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.
There is no one magic wand that will take financial inclusion to the poor across all of India. Various reforms, ideas and innovations are floating in the air. Here are a few that need to be given immediate attention to.
No-Frills Banking
Basic bank accounts with negligible minimum deposit and a set number of free transactions.
India has a dismal record with its no-frill account plan. It did manage to get 25 million people to sign up for such accounts from various banks, but today only 2.77 million of them, or a mere 11 percent, are active. The scheme will begin to work better when more friendly avenues of banking such as kiosks and mobile phones reach a large number of people. Also, the country should encourage a transaction-led model.
Branchless Banking
Spread access to banking through agents called banking correspondents (BCs).
India had tried out pygmy deposit agents in the 1970s but the experience was not good. These agents went about claiming to be bank employees and that led to a lot of disputes and litigation. In India, there is a very large informal system for transactions that authorities have failed to bring into the banking system so far. There is a need for the authorities to establish a strong viable business line for BCs rather than treating it as a mere CSR activity.
Bank without a Bank
Do away with the need to have a bank account. Use the mobile phone company as a conduit for keeping and transacting money.
In India, the RBI doesn’t allow mobile phone companies to operate as banking channels. I agree that there will be security issues but maybe limiting the number of players who are trying to provide financial inclusion seems a bit counter-productive. Think mobile, think M-PESA.
A Super Efficient Lending Mission
Focus on micro credit and allied products. Build enormous scale with supreme efficiency and the power of private capital.
The profit-led model is here to stay. In India, there are over 1,000 MFIs. The long-term success of MFIs rests on being seen as socially helpful. They can’t afford to antagonize the various stakeholders.
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