Harvest Gold had caught the attention with its witty ads under the ‘Bakwas Advertising, First Class Bread’ campaign, which continues till this day. Conceptualised by Equus, the campaign helped Harvest Gold hold its own against and surge ahead of players like Britannia Industries and Modern Foods and sundry local brands.

The History:

The Harvest Gold story started in 1992, when Hassan, a chemical engineer from IIT Delhi, who had worked with Schlumberger in West Asia before returning to India in 1989, sold his stake in a partnership firm making telex-interfaces for PCs, decided to instead bake bread. Of the money that he got following the stake sale, Hassan invested Rs 40 lakh in setting up a Rs 1-crore unit at Rewari (Rajasthan) to supply 1,000 loaves a day to Gurgaon (Haryana).

However, the venture was not without some teething troubles. The first problem was producing a quality product. Most customers complained that the bread they had purchased would turn green within hours or had huge holes in the bread slices.

Hassan re-engineered the machines part-by-part. For instance, he said, “The rack-ovens did not provide for the rotation of the racks. Hence, the loaves often used to get burnt on one side.” With a little ingenuity, he managed to change that and also introduced other alterations that had an impact on the quality of the product.

Harvest Gold had to position its product in the premium segment, priced as it was at Rs 7 per standard loaf, compared to Rs 5.50 in the case of Modern, and Britannia’s Rs 6. However, the Gurgaon launch proved to be a success. And then Harvest Gold decided to break bread with customers in South Delhi. Despite the inroads that the company had made in that market, the problems were far from over. As sales increased, there were distribution-related glitches. For one, most of the distributors had profitable relationships with the large players and hence, demanded commissions that were four times as high as the 25 paise per standard loaf paid by Britannia and Modern. Even when such high commissions were paid, many of the distributors agreed to pick up only small quantities. So, Harvest Gold was forced to set up its own network.

To prevent damage to the bread carried in the traditional iron crates, where loaves are stacked vertically on top of each other, Hassan designed smaller, plastic crates, where each loaf was laid out horizontally. The strategy worked and competitors were forced to copy Harvest Gold’s technique. However, all this had still to be backed up by effective advertising. That’s when Siddiqui and Hassan met Suhel Seth, the then 36-year-old CEO of Equus Advertising, who was given a brief to convert a quality product into a brand. Seth did just that when he launched a snazzy campaign with the punch line, ‘Bakwaas Advertising-First Class Bread’. Seth explained, “The campaign had to appeal to the common man. Therefore, it had to be humorous and in Hinglish.”

Now, Siddiqui and Hassan have drawn up plans to appoint 10 franchisees across the country, including cities like Kolkata. By offering them technological support as well as plant and machinery, Harvest Gold hopes to extend its brand to other parts of the country.

Current Positioning:

Taab Siddiqui, Director, Harvest Gold, said, “I can’t say for sure that we have changed our style of advertising very much. The tenor has remained the same – it is funny and irreverent. However, I think, we Indians don’t have a great sense of humour, a case in point being the line: ‘Sardarni in a bikini’ in one of our limericks. It caused a section of the Sikh community some angst, which they brought to our notice in the form of protests, etc. I think we have become a bit cautious since.”

Siddiqui further said, “The copy of the ad is what makes it a hit. The ‘Bakwaas Advertising - First class bread’ campaign managed to get the bread out of the bread box and into the minds of the customer/ reader. Since this campaign was going to be a sustained effort in building the brand we (Harvest Gold and Equus) decided to talk about everything else other than the qualities of the product. We assumed that the customer was already aware that Harvest Gold bread was the best bread there was. The copy has always been irreverent, tongue-in-cheek. It mirrors what Harvest Gold as a company is thinking and doing things differently.”

“We spend about a crore in various brand building activities. We haven’t changed any taglines over the years; ‘Bakwaas Advertising’ has worked the best, so why change something that hasn’t been broken?” he asked.

Agency’s Perspective:

Sreya Seth, Group Business Director, Equus, explained, “The advertising has been a comment on the times – the social, political, sporting seismic shifts that have occurred in India. To that extent, it has evolved as the country has and the situations have. It has never had a brand ambassador. It is just a central protagonist, who has remained unchanged.”

Seth added, “The advertising we have done for Harvest Gold is the parochial element the brand had to reflect. Yet, it had to be in sync with the changing times. Hence, it is a limerick in ‘Punjlish’ – Punjabi English. The tone is typically North Indian and yet the issues are from all over the country.”

Onlooker’s Perspective:

Asheesh Sethi, President, Noshe Oceanic, observed, “I feel Harvest Gold started very ‘fresh’. It did raise many eyebrows, especially with clutter breaking advertising and great copy proposition. But I guess over the years, there has been a total ‘loss of ideas’. It has nothing fresh at all and, in fact, they have been simply dragging the same concept making it a dead-spot now. But then, on the flip side is that in a short time it did get its brand recognition that is all so important in this fiercely competitive environment. Way to go now is with fresher and still stronger ideas.”

Riding out the slowdown times, job search website Naukri.com has been celebrating the corporate hiring process with the ‘Jobs are back’ campaign, which has been on air for a while now. exchange4media takes a look at how Naukri.com has evolved over the years and maintained its leadership position.

The History:

Info Edge is one of the largest Internet companies in India. With an assortment of brands under one roof, Naukri.com is said to be India’s No. 1 job search website. They also own Quadrangle, an offline executive search firm; matrimonial portal Jeevansathi.com; real estate portal 99acres.com; and Naukri Gulf, the job portal’s foray into the Middle East market. Info Edge has also launched Shiksha.com, an education portal; Allcheckdeals.com, an online brokerage site; Brijj.com, a professional networking site; and AskNaukri.com, a career guidance website along with the first ‘naukri’.

Sanjeev Bikhchandani started Info Edge in 1990 after quitting his job in the Marketing Department at HMM (now GlaxoSmithKline). While at HMM, he noticed that the office copy of Business India was always read back to front. The ‘appointments’ section in the back was the most awaited column. He realised that jobs are an extremely high interest information category for almost everyone. By early 1990, he had concluded that there was probably a large, highly fragmented, database of jobs out there with HR managers and head hunters, which if someone were to aggregate and update, would be a very valuable resource.

Info Edge became operational from the servant quarter above the garage at Bikhchandani’s father’s house, paying a rent of Rs 800 per month. In October 1996, he visited IT Asia and realised that the Internet could be a potential medium to deploy the jobs database. Thus, Naukri.com was finally launched in March 1997 at a time when there were only 16,000 Internet users in the country.

Initial revenues were sluggish and most listings were free. However, traffic on the site was heavy and steady. The site did revenue of just over Rs 2 lakh in the first year of operations. In the second year, however, revenue quickly climbed to Rs 12 lakh. By 1999, the dotcom fever had hit India as well. Info Edge had started generating revenue of almost Rs 35 lakh. They approached three VC firms and two agreed to fund Info Edge at a valuation in excess of Rs 45 crore. In 2000, Hitesh Oberoi, COO, and Ambarish Raghuvanshi, CFO, joined Info Edge. Finally, in April 2000, ICICI invested Rs 7.3 crore in Info Edge for 15 per cent equity of the company. During the next 3-4 years, Info Edge focused on building its workforce and expanding the product portfolio. Info Edge survived the dotcom bust and gained significant mileage due to its increased network of offices across India.

The dotcom space revived in 2004. Info Edge diversified and acquired Jeevansathi.com, a matrimonial classifieds portal. Jeevansathi.com has gained significant market share since and is a leader in North and Western India. It then forayed into bricks and mortar with Jeevansathi.com Match Point and plans to open 25-30 retail outlets in the next six months.

In September 2005, the company diversified further and started 99acres.com, a real estate portal. It is an information exchange for buying, leasing and selling of all types of residential and commercial properties anywhere in the country. According to the India Online 2008 survey report by JuxtConsult, 99acres.com has a 14 per cent share of users and is the leader in the real estate category. 99acres.com lists over 300,000 residential and commercial properties of cities and towns across India.

In 2006, Naukri.com forayed into the Gulf Market with Naukri.com Gulf. The Gulf foray has been successful and the business has spread through offices in Dubai, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

Through constant innovation, Info Edge has focused on improving its offerings on the Internet as well as the mobile platform. Naukri won the Red Herring Asia 100 2006 Award for the Insta Hire Solution. Insta Hire is a closed loop application, which provides for instant contact by recruiters and instant application by jobseekers via SMS. It is a breakthrough recruitment solution and Info Edge pioneered the concept of recruitment via SMS. For the fiscal year 2007-08, Naukri.com serviced 32,500 clients and had a database of over 14 million CVs.

Naukri.com’s ‘Hari Sadu’ campaign won the ‘Silver Effies’ 2006 in Mumbai and the ‘Bronze Effie’ in the Consumer Services Category, at the 2008 Global Effie Awards. It has been recognised as one of the most effective campaigns developed and executed by agencies across the region.

In April 2006, Info Edge attracted investments of leading venture capitalists ‘Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers’ and ‘Sherpalo Ventures’. It went public in November 2006, raised Rs 1,703 million by way of an IPO. The IPO was a runaway success and was oversubscribed 55 times. Business Standard has recognised Info Edge as among the BS 1000 companies for its remarkable achievement and leadership in its domain.

Info Edge launched Shiksha.com, an education portal, in June 2008. Shiksha.com aims to be the most comprehensive one-stop resource for information on education. The company plans to invest $5- $10 million in the portal over the next three years. Shiksha.com has over 85,000 listings on institutes, courses, events, admissions, results and scholarships. It lists information on graduate, post graduate and vocational programmes from colleges in India and in countries like Singapore, the US, the UK, Australia, etc. The site allows users to interact with other Shiksha.com users, college and alumni groups.

Speaking to exchange4media, Sumeet Singh, National Head, Marketing and Communications, Info Edge, said, “There are no differences from the past advertising of Naukri.com. The basic essence of our ads has remained the same.”

He further said, “There is one quality that made the ‘Hari Sadu’ ad so endearing. We had come across a survey some years back that most people switched jobs because of their bosses. This is where we got the insight and went ahead to create our first advertising campaign – ‘Guess who has just heard from us’. It was very well received and post that, all our ads are based on the same insight.”

Current Positioning:

Singh added, “Over the years, what has basically changed is perhaps the media mix, but the essence of advertising has remained rather constant. We do both online as well offline advertising. While online advertising is completely performance based, brand building is done through our ads on TV. The insight on our TV ads has remained constant.”

Agency’s Perspective:

Sanjay Sharma, Creative Director , DraftFCB Ulka, elaborated, “We came across a survey that said that most good quality people who switched their jobs did it because they did not get along with their bosses. Almost everyone has this suppressed angst towards the boss. Capitalising on this insight, we went ahead and created the very first ‘Guess who’s just heard from us?’ commercial. The idea stimulated the suppressed angst against bosses. Communication created an instant connect by depicting typical, but exaggerated versions of work place dynamics. The ad was an instant hit. It was bold and every employees dream come true.”

Sharma added, “In a couple of years, we felt the need to push the envelope. Give something more to this boss, an identity, and this led us to the ‘H’ for Hitler campaign. It was everything we wanted it to be and much more. Soon, people were calling their boss ‘Hari Sadu’. It became a synonym for a bad boss and every employee saw his boss in the character. And now, the challenge is to push the envelope, again.”

“Our tagline has constantly been ‘Guess who has just heard from us’. However, early this year, we introduced ‘Jobs are back’, which was only for the tactical campaign based on an insight. In October- November 2008, India faced slowdown and we saw job listings going down on our site, but around July 2009, we saw jobs coming back on our site. We saw this trend for six months and then Naukri being the leader, decided to give this message out,” Sharma explained.

Onlookers’ Perspective:

Amitava Mitra, COO, PerceptH Delhi, said, “Naukri.com was launched when there was no other site for jobs. I clearly remember that brand has evolved very well. I remember the ‘Hari Sadu’ campaign, which gave a big push to the brand. Then recently, Naukri,com came up with the ‘Jobs are back campaign’, which, however, did not create much impact in the consumers’ mind.”

Reebok has been present in India for 15 years now, and in this time has successfully moved from a sports brand to a fitness and lifestyle brand. With its new philosophy of ‘Ree’, the brand is now looking to re-energise its India strategy and widen its consumer base in the country.

Brand: Reebok

Past and Present Agency: McCann Erickson

The History:

Reebok has constantly redefined the fitness industry through its 1,000-member strong instructor alliance in India. It has a global tie-up with Cirque De Soleil for Jukari - Fit to fly fitness programme. In India, Reebok has supported the same movement by tying up with choreographer Shiamak Davar to launch a fun Reebok Bollywood Workout.

As a brand, Reebok is rooted in the ideology of sport. It has maintained consistent and clear dominance in cricket through sponsorships and grassroots initiatives. Endorsed by nine players of the ICC Twenty20 World Champion’s team, eight-year long partnership with ICC and by being the official outfitter for four IPL teams, Reebok dominates cricket in India. Reebok also sponsors talented athletes in tennis, football and is also the first sports brand to be associated with Force India – India’s Formula One team.

This apart, Reebok has launched exclusive Juniors Stores in India and exclusive concept stores for Lifestyle – Reebok Classics and Reebok Women.

As a retail brand, Reebok has taken experiential marketing to a whole new high through several large format stores, such as the 15,000 sq ft Reebok store in Hyderabad, said to be the biggest Reebok store in the world.

Current Positioning:

Speaking to exchange4media, Sajid Shamim, Director of Sales & Marketing, Reebok India, said, “During the earlier phases of Reebok’s growth in India, the advertising revolved around the concept of ‘I am what I am’. We were a brand that encouraged people do their own thing, be comfortable in their own shoes and be proud of it. Our advertising used unique personality traits of our athletes to communicate the spirit of ‘I am what I am’ and inspire consumers to be strong, independent and wilful.”

He added, “However, change being the only constant in today’s world, Reebok has always strived to keep abreast of the changes our consumers are going through. Today, Reebok is about the joy of sport. It’s about enjoying the process as opposed to enjoying the end result. Our attitude of joy in sports and fitness inspires everything we do – from the products we create, to our marketing, to the athletes who endorse our brand.”

‘Reefreshed’ Thinking:

Shamim further said, “The Reebok tone now is fun, bold and provocative. This year, we have taken a fresh approach with the ‘Ree’ concept, wherein consumers are asked to ‘Reethink’ their perception of sports, and remember why they play, sweat and cheer – because it’s fun.”

Reebok has also changed its earlier tagline of ‘I am what I am’ to ‘Your Move’, which, according to Shamim highlighted a shift from an individualistic approach to an invitational approach, wherein the brand encouraged a world where people made their own decisions.

“‘Ree’ is a new, fresh way for us to communicate who we are and what we stand for as a brand. ‘Ree’ is a bright voice for the brand that remains true to the Reebok DNA and puts the brand in the centre of the conversation and the creative. ‘Reetone’, ‘Reejoy’, ‘Reezig’, ‘Reethink’, ‘Reeenergise’ and more are the various ways in which we are our communicating our new products and concepts today,” he added.

The ‘Reetone’ Ad

Commenting on the Reebok ‘Reetone’ ad for the Easy Tonen range of shoes for women, Shamim said, “The ‘Reetone’ Easy Tone ad is a joyous, fun celebration of women that shows that no matter where they are, women are getting great legs and a great butt with every step. We wanted to ensure that the TVC portrayed very self confident and stylish women and that we told this story in a fun and entertaining way from the moods, rhythm, and movement of the women to the music. And although we focussed on great legs and butts, we also made sure that the distinct personalities and playfulness of women in everyday situations did not get lost. Since a lot of women can relate to the ad, maybe that is what that makes the ad endearing.”

Agency’s Perspective:

Debashish Paul, Senior Vice-President and General Manager, McCann Erickson, said, “McCann Erickson has been handling the Reebok account for nearly six years. The brand has grown from strength to strength over the years. The width of products and audiences has expanded, especially with the strategic focus on products designed for women – sports footwear and apparels. The core brand pillars of authenticity, smartness, simplicity and fun have been reflective consistently in all brand communications. Cricket has been an important strategic building block for the brand, and endorsements from top rung cricket players have added great value to the brand and have upped its appeal for young audiences. Also, the consumer engagement activity outside of conventional advertising has been key to keep energy level of the brand way above competition.”

Onlooker’s Perspective:

Charu Bakshi, President, 4D IMC, noted that Reebok had capitalised on health consciousness at the right time. She said, “The society was becoming health conscious at the same time when Reebok was launched in India. They are more into health and fitness. Consciously, they have moved away from sports. The brand has evolved into a lifestyle and fitness brand.”

Launched in 1958 in India, CEAT Tyres has successfully held its own over all these years. Having established itself in the consumers’ minds with its tagline ‘Born Tough’, the tyre manufacturer has now gone all contemporary and adopted a new logo, which means the good old ‘rhino’ has trotted off somewhere. Interestingly, CEAT is now more popularly associated with its CEAT Cricket Ratings.

History of CEAT Tyres

CEAT International was established in 1924 at Turino in Italy and manufactured cables for telephones and railways. In 1958, CEAT entered India and created CEAT Tyres of India Ltd in collaboration with the Tata Group. In 1982, the RPG Group took over CEAT Tyres of India, and in 1990, the company was renamed CEAT Ltd. The ups and downs notwithstanding, CEAT’s journey in India has been rather successful and they are looking ahead. CEAT’s current mileage: It manufactures over 10 million tyres every year and enjoys a major market share in the truck market.

Current positioning

Commenting on the rebranding, Arnab Banerjee, Executive Director - Sales, Marketing & Outsourcing, CEAT Tyres, said, “With rebranding exercise in 2008, we have changed our logo in order to make CEAT brand look more youthful, dynamic and premium. The Blue colour reflects the solidity and trust that CEAT enjoys. The Orange colour and the stylised lettering bring warmth to the brand and helps connect better to the youth. The new CEAT logo has no tagline, whereas ‘Born Tough’ was associated with the old CEAT logo.”

“In the past, we have followed the concept of umbrella branding, which is expected to evolve into category branding with focus on star products of respective categories. Now, our efforts will be to build category brands like CEAT bike tyres, CEAT SUV radials, CEAT truck tyres, etc. through advertisements and communication specifically in those categories. We also spend significant amounts of money on CEAT Cricket Rating, which is the most salient cricket rating property in the country, enjoying very high credibility,” he added.

Banerjee further said, “While being true to the core values of the mother brand (CEAT), we are planning to branch out into category level branding, which relate to the specific category TGs. The reason to buy has a strong rational base. The tone and manner is more relevant to the 25-year olds and below, which constitute a major portion of CEAT’s TG.”

According to him, the one quality that had made the logo change ad endearing was its direct, no-nonsense communication put forth in a cheeky way. The two-way communication got noticed because of its rough edges. He added, “CEAT spends Rs 40-50 crore in a year on various ATL and BTL activities. This is slated to increase with CEAT increasing shares in the passenger tyre categories.”

Agency’s take

Ajay Menon, Client Servicing Director, O&M, said, “CEAT has taken some non-populist measures like minimising its presence on the advertising and media front (2001-07). CEAT came back in the media post a lot of changes in the recent past, most of them internal (operational, cultural, product-wise, etc.) to make it a far more youthful, aggressive and contemporary company, which was evident from the resent nationwide campaign – change. CEAT clearly wants to establish itself as an image leader in the category and is working towards owning values like smart, stylish, trendy, youthful and cocky in a right sort of way.”

While admitting that CEAT had been out of media for the major part of last decade, when stalwarts like MRF and Apollo and international giants like Bridgestone and Michelin had created a niche for themselves, Menon said, “We can only create a space for ourselves in this cluttered environment if we are able to create insight based communication, which is relevant to the consumer without being preachy. Our intention is to communicate the proposition in a quirky, tongue-in-cheek manner, which would relate well with the consumers of today.”

Onlooker’s perspective

Sangeeta N, President and ECD, RK Swamy BBDO, noted, “Of what I can recall about CEAT, they are associated with cricket with their CEAT Cricket Rating. This is possibly because of their positioning ‘Born tough’. The company, however, has changed their logo to be contemporary. As an onlooker it is, however, unclear what the new graphics mean and what the position and the tagline is, particularly because the rhino is lost. Considering the deteriorating state of Indian roads, the original position of ‘Born Tough’, perhaps was never more relevant. Perhaps this will be woven back in and made relevant for today’s consumer. Also, the communication may get targeted by segment. There doesn’t seem to have been any communication to this effect in the recent past.”

Pratap Suthan, National Creative Director, Cheil Communications, commented, “My overall layman conception of the brand CEAT is the line ‘Born tough’ and the rhino. Over the years that CEAT was visible, it has slipped into my system and retained its position as a tough, durable trye brand. And despite the fact that other Indian players like MRF, Apollo, etc., were around, CEAT had a distinct place and position. You could look at CEAT and somewhere you’d get the assurance of a serious brand, and tyres that you could depend on.”

He added, “However, somehow, over the years, they sort of vanished from public media. I mean, thinking about a tyre is the last thing on my mind (and I am not a taxi driver, fleet owner, garage tycoon) and to be completely missing from my radar is not good. Especially so, with better and more international automobile brands and models coming into our country, this is the wrong time to be missing in action. As a confession, until this moment, there’s been nothing to prod me about CEAT, and I truly was under the impression that the brand either sold out, or was assimilated into the bowels of another hungry brand.”

“One another personal perspective is that a tyre brand, when it comes into consideration, needs to give me confidence. It’s got to be a visible name. And it’s got to give me an underlying sense of security, safety, and toughness. After all, I am depending on those four rolling wheels to take me home safe and sound. Any communication that pummels me with the values, much like CEAT used to do, would only have gone into reinforcing these generic foundations of a tyre. Unfortunately, the ad for the new logo change that they ran did nothing to build or reinforce tyre values. Instead, they came through me as a fickle, young, and slightly weaker brand. I have no idea what this did to other drivers and car owners. But to me, they corroded into the rhino values of the brand and took away everything that I thought about CEAT. I certainly want a tough tyre image driving me, not a pimple-faced teenager. Bring the rhino back,” Suthan emphasised.

When it comes to pizzas, most people would go in for Domino’s, which has been dominating the market with its pizza in 30 minutes proposition. Over the years, its brand proposition has gone from the functional ‘Hungry kya’ to the emotional ‘Khushiyon ki home delivery’. exchange4media takes a look at how the brand has grown in India.

History of Dominos:

Domino’s Pizza India Ltd changed its corporate name to Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd (JFL) with effect from September 24, 2009. The company continues to be part of the Jubilant Bhartia Group and holds the master franchisee rights for the Domino’s Pizza delivery stores and operations for the whole of India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. JFL has recently been listed on the Indian bourses.

Domino’s is promoted by Shyam Bhartia and Hari Bhartia of the Jubilant Organosys Group. The first Domino’s Pizza store in India opened in January 1996 in Delhi. Since then the brand has grown into the leading QSR brand in the country with widest footprint of stores.

Today, Domino's Pizza has a countrywide network of 306 stores (as of March 31, 2010) across 70 cities in India and five stores in Sri Lanka. Domino’s India operations are the fastest growing operations in the Domino’s global system growing at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of almost 42 per cent for last five years. The chain has also achieved market leadership in the organized pizza home delivery market in India and achieved a market share 65 per cent.

Current Positioning:

Dev Amritesh,Senior VP – Marketing, Domino’s Pizza India, said, “The current phase of growth is where Domino's is building a strong emotional connect with consumers through the new positioning – Khushiyon ki home delivery. The new positioning highlights the brand role in consumers life thereby bringing alive the Domino’s effect of happiness. This positioning encapsulates three functional pillars of the brand; Great taste, Convenience and Affordability. This has brought Dominos closer to customers and has put us in a new growth orbit.”

“Earlier, when Domino’s Pizza introduced pizzas in India, it was a novel concept and only high-end customers indulged in pizzas in either five star restaurants or other high-end Italian restaurants. The task at hand then was to educate the customers and take the concept to them. The communication task was to connect with consumers and to educate them about Pizzas, in the language that they understood. The positioning therefore developed was – ‘Hungry Kya’. The idea was to tell the audience that when they were hungry, they should try new delicious Pizzas. We used various media vehicles to reach our customers such as TVC, Door Hangers, banners etc.”

Amritesh further added, “In the second phase the focus was on improving service levels, increasing frequency of consumption, investing in Brand building and differentiating the brand. This is the phase in which Domino’s launched the “30 minutes or Free” delivery proposition. This gave the brand a significant association with reliable delivery and helped us position it as the Pizza delivery expert. It caught the imagination of millions, making Domino’s a very popular brand. It struck a great union between Pizzas and the moment of hunger, thereby creating space for Pizza in the Indian palate. Domino’s became a loved brand and many people got into trying the category. This promise till today is our USP and no one else has been able to match it.” In the following years brand Domino's evolved further and added many more dimensions.

“Domino's runs very efficient and effective marketing campaigns which help us to garner a higher share of voice with relatively lesser spend. Our Marketing spends are approximately 5 per cent of our sales, which are better than the industry standards,” added Amritesh.

Amritesh further added, “One quality that made the ad so endearing was that it has been 5 years since our Hungry Kya communication but it still continues to resonate with our consumers. At the time of our foray into the Indian market, Domino’s hit bullseye by creating the stage for the organized Pizza delivery segment. The foray was perfectly timed with the changing socio economic and cultural landscape in India which saw the lifestyles of consumers change significantly, and attitudes towards eating out and home delivery of food also changed drastically.”

He explained, “With busy lifestyles and need to spend quality time with family on the rise, the market was ready for the development of the organised home delivery of food players. Domino’s Pizza grabbed this trend and launched itself as a great tasting food provider (pizza) who was capable of bringing your pizza to you in 30 mins or else free. This was a very unique proposition and it lended to a much focused communication. The script was written around a strong consumer insight of urge in every one of us to prove a smarter cookie and always try to extract something extra from all our dealings. It made for a very interesting viewing and was instrumental is establishing Dominos supremacy in home delivery. The ad also brought the brand in popular lingo. It caught the imagination of millions making Domino’s, a very popular brand. Of late with the launch of our new positioning of Khushiyon ki home delivery, we have created some memorable communication. The first in the series of ad was ‘Old man bonding with kids’ commercial. The story had a strong emotional bonding and it touched the human heart. It was a great success and heralded a new phase of Domino’s pizza.”

Agency’s take:

Bhaskar Ghosh; VP client Servicing, Contract Advertising said, “Domino’s Pizza is a very vibrant brand. It is part of consumer lives on a day to day basis as consumer engages with it very frequently. The advertising that we develop for the brand always start from a strong consumer insight. The communication is light, interesting and engaging. At the end of the day we want viewers to enjoy the ads and not just merely consume it. That is what makes for advertising which sticks in consumer mind.”

Regarding brand ambassadors Ghosh commented, “We never have had any brand ambassador for Domino’s Pizza in true sense of the word. Although we have engaged some celebrities like Paresh Rawal, Anupam Kher and Arshad Warsi over the past years but the choice was more to do with the requirement of the script for the ad.”

Onlooker’s perspective:

Swapan Seth, CEO, Equus, said, “From being shorthand for hunger appeasement, to usurping the 30 minute delivery promise through Paresh Rawal to now a product centric campaign that communicates delicious food, I think Dominos has straddled the entire span of communication in a focussed, scientific manner. I am a huge fan of this brand.”

Past and current agency: Leo Burnett is the agency for the last five years, before that it was Mudra

Over the years, McDonald’s has become the only QSR brand in India to have an umbrella of touch points where customers can have an easy access to the brand. Moreover, McDonald’s has successfully associated with Hollywood hits such as ‘Ice Age’, ‘Kung Fu Panda’, ‘Bees’, and ‘Avatar’, to name a few in the past. The marketing strategy has been to reach out to families and create an emotional and social connect.

History of McDonald’s in India

McDonald’s has over 31,000 restaurants in 119 countries serving more than 50 million customers each day. In India, McDonald’s is a joint-venture company managed by two Indians. While Amit Jatia, MD, Hardcastle Restaurants Pvt Ltd, owns and spearheads McDonald’s in the West and South India, McDonald’s restaurants in North and East India are owned and managed by Vikram Bakshi’s Connaught Plaza Restaurants Pvt Ltd.

Celebrating over 13 years of leadership in food service retailing in India, McDonald’s now has a network of over 180 restaurants across the country, with its first restaurant launched in 1996. Prior to its launch, the company had invested four years to develop its unique cold chain, which has brought about a veritable revolution in food handling, immensely benefiting the farmers at one end and enabling customers to get quality food.

Current positioning

Talking about the positioning, Arvind Singhal, Director - Marketing, McDonald’s India West & South, said, “The starting point for McDonald’s India was to position itself as ‘Indian’, represent ‘family values and culture’ and at the same time be ‘comfortable and easy’. However, having said that, the onus was to consistently build and protect the brand while being persistently committed to fundamentals of QSC&V (quality, service, and cleanliness and value). Taking a cue from the Indian family values, the year 2000 saw the first ever McDonald’s ad aired in the country – Stage Fright, which attempted to establish an emotional connect between the Indian family and the brand.”

He further said, “This positioning has been further strengthened by advertising campaigns ably supported by promotional activities. Once we had established the brand, we moved on to the next phase of establishing the products and services through advertising – the company’s one minute service guarantee ad campaign, the ‘Baap ke Zamana ka’ campaign stressing that prices have not risen even though time has passed through and the recent one, ‘Har Chotti Khushi Ka Celebration’. McDonald’s has always kept itself open to customer responses and feedbacks, and these are aptly translated and communicated through the ad campaigns.”

“Communication based on human insight is one thing that has made our ads very endearing. Over the years, McDonald’s has found success in its strategy of Branded Affordability through the ‘Happy Price Menu’ of Rs 20 and has engaged in memorable campaigns like ‘The Bahanas’, the yesteryears prices, or ‘Bees mein full dhamal!’ to establish the branded affordability communication. The ‘Har Chotti Khushi Ka Celebration’ campaign had its first ad go air in 2008. What makes the campaign endearing is showing how one enjoys small pleasures of life, be it a good parking space or having a chance to date girlfriend and ex-girlfriend together, etc.,” Singhal added.

He informed that for the year 2010, approximately Rs 50-60 crore had been marked as the advertising budget.

Agency’s take

Giving the advertising perspective, Samarjit Choudhry, Vice President, Leo Burnett India, the current agency of McDonald’s, said, “McDonald’s advertising has undergone changes as the need of the market has changed. Initially, the attempt was to make the brand endearing to the Indian audience and communicate the fact that McDonald’s is a brand that belongs to the entire family. Post that, the focus was to communicate that it is an inexpensive place and that everyone can truly afford to come to McDonald’s. This was done with the Happy Price Menu and there have been different hugely successful campaigns to establish it over the years. Happy Price Menu advertising still forms a significant part of the communication strategy.”

He further elaborated, “The brand has also done ads that have been focused on establishing the great taste of the products with the ‘Khaya toh phasa’ campaign. In addition to the Happy Price Menu over the last year, there have been two new campaigns done to introduce the Chicken McNuggets and the Extra Value Meals. We have not used any brand ambassadors for McDonald’s. The brand belongs to the consumers and whatever works best for the consumer is what is done. Our guests are our biggest advocates and ambassadors. In India, Leo Burnett has handled the brand for over five years now and the endeavour has been to constantly create work that engages and entertains the consumer, while delivering the McDonald’s message.”

Onlooker’s perspective

Sangeetha N, President - West & ECD, RK Swamy BBDO, noted, “Food habit is one of the last things that can change in any culture. Then there’s the sheer choice and abundance of local food accessible to the average Indian at prices that cannot be seen anywhere else in the world. In this milieu, for any ‘foreign’ brand to make headway is an uphill task.”

She further said, “Keeping this in mind, McDonald’s has quietly made inroads into the homes of the middle and upper middle class Indians such that the younger generation sees it as an essential part of their social identity – McDonald’s is the hangout place for birthday parties, treats, exam completion celebrations and more for tweens and young ’uns. This has been cleverly achieved through innovative Indian menus, pricing, innovative promos and communication that portrays the new middle class Indian family. So, while on the surface it looks like the whole business is on a slow burn, in reality the new generation is thriving on it. It would be great if an Indian entrepreneur does a McDonald’s with our wonderful Indian cuisine in countries across the world by getting into people’s psyche in a similar clever manner!”

An interesting proposition indeed!

History of Frooti:

Frooti, or Mango Frooti, as it is popularly called, is the largest-selling ready-to-consume mango drink in India. Launched in 1985, it is the flagship product of Parle Agro Pvt. Ltd. When it was launched, it took the country by storm as it was the only beverage sold in an innovative Tetra Pak packaging which was a new concept for Indian consumers.

Ever since its launch, Frooti has acquired a large market share and continues to be the most popular mango drink even today. The tagline “Mango Frooti - Fresh and Juicy” has huge brand recall value for consumers and has helped the brand strengthen and consolidate its position as the market leader.

Frooti has been a trendsetter all through its 25 years of existence. From being the first fruit drink in a Tetra Pak, to being the first in a PET bottle, Frooti has innovated all along the way. Frooti as a brand has always tried to evolve with its ever evolving consumers to be relevant to them at all times. This is what really makes Frooti one of the most trusted brands and the most preferred mango drink of India.

Current Positioning:

Madhur Pandey, Marketing Manager, Parle Agro said, “Frooti is India's legendary and iconic mango drink. When Frooti was launched in 1985, it came in as a really contemporary and youthful mango drink. Frooti was the first brand to introduce fruit drinks in tetra packs to Indian consumers. It was cool to have a Frooti. Even the imagery in Frooti commercials was way ahead of anything else the Indian society was exposed to.

In the nineties, our commercials revolved around the brand’s association with the king of fruits - Mango. Frooti commercials oozed fun and exuberance, while keeping the ‘Fresh & Juicy’ soul of Frooti intact.

As Frooti entered its second decade of existence, we realized we had to change the perception that Frooti was meant just for kids. There was a need for new positioning. Our ads then were more about making Frooti more relevant to the youth. The Yo Frooti campaign, Digen Verma and the Bindass campaign were steps in that direction. At this time, we also started conveying more of tactical communication in our ads, such as the launch of our innovative triangular packs at Rs 2.50 (‘5 ka 2’ ad), launch of Frooti in a PET bottle, launch of Frooti in a new orange packaging.

Lately, the mango drink segment in India has expanded with the entry of many players. Being the market leader in mango drinks, it is important that Frooti stands out while also retaining the brand association with mangoes. Keeping this in mind, we have evolved Frooti’s brand communication to a new level.

Our ads are no longer meant to just create buzz, they are created keeping in mind a long term brand vision. Even the treatment of subject in the ads has also changed. Instead of a story narrated through songs and dance, our new ads are more about situations and showcasing how consumers connect with Frooti.

Frooti’s most recent ad campaign with the ‘Why grow up’ theme, lays the foundation for a long-term strategy and vision for the brand. It not only highlights the brand make-over, it also stays true to Frooti’s core mango values.

What made Frooti ads so endearing?

Pandey added, “We have never used a celebrity / brand ambassador for Frooti, yet our ads have always had tremendous mass appeal. What makes the Frooti ads so endearing is the fact that our ads have always been about mango lovers. Each ad speaks for Frooti’s brand heritage and stands for its long lasting relationship with Indian consumers. You would not find a single Frooti consumer who would not remember ‘Mango Frooti, Fresh n Juicy’. The line, popularized by the jingle in our ads is so memorable that you hum one part and someone else will complete the other.Mango lovers have always identified Frooti with mangoes. We have never had to enforce it. Over the years, Frooti has gone on to become India’s favorite mango drink.”

“We approximately spend Rs 10 crore on advertising,” Pandey said.

Changes in tag line over the years

‘Mango Frooti, Fresh n Juicy’ has remained the base tagline since the brand launch. In between, the brand has used new taglines such as:

Accepting that Frooti would perhaps always be identified as ‘Fresh and juicy’, Frooti packs currently incorporate the decades-old tagline, with a minor change, saying, “Fresh ‘N’ Juicy Mango”. Even the ad plays the jingle towards the end. But Frooti’s brand communication is based around the theme of ‘Why grow up’.

Agency’s take:

Anu Joseph, Senior Creative Director, Creativeland Asia said, “Frooti is a 25-year-old brand. Considering that advertising itself has evolved tremendously in this period, it is but natural for Frooti’s communication to have undergone change. Frooti was one of the first brands that moved to Creativeland Asia. The first thing we did was to conduct a qualitative research using our knowledge and research teams to understand the position of the brand in the market and in the minds of the consumer.”

We realized that Frooti was faced with a unique situation. While most people loved it as kids, when they grew up they felt Frooti was for the younger lot. What followed was a complete revamping exercise. An exercise that was mindful of the fact that it was an iconic brand that we were dealing with; and that ‘Mango Frooti, Fresh n Juicy’ has been one of the most memorable jingles that this country has heard. In our pursuit of finding the acceptance of adults, we couldn’t alienate the child. In the summer of 2009, we launched the thought 'Why Grow Up' to turn the problem on its head, while keeping our loyalist kids well within our realm.

Continuing with the same idea for the packaging and to connect better with the youth, we designed 'Mango Emoticons' or 'Mangoticons' and put them on the Frooti pack. Right now, there are packs with 21 different Mangoticons in the market.

Everything that Creativeland has been doing on the brand since then has been centered on 'Why Grow Up'. From the television commercial to on-ground and online activities to the little sticker that goes on to the packs, every piece of communication has delivered to strengthen the theme.”

Onlooker’s perspective:

KV Sridhar NCD Leo Burnett said, “I remember Frootis ad and it was launched by Ulka during that time. The packaging caught the attention of consumers. Frooti became successful because of its fantastic concept because India is crazy for Mango. Fanta and Gold Spot weren’t that famous as they were bottles and too heavy. One could have had Mango all year. Frooti came in a lighter format and could be drunk on the go and was a lighter drink. It managed to make the brand contemporary. They tried many innovations but never lost its essence. Mango Frooti fresh n juicy is like a radio jingle. The passion the brand shows that it grew with people. I will rate it 8 out of 10 because it maintained its contemporariness.”