Third Umpire on Branding

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Marketing Innovators: When innovating makes business sense

The term innovation simply connotes something “new” or “different” making the consumer say, “hey, how about that”. How often is innovation carried out in the marketplace and an even more difficult question to answer is – “when was your last innovation?” While Pitch is on a look out to find the top five brands for its category – ‘Marketing Innovators’, it has shortlisted twelve most powerful candidates for the grand awards’ night of Pitch Brands 50 Awards- For Excellence in Marketing, presented by ABP News, in partnership with Percept to be held on June 12 at Leela Kempinski.

While more than 20 brands made it to the shortlist after going through a comprehensive shortlisting process of Pitch’s editorial team, 11 were selected to go to the next level. As the award night will decide the top five winners, let’s take a quick-peek look at the 11 names that went to the jury.

While the jury was chaired by Ramesh Jude Thomas, President, Equitor Consulting, other jury members included marketing professionals and professors such as Rahul Sen, International Brand Advisor; Ramanajuam Sridhar, Founder and CEO, Integrated Brand Comm; Subroto Chattopadhyay, Chairman, Peninsula Foundation; Sunil Gupta, Marketing Partner, South Asia, Results International Group; Ashok Pratap Arora, Marketing Professor, MDI

Old & beautiful

In May 2008, mobile handset maker Motorola launched a television commercial for its MotoYUVAw270 variant that showcased a father trying to mimic his teenager son’s carefree, freaky way of speaking with his girlfriend on the phone. The TVC opened with the father coming back from work and finding his son setting up a date with his girlfriend via his handsfree. Post his conversation, the son leaves the room and the father is alone with the MotoYUVA. He immediately picks it up and tries to imitate the son by speaking in to nobody on the other end in a sing-song manner alongside making some awkward dance movements. The film ends with his son and wife discovering this wild side of his and he moving out of the room embarrassed.

In May 2011, telecom brand Airtel launched an ad in which an old grandfather is shown narrating a story of his young days to his teenage grandson. The grandfather tells the young boy that a goon called Kanti Lal Godbole from Kishen Ganj had kissed his wife, or the boy’s grandmother, before their wedding. The grandson promises he will help the grandfather avenge Godbole’s delinquency. He launches a search for the man on, where else but social networking site Facebook, finds hims and takes his grandfather to him. The grandfather, on finding the man with his wife goes ahead and plants a peck on her cheeks. Score settled, the duo runs away from the scene.

In August 2012, Prolife Product teamed up with ad agency Curry Nation to launch a television commercial for 18 Again, a vaginal tightening gel. The ad showed a middle-aged woman making sensuous salsa moves to ‘I feel like a virgin’ number, along with her husband. The ad ends with the oldest lady (presumably, the mother-in-law) of the house trying to find out more on the product ‘18 Again’ by typing in the URL – www.18again.com- on her computer while her amused husband looks on.

Made-in-India Globetrotters - Establishing international footprints

‘Jahan Jaaeyega Hamen Paaeyega’, meaning ‘wherever you go, you will find us’ – is the message sent across by our very own Made-in-India brands, who are making a mark in almost every part of the world. This is what Sharad Sarin, senior marketing professor from XLRI, has to say about ‘Globe Trotters’, one of the ten categories of the Pitch Brands 50 Awards – For Excellence in Marketing, presented by ABP News, in partnership with Percept to be held on June 12, 2013 at Leela Kempinski.

While more than 20 brands made it to the shortlist after going through investigative –scrutiny of the Pitch’s editorial team, 10 were selected to go to the next level. While the jury has locked five winners, let’s take a quick-peek look at the 10 names that went to the jury.

Sarin further said, “With changing times, Indian companies are establishing their presence almost anywhere and everywhere. Earlier, it meant geographies inhabited by ethnic Indians, societies with limited economic and social resources or countries near to India.”

While the jury was chaired by Ramesh Jude Thomas, President, Equitor Consulting, other jury members included marketing professionals and professors such as Rahul Sen, International Brand Advisor; Ramanajuam Sridhar, Founder and CEO, Integrated Brand Comm; Subroto Chattopadhyay, Chairman, Peninsula Foundation; Sunil Gupta, Marketing Partner, South Asia, Results International Group; Ashok Pratap Arora, Marketing Professor, MDI.

Cracking the code for impactful brands

Is your brand impactful? Does it possess that power to become one of the most ‘Impactful Brands’, so much so that it can even exterminate the giant brands? While Pitch is on the lookout for the five most ‘Impactful Launches’ of 2013, it has shortlisted 11 most powerful candidates for the grand awards night of Pitch Brands 50 Awards – For Excellence in Marketing, presented by ABP News, in partnership with Percept. The Awards ceremony will be held on June 12 at Leela Kempinski.

While more than 20 brands made it to the shortlist after going through a comprehensive shortlisting process by Pitch’s editorial team, 11 were selected to go to the next level. Five of these will be selected as the winners.

The winners will be decided on by a distinguished jury, chaired by Ramesh Jude Thomas, President, Equitor Consulting. The other jury members include marketing professionals and professors such as Rahul Sen, International Brand Advisor; Ramanujam Sridhar, Founder and CEO, Integrated Brand-comm; Subroto Chattopadhyay, Chairman, Peninsula Foundation; Sunil Gupta, Marketing Partner, South Asia, Results International Group; and Ashok Pratap Arora, Marketing Professor, MDI.

Here’s a look at the 11 names that went to the jury:
One of the brands that has made it to the shortlist is ‘Satyamev Jayate’. The programme on Star Plus, hosted by actor Aamir Khan, highlighted several social issues and captivated the entire nation. Aired in the Sunday morning slot of 11 AM, the programme garnered some of the highest TRPs for the channel.

Social Marketers - Brands which believe in People and Planet

Going beyond the mere goal of ‘Profit-Making’, organizations that have an objective vision with a social cause in place, are the ones that are the real growth drivers for the economy, is what Ramanujam Sridhar, Founder and CEO, Integrated Brand-comm has to say about ‘Social Marketers’, one of the ten categories of the Pitch Brands 50 –Awards For Excellence in Marketing, presented by ABP News, in partnership with Percept to be held on June 12 at Leela Kempinski in Gurgaon.

Sridhar further says, “When organizations have a clear strategy in mind that reaches to the grass root level in terms of business and social good, then we have a winning organization in shape.”

While more than 30 brands made it to the shortlist after going through investigative – scrutiny of the Pitch’s editorial team, 13 were selected to go to the next level. While the jury has locked five winners, let’s take a quick-peek look at the 13 names that went to the jury.

One of the brands that made it to the shortlisted list was ‘Punar Vivah’, a daily soap on Zee TV, which is based on the trials and tribunes of remarriage in India. The show wanted to reach out to viewer’s battling the same taboo. So the question was how to communicate with the audience on this sensitive issue? Mobilox and Zee TV partnered in conceptualizing a mobile solution that would provide a platform for all viewers access to live counselling where they can seek professional help on issues enveloping around remarriage right from their mobile phone.

Creativity on the go

The stage was set following a successful launch of the Galaxy Note in 2011. A year on, Samsung had greater expectations to satisfy. The company needed to do little to stoke the consumer’s curiosity ahead of the big launch. The Samsung Galaxy Note II managed to live up to the fanboys’ expectations.

Launched in September 2012, Samsung Galaxy Note II positioned itself on the ‘incredibly creative’ platform. Samsung realised innovation in converged devices alone is not enough in a highly competitive category. Not surprisingly, its marketing mix for the launch of Galaxy Note II included some of its tried and tested as well as new strategies. Like its predecessor, the Galaxy Note II first reached its customers through on-ground platforms for a first-hand feel of the product. Next, the company took the initiative to a different level with the ‘Incredible Art Piece’ — a digital art piece with the largest number of artists ever contributing to a single art piece.

“The Galaxy Note II is based on the concept that ‘inspiration doesn’t wait’ and the users should be able to express their creativity anywhere, anytime, taking inspiration from anything. So, we hosted on-ground consumer events wherein the audience was given an opportunity to play around with the Galaxy Note II S Pen and explore its potential,” says Asim Warsi, vice-president, Samsung Mobile.

Is your brand recharged?

While a “new look” is important, it is equally important to offer value to the customer either by way of a sharper focus or a clearer position. Recharger Brands have to constantly keep examining and contemporising themselves for consumers, who are constantly looking for newer and smarter options, is what Ramanujam Sridhar, Founder and CEO, Brand Comm has to say about ‘Rechargers’, one of the ten categories of the Pitch Brands 50 –Awards For Excellence in Marketing, presented by ABP News, in partnership with Percept.

According to Sridhar, the recharged brand is one that has rejigged itself and has done changes to it over the years while retaining its original characteristics and properties, making it attractive to an increasingly demanding younger audience.

While more than 25 brands made it to the shortlist after going through investigative –scrutiny of the Pitch’s editorial team, 10 were selected to go to the next level. While the jury has locked five winners, let’s take a quick-peek look at the 12 names that went to the jury.

One of the brands that made it to the shortlisted list of Rechargers is ‘Cinthol’, which revamped its identity with its adventurous -‘Alive is Awesome’ campaign with a new range of soaps, shower gels and deos.

Ageless Brands: Date the beginning of an everlasting legend!

Ageless Brands are like mighty rivers, which have been flowing throughout the year for centuries as their market remains unchanged and power unchallenged, is what Sharad Sarin, Senior Marketing Professor from XLRI has to say about ‘Ageless Brands’, one of the ten categories of the Pitch Brands 50 –Awards For Excellence in Marketing, presented by ABP News, in partnership with Percept.

While more than 20 brands made it to the shortlist after going through investigative –scrutiny of the Pitch’s editorial team, 10 were selected to go to the next level. While the jury has locked five winners, let’s take a quick-peek look at the 12 names that went to the jury.

Lux is one such brand from the list which has come a long way from early days of Leela Chitnis, Prema Narayan, Rekha, Zeenat Aman, Hema Malini to Sridevi to Shah Rukh Khan to Katrina kaif and still remains one of the leaders in the beauty soaps category.

According to Pitch Brands 50 jury member Sunil Gupta, Marketing Partner, South Asia, Results International Group, all brands want to remain relevant to the changing consumer as well with the changing time. “Ageless brands should not be considered as ‘Old’, and this perception needs to be changed as they evolve with time. “Sticking to their core promise, ageless or everlasting brands have evolved to ensure that they are relevant to the changing consumer,” says Gupta.

Brand IPL has seen it all

The Indian Premier League has been a hot bed for controversies right from the start. From one player slapping another to a owner getting banned from a stadium, players getting caught in rave parties to teams getting scrapped and now — cricketers getting caught in spot fixing — one can say that the brand IPL has seen the best and the worst of all.

Not surprisingly, these controversies have hit the brand equity of IPL. Advertisers and experts say that the brand needs to urgently take some measures to clean up its image, else the equity will further be dented.

“Incidents like this leads to loss of credibility. And this is not the first to hit IPL. Owners and organisers need to show it to the audience that they are making efforts to clean up the mess, else the opportunity to be a fast growing global brand will take a beating,” says Sridhar Ramanujan, CEO-Brand comm.

Loyalty programme | A brand is a lot more than a trade name

Malavika R. Harita, CEO of Saatchi Focus Network, spent the first six years of her career at HMT Watches. She was fixated on the brand. Though she moved on from the company, the love story continued. Her mother still wears the HMT watch she gifted her when she got her first salary in 1982. But now Harita looks depressed when she hears about HMT, as an inept management has destroyed the iconic brand and the company is on the verge of a shutdown.

So what is it that makes people like brands? Harita is an expert in branding, who knows how brands are created as a marketing tool. Still, she is not spared from its influence. Harish Bijoor, CEO of Harish Bijoor Consults, likens brands to human beings, who take birth, grow, flourish, live, die and eventually decay. Even iconic brands, with whom we have grown up, follow the pattern.

Many brands that have a bit of history attached to its name have become a thing of the past. The iconic magazine Reader's Digest recently filed for bankruptcy. Legendary music company HMV has faded into oblivion. Earlier last year, Eastman Kodak, which revolutionised photography, filed for bankruptcy. Vimal, which was at the forefront of the textile revolution in India, was shut down by Reliance Industries earlier this year. Dunlop Tyres also shut operations recently.