The Hindu Business Line : Oh, for the right moment!

Timing the offering is important but marketers rarely give it much thought, probably because they are overwhelmed by consumers' lifestyle changes or because they believe in high-visibility campaigns.

Will we, won't we? Several categories, like branded pickles, have been in the market for decades, but haven't penetrated consumers' mindsets.

Contrary to the popular perception that branding is all about just advertising, there are several other aspects of a brand that go into managing the brand, especially in the long term. This myth needs to be emphasised as a basic aspect of managing products and brands. Timing the offering is an important aspect of branding but marketers rarely give it much thought, probably because they are overwhelmed by the lifestyle changes of consumers or because they believe that often just high-visibility campaigns can ensure the feasibility of the offering.

The importance of timing the offering can be effectively realised if there is some researching the marketing of brands over a period of time across product categories. Several well-known brands have experienced problems with regard to managing brands, due to not timing the offerings in an appropriate manner.

Are consumers ready?

Time share vacations were introduced in the mid-Eighties. The concept of home theatre in consumer electronics was also introduced at around the same time. A well-known company introduced a bottled apple drink too. None of these offerings caught on.

There have been good offerings from companies that have not really caught on even after several decades of their presence in the market. Liquid detergent is one category, frozen vegetables is another, and hair cream is one more. These categories have been around for quite sometime but have not caught the fancy of consumers. Timing the offering and the many aspects of the marketing mix are important when a company attempts to diffuse products that are especially new to the market (without a reasonable penetration for over several decades, the offerings remain as "new" to the large number of consumers who have not tried them).

Some decades ago, consumers may not have had the need to try out certain categories of products but today, they are likely to try out a category provided a brand formulates appropriate strategies. Such strategies will have to use the consumer's propensity to try out new brands and categories or familiar offerings that are getting branded.

Vulnerability of established brands

Another vital dimension is that if the pioneering brand does not diffuse the brand and develop a consumer base, even unknown brands may start diffusing the category and building its brand. Easy Wash, the liquid detergent brand being advertised on a regional TV channel, is an interesting example of how this is happening.

Liquid detergent brands are not new to the environment. Genteel and Ezee are brands that have been in the market for quite some time. There is perhaps a perception that such offerings are used only for expensive fabrics. Recently, Surf Excel introduced a liquid variant at the higher end of the market in line with such a perception.

Easy Wash is actively being advertised and with some more supplementary efforts pertaining to other marketing mix elements, the brand may succeed in spreading the usage of liquid detergents that were never in the mindset of consumers for several years, despite the availability of the offering.

Affordability and category usage

One other aspect associated with such strategies is whether the consumers are prepared for the offering in terms of affordability and usage. Launching affordable variants in the category is relevant to a mass market like India. The shampoo category during the Seventies had a few well-known brands like Sunsilk, Pond's and Halo. Clinic Plus was introduced more as a medicated shampoo than as the conventional cosmetic one.

There were a few variants available but the issue was the unit price that mattered for the affordability of masses. Shampoo was very much a category for the elite sector of consumers. Today, sachets costing Rs 2-3 per packet account for around 65-70 per cent of the shampoo category.

Branded pickles have been in the market for several decades. Bedekar and TSR (regional) were probably the earliest to package the product as sell them as brands. Later, several other brands including Maggi joined the category. Still, the penetration of the branded category is quite low, though consumers have always been prepared for the offering. Chinni's, the brand from CavinKare, is attempting to penetrate the market with strategies that other brands may not have tried. Apart from affordability issues, with the pressure on time due to changing lifestyles, consumers (at least in some markets) may be more open to spending on categories that they feel are required for their habits/lifestyle. Pickle being one such category, the brand Chinni's has roped in a well-known southern celebrity. Celebrity usage is quite common across categories but this brand has brought in an overtone of culture into its communication. The advertisement (TV commercial) shows a common South Indian delicacy and triggers the "experiential expectation" of the brand being used with the delicacy. The endorsement by the celebrity at the "backdrop" further adds on to the focus of the brand's communication. If such a brand is also available in affordable sachets and made available in retail outlets, the consumer will be more tempted to try the brand. Affordability and willingness to try the category (new or familiar) has to be backed up by a synergistic marketing mix.

Lifestyle changes

The earlier mention of the propensity of consumers to try out categories and branded offerings is substantiated by the lifestyle changes experienced by consumers. Brylcreem was probably the oldest and perhaps the most well-known hair cream brand in the Indian context. The brand recently repositioned itself and also extended itself into after-shave and gel offerings. There were also a few relaunch TV commercials to emphasise its relevance to youth following a trendy and urban lifestyle. Parachute's hair cream positioned as "after shower" has brought in strong linkages to the personal grooming ritual catching up with younger consumers. The various price points of the brand too are likely to attract trials.

The fairness cream market is a category that has brought in a number of offerings that may be in line with the consumers' aspirations to being a "well-groomed person," always likable and appealing to one and all. What the apparel brands stood for a decade ago with regard to personal grooming is today being attempted by various other categories with both new offerings and renewed marketing communication. Menz Active and Fair and Handsome (fairness cream for men) is certainly a "timing-based" strategy, though such creams may have been used by men, perhaps on the sly, in the past. Fair & Lovely with its herbal variant to several other related categories (the clarity variant being a recent one) is timing its offerings at a time when consumers believe that facial grooming spearheads personal grooming ritual.

(Dr. S. Ramesh Kumar is Professor of Marketing, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.)

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