The new box office HeroesBrad Pitt?

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No chance! George Clooney? Naah! Ashton Kutcher? Impossible! The way cartoons and animation movies are churning money, it won’t be long before top actors smashingly go...out of business!

Superman, Batman, Spiderman and now Hanuman. Yes, it seems to be a man’s world out there. A mention of the word ‘cartoon’ and probably these are the names that would spring up in everybody’s mind. As little children, we all used to wait for Sunday to watch ‘Spiderman, Spiderman… friendly neighbourhood Spiderman’ to do out of this world antics and mesmerise us. As young teenagers, we all read Archies and fancied going to the same Riverdale school where Archie and his cool gang used to study. Yash Chopra may rule Bollywood with his enthralling triangle love stories, but it’s Archie, Betty and Veronica, whose love triangle entertained us in our teenage years the most.

That’s the impact of animation in our lives. Probably some of our best, sweetest and most innocent memories are around animation. The world of animation is just unique. Just as love breaks all the barriers of language, religion, cast, creed and colour, similarly, animation is a universal language. It appeals to all people of almost all age groups all over the world. After all, from Timbuktoo to Tamil Nadu, every one laughs at the antics of Tom & Jerry. That’s the biggest advantage of making animated films. The world is your market, for cartoon characters face no language or culture barriers. They are watched with the same enthusiasm world over.

The Digital Miracle

The Walt Disney Company was fighting desperately to avoid a corporate takeover attempt in the 1980s. In fact, back then it was finding it so difficult to keep out of the red that it was considering abandoning the production of feature length animated films. Then they decided to give it one last shot and collaborated with Steven Spielberg to produce the animated feature film, “Who Framed Roger rabbit.” The film was a smash hit and suddenly, animation became the buzz word for success. What followed was a line of successful films from the Disney stable, like Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid and, of course, the biggest hit of all, The Lion king. It surpassed the wildest dreams of the studio. Soon, everyone wanted to do an animated movie. All the big movie studios tried their hands with computer animated feature films. From Dreamworks to Century Fox to Paramount Pictures, everyone started making animated feature films. All did reasonably well, but none could match the charm of a Disney film.

However, Disney was so successful because of Steve Jobs and his Pixar Animation. He was the one who had mastered the art of 3-D animation, also known as CGI. In the past, films had been made using the 2-D animation technique, which relies on hand-drawn animation. Today, computer generated or CG animated feature films rule the roost, and Pixar was the first to produce the first completely computer-generated feature film, Toy Story. The movie was a phenomenal success so probably is ‘Pixar’, which is the true star responsible for making animation such a big draw both for children and adults.

With animation, a new life has been infused in films targeted at adults. It has made it possible to let you run your imagination in the wildest of directions. You dream of any situation and think of any idea, animation will help you to achieve it. It’s a digital miracle that made Tom Hanks shake hands with President John F. Kennedy in the film Forrest Gump (shot decades after Kennedy was assassinated). It was the computer imagery apart from Kate Winslet’s beauty, which made Titanic such a realistic and awesome film. It was also the computer, which helped in sending shivers down your spine as you watched hungry man-eating lions in The Ghost and the Darkness.

When Finding Nemo was released, Disney and Pixar kept their fingers crossed. They didn’t expect it to do well. The film went on to become the highest grosser in 2003, earning $340 million in the US alone and an excess of $800 million worldwide. All thanks to the magic of 3D animation. Those are the absolutely stunning visual effects that are fuelling the industry and helping it churn out one block-buster after another. Technology has developed a lot, and animation studios are using novel software tools to develop mind blowing effects.

India, the new hub

The Lion King, Finding Nemo, Lord of the Rings, all have got one thing in common – they all were made with Indian expertise. Ralph Bakshi helped in the making of Lord of the Rings. He also created a well labelled TV series named Mighty Mouse. Ergo, Indians have oodles of talent and apart from that, this talent is available at a very cheap price. The cost of making a movie like Spiderman is $100 million in US. If you make a full length animated movie in India, it costs $15-25 million. No wonder, all eyes in Hollywood are directed towards India. Hollywood companies are increasingly outsourcing cartoon characters and special effects in India. So, a part of the success of Stuart Little and the terror of The Mummy was created right here in India. Indian animation companies are charging very low, and are thus able to divert a lot of work from China, Korea, Taiwan & Philippines. In the past, we have been exporting Tea and making a name for ourselves in the world market. With the amount of work we’re doing in the animated films, this could perhaps be our next big export globally.

After all, we have everything that takes to make us the animation hub of the world. India has the world’s largest entertainment industry in terms of the number of films produced. The Indian Entertainment Industry is expected to grow at 18% per annum and reach over $10 billion by 2009. Animation and special effects are making their presence felt here, too. After all, Hum Tum and Krrish would not be the same without the touch of animation and visual effects. A whole lot of animation studios have mushroomed all over. The prominent ones being Toonz Animation (biggest in India), UTV Toons, Padmalays Telefilms (Zee’s animation arm), Mays Entertainment, Crest Communication, to name a few.

They all have very talented manpower and are considered some of the best animation houses in the world. It’s enough reason for the biggies like Sony, Walt Disney, Imax and Warner Brothers to sign up huge contracts with these Indian animation companies. More so because apart from the fact that our manpower is talented and low cost, another big advantage is the knowledge of English.

At the same time, Indian mythologies are a treasure house of stories, which appeal to all. In fact, those were the Japanese who were the first to realise the potential of Indian myths and made the Ramayan in the 1990s. It was Disney, which made the little Indian jungle boy ‘Mowgli’ popular the world over with the movie Jungle Book.

Indians are waking up to the fact that we have characters like the ten-headed Ravan, which have the potential to mesmerise not just Indians, but audiences the world over. So Toonz Animation has created Adventures of Hanuman and also Adventures of Tenali Raman, India’s first animated television series. We are no longer just servicing western movie studios, but are signing co-production deals too. We are not just low cost content providers to Hollywood. We have moved up the value chain by not just keeping our costs down, but our quality consistent and of very high standards.

We have talent and content, and Richard Branson has decided to make full use of it. He has teamed up with Deepak Chopra and Shekhar Kapoor to come out with Virgin Comics. The three titles – Devi, Snakewoman and The Sadhu are all inspired by Indian gods and goddesses. The world seems to be in love with Indian animation. From Ramayan, to Mahabharat, to Devi – we seem to have it all. The market seems ripe for the animation industry. Is it a surprise then that the market for comics and graphic novels worldwide is exploding? It grew by 44.7% in US and 50% in UK (Virgin statistics). Even the number of cartoon channels are increasing rapidly on TV. What’s most interesting is that the growth in both countries has come due to Asian comics.

Definitively, animation has become widely accepted and is the new innovation of the 21st century. Movie-goers have accepted computer generated characters in films. It would not be long before there would be fully animated films featuring virtual human actors! Not just viewers, even the Oscars have accepted it; and in 2001, they introduced a new category “Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.” That year, Shrek won the award. Animation has made a place for itself in our lives and is here to stay for a long long time.

So what’s common between Titanic, The Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, Star Wars and Jurassic Park? They all grossed between $900 million to $1800 million in the box-office. They all have the computer to thank, which gave their movie such tremendous aura and awe inspiring look.

According to a survey, Mickey Mouse made $5.8 billion in 2003, while Harry Potter earned $2.8 billion, Nemo $2 billion and Spiderman $1.3 billion. That’s a cool sum for someone who has created with a ‘click-and-enter’ on the computer. These are the new favourites of the world. They are the new celebrities. What’s most interesting is that they come with no star-tantrums, no date problems and no scandle-problems! They work the way you want them to work. They are loved by the whole world and they always keep the cash registers jingling.

So move away Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt and make way for the new box-office heroes!

Copyright © : Rajita Chaudhuri and Planman Media.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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...The Marketing of a President

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Eye-popping celebrity branding, aggressive promotional schemes, astounding discount offers, unbelievable package deals... No, we’re not at all referring to some fabulous new product being introduced; rather, it’s all about...

They are gathering data – very detailed data on you. Things like, which car you drive, which magazines you read, are you married, do you have kids, how old are you, where do you live. They are not marketing whiz-kids collecting data to help their company launch a new soap, or plan a new marketing campaign for a refrigerator! They are the kids with Palm-tops and other gadgets knocking on people’s doors and gathering a whole lot of information, which is then fed into software. The software then helps the political parties figure out what issues would be of importance to a person with a particular profile. Accordingly, they can plan their political campaigns. Welcome to the modern way of tracking and monitoring potential voters. Yes, just like potential consumers, today political parties are keeping track of their potential voters and doing everything to woo them! The Presidential elections of USA have today become the biggest showcase of political marketing. The candidates are marketed in almost the same way as a shampoo or a face cream. The voters are pursued like consumers. The advertising campaigns are as glossy and slick. After all, we live in a fast food nation and our target is the Pepsi Generation. It’s about youth and fun and whatever your age, everyone is young. So if you want them to come and vote, you have to follow the advice of the marketing gurus who know this clientele very well.

The i-Pod crowd

Times have changed and the whole business of political campaigning has changed too. People are increasingly becoming more and more tech savvy. Internet has begun to play a very important role in framing people’s opinions. Thanks to the internet, information is flowing more freely – especially among the youth. They are becoming more and more aware of political issues. They are the ones who can tip the scales in your favour. Like any savvy marketer, political parties are realising the benefits of ‘catching-em-young’. After all, brand loyalties develop at an early stage and it’s easier to influence the younger lot. So in America, they started a campaign called “Rock the Vote”, which was targetted primarily at young voters, where pop-stars told the young generation to go out and vote.

It’s no more just long speeches that political candidates are using. They are doing much more to reach closer to the young generation. They now do phone polling, phone surveying and SMS text messaging to market their parties and themselves – things that the younger crowd finds cool and trendy.

Just as a brand needs to communicate the product benefits, the political candidate should be able to communicate something that the voters can understand and identify. He needs to work on a good sales pitch to increase his chances of winning. He needs to know what his target audience wants, and then he should sell that.

After all, Coca-Cola does not sell sugared water, Nike does not sell shoes and Starbucks does not sell coffee alone. What they all sell is an ‘image’, a ‘lifestyle’. Hutch does not sell ‘good connectivity’: It sells emotions. Emotions are the key word here. Our generation responds to emotions and a large part of the voters respond almost exclusively to the emotional appeal of the candidate. No wonder, when Rajiv Gandhi, a total novice, wept on his mother’s pyre, the whole nation wept and voted for him. He was the last superstar of Indian politics. He had the right image and evoked the right emotions.

If products need images to sell, then politicians need personalities to sell themselves. It all comes down to this basic fact, and Gallop surveys are a proof of the fact that time and again, in a Presidential race, it’s the personality factor that has played a critical role in deciding who would be the winning candidate. You need to master the art of knowing what is it that attracts the audience and reach out to them. A research has revealed that most of the people have no clue and no understanding of the candidate’s stand on issues. Most of them don’t understand the Presidential debates. It was said that people who voted for John Kerry in the 2004 elections believed in his health program and people who voted for Bush were concerned about the terror and national security and values.

On closer examination, it was found that hardly anyone understood the stand of both the candidates. They were all voting for the image that they liked. After all, all soaps clean germs, yet you pick up one and not the other – for no strong rational reason – but probably because you liked the model or the image shown in the commercial. The same was true for the Presidential elections too. Most don’t understand the rationale; and the few who do, don’t believe that political candidates would live up to their promises. So, if you have to win the voters over, you have to use your personality and evoke the right emotions to make them come out and vote for you.

The marketing battlefield

Elections are today nothing but marketing warfares! The mid-term election held in USA in November 2006 has been the bloodiest marketing battlefield. The media was splurged with ads of all kinds. According to Nielson Media Research, American TV viewers were exposed to around a million political ads between August and October this year. Compared to the last mid-term elections, there was a 31% increase in advertisements. Historically, America has always had a very low voter turn-out. As is the case everywhere, people don’t believe it’s important to vote, and don’t take it seriously. This time around, America went all out to reverse this trend. All possible marketing gimmicks were used to make the voter come out and cast his ballot.

If you have a five-year old at home, then you know how effective freebies are in selling a product. A packet of cornflakes assumes a whole new meaning if it comes with a free Spiderman projector. If free gifts attract a 5-year old, then they even attract a twenty five or a fifty-year old. So, in Florida, all those who voted, got free vaccination (which otherwise cost $25) against flu. “Vote and Vaccinate” worked quiet well. In Colorado, voters were given free rides from their homes to the polling booths in a limousine (A strech-limo rents at $500 a day!). If that were not enough, then in Arizona, Mark Osterloh had an irresistible trick to lure voters into polling booths. He offered a $1 million lottery. One lucky voter could change his fortunes!

A lot of gloss and glamour has been added to election campaigns nowadays. You now have Hollywood actresses featuring in advertisements and engaging in sexual innuendos – about the “first time” they voted – to Hollywood actors like Robert De Niro leaving messages on your answering machine to go out and vote for Hillary Clinton! During the 2004 Presidential elections, from music albums like Rock Against Bush to full length feature films like Farenheit 9/11, we saw them all being made to convince people to vote against Bush and his policies. If serious logic didn’t work, then humour was used to change people’s mind. Ergo, we had humourous ads like “Anyone but Bush” to humourous slogans on T-shirts proclaiming “No flip-flops in the White House” (a jab on John Kerry’s indecisiveness)

America leads the way. If these marketing gimmicks have worked in America, they would so in the rest of the world too. The fastest learner has been Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, who has given his people free riders on a new metro line, free tickets to a rock concert, and even an unexpectedly large bonus – worth three times the monthly salary – just before the re-elections. His opponent, Manuel Rosales, in retaliation gave away free debit cards to more than two million poor Venezuelan households, allowing them to withdraw around 250 pounds a month. Freebies have some kind of a magical pull. The exiled child king of Bulgaria, Simeon Saxe-Coburg, used lottery power to win the elections. The lucky ones won cars, holiday packages and televisions. Not just this, he even had an exciting slogan. He promised to change the living standards radically in 800 days. He and his young team of economists – trained in the city of London – sure had learnt their marketing lessons well! To encourage voting, Simeon even made the nation indulge in tambola through mobile phones to win exciting prizes.

After all, all countries cannot be like Australia where voting is compulsory and everyone who doesn’t vote pays a $20 fine. No wonder they have a 95% voter turn-out. Till it isn’t made compulsory, we all need to open our marketing books to pull out some new tricks, to make people come & vote for us!

It’s all about money Today elections are a game of money. The ones with the deepest of pockets survive. In fact, it’s become the norm in America since 1976, that the candidate who has raised the most money by the end of the year preceding the election, has become his party’s nominee for President. Bush and Kerry raised a total of nearly half a billion dollars each for the 2004 Presidential elections. The battle between the Republicans and Democrats is fought primarily on TV, thus making it a very expensive warfare. During the mid-term polls held this year, some $2 billion were spent on the United States election campaign ads.

The fact is that it’s not enough being a good candidate, just as much as the fact that it’s not enough simply being a good product. You need to know your marketing extremely well to make it successful. The electoral marketing battle has to include all the tips and tricks strategically used while marketing products and services. From celebrity endorsements to malicious and attacking comparative marketing, direct mailers to internet campaigns, from emotional speeches to kissing underprivileged children, you need to do it all – and it doesn’t come cheap. That’s the price of democracy. The making of a President is actually nothing but the “Marketing of the President”.

Copyright © : Rajita Chaudhuri and Planman Media.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Bollywood Marriages

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Is there more of Bollywood in marriages or more of marriages in Bollywood movies? That’s a tough one to answer. Today most Indian marriages are celebrated in Bollywood style – complete with the gloss and glamour of Bollywood movies. If marriages today look straight from a Bollywood flick, then movies and televisions serials are being made straight from real marriages.

The much-talked-about and one-of-its kind wedding of hotelier Vikram Chatwal and model Priya Sachdev has been turned into a television serial on Discovery Travel and Living channel named “The Great Indian Wedding”. The wedding boom also inspired Sony Television to launch a reality wedding show Kahin na Kahin Koi Hai. It was anchored by the gorgeous Bollywood actress Madhuri Dixit.

Not just television serials, a whole lot of movies have been inspired by weddings. Be it Bollywood or Hollywood this is one subject which never fails to attract attention anywhere in the world. The sheer joy, excitement, euphoria surrounding this occasion is unmatchable. Be it Hum Aapke Hai Kaun or Bride and Prejudice, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge or Four Wedding and a Funeral – all have been box-office smash hits and the aura of a wedding was the heart of all these movies. Seems marriages do make both, Bollywood movies and the box office, rock!

As the girl and boy look deep into each others eyes and proclaim their love for each other a whole lot of business houses too get a twinkle in their eyes. For along with the wedding bells they can also hear their cash registers ringing. The marriage industry is a “profit guaranteed” industry. As long as people will fall in love, the industry will prosper.

So pull out your thinking caps and see how you can grab a portion of this pie, for a smart entrepreneur knows that marriages and business profits are made for each other.

Copyright © : Rajita Chaudhuri and Planman Media.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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“Innovation isimportant to us...it refl ects in ourmarketing,content & brandpositioning,” says Sharma of Zapak

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RELIANCE ENTERTAINMENT... With its zapak moves, this one’s created a big adda for itself among traditional media hotshots!

If Reliance Entertainment claims innovation to be the flesh and soul of their company, it’s no exaggeration. With its vanguard neverdone-before moves that exhilarate consumers, this company’s given sleepless nights to competitors. Take Zapak for instance - India’s first and largest gaming portal - innovative not just in terms of its content but also in terms of its whacky and catchy advertising. “Innovation is extremely important to us. We have built our complete market on that and it reflects in our marketing, our content and the brand positioning,” Rohit Sharma, COO, Zapak shares with 4Ps B&M. And not only Zapak but this very innovative mantra of ‘phirangi entertainment in desi ishtyle’ is true for other group companies too like Big 92.7 FM, Adlabs, BigAdda, Bigflicks, et al. In fact, Big 92.7 FM with its innovative marketing and programming strategies like outdoor broadcasting vans & big booths, has already won itself the crown of the largest private radio network in India in less than a year of its launch. Further, sending the existing market dynamics topsy turvy, are new initiatives by the group – BigAdda and BigFlicks. Needless to say, it is the constant drive towards innovation at Reliance Entertainment that has given Anil Ambani such a vast presence across various content and distribution platforms in the Indian media and entertainment sector, that too in such a short span.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Apple

ARINDAM CHAUDHURI’S 4 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD CHOOSE IIPM...

In the fast globalising Indian economy, where a plethora of similar goods and services are vying with one another to get the consumer on their side, what sets a company apart is its quickness in anticipating customer demand and innovating accordingly. And that makes all the difference between success and failure!

When Steve Jobs gregariously introduced the iPod in October 2001, he not only changed the way people listened to music, but also managed to give a big thumbs-up to his company. How? Well, till then, Apple was struggling for mass acceptance of its computer brand Macintosh, which was going nowhere despite tall promises, in the face of stiff competition from Windows based PCs. But check this: analysts admit that ever since the iPod became a global sensation, the halo effect has rubbed off some on Apple’s computer business and Macintosh sales are on the revival path. That’s the impact of a seemingly innocuous innovation (in this case a 2-4 inch small musical device) on a company’s fortunes!

Closer home, take the case of Kingfisher Airlines. When flamboyant liquor baron Vijay Mallya decided on dabbling in the lucrative aviation sector, he went totally over-the-top and thought up an avant-garde way to lure consumers. The next thing one knew, his stylish Airbuses were in the air, replete with a state-of-theart personalised inflight entertainment system, a sassy cabin and ground staff in bold red attires, designer interiors in his aircraft, with the flashy Mallya himself greeting passengers on board. Coming for an audience, starved for such grandeur during travel, the inoovation paid off. Mallya’s special brand of air travel boasts of a sizable chunk of the total aviation pie within just two years of its launch.

Either via an inventive new product in the marketplace; or translating new ideas into a substantial product or service; or even successfully marketing and exploiting a new idea... innovation is fast becoming a winning habit for companies. Here’s a dekho at the 25 companies who are increasingly laying emphasis on being innovative in the Indian market. Their innovation need not always be out rightly radical (involving huge R&D expenditures). Sometimes it may be just a brilliant new idea (iPod?) or just an original adaptation of a known idea (Kingfisher Airlines?); It may just involve a minor tinkering with any of the 4Ps of Marketing (Product, Price, Promotion & Place) – a competitive pricing strategy, a different packaging, out-of-the-box marketing... Anything works, provided the demand is anticipated correctly. So, here they are in all their inventive glory...

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Leading global beverage

A recent report by the leading global beverage sales tracker, Beverage Digest, validates it further. According to the report, the market of carbonated drinks fell by 0.6% in 2006 as against a drop of 0.2% in 2005. Seems insignificant, but if energy drinks are kept aside, the decline is a shocking 150% more than last year. Now, there’s the real trouble. Well, one could blame it on the pesticides controversy or on the rising health consciousness across the globe, the consumer verdict even in India is definitely proving detrimental for fizzy drink makers including Coca Cola. With the health drinks category growing globally at 2.8% per annum, not far in the future, the only options left for Coca-Cola (in fact, for all the other cola makers too) would be to make existing products healthier; and of course, diversify. No doubt, Coca Cola has been bolstering its growth strategy with a host of relatively healthier options for quite some time now. And, India doesn’t seem to be an exception to these attempts as well. With the recent launches of Cadbury- Schweppes water and Minute Maid, its pulpy orange juice, the company has clearly indicated a shift towards sports drinks, juices, energy drinks and water. But a look at PepsiCo’s classic foresight and Coke’s strategic defence seems too vulnerable. Some 60% of PepsiCo’s profits come from its snacks and food business. Right from Fritos to Lays to Cracker Jacks and Tostitos, PepsiCo enjoys a virtual monopoly, with Coca Cola nowhere in the scene – the reason why PepsiCo’s net profits have been steadily climbing upwards. On the contrary, Coca Cola’s overdependence on the beverage segment has surely proved detrimental to its bottom-
line, both globally and within India. In such a scenario, though the ‘Drops of Joy’ concept seems emotionally pliable, the fact is that standing alone, it won’t be capable of bringing joy to Coke’s life. CSR or no CSR, if the ‘Real Thing’ doesn’t diversify into health segments, it won’t be long before ‘Drops of Joy’ for Coke are transliterated fatally and sadly into ‘Teardrops of Joy’.


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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008 ,An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Coca Cola plans to increase

Through the campaign, Coca Cola plans to increase (and showcase) its involvement in community development programmes such as investing in environment protection, supporting the disabled and similar projects. A bird’s eye view and it could simply look like any other corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity taken up by the company. But a closer look inside – and some help from the company grapevine – reveals to us how this is a classic case of CSR being ultimately leveraged to become a profitability statement. But do such campaigns really work in the long run? To get the outside view on this, 4Ps B&M caught up with Superbrands, arguably the world’s most renowned brand valuation and ranking firm. Anmol Dhar, MD of Superbrands, shared with us, “Coca Cola certainly needs to improve its brand image in the society. Whether this sort of CSR initiative will help Coke improve its brand image, well, that’s what time will tell!” Time! But really, the reasons for this contemporary image makeover are not too difficult to come by. Though the biting pesticides controversy, along with ground water depletion or health concerns around its core brands, are behind Coca Cola now, continuously declining profitability is a fear that haunts the company perennially, what with the rate of growth of the soft drinks industry going down dangerously. The real problem for Coca Cola comes in as the traditional cola war, all over the world, seems gradually shifting to a new ground. Soft drink volumes have started witnessing a fall as a rising health-consciousness wave is hitting consumers belatedly. “Consumers have certainly become health conscious and are going to shun carbonated drinks and shift to more nutritious options,” prophesies FMCG analyst Harish Bijur to 4Ps B&M.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

CSR: Coke Socially Responsible!

A strategic manoeuvre by Coke to go the CSR way; profitably

Sometimes, a soft drink is more than just a fizzy, sugared liquid. Sometimes, it symbolizes an exhilarating lifestyle; sometimes, an attitude statement; and sometimes, even a humane, community oriented and socially responsible product... Just a minute, what was that?!? Did you say, carbonateddrinks are becoming ‘socially responsible’?! Well, we don’t know about the whole bandwagon, but at least, that’s how the fizzy drink maker Coca Cola wants to market itself now. A small wait till September-end and India would see ‘Drops of Joy’ literally pouring in from the cola major who has just tested waters with showing the African continent ‘The Coke Side of Life’. For those who came in late,sources at the company affirmed to4Ps B&M that ‘Drops of Joy’ is part of a global campaign started by Coke early this year to project the Coca-Cola corporate brand as a total beverage company (read ‘society friendly organisation’) and not merely a cola and fizz-drink maker. And the investments being lined up by the firm are nothing less than huge. So what’s the official internal dope on the India campaign? Speaking directly to 4Ps B&M, the Coca Cola India spokesperson revealed, “In our bid to further strengthen the communication to different stakeholders, the company is in the process of putting together a corporate advertising campaign. The discussions are at a formative stage and we are currently looking at various options to make this exercise effective and robust.”

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008, An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

ITC...

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ITC... they have not only cashed in on the organic food fad but their innovation called Bingo has created a new genre in snacks... that’s 10 on 10!

It won’t be an exaggeration to say that ITC stands for Innovation, Technology and Creativity, the way they have led by example. Staring from e-Choupal to rural retailing (Choupal Sagars) to the fashion ramps, this conglomerate has been a pioneer in innovations and often has been a bellweather in bringing in changes in Indian socio economic life. Innovation has been in its DNA... ever since its metamorphosis from a tobacco major to a conglomerate.

FY 2007 was not an exception for ITC and to sustain their growth mantra and their first mover’s advantage, the company rolled out many innovative products. The flagship brand Ashirvad is just one of the smash hit innovations for the company in branding staple food products, bucked up with massive marketing expansion strategies. In the same line, to become an early bird for cashing in on the organic food factor, they revealed Aashirvaad Select Organic Spices. They also forayed into the fast growing snacks market through their brand Bingo, which has created a new genre in snacks. ITC pepped it up with a massive distribution initiative & aggressive penetration ensuring presence in every corner of India from day one in more than 5 unique flavours. “We have always been at the forefront of innovation with the aim of catering to the evolving consumer needs. Consumers today are very knowledgeable & willing to try out newer products in the market, thereby making innovation a key ingredient for any brand’s success.” History has proved the mettle of this conglomerate to innovate, interestingly, ITC is also one of the rare companies to follow the triple bottom line concept in its accountancy practices. Truly a veteran in the field now!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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MARUTI...

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MARUTI... The running cost of WagonR Duo, using LPG, is about 33% less than the petrol vehicle in the same category, Now that’s original!

“It’s not really difficult to sell cars these days when everyone’s getting richer in cities. But to maintain a leadership position throughout all these years and despite foreign models coming in, Maruti deserves an applause,” says Rajiv Sinha, a Maruti service station proprietor. Perhaps, it’s this doggedness that Maruti has successfully instilled amongst its dealers (recognised as their first and foremost customers) that has earned Maruti the top spot, irrespective of what competition may have on offer.

Or maybe it’s the extremely well thought out value adds that Maruti offers under one roof – be it car insurance or car finance, fleet management or even used cars – its been a fruitful journey for this veteran car maker that has constantly changed itself with changing times & tastes.

But that’s not why Maruti has made our cut this year. The prime reason isthat in 2006 they thought ahead and launched India’s first factory- fitted LPG vehicle, the WagonR Duo.

Further, ever since Maruti listed itself in 2003, the company has felt “a greater obligation... to perform and deliver value,” believes S. Nakanishi, Chairman of Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL). No wonder, Maruti has constantly been taking various steps to push sales, prime among them being their tie-up with the State Bank of India to encourage rural car buyers. Plus cost cutting against rising raw material costs and ability to provide top quality compact cars like the Swift, Alto and Zen, has helped it sell more Altos in year 2006-07 than “combined sales of all car models of its nearest rival.” Count on them for numbers!

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Bhaskar Das of Times of India Group

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And this trend is not just restricted to magazines. Newspapers are increasingly catering to these two specific audiences with their supplements. Hindustan Times Group has brought in the Delhi edition of its popular lifestyle supplement Splurge (earlier only available with HT Mumbai) in August, perhaps anticipating the need to be one up on the competition. When asked by 4Ps B&M why there is this sudden proliferation of such magazines, Benoy Roy Chowdhury, Head-Media Marketing & Circulation, Hindustan Times, commented, “It’s more in tune with lifestyle changes happening in the country.... Specialised magazines have created their own niche & the trend is bound to pick up.”

Bhaskar Das of Times of India Group talks elaborately with 4Ps B&M on both the trends. On the ‘lifestyle evolution’, he gives his viewpoint thus, “If you take into consideration the composite spend on various products, spends on aspirational products is going up.... Look at the luxury & lifestyle segment, where overall spends by luxury brands has increased by 146% and that of lifestyle category has increased by 243% over a period of four years.”

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Arcelor Mittal - Boldness changes everything

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BRAND: Arcelor Mittal
HEADLINE: Boldness changes everything
BASELINE : Transforming Tomorrow
AGENCY : TBWA

4Ps TAKE : A couple of issues back, when we featured Arcelor Mittal in the ads rankings section, it was busy comparing the beautifulParis with & without the Eiffel Tower. The basic idea was to depict how boldness – and, of course, steel – changes everything. Yet again, the brand’s latest ad revolves around the same concept but with different visuals. The body copy explains the visual that has a man gazing at the moon in one box (from Planet Earth!); the other box shows an astronaut, who is much closer to the moon. The ad successfully conveys the message that steel comprises a good part of the man’s mission to moon (a space shuttle, for instance, has parts of steel). The USP of the steel giant is the belief in boldness to change everything. Reward to the prospect: Mr. Lakshmi Mittal, world’s No.1 steel manufacturer’s name attached to the product (it helps that he’s of Indian origin, doesn’t it?!). Good effort Arcelor Mittal to promote the recently acquired empire – but even a better ad at that!

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Captains of the ship...

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Remember the famous words uttered by Gurukant Desai (ala Abhishek Bachchan) in the Bollywood flick Guru, which said that ,when your name starts appearing in newspapers, you must be on the fast track to success. And the 4Ps B&M newsmakers this fortnight only prove his theory. Be it the case of an Italian women calling all the shots on Indian soil or an Indian man jumping to the power seat to save a world leader in financial market intelligence – controversies surround their every move.

Whenever a ship begins to sink, the captain takes charge. And the new captain appointed (in August 2007) to head the giant ship – Standard & Poor’s, is Deven Sharma. His recruitment comes at a time when the prime job of the new President is to defend the credibility of the world’s largest rating agency that has been brutally criticised for having let the subprime party go on for long and allocating top ratings to underperforming securities. Known to be excellent at strategic thinking and having deep understanding of global financial markets, Deven is expected to succeed at protecting the company’s image.

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…or are collaborative deals among Big Pharma a compulsion?

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So, what’s unusual in that? The question pours in. No doubt, these big pharma companies have been shelling out billions in the past to acquire companies to channel new ideas. But as a unitary force, allthese companies have found themselves wanting in more ways than one, as their blockbuster patents are on the brink of extinction. And it seems better to combine forces rather than becoming dinosaurs themselves. “Well thought of”, answers Sujay Shetty, Associate Director, Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences practice, Pricewaterhouse- Coopers. “With the dearth of new compounds in the pipeline and patents expiring on various blockbusters, collaborative deals with their peers seems to be a smart strategy from Big Pharma,” says he. Undoubtedly a good rationale in support of these blissful marriages, but then one cannot deny the need for vigour either. Raison d’être, poor financial performance, rising sales & marketing expenditures, increased legal & regulatory constraints & challenges and tarnished reputations at times because of drug failures.

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Harish Parameswar, Managing Director of financial

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Harish Parameswar, Managing Director of financial advisory and asset management firm Lazard Asia, echoes, “I would say you’ve seen a lot of private equity and buy-out firms come up in India but venture capital is relatively tough if you’re at an early stage, unless you have some Indian investors who are from (Silicon) Valley. It’s relatively difficult to get early stage financing.” But early stage Venture Capital activity, on a lull since Y2K, has slowly begun trickling back. According to a data provided by Venture Intelligence, the value of early stage deals skyrocketed to $510 million in 2006, from a mere $103 million. In H1 2007, the total number of deals in early stage was 44 and amounted to an impressive $274 million. Several PE and Venture Capital firms are also in a process of raising money for the same, thanks to now favourable policies of the government (see above chart).

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This Time The Investment

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And this time the investment is in start-ups and early stage companies. Nexus India Capital ($100 million), Atherstone Group ($75 million), GVFL – one of the oldest VC firms of India ($73.8 million) and many more have gathered funds from institutional investors which will be invested over a period of 3-5 years in ‘start-ups’ in sector ranging from IT to infrastructure. The VC party for Indian firms is on a roll, with little chances of the festivities ending anytime soon. It’s upto individual firms now to decide whether they want to pop the champagne or are happy nursing their desi drinks.

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Top 10 International Investors

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“Out of the $10 billion plus worth of PE deals announced in 2007, $6.2 billion are from the top 10 international investors. Most of these investments have gone into growth and late stage capital. The exception to it is in real estate sector where new ventures have got significant funding, but again these ventures have huge land banks and hence are from a different dimension,” C.G. Srividya, Partner, Corporate Advisory Services, Grant Thornton, India told 4Ps B&M.

“Even if one compares Venture Capital and PE activity in India and China, investors prefer China over India for early stage investment,” said Arun Natarajan, founder, Venture Intelligence, India. And it is so despite India receiving more funds by way of PE or Venture Capital, as compared to China. There is a clear dearth of seed and early stage investment capital in India with just 6.9% of capital going to that stage, as compared to 12.5% in China and 29% in US.

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DETTOL

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Just a whiff of Dettol, and one immediately remembers their last encounter with a cut or bruise. Right?

Here is a brand that needs no introduction. The flagship brand of Reckitt Benckiser, Dettol has soothed the nerves of many a harried mothers and guardians for decades. In fact, such is its popularity that Dettol has almost become a generic name in the category of antiseptic lotions. Though competitor Savlon’s entry made a dent in their monopoly, yet Dettol clearly remains the market leader. To cash in on its brand equity, Reckitt Benckiser has launched various extensions of the brand, each revolving around the basic Dettol forte viz. germ protection – Dettol Sensitive Liquid Hand (enriched with glycerine), Dettol Cool Soap (with menthol) and Dettol Body Wash (in the new modern format of a shower gel), to name a few. The brand’s new summer campaign (on air from May 20) is also a hit. Chander Mohan Sethi, Chairman and MD, Reckitt Benckiser India, says, “Dettol’s strategy over 2006-07 has been all about innovation and delivering better solutions to our customers, while highlighting the need for germ protection in their lives.” No guesses then, as to why this brand has gone up by 3 notches to sit perched at Rank 52 in the current year.

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Surf Excel

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They may have slipped in the rankings, but Surf Excel remains the most popular detergent!

Ever heard of a detergent that praises its foe? We have one on our list which says ‘Daag achhe hain’ very confidently. For any other brand, it would have been difficult to convince the customers about the product with such a paradoxical statement, but for Surf Excel, which can easily be called as one of the most powerful detergent brands of India, it seemed a cake walk. FMCG Analyst Harish Bijoor says, “Surf Excel is an interestingly managed brand. With the ‘Daag achhe hain’ campaign, they caught the pulse of the consumer, leading to excellent brand management.” What’s more, the brand not only focuses on its generic space of a detergent but also on making a social difference in the lives of its consumers. Surf Excel’s social awareness campaigns like ‘Do bucket paani ab rozana hai bachana’ and the scholarship campaign for unfortunate students too endear the brand to the morally responsive Indian consumer.

Right from ‘Lalitaji’, representative of the true-blue cost-conscious Indian woman, till the inspiring storyboards of today, Surf Excel has done it all and in style! Yes, P&G’s Ariel did become a worry for some time, but then Surf Excel kills its enemies after applauding them all the way, right?

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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The Indian Telecom Sector
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