Case study-UPS Researching to Rebrand UPS, the worlds largest package delivery company1 and a provider of transportation and

logistics services, had operations in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. In 2004, the company had revenues of US$ 36.6 billion and a net income of US$ 3.3 billion. In February 2004, a Fortune magazine survey rated UPS as the Worlds Most Admired company in its industry. In April 2004, Forbes magazine ranked UPS ninth out of the 25 Most Valuable Corporate Brands. The company, which started as a package deliverer when it was founded in 1907, became a complete solution provider in supply chain and commerce by 2003? This made the company go in for a re-branding exercise in the same year with the objective of unifying the identity of all the UPS service offerings. The company was perceived as one of the worlds leading service brands. It also became a synonym for the ground transportation business. Though the company offered other services like supply chain solutions and consulting activities, air cargo, financial services for UPS clients, there was little awareness about these UPS offerings among its target market. There was a need for the company to realign the UPS brand with its offerings. UPS thus engaged itself in a brand overhaul. Future Brand, a global branding and marketing consultancy, worked with UPS for two years on the re-branding exercise. Focus groups and in-depth interviews were conducted as part of research, which examined awareness, perceptions, and elasticity of the UPS brand. Some of the participants included small business owners, shipping managers, logistics managers, and finance managers. The group thought of UPS as friendly, accommodating, solid, hardworking, trustworthy, reliable, and conscientious. Also, some associated UPS with delivering of packages while others thought of it as a vendor. This made the company infer that connecting with a diverse group of business people across a broad array of titles and responsibilities had become a challenge. In order to fine tune its research, the company segmented customer research into four distinct groups which included the small business and home office owners or managers who had the decision-making responsibility in relation to shipping, day-today managers who had the direct responsibility in relation to shipping and inventory, mid-level managers who had the decisionmaking authority over disciplines related to logistics, IT and finance, and people who had C-level titles like CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, and COOs. A combination of focus groups and in-depth interviews were conducted for these segments and the discussions were held in major commercial markets like the U.S., the U.K., Germany, and Hong Kong. The company looked at the influence of factors like company size, industry type, job profiles, titles, personal background, and career path of these individuals to check how receptive they would be to new solutions from UPS. Thus the company came out with voluminous data with a lot of variables. The challenge for UPS was to come out with a solution which would be simple, yet powerful for each of the consumer segments. The solution was evolved in the form of brown, the color unique to UPS and associated with the UPS brand. For UPSand probably for only UPS brown brings clarity as a symbol of the companys long held, favourable attributes reliable, trustworthy, practically wise, friendly, and approachable. We discovered brown delivered for UPS a power of the familiar that couldnt be underestimated much the same as Coca-Cola red or IBM blue, said John Beystehner (Beystehner), senior vice-president, Worldwide Sales and Marketing, UPS.

The company found that both the color and the term brown held a positive association for UPS. It also found that brown signified trust and reliability, agility, innovativeness, and business knowledge. Research revealed that its customers had the belief that UPS could accomplish things beyond package delivery. This made the company come out with the tagline, What can brown do for you? This was answered with the statement A whole lot more than you realized. Advertising specialists commented that the campaign leveraged on the ubiquity of UPSs brown trucks and brown uniforms. The company customized its messages for different segments. The message to the day-to-day managers was that UPS could make their job easier. The message depicted personal and emotional benefits for the day-to-day managers. For the mid-level and Clevel executives, the company communicated a more rational explanation of its new capabilities and big-picture relevance to their company and to them personally. In order to check the effectiveness of the brown campaign, the company hired the services of a research firm, NFO World Group (NFO). The study conducted by NFO revealed that nearly 7 in 10 respondents said that the new campaign made them think of UPS in a new way and more than 9 in 10 respondents in each target segment revealed that the campaign messages were relevant. UPS came out with the slogan Synchronizing the world of commerce. From our perspective, synchronizing commerce is about managing and coordinating the various flows of goods, information, and funds among supply chain partners to better balance and optimize demand and supply cycles, said Matt McGee, vice-president, marketing, Asia-Pacific Region, UPS.3 UPS had the capability of helping to manage and balance the supply and demand cycles among trading partners around the world. As customers came to understand the whole range of services that UPS offered, they continued to show more interests in concepts like synchronized commerce. Unlike many companies which focus on selling hollow promises, UPS ensured that its product offering was strong before they went to market their offerings. Company officials commented that the launch of the brown campaign and the new slogan had indeed made a change in how its target market, which included multiple segments from the shipping room to the boardroom, perceived UPS. Perception is catching up with capability, said Beystehner. Services of UPS art B: Casss UPS Air Cargo Shipments through air. UPS Sonic Air provided same day delivery everywhere in US and to more than 180 countries. Addressed the financing need of UPS shippers. Offered online tools to enhance the customer service and efficiency of the clients e-commerce applications.

UPS Capital UPS e-Commerce

elets

Questions for Discussion: 1. As the capabilities of UPS outpaced the perception of the company carried in the market, there was a need for the company to align the two. UPS thus engaged in a brand overhaul. How did the company evolve its research problems and objectives? 2. In-depth interviews were conducted as part of research. How did these interviews help UPS in its re-branding exercise? Additional Readings & References: 1. A brand new day at UPS, www.ups.com, March 25, 2003. 2. A new brand for a transformed UPS, www.ups.com, September 18, 2003. 3. Hong Yee, Pang, Rebranding pays off for UPS, The Star, May 17, 2004. 4. Foust, Dean, UPSs eskew on The next logical step, BusinessWeek, July, 19, 2004

South Africa: The Tourism Destination

The South African Tourism Organization along with individual eco-tourism outfits in South Africa undertook a promotional campaign to attract tourists to South Africa. The campaign wanted to convey the message that the facilities offered by South African lodge operators were world class and they helped to create sustainable development in the country through promoting ecotourism. The South African Tourism Organization, the body responsible for marketing the tourism potential of the country overseas, worked along with the private lodges to establish South Africa as a tourism brand. The brand building exercise included communicating the attributes of South Africa as a destination, while matching the needs of tourists. Earlier, the organization was not able to define and position the key attributes of the region in the minds of the tourists. The organization classified people who wanted to visit South Africa under four categories. The first category was referred to as Luxury in Africa, and comprised the high-end game lodge traveler; the second category was referred to as Africa as Hip, and comprised the backpacker and party crowd; the third category was South Africa for Entertainment and Business, which included the low budget and professional business traveler and conference attendee, while Value for Money in Africa the fourth category was considered a family travel segment. Luke Bailes (Bailes), chairman of the Singita Group,23 commented that his companys flagship lodge, Singita, hadnt been able to take all the bookings that were coming to the lodge and that they had to turn away many enquiries. Singita, positioned as an ecobrand, was voted by Conde Nast readers as the Best Hotel in the World in 2001. The eco-brand platform was developed on the foundation of an interdependent relationship among the environment, the people, and the lodge. The tourist was provided with an all-inclusive experience, which included safari drives in luxury vehicles, gourmet meals, and opulent accommodation for which he/she paid a high sum to the lodge. The eco-lodges competed with the best tourist destinations in the world and targeted a small and elite group of travelers. In order to attract this group, the eco-lodges offered a uniqueness the travelers could not find anywhere else. Nowhere else in the world can you offer a Big Five experience (lion, rhino, leopard, buffalo, and elephant) linked to refinement and excellent first

world facilities, said Bailes. Singita offered a world-class experience in the meals it served, the dcor of the rooms, the knowledge of the rangers who guided the tours, and in other services. When game reserves were being established in South Africa almost a hundred years ago, the practice was to displace the local people from their traditional lands to make way for the sprawling government-run and private reserves. Later, things started changing and business establishments began to engage the local people as part of their business operations. At Singita, for every tourist, 3.5 staff was employed and each of the staff members had an average number of eight dependents, most of them living close to the game reserve. A huge amount of goodwill is therefore built up between Singita and our neighboring communities, commented Bailes. Another resort group in South Africa, Mantis Collection (Mantis), tried to target the international market by associating itself with local culture. In addition to providing the tourists with well-appointed rooms, sumptuous meals, and luxury game drives at its Shamwari Game Reserve, the company tried to bring in the local culture as a brand attribute in its offering. The name, Mantis, had its origins in local lore where the Mantis was a mythic figure whose power belied its small size. Mantis also used partnerships to promote its brand image. The company aligned itself with established conservation groups like the Born Free Foundation, an international wildlife charity organization, and also with local lobbying groups like the Wilderness Foundation. These endorsements helped create our brand and helped us take on the big players in the market, said Adrian Gardiner, Head, Mantis.27 He added that the company tried to gain the maximum mileage through publicity by making the world aware of any environment-friendly initiatives that it had undertaken. Mantis positioned its various properties in a manner that helped them to stand apart in the minds of the consumers. For this, it combined the unique yet complimentary benefits that the properties offered. The Steenberg Estate, Cape Town, that Mantis owned, blended a historic wine farm setting with a high-class golf course. Shamwari combined the big game experience with proximity to city life. Brand consultants believed that consistency in communication was necessary to create a stable South Africa brand in the consumer mindset. They suggested that there should be constant reiteration of the commitment of the tourism community in South Africa toward conservation, and rural community development, in addition to high standards of lodging and gaming experiences for the tourists visiting South Africa. Questions for Discussion: 1. It was a challenge for eco-lodges like Singita to bring in tourists with deep pockets. In which ways were the high-end travelers to South Africa different from the rest of the tourists? 2. The eco-lodges were competing with the best tourist destinations in the world and were targeting a small and elite group of travelers. Discuss the ways in which the lodge owners marketed their offering to bring in the niche group of elite travelers. Additional Readings & References: 1. Irwin, Ron, Branding the Bush, www.brandchannel.com, October 28, 2002. 2. www.wilderness-trust.org 3. www.bornfree.org. 4. <http://www.shamwari.com/bornfree.asp> 5. <http//www.go2africa.com/singita/default.asp> 6. www.singita.com.

7. www.mantiscollection.com.

Lloyds TSB: Galloping to the Campuses Lloyds TSB (Lloyds), a UK-based financial services group, had assets worth 280 billion and a net income of 3,493 million in 2004. The company, which had employee strength of 70,000 spread across the globe, had its activities organized into three businesses: UK Retail Banking, Insurance and Investments, and Wholesale and International Banking. In 2003, to attract graduate students of high-caliber from campuses in the UK as job applicants to the company, Lloyds designed an innovative promotional campaign that was successful in increasing the quantity and quality of the applicants. In the early 2000s, Lloyds used to recruit around 100 new graduates each year from university campuses in the UK to support its various functions. Though the company was successful in finding enough people to fill the positions, there was a feeling that it was not attracting people of the caliber being recruited by consulting and investment banking firms like McKinsey, JP Morgan, or Deloitte. Competition from companies in new age functions like mobile communications was also hotting up. Lloyds understood that it needed to refine its recruitment branding strategies to attract the right kind of people. Lloyds discovered that graduates found the image of the company unappealing. This was caused by the perception that students had in general, that a career in a bank was more or less related to working behind a counter. The mindset is entrenched that retail banking offers insufficient breadth and depth of opportunity, said Neil Harrison, Planning Director, aia.35 In addition, Lloyds promotional campaigns carried messages that the company was competent, dependable, and risk-free. Though such advertisements went down well with the customers of the bank, who were concerned with the security of their investments, campus graduates were turned off by the image of the company when it came to selecting a company they wanted to work with. Unlike investment banks, ad agencies, or the owners of cool youth brands, for whom developing a recruitment brand was a natural evolution from the corporate brand, Lloyds had to recreate its image. Though the company was well-known, that fact didnt help it in recruiting the right people as the company had the image of a utility and mass market brand. Graduates found the image unaspirational. There was a need for Lloyds to communicate to the graduates that it offered a varied range of career paths. The company also had to get across the idea that a career at Lloyds was challenging and exciting. In order to communicate its messages and with the need to connect with the attitudes of the graduates, the company, in association with aia, launched a guerilla marketing campaign36 at the 18 target universities of UK. In September 2003, a mystery campaign was started where posters carrying a black outline of a horse37 appeared on the campuses. Days later, outlines of horse-shoes were stenciled on pavements in campuses. This was followed by placing life-size, fiber-glass horses in unexpected spots inside and outside campus buildings. These were taken away after 24 hours. For creating maximum impact, the locations at which the horses were to be placed and posters pasted were selected with the help of thesecond year students on the campus. These actions created a sense of intrigue and became a talking point among the target students. Over a period of time, a web address, www.adarkhorse.com, was added to the posters.

On the website, a spoof psychometric test was given asking, Are you a bit of a Dark Horse? A riddle was also given on the website. The candidate who solved the riddle was taken to the Lloyds graduate recruitment page, where the potential candidate was invited to know more about the company and the varied opportunities it had on offer for graduates. The website provided the candidate with a list of dates and venues for presentations where they could personally interact with people from Lloyds. It listed the pecuniary advantages along with other benefits that the company offered to the recruits. The company mentioned the starting salary, healthcare allowances, pension schemes, reward schemes, and loan schemes. It offered a signing bonus of 2000 pounds to each successful applicant. The website also spoke about the holiday packages and the flexible working options that a Lloyd employee could avail of. A mobile phone and a laptop were also offered to the new recruits. The campaign gained the attention of the students and the mysterious style in which it was executed resulted in transforming Lloyds image from a staid, play-it-by-the-book company. After the campaign, for the year 2003-04, the company found a 30-40 percent increase in job applications and an 80-90 percent year-on-year increase in 2004-05. Lloyds also mentioned that the quality of candidates who were applying to the company had improved. The campaign also won several awards in the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) Recruitment Marketing Awards for 2004: Winner in Best Innovation Category, Winner in Best Outdoor Category, Winner in Best Website, Finalist in Recruitment Effectiveness Award in Memory of Keving Long and Finalist in the Best Campaign Category. Though the campaign was termed successful in the short-term, analysts felt that there were dangers in sending out mixed messages as communications to customers and existing employees emphasized traditional service-oriented values while the new recruits were given messages that carried a sense of intellectual challenge and excitement. Analysts also wondered how the company planned to maintain the same level of excitement for the new recruits throughout their career at Lloyds. Questions for Discussion: 1. Lloyds understood that it needed to refine its recruitment branding strategies to vattract the kind of people it wished to recruit. What were the steps taken by Lloyds to position itself as a company that a graduate student of high calibre would aspire to work for? 2. How did Lloyds use the concept of motive combinations in its marketing campaign to make graduate students apply to the company? Additional Readings & References: 1. Life-size guerrilla tactics, www.ri6.co.uk, December 23, 2003. 2. Clegg, Alicia, Lloyds TSB: high interest? www.brandchannel.com, May 16, 2005. 3. http://www.lloydstsb.com. 4. www.doctorjob.com. 5. www.aia.co.uk. 6. www.cipd.co.uk.

Einstein: A Relatively Popular Personality Albert Einstein (Einstein) (1879-1955) who proposed the theory of relativity and made significant contributions to the development of quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics, and cosmology, was one of the most recognizable faces the world over. In 1921, Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize for his explanation of the photoelectric effect. Einstein was one of the few scientists who could be identified by the common people and he became a synonym for intelligence and genius. Organizations the world over used his name and image to convey their messages. Einsteins image is used to represent genius. It hasnt changed a whole lot in 50 years, said Alan Friedman, Director, New York Hall of Science.49 Though there were criticisms that the Einstein image reinforced the stereotype of a scientist as a middle-aged, white, mad-haired individual, the scientific community used the image as a hook to attract people to appreciate the developments in contemporary physics. Consumers associated the Einstein image with adjectives like groundbreaking, scientific and clever. The image of Einstein was well-established the world over and so companies used his name or image to sell products ranging from cameras, software, computers, fountain pens, infant products, food products, spoons, mugs, prayer cards, cakes, to wigs, mustache and eyebrows sets, and beer Einsteins gone beyond the the figure that he is into iconic status. He stands for almost any great idea now, said Jim Tobin (Tobin), a partner in Brogan & Partners, a convergence marketing agency. Scientific organizations used Einstein to spread the message of science to society. The International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) selected 2005, the centenary year of Einstein publishing his path-breaking papers on Brownian Motion, Photoelectric Effect, and Special Relativity, as the World Year of Physics You rarely get a chance to have a cultural icon thats so closely aligned with the message you want to deliver and who has become sort of timeless, said Tobin. While IUPAP choose 2005 as the World Year of Physics, The Institute of Physics (IOP) in the UK named the year as Einstein Year We wanted to use this year to target the 11 to 14 [years old] age group, especially those who dont really know what physics is, but still don't like it anyway. Calling the initiative World Year of Physics was not inspiring and it has the dreaded word physics in it, said Caitlin Watson (Watson), Project manager for Einstein Year at IOP. IOP found it easier to market 2005 as the Einstein Year rather than the World Year of Physics. Though Einstein was associated with physics, it did not put off people as there was a positive emotional response associated with him. The Einstein brand made physics look more attractive. People regard him as a genius, but also as anti-establishment. Theres a kind of underdog feeling, continued Watson. Yet using Einstein as a brand image to promote physics also came in for some criticism. A section of scientists felt that associating physics with elderly white males may not create the right impression among the youth or encourage them to join the profession and so the scientific community should look for a more modern personality to be projected as a role model among the youth. The webpage of Einstein Year, <http://www.einsteinyear.org>, stated that the aim of Einstein Year was getting young people excited about physics, exploding the myth that physicists are white, middle-aged men with mad hair, and highlighting the huge contribution of contemporary physics to society. Though this was the stated aim, the brand image the organization selected went against

the norms of the proposed objective. Einstein was a perfect example of the stereotype physicist, as he was white, middle-aged, and had mad hair. IOP planned to use the Einstein image to dispel the stereotypic image of a physicist of which Einstein was a perfect example. It used Einstein as a hook to get people interested in the campaigns and the target audience was then given the message about developments in contemporary physics. The public wont look at the field of science as a whole, but at one aspect that fascinates them, and from this, their interest may widen. Einstein plays this role for physics, said Robert Crease, from the Department of Philosophy at Stony Brook University, New York. IOP took care not to use the image of Einstein too much lest it reinforced the stereotype image. It also presented young scientists as role models for the young people. Observers pointed out that people persisted in using photographs and images of Einstein that were taken when he was in his 50s, while he was only 26 when he published his path-breaking papers in 1905. Einstein in 1905 was young, trendy, stylish, and just married. They argued that youthful images of Einstein should be presented to the public rather than the old images. But advertising professionals were of the view that reshaping Einsteins image would dilute the iconic image of the universally recognized brand. Questions for Discussion: 1. The public wont look at the field of science as a whole, but at one aspect that fascinates them, and from this, their interest may widen. Einstein plays this role for physics. What made the scientific community use Einstein to communicate their messages? 2. Advertising professionals were of the view that reshaping Einsteins image would dilute the iconic image of the universally recognized brand. How did the need to reshape the image of Einstein arise and what kind of after-effects could reshaping the image have? Additional Readings & References: 1. Johnson, Alex, Nutty professor or one cool dude? www.msnbc.com, April 19, 2005. 2. Colyer, Edwin, Does selling science take a genius? www.brandchannel.com, April 25, 2005. 3. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein> 4. www.einsteinyear.org.
Kohls Tie-Up With Estee Lauder: Influencing Customer Perceptions

Kohls Corporation (Kohls), a retail chain headquartered at Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, the US, with 637 department stores, had net sales of $11.7 billion and a net income of $730.4 million in 2004. Kohls did not have an established cosmetic line as part of its product mix and therefore in 2004, it entered into an agreement with Este Lauder, a US-based cosmetic company founded in 1946, which had gained worldwide reputation as a maker of luxurious cosmetic products. Este Lauder was a $5-billion enterprise in 2003 and was the worlds largest supplier of prestige cosmetics. Through the deal, the company started supplying cosmetics to Kohls. By adding the beauty category to the product mix, Kohl augmented its position in the US retail industry. Kohls strategy of value pricing for branded apparel was unique in the US retailing industry and it therefore helped it to generate good sales. But in early 2004, Kohls sales slumped badly, while the retail business in US was going through a period of growth. Kohls came out with new plans to

improve its sales performance. The company found that in 2003, cosmetics sales at Kohls accounted for less than one percent of its sales whereas in the organized retail industry, a department store chains revenue from cosmetics was around 15 percent of sales. Kohls did not have the option of bringing in brands that sold in masses, as that would have mixed up the Kohls brand along with stores like Target and Wal-Mart, which were positioned as more down-market. Also, margins would have been lower if Kohls had gone in for a mass-market brand. During the same period, Este Lauder was facing competition from bigger rivals like Procter & Gamble, which had a significant presence in massmarket cosmetics. Este Lauder was exploring options of a retail channel that straddled mass and class. Kohls fit the bill. The deal between Este Lauder and Kohls to tap the cosmetic market in the US resulted in the creation of an exclusive range of beauty products under the name, BeautyBank. Under BeautyBank, the company came out with three brands which included a teen cosmetics line with price points ranging between $6 and $7, womens color cosmetics with price points between $13 and $15, and womens skin care with prices around $20. To introduce the beauty brand, Kohls created a beauty department in each store adjacent to accessories and jewelry. The section totaled around 800 sq.ft of selling space and the fixturing was done with a cost of under $40,000 per store. Customers were given the option to test the products before purchase and they were assisted by qualified beauty advisers in the purchase decision process. By the end of 2005, all the Kohls stores were expected to display Este Lauder, which would be the only provider of branded cosmetics to Kohls. Also, Este Lauder did not sell its other products in the Kohls stores as it did not want to dilute the image of its brands like Clinique and Mac, which were sold at upscale department stores. The deal between Kohls and Este Lauder was an example of the experimentation related to brand differentiation and control happening in the US retail market. Another example was VF the jeans manufacturer agreeing to create a new brand called Blu, specifically for Target stores. Also, Levi Strauss, in 2003, sold its Signature line of jeans exclusively to Wal-Mart for six months before Target and other chains could When you looked at our store, having so many elements of a department store, one element clearly was lacking, said Kevin Mansell, President, Kohls.78 Through the deal, Kohls injected newness into its product mix while removing underperforming SKUs. But the analysts expressed doubts over Este Lauders strategy of going in for mass distribution through Kohls. Though the deal would bring increased sales for Este Lauder, the company would have to be careful in the execution part of the strategy, industry observers said. Questions for Discussion: 1. What are the elements that Kohls has taken into consideration as part of the deal so that the company maintained its positioning as a store offering value pricing in branded merchandise? 2. How did Kohls try to match the product image of the new cosmetic range it was going to display with the self image of the customer? Additional Readings & References: 1. Anderson, George, Estee Lauder to create new line for Kohls, www.retailwire.com, October 28, 2003. 2. Estee Lauder to sell cosmetics in Kohls, www.promomagazine.com, October 30, 2003. 3. Scardino, Emily, Kohls lands Estee Lauder: cosmetics gets off to strong start department store chain will market exclusive Estee Lauder cosmetics line, DSN Retailing Today, November 10, 2003.

4. Prior, Molly, Kohls, Estee Lauder ink co-branding deal, Drug Store News, November 17, 2003. 5. Estee Lauder, Kohl's deal to bow by fall, Drug Store News, June 21, 2004.

Deloitte: Cutting The Bull With Bullfighter

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (Deloitte), a firm offering audit, tax, consulting, and financial advisory services, had composite revenue of US$16.4 billion for the financial year 2004. In the early 2000s, the company was struggling for awareness in the field of consulting. In order to create awareness about the consulting services offered by Deloitte, the company launched a viral marketing campaign based around a free software program named Bullfighter, which could be downloaded from the webpage of Deloittes consulting unit. The software program that was developed for inhouse use was later offered to the public. It scrutinized electronic documents for business jargon and suggested alternatives to make the document more reader friendly. The public relations campaign that Deloitte created was based on a perceived need among the business community to communicate more clearly. Were just as guilty as the next consultant when it comes to using words like paradigm, bandwidth, and leverage, but were committed to straight talk as a way of doing business and Bullfighter is helping us get there, said Paul Lee (Lee), principal at Deloitte.The company was aware that needless jargon had taken over corporate communication and consultants, including Deloitte, had a major role to play in this development. In the nineties, everybody was trying hard to market something as big and new, even companies that didnt have anything to say. It created a culture of speaking in vague terms that didnt mean anything, said Chelsea Hardaway (Hardaway), Marketing Director, Deloitte. Straight Talk was a company theme at Deloitte and the consultants were urged to use clear language. But the pervasiveness of verbosity in business lingo troubled the Deloitte consultants. Deloitte started a project to create a tool which could scoop out jargon. This project was started when an employee from the companys Dallas office challenged Hardaway to create a tool which promoted plain talk in company documents. We discussed this challenge, and thought about software, said Brian Fugere (Fugere), partner, Deloitte.84 The software was built in eight months. As part of building the software, the company asked its employees to come out with bullwords. In nine months, Deloitte was able to acquire 10,000 words from its employees. Some of the terms which came up were incentivize, leverage, synergize, envisioneer, and bleeding edge. The company found that the most hated words were leverage followed by bandwidth and touchbase. The winner was selected at random from among those who participated, and won a trip to the California Academy of Tauromaquia in San Diego, a bullfighting school. The company also researched on understanding how straightforward communication and business success were related. Its finding was that the clearer the communication, the better the financial

performance.85 According to Hardaway, the team also tested US presidential speeches. Herbert Hoover had the worst score while George H. W. Bush, had the best score. Scanning of documents from the Dow Jones Index revealed that technology companies scored poorly. The scores of Home Depot were the highest among the group. The company also checked Enron's communication. We found that as the company got into deeper and deeper trouble, the language got more and more obscure, said Fugere.86 A total of 350 words made it to the final dictionary. The software was released in June 2003 and its installation caused a bull icon to appear on the toolbar of Word and Power Point documents. To elevate the campaign, we needed to reach for the moon, said Shelley Peng (Peng), Public Relations Specialist, Deloitte.87 The company had reporter Jonathan D. Glater from The New York Times (NYT) cover the story. We started the dialog. We did all the research for him, pulled the charts together. We spent three hours helping him with his story, said Peng.The company met with success when a story titled Holy Change Agent! Consultants Edit Out Jargon, with a word count of around 500, appeared in the business pages of NYT on June 14, 2003. With that write-up, a buzz was created and there was no need for the company to do any more public relations work. We didnt do any more PR after the New York Times. We did interviews. We just picked up the phone. We created a website. There were E-cards people could send. We created a movement, said Hardaway.89 Soon, publications around the world gave publicity to the product. This included Time magazine, Le Monde, New Zealand Herald and The Hindustan Times. Within 30 days of Bullfighters release, 250,000 people had visited the webpage of the consulting arm of Deloitte and 100,000 downloads were done. Deloitte spent only US$ 50,000 on the Bullfighter campaign while the value of the publicity the company received was estimated at between US$ 8 and 10 million. Deloitte hoped that Bullfighter would bring about a change from the endless use of rhetoric to plainspeak. Weve had it with repurposeable, value added knowledge capital and robust, leveragable mindshare, said Lee.Though marketing consultants expressed doubt over Bullfighters ability to bring in new business for Deloitte, they agreed that it would certainly differentiate the Deloitte brand by strengthening the companys image as a straight talking consultant that stood apart from its competition. Questions for Discussion: 1. How did Deloitte bring about an association of reliability with the Deloitte brand with the help of the Bullfighter software? 2. How did Deloitte use the power of involvement and repetition to create a buzz among the audience?

GAP: Bridging the Gaps in its Offerings

Gap Inc., headquartered at San Francisco Bay Area, is a specialty retailer offering clothing, accessories, and personal care products for men, women, and kids under the Gap, Banana

Republic, and Old Navy brand names. In 2004, the company had a net earning of US$ 1.2 billion and sales of US$ 16.3 billion. Gap, which set out as a mom and pop jeans shop in San Francisco in 1969, grew over the years to become one of the leading specialty retailers in US. The company through its three brands Gap (including GapKids, BabyGap, and GapBody), Banana Republic, and Old Navy, sold clothing, accessories, underwear, loungewear, and personal care items. In the late 1990s, the company realized that the three brands were eating into each others market. The mistake Gap made was that it decided to move away from its core customer and become more about fashion by offering younger and trendier looks, said Tom Julian, a fashion trend analyst with marketing firm Fallon. Old Navy was the least expensive of the three brands and catered to the needs of teens and college goers, and offered a combination of functional, trendy fashion with frugality. This positioning seemed effective, as Old Navy was the first retailing brand in the US to reach US$ 1 billion in annual sales in less than four years. The panache Old Navy has with its fatally cool salespeople and their microphone headsets, the fabulous decor its totally the cool place to shop. Theyve changed the way people look at the lower end and created loyalty to a discount brand, said Ann Taradash, director of real estate at Morris & Fellows, an Atlanta-based consulting firm.99 Banana Republic was known for casual luxury, high quality apparel and sophisticated seasonal collections. Gap was positioned in between the two. It focused on basics like jeans, khakis, T-shirts, and turtlenecks. The company met with a downturn starting late 1999 and this lasted for almost three years. This was partly attributed to the similarities among the three brands in products and advertising, which resulted in cannibalization of the Gap brand. The challenge for the Gap is to balance the mix between basics and fashion, and to make sure they don't turn off older consumers. They see tank tops with spaghetti straps and walk away which weakens the basics business, too, said Marcia Aaron, analyst at Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown. A Gap Inc. spokesperson acknowledged that it had lost focus in its brands. The company soon started concentrating on the brand strategies to improve cash flow, lower expenses, and to improve the product offerings. Frankel said, I personally see no problem with the potential divisions. What Gap has lost is the ability to see it. Banana Republic has always been skewed older and more conservative. Old Navy has always been the poor mans Gap. Gap before they obliterated the brand was happily in between. Though Gap came out with a lot of advertising which created brand awareness, it failed to convince customers to buy. Marketing experts said the communication undertaken by the brands had got cluttered in the minds of the customer. Gap, Banana Republic, and Old Navy made the mistake of confusing customers with their advertising. They shifted out of a more responsible brand message and opted for confusing, obtuse, media-driven advertising that essentially had no message. They fell hook, line, and sinker for the cutting edge strategy so often used today in media advertising, where, if you don't understand it, you cant be hip enough to buy it. Well, they were right about that. Enough people didn't get it. [They] watched those oblique TV spots, scratched their heads, and wondered what the hell the previous 30 seconds were about. In order to ensure the co-existence of all the three brands, Gap undertook a number of initiatives. We are re-focusing on our brand positioning, our customer, and on delivering great design. We are focused on key item merchandising and on keeping our stores simple and easy to shop. Were backing that up with greater operating effectiveness, the spokesman of the company said.103 The Gap brand gave an image makeover to its monthly catalog by making it a quarterly titled the book with pictures shot by Ellen von Unwerth, a famous fashion photographer. The book was positioned as a catalog-cum-fashion magazine. Banana Republic repositioned itself as a trendier

brand. The brand got magazines like Vogue and Elle to photograph Bananas clothes and got George Clooney, a famous American film and television actor, to appear in Vanity Fair in a Banana shirt. Its a good strategy. It could attract new customers and get old customers to come in more often, said Cynthia R. Cohen, Founder and President, Strategic Mindshare, a consulting firm Questions for Discussion: 1. In the late 1990s, the company realized that the three brands had started eating into each others market. What resulted in the downturn of the company in the late 1990s and the early 2000s? 2. A Gap Inc. spokesperson acknowledged that it had lost focus in its brands. What are the ways in which the three brands can increase their sales?
Shared Values: A Campaign Gone Hollow?

Post September 11, 2001, the United States started a public campaign in countries with predominantly Muslim populations with the objective of counteracting the growing anti-American sentiment in these regions. The campaign was led by Charlotte Beers (Charlotte), Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, US State Department. Charlotte was a former advertising executive who had worked as chairman of Ogilvy and Mather and J. Walter Thompson, two leading advertising agencies of the world. The gap between who we are and how we wish to be seen, and how we are in fact seen, is frighteningly wide, said Charlotte. The campaign called Shared Values, showcased Muslims describing their freedom to live, work, and worship in America. However, the campaign, which was intended to reposition the US in a more positive light, was discontinued in 2003. In 2003, Charlotte resigned from her role, citing health reasons. But critics said her resignation was due to the failure of the campaign, which did not evoke a positive response from the audience, as the policies that the United States followed were incongruent with what the campaign communicated. The television spots made their debut in October 2002 and were broadcast for five weeks in many Muslim countries around the world. The campaign featured five Muslims a baker, a journalism student, a schoolteacher, a paramedic, and a public official who lived in US. The footage was created by McCann-Erickson, a leading advertising agency. The campaign projected social tolerance in US. I have co-workers who are Jewish, who are Christian, Catholic, Hindu even. I have never gotten disrespect because I am a Muslim, said the paramedic in the campaign. As part of the campaign, the people who featured in the ads were also taken to countries with a predominant Muslim population where they interacted with the locals. As part of the campaign, stories based on the theme of Shared Values were done in print and the audio-visual media. An Arabic youth magazine was also launched and new television programming was started for the Middle East. The campaign promoted the image of the United States as a place hospitable to all religions. It also projected Saddam Hussein as an evil dictator compiling lethal weapons. Charlotte said the campaign helped inform the Muslim world that the faith of Islam flourished in a tolerant United States. Charlotte also mapped out a multi-pronged approach, which included traveling photo exhibitions of Ground Zero107, websites, informational handouts, a radio station, and exchange programs. The radio station named Radio Sawa mixed music and news to attract Middle Eastern listeners. Several Arab countries refused to air the ad. Egypt made it known to US officials that it was not willing to carry out communications from other governments on its airwaves. Jordan and Lebanon

also rejected the campaign. One of ads also featured a woman running in shorts, which offended the sentiments of the Muslims. The US governments made use of private broadcasting stations to feature the ads in some countries while it made use of both government-owned and private broadcasting stations in countries like Pakistan, Kuwait, Indonesia, and Malaysia where the ads were not objected to. The US government also made use of pan-Arab broadcasters like the Middle East Broadcasting Center based in Dubai. But the campaign did not go well with the target audience. Participants of a focus group study done in Jordon said that the campaign left them cold. The TV ads were soon discontinued. As long as people are bothered by bombs over the heads of Iraqis and Palestinians, nothing that Charlotte Beers does will change the public mood, said Asad AbuKhalil, associate professor, California State University. Propaganda is sometimes successful at deceiving people, but oftentimes its much less successful at influencing its target population than it is at helping the propaganda team deceive themselves. I think Charlotte Beers campaign is an example of that, said Sheldon Ramption, co-author of the book Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bushs War in Iraq. Critics pointed out that the ads depicted Muslims in a stereotyped and caricatured manner. The Indonesian audience was baffled by the depiction of Arabs in the ads, which ignored the fact that Arabs constituted only a percent of the total Muslim population around the world. Critics complained that this lack of regional awareness in the ads indicated the US approach to foreign affairs. While these ads were aired on television, we were receiving news of Arabs being rounded up in San Francisco, said Jihad Fakhreddine of the Pan-Arab Research Center.110 Criticism for the campaign came not just from foreign countries. People within the US also condemned it. Islamic opinion is influenced more by what the U.S. does than anything it can say, said Steve Hayden, vice chairman of Ogilvy & Mather. Observers said branding of the US image wouldnt help unless US worked on its policy in the first place. The ads were extremely poor. It was like this was the 1930s and the government was running commercials showing happy Blacks in America. It is the policy itself we have to explain. You have to grab the bull by the horn, and the bull is Hey, heres our policy and there are good reasons for it, instead of saying, Gee, there are a lot of happy Muslim people here, said Youssef Ibrahim, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, a New York-based think tank. Questions for Discussion: 1. Propaganda is sometimes successful at deceiving people, but oftentimes its much less successful at influencing its target population than it is at helping the propaganda team deceive themselves. I think Charlotte Beers campaign is an example of that. Why did the Shared Values campaign failed to meet up with its objectives? 2. Post September 11, 2001, the United States engaged in a public campaign in countries of predominantly Muslim population with the objective of counteracting growing anti-American sentiment in these regions. How did the Shared Values campaign try to bring about a change in the attitude of people in the Muslim world about the US?

The Harley-Davidson Experience

Harley-Davidson, Inc. (Harley-Davidson) based in Wisconsin, USA, was one of the oldest motor cycle manufacturing companies in the world, having been set up in 1903. Harley-Davidson motor cycles (HDM) were famous for their unique designs and enjoyed high brand loyalty among the customers. However, the company was on the verge of bankruptcy in the early eighties.131 The quality of the product suffered and it faced a severe competition on its home turf from Japanese companies like Honda and Yamaha who were launching their motorcycles with superior quality standards. Executives at the company found, however, that about 95% of the HDM owners during the 80s were repeat buyers. The financial situation of the company was not conducive to running an advertisement campaign for the brand. In such a situation, it decided to form a group of HDM owners and thereby capitalize on brand loyalty. In 1983, the Harley Owners Group (HOG) came into existence. At the beginning, the company used newsletters and club magazines to build a customer base of Harley owners. Gradually, the membership picked up and it went on to become the largest factory sponsored motorcycle community group in the world. Vaughn Beals was the CEO of Harley Davidson at the time of the formation of HOG.132 Through HOG, he tried to re-establish the company with the help of its own customers. He said, Harley riders didnt just buy motorcycles, they were buying the Harley experience.133 According to the company, HOG was a response to a growing desire by Harley riders for an organized way to share their passion and show their pride.134 HOG had the mission to ride and have fun.135 The formation of HOG helped the company to concentrate on customer satisfaction even after sales. HOG offered three types of membership full membership, associate membership, and life membership. Full membership was open to HDM owners for a membership fee of $ 40 for one year, $75 for two years, and $105 for three years. Each full member was provided with a free HOG pin. Associate membership was open to the family members of full members. To get associate membership, sponsorship by full members was required. Associate members were entitled to many of the benefits available to full members. The membership fee for associate membership was $20 for one year, $35 for two years, and $50 for three years. Life members were eligible for all the benefits offered to full members with the added advantage that they did not have to renew their membership. Full and life members were entitled to receive the Hog Tale magazine which informed them about activities planned and conducted by HOG. In 1985, HOG had a membership of around 60,000 members, across 49 local chapters136 of the US. The membership of HOG increased in due course. In 1991, HOG started operating outside the US for the first time with a rally held in England. The total HOG membership the same year was 151,600, and the total number of local chapters in the world rose to 685. By 1999, the global HOG membership reached 500,000 and the total number of chapters increased to 1157. New chapters were formed in Asia during this period with the starting of HOG chapters in Singapore and Malaysia. In 2005, the total HOG members reached 900,000. The HOG members regularly organized training courses in riding, social events, and raised funds for charity. They also organized rallies to strengthen the relationship between employees, members, and dealers and at the same time enhance the Harley experience for prospective customers. HOG members were also provided special insurance programs, emergency road services, and hotel accommodation at discounted rates. The company also sponsored rallies in which HOG members interacted among themselves and also with the employees of the company. Jeffrey L. Bleustein (Bluestein), chairman and CEO of Harley-Davidson, said about the rallies, When a Harley owner explains a great riding experience or rally hes been to, or even a problem he may have had, its important to be able to say, I know what you mean, or How can I help

you.137 The rallies also helped the company in their product development. The employees of the company would listen to the experience narrated by the riders. In the rallies, riders would also take demo rides on new bike models and gave valuable feedback which helped them in making required modifications. Bluestein said, Lot of what you see in our product lines and even the way we run our rallies are the direct results of input we've received from our customers.138 At the company, they gave great importance to innovation, but not at the cost of changing the various factors that provided the Harley-Davidson motorbikes, a cult status among its loyal fans. For example, the motorbikes had a typical V-twin engine, extra-large speedometer and teardrop gas tanks to provide style. Ken Schmidt (Schmidt), director of communications of the company said, We are constantly improving and modernizing the machine, yet every model retains the classic components. Thats what our customers want, and thats also, I believe, what sparks the strong emotional attachments that Harleys generate.139 From the near bankruptcy situation in the early 80s, the company started making profits and was able to continue making profits in the 21st century. To meet increasing consumer demand, the company increased its production capacity twofold between 1995 and 2000. In 2003, its centenary year, it earned revenues of US $4.6 billion.140 The total production of motorcycles in 2004 was 317,000 and the estimated figure for 2007 was 400,000. Bluestein said about the companys goals, Performance improvement is the important product goal. Our philosophy is never to flaunt the technology [in our product], but to emphasize the suitability of the motorcycle for the customer. John Russell (Russell), vice-president and managing director of HarleyDavidson Europe, said of their approach toward customers, we actively engage with our customers; we encourage our people to spend time with our customers, riding with customers, being with customers whenever the opportunity arises. Questions for Discussion: 1. What are the factors which led Harley-Davidson to form the brand community, the Harley Owners Group? 2. How did the formation of Harley Owners Group, help Harley-Davidson to become one of the successful motorcycle companies in the world?

Tupperware: Influencing Opinions through Word-of-Mouth Tupperware, a direct selling company entered India in November 1996. Tupperware adopted a three-tier network structure. At the lowest level was the Dealer. One rank above the dealer was the Manager who operated a team of six dealers. The manager also had to sell like the dealers, in addition to motivating and training dealers. She got a commission on the sales of her team. She could also promote a dealer to manager level for which too she got a commission. The top level was the Distributor, who was registered with the company. She did not keep any stock but was

responsible for recruiting many dealers and maintaining a healthy atmosphere in the unit (the dealers and the managers working under her). She could promote managers to distributor levels. The dealers could work part time but the manager needed to be more focused. The distributor needed to be a full-time Tupperware worker. Tupperwares marketing strategy was described by its three Ps Product, Party Plan, and People. Tupperware products carried a lifetime guarantee. Any damaged product (cracks or breaks) would be replaced with the same/similar new Tupperware product from any place in the world. Pradeep Mathur (Mathur), MD, Tupperwares India operations said, Our product has been the corner stone of our success for many years.141 The products with the revolutionary lid offered unique advantages to consumers in terms of quality and durability. The second P stood for Party Plan. Tupperware succeeded worldwide not only because it had an innovative product line but also because of its powerful marketing strategy. The company sold its products through the Party Plan. The Party Plan was a unique direct selling method in which a Tupperware dealer approached a lady and asked her to host a party at her place, the investment for the party being borne by the hostess. The Tupperware woman demonstrated the benefits and use of the Tupperware products to the invitees to the party. Depending upon the sales generated by that particular party, the hostess got a free gift a Tupperware product. The hostess was a means of promoting the products and she did not have to become a Tupperware dealer. This method allowed the Tupperware products to be demonstrated physically and their utility to be explained. According to the executives of the company, this demonstration technique suited their products and was necessary to explain the reasons for their higher costs. The third P stood for People. Tupperware aimed at recruiting people at the dealer level and training them to do their business. The company recognized good efforts and rewarded them. Mathur commented, People are what our business is all about. We dont really worry when the next sale is coming. But we do worry about when the next person will join our business, where she comes from, and how she is trained and motivated.142 The company encouraged people to become dealers. There were awards and cash bonuses for the party hostesses. The management of Tupperware India organized at least three social events per month for its employees. This could mean the entire staff going out for lunch or a movie or cutting a cake together. We dont lose any occasion to celebrate, said Mathur. Such programs developed a healthy and fun atmosphere in the unit. Initially, Tupperware did not opt for the traditional means of advertising. The companys products were promoted through the parties and were advertised through word of mouth. But later, the company decided to use the conventional methods for advertising in promoting its products. Tupperware India advertised in popular womens magazines like Elle, Femina, and Parenting. In 2000, the company entered into a strategic alliance with FMCG major P&G to conduct a campaign in Chennai and Chandigarh, where P&G salesmen distributed Tupperware pamphlets and P&Gs Tempo tissues. The company held a cross-promotional exercise with P&G in 2001. The idea was that Pringle chips, which were being promoted by P&G, stayed crisp and crunchy when stored in Tupperware containers. Tupperwares sales went up by 20% after this campaign. The Caravan (a van that carried Tupperware products in road shows during festive seasons) and Tupperware melas (display of Tupperware products in residential parks) were also introduced in 2001 to enhance awareness. Though direct selling remained its main revenue stream, Tupperware set up two kiosks at the Shoppers Stop outlets in Delhi and Mumbai in 2001, which were increased to 16 in 2002. Supporting the move, Kanwar S. Bhutani, who joined as the managing director of Tupperware

India in 2000 said, The move is aimed at lead generation (enhancing the recruitment set-up, in other words), upping brand awareness, and reaching out to potential customers unable to attend Tupperware Questions for Discussion: 1. How did Tupperware use parties to increase sales of its products? 2. Tupperwares marketing strategy was described by its three Ps Product, Party Plan, and People. What was unique about Tupperwares marketing?
Dove: Campaigning for Real Beauty

Dove, a leading cleansing brand from Unilever, has been criticized for coming out with campaigns portraying stereotypic definitions of beauty which promoted the idea that looking great meant being thin. People feel under pressure to improve their appearance, even at times such as childhood, pregnancy and later in life, when, traditionally, it was OK not to bother, said Tamar Kasriel, Head Knowledge Venturing, Henley Center, a marketing consultancy.144 With Anorexia Nervosa, an emotional problem characterized by an obsession with food, weight, thinness, becoming the third most common chronic illness among adolescents in the US, there has been increased attention to the causes of this problem. In 2005, it was also estimated that fifty percent of girls between the ages of eleven and thirteen saw themselves as being overweight. As per the National Institute of Mental Health in the US, women formed almost 95% of the Anorexia Nervosa cases in the US. Research done by Dove indicated that 68% of the women who were part of the sample population agreed that the media and advertising set an unrealistic standard of beauty that most women cant ever achieve. In 2004, Dove came out with a campaign titled Campaign for real beauty, which conveyed a message to women and young girls that they were beautiful just the way they were. The new Dove campaign portrayed women who were heavily freckled, had a prominent scar, etc. The campaign also depicted women of various skin types and body shapes, thereby democratizing the view of beauty. The campaign sought to remove the oft-held perception of associating beauty with thinness, and the stigmas attached to old age and disfigurement. Through this campaign, Dove tried to do away with the unrealistic images of beauty which were being projected by many of the organizations selling beauty products. This isnt a departure for the brand. Its a step forward, said Stacie Bright, marketing communications manager for Unilevers US operations.145 Marketers mentioned that the new campaign from Dove unified its products around a compelling idea and helped the company to stand apart from its competitors like Johnson & Johnson and Nivea. Though the campaign won media attention, there were questions about its effectiveness. Marketers pointed out that not all campaigns which adopted a realistic orientation had been successful. While the campaign of Boden, an up-market mailorder brand, whose glossy catalogues had photographs of customers along with professional models, were termed successful, a campaign by Marks & Spencer, which featured women of larger sizes than a stereotypic model projected, failed to evoke a positive response from the consumer. Campaigns like the Benetton one featuring AIDS victims to promote its fashions also backfired as they were judged to be exploitative. Critics said that rather than retracting from concepts of glamour by coming out with this new campaign, what Dove had done was to turn ordinary women into stars for a day. They said Doves marketing was the reality of reality TV. They pointed out that campaigns run by Slim-Fast, another Unilever brand, played on the insecurity of women by comparing them with thinner

women. Psychologist Mary Pipher who analyzed the Dove campaign, said, Any change in the culture of advertising that allows for a broader definition of beauty and encourages women to be more accepting and comfortable with their natural appearance is a step in the right direction. But embedded within this is a contradiction. They are still saying you have to use this product to be beautiful. Questions for Discussion: 1. Assess the challenges the Campaign for real beauty campaign faced and will face in the future. 2. In which ways were Campaign for real beauty unique as compared to promotional campaigns of company selling beauty products?

Online Matrimony Services in India Online matrimony services in India started in the late 1990s. By 2003, there were about 2000 online matrimonial websites in India. By 2005, the two leading players in the Indian online matrimonial market were Shaadi.com and BharatMatrimony.com. Shaadi.com, which started off as an online matrimonial ads website, also offered services like wedding planning, horoscope matching, and expert advice. The company forayed into offline matrimonial service called Shaadi Point, targeting non-Internet users through its 250 centers across India. BharatMatrimony.com, the other major player in the market that started its operations in 1996, included 14 regional portals, which were Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalee, Marathi, Marwari, Oriya, Parsi, Punjabi, Sindhi, Tamil, and Telugu. The company not only facilitated online matrimonial ads, but also had features in its website through which, the online visitors could place matrimonial ads in the leading newspapers across India. In October 2004, Shaadi.com received the ISO 9001:2000 certification,155 making it the first online matrimonial portal in the world, to receive this certification. In April 2005, BharatMatrimony.com too, received the ISO 9001:2000 certification. The industry was valued at Rs 50 billion in 2004, and was growing at a rate of 25% per annum. The services offered by the industry included dcor and catering services during wedding ceremonies, grooming and jewelry services, and travel and tourism services. Local players have offered these services, for many decades. Traditionally, Indians searched for prospective matches through family, friends, priests, and marriage brokers. As the joint family system, which was useful for such a search started to disintegrate in urban India, in the 1980s, the trend of

placing matrimonial ads in newspaper classifieds, began. This was followed by the emergence of online matrimonial portals, in the late 1990s. The revenue generation from the online matrimonial market, which stood at Rs.0.06 billion in 2003-04, rose to Rs. 0.2 billion by 2004-05, and has been projected to grow to Rs. 0.8 billion by 200708. Considering the significance, the institution of marriage holds in the life of an Indian, Internet matrimony was sure to be a winner, said Murugavel Janakiraman, CEO of BharatMatrimony.com, commenting on the success of the online matrimonial business.156 The age of subscribers on such websites ranges between 20 to 55 years. The 25-34 year age group has been identified to be the fastest growing consumer segment, for this service. While male subscribers formed 69% of the total subscriber base, Indians living abroad formed 30% of the subscriber base. An increasing numbers of Indians are now viewing these services as a practical search option. Its wide acceptance will be further propelled by the fact that there are 6 million highly eligible Indians, searching for appropriate partners from India, as well as, other countries like the USA, UK, and UAE, said Preeti Desai, President of the Internet & Online Association, in 2004.Users of the online matrimonial sites are able to search for a partner, on the basis of as many as 20 characteristics. This includes characteristics like academic qualifications, citizenship, country of residence, religious background, caste, physical status, age, marital status, and lifestyle preferences. Ease of search, and the large number of options available were, found to be some of the reasons for the popularity of the websites, among potential brides/bridegrooms. At the end of the day, it (online matrimonial) is preferable to seeing yourself described in a tiny, one-column box in the newspaper classifieds as 26, 53 fair convent-educated MBA girl working with reputed IT firm seeking alliance with qualified Bengali boy from good family, commented an online matrimonial service subscriber.158 Confidentiality of information provided by these sites, is considered to be a crucial factor in increasing confidence in these services. To counter the rising popularity of these portals, some newspapers like the Times of India have launched their own matrimonial websites (TimesMatri.com), apart from entering into alliances with the online matrimonial websites. Hindustan Times, a daily, also entered the market with HTMatrimonials.com. The online matrimonial classifieds are replete with exciting possibilities, as better search, wider reach, and real-time environment lead to more customer benefits. However, it is critical to maintain the credibility and integrity of the database. At Hindustan

Times, we are planning to add more value to our online offering, HTMatrimonials.com, which is aligned with our print product, said Sanjay Trehan, Chief Executive Internet, Hindustan Times.159 Observers have predicted that the future of online matrimonial service providers looks good, going by the consistently increasing subscriber base. The competition among the online players is expected to increase. This has led many players to offer niche services, such as, matches for divorcees, widowers, and the disabled. Meanwhile, to offer matrimonial services on mobile phone, BharatMatrimony.com has launched mobile.BharatMatrimony.com. Mobile First, a consortium of BPL Mobile, Escotel, RPG Cellular, and Spice Telecom, has launched a service called Life Partner. Questions for Discussion: 1. Considering the significance, the institution of marriage holds in the life of an Indian, Internet matrimony was sure to be a winner. What were the reasons behind the success of companies like Shaadi.com and Bharatmatrimony.com? 2. Newspapers like the Times of India and Hindustan Times have come up with online offerings, for the matrimonial ads placed in those newspapers. Discuss the reasons that prompted newspapers to enter the online matrimonial space.

Pet Services in India: From Bow-Bow to Wow-Wow In 2000, Mars Inc., a $14 billion US giant in dog food, entered the Indian market through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Effem India Pvt. Ltd. The company started its operations in India with its Pedigree dog food brand. Mars was not the only international player showing interest in this market. Nestl Purina Petcare company, part of international food giant Nestl, also entered the Indian pet products market with its Purina brand in 2003. In India, dogs were the most popular domesticated animals, accounting for 55% of the pet population in 2004. The pet dog population in India increased from 4.5 million in 2002 to 6.2 million in 2003, and to 8 million in 2005. The pet population was growing at a rate of 20-25% per annum from the early 2000s. The maximum concentration of

pet dogs was in urban areas, especially major Indian metros, where the population was 3.6 million in 2000. There were a number of reasons for the rapid rise in the pet population in India, especially dogs. The increasing number of nuclear families in urban India made families vulnerable to both loneliness and security threats. The lack of security was aggravated by the increasing number of dual income households, as a result of which children were left alone at home. People were also finding companionship in pets. Pets were fast becoming a part of family and pet owners often used words like kids and babies to describe their pets. Pet owners also spent thousands of rupees per month on imported pet food, grooming, vaccinations, pet treats, therapies, pet hygiene, etc. As more and more families began adopting pets, the lack of proper products and services related to pet care became evident. In India, the pet population is growing at 25-26 per cent but infrastructure for supporting this growth is inadequate, said O.P. Singh, general manager, Venkys (India) Ltd., one of the top domestic players in pet products in India.160 It is not an alien profession any more and a lot of people tell me that they wish my services were available earlier, said Shireen Merchant, a practicing shrink.161 Many pet owners employed domestic help, especially for their pets due to time constraints. Most house-holds here have domestic help who will take dogs for their walks, unlike in the west, where there are professional dog walkers, said Dr Ramandeep Chaggar of the Chaggar pet clinic in Delhi.162 Special food and entertainment zones were also coming up where families could take their pets along. 32nd Milestone, an entertainment complex in Gurgoan, started the Bow Wow Barking Buddies Club which provided services like play area, doctor on call, groomers and instructors, and take-away dog food. The pet food and pet care market in India stood at over Rs.35 million in 2003. The market for pet services like medicament, grooming, and immunization was estimated to be over Rs.10 million, and the prepared dog food market in India stood at Rs 15 million out of the total pet food market of Rs 25 million. These figures encouraged companies like Mars and Nestl to start their manufacturing and marketing operations in India. Imported pet food formed a large chunk of the pet food market with a market share of 30%. A wide range of brands like Nutripet, Royal Canine, Royal Pet, Pro Pac, Eagle, Purina, Pedigree, etc., were available in the market at different price ranges. Though earlier, pet owners in India perceived branded pet food as expensive and unhealthy, there was a change in that perception in the early 2000s. The change was associated with the increasing awareness among pet owners regarding the nutritional content of the prepared pet food. The saving on time spent on preparing pet food and the hassle-free nature of buying branded pet food were also considered to be the reasons for increasing the sales of branded pet foods. Indian pet owners have traditionally fed pets with home-cooked food. But the trend is rapidly changing in favor of branded pet foods, because these provide balanced diet and pets do have specialized nutritional needs, observed an analyst.163 With the increase in the number of double-income households and increasing insecurity among the members of urban households, the pet craze in India is set to rise further. One pet owner proclaimed, Our pets are our kids.164 Questions for Discussion: 1. One pet owner proclaimed, Our pets are our kids. Assess the changes in the Indian society that has resulted in the growth of pet services in India?

2. Indian pet owners have traditionally fed pets with home-cooked food. But the trend is rapidly changing in favor of branded pet foods, because these provide balanced diet and pets do have specialized nutritional needs. How did the belief systems prevalent in the Indian families influence the dietary patterns of the pets?
Coke: Reaping the Benefits of Going Rural

Coca-Cola (Coke), one of the most admired companies in the world, re-entered India in 1993. It had been ousted in 1977, due to differences with the then Indian government. Post 1993, Coke tried to establish itself in the Indian market where Pepsi, which entered India with a joint venture in 1988, had already established its strong hold. Although the volumes in the soft drink market increased by 76%, from 5670 million bottles in 1998 to 10,000 million bottles in 2002, both the cola giants faced stagnation in sales. In 2002, the Rs 55 billion soft drink market in India saw a major shift of strategy by Coke. The company shifted its focus from the urban consumer market segment, to the rural landscape. Coke understood that only 26% of the Indian population resided in urban areas, a region that Coke catered to, until then. Coke wanted to expand its market to include rural areas that were largely untapped, and therefore, had high growth potential. The rural consumers in India, consisting of 41% of Indias middle class and 58% of its disposable income, had been prospering over the years, due to good harvest.5 However, there were many problems in the rural marketing of soft drinks, the biggest being in distribution. Rural areas were far off from cities, with poor road connectivity, making it difficult and expensive to reach these areas. A typical village had around four to five retail stores with very less space and less capital to buy stocks. Even electricity supply was poor in these far-flung areas, which would have meant that villagers would not get chilled Coke. To tackle these problems, Coca-Cola took several steps- It decided to follow a hub and spoke distribution strategy. It identified distributors (hubs) in key districts, and connected villages. These large distributors were supplied the full-transport load of the glass-bottled Coke, from the companys depots in towns and cities. These large distributors sold the product to small distributors (spokes), who in turn, supplied these in small quantities to the village retailers in the adjoining villages, on a weekly basis. Various modes of transportation like handcarts, bullock carts, cycles, and rickshaw were used for this purpose. The company reached 50,000 new outlets in just two months in 2002, by increasing the number of distributors. A total of 3,500 new villages were added to its distribution network in the same period, through these efforts. The company installed non-electric cooling solutions for village retailers, thereby addressing the problem of power cuts. In 2002, Coke came up with a 200 ml bottle, which was priced at five rupees. This pricing was almost 50% lesser than the rate at which Coke used to sell earlier. We have reduced costs by 3040 per cent per soft drink case over the last three years. Part of the cost reduction exercise included light-weight bottle and crate introduction, which helped cut down freight costs...otherwise the fiverupee price point would not have been successful, said Sanjiv Gupta (Gupta), president, CocaCola India, in 2003.6 The high frequency of trips by the small distributor, and the pricing at five rupees, ensured that the village retailers stocked the product. Pepsi positioned itself, as an urban focused drink, and this was reflected in its promotional campaigns, which were youth oriented. In 2002, when Coke lowered its prices all over India, Pepsi was forced to reduce its prices. Pepsi lowered the prices of its 300ml glass bottles to Rs 6, from Rs 8. As a consequence of the price reduction, Pepsis rural consumption increased from less than 10% in 2001 to 10-15% by 2003.

The company also increased its rural presence by following the hub and spoke model used by Coke. It significantly increased the number of distributors, vehicles, and refrigeration solutions in rural areas, and also added a lot of manpower to focus on this consumer segment. However, Pepsi continued using its urban focused ads with just a mention of prices at the end, while Cokes marketing communication clearly showed that it was targeting rural consumers. Coke launched its ad campaign of Chota Coke, the 200ml bottle, with Aamir Khan, in a rural setting. However, the company realized that a large section of its target consumer segment (rural population) does not have access to television. The company addressed this problem by promoting itself through rural fairs, weekly fruits and vegetable markets, and through its packaging, with a focus on communicating the price. These initiatives yielded good results. Our rural market focus has resulted in a 68 per cent increase, in the number of rural consumers. In fact, in 2003 over the previous year, 80 per cent of all new consumers of the company are from the rural markets, said Gupta.7 In 2003, more than 30% of Cokes sales came from the rural markets, which grew at 37% as compared to 24% in the case of the urban markets. The stock turn, which was less than four times a year in the case of 300ml glass bottles, increased to more than 10-14 times a year for its 200ml initiative. In addition, the companys capacity utilization significantly increased from 50% to 75%. Coca-Cola believes that rural markets have tremendous potential for growth, in the future. The per capita rural consumption is 2.8 liters per annum as compared to per capita national consumption of 7.4 liters per annum, or per capita metro consumption of 4.9 liters per annum. By 2003, the company had reached 40,000 villages in rural India. Questions for Discussion: 1. Compare and contrast Coke and Pepsis rural marketing strategy? 2. Why did rural markets gain importance among cola marketers?

Balbir Pasha: The Baadshah of Aids Campaigns in India

PSI, a Washington DC based non-profit organization, worked around the globe in the area of health care for the low-income population. In 2002, PSI as part of its Indian operations, started Operation Lighthouse, a program aimed at bringing about behavioral change in target group members in order to reduce the risk of HIV/AIDS contraction. As part of this program, a campaign was launched, which later came to beknown as the Balbir Pasha campaign. The campaign was launched in Mumbai, the city considered to be the epicenter of Indias HIV/AIDS problem. As part of this campaign, PSI worked with Lowe, an advertising agency. The four-month-long campaign (November 2002 February 2003) was successful in achieving its objectives. Post-campaign research revealed that the campaign had made an impact on the target group and changed their attitudes toward risky behavior. Though a number of campaigns had been launched earlier in Mumbai, which conveyed messages relating to AIDS, they were more informative and educational in nature and did not address the consumer directly. For example, the

messages conveyed were, Lets keep Mumbai AIDS free or HIV/AIDS does not spread through touch. The Balbir Pasha campaign was direct and addressed the individual. The campaign also provided information about HIV/AIDS hotlines and counselling and testing services available for people. Pre-campaign research revealed that one in every three men who visited a commercial sex worker (CSW) was ignorant of the fact that a healthy looking individual could also be a carrier of HIV. Many among the target group were unaware of the fact that the men who patronized CSWs had a high risk of contracting HIV. A strong link was also found between high-risk behavior and alcohol consumption. PSI India devised a campaign focused on urban men in the age group of 18-34 and belonging to the lower socio-economic groups, as they were part of the high-risk category that frequented CSWs. The campaign wanted to generate a discussion about HIV/AIDS among the target population and also aimed at increasing the perception of HIV/AIDS risk among the high-risk groups by personalizing the message through the creation of identifiable real-life situations. The campaign was based on the Social Learning Theory of Albert Bandura, which said that people could learn by observing the behavior of others. An alter-ego38, Balbir Pasha was thus created to serve as a behavioral model to communicate risk awareness among the target group. The character, which the target group could identify with, was used to convey the message in an approachable and easy manner. The campaign used a number of media vehicles to communicate its message. An appropriate mix of vehicles was selected which included print ads, mainly in language newspapers, television and radio commercials, billboards, ads in cinema halls, posters in trains, and bus shelters. The objective was to ensure that these messages gained top of the mind recall among the target audience. The campaign had three phases starting with a teaser campaign aimed at building intrigue and to get through the clutter of ads the audience in Mumbai was bombarded with. This three-week-long phase saw men belonging to the lower and middle income group asking each other, Will Balbir Pasha get AIDS? The second phase, which lasted for eight weeks, which was also the main campaign phase, depicted specific behavioral patterns displayed by Balbir Pasha. The second phase made the target group question themselves about their own behavior and whether they fell in the highrisk category. The third phase of the campaign, which lasted for two weeks, provided the target group with a helpline number that could be used to get reliable information that the audience would like to seek with relation to high-risk behaviors that would result in the contracting of HIV/AIDS. The third phase motivated the target group to call the helpline. This phase also carried messages like I dont want to become Balbir Pasha. What should I do? A post-campaign evaluation study by TNS Mode with 1500 people revealed that a quarter of all respondents recalled the Balbir Pasha campaign spontaneously. Of the respondents, 62% recalled the campaign after hearing the word HIV/AIDS, while 90% remembered the campaign after hearing the words Balbir Pasha. It was observed that PSIs Saadhan HIV/AIDS hotline saw a 250% increase in the number of calls it received after the campaign. Almost a quarter of the respondents knew the name of the hotline; more than 75% believed that the hotline would provide reliable information to the caller. Respondents also recorded increasing awareness levels regarding high-risk behaviors and what they could do to avert the disease. The campaign was assimilated as part of the local culture. Amul, known for its satirical and topical billboard ads, used Balbir Pasha as one of its billboard themes. The ad came with the caption, Who does Balbir Pasha wake up with every morning? Amul Butter. Regular Item. Four months after the campaign, a leading daily came up with a cartoon on Balbir Pasha. The campaign was also discussed in the local media. An independent film on sex and AIDS used the Balbir Pasha name while a B-grade movie also used the name Balbir Pasha in its title. Questions for Discussion: 1. The (Balbir Pasha) campaign was assimilated as part of local culture. What attracted the target group to the personality of Balbir Pasha? 2. Post-campaign research revealed that the campaign had made an impact on the target group and changed their attitudes toward risky behavior. How did PSI try sto bring about a behavioral change in the target audience?

Einstein: A Relatively Popular Personality

Albert Einstein (Einstein) (1879-1955) who proposed the theory of relativity and made significant contributions to the development of quantum mechanics, statisticalmechanics, and cosmology, was one of the most recognizable faces the world over. In 1921, Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize for his explanation of the photoelectric effect. Einstein was one of the few scientists who could be identified by the common people and he became a synonym for

intelligence and genius. Organizations the worldover used his name and image to convey their messages. Einsteins image is used to represent genius. It hasnt changed a whole lot in 50 years,48 said Alan Friedman, Director, New York Hall of Science.49 Though there were criticisms that the Einstein image reinforced the stereotype of a scientist as a middle-aged, white, mad-haired individual, the scientific community used the image as a hook to attract people to appreciate the developments in contemporary physics. Consumers associated the Einstein image with adjectives like groundbreaking, scientific and clever. The image of Einstein was well-established the world over and so companies used his name or image to sell products ranging from cameras, software, computers, fountain pens, infant products, food products, spoons, mugs, prayer cards, cakes, to wigs, mustache and eyebrows sets, and beer Einsteins gone beyond the figure that he is into iconic status. He stands for almost any great idea now, said Jim Tobin (Tobin), a partner in Brogan & Partners, a convergence marketing agency. 50 Scientific organizations used Einstein to spread the message of science to society. The International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP)51 selected 2005, the centenary year of Einstein publishing his path-breaking papers on Brownian Motion, Photoelectric Effect, and Special Relativity, as the World Year of Physics You rarely get a chance to have a cultural icon thats so closely aligned with the message you want to deliver and who has become sort of timeless, said Tobin. 52 While IUPAP choose 2005 as the World Year of Physics, The Institute of Physics53 (IOP) in the UK named the year as Einstein Year We wanted to use this year to target the 11 to 14 [years old] age group, especially those who dont really know what physics is, but still don't like it anyway. Calling the initiative World Year of Physics was not inspiring and it has the dreaded word physics in it,54 said Caitlin Watson (Watson), Project manager for Einstein Year at IOP. IOP found it easier to market 2005 as the Einstein Year rather than the World Year of Physics. Though Einstein was associated with physics, it did not put off people as there was a positive emotional response associated with him. The Einstein brand made physics look more attractive. People regard him as a genius, but also as anti-establishment. Theres a kind of underdog feeling,55 continued Watson. Yet using Einstein as a brand image to promote physics also came in for some criticism. A section of scientists felt that associating physics with elderly white males may not create the right impression among the youth or encourage them to join the profession and so the scientific community should look for a more modern personality to be projected as a role model among the youth. The webpage of Einstein Year, <http://www.einsteinyear.org>, stated that the aim of Einstein Year was getting young people excited about physics, exploding the myth that physicists are white, middle-aged men with mad hair, and highlighting the huge contribution of contemporary physics to society. Though this was the stated aim, the brand image the organization selected went against the norms of the proposed objective. Einstein was a perfect example of the stereotype physicist, as he was white, middle-aged, and had mad hair. IOP planned to use the Einstein image to dispel the stereotypic image of a physicist of which Einstein was a perfect example. It used Einstein as a hook to get people interested in the campaigns and the target audience was then given the message about developments in contemporary physics. The public wont look at the field of science as a whole, but at one aspect that fascinates them, and from this, their interest may widen. Einstein plays this role for physics, said Robert Crease, from the Department of Philosophy at Stony Brook University, New York. 56 IOP took care not to use the image of Einstein too much lest it reinforced the stereotype image. It also presented young scientists as role models for the young people. Observers pointed out that people persisted in using photographs and images of Einstein that were taken when he was in his 50s, while he was only 26 when he published his path-breaking papers in 1905. Einstein in 1905 was young, trendy, stylish, and just married. They argued that youthful images of Einstein should be presented to the public rather than the old images. But advertising professionals were of the view that reshaping Einsteins image would dilute the iconic image of the universally recognized brand. Questions for Discussion: 1. The public wont look at the field of science as a whole, but at one aspect that fascinates them, and from this, their interest may widen. Einstein plays this role for physics. What made the scientific community use Einstein to communicate their messages? 2. Advertising professionals were of the view that reshaping Einsteins image would dilute the iconic image of the universally recognized brand. How did the need to reshape the image of Einstein arise and what kind of aftereffects could reshaping the image have?

Diesel: Style Dictator of the Rebels

Diesel, a high-fashion clothing company founded in 1978, made clothing and clothing accessories. The company was synonymous with denims, for which it had a cult following. Headquartered in Molvena, Italy, the company repeatedly demonstrated the Italian flair for irony in its promotional campaigns. With a price tag for a pair of jeans ranging between US$ 100 and US$ 300 in 2003, Diesel was the only casual wear company to become a luxury brand. Diesel entered the consumer mindspace through the creation of fresh, radically rebellious and sometimes nauseating promotional campaigns for its products. Diesel broke all the rules used for marketing haute couture. The company mocked at ads of leading global companies, including the manufacturers of luxury goods. In 2003, a Businessweek report listed Diesel as No. 15 among worldwide luxury brands, above Lancome, Armani, Bose, Calvin Klein, and Ralph Lauren. The Diesel brand was created and owned by Renzo Rosso (Rosso), whose developmental years (1950s and 1960s) were during a chaotic period in Italian history. This chaos had its effect on Rossos attitude and found its echo in the promotional campaigns of Diesel. Diesel is a state of mind, said Rosso. 125 The advertising campaigns of Diesel were either ironic or humorous. The company mentioned that its use of humor and irony to project a rebel lifestyle was fundamentally different from other brands cashing in on controversial messages to build brand recognition. We inside Diesel are the first consumers of our advertising. We make ad campaigns for our own amusement thats why they succeed, said Rosso.126 Diesels ad campaigns conveyed a message, which projected a shared way of seeing things between the company and the consumer. Diesel was a brand that targeted the youth market with rebellious campaigns that were done the underground way, with an element of fun. In 2003, the average age of its designers, numbering 30, was 25. In 2001, one of Diesels ad campaigns looked at the concept of giving aid to the economically disadvantaged regions of Africa from a different perspective. The Diesel ads, which were part of the ad campaign, were presented as covers of a satirical newspaper, The Daily African. The cover story represented the EuroAid Festival being conducted in Nairobi, dedicated to providing aid to Europeans and Americans to buy food. The campaign says, Lets not forget the suffering people of Europe and America.127 In 2001, another campaign titled Save Yourself made fun of societys obsession with youth. The ad featured models with facemasks, who had a robotic appearance. It showed a woman in denim holding a wineglass with urine. The ad described the woman as having born in 1899, and the copy read, Ive been enjoying the fountain of youth for over a century. Its full of vitamins, I can make it myself and there's a neverending supply. I may have bad breath but I look fantastic. There were other ads that suggested that sleeping for hundreds of years and attaching oneself to a computer were aging retardants. Another question asked, Without young people, who else will keep our discos full? This made people wonder whether the question was intended to make fun of the obsession with youthfulness or was criticizing aging. Diesel operated outside the mainstream media by relying on art advertising catalogs and selective advertisements on channels like MTV where it had the opportunity to select the program the companys ad would go with. The company chose not to advertise in mass market media channels. We never go to a market research agency. We never do focus groups. We do what we like, said KesselsKramer, Creative Partner, Diesel.128 This rebel attitude was echoed throughout Diesel. We didnt move to Milan129 or go to fashion parties. Theres something too fake about it, says Wilbert Das, Creative Director, Diesel.130 Diesel was welcomed not just by the youth but by fashion icons like Karl Lagerfeld. Working professionals also became followers of Diesel and they started using it as part of weekend dressing. However, with the brand maturing, Diesel faced the challenge of maintaining its unique image of not being part of the mainstream culture by being an outsider in the world of fashion. Its growing popularity will soon make it a style dictator and fashion forecaster in the fashion world, an image that a Diesel follower would not like to be associated with. Questions for Discussion: 1. Diesel entered the consumer mindspace by tapping growing consumer cynicism through the creation of fresh, radically rebellious, and sometimes nauseating promotional campaigns for its products. How did the brand image of Diesel denims reflect the attitudes of its target market? 2. What were the strategies that Diesel followed to increase the impact of its campaigns on its target customers?

Big Bazaar: Serving the Classes

Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd. (PRIL), started out in 1987 as Manz Wear Pvt. Ltd., dealing primarily, in menswear. In 1993-94, the company launched Pantaloon Shoppe as complete menswear stores. In 1997-98, PRIL introduced Pantaloon stores, targeting middle class families. The company was the first among the retail players in India, to turn

public in 1991 to fuel its growth. During the 1990s, the company built up its manufacturing base, and added more Pantaloon stores in major cities across the country. While hypermarkets and discount stores contributed 60% of retail volumes worldwide, in India, this segment was missing in the organized retail sector until the early 2000s. Only 2% of the 12 million retailers in India were part of the organized sector till 2003, and most of these retailers catered to the upper-middle and upper class consumers. In 2001-02, India got its first hypermarket in the form of Big Bazaar, launched by PRIL. From 2003 onwards, Big Bazar also included a Gold Bazaar. Big Bazaar targeted middle and lower middle class Indian consumers. The store is a support to the home makers constant effort of saving the maximum while giving the best to her family, said Kishore Biyani (Biyani), Managing Director, PRIL.165 The company opened its first Big Bazaar store in Mumbai, with merchandise ranging from apparels and household products, to consumer electronics. As price was proposed as the key differentiator, the stores offered 5-60% discount across product ranges, with 25-60% discount on apparels and 5-20% discount on other product categories. It also focused on unbranded products, especially in apparels that constituted 40% of its sales. To maintain low prices, the company hunted for good deals in the market, to buy merchandise at considerably less rates. In the case of jeans, for instance, it sourced the discontinued Ruf n Tuf brand of apparels from Arvind Mills Ltd.166 In India, the readymade jeans market consumed 72 million pairs of jeans a year. Of the 72 million pairs, three million pairs were sold off the pavements167 and Big Bazaar wanted to make inroads into that market. The price positioning of a Ruf n Tuf jeans at Rs. 299, was supposed to take on this off-pavement market where most of the jeans were priced between Rs. 375 and Rs. 400. The consumer can now shop at Big Bazaar and pick up jeans or tops for as much if not less than what they would, in the un-organized retail sector, said Darshan Mehta, President, Arvind Mills.168 To cut back on costs, the Big Bazaar stores were built on warehouse format, with less focus on store ambience. Biyani opined that Biz Bazaar was focused on giving the best possible deal to its customers, rather than focusing on the ambience of the store. Taking cue from international retail players like Wal-Mart and Carrefour, the company decided to focus on the value proposition, to attract its target consumers. To communicate its value offering, Big Bazaar used Is se sasta aur achha kahin nahin (Nothing cheaper and better anywhere) as a punch line, emphasizing its focus on low prices. It also communicated the same through its Price Challenge offer, wherein the consumer can return the merchandise purchased from Big Bazaar if s/he finds a similar product elsewhere, at a lower price. Through its purana do naya lo offer, the store encouraged consumers to bring their old clothes, newspapers, and electronic goods in exchange for discounts while shopping at the store. With its clear positioning as value-for-money, Big Bazaar became a success story. Big Bazaar had Rs. 1.5-2 crore per week sales in the year it was launched. Its revenues increased from Rs. 143.38 crore in 2003 to Rs. 319.93 crore in 2004 while profit before tax and interest, increased from Rs. 11.37 crore in 2003 to 23.76 crore in 2004. Despite this growth, Big Bazar faces intense competition today. Its main competitors are Giant hypermarkets owned by the RPG Group, and Star India Bazaar owned by Trent, a Tata Group company, which started its first store in Ahmedabad in 2004. The competition would increase further if the Government of India allows Foreign Direct Investment (FDI in the retail sector, which will result in international players entering the Indian market. India already has some international players like Marks & Spencers, Dairy Farm International Holding Ltd., and LifeStyle International, which either have a franchise setup or a joint venture in India. Wal-Mart, the international hypermarket chain, has been showing interest in entering India. It is to be seen if Big Bazaar will be able to hold its ground in the face of increasing local and international competition. Questions for Discussion: 1. We are not in the business of selling ambience, but in the business of giving the best possible deals to our consumers, said Kishore Biyani, Managing Director, PRIL. How did Big Bazaar offer the best possible deals, and discounted prices to its consumers? 2. Biyani opined that Biz Bazaar was focused on giving the best possible deals to its customers, rather than focusing on the ambience of the store. Is ambience irrelevant for discount stores?

Low-cost Airlines: Taking Indian Aviation by Storm

The low-cost air travel market in India, which did not exist before 2003, has seen the entry of a dozen new players between 2004 and 2005. The entry of discount airlines will open up the bottom of the market in India, said Kapil Kaul, a consultant with the Sydney-based Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. 169 The Indian Aviation Minister, Praful Patel, has also been bullish on the Indian aviation industry. He has taken significant initiatives to revamp the aviation infrastructure and to open up the industry to more competition. It has been estimated that 16 million air tickets were sold in India for the year that ended March 2005, and the number of tickets sold is expected to grow at

the rate of 20-25% in next five years. Low cost airlines are expected to play a major role in the growth of the Indian aviation industry. The economic downturn in a number of developed nations and the 9/11 incident in the US, have caused financial problems for many international airlines. Aircraft manufacturers like Airbus and Boeing provided 30%-50% discounts on aircraft prices, along with free pilot training, spares, and maintenance manuals to the buyers. With business travel going down, marketers started giving increased attention to the general public, who were looking for affordable air travel. This led to an increase in the number of low cost airlines. India also followed the trend. Air Deccan, a part of Deccan Aviation Private Limited, Indias largest private helicharter company, came into existence in August 2003 with the mission to demystify air travel in India, by providing reliable, low cost air travel to the common man, by constantly driving down the air fares. Air Deccan started with airfares that were about 50% less than what was being charged by Indian Airlines, the domestic airline owned by the Government of India. In August 2004, Air Deccan created history by offering Bangalore to Delhi tickets at Rs.500170 (taxes extra). The tickets for this special fare saw huge advance bookings, till August 2005. On May 04, 2005, Air Deccan, the first Low Cost Carrier (LCC) in India, announced air tickets for an astonishingly low price of one rupee for its short-haul flights. The company also announced R.K. Laxmans iconic creation, The Common Man, also known as Mr. Citizen as its brand ambassador. In 18 months since the first aircraft was put into operation, the company has inducted another 18 aircrafts into business, the fastest growth a low-cost carrier has achieved anywhere in the world. SpiceJet, earlier known as ModiLuft, entered the low-cost segment with its target market defined as first and second a/c class train travelers. Cost is the key reason why people are not flying. We will see the same revolution in aviation that hit the mobile services industry after tariffs fell, said Ajay Singh (Singh), Director of the Delhi-based SpiceJet.171 To increase its appeal for individual consumers, the company allowed the consumers to select their seats online while making reservations. For corporate flyers, the company has planned to provide attractive discounts on bulk reservations. Kingfisher, a subsidiary of the UB group, entered the domestic airlines industry with three flights daily between Mumbai and Bangalore starting from May 09, 2005. Kingfisher, however, is aiming for the mid-price segment. It is relying on fewer personnel and outsourcing maintenance to reduce cost. Go Airlines, promoted by Nusli Wadia group, is another company planning its entry into the low fare segment, with a promise of offering air tickets at the lowest price. We will be the lowest fare airline in India. We will have more seats at Re 1 than Air Deccan at Rs 500, said Jehangir Wadia, director, Go Airlines.172 What we are witnessing today is the birth of a new industry. Aviation is no longer taboo and it is now becoming an integral part of the country's economic development, said Captain G. R. Gopinath, Managing Director, Air Deccan.173 Other companies to enter the field include Indus Airways, AirOne, Magicair, EastWest Airlines, Interglobe, Crystal Air, Paramount Air, and Visa Air. In addition, Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL), which manages the Kochi International airport, has been studying the feasibility of entering the lowcost aviation industry as an international carrier focusing on busy routes like Kerala Middle East. Air India Express, a subsidiary of Air India, the international carrier owned by the Government of India, has started operating as an LCC in the international market in 2005. Increase in the number of LCCs is expected to benefit the consumer. Airlines like Air Sahara (Sahara) and Jet Air, which are not considered to be low-cost, are expected to lower their prices to remain competitive, apart from offering tickets on discount under apex fares. Sahara has focused on reducing its variable cost by 20%. Indian Airlines has planned to convert Alliance Air, its subsidiary, into a LCC by 2005-06. However, low cost airlines have certain disadvantages. Most of the LCCs do not offer food or drinks aboard, but passengers are given the option to buy snacks on board. Customers complained that some airlines even went to the extent of making the consumer buy water while on travel. The low cost airlines are also plagued by delays. Questions for Discussion: 1. It has been estimated that 16 million air tickets were sold in India for the year that ended March 2005, and the number of tickets sold is expected to grow at the rate of 20-25% in the next five years. Low cost airlines are expected to play a major role in the growth of the Indian aviation industry. What do you think is the future of LCCs in India? 2. Low-cost carriers have made flying affordable for the common man. What were the strategies used by the lowcost airlines to ensure low fares?

Mobile Telephony in India: Hungama Unlimited

Make a phone call cheaper than a postcard and you will usher in a revolutionary transformation in the lives of millions of Indians was the vision of late Dhirubhai Ambani, founder of Reliance Group, Indias largest business house. The Reliance Group took the first step toward realizing this dream in mid-2002 when it launched Reliance

Infocomm Ltd., to provide information and communication services. Our founder chairman, Shri Dhirubhai Ambani, had a dream to put the power of information and communications in the hands of common people at an affordable cost. That, he believed, would help them overcome the handicaps of illiteracy and lack of mobility,174 said Mukesh Ambani, chairman, Reliance Industries Limited, as part of the 28th Annual General Meeting of Reliance Industries Ltd. held in 2002. The Indian telecom sector was limited to landline services before liberalization. In 1994, there were 8 million telephone connections, while 2.8 million were on the waitlist for landline services. To meet the demand, the Government of India (GoI) opened up the telecommunication services market to private players. Initially, cellular services were viewed as a premium service catering to the need of the elite, given the high tariff rate of Rs. 16 per minute as compared to the landline rates of Rs. 1.20 for a 3-minute outbound call. Also the heavy duties on mobile handsets made the handsets very costly. In 1999, the GoI slashed the tariff rates as well as duties on mobile handsets. So a mobile phone, which had earlier been priced at around Rs. 25,000, wasmade available for less than Rs. 5,000. The cellular operators also started offering prepaid services in 1999. In the following years, incoming calls were made free. While these initiatives along with the increasing purchasing power of middle class, made mobile telephony more affordable, for most Indians, a mobile phone was still a luxury. In 2001, mobile penetration in India was as low as 0.4% while it was 8% in China. By end 2002, cellular tariffs had gone down by 90% as compared to 1999 rates and India had 9.37 million cellular subscribers. Indian cellular operators were now offering the cheapest rates in the world. However, cell phones were still a distant dream for many. Youngsters viewed it as a status symbol. Said a teenaged college student, In some ways its a status symbol. The better phone you have the richer you are.175 In July 2003, Reliance Infocomm launched its Monsoon Hungama scheme, through which the company offered mobile telephone services for an upfront payment of Rs 501. The scheme offered the consumers a Reliance handset with WLL176 (also known as CDMA) connection. Referred to as the poor mans connection, this scheme offered limited mobility and was comparatively cheaper than a normal GSM177 connection which offered full mobility. The company proposed to realize the cost of the handset through monthly charges of Rs 100 per connection for the next three years. To tackle the competition from cellular service providers who provided roaming facility to their consumers, users of Reliance service were provided a different number when they moved to a different city/region. The users were able to receive all their calls automatically on their new number. The company offered tariff rates of 40 paisa per minute for intra network conversations, i.e., conversations between two Reliance subscribers. The company also launched its advertising campaign with its tagline as roti, kapda, makaan, aur mobile,178 to present the idea of mobile connectivity as a basic necessity of life and not just a status symbol restricted to the affluent. In the following months, the company offered schemes which offered mobile connectivity at lower costs. The Monsoon Hungama scheme was highly successful with people from various strata of life, including taxi drivers, college students, and housewives, opting for it as they could now get a mobile connection for just Rs. 501. In July 2003, the companys subscriber base increased by 1.1 million and another 0.6 million subscribers were added in the subsequent quarter. This scheme increased the subscriber base for mobile services, thus benefiting the entire industry. The cell phone was no longer perceived as a luxury item or a status symbol. It began to be viewed as a basic necessity. As one autodriver commented, Its a great blessing. It helps my regular customers contact me and ensures some business every day.179 To more and more youngsters, cell phones ceased to be status symbols, Cells used to be a status symbol, when only a few could afford them, but now almost everyone can. Even the vendors on the road have mobiles.180 By August 2004, India had a subscriber base of 41 million. With around 1.5 to 2 million subscribers being added each month, it was predicted that by 2010, India would touch a subscriber base of more than 100 million. With the FDI cap in telecom being raised from 51% to 74%, new players were expected to enter the Indian market, given the fact that there were only 8 telephones per 100 Indians in 2005. This wasexpected to bring in more competition, which would benefit the consumers. Questions for Discussion: 1. Reliance Infocomms Monsoon Hungama scheme unleashed the latent demand for mobile telephony among the lower-income population. What were the unique attributes of the Monsoon Hungama offer that made it so popular? 2. Trace the changes in the perception of mobile phone as a status symbol in India. Has the increase in subscriber base affected the status symbol connotation associated with possession of a mobile phone?

HSBC Local Bank to the World

In 2005, HSBC181 was one of the worlds largest banking and financial institutions.

Headquartered in London, the bank had a network of 9,700 offices spread across 77 countries in Europe, America, Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, and Africa.182 In the late 1980s, when William Purves, (Purves) took over as chairperson of HSBC, it was relatively unknown outside Asia. Purves acquired about a dozen bank brands and changed HSBC into a global bank. Thus, under Purves, HSBC consolidated about a dozen brands that it had acquired, 5,500 offices, and 1,200 financial services subsidiaries which were spread across different countries, with a philosophy of Think Globally, Act Locally. In 1998, John Bond (Bond) took over as chairperson of HSBC. He said about the brand confusion at HSBC at that time, We were in a situation where a customer in Canada visiting New York didnt know that we had a huge retail franchise there. A customer from Singapore arriving in London didn't know that Midland was part of the same group. Quite frankly, we knew we had to do something quickly.183 Bond was of the view that Purvess strategy of Think Globally, Act Locally would not be sufficient to steer the Bank forward, even though its assets had grown to the tune of 20 to 25 percent in the three previous decades. In 2000, HSBC went online. The challenge was to use the Internet to enable HSBC to become a truly borderless bank. Bond said in this regard, How do you present a group with 500 different corporate names on the Internet? You need 500 different web pages before you start doing business with your clients. Bond consolidated the various brands which it held (except Hong Kong's Hang Seng Bank)184 and brought them under the HSBC brand name. Any re-branding effort is associated with risk, and this is perceived to be more in the case of financial services for which the trust element is critical. The Interbrand 185 deputy chairperson, Tom Blackett, commented about HSBCs re-branding, But consolidating brands is often a calculated risk, a gamble. If a bank changes its name without fully explaining to its customers, they are quite justified in walking across the street.186 According to Marcel Knobil, (Knobil), chairperson of the Superbrands Council, London, HSBC achieved superbrand status within twelve months of re-branding.187 Consumer research done worldwide found that even if consumers were pleased with the services offered by international organizations, they were apprehensive about the one size fits all strategy followed by many of those organizations. They wanted the global organizations to treat them as individuals, understanding their distinctive culture and requirements. Taking a cue from this research, HSBC developed a new advertisement campaign branding it as, The Worlds Local Bank, in all the countries in which HSBC had operations. The campaign was developed by Lowe & Partners, HSBCs global advertising agency. Peter Stringham, (Stringham), the marketing head of HSBC, worked in association with Lowe & Partners in developing the campaign. A statement issued by Lowe & Partners said about the campaign, Underpinning the advertising is HSBCs philosophy that the world is a rich and diverse place in which cultures and people should be treated with respect. Around the world, the group has built its businesses locally, and HSBCs 31 million customers can be confident that the service they receive has the world of experience behind it.188 Stringham said about the campaign, It makes a clear and powerful statement about what HSBC stands for. I believe it will differentiate the HSBC brand not just from other financial organizations, but from other global brands.189 On March 11, 2002, the first advertisement of HSBC with the tagline the worlds local bank appeared. The ad campaign ran in prominent print and electronic media. The print media included The Wall Street Journal Europe, Financial Times, National Geographic, Forbes Global, The Economist, the Wall Street Journal (New York and Asia), etc. The electronic media included CNN, CNBC, and BBC World. This worldwide campaign was developed in countries like the US, Malaysia, the UK, China, and Singapore. These advertisements depicted the characteristic features of that particular country in which it was shown. For example, in Malaysia, it also used a tagline in Malay, Bank Sedunia Memahami Hasrat Setempat which meant a global bank that understands local needs. All the advertisements used the tagline worlds local bank. HSBC believed in diversity of culture, and this belief took the center stage in all its operations. To promote the idea of being the worlds local bank, HSBC employed local people in the countries where it had a presence. Philip Spencer, (Spencer) Divisional Manager, International Trade Services commented on this strategy, We pride ourselves on local people who speak the local language working in a world bank. Languages are essential to communicate with our customers and to reach out to a wide audience.190 In its quest for global expansion, HSBC recognized the importance of understanding local culture. Spencer further added, Precise and effective communication along with a detailed cultural understanding is crucial to forge the necessary relationships which will ensure the company achieves success191. At HSBC, great importance was provided during staff recruitment to language proficiency and global outlook. For the staff and managers, HSBC conducted programs to enhance their language skills. Spencer commented, Language training programs for managers and staff and recruiting people who have acquired language skills for our international operations helps to enhance our global

bank reputation and build and maintain strong local links with the countries and communities we operate in.192 Bond said about the diversity of their workforce, Diversity is about valuing the differences between people and is one of the greatest assets we have as a group.193 As part of HSBCs Diversity Strategy, it conducted a diversity awareness training a day-long event for the managers and supervisors to help them serve diverse communities better. In 2002, in the annual survey of the top 100 global brands, conducted by Interbrand Corp. and BusinessWeek, HSBC was ranked among the top 50 for the first time. In 2004, it was ranked 33rd and in 2005, it was ranked 29th. The advertisements of HSBC tried to convey the message that HSBC could effectively help customers in different countries on account of its experience in understanding the local needs of each country in which it was present. In 2005, in an address to the Stanford School of Business, Bond attributed the success of HSBC to its respect for local culture and the manner in which it adapted to it. He said, In China, were a Chinese bank; in the U.S. were an American bank. Local markets shape our culture.194 Questions for Discussion: 1. What are the initiatives taken by HSBC to target consumers across various culture ? 2. What were the drawbacks of the think, globally, act locally strategy adopted by William Purves? What prompted HSBC to REBRAND

Technological Innovation: The Philips Way

Royal Philips Electronics (Philips), a Netherlands-based company with interests in Medical Systems, Consumer Electronics, Lighting, and Semiconductors had sales of 9.1 billion and a net income of 498 million in 2004. Philips has always been an innovation led company with more than 100,000 patents to its credit, including the patents for the cassette recorder, the compact disc, and the DVD (in association with Sony). In 2003, the company conducted a large-scale research involving 1650 consumers across UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Brazil, China, and Hong Kong to understand their needs and desires, and how they view technology. The research included 120 in-depth interviews, 24 focus group interviews, and 1439 quantitative interviews. The results revealed that consumers across various countries seek simple technology, i.e., technology without hassles. Philips estimated that approximately 30% of home-networking products were returned, as people were not comfortable using them. Also, 48% of people hesitated to buy a digital camera because they felt that the product was too complicated. The research also indicated that the positioning of the company, did not communicate Philips as an internationally recognized, innovation led company. Although research has always been the core strength of the organisation, the company wanted to change customer perception regarding its technology products. In September 2004, the company dropped its old motto Lets Make Things Better, and replaced it with Sense and Simplicity. The Philips management felt that there was a need for communicating to the customers what the company stood for, and this led to the new communication program. Philips is not the only technology company to grasp the need for simplicity, but I believe were the first to put a stake in the ground, and declare our intent to take action. Our route to innovation isnt about extra complexity, its about simplicity which we believe will be the new cool, said Gerard Kleisterlee, President & CEO, Philips.203 Philips also ensured that its internal product development processes, aligned with its new positioning of sense and simplicity. Philips was advised by the Simplicity Advisory Board (SAB), a group consisting of five international experts in the fields of Healthcare, Lifestyle, and Technology. Philips launched SAB in 2004, to bring fresh perspective and provide an outsiders point of view to the working of the company. Philips used SAB as a sounding board, for discussions related to Sense and Simplicity. Philips tried to inculcate Sense and Simplicity in all the processes of the company. A brand positioning is only effective when you use it as a filter for everything you do. New products, new services, new solutions, business creation, strategy, research, brand architecture, contact with customers everything must be driven by the brand positioning, said Andrea Ragnetti (Ragnetti), Chief Marketing Officer, Philips. 204 Ragnetti wanted every customer contact point of Philips like the company website and the retail shops, to be aligned with the new positioning of Sense and Simplicity. The print, visual, and online advertisement campaigns for the technologically superior products of Philips, featured the Sense and Simplicity theme. As part of its new campaign, the company announced an initial investment of around 80 million to cover 11 key markets across the world. In markets like India, Philips was considered to be a trustworthy name. However, the consumers did not perceive its products as technologically superior. Philips India started the campaign in March 2005, seven months after the global launch, with an investment of 2.5 million. Philips India, expected the campaign to help strengthen its position as a technology led company. Questions for Discussion:

1. The results revealed that consumers across various countries seek simple technology, i.e., technology without hassles. In this background, how did Philips utilize its technological strength to connect with the customer? 2. New products, new services, new solutions, business creation, strategy, research, brand architecture, contact with customers everything must be driven by the brand positioning. What internal changes did Philips initiate, to link its processes with the theme of Sense and Simplicity?

REVA: The Eco-Friendly Car

The REVA Electric Car Company (RECC), incorporated in 1995, manufactures environment friendly, cost effective electric vehicles for city mobility. With increased traffic, and the resultant pollution, citizens were in need of a car that would be ecofriendly, yet cost-effective. Congestion on roads, added to the woes of the city commuter. As far as 30 years ago, I felt that India needed affordable small cars for personal transportation within our fast-growing cities. The harsh road conditions and high degree of traffic congestion in urban areas strengthened this belief. But I did not imagine that pollution caused by vehicles would become the major problem as it is today, said S. K Maini, Chairman of the Bangalore based Maini Group that promotes RECC.205 It was in this scenario that RECC launched Reva, the car that was run on electric charge. Transportation experts felt that Reva would be a perfect solution to the problem of high pollution and congestion in roads. Initially, the company faced problems in getting finance for the project as most electric cars, including cars like EV1, backed by an automobile giant like General Motors, had failed in the market. However, the company successfully managed to convince its lenders to fund the project, based on the extensive research that the company had undertaken for the project. Reva was designed after an exhaustive market research, which spanned across nine cities. The car was designed in collaboration with Amerigon Electric Vehicle Technologies Inc. (AEVT) from the USA. However, 90% of its parts were indigenous. Thus Reva, which means new beginning in Sanskrit, was born. True to its name, Reva, was the first electric car to be manufactured in India. It was marketed as the lowest priced car to hit the Indian roads. In addition to eliminating the need for fuel, the car did not have clutch, engine, gears, and radiator. These unique features made the car immensely popular. Unveiled by the President of India, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, Reva was first launched in 2001, in Bangalore. The Indian government supported the company to encourage it, and create awareness among the people about this zeropollution car. The company has been getting tax concessions from the central government and a number of state governments. Reva was promoted as a user friendly and easy to use car. Stress was given on features like the ability of the car, to overcome problems of parking space and heavy traffic. With automatic transmission, computer operated energy management, and easy to use features it is being marketed as a suitable option for women. Reva received substantial bookings soon after its launch, from Khanna Motors, a dealer in Gujarat, targeting women and college students as his main customers. Using the Internet, the company offered the consumers a chance to customize the color of the car and some fittings, to suit the tastes of the individual customer. Measures were also taken, to encourage twowheeler riders to switch to Reva as it was considered more safe and economical. Reva was positioned as a two-seater car with front seats meant for adults, and back seats meant for children. RECC made it its presence felt internationally, by exporting Reva to a number of foreign countries, including the UK, US, and Japan. Reva received rave reviews from the international market. Consumers in the UK, Switzerland, Japan, and Norway were attracted to Reva due to its environment friendly attributes. In places like central London, where parking space and driving has become a nightmare, increasing number of people zoomed in on Reva as an alternative, to their large sized cars. Being the lowest priced car in the niche segment catering to the need of environment friendliness and compactness, Reva was able to cash in, on its attributes. The company was also able to get a $2,600 subsidy per car, in Japan. GoinGreen, the company responsible for marketing Reva G-WIZ206 in the UK, sold more than 200 cars within a few months of its launch, without any advertising campaign. Reva G-WIZ, has become the worlds best selling electric car, by offering an unbeatable combination of low cost and unbeatable transport, said Keith Johnson (Johnson), Managing Director, GoinGreen. 207 To utilize the euphoria generated by this zero fuel car, the company has planned to introduce two-wheelers, threewheelers, and small buses. In 2003, RECC started working on the prospects of expansion, by launching a specially designed car for the physically disabled citizens. The latest offering from RECC was the Dilip Chhabria208 designed Reva XNG, a two-seater with a speed of 120 km per hour, at 200 km per charge. GoinGreen has showcased Reva XNG in the UK. The Reva XNG concept car, with its stylish design and superior performance, gives us an exciting glimpse into the future of mobility, said Johnson.209 In future, the company has planned to introduce models that will run on solar cells. It has also planned to introduce bigger models of Reva.

Questions for Discussion: 1. Transportation experts felt that Reva would be a perfect solution to the problem of high pollution and congestion on roads. Assess the strengths and weakness of Reva, from a buyers perspective. 2. Reva G-WIZ, has become the worlds best selling electric car, by offering an unbeatable combination of low cost and unbeatable transport. Elucidate on how Reva, the technological marvel, became accepted the world over.

Haldirams: The No: 1 Choice of Consumers

Haldirams, a household name in ready-to-eat snack foods in India, offered a wide range of products to its customers. The product range included namkeens (savories), sweets, sharbats, bakery items, dairy products, papads, and ice-creams. Namkeens remained the main focus area for the group. By specializing in the manufacture of namkeens, the company created a niche market. Haldirams sought to customize its products to suit the tastes and preferences of customers from different parts of India. For example, it launched Murukku, a South Indian snack, and Chennai Mixture for south Indian customers. Similarly, Haldirams launched Bhelpuri, keeping in mind customers residing in western India. The company offered its products in gift packs during the festival season. These measures helped Haldirams compete effectively in a market that was flooded with a variety of snack items in different shapes, sizes, and flavors. Haldirams offered its products at competitive prices. The companys pricing strategy took into consideration the price conscious nature of consumers in India. Haldirams launched namkeens in small packets of 30 grams, priced as low as Rs 5. The company also launched namkeens in five different packs with prices varying according to their weights. Apart from the exclusive showrooms owned by Haldirams, the company offered its products through retail outlets such as supermarkets, sweet shops, provision stores, bakeries, and ice-cream parlors. The products were also available in public places such as railway stations and bus stations that accounted for a sizeable amount of its sales. Haldirams products enjoyed phenomenal goodwill and stockists competed with each other to stock them. Moreover, sweet shops and bakeries stocked Haldirams products despite the fact that the companys products were competing with their own products. Haldirams also offered its products through the Internet. In order to sell its products over the Internet, the company had arrangements with portals like indiatimes.com, giftstoindia.com, giftssmashhits.com, tohfatoindia.com, indiamart.com, mumbaiflowersgifts.com, chennaiflowersgifts.com and channelindia.com. Haldiram also used attractive posters, brochures, and mailers to enhance the visibility of its brand. Different varieties of posters were designed to appeal to the masses. The punch line for Haldirams products was, Always in good taste. Advertisements depicting the entire range of Haldirams sweets and namkeens were published in the print media (magazines and newspapers). These advertisements had captions such as millions of tongues cant go wrong, What are you waiting for, Diwali? and Keeping your taste buds on their toes. To increase the visibility of the Haldirams brand, the company placed its hoardings in high traffic areas such as train stations and bus stations. Posters were designed for display on public transport vehicles such as buses, and hoardings. Captions such as yeh corn hain (this is corn), chota samosa big mazaa (small samosa big entertainment), yeh Kashmiri mix khoob jamega (this namkeen item will gel well) and oozing with taste (for Rasgollas) promoted individual products. For those customers who wanted to know more about Haldirams products, special brochures were designed which described the products and gave information about the ingredients used to make them. Mailers were also sent to loyal customers and important corporate clients as a token of appreciation for their patronage. Packaging was an important aspect of Haldirams product promotion. Since namkeens were impulse purchase items, attractive packaging in different colors was used to influence purchases. Haldirams used the latest technology (food items were packed in nitrogen filled pouches) to increase the shelf life of its products. While the normal shelf life of similar products was under a week, the shelf life of Haldirams products was about six months. The company projected the shelf life of its products as its unique selling proposition. Posters highlighting the shelf life of its products carried the caption six months on the shelf and six seconds in your mouth. During the festival season, Haldirams products were sold in attractive looking special gift packs. The showrooms and retail outlets of Haldirams gave importance to point of purchase (POP) displays. Haldirams snacks were displayed on special racks, usually outside retail outlets. The showrooms had sign boards displaying mouth-watering delicacies with captions such as Chinese Delight, Simply South, and The King of all Chats. Posters containing a brief account of the history of Haldirams, along with pictures of its products, were also on display at these showrooms. Questions for Discussion: 1. What were the ways in which Haldirams influenced the decision making of the consumers?

2. What were the marketing strategies followed by Haldirams to ensure that its products became the No 1 choice among the consumers?

Shoppers Stop Consumer Loyalty Program

Shoppers Stop, a part of K. Raheja Corp. Group of Companies, is one of Indias leading retailers, with merchandise which includes apparels, perfumes, cosmetics, home appliances, etc. The first Shoppers Stop outlet was set up in 1991 at Andheri in Mumbai. Shoppers Stop was established with the vision of becoming a global retailer in India and maintaining its number one position in India in the department store category.210 To enhance the shopping experience of customers and offer the ultimate shopping experience,211 Shoppers Stop started a loyalty program named First Citizen. As part of the program, a First Citizen Club was started for customers who frequently visited the shop. The First Citizen Club provided membership to its frequent customers in three categories Classic Moments, Silver Edge, and Golden Glow. A person could become a First Citizen Club Member under the first category on submitting the required application form along with the application fees of Rs.150. The membership status depended upon the total amount for which purchases were made. For example, on making purchases worth Rs. 10,000, during the membership period, a member could upgrade from Classic to Silver and on making purchases worth Rs. 40,000, a member could upgrade his membership status to Golden. 212 Classic Moments Club members would get one First Citizen reward point per hundred rupees worth of goods purchased. Silver Edge and Golden Glow Club members received 4 points and 5 points respectively every time they spent Rs.100 on their card. The card members can earn 2 more points if they purchased store brands like Stop and Kasish. The club members were also entitled to get various privileges like free parking, exclusive shopping time of a few hours during festival time, etc. Exclusive cash counters were provided at Shoppers Stop for the Club members. According to B. S. Nagesh, (Nagesh), chief executive officer of Shoppers Stop, in March 2000, about 40% of their sales were through First Citizen Club members. It was also the second largest loyalty program in India after Indian Airlines frequent flyer program. 213 Shoppers Stop launched co-branded card named First Citizen Citibank MasterCard in collaboration with Citibank in 2001.214 A customer of Shoppers Stop who joined the First Citizen Loyalty Program would get a First Citizen Citibank MasterCard 215 which was touted as Indias first co-branded card.216 (However, to avail of this offer a member should have an income of Rs. 72,000 p.a. if s/he is employed and Rs. 96,000 p.a. if s/he is self-employed). Launching the Card, Nagesh, said, Shoppers Stop has always brought to its customers the best in merchandise and services. In continuation, it now joins Citibank, the best card-issuer in the country, and launches its First Citibank MasterCard for its customer base. With this card, our customers can now get more and more benefits within the store as well as outside. A win-win combination brought to Shoppers Stop customers who have always been winners! The First Citizen Citibank cardholders had the twin advantage of receiving benefits due to Citibank cardholders and First Citizen cardholders. These benefits included accident insurance upto Rs. 2,000,000 for First Citizen Golden Glow Citibank cardholders and Rs. 1,000,000 for First Citizen Silver Edge Citibank cardholders. In addition to these, the cardholders received invitations to exclusive preview sales, discounts, and other promotional activities. These cardholders were entitled to various offers at select departmental stores in other countries. The cardholders can also earn a point if they used their cards even at places other than Shoppers Stop. All Shoppers Stop outlets across the country featured Citibank Financial Centers at which the First Citizen cardholders could avail of the various services offered by Citibank like loan facility for homes and automobiles. Shoppers Stop also had a loyalty program for children of the age group 4 to 14. Named Skids, this loyalty program was offered to the children of First Citizen Club Members. Those who signed up for this program received a surprise gift along with a personalized card. The children were also given certain accessories for school bags, water bottles etc as part of the program. For the financial year ending March 2004, about 50% of sales volume of Shoppers Stop was from the First Citizen Club members. As in March 2005, the number of First Citizen Club members of Shoppers Stop had touched 4.1 lakh. 217 Questions for Discussion: 1. B. S. Nagesh, chief executive officer of Shoppers Stop said about First Citizen Citibank MasterCard, with this card, our customers can now get more and more benefits within the store as well as outside. What are the benefits that a holder of the First Citizen card was entitled to? 2. In the light of Shoppers Stops loyalty programs, evaluate the influence that loyalty programs can have on the purchase decision of customers.

LEGO Toys The Story of Playful Learning

In 2005, the Denmark-based LEGO Group was one of the worlds largest manufacturers of toys. The Group started its operations in 1932, making wooden toys. Later it diversified into making plastic bricks, which were introduced in the market as Automatic Binding Bricks. LEGO toys consisted of small plastic bricks of different shapes and colors, which could be assembled into various forms. The introduction of Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene, better known as ABS plastics for making the bricks was a major development as it was non-toxic and more resistant to heat, chemicals, etc. The name LEGO was coined by Ole Kirk Christiansen, (Christiansen) the founder of the Group, from the Danish phrase leg godt, which means play well. LEGO toys were the favorite brand of children throughout the world. LEGO became a global brand, with products available in about 130 countries of the world. The LEGO Group stated its mission as follows. Our mission is to nurture the child in each of us, and this means that we actively encourage self-expression through creation, thus enabling children of all ages to bring endless ideas to life.305 LEGO toys were prepared meticulously and were designed in a simple manner so as not to estrange the kids who were new to it, and at the same time, not so simple so that kids who were used to it did not get bored easily. The kids playing with LEGO toys had to confront various situations like planning and building complicated structures, visualizing in three dimensions, and imagining and creating beautiful objects. Throughout the history of the Group, LEGO toys were prepared as a part of a system, i.e. each new series of LEGO toys was compatible with the rest of the system. For instance, the bricks used in the toys meant for a five-year-old could be used in an advanced toy designed for teenagers. This was to ensure that children, who enjoyed LEGO toys, would continue to use them when they grew older. Many grown ups were also enthusiasts of LEGO toys. LEGO Groups marketing strategy focused on playful learning. For the Group, play was synonymous with learning. The Group realized that children were not getting enough time to play. The LEGO Group tried to position itself as a maker of fun toys, which helped in the overall development of children. As Michael Moynihan, (Moynihan) director of marketing for the Group in USA categorically put it, Childrens lives are so structured that they often dont have time to simply play. Play is critical to how kids grow and develop. We focus on helping kids develop their imagination, not on teaching them to memorize information. Were not saying ABCs and 1-2-3s arent important, but we think that playful learning and other important nonacademic developmental skills are not being valued appropriately.306 The Group was aware of the importance of play for the growth and development of children and tried to educate parents about it. The LEGO Group strove to be in the good books of schools and educational institutions throughout the world. It had a Learning Institute, which was a network of parents, professionals, and employees of the LEGO Group. The Group also formed Playful Learning Panels in a number of countries. 307 These Panels helped the Learning Institute to create awareness about the importance of play for the normal growth and learning process of a child. The LEGO Group also set up an Educational Division with the aim of providing classroom toys which contained material for students and teachers, developed specifically to aid in learning. The LEGO Group gave sufficient importance to retailing as well. The LEGO brand name being world famous, it succeeded in getting ample shelf space in big retail stores like Wal-Mart or Kmart. It also encouraged sales through smaller toyshops, as they were expected to be the brand ambassadors for LEGO toys. The LEGO Group believed that small toyshop owners could effectively convey the educational value of their toys. In addition, LEGO toys were also sold through various online stores like Amazon.com, etoys.com, KBtoys.com, ToyWiz.com etc. The Group also started LEGO Magazine and LEGO Comics. There was a LEGO Club promoted by the LEGO Group, which had two million members from different parts of the world. 309 The club members were provided with the facility to upload their creations using LEGO bricks. Quality was given primary importance by the LEGO Group. The best available engineering and precision manufacturing techniques were used for the production of each and every brick of LEGO Toys to ensure their quality and simplicity. The molding process was so accurate that only 18 out of one million bricks manufactured failed to meet the rigorous quality standards. LEGO bricks that were manufactured even four or five decades ago still interconnected very well with the latest bricks. Such attention given to quality by the Group helped the bricks that they manufactured to interconnect very well. The LEGO Group slowly started diversifying into various fields. The Group opened LEGOLAND Parks in UK, USA, Germany, and Denmark. For school children, it started LEGO Leagues every year in association with First Company310. In such leagues, the participants presented their robotic designs for the given themes. Various themes like City Sights Challenge (2002), Mission Mars Challenge (2003), No Limits Challenge (2004), Ocean Odyssey Challenge (2005) attracted thousands of children from various parts of the world. 311 Each of these Challenges was

designed to help children understand the world in its true light and to help them use the available tools in science and technology to find answers to various pressing problems. In 1988, the last patent which LEGO held expired. New toy manufacturers like Tyco Toys, COCO, Mega Bloks, etc., started producing LEGO compatible bricks at a lower price than LEGO. The LEGO group was involved in a legal fight with Chinese company Tianjin COKO Toy Co., Ltd. against copyright infringement. They had to fight similar battles in Norway, Finland, and Canada. In US, their biggest competitors were Hasbro and Mattel even though they were not in the construction toy segment like the LEGO Group. When Mega Bloks, a Canadian company, also in the construction toy segment, entered the US market, the LEGO Group began losing a major share. In the face of increasing competition, the company devised various strategies to increase its market share. Realizing that the younger generation gave more importance to computer and video games than to toys, LEGO came up with products to suit the tastes and preferences of the new generation kids. LEGO introduced its first computer game named LEGO Island in 1997. A series of programmable LEGO bricks named Mindstorms, which aided in building Robots, and other interactive toys were introduced in 1998. 312 Even though the Group provided products to suit the tastes and preferences of the modern children, it could not increase its market share and eventually started reporting losses. The company implemented various budget cuts, and as part of this, laid off about a thousand employees. It prepared an action plan to save the company from losses and started implementing it from March 2004. In line with the plan, sold 70% of its shares in LEGOLAND Parks to Merlin Entertainments. Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen (Kristiansen), grandson of the founder and the owner of LEGO Group, said, The toy market has been declining for some time and is extremely competitive. To consolidate its position, the LEGO Group chose to sell its majority holding in the LEGOLAND Parks in order to focus on closer relations with our customers and consumers, improved marketing, and a greater emphasis on core products.313 The Group also started facing problems as the number of specialized toy sellers started declining and most of the sales started taking place through discount stores like Wal- Mart. The company brought in a new chief, Jorgen Vig Knudstorp (Knudstorp), in October 2004. He was given the responsibility to transform the LEGO Group into a modern global company. The future plans included further cutting of the workforce and moving some of the operations to China. Our aim is to restore profitability. We need to trim the size of the company so that we can make a profit at a lower level of turnover, said Knudstorp. The Group started focusing on its core product, i.e. toys, and how to protect its products against cheap imitations. LEGO Group won a major legal victory in 2005 when a District Court in Holland prevented the Canada-based toy manufacturer, Mega Bloks, from selling its products in the country. This victory was significant for the Group as a similar appeal in the Federal Court of Canada had been dismissed earlier. Questions for Discussion: 1. Identify the strategies which helped the LEGO Group to remain one of the prominent toy manufactures in the world even after many decades of its inception. 2. The toy market has been declining for some time and is extremely competitive. To consolidate its position, the LEGO Group chose to sell its majority holding in the LEGOLAND Parks in order to focus on closer relations with our customers and consumers, improved marketing, and a greater emphasis on core products. Do you agree with this statement?