LIMITATIONS

A small segment of the market has been covered for the research purpose, so the conclusion
cannot be generalized.

The data collected cannot be free from errors, since some of the respondents failed to give
correct information.

Study accuracy totally based upon the respondents response.

Stipulated short span of time for doing research.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Advertisement to build the brand image that will provide the required ground to establish the
authenticity to the product.
Display of hot and cold dispensers and bottles at places like hotels, clubs and airports where
upper class group visits, as they are the potential customers. Place like departmental stores,
petrol pumps and super bazaars can also be considered.
The company should organize camps at various part of the city also road show to bring about
the difference between mineral water and filter/purified water and to tell the people how mineral
water is more hygienic than filtered water/purified water.
To aware people the cost benefit analysis to the customer of how the mineral water would cost
less and benefit more, because people using purifier system cost too much.

CONCLUSION
Bisleri have developed 8 unique pack sizes to suit the need of every individual. It is also present
in 250ml cups, 250ml bottles, 500ml, 1L, 1.5L, 2L which are the non-returnable packs & 5L,
20L which are the returnable packs.

The soft target

Selling bottled water requires constantly expanding the market. The company should also target
the market for soft drinks. All the soft drinks addresses three issues: fun, thirst and refreshment
followed by status to some degree. The thirst and the status value of the mineral water are well
accepted. There is very little the mineral water brands can do to add the fun element around the
product. Again here, it becomes important for the company to have a good distribution network.
It should be understood that if the mineral water is easily available everywhere then it can be
said with confidence that it would be able to replace the soft drinks as thirst quencher. If we try
and look at the reasons that why consumers buy soft drinks as thirst quenchers: we would find
the answer as that either water is not available or if it is available then safety is not assured.
Therefore, backed by a good distribution network mineral water industry can grow at a rapid
rate.

SWOT ANALYSIS
STRENGTHS
Old and famous brand name

Better packaging

Effective distribution network

Famous as pure & safe among consumer

Good product mix

Frequent quality checking

Better management

Give regular follow up to distributor

 Indian image

Better sales force

Sponsoring various cultural program

Good intcentives to dealer

WEAKNESS
one liter packs which accounted for 50% of the companys turnover has come down to 30 %. The
two-liter packs, which have practically disappeared from the shelves, have come down from 20
% to 5 %. The growth has come from the 500 ml and the five-liter category, which account for
15 per cent and 36 per cent of turnover respectively.
Earlier, Bisleri was selling at a premium of Rs.12 for the same size. But beginning last year, it
has been selling its one- liter bottles at Rs.15 each. Aqua Minerals attributes the Price slashing to
retailer margins being on the higher side earlier.
The competitive Rs.15 price tag has been working well for the brand.
In what could be a masterstroke, Aqua Minerals is testing out the possibility of mass marketing
20-litre Bisleri bottles for an MRP of Rs.40. That works out to Rs.2 a liter. If the logistics,
manufacturing and distribution do fall in place, it could change the face of the purified water
market for keeps.

OPPORTUNITIES

So far, bisleri has not used the franchising route very aggressively unlike Parle Agros Bailley
which has grown very fast using this route. He has around six franchisees in Mumbai, Delhi,
Chennai, Bangalore, Goa and Rajasthan. We shunned this route so far because in most areas
where we had no presence, it was imperative that we did it ourselves. Now for further expansion
we can afford to use the franchisee route.

THREATS
Bisleri will be taking the packs back and refilling them. But the packs cannot be sterilized since
the material used is PET and cannot withstand high temperature. So how can he ensure purity?

Strategy to counter threats and others?

We subject the bottles to chlorine washes, hot water washes and ozone washes before we refill
the bottles.
The company is betting on the home segment. The reason being that filters and water purifiers
also need to be cleaned periodically and still do not guarantee absolutely clean water. In order to
service this segment, the five liter packs are being pushed through the route of fat dealers
(wholesale dealers) who are retailers as well as stockiest and serve as supply points from where
customers can pick up the required quota. In future, consumers will be able to call the fat dealer
and place orders for home delivery of the five-liter pack. The company has so far appointed 180
such dealers. This is a high turnover, low-margin retailer who does not keep a store but serves a
similar purpose with other items such as rice or wheat.

RESEARCH DESIGN

MEANING OF RESEARCH DESIGN

The formidable problem that follows the task of defining the research problem is the preparation
of the design of the research project, popularly known as the research design. Decisions
regarding what, where, when, how much by what means concerning an inquiry or a research
study constitute a research design. A research design is the arrangement of conditions for
collection and analysis of data in manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose
with economy in procedure. In fact, the research design is the conceptual structure within which
research is conducted; it constitutes the blueprint for the collection, measurement and analysis of
data. As such the design includes on outline of what the researcher will do from writing the

hypothesis and its operational implications to the final analysis of data. More explicitly, the
design decisions happen to be in respect of :

What is the study about ?

Why is the study being made ?
Where will the study be carried out ?
What type of data is required ?
Where can the required data be found ?
What periods of time will the study include ?
What will be the sample design ?
What techniques of data collection will be used ?
How will the data analysed ?
In what style will the report be prepared ?

MARKETING STRATEGY
It is complete and an unbeatable plan designed specifically for attaining the marketing objective
of a firm. The marketing objective indicate what the firm want to achieve. The marketing
strategy provides the design for achieving them the linkage between marketing strategies and
over all corporate success is indeed direct and vital. Realizing the marketing objectives is the
purpose of two generic categories .
1. Price based
2. Differentiation based

PRICE BASED MARKETING STRATEGY

a business that opts for the price route in its competitive battle will enjoy certain flexibilities in
matter of its product and use prices as main competitive level . it will price its product to suit the
varying competitive demands . it will be enjoying certain inherent cost advantages , which
permits it to resort a price based fight . the major forms where such cost advantage can occurs
are economies of sale , absolute cost advantages ,. Benefits of early entry a large market share
build over a time . it provides freedom in the matter of pricing but after producing a particular

product and getting stuck in the face of the competition , one can not successfully opt for a price
led strategy .

THE DIFFERENTIATION BASED STRATEGY

marketing strategy based on differentiation works on the principle that any aspect of the offer
and any activity of the firm can be made distinctive compared with the competiting offers. Right
from technology, plant location to post sale and service a company can perceptibly differentiate
and many buyer values. Companies usually choose those functions , Which give them the
greatest relative advantage.

Different firms adopts different strategy stances as their situational design differBroadly strategy stances can be classified under three heads Offensive StrategyOffensive Strategy also known as confrontation strategy , is a strategy of aggression. A firm that
is not presently the leader usually employs it, but it aspires to leadership position in the Industry.
Defensive StrategyThe leader who has the compulsion to defend his position against the confrontation of powerful
existing competitors or to dislodge the leader from his topmost position usually employs it.
Niche StrategyA firm practicing the niche strategy neither confronts other nor defends itself. It cultivates a
small market segment for itself with unique products / services supported by a unique marketing
mix.

FORMULATING THE MARKETING STRATEGYFormulating the marketing strategy consists of two main steps1- Selecting the target marketIt does not fully bring out the import of the inseparable linkage between the two. When the
selection of the target market is over an important part of the marketing strategy of the firm is
already determined, defined and expressed.
2-Assembling the marketing mix-

Assembling the marketing mix means assembling the four Ps of marketing in the right
combination.
The firm has to find out how it can generate the best sales and profit. It plans different marketing
mixes with varying levels of expenditure on each element and tries to figure out the effectiveness
of each combination in terms of the possible sales and profit.
ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN:
While designing the advertisement campaign, it is necessary to keep in mind the opinion leaders.
Youth are the opinion leaders of the present time. And thus it becomes necessary to design the
campaign keeping the youth in mind. The opinion leaders would further trickle down the
message to the less active members of the society.
This is exactly what Bisleri is doing. Bisleri has started an advertisement campaign stressing the
point of purity and flaunting the patent right the company has over the breakaway seal. The
company has tried to put the message across louder, by using the ad campaign that catches the
eye of everyone, specially the youth.
CONTENT OF THE CAMPAIGN:
Bisleri that was looking for a differentiator decided to make the breakaway seal the symbol of
purity. The tamper-proof seal was developed, around which the communication was woven. The
campaign stresses the safety provided by the breakaway seal by illustrating the ease with which
conventionally sealed bottles can be refilled and recycled.
The objective with the campaign would have been to highlight the tamper-proof seal and create
doubt in the consumers mind of the purity of the other brands. That is, Bisleri is the only one
that guarantees purity and keeps you Safe.
To conclude: We find that new advertisement campaign of Bisleri is eye catching. This is what
the company should do. And also the company should make the message clearer to the customers
that it has the patent right over the breakaway seal. In the survey we found that the consumers
are aware of the breakaway seal but are not aware that the company has the patent right.

Apart from a high dose of investments on expanding bottling capacities and an ad budget thats
risen six-fold over last year, if Bisleri wants to penetrate every possible segment of the market, it
can do that by introducing more pack sizes and establishing the brand strongly with trendy new
packaging.
Apart from creating consumer pull with campaign, the company, to increase its sales would have
to do the sales push as well. For that it would have to give the retailers and other stockiest high
trade margins and incentives for keeping the product. This is very important in case of this

product because consumers would take up what is available to them at ease and whatever retailer
is giving.

ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN OF BISLERI

Every brand needs a good advertising campaign to establish itself in the market. So it becomes
very imperative to look at various ad campaigns that Bisleri undertook to build itself as a brand.
Bisleri started its game plan with the punch line of Pure and Safe and used the same catch-line
for advertising. But with the advent of many new players, all claiming the purity, it became very
imperative for Bisleri to differentiate its product so as to stand out in the market. Bisleri found
the answer in sealed cap bottles. It claimed 100% purity. While the bottles of the other brands,
it claimed, could be refilled with ordinary, or even germinated water, Bisleris seal capped bottles
ensured the consumer of purity of water and single-used ness of the bottles. The ad showed a
milk-man and a child showering their buffaloes and filling the so-called mineral water bottles
with the same water and packing them with the simple polythene seal and the consumer not
knowing about the purity of the water he is drinking. Next clip shows the Bisleri bottles being
sealed with plastic caps and ensuring the purity of water. The ad did work for Bisleri and it got
its much needed product differentiation.
In 2000, some giant brands like Pepsi and coca-cola entered the mineral water industry with a
big bang. Bisleri now had a big threat of maintaining its market cap. While Coca-cola
introducing its brand Kinley as a health care product, Pepsi projected Aquafina as something
as pure as Your own body. Pepsi targeted the young generation and introduced Aquafina as a
fancy product to carry.
The ad campaign of Aquafina emphasized as 70% of your body is water and thus give your
body the purest water. The ad showed young vibrant models and created the atmosphere of
youthfulness. Water, Pepsi claimed, was no longer a simple beverage, but was something highly
fashionable. They complimented it by giving their bottles an attractive look. This soon caught the
eye of the consumer. All these factors made Pepsi the biggest upcoming competitor of Bisleri
(whereas Kinley lagged behind the race, showing a doctor advising a family to take Kinley for
pure water not a very attractive ad campaign).
Bisleri, to counter-attack the new Feel-Young fever had to even bolder steps. They first changed
their base line from Pure and Safe to Play Safe. They tried a brand new ad campaign to catch
the fancy of consumer. The new ad showed a young romantic couple on a marooned island, when
the girl seductively attracts the guy and he follows her in trance. The moment he gets hold of her,
she whispers something in his ears. The next few shots show the guy looking for something in
frenzycan not find it.rushes towards the chemists shop.buys something (keeping the
audience in suspenseor rather implicitly pointing for ). The girl opens it

and.POOF.takes out a bottle of Bisleri and quenches her thirst. Caption: Play Safe. This
campaign was to catch the attention of youth and a new Indian society which is supposed to be
not-so-prudish. Thus Bisleri has taken a very bold step. The T.V. ads have been complimented
by print ads also. The company has to focus on the marketing management of the product. In
light of the challenge in front of the company and its current strengths and position, we have
incorporated the marketing mix to counter the marketing strategies of the competitors by
developing its own marketing.

AQUAFINA ADVERTISEMENTS AND BISLERI

A drop-dead gorgeous body flexes its muscles on the screen. This starkly arresting black and
white image is then splashed with water. A voice-over informs you that 70 per cent of your body
is water. Why not give it the purest. Aquafina Bottled water from Pepsi.

This kind of advertisement campaign used by the competitors is giving the company a tough
time. The competitor, Pepsi, is utilizing the brand image built by it and is again targeting the
Generation X maintaining the company image. Its an unusual ad for this category. Till now,
most marketers have focused on educating the consumer on how bottled water is a safer option,
with the lead of course, taken by the popular national brand Bisleri.

But Pepsi chose to junk this approach and it could well afford to. Bisleri, after all, had already
done most of the hard work needed to build the bottled water category. What Pepsi needed was
to establish its brand in this crowded, fragmented market. Our task was made easier because was
made easier because Bisleri had concentrated on educating the consumer, instead of building its
own brand values," says Rohit Ohri, vice president and client services director, Hindustan
Thompson Associates Limited (HTA). We wanted the imagery to posit~on Aquafina as a
youthful, premium and fun brand," says Vibha Rishi, executive director, Pepsi. The idea, she
says, was not to objectify bodies so that one could drool over them. "Instead, we are talking
about your body and the need for each one to take care of his or her body." The ad copy, which
spoke of the water content in our bodies, was actually trying to establish how important water
was to our well- being and how we need to continuously replenish it.

While the thinking was clear that the imagery had to be built in and around purity, HTA did toy
with a couple of other ideas and situations. Initially, the idea was to focus more strongly on the

fun aspect and create a story line complete with a smart idea and a twist at the end. "But we gave
it up because we felt that the story might take the mind away from the purity aspect that was a
must to highlight," says Ohri.

So HTA adopted a minimalist approach and created a film with little clutter and no props, which
tried to capture the emotion of "feeling good about yourself'. While the film and the imagery are
completely the work of HT A, the strategic thinking comes from the Mother Company in the US.

Aquafina, in fact, is the largest-selling bottled water brand in the US with a 12 per cent market
share, and India is the first country outside of the US where Aquafina is being bottled. Even in
the US, the ad talks of the percentage of water in our bodies, but the handling is a little more
serious. For example, the film will show an emotional moment where someone starts crying, and
then you will hear the voice-over, 85 Per cent of xour eye are wa4ep. "There is no internal law
that forces us to follow the international positioning. But seeing the quality of thinking that has
gone into this, we decided to stay with this positioning, though the statements here are quite
different," explains Rishi.

Aquafina, like all offeFings that come from the Pepsi stable, also imbibes the core values of the
mother brand. It addresses the Pepsi-user base, largely the youth, and like Pepsi ,it is also being
positioned as a hip brand. But Aquafina is a lot that Pepsi is not. It is a little bit older, mature and
affluent, and not as mass based as Pepsi.

Pepsi's role in the communication is that it is the source of credibility for the product and, of
course, establishes the youthfulness of the brand. But Aquafina is a brand in its own right and
with each piece of communication, its personality will emerge," feels Ohri. But while Aquafina
is being given a distinct identity, it is also being targeted at the Pepsi consumer and is addressing
their need for safe and reliable drinking water. Will this not cannibalize Pepsi sales? "Water does
eat into the cola market," agrees Rishi, "but we can't build a business for Pepsi based on people's
lack of access to safe drinking water.

How can any business be built on deprivation?" Both will have to co-exist and carve a market
out for themselves, And~ while Pepsi targets the 18-25 year olds, Aquafina also includes the 30somethings together with the college crowd. Like Pepsi, Aquafina too is looking to command a
premium without being unaffordable.

It is being positioned as a premium product, not via pricing, but in imagery and packaging.
Priced at Rs. 10 in Delhi for a 750ml. bottle, it is priced marginally higher than the competition
that gives you one liter for Rs. 10. The swirl shaped PET bottle resembles the Pepsi family and is
sturdier and more hip than most others in the category that take their design cues, it seems, from
the one liter refined oil bottles in the market. The decision to break the norm and come up with a
750 ml pack size was more driven by the fact that water is fundamentally consumed on the go
and the 750 ml size is easy to carry around. "It is ideal for an half-an-hour in the sun, one liter
gets too bulky," says Rishi. Pepsi's future plans at the moment don't include commg up with size
variants. They have also ruled out the possibility of catering to the bulk market, which actually
constitutes 30 per cent of the total bottled water market that stands at 70 million liters annually,
and is growing anywhere between 30 and 50 per cent.

Pepsi, obviously, is looking for a big slice of this burgeoning market, but as Subroto
Chattopadhyay, executive vice president, marketing, Pepsi, says, "We have a building blocks
approach, first we have to build the brand, and then the volumes.

Bisleri is tackling the situation by building the brand on the purity plank. Akin to brand building
in soft drinks, an aggressive print-and-TV campaign is being backed by hoarding, point-of-sale
material, and every interface with the consumer is being used as an opportunity to reinforce the
message. For instance, all the vehicles used for supply have been painted in bright blue, bear the
Bisleri logo and sport catchy baselines like . "Play Safe".

Bisleri with added Minerals:

Bisleri Mineral Water contains minerals such as magnesium sulphate and potassium bicarbonate
which are essential minerals for healthy living. They not only maintain the pH balance of the
body but also help in keeping you fit and energetic at all times.

Bisleri Mountain Water:

Bisleri Natural Mountain emanates from a natural spring, located in Uttaranchal and Himachal
nestled in the vast Shivalik Mountain ranges. Lauded as today's 'fountain of youth', Bisleri
Natural Mountain Water resonates with the energy and vibrancy capable of taking you back to

nature. Bisleri Natural Water is bottled in its two plants in Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh and
is available in six different pack sizes of 250ml, 500ml, 1 litre, 1.5 litre, 2 litre and 5 litres.

PACKAGING
AND
DISTRIBUTION

PACKAGING
Variety is spices of life. Today for any business organization to be successful it has to provide its
customer with the differentiated product that is a value buy for them. In order to cater to yhe
changing needs of the customer the business has to continuously come out with the variants of
the products so that it can target the maximum segments.
Today Aqua Minerals offers a variety of packaging options: 1 lit, 2 lit, 5 lit, 20 lit. The 5 liters
bottles account for 35 % of sales showing a growing health concern among the Indian society. 1
liter bottles account for 30% of the share .
The 2 liters bottle introduced to slowly and steadily replace the conventional 1 liter bottle. The 5
liters packs, launched in Dec 1999 in Goa, now available everywhere.

DISTRIBUTION
Its obvious that availability holds the key to the market .For any product to be successful the
distribution system has to be really good. Large tracts of the country have not been explored by
the national brands, which explains the proliferation of smaller brands.

Bisleris strategy is to build a direct distribution system at an all India level that means serious
investment In company owned trucks and carts, this would make it the largest fleet owner in the
country. Bisleri has around 80,000 retail outlets in the country with about 12,000 each in the
Delhi and Mumbai. It is intended to be increased this no. to 10,00,000 in order to expand brands
reach.
The company will invest approximately Rs.200 cr. to procure 2000 trucks and hire same no. of
sales people . the company plans to have its own distribution network in places where it has its
own plant
DISTRIBUTION NETWORK:
The small-scale players built their sales by piggybacking on the generic category built up by
Bisleri. Its a battle that Bisleri can win by sheer distribution muscle. One of the reasons why
Bisleri is running strong in this industry is its strong distribution network built over the years
since its inception. Further, Bisleri plans to increase its distribution network over the southern
and eastern region, where it is behind popular brands like sTeam in Tamil Nadu and in Andhra
Pradesh.

MARKETING MIX

MARKETING MIX
The set of controllable tactical tools- product, price, promotion, and place (4 Ps), that the firm
blends to produce the response it wants, in the target markets.
The 4Ps
PRODUCT

The main product of the company is the mineral water by the name of Bisleri Mineral water.
Other than mineral water the company has also the soda water under its brand name called the
Bisleri Soda Water. The concept of bottled mineral water was introduced in India, first by Bisleri,
and that is the reason, it has become a generic name for the mineral water. Bisleri has become a
perfect synonym of the mineral water for the Indian consumers.
The main challenge facing the company or any other player in this mineral water industry is that
there is no scope of invention and innovation in the product, which can be added as the
additional benefits of the product. It is just water after all. This is what the Indian customers
think of the bottled water. If we are talking about a product like television we can think that the
innovations could provide extra benefits derived from the product. For example other than its
core usage the product can provide for Internet facilities using conversion.

PLACE
Place stands for the company activities that make the product available to the target customers.
To make the product available to the target consumers a good distribution network has to be
there to support the good quality of the product. Here in the case of the mineral water industry
the distribution network is the important factor in being competitive and the catch lies in making
water available to maximum number of places in the country.

PRICES FOR FOLLOWING PACKAGING VARIANTS

(AN ECONOMIC FACTOR AFFECTING THE BUYERS BEHAVIOR)

Price is the sum of values that consumer exchange for the benefits of having or using the product
or service. Price is the only element in the marketing mix that produces revenue. All other
elements represent costs.
In India, where the majority of the population comprise of the middle-income group and lower
income groups it is not hard to understand that pricing is one of the most important factor in the
buying decisions.
Bisleri has met the expectations of the consumers in terms of pricing the product and also
making the product available in variations of litres, making Bisleri both convenient and
affordable. The company is following a very aggressive pricing. Its product is available at a very
reasonable price.

1.2 Ltrs Rs. 10/2 Ltrs Rs. 20/5 Ltrs Rs. 40/20Ltrs Rs. 120/-

PROMOTION
Modern marketing calls for more than just developing a good product, pricing it attractively, and
making it available to the target customers, companies must also communicate with their
customers, and what they communicate should not be left to chance.
A Companys total marketing communications program- called its Promotion Mix consists of
specific blend of advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, and public relations tools that the
company uses to pursue its advertising and marketing objectives. LIMITATIONS

A small segment of the market has been covered for the research purpose, so the conclusion
cannot be generalized.

The data collected cannot be free from errors, since some of the respondents failed to give
correct information.

Study accuracy totally based upon the respondents response.

Stipulated short span of time for doing research.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Advertisement to build the brand image that will provide the required ground to establish the
authenticity to the product.
Display of hot and cold dispensers and bottles at places like hotels, clubs and airports where
upper class group visits, as they are the potential customers. Place like departmental stores,
petrol pumps and super bazaars can also be considered.

 The company should organize camps at various part of the city also road show to bring about
the difference between mineral water and filter/purified water and to tell the people how mineral
water is more hygienic than filtered water/purified water.
To aware people the cost benefit analysis to the customer of how the mineral water would cost
less and benefit more, because people using purifier system cost too much.

CONCLUSION
Bisleri have developed 8 unique pack sizes to suit the need of every individual. It is also present
in 250ml cups, 250ml bottles, 500ml, 1L, 1.5L, 2L which are the non-returnable packs & 5L,
20L which are the returnable packs.

The soft target

Selling bottled water requires constantly expanding the market. The company should also target
the market for soft drinks. All the soft drinks addresses three issues: fun, thirst and refreshment
followed by status to some degree. The thirst and the status value of the mineral water are well
accepted. There is very little the mineral water brands can do to add the fun element around the
product. Again here, it becomes important for the company to have a good distribution network.
It should be understood that if the mineral water is easily available everywhere then it can be
said with confidence that it would be able to replace the soft drinks as thirst quencher. If we try
and look at the reasons that why consumers buy soft drinks as thirst quenchers: we would find
the answer as that either water is not available or if it is available then safety is not assured.
Therefore, backed by a good distribution network mineral water industry can grow at a rapid
rate.

SWOT ANALYSIS
STRENGTHS
Old and famous brand name

Better packaging

Effective distribution network

 Famous as pure & safe among consumer

Good product mix

Frequent quality checking

Better management

Give regular follow up to distributor

Indian image

Better sales force

Sponsoring various cultural program

Good intcentives to dealer

WEAKNESS
one liter packs which accounted for 50% of the companys turnover has come down to 30 %. The
two-liter packs, which have practically disappeared from the shelves, have come down from 20
% to 5 %. The growth has come from the 500 ml and the five-liter category, which account for
15 per cent and 36 per cent of turnover respectively.

Earlier, Bisleri was selling at a premium of Rs.12 for the same size. But beginning last year, it
has been selling its one- liter bottles at Rs.15 each. Aqua Minerals attributes the Price slashing to
retailer margins being on the higher side earlier.
The competitive Rs.15 price tag has been working well for the brand.
In what could be a masterstroke, Aqua Minerals is testing out the possibility of mass marketing
20-litre Bisleri bottles for an MRP of Rs.40. That works out to Rs.2 a liter. If the logistics,
manufacturing and distribution do fall in place, it could change the face of the purified water
market for keeps.

OPPORTUNITIES
So far, bisleri has not used the franchising route very aggressively unlike Parle Agros Bailley
which has grown very fast using this route. He has around six franchisees in Mumbai, Delhi,
Chennai, Bangalore, Goa and Rajasthan. We shunned this route so far because in most areas
where we had no presence, it was imperative that we did it ourselves. Now for further expansion
we can afford to use the franchisee route.

THREATS
Bisleri will be taking the packs back and refilling them. But the packs cannot be sterilized since
the material used is PET and cannot withstand high temperature. So how can he ensure purity?

Strategy to counter threats and others?

We subject the bottles to chlorine washes, hot water washes and ozone washes before we refill
the bottles.
The company is betting on the home segment. The reason being that filters and water purifiers
also need to be cleaned periodically and still do not guarantee absolutely clean water. In order to
service this segment, the five liter packs are being pushed through the route of fat dealers
(wholesale dealers) who are retailers as well as stockiest and serve as supply points from where
customers can pick up the required quota. In future, consumers will be able to call the fat dealer
and place orders for home delivery of the five-liter pack. The company has so far appointed 180
such dealers. This is a high turnover, low-margin retailer who does not keep a store but serves a
similar purpose with other items such as rice or wheat.

RESEARCH DESIGN

MEANING OF RESEARCH DESIGN

The formidable problem that follows the task of defining the research problem is the preparation
of the design of the research project, popularly known as the research design. Decisions
regarding what, where, when, how much by what means concerning an inquiry or a research
study constitute a research design. A research design is the arrangement of conditions for
collection and analysis of data in manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose
with economy in procedure. In fact, the research design is the conceptual structure within which
research is conducted; it constitutes the blueprint for the collection, measurement and analysis of
data. As such the design includes on outline of what the researcher will do from writing the
hypothesis and its operational implications to the final analysis of data. More explicitly, the
design decisions happen to be in respect of :

What is the study about ?

Why is the study being made ?
Where will the study be carried out ?
What type of data is required ?
Where can the required data be found ?
What periods of time will the study include ?
What will be the sample design ?
What techniques of data collection will be used ?
How will the data analysed ?
In what style will the report be prepared ?

MARKETING STRATEGY
It is complete and an unbeatable plan designed specifically for attaining the marketing objective
of a firm. The marketing objective indicate what the firm want to achieve. The marketing
strategy provides the design for achieving them the linkage between marketing strategies and
over all corporate success is indeed direct and vital. Realizing the marketing objectives is the
purpose of two generic categories .

1. Price based
2. Differentiation based

PRICE BASED MARKETING STRATEGY

a business that opts for the price route in its competitive battle will enjoy certain flexibilities in
matter of its product and use prices as main competitive level . it will price its product to suit the
varying competitive demands . it will be enjoying certain inherent cost advantages , which
permits it to resort a price based fight . the major forms where such cost advantage can occurs
are economies of sale , absolute cost advantages ,. Benefits of early entry a large market share
build over a time . it provides freedom in the matter of pricing but after producing a particular
product and getting stuck in the face of the competition , one can not successfully opt for a price
led strategy .

THE DIFFERENTIATION BASED STRATEGY

marketing strategy based on differentiation works on the principle that any aspect of the offer
and any activity of the firm can be made distinctive compared with the competiting offers. Right
from technology, plant location to post sale and service a company can perceptibly differentiate
and many buyer values. Companies usually choose those functions , Which give them the
greatest relative advantage.

Different firms adopts different strategy stances as their situational design differBroadly strategy stances can be classified under three heads Offensive StrategyOffensive Strategy also known as confrontation strategy , is a strategy of aggression. A firm that
is not presently the leader usually employs it, but it aspires to leadership position in the Industry.
Defensive StrategyThe leader who has the compulsion to defend his position against the confrontation of powerful
existing competitors or to dislodge the leader from his topmost position usually employs it.
Niche StrategyA firm practicing the niche strategy neither confronts other nor defends itself. It cultivates a
small market segment for itself with unique products / services supported by a unique marketing
mix.

FORMULATING THE MARKETING STRATEGYFormulating the marketing strategy consists of two main steps1- Selecting the target marketIt does not fully bring out the import of the inseparable linkage between the two. When the
selection of the target market is over an important part of the marketing strategy of the firm is
already determined, defined and expressed.
2-Assembling the marketing mixAssembling the marketing mix means assembling the four Ps of marketing in the right
combination.
The firm has to find out how it can generate the best sales and profit. It plans different marketing
mixes with varying levels of expenditure on each element and tries to figure out the effectiveness
of each combination in terms of the possible sales and profit.
ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN:
While designing the advertisement campaign, it is necessary to keep in mind the opinion leaders.
Youth are the opinion leaders of the present time. And thus it becomes necessary to design the
campaign keeping the youth in mind. The opinion leaders would further trickle down the
message to the less active members of the society.
This is exactly what Bisleri is doing. Bisleri has started an advertisement campaign stressing the
point of purity and flaunting the patent right the company has over the breakaway seal. The
company has tried to put the message across louder, by using the ad campaign that catches the
eye of everyone, specially the youth.
CONTENT OF THE CAMPAIGN:
Bisleri that was looking for a differentiator decided to make the breakaway seal the symbol of
purity. The tamper-proof seal was developed, around which the communication was woven. The
campaign stresses the safety provided by the breakaway seal by illustrating the ease with which
conventionally sealed bottles can be refilled and recycled.
The objective with the campaign would have been to highlight the tamper-proof seal and create
doubt in the consumers mind of the purity of the other brands. That is, Bisleri is the only one
that guarantees purity and keeps you Safe.
To conclude: We find that new advertisement campaign of Bisleri is eye catching. This is what
the company should do. And also the company should make the message clearer to the customers

that it has the patent right over the breakaway seal. In the survey we found that the consumers
are aware of the breakaway seal but are not aware that the company has the patent right.

Apart from a high dose of investments on expanding bottling capacities and an ad budget thats
risen six-fold over last year, if Bisleri wants to penetrate every possible segment of the market, it
can do that by introducing more pack sizes and establishing the brand strongly with trendy new
packaging.
Apart from creating consumer pull with campaign, the company, to increase its sales would have
to do the sales push as well. For that it would have to give the retailers and other stockiest high
trade margins and incentives for keeping the product. This is very important in case of this
product because consumers would take up what is available to them at ease and whatever retailer
is giving.

ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN OF BISLERI

Every brand needs a good advertising campaign to establish itself in the market. So it becomes
very imperative to look at various ad campaigns that Bisleri undertook to build itself as a brand.
Bisleri started its game plan with the punch line of Pure and Safe and used the same catch-line
for advertising. But with the advent of many new players, all claiming the purity, it became very
imperative for Bisleri to differentiate its product so as to stand out in the market. Bisleri found
the answer in sealed cap bottles. It claimed 100% purity. While the bottles of the other brands,
it claimed, could be refilled with ordinary, or even germinated water, Bisleris seal capped bottles
ensured the consumer of purity of water and single-used ness of the bottles. The ad showed a
milk-man and a child showering their buffaloes and filling the so-called mineral water bottles
with the same water and packing them with the simple polythene seal and the consumer not
knowing about the purity of the water he is drinking. Next clip shows the Bisleri bottles being
sealed with plastic caps and ensuring the purity of water. The ad did work for Bisleri and it got
its much needed product differentiation.
In 2000, some giant brands like Pepsi and coca-cola entered the mineral water industry with a
big bang. Bisleri now had a big threat of maintaining its market cap. While Coca-cola
introducing its brand Kinley as a health care product, Pepsi projected Aquafina as something
as pure as Your own body. Pepsi targeted the young generation and introduced Aquafina as a
fancy product to carry.
The ad campaign of Aquafina emphasized as 70% of your body is water and thus give your
body the purest water. The ad showed young vibrant models and created the atmosphere of
youthfulness. Water, Pepsi claimed, was no longer a simple beverage, but was something highly

fashionable. They complimented it by giving their bottles an attractive look. This soon caught the
eye of the consumer. All these factors made Pepsi the biggest upcoming competitor of Bisleri
(whereas Kinley lagged behind the race, showing a doctor advising a family to take Kinley for
pure water not a very attractive ad campaign).
Bisleri, to counter-attack the new Feel-Young fever had to even bolder steps. They first changed
their base line from Pure and Safe to Play Safe. They tried a brand new ad campaign to catch
the fancy of consumer. The new ad showed a young romantic couple on a marooned island, when
the girl seductively attracts the guy and he follows her in trance. The moment he gets hold of her,
she whispers something in his ears. The next few shots show the guy looking for something in
frenzycan not find it.rushes towards the chemists shop.buys something (keeping the
audience in suspenseor rather implicitly pointing for ). The girl opens it
and.POOF.takes out a bottle of Bisleri and quenches her thirst. Caption: Play Safe. This
campaign was to catch the attention of youth and a new Indian society which is supposed to be
not-so-prudish. Thus Bisleri has taken a very bold step. The T.V. ads have been complimented
by print ads also. The company has to focus on the marketing management of the product. In
light of the challenge in front of the company and its current strengths and position, we have
incorporated the marketing mix to counter the marketing strategies of the competitors by
developing its own marketing.

AQUAFINA ADVERTISEMENTS AND BISLERI

A drop-dead gorgeous body flexes its muscles on the screen. This starkly arresting black and
white image is then splashed with water. A voice-over informs you that 70 per cent of your body
is water. Why not give it the purest. Aquafina Bottled water from Pepsi.

This kind of advertisement campaign used by the competitors is giving the company a tough
time. The competitor, Pepsi, is utilizing the brand image built by it and is again targeting the
Generation X maintaining the company image. Its an unusual ad for this category. Till now,
most marketers have focused on educating the consumer on how bottled water is a safer option,
with the lead of course, taken by the popular national brand Bisleri.

But Pepsi chose to junk this approach and it could well afford to. Bisleri, after all, had already
done most of the hard work needed to build the bottled water category. What Pepsi needed was
to establish its brand in this crowded, fragmented market. Our task was made easier because was

made easier because Bisleri had concentrated on educating the consumer, instead of building its
own brand values," says Rohit Ohri, vice president and client services director, Hindustan
Thompson Associates Limited (HTA). We wanted the imagery to posit~on Aquafina as a
youthful, premium and fun brand," says Vibha Rishi, executive director, Pepsi. The idea, she
says, was not to objectify bodies so that one could drool over them. "Instead, we are talking
about your body and the need for each one to take care of his or her body." The ad copy, which
spoke of the water content in our bodies, was actually trying to establish how important water
was to our well- being and how we need to continuously replenish it.

While the thinking was clear that the imagery had to be built in and around purity, HTA did toy
with a couple of other ideas and situations. Initially, the idea was to focus more strongly on the
fun aspect and create a story line complete with a smart idea and a twist at the end. "But we gave
it up because we felt that the story might take the mind away from the purity aspect that was a
must to highlight," says Ohri.

So HTA adopted a minimalist approach and created a film with little clutter and no props, which
tried to capture the emotion of "feeling good about yourself'. While the film and the imagery are
completely the work of HT A, the strategic thinking comes from the Mother Company in the US.

Aquafina, in fact, is the largest-selling bottled water brand in the US with a 12 per cent market
share, and India is the first country outside of the US where Aquafina is being bottled. Even in
the US, the ad talks of the percentage of water in our bodies, but the handling is a little more
serious. For example, the film will show an emotional moment where someone starts crying, and
then you will hear the voice-over, 85 Per cent of xour eye are wa4ep. "There is no internal law
that forces us to follow the international positioning. But seeing the quality of thinking that has
gone into this, we decided to stay with this positioning, though the statements here are quite
different," explains Rishi.

Aquafina, like all offeFings that come from the Pepsi stable, also imbibes the core values of the
mother brand. It addresses the Pepsi-user base, largely the youth, and like Pepsi ,it is also being
positioned as a hip brand. But Aquafina is a lot that Pepsi is not. It is a little bit older, mature and
affluent, and not as mass based as Pepsi.

Pepsi's role in the communication is that it is the source of credibility for the product and, of
course, establishes the youthfulness of the brand. But Aquafina is a brand in its own right and

with each piece of communication, its personality will emerge," feels Ohri. But while Aquafina
is being given a distinct identity, it is also being targeted at the Pepsi consumer and is addressing
their need for safe and reliable drinking water. Will this not cannibalize Pepsi sales? "Water does
eat into the cola market," agrees Rishi, "but we can't build a business for Pepsi based on people's
lack of access to safe drinking water.

How can any business be built on deprivation?" Both will have to co-exist and carve a market
out for themselves, And~ while Pepsi targets the 18-25 year olds, Aquafina also includes the 30somethings together with the college crowd. Like Pepsi, Aquafina too is looking to command a
premium without being unaffordable.

It is being positioned as a premium product, not via pricing, but in imagery and packaging.
Priced at Rs. 10 in Delhi for a 750ml. bottle, it is priced marginally higher than the competition
that gives you one liter for Rs. 10. The swirl shaped PET bottle resembles the Pepsi family and is
sturdier and more hip than most others in the category that take their design cues, it seems, from
the one liter refined oil bottles in the market. The decision to break the norm and come up with a
750 ml pack size was more driven by the fact that water is fundamentally consumed on the go
and the 750 ml size is easy to carry around. "It is ideal for an half-an-hour in the sun, one liter
gets too bulky," says Rishi. Pepsi's future plans at the moment don't include commg up with size
variants. They have also ruled out the possibility of catering to the bulk market, which actually
constitutes 30 per cent of the total bottled water market that stands at 70 million liters annually,
and is growing anywhere between 30 and 50 per cent.

Pepsi, obviously, is looking for a big slice of this burgeoning market, but as Subroto
Chattopadhyay, executive vice president, marketing, Pepsi, says, "We have a building blocks
approach, first we have to build the brand, and then the volumes.

Bisleri is tackling the situation by building the brand on the purity plank. Akin to brand building
in soft drinks, an aggressive print-and-TV campaign is being backed by hoarding, point-of-sale
material, and every interface with the consumer is being used as an opportunity to reinforce the
message. For instance, all the vehicles used for supply have been painted in bright blue, bear the
Bisleri logo and sport catchy baselines like . "Play Safe".

Bisleri with added Minerals:

Bisleri Mineral Water contains minerals such as magnesium sulphate and potassium bicarbonate
which are essential minerals for healthy living. They not only maintain the pH balance of the
body but also help in keeping you fit and energetic at all times.

Bisleri Mountain Water:

Bisleri Natural Mountain emanates from a natural spring, located in Uttaranchal and Himachal
nestled in the vast Shivalik Mountain ranges. Lauded as today's 'fountain of youth', Bisleri
Natural Mountain Water resonates with the energy and vibrancy capable of taking you back to
nature. Bisleri Natural Water is bottled in its two plants in Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh and
is available in six different pack sizes of 250ml, 500ml, 1 litre, 1.5 litre, 2 litre and 5 litres.

PACKAGING
AND
DISTRIBUTION

PACKAGING
Variety is spices of life. Today for any business organization to be successful it has to provide its
customer with the differentiated product that is a value buy for them. In order to cater to yhe
changing needs of the customer the business has to continuously come out with the variants of
the products so that it can target the maximum segments.

Today Aqua Minerals offers a variety of packaging options: 1 lit, 2 lit, 5 lit, 20 lit. The 5 liters
bottles account for 35 % of sales showing a growing health concern among the Indian society. 1
liter bottles account for 30% of the share .
The 2 liters bottle introduced to slowly and steadily replace the conventional 1 liter bottle. The 5
liters packs, launched in Dec 1999 in Goa, now available everywhere.

DISTRIBUTION
Its obvious that availability holds the key to the market .For any product to be successful the
distribution system has to be really good. Large tracts of the country have not been explored by
the national brands, which explains the proliferation of smaller brands.
Bisleris strategy is to build a direct distribution system at an all India level that means serious
investment In company owned trucks and carts, this would make it the largest fleet owner in the
country. Bisleri has around 80,000 retail outlets in the country with about 12,000 each in the
Delhi and Mumbai. It is intended to be increased this no. to 10,00,000 in order to expand brands
reach.
The company will invest approximately Rs.200 cr. to procure 2000 trucks and hire same no. of
sales people . the company plans to have its own distribution network in places where it has its
own plant
DISTRIBUTION NETWORK:
The small-scale players built their sales by piggybacking on the generic category built up by
Bisleri. Its a battle that Bisleri can win by sheer distribution muscle. One of the reasons why
Bisleri is running strong in this industry is its strong distribution network built over the years
since its inception. Further, Bisleri plans to increase its distribution network over the southern
and eastern region, where it is behind popular brands like sTeam in Tamil Nadu and in Andhra
Pradesh.

MARKETING MIX

MARKETING MIX
The set of controllable tactical tools- product, price, promotion, and place (4 Ps), that the firm
blends to produce the response it wants, in the target markets.
The 4Ps
PRODUCT
The main product of the company is the mineral water by the name of Bisleri Mineral water.
Other than mineral water the company has also the soda water under its brand name called the
Bisleri Soda Water. The concept of bottled mineral water was introduced in India, first by Bisleri,
and that is the reason, it has become a generic name for the mineral water. Bisleri has become a
perfect synonym of the mineral water for the Indian consumers.
The main challenge facing the company or any other player in this mineral water industry is that
there is no scope of invention and innovation in the product, which can be added as the
additional benefits of the product. It is just water after all. This is what the Indian customers
think of the bottled water. If we are talking about a product like television we can think that the
innovations could provide extra benefits derived from the product. For example other than its
core usage the product can provide for Internet facilities using conversion.

PLACE
Place stands for the company activities that make the product available to the target customers.
To make the product available to the target consumers a good distribution network has to be
there to support the good quality of the product. Here in the case of the mineral water industry
the distribution network is the important factor in being competitive and the catch lies in making
water available to maximum number of places in the country.

PRICES FOR FOLLOWING PACKAGING VARIANTS

(AN ECONOMIC FACTOR AFFECTING THE BUYERS BEHAVIOR)

Price is the sum of values that consumer exchange for the benefits of having or using the product
or service. Price is the only element in the marketing mix that produces revenue. All other
elements represent costs.
In India, where the majority of the population comprise of the middle-income group and lower
income groups it is not hard to understand that pricing is one of the most important factor in the
buying decisions.
Bisleri has met the expectations of the consumers in terms of pricing the product and also
making the product available in variations of litres, making Bisleri both convenient and
affordable. The company is following a very aggressive pricing. Its product is available at a very
reasonable price.
1.2 Ltrs Rs. 10/2 Ltrs Rs. 20/5 Ltrs Rs. 40/20Ltrs Rs. 120/-

PROMOTION
Modern marketing calls for more than just developing a good product, pricing it attractively, and
making it available to the target customers, companies must also communicate with their
customers, and what they communicate should not be left to chance.
A Companys total marketing communications program- called its Promotion Mix consists of
specific blend of advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, and public relations tools that the
company uses to pursue its advertising and marketing objectives.