Read Between the Ps

Talking of Warfare , marketers in India are predicting that the price wars would move from the cola battlefield to another one …the Battlefield of Fruit and Fruit-based juices – a nascent market which is emerging as one of the most promising markets of the country, and an equally challenging one..!! Have talked a lot about health-conscious Indian consumers and marketable elements for them; right from Fitness centers to fairness creams , from Skin healers to healthy food ; from lotions to drinks - Health has become the buzz word lately. It was only a matter of time that marketers included this flavor in their marketing mix. According to an article at TMCnet , Focus of the marketers has shifted towards health drinks, which is growing at almost 20-25% currently. So much so, that the industry experts are predicting a juice war in the market, based on price and variations. Almost a year back , I had presented an analysis of the Fruit Juice market. Fortunately, most of the assessm...

Wayne E Pollard , at CMO Magazine , has wonderfully articulated the learnings for Marketers from the chapters of history – from the strategies and planning of Military leader Hannibal Barca , when he attacked Rome between 218 B.C. and 202 B.C. Though I am not in complete agreement with relating new markets to Battlefields, and marketing as “ attacking ” and “ warfare ”, one can still identify the key elements of strategizing to be kept in mind, while venturing into a new market, from the article. Right from considering the work force to doing the ground work, understanding the competitor and its market perception to forming alliances, the author has perfectly aligned a marketer’s strategic planning to that of a Military leader. An interesting read for sure! Some of the basic pointers that one should definitely keep in mind are that Marketers need to be aggressive enough before entering the market. This aggression needs to be complemented with dynamism and adeptness to handle the m...

Folger’s coffee has another medium of advertising in New York City – Manholes ! Printed on Vinyl and steam coming out of it, the tagline reads "Hey the City never Sleeps. Wake up" [via Coloribus ] A nice comment was given by David Kiley in “ Brand New Day ” blog of Businessweek. He has commented on the display with a realistic perspective of the “ manhole cover ” – though the picture hits the taste buds sensing a hot cup of steaming soothing coffee , due to the place it is put, the steam is nothing but the odor coming out of the manhole ! So that’s the “ other ” side of Advertising! Talk of Manholes and talk of New York, and a dozen Exporters will be alerted here in India. Most of us might not know this (neither did I, till I read about it) that India is now the world leader in the manufacturing and exporting of manhole covers . According to an article in Indiatime , all of the new 600,000 odd manhole covers in New York come from the low-cost Indian market. Reasons? (Sourc...

I had earlier spoken about Fitness centres using innovative application of traditional media - Billboards. That time , it was about Silberman Fitness Centre. Have a look at 2 more billboards, reinforcing the flexibility this medium offers. Great creatives indeed. (Thanks to Ilya - Billboardroom !) What is the key to marketing this service of Fitness and weight control? In both the billboards, attention is grabbed by building around the same concept - a fat man deforming the shape of a billboard. However, on second thoughts, I believe (I could be wrong though) that the key emotion to be tapped laterally is " embarrassment " - to trigger people into feeling conscious about themselves and start using the products advertised. Crudely put, it does not communicate that " you need to become this from this " but " you better NOT be this ". No Promises, No hopes, No aspiration values picked. Just highlighting the problem and asserting your capability - Simple...