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Monday, July 19, 2010

Cadbury - Kuch Aur Meethe Ho Jai....!

Cadbury's Dairy Milk has recently launched a new campaign " Shubh Aarambh" ( meaning Auspicious Beginning ). The campaign is the refined version of the earlier Payday campaign which evoked mixed response from the Ad analysts and consumers.



The Shubh Aarambh campaign reinforces the occasion based positioning of Dairy Milk. The brand has been trying to position itself as a symbol of enjoyment and celebrations. Indians have the tradition of sharing sweets on auspicious occasions and also when one initiates a venture/activity. Whether the activity is small like writing an exam or huge like starting a company, sharing of sweets is an integral part of the event. The belief is that good things happen when one starts a venture on a positive note ( like sharing sweets).


Dairy Milk very cleverly captured this tradition and incorporated into its brand story. The new campaign takes the brand to the center of this tradition linking Dairy Milk to Sweet and Auspicious Beginning.

While the previous PayDay campaign was a narrow interpretation of the occasion based positioning , Shubh Aarambh has given the brand a broad playing ground. In my opinion, the brand has hit upon a really great Big Idea. The concept is very much Indian and offers huge opportunity for creatives to weave great stories for the brand.
What u say guys...??


The concept also gels with the brand's tagline " Kuchch Meetha Ho Jaye ". The launch campaign is targeted at younger generation and hence the brand added a little humor and twist into the campaign.

Shubh Aarambh is a great idea for this great brand. It will be interesting to see how Dairy Milk milks this idea to the fullest.
Soon i will be posting ads which i feel has strike the right chord again. So before you should see the add......Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye....)

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Umbrella Branding
As with all effective brand strategy, umbrella brands require a single message, an expression of a commonsense benefit grounded in human emotion that opens the way to own the conversation within a business category.

Umbrella brands abound in business; examples include Virgin, Kellogg’s, Sony, and location brands such as Japan, Manitoba, and St. Louis.

With an umbrella brand, the number of interactions the consumer has with the brand increase significantly, thereby reinforcing the brand values, and it helps transfer the goodwill to new products and categories. But the umbrella brand needs to be focused: It must stand for the same values across the category or range of products, and have the same emotional link.

Generally, consumer durables and services brands have used umbrella branding, while FMCGs have not, but even they have resorted to brand extensions rather than new launches.

Independent brands only make sense when the product clearly has a different proposition from the company brand; like Lexus from Toyota and Swatch from Omega.

In the case of Asian Paints, there were so many sub-brands, there was a reduction of media weights for advertising each entity. Then, the company shifted to a brand-centric portfolio, which involved a change of logo, product names, packaging and advertising. But the response from the trade and consumers has been positive, overall brand synergy and shop presence have increased, and the advertising is more effective, he added.

So unless the product is clearly different in the mind of the consumer, umbrella branding is the way to go. NIVEA is a great international example of an Umbrella Brand

ref - http://fmcg-marketing.blogspot.com/2007/11/umbrella-branding.html

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

PRICING STRATEGY

PRICING STRATEGY

Pricing Strategies


PREMIUM PRICING.

Use a high price where there is a uniqueness about the product or service. This approach is used where a a substantial competitive advantage exists. Such high prices are charge for luxuries such as Cunard Cruises, Savoy Hotel rooms, and Concorde flights.

PENETRATION PRICING.

The price charged for products and services is set artificially low in order to gain market share. Once this is achieved, the price is increased. This approach was used by France Telecom in order to

ECONOMY PRICING.

This is a no frills low price. The cost of marketing and manufacture are kept at a minimum. Supermarkets often have economy brands for soups, spaghetti, etc.

PRICE SKIMMING.

Charge a high price because you have a substantial competitive advantage. However, the advantage is not sustainable. The high price tends to attract new competitors into the market, and the price inevitably falls due to increased supply. Manufacturers of digital watches used a skimming approach in the 1970s. Once other manufacturers were tempted into the market and the watches were produced at a lower unit cost, other marketing strategies and pricing approaches are implemented.

Premium pricing, penetration pricing, economy pricing, and price skimming are the four main pricing policies/strategies. They form the bases for the exercise. However there are other important approaches to pricing.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PRICING.

This approach is used when the marketer wants the consumer to respond on an emotional, rather than rational basis. For example 'price point perspective' 99 cents not one dollar.

PRODUCT LINE PRICING.

Where there is a range of product or services the pricing reflect the benefits of parts of the range. For example car washes. Basic wash could be $2, wash and wax $4, and the whole package $6.

OPTIONAL PRODUCT PRICING.

Companies will attempt to increase the amount customer spend once they start to buy. Optional 'extras' increase the overall price of the product or service. For example airlines will charge for optional extras such as guaranteeing a window seat or reserving a row of seats next to each other.

CAPTIVE PRODUCT PRICING

Where products have complements, companies will charge a premium price where the consumer is captured. For example a razor manufacturer will charge a low price and recoup its margin (and more) from the sale of the only design of blades which fit the razor.

PRODUCT BUNDLE PRICING.

Here sellers combine several products in the same package. This also serves to move old stock. Videos and CDs are often sold using the bundle approach.

PROMOTIONAL PRICING.

Pricing to promote a product is a very common application. There are many examples of promotional pricing including approaches such as BOGOF (Buy One Get One Free).

GEOGRAPHICAL PRICING.

Geographical pricing is evident where there are variations in price in different parts of the world. For example rarity value, or where shipping costs increase price.

VALUE PRICING.

This approach is used where external factors such as recession or increased competition force companies to provide 'value' products and services to retain sales e.g. value meals at McDonalds.


Predatory pricing
(also known as destroyer pricing) is the practice of a firm selling a product at very low price with the intent of driving competitors out of the market, or create a barrier to entry into the market for potential new competitors. If the other firms cannot sustain equal or lower prices without losing money, they go out of business. The predatory pricer then has fewer competitors or even a monopoly, allowing it to raise prices above what the market would otherwise bear.
In many countries, including the United States, predatory pricing is considered anti-competitive and is illegal under antitrust laws. However, it is usually difficult to prove that a drop in prices is due to predatory pricing rather than normal competition, and predatory pricing claims are difficult to prove due to high legal hurdles designed to protect legitimate price competition.

Limit Pricing
A Limit Price is the price set by a monopolist to discourage economic entry into a market, and is illegal in many countries. The limit price is the price that the entrant would face upon entering as long as the incumbent firm did not decrease output. The limit price is often lower than the average cost of production or just low enough to make entering not profitable.

Loss Leader
In marketing, a loss leader (also called a key value item in the United Kingdom) is a type of pricing strategy where an item is sold below cost in an effort to stimulate other, profitable sales. It is a kind of sales promotion.
REFERENCE - http://fmcg-marketing.blogspot.com/2007/11/pricing-strategies.html