Switch to Wella Kolestint!

Most hair color brands largely position themselves as functional tools, a means to cover up grey hair. One of the leading brands, L'Oreal, has for the longest time consistently included the phrase 'Not a single grey!' in its marketing.

Wella Kolestint, launched in India in 2010, has created a differentiated positioning. Rather than a functional product, it has set itself up as a cosmetic product that makes you look more attractive through your hair.

Women go to great lengths (no pun intended) to ensure their hair looks attractive. Many young urban girls, as some as young as 13, are experimenting with their hair color: getting streaks, colored bangs or simply going for a new shade altogether. One reason for this is to impress the opposite sex. A new hair color job can be construed as a makeover and is part of women's efforts to constantly reinvent their appearance.

The spot for Wella Kolestint (view here) talks directly to women, trying to strike a chord by understanding their concern. It asks a simple yet relevant question: why go through the trouble of applying hair color when it isn't even noticed? Switch to Wella Kolestint. And get noticed now!

It is important to note the stress on the verb 'switch'. Women are generally loyal to their hair color brand. Wella Kolestint is trying to incentivize the elusive switch by putting forth the tantalizing prospect of 'getting noticed by others' - something that may not be happening with a current hair color brand. It tries to feed the intrinsic feminine desire to appear better. It sweetens the deal by offering a free trial pack in exchange of an incumbent hair color pack.

The brand was launched a few months back with a tremendous outdoor push. Hoardings were seen at numerous locations. The OOO campaign is now being complemented with this TV campaign endorsed by celebrities. The public is aware of the long and clean relationship between Bipasha Basu and John Abraham. The chemistry between the two is a selling point in itself. Additionally, this spot brings out the playful nature of male-female relationships in a cute and familiar way - notice John struggling to figure out what his girl's big change is...a common pickle men unwittingly find themselves in and women get upset about!

With this standalone positioning, Wella Kolestint should be able to capture the fancy of its young female audience that does a lot to look good, and is not necessarily concerned about greying. Older women should also find its transformational aspect appealing, along with its promise of deeper and longer-lasting color. With rising disposable incomes and increasing exposure to Western styles and appearances, there is plenty of scope for Wella to do well in the Rs. 1200 crore Indian hair color market (2009, A.C. Nielsen). Eventually, however, success of the brand remains up to the quality and attractiveness of the range of colors it is offering.

Cadbury Celebrations - Eating Into the Traditional Sweets Market

One of the most exciting case studies of this generation, in spotting a market opportunity within a traditional product space and exploiting using clever marketing, is that of Cadbury Celebrations.

Celebrations is a premium chocolate pack offering from Cadbury India. Designed as a 'gifting' product, it is offered in several assortments - as a collection of Cadbury's traditional brands like Dairy Milk, Five Star, Perk and Gems, or in combinations of rich chocolate and exotic ingredients like almond, raisin, cashew and caramel.

Indians have a long and cherished tradition of gifting sweets on occasions, be it festivals, weddings, ceremonies, or celebrations both personal and corporate. The category of 'gift sweets' has and continues to be dominated by traditional Indian sweets. From the humble motichur ladoo (bright orange balls made of gram flour and sugar) to the delicately prepared and exotic sandesh (made from fine cow's cheese and molasses), traditional sweets occupy a special place in the Indian psyche - gifting them is considered auspicious (from their use as offerings to deities), appropriate and as a gesture of goodwill. In fact, the psyche is such that the process of choosing and buying sweets creates a sense of importance, even elation if you will, in the buyer's mind because it is understood that Indian sweets befit a special reason or relationship.

How then, did a chocolate brand fit into this equation? Cadbury was ingenious in spotting a huge opportunity in this category. Despite the huge variety, all Indian sweets eventually fell under the same title - mithai (traditional sweet). There were no alternate options available; no differentiated offering that satisfied the parameters established by mithai - grand in presentation, exotic and sweet in taste, rich in ingredients, fairly expensive, and having enough grammage to be appropriate for gifting.


Gifting in India is governed by these rules of propriety, and if a product had to compete with the monopoly enjoyed by traditional sweets, it had to be elevated to the plane of special occasions, special relationships, and special gifts.

It is imperative to note here that Indian sweets are delicious; they are considered a treat and an indulgence. Creating and projecting the perception of a far 'superior' product would have been difficult, to say the least. Proposing differentiation solely on the basis of taste or ingredients would have been a challenge. The solution was in the marketing. Cadbury had to market its product not as much as an alternate to mithai than as an exciting 'gifting concept' - one that people looked forward to receiving.

Launched in 1992, Celebrations was presented as a gifting choice that results when one really cares about the receiver, when one knows that expectations are higher than just traditional mithai.

The significance of marketing for this product is evident from the presence of a huge icon, Amitabh Bachchan, as brand ambassador since the beginning. So what points worked in Celebrations' favor?

Marketing prowess: Cadbury created campaigns centered around emotion and sentiment. The TVCs have consistently featured twin themes: an occasion for gifting and sharing (Diwali, Rakshabandhan, parties / celebrations), and a play on relationships - between brother and sister (view here), between old friends (view here), between families (view here). The spots bring out the special place our relationships occupy in our lives. Although they do focus on the product: the delicious combination of Cadbury chocolate and ingredients of traditional Indian sweets like dry fruit, they focus more on creating the perception that the 'brand' is perfectly appropriate for gifting and in fact, even desirable as a gift. The idea is to promote the magic of gifting, of building relationships through gifting, of sharing happiness through gifting. The spots are designed to create an aura around occasions and gifting on those occasions; they bundle together the little things that make gifting so special  - the joy experienced when handing over a gift, the expectancy, thrill and excitement of receiving one, the glint in people's eyes, the mischief of sharing (or not!), and people's realization that the gift is an expression of love. Cadbury has popularized, glamorized, and commercialized the idea of gifting - made it classy, aspirational, a lofty ideal, a source of happiness. And at the center of these ideas is Celebrations.

What are the other points in the product's list of selling points?

- Chocolate + rich ingredients
- The Cadbury brand and the public's fondness for Dairy Milk chocolate. The taste and acceptance factor is taken care of (everyone knows that everyone likes chocolate)

- Price: This is a significant point because Cadbury priced Celebrations competitively, as low as Rs. 125 for the Chocolates Assortment box and Rs. 200 for the Rich Dry Fruit Collection box. As the only unit available in terms of weight, price and form factor, there is no complication in the mind of the receiver as to the value of the gift received. In comparison, Indian sweets come with huge differences in price and quality (depending on the sweet and the store from where it is purchased), which possibly creates uncertainty in the mind of the receiver (the reverse is also true, though).

Adoption was swift and widespread. People have accepted Celebrations as a respectable gifting option, one comparable to Indian sweets. The TVCs continue to focus on the core tenet of the brand: nurturing relationships through sweetness. It is indeed a success story born out of smart, incisive understanding of a market accompanied by consistent, impactful messaging.

Cadbury Dairy Milk: An India Story

Cadbury Dairy Milk has enjoyed a long and celebrated history of consumption in India. With about 30% share of the Indian branded chocolate market currently, it is by far the most popular brand in the country.

Dairy Milk has also been a sustained advertiser, churning out new campaigns year after year and spending generously on the choicest of media spots.

Dairy Milk TV campaigns were always about celebrating life. Remember the 'Real Taste of Life' campaign that swept award shows in the mid '90s (view here)? The audience was broad (the cricket setting); the spots were simple in concept but accompanied by thoughtful execution. They made you smile, and you didn't quite know why.

It was about 5-6 years back that the chocolate maker started to follow a noticeable trend in its targeting. We began to see occasion-based themes such as 'Pappu Pass Ho Gaya', in which Dairy Milk was pitched as the celebratory food that everyone must partake in. Dairy Milk was shown as the obvious and most easily distributable of sweets on such occasions. One also began to notice a pronounced Indianness in the spots. Where there were location-neutral settings, we began to see rural or typical urban Indian settings. Where the themes were general, we began to see campaigns built around very specific insights into Indian consumption of sweets.

A recent, deeply insightful campaign has been 'Shubh Aarambh', meaning 'Prosperous Beginning'.

There is a widely followed tradition in India that before a person sets out to do something positive or enterprising, he or she must be fed a morsel of something sweet. If he/she consumes this before stepping out of the premises, it is believed the attempt will proceed successfully and the result will be positive. Indians aren't known to be skeptical when it comes to beliefs. Even the most skeptical ones will rather follow a tradition than risk inviting the wrath of being a non-believer. Capitalizing on this, Cadbury has deftly positioned Dairy Milk as an accepted foodstuff for this tradition (like yogurt sweetened with sugar). A piece of Dairy Milk chocolate, by virtue of its sweetness, appears as the new-age replacement of the traditional morsel. The ads are light-hearted and show situations that are not too significant in terms of stakes involved (view here). This may be deliberate so as to avoid illusion of false promise and invite bitter feedback in case of failure. But with a series of well-written spots supported by sensitive production, the brand will win hearts. Perhaps not beliefs yet, but hearts, definitely (view here).

The positioning opens up a huge opportunity to expand sales simply by virtue of India's size. It also pushes Dairy Milk into the league of must-haves in one's house for the purpose of tradition - a great achievement for any consumer brand. When a brand moves into the ethos of a people, it stays there. Remember 'Hamara Bajaj' with its 'Buland Bharat Ki Buland Tasveer'? Cadbury Dairy Milk is trying hard to do the same.

Following the Shubh Aarambh campaign is a cute ad released just recently. It is built around another very Indian want / need of consuming sweets after a meal. The trend is aptly presented by the ubiquitous question that pops up at every Indian dining table, 'Bhai meethe mein kya hai?', or 'Tell us, what's for dessert?' Now, every meal need not be followed by an elaborate dessert ; people simply want a sliver of something sweet; they want to be left with a sweet taste in the mouth. Dairy Milk fits this profile because chocolate, unlike traditional Indian sweets, has longer shelf life, occupies lesser fridge space and is much, much cheaper to stock for homemakers. Cadbury has presented Dairy Milk as a perfect option - little pieces of chocolate for everyone, satisfying the entire family. The spot has tried to position Dairy Milk as the obvious, convenient answer to the above question (view here). The message seems to have gotten a bit lost in the story, which features some brilliant acting by the little girl. Yet, the spot has recall value, has become popular and will help Cadbury's concentrated push into the Indian home. The brand's goal is in progress but clear: for every Indian occasion that calls for sweets, Cadbury Dairy Milk is the answer.