Parle G: The communication journey

The biscuit market in India is estimated at Rs. 21000 crore and the  glucose segment alone accounts for 30% share. 

 

Parle G has been a staple food for Indians since last 73 years. It was launched in 1939 by Parle Products. More than 100 crore packets are sold every month and almost 121 biscuits are consumed in a year by 1.2 billion Indians. The brand continues to be a companion to our cup of tea and was a favourite with milk in good old childhood days. For some it substitutes the milk also due to its nutritional value. Parle G is a brand built for masses and enjoys 70% market share in the glucose category. The brand registered the sale of Rs. 5010 crore in year 2012. Almost 400 mn Parle G packs are produced daily and over 6 million retail stores distribute the brand in nooks and corners of India. 

 

The brand has a philosophy and mission to be a staple food for Indians. This affordability proposition has paid for Parle G despite the competition from Britannia Tiger. However, Parle did feel the pressure of eroding margins with increasing raw material cost. 

The Journey

Until 1980, Parle G was known as Parle Gluco and communicated the proposition of being 'Oven Fresh". In the year 1980, Parle Gluco was rechristened as Parle G to distinguish itself from me-too glucose brands cluttering the market. 

In 1982, Parle G came up with an advertising campaign, "Swaad Bhare Shakti Bhare". The advertisement featured grandfather and kids singing to chorus. The brand beautifully tried to weave the legacy and trust in its communication and tried to transfer the same to the new generation. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fsbQhxNXjo

The brand also changed its packaging to yellow and red wax paper with the identifiable Parle girl on it. This character was developed by Everest in 1960s. 

The big idea was also their advertising idea for more than 3 decades. However, the company focused on activation campaigns during 1998-2003. In 1998, they chose a tele-serial character "Shaktimaan" as their brand ambassador. In year 2002, Parle G launched "Mera Sapna Sach Hoga" campaign to engage the end consumer which ran for 6 months.

In 2001, the brand was rejuvenated with a new packaging. The wax paper was changed to BOPP and in 2004 the brand re-positioned itself with proposition of 'G mane Genius'. The brand idea of "G maane genius" found its execution in many forms and activations. "Do Genius- Ek Taakat" campaign saw Aamir Khan endorsing the brand. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdqRBO0JHdk

The more recent 'Kal Ke Genius' campaign was launched in 2013. The brand idea was the same, but the advertising idea changed. Parle G used multiple activation ideas including twitter games, and fun facts (on Parle FB page). Building further on its 'Everyday Genius' platform, Parle-G embarked on a movement to free children from the bondage of structured education. With this pursuit, they have recently launched the campaign "Roko Mat- Toko Mat". 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uie4FVymPMY

The film features kids in different scenarios using their presence of mind: like using a motorbike to fill air in balloons, using potatoes to light up a small bulb, or even using a hair blower to flow the cape of a kid playing a super hero. The instances are set to a catchy tune with the lyrics 'Roko Mat, Toko Mat', and ends with the voice over 'Bachpan se bada koi school nahi. Curiosity se bada koi teacher nahi. Aao banaye kal ke genius". 

This campaign is extensively using the digital platform and is borne out of the consumer insight that- parents try to disciple children by continuously correcting their behaviour and stopping them from being adventurous and naughty.  The brand wants parents to realize that kids could develop their potential if they just let them be,let them nurture their curiosity, encourage their desire to try new things, experiment and learn from mistakes. 

It takes a great consumer insight, a strong brand idea and energetic activation to keep the brand relevant over years. 

Brand Pears

Pears Soap is re-positioning itself. Actually laddering up to benefit based positioning. The previous attribute positioning of innocent 'masoom' skin to more concrete benefit positioning of 'younger looking skin'....

Surely relevant, but is the new brand positioning unique? Is it not sounding Santoor, except that its more premium. Can glycerine and 'dhoop' do all the magic? 

The agency will have to work harder to bring out the differentiation yet maintaining the brand legacy of Pears.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJC372RJ66o

Titan- Back with gifting

Titan returns after a long journey.... with the brand proposition of gifting and also its signature tune.....but the music is modern... and not mushy-mushy as 80s

The new campaign "Joy of Gifting" brings back all the moments and emotions Titan always stood for. Wonder why they strayed from this... It has been a long journey for Titan ever since they gave up on their gifting proposition. The latest campaign idea of 'Be More' was promising and had a potential for a lot of creative stuff but guess it also failed to rejuvenate the brand.

But still the brand is being conservative and who knows that its only a tactical stuff... or to test waters to confirm if the 'gift' plank could work!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQxFL6Ce-XM

Consumer Insights: Breaking the myth

Marketing is about managing consumer’s expectations and perceptions. Hence genuine consumer understanding is the first prerequisite for superior marketing. As markets become more crowded, the marketer with superior insight into the consumers’ latent needs, wants, desires and beliefs gains a critical source of competitive advantage. Deeper understanding of consumer’s deeper and unrevealed attitude and behaviours is consumer insights.

Customer Insight represents a deep understanding of customer needs and the drivers at a level well beyond what customers are able to articulate on their own.  Customer Insight leads to opportunities for creating solutions that are tightly linked to the core drivers of human needs and behaviour. It is a "bottom-up" approach that leverages insights into the behaviors, perceptions and needs of current and potential customers by involving them as true partners in the innovation process.

Myth 1: “I know the consumer – she is like a known one to me”

Successful entrepreneurs and marketing professionals believe that they know what ‘consumers want’ and hence are sceptical of all formal consumer research. But real market is beyond the family and people we know. The living conditions and product usage contexts of a household cannot be generalized for larger markets. That is why the first step to get powerful insights lies in observing the real consumers and brand in real life conditions.

Myth 2: “What consumer speak is consumer insight...because that is what they want”

One school of thought believes that any expression of consumer need, desire or belief is valid only if it is voiced by the consumer and hence must be written in consumer-speak. Thus, all insight statements must be of the form, “I wish...”

This is a myth because it is based on the false premise that people know what they want and why they do what they do. People are famously inconsistent – they think one thing, say another and go and do something else entirely. Hence powerful insights can only be intuited by an observer and is aided by good questioning.

Myth 3: “Research does not disclose this, it isn't an insight”

Best of testing methods cannot uncover insights. Insatiable curiosity to get under the skin of the consumer is more helpful than fancy techniques.

Myth 4: “Gaining insight into consumers’ needs and desires is like getting an idea – it’s all about inspiration”

This is a myth because there are methods for discovering insights and many companies develop their own methods and don’t just sit waiting for inspiration. Insights are about re-perceiving the familiar while ideas are about re-connecting known elements in fresh ways.

Ways to discover consumer insights:  

(a) observing consumers in their real lives and usage situations.

(b) exercising empathy to walk in their shoes and

(c) intuiting reasons for their choices and actions from multiple perspectives.

Insighting is also done at the product design and positioning stages. The insight process at product development stage is more of a need-gap analysis. It gives idea of how to change/modify the product. For example, the insight that ‘Indians have a serious complex about the colour of their skin’ has been used by brands like Fair & Lovely for product development.

When developing and launching a new brand, marketer needs consumer insight to get the market positioning and communication right. The consumer insight needed to develop a new brand is all about what target consumers are saying and thinking, and what truly matters to them. A good insight is a great guide to brand’s success in the marketplace.

EXAMPLES

 Volkswagen Beetle

Volkswagen told America to "Think Small". But their insight wasn't small at all. It wasn't just the need for a smaller car - there was a sizable group of people who wanted to be different and didn't express themselves based on the size of their car. 

A version of this same insight - appealing to individuality against all odds - is Apple's "Think Different" campaign.

Pampers

The brand re-positioned itself quite significantly over the years. Back then, the brand appealed to the fear of parents being crap and letting their baby get wet. It worked well, but was a bit preachy.

The new insight that was the motivation behind highly successful re-launch came from talking about child behaviour. Parents explained that by being dry and getting a good night's sleep babies were better able to play, and that this in turn was key to their development. This lead to an insight of: 'Babies with healthy, dry skin are happier....and so better able to play, learn and develop'. The finding that babies are happier when they have healthy skin rather than nappy rash was not that new. The trick was uncovering the deeper emotional significance.

The brand's idea is now around "Being with you every step of the way with your baby's development". This brand idea has inspired a range of innovation including Active Fit diapers for young babies on the move, and Kandoo moist toilet tissues kids can use themselves. 

ICICI Prudential

ICICI prudential: A brand that broke the rules set by LIC. Insurance was an undesired purchase and companies used fear appeal to communicate with audience. After all, consumers were really not excited about discussing their death and 'what after them'?

ICICI Prudential made insurance a desired purchase with happy settings and positive communication. The brand proposition of 'Jeetay Raho' was about a long and secure life. The communication instilled trust and belief along with security. And each campaign was just brilliant including the recent, "bande hum ache hain".

 But guess 'to have it all' syndrome has struck this brand. They now experimenting with the 'fear appeal'. The latest communications smells of LIC??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_z_jRnJatE 

Are they wanting to change the core essence of the brand or running after LIC's share. This advertisement sits poorly with the brand image and proposition of ICICI Prudential. Has the company forgotten the critical C of marketing communication- Consistency

Brand Amul

The Amul advertisement tries to strike an emotional chord with Indian households...

An ad with great story line and brilliant insight...But am doubtful if Indian consumers would like it.. They may associate themselves with it.... absolutely but perhaps Indian parents still don't want the world to know that they are not doing something for kids!!!! or they are short of being a perfect parent...

The image of parents in India is being protective and sacrificing so...I feel a disconnect between actual and intended self.

What say??

watch the ad at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_I1omigDRU

Marketing Communications: An overview with Cunard

Marketing Communications is a phenomenon that connects a product/service offer to the end customer. It elevates the product/service offer from mere functionality and adds emotional value and experience to it.

As against the common myth that marketing communications is only the responsibility of brand manager, it actually is a comprehensive, coordinated and institution wide strategy. It draws heavily on top management buy-in and the support. Marketing communication challenges include issues of strategic vs. tactical resource allocation; centralized vs decentralized communication; integration among various departments.

A good MarCom structure requires well integrated departments with strong top management support to ensure standardized, consistent and continuous communication.

Advantages of IMC in an organization:
Optimal utilization of resources: When budgets are limited, organizations try to build synergy between individual and corporate brands so that both can benefit from each other. As in the case of Cunard, the same advertisement space was used to promote both the Cunard brand name and the individual ship brands. Even in tactical advertisements, Cunard name was given space and visibility to strengthen corporate brand image.

Helps in building consistent brand image: The central communication department understand the core values and ethos of the brand. They can hence ensure consistency in brand communication across brands or SBUs. For example, Dove communicates with its customers through multiple media including hoardings, TV and Press ads, Internet, Mall activation, POP promotion etc. The brand manager has to ensure that the core values of the brand which include, premium, moisturizing ability, independent and confident women and the look and feel of brand experience is maintained across the mediums so that consumer is not bombarded with conflicting messages. Similarly Cunard communication manager, Leslie in the HBS case ensures that Cunard brand communication has consistency across the ship brands. It should be elegant, luxurious, rich and 'very british'.

Helps in building focused effort by understanding distinct need of customers and reaching them with a relevant and well defined message: A good communication plan starts with great consumer understanding. Segments are today based more of needs, benefits and requirements rather than demographics and psychographics. Marketing communications helps to reach these consumer segments with customized messages and propositions.

Key Takeaway

Impactful Communication: Clear* Consistent* Continuous* Customized

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Integrated and synergistic media strategy

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Enduring Brand Image

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