bib auto comapny giving big offers.

Buy a car… and feel free to go on an exotic jaunt
SALES CAMPAIGN
Be free to buy: A file photo of a Toyota model
Priyanka Vyas
New Delhi, Nov. 25It’s ‘word of mouth’ that makes the car buyers’ world go round.
And realising the potential of this phenomenon, car makers such as Honda, Toyota, and General Motors have started offering their select customers extravagant incentives that would be the talk of their elite social circle.
The incentives could range from jaunts to exotic overseas locations to short excursions in exciting domestic destinations.
For instance, Honda Siel Cars India, which usually does not discount its products to retain the brand’s premium image, as a part of its 10th anniversary celebration, created excitement around its campaign ‘Ten in Tokyo’. This included an all-paid trip to Japan for 10 customers.
“We wanted to celebrate with our customers our presence in India for 10 years. In terms of sales, it helped us communicate better with our customers,” said Mr Jnaneshwar Sen, Senior General Manager, Marketing, Honda Siel Cars India.
The campaign continued from end September to mid November. And, the company saw an almost 8-10 per cent increase in its retail sales last month as compared to the same period the previous year, Mr Sen said.All-paid trip
Similarly, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, whose premium brands Corolla, Camry and Innova are popular with the elite, launched its ‘Touch Toyota Feel Japan’ campaign in September and plans to continue it till December. “We are taking select customers with their families to an all-paid expenses trip to Japan. This helps us in increasing awareness about our brands, thus leading to better sales,” said Mr K.K. Swamy, Deputy Managing Director, Toyota Kirloskar.
The strategy is being picked up for other segments of cars as well. General Motors last month took around 100 of its customers, who test-drove their cars or purchased them in a selected period, for a two-nights three-days sojourn to Goa. More than freebies
According to industry watchers, unlike direct strategies like discounts and freebies to lure customers, car makers view travel incentives for customers to be a more fertile platform. They feel that it not only increases awareness about their products and helps them understand their customers better, but also is a tacit way to generate better sales through customer references.
“In today’s world of democratisation of quality, what differentiates one manufacturer from the other is his service offerings. With such incentives, we are able to nurture our customers and build a long term relationship with them, leading to a rise in brand stock,” said Ms Anisha Motwani, Director, Marketing, General Motors.

P & G new shampoo launch

Head & Shoulders’ new variant
Film actor and brand ambassador Kareena Kapoor at the launch of Head & Shoulders' new variant in Mumbai on Thursday. - Shashi Ashiwal
Mumbai, Nov. 29
P&G’s anti-dandruff shampoo brand, Head & Shoulders, has roped in actor Kareena Kapoor as its new brand ambassador. Actor Shreya will be the brand ambassador for the South . At the same time a new variant of the brand – Head & Shoulders, Anti-hairfall — has been introduced. At a press conference, Mr Anantha Nayak, Brand Manger, Head & Shoulders, said: “Head & Shoulders continues to be our leading brand in terms of volume. We ha ve identified different consumer segments with our portfolio of brands. With our new variant we are addressing the hair fall problems of our consumers.” Besides, the Rs 1,200-crore shampoo segment has been growing between 12 and 15 per cent while the anti-dandruff segment is growing faster at 25 per cent, according to the company.

promotion strategy 4 dabur chyanwanprash

Mom’s the word in new ad campaign for chyawanprash
‘Role reversal’ script features Amitabh Bachchan
It plans to
contact 4-6 lakh consumers across the top 10-15 cities in the country through interactive events.
Sravanthi Challapalli
Chennai, Nov. 28 After the kids, it’s Mom! Dabur, which is marketing Chyawanprash as a health supplement for all sections of consumers, has launched a new advertising campaign featuring Amitabh Bachchan. The focus this time is on the homemaker.
Speaking to Business Line, Mr K.K. Chutani, General Manager (Marketing), Dabur India, said the company would also take up consumer activation activity.
It plans to contact 4-6 lakh consumers across the top 10-15 cities in the country through interactive events.
Activation has started in the rural markets which account for 40 per cent of the brand’s sales.
Ever since the company took upon itself the onus of expanding the Chyawanprash category three years ago, it began talking to non-users and ‘non-believers’ to convince them they could benefit from it, Mr Chutani said.
The campaign, which goes with the tagline ‘Zaroorat Hai’ (‘It’s necessary’), this year uses the tactic of having a husband and son swap roles with the homemaker to bring to light the stress the homemaker faces and the amount of energy she expends in her daily running of the house.
“The mother, who has the most stressful job, treats herself as the least important person in her household. And the other members in the family don’t see a conflict there, so we tried the ‘role reversal’ strategy to show that homemakers too need Chyawanprash,” Mr Chutani said.
Last year, Dabur used the campaign to tell mothers that school exacted a lot from children and Chyawanprash would help revitalise them. Variants
After last year’s test-launch, Dabur is rolling out the sugar-free variant of Chyawanprash nationally this year. It is test-launching Chyawan Junior, a chocolate-granule adaptation to the malted drink form, meant for children, in West Bengal and Maharashtra. It has also launched Chyawanshakti, meant to combat stress.
The Chyawanprash market, estimated at Rs 225 crore, is still a small market, probably because of the taste and consumers’ perceptions of it. That’s the case with most health supplements, with the exception of malted drinks, a Rs 1,000-crore market, Mr Chutani said. Elaborating, he said honey is a Rs 120-crore market (organised sector) and glucose, a Rs 180-crore market.Growth factor
However, Mr Chutani says that in the last three years, both the brand and the market have been growing. From April 2006 to March 2007, the segment grew 19.5 per cent by value; Dabur grew 24.4 per cent. By volume, the industry grew 17.8 per cent, and Dabur grew 21.8 per cent, Mr Chutani said.
Dabur accounts for 65 per cent of the sales. The North and the East are the biggest markets for Chyawanprash, the former accounting for 50-55 per cent.
The other major players are Baidyanath and Emami, with market share of about 11 per cent and 9 per cent respectively, said Mr Chutani.

logan vs indigo

Logan vs Indigo: Who's the winner?
June 13, 2007
There have been so many cars that have been launched in India and if you are looking to buy one, then it might be quite confusing to pick the right one. So, we've decided to make life easy for you and begin by comparing two cars -- the Mahindra Logan and the Tata Indigo.
The Mahindra-Renault Logan has the right credentials and was built by Renault as a spacious, value-for-money sedan and with Mahindra obseessed with keeping their manufacturing costs down, they have given us the vlaue buy SUV -- the Scorpio. So, should it be worrying the Indigo?
Unitl now, Tata was the only one to offer the right diesel car in the entry-level segment. The comfortable and spacious Indigo offers decent performance and an affordable price but it does have niggling reliability issues. And that is where the Logan steps in and eats into its market.
The Logan flaunts its European built heritage. It has got a hardy 1.5 rail engine that has got a meagre 65 bhp but it's virtually fault-free and a flawless gear box that never misses a shift adds to its appeal. The engine feels nice and smooth and feels nice to drive, although it's a bit noisy to the ears. But despite the Logan's 65 bhp as against the Indigo's 70 bhp, the Logan still accelerates better and the car feels far more drive-able.
Well, though the Logan is faster but if you want to go from 0-100 kms really fast, then it's got to be in the Indigo Dicor. Its 70bhp CRDi engine is a rev happy creature. Its peakier torque deliver not only hampers overtaking but even affects the fuel efficiency figures.
The Indigo's low rpm slack gives the Logan the advantage in in-gear acceleration, which means to make the most of the Indigo you got to keep it above the 2000 rpm mark. But in flat out acceleration runs, the Indigo's over 2 seconds faster to 100.
In the looks department, people may go with the Indigo on the outside but the Logan may win with its interiors, which is ironically, underwhelming and simple. Though, the Indigo's interiors are much cooler, but loses out in terms of finish. It just doesn't feel as solid and well put together as the Logan.
So, the Logan is much wider even with three people in the back seat. But the Indigo is the one with more legroom space with the seat pulled up or reclining. On the other hand, the Logan has more headroom, so it's a toss up between whether you have long legs or you are tall.
The Logan rides confidently on its McPherson gas struts and its simple H-type suspension in the rear cater to the Indian roads, making this car feel reliable. The Indigo is not a small car but when I stepped into the Logan, We were swept away. There is such a sense of space. What really worked for me was that it has such a superb ride and handling composition. The ride is cushy whiel the handling is taut.
All that works for the Logan but what works in the Indigo's favour is the lower road noise filtering through to the cabin and the engine is also more silent. What is not so okay is the driving position - the pedals are high, the steering wheel is not in as comfortable a position, as it is in the Logan. The Logan is the ergonomically better car to drive and it does have the better airconditioner, especially in this scorching heat.
We also felt the Indigo's soft ride was a bit too wallowy and it can make things uncomfortable for the person in the back seat, when you take the corners. So, the Indigo has a comfortable back seat, comfortable ride and it offers more goodies than the Logan, so it's more value for money.
But when we talk about the complete package, it seems more refined and seems better put together. It's got great ride-handling compromise and better interiors, so the Logan seems to come out looking a shade better than the Indigo.

footmart

FootMart plans investing Rs 80 cr for expansion
NEW DELHI: FootMart Retail, a joint venture between footwear maker Liberty Shoes and retail giant Pantaloon Retail, is planning to invest Rs 80 crore over the next two years to quadruple its chain of multi-brand stores in India.
The joint venture also has plans to achieve a top-line of Rs 200 crore by 2009-10. FootMart, which retails shoes and accessories under the brand name of Shoe Factory, would open as many as 60 new stores by 2009 to take its total outlets to 80 from the p resent 20.
"Shoe Factory, owed to its value for money line-up proposition, has been received very well around the country. Going forward, we would rapidly expand the brand and intend to have as many as 80 Shoe Factory outlets pan-India by 2009,'' Liberty Shoes Ltd Director Retailing Anupam Bansal told PTI. He said the company would invest around Rs 80 crore by 2009 to expand its operations. The proposed new stores would come up in tier I and tier II including Mumbai, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Agra, Ghaziabad , Lucknow, Panipat which have a population base of 10 lakh and above. - PTI

high-end LCDs, frost-free refrigerators see highest growth
Upbeat: Consumer durables on display at a store in Mumbai.
Debdatta Das
New Delhi, Nov 26 Despite data from the Central Statistical Organisation pointing fingers at the durables industry for dragging down the manufacturing sector growth, sales figures from the industry during the festive season has a different story to tell.
The overall durables and electronics industry growth, during the two-month festive season beginning October to the second week of November this year, is over 30 per cent as against the same period in the previous year. High-end categories such as LCD televisions and frost-free refrigerators have registered over 200 per cent and 40 per cent growth respectively.Festive sales
Mr Ravinder Zutshi, Deputy Managing Director, Samsung India Electronic Pvt Ltd, said, “Our overall sales during the festive period was Rs 1,200 crore, with a growth of 41 per cent over last year. The growth during the festival period was mainly led by high-end categories such as LCD TVs, Flat TVs and frost-free refrigerators.”
In fact, the frost-free refrigerator segment in Samsung, which grew at around 60 per cent during the period, has done particularly well.
“I think the reason is the acceptance of the star rating system, which cuts down on electricity consumption, has gone down very well with consumers,” he added. TV sales
While Samsung sold 55,000 LCD televisions units, at a growth rate of 246 per cent, the flat TV sales were at five lakh units during the festive period, achieving a growth of around 33 per cent over the same period last year. Other growth driving categories such as washing machines, air conditioners and microwave ovens registered a growth of 37 per cent, 64 per cent and 30 per cent respectively.
Similarly, LG Electronics India Pvt Ltd recorded an overall sales of around Rs 1,132 crore, an increase of 51 per cent compared to Rs 749 crore from its festive sales in the previous year.
Amongst categories that did well were refrigerators and washing machines, both of which grew at 85 per cent.
Washing machines grew at 96 per cent and microwaves at 41 per cent. The electronics category, including flat-panel televisions, grew at 70 per cent.
Mr V. Ramachandran, Director, Marketing and Sales, LG India, said, “The festive season has seen LG Electronics continue to generate significant growth with a portfolio of products spread across the widest variety of price points in the company’s history. The sales make us more confident of being able to build on the success and further augment our growth with more consumer oriented products to achieve our target by this year-end.”New launches
Whirlpool of India also registered an overall growth of 30 per cent in terms of units and 40 per cent in value terms. Mr Sukhpreet Singh, General Manager, Brand Marketing, Whirlpool India, said, “The growth has been tremendous and mainly led by high end categories such as frost-free refrigerators, microwaves and air conditioners for us. In fact new launches such as the ‘Professional’ range of frost-free refrigerators did very well.”
For the company, frost-free refrigerators were its star performers during the festive period, growing at over 40 per cent.

marketing ROI

Marketing Innovation: How to Improve Marketing ROI
By Michael Fleischner Internet Marketing Expert, Marketing Secrets*
There are a number of basic marketing fundamentals that everyone needs to know in order to generate attention, interest, desire and action among prospects. But to be successful in today’s competitive environment, you need more than a basic understanding of a traditional AIDA model and the 4 P’s (product, place, price, promotion).
A number of years ago, I discovered a marketing methodology made popular by Michael Gerber. For those of you who have never heard of him, you can still find his books on Amazon or your local bookstore. Mr. Gerber referred to this marketing methodology as the E-myth which was comprised of: innovation, quantification, orchestration, and documentation.
This methodology is the key behind major marketing successes like McDonalds, the Four Seasons, and many other well-known brands. Let me explain his methodology and illustrate how it can be applied to your business to deliver significant ROI.
Innovation
If you do what everyone else is doing, you’ll get the same results – if you’re lucky. Most often, those who excel in any market are the innovators, those who are continually trying new things, creating new methods of doing business, or standing for something unique.
Whether you’re Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, Apple computer, or Tommy Hilfiger, innovation is baked into the sale, marketing, and product development process. To illustrate, let’s take a look at your run-of-the-mill retail clothing store. When you enter the store, what’s the first thing the sales rep says to you? You guessed it, “How can I help you”?
An example of applying innovation would be to have that same sales representative open with a new greeting, something like, “Hello, is it your first time visiting our store?”. If yes, there’s a perfect opportunity to discuss what makes you unique, how to navigate the store, and so on. If no, the same holds true… “Welcome back. Were you successful in finding what you needed upon your last visit? What can I help you with today?”
Regardless of the actual questions used, the example of innovation in a sales/marketing sense gives you the ability to try something new. This ‘something’ can take a variety of different formats, but most importantly it iis something that can move you towards a greater ROI. Especially if you understand the next step which is quantification.
Quantification
With each innovation, an action is taken – a product sampled, research conducted, a new sales pitch or value proposition delivered. To be truly effective with your marketing you must measure your results.
The most successful marketing programs are always working to improve their return on investment (ROI). The key is to measure each independent element that could possibly influence your result.
Using our example of the retail establishment, you wouldn’t want to ask all of your sales reps to start using a new pitch AND change their dress code. Doing so might dilute your ability to measure the effectiveness of a new sales script. Additionally, you wouldn’t want to change other store elements like the music or store layout at the same time – doing so would make accurate measurement next to impossible.
Now that you’ve tried something new and measured its effectiveness, you’re ready for the third component, orchestration.
Orchestration
After trying something innovative, and measuring the result, you now know what works and what doesn’t. The key is to keep innovating in small ways, continually testing and evaluating the results. Once you have your successes identified, you need to roll them out in a systemic fashion.
All sales and marketing personnel should be utilizing and implementing the latest innovation in all they do. This methodology now becomes your control. Your next innovation is only effective if it produces better results than your control.
Improving your process of orchestration is also extremely important. The faster you implement your innovation across the business – in a consistent fashion, the better your results become. Walmart is a master of this. If there is an innovation in one store, it is quickly shared and implemented with all store managers across the U.S. The result is innovation on a massive scale which has a direct and positive influence on ROI.
Documentation
The top innovators do this last step extremely well. Documentation doesn’t mean creating reams of manuals that are esoteric or difficult to navigate. Rather, documentation is the development of a guide, procedure, or system that allows consistent implementation of the innovations you develop.
As new personnel come into your business, you want to make sure that the innovations and enhancements you’ve made to your sales and marketing practices are fully implemented. The best way to do this is to not expect an employee to memorize a 700 page employee instruction manual. Rather, they should become familiar with your way of doing business - which needs to be documented in a simple, easily understandable format.
You know you’re at a company that does this well when you hear things like, that’s “the Walmart way” or “This is how we do it here”. It’s those companies that create living documentation that is easily understood and implemented that excel.
Conclusion
If you’re trying to enhance your marketing program, or create one from scratch, keep this methodology in mind: innovation, quantification, orchestration, documentation. This process will ensure constant growth and improvement in your marketing results.
Don’t just take my word for it, look at most major brands or category leaders. Under the hood, you’ll find systems for innovation, ways of testing, measuring, implementing, and documenting in a seemingly effortless fashion.

7 common marketing mistake

The 7 Most Common Marketing Mistakes
By Michael Fleischner Marketing Expert, Internet Marketing Secrets*
When marketing your product or service, you need to have a firm understanding of your audience, the message you want to deliver, the offer you're willing to make, and the optimal timing for your marketing campaign.
Too often novice marketers, even marketing veterans, make costly mistakes that result in poor performance of their marketing campaign. Common marketing mistakes can be avoided with adequate planning, attention to detail, and ongoing measurement and evaluation.
If you're considering a traditional marketing campaign, an Internet marketing campaign, or something that's never been tried before, be sure to avoid these common marketing mistakes.
1. Timing. You may have a great list, a fantastic offer, and even a well designed marketing piece, but if your timing is off, so too will be your results. As an experienced marketer, I have seen some very expensive marketing campaigns that were very compelling but failed to produce results. This is because the campaign reached consumers at a time in which they had no interest in buying the product. For example, trying to sell snow shovels in July would not be considered good timing.
2. Failure to Test Your Headline. As the first thing your prospect usually reads, the headline is essential for luring your prospective buyer into the message, your offer, and the action you want them to take. Regardless of the medium, you should continually test your headlines (or subject lines) by running split tests and evaluating response. This ensures that your marketing message attracts the largest number of prospective buyers.
3. Failure to Test Your Offer. In direct marketing, the offer is directly correlated to 40% of your response. If you have the right offer, people respond. There are other factors to consider as well, but providing a compelling offer is required in most instances. Offers can range from discounts to "hurry while supplies last", but the commonality remains. Test your offers for optimizing response.
4. Having a Good List. Having the best offer and award-winning design is not enough. For many types of marketing campaigns, success is directly tied to having a targeted list. With today's sophisticated list generation tools, you can acquire lists that are highly segmented based on demographics, psychographics, buying behavior, and many other characteristics. The key here is not to be penny wise and pound foolish. If you're wondering where to invest your marketing dollars, spend them on developing a good house list (names you acquire on your own) or by renting/purchasing a well segmented marketing list.
5. Relying on a Single Communication. On average, consumers are hit with over 2,000 marketing messages everyday. In fact, recent studies have indicated that consumers need to see your marketing message an average of 12 times before they take notice. If there is any truth to the claim in part or in whole, it means that you must communicate to prospects on a regular basis. Placing a single ad in the newspaper or sending a single email cannot deliver effective results. Determine the media that prospects use to gather information and develop an ongoing campaign that works within your budget.
6. Not Measuring Campaign Effectiveness. Over time, your business is going to do a lot of marketing. Even if you are a small business wondering how you're going to communicate to a prospective audience, you're going to eventually have some type of communication. Regardless of the marketing campaign size or expense, you need to track your results. This can be done with a simple spreadsheet or a multi-million dollar CRM system. The bottom line is you need to record what works and what doesn't so that you can improve your results in the future.
7. Failure to Continue the Dialogue. After consulting for a number of large companies, I'm still amazed at how many fail to communicate to customers on an ongoing basis. Often times, consumers or businesses only hear from the seller when its time to buy again. If you have an established customer base, chances are you've worked hard to acquire them. You should be spending some of your marketing budget to retain them. Be sure to open a dialogue with customers, solicit their feedback, and communicate with them regularly. This will help to build your business over the long-term.
If you're new to marketing, have experience as a marketing professional, or simply want to improve your current marketing results, be sure to learn from the mistakes of others. To be successful, continually work towards improving your marketing effectiveness. Avoid the 7 most common marketing mistakes, and you're on your way to delivering tangible results

effective marketing campaign

Developing an Effective Marketing Campaign
By Michael Fleischner Marketing Expert, Internet Marketing Secrets*
If you're trying to sell a product of service, you need to concern yourself with only four marketing principles. Although these marketing ideas may seem simple, they are incredibly powerful for communicating your message, motivating your prospects, and getting them to take an action.
As a marketing veteran, I can tell you that many people over complicate the process of marketing, and as a result, never see a positive return on their marketing investment. This is not to say that certain aspects of marketing are easy. Many require in-depth knowledge of a specific marketing discipline. However, the four basic principles I describe here are the building blocks of any effective marketing, Internet marketing, or search engine optimization campaign.
1. Know Your Audience. No one can effectively market, communicate, or sell without knowing their audience or what motivates them to buy. Is your potential customer male or female? Young or old? A first time buyer or frequent purchaser? Are they the final decision maker? Do they have preferences for a particular product, service, or delivery method? The more you know about your audience, the more targeted and relevant your marketing can be.
2. Timing is Everything. Even with the most convincing marketing campaign, prospects will have no interest in your product or service if you aren't communicating to them at the right time. Be sure your marketing message is in front of prospects when they're ready to buy. This could be at a particular time of year or perhaps prior to a life event.
3. Finding the Right Offer. In direct marketing, experts say that results are 40% dependant on your list, 40% on the offer, and 20% on your creative. The same is true for internet marketing, search engine marketing, and the like. Test your offers and find the one that out performs all the others. This offer should continually be tested and refined to improve your results.
4. It's all about the Messaging. If you know your audience well enough, you should be able to craft a message that addresses their needs and differentiates your product or service from the competition. Additionally, be sure to stress benefits over features. This will give your audience a reason to read, try, and buy.
The next time you are conducting a marketing campaign, use these effective marketing principles. Knowing your audience, ensuring that you reach them when they're ready to buy, experimenting to find the most productive offer, and communicating to them productively, are essential for any marketing campaign to deliver results.

mass mrketing

Nestle India to focus on mass market in coffee
Keen on affordability; to try out new products
Preeti Mehra Debdatta Das
New Delhi, Nov. 20 FMCG major Nestle India, having catapulted its business with the launch of its probiotic range of frozen dairy products, is now all set to grow its coffee business.
While coffee chains such as Café Coffee Day and Barista target the upper middle class youth segment, Nestle India through its ‘Cafés’ is going all out to woo the masses.
Mr Martial Rolland, CEO, Nestle India, said, “The idea is to create a sustainable model that is scalable through these cafes.
“In fact, we use these outlets as our laboratories to try out new products and gauge the reaction of consumers to the newer variants of coffee.”
Not deterred by the competition the coffee chains could present, he added, “We are pleased that there are more players in the competition as it will expose more consumers to coffee.
“The difference between the coffee chains and us is affordability. No one knows coffee the way we do.”
Nestle, however, plans to continue its cafes pan-India under the franchisee model. “We are focusing more on product delivery vis-À-vis the ambience,” said Mr Rolland, refusing to divulge the size of the company’s café business.
However, he said it was far larger than some of the others who claim to have the maximum number of outlets in the country.
Nestle has cafés across schools, colleges and offices.Perfect blend
Affordability, in fact, is a major criterion for Nestle India as far as products are concerned. The company’s motto to target the lowest denominator is clear through the pricing of its brands in the category as well as the blends used in the products.
“India is predominantly a tea drinking country.
“Therefore, the harsh and strong flavour of coffee is not preferred by most people.
“So, the blends we use in our brands here are also very specific to consumer tastes,” said Mr Rolland. New product
Based on consumer insight, the company has just launched its new product ‘Nescafe Mild’, targeted specifically at the mass market of tea drinkers.
“Our long heritage in the country helps us understand people better.
“Also with the understanding of coffee that we have acquired globally, we want to leverage our expertise here as well,” he said.Cold coffee category
The company is also examining several possible segment forays under coffee, however, moving away from hot to the cold category.
“Though the market for products such as cold coffee is still very small in India, experiences from our Café outlets have made us realise the growing demand for it.
“We are examining possibilities of launching such products in India,” Mr Rolland said.
“In fact, the coffee market in India in itself is rather small with great opportunity for growth.
And, as a company, we will focus more to grow our coffee business here,” he added.
More Stories on : Strategy Coffee

new launch

HUL launches Pepsodent Kids
Extends Close Up franchise with 2 new flavoured variants
Purvita Chatterjee
Mumbai, Nov. 16 Hindustan Unilever has entered the kids segment in the toothpaste category under a new sub-brand — Pepsodent Kids. Creating three new variants under the segment, the FMCG company has brought in Barbie, Superman and Tom & Jerry to entice children.
Sporting Pepsodent Kids in a tube format, the product has been pegged at Rs 45 for 80 gm. However, Colgate, its nearest competitor, has already entered this segment with a smaller SKU (Rs 22 for 40 gm) with two flavours.
In fact, HUL has been steadily expanding its Pepsodent franchise. Early this year, it launched Pepsodent Centre Fresh, a germ fighting gel with mouthwash. “Pepsodent is positioned as a family health and protection brand, and it makes sense to extend it as a kid’s toothpaste,” states an industry observer.
Considering its nearest competitor Colgate has already entered this segment, HUL has been adopting a wait-and-watch approach instead of trying to be a pioneer in this segment. Both HUL and Colgate have introduced single SKU in the kids segment with their respective brands sporting cartoon characters.
At the same time, HUL has also extended its Close Up franchise by introducing two new flavours — Tangerine Burst and Luscious Lychee — both priced at Rs 30 for 80 gm. Positioning its new brands as ‘limited edition’ in the market, HUL is possibly testing out their acceptancein the market. Variants
In fact, the new flavours are being described as ‘Flavalicious’ by the company on its packs to signify the different variants it has launched. Meanwhile, Close Up continues to sport its red gel mother brand along with the existing variants of lemon mint and milk calcium.
Three years ago, HUL had taken a conscious decision to limit the Close Up variants and re-launched the mother brand, as it felt that having more sensorial variants would not work for its gel-based toothpaste brand apart from the heavy media spends required to promote new variants.
It had removed variants such as Tingly Red, Eucalyptus Blue and even a whitening toothpaste. According to an analyst at SSKI Securities, “The premium end of the oral care market is almost stagnant. However, HUL consciously wants to build better margins in this category.”
According to AC Nielsen for the quarter ending June 2007, HUL’s has a 30 per cent value share in the toothpaste category and continues to trail behind the market leader Colgate (48.5 per cent).

mobile banking

AT&T Launches Mobile Banking
Preloaded and downloadable bank access apps are offered nationwide through Wachovia and SunTrust.Part 1 of a special five-part series. -->
Stephen Lawson, IDG News Service
Wednesday, November 14, 2007 7:00 AM PST


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AT&T Inc. fulfilled its promise of nationwide mobile banking on Tuesday, rolling out a service for customers of two banks that uses an application residing on the user's handset.
Although Web-based online banking is widely used, mobile banking is still getting off the ground in the U.S. Some national banks, including Bank of America, already offer mobile banking services that customers can reach on their browsers. But the service AT&T will offer with Wachovia and SunTrust Banks uses software that will either come with the phone or be available for download. This approach will make it easier to find and use the banking feature, according to the carrier.
The software, based on technology from Firethorn Holdings, is available on the carrier's 3G (third-generation) high-speed data network as well as its national EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) service. Wachovia has 13 million household and business customers around the U.S., according to its Web site. SunTrust has about 5 million household customers across the southeastern U.S. In March, AT&T announced it would offer the service with Wachovia in the third quarter and also started providing banking software on customer's phones for BancorpSouth, a regional bank.
Wachovia and SunTrust customers can check their account balances and activity and transfer funds on their phones, as well as pay bills. The software is designed to minimize the number of screens a user has to go through to find the banking system and get things done, according to AT&T.
The software can be downloaded and run on more than 30 handsets AT&T offers, which represents more than 30 million devices already in the market, the carrier said. Starting later this year, AT&T will preload the application on new handsets.
To use the service, customers have to sign up on the bank's Web site, which will issue a one-time initialization code to be entered on the phone. Then the user creates a PIN (personal identification number) to get into the banking application. All the traffic is encrypted, and subscribers can deactivate the service immediately if they lose their handsets. For additional security, they can only add new bill payees through the bank's Web site.
The banking service won't drive up subscribers' phone bills, according to AT&T: Charges for data usage will be minimal, the carrier said, though it recommends a data plan starting at US$9.99 for customers who will use the service frequently.
In-Stat analyst David Chamberlain is surprised mobile banking isn't already widely adopted, given the popularity of online banking.
"It's one of those things that just seems like a very logical extension of what's being done right now," Chamberlain said.
Historically, consumers' biggest worries about mobile banking have been security and extra charges, Chamberlain said. AT&T's use of an application loaded on the phone should be more secure than the browser-based approach others have taken, particularly with the ability to turn off the feature if a phone is lost, he said.

derivative market

Sebi board approves new derivatives products
2007-11-14 17:05:20 Source : moneycontrol
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The Sebi board met in Chennai and has approved new derivatives products. It has approved the introduction of volatility index and F&O contracts, as well as options on futures, reports CNBC-TV18.
Apart from that, the board approved mini contracts on equity indices. Options with longer tenor, bond indices and F&O contracts have also been approved. It has approved exchange-traded currency (forex) F&O.
The Sebi Chairman has been speaking about the expansion of the derivative market. We trade normally between USD 15-20 billion on a daily basis in the market. Analysts said that it was time that we expand the market to various derivative products. That is what the Ram Mohan Rao Committee on derivatives has done. It has suggested a lot of derivative products to the Sebi Board and the Board has accepted the interim recommendation.

Now, the Committee was set up on March 30 this year. Within a span of 6-7 months, they have come out with interim recommendations. Analysts added that these are just interim recommendations that have been approved by the Sebi board and it requires a lot of regulatory work to be done, before these products can come into the market.

Among the products that have been approved are the mini contract on equity indices. Currently, the minimum value of equity indices or any futures contract has to be Rs 2 lakh. It is understood that mini contracts would mean less than Rs 2 lakh. That could require some regulatory permission, because the Rs 2 lakh figure was approved by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, and it has to go through that Committee which has to approve it.

That is the reason why none of the contracts were brought down below Rs 2 lakh, in terms of contract value. There were options with longer life and longer tenor, which basically means that we are looking at LEAS or Long-term Equity Anticipation Securities, which is the expanded version of the current options in the market.

The options market has also grown big, but it is not as big as the futures market. But there is very little interest coming in the second and third month contracts. According to analysts, we need to see how the long-term options contract will work out, because eventually it would mean that the long-term options contract would be much cheaper, as compared to the current options contract. So, it is a move in the right direction. But it will require a lot of regulatory framework and a lot of risk framework before it can come out in the open

capital account convertibility

Should India pursue capital account convertibility?
Pradyumna Dash
FULL capital account convertibility is again being actively discussed with the accretion of large foreign exchange reserves. There is no specific definition of capital account convertibility (CAC). But the Tarapore Committee (1997) defines CAC as "the freedom to convert local financial assets into foreign financial assets and vice-versa at market determined rates of exchange". In other words, CAC implies complete mobility of capital across countries.
The rationale behind full capital account convertibility is efficient allocation of global capital which not only equalises the rates of return of capital across countries but also increases the level of output and equitable distribution of level of income.
The Tarapore Committee had suggested such preconditions as a reduction in gross fiscal deficit as a percentage of GDP from 4.5 in 1997-98 to 4.0 in 1998-99 and further to 3.5 in 1999-2000; a mandated rate of inflation on an average 3-5 per cent for the three-year-period 1997-98 to 1999-00; a fully deregulated interest rate structure by 1997-98; and a reduction of non-performing assets as percentage of total advances to 12 per cent by 1997-98, 9 per cent by 1998-99 and 5 per cent by 1999-2000.
But none of these preconditions has been met in its specified time period. The performance of these indicators has not been satisfactory in recent years. For example, the gross fiscal deficit as a percentage of GDP stood at 5.9 per cent in 2002-03. The annual inflation rate was 4.6 per cent between 1997-98 and 2002-03. The non-performing assets of scheduled commercial banks as a percentage to total advance have declined to only 10.40 per cent in 2001-02. Interest rates have not been deregulated completely. The bank deposit rates, the provident fund rate and all long-term interest rates are still administered by the government.
The whole host of capital account transactions has been liberalised or deregulated in the recent past. It has been argued that for most business and personal transactions the rupee is practically fully convertible. Further, in cases where specific permission is required for transactions above a monetary ceiling, it is generally received easily. The authorities have also declared that they will continue to pursue this deregulation policy further.
However, it is not immediately possible to:
Give unlimited access to short-term external borrowings, and
Give unrestricted freedom to domestic residents to convert their domestic bank deposits and idle assets in response to market developments or exchange rate expectations.
Such liberalisation would cause extreme domestic financial vulnerability as the Asian crisis taught us. It should be realised that free mobility of capital has affected many countries, including Mexico, East Asia, Russia and so on. However strong the economic fundamentals of developing countries, free flow of global capital inevitably sows the seeds of financial crises.
Excessive inflows of capital results in exchange rate appreciation and thereby affect the competitiveness of the host country in the international goods market, on the one hand, and widens the trade deficit by increasing imports, on the other. The central bank's intervention to avoid these effects causes problems and affects the independent monetary policy operation.
Full capital account convertibility may encourage arbitrage operation. It is so because banks, non-banking financial institutions and individual borrowers will prefer to borrow global capital cheap which would not only increase the external debt burden of the country but also encourage the functioning of the "black economy" and financial instability because of the heavy investment in physical and financial assets.
Full capital account convertibility often provides wrong signals to the international investors about the host country's economic fundamentals. Since the international investors are concerned about their profit maximisation rather than productive investment, they mobilise their funds for higher returns which may results in moral hazard and adverse selection problems and thereby destabilise the financial system and cause great loss to the host country.
Foreign capital is neither necessary nor desirable for India. It is so because the voluntary savings in India generated according to the time preference of the economic agents is mostly sufficient for the gross domestic investment and growth. The high real rates of interest promotes both financial and total savings and private sector capital formation by facilitating the accumulation of finance necessary for undertaking investments.
However, the cumulative net impact of the real rate of interest on investment is positive because its effect operating through financial intermediation and complementarity outweigh its cost effect. Therefore, any reduction in interest rates affects both savings and investment. The proper utilisation of domestic savings at appropriate interest rates structure is sufficient to put the Indian economy on a higher growth path.
For this, needed is coordination among such economic agents as households, corporates, banks, and the Government, which, in turn, depends on confidence and expectation about the future economic activity. In contrast to Arrow-Debrew's model of coordination success in a competitive environment, coordination failure is very much prevalent in the present uncertain milieu.

lg repositioning

LG to reposition brand on aspirational plank
Plans slew of ‘differentiated’, futuristic products
Mr Moon B. Shin
R. Ravikumar
Chennai, Nov. 9 LG Electronics India is all set to reposition its brand in the market from the present ‘value-for-money’ plank to an ‘aspirational’ brand by offering a range of “differentiated” products, rather than remaining in the “me-too” category. “In future, even our advertisements will not talk about the pricing of our products. Instead, they will talk about features, quality and our after-sales service support,” said Mr Moon B. Shin, Managing Director of the company.
With that in mind, the company is planning to focus more on futuristic and technologically advanced products. “We are working on rolling out a range of differentiated products in the IT, flat panel display and mobile phones segments, as they are going to be our growth engines in the years to come,” Mr Shin said.
He said the company’s recent launch of Pearl Black LCD TVs and ‘Shine’ range of mobile handsets are well received in the market.
In the year 2006, LG India reported a turnover of Rs 8,250 crore and hopes to post Rs 9,500 crore for the current year. “In October alone, we clocked record sales turnover of Rs 1,100 crore. We are planning to double our turnover by 2010, and we are in the right direction,” he said.
As consumers generally rely on experience and their long-held perception of a brand, the key to establish an aspirational brand is gaining customer loyalty. This is precisely where the need for rolling out innovative, easy-to-identify and differentiated products, which are of high quality, come into play. “That’s why, we in LG are spending a substantial amount in R&D.” According to Mr Shin, currently the company spends 4-5 per cent of its turnover in R&D.
Answering a question on whether LG would support Blu-ray, an optical disc technology, he said the company is planning to launch its Blu-ray disc players next year in India. Expanding portfolio
LG is also planning to expand its product portfolio in the home appliances segment with new products such as 80- to 100-litre wine cellars, air purifiers and a new range of vacuum cleaners.
Besides, LG will soon launch 22-inch LCD TVs and 32-inch Plasma TVs (the smallest in the plasma category) in the Indian market.
According to Mr Amitabh Tiwari, Business Head – Consumer Electronics, LGEIL, the 22-inch LCD TV would be priced on a par with 29-inch conventional flat-screen TVs (approximately Rs 20,000) and the 32-inch Plasma will sport a price tag of a 26-inch LCD TV.
The Korean player spent over Rs 550 crore last year on advertising and intends to spend over Rs 940 crore this year. “We are planning to increase it by 60 per cent for 2008,” said Mr Shin. With this increased ad spend, LG aims to penetrate the market, the southern market in particular, more effectively.
While GroupM is handling LG’s media buying, Lowe is its advertising agency.

u.s market decline

U.S. Stocks Decline, Led by Financials; Citigroup, Merrill Fall
By Michael Patterson

Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks fell to the lowest in two weeks after Citigroup Inc. said it may write down an additional $11 billion, heightening concern that financial companies will report more losses tied to subprime home loans.
Citigroup, the largest U.S. bank by assets, retreated for the fifth straight day after it said Chief Executive Charles O. ``Chuck'' Prince stepped down. Merrill Lynch & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. also dropped.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index slid 7.72, or 0.5 percent, to 1,501.93 at 10:11 a.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 73.65, or 0.5 percent, to 13,521.45. The Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 17.24, or 0.6 percent, to 2,793.14. About nine stocks dropped for every two that rose. Financial firms also led benchmark indexes lower in Europe and Asia.
``These credit concerns will continue to hit certainly the financial area, the homebuilding area and more broadly the consumer,'' said Robert Doll, who helps manage about $1.3 trillion as chief investment officer of global equities at BlackRock Inc. in Princeton, New Jersey. ``Our guess is that it does slow the U.S. economy and the global economy to some degree.''
Benchmark indexes pared some of their losses after a gauge of service industries unexpectedly grew at a faster pace in October.
Banks, securities firms and other financial companies in the S&P 500 have tumbled 16 percent as a group this year amid speculation that more losses lie ahead for their holdings of securities backed by mortgages and corporate loans.
Companies in the S&P 500 Financials Index that released third-quarter results so far reported an average profit decline of 22 percent, the worst quarter since Bloomberg began tracking the data in 1997. Analysts expect earnings to drop 4 percent this quarter, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Global Drop
Global stocks also fell today on concern takeovers may dry up after Qatar dropped its 10.5 billion-pound ($21.9 billion) bid for U.K. supermarket chain J Sainsbury Plc because of turmoil in the credit markets. Traders also sold shares and bought U.S. government debt after Pakistan's president imposed emergency rule and suspended the country's constitution.
Citigroup retreated $1.81, or 4.8 percent, to $35.92. Prince stepped down after credit-market losses contributed to a 32 percent decline in Citigroup's shares this year. The company had its credit rating cut by Fitch Ratings and placed on review for possible downgrade by S&P. Citigroup also reduced its third- quarter earnings per share by 3 cents after correcting the value of some securities backed by pools of bonds.
Merrill, Goldman
Merrill, the world's biggest brokerage, lost $2.92 to $54.36. Lehman analysts cut their recommendation on the shares to ``equal weight'' from ``overweight'' and lowered their price estimate to $58 from $79.
Goldman, the biggest securities firm by market value, dropped $10.49 to $219.11. Lehman, the largest U.S. underwriter of mortgage bonds, declined $3.10 to $57.02.
``There's a bit more uncertainty out there and it's bringing down the financial sector,'' said Giri Cherukuri, who helps oversee $1.2 billion as a portfolio manager at Oakbrook Investments LLC in Lisle, Illinois. ``There's more bad news to come.''
Europe's Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index fell 1 percent and the Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia Pacific Index lost 1.9 percent. Societe Generale, the second-biggest French bank by market value, tumbled 2.6 percent to 105.83 euros. Mitsubishi UFJ, Japan's largest publicly traded lender, lost 3.3 percent to 1,017 yen.
J Sainsbury sank 113.5 pence to 441.5 pence. Qatar's Delta (Two) Ltd. dropped its takeover plans after ``deterioration'' in the credit markets and demands by the supermarket chain's pension fund made the deal too expensive.
Bond Rally
U.S. Treasuries rose, driving yields on two-year notes to the lowest since 2005, as investors sought a haven in government debt. The yen climbed against the 16 most-traded currencies as traders pared investments bought with money borrowed in Japan.
Pervez Musharraf, the president of Pakistan, suspended the constitution on Nov. 3 for the second time since he took power in a 1999 military coup, saying judicial interference in government affairs had helped terrorism and extremism peak throughout the country. Pakistan's stocks fell the most since June 2006.
WellCare Health Plans Inc. advanced $9.93 to $37.30. The U.S. health insurer that lost most of its market value after fraud investigators raided its offices said profit rose 67 percent in the third quarter on gains in government revenue.
The Institute for Supply Management's index of non- manufacturing businesses, which make up almost 90 percent of the economy, rose to 55.8 from 54.8 the previous month. Anything greater than 50 indicates growth. Economists in a Bloomberg survey had forecast a drop to 54.

fed reserve cut

Fed delivers second US rate cut

The pressure is on Mr Bernanke to steer the economy out of troubleThe US Federal Reserve has voted to cut US interest rates from 4.75% to 4.5% to help revive the country's faltering housing and credit markets.
The move had been widely expected by traders, who have been relentlessly selling the dollar and buying higher yielding currencies in anticipation.
It came after surprise data showed that the US economy grew at its fastest rate in 18 months in the third quarter.
It follows last month's dramatic rate cut - the Fed's first in four years.
The move will make it cheaper to borrow money in the US and therefore lend support to consumers in the critical Christmas shopping period and continuing business investment, the backbone of national economic growth.
It also made dollar-denominated investments less tempting and drove the UK pound and euro even higher against the US dollar, as traders exchanged the greenback for sterling and the 13-member eurozone's currency for a higher rate of return.
They had the room to throw the market a 25 basis point bone while they're still trying to figure out how bad this housing pull-back will be
Scott Wren, senior equity strategist at AG Edwards & Sons
What does the Fed rate cut mean for you?
As it is thought that UK interest rates will stay unchanged at 5.75% when the Bank of England's rate-setting committee meets next week, the pound has become very attractive against the US dollar and reached a 26-year high against it on Wednesday - at $2.08.
Meanwhile, shares on Wall Street also climbed on the Fed's downward move, with the Dow Jones index of largest shares up 1% at 13,930, while the S&P 500 broader index also rose 1% at 1,549.4.
Inflation concerns
Analysts said gains were muted as a result of the Fed indicating that its decision did not necessarily signal a downward trend in interest rates, with the cut to 4.5% enough to deal with the economy's troubles unless new data is released that suggests otherwise.
The economy is facing a perfect storm right now of a crisis-related tightening of credit, higher oil prices and lower house prices
David Jones, chief economist, DMJ Advisors
In a statement after Wednesday's meeting, Fed policy makers said financial markets have "eased somewhat" since the summer mayhem and that now "the upside risks to inflation roughly balance the downside risks to growth".
This suggests that the need to keep inflation risks under control is still a priority for the Fed, particularly with oil prices bubbling to record highs almost daily and other commodities, such as wheat and sugar, also soaring.
One Fed policy maker, Kansas City's Thomas Hoenig, voted against the rate cut, supporting a move to leave rates unchanged at 4.75%.
The dissent, together with a more positive tone from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues than in September, reassured investors that economic growth had not been derailed by the housing slump.
But there was an acknowledgement that the pace of economic expansion "will likely slow in the near term, partly reflecting the intensification of the housing correction".
No further cut?
Analysts were largely in consensus that the Fed made the right move to buffer the economy, and would now keep rates on hold at least until the end of the year notwithstanding further problems.
"They had the room to throw the market a 25 basis point bone while they're still trying to figure out how bad this housing pull-back will be and what its impact is on jobs," observed Scott Wren, senior equity strategist at AG Edwards & Sons.
Bob Walters, chief economist at Quicken Loans in Michigan, added: "The Fed is walking a tightrope and will take a wait-and-see attitude on future rate moves."
Many referred to the surprisingly good US data out earlier on Wednesday that showed the US economy had expanded by a faster-than-expected 3.9%, which would have contributed to the Fed taking a more hawkish stance.
But David Jones, chief economist at consultancy DMJ Advisors, was less sanguine.
"The economy is facing a perfect storm right now of a crisis-related tightening of credit, higher oil prices and lower house prices."
Continuing concerns
In September, policy makers at the Fed voted unanimously to cut US interest rates from 5.25% - a level where they had sat since mid-2006 - to 4.75%.
The bold intervention was designed to restore confidence in the housing market, which has badly suffered from the repercussions of 17 interest rate rises between 2004 to 2006.
These rises have been reflected in the rate at which mortgages have been set.
They have particularly hurt those with poor credit ratings or on low incomes, who had been sold sub-prime home loans when borrowing costs were cheap.
A Congressional committee report said last week that up to two million US families - especially those considered risky lenders - could eventually lose their homes as borrowing cost rises filter through and lenders become more choosy as to whom they lend to.
Many analysts had taken the view that more rate cuts would be necessary to relieve the pain of higher borrowing costs on house buyers and consumers, which account for a critical two-thirds of US gross domestic product.

fords new account

Ford’s wild new campaign for Focus



Click to play ad (8.9 MB)

Turns out Lion Man is driving the new Ford Focus.

A teaser ad running since mid-October featuring a wild man raised by lions in remote Tanzania is for the redesigned 2008 Focus, Ford Canada revealed this week in new TV spots.

The teaser showed the Lion Man’s capture and attempts to communicate with him and a scientist claiming, “he will never fit into contemporary society.” In the last few seconds of the ad the Lion Man ran toward a car as a voiceover intoned, “Strangely enough, it was a car that changed the Lion Man’s life forever.” The spot ended abruptly with no indication it was from Ford.

“We decided to go with a teaser because we knew we had to grab people’s attention,” says Chris McGroarty, creative director at Ford’s agency, Y&R in Toronto. The unusual campaign also demonstrates Ford’s intent to break from its traditional marketing and advertising practices, he adds. “They want people to feel that Ford is changing.”

Lion Man was created to help Ford illustrate the “personality” of the Focus, says Dean Stoneley, Ford Canada’s director of marketing communications in Oakville, Ont.

Ford’s research showed consumers associate the Focus with the kind of person you’d always invite to a party because they’re very friendly and well-connected.


Click to play ad (5.1 MB)

“But we couldn’t say ‘Buy this car and you will have more friends,’ ” says Stoneley. “So we made it so exaggerated and so ridiculous. [We thought] what if we expose the car to someone who has no social skills?”

The rest of the campaign will show how the Focus helps Lion Man gain new friends and join modern society. One of the reveals shows Lion Man a week after his escape, cleaned up and driving the Focus with a car full of friends. “Lion Man had gone from animal to social animal,” says the scientist from the teaser. The spot ends with the tag line, “The new redesigned 2008 Ford Focus is a real social life accelerator.”

Aside from TV, the campaign includes print, outdoor, restaurant and bar, and online efforts. The latter includes a soon-to-launch website, socialaccelerator.ca, where visitors can play a game and enter a contest asking users to help Lion Man adjust to society more quickly. Lion Man will also be making some live appearances.

customer relation ship

Crossing the ‘i’s & dotting the ‘t’s!
Customer data is a valuable resource. But businesses must remember that each customer is different.
Get to know your customers well, and mine the data on them to your advantage
Kaizad Pardiwalla
How can we expect our prospective customers to give us their business and be loyal to our brand when we don’t even respect them enough to get their name right?
In a world that’s zipping into the digital age, where CRM is the buzz word and marketers are falling over themselves to build loyal customers, it’s often the small things, the details, that are the largest hurdle.
How often have we been addressed as Ms instead of Mr when being asked to take a loan or subscribe to their ‘World’s Best’ product? However, getting names right is only the tip of the iceberg.
Today, we are swamped by customer data. We have information on customer orders; from their application forms we find out about their demography and from our e-commerce sites we can understand when they used us and how they navigated. There is a huge industry that wants to sell us all sorts of information on customers and prospects.
Customer data can be a valuable resource. It can shape our business strategy, inform our product development, measure the impact of price changes and target our direct marketing and e-mail campaigns.
Too often, it does none of these things; everyone gets the same mail regardless of whether they fit the profile or not; the business measures itself on the number of customers, overall churn and average value.
Before we explore how to profile and segment we should ask the question, why is this rich data untapped? In my opinion, the reason is simple. The data is explored, but only to inform on the basics of a campaign. The knowledge is seen as marketing knowledge, not business information that can not only empower direct marketing activity, but influence greatly the overall success of a business by shaping its total strategy.
After all, a business’ number one objective is to make money. Income comes from customers and so do substantial costs such as costs of customer service and delivery logistics. We ignore customers and the variations between them at our peril.
In their need to be the first off the block, some marketers often leapfrog over the essentials of customer management — optimally leveraging the database. Especially when an amazingly small number of people can make or break your brand. It is, therefore, important to segment the customers and know which ones contribute more than the other so that we can deploy our marketing budget more efficiently, spending on those customers who matter versus treating all customers big and small equally.
Another philosophy that marketers and agencies embrace is, ‘the more people I reach, the more I’ll enrol’ and hence the more profitable my venture will be.
In direct marketing, it’s not as important to reach a multitude of people; what is far more important is to reach the right kind of people, the people who count.
The key to reaching the right kind of people lies in profiling your target audience, identifying these customers, understanding who they are, where they come from and most importantly what makes them loyal to the brand. This exercise is not as onerous as one might imagine ... it simply involves talking to some people who are incredibly loyal to our brand and understanding them better.
The benefit of this exercise is two-fold. Firstly, it helps us understand a loyal customer better and thereby makes it easier to look for and recruit more such customers. And more importantly, once we’ve really understood our loyal customer and what his likes and dislikes are we can actually start servicing him better and make him feel more special. The natural fallout is that he’ll love our brand even more and thereby increase his interaction with it, thus increasing the bottom line.
Today the world has moved beyond the realm of just customer management into Customer Ownership, which can be defined as getting the brand to say, this is MY customer, and getting the customer to say this is MY brand.
Every day we hear about the average customer. In today’s market the concept of the ‘average’ customer is a dangerous misnomer.
“We have a million customers; each is worth Rs 1,000 per year to us; we lose 10 per cent per year.” Averages are very dangerous things. Let me give a simple example.
“We have a million customers; on average, each is worth Rs 1,000 per year to us; we can afford to invest Rs 200 per customer to recruit new customers.” Does the following statement ring true?
On the face of it a sound business strategy, but wrong! Let me make the same statement again, but with a bit of customer insight added.
“We have a million customers; on average, each is worth Rs 1,000 per year to us; if we invest Rs 200 per customer to recruit new customers, then 85 per cent of them will be unprofitable.”
Would you as an MD buy this strategy? I doubt it. Both statements are correct. The key message is simple. Don’t take the top line answer at face value; by summarising the behaviour of 1000’s of customers into a couple of numbers one hides the truth. Customers are different!
For example, what do we mean when we say that an average clothing customer spends Rs 1,500? Customers may spend anything from Rs 500 to Rs 20,000, so how can we use the figure of Rs 1,500 to predict what another customer (the next customer) will spend?
Is the ‘average’ customer buying only for him/herself? What makes some customers kit out the whole family and thus reach a higher spend? Is it wise to even think in terms of an ‘average’ customer spending only Rs 1,500? Is this not in danger of becoming a ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’?
Perhaps we have two different types of customer, some spending only Rs 500 and others who spend Rs 15,000. Should we not treat them differently? But we can’t treat them differently until we recognise that such differences exist – all perhaps buried within our data ‘average’.
We have to get underneath the skin and start to profile and segment our customers to see what our data is really telling us. If we do, it will make a huge difference to our business performance.What data is trying to tell us
What are the characteristics (profile) of our customers? What makes them similar to or different from the population as a whole and the market in which we trade?
Is this profile changing over time? Do different media attract different types of customer?
Do some customers appear to prefer different sales channels?
How can this knowledge improve our advertising, direct mail and e-mail? How can direct or above-the-line be tailored to optimise what we know about our customers?
Does this help or hinder our ability to cross-sell or up-sell to them?
Do we define different customer segments? Will these segments alter what we promote? When we promote it? Which sales channels we use? Are there possible partnerships other organisations?
Which customers have reached each stage on the loyalty ladder? Which have the highest propensity of lapsing or defecting? What are the characteristics that lead to lapsing? Can we avoid recruiting potential defectors, or can we change their behaviour before they lapse?
Which customers are ready for their next purchase? And what should we offer them? Can we break down next year’s business objectives across each segment of our customers? What are the individual goals for each segment and what do we need to do to achieve these goals?
All these questions can be answered by the data we mine. In order to answer these questions we need to know our customers.How profiling works
The first stage in any profiling exercise is the data audit. This is a review of what is available and an analysis of the quality and the source of this data.
Profiling takes two basic forms:
1. Comparing characteristics of customers within the data set. For example, what is the profile of buyers of product A versus product B or how is the profile of customers changing over each year of acquisition. This step does not demand any extra data from outside the business.
2. Comparing characteristics to a ‘national’ population. Are the customers buying our product different to the profile of all buyers of this type of service? This profiling needs us to source data from outside of our business with which to compare our profile to the bigger picture. If your business is solely trading in Mumbai, it will have a different profile of customers, not because they are different to the national picture as such, but because of where your stores are located.Searching the data for flaws
Both forms of profiling use similar techniques: first we have to understand the key characteristics of our customers, then we compare them with either sub-groups of our own data or with the target market or population as a whole.
There is another major benefit of profiling: it helps us to really understand our customer data in ways that otherwise we might not appreciate. Here, it is important to remember that most businesses collect their data as part of processing a transaction. This might be account or order-processing or another operational system. In other words, the data often isn’t collected primarily for marketing purposes and as such may have serious shortcomings.
For example, there may be a world of difference between the record layouts in our computer systems and the data we have actually captured. We may find data missing from such fields as date of birth or gender because it saved the operator time to omit it, especially if it was not essential to the transaction.
Before we can properly understand our data, and use it for profiling, we must be aware of any constraints or deficiencies in its original collection and processing. It is therefore imperative to validate the data before embarking on a data driven marketing exercise.
A final word of caution, when we do go in for data-driven marketing. We must remember to cross the ‘i’s and dot the ‘t’s ...
You know what I mean ...

celebrety branding

Celebrities worth watching
Ramanujam Sridhar
Titan seems to have hit it right with celebrity endorsements. What is clicking for the company?
Timed to perfection: Aamir Khan with Titan
India is a great country for celebrities. They seem to come in all sizes, hues, shapes, interests and prices! Advertisers and advertising agencies seem to love them as well and often end up using them indiscriminately. In the Nineties, Sachin was king and a few years ago it was Amitabh. It is decisions like these that throw up the very efficacy of using celebrities as a strategy into sharp focus.
All too often signing on celebrities seems to be done too mechanically and smacks of lazy thinking. One company seems to have got its celebrity and brand strategies right and that is a company that not only me but several others admire. That is Titan Industries Ltd, a company that has changed the way watches have been made, looked at and sold in this country. The same company uses Aamir Khan for Titan, Rani Mukherjee for Titan Raga, Mahendra Singh Dhoni for Sonata and John Abraham for Fastrack eye gear. And the results are there for consumers to see as clutter-breaking advertising and for the investors to see in terms of the brand’s dominant market share and improving top line and bottom lines.
What is Titan doing right? What are the learnings for other companies which are already using celebrities or are contemplating their usage?Think long-term
Today everybody seems to love the short run, even the analysts. Less and less chief executive officers are from the marketing area all over the world, so most strategies often enough end up being quick fixes aimed at appeasing investors and seem to be poorly thought through. A few brands such as Pepsi and Nike have looked at their marketing strategies with a clear long-term perspective and that includes the use of celebrities. Remember Lux, the film star’s soap? But one also remembers brands like the Fiat Palio using Sachin Tendulkar in a desperate bid to look good in the short run.
Are marketers using celebrities when they are completely bereft of ideas? I just wonder. But then there are exceptions like Titan as well. One of the nicest things about Titan has been its ability to think long-term whether it has been relationships or strategy. Titan has worked with Ogilvy and Mather for 20 years and with Lowe for 17 years, give or take a few months. A similar philosophy has guided the use of marketing strategies like gifting and its tryst with celebrities which all began with Aamir Khan over four years ago. Aamir is going strong with Titan and the others like Dhoni, Rani Mukherjee and John Abraham have had reasonable stints with their respective brands within the Titan fold and look set for longer innings as well.A touch of class
M.S. Dhoni with Sonata
In the Seventies, I saw a wonderful movie called A Touch of Class, starring Glenda Jackson (I must give you an indication of my youth). I am reminded of this when I see Aamir Khan. He has style with substance or “solid style”, if you prefer an Indian turn of phrase, and that is what his endorsing of the Titan brand conveys to me. He also seems to be featured as Aamir Khan in real life as an actor who is famous, turns heads, has flashbulbs popping, someone who buys a watch for his mom in the presence of a gawking fan … always as Aamir the actor in real life and the watch is always the hero.
In his first commercial that I still remember vividly a few years after it was made, he prepares to leave town for a couple of days, presumably for a shoot, and has difficulty in choosing the watches that best goes with his wardrobe. Then, in another commercial, he chooses a watch for his mom subtly plugging in the gifting concept that has now been owned by Titan, then he hires management graduates for his company and now he wears the Titan Edge and each time the watch gets into the vision of flashbulbs and assumes celebrity status that rests so easily and naturally on the shoulders of our star. Rani, Dhoni and John worthy followers
Rani Mukherjee with Raga
Rani Mukherjee represents Indian femininity, sophistication and is definitely a style icon for modern women. Even if I personally believe that her Titan scripts do not have the same depth as the Aamir Khan ones, they still work for the brand. Rumour has it that Rani is proud of endorsing Titan, as her first watch gifted by her parents was a Titan and she has fond memories of the brand. I am sure a lot of now famous Indians in different walks of life must have had a Titan as their first watch gifted or bought. Dhoni was signed on by Sonata, a Titan brand, when he was hardly the certainty that he is in the team now or the World-Cup winning captain. Sonata was a brand that was for the “Titan inclined” but who could not afford it.
Today, Sonata is a major stand-alone brand and Dhoni, the “small town boy” who has made it big internationally, represents the emergence of the small town not only in Indian cricket but in Indian economics as well as the important fact that your boundaries are not restricted by anything except your own imagination. John Abraham is another icon for a different kind of Indian who lives in the cities, watches MTV and listens to global rap. Again, the advertising draws attention to the fact that even someone like John who has tremendous oomph gets more attention because of the eye gear – again the product is the hero. Significantly, John Abraham is an avid biker and loves sunglasses. It’s all in the fit, my friend
Companies and agencies that employ celebrities conveniently give the brand celebrity fit the cold shoulder, so we have celebrities like Dhoni endorsing Mysore Sandal Soap. Also advertising agencies are so slick and glib in their presentations that they can actually depict chalk and cheese as ‘made for each other’! One of the features of Titan’s celebrity strategy has been the fit of the endorsers to the respective brands. Dhoni has an amazing fit with the Sonata brand, something that I have spoken about, while Aamir has an amazing likeness with what Titan is attempting to portray as its brand values. Rani and Abraham seem to be as comfortable with the brands they are endorsing.
All of these are top-of-the-line performers who are at the peak of their prowess endorsing dominant Titan brands. Contrast this with other brands that you see on your television screen where you keep wondering what the celebrity is doing with the brands in question. I have too few friends in the advertising business and I do not wish to test these relationships, but I am sure you can make your own conclusions about these ‘amazing brand celebrity (mis) fits’. The proof of any strategy advertising or otherwise is in the results. It is in brand salience, likeability, market share … all the brands in the Titan fold have grown significantly. Investors seem particularly happy with the company and the progress of its brands. So clearly it is all happening.So what is the bottom line?
All learning comes from observation. Observation of the best practices that other companies and brands are doing. It hardly matters that you may even be competing with the company that employs strategies worth emulating. Titan’s success raises a few questions that other companies could ask themselves before they embark on the strategy of celebrities. The first point to be borne in mind is that celebrities instantly create awareness for your brand and will, if properly executed, create a preference for your brand. But proper execution of the strategy is the key. That in turn raises a few questions.
Is your celebrity strategy reasonably long term in nature? Does your celebrity have appeal across the nation if you are a national brand? Most critically, what is the fit of the brand’s personality with the celebrity? Is the celebrity merely doing a film or is she actively involved with your brand? How good is your script? Is your celebrity just standing there holding the product or is he building preference the way Aamir Khan and Rani Mukherjee are doing for Titan?
Have you considered a punt? Sometimes you could take on someone who is a fringe celebrity now, but he may just end up being India’s cricket captain! We live in interesting times (forgive the pun) and competition is intense and savage even. What will see you through is a clear strategy that is efficiently executed. Time to think?

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Levers@75
Hindustan Unilever, which is celebrating its 75th year in India, is known as much for mentoring its employees as for marketing its brands.
The two things that reflect HUL’s spirit are its meritocracy and a professional, market-linked business approach.

S. Ramachander
Any institution that becomes an icon must suffer the glare of public scrutiny in periods of rousing success as well as downturns; and it is bound to attract a wide range of reactions. As an enduring market leader in many categories of its core business, however, Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) does command our attention and respect, if not admiration. So I decided to ask a few distinguished old boys of this universally acknowledged school for CEOs and leaders, to name the one quality that makes the company so special.
Nihal Kaviratne, who rose to become Chairman of PT Unilever Indonesia and won many accolades, including a CBE and the Business Week Star of Asia award, was unequivocal: It was integrity; the company would rather walk away from a lucrative deal than go ahead if it required something underhand to be done or paid. R. Gopalakrishnan, a contemporary, and a former Vice-Chairman of HLL, now a Director of Tata Sons, member of the top rung of the Tata group, puts people-orientation at the top. “The company hired graduates and transformed them into leaders — by teaching them to work proudly at the frontline and by instilling in them that their most important resource is ‘people’.”
Indeed, the mentoring and concern for learning in the young is echoed by S. L. Rao, who began his career too in the coveted management trainee track, and went on to head NCAER, and became the first Chairman of the Central Electricity Authority. Rao recalls fondly that the twelve years he spent with the company were a focused learning experience, made special by the mentoring of young people, for him by R. Ramaswami, himself a lifelong Lever man who became a Vice-Chairman in the early phase of Indianisation. Sir David Orr, later to head the British Council worldwide, was another. I can confirm that even the salesmen at the lowest rung of the ladder, recalled years later David Orr as Director touring small towns with them. His care, affection, attention to detail and a prodigious memory for places and people are specially remembered. Building people & brands
The company was as much ahead of its time in its people development practices as it was in developing and marketing of brands. It saw earlier than most the opportunity for a wider, regular re-distribution mechanism, which has since been much emulated by many companies. It set the standard for the journey cycle, frequency of visits, control and planning of stocks, later followed by the Japanese in manufacturing as well. The accent on availability was a key ingredient in ensuring steady volumes, which suited the habitually purchased household products.
Similarly, it experimented with rural van selling and cinema advertising, as well as door-to-door sampling and demonstration as a way of creating demand where none existed – for the detergent (and the bucket wash) and the use of a quality cooking medium such as vanaspati. The company had the wisdom never to overcome the natural characteristics of the Indian bazaar but turn its low-cost and ubiquitous presence to its advantage. The village shandy or haat had been used to stage the household brands years before rural marketing came into vogue. The women’s self-help groups and Project Shakti of today are but natural extensions of this thrust which began seventy years ago.
A youthful and idea-friendly culture, encouraging sustained learning was always the hallmark of Levers. It is not an accident that successive generations of Chairmen and board directors have nearly all been home-grown, hand-reared from a greenhorn entering at age 23. Being a management trainee meant assuming responsibility very early in life and there was no mollycoddling. It was an ordeal by fire initially, and yet it always encouraged anyone who had a good idea if one could find a way to express it. Inspiring coaches
Some general managers produced by the system in turn proved to be inspiring coaches and leaders such as Rajesh Bahadur, who led the youthful Toilet Preparations team with a flair all his own, suited for the small size then dwarfed by the Foods and Soaps divisions. Nihal Kaviratne recalls the time he was General Sales Manager/Marketing Manager in the 1970s, and Hrishi Bhattacharyya was Senior Brand Manager. They used to gather first thing every morning for half an hour in Rajesh’s office for a chat over a cup of tea. Passing around the pages of The Times of India, and joking about matrimonial advertisements, all of which demanded a “fair” or “wheatish” complexion led them to wonder if they could launch a brand which lightened the skin, where the promise would be “a better marriage”. Nihal continues, “It had to be very safe to use, since mothers would start using it on their baby daughters from day one! The skin-lightening products available in the market were unsafe, mercury- or hydroquinone-based. We leapt to the telephone, and spoke with Dr Subba Rao at Research. He told us about a half-finished nugget which he had on the shelf, a combination of UV-stats (sunscreens) and Niacinamide (a form of Vitamin B) which together would provide the desired effect safely. What was more, it would only work as long as you continued to use it!” And so was born one of the most successful innovations of the Indian operations in recent times — the Fair & Lovely cream. HUL had the soul of a small company, in the body of an increasingly large one, at that time.
One memory that stands out for Gopalakrishnan is relationships for a lifetime. The first stockists he met were Mulchand G. Shah at Parel and Agrawal and Co at Nashik, who, incredibly, are still in touch after 40 years — and as memorable as college friends.
Another instance of using every opportunity to coach the young was when S. L. Rao had advertised in 1959 for “smart young women” in Hyderabad to work as Surf demonstrators. He received a phone call from K. T. Chandy, who introduced himself as Director of HLL. Says Rao, he came “to see me where I was staying and told me gently that ‘smart’ in referring to young women was likely to be misunderstood. A year later he flew from Bombay to Bangalore to attend my marriage. He was not even my direct boss. I do not know of many top executives who would handle a situation in this way”.
R. R. Nair, head of Organisation Development for several regions within Unilever in Asia and Latin America attests to HLL’s “ openness to new ideas”, among other qualities. Within six months of joining the company, he conducted an organisational climate survey, the findings of which were sent to his boss, Dr Ranjan Banerjee, the Personnel Director. Soon after came summons from the Chairman’s office. T. Thomas had a formidable reputation for difficult interviews. He commented on Nair’s taking a major step without the due process of discussions, but thawed enough to say that he was glad that at last Personnel were getting themselves involved in the real issues of the organisation, sensitising senior people to the expectations of the organisation at large.
“He thereafter gave me time and support whenever I needed it for all my initiatives in future years,” recalls Nair. “Some years later I was offered the plum job of head of personnel in another multinational organisation. It was my wife who said to me: Why do you want to leave such a good company? Where else will I get such a nice group of people, wives of colleagues with whom we get on so well? So I stayed. And I have not regretted it one bit. Such are the unexpected benefits of a great people culture.” A National Lab
If Levers in India had not been around, we would have had to invent another way of preparing general managers and potential chief executives, particularly before the 1980s and before the early crop of MBAs grew up to positions on boards of corporate India. So pervasive has the influence of the company been that even the Planning Commission, State Trading Corporation and Hindustan Steel, besides the boards of several IITs and IIMs, have had alumni of the Levers school as Directors and Chairmen.
R. T. Narayanan, who joined HLL when it acquired Ponds, and has been vice-president at Brooke Bond and CEO of Nepal Lever, finds the company can not only sponsor competition but nurture it so that the outcome is most acceptable both to the company and the individual: “I am saying this not only because of those managers who made it to the top within. The people who left and went to new pastures have managed to do just as well as or even better than those they left behind in HUL. Those trainees who left within, say, the first ten years have lost practically nothing at all and have risen spectacularly elsewhere. This really means that the so-called experience they got in HUL was so good that it was marketable anywhere! So, can we say HUL has been supplying the Indian economy professional managers for more than 50 years! It was not, I am sure, in the HUL agenda in the first place!”
The two things that to my mind reflect the spirit of the company, where I spent the first few years of my own career, above all else is meritocracy and a professional, market-linked business approach. Of course, there have been cases of slipping back from the high levels of professional marketing success that it has been known for. The most publicly visible and well-recalled was the battering in the detergent market thanks to the low-priced, local competition. There is no doubt that the sheen went off its visage after the debacle. It also suffered reverses of poor judgement and timing in new products and businesses that only a company of that size could have coped with. The baby food and dehydrated foods businesses, the ice-cream business, the temporary foray into the hard-core chemical business and several other individual categories were examples that are often discussed as case studies. To my mind, though, this does not detract from the merit of the company as a whole but is a reflection of the market conditions and the leadership at a certain phase in its history. Certainly it is true that the company has never been as strong a contender in the foods business as it is in other areas. Indeed, the largest single brand that it ever developed locally was Dalda, which is really a cooking medium and not a food. Considering it was more common to import British products as they were, developing an indigenous product and brand was no mean achievement.
As with any famous institution, the company will have its foibles and, of course, its detractors. It is also a truism that most of its current mega brands are indeed the very old ones. Rin is the youngest and nearly 40 years old. Others are mainly soap brands – Lux, Lifebuoy, Sunlight, Pears, Surf and Vim, while Pepsodent, and even the far smaller Rexona have been around almost before the current directors of the company were in kindergarten! The failure of the company to do well in toiletries and cosmetics has long been a sore point with the enthusiasts. It could never get a look in in the talcum powder segment until it took over Ponds. At one time Colgate was unassailable in the dental preparations field and only a Herculean effort over decades has resulted in the clutch of HUL brands making a dent in its market share.
A significant exception in the past 15 years, especially since the focus on manufacturing for other Unilever markets, exports and importing of less-expensive ingredients have become possible, is the progress on a number of new brands in the Sunsilk, Clinic and Fair & Lovely range of products. Besides these, Dove and Axe are some examples of luxury products that might once have been considered too small, flimsy and irrelevant for a mass market giant. Even to this day the style of distribution with emphasis on volumes, scale, width and depth of distribution is ill-suited to some businesses, which are by nature either localised, or small or of limited reach in the population.
The company continues to experiment with ways of dealing with the variety and complexity while keeping its profit and turnover growth record intact. During the early years of this decade, the earlier growth drive through aggressive diversification became exposed – and unravelled. The tea and ice-cream businesses are still not on all fours with the traditional personal care and household products.
Another significant worry for a company of this scale, all over the world, is how to handle increasing brand proliferation and business complexity, without the ill-effects of size and bureaucracy. Thus, one will continue to see reorganisation and restructuring playing with the variables of business group, function and geography.
Today, however, the wheel has come full circle as far as successful people development is concerned. We now have a foreigner as CEO of the Indian subsidiary, for the first time since 1960. Meanwhile, of course, scores of Indian professionals run other important divisions and country operations elsewhere in the world, besides playing critical role in the central governance of the mammoth corporation.