A new Step taken by TATA

The new Tata Aria is a crossover between an MUV and SUV. It was earlier exposed at this year’s Auto Expo in Delhi. Tata Motors prefers calling the Aria ‘a four-wheeler built for Indians by Indian engineers’. Tata Motors is loading the new car with plenty of features so that it can easily take on utility vehicles like the Innova from Toyota, and the Scorpio, Bolero and Xylo from Mahindra. The new car will thus successfully deliver the performance and comfort of a mid-range multi-purpose vehicle with the all-terrain promise and premiumness of a sports utility vehicle.

The Aria flaunts some of the best safety features such as 6 airbags and ESP; features that are offered by an Indian OEM for the first time. The chassis frame has been built with advanced hydro-formed members. There can be hardly any other as safe as the Aria in an emergency because the car has been fitted with a stiffened body cage, dual-zone collapsible steering and airbags. The Tata Aria meets EEC safety regulations, which includes full frontal crash, offset crash and the side pole tests.

To promote the car, Tata Motors has even launched a new web site, buildadreamcar.com. If you are an ardent Tata fan, you could just register yourself on the web site and join the fun ride which could build you a fortune if you’re lucky enough. You would have to build or design your own dream car on the web site using tools that the web site itself offers.

Next submit your entry. 3 winning designers from the three categories – popular, fastest and creative get a chance to go on an all-expense paid 10-day trip across India in the new Tata Aria. This contest could benefit Tata Motors; ‘promotion’ will be the immediate answer. The car maker believes that this new marketing strategy could help customers understand the Tata Aria in a better manner. Tata Motors’ current line up of SUVs and MUVs include Safari and Sumo Grande.

Tata Motors has a major task at hand—to distance itself from the tag of being the brand preferred by the cab industry. Though it might be financially quite plum for the company, after a stage one runs after brand image and value. And with Aria, its latest crossover, it’s the brand value and positioning which the company intends to change. From being the taxi driver’s first choice it wishes to become the rich man’s ride. And also they have Toyota Fortuner and Ford Endeavour to tackle competition from, already these SUV's are doing very well in India. 

Volkswagen - Fox : Inside-Out Campaign

This is so cool Brazilian ad campaign for the Volkswagen Fox, a city car produced by VW Brazil which is sold in South America and parts of Europe shows the Fox being turned inside out. This is something we would do to your shirt that was turned inside out during a wash. Somehow taking that concept and making car do the same. 

The latest campaign for the Volkswagen Fox has taken car marketing where no other company has gone before. They’ve turned their latest Volkswagen car campaign inside out—literally.  It's an interesting way of conveying the new interior details of VW's Fox model, not usually a focus for a car ad, while alluding to the bigger-than-you-think reactions that they hope consumers will have when they take a peek inside.  Not only can we see the shape and curves of the vehicle’s exterior, but also we able to see the entire interior.  The ad’s tagline, “An all-new interior. The Fox,” says it all which adds meaning for this campaign.  An automobile's interior is just as important as its exterior when the time comes to close the sale. Somehow this campaign is much better than watching BMW go against Audi in those advertisements that try one-upping the other or watch Nissan try start one against Porsche. Masterful advertising instantly grabs the attention of consumers that will have a huge impact on the Affect and Cognition of consumers. 

Fiama Di Wills : Go-To-Market Strategy

Cigarette maker ITC Ltd, which made a big-splash entry in 2007 into the highly competitive market for consumer products such as soaps and shampoos, plans to expand its range of personal care brands as it strives for a bigger market share. ITC’s current personal-care portfolio includes soaps, shampoos and fragrances. These products are marketed under the Fiama Di Wills, Superia and Vivel brands. ITC has made sizeable investments in launching personal care products, spending heavily on advertising and promotions and distribution. ITC Personal Care is aggressively selling its premium personal care range Fiama Di Wills and Essenza Di Wills at ITC's retail model Wills Lifestyle stores. Go-to-market strategy seems to be the new mantra for the FMCG major ITC. In Marketing Management, the term Go-To-Market strategy refers to the channels a company will use to connect with its customers/business and the organizational processes it develops to guide customer interactions from initial contact through fulfillment.A firm's Go-To-Market strategy is the mechanism by which they propose to deliver their unique value proposition to their target market. That value proposition is based on the choices the business has made to focus on and invest in markets and solutions that they believe will respond positively to the increased attention. To drive volumes in the competitive markets, ITC are expanding their retail models.

The main reason for consumers to buy Fiama Di Wills was the credibility of ITC and their experience in diverse FMCG categories, as they believe in high quality products after extensive market and product research. The second reason a variety of products for different needs in different packaging and attractive color and packaging shapes. Packaging also plays a key role in the marketing of Fiama Di Wills which adds a lot to attract the eyes of consumers. The bottles are transparent, which make consumers look through the color of shampoo etc. The looks will definitely attract many of users. The third reason to experience of product is the shampoo is really smooth and jelly effect is something more impressive. Fiama has high imagery that is Fiama Di Wills itself gives an international feel and gives high value in an affordable price which is priced at Rs. 99 for the big bottle. 

ITC carried its branding activity with élan, using one of the leading stars in Indian cinema, Deepika Padukone, what mattered most was the way product was positioned in a market where hair care products were divided between cosmetic and natural. Fiama Di Wills positioned itself as being the perfect blend of Nature and Science.

Fiama Di Wills ‘Shine in Style’ Hannah Montana pack has a 360 degree promotional strategy. The pack was launched with much fanfare at a media event at Asia's largest fashion extravaganza, the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week. With purchase of each pack, Hannah Montana fans will receive a special access pass that gives them an opportunity to enter a whole new world of Hannah branded goodies like DVD players, guitars, wallpapers, games and bags. The strategy also includes a few lucky winners getting an opportunity to be a star on TV with the Popstar Challenge.

Brand New - India Series 3

The Department of Posts functioning under the brand name India Post is a government operated postal system in India; it is generally referred to within India as "the post office". The Indian Postal Service, with 155,333 post offices, is the most widely distributed post office system in the world. The large numbers are a result of a long tradition of many disparate postal systems which were unified in the Indian Union post-Independence. Owing to this far-flung reach and its presence in remote areas, the Indian postal service is also involved in other services such as small savings banking and financial services. Now India post has applied for banking license too. As part of its initiative to enter into banking sector and due to the decrease in takers for postal services because of the increase in usage of e-mails by common man, India post now have altogether repositioned its Brand Image.

India Post unveiled a new logo in September 2008 to signify that it is all set to attune to the world class postal systems. The new logo has a rectangle in the shape of an envelope in deep red with the image of birds’ wings in bright yellow. Red symbolizes the traditional association with post office, along with passion, power and commitment, while yellow communicates hope, joy and happiness. It sends the message of India Post as a dynamic organization with modern and professional approach in its service to the common man, business and corporate clients. India Post adopted the approach of Business Process Re-engineering (an approach aiming at improvements of business process that exists within organizations). I involved the people who understand brands very well, like Piyush Pandey of Ogilvy & Mather's.

The original logo shown alongside is relatively plain but similar to the new logo. The existing logo of India Post was designed in 1995 with the help of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. The department says that the need for a change was felt because of the rapid transformation in the Indian economy and the need to create a newer and more energetic feel for India Post. A corporate logo was launched on World Post Day in 1993 (October 9, 1993), representing dynamism and action.

The Upcoming Trend – Visual Merchandising

As the number of retail outlets is increasing in cities as well as in shopping malls one of the challenges retailers are facing is to increase the foot print to their stores. Visual merchandising actually starts on the street outside the store. Creative and interesting window displays will catch the eye of people walking by and will draw them into the store. The display of products makes customer stop look and pick up products due to its attractiveness in a retail store. Visual merchandising utilizes displays, color, lighting, smells, sounds, digital technology and interactive elements to catch customers' attention and persuade them to make purchases. Visual merchandising helps to convey the image of the brand and reflects the personality of the target markets. Now a day’s retailers are investing heavily to make window displays and interior displays more attractive.

The present trend that is followed on displaying item is placing both familiar and unfamiliar products together. The stopping supremacy is relatively high for this combination rather than displays that are full of items which are familiar to consumers. Display settings largely influence the consumer’s perception and relation to the product and the brand displayed. Therefore it will directly influence the pricing and consequently the profitability of the product being sold in retail store. Retailers used to change the displays based on the customer’s visits to the store. Now day’s retailers use to create product displays that will show the customer how an item might fit into their everyday life. In a clothing store it might mean dressing mannequins, customers are more likely to purchase if they can imagine themselves wearing the apparel.

Rise of a new Avatar - Private Labels

With the growth of Retail Industry in India Private Labels are also getting more popularity. First we will see what private label is. Private label means products that are launched under retailers own brand name. For Eg: Earlier we were aware of brands like TATA, Annapurna Salt etc but now if we visit a Big Bazaar or Reliance outlet we can see their own brands like Food Bazaar or Reliance Namak. Long back this practice was done by only local kirana shops but now all prominent players of organized retail sector have started to come up with their own brands. Now private labeled products are available starting from grocery to textiles and from mobile phone to all kinds of consumer durables and garments.

Consumers also now trust the private labels as they can get quality product at a cheaper price. Today many of the national brands are facing a threat from private labels and as a result most of the manufacturers have begun to compromise on the price of their products.

Consumers want brands for the quality assurance and the emotional satisfaction they provide. As the retailers became more everywhere and successful providing the necessary mass of investment in banding activities retailers now able to position their private labels as brands in their own right. Their store brands are increasingly imbued with emotion and descriptions. 

Brand New - India Series 2

From a very long time back in the memory lane itself India is well known for its beautiful landscape, spices, diversified culture and for knowledge potential. Now Indian government has decided to make use of our country’s legacy and beauty to revamp the brand name India. The impulse created by the “Atithi Devo Bhav”ad (Treat Guest as a God) has created immense effect and that too with the Morning Raga background which comes from Indians heart is really amazing.

The ad has been successful in creating India as a dream destination for foreigners. In another words Indians destination branding attempt has been a grand success. The advertisement aims at building emotional link with consumers. This add clearly includes and touch a nostalgic aspects well and it creates an intention in mind of every viewers to come and experience India. The ad takes the viewers for a small tour through the famous destination of India.

Hope you all aware of the upcoming trends of “Experiential Learning” which means travelling not just for fun but time are spent to understand and learn about the vacation destination through local hands on experience.  The rapid increase in foreign revenue clearly indicates the ad campaign had been successful and it has made foreigners to choose India as their dream destination.

The future is Kids Wear

We know that India has the world’s largest child population. Children are the main focus of Indian families. Few years back Kids wear market was largely unorganized. Now all major brands are targeting to this segment due to ample opportunity and growth in this market segment.

There is a huge opportunity for retailers to attract these customers because during old days parents used to make decisions regarding purchases for their kids. But now they are not. Kids in India today are very, very different from the kids of yesteryears in their ways of thinking, processing, analyzing and responding to stimuli. Kids are aware of brand names, they know what to wear.  Parents spend a lot for their kids as presents and gifts. India, a country with high disposable income shows people have more money to spend for their kids.  There are also a lot of untapped markets for kids like footwear’s that will show a high impact in the future of retail market.

There are two important factors to be considered for making a kids brand a success - variety and price. A children's apparel collection should have variety that will appeal to kids. Moreover, kids outgrow their clothes very rapidly. Hence it is necessary that a kids' apparel range be reasonably priced. Pantaloon and Gini and Jony have entered into a joint venture to set up a chain of retail stores for children's apparel. Raymond has launched its first store for kids' apparel ‘Zapp!'. DS Corporation, which owns the Ruff Kids brand of kids' garments, is planning to expand. But still there is enough space for new players to enter the market.