Pitch top 50 brands - 2010 by Adsert Web Solutions

INSIDE Pitch Volume VIII, Issue II November 2010 Publisher & Editor-in-Chief Anurag Batra Editor & Director Amit Agnihotri Director Nawal Ahuja

, Pitch India s Top 50 Marketers

EDITORIAL TEAM

Consulting Editors

Vinod Behl Noor Fathima Warsia

Deputy Editor

Dhaleta Surender Kumar

Senior Correspondent

Ruchika Kumar

Senior Sub-Editor

Ashish Jha

Correspondent

Pragati Ratti

Art Director

Jasper Levi

Deputy Art Director

Kapil Vashist

Graphic Designer

Joby P Mathew

Photographers

Suresh Gola (Delhi)

The second edition of Pitch Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Top Marketers Awards, celebrates 50 brands across 10 categories; with each category having five winners

Vilas Kalgutkar (Mumbai) AD SALES

Rohit Sardana Abdulla M Mazumder Alok Kapuria Sneha Walke

9811377592 9871609348 9892832681 9845541143

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Value for Money

Resurgent Marketers

Big Bazaar Tata DoCoMo McDonald's Micromax Domino's

14 15 16 20 20

GM - Chevrolet Ford Mahindra Satyam Britannia Colgate

Impactful Launches

Rechargers

Micromax Uninor Twitter Hippo Aliva

24 25 26 27 28

MTV Dish TV Videocon Maruti WagonR Aditya Birla Financial Group

42 43 44 46 47

48 50 51 52 54 55

On News-stands ` 45 www.pitchonnet.com Printed and published by Anurag Batra on behalf of Adsert Web Solutions Pvt Ltd 1210, Kailash Building, KG Marg, New Delhi -110 001 Printed at MP Printers, B220 Phase 2, District Gautam Buddha Nagar, NOIDA - Phase 2, UP An exchange4media Publication

2 I Pitch I November 2010

Bottom of Pyramid

Tata Magic Tata Swach Maggi Mitti Cool Dabur Amla Hair Oil

32 33 34 36 38

Marketing Innovators 3 Idiot Big Bazaar Lay's P&G Gillette Frooti

60 60 61 62 63

Awards 2010

Social Marketers

Idea Aircel Toyota Dettol Nokia P&G

66 66 67 68 69 70

Globetrotters

Airtel Mahindra & Mahindra Godrej Marico Dr Manmohan Singh

74 74 76 77 77

Ageless Brands

Airtel Thums Up Maggi Bajaj Pulsar Fevicol

80 81 82 83 84

Ten themes, 50 winners! What makes companies and brands tick in the Indian marketplace? What are their success mantras? These are some questions that we have tried to answer through our special issue & award-show that celebrates Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers. To add more depth to the awards, we decided to identify key themes and then recognise the very best marketers in each of these themes. Pitch editorial team decided to identify key ‘themes’ that are driving our marketing. These themes are: Resurgent Marketers, Rechargers, Social Marketers, Globetrotters, Bottom of Pyramid, Value for Money, Marketing Innovators, Impactful Launches, Ageless Brands, and Buzzy Brands. Put together, we think these themes represent the marketing universe better than industry vertical driven segmentation. Once these categories were decided, a three-tier judging process was put in place to identify the best. The final and most crucial stage was to gather an external expert perspective on the entries by a jury panel comprising of four top market experts. The Jury members are: Anand Halve, Brand Consultant and Co-founder, Chlorophyll; Prafulla Y Agnihotri, Professor, Marketing Group, IIM Calcutta; R V Rajan, Chairman, Anugraha Madison Advertising; and Shripad Nadkarni, Founder-Director, MarketGate Consulting. We at Pitch are indeed thankful to our jurors for guiding this process. As you will see in the following pages, these winners exemplify the very best that Indian marketing has to offer. Come let’s learn from & celebrate Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers!

Amit Agnihotri

Buzzy Brands

IPL Chetan Bhagat LinkedIn Idea Cellular Aircel

88 88 89 90 90

amit@pitchonnet.com

November 2010 I Pitch I 3

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

Dus Ka Dum The second edition of the Pitch India’s Top Marketers Awards, celebrates 50 brands, across 10 categories; with each category having five winners

hat makes companies & brands like Britannia, McDonalds, Big Bazzar, Micromax, Nestle Maggie tick in the Indian marketplace? Are there success mantras – like the proverbial 4Ps expounded by Dr Philip Kotler? Which product & services categories are driving marketing thinking & practices in India? And of course which marketers stand for marketing excellence in our country? These are some questions that we have tried to answer through our annual special issue & award-show that

mr anand halve is the cofounder of Chlorophyll, a brand and communication consultancy. Well known for his strategic acumen and creative work, the IIM graduate of 70s brings along a huge industry experience of over 30 years.

celebrates Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers. To add more depth and relevance to the awards, we decided we will identify key themes and then recognise the very best in each of these themes.

The Ten Themes So, should one identify top markers based on the traditional practice of slicing the universe by industry verticals? But given the nature of Indian corporate structures, where top corporate conglomerates like Tatas, Mahindras, Reliance span many verticles, is this

Dr P Y agnihotri is Professor of Marketing at IIM-C. He carries 10 years of varied industry experience and over 14 years ‘ experience in academics. He has coauthored the 13th edition of ‘Principles of Marketing: A South Asian Perspective’.

the best way, we asked? Not quite, we thought. After a lot of deliberations, Pitch editorial team decided to identify key ‘themes’ that are driving our marketing. Put together, we think these themes represent the marketing universe better than industry vertical driven segmentation. Once these themes were identified, Pitch was ready to move closer towards identifying which specific marketers were a cut above in their thinking and execution. But before we discuss the jurors and the judging process, let us look at the ten themes we arrived at.

mr R V Rajan is Chairman of Anugrah Madison, a rural advertising agency. He is a veteran of rural marketing with over four decades of varied industry experience in advertisment with Clarion, Grant Kenyon & Eckhardt and now Anugrah.

mr sripad nadkarni is Founder-Director of MarketGate Consulting. He has over 25 years of experience in marketing domain across the sector. With his resultoriented approach, Nadkarni has helped various companies enhance brand value.

November 2010 | Pitch | 5

1 2 3 Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

ResuRgenT BRanDs

ReChaRgeRs

sOCIaL maRKeTeRs

With fresh marketing strategies these brands have regained their lost ground. In a competitive market, this is perhaps twice as creditable

Reworking their corporate identity and donning a new look, these brands are gaining market share with brand new positioning

It’s not just Profit that matters, but the other two Ps too – People & Planet. These brands believe and live this dictum

gLOBeTROTTeRs

BOTTOm Of PyRamID

VaLue fOR mOney

Late Dr CK Prahalad will nod in acceptance of the feats from this special group of companies that are serving billions – at a profit

Offering consumers ‘more for less’, these brands have displaced customer loyalty for established brands and also expanded reach to newer segments

4 5 6

While it is early days, yet, many Indian coporates are turning the conventional beliefs on their head – and reaching out to markets far and wide 6 | Pitch | November 2010

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

noMIneeS Value For Money

IMPaCtFul launCHeS

S. no.

BrandS

S. no.

BrandS

Big Bazaar

Bharti retail - easy day

domino’s

Coca-Cola – Minute Maid

kellogg’s

Frito lay – aliva

Maruti – eeco

Micromax

Mcdonald’s

Parle agro – Hippo

Micromax

Parle agro – lMn

Sun direct

twitter

tata docomo

uninor

SoCIal MarketerS

aGeleSS BrandS S. no.

BrandS

S. no.

BrandS

Bajaj – Pulsar

aircel – Save our tigers

Bharti – airtel

dettol – Surakshit Parivar

Coca-Cola – thums uP

Idea Cellular – use Mobile, Save Paper

Hul – lifebuoy

lifebuoy – Clean Hands

Hul – lux

nokia – Planet ke rakhwale

nestle – Maggi

nreGa

Parle Products – Parle-G

P&G – Shikhsha

Pidilite – Fevicol

reckitt-Benckiser - dettol

toyota kirloskar Motors – ndtV-toyota Greenathon

titan

uIdaI – aadhaar

united Breweries – CSr for Water Practices

reSurGent BrandS S. no.

BrandS

Britannia

Colgate

Ford

GM – Chevrolet

ICICI Prudential

Mahindra Satyam

Volkswagen

8 | Pitch | November 2010

GloBetrotterS S. no.

BrandS

Bharti airtel

Godrej Consumer Products

Mahindra and Mahindra

Mahindra Satyam

Marico Worldwide

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

RechaRgeRs

BUzzy BRands

s. no.

BRands

s. no.

BRands

aditya Birla group – Financial services

aircel – save our Tigers

dalda

chetan Bhagat – 3 idiots & Five Point someone

dish TV

colors – Balika Vadhu

godrej group

idea – Use Mobile, save Paper

Maruti – Wagon R

indian Premier League

MTV

Pepsico – 7Up

Rahul Mahajan – Rahul dulhaniya Le Jaayega

spice group – spice Mobiles & More

UTV - emotional atyachaar

Videocon group

BoTToM oF PyRaMid

MaRKeTing innoVaToRs s. no.

BRands

3-idiots – capacity: 3 idiots

Big Bazaar – shubh Muhurat

canon – canon on Wheels

chevrolet – Beat

eveready – homelite

Frito Lay – give Us your dillicious Flavour

gillette – Women against Lazy stubble

s. no.

BRands

coca-cola – Vitingo

dabur – amla hair oil sachets

gsK – horlicks asha

honda – cB Twister

Mitticool

nestle – Maggi Rasile chow & Maggi Masala-ae-Magic

godrej – chotukool Fridge

Tata Magic

godrej – gojiyo.com

Tata – swach

Parle agro – Frooti – Mango surprise

Western Union – yes! campaign

samsung – solar guru e1107

PITCH INDIA’S TOP 50 MARKETERS AWARDS

Value for Money Offering consumers ‘more for less’, these brands have displaced customer loyalty for established brands and also expanded reach to newer market segments

12 | Pitch | November 2010

PITCH INDIA’S TOP 50 MARKETERS AWARDS

•

THE WINNERS Big Bazaar Tata DoCoMo McDonald’s Micromax Domino’s

November 2010 | Pitch | 13

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

Sasta sundar aur tikau

With strategies like the traditional barter system and great discount coupons, Big Bazaar has made valuable properties affordable for the Indian consumer By Tuhina Anand

theme communication and offer communication are two different things for retail sector the offer communication is my theme communication. So to build a retail brand based on that communication is difficult. Kudos to Pitch to recognise that.” Big Bazaar has been active with providing best saving of- Sandeep Walunj Chief marketing Officer, Big Bazaar fers to the consumers. It rolled out ‘The Great Exchange Offer’ where consum- week. This offer sees a flurry of consumers at ers could exchange old products, get coupons the retail store on the day it is active. Walunj and buy new products, saving an extra 20 to says, “Sabse Sasta Din has been a huge suc25 percent. The marketer also keeps itself ag- cess. To be honest we have been pleasantly gressive with its strategy of ‘Sabse Sasta Din’, surprised by the success as it surpassed our where it offers extremely low prices and great expectation and each year it just scales new discounts to consumers on fixed days of the heights.” While Big Bazaar continues to offer more value for money to consumers, there are certain challenges that the retail brand faces. The challenges may be to address the attitudinal shift for the consumers and to implement the store level communication, says Walunj, adding, “Value for money per se is not bad, which is deriving from the age old Indian belief that where consumers hesitate to part with their old things but on the other hand they would also be willing to barter if they get a good deal out of it. Here in `Exchange’ we are telling them not to be saddled with the old and we will help them enjoy something new while they get a good deal from their old items.” The second challenge is to activate this on the ground level. He adds, “This might sound Under the ’Shubh Mahurat’ programme, Big Bazaar brings out exciting new simple but executing this is a huge task.” products for its consumers every month

In the present day Indian market, when one thinks of buying variety at one place with a ‘sundar, sasta, tikau’ formula, Big Bazaar is certainly the place to be. With strategies like the traditional barter system and discount coupons, Big Bazaar has made valuable properties affordable for the Indian consumer. Providing the consumer with perfect value for his money, Big Bazaar has been named the No 1 marketer in the ‘Value for Money’ category of Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards. Sandeep Walunj, Chief marketing Officer, Big Bazaar says, “This doesn’t really come as a surprise and we feel that our stance of doing good quality work has been vindicated. I think on the part of Pitch it is a very good initiative as very often retail communication is over-looked. While for any other segment, the

14 | Pitch | November 2010

THE AWArDS ArE A GOOD INITIATIVE By PITCH. VEry OfTEN rETAIl IS OVEr-lOOKED

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

Much more than pacman While consumers have their favourites and are stringent to those favourites, Tata DoCoMo has come up with innovative schemes to make its own consumer base By Khushboo Tanna

ot just the pacman like characters of Tata Docomo, but the consumers as well as the market experts are now singing the Do-Co-Mo signature tune of the brand. The brand that came up with innovative strategies like Diet SMS and Buddy Net has been ranked by voters on exchange4media.com and the jury of Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards, as the second best brand in the ‘Value for Money’ category. Ritesh Ghosal, Head Marcom, Tata Docomo, is ecstatic on getting the award. “As a brand that focuses on relevant life-impacting innovations, it is gratifying that we are being recognised as delivering value-for-money. After all, innovations are only meaningful if the consumer sees value in them,” he says. To provide more for less to customers, Tata Docomo came up with innovative marketing strategies. It introduced ‘Diet SMS’ which allowed the customer to send short SMSes of up to 15 characters at the cost of just one paisa per character and no charge for spaces between words. It also introduced ‘Buddy Net’ that allowed the user to make local calls for one paise per six seconds and all STD calls to Docomo for one paise per two seconds with no time restrictions. Ghosal says, “For Tata Docomo, delivering relevant consumer innovations is not only the core of the brand promise (Do The New) but also critical for delivering business success since we need to keep creating exciting innovations to wean people away from their current mobile operator.” In a competitive market like the telecom sector, it is hard to break brand loyalty for a new

WE ARE HAPPY FOR BEING RECOGNISED FOR DElIVERING VAluEFOR-MONEY

entrant to survive. While consumers have their favourites and are stringent to those favourites, Tata DoCoMo as a new entrant, has come up with innovative edges to make its own consumer base. Ghosal says, “The biggest Ritesh Ghosal, challenge in executing an Head Marcom, Tata Docomo innovation lies in explaining the concepts and getting the buy-in of the brands. As Ghosal puts it, “What Indian brands entire eco-system. To be able to navigate an tend to do better consistently is price their innovation from the ideation to the in-market products appropriately – this is not just about stage while staying true to the purity of the cheaper price points but bundling value-adds idea requires patience, conviction and a too. What Indian brands have got better at strong team aligned to a singular goal.” over the recent years is the showcasing of There has been a growth in the level of their brand / offering – the list of Indian brands awareness among the Indian consumers and among the creators of attractive and impactful thus, Indian brands like DoCoMo are encour- advertising has been growing rapidly.” aged to innovate more as compared to global

With schemes like Diet SMS and Buddy Net, Tata Docomo has defied category price structures and emerged as a value for money brand November 2010 | Pitch | 15

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

Can’t stop lovin’ it Launched at a time when eating out in India was low, McDonald’s today has not only emerged as a value for money brand but attaches an aspirational value too By Shikha

hat makes McDonald’s magic continue to work? Probably the perfect combination of localised menu, modest pricing, customised outlets and ‘mass and class’ positioning makes the international QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) chain our winning brands in ‘Value for Money’ category. Getting deeper into consumers’ life, McDonald’s in India has kept on moving up on value proposition while maintaining its pricing strategy and retaining its hold as leading market player for one and a half decade now. Rajdeep Chatterjee, GM – Marketing, McDonald’s India (North & East), is delighted with being among top 50 marketers, as he says the recognition reflects McDonald’s popularity and thriving market position. He proudly boasts, “India as a market is one of the star performers in the McDonald’s family, our sales growth thus far in 2010 has been the second highest in all of APMEA market.” Proud on being recognized for their value proposition, Chatterjee says, “It is indeed gratifying to know that McDonald’s has won an award in the VFM category. The essence of McDonald’s is ‘daily affordability’ which means great tasting food at value for money prices. All our marketing efforts have been towards strengthening the same.” The QSR chain focuses on low cost model by collaborating with local suppliers and establishing long term relations

16 | Pitch | November 2010

with them, improving supply chain and other efficiencies and maintaining optimal inventories. The key to McDonald’s low cost offerings remain in its strong supply chain efficiency and strong backward integration. These marketing elements connect it directly with various aspects of the business right up to the farm level, which helps increase productivity in terms of yields and therefore helps the brand manage costs. The low price strategy is something that continues to push further McDonald’s as market leader, as Shekhar Banerjee, Business Director, Madison media (the

media agency on record), put it, “Great Taste in affordable prices has been the driver strategy for McDonald’s, and this promise of affordability has cut across demographics, which is reflected in a surge of younger consumers and people from SEC B walking into McD stores.” Also the QSR chain has gone a long way in associating value proposition to its brnad image. After re-enginering with its menu, the International food service chain giant has successfully created a bond with Indian consumers. The entire marketing plan looked into consumers’ psyche how would they find something

Campaigns like ‘Hamaare Dada ke Zamaane ka Daam’ and Rs 20 menu keep luring the customer

3 special about McDonald’s, as Chatterjee believes, “today’s business antonym of innovation is degeneration and not stagnation.” Believes Chatterjee “Our brand essence stays the same, but the ways a consumer interacts with the brand is reinvented continuously. In QSR category constant innovation and evolution in food, pricing, communication, medium of communication, décor etc is must to be everrelevant to the customer and their needs,” he says. The QSR chain has constantly worked to innovate and upgrade its product offerings to appeal to the local appetite. In 2008, the company introduced wholesome multi-cereal bread and a salad mix to make the new wraps lighter choices. In early 2009, McDonalds introduced Chatpata McAloo Tikki Burger and Shake Shake Fries, which offered a more localised flavour to customers. Last year McDonald’s also introduced the globally renowned and popular Chicken Nuggets. “McDonald’s through the year has focused on only two things – Value to the consumer along with taste quotient in all its brand activities, be it a product offering or any communication vehicle,” says Chatterjee. As Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) in India kept moving up, McDonalds also tracked changing consumption patterns among youngsters, especially in terms of food habits. Accordingly, Along with its positioning of a family restaurant, it revised its Target Group to include teenagers, youngsters and kids. According to Vikram Bakshi, Managing Director, McDonald’s, North & East, “Anywhere from say 13-14 year of the teenagers right up to the 35-39 years of young parents with their young kids is what we look at as our target audience.” On the McDonald’s criticism in western media that its products are rich in fat and

IT IS GRATIFyING TO KNOW THAT MCDONALD’S IS A WINNER THE VFM CATEGORy Rajdeep Chatterjee GM – Marketing, McDonald’s

calories resulting in obesity, McDonald’s has tried to addressed the health concern of its customers through its detailed menu that also carries the amount of calories corresponding to each item. It makes a consumer know exactly what and how much you they are eating. This way McDonald’s makes consumers aware of the ingredients and facilitate them to take every decision consciously as to what she is going to have.

Pricing: The Mass Offering With the growing competition, McDonalds has also led the way to distribution and delivery and offering better value proposition to consumers by virtue of partnership and alliances. As customer convenience and service become highly critical factors in driving growth, the QSR chain focuses on product and service innovation and customer orientation. Focusing on convenience as a platform today, from just attracting customers to the restaurant, McDonald’s has made every possible attempt to reach out to them and make their favourite meal available to them when and where they need. From Kiosks to Oil Alliances, Drive Thru to Home Delivery and the recent launch of Web Ordering, McDonald’s retail formats have been designed for customer’s convenience and Satisfaction. McDonald’s has also started opening its stores on the highways. McDonald’s has oil alliances with

Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum to open restaurants at their petrol pumps, especially on highways with the unique Drive Thru retail format, the first QSR brand in India to do so. McDonald’s concept of Drive Thru provides a convenient, efficient and quality solution to satisfy the needs of customer’s fast paced lives. From its initial tagline ‘McD Me Hai Kuch Baat’ to ‘Toh Aaj Mcdonald’s Ho Jaye’ Mc Donald’s tried to make people curious about the food chain and convincing them to increase their frequency to its ourlet. The last two taglines - ‘Har Choti Khushi Ka Celebration’ and I’m lovin’ it’- urge customers that they can celebrate the silliest of things in McDonald’s. Elaborating on the theme of the McDonalds communication, K V Sridhar, Chief Creative Director, Leo Burnett (McD’s creative agency), says, “McDonald’s focuses on two simple facts - Great taste and great value. It is a place where people can have a great time for very little. It is all about a simple yet nice experience.” With consumers’ engagement becoming the core marketing strategy, McDonald’s brings customer responses and feedback to translate the same into its communication strategy and ad campaigns. Shares Sridhar,“McDonalds works on a simple principle of local insights. While the overall brand is defined it is interpreted in each markets own cultural context. For example a campaign that was developed in India “Aaj kal 20 rupee mein kya milta hai” was then taken and reinterpreted for various markets. The insight was the same that we all always crib about how the value of money is not the same anymore. This is a universal truth - but the interpretations in different markets make it endearing for each market.”

November 2010 | Pitch | 17

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

Talk more for less Micro and max are anti-thesis; yet this phone is powerpacked with great looks and features, and is economical By Pragati Ratti

one are the days when one had to empty his pocket to buy a stylish mobile phone with multiple features and a QWERTY keypad. ‘A big phone in all hands’ is the talk of the day as Micromax offers mobile phones at affordable prices. This smart pricing strategy by Micromax has brought about a pricing revolution in the mobile phone market and Micromax has been voted and judged as the fourth best marketer in the ‘Value for Money’ category of Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards. Pratik Seal, Head, Marketing, Micromax India says, “When Micromax entered the segment it

t was the delivery efficiency that Domino’s first made its stronghold on. The next was customised pricing. With its Pizza Mania, Domino’s hasn’t only made its pizza more affordable, but also is attracting a lot many entry level customers. The QSR chain is one of the winners of the ‘Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards 2010’. It is perched at the No 5 position in the Value for Money category. Delighted with the honour, Dev Amritesh, Senior Vice-President, Marketing and Chief Marketing Officer, Domino’s Pizza, says, “Any external recognition of our efforts makes us feel very good, however, this one is extremely special as it is another acknowledgement of the focused effort that we have made in delivering value through our brand.” With its tagline ‘Khushiyon ki home delivery’, which reflects Domino’s commitment of value addition into its consumers life, the pizza delivery specialist has made inroads into a lot many new markets. “While we focus on best quality

20 | Pitch | November 2010

followed a simple strategy of bringing innovative products for the consumers and coupled it with smart marketing.” While Micromax built its brand image through innovative communication strategies, it remained highly influential with its pricing strategies. Pricing its stylish handsets at a lower cost than other players in the market, Micromax managed to eat from the share of the frontrunners in the mobile

phone market and break the concept of brand loyalty. Micromax offers features like Nimbuzz, and internet at approximately Rs 3,800. Rahul Sharma, COO, Micromax Informatics, says, “We have been developing products that are a fine mix of new technology, superior features and high quality and which are available to our discerning customers at a very pocket It is essential to understand that today Indian consumers are evolved, says Seal, “They understand their needs and demand products that suit their individual requirements. Therefore, for a brand, it is essential to establish a connect with the consumer. Building connect is all about being involved with the customer and also giving him the value for money.”

The Taste Drive

Not just price, even a promise of service can be value for money; and Domino’s just strives to do that

By Preeti Hoon ingredients and work continually to improve our taste delivery and service levels, we have to also continually find ways to do this in the most efficient manner,” says Amritesh. Though the delivery promise of ‘within 30 minutes’ seeks to establish the Domino’s core competence in food delivery, the pricing strategy through Pizza Mania adds fuel to its sales. As Amritesh says, “Ever since we launched

Pizza Mania at Rs 39 there has been a huge increase in our consumer base. The best rewards come from consumers and I believe Pitch awards have a process that captures this sentiment fairly.” But he is quick to add, “Consumers are faced with several choices today across categories and it is more critical today than ever before to maximise value for them. Value as we know, is not driven by price alone – price is only one component and quality and other benefits that consumers are equally important, if not more critical.”

Pitch indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s toP 50 Marketers awards

Impactful Launches With power packed entries in the market, they created a buzz and managed to conquer the market in their initial stages. So what is their success mantra?

100| Pitch 22 | Pitch| November | November2010 2010

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

THE WINNERS • • • • •

Micromax Uninor Twitter Hippo Aliva

November November2010 2010| Pitch | Pitch| 100 | 23

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

A dream launch While a stringent media plan helped Micromax eat into the share of the leader, Nokia, careful planning across all 4 Ps of marketing made its launch perfect By Pragati Ratti

he Indian mobile phone market is no more a one-player dominated market. Micromax entered the highly cluttered mobile phone market and has been giving a tough time to the market leaders with its low priced mobile phones and aggressive advertising. When Micromax entered the segment, it followed a simple strategy of bringing innovative products for the consumers and coupled it with smart marketing. Micromax phones were priced at very affordable rates and hence gave the frontrunners in the mobile phones category a tough fight. With this effective launch, Micromax is one of the winners of the Pitch India’s Top 50 marketers Awards 2010 and is at the No 1 position in the ‘Impactful Launches’ category. Pratik Seal, Head, Marketing, Micromax India says, “We started with simple steps like identifying the target audience first and then building a marketing strategy for our products. Our target audience is young people who want innovative devices and want to be connected on the go. Today, the mobile phone category is driven by youth

and about 60 per cent of the contribution is from age group of 20-40 years.”

We STARTeD WITH SIMPLe STePS LIKe IDeNTIFyING THe TARGeT AuDIeNCe FIRST

Impactful Communication Micromax leveraged on the biggest crazes of India cricket and Bollywood and positioned the brand in such a way to create a perfect demand and recall for Micromax. Pratik Seal Head, Marketing, Micromax India Advertising its mobile phones with celebrities like Mahendra Singh Dhoni International level but also created waves and Twinkle Khanna, Micromax also gath- with the Indian audience as well. Micromax formulated an innovative ered consumer attention by getting into branding strategy to strengthen the brand aggressive sponsorships. Seal says, “Having said that, we also image and developed creative brand interealise that Bollywood celebrities endorse grations using cricket as a platform. While many products. In order to stand out and Micromax partnered with Nimbus Sports for the title sponsorship of the Asia Cup 2010, not being seen as a ‘me too’ brand using a the brand built a greater brand presence at celebrity, we categorically signed Twinkle cricket match venues through advertising, for our ‘Bling’ phone.” branding and sampling, creating a marketMicromax also sponsored the 11th IIFA ing platform for its product line. and used the platform to announce the Seal says, “Billed as one of the world’s limited edition ‘Bling’ phone there. This premier cricketing events, Micromax levernot only established the product on the aged this association to connect with the youth not just in India but also in all SAARC countries. Another strategic product launch for Micromax was the launch of Gamolution mobile that was especially launched during the IPL to woo the sports lovers.” He adds that Micromax used unique marketing and branding strategies to highlight the product lineage which is just not innovative, but appealing too. Effective communication and power-packed phones with

multiple features, put the Chinese phones to shame 24 | Pitch | November 2010

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

Brand sustenance the key In a category, cluttered with multitude of offers, Uninor made sure that it spent quality time studying the market and the consumer needs to have a great launch By Pragati Ratti

n June 1, 2010, a high decibel, high visibility launch marked Uninor’s debut in the Mumbai Hub, comprising the highly competitive and crowded telecom circles of Mumbai, Maharashtra & Goa and Gujarat. The launch was complemented by a 360-degree campaign, which included a healthy mix of television, print and outdoor mediums – cities across the states where painted blue as it rolled out the services. Uninor, before the launch, spent quality time not just studying the market but also studying the consumer. Thus, it stands as a winner, perched at the No 2 spot in the ‘Impactful Launches’ category of Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards. Says Olav Sande, EVP, Mumbai Hub, Uninor, “We believe that building a culture of empowerment, constant engagement and training, forging strong relationships with our partners, will be the real differentiators in a market where everyone’s jostling for space. Everything under the sun can be copied, but these little intangible differences are what will make us truly unique.”

strategy, ‘Dynamic Pricing’ (DP). First of its kind in India, DP offers customers, discounts from 5-60 per cent on calls throughout the day, based on time and location. Branded as ‘24X7 Badalta Discount Plan’, the product is built on customer engagement and excitement. Olav Sande “Imagine looking at your EVP, Mumbai Hub, Uninor phone where the discount fluctuates if you cross the street; imagine hun- joints, and markets. More than 5,000 people dreds of varying discount opportunities every were out on the streets of all major cities in the day for with a better discount only a station Mumbai Hub in an engagement activity: Blue away. That kind of anticipation and excitement Wave. The results have been great. “Combinis what can get a customer hooked to your ing below-the-line activities with experiential product and elevate your SIM from being a marketing and a carefully designed abovethird or fourth to being the primary one,” says the-line plan proved potent. We have seen a great brand recall and word of mouth growing Sande. Uninor, went to colleges, malls, housing since our launch,” he says. societies, high streets, points of sale, youth

WE WANTED TO LAND ON THE GrOUND, rUNNING. NO SUDDEN MOVES, NO BUMPy rIDES

Dynamic Launch In the hoi-polloi of launch, a lot of brands forget planning for sustenance; after a glorious launch flight, the landing for some tends to be abrupt, especially in the telecom sector – and Uninor did not want to make that mistake. “We wanted to land on the ground, running. No sudden moves, no bumpy rides – we aimed for a smooth cruise,” says Sande. It entered the telecom sector with the

The debut of Uninor in Mumbai was one of the most strong enteries with a high decibel, 360-degree campaign November 2010 | Pitch | 25

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

A Linc room for expression Pen ropes in SRK

With a non-intrusive interface, Twitter gave both marketers and consumers a platform for self-expression Who: Leading pen brand Linc Pen signs on Shah Rukh Khan as its brand ambassador. By Akash Raha

Twitter has also undone several big and famous Why: “King Khan is someone who personifiespeople. style, Lalit Modi had to lose his job as the IPL chief and Shashi Tharoor as a witter is a micro blogging site, which entertainment and popularity, and these values resonate minister in the Union Government, after they has emerged as a platform for perfectly with our brand attributes as well. Moreover, advertising, consumer relationship surfaced their personal greivances on twitter. SRK cuts across age groups and demographics and management, brand recall, CSR These instances show the clout and vitality of appeals to a universal audience just like our products activities and business activities. The launch Twitter as a medium. Today, breaking news is and is therefore a natural fit for the brand,” said Linc of Twitter in India hit the jackpot as it synced posted by independent bloggers even before Pen managing Deepakwere Jalan annoucnign it appears onthe TV, such is the speed at which with the cords that the director Indian audience deal with the popular actor. yearning to dance to. Twitter has given an op- Twitter works. Background: SRKwhat has one the biggest Butbrand this isvalue not where the buck stops. Top portunity for fans to know theiroffavouamong the Bollywood stars.Amitabh The iconicIndian actorcompanies has have also been leveraging rite stars are doing. Shahrukh Khan, Bachchan and now even Sachin Tendulkar endorsed as many as 18 brands in 2008 alone. Some of activelythe update theirbrands day-to-day leading thatexperiences he endorese are Tag Heuer, on Twitter. Hyundai, Nokia, Airtel, Compaq, Pepsi, Dish TV, The platform find spot at the No 3among position Sunfeast, and ICICI Bank others. in the Impactful Launches category of the By SINI K THOMAS —sini@pitchonnet.com Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards.

26 | Pitch | November 2010

3 upon the wide reach of the website. According to a report by Iffort Consulting in March 2010, India ranks in the list of top 10 countries in terms of Twitter users. MTV India is the most followed brand, showcasing its popularity amongst the youth. ICICI Bank is the most conversational brand on Twitter and is primarily using it for responding to queries from both current and prospect customers. From this study it becomes evident that Twitter’s penetration in organisations will continue to increase on both sides of the spectrum. Conversations between users and brands, which are managed by humans with an emotional quotient would continue to thrive. It also implies that the focus would lessen on one-way broadcasts where Twitter accounts simply translate into monotonous RSS feeds. More companies will start using Twitter for conducting market research, listening to users and keeping a track on the competition.

The agile Hippo

Creating a niche through innovation and bringing ‘health’ to the snacks category, Hippo clearly stood as a differentiated product

By Akash Raha

ith multiple options and price points for every possible product, novelty and innovation have become key ingredients for any company to thrive,” proposes brand strategist, Martin Roll. Parle Agro’s snack brand, Hippo, just proves that. Within a year of its launch, Hippo got all the four marketing Ps together to grab consumers’ attention and win substantial market share. As an innovative product in snack category, Hippo clearly differentiated itself from the regular potato chips dominating the snacks market in India. In the Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards 2010 list, Hippo is at No 4 in the Impactful Launches category. “We are very happy Hippo has won the award in the Impactful Launches category. We strongly believe in creating new categories and offering innovative product experiences to consumers. This has been the backbone of our long standing success in the Indian market,” says Nadia Chauhan, Joint Managing Director & CMO, Parle Agro. Equipped with a unique palate, packaging and positioning besides an unusual brand mascot, Hippo succeeded indeed to establish its brand identity in the cluttered market. With the wheat baked munchies, Parle Agro, eyed on huge potential of an estimated Rs 6,500 crore Indian snack market that was growing at about 25 per cent annually.

Health taste

coupled

with

CREATING NEW CATEGORIES AND INNOvATION IS THE ESSENCE Of OuR SuCCESS

As the Indian snack market remains dominated by fried potato chips and wafers, Hippo has created its own space as a guilt-free snack brand. With no compromise on taste, the product remains high on the health Nadia Chauhan quotient as it does not carry Joint MD and CMO, Parle Agro compromise on taste.” any added MSG (monosodiThough Hippo is available in Rs 10 and um glutamate), GMO (genetically modified Rs 20 packs, the smaller pack of Rs 5 organism), cholesterol or trans-fat. Though it was launched in five distinct makes the product more affordable and it flavours - Thai Chilly, Chinese Manchu- also attracts those who look at consuming rian, Hot n Sweet Tomato, Italian Pizza, very little. and Yoghurt Mint Chutney, two more flavous - Indian Chatpatta and Arabian Heroic? Salted, were added after encouraging The unusual, black-coloured Hippo charresponses from consumers. acter upfront on the pack was another As Chauhan says, “Each of the variant path-breaking step since black, till date, comes in a unique, innovative flavor not was uncommon in the food category. commonly available in other snack brands. Different packs for different flavours Consumers have a notion that baked were created with Hippo showing up products don’t taste as good as fried ones. prominently on every pack. By the time But Hippo, despite being baked, does not the advertising campaign for Hippo broke

November 2010 | Pitch | 27

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards out, the brand had already created a buzz and a huge brand recall among the consumers. Reasoning on its packaging, Chauhan says, “The packaging in snack brands is usually quite cluttered; it is difficult to differentiate one brand from the other. Hippo has a very clean, uncluttered look that has great shelf visibility and consumer appeal.” Hippo’s initial marketing strategy focused primarily on its distribution. A phase-wise launch resulted in an increased visibility. “To ensure that Hippo had maximum reach, we did a phase wise launch for the brand. We also undertook a major retail visibility and sampling drive to create consumer pull,” says Chauhan. As the launch went pan-India, Parle Agro scaled up its manufacturing units to enable wider distribution. Also, Hippo’s shelf life of six months provided a flex-

HIPPO HAS A CleAn lOOk THAT HAS gReAT SHelf VISIbIlITy And COnSumeR APPeAl ible inventory option to shopkeepers. The product was made available across general trade (retail stores) and modern trade (super markets, hyper markets) outlets. Catching up with new-age consumers, the brand successfully engaged them on social media platforms like Twitter. It asked followers to send a Tweet whenever they couldn’t find Hippo in stores, and replenished stocks within hours. This way, Hippo tracked stocks and reinforced Hippo’s sales and distribution network. This helped identify high potential mar-

kets where Hippo sold out fast. “Our activity on Twitter has helped us expand the distribution base for the brand. We have effectively used the power of social media for inventory tracking and consumer engagement,” Chauhan says. At zero cost to Parle Agro, Hippo sales zoomed unexpectedly. Since Hippo is an innovation in the category, Parle Agro tried to ensure that its brand communication is also unique. “The TVC for Hippo stands out in the snacks category. We didn’t want to be a me-too brand in a category cluttered with frivolousness in its communication. In the TVC, we have tried to integrate a social message into the brand in order to add soul and purpose to Hippo. Hippo has taken snacking responsibly by positioning itself as a solution for hunger,” Chauhan adds.

Alive and kicking

Snacking can no more be unhealthy. It was this proposition that made consumers queue up for Aliva

ith innovative product formula, healthy ingredients, unique design and premium packaging, Aliva not only did attract a lot of consumer attention but also created its own space in the snack market. for the vibrating market that the brand created in just over a year, Aliva, a product of frito lay finds its place in ‘Pitch India’s Top 50 marketers Awards 2010’. It stands at no 5 position in the ‘Impactful launches’ category, behind micromax, uninor, Twitter and Hippo, in that order. With the baked snack that stood somewhere between biscuits and salty snacks, frito lay wanted to replicate the impact, kurkure had created some ten years back. launched in June last year, Aliva broke the clutter in the cracker segment with its four unique flavours

28 | Pitch | November 2010

- Tomato and Roasted Spices, mint flavour With Herbs, Special Pindi masala and Original Salted. All the flavours were created keeping in mind a distinct Indian consumer who is very interested in spicy and tangy

tastes. Additionally, the product ingredients like wheat and pulses boosted its healthy proposition, which proved to be a major success factor. The standee pack, which was a first in the category, also drew a lot of consumer attention. The strategy of keeping the packs small in size and low in price was something that consumers lapped up. With its health positioning, Aliva fought in the lifestyle snack food market with Saffola Zest, digestive marie, and nutrichoice, which cater to the mass as well as premium markets. frito lay roped in bollywood star Chitrangada Singh as the brand ambassador for Aliva and launched a 360-degree marketing campaign — Thodi Sharafat, Thodi Shararat — on TV, print and outdoors.

Pitch indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s toP 50 Marketers awards

Bottom of Pyramid Late Dr CK Prahalad will nod in acceptance of the feats from this special group of companies that are serving billions â&#x20AC;&#x201C; at a profit. Of course, they have tweaked all the Ps & Cs of the conventional marketing strategies

30 | Pitch | November 2010

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

THE WINNERS • • • • •

Tata Magic Tata Swach Maggi Mitti Cool Dabur Amla Hair Oil

November 2010 | Pitch | 31

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

A great magic show

Not only has Tata Motors managed to reach the rural consumer with Magic, but has also created a sucessful business model at the Bottom of the Pyramid

By Khushboo Tanna

he automobile market has been majorly seen catering to the needs of the Tier I and Tier II consumers. Tata, has been one of the automobile brands that caters to the consumers at the bottom of the pyramid. Tata Motors launched The Magic, developed on the platform of the stupendously successful Ace for urban and rural areas, as a comfortable, safe, four-wheeler public transportation mode. Tata Magic has recorded strong adoption in semi-urban and rural areas, and in 2009-10 its sales touched 49,000 units. The brand caters to the needs of consumers at all levels, Tata Magic is at No 1 spot in the ‘Bottom of Pyramid’ category of Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards. Ravi Paisharody, President, Commercial Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors, says, “Despite the fact that commercial vehicles is not a heavily advertised category since we depend highly on direct customer contact, it is good to know that Pitch magazine has identified Tata Magic as one of the winners in the Bottom of Pyramid category. It is very satisfying and we would like to thank Pitch for this recognition.” On why the vehicle was launched, Paisharody says, “We did see a gap in the passenger transportation segment too, in terms of the need for safer and comfortable four-wheeler passenger carriers at a price point below Rs 3 lakh (starting Rs 2.60 lakh; ex-showroom price). Given the success of Ace, we had enough indicators that Magic would also prove to be a successful concept. Hence, we went ahead and developed the Tata Magic.”

cabin, Magic has a flexible seating capacity of four to seven passengers, and spacious interiors including comfortable seats and ample legroom for an enjoyable ride for the passengers. Tata Motors has reached the basic consumer innovatively with Tata Magic. Paisharody Ravi Paisharody says, “Brands have to inno- President, Commercial Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors vate, sometimes to be the first to meet these changing requirements, and - the buyer and the end-user (Magic is used sometimes as in the case of Tata Magic, to as a passenger car), and Tata Motors caters trigger changes from existing behaviours and to both the audiences in a balanced manner. Paisharoday explains that for the operator preferences.” He stresses that Tata Magic is the first of segment, Tata Motors directly contacts the its kind Small Commercial Vehicle. “Magic customers to explain the product and its being new in the category, we had to work viability. For the end user, it seeks to crehard towards convincing the concept to our ate pressure by way of offering a safer and comfortable mode of transport, at a very customers,” Paisharody says. There seem to be two audiences for Magic affordable price.

IT IS GOOD TO kNOW THAT PITCH HAS IDeNTIFIeD TATA MAGIC ONe OF THe WINNeRS

In style With an ergonomically designed all-steel

32 | Pitch | November 2010

With an ergonomically designed cabin, Magic can seat four to seven passengers

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

Pure water for all Tata Swach is not only an innovation, but an endeavour to fulfill the country’s dream of safe water for all at an affordable price By Khushboo Tanna

rand Tata has always been active with not just innovations, but also utilising innovative ideas to reach consumers even at the bottom of the pyramid. While Tata Motors has come up with Tata Magic and Tata Nano, the water purifier market had Tata Chemicals coming up with the effective Tata Swach. The innovative and affordable water purifier impressed the market experts and stands as the second best brand in the ‘Bottom of Pyramid’ category of Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards 2010.

Tata Swach’s filter has a life-span of 3,000 litres, unlike other purifiers in the same range

Citing that water purifier market remains largely untapped with penetration at less than one per cent in rural India and below 15 per cent in urban India, Sabaleel Nandy, General Manager, Water Purifier Business, Tata Chemicals says, “In a way, the water purifier market is similar to what Sabaleel Nandy GM, Water Purifier Business, Tata Chemicals the mobile phone market was in the late ’90s.” Tata Swach promises to make safe purifier using distribution networks of drinking water affordable to millions of Tata’s agro-chemical subsidiary, which rural and sub-urban population coming has over 30,000 retailers in rural India, very close to one of the country’s dreams and Tata Kisan Sansar, a farm services – ‘safe water for all’. With two variants, business run by Tata Chemicals, which priced at Rs 749 and Rs 999, the purifier reaches 2.5 million farmers, Tata Group doesn’t require running water, electricity, is ensuring that it reaches the consumor boiling, and hence is a perfect fit for ers at the ground level. The company the rural Indian consumers. Each filter for also targets different NGOs to expand the Tata Swach has a life-span of 3,000 its distribution network. With an initial litres - about enough to provide drinking production of 10 lakh units a year, the water to a family of five for a year - and company plans to ramp-up to 30 lakh priced at a new market benchmark of units annually within five years. Tata Swach has been high on comRs 299. While other purifiers of the same municating the need for water purificarange have a life-span of 1,500 litres. Unlike the other chemical filters available tion in the rural areas, with integrated in the market, it uses paddy husk ash as a campaigns. The brand has also been matrix, bound with microscopic particles advertised through traditional media like of silver to kill the bacteria that cause 80 print and outdoor. Tata Swach is Tata’s yet another low-cost drive to make way into per cent of water-borne diseases. With plans to distribute the Tata Swach the masses.

ThE WATER PURIfIER MARKET IS SIMIlAR TO ThE MOBIlE PhONE MARKET IN ThE lATE ’90S

November 2010 | Pitch | 33

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

Taste of other India From the 2-minute noodles proposition, Maggi has come a long way, and is now focusing to cater to the micro-nutrient deficiency at the Bottom of the Pyramid

ooking for a horizontal growth in yet untapped market, Nestle India’s Maggi has broadened its focus to reach out to low-income consumer markets and has introduced low priced small packs – Maggi Masalaae-Magic and Maggi Rasile Chow, in Rs 2 and Rs 4 packs, that originate from the low-price concepts for the bottom of the pyramid (BoP). Maggi Masala-ae-Magic is a unique taste enhancer fortified with iron, iodine and Vitamin A. Meanwhile, Maggi Rasile Chow has been developed especially for the rural/semi urban markets, to provide a low cost, tasty light meal that is fortified with Iron. The initiative has put Nestle’s Maggi at the No 3 position in the Bottom of Pyramid category of the Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards 2010. Sharing the thought process behind

34 | Pitch | November 2010

ONe OF THe IMMeDIATe CONCeRNS, AT THe BOP IS MICRONuTRIeNT DeFICIeNCy

bringing the new products, Shivani Hegde, General Manager (Foods), Nestle India, says, “With economic growth and changing lifestyles, India is being challenged by the need for better nutrition across the income pyramid. One of the immediate concerns Shivani Hegde for example, at the Bottom GM (Foods), Nestle India of the Pyramid is micronutrient deficiency. Since Nestlé has the income families who can use it to improve expertise, technology and emphasis on the nutrition in their meals.” Maggi’s approach matches with what science-based nutrition, Maggi is set to work to find convenient and affordable Late C K Prahalad proposed. He argued approaches to address this challenge. We that big corporates can convert the huge have worked on various product concepts business opportunity at the BoP in to with our Nestlé R&D. Maggi Masala-ae- earning profits and simultaneously conMagic that we launched is a unique for- tribute in uplifting the living standard of tified taste enhancer that will be useful the economically underprivileged class. Marketing ‘Taste Bhi Health Bhi’ - the across kitchens, especially so for lower positioning of Maggi - solutions to the Bottom opf the Pyramid has it’s own challenges. These challenges are inherent in the lifestyles of consumers at the BoP, that is driven by traditional values, lack of education and limited affordability. “Quite apart from the fact that the solutions have to be affordable, most people lack the basic understanding of nutrition,” says Hegde. In order to reach out to the segment, the company launched a nutrition education programme in different slums including those in Dharavi in Mumbai. It also spread the campaign into the villages to help the populations understand the nutritional benefits of these products.

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

Cool clay Mansukhbhai Prajapati’s most of innovations have been with clay, and the most promising being his refrigerator - Mitticool, that needs no electricity By Ashish Jha

he low-cost clay fridge - Mitti Cool, made by Gujarat based craftsman is competing with the biggies like Tata Swach, Tata Magic, Maggi Masalaae-Magic and Dabur Amla Hair Oil, in the Bottom of Pyramid (BoP) category in the Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers awards 2010. And it has managed to get the fourth spot. Mansukhbhai Prajapati, who created the product, is exalted with the recognition. “I am very grateful to Pitch magazine for recognising my efforts. This award further boosts my spirit to bring innovative products that can really bring a change into the living standard of millions of poor.” Continuing his family traditional business of molding clay into pots and pans, Prajapati worked for nearly half a decade and invested about Rs 10 lakh to bring his 20 kg refrigerator into existence. The eco-friendly refrigerator, which is priced between Rs 2,500 and 3500, runs without electricity and works on the simple principle of evaporation. Prajapati goes behind the reason which constantly motivated him to create Mitticool, as he says, “A good majority of Indians cannot buy a fridge as it is expensive. Besides this, electricity bills and maintenance cost is also high. Mitticool is an eco-friendly product which has no maintenance costs. It also retains the original taste of vegetables,” he says, adding, “It especially helps rural population as electricity is still unavailable in most of the rural India.” The upper portion of the refrigerator can store about 20 liters of water, while

36 | Pitch | November 2010

the bottom cabinet has separate space for storing fruits, vegetables and milk. The natural cooling process inside the refrigerator can keep vegetables and fruits fresh for around 5 days, while milk can be preserved for 3 days. The product drew world’s attention to the

THIS AWARD fuRTHER BOOSTS My SPIRIT TO BRInG InnOvATIvE PRODuCTS

Mansukhbhai Prajapati (in pic)

capabilities of Indian entrepreneurs to contribute toward uplifting the living standard of those who live on a meager income. Though making it to the group of big corporates makes Prajapati proud of his long and tedious effort, he recalls the challenges he faced in the beginning of his entrepreneurial journey. “Initially it was a challenging task. A lot of investment was going into it. Many people used to laugh at me saying that I had gone mad. But I was focused and committed to my goal – making a device that could make a dream come true for economically weaker class consumers,” he says. Despite failing in the tenth standard twice, an urge of doing something for the benefit of the society kept him going. Besides, the low-cost fridge, he has also developed a water filter, non-stick tava and a pressure cooker all made of clay. And he has many more innovative ideas. The nation has already recognised the innovative product and President Pratibha Patil herself awarded him with the national award in 2009 for the same. Even former President, APJ Abdul Kalam described him as a ‘true scientist’. When you think out-of-the-box, it can create wonders. But Prajapati shies away from these big words, as he says, “I have just tried to make the cooling apparatus simpler, easier and affordable. I have just made the common household appliance, a more common thing among Indian households.”

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

Well oiled

From just an Ayurvedic medicines company, Dabur has come a long way to establish itself as an FMCG compaby. Lately, it’s expanded focus to the rural areas By Shikha

Dabur Amla Hair Oil is an over 60-year-old brand. Over the years, the brand has evolved to be a brand with one of the highest brand loyalty and has a strong consumer base of more than 35 million. Further deepening the brand’s penetration in the rural pockets, Dabur has now launched special low-priced packs of Dabur Amla hair oil, in a Re 1 sachet and a Rs 10 pack (25 ml), making the brand more affordable, and reaching out to the bottom of the pyramid. The initiative has put the brand at No 5 position in the Bottom of Pyramid category of the Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards 2010. Arvind Shukla, Brand Head, Dabur Amla Hair Oil, says, “The brand has been focusing on expanding into new territories and adding new users. This award further boosts our confidence in our strategy to reach out to mass consumers in small towns and rural areas of the country. It’s really a great privilege for us to win this award.”

38 | Pitch | November 2010

Reaching the ground To reach out to this segment, Dabur also launched specific rural activation campaigns like “Banke Dikhao Rani – a rural beauty contest” to educate the consumers, build product relevance and create brand awareness. The brand has also done activations in Arvind Shukla, Brand Head, Dabur Amla Hair Oil melas and rural haats and popular festivals like Kumbh Mela and Ram Leela to values and heritage of more than 60 years.” Meanwhile, it’s not easy to convert consumgenerate trials. Shukla says, “The consumer in this ers in this segment from ordinary oil to a segment is evolving faster than ever branded oil. The key challenge has been on before and so are her needs. Hence, the cost front. While the brand tries to offer the brand has to keep innovating a product with proven efficacy, making it to cater to her changing needs. affordable for the consumers at the ‘bottom Understanding this, the brand has of the pyramid’ is a challenging task, feels done several innovations over time, Shukla. “Introduction of LUPs (low-unit packs) both in terms of product and pack- of Re 1 and Rs 10 has helped us generate more aging. Our efforts, in recent times, trials amongst consumers in the segment and have been to make the brand more thereby help them gradually move up the contemporary while retaining its key value chain.”

THIS AWARD BOOSTS OUR cONFIDeNce IN OUR STRATegy TO ReAcH OUT TO RURAL AReAS

PITCH INDIAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S TOP 50 MARKETERS AWARDS

Resurgent Marketers

These brands have achieved almost the impossible! With fresh marketing strategies and branding exercises these brands have regained their lost ground. In a hypercompetitive Indian market, this is perhaps twice as creditable

40 | Pitch | November 2010

PITCH INDIA’S TOP 50 MARKETERS AWARDS

•

THE WINNERS GM - Chevrolet Ford Mahindra Satyam Britannia Colgate

November 2010 | Pitch | 41

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

Beat-ing the heat

Chevrolet India kept on marching and delivered its India Promise, even as the brand succumbed and filed bankruptcy in the international market By Shikha

true winner is the one who crosses all hurdles coming his way. General Motors, despite being hit by bankruptcy in the USA in June 2009, put its best foot forward in India - to be ‘There for you, there for India’. The campaign saw GM’s brand Chevrolet grow its sales figures by 112 percent in June 2010, in India. Chevrolet sold 9,539 units against 4,492 units in June, last year. Not surprisingly, it finds place at No 1 spot, in the Resurgent Marketers category in the Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards 2010. P Balendran, Vice President, General Motors India, in all his humility, accepts the award, saying, “It’s always encouraging and motivating, and we are feeling great. It’s a recognition of the work our team has done. But at the same time, it also poses a challenge for tomorrow as we have to sustain or improve upon this image. We will try our best to be a leader in everything we do.”

The Brand Speaks

Lead by Beat and Spark, Chevrolet’s sales in India saw a surge 42 | Pitch | November 2010

THIS AWARD POSeS A CHALLeNGe FOR TOMORROW, AS We HAVe TO SUSTAIN THIS IMAGe

With constant advertising and sponsorships, brand Chevrolet spread itself across music, Bollywood and cricket. Balendran says, “We kept our focus on Chevrolet - our mother brand and not individual products. This is because consumers buy brands first, then the product.” He adds that their core was P Balendran VP, General Motors, India to communicate the ‘New Chevrolet’ brand idea and build ‘the reason ‘There for you, there for India’. The brand to believe’ and ‘connect transparently’ with initiated better engagement with consumers consumers. ‘Chevrolet Promise’ that provides a three-year It also kept itself busy with one of the the complete hassle free ownership of their vehibiggest entertainment shows of India - the cles. However, General Motors faced some stiff Apsara Awards and Big Boss. challenges too. General Motors had a tough time with resource constraints and coming up with cost effective solutions. Building internal Rise of the Phoenix Just after ten days of filing bankruptcy in the faith in its vision, plans, activities and time US market, the brand launched its LPG version management was also a difficult task. of Chevrolet Spark in India, with a campaign, Internally, ‘Project Lagan’ was initiated to focus on customer experience - sales/service at their retail facilities. One cannot lead the table without innovation, says Balendran. “It helps to gain product edge and consumer engagement edge,” he adds. Following this thought process, General Motors launched Chevrolet’s Captiva, Cruze and Beat with great fervour in India. The Chevrolet Beat advertisement made the customers go gaga over the car. “Half of our job was done by the design of the car itself. We simply had to amplify it in the creatives”, says Mohit Dhar Jayal, MD, Wieden & Kennedy, the agency that conceptualised the entire traditional communication mix for Beat. w

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

Creating a difference

Ford finally had a small car - Figo, last year, which boasted Indian colours. The car only surged the company’s fortunes in the country By Ashish Jha

ith its strong entry into the small car segment with Figo, Ford positioned itself on the centre-stage in India’s booming auto market. It went on to add various marketing initiatives to find connect with middle-class Indian consumers. The momentum that it gained during the last 12 months, makes the automaker brand stand winner in ‘Pitch Top 50 Marketers Awards 2010’. It finds a place in ‘Resurgent Marketers’ category at the No 2 position. Nigel Wark, Executive Director, Marketing Sales & Service, Ford India, says, “With our different marketing initiatives, we have been able to enhance our consumer connect further. With more understanding of consumers’ needs and requirements, we came up with a new product (Figo), which truly addresses what an aspirational Indian consumer wants.”

WE HAvE ADDED 20 CITIES IN TIER-II CITIES AS A PART OF OuR ExPANSION

Despite tough comppetition in the market with the small car segment already occupied by global players like Fiat’s Punto, General Motors’ Beat and Spark, Hyundai Motors’ Santro and i20, besides Maruti Suzuki’s Alto, WagonR and Swift, Ford succeeded in touching the nerves of the Nigel Wark, Executive Director, buyers in the hottest passen- Marketing, Ford India ger car segment. With India turning into a hub of compact car, tion for Figo revolves around that character.” While distinct in its communication content, the American auto maker took considerable care while defining its target group. Wark the company had a 360-degree media mix. shares, “For example, Figo had a character Figo, prior to the launch, had its global CEO called Sandeep who symbolised an ambitious interacting with media and the ‘Sandeeps’ to Indian middle class man. All the communica- receive a direct feedback in terms of what they liked. Wark adds, “We met the dealers, media and people. We moved forward to engage with the customers in terms of mobile phones, social media website and blogs.” With increasing new players in the segment, Ford also understands that it is very important to have a strong distribution network. “Distribution is a critical part. We have increased our presence, in terms of the outlets in Tier-I and Tier-II cities. We have added over 20 cities in Tier-II cities as part of expansion,” says Wark. The company also worked to look into the specific demand of consumers and increase their curiosity and interest in the brand. A contest ‘How smart are you’ was built around Figo, on the Figo website. People interacted and answered the questions about what they knew about the car in terms of space and Figo boasted Indian colours. Its campaign featured a character contrasting features. There was an association named, Sandeep, symbolising the ambitious middle class man with IPL and cinema also.

November 2010 | Pitch | 43

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

Bouncing Back Rough weather and tough market conditions. Satyam Computer was doomed. However, Mahindra & Mahindra not only saved the company but also brought back lost business By Tasneem Limbdiwala

ahindra Satyam has rein- serves as a testament to the sheer grit tions, etc, while on the other, we needed to maintain associates and customer forced the world’s faith in and passion of our associates.” While Mahindra Satyam has come a delight,” the Indian IT industry. EmHowever, the group which was acbroiled in a major corruption long way since a massive corruption was by its promoters, the erstwhile Satyam unearthed in the erstwhile Satyam, it quired by Mahindra and Mahindra group Computer Services, was overtaken by was a tough task indeed for the brand surpassed the insurmountable and Mahindra Group’s IT arm, Mahindra to regain its credibility and clients and emerged rejuvenated. The key initiative that helped the IT giTech. The board members resigned, the take a fresh start. Thalapalli shares, “The founder himself was found involved in past year or two have indeed been trying ant to craft this success was its reinforced illegal practices and the IT company had ones for one and all at Mahindra Satyam, business commitment with existing lost much of its credibility. It was a com- given that we were literally fighting for customers. Besides this, the group also plete mess for the group and it shook the existence. On one hand, we had to go focused on its operating metrics with trust of all its stakeholders who believed through some real rough weather - tough courage and conviction, and explored that the damage was an irreparable one. market conditions, challenging realities larger and newer market spaces, while But the group bounced back with encircling associates, cost rationalisa- controlling costs and timely delivery always remained the core all new colours. of its business. Within just two years, The big boost for it re-energised itself, the group came in its regained clients’ trust partnership with mega and of course rebuilt sporting event FIFA its image as one of World Cup 2010. Thalathe best world-class IT palli believes that the service provider. For all winning strategies of its tremendous efforts last couple of years will to reshape the IT major, continue to be an inteMahindra Satyam is gral part of Mahindra one of Pitch India’s Top Satyam’s business. “We 50 Marketer. It wins in adopted the mantra ‘Resurgent Marketers’ of winning! We intend category. The company making it a habit, a way is delighted with the of life,” he says. recognition as Hari As Mahindra Satyam Thalapalli, Chief Marcomes out of the crisis keting Officer and Chief with flying colours, People Officer, says, Thalapalli believes that “We are very happy Mahindra Satyam deeply dived into media platform with both ATL and innovation would be the to win this award. It BTL activities, be it associating itself with the FIFA World Cup

44 | Pitch | November 2010

3 focus in taking the business forward. “At Mahindra Satyam, innovation is quite an inherent part of our build-up. Our teams are constantly working towards optimising delivery while providing innovative service offerings that are beneficial to our end-customers. We probably have some of the best strategies to minimise risks, and provide our customers with the necessary edge in today’s competitive business landscape,” he says. After renaming the company as Mahindra Satyam, a massive image building programme was put in place. The marketing team of Mahindra Satyam deeply dived into media platform with both ATL and BTL activities and routed their campaign through both traditional and new age media - be it participation in events of a global nature such as the World Economic Forum, or advertisements during FIFA World Cup and the CIO Forum, or promotion of leadership and happenings across web 2.0 areas such as

blogs, Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook. A case in point is its single window ‘Artto-Part’ engagement model for partners in Aerospace and Defence - a technology based innovation, which serves as the building of a Hari Thalapalli, blueprint for tomorrow. CMO and Chief People Officer Another example is its partnership with Morpho, the world of the fittest and never-say-die attitude leader in biometric technologies and is needed for profitability. While in the identification solutions, to work together past, Indian businesses survived in a towards the implementation of Aadhaar closed economy, the doors have now programme by UIDAI (Unique Identifica- opened to bigger markets making Indian companies compete against foreign gition Authority of India). Though Thalapalli feels that Indian ants and conglomerates,” he says. Looking forward to gain more intertradition and values are the key for most of the Indian brands to succeed in global national clients with its cost advantage, arena, yet branding is an important asset Thalapalli says, “We may have a long road ahead but we are well placed to and one of the key drivers to growth. “In this competitive world, the survival take on the challenges.”

ThE AWArD SErvES AS A TESTAMEnT TO ThE ShEEr grIT AnD PASSIOn OF OUr ASSOCIATES

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Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

The sweet tooth With its focus on accelerating top line growth, Britannia has unleashed major growth strategies translating into big achievements By Ruchika Kumar

resh marketing strategies, new branding exercises, a more diversified brand portfolio and healthy lifestyle positioning are the key factors that led Britannia Industries to turn around its fortunes. So much so that its sales doubled in five years and the company now has an international footprint and a dairy business that is profitable. Britannia’s strong market strength and, of late, its vibrant presence among consumers, makes the corporate brand one of the winners of the Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards 2010. The nonagenarian company is at No 4 position in the ‘Resurgent Marketers’ category. Vinita Bali, Managing Director, Britannia

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Industries Limited (BIL), happily shares that the overhauling of Britannia’s business is a logical outcome of innovation, which is a key part of its growth strategy. Bali says, “We have innovated in product, packaging and how we go to the market. New capabilities and technologies have been built to sustain and build our business momentum.” With its focus on accelerating top line growth, the nonagenarian company has unleashed major growth strategies translating into lucrative achievements. According to AC Nielsen, the company is the market leader in the biscuits category with a share of 34.8 per cent. This feat has been accomplished on the back of a plethora of growth strategies. Some of these include building a stronger product portfolio, adopting an intensive healthy lifelife style positioning, innovating and renovating key brands, line extension of its seven power

brands, introducing smaller Rs 5 packs for one-time consumption and expanding the distribution network. Catering to consumers’ personal preferences, the company launched personal consumption packs. Bali explains, “We figured that the grocery packs of biscuits we sell are too large for individual consumption. This led to the creation of personal packs with 3-4 biscuits, great for ‘on the go’ consumption.” Limited edition packs like Shubh Kaamnayein gift packs for festivals and the latest NutriChoice Health Starter kit with a combination of digestive biscuits, Fit Sip sipper and even a pass to Talwalkar’s gym, are enterprising offerings. Similarly, the company found that the biggest challenge in making dahi (curd) at home was getting the consistency right every time, thus this led to the launch of ‘Britannia Daily Fresh Dahi’. Giving tough fight to competitors, Britannia continues to diversify its portfolio “which now straddles a large number of categories – bis biscuits, cakes, rusk, bread, cheese, ghee, butter, milk and milk based drinks,” Bali says. Recently, it launched a bevy of products in both its bakery and dairy business. TigerZor Choco Milk and Actimind (mango and straw strawberry) are the examples in the flavoured milk category. As far as its bread, cake and rusk portfolio is concerned, the company strength strengthened its market position with the successful re-launch of breads, fortified with vitamins and minerals, positioning them firmly as the ‘healthy start to your day’. This innovation combined with relevant consumer activation in key markets brought a 30 per cent growth in its business. Yet another innovative offering

4 from its bakery stable is Britannia Cookies – Butter Elaichiz, which tries to capture the bottom of the pyramid. Along with Treat, Cookies too is pitted against Parle G, the market leader in glucose category. In the last five years the brand has doubled in size and is gung-ho on growing further, as it sees in India - a robust market. The MD is quite hopeful as she says, “Britannia will continue to pursue profitable growth opportunities by increasing the preference and consumption of Britannia brands through leveraging the three growth vectors of brand, geography and channel to reach and delight consumers.” Amid a wide basket of products, the company currently charts its growth strategy around its seven ‘power brands’ – Tiger, Good Day, Milk Bikis, 50-50, Treat, Marie Gold and NutriChoice –

based on its consistent performance and double digit growth in the market. The key, according to Bali, would be line extensions, product variations, repackaging and low-price economy packs. But the road to success is not bereft of Vinita Bali challenges, as the MD Managing Director, Britannia shares, “We operate in an extremely high cost scenario and a ness, build capability of people and invest market structure that invariably reduces in company’s infrastructure. Implementing operating margins thus challenging the these key objectives in its overall business, pursuit of profitable growth.” With focus on the company is all geared up for some apaccelerating top line growth, Britannia’s core petising business. strategy would be to increase cost effective-

WE HAVE INNOVATED IN PRODuCT, PACkAGING AND HOW WE GO TO THE MARkET

Shiny teeth are back

Keeping increasing competition at bay, Colgate clocked 11.4 per cent growth in the toothpaste segment

olgate has come up as one of the most resurgent brands in the Indian market. The brand covers massive market in terms of volume in toothbrush and tooth paste sales. The icing on the cake was the performance of the brand over the past few years, which has put the brand at the No 5 spot in the ‘Resurgent Brands’ categories in the Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards. With newer players entering the segment, Colgate has been resurgent and is ready to face all the challenges. The toothpaste sales of the brand rose by 11.4 per cent in the past year and toothbrush by 14 per cent. Even as other players in the market hiked prices owing to inflation,

Colgate showed restraint and focused on volume growth without increasing prices. From a modest start in 1937, when hand-carts were used to distribute Colgate dental cream toothpaste, ColgatePalmolive (India) today has one of the widest distribution networks in India – a logistical marvel that makes Colgate available in almost 43 lakh retail outlets across the country. The company has grown to a Rs 1,700 crore plus organisation with an outstanding record of enhancing value for its strong shareholder base. The company dominates the Rs 3,500 crore Indian

toothpaste market by commanding more than 50 per cent of the market share. Since 1976, Colgate has worked in close partnership with the Indian Dental Association (IDA) to spread the message of oral hygiene to children across the country under its ‘bright smiles, bright futures’ schools dental education program. In 2004, as an additional effort to create awareness for good oral hygiene ‘Oral Health Month’ (OHM), was introduced. Since its launch, OHM is conducted each year during September / October, where free dental check-ups are conducted by Colgate in partnership with IDA across the country. Conducted in designated towns and cities to establish and promote the importance of good oral hygiene, OHM is Colgate’s mass consumer contact program. The strong relationship and the trust of generations of consumers, trade and the dental profession built over decades of operations in India has made Colgate a trusted household name. In 2009, ColgatePalmolive (India) was adjudged as the Best Value Creator (Mid Cap Category) in the

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PITCH INDIAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S TOP 50 MARKETERS AWARDS

Rechargers Reworking their corporate identity and donning a new look, these brands are gaining market share with brand new positioning

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PITCH INDIA’S TOP 50 MARKETERS AWARDS

•

THE WINNERS MTV Dish TV Videocon Maruti WagonR Aditya Birla Financial Group November 2010 | Pitch | 49

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

Getting younger With changing times MTV changes too; sheds ‘Music Television’ tag By Khushboo Tanna

n a move to be at pace with the changing generation, MTV removed the tag of ‘Music Television’ from its logo and re-positioned itself as a destination for the youth. With youth oriented reality shows like Roadies and Splitsvilla gaining popularity among the younger TG, brand MTV realised the need to evolve and get going with the changing needs of its TG. For the stupendous re-branding, MTV stands at No 1 in the ‘Rechargers’ category in Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards. Aditya Swamy, Head, MTV India, says, “MTV is the universe of the young and the formula is evolve or die. By

50| Pitch | November 2010

going beyond music and television, we have looked to connect with our audience across genres and across screens, thereby moving towards our destination of being the preferred hang out for young people, wherever they go.”

1 Meanwhile, Anuj Poddar, Senior VP, Strategy and Business Development, Viacom18 Media, says that MTV was becoming a youth GEC and did not limit itself by just being a music channel. “MTV is an icon of youth culture and not just music. Today what you are seeing is that the brand is just living up to its promise,” he maintains. Today, only about 30 per cent of MTV’s content is music, while the rest comprises non-music content. Poddar says, “We have moved from being a snacking channel to an appointment viewing channel, as people now tune in to our channel at specific time bands.” MTV now has many new shows in its kitty with Stunt Mania, Wassup, Male Fantasy and Girls’ Night Out that are becoming a rage among the youth. With a flurry of new hosts doing wonders with the existing hosts of the television brand, MTV has successfully evolved with changing times and has the youth calling it ‘My MTV’.

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

On a different wavelength Moving away from a functional based approach, Dish TV created an emotional connect with consumers to maintain leadership By Pragati Ratti

rom ‘Wish Karo, Dish Karo’ to ‘Ghar Aayi Zindagi’, the Indian users have liked the transformation of a bold Shahrukh Khan asking them to wish for more to an emotionally appealing Shahrukh Khan highlighting how Dish TV brings life to their family. Moulding and refreshing itself with changing times, Dish TV has been voted and judged as the second best brand in the ‘Rechargers’ category of Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards.

The Dish becomes sweeter Moving away from a functional based approach, Dish TV now creates an emotional connect with consumers to maintain leadership. Salil Kapoor, Chief Operating Officer, Dish TV says, “The primary reason for the continued success of the brand is that it has been differentiating itself from time to time through its positioning and wide distribution.”

‘Ghar Aayi Zindagi’ campaign included television commercials featuring Shah Rukh Khan as a 75-year-old man romancing his wife and Khan paired with Tisca Chopra, bringing home an orphan girl child who settles into the family only after an experience with Dish TV. Elaborating on the brand’s repositioning, Kapoor says, “As it Salil Kapoor Chief Operating Officer, Dish TV is said in the marketing world, the positioning based on functional attributes is not sustainable because a category leader, was ready to take on the somebody or the other will catch up with you. broader and more emotional role in the You have to take the next step on that and that consumer’s life.” Apart from the tagline, DishTV has also is the positioning of the emotional content to given a fresh new look to its logo, signifying let the consumers relate to the brand.” He further shares, “For the DTH category, a progressive nature that is more approachIndia has traditionally focused on detailing able, ambitious and has a contemporary feel, merely the functional benefits. Dish TV, as moving from functional positioning to an emotional platform to connect strongly with its existing and new subscribers. The logo has now moved to a more modern and futuristic design. Dish TV invested close to Rs 30 crore on the TVCs with an annual budget of Rs 100 crore for the entire campaign. Dish TV being India’s biggest direct-tohome company with such a huge consumer base, the challenge is to stay relevant to its audience amid the clutter created by new entrants. “The way forward can sometimes be full of new challenges but the growth strategy for us will always be consumer centric,” reiterates Kapoor.

FunCTIOnAl POSITIOnInG CAnnOT bE SuSTAInED, AS SOMEbODY WIll CATCH uP

Dish TV believes that the primary reason for its continued success is that it has been differentiating itself from time to time November 2010 | Pitch | 51

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

‘V’ for Victory To keep up with the competition, Videocon infused more energy in the brand. The new ‘V’ has maintained its consumer base and attracted younger TG too By Pragati Ratti

he solid steel ‘V’ of Videocon became a fluid green eco-friendly stylish ‘V’, last year, suggesting the restless youth energy. The change has been liked by everyone, by not only the consumers but the voters on exchange4media.com and our judges too. The change makes the mother brand one of the winners of the Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards and at No 3 spot in the ‘Rechargers’ category. “Winning this prestigious award is an honor for us and it goes on to prove that we have been successful in positioning ourselves as the company that works for the delight of its customers,” says Jaideep Rathore, Chief Marketing Officer, Consumer Electronics & Home Appliances, Videocon Group. Green is the colour of the future, says Rathore, adding, “The new identity and logo is based on the consumer-centric approach of the brand and its positioning to be closer to the consumers heart - both in terms of its values and philosophies, as well as its servicing aspects.”

ences organised around the launch in order to create awareness about the brand’s new look. Digital, outdoor and sponsored events were also used, while the ChouwMouw jingle was leveraged on radio. The exercise of rebranding had its challenges too. Videocon has been a popular Jaideep Rathore, CMO, Consumer Electronics, Videocon brand and to imbibe the new Videocon in the minds of the consumers who changing and the green color of the logo is were used to the solid V of Videocon, was symbolic of the company’s ecology drive. a challenge in itself. However, says Rathore, The logo also has a liquefied, fluid-like feel to “The fact that the brand was getting into it which gives the feeling that the company new age categories, it was decided to get rid is on the move and can take any shape and of the static nature of the brand and getting form.” Successfully establishing a new image, it to move on. The new more fluid green ‘V’ logo was designed with the challenge Videocon has maintained its consumer base, to penetrate the mindset of youth which is now adding a younger TG too.

WINNING THIS PRESTIGIOUS AWARD IS AN HONOR AND PROVES OUR SUCCESS

Communicating the new V The brand change was announced from Los Angeles in USA, wherein the two characters Chow & Mouw central to the theme of the logo along with Shahrukh Khan launched the new Videocon logo. A high blitz promotional campaigns across all media i.e. print, electronic and radio along with various BTL & on ground activities, marketing collaterals and visual merchandising were undertaken, to communicate the change. The group also interacted with both the national & regional media through confer-

52 | Pitch | November 2010

The new more fluid green ‘V’ logo was designed with the challenge to penetrate the mindset of youth

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

The blue eyed boy

Flexibility is an important asset for any brand and WagonR proved just that. With successful modification it kept the brand image intact even in 2010 By Shikha

ot many brands in the present market are flexible enough to modify themselves successfully. However, the year 2010 saw one such brand renew itself keeping its brand image intact – Maruti Suzuki WagonR. Maruti launched the new Maruti WagonR with a new environment friendly technology. Maruti Wagon R 2010 has a new series of 998 CC engine with three cylinders and a fuel economy of 18.9 KMPL. The change has put the brand at the No 4 position in the ‘Rechargers’ category of the Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards 2010. Shashank Srivastava, Senior General Manager, Marketing, Maruti Suzuki India, says, “Being chosen as one of the winners is a great honour for Maruti Suzuki and is a cause of great satisfaction to the brand team. This is especially so for the WagonR which is a very important brand in our portfolio.”

Blue Eyed Boy The new Maruti WagonR positioned as the ‘Blue Eyed Boy’ sports the K-series engine. The overall length of the new Wagon R is now increased to 3,595 mm (an increase of 75 mm) with a wheelbase of 2,400 mm - the longest in its class. The new WagonR is also wider and taller. The new model also looks good with a curvier and sophisticated body design. Srivastava says, “In the market for a developing country like India, the consumer tastes and choices are rapidly changing not just because of increased competition and market maturity but also because the consumers themselves are changing demographically and sociographically. In this scenario, a brand has to be refreshed

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periodically both in terms of product changes to reflect the new technology but also the image. I would rate this as one of the most important tasks for a marketer.” While Brand WagonR was launched ten years back in 2000, it has come a long way to successfully be the ‘Blue Eyed Boy’. It became Shashank Srivastava SGM, Marketing, Maruti Suzuki India the highest selling car in the Indian automobile market. The ‘Blue completely blue to promote the car. A TVC Eyed Boy’ is a step ahead to make the starring R Madhavan was conceptualised brand WagonR updated with modern times. by Hakuhodo Percept. Hakuhodo Percept’s Srivastava says, “The idea behind the new objective for the new WagonR TVC was to WagonR was to offer the customers new take the brand to the next level in terms technology, new looks and greater number of imagery. The Blue Eyed Boy concept of features and to establish it as the car for for the new Wagon-R TVC is meant to take the ‘smarter’ people. This is in line with the this thought forward by positioning the car premium, desirable and appealing. customer requirements.” Srivastava says, “In image terms, we had The Blue Eyed Boy campaign was high on innovation. While Red FM turned blue to stress on the fact that it was a favourite for an entire day to celebrate the new fea- of the Indian customers and hence the tures of the car, the website in.com turned concept of Blue Eyed Boy.”

BEING CHoSEN AS oNE oF THE WINNERS IS A GREAT HoNouR FoR MARuTI

Innovation was the mantra for the new Maruti WagonR

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

The new sun ‘Re-positioning’ is not just about the face you present to the external world, but also ensuring internal awareness & buy-in By Pragati Ratti

eeping pace with the market, the Aditya Birla Group has time and again been proving itself flexible with the changing trends. Renewing and refreshing itself with different initiatives, the group’s rebranding has been applauded by voters on exchange4media’s website and the jury of Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards. Aditya Birla Group is the fifth best marketer in the ‘Rechargers’ category of Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards 2010. Ajay Kakar, Chief Marketing Officer, Financial Services, Aditya Birla Group, says, “I am delighted and honoured to have the Aditya Birla Financial Services Group recognised as one of Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers. We embarked on our journey in August 2007 and to be recognised as a “Recharger” brand so soon in our journey is indeed an invaluable encouragement.” In November 2009, Aditya Birla Group acquired Apollo Sindhoori Capital Investments and changed its name to Aditya Birla Money Limited. This year the group acquired complete stakes from the JV partner Sun Life Financial and Birla Sun Life Distribution Company was renamed Aditya Birla Money Mart. Both these

refreshed entities are now a part of Aditya Birla Money and sell their products and services under the common brand of Aditya Birla Money. Kakar says, “The financial services industry is a very crowded and competitive category. It is also a category with one of the highest marketing spends. Having said that, we take Ajay Kakar, CMO, Financial inspiration from our Vision, Services, Aditya Birla Group to be a leader and role model While the group climbs the success ladder, it in a broad based and integrated business. We have kept our strategy simple and focused. also has to face certain challenges to survive We keep our customer at the centre of all our in the market. Aditya Birla is a name that now reaches a huge consumer base, thus, as constrategies and initiatives.” Very recently in July 2010, the group also sumer needs and expectations rise, the group refreshed its logo to keep pace with its growing has to be careful with its strategies to stay relbrand equity. Though the new logo is similar evant and keep its consumers intact. As Kakar to the old logo of the group with sun rays, the puts it, “A re-positioning is not only about the colour of the logo is more vibrant and the font face you present to the external world. It also of ‘Aditya Birla Group’ is bolder. Kakar says, “In demands an internal awareness and buy-in. an ever changing world, a brand must keep The Aditya Birla Financial Services Group enreinventing itself to remain contemporary at joys the trust of over 56 lakh customers, across 500 cities, 1,600 branches, 2,00,000 channel all times.” partners and 16,000 employees. The scale itself is a huge challenge, but also an exciting opportunity.” Clocking a 1,016 per cent jump in its profit before tax at Rs 20.5 crore in the 2009-10 fiscal, the group, as according to Kakar, keeps itself on toes as it believes in David Ogilvy’s philosophy of ‘divine discontent’, “We still believe and act as if our journey has just begun. There are many more peaks that we aspire to cross.”

TO Be eNTITLeD AS A ReCHARGeR SO SOON, IS INDeeD eNCOuRAGING

The Group changed its logo to be a brighter, more prominent rising sun. The logo is used across ABG companies

November 2010 | Pitch | 55

Pitch indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s toP 50 Marketers awards

Marketing Innovators As Indian consumer market begins to reach product-parity in most categories, and the din and clutter rises, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the innovators that make themselves heard & seen. And itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not just product innovation alone, but innovations across all Ps, than can win the consumers. These brands are proving this dictum

58 | Pitch | November 2010

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

THE WINNERS • • • • •

3 Idiots Big Bazaar Lay’s P&G Gillette Frooti

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Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

The Idiots Academy

Rethinking movie marketing at grassroot level helped the movie in record-breaking opening

By Akash Raha

Idiots was one of the biggest promotion innovations that the year 2009 witnessed. With the unique red, green and blue chairs placed at public places, the team of 3 Idiots grabbed the viewers’ attention much before the film released. The innovations have put the movie at the No 1 position in the ‘marketing Innovators’ category in the Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards. In fact it received the most number of votes in a poll on exchange4media.com and maximum scores given by our jury panel, across categories. The movie was produced and distributed by Reliance Mediaworks. A 40 men strong marketing team was formed four months before the movie was released to begin promotion activity around the movie.

For 3 idiots, Aamir Khan, one of the lead actors in the movie, played a unique hide and seek game with the audience where he went to undisclosed locations in the country. One had to trace him down within two weeks.

itself became a favourite brand for consumers

By Tuhina Anand

60 | Pitch | November 2010

There were seven clues to trace him before the release of the movie on December 25, 2009. The first clue was given by Sachin Tendulkar after a special screening of 3 Idiots. Khan had left no stone unturned to promote his movie. He even went to the extent of putting the posters in Ladies’ toilets. Two weeks before the launch of the movie, a huge activation initiative began online. A site called idiotsacademy.com was also started, which added to the buzz around the movie. The character of Chatur Ramalingam was the ace of spades, which the team of 3 Idiots did not disclose till the release of the movie. Eventually, the character of Chatur Ramalingam became as much a success as did Aamir Khan. To prevent piracy, a special crack team was formed, which stopped over 21 lakh illegal downloads. The movie was released in the festive season, however, amongst a lot of clutter. 3 Idiots successfully managed to break this clutter through a superior product and extremely innovative marketing.

Use of ‘3’ in marketing led to clutterbreaking brand fit for the movie

deal a day 2 ByAproviding a launch pad to brands, Big Bazaar n a competitive market, where brands might find it difficult to launch a new product, Big Bazaar provides these brands with a perfect launch pad with its unique and creative concept of ‘Shubh Muhurat’. For such highly successful innovations on a regular basis, Big Bazaar stands as the second best marketer in the ‘Marketing Innovators’ category of Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards. Sandeep Walunj, Chief Marketing Officer, Big Bazaar, says, “Winning in this category is special as Value for Money and Exchange is our property but Shubh Muhurat requires working with brand partners and it has been a

successful initiative. The idea can be powerful but executing it is a difficult task especially if there are multiple partners involved. The challenge is to work seamlessly while keeping this partnership hence to be successful in this initiative is special.” Big Bazaar has successfully launched Minute Maid’s Nimbu Fresh, Tasty Treat corn flakes, Milestone luggage range, Monza furniture range and Koryo Slim television under its ‘Shubh Muhurat’ programme.

While Big Bazaar exclusively launches products with creativeity and innovative offers, under the concept of ‘Shubh Muhurat’, it has been constantly coming up with innovative offers in-cluding ‘The Great Exchange Offer’ and ‘Sabse Sasta Din’. The brand sees innovation as a core strategy to survive in the market, and hence feels the need to come up with new concepts over time as Walunj says, “The lifeline of a brand depends on being relevant to the fast changing consumer preferences and competition. The mantra for us is to be observant and internalisation of those changes. We try to keep our communication stronger and try out new things to be relevant to our consumers.” Treating its partners as ‘Sambandhis’, Big Bazaar takes all brands together and making them uniquely visible to the consumer. in a unique manner.

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

Where’s my flavour?

‘Give us Your Flavour’ allowed a never-before brand engagement for Lay’s with its target group, creating a new set of audience at the same time By Preeti Hoon

WE ARE ELATED. THIS AWARD ENDORSES CONSUMERS CONNECT WITH LAY’S

to send their recipes and flavours for making chips. Out of 13 lakh entries, four flavours were shortlisted and presented in the market for the consumers to vote for the best flavour that would become a permanent flavour for Lay’s. Sagar Devrukhkar’s ‘Mastana Mango’ emerged as Ruchira Jaitly, the winner with over 15,77,891 Executive Vice President, Frito-Lay votes and received a reward of Rs 50 lakh from Lay’s. He also gets one had very strict benchmarks for success, all percent of the revenues generated by the numeric and about unique consumers, and we surpassed them all, whether on crowd sales of this flavour. The innovative campaign that was a huge sourcing or getting more than 44 lakh votes success grabbing 47 lakh votes brought with for the faceoff between flavours. That’s when itself many a challenges as well. Jaitly says, we knew we had decoded the ‘what’s in it for “Making co-creation, which is a technical the consumer’ correctly.” Lay’s has always been an innovator with concept, a mass engagement programme By the consumer, for the consumer via simple, uncomplicated programmes is international flavours way back - Chaat Street Lay’s kicked off a crowd sourcing co-creation always the challenge and our partner agen- in 2005, concepts like ‘Fight for your Flavor’ campaign ‘Give us your Dillicious Flavour’ in cies delivered admirably against this ask. We and ‘Chip n Sauce’ packs, communicating October 2009. In this, it invited consumers its message with personalities like Saif Ali Khan and M S Dhoni. Jaitly states, “Not only did Lay’s Give Us Your Dillicious Flavor get an unbelievable number of ideas, it took it further with launching co-created products and finally, rewarded the consumer innovators in a democratic vote.” Lay’s continues to create strong visual identity via mainstream media for a single means of delivering scale cut through, says Jaitley. She adds, “We are also careful to search for that sweet spot between consumers in small towns and metro consumers, therefore the huge reward and recognition is an insight coming from the kind of response that reality shows get in the country.” Lay’s created a multi-tier on-ground campaign that invited

rom ‘No One Can Eat Just One’ to the ‘Dillogical’ formula, Pepsico’s Lay’s chips have been creatively active in grabbing eyeballs. Lay’s recently revolutionised the Indian snack market with its co-creation strategy ‘Give Us Your Dillicious Flavour’. The strategy that received 13 lakh entries impressed the voters on exchange4media’s website and the jury of Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards making Lay’s the third best marketer in the ‘Marketing Innovations’ category. Ruchira Jaitly, Executive Vice President, Frito-Lay India, says, “We are elated! It’s great to know that a programme we have worked so hard on is getting this recognition. It is also a really strong endorsement of the consumers’ connect and love for the brand.”

consumers to give their recipes, and win cash prize and more...

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No reason for not shaving Women Against Lazy Stubble redefined innovation in ways to connect with the consumer for an everyday product By Tuhina Anand

he year 2009 saw a revolution in the men’s grooming market with women leading the communication initiative of Procter & Gamble’s Gillette’s campaign - Women Against Lazy Stubble. The out of the box concept grabbed eyeballs and received a stupendous response from the consumers as well as the market experts. It has been awarded the fourth best marketer in the ‘Marketing Innovators’ category of Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards. Sharat Verma, Marketing Manager, Gillette, P&G India says, “We are delighted to win Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Award in the ‘ Marketing Innovators’ category. Innovation is and always has been P&G’s lifeblood. We are committed to pursuing consistent innovation in our products, aligned to a simple philosophy: Touching Lives, Improving Life – a philosophy that

has anchored Procter & Gamble to a bedrock of success for over 172 years.” Conceptualised by BBDO, the campaign that started as a digital initiative and moved on to become a PR activity, Women Against Lazy Stubble (WALS) brought together all likeminded women who be- Sharat Verma, Marketing Manager, lieved that the this was the Gillette, P&G India Unit, Tata Motors right time for them to take a stand against lazy men and lazy stubble. that women play an important role in men’s The campaign had females giving a shave grooming preferences, however, the bigto men. The philosophy was straightfor- gest challenge was perhaps using women ward - If women can do it, then so can men, as influencers for an all-male brand.” This activity was also followed by the leaving men with no more excuses for their lazy stubble. The campaign won the Silver ‘Shave India’ movement by P&G Gillette, Lion at Cannes 2010. Verma says, “When which witnessed 2,000 men gathering at we generated the idea of WALS, we knew Mumbai’s Chitrakud Grounds in an attempt to create India’s first shaving world-record for most number of men shaved in a day in the same place. The year passed by therefore was a year full of innovations for P&G Gillette. Innovation is a key ingredient of productivity success, feels Verma. He adds, “Our innovation is driven by consumer inspiration through a strong connect with those who use our products. A brand’s ‘heart’ should be set on defining a benefit that will ultimately serve the consumer, which can only be achieved through innovation. The power of “good” innovation lies in the ability to turn strangers into consumers and consumers into advocates. We believe in being in touch and in the lead. “

P&G’s Gillette launched massive on-ground campaigns, urging India to shave 62| Pitch | November 2010

WInnInG AS ‘MARkeTInG InnOVATOR’, IS A DeLIGHT, AS InnOVATIOn IS P&G’S LIfeBLOOD

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

Where does the man-go?

In a market filled with a plethora of mango drinks, Frooti has carved a niche for itself, with a path-breaking campaign

By Akash Raha

ave you ever wondered what will the sight be if a huge mango fell behind you and followed you while you walked down a slope? Last year, Parle Agro’s Mango Frooti captured just this expression to give its consumers a ‘Mango Surprise’ and the candid advertisement did wonders in the market. While the outdoor campaign, ‘Mango Surprise’ by Creativeland Asia, Parle Agro, got the Silver Lion at the Cannes 2010, it has been voted as the No 5 ‘Marketing Innovator’ in the Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards. “We are very happy that Frooti finds place in the ‘Marketing Innovation’ category. Frooti is India’s leading mango drink and a trusted brand in the Indian beverage space,” says Nadia Chauhan, Joint Managing Director and CMO, Parle Agro. She adds, “Being an Indian company, we understand the pulse of the Indian consumer very well. We have always anticipated consumer needs and constantly introduced product and category innovations. We strongly believe in creating new categories and offering innovative product experiences to consumers. This has been the backbone of our long standing success in the Indian market.” The outdoor campaign went on to become the TVC for the brand, with hidden cameras capturing the reactions of people with huge mangoes falling behind them and following them. ‘Mango Surprise’ brought applauds for the concept that bagged the Silver Lion for outdoor campaign at Cannes 2010.

Surprising Innovation

“WE ArE VEry hAPPy ThAT FrOOTI FINDS PLACE IN ThE ‘MArkETINg INNOVATION’ CATEgOry”

Mango Frooti has come a long way from ‘Mango Frooti, Fresh and Juicy’ to ‘Mango Surprise’. The signature tune of Frooti remains intact and still holds the same charm. In the ‘Mango Surprise’ campaign, Frooti Nadia Chauhan played a prank on people, Joint MD and CMO, Parle Agro thereby starting a campaign Chauhan says, “With ‘fun’ at the centre of that followed a no fixed script. Eight hidden cameras were placed at specific locations. its communication, the TVC was shot as part Nine-foot-tall mangoes made of thermocol, sili- of an integrated campaign that involved live con, curd and mango pulp, and covered in thin outdoor stunts, direct marketing, promotional vinyl were dropped from trees and rolled down activity and candid camera footage that were sloping streets, and the reactions of passers-by made into the Frooti reality TVC.” This campaign came out when reality TV were captured. was at its best, vis-à-vis popularity among viewers. This was one of the factors that made the new Frooti campaign even more loveable. Says Chauhan, “Though reality TV has become part of the Indian media scenario, it was not yet explored in any advertisement. Sensing the opportunity in reality TV, Parle Agro has now become India’s first company to establish direct contact with its consumers through this medium. With no script or seasoned actors, the ad has engaged and thrilled the common man put on the spot. The element of surprise has indeed worked for the brand. We were confident that the TVC would strike a chord with Frooti consumers.” Over the last 25 years, Frooti has enjoyed tremendous mass appeal that has engaged The ‘surprise’ outdoor campaign that also became the TVC for Frooti and entertained its consumers. w

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Pitch indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s toP 50 Marketers awards

Social Marketers Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not just Profit that matters, but the other two Ps too â&#x20AC;&#x201C; People & Planet. These brands believe and live this dictum. They have changed the fate of many by their active involvement in social welfare activities, understanding their corporate social responsibilities well

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Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

THE WINNERS

• • • • • •

Idea Aircel Toyota Dettol Nokia P&G

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Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

Calling for a cause

In continuation with its social messaging campaigns, Idea’s ‘Use Mobile, Save Paper’ initiative stood out By Ashish Jha

dea Cellular has constantly attached its campaign themes to different social causes. The latest ‘Use Mobile, Save Paper’ campaign was somewhat special as its effective approach really made people think and talk of the environmental cause associated

with it. For all its effective communication campaign, Idea is one of the winners of the ‘Pitch Top 50 Marketers Awards 2010’. The brand stands at the top in our ‘Social Marketing’ category.

2 Tagging the tiger

‘Just 1411 Left’ created substantial following for Aircel on multiple platforms

By Pragati Ratti

ressing the countrymen to work towards saving tigers in India, with the shout out of ‘Just 1411 left’, Aircel took up the cause of saving the Indian national animal as the number of tigers is going down, making tigers a rare species. For spreading the message far and wide, Aircel has been voted and judged as the second best brand in the ‘Social Marketers’ category of Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards 2010. Aircel, in collaboration with WWF India launched the Save Tiger campaign through several media including print, television,

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outdoor and digital. The big names from M S Dhoni, Bhaichung Bhutia, Kiran Bedi to Amitabh Bachchan, who is the latest ambassador for the campaign, came forward

Personifying its brand ambassador, Abhishek Bachchan, as a lone surviving tree, the 360-degree campaign urged people to use mobile phone as a replacement for paper, thus saving the trees and the environment. The brand has been very consistent with its approach towards taking up social causes to draw public attention. Making its tagline - an idea can change your life - a popular metaphor, the preceding campaigns around ‘Participative Governance’; ‘Education for All’; and ‘Caste equality’, have struck a right cord with the common man. The journey started with a campaign addressing a caste divided village. Next was, spreading awareness about the importance of public opinion for policy decisions. Use of technology in education and breaking the language barrier came thereafter. These all campaigns enforced that a phone can actually impact a society in a positive way.

to spread the word. The digital campaign includes a dedicated website that makes people aware of the number of tigers in India and suggests them ways of helping towards saving the tigers. The campaign has been welcomed well by people with the current participation number crossing 2,34,721 according to the campaign website. Recently, Aircel also joined hands with NDTV to spread the word. While the telecom service provider took up the initiative of saving the Indian tiger, it also joined hands with Helpage India to serve the old aged. Aircel came up with a campaign that urged people to donate spare mobile phones for the benefit of senior citizens in old age homes. While this campaign was run on television and print, it also has a dedicated website.

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

Driving a cause

Toyota Kirloskar did not restrict its green initiative to Greenathon campaign but also launched eco-friendly cars including Altis CNG, Innova CNG and Camry Hybrid

By Pallavi Goorha

t may be the most talked about issue of recent times but not too many companies in India were able to take up the ‘Green’ cause at a significant scale. Toyota Kirloskar was amongst the few that did. The initiative was undertaken in collaboration with NDTV with the aim to make people responsible towards the issue of global warming. ‘Plantation drives’ and ‘clean drives’ were held at regular intervals under this campaign. For its NDTV Toyota Greenathon, the voters at exchage4media.com and the jury for Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards, have named Toyota Kirloskar as the third best marketer in the ‘Social Marketers’ category. NDTV-Toyota Green Campaign, with the premise ‘Open up Tomorrow, Today’, is a three-year nationwide environment campaign that aims at creating awareness about issues that threaten the future of our planet. The campaign received an overwhelming response from India’s leading corporates and had

A CORPORATE SHOuLD BE RESPONSIBLE TO GIVE BACK TO THE SOCIETy IN KIND

celebrities such as Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor and Shah Rukh Khan among others, supporting the cause, by participating in various clean up drives, marathon and entertaining the audience round-the-clock with their performances as part of the Sandeep Singh Greenathon, the 24-hour DMD, Toyota Kirloskar Motors nonstop television programming. The campaign was also taken online easy task. In corporate marketing you generwith a dedicated website. The money raised ate a message and communicate. In social through this effort was donated to TERI’s marketing you understand the customer and ‘Lighting a Billion Lives’ project, solar powering generate insight. The latter obviously requires understanding and influencing the complex villages across the country. While the initiative has been receiving a huge human mind.” Toyota Kirloskar’s initiative to do away with response, there were certain challenges that Toyota faced while executing the cause, says global warming has not just been restricted Sandeep Singh, Deputy Managing Director, to the Greenathon campaign. The automobile Toyota Kirloskar Motors, “Keeping in mind brand also launched eco-friendly cars includthe dynamic nature of human behaviour, ing Altis CNG, Innova CNG and Camry Hybrid bringing about a behavioural change is not an along with Prius, thereby actively fulfilling its corporate social responsibility. Singh feels, “In addition to being a business entity, every corporate has the responsibility of giving back to the society, in kind. Social marketing is one way of bringing about a behavioural change among the target audience.” Toyota’s initiative to save planet Earth has been a huge success with the campaign website reflecting the money raised at Rs 3.92 crore and still counting. While the brand aggressively acts towards environmental issues, it sees no difference in the way Indian brands handle responsibilities as compared to foreign brands. As Singh puts it, “Indian brands are no different from foreign brands. All brands, Indian or foreign, need to be sensitive and responsive to the local taste, culture and customs.”

The launch programme of the Greenathon event

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Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

Hello Hygiene!

For ‘Surakshit Parivar’, Dettol utilised the on-ground medium, and later television, to connect with consumers By Ashish Jha

All ouR INITIATIVeS ARe DIReCTeD TowARDS eDuCATINg HygIeNe PRACTICeS

“Dettol has a responsibility of educating masses on correct hygiene practices,” he adds. Through the Dettol Surakshit Parivar campaign, the brand reaches to lakhs of new mothers every year to communicate with them on the C M Sethi CMD, Reckitt Benckiser crucial role of hygienic practices for the wellbeing of the new-born. Taking the family and spread awareness on germ initiative to the next level, the brand protection. Dettol also reaches to school kids recently initiated a talk show on Imagine TV on health and hygiene. The aim through its school contact proof the show was to provide tips for grammes under which children who maintaining good environment in the are very highly susceptible to germs and infections are taught the importance of hygiene and hand washing. The personal care brand works with Hygiene Council, an independent international body, which brings together leading global experts in the field of microbiology, virology, infectious diseases, immunology, and public health to formulate realistic and practical recommendations on simple hygiene measures. “Besides these activities, the brand in association with Hygiene Council, conducts workshops for the medical fraternity, especially nurses, whose role is very crucial and important in maintaining the right hygienic practices at different health centres and Extending ‘Surakshit Parivar’, Dettol recently initiated a hospitals.” talk show on Imagine TV on health and hygiene

rom spreading awareness about regular hand wash to extending the campaign to all aspects of personal and family hygiene, Dettol remains the brand on the forefront in the Social Marketers category, perched at the No 4 spot. Chander Mohan Sethi, Chairman and Managing Director, Reckitt Benckiser, India, feels that the award is a big recognition for Dettol’s health and hygiene commitment. “The purpose of all the activity undertaken by Dettol is to communicate to more and more people about health and hygiene in an effective way. As a leader in the category, we believe a lot in germ protection,” he says.

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A tree for every phone

Nokia’s initiative a-tree-for-every-phone-recycled has been applauded by all sections of the society, giving the brand a significant visibility By Preeti Hoon

ver wondered what do you really do with your mobile phone once it gets old and is not in working condition? Throw it away? Nokia, pushed consumers to go for a second thought on this and made a worn out mobile phone useful with its Phone Recycling campaign. With the new ‘Planet Ke Rakhwale’ initiative and ‘Take-Back’ campaign, Nokia invites consumers to bring their old mobile phones and donate them for recycling while it planted a tree in return for each phone. The initiative has put the brand at the No 5 spot in the ‘Social Marketing’ category of Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards 2010. Accepting the award, Viral Oza, Head – Activation, Media and Online Marketing, Nokia India, says, “It is very pleasing to know that we have been recognised for the Social Marketing category – it ranks right up there with our marketing efforts.” According to Oza, “The Planet Ke Rakhwale (PKR) initiative aims to inspire young minds to spread the Take-Back message. It is positioned as the voice of the next generation – calling the attention of the adults to pay attention to something which directly impacts their world.”

employee encouragement. Nokia also has an internal award called ‘The Nokia Innovation and Excellence Award’, which is aimed at encouraging innovative approaches. These innovations spread across Nokia’s corporate social responsibility too. Oza says, “We view corporate Viral Oza Head–Activation, Media and Online responsibility as an opportunity, and believe our efforts can enhance awareness amongst the consumers and sustainability. This core belief is exempli- trade partners/retailers and non-existence fied in our social initiatives and marketing of possibilities for consumers to act in a pro-environmental way - consumers did not campaigns for the initiatives.” While the response to the Take-Back and have options for responsibly recycling their PKR campaign helped Nokia collect over 16 e-waste. Other challenges include absence of tonnes of e-Waste (unwanted mobile phones information systems for consumers on why to and accessories) as of April 2010 and over act, how to act, when to act and the benefits 20,000 people signing on as members of PRK, of the actions for environment and society at there were certain challenges that the brand large. Absence of responsible recycling infrafaced. As Oza puts it, some of the key chal- structure in the country and lastly absence of lenges that Nokia faced while executing these a regulatory framework on e-waste managecampaigns include low level of environmental ment was another factor.

THE SOcIAl MARKETER REcOgNITION RANKS RIgHT UP THERE WITH OUR EffORTS

Lesser stress Oza adds, “Just as it is important for a product to have the edge through innovative features and USPs, it is important to break the clutter and stand out through innovative brand campaigns, and hence the need to continue focus on innovation.” While innovations helped Nokia keep its brand intact in the market, it also helped in

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Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

Educating India P&G’s purpose-inspired vision in initiatives such as ‘Shiksha’ further strengthens consumers’ faith in the FMCG major By Tasneem Limbdiwala

ith its key project Shiksha, running successfully into sixth year now, P&G has emerged as one of the winners of the ‘Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards 2010’ taking the fifth position, along with Nokia, in the ‘Social Marketers’ category. Shweta Shukla, Associate Director & Head – External Relations, P&G India, feels that the award further boosts P&G’s conviction into its CSR activities. “We are delighted to win the ‘Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Award. As we grow our business in India, we are committed to improving more lives in the communities we operate in.” The CSR initiative towards Shiksha empowers consumers across the country to participate and support the social cause via a simple purchase of P&G’s different products. Irrespective of sales,

every year, P&G commits to a minimum of Rs 1 crore to its partner - CRY, which utilises this money to fund the projects thus enabling the child’s right to education. Through the project, CRY also works with State Education Departments to relook at existing education policies; create awareness to build more schools with better infrastructure, and more basic amenities. Shukla says that CSR activities are

WE ARE COMMITTED TO IMPROvING MORE LIvES IN THE COMMuNITIES WE OPERATE IN Shweta Shukla, Associate Director & Head – External Relations, P&G IndiaIndia Unit

P&G re-energised its focus towards Shiksha with opinion leaders and celebrities coming forth to support the initiative 70 | Pitch | November 2010

instilled in P&G’s core philosophy. “Our commitment to social responsibility is strong across the globe. We have a global platform called ‘Live Learn Thrive’ that reaches over 200 million children in need every year. Shiksha is the Indian arm of the Live Learn Thrive programme.” P&G has always looked at how integral the social marketing element is to the brand’s larger purpose. “Whether that is ‘Women Empowerment’ for Whisper, ‘Holistic Children’s Development’ for Pampers, or be the ‘Best one can be with Gillette,’ all our brands have a purposeinspired vision to improve more lives, and thus the Shiksha initiative becomes an integral part of the brand’s communication and identity. Being part of such a larger cause in turn, only strengthens the trust that consumers place in our brands,” Shukla says. With its key message, ‘Padhega India, Badhega India’, P&G has reached out to thousands of marginalised children. “Shiksha, P&G’s six-year-old CSR programme, has this year, reached out to over 1,50,000 children in need. Receiving recognition through awards like this, only reinstates the importance of what we’re doing, and inspires us to continue touching even more lives, more completely,” she says. The greatest challenge, according to Shukla, in social marketing is to choose a cause that the consumers are most passionate about. “Shiksha, stems through consumer research on the cause that consumers would most wish to contribute towards, and we found that to be education of underprivileged children.”

Pitch indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s toP 50 Marketers awards

Globetrotters

Can the land of snake charmers produce brands that can have a global appeal! While it is early days yet, many Indian coporates & brands are turning the conventional beliefs on their head â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and reaching out to markets far and wide. These brands are putting India on the global map.

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THE WINNERS

• • • • •

Airtel Mahindra & Mahindra Godrej Marico Dr. Manmohan Singh

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The waves across the borders From international acquisitions to launching global offers, Airtel becomes a strong international player By Pallavi Goorha

rrossing boundaries, the Airtel network today operates in 19 countries across Asia and Africa. The telecom player that set its footprints in the Indian market a decade and a half ago, is today the fifth best telecom service provider in the world. As Bharti Airtel sets a new landmark across the globe overtime, it has been named the no 1 brand in the ‘Globetrotters’ category of Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards. Mohit Beotra, vice President, Marketing, Bharti Airtel, says, “Today, as Bharti Airtel boasts of a customer base of over a whopping 19.1 crore – we are proud to have

overcome this challenge and established a brand synonymous with the masses. We are thankful to the Pitch team for acknowledging this.” While Airtel provides mobile services in Sri lanka and Bangladesh, recently, it also launched Global data Services in Thailand and Malaysia. The launch of its Global data portfolio in Thailand and Malaysia in association with TruE International Gateway

and Telecom Malaysia strengthens Bharti Airtel’s global footprint. The marketer also acquired 70 percent stake in Warid telecom of Bangladesh. In a big step to expand its presence globally, Bharti Airtel also struck a $9 billion deal to buy Kuwait’s firm Zain, which has mobile operations in 15 African countries. While Airtel leads the Indian telecom market, it seeks more opportunities to reach the top globally, as Beotra states, “For the interesting mix of opportunities and challenges that it offers, is an exciting geography from a marketing perspective. As Airtel expands to new geographies – we are now looking forward to replicating the power of our brand in new markets as well.”

The untiring Wheels

Battling global challenges, Mahindra drove its way to international markets with its high powered product and services By Tasneem Limbdiwala

ahindra & Mahindra group has not only strengthened its global footprint with its high power products and services but has also proven the point that global operations of Indian companies can also bring a major contribution to their growth strategy. Mahindra Group’s Automobile operations across the globe are a case in point. The Indian auto-maker, for all these achievements, is one of top ‘Pitch Top 50 Marketers-2010’. It comes at number

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WInnInG ThIS AWArd rEInFOrCES Our vISIOn OF CrEATInG MAhIndrA AS A rEnOWnEd GlOBAl BrAnd Pravin Shah, Chief Executive, International Operations (Automotive and Farm Equipment), Mahindra & Mahindra

2 next only to Airtel in the ‘Globetrotters’ category. Pravin Shah, Chief Executive, International Operations (Automotive and Farm Equipment) and Member of the Group Executive Board, Mahindra & Mahindra, says, “We are extremely delighted on winning in the ‘Globetrotters’ category and this reinforces our vision of creating Mahindra as a renowned global brand. This recognition is especially dear to us as the process followed by Pitch has ensured validation from both our consumers and an expert

jury panel.” Mahindra & Mahindra is presently among the top three tractor manufacturers in the world with plants in Australia, China and US. It recently acquired majority stakes in two Australian aeronautics companies as well. The global operations of the group ranges from Automotive Sector to Farm Equipment Sector and from Trade & Financial Services Sector to Information Technology Sector. Mahindra’s products have been received very well in the international markets. Whether it is Scorpio in South Africa, Europe or Asian markets other than India or Mahindra tractors, the corporate brand has hardly found it troublesome to get acceptability. Shah is very keen to share about the group’s achievement, as he says, “Our products are fashioned as per the markets in which they are launched. For example, Mahindra was recently ranked No 1 in a Dealer Satisfaction Survey (2008) conducted by North American Equipment Dealers Association (NAEDA). Ninety-six per cent of Mahindra’s customers are satisfied with their purchase and 94 per cent said they will recommend a Mahindra tractor.” For the group, economic revival postrecession was the right time to further take the brand Mahindra on the global map. “This is absolutely the right time to build the Mahindra brand globally. There is a resurgence seen in the global markets and consumers are on the lookout for brands that offer true value. Global consumers are open to embracing brands from the developing markets. The Mahindra brand is already a renowned brand in India with products that offer tremendous value with high trust and pride of ownership. It has also been acknowledged that Mahindra is one of the few Indian brands with a strong global recall,” he says. He is extremely encouraged with the response Indian brands are getting in

Photo Caption xxxxx xxxxx Avena, nonsigna, ublic teri sceribu numulvivatui

the global market. “Global markets have shown better affinity to Indian products. India also has had a track record of delivering quality products offering superb value for money. Also, industries such as IT & manufacturing have already established trust and relevance in their respective global customers.” But he adds that the biggest challenge before Indian brands is to change their mindsets and the way they think. “We would require bringing about radical changes in the way we plan and execute our strategies; our people would need to change their perspectives and think globally. This would require us to be highly innovative in our strategic deployment process, research and product development and also in staffing,” says Shah, adding, “Another big challenge would be to develop general management competencies to be able to handle various global markets which mean there would be a need to create competent global managers.”

While foraying and expanding in the overseas market, a marketer needs understanding of varied complex economies, cultural diversities and unique customer needs across countries. Mahindra group understands this proposition very well, as Shah says, “The foreign audience is looking forward to brands that are trustworthy, meaningful and responsible and brand India is poised to meet those expectations. The key would be to understand the customer’s stated and unstated needs and be able to deliver products and services that not only match the expectations but through an enhanced experience that is unique and relevant to the individual customer,” he says. The group is confident that it will be able to create a unique value proposition for international customers, as Shad adds, “Our recent acquisitions like REVA, an electrical vehicle technology specialist shall strengthen the Mahindra brand efforts to establish itself as a global brand in the years to come.”

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Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

The Umbrella gets bigger With acquisition at the core, Godrej followed a ‘3 by 3 strategy’ to give wings to its global ambitions

By Khushboo Tanna

ntil a couple of years back, Godrej was one of the leading FMCG players in India, but a spate of international acquisitions has catapulted the group close to the number one spot in terms of overall revenue too. Not surprisingly, it is one of the winners of the ‘Pitch india’s Top 50 Marketers Awards 2010’. Godrej comes third in the Globetrotters category. Tanya Dubash, Executive Director & President (Marketing), Godrej Group, says, “Many emerging markets are at the cusp of significant economic growth. We can harness the opportunities of these markets by taking our growth and brand building formula there, and providing quality products at affordable prices.” It began with the buyout of the African personal care company Tura International. Tura manufactures and distributes a range of products including soaps, moisturising lotions and skin-toning creams. Its medicated bar soap is amongst the top three in its category

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OuR 3 By 3 STRATEGy REPRESENTS OuR FMCG PRESENCE IN 3 CONTINENTS

in Nigeria. Then, it was acquisition of Megasari group which had leading position in household product categories in Indonesia. Next was acquisition of remaining 51 per cent stake from its JV partner in Godrej Saraa Lee limited . The latest was the takeover of hair styling spray Tanya Dubash ED & President, Marketing, Godrej company Argencos. Nirmalya Kumar, Professor of Marketing Remember that economic liberalisation began London School of Business is convinced with in India less than 20 years ago and Indian comGodrej’s acquisition spree as he suggests that panies going global is a recent phenomenon. it is better for Indian brands to capitalise on It took decades for Japanese brands such as cost advantage instead of investing in brand Toyota and Honda and South Korean brands such as Samsung to establish themselves in the building exercise. However, Dubash thinks that global journey global arena. India to a certain extent is facing of the Indian brands is a recent phenomenon similar perception challenges that brands from and there are tough challenges, face percep- these countries faced in the past.” Godrej, however, got ready with its discition being the major one. “The challenges that an Indian brand faces globally are similar to plined, focused and strategic approach to what other brands from Asia faced in the past. globalisation. Dubash says, “In our FMCG business, we call our approach our 3 by 3 strategy – presence in 3 continents – Asia, Africa and Latin America through 3 core categories - home care, personal wash and hair care. We believe that there are tremendous growth opportunities available in attractive emerging markets. These emerging markets have characteristics and consumer demographics similar to India with significant middle and bottom of the pyramid population.” With Godrej Group’s 113 year of legacy of providing affordable superior quality products to Indian consumers, Dubash believes that the “there are significant opportunities for Indian brands to leverage their scale and cost advantage and replicate their success in international markets.”

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

On the Map

Marico’s international FMCG business has been growing at a CAGR of 40%

‘Globetrotters’ category of Pitch India Top 50 Marketers Awards. Sameer Satpathy, Executive Vice President and Head, Marketing, Consumer By Shikha Product Business, Marico, says, “We are very he Indian health and beauty honoured to have won this coveted award.” Marico’s international FMCG business has products brand Marico has been actively spreading its wings to been growing at a Compound Annual Growth Asian and African markets. Keeping itself aggressive with acquisitions, the brand recently bought the Malaysian personal-care brand Code10 from Colgate-Palmolive and the South African over-the-counter health-care brand “Ingwe” last month. It also acquired the Singapore-based skin-care firm Derma RX. Reaching consumers across the globe the brand stands as the 4th best marketer in the Sameer Satpathy EVP & Head Marketing, Marico

rate (CAGR) of around 40 per cent in the past four years and its contribution to group revenues has gone up from single digit to about 23 per cent. Satpathy says, “We believe that going global is critical not only to create multiple growth engines, but also to create reverse learnings for the home market.” He adds, “Developing a network of partners with similar values and vision, driving a strong agenda of localization, coupled with an enculturalization journey has been a key cornerstone of our strategy in the international markets.” Marico seeks to expand its global business further and acquire more share in Asian and African markets. Satpathy says, “We are an acquisitive company and will continue to seek growth opportunities in emerging markets like Africa and Asia. Our key focus areas would lie in the beauty and wellness space, where we believe, we can add value in terms of distribution and branding.”

5 India’s Brand Ambassador With PM Manmohan Singh, Brand India witnessed a change in its global percepBy Akash Raha

r Manmohan Singh, the incumbent Prime Minister of India, has been instrumental in bringing India to the world stage. In his six-year long stay (second term as Prime Minister) the image of India has improved leaps and bounds. For being India’s brand ambassador, Dr Manmohan Singh is at No 5 position in the Globetrotters category of the Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards 2010. The 77-year-old leader tops the list of 10 World leaders who have won respect, according to the Newsweek magazine. From

reformation of the Indian economy in1990s (as a Finance Minister) to discussions of India’s inclusion as a permanent member in the UN Security Council, Dr Singh has done it all. During the recent success in the Nuclear Liability Bill, the Prime Minister went from pillar to post to voice India’s

concerns in the global arena. Globe trotting was Dr Singh’s modus operandi for this success story. Dr Singh is always on move, no time for rest, and there is no stopping him. Dr Singh embodies the spirit of a ‘globetrotter’, whereby the aim is not only to travel, but also to learn, preach and teach. Not for nothing did US President Barack Obama call Dr Singh a “guru” and “good friend” during the recently held Copenhagen climate summit. The humble leader has also been referred to as “the leader other leaders love” by international magazines. From the archipelagos of Japan to America, Middle-East to Balkans and from Africa to Scandinavia, Dr Singh has trotted and treaded all the paths.

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Ageless Brands Even though consumer mindset has changed big time in last few decades, these age old brands are consistently reshaping and remorphing themselves, to remain relevant

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THE WINNERS • • • • •

Airtel Thums Up Maggi Bajaj Pulsar Fevicol

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The uninterrupted network In a market where Vodafone changed many hands, Airtel has not only managed to sail through but emerge as a leader with the largest number of subscribers By Preeti Hoon

ith 32 per cent revenue market share (as in May 2010 recorded by TRAI), Bharti Airtel sustains its place as the leader in the telecommunications market. The brand that entered the Indian telecom sector in 1995 has adapted itself to the changing Indian market and has stayed relevant with changing times. For its continuous efforts and strategies to stay upbeat with the market, Airtel has been voted and judged the No 1 marketer in the ‘Ageless Brands’ category of Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards 2010. Mohit Beotra, Vice President, Marketing, Bharti Airtel says, “We are honoured to receive this award. Since inception, Airtel has always been closely following the evolving needs of its customers. Apart from offering great service experience and value to its customers – providing them with innovative and customised products and solutions has been the fitness mantra of Airtel as a brand.”

users. Beotra says, “This zeal towards continuously remaining young and relevant to our customers has today helped Airtel maintain consistency in the value proposition of its brand. From Shah Rukh Khan to Sharman Joshi Mohit Beotra – you will find us remain Vice President, Marketing, Bharti Airtel focused towards maintaining Airtel’s position of a relatable and lifestyle Reliance. However, unperturbed by the competition, Airtel has been the top player in the enabling brand.” Launching applications like Blackberry telecom sector and moves ahead to maintain wireless solutions and iPhone 3G spectrum the same as Beotra says, “We look forward to over the years, Airtel has been facing tough further building upon the success of a great competition with players like Vodafone and brand created!”

AIRTeL HAS ALWAyS BeeN cLoSeLy FoLLoWING THe eVoLVING NeedS oF ITS cuSToMeRS

In tune with the market Since time immemorial, Airtel has been active with its communication strategies. The Airtel signature tune composed by A R Rahman has been successfully and melodiously carrying the brand through campaigns with big silver screen faces of Shahrukh Khan and Sharman Joshi and also the emotionally appealing advertisements of the brand. Airtel has not hesitated experimenting in its communication initiatives. While the brand featured personalities like Sachin Tendulkar in its campaigns, it also shifted its creative concepts to cross-border relationships to connect emotionally with the

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The Airtel signature tune composed by A R Rahman has been successfully and melodiously carrying the brand through campaigns

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

The Thunder Magic While brands consistently change their positioning to survive, Thums Up is one brand that always has had one positioning throughout; and yet is a survivour and a leader

hums Up is possibly India’s most resilient iconic soft drink brand. Positioned on masculinity, the brand has remained a hot favourite among youths with its strong and distinctive taste. The brand’s great ‘thunder’ connects with consumers and the stronghold on the carbonated soft drink market over the years; make the brand find a place in ‘Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers’. The brand is a winner in the ‘Ageless Brands’ category, perched at the No 2 spot. Anand Singh, Director, Marketing (Colas), Coca-Cola India shares his joy: “We are delighted that the jury has chosen Thums Up in the ‘Ageless Brands’ category. We have managed to have its positioning consistent for the last two decades, but at the same time have reinterpreted this in line with the consumer aspirations.” Launched in 1977 as a masculine brand with the tagline‘Taste the Thunder’, Thums Up became the choice of millions of Indian youth. It also became synonymous with action and adventure. The tagline for the brand has always resonated with the action imagery. Thums Up always positioned itself as a strong masculine drink, roping in macho brand ambassadors such as Sunil Gavaskar to Salman Khan and Akshay

Kumar along with Mahesh Babu and Chiranjeevi for the southern markets. Thums Up is a classical example of the product and positioning being in sync. Singh says, “Thums Up has evolved with Anand Singh changing times but Director, Marketing (Colas), Coca-Cola India at the same time has retained its central brand has launched an online initiative element of positioning, that is, it’s a drink - ‘Thums Up Thunder Wheels’ nationally for macho men. The taste and positioning where users get a chance to win bikes during complemented each other so well; that tothe offer period. The initiative is designed to day, even three decades after its launch, the leverage the popularity of digital media like brand enjoys a strong equity and goodwill mobile phones, internet, amongst soft drink and continues to be the ‘most thunderous consumers. taste’ in the cola category.” Though the brand is a part of Coca-Cola’s The brand has remained consistent with beverage empire in India, it has established its campaign with its focus, according its own entity in more than one sense. to Singh, on 3 As - Action, Attitude and Admits Singh, as he says, “Thums Up and Adventure, into the lives of its consumers. Coca-Cola are very different in terms of From the Thums Up man riding through positioning. However, we follow a dual-cola the desert in search of a canteen that sells strategy that has worked very well for us.” the drink, to the same man breaking his But he is quick to add that brand Thums Up bones in a busy street to grab a bottle of and Coca-Cola together lead the cola catThums Up to indulging in an adventurous egory in India. “Coca-Cola India’s continued sports, all for his favourite bottle of Thums investments in marketing initiatives, backed Up – have clearly struck the right chord with by focus on execution in the consolidated the Indian consumers. Additionally, brand bottling operations have resulted in solid ambassador, Akshay Kumar has done some growth and shared gains for both the brands. live dare-devil action events across the Additionally, improvement in the company’s country and his ‘extreme action’ imagery route-to-market and organisational capahas flawlessly complimented the attributes bilities has also contributed to the growth,” of brand Thums Up. he says. Keeping pace with the youth pulse, the

We HAve MANAGeD To HAve ITS PoSITIoNING CoNSISTeNT For THe LAST TWo DeCADeS

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The magic continues The concept of instant noodles was founded by Nissin; yet in India, a generation has grown up having Maggi, and the brand still remains a favourite

wenty-five years on and the hot selling brand among kids and the grown-ups continues to grow with its consumers. Maggi, not surprisingly, finds a place in the ‘Pitch Top 50 Marketers 2010 Awards 2010’ list. The brand is positioned third in the ‘Ageless Brands’ category. Shivani Hegde, General Manager (Foods), Nestle India, attributes the recognition to its core values and consumers’ trust for the brand. “This award recognises Maggi’s philosophy that trusted brands don’t just offer products and services, but also build emotional relationships with consumers,” says Hegde, adding, “It is not just the ‘taste and health’ offered in the product but also the ‘happiness’ that sparkles from the ‘karhai’ everyday through the mom’s cooking- it is about ‘Taste Bhi, Health Bhi, Khushiyan Bhi’. The award is an acknowledgement of the sustained and innovative work by the entire Maggi team at Nestlé India towards delivering this promise,” says Hegde.

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THe AWARD IS ReCoGNITIoN oF THe SuSTAINeD WoRK By THe eNTIRe MAGGI TeAM

When Maggi was launched two and a half decade ago, the concept of instant noodles in India was alien. Maggi created the market and continues to grow it and lead it. Lately it has taken the positioning of ‘Taste Bhi, Health Bhi’ with rolling out Maggi Vegetable Atta noodles. Also, it launched Shivani Hegde Maggi Multigrainz noodles that GM (Foods), Nestle India are a combination of taste and the goodness of traditional ingredients such priced iron-fortified variant of Maggi noodles. as ragi, corn, jowar and wheat, along with The Masala-ae-Magic, a taste enhancer, is also targeted at a similar set of consumers. vegetables. The advertising for Maggi is another excelNot only that, Maggi also spread its wing with its brand extension into other product lent barometer of how it has continued to stay categories like sauce and spices. The umbrella relevant and contemporary. In the yesteryears, brand now has Maggi Sauces, Maggi Healthy most advertising was based on tangible reaSoups, Maggi Pazzta made from suji, Maggi sons like product delivery and price, but Maggi Bhuna Masala for the kitchen, and the latest has moved beyond that. Maggi remains sensiMaggi Masala-ae-Magic and Rasile Chaw in low tive to today’s consumers who look for products that they can ‘connect’ with and which cost small packs. According to a recent study conducted by they can engage with. As Hegde says, “When Datamonitor, a leading provider of global Maggi noodles were launched in the 80s, the business information, Maggi has dominated mothers’ need for convenience, without underthe noodle market ever since its ‘two minute mining her involvement with the children was Maggi noodles’ was launched over two and a important and ‘Mummy bhook lagee hai – Bus half decades ago, and it still enjoys Do Minute’ was a pioneering rendition of this. a market share of over 70 per cent The recent ‘Me & Meri’ campaign touched in the Rs 1,300 crore noodle market. another chord when instead of the brand talkWhile moving along with its existing ing to the consumer, it allowed the consumer consumers, Maggi has started look- to own the brand and talk about their unique ing into rural and sub-urban markets experiences with Maggi. It acknowledged the to strengthen its horizontal growth. emotional bonds that consumers’ have built Its ‘Rasile Chow’ targeted at rural with Maggi and recognised its heroes.” and semi-urban markets is a low

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

The definite ‘Male’ Riding smoothly on a rough competitive road, Bajaj Pulsar has remained relevant to the youth, with its style quotient and refreshed marketing strategies By Ashish Pratap Singh

ajaj Pulsar changed the perception with which the Indian twowheeler market was looked at. It accelerated beyond projections in terms of sales. And it continues to rule the choice of the Indian youth bikers for over a decade now. For these many reasons, Bajaj Pulsar is one of the winners in the ‘Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers awards 2010’, as it takes the fourth position in the ‘Ageless Brands’ category. Consistently holding on its growing market share, the brand has remained relevant to the youth with its refreshed marketing strategies. Riding on its new age style quotient and aggressive campaigns, Bajaj Pulsar has not only created loyal customers but also challenged the market share commanded by the leading brand Hero Honda in the two-wheeler category. Milind Bade, Head, Marketing, Bajaj Auto reiterates the open secret behind the brand’s success, “It is very important to ride on new age style quotient and aggressive campaigns, especially if your TG is the young Indian male (18-24 yrs). The environment around a 20-year-old, five years back, is very different from that of today.” Though when Bajaj Pulsar was launched, the Indian two wheeler market was not very receptive to the big and high power bikes. Marketers offered consumers with fuel efficient small capacity bikes which focused on more mileage. Bigger motorcycle with higher capacity had a very selective market. But Bajaj Pulsar changed

IT IS VeRY IMPoRTAnT To RIDe on new AGe STYle quoTIenT AnD AGGReSSIVe CAMPAIGnS

all that. It showed that if offered with the innovative product, consumers are ready to lap it up and they are ready to loosen their purse string a bit more. Taking cues from Hero Milind Bade Honda which launched Head, Marketing, Bajaj Auto its CBZ in high capacity category, Bajaj came with Pulsar after a tinues with its positioning as a powerful, long and expensive research. Its sporty youth-like and ‘Definitely Male’ bike. Youth brands that don’t keep up and look and high performance combined with selective communication did the magic for speak the current language run the risk of the brand. It became the youth’s dream being seen as old and passé, opines Bade. The main challenge, according to him, and number one choice. Though TVS Suzuki with its Fiero stood up to challenge its in staying relevant to the youth is to be dominance but to no avail. Bajaj continued able to think like them and constantly be with its innovation to offer something new in touch with their likes, dislikes, interests and exciting with every new model. It con- and aspirations.

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Glued to times Competing in a low-involvement category, the bond Fevicol has built with its consumers, is as strong as the functional claims of the product By Ashish Pratap Singh

n an unbranded, unorganised, low involvement and low cost product segment of adhesive, there is only one brand that rings the bell – Fevicol. According to industry estimates, Fevicol in the adhesive market has 60 per cent share and is the leader in the mentioned product category. The brand is at No 5 position in the Ageless Brands category, in the Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards. Prabhakar Jain, Global CEO, Fevicol Division, says that the brand has been consistently evolving for last fifty years to keep in tune with its target customers. The brand positioned itself as an ultimate adhesive that could produce amazing results. “Staying relevant is everything for a brand. Times change and accordingly the brand must evolve so that it is well tuned to consumer’s psyche. Today, Fevicol is synonymous with bonding. This is because of a strong customer connect through product and marketing innovations practised for the last 50 years which has resulted in a relationship based on high degree of trust,” Jain says. For decades now, Fevicol has glued its target group and others through its witty and humorous ads. From ‘Dum laga ke haisha’ to Moustache campaign to the famous ‘cook and egg’ TVC, the brand kept bringing surprise elements of fun and humour to each of its new campaign. “Consistent message through our advertising over the

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years has helped in establishing Fevicol as a generic brand in the category and making it synonymous with bonding,” says Jain, adding, “Indians have an innate sense of value for money. Also, emotions matter very much in Indian context. Fevicol has always focused on establishing relationship with customers and trade partners.” In early 1990s, Fevicol had an advertisement, where two groups of people would unsuccessfully try to pull apart a chair joint by Fevicol. The ad was further extrapolated to two elephants trying to do the same, which is the logo of the brand. So the basic proposition had been of sticking things together. Building bonds became the Fevicol characteristic. Intelligent humour in the advertisements created

memorable and award winning ads. But being the leader in the category and becoming the generic to the category have its own share of challenges, admits Jain. “Flawless execution of an idea or strategy is indeed a very difficult proposition for a brand like Fevicol which has become generic to the category. The biggest challenge is to understand and adapt to the changing trends, life style and unique needs of the consumer and coming out with unique products and solutions that would make the life of consumer much easier. Being a market leader, we need to evolve the market in the right direction resulting in generation of higher value, satisfaction, and trust to the consumer,” he says.

From ‘Dum laga ke haisha’ to Moustache campaign to the famous ‘cook and egg’ TVC, the brand kept bringing surprise elements of fun and humour to each of its new campaign

5 Linc Pen ropes in SRK Jain believes that these challenges Who: Leading pen brandopportunities Linc Pen signs on Shah Rukh bring together enormous Khan as its brand ambassador. as well. “These challenges open the Why: “King Khan is someone whonew personifies style, door for big opportunities. It throws business ideas through which and Fevicol entertainment and popularity, these values resonate canperfectly influence theour lifebrand of a attributes consumer as in well. Moreover, with a much bigger way. One such strategy SRK cuts across age groups and demographics and for Fevicol in recent times, which has appeals to a universal audience just like our products received a good response is introducand is therefore a natural fit for the brand,” said Linc tion of a waterproof adhesive, Fevicol Prabhakar Pen managing director Deepak theJain Marine. This variant addresses theJalan needannoucnign Global CEO, Fevicol Division dealgrowing with thetrend popular of the of actor. waterproof plyKerala backwaters. wood usage,” saysSRK Jain. Background: has one of the biggestinbrand value But again, the core idea remains the Taking a 360 degree round, the Pidiamong the Bollywood stars. The iconic actor has same. It narrates its consumers to expeliteendorsed Industries flagship adhesive brand as many as 18 brands in 2008 alone. Some of travelled back in time in its latest adver- rience the same strength of the brand the leading brands that he endorese are Tag Heuer, tisement to introduce the new product underwater as well. The ad reiterates Hyundai, Nokia, Airtel, Compaq, Pepsi, Dish TV, that worked underwater. The advertise- ‘Fevicol ka jod hai, tootega nahi’. Sunfeast, ICICI Bank amongchair others. Indrajit Nattoji, who directed Fevicol’s ment had itsand trademark wooden latest TVC, says, “The creative for Fevicol back pulled by the boatmen Byagain SINI Kbeing THOMAS —sini@pitchonnet.com

look at taking the legendary “majbooti” of Fevicol to a much larger scale.” Riding high on its trust quotient among audience, Fevicol plans to enhance its brand engagement with consumers further. “Moving forward we would like to engage with the customers at a much deeper level which will further strengthen the trust quotient. Enhanced brand engagement with the customers will also result in better products and solutions tailor made for emerging needs of the consumers. Staying relevant to a customer is all about staying connected to customers and acting on the feedback received,” says Jain.

ThE BRaNd MuST EVOlVE wITh ChaNgINg TIMES

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Buzzy Brands Buzzy brands ride on Word of Mouth on real and digital world. They are typically differentiated products, that surprise and excite the consumers. Who are they?

THE WINNERS

• • • • •

IPL Chetan Bhagat LinkedIn Idea Cellular Aircel

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The ticking score-board Despite controversies, IPL remains the most talkedabout, and the most looked out for event By Pragati Ratti

he year 2010 was a ‘return home’ time for the Indian Premier League (IPL). While IPL 2009 had to be taken to South Africa due to elections in India, IPL 2010 had built up a welcoming excitement with its return to the country where it belonged. While the return home property built a curiosity and excitement among countrymen, last year’s IPL offered a much bigger ‘oomph’ factor to the masses. Creating hullabaloos among the viewers, IPL has been named the No 1 brand in the ‘Buzzy Brands’ category of Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards. In fact,

it was the winner of the Pitch India’s Top 25 Marketers 2009. IPL 2010 brought with itself a lot of zeal and fervor. It was not just about cricket but there was much more to it. It brought together two

He’s no idiot

He not only is a prolific writer but knows how to remain in news and be the talk of the town By Pragati Ratti

redit or no credit, this writer has always been in the headlines. He manages to hog the limelight with his ways of marketing himself. Chetan Bhagat, thus, is a brand that now has its own visibility in the market space. Remaining in the news, especially with the release of 3 Idiots, supposedly an adaptation of his book ‘Five Point Someone’, Chetan Bhagat is the second best brand in the ‘Buzzy Brands’ category of Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards 2010. Chetan Bhagat’s visibility since the time

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his book ‘One Night @ The Call Center’ was made into a movie, ‘Hello’ has been high. While the film could not hog much buzz

1 of the biggest crazes of India – cricket and Bollywood, with all the fun that one could imagine. Team owners like Preity Zinta, Shilpa Shetty and Shahrukh Khan became crowd pullers and their being accompanied by more Bollywood personalities to the match venues made sure that each one of the matches went houseful. The much glamorous makeover of Mumbai Indians’ owner Mukesh Ambani’s wife Nita Ambani and the hush hush about Bangalore Royal Challengers’ owner Vijay Mallaya’s son, Siddharth Malaya and actress Deepika Padukone kept IPL always in the news. To add to this, was the after match parties of IPL that gave a chance to fans to shake a leg with their favorite cricketers and even stars. While viewers loved the glamour quotient, there were also controversies too with match fixing allegations and the tiff between IPL Chairman, Lalit Modi and Shashi Tharoor. Thus, IPL 2010 was an ‘all in one’ recipe that had sports, entertainment, politics and economics.

at the Box Office, it certainly did make Chetan Bhagat a celebrity in demand. While this was just a start to his ‘brand’ like visibility, a great high came in his popularity much before the film 3 Idiots hit the box office. While much before the release of the film, the author claimed that it is an adaptation of his book Five Point Someone, he did not get due credit in the movie and had the 3 Idiots team ruling the fact that the film is based on Bhagat’s book. Of late, he has also been active with making himself heard well over the media. At the time of the recent Ayodhya verdict, Bhagat, who was somehow inactive on the micro blogging website, Twitter became alert and posted his views on the verdict much like an expert. His Tweets yet again made him a much visible personality across the media, as the author was seen expressing his views on the verdict on many television news channels.

Pitch india’s toP 50 Marketers awards

A viral link

Fighting social networking sites like Facebook and Orkut, LinkedIn has managed to find a niche for itself, catering to professionals By Ashish Pratap Singh

inkedIn is our winner for creating a buzzy platform for professionals who either create buzz in their professional life or at least dream to do so. Connecting on LinkedIn can change your life (at least the professional one)! That remains the perception and reality on ground for the business-oriented social networking website that in true sense offers its users an opportunity to explore their good professional links and convert it into a better career option. The network is at No 3 position in the Buzzy Brands category of the Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards 2010. Though the number of Indian users on LinkedIn is very small compared to the number of users globally, the growth story in India is far better than its overall growth. Sandeep Suvarna, Head Marketing, Linkedin, is very pleased with the enthusiasm with which Indian consumers have taken to LinkedIn and made it a huge success in the country. While thanking Pitch magazine for recognising LinkedIn’s phenomenal growth, Suvarna says, “We opened our office just

I THANk PITCH AND THe e4M GrOuP FOr THIS AWArD reCOGNISING Our PerIOD OF GrOWTH

under a year ago and in that period the number of Indian members has risen from 34 lakh to over 70 lakh. I thank the exchange4media group for this award recognising this period of growth.” Suvarna believes that LinkedIn is something that is very relevant to the emergSandeep Suvarna ing professional needs of Head, Marketing, Linkedin Indians. “On a networking product like LinkedIn, marketing success is a revenue model. In the same month LinkedIn factor of scale, which is a factor of virality of enabled an ‘applications platform’ that allows the programme. The key is to market relevant other online services to be embedded within products to relevant set of consumers and a member’s profile page. For example, among integrating viral elements to achieve scale,” the initial applications was Amazon reading list that allows LinkedIn members to display he says. The networking site has also evolved a lot books they are reading. Other applications over last couple of years. In mid-2008, Linke- include allowing members to display their latdIn launched LinkedIn DirectAds as a form of est blog postings within their LinkedIn profile. Suvarna attributes the induction of these sponsored advertising, and four months later it revealed plans to opening its social network new applications to users’ increasing interest of 30 million professionals globally as a in the network. “In our business, the key is to potential sample for business-to-business be relevant and consistently generate value to research. In doing so it tested a potential our consumers. It is important as a marketer to spot emerging trends and develop marketing programs which are relevant to our varied segments of consumers. The advantage of being a networking product, is our consumers champion a lot of our viral efforts generating large amounts of buzz,” says Suvarna. Going ahead with its exciting features, LinkedIn looks committed to strengthen its services further while adding additional customised local features. Suvarna says, “At LinkedIn, we believe that the marketing approach needs to be Glocal i.e. ‘think globally, act locally’.”

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Gaga over green

The brand’s campaigns indeed have the consumers saying, “What an Idea Sirji?”

dea cellular with its ‘Use Mobile, Save Paper’ campaign was one of the most talked about campaign. It started with its brand ambassador Abhishek Bachchan arguing to replace paper with mobile phones. With social cause at the core of its campaign, the innovative idea created a huge appeal among the audience and became one of the most talked about phenomenon of the year.

For all the free media coverage and multiplatform visibility that the brand gained over past twelve month, Idea Cellular is one of the winners of the Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards 2010; and takes the fourth spot in the ‘Buzzy Brands’ category. The Idea campaign showcased how the mobile phone can be used as an efficient tool to read daily newspapers, generate e-bills, make

5 The tiger roars

Even though criticised the most, Aircel’s ‘Save the Tiger’ campaign managed to get a lot of talk value

f one asks the Indian consumer about the number of tigers left in the country, the person will not have to think twice while giving the answer. Thanks to Aircel, with its highly aggressive campaign ‘Save our Tigers’ that carries the tagline ‘Just 1411 Left’. Making a large number of Indian consumers talk about the number of tigers left in the country, Aircel stands as the fifth best brand in the ‘Buzzy Brands’ category of Pitch India’s Top 50 Marketers Awards 2010. While Aircel made sure it reached every nook and corner of the country with a high

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visibility campaign involving big names like M S Dhoni, Kiran Bedi and Amitabh Bachchan, it indeed got the industry experts speak about

4 payments and transactions, and issue e-tickets and boarding passes; thereby saving paper everyday. What started in form of a TVC Initially, was extended to outdoor and digital after encouraging response from audience and the critics. Cut-outs of green trees on hoardings and green show plants at the bus stops drew a lot of public attention. Its digital platform www.usemobilesavepaper.in - an entity that merged the physical and virtual world, created much curiosity among internet users and engaged them in an interesting way. The concept is about having an experience of growing a virtual tree, and the website takes users through the various stages of a tree’s development and growth. The online design spreads the social message and creates memorable experiences for the users. Within days of its launch, the campaign witnessed thousands of users hitting the site every day. Its partnership with two coffee chains - Barista and Café Coffee Day (CCD) - provided the customers an option of looking at the menu and paying the bill through mobile phones.

the initiative. Some were all praises for the initiative, while some experts provided the campaign with its share of criticism. While each one had his own opinion to give, Aircel did receive a huge response for this campaign. The dedicated website for the campaign www.saveourtigers.com has the number of pledges taken for the initiative crossing 2,34,721. In addition to the website’s figure, it would not be wrong to say that quite a many Indian consumers today know about the depleting number of tigers, thereby making the word-of-mouth network even stronger for the campaign. The telecom brand, with its highly visible ‘Save our tiger’ campaign became the buzz word in the market and indeed proved to be a ‘Buzzy Brand’.

COLUMN ANURAG BATRA

Pitch it Right, Pitch it Truthfully

Anurag Batra Chairman & Editor-in-Chief, Pitch Magazine abatra@exchange4media.com

Consumers don't own your brands. You do. And it's your responsibility to tell them the truth. Learn from Chevron's mistake. It wasn't a bad campaign. It was a lie

arketers are human beings too. They are also a part of society. They are one of you and me. Marketers too are searching and seeking, and trying to do two things – get the basic right and look at innovative, disruptive ways to leapfrog in building brands and selling products. With the Indian marketplace full of choices, marketers are asking themselves ‘what will get them to connect with the consumer’. The search for market share starts with the quest for a higher purpose. Apple wouldn't be Apple and so suc cessful and iconic if it hadn’t sought a higher ground. Marketers in India have to cre ate brands for a purpose. Marketers have to Pitch it Right and Pitch it truthfully. I recently read an article on Adage.com by Jonathan Salem Baskin titled ‘The Competitive Advantage of Truth’ -- very simple yet profound, and applicable to our lives as much as any other guiding philosophy for marketers in the crowded Indian marketplace. To quote from the article: “P eople are having conversations these days, only not ‘with’ brands but ‘about’ them”. I'd lik e to suggest that we're at the start of something big -- something bigger than just engagement or entertainment, and some-

94 I Pitch I November 2010

thing that goes beyond the merits of friends and followers on social technology platforms… The ultimate purpose of a conversation is to produce a shared understanding of truth. Doing so will emerge as the only real competitive advantage left to brands, otherwise they will only be able to copy one another into commodification. Failing to deliver, and sustain, truth would indicate a broader operational weakness. Let's face it: We marketers have long tolerated ‘truth gap’. We've celebrated it, because it meant we were successful in our efforts to invent a host of imag ined benefits for which consumers paid e xtra. It didn't matter that these claims could never be substantiated, or that the values with which we associated our brands, were not organic. Sell the same car or TV for more because of some sleight of superficial badge? No worries; nobody had the capacity or desire to discover the truth. N ot so much anymore. That truth gap is coming back to bite us. I understand that consumers want to be engaged. They want to be entertained. They want discounts or free stuff whenever possible. It's the responsibility of CMOs to see that catering

to those desires alone isn't what constitutes marketing. It's not enough to let consumers be happy in their own worlds, or to let them ‘define the brands’ because it's the easiest way to get them to buy in the shortterm. Consumers don't own your brands. You do. And it's your responsibility to tell them the truth. Learn from Chevron's mistake. It wasn't a bad campaign. It was a lie. Seth Godin in fact even wrote a book titled ‘All Marketers are Liars’. That's an overstatement and exaggeration to sell a book but philosophically means that marketers mislead consumers. Marketers have to change that perception through action. As we celebrate India's Top CMOs at Pitch India's Top 50 Marketers, I hope we can soon do a Pitch Top 50 Truth List or India's Most Truthful Brands and Marketers and all the brands that make the grade, stand out in the marketplace. Let me assure you that this is not me indulging into wishful thinking but some honest thinking for future. And quoting Rebecca West, before I sign off: “The trouble about man is twofold. He cannot learn truths which are too complicated; he for gets truths which are too simple.” ■