big gainers were some agencies and a few media houses. Their contribution to the world of advertising in chennai was very high, i could still remember a few interesting work,
Overseas Sanmar : Life is too wonderful to be spent worrying
RBF : Let your first expenditure be saving (read in tamil as thangal mudhal selavu semippaga irukattum!)
GNS : sponsored SUN TOP TEN movies
Eswari : had some interesting bill boards
Harita : Brought out a lot of unique mobilisation drives named "Grihaprevesham", "Paalpayasam" etc., They also launched the then popular "Harita Man" and focussed on service.
Sundaram Finance : Stubborn on not advertising, their brand reminder was their popular yearly Calendars






Sunda

Godrej and IPL6

Good Creative killed by Bad Campaign Planning 

Godrej's ideas that make your life brighter campaign started off with lots of expectations as Aamir Khan became the brand ambassador for the group. The communication started rolling with Aamir disguised as a lady next door and every communication travelled and unveiled linearly a set of innovative products from Godrej. Just when we were appreciating the work, bad media planning or placement of advertisements or desperation or creative not ready.. the real reason is not known. We notice the old Godrej good knight ad with those two kids appearing and talking about the functionality of those buttons in the mosquito machine. We see the couple in the Aamir Khan ads without Aamir Khan explaining about some property of the refrigerator, air conditioner., hold on we also see Aamir Khan as Aamir Khan talking about another feature of the airconditioner's power saving benefit to some friend over the phone.

Now the excitement of the story is gone, even if they reveal!

Consumer Insights

VIP luggage

A traditional HTA (now JWT) account moved into Lintas in the early part of the millennium. Thats when Lintas came up with this awesome idea that worked really well for the brand and rejuvenated it as well. The idea came from a simple observation that the last touch point between the luggage and the consumer is when somebody departs. This was captured with this interesting "  bye bye "  commercial, which had various instances of people leaving home for work, for holiday etc., and the luggage being an integral part  of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trVP_MERpk0

Pepsodent 

Colgate was the doctor friendly toothpaste and a typical Colgate ad will involve the consumer going to a doctor for toothache, bad breath etc., And the doctor advises he/she to use Colgate. Pepsodent came up with this magical way of twisting the whole thing by saying "Pespsodent users dont go to Dentist". Various TVCs drove this point and gave a clear stance for the brand to stand on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vWqj2RYnCQ

Innovations

Innovative ideas that brought saliency to lot of brands

1. A Mutual fund company advertised in the middle of the Share pages in The Hindu : Cholamandalam Cazenove

2. Fifty Fifty a brand from Britannia used the Third umpire decisions to place the brand : done by Initiative Media during one of the world cups

3. Volkswagen's talking newspaper across the country to launch Vento, really talk of the town

4. Volkswagen's launch in the country marked with a diecut across the newspaper (Times of India) in the shape of the car

5.Volkswagen had hoarding in which a beatle shaped car was moving around the hoarding.

6. Hutch did a personalised newspaper ad across the country for elite customers by using their name "Hi Sharma " in Economic Times (idea conceived and executed by Ogilvy PR chennai)

7.ICICI placed the branding in the TV show KBC whenever they need to give a cheque to the participant

8.Airtel branding during the TV Show KBC when the participant need to make a call to his friend

9. Prince Jewellery branded the Gold Prices section during the SUN NEWS at prime time

10. Lifebuoy branding on free rotis at Kumbh Mela

11.Infosys branding on Aircrafts exterior

12.Nerolac painted different colors on the Electric Train compartments in Mumbai , Called it the largest shade card

13.Godrej had a promo with a Gold coin kept inside the soap. Lucky winner will get it.

14.Times of India conducted Tambola with the coupons being distributed alongwith the newspaper, (Chennai launch)

15.Docomo did a massive hoarding structure in Mumbai on the hills

16. Digene pasted a message on the Dabbas through the Dabbawallas in Mumbai

17.Brooke Bond 3 roses ran a Train from KanyaKumari to Chennai and called it the Brooke Bond 3 roses Express. This was a contest linked promotion.

18.Bru launched in three cities a new flavour using the coffee aroma in the newspaper

19. In another Dabbawala promo in Mumbai an insurance company kept an apple inside with a positive health message

20. ICICI was the first to place "No Parking" boards in the gates of residences

21.Kids Kemp provided flowers to people entering Banglore and also provided them with free drop facility to their shop in MG road

22. A pizza brand had a hoarding in Mumbai which will ring a bell exactly during 1pm, 2pm reminder for lunch.

23.AKAI struck a deal with all the Hoarding vendors and used to paint the vacant hoardings with just their brand name

24. Sunsilk conducted a fashion show on the Hoarding by erecting a platform for the models to walk on it. They did this in Mumbai

Lifts and Television Commercials

Lifts and TVCs share a unique bond, look at the number of commercials:

1. Axe Deos : one of the earliest commercials
2.FA Deo : they launched two fragrances together
3.Blue Star Air Conditioner : The infamous "Socks" travelling TVC
4.Nokia phone promoting gaming
5.Union Bank of India : Home loan TVC
6.Docomo : get the complete story
7.Vodafone : Superstar inside the lift
8.Close Up : Couple trying to kiss and looking at the Camera inside the lift
9. Amul Dahi : Sardar in a lift
10. Seagrams :"Men will be Men" commercial with a guy trying to flirt
11.Saffola
12.Tata Indicom with Sania mirza
13.Max Bupa Life Insurance
14. Chlormint : Katrina Kaif
15.Kareena Kapoor in Philips hair style
16.Closeup Fire & Ice Advt.

Retro

"Give it a Retro look" an often heard remark made by servicing to  the creatives, i could remember of two instances where the Retro look has been actively carried forward:

1. Vanilla Coke : Vivek Oberoi, Lambretta Scooter, the colors, "Wakkaw!!"  Product failed as it couldnt stand up to the consumer expectations. It was too sweet.

2. Vespa :  Very recent example and the product due to its design strength has taken off well inspite of premium pricing.

3.Greenply was a reasonably good communication

4. Jewellery category has showcased some excellent retro work specifically for promoting their antique jewellery range-  very relevant!

5.Shah Rukh and Dhoni came together for an advertisement for Videocon immediately after the release of the movie Om Shanti Om

6. Close-up did a communication with an interesting look for its campaign

Teasers

Our Country witnessed one of the largest teaser campaigns in 2000 for Parle's Frooti. Everest executed this integrated campaign which had Television, Press, Outdoor, even SMSes at that time. The campaign revolved around this character " Digen Verma". Who is Digen Verma, Where is Digen Verma etc., and finally after around 15 to 20 days, the brand got revealed with the line that said "Digen Verma drinks Frooti". Created lots of curiosity, didnt push the brand any further. Because immediately after this campaign, Everest was sacked and TBWA was appointed.

"Balbir Pasha ko Aids hoga kya" was another powerful campaign that actually managed to get strong behavioural change. This was created by LINTAS.

While this one is not national but definitely worth a mention, RMKV's 50000 colors in a single saree. Mudra South created this campaign. This actually revolved around "What color Saree will Jyotika wear for her marriage?".

Failed, hold agency responsible!!

Ogilvy Chennai was branded unlucky at one point in time.. during the 90s!

There were a lots of brands that failed in Chennai, as usual blamed the agency for it :

Kovai's Annapoorna launched its fast food chain in chennai, it failed in its big venture. Fast food in early 90s was little too early for the market

Hindu launched  Business Line a business newspaper pitched against the Economic Times. Didnt take off as  ET had just launched its chennai edition

Liquid cough syrup in a sachet under the brand name Tulsi was launched, it was pitched against Velvette's Nivaran 90 -- didnt do well

Florsheim Shoes a very well executed campaign for this premium brand couldnt push the brand ahead

Pond's nose strip from Pond's

Maxworth Orchards from Sterling Group, this product was something similar to Teak but focussed on Fresh Vegetables, and retailing of vegetables as well.

Emerging categories

Its interesting to note how new categories emerge and how they open up opportunities for newer brands. What i have witnessed over these years are, especially during the 90s,
In the early 90s we saw the emergence of Deodorants through Rexona. The brands that followed it are Pond's, Axe, Sure, Fa, Dove, Nivea, Santoor, Park Avenue, Denim and so on..Now the category is so matured that we have men's range, for the women, for the teenz...

 Pagers, and mobile phone service providers:
Mobile phone brands begun with Motorola, Ericsson, Nokia and now we have a plethora of brands on that.
(smaller the phone bigger you are has now moved to bigger the phone better you are!)
Mobile phone service providers have become stronger over this 10 years and now they almost dominate every media space possible. (Hutch, Airtel, Idea, Docomo, Uninor, Aircel, MTS)

Consumer Durables grew actively through high decibel advertising by Videocon and BPL in the early years, followed up by AKAI, SONY, ONIDA,  Philips. Then came the Korean major  LG with unimaginable advertising budgets during those years. The last to pickup and stay ahead of all others is SAMSUNG.

 Pens got a big boost with brands like Rotomac, Cello, Linc, Reynolds...
 Sarees advertising was blocking a lot of media space with brands like Parag, Garden Vareli, Vimal, Bombay Dyeing...
Premium Readymade garment brands like Arrow, Louis Phillippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solley, ColorPlus were highly visible
In South Finance Schemes by private NBFCs like TVS, Harita, Overseas Sanmar, Cholamandalam used to be active. A lot of private finance companies  came into existence, offered interest rates upto 35% and finally cheated a lot of depositors.
Appointment Advertisements by Software companies used to be a big revenue stream for almost every advertising agency, as one release could fetch the agency close to 15 to 20Lacs.

Computer Education  advertisements every monday almost was becoming a blindspot in newspapers : NIIT, APTECH, Wintech, SSI, Radiant etc., most of them collapsed with the crash of the dotcom category. Only NIIT survived.
Closer to the millennium  dotcom communication was at its peak with hometrade.com, Sharekhan, Indya.com, Indiainfoline and many such sites.

Real Estate
Post the millennium and around 2004 emerged a category called Real Estate. Now it is almost a norm that every agency says " We need to have one real estate client". There are agencies that work for couple of real estate clients from the same roof. Both the clients are fine with it. The only caution is please be careful about payments.

Kerala and West Bengal

Kerala and West Bengal : 

 

All of us know the similarities these two share: rice, fish, football, communism, literature, women etc., look at some marketing examples which will come as a surprise. Jokingly once a marketeer mentioned to me that if a product succeeds in these states, then we have a problem on hand that this will fail everywhere else.

Thin arrowroot from Britannia : only popular in these markets

Cuticura talc 

Lime Talc : both Liril and Velvette

Sunlight Detergent Powder

Margo Soap succeeded in its launch in Kerala

Neem Toothpaste

 

 

Rewind3

1."Chal meri Luna" and "Namma ooru Vandi" for Luna and TVS 50 established a new way of motorised driving in this country. A slightly powerful product was launched by Hero Motors under the brand name "Hero Puch". This was endorsed by Aamir Khan.

2. "History is now Geography"  marked the launch of Iridium a GPS enabled phone launched in 2000. A revolutionary product, unfortunately the exhorbitant pricing killed the product.

3. Zenith Refrigerators had an innovative built in water storage system that would enable use to drink cold water without opening the refrigerator through a push mechanism on the door itself.

4. Fryums.. just fry them was a superb campaign.. where is it today Mr.TTK?

REwind 2

1. Salman Khan was dropped by Thums up due to his involvement with the shooting of the deer case in Rajasthan, then the brand moved to Akshay Kumar, Mahesh Babu and now back with Salman Khan in 2013 ( may be his box office has brought him back, the court case still prevails)

2. Sakura film roll became Konica, Binaca became Cibaca, UTI became Axis, Hutch became Vodafone.

3. Garden Vareli brand of sarees were promoted with this tag line "You fascinate me" how the hero searches for the girl and how she keeps hiding used to be the central theme.

4. Reliance Industries were the first to run a 90 sec commercial for their Petrol Chemicals Public Issue.

5. Pankaj Kapoor (father of Shahid Kapoor) and Javed Jaffrey were part of a series of TVCs done by Maggi Tomato Ketch up under the  theme "Its different"

6. P&G launched their detergents brand "Ariel" green powder was test marketed in Vizag before their national launch in the 90s. The daughter in law and mother in law communication created enough interest around the brand

7. Tata had two toilet soap brands  OK, and Hamam. Later the entire division Tata Oil Mills and Co., (TOMCO) was sold to levers. They also had a detergent brand called Swastik.

8. Kissan and Dipy's range of squashes, jams originally belong to UB before they sold it to Levers.

9. Googly range of Candys were launched by Cadbury, first time candys in pillow packs. The brand did terribly bad in the market place.
 
10. Bakeman's range of bakery products was a national brand in the 90s. Still remember their "English Marie. Original Marie" commercial.

11. Pond's used to have Cold Cream Soap and Dreamflower Soap. Both have disappeared over a period of time.

12.Arun Ice cream used to have innovative promos : Slow n Steady race, Dial an ice cream, Eat all you can mela etc.,

13. Arun launched milk under the brand name "Sun Fun" it flopped then, now they have one of the largest selling milk brand in TN. The brands are Arokya and Hatsun

14. Viva and Maltova from Jagjit Industries used to give tough competition to Horlicks and Boost in the South. Over a period Smithkline Beecham bought Viva and Maltova and slowly killed those brands as well.

15. Nestle launched a full range of chocolates but they failed as they couldnt crack the distribution system that Cadbury had built over years. Later in a phased manner they relauched their range. First one to take on the market was Kit Kat, as Cadbury didnt have a similar product, later Cadbury launched PERK and MUNCH

Brand names

 Brand Name, Brand Name, Brand Name:  Take a look at some of the successful and unsuccessful ones here :

Alpenliebe :
 A butterscotch candy launched by Perfetti, had this complicated "how do I pronounce this" kinds. Powerful advertising just focussed its initial phase only on stressing the brand name. Then came some smart ads that made this brand popular. Now the brand enjoys a reasonably good position in the market place.

Petitbureau :
A brand of biscuits launched by Britannia in the early 90s, simply couldnt take off as it was getting difficult for the consumer and the dealer to deal with.

docomo : 
Everyone felt that this might not move ahead as the name is tough to pronounce. Jingle that made the name easy on the tongue, followed up by multiple executions all of them had one single jingle on how to pronounce DOCOMO. There we go a considerable player in the mobile phone service.

Some times we think of relevance and connection with the category etc., before generating names. I am not going to comment on names kept around the owners of the company like TATA SALT, LEVER 2000, Godrej locks, Amul butter, Ambuja Cement etc.,

Postman : Cooking Oil
Parachute : Coconut Oil
Apple  : Computers
Orange : Telecom
Tamarind : fashion apparel
ONIDA : Consumer durable
Kissan Jams

Mascots

Mascots : If you are considering to create a mascot for your brand, its just not as easy as you think. The level of investments are very high and we need to wait for a longer period of time to see that it gives us results. Take a look at popular Indian and International brand mascots

The Amul baby was born in 1967 is still a popular mascot. She may soon enter into the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest campaign to survive in the market.

  AirIndia's Maharajah a popular one was created by JWT in 1946 and was in existence for a great period of time.



 







 Asian Paints Gattu developed by RK Laxman in 1954.
Gattu's like the 'common man', so it served well for Asian Paints till it wanted a mass-market appeal.In 2002, as part of a corporate rebranding strategy Gattu was dropped.








 Chinatamani :"No Chinta... Only Money" a memorable campaign from ICICI bank for their insurance products. The idea of having a claymation animated character worked wonderfully in the competitive insurance market.towards tax saving plans etc., .






Energizer’s pink bunny mascot  grabbed the interest of users in North America but could not excite the Indian market. This is one brand which has different mascots for Europe and Australia – the pink bunny has been replaced with the muscular human like battery mascot, since these part of the globe were already running ads for the Duracell pink rabbit.

Pillsbury Doughboy mascot was developed by Leo Burnett in 1960 . The little dough chef is now seen globally on all the Pillsbury products, giggling and blinking his blue round eyes in the commercials for Pillsbury cookies, flours, pancake mix and many others.
McDonald’s ‘Ronald’ our very own friendly clown and famous name after Santa, has been the most recognized mascot among kids and elders. The smiling clown is often seen around McDonald’s doing tricks and playing with kids. Yet to gain popularity in India as a popular character.
  Sunny : The mascot for Sunfeast, was originally outlined and developed for a brand of rice in Russia, that ITC was planning to import. This was created by Trikaya Grey, Chennai. Later this project got shelved and here we go, gets a name and has come in as a Mascot for the Sunfeast range. Need to wait and see if this is getting recognised as a strong mascot.

  



Fido Dido 
Fido Dido was licensed to Pepsi in around 1988, but the character did not receive much attention or popularity until the early 1990. He reappeared in 2000, and still is part of 7UP cans etc., The Indian launch of 7up was with this character and Rachel Reuben a popular model that time. Nice interplay between a live character and a cartoon. Very impressive launch for the brand 7up. No big investments have happen around this mascot post the launch in India.

 

Paddle Pop  Lion: is a popular character and belongs to Wall's, looks like will start becoming popular. Its earlier avatar as part of the sub brand of Walls "MAX" didnt take off well. Even when the mascot was extended to confectionary, it didnt receive any positive feedback.
Zoo Zoos: Were conceived as part of the IPL brand visibility strategy, therefore i wouldnt term them as Mascots. They are more as Visual metaphors. time will tell how Vodafone wants to handle this property, as of now they want to associate this as their IPL property only.

Others : Regal Detergent soap from Shaw Wallace had a mascot called "Tinku" who resembled Dennis the Mennace character was popular with the brand Regal. There were lots of them for the sporting events. Indian Railways ambituosly launched a character -  a friendly elephant. Bajaj Allianz has a mascot of a friendly agent. Amrutanjan Cold Gel launched a very badly executed Mr.Nose.

Rewind

Rewind:

Would like to recollect a few famous campaigns, memorable brand activities and few marketing initiatives,

1. "Aag se ladne ki Shakthi appki mutti mein" : Cease fire, portable fire extinguisher campaign by Trikaya Grey took the country by fire

2. Thums up makes it great! : brought the first ever Cricket Highlights to our country in DD at 10.50pm

3.Gold spot the zing thing

4.Gems Bond : with a cartoonish treatment was unforgettable

5. Citra, Super Cooler : the clear lemon drink from Parle had a visually stunning TVC

6. Kawasaki Bajaj : used for the first time in the country "morphing" to TVC. Here a cheetah morphs into the bike.

7.HeroHonda- Fill it. Shut it. Forget it. by ULKA: is still strongly associated with the fuel efficiency of the bike

8.Amitabh's KBC with Star Plus: changed the fortune of the STAR network in our country. 9 baj gaye kya? campaign from Ogilvy pushed the Mumbai audiences towards the Television

9. Controversial and famous Lintas campaign for Kwality Walls "FEAST" created a stir in the market place

10.Titan Fastrack came in as a digital range of watches from Titan. For the first time there was a leap in the watch packaging - Cylindrical containers were used to pack the watches. The packs looked trendy and brought in that most desired young image.

11. Vamicol against Fevicol and Cocoraj against Parachute unveiled a big media war in one of those big cricketing events. Thank god, both have vanished.

12. Cadbury Schweppes launched Crush, Double Cola, Canada Dry but all the brands tanked up without any trace inspite of solid media presence. Trikaya Grey had done work on these brands

13. First time in Indian Television Sony Aired "Sholay", Trikaya Grey had bought the entire day's advertising time and launched a product called "Vaccumizer" from the makers of Cease fire. I remember it cost a few crores in 1995 for a day. The product flopped the same week and the company is now history.

14.Arvind Group, for the first time bought the entire issue of Business World and ran a corporate campaign about the group, this was in 1996.

15. Katrina Kaif modelled for the first time for Deccan Chronical newspaper, she was more referred as "Salman's girlfriend"

16.Cadbury launched their ice cream brand initially through their own parlour and later tried retailing they failed with both the attempts. The brand was Dollop's.

17.Home Trade.com ran a campaign that featured models such Shah Rukh Khan, Sachin Tendulkar, Hrithik Roshan... none could understand what this product was. It was a trading portal and the year was 2000. While internet and email itself was struggling, obvious that this didnt take off.

18.ICNET was the first email provider in the country. Based out of Chennai, this company launched email. I guess they dont exist today as a company.

19.BSA's campaign "Boom Boom Shaka Lakha Boom Boom Shak" by Mudra for BSA SLR spoke a lot about the zesty image for the bike.

20. Jeetendra was the brand ambassador for a product called "Thirty Plus". Jinseng in it more of an energy tablet.

21. Spirulina as a category saw a lot of activities in the late 90s and early 2000. Major players were Dabur, Parry's. But the concept didnt get the necessary acceptance.

Interesting categories

Liquid Soap

HLL launched Liril liquid in mid 90s, with an awesome tvc, where a girl gets into a car wash station, flips open her Liril liquid and takes a refreshing bath. Liril as a brand always took the user away from the bathroom, this tvc was perfect with the brand's image and everyone felt that it was strengthening the core image of the soap as well. Consumers felt the other way around and the product plus the category did not get a green signal.
HLL tried once more with Liril in the early 2000 but didnt get any traction for the brand. Then they tried with Lux liquid again a no no. Colgate Palmolive tried with Palmolive aroma therapy after their miserable run with the Palmolive brand of soaps. While Aroma therapy still exists, the contribution to the overall revenue is still unclear. Meanwhile the category has slowly transformed into "body wash" and the liquid soap now belongs to the handwash category. Now, we have wide range of body wash from all brands Cinthol, Palmolive, Lifebuoy, Lux, Dettol, Vivel, ParkAvenue, Adidas (Indian import) etc.,

Hand wash category needs to say "Thank you" to Swine Flu

Fem was the oldest in this business and is almost lost in the new evolved category of handwash. The key players are Dettol, Lifebuoy, Santoor... A struggling category with a very few players and no growth suddenly received a lot of importance due to Swineflu a new fever that was spreading across the far east countries and India was a potential victim on that. One of the ways to protect was having clean hands, as told by Lifebuoy in their message. There we go, we are witnessing a boom in that category now.

Personally was involved in developing a communication for "Margo Handwash". We did a nice TVC but later the Henkel Global bosses felt that this category doesnt have any potential (!!). Then came the Swineflu!

Packaging

Packaging

Velvette Shampoos from Chennai set a new agenda on this one rupee sachet concept. Today the sachets have unique place in the market, it is difficult for me to think of a category or product that doesnt come in sachets: coconut oil, biscuits, kellogg's, pain balms, cold creams, after shave, shaving cream, soaps, toothpastes...
However, there were some really good ones that created an impact in the market place due to pack size innovations and pricing.

1. Closeup small pack: Colgate launched its small pack and the user felt it was messy, Closeup introduced a sachet with a nice lid so that the consumers could use it comfortably for 3 - 4 days.
2. Tiger biscuits: Brought in 3 or 4 biscuits in a sachet priced at Rs.2/- a big boon for the tea shops
3. Parachute coconut oil : This is doing well in south, especially in tourist spots and pilgrimage, onetime use pack
4.Shaving cream : Sachets from Gillette was a great one costing around 5 rupees
5.Shaving blade : Gillette Presto a use and throw Shaving stuff at Rs.6
6.Kellogg's : Chocos and Corn flakes and its zillion variants are helping mothers to try out the different tastes with a hope that their children would finally love something
7.Tropicana : Mix it with water and drink costs Rs.10/-
8.Pickles /Jams/ Ketchups :
9. UHT Milk : In small tetra packs with a shelf life of 120 days from brands like Amul, Vijaya, Nandini etc., is opening up a new milk market. This costs around Rs.10 for 200ml.
10.Gems pack : Gems launched this small 3's pack which was a big hit amongst shops around schools. The success of this has made Cadbury concentrate on small packs for Munch pops, dairy milk shots etc.,
11.Butter : Amul has a nice school pack of butter for one time use, as refrigeration is an issue, this still is restricted only to large super markets.

Brands 3

Blackberry
New campaign on Blackberry is a killer! The idea of that "*" and linking it up with "Action" is simply brilliant, a very strong consumer insight especially for the people on the move, and a feature that gives an edge to Blackberry over competition. Only concern is Will a non-blackberry user relate to this "*" thought?










Airtel's New communication on Internet with new anthem is very zesty. I am sure the youth is going to lap it up! Nice jingle that has followed the "Har friend zaroori hai yaar" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eF6he-zKWYQ

Brands 2

Parachute

When coconut oils were sold as commodities, Parachute came in as a brand and highlighted the benefits of using a branded product. Then they felt that their product is not perceived as premium product, so they launched "Hair n Care" a non-sticky oil from parachute. Unfortunately this didnt take off. Today, Parachute has haircream, hair oil with fragrances and has launched body cream with coconut oil.
Parachute launched an ambituos programme to attract talent across function called "Uncommon sense". I am unaware of the status of it today.


Godrej

An aggressive player in the category of toilet soaps used to launch a new soap almost every quarter. The brands that i could remember Marvel with Anu Agarwal,
Vigil with Vengsarkar,
Ganga with Govinda, Kapil Dev, Gavaskar etc.,
Crowning Glory (the first soap with Shampoo) with Dimple Kapadia,
Fresca,
Cinthol Lime and some more Cinthol variants
 Evita that had Vitamin -E

Today they have two solid brands after consolidation Godrej No: 1 and  Old Cinthol 


Johnson & Johnson failures

A brand that is so endearing amongst its consumers, has a decent retail distribution network, yet couldnt push some of its brand extensions ahead inspite of good media presence.

Nizral Blue Anti dandruff Shampoo : Power packed creative campaign across media was conceived by Trikaya Grey, but this powerful product did not take off.

Kids : A soap for Kids from the age group of 4 to 10, strategy to get the kids who grown out of J&J baby soap. Product failed. Mothers either continued with J&J baby soap for some more time or they were graduating to Pears.

Brands 1

 Automobile Advertising 
Automobile marketing is moving exactly in the real estate marketing direction, buy now pay after one year. NO EMIs, etc., Refer to the Volkswagen Vento advertisement that offers you to exchange your existing car with NO EMIs for the next one year. sounds exactly like those real estate advertisements.

Fragrance Day : 21st March
Today is "National Fragrance Day" another marketing initiative from TOI, Cycle agarbathis sponsors... next year all deos will take care i guess.

Dettol launches dish washing liquid 
Only time has to tell if consumers are going to accept a product from Dettol that will attack the germs in the vessels and the plates we eat from. If this product becomes a hit this will become a case study for how much a brand can extend itself. Interesting to note that a product only known for Antiseptic liquid today has moved into soaps, handwash, talc, body wash... 

Tooth Paste disasters
Parle  launched a toothpaste called "Prudent" failed.
Pond's launched toothpaste called Pond's, no surprises failed
P&G's Crest- leading toothpaste brand collapsed without a trace
Signal from HLL couldnt create any impact
Successful Binaca was rebranded into Cibaca and then bought over by Promise, still struggles
Mentadent from HLL was relaunched 5-6 times and finally succeeded when it got the new brand name Pepsodent.
   
 

Best of 2012

WhatsApp: The most engaging mobile app;
Flipkart : The top e-tailing website for urban Indian consumers.
Nokia : The preferred brand of mobile handsets
Vodafone: The top mobile operator.
These are the findings of the first round of Consumer Rankings for India launched by Nielsen.

Logo Changes

Mahindra and Ebay changed their logos, where they can run a contest to find what is the difference.

NEW IDEA Commercial - 2013 : 
Husband and wife quarrelling over how their work is more important and the son swaps their mobile phones. Then they understand each other's problems.. simple and a very interesting story telling! what an idea sirji?check this commercial.
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je0YNN62gf8


Surprisingly interesting Aircel Commercial 2012 :
An offer advertisement with a cool storyline, very endearing and watchable amidst those screaming shouting offer ads. There are a set of 3 or 4 commercials. This one in the Classroom and an extra time to write exam is very appealing. The other ones cricket and the sabsi mandi TVCs do not stand out as this one.

http://bit.ly/WzXNKq

Snickers TVC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLDZ-gAKbqo
The insight that you become a different person when you are terribly hungry gets played very nicely. Execution could have been better. My personal view is Rekha and Urmila didnt suit the script. Once again this goes to prove that if you are strategically right, 75% of the battle is won!


Remember SUNNY 

Bajaj launched "Sunny" a 50cc scooter cum moped version in the 90s, but today it has grown up to become a "CAAAAR" by Nissan. 


Kelvinator : The Coolest One

This set of interesting TVCs, (Carnatic singer, Old man and his dentures) were apparently created for an airconditioning brand. Suddenly that brand started developing cold feet, now they were recycled and presented to this brand of refrigerator. Good creatives can breathe energy to other categories as well.


Timing is everything

Close up  in the Indian market was trying to grow the non-white toothpaste market from the 70s, but was really struggling to crack it. However did lots of ground work and trials. Colgate was closely watching this development and launched their "color" range with this very famous campaign "Fresh Breath Energy" in 1991. Black and white ads with the blue and red gel strips running across the visuals with the headline "Fresh breath energy", same ran as TVC it was a visual treat.


Horlicks and its Brand Extensions  

Smithkline Beecham has been trying to enter into lots of product ranges that didnt quite help them. Horlicks biscuits get relaunched every third year, just but to fail. Same is the fate for their range of Boost biscuits as well. Even their toothpast range under the brand name "Aqua fresh" launched by Trikaya  Grey couldnt create any dent in the market. Their innovative flexi toothbrush pave way for innovations in the toothbrush market but they couldnt gain out of this. Today's toothbrush marketers have to thank Aqua Fresh for this category growth.