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Index

Hindustan Unilever limited 01

All about Branding 04

Strategies adopted by HUL 07

Umbrella branding 10

Branding procedure 14

Branding in Rural Market 33

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The Hindustan Unilever Limited

INTRODUCTION:

Hindustan Unilever Limited has traditionally been a company, which

incorporates latest technology in all its operations. The Hindustan Unilever

Research Centre (HURC) was set up in 1958, and now has facilities in

Mumbai and Bangalore. HURC and the Global Technology Centers in India

have over 200 highly qualified scientists and technologists, many with post-

doctoral experience acquired in the US and Europe.

Hindustan Unilever Limited is Indias largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods

Company, touching the lives of two out of three Indians with over 20

distinct categories in Home & Personal Care Products and Foods &

Beverages. Hindustan Unilever Limited is also one of the countrys largest

exporters; it has been recognized as a Golden Super Star Trading House by

the Government of India. The mission that inspires Hindustan Unilever

Limiteds over 15,000 employees, including over 1,300 managers, is to add

vitality to life. HUL meets everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene, andpersonal care with brands that help people feel good, look good and get

more out of life. The products of Hindustan Unilever Limited are

manufactured over 40 factories across India. The operations involve over

2,000 suppliers and associates. Hindustan Unilever Limiteds distribution

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network, comprising about 4,000 redistribution stockiest, covering 6.3

million retail outlets reaching the entire urban population, and about 250

million rural consumers. Some of the products manufactured by Hindustan

Unilever Limited are: Lifebuoy, Lux, Surf Excel, Rin, Wheel, Fair &

Lovely, Ponds, Sunsilk, Clinic Plus, Pepsodent, Close-up, Lakme, Brooke

Bond, Kissan, Knorr-Annapurna, Kwality Walls. These products are

popular in Indian as well as foreign markets.For achieving all the goals set,

the company needs its employees and to get their support the company needs

to motivate them. BRANDING STRATEGY Their main challenge was to

reverse the down trading in the categories and re-establish the relevance of

their brands in the mind of the consumer. In 2000, they had 110 brands,

many undifferentiated and lacking scale. They chose to focus on 35 power

brands covering all consumer appeal and price segments. They are already

seeing the benefits. Six brands Brooke Bond, Lifebuoy, Lux, Fair &

Lovely, Rin and Wheel have emerged as mega brands in the last five

years, each with sales of more than Rs.500 crores.

Meeting Everyday Needs of People Everywhere

Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) is India's largest fast moving consumer

goods company, with leadership in Home & Personal Care Products and

Foods & Beverages. HLL's brands, spread across 20 distinct consumer

categories, touch the lives of two out of three Indians. They endow the

company with a scale of combined volumes of about 4 million tonnes and

sales of Rs.10,000 crores.

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The leading business magazine, Forbes Global, has rated Hindustan Lever

as the best consumer household products company. Far Eastern Economic

Review has rated HLL as Indias most respected company.

The vision that inspires HLL's 32,400 employees (40,000 including Group

Companies), including about 1,425 managers, is to meet everyday needs of

people everywhere - to anticipate the aspirations of our consumers and

customers and to respond creatively and competitively with branded

products and services which raise the quality of life. This objective is

achieved through the brands that the company markets.

It is an ethos HLL shares with its parent company, Unilever, which holds

51.55% of the equity. A Fortune 500 transnational, Unilever sells Foods and

Home and Personal Care brands through 300 subsidiary companies in about

100 countries worldwide with products on sale in a further 50.

Business nature

HLL is India's largest marketer of Soaps, Detergents and Home Care

products. It has the countrys largest Personal Products business, leading in

Shampoos, Skin Care Products, Colour Cosmetics, and Deodorants. HLL is

also the market leader in Tea, Processed Coffee, branded Wheat Flour,

Tomato Products, Ice cream, Soups, Jams and Squashes.

HLL is also one of the country's biggest exporters and has been recognised

as a Golden Super Star Trading House by the Government of India; it is a

net foreign exchange earner. HLL is India's largest exporter of branded fast

moving consumer goods.

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Products, Basmati Rice, Castor Oil and its Derivatives. It is India's largest

exporter of MarineProducts, and one of the largest global players in castor.

Market leading brands

HLLs brands have become household names. The companys strategy is to

concentrate its resources on 30 national power brands, and 10 other brands

which are strong in certain regions.

The top five brands together account for sales of over Rs.3000 crores. Each

of these mega brand has a potential scale of Rs.1000 crores in the

foreseeable future. Some of the big brands in Soaps and Detergents are

Lifebuoy, Lux, Liril, Hamam, Breeze, Dove, (all soaps), Surf Excel, Surf,

Rin, Wheel (the number one detergent brand in India, and HLL's

largest), 501, Sunlight (all detergents). HLL also markets the Vim and

Domex range of Home Care Products.

In the Personal Products business, HLL's Hair Care franchises are Clinic,

Sunsilk and Lux shampoos; the company markets Nihar oil. In Oral Care,

the portfolio comprises Close-up and Pepsodent toothpastes and

toothbrushes. In Skin Care, HLL markets Fair & Lovely Skin Cream and

Lotion, the largest selling Skin Care Product in India; a brand developed in

India, it is now exported to over 30 countries. It has been extended as an

Ayurvedic cream, an under-eye cream, a soap and a talc, in line with the

strategy to take brands across relevant categories. The other major Skin Care

franchises are Ponds, Vaseline, Lakme and Pears. In Colour Cosmetics,

HLL markets the Lakme and Elle-18 ranges. In Deodorants, the key brands

are Rexona, Axe, Denim and Pond's, while the

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Talc brands are Pond's, Liril, Fair & Lovely, Vaseline and Lifebuoy. Axe

and Denim are HLLs franchises for Mens toiletries. HLL has recently

launched Lever Ayush Ayurvedic Health & Personal Care Products.

HLL has started franchised Lakme Beauty Salons, offering standardised

services, in line with the strategy to add a service dimension to relevant

brands.

HLL is one of the worlds largest packet Tea marketer. Its Tea brands Taj

Mahal, Red Label, Taaza, A1, 3Roses - are among the top brands in the

country; it also markets Lipton Ice Tea.

HLL and Pepsi have formed an alliance to distribute a full range of tea and

coffee and softbeverages through vending machines; HLL already has a base

of around 15000 such machines.

Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) currently on a price discount include 150 gm

Lifebuoy Gold (Rs 3 OFF) TRYING to match prices with the smaller

players, large FMCG companies have been on a price-cutting spree. Of late,

Hindustan Lever has announced new prices for their various brands to beat

sluggish sales, combined with the introduction of lower-sized packs to get

volumes. HLL is also expected to follow suit with its Surf sachets with the

obvious purpose of gaining volumes at the lower end of the market.

HLL managers describe the exercise as that of dropping price barriers to

induce growth for their brands rather than trying to beat the smaller players

with their pricing. More than benchmarking competition, dropping prices is

all about triggering growth and this has always been an integral part of their

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strategy. Straddling almost every price segment with its SKUs, HLL has also

been trying to upgrade its consumers, even at the cost of cannibalizing its

own brands. Besides, freebies and promotions have finally been replaced by

direct price reductions to lure consumers. Observes Sujoy Mishra, an analyst

At Kotak Securities, Promotions have shifted to the trade while freebies

have been replaced by price cuts. Considering almost every FMCG brand

was doling out a freebie, it was time for FMCG players to differentiate

themselves. Observes A. Sundarajan, Managing Director of market research

firm, Market Search, The round of freebies has already been played out by

the FMCG companies. They are now coming back to their core brands at a

lower price. HLL have deliberately introduced small pack sizes.

PLACE PLANNING STRATEGY

70% of Indias population resides in villages. Penetrating the rural markets

is, therefore, one of the key challenges for any marketer. While rural markets

present a great opportunity to companies, they also impose major challenges.

At HLL, they have been at the forefront of experimenting with innovative

methods to reach the rural consumer

SINGLE DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL

For rural India, HLL has established a single distribution channel by

consolidating categories. In a significant move, with long-term benefits,

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HLL has mounted an initiative, Project Streamline, to further increase its

rural reach with the help of rural sub-stockists. It has already appointed 6000

such sub-stockists. As a result, the distribution network directly covers about

50,000 villages, reaching about 250 million consumers corporate

relationships which in turn prove beneficial for the functioning of the

company.

The most important thing in life is not to capitalize on your successes - any

fool can do that. The really important thing is to profit from your mistakes.

ALL ABOUT BRANDING

The term brand means different things to the different roles of buyer and

seller, with buyers generally associating brand with a product or service, and

merchants associating brand with identity. Brand can also identify the

company behind the specific product -- that's not just a detergent, that's

Surf Excel detergent. This use of brand puts a "face" behind the name, so

to speak, even if the "face" is the result of advertising copy and television

commercials. This use of brand also says nothing of quality, just the buyer's

exposure to the brand's PR and media hype. For the typical merchant,

branding is a way of taking everything that is good about the company --

positive shopping experience, professionalism, superior service, product

knowledge, whatever the company decides is important for a customer to

believe about the company -- and wrapping these characteristics into a

package that can be evoked by the brand as signifier.

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Introduct ion to Branding

The American Marketing Association defines a brand as A name, term,

sign, symbol or design or a combination of them, intended to identify the

goods and services of one seller or group and to differentiate them to those

for competitors. A brand is thus a product or service thats adds a

Dimension that differentiates it in some way from other products or services

designed to satisfy the same need. These differences may be functional,

rational, or tangible- relate to product performance of the brand.

Branding has been around for centuries as a means to distinguish the goods

of one producer to those of another. The earliest signs of branding can be

traced to Europe where the medieval guilds required that craftsmen put

trademarks on their product to protect themselves and producer against

inferior quality substitutes. Also in fine arts branding began with artists

signing their works. Brands today play a number of important roles that

improve the consumers lives and enhance the financial value of firms.

Brands identify the source or maker of the product and allow consumers-

either individual or organizations- to assign responsibility to a particular

manufacturer or distributor. Consumers may evaluate the identical product

differently depending how it is branded. Consumers lean about the brand

with its past experience and the marketing program. As consumers lives

becomes more complicated, time starved the ability of brand to simplify

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decision making is invaluable. Brands also perform valuable functions for

the firm. First they simplify the product handling and tracing. Brands help to

organize inventory and accounting records. The brand name can be protected

registered trademarks. The intellectual property rights ensure that the firm

can safely invest in the brand and can reap the benefits over a long period of

time.

Brands can signal a certain level of quality so that satisfied buyers can easily

choose the product again. Brand loyalty provides predictability and security

of demand for the firm and creates barriers to entry that makes it difficult for

other firms to enter the market. This brand loyalty can translate into

willingness to pay higher price. In this sense branding can be seen as

powerful means to secure a competitive advantage. Brands represent

enormously valuable pieces of legal property that can influence consumers

behavior. Strong brand results in better earnings and profit performance for

firms, which in turn, creates greater value for shareholders.

Hence many reputed company like P & G, Crompton Greaves, etc have

adopted branding strategy as a tool for their sale of product. Also, HUL is no

exception.

Let us now see, certain branding strategies adopted by HUL:-

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HLL has a large brand portfolio consisting of nearly 110 bands. In every

product line, it has built a number of brands over a period of time. Quite a

few brands have come to its fold from the parent company. It has also

acquired several ongoing brands from the market. HLL also vigorously

pursues brand extension strategy. And concurrently, HLL undertakes line

pruning and brand restructuring and consolidation, based on marketing

compulsions. HLL is also playing the rejuvenation and re-launch game.

With great benefit the corporate-level endeavors at business expansion and

diversification are also throwing new challenges on the brand strategy front.

HLL lends itself for a proper understanding of the complexity of the brand

management task. We shall examine how HLL handles the complex

demands in brand management.

Such an array of brands is the outcome of a conscious corporate strategy by

HLL. As a corporate, HLL wants to be a leader in every one of its businesses

and the strategy is to fight on the strength of the competitive advantage

arising from the possession of strong brands. It is this strategy that is getting

reflected in the development of a multitude of strong brands. If we take the

business of bathing soaps, as an example, HLL has the objective of being a

national player (not a niche or a regional marketer) and the leader therein.

HLL also wants about 30 per cent of the corporate income to come from this

line.

So, HLL opted for the strategy of developing quite a few strong brands in

this line, and among them they cover different market segments and price

points. Dove, Lux, Liril, Rexona, Pears and Lifebuoy are the outcome of

such a well planned brand strategy implemented over time. Lifebuoy is 100

years old and Liril 15 years old. In fact, HLL has about 10 brands of toilet

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soaps each having good volume of sale to its credit. The point is that

decisions on brand portfolio are a fundamental expression of the companys

objectives and strategy governing a given business.

HLL Locates Positioning Opportunities:

HLL methodically goes about the task of developing a brand portfolio across

a product category. It first identifies the various positioning opportunities

across benefits, target groups and price points. Existing brads are mapped

across these positioning opportunities, and gaps for possible new offers are

explored.

The company then estimates the likely volumes for each of the possible

opportunity and the financial viability and sustainability of the propositions

in the long term. If some of these gaps look promising, HLL goes ahead with

the plans.

It examines the existing set of brands with the company, the product

technologies available, the benefits that can be provided and other

considerations that have a bearing on the companys long term interests in

the business. Finally, if the company decides to go in for the new offer, a

decision has to be taken as to whether new brands should be created or

extensions if existing brands should be preferred or ongoing brands from the

market acquired.

HLL hires brands to capture new opportunities:

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Towards the close of the 1990s, HLL found that the germicide segment of

the soap market was growing fast, with RCIs Dettol antiseptic soap leading

it. HLL did not have suitable offer in its stable to capture a share of this

segment. Lifebuoy was not strictly meeting the particular benefit.

HLL knew that launching and developing a new brand would take a lot of

time and resources, and the company would miss the market if it chose this

route. HLL did not have the product formula either to enter this segment. It

was in this background that HLL decided to hire the Savlon brand from J&J.

Savlon was a successful antiseptic lotion, a competitor to Dettol lotion. Just

as the Dettol soap owed its origin to the success of the Dettol lotion, HLL

assessed that a Savlon antiseptic soap could be successfully extended from

the Savlon lotion.

It entered into an agreement with J&J for the use of Savlon brand name and

the product formula, and launched the Savlon antiseptic soap. HLL very

deftly managed successfully new brand launch and merged as a challenger to

Dettol soap. J&J secures a good royalty from HLL for lending the brand. It

is a potentially win-win arrangement for both companies.

HUL Products

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You may have seen a variety ofwater purifier advertisements and so may

be confused on which one to buy. This one is about Hindustan Unilever

PureIt and is not a recommendation to buy but just a review on how it

works and performs over others.

The main advantage of PureIT water purifier is that you dont have to worry

about either continuous water supply or electricity supply. Having said that,

it may also be a disadvantage that you need to manually put in water every

time the water level depletes to near zero. The bottom transparent bottom

chamber can store up to a maximum of 9 litres of water and the top chamber

another 9 litres. Hence if your family is a big one say consisting of at least 8-

9 members, then you may have to fill the water chamber multiple times a

day.

However, like most of the families if only 4 or 5 people

exist, then you may have to add water every couple of days.

The way this works is simple. We add water to the top chamber which is

unfortunately not transparent and so have to be very careful when it is just

about to fill completely. The moment you pour in the water, it goes through

a Microfibre Mesh that removes any visible dirt. The next stage is to go

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through a Compact carbon Trap that further removes any dirt, if present

besides removing any parasites or pesticides.

The water will then be purified using the proprietary Germ kill battery that

kills harmful bacteria and Viruses.

Then the water reaches the lower part of the Unit where it goes through a

polisher that adds taste to the water and makes it completely odorless. Then

the water rises above the chamber and falls into the visible lower chamber

from which a tap arises.

The battery has a life indicator and normally lasts for nearly a year (for

single family consisting of 4 members). The life is indicated by a bar, which

when turns red should be immediately be replaced. The battery costs only

Rs.350 and the entire unit cost just Rs.2000.

Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) is extending its OOH

(Out of Home)business by setting up 'experiential kiosks' under the Lipton

brand. Graduating from its existing vending machines, almost 50 such

kiosks are planned this year which it would set up at corporate parks,

railway stations and airports. According to HUL officials, "Unlike the

vending machines where you just need to push a button, the new experiential

kiosks would serve mock tails and heath oriented beverages made from

HUL'sbeverage brands. Apart from beverages, the kiosks are also expected

to serve ice-creams. Through the kiosks we want to give experiential bursts

for ourbeverage brands."

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The kiosks would be run on a franchise model. We would have

abusiness partner on board and the kiosks will be run on 10 by 10 sq ft

area, added the official. Having done a pilot test in Delhi recently, HUL is

now poised to roll out these kiosks nationally along the lines of its existing

ice-cream parlour brand - Swirls which is also run through franchisees. In

fact, ice-creams have become a profitablebusiness for HUL within its foods

portfolio which includes beverages and processed foods.

Meanwhile within the foodsbusiness, HUL intends staying away from the

ready-to-eat (RTE)business. We have recently introduced the ready-to-

cook range under Knorr but we certainly would not be entering the RTE

category in foods. In future, there would be more products under the Knorr

franchise but these would be adapted from our international portfolio,

HUL officials stated.

HUL's brands - like Lifebuoy, Lux, Surf Excel, Rin, Wheel, Fair & Lovely,

Pond's, Sunsilk, Clinic, Pepsodent, Close-up, Lakme, Brooke Bond, Kissan,

Knorr-Annapurna, Kwality Wall's are household names across the country

and span many categories - soaps, detergents, personal products, tea, coffee,

branded staples, ice cream and culinary products. They are manufactured

over 40 factories across India. The operations involve over 2,000 suppliers

and associates. HUL's distribution

Umbrella Brands Rule!

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The 1980s witnessed a revolution in the understanding of the working of the

brands. Marketers depict brands as a reflection of customers own

personalities, so that they can relate to their products well. In fact the

distinguishing aspect of the modern marketing has been its focus upon the

creation of differentiated brands and using them as weapons for launching

multi-level attacks on competition. Market research has been used to help

identify and develop bases of brand differentiation. A brand identifies a

product and its sources, but it does even more. Along came brand extension.

Today brand extension strategies are widely employed because of beliefs

that they build and communicate strong brand positioning, enhance

awareness and increase profitability.

Brands are often extended beyond their original categories to include new

product categories. Research has proved that the success of brand extension

depends on the transfer of parent brand awareness and associations to the

extension. The transfer of these quality perceptions is the key in umbrella

branding. An umbrella brand is a brand that covers diverse kinds of products

which are more or less related. It applies also to any company that is

identified only by its brand and history. It is contrasted with individual

branding in which each product in a portfolio is given a unique identity and

brand name.

Hindustan Unilever Ltds (HUL) beverage brands have been amalgamated

under two umbrella brands Brooke Bond and Lipton and in the fabric wash

category, the company has retained only Rin, Surf and Wheel, HUL has

withdrawn brands such as Sunlight, 501, Dalda and Nihar; it plans to

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withdraw some more brands and group them under a few umbrella brands.

HUL is currently focusing on 35 power brands.

Consumer goods major Hindustan Lever (HLL) has decided to develop

Dalda as the umbrella brand for its cooking products. Consequently, it is

planning to de-emphasise the Flora brand of sunflower edible oil.

A source said this is following HLLs decision to focus on power brands

across categories. Flora does not fall in the list. It is not paying due

attention to build the brand image.

Also, following competition from international and domestic players in

refined edible oils, such as Sweekar and Saffola from Marico, Sundrop from

Agro Tech Foods (formerly ITC Agrotech), among others, has compounded

HLLs woes, analysts said.

Dalda has a market share of about 29 per cent in the consumer packs

vanaspati market, while Floras share has dropped to 3 per cent, analysts

said.

HLL is now focusing on innovation and differentiate products. The company

has begun test-marketing Dalda Classic, a cooking product with butter

aroma in Tamil Nadu. It has Dalda vanaspati, Dalda refined groundnut oil

and Dalda Activ.

The 7-lakh tonne branded oil market is dominated by Marico brands

Sweekar and Saffola, having a combined market share of 15 per cent each,

followed by Sundrop at 13 per cent. Even regional brands have become

popular in several markets.

The slippages in the branded oils market is owing to two factorsthe sharp

increase in selling prices, which has made consumers look for cheaper

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alternatives in regional and local offerings, and a change in the price

equation of soya bean oil vis-a-vis sunflower oil, industry sources said.

According to analysts, pricing is critical in the branded cooking oil market

where consumption of low priced loose oil is huge. Also, consumers are

shifting towards groundnut oil and soyabean oil from sunflower oil.

Remember the Is it love? No its Dove ads? In the 1990s, when everything

had to be low priced, consumer goods major Hindustan Unilever launched a

brand of soap that was considered expensive, frightfully expensive , for the

times we lived in. For about Rs 30 for a bar, it was nearly twice as expensive

as any toilet soap brand that was then sold in India. This was a time when

hanging out for coffee was at the neighborhood Udupi restaurant that

charged Rs 6 for a serving and not the Barista where a mug of coffee cost Rs

50. To get consumers living with that mindset to graduate to a brand like

Dove was a big leap.

Certainly the well-traveled Indian consumer who had seen and touched the

brand abroad were the first set that moved towards the brand for its superior

and gentle on skin properties. Others who sampled the brand had mixed

opinions. Occasionally you heard the sob story from a neighbour , on how a

Dove bar got over in just four days, when the Rs 10 soap lasted for a month,

giving rise to rather unkind remarks that Dove was moisturiser and

love. This set of consumers used the bar for washing the face while a less

costly soap would be used for the rest of the body, a value-for-money

approach.

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From those use-for-special occasion days, Dove has come a long way. Last

year, HUL executives claim that Dove has grown by 100% in shampoos and

by 42% in soaps. Dove is the largest premium brand in the Hindustan

Unilever portfolio, says Rajaram Narayanan, vice president, hair care and

Lakme, HUL. Now the Dove portfolio delivers Rs 400 crore in sales.

Of this, the soap, or cleansing bar, as HUL executives would call it accounts

for only Rs 200 crore. The rest comes from hair care, a category that Dove

entered in India about two years back. The rise of modern trade formats and

an evolving consumer has also ensured that even emerging categories like

body washes and hair conditioners get more buyers.

Dove has capitalised on this trend. Apart from distribution in modern format

stores, where Dove claims to be one of the leading brands with 11.54%

share, the brand has also entered adjacent categories. In body washes, Dove

claims to be nearly 19% of the market, while hair conditioners get the brand

sales of around Rs 40 crore.

All this has been a result of carefully managing the umbrella brand

according to Rajaram, who says that the company was careful enough to not

tamper with the core values right from the word go.

Dove did what it does best all over the world not use supermodels to

endorse the brand. Rather it got real women who used the product to give

testimonials of their experience with the brand. In India, Doves brand team

in the 1990s, led by Harish Manwani, now Unilevers president , Asia,

Africa, Central & Eastern Europe, decided to adopt the same line of thought

for the Indian market too. In some ways the brand was the opposite of Lux,

the beauty bar of film stars. Dove showed beauty in ordinary people, says

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cinematographer and film director, Rajiv Menon, who was involved in

making the earliest ads for Dove.

Branding procedures:

How do you BRAND a product?

Although HUL provides the impetus to brand creation through marketing

programs and other activities, ultimately a brand is something that resides in

the mind of the consumers. A brand is a perpetual identity that is rooted in

reality but reflects the perceptions and perhaps even the ultimate choice of

the consumers. Branding is endowing products and services with the power

of brands. To brand a product, it is necessary to teach the consumers who

the product-by giving a name. Branding involves creating mental structures

and helping consumers organize their knowledge about products and

services in a way that clarifies their decision making and in process provides

value to the firm

Branding can be applied virtually anywhere a consumer has a choice. It is

possible to brand:

A physical good (Knorr soup, clinic plus shampoo or Fair & lovely),

A service,

A store,

A place,

A person(Shusmita sen,Aishwarya Rai) ,

An organization

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Brand is the proprietary visual, emotional, rational, and cultural image that

consumer has associated with HUL and its product. When you think of

Lifebouy, you think of hygiene. When you think of Lux, you think of

Aishwarya Rai . When you think of IBM, you think of Big Blue. The fact

that you remember the brand name and have positive associations with that

brand makes your product selection easier and enhances the value and

satisfaction you get from product.

While Brand X or even Cornetto ice -creams may win blind taste tests over

choclate fudge, the fact is that more people buy cornetto than any other ice

cream. The fond memories of childhood and refreshment that people have

when they eat Cornetto is often more important than a little bit better ice-

cream taste. It I this emotional relationship with brands that make them so

powerful.

Purpose of Branding

It is very important to identify the purpose behind Branding.The purpose of

branding is to create a powerful and lasting emotional connection with

customers and other audiences. A brand is a set of elements or brand

assets that in combination create a unique, memorable, unmistakable, and

valuable relationship between an organization and its customers. The brand

is carried by a set of compelling visual, written and vocal tools to represent

the business plan and intentions of an organization.

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Branding is the voice and image that represents your business plan to the

outside world. What your company, products and services stand for should

all be captured in your branding strategy, and represented consistently

throughout all your brand assets and in your daily marketing activities

The brand image that carries this emotional connection consists of the many

manageable elements of branding system, including both visual image assets

and language assets. The process of managing the brand to the business plan

is important not only in big change situation where the brand redefinition

is required, but also in the management of routine marketing variables and

tactics. This does not have to be a ground-up situation where there are

wholesale changes to the business. Rather it is more common that specific

changes to the changes to the business plan are incremental and the work of

the brand strategist and designer is to interpret these changes and revise the

branding strategy and resulting brand assets and define their use in the full

range of marketing variables.

Brand Identity

Brand Identity includes brand names, logos, positioning, brand associations,

and brand personality, brand toons etc. A good brand name gives a good first

impression and evokes positive associations with the brand. A positioning

statement tells what business the company is in, what benefits it provides

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and why it is better than the completion? Brand personality adds emotion,

culture and myth to brand identity by the use of a famous personality

(Aishwarya Rai), a character (Pilsbury doughbouy), an animal (the Merrilllynch bull) etc.

How do we determine our Brand Identity?

Brand has been called the most powerful idea in commercial world, yet few

companies create a brand identity. Do you want your companys brand

identity created for you by competitors and unhappy customers? Of course

not. Our advice to executives is to research their customers and find the top

ranked reasons that the customers buy their product rather than their

competitors. Then, pound that message in every ad, in every news release, in

communications with employees and in every sales call or media interview.

By continuous repetition of messages customer will think of your product

and then buy it.

Tools for Building Brand Identity

Brand builders use a set of tools to strengthen and project the brand image;

Strong brands typically exhibit an owned word, a slogan, a color, a symbol,

and set of stories.

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Owned Word

A strong brand name should trigger another word, a favorable one. Here is

the list of brands that own a word:

Slogan

HUL has successfully added a slogan or tagline to its brand name which is

repeated in every ad they use. Here are some well-known brands slogans,

which people on the street may easily recall or recognize:

Colors

It helps HUL to brand, by use of a consistent set of color to a product as it

helps in brand recognition. Ponds paint all its cosmetics pink. Yellowish

green is the color of Liril.

25

Company WordLir i l

Fa i r and lovely

Rexona

Knorr

Hygiene

Skin care

Freshness

Food

Lifebouy

Liril

Knorr

Taj Mahal Tea

ab kitanuon ke liye saare raaste bandh!

La La lala La

Restaurant jaisa ghar ka khanna

Wah taj


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Symbols and Logos

Companies would be wise to adapt a symbol or logo to use in their

communications. HUL hired a well-known personality, hoping that her

quality transfer to the brand. HUL uses Aishwarya Rai who has worldwide

recognition and likableness, to advertise its soap. HUL has sign contracts

with top personalities to serve as their symbols, even naming the product

after them.

Cartoons and Animations

A less expensive approach is to develop a character, animated, to etch the

brands image into customers mind. The advertising agency Leo Burnett

has successfully created a number of memorable animated characters. Here

are some well known brand cartoons which people may recognize:

Objects

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Company Cartoon or Animation

Pillsbury

7 Up

Doughboy

Fido Dido


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Still another approach is to choose an object to represent a company or

brand. Dabur has joined hands with Walt Disney to put Mickey Mouse on

200ml Real-Mickey juice packs. Companies have developed many logos or

abstracts, which are easily remembered by people. Even the way the brand

name is written makes a brand recognizable and memorable.

Brand Effectiveness

With an increase in global competition, branding has become a source of

competitive advantage. In rapidly evolving market for consumer, and

industrial products and services, the source of next generation competency

will be branding. In this briefing we demonstrate how to calculate the brand

strength, the price premium associated with the products categories, and type

of customers attracted to the Premium Products. Marketers who match

their brand with customers needs will have a sustainable competitive

advantage.

Measuring Brand Effectiveness

There are many metrics to measure the potential of and actual effectiveness

of brands. The simplest way is to apply the concept of what we call the 4 Ds

of Branding; differentiation, distinctiveness, defendable, digit-able.

Distinctiveness: Our brand should be distinct when compared to our

competitors and to all spoken and visual communications to which your

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target audiences will be exposed. The more unique and distinct your

communications, the wider the filed of effective competitive strength it will

have. There are simple means to apply to test the distinctiveness of your

brand.

Differentiation: the brand strategy and brand assets must set youre offering

apart and clearly articulate the specific positioning intent of your offering.

Defendable: you will be investing in creating your brand assets and in all

cases your brand must have proprietary strength to keep others from using

close approximations. This applies to your trade names and other proprietary

words as well as to your logos, symbols and other visual assets.

Digit-able: in most businesses there is strong and growing element of

electronic communications and commerce that dictate all brand assets be

leveraged effectively in tactile and electronics form. This goes for all brand

assets.

Much of the brand managers work is to build a brand image. But its job

doesnt stop there. The brand manager needs to make sure that brand

experience matches the brand image. Much can go wrong. A fine brand of

canned soup described in a full page color ad may be found in dented anddusty condition in the bottom shelf of a supermarket. The ad describing a

gracious hotel chain is belied by the behavior of a surly concierge.

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Building brand therefore calls for more than brand image building. It calls

for managing every brand contact that customer might have with brand.

Since all the employees, distributors and dealers can affect brand experience.

The Brand

To any individual a brand (in his mind) is a complex combination of

experiences, beliefs, perceptions and associations that have grown up over

time. For example Coca-Cola is a company brand, a product brand, a service

brand and a brand with a long history. It is a brand which may represent (to

any one individual) diversity, internationality, technical excellence, financial

strength etc. etc. It may also mean insensitivity, environmental pollution,

abuse of power and other negative perceptions.

Perceiving the brand:

An individual builds up his perceptions of a brand via a wide range of

communications channels. They are as follows:

Experience: The most powerful influence is experiential. This is when the

individual actually has a "Brand experience". The most obvious are: -

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He buys Kwality walls branded product or service.

He uses a dove shampoo.

He visits a corporate website.

He attends an interview at the company.

He contacts the company office for information.

He meets an employee of the company.

He buys a share in the company, etc.

Advertising: Over time an individual who lives in a country in which the

company/brand is active, or travels to one on business or vacation, will be

exposed to their advertising. This advertising may be in a wide range of

media:

TV commercials for products and services

Recruitment ads inviting employment applications

"Corporate" TV commercials promoting the company's "reputation"

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Web based advertising

An ad for the companys branded products or services in a wide

variety of print media.

Billboards on highways

Radio

Point of sale etc.

Media reports and stories: Individuals will be exposed to a wide variety of

reports about companies in the media (print and broadcast) where the

editorial content is only partly influence able by the company (in some

cases) or not at all (in most cases). These stories will come from a variety of

primary and secondary sources: -

Press releases

Press conferences

Reporting of "events"

Investigative journalism

Stories passed to the media by third parties (Non governmental

organizations etc.)

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Professional/business interest: For some individuals to interface

professionally, or from a specific business need, with famous companies (or

to observe them) is part of their job. They will usually procure theirinformation from a variety of sources and via a variety of channels of

communication. These individuals have a special interest in the companies

and they include: -

Financial analysts and journalists with an interest in share performance

Existing or potential suppliers of products and services

Existing or potential industrial/commercial customers

Building the Brand

The art of marketing is largely art of brand building. When something is not

a brand, it will probably be viewed as a commodity. Then price is the thing

that counts. When price is the only thing that counts then the low cost

producer wins. But just having a brand is not enough. What does the brand

name mean? What associations, performances and expectations does it

evoke? What degree of preferences does it create?

Choosing a Brand Name

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A brand name first must be chosen then its various meanings and promises

must be built up through brand identity work. In choosing a brand name, it

must be consistent with the value positioning of the brand. In naming a

product or service the company may face many possibilities: it could choose

name of the person , location, quality, or an artificial name.

Among the desirable qualities of a brand name. Some are:

It should suggest something about the product benefits.

It should suggest product qualities such action or color

It should be easy to pronounce, recognize and remember; short names

help a lot to recognize the product to the customers.

It should be distinctive.

It should not carry poor meanings in other countries and languages

etc.

Attributes: A strong brand should trigger in buyers mind certain attributes.

Thus attributes a picture of well-engineered car that is durable, rugged and

expensive. If a car brand does not trigger any attribute, then it would be a

weak brand.

Benefits: A strong brand should suggest benefits, not just features. Thus

Mercedes triggers the idea of well performing car that is enjoyable to drive

and prestigious to own.

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Company Values: A strong brand should connote values that the company

holds. Thus Mercedes is proud of its engineers and engineering innovations

and is very organized and efficient in its operations. The fact that it is a

German company adds more pictures in the mind of the buyers about the

character and the culture of the brand.

Personality: A strong brand should exhibit some personality traits. Thus if

Mercedes were a person we would think of someone who is middle age,serious, well-organized and somewhat authoritarian. If Mercedes were an

animal we might think of lion or its implied personality.

Users: A strong brand should suggest the type of people who buy the brand.

Thus we would expect Mercedes to draw buyers who are older, affluent and

professional.

In summary, brands when their very name connotes positive attributes,

benefits, company values, personality and users in the buyers mind. The

brand builders job is to create a brand identity that builds on those

dimensions.

Choosing Brand Elements

Brand elements are those trademarks devices that serve to identify and

differentiate the brand. Most strong brands employ multiple brand elements.

DOVE has distinctive dove logo.

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Brand element can be chosen to build as much as brand equity as possible.

The test of the brand building ability of these elements is what consumers

think or feel about the product if they only knew about the brand element. Abrand element provides positive contribution to brand equity.

Brand Element Choice Criteria

There are six criteria in choosing brand element. The first three can be

characterized by brand building in terms of how brand equity can be build

through judicious choice of brand element. The latter three are more

defensive and are concerned with how the brand equity contained in the

brand element can be leveraged and preserved in the face of various

opportunities and constraints.

Memorable: How easily is the brand element recalled? How easily

recognized? Is this true at both purchase and consumption? Short brand

name like tide, Nike can help.

Meaningful: To what extent is brand element credible and suggestive of the

corresponding category? Does it suggest something about a product

ingredient or a type of person who might use the brand?

Likeability: How aesthetically appealing does consumers find the brand

element? Is it inherently likeable visually, verbally, and in other ways?

Concrete brand names such as Wheel, Sunsilk etc evoke much imagery.

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Transferable: Can a brand element be used to introduce new products in the

same or different categories? To what extent does the brand element add to

brand equity across geographic boundaries and market segments?

Adaptable: How adaptable and updatable is the brand element? Betty

corker received 8 makeovers through the years-although she is 75 yrs old,

she doesnt look a day over 35.

Brand elements can play a number of roles. If consumers do not examine

much information in making their product decisions, brand elements should

be easily recognized and recalled and inherently descriptive and persuasive.

Memorable or meaningful brand elements can reduce the burden on

marketing communications to build awareness and link brand associations.

The different associations that arise from likeability and appeal of the brand

elements may also play a critical role in the equity of brand.

Cartoon help:

Toon illustrations create excitement, and also serve as a memory hook to

pick a particular brand from clutter.

Kelloggs animated kid and bear are intertwined in peoples minds. Nike

also used swoosh logo sign to bring immediate recall value, while the

Claymation characters Of Amaron, an O&M creative, pick on sleeping

politicians to get their value across. O&Ms Piyush Pandey says his firm

encourages the idea of breaking form. Creative people have to look at

different ways to get message across, and if that means exploring other

forms of art, then why not?

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HLLs Annapoorna uses Flintstone like characters to drive its USP. Industry

officials say animation could be used as creative idea to express a particular

value, or it could be a sacrosanct image, almost becoming part of the logo ofthe brand like A-I am Maharaja or Amul Girl.

First it was retro advertising, and then there was the trend of using real kids.

The ad worlds latest obsession is with animation. Be it Bollywood actress,

an animated poodle talking to Rani Mukherjee and her gang of friends in the

Fanta commercial- theyve all got the cool punch with animation.

With a string of animated commercials such as Pepsodent (Bhoot Police)

Animation is no kid stuff anymore. One sees a fair number of youth and

adult targeted content happening in the form of animation in films and TV

shows these days, says Rahul Welde, general manager, media. Hindustan

Unilever Limited.

Mr.Welde claims to have used animation where it could add to the creative

quotient of the commercial which give something unexpected to the

audience.

Gross thinks at time look cute in animation rather than the real thing, say in

case of a fat man. With Claymation (clay + animation), it broke the clutter

and became likeable in a very non-financial advertising style,

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The contribution to the sales of pension schemes of the group rose 30% after

the campaign. The popularity of cartoons among youngsters- a gradual

transformation over the past few years.

However a real character interacting with an animated character is not a

novelty. It is a style and a lot of people are catching on it but this is not the

end of it, points Ashish Chakravarty, head creative, Contract Advertising.

There are other viewpoints too. Its a nice way of doing a boring script.

Besides the advantage of visual appeal, many complex issues, such as stunts,

can be done away with, with the use of animation- for instance the stunt in

the Lux Commercial couldnt be done so perfectly by the real character

(here Aishwarya Rai) vis--vis the animated character. Animation ad also

helps keep costs down. Industry sources say a simple animation ad is less

expensive than an ad with decent production quality that costs around Rs.

70-80 Lakh. Animated ones cost around Rs. 30-40 lakh on an average.

However, what creative directors hate about animation is the fact that it

takes a lot more time For Amul girl itself, we need to work for three weeks

to get it absolutely right,says Chauhan JWT.

Branding strategy in rural Market.

Promotion of brands in rural markets requires the special measures. Due to

the social and backward condition the personal selling efforts have a

challenging role to play in this regard. The word of mouth is an important

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message carrier in rural areas. Infect the opinion leaders are the most

influencing part of promotion strategy of rural promotion efforts. The

experience of agricultural input industry can act as a guideline for the

marketing efforts of consumer durable and non-durable companies.

Relevance of Mass Media is also a very important factor.

The Indian established Industries have the advantages, which MNC don't

enjoy in this regard. The strong Indian brands have strong brand equity,

consumer demand-pull and efficient and dedicated dealer network which

have been created over a period of time. The rural market has a grip of

strong country shops, which affect the sale of various products in rural

market. The companies are trying to trigger growth in rural areas. They are

identifying the fact that rural people are now in the better position with

disposable income. The low rate finance availability has also increased the

affordability of purchasing the costly products by the rural people. Marketer

should understand the price sensitivity of a consumer in a rural area. This

paper is therefore an attempt to promote the brand image in the rural

market.

Introduction

Indian Marketers on rural marketing have two understanding (I) The urban

metro products and marketing products can be implemented in rural markets

with some or no change. (ii) The rural marketing required the separate skills

and techniques from its urban counter part. The Marketers have following

facilities to make them believe in accepting the truth that rural markets are

different in so many terms.

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(i) The rural market has the opportunity for.

(ii) Low priced products can be more successful in rural markets because

the low purchasing, purchasing powers in rural markets.

(iii) Rural consumers have mostly homogeneous group

with similar needs, economic conditions and problems.

(iv) The rural markets can be worked with the different media environment

as opposed to press, film, radio and other urban centric media exposure.

How reality does affects the planning of marketers? Do villagers have same

attitude like urban consumers? The question arises for the management of

rural marketing effects in a significant manner so than companies can enter

in the rural market with the definite goals and targets but not for a short term

period but for longer duration. The Research paper will discuss the role of

regard. The strategy, which will be presented in the paper, can be either

specific or universally applicable.

Project Shakti

Empowering womenfolk through a wired network for linkage activities or

connecting the rural with urban world is the new mantra adopted by many

FMCGs to sell their products as well as improve the lot of rural women.

Indeed, a win-win partnership for both womenfolk and the company.

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This has been made possible due to the initiatives taken up by Hindustan

Lever Ltd (HLL) for an exclusive project called Shakti through which

women in a remote village can access happenings around the world.

As part of this commitment, HLL is leveraging on Self-Help Groups (SHGs)

as they become direct-to-home (DTH) dealers in line with other micro credit

models

To be implemented initially as a pilot project in the Nalgonda district of

Andhra Pradesh, Shakti is expected to spread its roots across all the districts

of Andhra Pradesh. It will be integrated with its Project Shakti programme,

which is a linkage of women SHGs with private sector companies.

There are about 300 Shakti dealers in the state with about 40 dealers in

Nalgonda. Working on a cluster approach, the Shakti programme operates

through Shakti dealers who market HLL products and use their services for

stocking their produce. Besides health education, there is also an option of

e-learning to prepare home foods like pickles and curry powders among

other things. i-Shakti will also help women to know about crop protection,

weather forecasting, soil conditions, cropping patterns in different weather

besides integrated pest management practice.The whole operation is

primarily through SHGs who act as direct dealers in the rural markets of

HLL. The Project Shakti programme is facilitated by the District Rural

Development Agency (DRDA) of Nalgonda district.

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From the time HLL's new distribution model, named Project Shakti, was

piloted in Nalgonda district in 2001, it has been scaled up and extended to

over 5,000 villages in 52 districts in AP, Karnataka, Gujarat and Madhya

Pradesh with around 1,000 women entrepreneurs in its fold. The vision is

ambitious: to create by 2010 about 11,000 Shakti entrepreneurs covering one

lakh villages and touching the lives of 100 million rural consumers.

Realities before the Marketers

70% of India's population lives in 627000 villages in rural areas. 90% of the

rural population us concentrated in villages with a population of less than

2000, with agriculture being the main business. This simply shows the great

potentiality rural India has to bring the much - needed volume- driven

growth. This brings a boon in disguise for the FMCG Company who has

already reached the plateau of their business urban India.As per the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER)

study, there are as many 'middle income and above' households in the rural

areas as there are in the urban areas. There are almost twice as many' lower

middle income' households in rural areas as in the urban areas. At the

highest income level there are 2.3 million urban households as against 1.6

million households in rural areas. According to the NCAER projections, the

number of middle and high-income households in rural India is expected to

grow from 80 million to 111 million by 2007. In urban India, the same is

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expected to grow from 46 million to 59 million. Thus, the absolute size India

is expected to be doubles that of urban India.

HLL chairman MS Banga Says, "This exercise may not pay in the

immediate future, but will definitely give long-term dividends. Incidentally,

over 50 percent of the sales of HLL's fabric wash, personal wash and

beverages are in rural areas. And we see a future in going rural in a major

way".

The improved agricultural growth is expected to boost rural demand,

through not at too sizzling a rate. Moreover, the price drop in personal

products, after the recent excise duty reductions, in also expected to drive

Consumption. "Better agricultural yields will give farmers more spending

power, making the rural markets bullish," says an analyst.

As a result, HLL has planned a rural marketing program that is expected to

result in a marked growth in the consumption of the company's products in

the rural market. HLL will adopt three-pronged marketing strategy- new

price points, sizes and awareness campaigns for its detergents and soaps

segment to augment rural growth.

The Indian established Industries have the advantages, which MNC don't

enjoy in this regard. The strong Indian brands have strong brand equity,

consumer demand-pull and efficient and dedicated dealer network which

have been created over a period of time. The rural market has a grip of

strong country shops, which affect the sale of various products in rural

market.

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consumers were moving away from the carbolic based soaps to beauty

soaps - perceived to be superior; with better fragrance and lather;

aspirational image.

The agency devised a strategy to ensure that it advocated family health

rather than personal hygiene. There were large chunks of the users who

were in "unreachable areas" - rural markets. Through TV and print

campaigns, the agency team focused attention on the family health themes,

conducted consumer education exercise using "Germ tests" through

multimedia; and established the brand's credentials as an authority in a

credible manner. The agency also explored the communication options

during important days such as World Health Day. For rural markets, it

created the Lifebuoy Swashthya Chetana project wherein 450 teams of

health officers tapped 8000 villages in 11 states. Nearly 40 million people

in rural areas were covered. The brand registered a 30 per cent increase

in volumes and the share of contribution to HLL's detergent division

turnover increased to 55 per cent.

HLL was also offering cross company product mixes - a 200 gm Bru packet

comes with one Cadbury's Dairy Milk; Red Label tea packet comes with

Cadbury's Five Star depending on the size; 100 gm Lifebuoy comes with a

small Amrutanjan.

HLL used Mahakumbh mela as an opportunity to change hand-washing

and bathing habits in rural India. "The Mahakumbh at Allahabad is the

biggest mela in India and, with its focus on `cleansing' is a good fit for the

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`Lifebuoy for health' message of the brand". Innovative communication

tools were used at the mela to communicate the importance of health and

hygiene. The company 14 stalls at various points in the mela grounds.

Some hand-carts have also been deployed for increasing access. The

numbers of both was increased based on response. ``The activity aims to

build awareness in the target audience about hygiene and health through

product demonstrations".

People in Mela were asked to put there hands below some special camerawhere the7y could see the germs on their hands and were asked to wash their

hands with lifebuoy and then see the difference. These type of promotional

activities worked in these melas.

Cinema van operations

These are typically funded by the Redistribution Stockiest. Cinema Van

Operations have films and audio cassettes with song and dance

sequences from popular films, also comprising advertisements of HLL

products.

Operation Harvest

The reach of conventional media and, therefore, awareness of differentproducts in rural markets is weak. It was also not always feasible for the

Redistribution Stockiest to cover all these markets due to high costs

involved. Yet, these markets are important since growth opportunities

are high.

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Operation Harvest endeavored to supplement the role of conventional

media in rural India and, in the process, forge relationships and loyalty

with rural consumers. Operation Harvest also involved conducting of

product awareness programmers on vans.

Project Shakti is working for HLL to be a great promotional Project and

work in both terms that is Promotion as well as Distribution with socal

welfare as it gives employment to rual women and increase their income.

Research Objectives

The research paper consists of following objectives:

(i) To analyze the present promotion strategy of few brands in rural markets.

(ii) To measure the success of rural marketing campaign of few brands in

Terms of consumer appreciation.

(iii) To study the determinants of specification factors which can decide the

success the rural promotion strategy?

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(iv) To evaluate the effects of adopting the specific brand ambassadors in the

rural marketing context.

(v) To present suffocate on above-mentioned objectives.

Review of Literature

The Marketing Mastermind (2003), Hindustan Lever rural marketing

Initiatives by "A Mukund" Marketing Mastermind has given the

perspectives in which HLL has approached towards rural markets.

The Economic Times (2003), "The rural market likes it strong" the strength

of rural markets for Indian companies. Financial express, June 19, 2000 has

published the strategy about FMCG majors, HLL, Marico Industries,

Colgate Palmolive have formula had for rural markets.

Conceptual Framework

Given the Literacy scenario in to consideration the promotion of Brands in

rural markets requires the special measures. Due to the social and backward

condition the personal selling efforts have a challenging role to play in this

regard. The word of mouth is an important message carrier in rural areas.

Infect the opinion leaders are the most influencing part of promotion strategy

of rural promotion efforts. The experience of agricultural input industry can

act as a guideline for the marketing efforts of consumer durable and non-

durable companies. Relevance of Mass Media is also a very important

factor. Door Darshan had already acquired high penetration in rural

households.

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Now the cable and other Channels have also penetrated in rural households.

The newspapers and other printed Media are also gaining strategy but their

role is still secondary in this regard.

Results and Discussions

The field exercise has given the various inputs about the rural consumers.

This experience was unique from a marketer's point of view that the

companies must have a proper understanding of rural marketing

environment at a region wise basis. The data has tabulated in following

manner. Advertisement of Fanta(Acceptability pattern)

Contents Favor Non-Favor No Comment

Language and content of Ad. 72% 20% 8%

Back ground effect of Ad. 50% 20% 30%

expressions and communication styles of

Rani Mukerji

85% 15% -

The Ad plays an important role for giving boost to rural consumers feeling.

The feeling plays very important role. The Language and content (72%) and

expression style of Rani Mukerji (85%) play significant role.

BPL advertisement


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Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as a

brand Ambassador of LUX

75% 20% 5%

The Action style of Aishwarya

Rai Bachchan

65% 30% 5%

The language of Ad. 62% 20% 18%

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is a leading player in the ad feature. The Action

style of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is a very delighted factor for rural

Consumers.


Style of Presentation 77% 20% 3%The concept of ad. 65% 20% 15%

Interesting and delightful Ad. 63% 17% 20%

Style of presentation plays an important role. 77% is a high figure as this

affects the whole creativity aspect of any ad. The total concept and delight

fulness is a strong factor for this ad. Different Modes of promotions in rural

market.

Hats and Melas play a very important role in this regard. The 65% response

in favor of this is an indicator of this.

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Modes Favor Non-Favor No Comment

Hats 65% 30% 5%

Wall Paintings 40% 53% 7%Melas 65% 20% 15%


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Suggestions

1) Rural consumer environment must be understood before the creation of

ad.

2) Rural mindset accepts the brands easily, which are close to their culture.

This point must be reflected in ad for rural markets.

3) Sponsorships to the Melas and Hats must be considered in a significant

manner.

4) Selection of brand ambassadors, lyrics must not be ignored in this regard.

They have a special liking for folk culture so this can be taken in an effective

utilization of brand promotions.

Conclusions

1) The Language and content must be according to the suitability of rural

environment.

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2) Background figures are also a deterministic factor.

3) Admissibility of brand ambassadors plays an important role in this regard.

4) Special promotion measures are the strong applicable factors in this

regard.

BRAND LUX CASE STUDY

(Born: 1929, in India, as a bathing soap)

History: Owned by global consumer products giant Unilever Plc., the parent

company of Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL)

Status: Enjoys more than 17% market share in the premium soaps market

valued at Rs 6,000 crore

Brand story: What is the common seductive link between Hollywood actor

Paul Newman,Bollywood actors Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai

Bachchan and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief J.

Jayalalithaa? They have all tried selling a soap at some point or the other.

And the soap is Lux, the premium beauty soap from consumer products

company HUL. Lux has been the epitome of beauty for the Indian woman

and inspires all women in India to enjoy the process of beautifying without

any constraints, says Srikanth Srinivasamadhavan, category head, personal

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wash, HUL.

Luxderived from the word luxury was launched in 1899 as a laundry

soap in the UK. In 1925, the brand was extended to the toilet soap category.

It was positioned as a beauty soap in India, and HUL has since used

successful film actors of the timesuch as Leela Chitnis, Madhubala, Hema

Malini and Kareena Kapoorto endorse the product.

Luxs secret of longevity has been its consistent evolutionbe it the soap

colour, packaging or new variants, the brand has banked on innovation to

keep its youthful image intact. Extending the soap cake to a range of shower

gels, liquid soaps and moisturizing bars has helped the brand keep

consumers excited and the competition at bay.

What has not changed is the consistency in its communication and its

positioning.

Its tag linesIf its good enough for a film star, then its good for you too to

Play with beautyhave conveyed the same message over the years. Lux is

a brand like Mills & Boon. While the packaging and content could change,

the romance angle doesnt. It taps into an emotion very close to humanitys

basic needsocial interaction.

The brand has always hired celebrities when they have reached a certain

height rather than using them at the start of their careers. This avoids the

issue of celebrities overshadowing the brand, says Agnello Dias, national

creative director, JWT, which handles the account.

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CONCLUSION:

Therefore the motto of Hindustan Unilever Ltd is to encourage their

employees irrespective of success and failure. They combine the efforts on

building strong