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Funskool - Welcome to the World of Toys !

Brand : Funskool Company: MRF Brand Count: 161 Funskool is the market leader in the Indian organised toys market. Pioneer in marketing branded toys, Funskool was launched in 1988 created a new beginning of high quality toys segment in the highly fragmented industry. Indian Toy industry is huge. Some reports estimate the size of the market to be around Rs 2500 crore ( some say it is Rs 1000 crore). The conflicting market size estimates is an ample proof that the market is highly unorganised. The organised branded toys segment accounts for only Rs 500 crore. Rest of the market is dominated by unbranded toys. Although the market for Toys is huge, the market is dominated by cheap imports from China.50% of the market is ruled by cheap imports. The China factor is the single most danger that the Indian toy industry face. Funskool created in 1987 is a joint venture between the World's largest toy manufacturer Hasbro and the Indian tyre major MRF. The brand ushered in an era of toys with educational value and also healthy ( safe). Funskool has since then evolved into a complete toy manufacturer that also exports toys to other markets. The Indian toy industry can be divided into a. Board games b.Building Blocks c. Dolls & soft toys d.Electronic toys While Funskool leads in board game segment, the players like Mattel and Lego leads in the building blocks and dolls segment. Mattel with its Barbie rules the premium end of the Dolls segment. Soft toys is another segment that is growing fast and gaining popularity. Hanung Toys is a major player in this segment.Funskool have a marketshare of around 25% in the branded segment. Funskool as a brand faces lot of issues in this market. The issues are more of environmental in nature rather than issues of the brand. The primary issue is the dominance of unbranded cheap toys that is available in the market. The market is price sensitive and hence the branded players face an issue of showing value for the premium paid by the customers. This together with cheap imports made the life difficult for brands like Funskool. The reason why people go after cheap toys is the lack of awareness about the hazards of using cheap low quality toys. In India Toys are seldom viewed as a development tool. According to Indian consumer, Toys serve the entertainment need of the kids and to the parents it is an easy way to get relief from Pestering kids. While in more developed countries, parents look for educational or developmental value in toys. This makes the category more price sensitive. Then comes the lack of awareness of parents about the safety of low priced cheap quality products. Although Funskool and other branded toy marketers have run commericials claiming that their toys to be more safe, majority of the consumers have not bought that idea. The main factor is that there has not been too many issues that have arisen because of the use of local toys. We Indians used to make toys out of nature like toys from coconut leaves, wood etc. Hence to teach the Indians sophistication is a difficult task. Then there is the issue of creative plagiarism or piracy. The rules regarding copying and reproducing toys are not in place or not executed ( copy right issues ). Thus the branded players are not able to sustain the differentiation based on characters or range. Everything can be replicated in this market without much fuss. Toys are products with shorter lifecycle. A model will survive in the market for 1-3 years. Hence the challenge for the marketer is to create newer toys frequently. Easier said than done, creating newer toys is a challenging task. In the buying process of toys, the marketer has to consider 3 individual minds and 3 different attitudes. While the child is the consumer, the mother acts as the executor of the order and the father controls the purse strings. Funskool was perfect in creating and marketing new games and toys. The brand is churning out 70-80 new varieties every year. Positioned on the platform of safety, variety and education, the brand already have a huge equity in the Indian market. The major competitor for Funskool is Mattel. Mattel has its range of Fisher Price brand of toys taking on the Funskool range. Fisher Price is a premium brand in the market and has a huge range of toys and from my personal observation has an edge in the shelf space at shops.I have a feeling that the brand is resting on its laurels recently interms of promotions.Fisher Price also is catching the consumers young by below the line promotions involving young mothers. While Mattel is ruling the dolls market, Funskool is competing with Barbie using its Sandy range of dolls. Funskool have been constantly tracking the trends in the toys market. The brand has an agreement with Disney to market cartoon based toys. Cartoon characters became popular with the rising popularity of kids channels. Funskool effectively captured the trend of Bayblade by launching it at an affordable price. Other innovations include Playdoh which is non toxic syntehtic dough which can be used to make different shapes and sizes. The challenge for Funskool is to encourage the Indian consumers to look at toys at a broader perspective than just an entertainment. Funskool cannot rest now since the market is hotting up with all the players competing for their share of the pie.Products like Playdoh and Sindy needs lot of promotions because those brands have immense potential. source:domainb,businessline,magindia,funskool.net

Bru : Happiness Begins with Bru

Brand : Bru Company : Hindustan Unilever Agency : O & M Brand Analysis Count : 359 Bru is a power brand from the HUL's stable. A brand which pioneered the instant coffee category in Indian market in 1969 is also an example of many successful marketing practices. According to HUL, Bru is the market leader in coffee segment with a value share of 46.9 %. Prior to 2004, HUL had many brands in the coffee category. It had Deluxe Green Label and Bru instant as the main brands and small brands like Dilkush, Cafe and Cafe Gold. In 2004, as a part of the power brand strategy, HLL decided to phase out Dilkush and Cafe brands . It then consolidated the coffee brands under the masterbrand Bru. Bru before becoming the family brand was positioned as a coffee that tasted just like filter coffee. But after the elevation to master brand, Bru took the positioning around happiness. Bru was synonymous for instant coffee and had an astounding 21% market share in the first year of launch itself. All these years, the brand has been fighting for the numero uno position with Nestle whose iconic Nescafe brand was the market leader. But in 2008, the brand pushed Nescafe to the second position. Much of the success of Bru can be attributed to following factors Innovation in new products Innovation in packaging & Aggressive campaigns Nestle lost out because of lethargy. The company failed to consistently invest in its Nescafe brand. I do not seeing any memorable campaigns from Nescafe in recent past. This has cost the brand dearly. HUL's marketing acumen is vivid in the rise of Bru as the market leader. It has never stopped innovating for this new brand. Bru was able to give new offerings to customers on a regular basis. One of the recent successful new product was the cappuccino packs. The new flavor gave the brand a new thrust in the market. The new flavors even prompted hardcore tea lovers like me to try out these flavors . The best part was that these cappuccino was available in single serve sachets which prompted consumers to test the flavors. Another innovation was the cold coffee. Bru launched the cold coffee variants which again captured the attention of the consumers. These thrusts in new product development and roll out is visible when one visits a super market. The coffee section is full of various flavors and packs of Bru which itself creates a positive vibration for the brand. Another factor which made Bru successful was the campaigns. The brand is famous for two campaigns. One featuring Amritha Rao was a big hit. The theme revolve around the shy girl wanting to introduce her boyfriend Sagar to her father. Watch the TVC here : Bru Sagar Another campaign which was highly popular was the 'little cup' ad. The ad shows the wife announcing the " good news " through a symbolic ' little cup'. Watch the ad here : bru Little cup Bru is positioned on the theme of happiness. The brand has the tagline " Happiness begins with Bru ". The positioning and communication has been consistent with the brand's promise of kickstarting one's day with a Bru. These slice of life ads put Bru in a growth orbit. Consumers started loving the brand for its innovation and campaigns. For the Bru Cappuccino, it had roped in the Bollywood Director Karan Johar to endorse the brand. Another critical factor that aided Bru's success was the innovation in packaging. The brand made the entry barrier low by launching small affordable SKUs. There are single serve and large packs at different price points making the brand affordable .The brand although is positioned as an aspirational brand is priced affordable thus making it a perfect example of a Masstige brand. Recently the brand has yet again came out with a customer centric innovation in the form of a flavor lock. Most of the customers worry about losing the flavor of coffee powder once the pack is cut open. The flavor lock is a plastic clip which will lock the flavor from escaping. More than actually locking the flavor, the lock gives a psychological belief that the flavor will not the lost. This little plastic lock also gives more convenience to the home maker. Typically when buying powders in packs, home makers have to transfer the powder to a container to preserve it for long. This lock effectively eliminates the need for such a container. Bru is a brand which has reached the commanding position following methodologically all the critical elements for marketing success : customer centric innovation, aggression and new product development Labels: beverages, FMCG, Food brands, HLL, innovation, Masstige Brand

Appy Fizz : Cool Drink To Hang Around

In the 7000 crore Indian Soft drinks industry dominated by the cola majors, Parle Agro is fighting for its share with its mango- drink Frooti and the apple drink Appy Fizz. I have talked about Frooti in one of my earlier blogs. Appy was launched in 1986 as an apple drink in tetra pack after the mega success of Frooti. But Appy was not that successful compared to Frooti. This year we saw the new avatar of Appy in Appy Fizz. Appy changed in to nectar based drink in 1993.Appy was launched with a new bottle and communication this summer trying its luck in this large Indian market. In the fruit based soft drinks, Apple drink is perhaps at the lowest in the hierarchy. The taste is less popular compared to the Orange, lemon, mango and pineapple flavors and in all these flavors there is cut throat competition among the cola majors. So Parle is trying hard to create a new segment with this drink. As a customer, I was never attracted to apple drinks. The only branded apple drink I remember seeing is the Himachal Pradesh Apple drink counter at the railway station. May be the popularity of apple drink is low in South India because of the availability and price factor. Since there is less popularity for this flavor, even after 20 years, Appy has not become a major brand in the SD market. That may be one of the reasons why Cola majors are not looking at this flavor. Appy Fizz is now being relaunched as a “Cool Drink to Hang Around With”. With its champagne shaped bottle and smart advertising, Parle has succeeded in creating a Fizz in the segment, which is basically the Indian Youth. Going by the demand in the College canteen for this drink, Appy Fizz has been able to catch the fancy of the early adapters. The ads created by Grey World Wide are cool and projects some thing unique about this drink that forced the TG to experience this product. The product itself is good hence there is a possibility of positive word of mouth. But it has to be seen whether Appy Fizz can be a volume player competing with Orange and Mango flavors. It is difficult because Appy is a heavy drink compared to Fanta or Mirinda. The taste may be popular with only a segment of the market hence limiting the scope of this brand. I would prefer cola or other flavors to this drink when I feel thirsty but will take a sip of this drink once in a while for a change (my personal opinion). In my home I feel it is risky to serve this drink to the guests because you never know how many will like this taste. These factors limit this brand to be a niche player but a profitable proposition if this brand is promoted seriously and positioned as a premium drink. Appy can ride on the health factor too in comparison with the other SD’s. Another advantage of this brand is the golden color of the drink, which makes it an ideal party drink as a welcome drink or a drink for those “tea totallers”. The brand will succeed if it can win the palette of the TG and with the current promotions, customers will give it a try.

Marketing Strategy : Unleash Your Innovation Engine

Indian companies are not well known for innovation. In comparison with the global counterparts, Indian firms have so far shied away from investing in innovation. That is the reason why India cannot boast of an iPod or a Google. It is not because India is lacking in brilliant minds. Indians are an inevitable part of the R&D initiatives of most of the global firms. Infact most of the global firms have their R&D centres in India to take advantage of the human potential available. Despite having brilliant minds, it is highly disheartening to see Indian firms lagging behind product innovations. One of the primary reasons is the reluctance of Indian corporate heads to invest in creating an innovation culture. When Indian firms begin to invest in creating an innovation culture, markets witness the launch of products like Nano, Tata Ace or a Mahindra Scorpio. One of the primary requisite of creating an innovation culture in an organisation is the top management involvement. Any breakthrough innovation can happen only if there is a strong commitment from the senior leadership of the company. Senior managers should be able to instil a sense of ownership in the mind of the employees if they want to create an innovation culture. The leadership should take care to erase the fear of failure which is most detrimental to the creation of a culture that promotes open innovation. Managers must also remove the myth that innovation is always expensive. We are living in an era where most of the brilliant dollar ideas are created by people working with very limited financial resources. When organizations embrace an innovation culture, the cost of creating innovations begins to reduce drastically. There are three critical investments that companies need to make in their quest for creating an innovation engine. The first investment is in the culture, second investment is people and the third investment is in the time. Creating an innovation culture is the primary requisite for all firms aiming to build their business on innovation. This is perhaps the most difficult investment to make. Once the innovation becomes a part of the culture, it can be further strengthened using processes. For example in 3M, 25% -30% of the revenue should come from new products introduced within five years. To facilitate this process, technical employees are allowed to spend 15% of their time on projects of their choice. Another vital investment is on the people. Management must understand that it is people who drive innovation. How ever robust be the process, without highly motivated people, process may achieve little. Firms focusing on innovation undoubtedly take care in selecting and retaining highly motivated employees. The new kids on the block like Twitter, Facebook is attracting bright talents because of their unique approach to work. Google has become one of the most preferred places to work because of their penchant for creating a unique work environment. Another vital investment that firms have to make is with respect to time. Creating an innovation culture cannot happen overnight. This is a long process and each firm should discover their own DNA of innovation. Time is the investment that the leadership has to make if they want to build the innovation culture into their organizations. Innovation cannot be initially managed over quarters. The management should first establish an innovation budget and encourage the employees to invest that budget into product development or improvement. It will be easy if these budgets are initially spent on product improvements rather than breakthrough products or new products. Once the entire team begin to understand the seriousness of the innovation drive, more and more serious innovations will follow. It is important for the senior management to tolerate failure. It is impossible to innovate without tolerating failure. And the fear of financial loss is the greatest inhibition for firms venturing into creating an innovation based business model. An open communication channel between the innovation leaders and the senior management is a necessity to avoid such financial loses. Managers should be encouraged to speak their mind about the viability of a particular idea or a project.

Global Warming

Global Warming By Holli Riebeek Design by Robert Simmon June 3, 2010 Throughout its long history, Earth has warmed and cooled time and again. Climate has changed when the planet received more or less sunlight due to subtle shifts in its orbit, as the atmosphere or surface changed, or when the Sun’s energy varied. But in the past century, another force has started to influence Earth’s climate: humanity Previous versions of this article were published in 2007 and 2002. Archived versions are available as PDF files. Photograph of sunglint and the Earth's limb from the Internation Space Station Expedition 22. (NASA astronaut photograph ISS022-E-6678.) What is Global Warming? Global warming is the unusually rapid increase in Earth’s average surface temperature over the past century primarily due to the greenhouse gases released by people burning fossil fuels. How Does Today’s Warming Compare to Past Climate Change? Earth has experienced climate change in the past without help from humanity. But the current climatic warming is occurring much more rapidly than past warming events. Why Do Scientists Think Current Warming Isn’t Natural? In Earth’s history before the Industrial Revolution, Earth’s climate changed due to natural causes unrelated to human activity. These natural causes are still in play today, but their influence is too small or they occur too slowly to explain the rapid warming seen in recent decades. How Much More Will Earth Warm? Models predict that as the world consumes ever more fossil fuel, greenhouse gas concentrations will continue to rise, and Earth’s average surface temperature will rise with them. Based on plausible emission scenarios, average surface temperatures could rise between 2°C and 6°C by the end of the 21st century. Some of this warming will occur even if future greenhouse gas emissions are reduced, because the Earth system has not yet fully adjusted to environmental changes we have already made. How Will Earth Respond to Warming Temperatures? The impact of global warming is far greater than just increasing temperatures. Warming modifies rainfall patterns, amplifies coastal erosion, lengthens the growing season in some regions, melts ice caps and glaciers, and alters the ranges of some infectious diseases. Some of these changes are already occurring.

How to Beat the 80/20 Rule in Sales Performance

Business executives and sales managers frequently bemoan 80/20 performance on their sales teams, where approximately 80 percent of sales are produced by approximately 20 percent of salespeople. Of course, the ratio is not always 80/20. Sometimes it is 75/25, 70/30, 60/40, or even 90/10. However, the situation the ratio describes is always the same: the vast majority of salespeople produce a fraction of what top performers on the very same sales teams produce. What are the reasons behind these performance disparities? What is it about top sales performers that enables them to achieve superior results? Can anyone achieve top performance in sales? Certainly there are some sales skills that anyone can learn. For example, it’s easy to teach how to ask reflective questions. Reflective questions are questions that begin with who, what, when, where, why and how. If you ask reflective questions instead of questions that can be answered with yes or no, prospects usually share more information with you. This increases your chances of uncovering "pain points" that can eventually lead to sales. You can learn how to ask reflective questions by participating in a simple role play. In this role play, you'll play the salesperson and I'll play the prospect. Every time you ask me a yes or no question, I'll answer "no." Getting stonewalled with a bunch of "no" answers will break you of the yes/no questioning habit pretty quickly! Other sales skills are tougher to learn. A good example is teaching salespeople how to ask questions and follow the thread; in the answers. To explain this concept, let's use another role play. In this role play you'll ask me reflective questions. I'll respond with answers that contain some "pain points". If you recognize the pain points and drill down into them deeply enough (by asking additional questions), you'll eventually be able to "sell" me. Do you know what my experience has been with this role play? Some salespeople learn how to "follow the thread" easily. Others struggle, but they eventually learn how to do it. However, some just never get it, no matter how hard they try! Why can some people learn this critical skill, but others can't? I struggled with this question for 14 years. I used to believe that anyone could succeed at anything if they wanted it badly enough and were willing to work hard enough. However, my experience with the "follow the thread" role play made me start to question that belief. As I continued reading and researching over the years, I eventually uncovered two pieces of information that really opened my eyes. KEY DISCOVERY #1 In their book, "Now, Discover Your Strengths", Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton report that great managers and average managers have different expectations for their employees. According to Buckingham and Clifton, average managers assume that "each person can learn to be competent in almost anything", while great managers assume that "each person&'s talents are enduring and unique". Most sales books and training programs seem to take the average manager point of view. In other words, they seem to assume that anyone can learn how to sell. Their unspoken promise is that all you have to do is invest enough time, effort and money to learn the skills they teach. If you put in the time and effort, you will learn the skills and eventually succeed in sales. Unfortunately, there are countless examples of sales books and training courses not producing the desired improvement in sales performance. Think about some salespeople you know personally. How many of them are struggling to make their quotas? Why are they struggling? * Is it the state of the economy? (If other salespeople are making their numbers, blaming the economy won't earn them much sympathy.) * Is it because they don't work hard enough? * Is it because they don't have enough product knowledge? * Do they need to work harder on their selling skills? * Do they need more coaching from their manager? What if the "great manager" point of view is correct? What if everyone cannot become proficient in sales? What if success in sales requires a unique set of talents?

13 BLOGGING TIPS AND WHY YOU NEED THEM FOR YOUR BUSINESS

1.catch the attention ofan audience Every business needs traffic, whether this is foot traffic in a high street store or 'eyeballs' to an online store. A good blog not only generates traffic, but also helps retain that traffic, keeping people coming back and growing in loyalty. 2. Inform, interact and learn from your audience Informed and educated visitors become confident, loyal customers. More people are turning to the internet to research the products and things they want before they buy. You can position your company as a go-to resource, thereby winning more business. Plus, with blogging, information flows both ways. You can gain insights into your customers' minds, their needs, challenges and preferences. Comments, feedback forms, surveys and polls become instant, spontaneous market research tools. It's like working with a free focus group that tells you which products you should create and why. 3.hang on to your audience Too many marketers focus on gaining initial visibility through advertising or attention-seeking stunts. If that tactic does not convert into instant sales, the budget and effort are wasted. With a blog you can hold a prospect's interest for longer, winning customers round over time, and bringing them back to hear from you long after their first contact. No need for spammy, desperate-sounding sales messages. 4.uplift your audience Even better than a growing, loyal audience is a growing, loyal audience that takes action. A blog can motivate your visitors to do things. All you need is a copy that warms them up, a motivating story and a clear call to action. 5. Recruit help, contacts, employees Why spend thousands on recruitment consultants and advertising when you have the best recruitment mechanism at your fingertips? Your blog audience is the most likely to respond and the most likely to be appropriate future employees and networking contacts. 6. Respond to stories and customers Customer service and public relations have never been more important; a bad story can spread around the web's social networks at speed. Your blog becomes a responsive outlet to explain your side of any story and douse the fires of negative activity. 7. Links for direct traffic You can't beat valuable, authoritative content for attracting links from other websites, forums, discussion lists and social networks. These links bring a quantity of attention, as well as quality, targeted visitors that turn into good leads. 8. Links for SEO As well as the direct traffic benefit of leads, links are important in bringing in search visitors. The more linkable your website, the better your search results will be. Very often traditional websites are difficult to link to and not easy for search engines to index. This can be due to the website's structure, the software it's built with, or its overly complex URLs. Blogs are almost always superior in this respect. 9. Building trust and familiarity Trust is vital in making sales and important for encouraging visitors to opt into your lead-generation process. By starting with compelling information and resources, and by encouraging repeat communication, you build familiarity. Over time, this creates a strong bond of trust, making sales so much easier. 10. Branding This positive attention and these value-based, long-term experiences don't just create trust. They help to create a stronger, better brand. This leads to word-of-mouth advertising, which is one of the best forms of promotion you can get. 11.expanda community Through discussion, interaction and comments, you can help forge a sense of community that can be strengthened both online and off. 12. Offer better service Your blog provides multiple routes for customers and prospects to get in touch. It can show your human, approachable side, allow better customer interaction, and improve customer service. 13. Initiate more sales All of these benefits add up to more new and repeat sales from much happier and better informed customers.