Dissertation on Competitive Advertising Case Studies

Dissertation Competitive Advertising
CONTENTS
S. No. TOPIC Page No.
1. Introduction 2
2. Case Studies
(i) Coke Vs Pepsi 15
(ii) Colgate Vs Pepsodent 45
(iii) Limca Vs Mirinda Lemon 47
(iv) Clinic Plus Vs Parachute 53
(v) Hero Honda Vs TVS Suzuki 57
(vi) Kawasaki Bajaj Vs Escorts Yamaha 60
3. Conclusion 53
4. Bibliography 57
1
INTRODUCTION
The urge to advertise seems to be a part of human nature, evidenced
since ancient times. Of the 5,000 year recorded history of advertising
right up to our present television satellite age we can find many
changes. The two elements missing in much of the advertising
industry of the early years of this century were :
1. An ethical framework for judging promotional messages and
2. Research to measure the success of these messages.
The history of advertising can be divided into three broad periods.
The pre-marketing era- for most of this period “media” such as clay
tables, town criers and tavern signs were the best way to
communicate a product or service. The mass communication era
-from the 1700s to the early decades of this century, advertisers were
increasingly able to reach large segments of the population, first with
faster presses and later through broadcast media. The research era-
during the past 50 years advertisers have methodically improved the
techniques of identifying and reaching narrowly targeted audiences
with messages prepared specifically for each group or individual .
Modern communication technology has aided in this quest for the
perfect advertising campaign.
2
Competitive advertising :
In a copy writer’s armoury the latest , most lethal weapon is the
competitive advertising. It is bold, incisine and can draw blood at
first scoop. Gone are the days of creative coyness. Today’s brave new
advertising strategy is openly aggressive. Makers of a range of
products, as diverse as photocopiers, fans, two wheelers and even
water tanks are challenging competitors in hand to hand combat .
Mentioning a competitor’s name, comparing his product feature-
by- feature was till recently not quite the done thing. But advertisers
assert that in today’s competitive din, bolder , brasher approach is
called for. The general feeling in today’s advertising world is that
you can no more afford to be gentle; you have to shout to get yourself
heard over the din of the market place.
Comparative advertising :
Comparative advertising is considered a direct fall out of intense, cut
throat competition in the market when the only way for the runner
to survive is by tripping the winner.
In April, 1977, the Delhi High Court restrained Standard Batteries
from releasing ads that allegedly cast aspersions on rival Exide
Industries' technology . The latter was shown fit for the unsexy
Ambassador, while standard’s product was claimed to satisfy the
needs of dazzlers like Mercedes -Benz, Opel Astra and Ford.
3
Most brands in competitive markets are aiming to differentiate
themselves and others serve as the point of reference. Therefore,
advertising by its very definition is supposed to be comparative .
What we usually see in FMCGs and durables advertising is mild
innuendo . It involves pressing home product pluses that be little or
challenge the competition to a duel . It’s done with subtlety.
Take Complan’s defence against Smithkline Beecham’s Horlicks,
Chaitra Leo Burnett, Complan’s agency created a “Brand H” ( an
obvious reference to Horlicks) and had it proved inferior to Complan
by way of a children’s talk show in a TV spot. When Smithkline
sought recourse to the law, it was whisked off air. According to one
source, Charitra had anticipated this all along. So it had shot an
alternative- with Brand X . But Brand H had already caught attention
before it was replaced.
The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act (MRTPC) forbids
references to competition directly or by implication in advertising . It
is outdated and legal eagles know better than to blindly go by it. In
the land of liberty , the US Federal Trade Commission explicitly
endorses the comparative use of brand names to enable consumers
make a more learned decision. In India, ASCI’s guidlines on the
matter say that it’s okay so long as a company substantiates its
claims, like it is in authoritarian China.
A party indulging in comparative advertising also leaves itself wide
open to a counter attack. So it first needs to make sure that it has
4
covered all its weak spots. According to Tanaaz Kalyaniwala,
executive creative director, Chaitra (who worked on Complan), “
Comparative advertising is like a blade . Either you can give yourself
a clean shave or you can cut your throat.” Liberal ad folk say that
the consumer is good at punishing the guilty. If the company is not
100 per cent sure of your product, quality, your ad can boomerang.
Most agree that the leading brands tend not to get embroiled in
such tussles. It’s always the guy on the rung below ( who starts it),
because his strategy is dictated by the No 1 guy. In the classic 1960s
American example of Avis (‘we are No 2, we try harder’), the No1 car
rental service Hertz, took years to come up with its retort. Hertz has a
competitor who says he is only No 2. That’s hard to argue with. In
developed markets, comparative advertising is per force. If you want
to make a claim about a product, you can not do it in vacuum .
Growing competition is taking India down the same path. That’s
what drove Samsung to name its rivals when it launched its color TVs
here. ” If you are not interested in buying the world’s best TV, you
could always buy a Sony, Philips or Panasonic “ read the Mudra-
crafted ad. It was thought that this ad would be good entry point to
make a dent since the brand was not know at all in India.
Mint-O’s attack on polo’s hole, though, may not entirely be
competitive. Bakeman’s Mint-O started advertising when the hole
position was already owned by Nestle’s polo. Best then, to attack the
need for a hole, reasons Arvind Hoon, account director, Ambience
5
which created the Mint-O campaign. “We could have said that Mint-
o is stronger but it would appear as me-too”. Bakeman’s decided to
close the hole…………….. and the idea just clicked. It grew the
entire category of mint confectionery by drawing so much attention
to it.
Comparative advertising is like winking at the consumer in diffused
sunlight. If charming, cool, understand and just bold enough for the
consumer to catch on, the audience simply loves it. The house wife
knew quite well that what Hindustan Lever was referring to when it
showed a yellow Sadharan (ordinary) powder in Surf’s ads or what
Captain Cook was showing as a salt with free flow a mind of its
own.
There are no two opinions about the fact that a consumer always
goes through a process of comparison before buying a product. The
only change that comparative advertising seeks to bring about is to
shift this comparing the decision making process from the market to
home. One of the grey area of comparative advertising remains the
data on which the claims are based . An example is the Philips
advertisement some time ago which stated that its bulb was the only
“ full bulb” , the rest all being “ half
bulb “-a campaign which Philips was asked to withdraw by the
MRTP commission. This brings us to the credibility factor. That too
many ads based on unsubstantiated claims in the long runs will
only erode the credibility of advertising in general.
6
Comparative advertising can happen in mature categories where
growth rate is slowing and where product upgrades / launches are
occurring .It can also happen in categories where there is a marked
jump in the quality/ range of products like TVs; and even in small
categories where a smaller brand sees opportunity in taking shots at
a new bigger entrant who can grow the category. Mint- O comes to
mind which took a comparative shot at Polo with its “Hole in the
Head” campaign. Though it could not really have gained over Polo.
Mint-O did garner more consumer awareness. Remember Polo was
launched with the ad campaign” The Mint with a hole” and for the
first time and newspaper (The Pioneer) allowed an advertiser to
punch a hole in one of its color supplements (Etcetra- now changed
to USP) for this advertisement .Nevertheless, Mint- O replied back in
the same note “ AII Mint, No hole” to catch the customer.
Many more such cases exist .For instance, few years ago, the capital
did witness an ad war between two English Dailies. The Times of India
and The Hindustan Times. The escalating cost of newsprint owing to
Government policies forced the publication Industry to increase the
cover prices of newspaper and magazines which in turn affected
their circulation figures ( barring a few). The newspaper industry was
left with no option but to adopt different luring marketing strategies.
The major ones were lowering the daily cover price from over Rs 2
per copy to just Re 1.50 per copy ( initiated by the The Times of India)
7
and catchy ad campaigns/ slogans . The pricing strategy though was
later adopted by other newspapers as well, including The Hindustan
Times, The Indian Express and The Statesman but the ad was mainly
restricted to the two major players in Delhi. The Times of India and
The Hindustan Times.
There was certain problem between The Times of India and its
distributors in Delhi regarding low commission owing to price
reduction. Then the Friday edition was Priced at Rs 5 which was
subsequently lowered to Rs. 2.90 and now this price has been shifted
to the Sunday edition by all newspapers) during this period due to
which the distribution/ supply of The Times of India was affected in
Delhi. Readers addicted to it were deprived to their morning taste
and habit.
The Hindustan Times at once came out with an ad saying ‘Think of
Delhi without H.T. “ (Since TOI and HT account for most of Delhi
leadership of English dailies and if both go off the stands
simultaneously the situation can well be imagined ) .The Times of
India Softly replied later “ Graduate to The Times”.
This was not the end. It was rather a beginning of a war .Owing to
various ad campaigns and other strategies through newspaper,
magazines, hoarding etc., The Times of India claimed a 103.4 per cent
rise in its growth rate. Its Sunday edition, The Sunday Times of India
created history by touching a circulation figure ( all 6 editions
combined ) of over a million when the price was just Re1.50 (Latest
8
Circulation figures of The Times of India). The Sunday Times of India is
12,57,085/13,06,336 ( Source. Manorama Year Book 1999 ). The Times
of India was emerging bigger and came out with an ad “The Times
of India captures Delhi”. The Hindustan Times took note of it quickly
and went to the MRTPC since it still had greater circulation than TOI
in Delhi and the ad was misleading according to HT .Intervention of
the MRTPC forced BCCL to withdraw this ad. The war still continues
but in a different format altogether . Both are now offering various
schemes and benefits for the Delhi readers besides adding to their
content to make the newspapers rich in material/information. But
will this Comparative Advertising ever cease?
MINDING THE CUSTOMER’S MIND
Can Kabir Mulchandani make things better? Philips India certainly
believes he can. After successfully rewriting the rules of the
marketing game with the Akai brand of television and audio
products, the CEO of Baron Electronics attempting to play tug – of –
war for consumer mind share once again. This time the brand is
Aiwa, yet another Japanese consumer electronics giant. He acquired
the distributorship for Aiwa’s home electronics product three months
ago.
Recently, Mulchandani launched his first offensive. On 23 January
he released an advertisement in a national daily comparing Aiwa
with four competing television brands. Not taking any chances,
Philips India was the first to take up the gauntlet. In an attempt to
9
take the steam out of Aiwa’s ad, Philips released an advertisement
that showed a comparison chart with a high – end Aiwa audio
model pitted against a comparable Phillips product.
While there was no direct link between the two advertisements, both
companies instantly saw red. In a series of print ads over the
weekend, Philips and Aiwa blasted each other and cited evidence to
proclaim the superiority of their products. On 30 January, Philips
issued an answer to Aiwa’s first advertisement. The full page ad
read: “I bought the best TV – a Philips 240 B (thanks to the Aiwa
ad)”. The following day Aiwa responded. “The hard facts of Aiwa’s
success and Philips’ desperation”. Its ad spoke of Aiwa’s audio and
television supremacy.
The main bone of contention was the ORG retail audit figures on real
value sales for both the television and audio segments. Philips
argued that Aiwa wasn’t even mentioned in the latest retail audit
report on color televisions, so how could it have dislodged Philips?
Baron protested. As for audio products, Baron announced that ORG
figures for November 1998 indicated that Aiwa’s marketshare in
high – end audio products, calculated on real value sales, had grown
steadily between October and December 1998, from 7.5 to 46.4 per
cent.
Philips instantly disagreed. Argues Philips brand manager Kaushik
Roy “Much of Baron’s sales deals are a bundle of products which are
together priced higher than a competitor’s standalone product, ORG
10
considers the price of these bundles and hence Baron’s real value
share appears higher. We have pointed out this discrepancy to ORG
and the figures for the next period are expected to reflect the correct
position”.
The war has since been called off. But not before Mulchandani had
achieved his objective to raise doubts about Philips in consumers
minds. “We are basically a marketing company and our only
objective is to increase the market share of our products. We did it
successfully with Akai and we will do it again with Aiwa, he says.
The Aiwa – Philips battle is another in a fresh round of high – decibel
advertising wars that are breaking out in the great Indian consumer
goods bazaar. Be they computers or cell phones cars or cosmetics,
food or soft drinks, a whole host of companies is trying to catch the
customers eye in a marketplace overcrowded with products and
brands. Mostly, the bugle is sounded by a brand that’s new in the
battlefield, like Aiwa, or one that’s fighting for leadership, like Coca-
Cola. Through comparative ads they are all attempting to reposition
their competition so that they can slip into the positions that
subsequently fall vacant in the consumer’s minds.
Just how are they doing it? Well very simply, by making observations
about a competitor which a customer can verify himself. Fiat Uno, for
instance, is regularly taking potshots at 800cc cars and is comparing
them with its comparably priced 1,000 cc petrol – engined cars. And
Zenith Computers isn’t tiring of its MNC computers at home –
11
grown prices offering. Interestingly, marketing consultants say they
are all doing fine since the crux of a repositioning exercise is to
undercut an existing concept, product, or even person.
Positioning gurus Al Ries and Jack Trout say that, for a repositioning
strategy to work, one has to say something about the competitor’s product
that causes the customers to change his mind, not about your product, but
about the competitor’s product. That’s exactly what many of the new
brands are attempting. Korean automobile giant Hyundai did it
quite successfully when it launched the Santro. In an ad soon after it
was launched, the company ran Santro with all other comparable
cars on the Indian roads, and left it to the customer to make up his
mind.
In this way, many brands are taking the battle beyond the realm of
mere comparative advertising, which uses the competitor as a
benchmark for its own brand to fell the customer how good it is. In
most cases a buyer looks at an ad like this and says “if you are so
good, why aren’t you the leader?” The soap, detergent, and
toothpaste industries are littered with examples of such advertising.
But none of the brands that piggybacked on mere comparative
advertising have survived in the long run.
In the early 1990s one of the most talked about comparative
advertising battle was that between Tata Salt and Captain Cook. Which
brand has had a longer shelf life is anybody’s guess. Even in
microwave ovens, about two years ago IFB locked horns with BPL
12
when it launched its low priced ovens in the market. Today BPL still
leads the industry.
A case in point also arises of BPL Vs Duracell. BPL used to claim that
its alkaline battery is the longest lasting in the world which was
challenged by Duracell before MRTPC Based on this complain
MRTPC asked BPL to withdraw its claim. The MRTPC order in this
regard is being enclosed herewith.
COKE Vs PEPSI
The need may be universal, but the advertising is desi to its very soul.
And sure enough, Coca-Cola has finally begun to vibe with the
Indian youth.
That’s now Coca-Cola and watchers describe 1998 – the year that the
Atlanta brand started moving on the thesis that in the once
thunderstruck and then choice – en amour Indian youth market,
getting there is not only about getting bottles within arm’s reach or
getting walls to look red, but also about getting the brand’s message
right through the cortex- into the mind. The young Indian mind.
From the insipid nostalgia of ‘Share my dream’ in 1993 (‘Dream?
What dream? Was the general reaction) to the invigorated
teenspeak of ‘Peeti Kya Coca-Cola’ in 1998. Coke’s oscillations
between Generation Past and Generation Next seem to have finally
found a median. In Generation Now,
13
Mind penetration, not just geographical presence. That, say market
sources, is the new mantra for Coca-Cola India. So now it’s Bhangra
King Daler Mehndi vibrating his turban and shoulders to the
energetic joys of the wonder refreshment. Meanwhile, regional
campaigns for the South and East are about to get going, even as the
expense on below – the –line activities, cricket sponsorships, banner
flying red painting and sundry promotions (centered around such
festivals as Dandiya and Pongal) pick up momentum.
Round one of Coke’s advertising left the youth wondering whether
the brand was for them at all. The red sandstone alley cricket
commercial didn’t just bore young cola fans, it earned the brand the
description of a ‘tourist special’ for its view from the outside’.
In April 1997 came word that spread through the ad world like
wildfire: Coke’s account had moved from McCann- Erickson to
Chaitra Leo Burnett. This is happened just a month after Coca-Cola
India got a new CEO Donald Short, who, fresh from a stint in Japan,
spotted some quick cultural similarities between the two countries.
The US and Indian markets, it was now felt, were not quite as close as
the company had earlier reckoned. Among various other equations,
the Indian consumer’s equation with colas was unique, and cola wars
had continued after Coke’s 1977
departure (remember the Thums Up Campa Cola tussle over Kapil
Dev?). all this meant that what was needed was a flexible approach –
with deep local inputs. Superficial absorption would not be enough.
14
And unless Coke could develop as good a relationship with people as
had Thums Up, which took young Indians to a higher plane of ad –
savviness back in the 1980s, there was no point giving the latter step
motherly treatment.
Yet the challenge of building a distinct brand personality and finding
ways to connect with the brat pack seemed high. In October 1997,
Sanjiv Gupta, an ex-Lever man, joined Coca – Cola India as vice
president, marketing. There was major brainstorming to be done. A
breakthrough was needed. A home grown one too. In fact, it was best
if India did the basic thinking for Atlanta to redeploy and not the
other way round. But it would take some time. In 1997, Coke’s
volume growth had been disappointing, reveals a source.
But big things were to come. By 1998, the brand was back in the
game. It unfolded its teen program slowly. First, Coke broke with
global norms and signed on cricket heroes Saurav Ganguly and
Srinath. Nice guys, but a little too shy and stiff – certainly no match
for Pepsi’s cool, irreverent cricketers. “Coke prefers to keep the
drama around the product rather than the celebrity”, says Gupta.
Asks Rahul Dhawan, director, external affairs and corporate
communication, “What would have greater impact –seeing cricketers
on screen, or meeting them face – to –face?”
It was part of a larger plan, as Cola – watchers discovered when Coke
started talking about youth passions. Cricket, films, festivals and food.
“Eat cricket, sleep cricket , drink only Coca-Cola’ went the ads. They
15
were catchy . In fact, terrific, as far as approach road strategy went.
But if Coca-Cola was “the real refresher” for young Indians, each of
the commercials still needed to vibe with the target audience. While
“passion play” sent out the right signals of common fields of interest,
Coke still hadn’t managed to climb onto the same attitudinal plane
as the consumer.
Even Coke’s vending machine romance’ spot failed to generate much
fizz. “Get real, guys, went the ad, but it just wasn’t exciting enough.
Well, the ad-line certainly spurred its own creators on – to get real
about the passion thing. And out came the winner that had eluded it
all these years” Peeti kya Coca-cola. “With this”, feels Viren Razdan,
client service director, Chaitra Leo Burnett. “Coke has acquired a body
language. The brand has a certain swagger, a new confidence. It’s
ready for eyeball to eyeball confrontation. Yes, Coke as a passion
invigorates in an otherwise enervating country. For those who get
sweat on their brow for the right reasons. Of course, in terms of tune
beat and broad appeal, it rode the chart – busting success of ‘Aati
kya Khandala’,, And there too, it missed the creative ambiguity (a
request or demand?) of the original music video, made so
captivating by Amir Khan’s eye expressions and honey – dew tricks of
the tongue. But that’s mere pseudo – connoisseur quibbling. It
worked. The message went through.
To give Coke its due, having entered four years after Pepsi, the
company had to slog to establish its ground network. Points out
16
Dhawan with satisfaction, “Peeti kya… didn’t have a personality
that cost Rs. 2 crore, and ha no extravagant sets either”. The success
has confirmed the value of the theme and egged Coke on to bring
celebrities into the picture (having celebs without a clear theme idea
wasn’t doing it any good). First, it took on Karisma Kapoor for its
miracle card promos. And now, it has the inhibition – free Tunak
Tunak Daler, who is all over the airwaves with his ‘tumbe wali taar’
and ‘dil di pukar’ (in Punjabi). For the Coke spot, airing all India , he
does his infectious shoulder thing to the beat of ‘mastiyaan chaa
gayin…”, a track created especially for the campaign bottle in hand,
out energizing the “peeti…” duo.
Is Coke finally ready to open the money bags for crowd pullers?
Celebs cost. Pepsi was smart; it used Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan
and others on an early whiff, before they hit big-time. Will Coke pay
the price for being a late entrant? Well, not quite. With Daler, reasons
Dhawan “Our contract is for 30 concerts, so it can’t be compared to a
30-second ad”. In all, says Suhel Seth, CEO, Equus, which recently
won a regional part of the brand’s account, “Coke has taken the
enormous appetite Indians have for films and film based advertising
and captured it in ‘Peeti kya…”. Apart from re-phrasing the new
teenspeak of the generation, the commercial “has also captured the
attitudinal change that’s taken place in Coke”. While Pepsi continues
with its Generation Next jargon without really defining what it stands
for . “Coke is evolving with the current generation”, says Seth
triumphantly. And by signing on Daler (who also does a Tamil
17
version), Coke is out to prove that the real thing is serious about
tapping deep into the stuff of real India.
That’s why Coca-cola pulled out all the stops for the Daler spot,
bringing together a team o f well known names for its making (with
film director Priyadarshan of ‘Virasat’ fame heading it). Even for its
promos, Coke is undertaking never done before kind of activities.
Karisma , Saurav, Srinath, Anil Kumble and Robin Singh are out
knocking at the consumers' door , getting everybody in the country
to cheer in unison as they work their magic on the field. And its shy
cricketers are a whole lot more gregarious; witness the ad showing
Kumble and Ganguly taking a shot at bowling the maidens over – a La
Jadeja. The brand has also signed on Rambha a popular actress in the
South to help out in that region.
But while coke’s new vibrancy is being appreciated (‘Peeti Kya…” is a
widely acknowledged hit), one factor continues to trouble analysis,
Jazzed up sets and more peppy celeb models are all very well, but
the dependence on cricketers and film songs must not fly off on a
tangent, thus overshadowing the reason that Coke – as a formulation
– is the real thing. And the storylines could, perhaps, be more
gripping. There’s pressure to perform. The audience would clam out
for more. More depth, more width. Film hits are available to all. Is
Coca-cola equipped quite as well as Pepsi when it comes to actually
forecasting the hits? “When”, asks an analyst, “Will we see a self –
inspired spree of lateral thinking from Coke?” In the ‘ala re Coca-
18
Cola’ case, almost nobody was willing to buy Coke’s story that it
hadn’t plagiarized a Pepsi spot. Meanwhile, even the Pepsi camp
unofficially admits that Coke has understood the game and is on a
rapid catch up track. After stumbling about like a big daddy for so
long, Coca-cola has finally begun to dance with the young Indian. So
long as the music is good, the steps should get better. Till then, as
Gupta says, “Watch this space”.
Battle Royale
Are we about to witness the mother of all battles between Coca-cola
and Pepsi? After the ‘blunder’ rip-offs, the fight had vanished from
public gaze, except for the employee poaching and idea stealing
allegations made by Pepsi against its rival. Yet, for the first time, it is
Pepsi that seems to be taking reactive steps to counter Coke’s recent
aggression. Well, to be fair, Pepsi and Bollywood have an older
relationship. It’s just that Pepsi and Bollywood have an older
relationship. It’s just that Pepsi having cottoned on to Coke’s game,
is rushing to preempt it. Which is perhaps why it has roped in the
‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ team (kajol, Rani and Shah Rukh) for a multi
– starrer. Has Coke’s bounce back triggered off panic in the Pepsi
camp? “NO way”, asserts a Pepsi executive. ‘Cricket was always
Pepsi’s forte in any case. And just Manisha would have been enough
to counter Karisma, If that was the idea. But we’ve got Kajol and
Rani too”. But could Coke be using a more potent core idea?
Something that has the potential to reposition Pepsi as a sophomoric
19
drink? No, no. In any case, the Pepsi executive continues, huffily,
“they have always been the copy cats, not us. We are choosy about whom we
copy”.
Coke makes Aamir’s Khandala proportion its own and even redirects it.
This 35- second ‘musical’ begins in much the same way as any
Bollywood college romance, Good – looking girl in white shirt (MTV
VJ Maria Goretti) being romanced by good – looking hunk in black
jacket. A step – mimicking dance troupe in the background. ‘Ay,
kya bolti tu’, goes the hunk,” Peeti kya Coca-Cola?’ Shrugs Goretti,
‘Kya hoga peekey yeh Coca-cola?’, apprising the bottle with
dismissive apathy before deigning to try a swig. And , abracadabra,
chhoo mantar – it’s she who’s now on fire, arching her body, twirling
herself around and grabbing the hero’s jacket with an ‘Ay, kya bolta
tu…?’ ignition cola? Magic potion? Getting down to the real thing?
According to Chaitra Leo Burnett (CLB), the idea was to leverage the
likes of the youth and to keep the brand in tune with what’s
happening. After the Ala re campaign, says Sumeet Kanwar, senior
vice – president, CLB, “We wanted to see how we would next
connect with the youth”, At this time, Aati Kya Khandala was
getting a fair bit of airplay and CLB decided to use the song. In
Kanwar’s assessment, It’s a hit because of the ease with which it can
be said, sung, whatever, by just about anybody. “You just have to say
it. It is a sing – sung song, it is not a sung song”. The grammatical
hip-hop adds to the street - poet charm and, though Coke’s version
20
doesn’t match the enigmatic eloquence and word –jugglery of the
original, the brand managers to get its own message across. Good
advertising, says Kanwar, happens only “when one adds creative to
make the ad unique, instead of just riding on the tune". In this ad, the
fun is the interaction between the leading pair and the role reversal
climax.
Though slick, it misses that unself conscious mast touch just a bit.
Produced by Sabal Sheikhawat of Mumbai’s Big Picture Co, the
commercial had to be made quickly. The song had been around for
over a month by the time CLB decided to ad (opt) it, and the ad had
to break while it was still ascending the charts.
Though Coke has done such ads in the West, this is a first for Coca-
Cola India. Vibing with the youth says Kanwar, demands breaking
with convention. For years, Coke seems ready to play the cool –
crowd game eye-to-eye with Pepsi – which, through azadi dil ki and
other hit commercials, has gathered young Indian lovebugs neatly
under its shade.
So what’s the ground-recovering magic of coke? What the song says,
replies Kanwar. “Jhumengey, gaayengey, naachjengey, aish karenge,
aur kya?”
The Rs. 3,000 crore soft drink industry is spending an approximately
Rs. 300 crore on activities which are tantamount illegal and restrictive
trade practices. These include poaching bottles and staff from the
competition, lifting competitor’s bottles and working out exclusivity
21
deals with food service distributors on the condition that they do not
sell the competitor’s brands.
It is an industry which spends huge amounts of money in developing
customer franchises and building retail and distribution networks
then why is it resorting to practices which are detrimental to itself
and the consumer in the long run? Is it share desperation to win the
war or is it plain disregard for the rules of the game?
It is a fact that the beverage is an “impulse” category market. Despite
an increasing trend towards brand awareness , most consumers
would like to have any brand at the point of purchase in case their
favorite brand is not available. Fickle consumer loyalty to a
particular brand is, therefore forcing soft drink majors to walk the
wrong side of the law .
22
Lifting and Breaking bottles:
In hot pursuit of competition , companies have adopted the maxim;
if you can’t beat their brand , break their bottles .Nearly 50 percent of
the Rs.300 odd crore is spend on lifting and breaking of glass bottles.
The soft drink industry in India essentially works on a quick rotation
of glass bottles which accounts for more than 90 percent of the
packaging. The general industry practice is to lift the competitor’s
bottles to block his stock of bottles which, in turn, enables you to
effectively push your stock of beverages into the market. In some
cases, the companies are even lifting field bottles, draining out the
liquid and then either crushing or selling off the glass to a broker.
Poaching People:
While the lifting of bottles has been referred to as a “normal industry
practice” by some companies, industry players have realized that
such indirect pocking into a competitor’s network is not effective
enough . They are instead going straight for the jugular, by poaching
on the competitor’s bottler cum distributor.
The soft drinks business is a fine web of franchise-owned bottling
operations (FOBOs) through which the brands reach consumers .
With the entry of Coca-Cola and Pepsi Company, a new concept of
COBOs (company owned bottling operations) gained currency.
The new concept was to give the companies better control over
operations and margins. However, both companies have decided
23
time and again to take the short cut and first buy out an existing
bottler rather than set up a green field facility. And more often than
not, they have targeted buying out the competitor’s bottler. It
happened in Gujarat where Pepsi got Coke’s bottler to sign up with
it. It happened again in Goa when Coke lost another bottler to Pepsi
and has to now shell out above Rs.20 crore extra to service this
market from its Tarapore bottling plant. Coke calls this poaching,
Pepsi calls it pure luck.
Losing a bottler is the worst blow for a company as the company puts
a lot of money-training and technology inputs into FOBOs which
form the backbone one of its business. Pepsi has even gone to the
High court with a case against coke alleging that coke is doing illegal
deal as the terms of termination by Pepsi people are not being
adhered to.
Exclusive deal:
It often happens that we go to a restaurant and ask for a particular
brand of soft drink and are told that the place keeps only certain
brands of another company. No retailer or service food distributor is
bound to keep only one company’s brands. In fact, Pepsi had filled an
anti trust suit against Coke in Manhattan alleging that the company
supplies coke to food service distributors on the condition that they
do not distribute Pepsi.
The suit claimed that Coke has specific intent to monopolize the
market for fountain- dispensed soft drinks.
24
Closer home, it is Pepsi which is indulging in similar games. Nearly
30 per cent of its business is built on such exclusive contracts. Take
the case of Anupam PVR complex in New Delhi where Pepsi has paid
around Rs. 60 lakh to the movie halls for keeping only its brands. It
has similar exclusive deals with Sterling Theatre and Cinemax in
Mumbai for Rs 30 lakh and Rs.8 lakh respectively. Today, Coca-Cola
and Pepsi spend around Rs.6 crone each every year to maintain their
exclusive deals is India.
The two companies have also extended the exclusivity clause to visi-
coolers supplied by them to retailers.
Accordingly, no competitive brand is allowed to be kept in a visi-
cooler provided by a company - a restrictive trade practice which
nobody has questioned. The MRTP Act has reams of pages which
illustrate these practices as illegal and monopolistic. However, save
from raising objection to certain promotional campaigns of the
companies from time to time, the MRTP Board has been unable to
stop these companies from adopting desperate measures.
Local action:
The Pepsi Process:: Despite being a global brand, Pepsi has built its
success on meeting the Indian consumer’s needs, particularly in
terms of making the brand synchronize with localized events and
traditions. Instead of harping on its global lineage, ergo, it tries to
plug into ethnic festivals, use the vernacular in different parts of the
country and blend into the local fabric. Thus, in Chennai, where it
25
was No.3-behind Thums Up and Coca-Cola, Pepsi offered free bottles
of Pepsi Cola with idli. In Calcutta ,where Coke has always enjoyed a
hung lead. Pepsi linked its lot to neighborhood cricket tournaments
In Delhi, it linked its brands to Holi, offering sachets of colors with
Pepsi .
The aim of Pepsi is to dance with the consumers.
To do that, Pepsi is using both national campaigns-such as the Drink
Pepsi Get Stuff scheme, which offers large discounts on other
products to Pepsi-buyers- as well as local events. Like Spot-The
Miranda-Man contest in Chennai, where three orange-masked
Miranda men drove around town, and collected over 50,000 entries.
Pepsi hired people who had experience in selling consumer products
here because the nature of this market is such that you need local
experience. By contrast, coke deliberately chose to bring in
expatriates.
The Coke Copy: Instead of creating a bond with the customers
through small but high-impact events, Coca-Cola chose to associate
itself with national and international mega-events like the World Cup
Cricket, 1996 and the Olympics, 1996. But neither enabled it to rise
above the clutter of high-spending mass-media advertisers. The
culprit? Its association did not endear themselves to young people,
the largest consumers of soft drinks.
Also missing from Coke’s marketing strategy so far have been
sustained campaigns. Its occasional bursts of activity—such as the
26
Thunderblast promotion for Thumps up, offering a T-Shirt in
exchange for 15 crowns and Rs. 95, as well as 350-cc Bullet Machismo
motor-cycles to 100 winners—did not run long enough. So, Short
must replicate Pepsi’s unending fizz in the marketplace.
Empowerment:
The Pepsi Process: One of the strongest weapons in Pepsi’s armoury
is the flexibility it has empowered its people with. Every manager
and salesperson has the authority to take whatever steps he or she
feels will make consumers aware of the brand and increase its
consumption. For instance, when the sales team in Chennai found
that sponsoring an idli-eating contest would help the brand, they
went ahead regardless of the fact that Pepsi has never adopted that
tack in India—and not really worrying about whether the move fits
into Pepsi Co.’s global arsenal.
What that we do is to give people budgets within which to work. No
questions are asked as to what they do. Pepsi are performance-
oriented and ask for results.” This attitude flows from the top, with
the company’s global parent adopting the same hands-off policy.
The Coke Copy: Flexibility is the weapon that Coca-Cola, fettered as it
is by the need for approvals from Atlanta for almost everything,
lacks. In the past, this has shown up in its stubborn insistence on
junking the franchisee network it had acquired from Parle; in its
dependence on its own feed back mechanism over that of its bottlers
and in its headquarters led approach. For instance, its trade
27
promotions have followed a predictable pattern, offering fat margins
to retailers for a limited period of time- without exploring
alternatives that raise the level of involvement for the seller as well as
the consumer. However, Coca-Cola is now beginning to value
variety. Thus, the company has introduced discounts at restaurants,
and even display contests as part of its new promotions .
PRICE :
The Pepsi Process: Pepsi has consistently wielded its pricing strategy
as an invitation to sample, aiming to turn trial into addiction. It
launched the 500 ml bottle in 1994 at Rs 8 versus Thums Up’s Rs 9
( in April ,1996, its 1.5- litre bottle followed Coke into the market
place at Rs. 30 to Rs. 5 less than Coke’s. In both cases, Pepsi raised the
price once consumption stabilized counting on the habit to
compensate for the lack of a price benefit .Of course, Pepsi also had to
contend with the fact that in the soft drinks business, few retailers
pass on price advantages to customers, preferring to sell competing
brands at the same price and pocketing the discount. So, it couldn’t
have continued the lower price positioning for long.
The Coke Copy: Initially, Coke carbon copied the strategy by
introducing its 330 ml cans in January,1996, at an invitation price of
Rs 15 before raising it to Rs 18. By this time, it had realized that the
Coca-Cola brand did not hold enough attraction for customers to
fork out a premium. The 200 ml Coke, launched so far in parts of
28
eastern, western, and northern India is priced at Rs 5, lowering the
entry-barriers.
Not in use long enough for its efficacy to be tested, the strategy,
nevertheless, draws contempt from Ramesh Chauthan, 57, CEO,
Parle Exports, Coke’s bottler in Delhi , who scoffs: “ you can’t achieve
anything by bringing down the price from Rs 7 to Rs 5. To really
drive the market, as Coke wants to, you must go down to Rs 3.
CHANNEL MANAGEMENT:
The Pepsi Process : They don’t have bottlers ; they have partners.
And they listen to them. Which is why they have a well aligned
bottling net work.” While its well-know COBO- Company- Owned
Bottling Operations- and FOBO- Franchisee-Owned Bottling
Operations-net works cover most of the country adequately, it’s the
way in which Pepsi Co, India strengthens its marketing that gives it
an edge. Every member of its sales team is meticulously taught the
merchandising and display skills that can leverage the reach of the
company’s bottling network to achieve high visibility for the product.
Thus, Pepsi Co, India has used its eight years to develop a
relationship with its bottlers that enables it to work in tandem with
them.
The Coke Copy : Coca-Cola ’s conflicts with its bottlers have finally
settled down to a pattern that its global experience understands.
Coca-Cola India is floating two subsidiaries, Bharat Coca-Cola and
Hindustan Coca-Cola which will act as holding companies for most of
29
its bottling operations, thus giving the transnational ownership and
control over this crucial part of its operations. Earlier, the company
had made the mistake of demanding huge investments from its
bottlers without worrying about the returns, assuming that they
would be willing to sustain losses as long as Coca- Cola did. In the
process, it had alienated the former Parle franchisees so much that
they refused to give off their best. If Short can now adopt Pepsi’s
method of transferring the transnational’s expertise to the bottlers,
his brands will benefit.
To be sure, the lead that Pepsi has opened up over Coke cannot be
bridged simply by Xeroxing Pepsi’s policies. Nor did Coke win the
American Cola Wars. It outsells Pepsi 4:3 in the US - through
imitation strategies. However, in a product category where the
differentiation lies not in the taste of the product, but in the lens
through which the consumer sees the brand, Coke is undoubtedly,
the flatter of the fizz-twins at the moment . So, it may not be enough
to bring a different taste to its marketing. Coke must also out Pepsi.
Pepsi in the top- of-mind tourney if it does not wish to can its India
comeback.
Ever since the battle for the Rs. 300 crore soft drink market broke in
India, Coke’s rival from New York has been gaining the upper hand
here. Coke and Pepsi both have spent over Rs. 120 crore last year to
drive up sales in the 200 million case soft drinks industry.
30
Rumors are doing the rounds that the advertising agencies of both
companies (Chaitra Leo Burnett in the case of Coke and Hindustan
Thompson Associates—HTA—in Pepsi’s case) have planted moles in
each other’s offices, that these moles report to their masters every
morning about the rival’s game plan and that the agency then churns
out an ad by the afternoon to torpedo the other’s campaign. As far as
the two soft drink giants are concerned the last summer witnessed
the worst cases of ambush marketing.
Strategists at Coca-Cola agree that India is perhaps one of the last
large market where it does not have clear lead over Pepsi. Both Coke
and Pepsi are peddling products on similar advertising platforms—
Cricket, Films and music. So, while success will depend partly on the
details of each campaign, it will lie mostly with who can elbow the
other out first.
Coke garbled the sponsorship rights for the last India Australia
series, the Coca-Cola cup on star sports and for 52 weeks serial on
ESPN called “Inside Cricket’. It had also signed deals with star sports
for sponsoring the triangular series in South Africa between Pakistan,
Sri Lanka and South Africa and for yet another show called “Coca-
Cola star Insights” also on the same channel.
Pepsi and Coke are spending nearly $ 4 million (Rs. 16 crore) in
sponsorships on ESPN - Star sports alone. It’s the Pepsi that’s bagged
the biggie - it’s the main sponsor for the 1999 world cup to be played
in UK June this year.
31
When Coke got the sponsorship rights to the 1997 Wills World Cup,
Pepsi came up with the hugely successful ‘Nothing official about it”
campaign by Mohammad Azharuddin. However, when Pepsi got the
little sponsorship for the Pepsi Asia Cup played July 1997 at Sri
Lanka, Coke spiked Pepsi’s victory by bagging the television
sponsorship for the series. Consequently, the Pepsi Cup was ‘brought to
you by Coke on television. It was a major drawback for Pepsi —to brand
an event and not be able to sponsor it.
The behind the scenes action got nastier, Pepsi almost lost the
contract with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that it
had signed in early 1997. This granted Pepsi the first right of refusal
to sponsor all cricket played in India where upto three teams
participated. When the BCCI tried to renege on the contract to favor
Cock, Pepsi went to court and won. Coke officials, of course deny
that they had a role in Pepsi—BCCI imbroglio. They said that the two
sides were locked in conflict over payments for some matches. Pepsi
denied having defaulted on any payments to the BCCI.
Companies are fighting over the rights to Cricket matches because
they have become big buck, high decibel events. Also, most cricket
matches are telecast during prime time in India. That translates into
higher visibility. Above all, with the world cup scheduled for June,
1999 the year will be the big year of Cricket. And neither company
can afford to lose out on the build up to the mega event.
32
The one upmanship is not restricted to cricket. Coca-Cola brought in
pop star whighfield to Delhi and Mumbai in March, 1998. After that,
the company also kicked off a series of nine concerts by Asha Bhonsle.
Singing a similar tune, Pepsi Co sponsored a Stereo National show at
Gurgaon, Chandigarh and Mumbai. In September 1998, Pepsi Co
brought into India the legendary British rock band, the Rolling Stones.
Taking the musical connection further, Pepsi has gone in for a joint
promotion with MTV, called the Pepsi Dance connection in 19 cities
across the country. The promotion began on the right note in March,
1998 when an audience of 20,000 turned up in Pune for a live concert
by Indian popstars and MTV Veejays. The rationale: use music to
drive visibility in the smaller cities. Coke had obviously got a copy of
the same marketing guide. Coke had signed a three year contract
with the music channel for six roadshows each year; the first was
held in Goa last March, 1998.
But it’s not just music, for every Pepsi sponsorship of the latest James
Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies, there’s a Thums Up promotion of
block busters down south. If Pepsi has the pouring rights at the Delhi
cineplex Anupam PVR, Coke has replaced Pepsi at Priya cinema, also
in the capital. Pepsi’s offer of cricket board game free with two 1.5
litre PET bottles of the soft drink is countered by miniature bats
signed by Javagal Srinath and Saurav Ganguly, courtesy Coca- Cola.
Coke’s orange drink Fanta gave free candy with its 300 ml bottle ; so
Pepsi Co.’s Mirinda tied up with Sil Jam for a Miranda sipper free’
33
promotion. And since Coca-Cola is pushing Limca this season, Pepsi
plans to counter it with Miranda Lime, a new cloudy lemon drink.
The excitement continues. Pepsi plans to launch the Cola in its
trademark blue can, while Coke is promising Diet Coke once
government approvals are through .
Where will it all end? Today, Pepsi Co officials claim that though
they lag behind Coca- Cola if you take all its brands into account
(Pepsi has a 43% share against Coke’s 51% Pepsi ( the drink ) out
sells both Coke and Thums Up put together. Naturally, Coke
disputes the statements. In the absence of any independent market
research figures it’s tough to assess market shares. But what is
obvious is that with the ad campaigns of the two brands converging
the identities of the two brands converging, the identities of the two
brands are now blurring. Also, critics say that the two companies are
pouring all their money into “ talking” to each other. The tangibles
for both the companies are alike; both sell sugared water, so, it
becomes a game of intangibles. And, in this product category, the
only differentiator is image”.
The cola companies, for their part, justify their- and the competition’s
-gameplans differently. The Pepsi brigade, which includes its ad
agency HTA, cites a simple reason for Coke’s increased ad spends;
desperation. According to Pepsi, Coke grew by barely 5% in 1997,
while the rest of industry grew by around 11% in volume terms. “ So,
it’s quite obvious why Coke’s walking where Pepsi’s walked”. Pepsi
34
officials point out how Coke has outbid Pepsi for sponsorships of
college festivals, pouring rights at cinema halls and joint promotions
with satellite channels .
Hurl these accusations at Coke and the company’s executives get hot
under the collar. What big bucks are they talking about? We have
increased our advertising budgets by 14% over last year’s figures .
The only reason we are seeing more of because they are buying
media and chalking out campaigns more intelligently.” And when it
comes to marking strategy, Coke is perhaps also keeping its
customer’s and not just the competition in mind.
Skirting an advertising platform just because the rival’s brands have
already positioned themselves there may not be the wisest thing to
do. Consequently, there’s been an obvious shift in Coke’s tactics for
tackling the Indian market. Though Coke is world wide positioning
is in the 8-80 age group, in India, it has consciously decided to focus
more sharply on the 15-19 age group . Coke’s recent “eat-Sleep-
Drink’ campaigns have a lot more youth , energy and hedonism than
many of its past campaigns, The empathy, extendibility and fatigue
of the campaign may be issued that Coke has to deal with. But it will
not be surprising if the brand is already making inroads into Pepsi’s
strongest franchise Youth.
For starters, in all the top soft drink markets in the world ( the US,
Mexico , Japan, Brazil , the UK etc) Coke has been ahead of Pepsi by
very healthy margins, Not just that in recent times, Pepsi has also lost
35
key markets in Russia and Venezuela to Coke. In fact, Coke’s $ 500
million acquisition of Pepsi Co.’s biggest bottling operation in
Venezuela in 1996 took Pepsi completely by surprise.
But India may be the one country where Pepsi can resist the Coke
juggernaut, It has a clear first mover advantage of three years over
Coke. Which translates into greater consumer recall.
Indeed, Coca-Cola’s conceit has been its prime folly when dealing
with the Indian market. Perhaps the biggest mistake that Coke made
was taking the Indian consumer for granted; the company believed
its name alone-coupled with its global ad campaigns would be
sufficient to tempt Indians to guzzle Coke by the gallon.
Even at the corporate level, Coca-Cola juggled its top management
mix time and again. In the last five years, Coca -Cola India has seen
three CEOs (Jaidev Raja, Richard Nicholas and now Short) an equal
number of marketing directors (Nitin Dalvi, Gurt Bruce and now,
Gupta) and any number of senior executives. These reshuffles have,
unfortunately for Coke, dulled its sheen further.
A more humble ( and , therefore, more perceptive) Coke is today re-
examining a five-year-old burr on its side- the Parle acquisition.
When Coca- Cola acquired Ramesh Chauhan ‘s labels and his
existing distribution system , virtually everyone predicted that Pepsi
would be virtually wiped out. That didn’t happen, In hindsight,
some company officials now believe a greenfield operation may have
been better for Coke, explains a senior Coke official “ when we
36
acquired the Parle brands, we were buying a national heritage. We
were also buying a bottling system that was capital averse. And we
have wasted precious time in trying to deal with both Chauhan and
his bottlers.”
Coke also lost precious opportunity by not utilizing the Parle brands
effectively. One of the greatest mistakes the Coke made was not
using Thums Up properly. For every bottle of Thums Up that wasn’t
pushed into the trade, Pepsi sold a bottle of its own cola” In other
worlds, the openings created by Thums Up were occupied not by
Coca Cola, but by Pepsi instead. But finally, Coke officials had
reached a consensus on using the Parle brands last summer more
effectively .What Coke believe is that no one can now match their
four-brand offering of Coke, Fanta, Thums Up and Limca. Moreover
Limca is a drink that’s recommended by doctors. That ‘s a lot of
equity Coca-Cola has identified five distinct channels-
transportation, education & entertainment, grocer & retail services,
eating & drinking and institutional through which it will address the
specific needs of the customer. Channel marketing addresses the
consumer’s needs based on his environment. Therefore, availability,
affordability and packaging become the critical issues in the various
channels . For instance, Coke has developed a special chilled box,
dubbed a’ pouring junction’, which carries the drink. This serves a
200 ml beverage for Rs 5 and its price ( Rs. 10,000 per box )
convenience (it doesn’t use electricity ) makes it ideal for small time
and small town retailers.
37
It may seem exciting and colorful from a distance, but for Coke and
Pepsi the cola wars are serious business. That’s especially true of the
two men who run the show from the US: Ivestor and Enrico. Ivestor
never been here yet; Enrico visited India last January . Yet both are
watching what happens here intently. Enrico’s always been
convinced that India is a great market; he’s been interacting with
bottlers, keeping tabs on India for a few years. Pepsi will stand toe to
toe with competition and fight for market leadership in India.
Likewise now Ivestor also thinks this is a great place to be in. Last
year, Coca-Cola India was made a decision on the global map . That
means the Indian operation reports directly to Atlanta and not
through Bangkok as it did earlier. And it wasn’t the size of the
existing business which merited that, but the potential.
One of the most aggressive on the battlefield today is Coca-cola. The
reason it is in a hurry to grow, because it fears that Pepsi will catch
up soon. Today the marketshares stand at roughly 51 per cent Coca-
cola and 46 per cent for Pepsi, though there is no way of confirming
these figures. In the year ended 31 December 1997 the figures were 52
and 43 per cent respectively.
Switch on to the ongoing Asian cricket Test championship matches
and you can’t miss the recently launched Sprite ads: they are direct
spoofs on Pepsi’s advertising. But it’s hardly the first time that Coca-
cola is taking pot shots at its rival. One of its ads on air today shows
Aamir Khan lusting for a can of Coke; four years ago , the same Khan was
38
promoting Pepsi in the well – remembered ad featuring Aishwarya Rai. In
what Coca-cola believes is a coup of sorts, it has reportedly coughed
up Rs. 2 crore to rope in Aamir Khan against Pepsi’s earlier figure of
Rs. 17 lakh. Both companies, however, disagree with the figures.
Here’s more, between them the two giants have signed on nine
players of the Indian cricket team. And, in Bollywood, if Shahrukh
Khan, Rani Mukherjee, and Kajol are unabashedly promoting Pepsi,
Karishma Kapoor, Rambha, and Salman Khan are cajoling consumers to
drink Coca-cola brands.
The advertising battle between Coca-cola and Pepsi broke out way
back in 1993 on the day that Coke was relaunched. Two full page ads
appeared on adjacent pages in the same newspaper – one
announcing the advent of Coke and the other declaring Pepsi as the
choice of the new generation. Last year the battle was taken further,
with Thums Up doing spoofs on Pepsi ads; the first one was in
response to Pepsi’s ad featuring a chimpanzee. The Thums – Up
catchline. “Don’t’ be bunder, taste the thunder. The Pepsi made ads
featuring mosquitoes; Coke responded with a retaliatory Thums up
ad. When Coca-cola played the ‘Eat Cricket, Sleep Cricket, Drink
only Coca-cola theme, Pepsi responded with a retaliatory ad that
featured cricketers Mohammed Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja.
Most of the advertising wars between Coca-cola and Pepsi have been
fought in fun. That’s because they are the only two main brands in
the soft drinks industry and both know they will exist. So neither
39
brand has got hurt; instead, the consumption of soft drinks itself has
perhaps shot up – last year, the total market for soft drinks grew by
about 25 per cent. Suman Srivastava, vice president of Euro RSCG,
puts it this way,
“comparative advertising which is fair is actually beneficial to the customer,
since it increases awareness and highlights the products”. But Coke and
Pepsi are exceptions. In an overcrowded marketplace, some brands
have to die if others want to live. That’s what advertising wars today
are all about.
40
COPYWRITING FOR A COLA AD
Marketing strategy : Studies show that consumers cannot tell Pepsi-
Cola, Coca-Cola and Thums-Up apart by taste. Now they must not be
able to tell them apart by their advertising either.
Celebrity Endorsement Strategy : Match the rival cricketer for
cricketer, film-star for film-star. Confuse the consumer thoroughly
Execution 1. Take Coca-Cola’s campaign featuring catchline Eat
Cricket, Sleep Cricket, drink only Coca-Cola’s. Poke fun at it through
literal depiction of the acts, featuring various cricketers. End with
Pepsi punchline : Yehi Hai Right Choice Baby, Aha.
Execution 2.. Take Pepsi-Cola’s campaign poking fun at Coca-Cola’s
campaign. Reshoot Replace Pepsi – Endorsing cricketers with
monkeys. And with Thums-Up punchline: Don’t Be A Bandar, Taste
The Thunder
Execution 3. Find out popular jingle being used by rival campaign.
Quickly shoot and air commercial with the same jingle.
Execution 4.. Anything they can do we will do better. Or, at least, in
identical fashion.
41
COLGATE Vs PEPSODENT
Though the New Pepsodent Colgate dental cream imbroglio over
comparative advertising has raised enough dust recently a lot of
shoulders are also being shrugged with, “So what’s new?’ That’s the
point . The rising wave of comparative advertising in India over the
past two years raises a bigger question why are marketers indulging
in more of it, even inspite of being hauled to the MRTPC ? Logically,
the pointer is to the need to start out with consumer in a glutter of
products and advertise with superior products and stand apart in
advertising.
Alyque Padamsee (President- AP Associates) says, In the earlier years
products were stressed as being superior in an absolute sense without
outright comparisons, e.g. ,”Surf washes Whitest” or the subtly
comparative Lalitaji campaign, to take on the Nirma Challenge: Sasti
cheez aur achchi cheez mein phark hota hai”. Now is the time of
bold ’90 s more- up front, less polite but more honest.
Colgate Palmolive (CP) and Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) the two
consumer goods giants are at it again . In their continuing tooth-for
tooth battle, CP has hauled HLL to MRTPC alleging that a HLL
advertisement for the New Pepsodent tooth-paste constituted an
unfair trade practice. Specifically, CP claimed that the ad, though it
did not mention Colgate by name, damaged it by claiming that New
Pepsodent was 102% better than the leading tooth paste. In an
42
interim order the MRTPC asked HLL to desist from putting out the
ad until an expert committee had verified the claim.
Seizing the opportunity to crow over its arch-rival, Colgate promptly
issued its own ad which highlighted the salient parts of the MRTPC
order and selectively quoted from it- a step not calculated to please
HLL. Not to be out done HLL retaliated by putting out yet another
ad in defence of New Pepsodent but took a different track this time.
It mentioned Colgate dental cream by name and sought to establish
New Pepsodent’s superior anti bacterial quality . The ad also
defiantly asserted that HLL won’t stop advertising New Pepsodent.
Whether HLL would continue to use the old ad or devise a new
campaign was not clear . At least one newspaper carried both HLL ‘s
original 102% ad as well as the latest one on the same day. So has
HLL infringed the MRTPC’s order? That’s a question for the legal
experts to determine . But one thing is certain the last salvo hasn’t
been fired in the battle of the tube.
43
LIMCA Vs MIRINDA LEMON
Pepsi's Mirinda Lemon is trying to dethrone Limca. Yes, Limca. Lord
of the cloudy lemon segment, a Parle-built brand that had loyalists in
the 1970s when Thums Up didn't exist. And when Teem, launched by
Pepsi in 1993, bombed, Limca didn't even need to advertise to retain
its base. But the 20-million cases-per annum segment (in 1993)
reached just 25 million cases by 1998.
Now comes Mirinda Lemon to confront a Limca that Coca-Cola
wants to bring back onto the tip of the consumer's tongue. Both
brands address more or less the same consumer. Limca targets the
20-29-year-old while Mirinda Lemon, the 25-35-year-old. Marketers
of white spirits have also got ad-active in the past few months.
First what makes Limca Limca? It was widely available safe (and
fizzy too!). the 'isotonic salts' gave it a scientific - sounding bait.
Drink Limca it said to quench thirst and restore the ahem-body pH
balance. 'Limca after Limca' went further, appropriating Coke's
original formula as a rehydrant for any dehydrating activity
(strenuous or otherwise).
After Ramesh Chauhan sold it out, colas took centre stage. Limca
lived on demand from the greyed and greying. Since then, Coca-Cola
has abandoned its main brand monomania and asked Chaitra Leo
Burnett (CLB), which also has the Thums Up and Coke accounts to
give Limca a bungee bounceback.
44
According to Sumeet Kanwar senior vice-president, CLB, the agency
discovered that people in their 20s are the most voracious consumers
of fizzy drinks. This age segment is characterized by a change of
phase'. Having survived the tyranny of schooling teens go to college
for a do-your-own - thing binge. In their 20s, they enter the real
world, get reregimented, get saddled with responsibility and miss
college like mad. Under stress, one has two options - to submit or
take it easy. The latter is 'more aspirational' than actually practiced.
'So we positioned Limca as the drink to unwind with', says Kanwar.
The new ad line: take it easy (TIE). Unlike colas, which sometimes
try changing the drinker's self-image (drink Pepsi, be cool), TIE is not
for adolescents. So the Limca drinker is 'one who doesn't show off'.
However, ads showing stressed-out scenes could needlessly give
people a vehicle to identify with neurosis. 'Advertising does not have
to be a mirror', says Udaiyan Jatar, brand manager Limca, Coca Cola
India. Thus the brief: Limca provides you a conduit to light-hearted
moments when you are really stressed out. Each spot has a happy
ending with the lead character just shrugging and Taking it Easy. So
you have the man at the railway station accosting the wrong babe the
auctioneer slamming the priceless vase, the cool dude on the stalled
bike and the expectant nephew at the reading of Uncle's will (where
he lands a lemon). The advertisements are 'everywhere' says Jatar
though mainly on TV.
45
Limca also has some interesting promos. Among them is a tie-up
with Channel [V] for [V] J endorsements. So Udham Singh appears on
TV clarifying to a tree-shaded chaupal gathering that it's not rewri but
Wrigley's gum free with Limca. Why Udham? Says Kanwar, He
Speaks his mind." Another promo : CLB is putting wisecracks under
bottlecaps. There is Price hike? Go trekking' Splitting headache? Use
Glue' and many more. Since March 98 about 300 of these, across
languages have come out.
What about Mirinda Lemon? Making a go of cloudy lemon was part
of the company's plan for 1998 (for Pepsi, 1996 was the year of
Mirinda, 1997 of Slice). However, the infant brand has a couple of
problems. A newly resurgent Limca and the Orange tag that Mirinda
carries around. So far, Mirinda's name recall has been weak,
particularly in isolation of the orange-heads on TV. Jack Trout and
Al Rise would warn against diluting Mirinda's equity.
'Internationally' 'Mirinda is the company's brand for flavours
available in strawberry, lemon apple and orange." According to HTA
the agency on the account Mirinda Lemon's campaign wants to create
a product property by placing Mirinda Lemon on a taste platform
and spelling out the experience.” Jor ka jhatka Dheere lage” goes the
ad line.
CLB says that this line and TIE are essentially slogans of the same
feather and that TIE came first, the slogan explains the pleasurable
high - the slow kick-that the brand offers (as if it's Champagne). In
46
fact a lifestyle statement (such as TIE) wouldn't have managed to
counter Limca's long-established product values. Besides argues
Pepsi, TIE is just a phrase borrowed from upmarket colloquial use,
so when somebody uses it, Limca probably won't spring to mind; but
the jor ka… line is solely Mirinda Lemon's and it appeals to a broader
audience. Its very originality offers greater scope for creative
expression and while making a single-minded brand proposition is
important matching wits with Limca (which needn't play on
rehydration anymore) is the other part of the gameplan.
Mirinda Lemon's campaign uses little skits where the ad line is
applicable to comic situations. However, it scores high on exceptional
dexterity. Amitabh Bachchan in his inimitable tsk-tsk style of
triumphalism mixed with parody, uses Mirinda Lemon's soothing
qualities to soften the blow while he informs a wealthy couple that
their stretch limo has turned into a bonsai version (hit by a khatara).
Or as a postman, where he uses the theatrics at his disposal-plus
Mirinda Lemon-to tell the village laze (getting his customary
massage) that he's making off with his Chandni. 'The ads,' are being
extremely well received in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
If Limca's campaign reminds one of a certain Eagle number, Mirinda
Lemon's appears to have taken the baton from Premchand's classic
Nasha.
The Limca team is confident of seeing the challenger off. There is
dormant equity to count on as well. Remember 1988, the year when
47
Limca was the top-selling fizzy drink in the country? 'They want to
take it back there.'
CAN ANTICS
Coca-Cola India has decided to pull out all stops to make India's
largest non-cola brand, Limca top of mind with consumers. Since the
company hadn't accorded it enough priority, Limca had languished.
Moreover the spotlight was trained on the two global rivals-Coke
and Pepsi and Limca along with other brands paled in comparison.
But the company has realized that Limca's image needs a boost. 'The
graphics were very old and it hand started losing its modernity, says
Udaiyan Jatar, Brand manager, Limca. To rectify that the company
has changed the color of the Limca can from white to green. White
was not a young and happening color and had failed to communicate
the freshness and vibrancy that Coca-Cola wants Limca to stand for.
The original Limca can had light green, yellow and dark green waves
on a white background. As the brand passed on to Coca-Cola, the
waves gave way to brush strokes in the same combination. Now the
can sports a slightly bigger logo with a metallic outline, standing
against a dark green (a dynamic shot of water) background, which is
also the main color for all POP material fountain cups (for vending
machines) bus shelters and other outdoor advertising media.
Green was chosen since it connotes freshness, the brand's attribute,
explains the company. And lemon, Limca's base is also associated
with green. White on the other hand is a neutral shade which reflects
48
other colors, and looks almost clinical. It's associated with milk-and
milk is uncool and unrefreshing for the youngster. The green on the
new can reminds one of swirling refreshing mouthwash.
However, Limca's new can does bear a more-than-fleeting
resemblance to Pepsi's 7Up can. Coca-Cola though maintains that no
rival brand has anything to do with the change.
49
CLINIC PLUS Vs. PARACHUTE
Since the time men clubbed women on the head and dragged them
into caves, the care of hair has been a rite of civilizational passage.
The Harappan dancing girl had well groomed plaits, virtue
preserved in bronze. Ever wonder if she oiled her hair?
The two giants Hindustan Lever Ltd. ( HLL ) and Marico Industries
fought with each other for proving supremacy of their coconut hair
oil. The ad war reached such a point that HLL had to approach
MRTPC against the advertisement of Marico Industries.
Through magazines and TV, the Parachute of Marico informed the
consumers that the coconut oil of companies bearing plus sign
contains 48 per cent paraffin clearly indicating Clinic Plus of HLL. In
this particular ad, there was a bottle/ container bearing plus sign.
This plus sign had created the ad war between the two companies
although plus sign was not the symbol of any company.
The Parachute coconut oil of Marico Industries at that time was very
popular among the consumers. But the Clinic Plus of HLL was able
to challenge the supremacy of Parachute. The Clinic Plus shampoo
was already popular in the market and HLL started getting success in
its coconut oil also. This led to the attack by the Parachute through
attractive ad without naming any company.
50
Parachute says that paraffin dilutes the oil. Therefore it is essential to
buy hundred percent pure coconut oil. The HLL approached MRTPC
against this ad and won.
After wining the case against Marico's Parachute, the Clinic Plus
advertised in the newspapers that the Parachute is actually an edible
oil therefore it should not be compared with hair oil. Not only this the
Clinic Plus even in another ad said that another product of Marico
"Hair and care" also contains paraffin. The message the Clinic Plus
tried to send was that its hair oil should be compared with hair oil
'Hair and care" not with Parachute because it was an edible oil.
HLL said that its Clinic Plus contains some special mineral contents
which increases the beauty of hair and prevent stickiness. And the
Clinic Plus claimed that the Parachute is spreading wrong
information saying that this mineral oil is paraffin. The most
important part of this ad war was that to maintain supremacy one
company tried to blame the other by accusing that their competitor is
selling low quality product. Not only this, the ad war had another
angle. After entry of Clinic Plus within four months, the Parachute
has changed its marketing strategy to counter Clinic Plus. In many
places it decided to change its dealers and appointed many new
dealers in new places. For example, the Marico Industries appointed
four dealers increasing it from two at that time in East Delhi alone.
Clinic Plus also retaliated by taking more aggressive steps. Clinic
Plus in its advertisement kept on saying that their competition is with
51
Hair and Care as Parachute is an edible oil. But actually the Clinic
Plus was in direct competition with Parachute. Although the
Parachute advertisement was banned by MRTPC, it was able to
confuse the consumers.
The most interesting part of this ad war came to light after the ban on
Parachute ad. After the notice of MRTPC, when HLL gave their
advertisement many interesting points of this industry could be
found. Actually the coconut oil is under category of edible oil which
is free from tax. But except Kerala in almost all places in India,
coconut oil is used as hair oil. Hence the company like Marico
Industries took advantage of it by not writing as coconut hair oil in
its Parachute oil. Instead they used to write hundred per cent pure
coconut oil. If they write coconut hair oil in their packaging then the
company was liable to pay 40 per cent tax. Therefore most of the
companies did not write the word 'hair oil'. When the ad war broke
out, the HLL openly announced that although its competitor
Parachute is comparing with Clinic Plus according to government
regulation Parachute comes under edible oil category. After this ad
war, the market analyst clarified that dilute paraffin is used all over
world in hair oil after acquiring license from the concerned
government. Even most fragrant hair oil also uses dilute paraffin.
With ad war between HLL and Marico was on, some other brands
took advantage of it. For example, Dabur Vatika Hair oil gave an ad
claimed to be in the interest of healthy and beautiful hair where there
52
were two bottles. On the left side, one bottle was of paraffin +
coconut oil (clinic plus) and other was of coconut cooking oil
(Parachute). Through this ad Dabur Vatika indirectly claimed that
their product Vatika Hair Oil is superior than both Parachute and
Clinic Plus as ad says “Neither paraffin nor cooking oil. Just pure
Coconut Hair Oil enriched with Henna, Amla and Lemon.” The most
interesting part of this Dabur Vatika hair Oil was that they
acknowledged the presence of light liquid paraffin (mineral oil) in
their product. With a star mark it indicated that light liquid paraffin
(mineral oil) is totally safe and is extensively used in leading hair and skin
products both in India and abroad. This ad was also directed towards
answering customer quires to clarify the company’s point on
controversy regarding oils containing paraffin and coconut oil being
pure or impure.
53
HERO HONDA Vs TVS- SUZUKI
Advertising for two wheelers, whose market size is estimated at Rs.
8.14 lakh units (valued at approximately Rs. 7,000 crores) has
generally followed one of two routes: emotional for mopeds,
scooterettes and scooters and largely rational for motorbikes (or
sensory, focussing on the good looks of the bike). The motorcycle
category in contrast to scooters and other two wheelers is innately
about style, machismo and attitude. So the consumer naturally
responds to these cues.
Within the motorcycle category, it has been observed that two-stroke
bikes appeal more to the younger college going set, while four
strokes are preferred by more mature consumers. Translated into a
psychographic profile, a two –stroke consumer is one given to
flaunting a fast lifestyle that his bike symbolizes, while the four
stroke consumer is associated with sound middle – class values of
thrift and maturity.
The major brands that are available in India are all made with
Japanese collaboration: Hero-Honda, Kawasaki Bajaj, TVS- Suzuki
and Escorts-Yamaha. There are some functional or feature differences
among these brands but they may not appear considerable. The
advertising in this category has traditionally focused on adventure,
style and maleness in its basic definition.
54
The TVS was first in India to enter into this highly price – sensitive
100 cc segment in 1984. But later entrant Hero Honda had zipped far
ahead of TVS Suzuki with a cleaver positioning strategy in what is
essentially a buyers market. Now the Hero Honda has 40 per cent
market share and TVS- Suzuki has 23 per cent.
The Hero Honda has established itself as the most economical bike in
the market. Phenomenal fuel efficiency was Hero Honda’s USP,
conveyed in the campaign headline, “Fill it, shut it, forget it.” Taking
off from this TVS- Suzuki came up with highly visible ad campaign,
which was launched in February, 1989 with the poser: “ But can you
really afford to forget what they aren’t telling you? The ad then
proceeds to tell you how TVS-Suzuki has a lead over Hero Honda on
seven different counts, including price.
This comparative ad of the TVS-Suzuki had put the 100cc Suzuki
motorobike on a collision course with market leader Hero Honda.
The ad tried to compare seven features between TVS-Suzuki and
Hero Honda. As it is clear from the ad which highlighted the
disadvantages in Hero Honda and the advantages in TVS- Suzuki on
the basis of seven features. Not only that the ad had one Hero Honda
placed in front of a TVS- Suzuki clearly indicating that the TVS-
Suzuki wanted to challenge the supremacy of Hero-Honda.
According to Mr. Venu Srinivasan of TVS-Suzuki the reason behind
the provocative advertising approach was that the surveys had
revealed that non-users did not realize exactly what kind of value
55
the bike offered. Therefore the basic aim of TVS – Suzuki was that it
is more mobike for money. Changing consumer perception is not an
overnight process but such creative things can trigger off faster
responses. This particular ad campaign had created an uproar.
56
KAWASAKI BAJAJ Vs ESCORTS YAMAHA
The two motorcycle manufacturing companies Kawasaki Bajaj and
Escorts Yamaha were confronting head on in 100 cc segment through
their advertisement. From some time both the companies were
claiming that their product is superior than the others.
Stopping production of RX100 motorcycle, Escort Yamaha had
introduced RXG in a new fashion. In place of 100cc ,Escort Yamaha
introduced 135cc motorcycle and claimed that within 6 seconds it can
take speed from zero to sixty km/hour. And this claim of Escort Yamaha
was challenged.
This claim of Yamaha was challenged by Kawasaki Bajaj and through
hoardings and newspapers it said that the claim of Yamaha was
wrong. For this they gave reference from “Auto India” magazines and
claimed that Kawasaki Bajaj –125 cc can take speed from zero to sixty
km/hour within 6.8 seconds which is not possible for Yamaha. For
reaching this speed Yamaha needs 7.4 seconds. Apart from time taken
Bajaj had also claimed that Kawasaki Bajaj motorcycle is of 12.5 bhp
but Yamaha is 11.8 bhp.
For general public cc, bhp and speed these things do not make any
difference. But there are a lot of craze for cc, bhp and speed among
true lovers of motorcycle. These words can change the purchase
decision of a person. Now- a- days no customer is ready to
compromise with quality and features.
57
What Yamaha was saying that at present their motorcycle was so
famous and popular that the Kawasaki Bajaj is trying to mislead the
customers by spreading wrong information. For them whatever
Kawasaki Bajaj is saying, that is out of frustration. In 100cc
motorcycle category, the 135 cc RXG model of Yamaha is an
improvement from its 100 cc model. But in Kawasaki Bajaj- 125
introduced by Bajaj there is nothing new in it. The Kawasaki Bajaj
had only changed the sticker without any alteration in the engine.
From the ad of these two motorcycle companies, the third major
player Suzuki tried to take advantage of it. Suzuki’s ad line says “
now 110 cc is more powerful than 135 cc”. Actually the Suzuki was
also identified Yamaha as its main competitor and Yamaha 135 cc
was the main rival of Suzuki Shogun. Hence Suzuki said that its
Suzuki Shogun is better than Yamaha in terms of bhp. Suzuki said
that although its motorcycle is of 110 cc but in terms of bhp, it is 14
bhp motorcycle and therefore more costly than other motorcycles.
The claim of Suzuki was quite realistic because among motorcycle
lovers the attraction for less cc and more bhp bike is more. For them
Suzuki shogun is “performance bike”.
58
CONCLUSION
Zindagi mein … mushkilain hain to manzilain hain… kyonki fighter
hamesha jeetta hai”. Cut to an executive celebrating after a marathon
deal or a biker cruising to victory after a grueling race? Not quite. Cut
to Javed Akhtar endorsing a ball pen! A bit extreme., to sell a lowly
ball per with shayari, some would say. Completely natural for the
brand to now make an emotional appeal, others insist. Why just
Rotomac? Look at Apollo tyres, Asian Paints, Cadbury’s Dairy Milk,
Fiat Uno, Raymond suiting, VIP luggage… examples abound. Lilting
music, soul – stirring lyrics, heart-warming visuals and warm sepia
tones even in print. The Indian ad industry is high on emotions.
Is there a specific reason for this trend? Are budget cuts pushing
agencies to the tried and tested emotional route rather than risk new
approaches? Are creative gurus taking their cues from the thumping
success of feel – good Hindi movies such as Dil to pagal hai and kuch
kuch hota hai to tune into their target segments? Or is competition
forcing the hand of advertisers?
Yes and no. Essentially defined as advertising that has an emotional
rather than a rational appeal, it does seem as if several advertisers
have clambered on to the emotional band-wagon because of the
recession. As Niranjan Natarajan, Creative Director, Trikaya Grey puts
it. “When the going gets tough, the tough get emotional”! Faced with
increasingly fierce competition, product parity, falling demand and a
fickle lot of consumers, advertisers are going the emotional way to
59
try and forge a bond with the consumer which, they hope will keep
him from reaching for another brand.
In doing so, they appeal primarily to the unabashed sentimentality
of Indians. As any advertiser will glee-fully assert, we are an
emotional people. Much more than Americans and Britons, or even
our other Asian cousins. And when an advertiser touches the rigid
chords, we can be a loyal, generous lot. As Sumanto Chattopadhyay
Associate Creative Director Ogilvy and Mather puts it. “Pull at our
heartstrings and we’ll open our purse strings!”. Typically, it is the
leaders in a product category who can afford to plug emotions
strongly. A marketer would normally build his top brands through
an emotional route while using a regular, rational route for his lower
end brands. The route is also very much in evidence when a leader is
losing share (the ads for Maruti Esteem, for instance), when an Indian
company wants to thwart a foreign brand (Hamara Bajaj) or when an
MNC brand wants to sport a desi look. In the last category would fall
ads for brands such as Kodak cameras, Wall’s ice cream, Coke, Pepsi,
Adidas (the cricket ad with Tendulkar) and Samsonite (pickle bottle-
in-the-suitcase).
While there is an entire gamut of emotions, the hot favorites among
Indian advertisers are those of joy, sentimentality, empathy and fear.
The last is arguably the most powerful and is used to great effect by
insurance companies (fear of fire, theft, loss of valuables), some car
60
tyre manufacturers and mosquito mats, cooking oil, water purifiers
and disposable needles.
While the emotional route is really the ‘peripheral’ route in
advertising as opposed to the ‘central’ route that uses logic and
reasoning. Its power is far greater. Research shows that ads strong on
emotions generally enjoy high recall,. Possibly because it manages, by
virtue of its subtlety, to impress on the consumer while keeping his
defenses down. That way, it really is the ‘backdoor’ route to a
consumer’s heart. But that isn’t the only reason why the route is so
attractive to advertisers. It helps enormously in building the brand
and its image, and in building a long – term relationship with the
consumer.
And this as more and more advertisers are realizing can benefit them
enormously. The 50th year of independence fortuitously provided
advertisers with a chance to go emotional in a big way by expressing
pride in being Indian. This celebration of a shared experience where
the objective is to tell the consumer. “You and I are alike, we feel the
same way, so let’s stay together’., (appealing to the innate tendency
to form groups a ‘granfalloon’ in psychological lingo) is in fact used
successfully in celebrity endorsements too.
The new millennium, it is predicted will also bring in a wave of
emotional advertising as it presents an opportunity for advertisers to
cash in on the sense of promise and expectancy consumers are
expected to feel. A UK based brand consultancy group has revealed
61
that consumers perceive the dawn of the millennium as a very
emotional moment and are expected to make major changes in their
lives. It would undoubtedly give Indian advertisers the chance to
build a positive image of their brand around an emotion they don’t
often use hope.
Whatever the circumstances, compulsions or limitations, emotional
advertising is certainly the route of the future. But it seems the
advertisers can not ignore competitive advertising. Such is the impact
of competitive advertising that the companies like Daewoo Motors are
still advertising its Cielo and Matiz car comparing with its
competitors. Same is the case of Hyundai Motors. Against the present
trend of emotional advertising, these companies have expressed their
confidence in competitive advertising. So powerful is the impact that
it is now being used for selling Political Image. In a recent government
release advertisement featuring Prime Minister Mr. Atal Behari
Vajpayee and Power Minister Mr. P. R. Kumaramangalam compared
government performance in improving power situation in the
country with that of previous governments of Late Rajiv Gandhi,
Mr. Narashimha Rao and Mr. H. D. Devagowda. It will be interesting to
see where competitive advertising is going to use next.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
 The Times of India
 The Hindustan Times
62
 The Hindu
 Jansatta
 Business India
 Business Today
 Business World
 Advertising & Marketing
 A&M
63

Dissertation on Competitive Advertising Case Studies

Caricato da

Informazioni sul documento

Titolo originale

Copyright

Formati disponibili

Condividi questo documento

Condividi o incorpora il documento

Opzioni di condivisione

Hai trovato utile questo documento?

Questo contenuto è inappropriato?

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

Dissertation on Competitive Advertising Case Studies

Caricato da

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

Dissertation Competitive Advertising

S. No. TOPIC Page No.

(i) Coke Vs Pepsi 15

(ii) Colgate Vs Pepsodent 45

(iii) Limca Vs Mirinda Lemon 47

(iv) Clinic Plus Vs Parachute 53

(v) Hero Honda Vs TVS Suzuki 57

(vi) Kawasaki Bajaj Vs Escorts Yamaha 60

The urge to advertise seems to be a part of human nature, evidenced

since ancient times. Of the 5,000 year recorded history of advertising

right up to our present television satellite age we can find many

changes. The two elements missing in much of the advertising

industry of the early years of this century were :

1. An ethical framework for judging promotional messages and

2. Research to measure the success of these messages.

The history of advertising can be divided into three broad periods.

communicate a product or service. The mass communication era

increasingly able to reach large segments of the population, first with

during the past 50 years advertisers have methodically improved the

techniques of identifying and reaching narrowly targeted audiences

with messages prepared specifically for each group or individual .

Modern communication technology has aided in this quest for the

perfect advertising campaign.

In a copy writer’s armoury the latest , most lethal weapon is the

competitive advertising. It is bold, incisine and can draw blood at

advertising strategy is openly aggressive. Makers of a range of

products, as diverse as photocopiers, fans, two wheelers and even

water tanks are challenging competitors in hand to hand combat .

Mentioning a competitor’s name, comparing his product feature-

assert that in today’s competitive din, bolder , brasher approach is

called for. The general feeling in today’s advertising world is that

heard over the din of the market place.

Comparative advertising is considered a direct fall out of intense, cut

to survive is by tripping the winner.

In April, 1977, the Delhi High Court restrained Standard Batteries

from releasing ads that allegedly cast aspersions on rival Exide

Ambassador, while standard’s product was claimed to satisfy the

needs of dazzlers like Mercedes -Benz, Opel Astra and Ford.

Most brands in competitive markets are aiming to differentiate

themselves and others serve as the point of reference. Therefore,

advertising by its very definition is supposed to be comparative .

What we usually see in FMCGs and durables advertising is mild

innuendo . It involves pressing home product pluses that be little or

challenge the competition to a duel . It’s done with subtlety.

Take Complan’s defence against Smithkline Beecham’s Horlicks,

Chaitra Leo Burnett, Complan’s agency created a “Brand H” ( an

obvious reference to Horlicks) and had it proved inferior to Complan

by way of a children’s talk show in a TV spot. When Smithkline

source, Charitra had anticipated this all along. So it had shot an

alternative- with Brand X . But Brand H had already caught attention

before it was replaced.

The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act (MRTPC) forbids

references to competition directly or by implication in advertising . It

is outdated and legal eagles know better than to blindly go by it. In

the land of liberty , the US Federal Trade Commission explicitly

endorses the comparative use of brand names to enable consumers

make a more learned decision. In India, ASCI’s guidlines on the

matter say that it’s okay so long as a company substantiates its

claims, like it is in authoritarian China.

A party indulging in comparative advertising also leaves itself wide

open to a counter attack. So it first needs to make sure that it has

covered all its weak spots. According to Tanaaz Kalyaniwala,

executive creative director, Chaitra (who worked on Complan), “