MARKETING MANAGEMENT II

Repositioning successes and failures of Indian brands

MKTMG II Project Report

Submitted To: Dr. Sanjay Patro

13 December 2014

Co-Authored By

Ashutosh Mathur B14015

Avinash Upadhyay B14016

Avishkar Ashok Mhatre B14017

Contents

INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 3

REPOSITIONING SUCCESS: ...................................................................................................................... 3

Nestl Milkmaid .................................................................................................................................. 3

Fair & Lovely ........................................................................................................................................ 5

Kelloggs .............................................................................................................................................. 7

Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 7

Companys overview: Kelloggs ....................................................................................................... 7

Early challenges ............................................................................................................................... 8

Initial Mistakes ................................................................................................................................ 8

The Turnaround .............................................................................................................................. 9

REPOSITIONING FAILURES: ................................................................................................................... 10

Margo ................................................................................................................................................ 10

Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 10

Reasons for failure ........................................................................................................................ 10

Revival and repositioning again .................................................................................................... 11

TATA Nano ........................................................................................................................................ 11

Cadbury Gems ................................................................................................................................... 13

References: ........................................................................................................................................... 15

INTRODUCTION

In this era of intense competition and ever changing consumer preferences, companies often

reposition their brands to revive it as there is a danger of the brand heading towards the decline

phase in the Product Life Cycle. Our marketing literature review on repositioning had offered quite a

lot of insights into the concept of repositioning and its needs. The main motive of repositioning and

positioning strategies is management of consumers' perceptions about the brand. A lot of

companies have repositioned their brands over the time to cater to the needs of the customers as

they evolved over time. The following are the names of a few brands which were repositioned over

time in India Cadbury dairy milk, 5star, Gems, Maggi, Milkmaid (Nestle), Kelloggs, Horlicks,

Complan (GSK), Tata Nano, Fair & Lovely (HUL), Illustrated Weekly, 7UP (PepsiCo), etc. Some of the

brands have done it successfully but some have faltered and have failed to revive the brand. In this

phase of the project we analyse six brands three examples of successful and three of unsuccessful

repositioning in the Indian context with regards to their repositioning strategies and the reasons for

their success and failure.

REPOSITIONING SUCCESS:

Nestl Milkmaid

A classic illustration of successful repositioning is Nestls Milkmaid. Nestl Milkmaid is partly

Skimmed sweetened condensed milk positioned in the premium segment and is the market leader

with a majority market share in the condensed milk market in India. Milkmaid is a heritage brand

which was imported to India from the time Nestl started its operations 90 years ago. Nestl started

manufacturing Milkmaid in India in the year 1969.

Initially, Milkmaid was positioned as a creamer or milk whitener for tea and coffee. Later, it changed

to the tastiest milk made, as milk shortage had relevance at a time when the fresh milk was in

short supply in some parts of India. Milk production in the country was stagnant during the 1950s

and the 1960s and the annual production growth was negative in many years. The Nestl Milkmaid

brand was positioned as a security against milk shortage due to short supply of milk. Mothers of

school going children were anxious not to allow the child go to school without a glass of milk and

hence Milkmaid found good acceptance in the household.

Subsequently, during the early 1980s, India moved from a milk-deficit country to one of the most

milk-surplus nations, thanks to Operation Flood. Backed by consumer research and solid marketing

judgement, Milkmaid was repositioned as a dessert ingredient, providing ease of use and time

saving while cooking and authenticity in taste. Supported by insightful marketing program (titled

Quo Vadis) , direct response ads in print and TV , a relevant pack design reflecting the recipe , the

label depicted a dessert with a recipe on the reverse side and a free recipe booklet as an aid to

prepare delicious desserts, Milkmaid gained widespread acceptance. The change in the packaging

backed by aggressive and consistent advertising changed the initial positioning of Milkmaid. Brand

communication helped in changing the initial perception of homemakers toward Milkmaid as a

substitute for milk to a dessert ingredient.

Milkmaid brand has come a long way since its inception in 1912. The brand drew its name from two

words, milk and the maid (woman who milks the cow). The product showed the condensed

goodness of milk (milk being prized for its nutrition) and therefore good for anybody looking for

nutrition especially babies. A tin of condensed milk separated milk from cows and hence portability

(cow in a tin minus the mess of farm). Now, milk could be accessed anytime, anywhere. The brand

was readily accepted by military installations. Milkmaid created its brand equity by radically altering

the paradigm associated with milk production and consumption.

Later the developments in dairy technology, packaging, transportation and consumer tastes began

to dent the brand equity. Forces like these began to shift the brand out of relevance spectrum. Due

to easy availability of ready to consume milk, the demand for Milkmaid started going down. Milk

powders were rapidly replacing condensed milk as a coffee & tea whitener. The value-for-money

equation and convenience factors had skewed the balance. It seemed Nestl Milkmaid was destined

to bite the dust and become a has-been. In order to boost the brand sales, the brand took the

dessert recipe route to increase usage. Keeping the product in its present form (condensed milk) the

brand reached out to customers and suggested its potential applications. It pursued a recipe route to

find ways into homes which saw no relevance of the brand. The suggestions included cake, Indian

desserts and many other delicacies. Now the brand shifted its focus to homes, targeting the

homemaker and positioned the brand as provider of sensory delight to family. Besides the probable

contentment that a woman experiences upon creating happy family moments, Milkmaid also gave

them opportunities to experience excitement and stimulation associated with creation. The brand

turned mundane kitchen into a space of high creativity, masterful control and heightened

stimulation.

Milkmaid in its present avatar as Creations is again is given to creating alignment with present-day

realities. The product form is now changed into dessert mixes which can be transformed into a

variety of desserts by performing three simple actions. The brand leverages upon the inner desires

of modern women to create something for her family therefore her role is not completely done way

(three steps). This appeals to the traditional self, the master of the kitchen and nourishment.

Simultaneously the brand allows her to negotiate effectively on the most important currency of the

modern existence, the time. The creative element associated with the earlier strategy (recipe) now

has shifted from customer to the company (ready-made mix). This function shift can be

psychologically dissatisfying for the buyer; therefore to compensate the brand name is extended to

Whitener for Tea, Coffee

Topping for cakes and puddings

Maker of the tastiest milk

Ingredient in dessert recipes

include the word Creations in its identity. Milkmaid also came out with a brand extension -

Milkmaid Funshake: a fruit flavoured milk, targeting kids. The marketers predict a huge growth in the

' Alternate Milk Category in the coming years.

Nestle initiated a lot of promotional activities to increase the usage of the Milkmaid brand. The

brand was promoted heavily through visual media and through cookery shows, Nestl tried to

educate the customers on the various recipes with Milkmaid. Milkmaid also came out with a

package innovation. Nestle created a variant Milkmaid Squeezy which was the tube form of

Milkmaid. The main idea behind this variant was to allow consumers to easily use Milkmaid as a

topping for biscuits and breads. Milkmaid faced intense heat of competition when Amul launched

Mithaimate brand in the market. Mithaimate was priced much lower than Milkmaid and this forced

Milkmaid to reduce the price to match the Amul brand. With the lower price, Amul will give

Milkmaid a tough fight for the market share.

Fair & Lovely

It is a common perception that Indian women are partial towards fair skin. The key consumer insight

in the case of Fair & Lovely has been drawing similarity between beauty and fairness and has helped

HUL capture nearly 53% of the market share with this product. The company shows darker skinned

women turning fairer in their commercials. Over the years the way HUL has repositioned its brand

Fair & Lovely has changed significantly and it has done so successfully which is evident from its market

share and the brand equity. Fair & Lovely is the first fairness cream in the world and has enjoyed the

preference of consumers for more than 35 years. But now with launch of new brands from

International brands like Garnier Light, Neutrogena Fine Fairness, Olay Natural White, etc. Fair &

Lovely has been facing increasing competition and it is getting more important for it to rediscover and

reposition itself according to the evolution of the target market. The target group for Fair& Lovely is

low to middle class women and the commercials target a wide range of women based on their

occupations through its various crme variants.

Fair & Lovely is Hindustan Unilever's star product in the fairness creams segment which has evolved

into one of the most successful brands over the past three decades. Fairness is a crucial need of the

South Asian skin as the skin tone here is darker than the western countries, and HUL identified this

need and launched Fair & Lovely and offered it in an accessible form to the Indian consumers. The

brand was launched in the year 1978 and the basic premise behind launching this product was that

younger women want to have fairer skin to attract their husbands and get married to a better looking

person. At the time of launch, the critical task for Fair & Lovely was to tell consumers that it was a safe

and efficacious skin cream, unlike the bleaches that were available in the market that were the only

offerings that promised temporary fairness. HUL marketed the brand as a cream capable of providing

fairness to dark skin within 8 weeks. Having established itself as a safe and efficacious fairness cream,

Fair & Lovely then positioned itself as the cream that fulfilled ones dreams and desires, articulated as

the cream that helped you get the man of your dreams. The Print and TV advertising of Fair & Lovely

depicted a woman who wanted to look fairer and was desirous of marrying a man of her dreams.

Since 1978, when Fair & Lovely was first introduced in India, it has come a long way and evolved along

with its consumers. The Indian women have transformed and the brand has evolved to cater to this

need. Currently it has extended its focus on other aspects because underplaying may hurt the brand.

This extension adds that extra something to the brand which helped gain confidence and turn dreams

into reality. When the dreams and aspirations of the Indian consumers were about getting the right

partner in your life, the brand reflected this need. Subsequently, the consumer evolved and even

though getting the right man was still important, achieving something substantial for self, to have a

change in status in life and to be more empowered became more important for them. It is with this

understanding of the consumer that the central philosophy of Fair & Lovely has changed to women

empowerment and enabling them to make their dreams as their destiny and enable them to live life

on their own terms. During Phase 2 of Fair & Lovely's evolution, the brand communicated to a young

girl who is college going and is self-confident and modern in her outlook and believes that home

remedies for facial care are old fashioned. Fair & Lovely launched the Fair & Lovely Foundation

which works towards helping girls in India better education by offering them scholarships. The

foundation works on a premise that education is the pillar needed in order to be empowered. The

commercials depicted a young college going girl who has the desire to achieve and to be successful

and get empowered. A few commercials also depicted a series of women who are benefited by this

product and turning fairer in just 8 weeks. As seen in the images the women with dark skin are seen

as ones with low level of confidence. As the images progress the skin tone becoming fairer and the

woman is seen to exude confidence.

In Phase 3, the brand positioning further metamorphosed into a brand which offered emotional

benefits for young women who do not look at marriage as the ultimate source of personal

achievement. Thus, Fair & Lovely positioned itself as a brand which communicated that Fairness leads

to Beauty leading to a Good husband and to Self-confidence leading to Good career. The latest tagline

of Fair & Lovely was rewrite your destiny, today. The commercials depict a modern woman who is

not confined to any limits of staying at home and is an office going woman who has a greater role in

the society. This has a strong coherence with the mindset of the modern woman who harbors dreams

and strives to fulfill them.

Since its launch, Fair & Lovely has been a synonym for skin lightening and fairness in the Indian

market as well as abroad. In the present competitive market, brand obsolescence is a common

phenomenon and the product goes through a product life cycle phases. Fair& Lovely even after 35

years of launch has been successful in maintaining around 53% market share in this category and is

doing well in India as well as internationally. The credit is attributable to the marketing strategies of

the company and specially to the repositioning of the product as the market and the target customers

evolved over time.

Kelloggs

Introduction

Kelloggs is the worlds leading producer of cereal and convenience foods based in USA. It is one of the most popular breakfast cereal brands being sold in 180 countries with sales turnover of over $15 billion. The company first entered the Indian market in 1994 with an aim to transform the Indian breakfast cereal market by changing the food habits of Indian consumers. It tried to use similar marketing mix it had been using in the rest of the world. However they were unsuccessful in changing the habits. The breakfast of Indians varied from the Parathas in the North to Idli in the south and Poha in the west. The company wanted people to make an instant switch from their age old eating habits and tried to show benefits of healthy corn flakes. The company had to pass through different life cycles to adjust to the situation in the country. Finally the company made desired changes to fit its target customers want. Presently the company holds about 60% of Indias 700 crore breakfast cereal market share. We will analyse the steps taken by brand to establish itself in the market and different successful repositioning strategies introduced.

Companys overview: Kelloggs

The company was established in 1905 and has been one of the top most cereal companies around the world. The company has four major divisions including Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa and

Middle East. Though the company was always one of the top performing companies, with the advent of 1990s the company started facing competition from its rival, The General Mills. It slowly started losing its market share in its prime markets. The companys working force was blamed to be unimaginative. Therefore the company started searching for newer markets other than Europe and US.

In 1994, the company started its operations in India, three years after the trade barriers were opened in the country. The company decided to invest about $30 million in the launch of Corn Flakes.

Early challenges

As the company started its operations in the country, it kept following the similar strategies followed

around the world. But most of the Indian consumers were habituated in consuming tradition

breakfast composed of Paranthas, idli sambar, poha, milk (Varying from region to region).

While this meant that the company had very few direct competitors, it also meant that Kelloggs had

to promote not only its product, but also the very idea of eating breakfast cereal in the first place. We

as Indians are very particular about our break-fast and generally prefer it to be heavy and sumptuous.

The company was following the concept of light and healthy breakfast and tried to follow similar

strategy.

The encouraging first sales figures indicated that breakfast cereal consumption was on the rise.

However, it soon became apparent that most of the people had bought the product as one-off,

novelty purchase. Some consumers even complained that the product was too expensive, about 30%

more than its nearest competitor. However, Kelloggs remained unwilling to reduce the prices and

decided to launch other variants into the market without doing further market research. The

company launched Kelloggs Wheat Flakes, Frosties, Rice Flakes, Honey Crunch and All Bran. None of

the brands were able to replicate their international success and the company soon realised there

was some problem with their positioning and strategy in the Indian market.

Initial Mistakes

Kelloggs initial advertisements showed that breakfast done by Indian public was not healthy which

hurt the sentiment of the Indian Women, who were the major influencers and initiators. Indian

women had been serving traditional breakfast for ages to their families and these kinds of

advertisements deterred them from buying the product.

Also to note that the Indian breakfast was having various varieties at cheaper prices than Kelloggs

modern breakfast of corn flakes. It was difficult for Kelloggs to convince them to replace their

traditional breakfast with cereals. The company was also not able to understand another cultural

aspect that Indian consumers liked to have hot milk in their breakfast whereas; the corn flakes

(cereals) were preferably used with cold milk. When they consumed it, the crispiness of flakes were

completely eroded as soon as they were dipped into the hot milk, thereby losing the points of

positioning which promised the flakes to remain crispy when it is to be consumed. Owing to all these

problems that the company was suffering from, its sales declined by about 25% in April, 1995

The Turnaround

After learning several lessons, the company completely revamped its marketing strategy. Their first

target was Indian consumers price sensitivity. To overcome that, it launched small sized pack at Rs.

10 only for Indian market. The company also launched a limited edition Kelloggs Chocos Spider Man 2

web-designed cereal to connect with younger generation. The turning point was the Iron Shakti

variant launched in 2000 which offered a new dimension to health with iron fortified cornflakes. The

use of few specific words taken from Hindi, such as Corn Flakes with Iron Shakti and Calcium gave it a

local feel and thus were able to connect more with the Indian Audience.

Specifically the Iron Shakti TV advertisement highlighted the importance of having a healthy breakfast.

This ad gave a new dimension to health with Iron fortified corn flakes. The company used packaging

as an effective tool for brand communication with consumers which gave the brand an on-shelf

differentiation from its competitors. The company advertise using a whole range of media: in the

press, radio and cinema, direct mail and, most recently, on the Internet.

However, the main channel for its advertising was on television, where each of the individual brands

were given their own air time. The company also started other brand building initiatives by portraying

itself as a socially responsible company, as it started recycling and reusing materials, improving the

access to health services in local communities.

These moves have shown that the brand customized specifically for the Indian market keeping in

mind nature of Indian people. The new variants were also introduced to the Indian consumers. The

company also launched the sugar coated Froasties to serve people who were more taste oriented.

Moreover, Chocos Wheat Loops coated with chocolates were also launched to widen the product

base and serve more customers.

The company aimed to reduce its costs to be able to make its offerings affordable for the price

sensitive Indian customers by localizing the raw material and packaging. The company aimed to

increase its customer base by launching different variants in order to increase its presence in the

Indian market. One of its manufacturing units is located in Taloja near Mumbai, to reduce the overall

transportation costs. Kelloggs Special K for women was launched to make the brand more acceptable

among the female consumers. It was specifically targeted to women who want to regain their fitness

levels and chose Lara Dutta (a famous Bollywood actress) as their brand ambassador, whom female

consumers could identify with as women aspired to be fit like her.

Through these steps Kelloggs was able to regain 60% of the market share in the Indian breakfast

cereal market and thus becoming a market leader. The company plans to promote the brand as

evening snack to expand its business in India.

REPOSITIONING FAILURES:

Margo

Introduction

Margo soap was launched in 1920 by Calcutta Chemicals. In 1988 Margo was among the top five

selling brands in India, with a market share of 8.9%. The soap has neem as one of its main ingredients

which was responsible for a different positioning among the minds of people.

Margo has tried repositioning itself several times focusing on younger demographics of the country.

The company even introduced the product in and new pack and new shape to appeal to preferences

and aspirations of Indias dynamic young population. They tried different celebrity endorsements

However the brand failed to catch eyes among the people. They did not follow the approach of

Integrated Marketing Communication. Most of the time the promotion strategy was not in line with

the product and the packaging. The brand started lagging behind and lost its leadership position in

medicinal soap category to different players like Hamam, Medimix, Himalaya etc.

Reasons for failure

Margo is a brand in the herbal soaps category, which is more than 85 years old. Margo as a medicinal

soap emphasized on the natural qualities of neem. However the brand was not able to change with its

customers. It failed to understand the changing customer preferences. The herbal base of the product

was the major deterrent. Over the years the young generation was flooded with many new beauty

soaps. Herbal was being equated with tradition and considered outdated.

Therefore Margo changed its positioning to complete skin care soap in 1998. After sometime, the

market became fragmented with different players having different positioning and Margo was side-

lined as a medicinal soap. Though the companys intentional positioning was never this. It was not

able to change its positioning with changing market dynamics.

The product also had some inherent negatives. The fragrance was not attractive nor the shape. It also

produced less lather compared to its immediate competitor Hamam.

When Henkel acquired Margo from Shaw Wallace in 2003, it tried to re-launch the soap with new

fragrance and shape. However, this was also not able to excite the market. It failed to attract the

young users, Henkels prime target for this positioning. The demand for soap became irregular, only

when there was a need of a medicinal soap.

The youth were more interested in using beauty soaps, which provided good fragrance, with much

lather and in easy to handle shape rather than medicinal ones. Margo was replaced by its

competitive brands as it lacked fragrance, shape, and lather content, and medicinal herbs.

Margos competitor Hamam also changed its shape and size. Hamam also worked on its moisturising

ability and therefore able to change its positioning from an Herbal soap to a family soap. Margo, on

the other hand failed in their positioning as trendy because they did not change the FAB of the soap

accordingly.

Later in 2005, Margo tried to bring trendy image by coming up with ads of young girls using the soap.

Genelia DSouza was hired as brand representative to popularize their brand image among youth.

However even when Genelia started advertising the product, Henkel failed to change the FAB, shape,

color and packaging. They failed to position the soap effectively as a trendy soap as the soap still

looked the same as the earlier version.

The company was not much focused on the promotion. The advertisements failed to take up the

challenge of turning the traditional into trendy. Enough efforts were also not put into consumer and

trade promotions. As a result the brand started losing its relevance among youngsters.

Revival and repositioning again

The company again tried to revive the brand by repositioning it again as herbal product in 2007.

Henkel again gave the brand a facelift, a milder herbal fragrance and more lather. Thus Margo was no

longer a medicinal soap. This helped in low revival of Margo in the market.

The new positioning was "Margo skin clear skin" (from the earlier positioning as complete skin care

soap). The brand had a following in AP, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. . The promotional campaign

depicted a young woman communicating that the secret of her good looks is using Margo regularly.

The tagline changed from Complete Skincare to Margo skin, clear skin. It still failed to regain the

image.

In 2008, Margo used Bollywood actress, Rani Mukherjee to endorse the product. However even that

was not able to lift Margos sales.

With Lifebuoy introducing its herbal variant and other established brands taking the advantage of

neem content away from Margo, the brand may need an out-of-the-box marketing strategy to

regain the market share.

TATA Nano

Many said that its not possible, others laughed and some challenged the idea of making a car for

INR100000. TATA Motors succeeded in delivering what it promised as the world watched. Nano is a

product which is an outcome of the vision of Mr. Ratan Tata, who wanted to launch a car for

everyone. Tata Nano was an engineering marvel and a revolutionary concept. The world watched the

4 wheel marvel which had an intelligent mixture of space, cost and fuel efficiency at an auto expo. But

Nano had its own issues like low quality paint job, undersized engine, no air bags, small fuel tank, etc.

Mr. Ratan Tata wanted to provide a car to a family that has only a 2- wheeler; a car which would

ensure a safer and more comfortable travel for entire family, come rain or shine. In tune with this, the

pricing was kept around Rs. 1 lakh at the time of introduction. This pricing was publicized and it

earned Nano the alias one lakh car. When the Nano was in the production phase it received a lot of

advance bookings and turned out to be a success initially but later it failed to take off in spite of the

hype that the car created and the goodwill of the brand name TATA.

The core target buyer for Nano is the middle class working people. Though the Tata Nano was not

positioned as the cheapest car, it got positioned so, thanks to the deluge of media coverage and

reviews that talked more about its pricing only. This created a perception in the minds of consumers

that Nano was a cheap car and which is a negative perception about the car. Instead of using the right

and effective marketing channels, the Nano was promoted using the non-conventional media like the

press and social media dominantly in its initial phases. Nanos initial positioning statement was

Kushiyonki Chaabi which conveys bring home happiness. The very first communication for a new

product goes a long way into creating a long lasting perception about the product. In this context, the

first visual communication for Nanos launch, in the form of a television commercial had given an

impression as though the Nano was meant for the lower middle class as shown in the figure 1. Though

subsequently there were different TV commercials with different messages, the launch

communication had impacted the mind-set of the customers, distancing the middle class buyer. In

one of these communications the product was positioned for the young couples in a city rather than a

countryside place as shown in figure 2 and figure 3. Another commercial depicted it as positioned at

the college going youth as a first car as shown in figure 4. Thus, the positioning of the Nano moved

continuously and wasnt stable.

Currently, Nano is undergoing an image make-over with the repositioning initiatives. A new campaign

called Celebrate Awesomeness is directed towards the modern, fun loving and contemporary youth

celebrating life in a boisterous and colourful way, as shown in the figures below. A nice visually

enchanting communication with a good background score is used in the commercial. The Tata Nano is

repositioned now in such a way that has created a new niche for itself, trying to move away from tags

like the worlds cheapest car.

A lot of efforts have been done to revive the brand Nano. Tata Nano has repositioned itself a number

of times and is still trying to acquire a place in the minds of the customers. The major reason for this

failure can be attributed to the marketing of the Nano and its positioning strategies. Even after such

repositioning it has not proved to be successful. The question still remains if the new positioning

(repositioning) of the Nano become a success or just another futile attempt by the Tata Motors.

Cadbury Gems Cadbury Gems, the chocolate brand that embodies everything child-like, right from its vivid and

colourful button-shaped chocolate contents, to its packaging and communication. It is a brand that

has been around for decades, symbolising childhood, fun and excitement.

In 2012, the brand underwent a surprise repositioning - it changed tack to target adults, telling them

they are never too old to love and eat Gems (the 'Raho umarless' campaign). Eyebrow-raising,

considering how much Gems is entrenched in consumer minds as a kids product. Marketing Experts

say that this could be a result of stagnating sales or possibly, an attempt similar to Cadbury Dairy

Milk, when it started targeting adults in 1990s. What is perhaps different is that Dairy Milk did it

when the whole market was about kids' confectioneries, so it was a bold step on its part. The market

has changed since, and it has maturely divided into chocolates for kids and adults.

Siddhartha Mukherjee, executive director, chocolate category and media, Cadbury India, says,

"Gems has always been a favourite offering among kids. The new communication says that you

never really outgrow the fun that this brand can provide."

Marketing Experts say that "Even if the brand's sales are languishing, Gems should have revived its

communication and targeted today's restless kid. It shouldn't be about widening the target group; it

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Adjne2wj9bo/T977cMzt4LI/AAAAAAAAC2U/ouP14HeG0JE/s1600/CADBURY+GEMS.jpg

should be about using the correct insight for today's child. If a brand experiences a customer shift,

it has taken a conscious decision that its current strategy is not working for its existing audience.

The brand now has the tagline "Raho Umarless" which roughly translates to Be Ageless" .The idea is

that the brand encourages the users to enjoy life regardless of the age. Another aspect is that the

brand brings the child in you. Although the concept (which is not new), sounds reasonable but the

way the advertising agency has executed it is nothing but atrocious. The new ads under the Raho

umarless campaign dont convey the brands intended positioning.

The brand sales may have been plateauing over these years and this may have forced the firm to

think about the segments. It is true that Gems is occasionally patronized by adults. This is largely a

kids chocolate but adults do indulge in it when they buy for the kids. Some news reports suggest

that Gems has broadened the target group but the advertisement message suggest that the brand

has gone for a complete re-positioning and a change in the targeting strategy rather than

broadening.

While there is logic behind the new target group, the brand failed to provide any compelling reason

for adults to buy Gems. Raho Umarless" is a sluggish attempt to attract adults to rethink the way

they look at Gems. Ideally the brand should have attempted a non-hyperbolic, real life scenario

which would have attracted the target group. Cadbury Gems assumed that by looking at the new

advertisements and the campaign, the adults would indulge. The Raho Umarless ads unlike the

other Cadbury ads failed to connect with the target consumers. This is because the advertisements

for Cadbury chocolates showed adults behaving like adults, which earned their empathy, while,

Gems advertisements have shown adults acting like kids, which apparently did not register well with

target consumers. It might probably have made only the kids laugh. However, it failed to influence

its target consumers. It is also interesting to see that the brand is not trying to rope in youngsters

but adults. This is the same company that built a brand like Cadbury's Shots in a short period of time.

That magic is sadly missing in the advertisements.

Another reason to the failure is that the campaign could not provide any convincing reason as to

why adults should buy Gems. Elements like when to buy and why to buy, as in Cadbury Dairy Milk

chocolate campaign is missing in Gems repositioning campaign. The right method would have been

that while repositioning, Cadbury Gems should have concentrated on building important features of

the brand and should have concentrated on finer details as to when to & why to buy? These

elements are simply missing in the repositioning campaign.

Thus, the whole repositioning exercise done for Gems by Cadbury had no positive impact on its sales

and target group.

All the repositioning strategies analysed above have one thing in common: Change in product

features and marketing strategies to meet the demands of rapidly evolving markets. Some of the

strategies were successful while some tanked. It is imperative for a company to perform an in depth

market and customer analysis to determine whether a repositioning is required or not. Thus,

repositioning is a not a sure-fire solution for the decreasing sales and market share of a product.

References:

1. Strategic Brand Management: Building, Measuring, and Managing Brand Equity, By Kevin

Lane Keller, M. G. Parameswaran, Isaac Jacob

2. http://www.business-standard.com/article/management/when-the-going-gets-tough-

114010500644_1.html

3. http://marketingpractice.blogspot.in/2007/09/milkmaid-makes-everything-tempting.html

4. http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2003-07-31/news/27557027_1_calcutta-

chemicals-brand-neem

5. http://marketingpractice.blogspot.in/2006/02/margolost-in-neem-trees.html

6. http://dranil-marketingmusings.blogspot.in/2011/04/marketing-lessons-from-kellogg.html

7. http://themarkmanager.blogspot.in/2011/11/brand-story-kelloggs-in-india.html

8. http://pitchonnet.com/blog/2013/09/03/nano-positioning-focuses-youth-rejuvenate-image/

9. http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-12-30/news/45711447_1_tata-motors-

city-car-cheapest-car

10. http://chatbhandaar.brainmaalish.com/tata-nano-failure-due-to-perception/

11. http://brandkare.com/tata-nanos-positioning-will-it-deliver-3/

12. Brand Power of fair and lovely Saima Khan and Bilal Muftafa Khan 13. Fair & Lovely: Redefining Beauty Avinash G. Milky 14. http://www.exchange4media.com/35377_brand-yatra-fair-lovely-%E2%80%93-from-

getting-a-life-partner-to-getting-a-life.html 15. http://www.slideshare.net/chumkykakaty/fair-and-lovely

http://dranil-marketingmusings.blogspot.in/2011/04/marketing-lessons-from-kellogg.htmlhttp://themarkmanager.blogspot.in/2011/11/brand-story-kelloggs-in-india.htmlhttp://pitchonnet.com/blog/2013/09/03/nano-positioning-focuses-youth-rejuvenate-image/http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-12-30/news/45711447_1_tata-motors-city-car-cheapest-carhttp://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-12-30/news/45711447_1_tata-motors-city-car-cheapest-carhttp://chatbhandaar.brainmaalish.com/tata-nano-failure-due-to-perception/http://brandkare.com/tata-nanos-positioning-will-it-deliver-3/http://www.exchange4media.com/35377_brand-yatra-fair-lovely-%E2%80%93-from-getting-a-life-partner-to-getting-a-life.htmlhttp://www.exchange4media.com/35377_brand-yatra-fair-lovely-%E2%80%93-from-getting-a-life-partner-to-getting-a-life.htmlhttp://www.slideshare.net/chumkykakaty/fair-and-lovely