I had seen it around so much so that till late I used to think that Cease Fire is synonymous to a fire extinguisher. The brand ruled the market, and was the one to bring domestic fire extinguishers first in the market. And it moved on to offices, theatres, commercial centres etc. the product was well received in the market and it was advertised focussing on customer awareness about a fire mishap. A fire extinguisher is a product where customers are not unhappy if it is not being used. Hence the fear of fire, kept the sales up. Not for long however. the company diversified to Vaccumizer Cooking Appliance. Makes any sense? Not to me. The unsuccessful new product like vaccumizer and the alleged mismanagement failed the brand once gloried as a marketing success story. But surprisingly, no other brands have come forward to take that position. The potential is there as long as the fear is there.
All of the sudden it seemed all of Mumbai rickshawallaz were sporting the same stickers on their vehicles. Forgive my inquisitive nature, but one fine morning I googled the word even before I checked my mail. “Oh it’s a movie”. Hmm quite a catchy way of promoting a movie right before its release. I guess Transit media as they call it is moving faster now. Gone are the days of busses and trains. And it makes perfect sense. Millions of people spend hours simply travelling from one place to another. Stuck hours in traffic, eyes are bound to wonder and the catchy message will surely catch up. The movie is supposedly a low budget movie and might have come and gone without much buzz around it. The medium is super cheap and wide spread. But this definitely will enable the movie to gain popularity. Whether people go to watch it or not is another question, but will people be talk about it? Well they certainly are. How does one advertise on Auto rickshaw? Simply approach one auto driver and ask him to distribute to his group, or approach an auto rickshaw union. In a city like Mumbai, there are licensed to advertise on transit media agencies. Its not a new phenomenon. Remember "Capacity 3 Idiots"?.. surely u do.
By the way, I also read that the producer of the movie, Ekta Kapoor is also sporting the same stickers on her BMW and Jaguar!!!
I recently watched the new pepy flick "Luv Ka The End" by Yash Raj Films and was amazed at how numerous brands were promoted in the movie within the storyline itself. The movie revolves around a girl (and her bunch of friends) who falls in love with a rich boy.. boy cheats girl.. girl seeks revenge instead of locking herself in d room and wasting tears.. Thats pretty much the crux of the movie.
It starts off with the rich boy flaunting his dad owned Jaguar. Mentos, a popular youth brand of confectionary, where the lead actress of the movie gets an offer for a Mentos ad causing ripples in her social circle. When she realizes that her boyfriend is cheating on her, she decides to get even with him and comes up with innovative ideas (Dimaag ki batti jala de- Mentos tagline) to bring him down. Next comes Onida mobile phones. All the characters in the movie are shown carrying Onida mobile phones and it was ensured that the brand name is clearly in the visible range. The extensive use of video calls via 3G flaunts the fact that Onida is out with 3G mobiles. Its doesnt ends here. Cosmetic giant LAKME was also promoted in the movie where street smart girls turn into Diva's by applying Lakme make up. The movie also promotes "Love Bird" restaurant and bar in Juhu, Mumbai with a peppy item number by the lead actor (the rich brat). There was a repetetive mention of a posh Thai restaurant (name of which I cannot recall) where the rich boys goes out on a date. There were mentions of famous tattoo artist (Pali Hill), fashion brands like Diesel, Aldo etc.
This practice of indirectly publicizing a product through movies and TV shows is popularly known as Covert advertising. The actress in the film or the TV show may be shown to be using a particular brand of clothes or cosmetics; a particular restaurant or company may be shot so that the company name appears in the scene. The audiences watching the show or the movie are sure to notice the name advertised, thus contributing to the promotion of the product showcased. The brands used "Luv ka the end" a new youth movie as a mode of promoting products that the youth associates itself with the most - fashion, technology, hang out places. A perfect platform for covert advertising... hmm I did learn something from this brainless movie.
Considered to be the definitive Indian car, was once the most popular car in India as it was perceived to be best suited to the harsh Indian terrain. Its iconic status was helped by the fact that it was the preferred means of conveyance of India's political leadership, including the Prime Minister of India, before they moved on to other luxury cars and SUVs. What went wrong?
It was unable to create barrier for potential new entrants & was unable to compete with their existing strategies. Even suppliers were not looked into deep; company was in a snail pace and couldn’t take up the challenge of new potential entrants in the market, including the suppliers of its different parts (remember Porter’s Model?). The brand was banking upon its niche markets (government and taxi). But even these two sectors were taken over by Maruti. Was it a case of a typical marketing myopia? The decline is sales can also be credited to the very simple fact that the Indian customer was awed by the new flashy foreign entrants. We just got bored..!
From the house of Cadbury Schweppes, if I could recall it correctly, then Canada Dry was quite a hyped drink in India. It was promoted as a champagne softdrink and it positioned itself as a premium product. The advertisements were flashed with a white tiger in an ice cold land and a tag line “Cool Cool Canada”. Its association with Cadbury further enhanced its brand image. But alas as CocaCola took over the beverage business of Cadbury Schweppes, like Canada Dry even drinks like GoldSpot (remember the Zing Thingggg) and my personal favourite Crush was brutally killed. I some how could find any particular reason for the death of these products except for the reason that Coke wanted to make space for its own products. Strangely however Limca still survived.
A couple weeks back, I stumbled upon a community and it just made me nostalgic for the early day’s shows. This inquisitiveness driven show had so much potential and plenty of charm back then, infusing high school drama with sci-fi twists. Obviously, things have changed since then, and not for the better.
“Bournvita Quiz Contest” – who can forget the common household name and a common high school phenomena. Growing up with BQC was a part of the Sunday routine. The nervous kids representing schools from pan India, neatly decked up in their school uniforms frantically battled with the very vocal Derek ‘O Brian. I vaguely remember the times when mothers would stuff their children with Bournvita so they could possess super sharp brains and schools would have special classes conducted to ensure that the students were well equipped with general knowledge and current affairs. And yes, who can forget the pride of participation in the BQC? Win or no win, the contestants would all come back home with loads of chocolates sponsored by Cadbury.
Who would not like to have BQC back in all its old-school glory, with questions aplenty and gimmicks only a few. Join the movement here http://www.facebook.com/bringbqcback
One of the most memorable takeaways from Pune would be a drink called RIO. Born in 2007 out of an entrepreneur venture ‘Silver Ice Beverages’, RIO is all set to hit the cola and juice market of India. Hitting a health conscious and cola hungry market wasn’t that easy. RIO comes in three different fruity flavours with a dash of fizz, and the company has gone an extra mile by adding a healthy dose of Honey and Vitamin C. IMPRESSIVE! What makes RIO stand out in the crowded space of drinks is not only does it offer unique flavours and healthy carbonated drink, but it also comes in exceptionally good package. And mind it, when I say unique flavours, they are some that you haven’t have heard off – Karma (Blue berry and Peach), Nirvana (Green Mango) and Moksha (Wild Berries i.e. strawberry and Raspberry).
As a relatively new entrant in the beverage market, RIO has so far adopted marketing and promotional strategies that are convenient, safe and inexpensive. RIO uses the following for the purpose of sale as well as promotion:
General Stores (convenient stores): Plan for stores; Profit ratio + RIO branding material + schemes for higher sales + schemes for exclusivity. Now that’s a lot of POS promotion.
Night Clubs & Lounges: RIO goes hand in hand with night clubs. Being the perfect mix for alcoholic drinks and a good stand alone non alcoholic beverage. They have developed Rio based cocktails recipes as well.
Restaurants:RIO has tie ups with restaurants around Pune which offer RIO to its customers.
Event Management Companies:RIO has shared stage with the finest events in and around Pune city.
It is not an easy road ahead competing with brands like Coca Cola and PepsiCo in the soft drink market, with RedBull in the mixers segment and with fruit based drinks like Appy, Fruity, Slice etc. Traditionally the soft drink market has concentrated on mass media advertising, Out Of Home (OOH) media, point of sale merchandise and on ground activities. Online media is an evolving marketing space and one can experience significant advantages in enhancing customer connect. As RIO’s target audience is the young India, the internet can indeed be an important medium.
Search marketing: to my utter dismay, at present a Google search for the word ‘RIO’ does not bring up results relevant to the beverage nor does it shows a link to the brands existing website.
Website management: the existing website gives basic information about the product and an overview of the company. RIO can definitely do better than just that. Offers, purchasing online, contest, design for bottles or anything to keep the viewer engaged.
Web marketing: Nothing, absolutely nothing on social networks, micro blogs or blogs.. Absolute lack of communication! Can RIO be used in online gaming like Dinner dash?
However all in not that bad! The news is that RIO is coming up with two more flavours, tie up with Hi5 (online social networking website which intends to re-brand themselves in India by conducting camps in PVR malls across India. Hmm.. Eagerly waiting to see RIO in every town.
I had seen it around so much so that till late I used to think that Cease Fire is synonymous to a fire extinguisher. The brand ruled the market, and was the one to bring domestic fire extinguishers first in the market. And it moved on to offices, theatres, commercial centres etc. the product was well received in the market and it was advertised focussing on customer awareness about a fire mishap. A fire extinguisher is a product where customers are not unhappy if it is not being used. Hence the fear of fire, kept the sales up. Not for long however. the company diversified to Vaccumizer Cooking Appliance. Makes any sense? Not to me. The unsuccessful new product like vaccumizer and the alleged mismanagement failed the brand once gloried as a marketing success story. But surprisingly, no other brands have come forward to take that position. The potential is there as long as the fear is there.
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