Old Lady of Boribunder – The enduring 175 old brand – Times of India

 

“Who is the old lady of Boribunder?” This has been one of my favorite quiz questions. The answer which most people fail to give is – It is the “Times of India”. TOI as it is popularly called is celebrating its 175 years of existence as a brand.  

In a era where brands come and go it is very hearty to see a brand that too from the media celebrating 175 years. Times of India was launched as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce in 1838.

It was the same year in which Queen Victoria — later proclaimed Empress of India — was formally crowned, and Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, who’s "Vande Mataram" became the rallying cry for freedom from the Raj, was born.

TOI has grown from a single edition of a few thousand copies to some 50 editions with a circulation of close to five million — the largest in the world for any English newspaper. This speaks of TOI’s ability to judge and adapt to the ever-changing mood of the chaotic, contradictory and creative country, India.

Which big brand in India (and how many globally) can claim to have been around 175 years ago and grown the way the same way as The Times of India? The secret, TOI claims lies in being contemporary and relevant.  The "Old Lady of Boribunder" remains young at heart, nimble on her feet, and razor-sharp.  

One another brand that has become popular the same way as TOI has been the common man Cartoon drawn by R. K. Laxman the brother of the world famous R. K. Narayanan in the Times of India. The common man of TOI started by Laxman has become a cultural icon and in many ways represents the travails and the problems faced by the real common man of India.

 

Second Time lucky for Pepsi ? - Pepsi Atom Introduction after the Pepsi Maxx disaster

 

Pepsi did it again. On Thursday 25^th April 2013, Pepsi India introduced its second brand of Cola – Atom. Pepsi wants to cash in on the summer rush and also add weight to its product sales by piggybacking on the hype and popularity of the IPL cricket tournament. It believes it has a winner in hand – and its name Pepsi Atom.

Pepsi Atom will be available across the country in various packages including a 250 ml can at an introductory price of Rs 15 and a 500 ml PET bottle at Rs 25 and a  200 ml returnable glass bottles (RGB) which will be available in select markets at Rs 10.

Pepsi is sitting pretty in India. It outsells Coca-Cola but still Coca Cola sells better than Pepsi overall in the cola market as it has strong winners from the through bred winners that it bought over  from the competition.  These are the brands that Cola-Cola bought from Ramesh Chauhan of the Parle group – especially Thums Up. Thums Up is a out right winner. It outsells both Coke and Pepsi in India.

Pepsi must be kicking itself for not considering buying Thums up before Coca-Cola. They had all the chances. Pepsi moved into India the second time in 1989, four years before Coke. But the top guys at Pepsi must have felt that Thums up would pose a challenge to Pepsi itself. Whatever it was it proved to be a decisive mistake. Pepsi along with Thums Up would have sounded the death knell for Coca-Cola in India.

But that is all water under the bridge. Pepsi wants to counter Coca-Cola in all segments. It brought in Pepsi Maxx a zero calorie drink in August 2010 to counter Diet Coke and failed miserably. Now Peso is firing the next salvo.

Atom will be launched with a campaign and a tagline: “Piyo Josh Mein Jiyo Hosh Mein” and its endorser will be Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

Pepsi is hedging Atom against Coca-Cola’s Thums up.  It is being positioned as a stronger, fizzier cola with a sharp taste. It is going to be a all-out war. The knives are out, already. Check out the words of Deepika Warrior, VP-President (beverage marketing) “the brand positioning redefines masculinity and portrays the modern Indian in a new light”

She goes on to say "The atom  campaign would be more relevant and projects relatable definition of masculinity as opposed to much hyped mindless action”

No prizes for guessing whom she meant by “much hyped mindless action (Thums Up!)”. Watch this space in the coming days for more action.

3rd Anniversary of the blog

chat about Frooti new Advertisement

 

Ashwini Sikka

"THE MAGIC OF FROOTI"

Heard the song playing at the background of frooti ad. with very catchy tune .............but most importantly the lyrics too are sweet...... :)

These lyrics are not garbage .....tried to find out and decipher. They are a mix of Japanese, Spanish, Swedish, Hindi, Italian words.

Lyrics:

" Aamaletiya stavin crata pile pila

Aamaletiya merlucchiya pile pila

Inlorpotamanta tora tut tut tiya

Less so less in nina amichiya strala

Aamalitiya stavin crata pile pila

Aameletiya merlucchiya pile pila

Aamalitiya stavin crata pile pila

Aameletiya merlucchiya pile pila

Aamalitiya stavin crata pile pila

Aameletiya merlucchiya............"

Meaning : Beautiful and lovely mango, to us highly starving people, you will act as pile of batteries to recharge, Beautiful and lovely mango, you are partly wicked, you will act as pile of batteries to recharge, We are salivating greatly agreed, from unpleasant fighting people, we become happiest person in the world, As it is getting over, like a little girl, it is emitting eternal love, Beautiful and lovely mango, to us highly starving people, you will act as pile of batteries to recharge – for the Beautiful and lovely mango, you are partly wicked…

 
Glossary:

Aam: Hindi, Mango

Letiya: Urban Lingo, Beautiful person, lovely heart

Stavin: Short for starving

Crata: French, might/strength

Pile: Spanish, batteries

Pila: Italian, Pile

Mer: An affix meaning “part”, used in chemistry

Lucchi: Hindi, wicked

Lor: Singapore Lingo, Agree

Pota: Uraban Lingo, Salivating

Manta: Spanish, Great Size

Tora: Japanese, Quarrel

Tut-tut: Urban Lingo, Disapproval

Tiya: Urban Lingo, Happiest person in the world.

Nina: Spanish, Little girl

Ami: Italian, Love

Chiya: Japanese, Eternal

Strala: Swedish, To radiate light

Chat

Dr. M. Anil Ramesh: Point well taken Ashwini Sikka. Words are not garbage. Remember the KISS Principle. Till you told me I never realized the meaning of those words. Delving on the other side. Always enjoy the mango in its natural form. The best Banginapally or a Rasam (types of mangoes) is 1000 times better than any Maaza or a Frooti. Maaza or Frooti are a mishmash of all types of mangoes and more than a generous potion of sugar. They are 90% sugar and very little mango. That is what they are- dreams being marketed as life style.
 

Ashwani Sikka: Absolutely true! sir, Indeed Maaza/Frooti or any other artificial drinks rich in HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) bears no comparison with natural fruit juices, such drinks are the main cause for Obesity n type II diabetes. Deceptive T.V commercials use NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) and other techniques to design their ad. that plays with mind (both consciously and subconsciously) thereby inducing the respective targets to buy their stuff, good or bad who cares! that what Marketing is these days..... As well as the above advertisement is concerned, I find the ad.'s storyline quite simple{the energy drink made of real mangoes, targeting both children and grown-ups that tempts them to quench their thirst and charge their batteries up after an exhausting football practice session etc., that is what the Jingle says} irrespective of the Jingle. The storyline mingles with the Jingle when one knows the meaning :) Still don't know why the hell they used the multilingual Jingle. :)

Dr. M. Anil Ramesh: you write well. Either write on your own or write and mail me. I will publish it from my blog but would give you credit, just like any newspaper.

The point is only Shah Rukh is drinking and not any of the kids. It would have been better if the kids were shown drinking or if Shah Rukh allowed the kids to drink it from his bottle. Sampling you know!

Ashwini Sikka: Shah Rukh khan shown drinking not the kids is just because to give way to temptation... Sir that is where NLP play its part. The message decoded using NLP arises an unsatisfied desire (here to drink Frooti) in the subconscious mind which induces the subject(s) to buy "Frooti", that is the secret behind the "The Magic of Frooti"

Dr. M. Anil Ramesh: Accepted Ashwini Sikka. Know the concept of NLP but check out any great campaign. They all show the users sampling and enjoying the products. The idea is to make them try it out. In the advertisement itself.

Sikka you should do MA Psychology. Great insightful thoughts. On second thoughts a PhD in consumer Psychology would be even better. Try out Kellogg’s or Princeton. All the best.

Ashwini Sikka: Thanks you! Mentor.

New advertisement from Frooti, Parle’s Agro featuring Shah Rukh Khan

The latest Frooti campaign christened " the magic of Frooti" is different from the earlier campaigns. Frooti is the home grown challenger for the Coca-Cola’s Maaza in the mango juice category. Incidentally both Maaza and Frooti belonged to Parle’s Ramesh Chauhan.

 

Chauhan made the biggest marketing mistake in the corporate Indian history when he sold Limca, Thums up and Maaza brands to Coca-Cola. That too at a very low price. Well that how life pans out.

Even when Maaza and Frooti were with the Parle group the positioning was very clear. Frooti was seen as a children drink with its funky tetra pack. Maaza was more an adult drink for drinkers in the 20 plus category.

Frooti has come a long way. It did the very innovative Digen Verma campaign. It experimented with the ultra-small tetra pack of 65 ml costing Rs 2.50/-.  But lately Frooti realized that it needs to move away from its predominantly tetra pack, child targeted positioning.

So in comes the funky new bottle of Frooti. To get the eyes balls and for increased visibility Frooti brought in the darling of the masses – Shah Rukh Khan. So far so good. But the latest advertisement campaign "the magic of Frooti" of Frooti leaves the viewers bemused and confused.

 

 

The advertisement opens with Shah Rukh Khan hungrily gulping down a Frooti. He is watched by many footballers including some very young children. The young children are salivating but Shah Rukh Khan keeps on gulping down the Frooti. He drains the bottle and the crowds of footballers come out of their stupor. They break out into huge grins (what for?). The final shot of the advertisement is that of the football toppling a full Frooti bottle.

This is a classic case of a creative running wild. There is no story line. No emotional connect or a nice jingle to remember and hum. Shah Rukh is totally wasted and Frooti is alienating its core customers – the young children. If the ideas was to attract new customers (making Maaza drinkers to shift to Frooti) the ideas is still born. Maaza drinkers are not given solid enough reasons to shift from Maaza to Frooti. Frooti Definitely need to rethink its creative strategy.