In the Decline stage, new products replace the old.

Price competition
from dying products becomes more vigorous, but firms with strong
brands may make profits until the end because they successfully
differentiated their products. They may also keep some sales by
appealing to the most loyal customers or those who are slow to try
new ideas. Costs, because competition is still intense, continue to
rise. Profits, as expected, continue to erode during this stage with
little hope of recovery. Typewriters are in the decline stage of the
product life cycle.
As sales decline, the firm has several options:
a) Maintain the product- possibly rejuvenating it by adding new
features & finding new uses.
b) Harvest the product- reduce costs & continue to offer it, probably to
a loyal niche segment.
c) Discontinue the product- liquidating remaining inventory or selling
to another firm that is willing to continue the product.

A good example of this is “Tide” washing powder, which has grown

old, and it is still growing.

Some examples of decline products are: BioAmla and Insta Excite.

INTRODUCTION
Third generation mobile phones
E-conferencing
All-in-one racing skin-suits
iris-based personal identity cards

GROWTH
Portable DVD Players
Email
Breathable synthetic fabrics
Smart cards

MATURITY
Personal Computers
Faxes
Cotton t-shirts
Credit cards
DECLINE
Typewriters
Handwritten letters
Shell Suits
Cheque books

Product Life Cycle

Since this is a Fast Moving Consumer Product, the average

product life cycle of this product (if used every day) is 30
days and 2 years if not in use (if stored in a cool and dry
location). The brand is entering from growth to maturity.

Dettol: Symbol of hygiene and safety

Contributed by Administrator
Tuesday, 07 April 2009
Last Updated Tuesday, 07 April 2009
CH-brands
Dettol: Symbol of hygiene and safety
The brand has succeeded in increasing the number of ways people
use it
Dettol celebrated its 75 years of existence in 2008. This highly
popular antiseptic brand from FMCG giant Reckitt
Benckiser has come a long way since 1933. After a plethora of
extensions and experiments, this brand is still ruling the
Indian market as the most preferred antiseptic lotion and also as a
premium soap.
The brand celebrated its 75 years by reinforcing the germ killing
positioning and the tagline “ Be 100%
sure”. The brand is currently running a campaign highlighting
the efficiency and the multi-uses of the product.
One of the strategies for a brand which has reached the maturity
stage of product life cycle (PLC) is to find new uses for
the product. The Dettol brand is currently in the process of
discovering those new uses for the product. When the
consumer uses the product for different purposes, the sales naturally
increases.
The best way to find the new uses for the product is to ask the
consumers. Dettol did just that. It ran a series of
promotions asking consumers to tell the company, how they used
Dettol.
The brand asked the consumers to contact them and tell the
company on the multiple uses of the product and thus
gained lot of insights into the various uses of the brand. The brand
later came out with a series of campaign highlighting
the various uses of this antiseptic. Dettol now taken the platform of a
multi-use antiseptic which can be used during bath,
to clean wounds, to sterilize clothes, floor etc. Although homemakers
has been using Dettol for all these, the company
has now taken these uses as a part of the core product. The brand is
trying to break the image of Dettol as an antiseptic
which is used for cleaning wounds.
Along with this initiative, the brand also reinforced its commitment
towards hygiene. The brand has selected hygiene as
the core brand value and theme which it will fight for.
In 2008, the brand conducted a study which showed that 78% of
frequently touched surfaces in a household is highly
contaminated. The brand then conducted a series of awareness
campaign to promote better hygiene using Dettol.
Using hygiene as the major theme, Dettol is trying to increase the
usage of the product among the households. Because
of the excellent brand equity, Dettol is in a position to ride this wave.
enrich.ch-india.com
http://enrich.ch-india.com/Enrich Powered by Joomla! Generated: 29
November, 2010, 06:55

Reckitt Benckiser India Ltd.

Products Offered:

This is a list of the brands owned by Reckitt Benckiser. Not all brands
are sold in every country, and the same product may be sold under
different brands in different countries. In INDIA the products are

LIZOL
LIZOL is dish washing liquid which was introduced to India in 1998. It was
the first product
which was in liquid format. Lizol in 2007 has a 25% market share and it’s a
middle class
oriented product.

MORTEIN
Mortein was introduced in India in 1999. it was a anti mosquito

Liquid vaporizer, which gave a big competition to the other products like jet
and all-out. It

started getting the market share and achieved 45% out of total market share
in India.

DETTOL
Dettol is a very famous product in India. Total market share of dettol is
86%. This product has a monopoly in the market , instead of having
competitors

AIRWICK
It is a latest product of the company. which was launched in India in 2006.
it’s a freshener
used cars and room. It’s a world famous product and having 70 % of market
share in
America and 66 % in uk.

CLEARSIL
Clearasil is a world famous product of the company and having 56% market
share in India.
It is one of its kind and very famous in uk.
DIP-IT
It’s a stain washer, and highly use full product steal and other antiques.
DISPRIN

It’s a medical product and very famous in people for headache. It’s a pain
reliever and

having 40 % market share in India according to latest reports.

HARPIC
Harpic is a disinfectant and a toilet cleaner. Having 67%
market share in India, it’s a very famous product which
is consistently grabbing the trust of the market.
STREPSILS
Strepsils sore throat lozenges.

VANISH
Vanish is a product which already famous in the world and introduced in
India at the time
when the economy is booming in India. The market of VANISH is not very
much in India but
the company is still hoping that the market will grow in the next 4-5 years.

EASY OFF
EASY OFF BANG is a stain remover. It is meant for middle and higher
level families. It has
a 41% of market share in its category.

VEET
Veet is a latest product of the company which was introduced in India in
2001 and in 2003
this product was re-launched after some correction in the product’s quality.
Right now the
product is having 39% of the total market share.

Cherry
It’s a shoe polish and was introduced in Indian market in 1988. The market
share of the

product is 44% in liquid format and 65% in paste format.

Reckitt Benckiser India Ltd.

Products Offered:

This is a list of the brands owned by Reckitt Benckiser. Not all brands
are sold in every country, and the same product may be sold under
different brands in different countries. In INDIA the products are

LIZOL
LIZOL is dish washing liquid which was introduced to India in 1998. It was
the first product
which was in liquid format. Lizol in 2007 has a 25% market share and it’s a
middle class
oriented product.

MORTEIN
Mortein was introduced in India in 1999. it was a anti mosquito

Liquid vaporizer, which gave a big competition to the other products like jet
and all-out. It

started getting the market share and achieved 45% out of total market share
in India.

DETTOL
Dettol is a very famous product in India. Total market share of dettol is
86%. This product has a monopoly in the market , instead of having
competitors

AIRWICK
It is a latest product of the company. which was launched in India in 2006.
it’s a freshener
used cars and room. It’s a world famous product and having 70 % of market
share in
America and 66 % in uk.

CLEARSIL
Clearasil is a world famous product of the company and having 56% market
share in India.
It is one of its kind and very famous in uk.
DIP-IT
It’s a stain washer, and highly use full product steal and other antiques.
DISPRIN

It’s a medical product and very famous in people for headache. It’s a pain
reliever and

having 40 % market share in India according to latest reports.

HARPIC
Harpic is a disinfectant and a toilet cleaner. Having 67%
market share in India, it’s a very famous product which
is consistently grabbing the trust of the market.
STREPSILS
Strepsils sore throat lozenges.

VANISH
Vanish is a product which already famous in the world and introduced in
India at the time
when the economy is booming in India. The market of VANISH is not very
much in India but
the company is still hoping that the market will grow in the next 4-5 years.

EASY OFF
EASY OFF BANG is a stain remover. It is meant for middle and higher
level families. It has
a 41% of market share in its category.

VEET
Veet is a latest product of the company which was introduced in India in
2001 and in 2003
this product was re-launched after some correction in the product’s quality.
Right now the
product is having 39% of the total market share.

Cherry
It’s a shoe polish and was introduced in Indian market in 1988. The market
share of the

product is 44% in liquid format and 65% in paste format.

Source :: http://www.scribd.com/doc/22356336/Reckitt-Benckiser
Product Life Cycle Stages Examples

Product Life Cycle stages Examples

Decline:

Hindustan Motors Ambassador

HM decides to increase sales of their age old classic model – Ambassador in
the country. They are planning to sell 12,500 units this year with the
introduction of their new fuel efficient engine. This engine will be compliant
with the Bharat Stage 2 & 3 emission norms. It’s probably delivering the
mileage of 16 km/l against a 11 km/l mileage from the existing diesel
engine.

Hindustan Motors plans to invest Rs 6 crores in upgrading engines to build

them BS-3 compliant.The number of changes will be made on the new
model. HM also has introduced the buy-back scheme where buyers can
exchange their old models of Ambassador with the new one at the discount
of Rs 35K.

HM’s 50-years old model is presently being made by the industry in

Uttarpara, Kolkata. This model is available as 1.5L CNG and petrol version
and 2L diesel engine variants. Currently, the car has majority sales in Delhi,
Is this Essay helpful? Join OPPapers to read more and access
more than 200,000 just like it!

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West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. It has the 110 dealers across India.
Elegance & Economy
Unmatched space, comfort, safety and sturdiness
Fuel efficient
Once the uncrowned king of Indian roads, the Ambassador has been
relegated to the ranks of also-rans by the new brigade of Japanese, Korean,
European and American cars. Its makers, Hindustan Motors, have
been making valiant attempts to re-invent the car as aContemporary classic,
much in the mould of Enfield (Bullet) motorcycles, but have been much less
successful in their efforts.

I have seen by their sales figures that they still manage to sell a couple of
thousand cars a year even today. Beats me why anyone would want an
AMBY, except for old times’ sake. When I was growing up, it was the car to
own, since it was cheaper to maintain than a Fiat, had a better turning radius
(5.4m), could go anywhere, could carry more people and luggage and last,
but not the least, could be repaired even by a roadside dabbah-wallah! No
one had heard of regular...

CURRENTLY which NEW product fails in indian markets:

whole range of electronic products like in TV
Dyanora
Solidaire
Bush(not related to US President!)
Keltron
BPL
in audio system
sanyo
hyundai
BPL

There are so many FMCG(Fast moving consumer goods) in Indian market.

Every brand name companies have had many FMCG in one time or other.
Hindustan Uni lever's Emami talc , Swastic's Det soap , many of lakme
products fail to live upto their expectations and has failed in the Indian
market.

Why Apple iPhone failed in India ?

Posted at November 21st, 2008 under Apple iPhone, Mobile

Companies | 3 Comments »

Read about the Apple iPhone’s debacle

especially in the Indian Market. Market researchers argue that Apple
has downplayed India for the country not being a potential ground for
iPhone. No doubt that iPhone is a great device , Its a revolutionary
phone – much more than a phone. Apple iPhone is creating waves
across the globe and the Time magazine has named the iPhone as
the invention of the year of 2007, but what really went wrong for
India?
It wasn’t just the pricing that did iPhone in. Apple got everything-
starting with marketing communication to the sales and distribution
model-wrong, say analysts.
These finer points can be counted for why India cannot be a potential
market. The reasons for the debacle varies from company’s
marketing strategy to consumer’s need.
Perspective 1 :India ‘s Consumer’s need
• Texting or SMS is the hottest mobile thing in India – It is not so
comfortable with the touchscreen keypad in the iPhones
• No Video Recording – iPhone sure comes with a camera but not
sophisticated enough for video recording which is so much fun for all.
• TouchScreen phones are still not popular
• Mobile Web is not big in India but its Growing – mobile internet
usage is still small compared to PC internet usage. iPhone Web Apps
is a totally new area and mobile internet is the backbone for these
iPhone apps which are heavily data driven. If Apple can force the
Operators like Airtel and Vodafone to bring out unlimited GPRS plans
then things might change.
• Users dont spend much on Value Added Services such as
ringtones,songs etc – We Indians spend a lot on phones for sure but
mainly for calls and messages nothing more.
Alright… But such reasons on consumer’s need would prove
ambiguous for why iPhones are still not so infamous in India. “Around
120 million handsets are sold in India every year and, of these,
almost 4% to 5% are smartphones. Nokia has around 60-70% share
of this market,” says Gartner’s Gupta. Sure, there is a way to get
going with iPhones for India!
Perspective2: Company’s Marketing Strategy
Selling huge numbers in India was not even Apple’s game plan, it
seems. Around the time of its launch, the company had said it hoped
to sell 10 million units globally by December, whereas in India, it
would ship 100,000 phones by December 2009. Clearly, Apple wasn’t
expecting big sales from the market. It does not seem that Apple ever
thought it would make a huge splash in India, allocating just 50,000
iPhones to that market.
“The company failed to strike a connect with Indian consumers. That,
according to me, is their biggest failure and it may have
repercussions for them in future as well. Whether they sold enough
numbers or not is secondary. A brand like Apple need not be told that
an iconic product needs iconic advertising, a solid marketing push,”
says Prathap Suthan, national creative director of advertising agency
Cheil Communications India.
Reasons for the tepid debut of the iPhone in India: price, promotion,
and distribution. For one, pricing was always going to be part of it. At
$800, the gadget was without a doubt expensive, especially
considering a typical IT worker’s annual salary ranges from $12,000-
$24,000. Indian consumers were well aware that the iPhone was
selling in the US for $199, but Apple made no attempt to explain the
sizable cost difference—that subsidzing handsets isn’t common
practice in the Indian market as it is in the US. The price of the
iPhone is not just the problem. Shedloads of other smartphones are
selling well in India. It seems that Apple and its carrier partners Bharti
Airtel and Vodafone didn’t promote the iPhone as aggressively as
was done in other countries.
Voices from Marketing Researchers assert the above mentioned
reasons.
“Besides a very high price tag, one main reason behind iPhone’s
failure in India is that there was a very weak link as far as consumer
confidence was concerned,” says Anshul Gupta, senior research
analyst, Gartner Inc., an information technology research and
advisory firm.
“The company failed to strike a connect with Indian consumers. That,
according to me, is their biggest failure and it may have
repercussions for them in future as well. Whether they sold enough
numbers or not is secondary. A brand like Apple need not be told that
an iconic product needs iconic advertising, a solid marketing push,”
says Prathap Suthan, national creative director of advertising agency
Cheil Communications India.

1. Onida : The Devil is Back

Brand : Onida, Compnay: Mirc Electronics, Agency rediffusion
I am celebrating the Return of the devil, still wondering why it was
taken away in the first place. I was in my teens when they launched
the TV with a " devil" . The marketers predicted doom for the brand
but the devil clicked.
The Devil was originally created by Mr gopi Kukde of Avenues in
1982. It was a welcome break from the boring TV industry. If I
remember correctly, Onida was the first brand to advertise in
Television, ie TVC about TV in TV.
The brand had a wonderful time and was in the top three brands in
marketshare behind BPL and Videocon. Then the Koreans came and
rest is (Became) history. Onida had a fair chance to succeed when
the koreans came to the Indian market. Onida was perceived to be a
vibrant brand with technological superiority.
Then Mirc electronics decided the switch the agency to O&M.The
creative hotshots there convinced Mirc that Devil is outdated. Hence
the company changed from the famous " neighbours envy, owners
pride" to some thing that i dont remember. What a tragedy......
Here is a time tested and successful positioning statement and a
mascot that was so wonderful but it was changed for no reason what
so ever. Then the newspaper reports quoted the agency telling that
people resented the " neighbours envy" part so they have to change
it... it was a lie.
O&M used some funny creatives like two elderly women using TV to
terrify some young thing walking through the street. It was the death
of a brand. The brand never recovered . Its market share dwindled to
abysmal 5% in the late 90's.
2001 marked the return of the devil and the account shifted to
Rediffusion. The consumer surveys showed high recall of devil even
after 2 decades. The devil has to come back and it came in style.
The first devil was acted out by David Whitbread who was a
model coordinator. he
played devil for 14 years
The new devil is Matrix insprired and sports a contemprory look.
Played by actor Rajesh Khera, the devil now is rocking. Onida which
has recovered its market share to 12 % is aggressively playing on the
marketing game. With a slew of product launches and careful
segmentation, the market is opening to the devil. Onida is careful in
positioning itself as a technologically superior premium brand
although the prices are very competitive. It has launched the Poison
brand which is a premium brand and Oxygen , Black and KY for the
value for money segment.
In this Rs 10000 crore crowded market ,Onida has struck the
right positioning .
1
2. Frooti : Fresh N Juicy
Brand : Frooti Company: Parle Agro food, Agency: Grey
worldwide
Frooti is the first tetrapak fruit juice in India. Launched in
1984, Frooti still holds a
dominant position in the Rs300 crore tetrapak fruit juice (TFJ)
market.
Frooti over these years have carved out a niche for itself in the
market. Frooti instantly caught the fancy of Indian consumer with its
tetrapak and some smart campaigns. Initially the drink was positioned
as a kids drink. The product was perceived as a healthy fruit drink by
the mothers . So within a short span of time ,the brand was an
alternative to the “unhealthy” colas. The tetrapak had other benefits
also . Fruit juice is a perishable product and tetrapak have extended
the shelf life of Frooti because tetrapaks have 2 layers of paper and a
plastic coating that ensured tamper proof and enhanced shelf life.
Lured by the success of Frooti, there was a lot of new launches in the
TFJ market. Players like Godrej with Jumpin, kissan etc tried their
luck in this market but failed to dislodge Frooti.
Frooti was positioned as a mango drink that is “Fresh-n-juicy” For
over a 7 years, the company promoted the product using that famous
baseline. The product have tried to create excitement in the market
through a series of new variants and packing. But in late ninetees the
brand was facing stagnated sales. The company tried to excite the
market with an orange and pineapple variant but both the variant
bombed. The came the experiment with packaging . The YO! Frooti
variant came with a slim paper can aimed at the college going youth.
Worried by the stagnating sales, Parle tried to reposition the brand to
appeal to youth aged between 16-21. The positioning changed to be
more fun based. The package also changed. The old green color of
the bottle changed to more bright mango color with lot of graphics
added to it.
One of the most famous marketing campaigns India have witnessed
took place during the repositioning. The campaign is the famous “
Digen Verma “ campaign. This campaign was considered as one of
the most successful teaser campaigns in India. The campaign lasted
for 15 days started in February 2001. The campaign was about a
faceless person Digen Varma
2

There were posters and outdoors all across the markets that had
messages like “ Who is Digen verma” “ Digen Verma was here” etc.
This created lot of excitement in the market and “Digen Verma
“became the most talked about faceless name at that time. The
campaign was executed by Everest communication. But the
campaign was not followed up and the hype was not translated to
long term brand building.
Frooti is basically a nectar based drink so it is not 100% fruit juice, it
also have some preservatives added to increase the shelf life.
Although Frooti did not face much competition in the category it
created, competition came from a slightly different category, 100%
fruit juices. Parle saw the emergence of the “ 100% fruit drink market
and launched “Njoy” brand but it did not clicked. Parle could have
extended Frooti to this market also .The brand Real from Dabur is the
main player in this category. Real effectively positioned itself as a
premium healthy drink for adults. Frooti was not able to appeal to
adults and was considered as a mango drink while Real is not
restricted to any flavour. Frooti also changed its positioning statement
from ‘ Fresh-N-juicy” to “ Juice Up your life” which have not clicked
with the customers.
Although Frooti enjoys a commanding (75%) market share , Frooti is
facing stagnation. May be some serious steps should be taken to
increase the usage of the product. The launch of PET bottle Frooti is
a step in this direction. Recently Frooti also launched a “Green
mango” variant just to create some hype in the market. Frooti may
have to reposition itself again to appeal to cola drinkers.
3. Ambassador : Marketing Myopia
Brand : Ambassador
Company : Hindustan Motors
Agency : Mudra/ Equus
Brand Analysis Count : 326
Ambassador can be called as the first Indian car. Although
the car has a
British legacy, it is considered as definitive Indian car. Ambassador
was born in 1958. The car owes its design and technology to a British
car model - Morris Oxford which was built by Morris Motor Co at
Oxford UK. Hindustan Motors launched the Indianised version of
Morris Oxford as Ambassador in 1958.
From 1958 to 1980's Ambassador ruled the Indian market. Infact
there were only two cars in the Indian market - Premier Padmini and
Ambassador. The licence raj, lack of capital and the unfriendly Indian
economic policies ensured that no automobile manufacturers entered
the Indian market.
3
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1. Onida : The Devil is Back

Brand : Onida, Compnay: Mirc Electronics, Agency rediffusion
I am celebrating the Return of the devil, still wondering why it was
taken away in the first place. I was in my teens when they launched
the TV with a " devil" . The marketers predicted doom for the brand
but the devil clicked.
The Devil was originally created by Mr gopi Kukde of Avenues in
1982. It was a welcome break from the boring TV industry. If I
remember correctly, Onida was the first brand to advertise in
Television, ie TVC about TV in TV.
The brand had a wonderful time and was in the top three brands in
marketshare behind BPL and Videocon. Then the Koreans came and
rest is (Became) history. Onida had a fair chance to succeed when
the koreans came to the Indian market. Onida was perceived to be a
vibrant brand with technological superiority.
Then Mirc electronics decided the switch the agency to O&M.The
creative hotshots there convinced Mirc that Devil is outdated. Hence
the company changed from the famous " neighbours envy, owners
pride" to some thing that i dont remember. What a tragedy......
Here is a time tested and successful positioning statement and a
mascot that was so wonderful but it was changed for no reason what
so ever. Then the newspaper reports quoted the agency telling that
people resented the " neighbours envy" part so they have to change
it... it was a lie.
O&M used some funny creatives like two elderly women using TV to
terrify some young thing walking through the street. It was the death
of a brand. The brand never recovered . Its market share dwindled to
abysmal 5% in the late 90's.
2001 marked the return of the devil and the account shifted to
Rediffusion. The consumer surveys showed high recall of devil even
after 2 decades. The devil has to come back and it came in style.
The first devil was acted out by David Whitbread who was a
model coordinator. he
played devil for 14 years
The new devil is Matrix insprired and sports a contemprory look.
Played by actor Rajesh Khera, the devil now is rocking. Onida which
has recovered its market share to 12 % is aggressively playing on the
marketing game. With a slew of product launches and careful
segmentation, the market is opening to the devil. Onida is careful in
positioning itself as a technologically superior premium brand
although the prices are very competitive. It has launched the Poison
brand which is a premium brand and Oxygen , Black and KY for the
value for money segment.
In this Rs 10000 crore crowded market ,Onida has struck the
right positioning .
1
2. Frooti : Fresh N Juicy
Brand : Frooti Company: Parle Agro food, Agency: Grey
worldwide
Frooti is the first tetrapak fruit juice in India. Launched in
1984, Frooti still holds a
dominant position in the Rs300 crore tetrapak fruit juice (TFJ)
market.
Frooti over these years have carved out a niche for itself in the
market. Frooti instantly caught the fancy of Indian consumer with its
tetrapak and some smart campaigns. Initially the drink was positioned
as a kids drink. The product was perceived as a healthy fruit drink by
the mothers . So within a short span of time ,the brand was an
alternative to the “unhealthy” colas. The tetrapak had other benefits
also . Fruit juice is a perishable product and tetrapak have extended
the shelf life of Frooti because tetrapaks have 2 layers of paper and a
plastic coating that ensured tamper proof and enhanced shelf life.
Lured by the success of Frooti, there was a lot of new launches in the
TFJ market. Players like Godrej with Jumpin, kissan etc tried their
luck in this market but failed to dislodge Frooti.
Frooti was positioned as a mango drink that is “Fresh-n-juicy” For
over a 7 years, the company promoted the product using that famous
baseline. The product have tried to create excitement in the market
through a series of new variants and packing. But in late ninetees the
brand was facing stagnated sales. The company tried to excite the
market with an orange and pineapple variant but both the variant
bombed. The came the experiment with packaging . The YO! Frooti
variant came with a slim paper can aimed at the college going youth.
Worried by the stagnating sales, Parle tried to reposition the brand to
appeal to youth aged between 16-21. The positioning changed to be
more fun based. The package also changed. The old green color of
the bottle changed to more bright mango color with lot of graphics
added to it.
One of the most famous marketing campaigns India have witnessed
took place during the repositioning. The campaign is the famous “
Digen Verma “ campaign. This campaign was considered as one of
the most successful teaser campaigns in India. The campaign lasted
for 15 days started in February 2001. The campaign was about a
faceless person Digen Varma
2

There were posters and outdoors all across the markets that had
messages like “ Who is Digen verma” “ Digen Verma was here” etc.
This created lot of excitement in the market and “Digen Verma
“became the most talked about faceless name at that time. The
campaign was executed by Everest communication. But the
campaign was not followed up and the hype was not translated to
long term brand building.
Frooti is basically a nectar based drink so it is not 100% fruit juice, it
also have some preservatives added to increase the shelf life.
Although Frooti did not face much competition in the category it
created, competition came from a slightly different category, 100%
fruit juices. Parle saw the emergence of the “ 100% fruit drink market
and launched “Njoy” brand but it did not clicked. Parle could have
extended Frooti to this market also .The brand Real from Dabur is the
main player in this category. Real effectively positioned itself as a
premium healthy drink for adults. Frooti was not able to appeal to
adults and was considered as a mango drink while Real is not
restricted to any flavour. Frooti also changed its positioning statement
from ‘ Fresh-N-juicy” to “ Juice Up your life” which have not clicked
with the customers.
Although Frooti enjoys a commanding (75%) market share , Frooti is
facing stagnation. May be some serious steps should be taken to
increase the usage of the product. The launch of PET bottle Frooti is
a step in this direction. Recently Frooti also launched a “Green
mango” variant just to create some hype in the market. Frooti may
have to reposition itself again to appeal to cola drinkers.

Bajaj Chetak (1972-2005), Brand: Bajaj Chetak, Compnay

Bajaj Motors ltd
The brand which ruled the Indian roads have been laid to
rest. Bajaj has officially stopped
the production of Bajaj Chetak from December 2005. The
stocks will last may be upto5
March 2006. The company says that the product no longer
have any relevance to the
customer. To quote Rajiv bajaj " Any one who clings to the
past is a failure".

I owned a Chetak: a gift from my father for having secured admission

to MBA program. It was in the year 1996. Later I exchanged it for a
bike in 2001. Still Chetak lingers in me ( or rather haunts me) in the
form of " Back Pain".

The brand which was launched in 1972 virtually owned the two
wheeler segment. If reports are to be believed, Chetak was an
unavoidable dowry in 1970's and 80's. It had a waiting period of more
than 10 years ( can you believe it ? ) and now here I am after 34
years, writing the epitaph of this brand.

The brand which was named after the legendary stallion of the Rajput
king Maharana Pratap, was known for the reliability and sturdiness.
The brand thrived during the license raj with virtually no competition.
It was during 1990-91 that the brand began the journey to the end.
Bajaj Chetak had a huge brand equity . The brand had the persona of
a " work horse” With reasonable price and the low maintenance cost
made this product a huge hit among the middle class
Indians.Promoted along the base line " Hamara Bajaj", this was the
Indian Family vehicle - a position now owned by Maruthi 800.
But then How can a brand that was so popular and
successful fail?Frankly, I am not sure.
But here is what I think about this brand...

The primary reason is that the Brand forgot the customers. Another
case of Marketing Myopia. The company failed to understand the
changing perception of the customers towards scooters. Rather than
looking at the customers, the company focused on influencing
Government to block the opening up of economy. Bajaj never did
anything with the product. For 40 years Chetak had the same look,
same quality and style.

During the mid nineties the company realised lately that the segment
has shifted to motorcycles. Scooters were no longer the option. But
did the company made a mistake in discarding the scooter segment ?
Looking at the way the share prices are going, the market thinks that
Bajaj Auto made the right decision. But I think that
they made a mistake in leaving the scooter segment
completely. Contrary to expectation,
the scooter segment has not died. It has only changed.

Chetak lost its identity some where during the nineties. What should
be the future of the brand : no body knew. It was only in 2004 that
company made any change in Chetak. In 1994 Bajaj introduced
Classic another scooter with same style as Chetak, but failed.

Bajaj never was serious about product development. The R&D spent
for a long time was a miniscule 1%. The average cycle time for the
new product development was 4-5 years compared to 2-3 years of
Japanese competitors.

Even after the opening up of economy, the scooter segment did not
witness much competition. The players like Vespa did not had much
of success in this segment. Kinetic Honda managed to carve a niche
with its gearless scooters. Another segment which was growing was
the scooterette segment which was dominated by TVS scooty.
Bajaj never seriously looked at customer perception about Chetak.
The product had serious problems like starting trouble and riding
comfort. The " Tilting the chetak to the side for starting " was a
common joke. Did the company do anything for that ? no

There was nothing wrong with the Promotion. " Hamara Bajaj " and "
No one can beat a Bajaj " were famous base lines. There was
nothing wrong with distribution and the pricing was very reasonable.
The major problem was in the first P : Product.

So without addressing any problems regarding the product, can you

expect the customer to buy the product? Bajaj was never a leader in
technology (now they are !!!). They never bothered to and paid the
price . Had Chetak pioneered Electric start, had it provided more
riding comfort, it could have survived. Somebody have just beat the
Bajaj........ the customer!

Ganga Soap : RIP

Brand : Ganga
Company: Godrej Consumer Products
Brand Count: 163

If the Western Media's projection or prejudice about the social and

cultural makeup of India was correct, then Ganga soap would have
been the most sold soap brand in the world. Those who have been
watching India specific programs in BBC and National

Geographic may wonder how can such a brand fail in the

land of elephants and Sadhus?

Ganga soap was launched with much fanfare in 1993. The soap was
positioned on the religious platform and was claimed to be made of
water from the river Ganges. The soap attained salvation in the early
2000.
The brand comes from an accomplished marketer who
markets such iconic brands like
Cinthol. The brand was promoted heavily and even had the
film stars like Govinda

endorsing it. Promoted using the tagline " Now bath in Ganga" very
directly puts the soap in a religious platform. Reports suggest that the
brand's initial sales was encouraging and also there are reports that
blame on the P&G and Godrej break up caused the brand to decline.
Ganga had a revitalisation effort in 1997 when Godrej tried
to relaunch the brand under
the name Doodh Ganga. But those effort went in vain.
The primary reason why the brand failed was that the differentiation
was not sustainable over time. Although Hindu's are very religious in
nature and revers the tradition but the consumers are discerning
when it comes to purchasing products. There is a clear divide
between religion and products. Consumers seldom like mixing the
two. It is OK if religion and politics are mixed not soups and gods.
That may be the reason why thetoys of Hindu mythological
characters are not popular in India.

The brand when launched was really praised for its innovative
thinking. One could see through the logic of the launch. Just looking
at the crowd at Kumbh Mela would encourage any marketer to think
about launching a product for the devotees of Ganga. But a closer
look at the customers could have proved the marketer wrong. Why
would a customer buy a product? That is a question that could reveal
that Love for Ganga would not rake in sales.

Rather than using Ganga as a differentiator, Godrej could have

positioned the product on the basis if Purity and Gentleness like the
Pears Soap. The can show the use of Water from Ganga to reinforce
the positioning. But the religious platform failed miserably. More over
this platform is too old dated for our new generation. Another funny
element is that although Hindus revere the Ganges, people are aware
that the river is the most polluted one. Hence there were consumer
buzz that using a soap made from such water may be dangerous.
Sensing this consumer talk, Godrej had to tell that the water was
taken from places near the origin of Ganges hence not polluted.
Overall it was a messy affair.

Ganga is a brand that could have survived as a small niche. I am still

not sure about the exact reasons that brand have failed in the Indian
market.The failure of such a brand should inspire a marketer to delve
deep into the psyche of Indian consumer before jumping into
conclusions.

Kelvinator : RIP 1963 – 2005

Brand : Kelvinator, Company : Electrolux Brand Count : 246

Kelvinator which ruled Indian refrigerator industry is no more. The

brand did not die on its own. This heritage brand was killed by sheer
negligence and marketing myopia. Any marketer with common sense
would not have done this to a brand like Kelvinator

Kelvinator came to India in 1963. The brand along with Godrej,

Allwyn has ruled the market for decades. A global brand, Kelvinator
has its origin dated back to 1914.The brand changed hands so many
times and came to the fold of Electrolux in 1985.

In India, the brand's disaster started in 1996 when Whirlpool acquired

this brand globally. Whirlpool wanted to sacrifice Kelvinator for its
own brand The entire episode of the change of ownership of this
brand will make any Hindi serial sops look like a kid's story.
According to Business World, When Electrolux bought the company
White Consolidated which owned the brand globally, In India during
1996 Kelvinator's Indian licensee sold the license to market
Kelvinator to Whirlpool. So Electrolux became a contract
manufacturer of its own brand which was being marketed by its
competitor. Whirlpool had the license to market Kelvinator brand in
India till 1997. Because of this Electrolux entered Indian market with
its own parent brand. The fate of Electrolux in India was also not
good since it ran into huge loses.

You can see that Kelvinator brand lost its place because it fell into a
cobweb of ownership issues. Whirlpool did not invest in Kelvinator
since it had the rights to the brand only till 1997. So why invest in
some other's baby. So during these years, Whirlpool harvested
Kelvinator while developing its own brand. When the brand came
back to its original owner, Electrolux did not had the money to build
this baby. In 2005, Kelvinator was killed. When the brand was taken
off, it had a market share of over 14 %.

A look at the brand assets of Kelvinator will make every marketer

drool. An International pedigree and a whopping market share
together with two great brand elements : Mascot : Penguin

Tagline : Its the coolest one. During its peak years, the brand was
heavily built. During 2000 , the Australian circket team endorsed
Kelvinator and Adam Gilchrist was the main character in the TVC ran
during that time.Kelvinator's main positioning was based on its
cooling power. The tagline aptly captures the USP of the brand.
Kelvinator's compressors was one of the best available globally.
Besides that , the brand was considered to be a tough and reliable
one.

One of the best and most apt tagline for any refrigerator brand
"Coolest one" , this tagline is still in the mind of many Indian
consumers. The brand equity was so powerful that even without
much promotion, the brand had two digit market share during early
2000.
I would blame the death of this brand on its owners Electrolux. In
2005, when Electrolux decided to go for the parent brand, Kelvinator
still had a life left. It could have been a wonderful entry level brand for
Electrolux. A brand with so much heritage could have easily created
volumes for this company. But alas....

Kelvinator will soon fade away from the memories along with
it one of the coolest
brands.

Margo:lost in the Neem trees !

Brand : Margo
Company: Henkel
Agency: FCB Ulka

Margo is one of the oldest herbal soaps in India. The brand which is
more than 85 years old is famous for its neem content. The product
although famous for its positive effects to the skin is nowhere in the
market. This is a brand which never changed with the customer.
During its launch, the product had dedicated customer base and
since the product was unique due to its medicinal value , customers
tend to be loyal. The whole brand was having Neem as its core
identity.

But Margo failed to understand the changing dynamics of Indian

consumers, more and more choices began to unfold before the
consumer and Margo was becoming a niche brand. Margo was
positioned as a "complete skin care soap". When market became
fragmented with lot of products positioning at different attributes,
Margo was sidelined as a medicinal soap.
The product has inherent negatives, the fragrant was not attractive
nor the shape. It was also less lathering compared to its competitors.
Margo changed hands from Shaw Wallace to Henkel. Although
Margo was relaunched in 2003 with a new fragrance and shape , it
has not excited the market so far. The new positioning is " Margo skin
clear skin". The brand had a following in AP, Tamilnadu and West
Bengal ( am not sure about its present status). The single mistake the
brand made was to miss the new generation. It failed to attract the
young users.

With Lifebouy herbal variant and other established brands taking in

the "neem" content away from Margo, this brand needs a hell lot of
money to rejuvenate itself. May be a high decibel big celebrity
endorsement may help this brand ( try Aishwarya for a change) . Can
it change its avatar and fight lifebuoy in the health platform?
This is a brand that failed to change with the customer or
changed very late.

Maruti Versa : Traveling Together Is Fun

Brand : Versa Company : Maruti Suzuki Ltd, Agency : Lowe,

Brand Analysis Count :
259
Maruti Versa is a sad story in Indian brand scene. This brand
was launched with much
hype in 2001 but now is waiting for death in the Intensive
Care Unit. Versa was the first

luxury Multi Purpose Vehicle from Maruti 's stable. Versa was the
logical upgrade brand for Maruti Omni. Omni was successful as a
family van and Maruti thought that there is a market for a luxuri van
that can carry more passengers than an ordinary car. Versa is the
Indian version of the popular Japanese van EVERY/ Carry. Versa
was called MPV which is the acronym for Multi Purpose Vehicle
Versa had a dream launch. Maruti roped in the Big B and the
small B ( Amitabh and
Abhishek Bachchan) to endorse the brand. The commercial
featuring the father son duo
was a big hit at that point of time. According to reports,
Versa was Abhishek's first brand
endorsement.

Versa was launched as an Affluent Microvan. The brand was

positioned as " Two luxury cars for the price of one" . The ads talked
about twin A/C, comfort and space. Versa was launched with a 1300
cc engine which was the same used in Maruti Esteem.

Despite the dream launch, Versa failed to generate volume . The

basic issue was the price. Versa was launched with a price of Rs 5.15
lakh for the base model and the top end model costs around Rs 6
lakh. Those enthusiastic customers who flocked the showroom
after viewing the ads was shocked by the steep price of
Versa. Versa was priced at par
with Maruti Esteem and other entry level sedans.

Maruti was totally wrong in estimating the customer's perception of

price in this case. It sounds little paradoxic because the company had
blockbuster products like Maruti 800 and Alto which was in sync with
Indian consumer's price value equation. In the case of Versa, Maruti
was little too ambitious. Versa was a large car and the initial buyers
were essentially those who had large family. For a small family , there
was no logic in going for Versa when a sedan was available at the
same price. Moreover the ' mini bus ' shape of the car also was a put
off for many customers .

The lack of customer enthusiasm translated to inventory pile up and

sluggish volumes for Versa. In 2004, Maruti relaunched Versa with a
base price of Rs 4 lakh which was a drastic price cut. The positioning
was also changed. The brand was relaunched with the new
positioning based on the joys of traveling together. The tagline was
changed to " Traveling in company in a car has its own kind of fun".
New campaigns were launched which highlighted the theme of
traveling together . The TG was identified as families which are large.
The aim of the campaign was to inform the new price as well as drive
the message that Versa is ideal for large families.

Watch the TVC here : Maruti Versa. But these campaigns did not had
the desired results. Although sales peaked immediately after the
announcement of price cut, Versa was not able to sustain the volume.
More over the brand was eclipsed with the success of Maruti Wagon
R which was priced higher than Versa but with less space and engine
power.

Frankly I am perplexed with the failure of Versa especially after the

price cut. Because this brand makes a perfect upgrade for those
users who was fed up with Omni. I feel that again the prime reason is
the price. Even after the price cut, the Versa still offers little value to
the Indian consumer. Now that there are many large comfortable
vehicles with in the price band of 4.5- 6 lakh range, Versa is not even
considered an option by the consumer. The brand recall is also very
low. The success of Wagon R also have put this brand in a very odd
position in terms of the Product line logic.
Versa has only two options left before it : one is to reduce
the price drastically so that the
price value equations are favorable Or await the slow death.

Tamariind : RIP ( 2001-2002)

Brand : Tamariind, Company : Skumar's, Agency : Percept,
Brand Analysis Count :
380Tamariind was a brand which died inside the TV Tube.
This much hyped brand
had only one year of existence in the Indian market.

Tamariind was the readymade brand from the textile major S Kumar's
Ltd. The company wanted to tap the emerging readymade segment .
Tamariind was targeting the middle and upper-middle class segment.

Tamariind had a dream launch. The brand had roped in Hrithik

Roahan who was at that time was a phenomenon. I think Tamariind
was one of the first textile brands to take him as the brand
ambassador.
Riding on the pulling power of Hrithik Roshan, Tamariind had
a huge brand recall during
the launch. Infact the ads were so effective that large retail
chains were stocking this
brand within a few days of launch.
How ever, the euphoria did not last long . For some strange
reasons, the brand was dead
in no time. In 2002, the brand was out of the retail shelves.

Tamariind was positioned as a fashion wear. The clothes were

designed by the famed London based designer John Paul Vivian. The
brand had the tagline " The Flavour You Wear ". The brand was
designed to be a fun,fashionable trendy brand.
Tamariind was also brought in the concept of Total Wardrobe
Solutions by providing all
type of clothing to the target consumer.

Initially the company planned to use the brand name Cinnamon for its
readymade venture. But a retail chain having the same brand name
moved to court and restrained SKumars from using Cinnamon. That
caused the company to come up with the new brand name
-Tamariind.

So here is a brand which had a trendy name, a big star, an

international designer and a reputed company...... and how come
such a brand fail that too so fast ? I personally think that three major
factors was the cause of this brand's failure.
Price and Distribution and Differentiation.

Price was the critical issue in this case. Tamariind was steeply priced
and this repelled many potential customers . Those who bought the
brand could not be convinced about the quality which did not justify
the steep price.
The brand also tried to focus more on exclusive outlets
which again severely restricted its
reach among the audience.

Tamariind spend around Rs 12 crore on the launch promotions but

could not sustain or convert the initial hype into sales. The brand
ambassador Hrithik also faced so many flops after the initial success
which inturn affected the brand negatively.

Other than the brand ambassador, Tamariind has nothing to talk

about. The product did not have a meaningful differentiation that
could justify its high price. When a brand is aiming at the premium
class, the product should have some meaningful qualities that will
justify the premium. A mere presence of a celebrity will not create a
sustainable value for the product
Ref. http://www.scribd.com/doc/24384813/brief-study-on-failed-
products-or-branding-campaigns-in-marketing