MxMIndia

Category: MARKETING

  • MTV’s Roadies goes Hero-ic with rebranding

    With the rebranding of Hero Motor Corp, dropping Honda from its name, the show MTV Hero Honda Roadies has also taken the new name for its ninth avatar this season. The cult reality show is now knowb as MTV Hero Roadies.

    In July the Indian two-wheeler giant, known for many years as Hero Honda, was formally renamed Hero Motor Corp Ltd with their new logo being unveiled in August. The Hero Group has been the official sponsor of Roadies for all eight seasons and will continue to do so in the ninth season this year as well, said a release from the company.

    Season 9 of MTV Hero Roadies with its new theme of Everything or Nothing will hunt for the toughest, strongest Roadie in the unexplored territories of the US. More about MTV Hero Roadies is at mtv.in.com/roadies/

     

  • Bids get hotter at online auction site Dealite.in

    By A Correspondent
    Dealite.in announced the launch of their disruptive auction site where buyers compete with limited bidders in quick-format auctions to win products at up to 5 percent of the MRP. The founding team includes ex-eBay, ex-PayPal, IIM-A alumni and e-commerce industry veterans with a mission to break the price barrier for acquiring leading aspirational brands.

    Unlike traditional penny auctions, Dealite differentiates by being exclusive to a limited number of bidders who buy a seat to participate in an auction. In return, Dealite offers them an equal amount of free bids which can be used in the auction. As the starting price is always zero and each bid increments by only Re 1, auction participants can win premium products at 5 percent of MRP. Dealite provides all participants an option to Buy it Now, where the entire seat cost and bids are added to the final discount.
    In India, according to sources at a leading payment gateway, there are over 130 deal sites as of August, 2011, that are competing for 100+ million internet users. Dealite’s founder, Mr Vijayanand Shekokar claims, Dealite is going to turn the conventional e-commerce model on its head, and create an exponentially dealiteful experience for its users. We aim to make aspirational branded products available to all Indians at affordable prices.

    As Head of Online Marketing Mr Sameer Khandelwal summed up, Dealite is the missing link in the Indian e-commerce evolution that will enable consumers to experience a new freedom in shopping & gaming. With delivery across India and alliances with leading payment gateway and logistics firms,

     

  • Pizza Hut Delivery (PHD), not just an adjunct of the main pizza brand but one which is positioned as a sub-brand of Pizza Hut, has been slowly but steadily increasing its footprint across India.

    The PHD of growth

    Pizza Hut Delivery (PHD), not just an adjunct of the main pizza brand but one which is positioned as a sub-brand of Pizza Hut, has been slowly but steadily increasing its footprint across India. PHD is actually a global concept which was launched in India in 2007 though it has kept away from limelight until now, as the company had decided at first to focus on providing consumers with a world-class dining experience in-store. The focus on dine-in was also because the delivery market had not really evolved at that point. But now there has been a change with people being more amenable to the home delivery option, hence the need to step up the PHD offering.

     

    The Indian food and beverage industry has been showing a healthy growth in the last few years and if one were to look at the organized pizza market, it would now stand at approximately Rs 450 crore and is growing at almost 25 percent year on year; the average bill size has also increased in the last few years and one can easily put a conservative figure of a 15 percent rise in that amount. With the trend showing a rise in home delivery, it is natural that Pizza Hut would tweak its offering to reach those potential consumers. In fact, its competition Domino’s has built its whole communication around the fact that it delivers in 30 minutes or the customer gets the pizza free.

     

    Ashok Bajpai, General Manager, PHD, explains the strategy behind bringing PHD into prominence. He said, Over the years, the delivery segment has gained importance in India and PHD has the ability to provide great tasting pizzas, pastas, garlic bread, desserts and drinks right to your door. We are committed to bringing restaurant-quality food to the homes of our customers. Also consumers today are increasingly looking towards delivery as an option to enjoy restaurant-quality food in the comfort of their home.

     

    Mr Bajpai added that the time has come for PHD to expand faster. Pizza Hut Delivery ensures that it fulfils its promise of delivering great tasting food, hot, to its consumer’s doorstep every single time, he added.

     

    PHD’s premise of hot pizzas delivered to the doorstep takes the form of the hot dot, which is a heat-sensitive sticker on the pizza box. If the dot is hot, so is the pizza inside. This replicates the restaurant offering of a hot pizza on the spot, and combats the concept that home-delivered pizza is not hot enough, which is sometimes a deterrent.

     

    Currently, PHD stores stand at 37 and the focus is to bring the number to 300, countrywide, by the end of 2015. Mr Bajpai is of the opinion that delivery is still nascent and more of a metro phenomenon. He said, India is growing at an unprecedented pace and in the future, a lot of action will be seen in tier 2 cities and other smaller towns. PHD is now one of Yum’s fastest growing brands.

     

    Aren’t Pizza Hut and PHD in conflict with one another? At Yum!, rather than conflict, PHD is seen as growth driver. While Pizza Hut is gaining prominence in Affordable Casual Dining (ACDR) space, PHD is developing the growing delivery business in the country, concluded Mr Bajpai.

     

    The challenge for Pizza Hut will also be from many QSR that has emerged in a short span and specializes in Indian food like Goli Vada Pav and Kaati Zone. There are also many local pizza brands like Pizza Corner, Slice of Italy or the homegrown US Pizza, and all of these either are QSR or focus on home delivery. Hence, if Pizza Hut is stepping up its focus on PHD to grow, it is in sync with the demands of today and with future growth strategy.

  • Hindustan Unilever's shift to personal products after soaps and detergents

    Lever wants more lather from personal care products

    By Kala Vijayraghavan & Sagar Malviya

     

    In the 1920s and 1930s as radio caught the imagination of Americans, Procter & Gamble (P&G) moved in to sponsor programmes, giving birth to the term ‘soap opera.’ Over the decades, P&G even began producing soap operas. Suddenly something changed a year ago. The maker of Tide detergent and Ivory soap discovered Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and its countless cousins. By the end of 2010, P&G announced that it had bid goodbye to its association with soap operas and instead embraced social media.

     

    Back home, P&G’s global rival Unilever too is moving along similar lines. It’s not as if the Indian affiliate, Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), is washing its hands off soaps. Rather, soaps and detergents are no longer the biggest winners for HUL. The new hero: the personal care portfolio – from Pond’s cream to Dove shampoo – which now accounts for three fifths of profits as against two fifths eight years ago.

     

    At 47%, soaps and detergents still contribute the most to the top line but only a third of profits. Personal products (PP) account for 28% of sales and that will keep increasing in the years ahead on the back of new product launches, new category creations and brand extensions. Consumer analysts at Standard Chartered Research expect “continuous launches in the fast growing personal care segment such as Vaseline for men, Pond’s Gold radiance, Dove hair care range to increase PP’s contribution to 32 per cent in 2013.”

     

    That shift will be even more pronounced in the years to come. For two reasons: Unilever’s CEO Paul Polman wants three fourths of the global operations’ sales to come from developing markets. And most of that growth is going to come from health and personal products as awareness levels and exposure to new lifestyles increase in countries like India and China.

     

    What’s more, soaps and detergents are well penetrated categories where growth rates have to taper off sooner than later. Cut-throat competition on price with P&G and a rush of domestic brands will also play its part in slowing growth in this segment. On the other hand, penetration levels in personal care and packaged foods are still in low double digits.

     

    “Our strategy is consumer-led,” explains HUL CEO Nitin Paranjpe in an emailed response. Growing affluence levels, a younger population and changing aspirations and attitudes towards consumption are driving growth in personal care and packaged foods, Paranjpe points out. “Our investments in these segments reflect the changing consumption structure in India.”

     

    Hair care or shampoo is clearly HUL’s mainstay in PP. With brands like Clinic Plus, Sunsilk and Dove, the consumer products giant has a share of just under 46% of the shampoo market. The other pillars of growth are skin care where, in the premium fairness category in urban areas, HUL has almost 38% of the market in the bag.

     

    Meantime, HUL has also been entering other categories. Over the past year, for instance, it extended the Dove brand into face wash and launched the Sure brand of antiperspirant deodorants for men. Fair & Lovely(FAL) has also been extended to FAL Multi Vitamin Face Wash and to the Anti Marks Eraser Pen.

     

    Bringing in international brands like Sure is one part of the game plan. Extending some of HUL’s timeworn brands – including those of soaps and detergents – is the other prong. For instance, mass soap brand Hamam can now be seen in the hand wash segment; and the Rin detergent bar has been stretched into fabric whitening. And one of HUL’s oldest brands Vaseline has found its way into male grooming segments such as skin cream, face and body wash.

     

    In a recent internal presentation, marketers let on that HUL has a 30% share in the hair conditioner category worth 27 million euros, which is growing at 40% annually. Business in the face cleansing segment has doubled in a year through deployment of a portfolio of brands including Ponds, Pears, Lakme and Fair & Lovely. The presentation also made the point that “in the case of premium skin care products we are focusing on premium skin lightening and anti-ageing with Ponds, Vaseline in hand, body wash and men’s grooming.”

     

    If Paranjpe and the HUL top brass are keen to pump up the PP volume, it’s also because profit margins are higher there. Analysts reckon that operating margins in PP are 25% whilst in soaps and detergents they have declined from highs of 14% a few yeas ago to 7.5-9% now.

     

    Rivals, however, sound a note of caution. “The personal care industry was seen as a high margin business, but the recent spike in raw material prices and the disruptive competition in the market have seen margin profile of this business change completely,” says Dabur India CEO Sunil Duggal. Analysts reckon that margins in PP would have come down by 150 basis points over the past 3-4 quarters.

     

    Adds Harsh Agarwal, Director, Emami: “There is a misnomer that the personal care segment has very high margins. But it may not be so in mass-priced products where gross margins depend purely on the brand’s pricing power.”

     

    Just like in soaps and detergents, HUL too has to reckon with intensifying competition in PP. Emami with brands like Fair & Handsome, which is a market leader in skin care for males with a 60%share. In 2010-11, Dabur’s skin care portfolio reported a near 17% growth led by robust growth across the Fem, Gulabari and Uveda brands.

     

    And a clutch of international cosmetic and personal care majors from L’Oreal to Shiseido are keeping HUL on its toes in higher end segments. Still, with relatively new-found categories face wash, hair conditioners and anti-ageing creams opening up, HUL may well be looking at a fairer and lovelier in the road ahead.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2011, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

  • Retail pioneer Raghu Pillai inducted into the Indian Retail Hall of Fame

    Retail pioneer Pillai in Hall of Fame

    By A Correspondent

    Raghu Pillai (1957-2011), considered the father of modern retail in India, was declared the first inductee into the Indian Retail Hall of Fame at a function organized at the India Retail Forum 2011.

    In an emotional ceremony jam-packed with delegates at the two-day retail industry get-together at The Renaissance Hotel, Mumbai, business leaders such as Thomas Varghese, CEO, Aditya Birla Retail, Bijou Kurien, Chairman, IRF and President, Reliance Retail, Lifestyle, and Vikram Bakshi, MD, McDonald’s (North and East India), paid rich tributes to Pillai who passed away in Chennai in April this year due to a fatal cardiac arrest. He is survived by his wife, daughter and son.

    Mr Varghese of Aditya Birla Retail said: “Raghu introduced modern retail to India. A towering and inspiring personality, he was a true leader of men who led from the front. He was full of humility and humanity and had a strong sense of right and wrong. The award couldn’t have gone to a more fitting person. He is a worthy example for all young managers to emulate.”

    Mr Bakshi of McDonald’s said: “I learnt a lot from Raghu. When there was a bitter debate going on in India about organized versus unorganized retail, he injected a fresh perspective by saying that there was no clash between the two and it was all about introducing modern retail in India. He believed that modernizing retail was important because it was the last mile for anything that gets manufactured. He was an excellent professional and a true human being. People like him never die but always live in the stories that they leave behind.”

    Mr Kurien of Reliance Retail said: “Raghu loved good food and a good drink and was full of life with an overpowering personality and a loud baritone voice. He had a can-do spirit and was a natural born leader and visionary. Raghu was also very daring who never got stuck with endless analysis. Once he decided something had to be done, he made sure it was done and could be extremely pushy when it came to achieving goals.”

    “He was also a great family man, a loving father and a great husband who never failed to take the call of family members regardless of how busy he was. As a professional, he gave me a lot of insights into the world of retail. He had a unique insight into what makes a store work and just by looking at a location he could tell if an outlet there would be successful or not,” Mr Kurien added.

    Mr Pillai’s wife Janaki Pillai, who specially flew in from Chennai to accept the award on her husband’s behalf, said: “Raghu always said his life must be a story that he could tell to his grand-children. To the last, he was true to his word.  I would like to thank India Retail Forum and the retail fraternity for this honour.”

     

  • India Inc hires honchos of rival brands; Sanofi, Glaxo, Pepsi are some of the examples

    Big brands hire rival captains to forge ahead

    By Rahul Sachitanand & Gauri Kamath

     

    In late August, when Aventis Pharma, the Indian subsidiary of Europe’s largest drugmaker Sanofi, announced the acquisition of Indian firm Universal Medicare’s branded nutraceuticals business, Mr Ranga Iyer joined the celebration.

     

    Mr Iyer, a former MD of US drugmaker Wyeth in India, was the man Aventis had turned to 18 months ago to help bulk up its presence in the Indian healthcare market. He had then just stepped down from Wyeth after its global merger with world number one Pfizer. Eschewing other job offers, Mr Iyer turned advisor to CEOs of pharmaceutical companies on strategy, business development, mergers and acquisitions. Helping Aventis scout around for potential acquisitions was one of those mandates.

     

    Mr Iyer is not the only head honcho-turned-consultant advising companies that were once rivals. Across India Inc, companies are turning to former business heads of competing organisations for advice and handholding in product launches, entry strategies, acquisitions and new projects. Mr Sunil Alagh, Mr Shripad Nadkarni, Mr Narendra Ambwani and Mr Nabankar ‘Nobby’ Gupta are some of yesteryear’s hotshots who have now become backroom strategists.

     

    When GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (GSKCH) decided to extend the Horlicks brand into the fragmented 10,000-crore biscuits market two years ago, it sought help from one of the most accomplished names in the industry.

     

    It leaned on the expertise of Mr Sunil Alagh, a former managing director of Britannia Industries, who had built the Bangalore-based biscuit-maker’s brand during his 29-year stint, launching products such as Tiger and foraying into allied areas such as dairy products. GSKCH wanted Mr Alagh to help recreate some of that magic with its own fledgling brand. The strategy appears to have worked. In the near three years Mr Alagh has worked with the company, Horlicks has grown into an over Rs 100-crore brand and launched at least a dozen variants to expand its market share in this competitive market.

     

    Mr Alagh’s inputs were critical for GSKCH to gain a foothold in a market in which multinationals such as Cadbury Kraft are gaining ground and established players such as Britannia and Parle are fighting to retain their shares. After his bitter parting with Britannia in 2003, this may be a sweet comeback for Mr Alagh, but for executives at GSKCH, it’s also a short-cut to the success of its biscuits business. GSKCH declined to comment.

     

    Mr Shripad Nadkarni is a former marketing whiz of Coca Cola, who was responsible for the thanda matlab Coca Cola ad slogan. He’s also credited with growing Thums Up’s lead in the cola segment and was given responsibility of leading the advertising for the beverage-maker’s core brands across rural China, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, besides India.

     

    Now, Mr Nadkarni is using his marketing skills at his boutique consulting firm, Market Gate, that has Coke’s archrival PepsiCo and other beverages firms like Tata Global Beverages listed as clients. He calls his services “consumer informed business strategy” and says his expertise is centred on business turnarounds and expanding footprints.

     

    Those looking for expert insights on consumer medical products are likely to reach out to Mr Narendra Ambwani, a former India MD at Johnson & Johnson (J&J), the maker of Band Aid and Johnson’s Baby Powder. “I have frequently been contacted by other companies in this field since I retired,” says Mr Ambwani. “They want my expertise in branding and marketing their products and also want to leverage my expertise in operations across South and South-East Asia.” Mr Ambwani has used his consumer goods marketing and distribution skills with the likes of Modi Naturals and Godrej Consumer Products.

     

    Mr Nobby Gupta is best known for his skills acquired as the marketing head for consumer durables marketers such as Philips and Videocon. Now, he is leveraging those skills to consult other companies in the white goods space. He is currently advising, among others, one of the world’s largest electronic retailers on their India entry. “Confidentiality is paramount,” says Mr Gupta, whose last corporate role was as president of apparel-maker Raymond’s. “For me, the biggest growth potential exists among mid-market companies, which are open to ideas and have strong growth ambitions.”

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2011, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

  • Reckitt Benckiser launches Dettol Liquid Handwash in new packaging avatar

    New packs benefit Dettol Handwash

    By A Correspondent 

    Dettol, one of the most trusted brands from the portfolio of Reckitt Benckiser, has launched Dettol Liquid Handwash in a new packaging avatar bundled with new benefits.  The Dettol Liquid Handwash range that gives effective protection against a wide range of unseen germs daily is now available in a contemporary, easy-to-hold shape, and new fragrances and packaging.

    Dettol Liquid Handwash has four variants including Dettol Skincare, Dettol Fresh, Dettol Sensitive and Dettol Original, which comes with new formulations and better lather. All the four variants are available in pump packs of 250ml and / or 135ml. The new handwash bottles come with a wider pump for easier use and a wider mouth for easier refill. The refill packs are also available in 185ml and 900ml.

    Mr Chander Mohan Sethi, Chairman and Managing Director Reckitt Benckiser India Ltd, said, “We at Reckitt Benckiser constantly aim at providing new and better solutions to our customers. Our new Dettol Liquid Handwash bottles with wider pumps are in line with Dettol’s primary focus of providing germ protection. Dettol, our flagship brand, is considered the gold standard for protection against germs and infections.”

     

  • Marico founder Harsh Mariwala’s son Rishabh Mariwala opts out of family business to start Soap Opera N More

    Marico son Rishabh takes the soapy way

    By Kala Vijayraghavan

     

    His start-up is dubbed Soap Opera N More – an apt name not just for the nature of the business but perhaps also for the succession drama that’s playing out at the Mariwala family-owned consumer company Marico. Mr Rishabh Mariwala, the 29-year-old son of Marico founder Mr Harsh Mariwala, has moved out of the family’s flagship operations to unleash his entrepreneurial skills.

     

    Rishabh, who spent three years developing business at Marico’s beauty salon services arm, Kaya Skin Clinic, will now sell premium handmade soaps. Two years ago, Rajvi, 30, Mr Mariwala’s elder daughter had also opted out of Marico, where she was a part of the brand-building team, to focus on sociological research.

     

    So what’s playing on the founder’s mind? Does he want to give the Gen Y members a shot at garnering experience in the world before cementing their positions in Marico; or is he clear that professionals will run the organisation, with family having no role to play in operations? As things stand, Mr Mariwala is the only family member with an executive presence on Marico’s board although the family owns around 63% of the company.

     

    There are no clear answers to those questions. But even if Mr Mariwala is entertaining the thought of passing on the baton to his son, he isn’t going to present it on a platter. “This is not a ‘lala’ company,” he declares. “Family members are not automatically entitled to succession. They have to prove their mettle by building a business.” Company watchers add that Mariwala is keen that Rishabh step out of his comfort zone and go through the tribulations of starting and then running a business.

     

    Rishabh’s path is a unique one. Here is a case of a potential successor who got into the business, then got out of it, with the distinct possibility of getting back again. The alumnus of Frank G Zarb School of Business, Hofstra University, New York, will start up Soap Opera N More with family funds, report to his father and sell the handmade soaps that are the brainchild of his mother, Ms Archana Mariwala.

     

    “There are no compulsions of any kind on us as far as our career paths are concerned. And this (start-up) is a great learning experience for me,” says the lad who comes from a family that has a lineage of trading (“Mariwala” translates into pepper trader). Harsh broke out by founding his own consumer-oriented venture.

     

    His son may well be keen to emulate him. “I am an entrepreneur and want Rishabh to have a similar experience in setting up an organisation from scratch. There are no pressures on family members to be part of Marico; eventually it will be their decision.

     

    Marico has always been a professionally-run organisation” says the chairman. A nomination and governance committee in Marico has put in place a drop-dead succession plan as part of a risk-mitigation strategy. As a board member puts it on condition of anonymity: “Blood has nothing to do with the way Marico is run; there is a strong culture of professionalism and it operates independent of who is the largest shareholder.”

     

    Perhaps the Marico founder wants to be sure of the fire in his son’s belly before he hands him a larger responsibility. Elsewhere in India Inc, second-generation scions have chosen routes to the family business. Rishad, son of Wipro chairman Mr Azim Premji, worked with GE Capital and consulting firm Bain & Co before joining the IT services major in 2006. Shravin, the 23-year-old son of Bharti’s Mr Sunil Mittal, worked as analyst with Wall Street banks in London and New York before joining up at one of Bharti’s subsidiaries.

     

    Says Ms Padmaja Alaganandan executive director, PricewaterhouseCoopers: “A very high proportion of geNext in family businesses have professional qualifications and experience of working with good organisations outside their own; this gives them a broader canvas of experience and a good anchor to position and drive change within their organisations.”

     

    In contrast, Mr Adi Godrej’s children Nisaba and Tanya, like Mr Rajiv Bajaj of Bajaj Auto, joined the business at the junior rungs and worked their way up while Mr Sasha Mirchandani, son of Mr Gulu Mirchandani of Onida, is treading a totally different path: he has opted to work with start-ups by founding Mumbai Angels, India’s first angel investment group.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2011, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

     

  • Nivea celebrates a century of caring for skin

    By A Correspondent

     

    Nivea in collaboration with Times Red Cell has conceptualized Nivea My Skin Lounge, a unique on-ground experiential programme celebrating Nivea’s 100 years of Skincare for Life in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. Nivea My Skin Lounge is a dedicated space where women can enjoy, celebrate their skin and experience the expert care of Nivea for three days.

    Nivea My Skin Lounge will provide comprehensive skin analysis, identify skin personality, and customers can also participate in the Nivea My Skin Moments contest and join Rihanna  The Voice of Nivea’s 100 years campaign in her concert in Germany. The celebration will be hosted at prominent malls in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.

    This initiative will be unveiled in Delhi between September 16 and 18 at Ambience Mall, Gurgaon. The Nivea My Skin Lounge will then be displayed at Inorbit Mall at Mumbai from September 30 to October 2, and will culminate in Bangalore from October 14 to 16 at Garuda Mall.

    Nivea is also holding its My Skin Moments Contest for women who visit the Nivea My Skin Lounge. Guests can share their special skin moment along with a photograph in the Nivea My Skin Moments Contest. The three best stories win two tickets each to watch Rihanna, the voice of Nivea’s 100th year celebrations perform live in Hamburg, Germany. (Terms and conditions apply.)

    More details are available at www.facebook.com/nivea100years.

     

     

  • Hindustan Unilever appoints ombudsmen to resolve disputes and effecting out-of-court settlements

    Fair and Lovely: HUL ropes in ombudsmen

    By Sagar Malviya & Maulik Vyas

     

    Hindustan Unilever has roped in four retired high court judges as independent ombudsmen in different regions to resolve cases filed against the company by its suppliers, distributors, stockists and retailers.

     

    An ombudsman looks into complaints against an organisation and its officials and helps resolve them by mediating fair settlements out of court.

     

    “The idea is to have an alternate dispute resolution mechanism with the whole philosophy of customer centricity and the main reason is resolution of matters,” Hindustan Unilever Executive Director – Legal Dev Bajpai said. The country’s largest consumer products firm is faced with more than 100 complaints from business partners across the country, which can be referred to the ombudsman.

     

    Legal experts applauded the initiative, saying it’s unheard of in the country and would benefit the company in the long run.

     

    “The advantage for HUL is that it can figure out in advance whether its case is good and avoid an expensive and protracted legal process,” said Advaya Legal Partner Ramesh K Vaidyanathan. “The choice of an ombudsman of impeccable integrity and reputation for impartiality is critical for any counterpart to agree to this proposal,” he added.

     

    The maker of Dove soap and Rin detergent may have achieved it by appointing retired judges of different high courts-V Panshiker in Mumbai, SK Mahajan in Delhi, K Govindrajan in Chennai and Alok Chakraborty in Kolkata-to look into all disputes in the West, North, South and East, respectively.

     

    They will take up only those commercial disputes that have no legal breaches, company officials said. Typical cases would include distributors who have parted ways with the company and suppliers who made goods that fell short of quality standards.

     

    There is a rider, however. The decision arrived at dispute resolution meetings will be binding on the company, but not on its business partners who will have the option to continue with litigation. In 2008, Hindustan Unilever had roped in an ombudsman to deal with consumer complaints that could spill over into the courts, in a first of its kind initiative by an Indian company. It was restricted to end consumers of HUL products.

     

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright  2011, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

     

  • United Breweries launches Heineken beer

    After much speculation on its launch, United Breweries has finally launched locally brewed and bottled Heineken beer from their brewery in Taloja, near Mumbai. The locally brewed Heineken is positioned as a super-premium lager beer that will target the discerning beer drinker in India. Kingfisher from UB’s stable is the most popular among beer brands in India and the company leads the Indian beer market in terms of volume sales followed by SabMiller India Ltd.

    Commenting on the launch, Mr Kalyan Ganguly, President & Managing Director, United Breweries Limited said, Heineken, the world’s favourite super premium beer brand will appeal to affluent, sophisticated and discerning consumers in India. We will leverage our deep understanding of the Indian beer market, and complement that with robust marketing programmes and the strength of our nationwide distribution network, to bring to Indian consumers this truly iconic global beer brand. This is a significant and exciting consumer experience that United Breweries has brought to India.

    Heineken is looking at gaining a market share of 5 percent in its category; considering that the market for beer has been growing by 15-20 percent in India, the figure set by Heineken seems achievable.

    Mr Samar Singh Sheikhawat, Senior Vice-President (Marketing), United Breweries Limited, added, The taste and quality of Heineken brewed and bottled out of India is true to the original time-honoured recipe handed down the generations. The brand has been well received in Mumbai and Pune and we now invite the rest of India to Open Your World to Heineken!

    Heineken has been launched in world-class packaging, with imported green embossed bottles and clear plastic labels, a first for any beer brand in India. The bottles feature a unique curved embossment on the neck and back, with a distinctive embossed logo mark which acts as a stamp of quality and authenticity. The visual identity includes the iconic brand elements like the racetrack label, the Heineken typeface with the smiling es and the red star. Available in pack sizes of 650 ml and 330 ml sizes, Heineken is priced at Rs 150 and Rs 80 respectively, in Delhi.

    Across the world, Heineken connects with consumers through marketing activation campaigns based on its global sport, music and film platforms. These include the UEFA Champions League Football and the Rugby World Cup. Heineken also partners some of the world’s most premium and high profile music festivals, such as Coachella and Ultra in the USA, Rock in Rio in Brazil, Oxegen in Ireland and the Open’er Festival in Poland. The brand has also been James Bond’s preferred beer for some time now.

    In India, Heineken will initially focus on activating the brand at premium pubs, bars, lounges, restaurants and retail outlets to drive awareness and trial, and will leverage the brand’s global proposition, Open Your World across all marketing executions. Digital Activation and Social Media in particular, will be used extensively to ignite conversations and connect with its consumers. Wieden + Kennedy (W+K), the agency handling creative duties for Heineken globally also handles the mandate in India and Mindshare does the media duties.

     

     

  • Coming clean with the tooth, Listerine’s challenge

    Mouthwash is a global hot seller, but not so in India where the traditional toothpaste is the preferred mode of oral hygiene. On the occasion of World Oral Health Month in September, Listerine launched its 21-Day Challenge, encouraging consumers to include mouthwash in their daily preventive oral care routine.

    Indians do have an issue with dental and oral hygiene in the last one year itself 25 percent of Indians have complained of bad breath and 13 percent have suffered from cavities, show findings from a recent survey by Listerine. However, oral health experts estimate the actual numbers to be higher because a lot of people do not realize that they are suffering from oral health problems. According to the survey findings, 50 percent of Indians feel their oral care routine is incomplete with just brushing, and are looking for more advanced products like mouthwash.

    In light of this changing consumer trend in oral care products Listerine has launched its challenge to encourage consumers to experience the benefits of the product for themselves, or get their money back. After using Listerine for 21 days, says the company, 90 percent of people felt their mouth was healthier and 86 percent said they cannot get the same feeling from brushing alone. Apart from the fresh feeling that lasts through the day consumers also used mouthwash to kill germs and prevent yellow teeth.

    The company’s statement said that according to Dr Gopalakrishnan, a periodontology professor and Secretary General of the International Clinical Dental Research Organization,In India people are waking up to the importance of preventive oral care to protect the mouth and teeth from germs. While brushing was considered enough till a few years back, we are now seeing a growing need for products like mouthwash. For a complete oral care routine and to reduce the incidence of oral problems it is essential to use mouthwash along with brushing.

    Mr Ajay Rangaraj, General Marketing Manager, Oral Care, Johnson & Johnson Ltd, India, said, Through this challenge we want to encourage people to include mouthwash in their daily preventive oral care routine in order to achieve higher standards of oral health and prevent problems like tooth decay, gum problems and bad breath. We are confident that after using Listerine for just 21 days consumers will experience healthier gums and teeth.