Differentiating in increasingly undifferentiated markets - An article by an alumnus

In the increasingly cluttered world of branded packaged goods it is quite common for brand managers to say in frustration that a category has become commoditised and that there is absolutely no possibility of creating a sustainable functional brand differentiator. But here are 2 examples which show that that need not be so.

As we all know the starting point for functional differentiation is to offer some product attribute that meets a consumer need. However, to expect research to discover any substantial unmet needs nowadays is often too ambitious - in fact much research on cluttered categories comes to no other real conclusion than that all the consumer needs is a better product at a lower price. Hence it is more realistic to set out with the declared objective for your research to search for any insight on a new facet or extra dimension to a consumer need to help your brand stand apart.To illustrate this, recent research conducted on the crowded toothpastes market revealed that consumers had no real unmet need - and that the only call from consumers was the old story that the benefit of brushing one's teeth should simply last longer. More exploratory work on this theme led to the insight that consumers believed that toothpastes work best during the process of brushing and immediately afterwards - but that the benefit of the toothpaste vanishes immediately the user consumes the first morsel of food/drink thereafter. This insight led to the creation of a "brush brush" audio mnemonic (i.e. the sound of brushing every time users in the ad opened their mouths ) that told the consumer that this toothpaste continues working for a full 12 hours regardless of whether the user is eating, drinking or sleeping. Evaluation of this as an ad concept revealed that consumers did indeed believe because of the "brush brush" mnemonic that the therapeutic effect of this brand of toothpaste continued working even after eating/drinking. This produced one of the most memorable ad campaigns ever in the category - and subsequent brand tracking revealed high identification with this benefit, and an increased brand share.Our second example comes from a category that you might expect would be an even greater challenge - the household insecticide market. Advertising for mosquito coils typically talks of increased efficacy and lasting longer - and every brand in the market says the same things. However, a stray consumer comment in research, that smoke from the coil does not penetrate curtains (where mosquitoes are believed to hide) because the smoke loses its strength by the time it reaches the corners of the room, led to the development of an ad campaign that spoke about new properties in the smoke that took it to the furthest corners of the room and able to penetrate the thickest of curtains. This attribute quickly became the acid test of efficacy for the category and single-minded communication on this property led to our brand being uniquely associated with it despite other brands trying to jump on the band wagon later.Summing up :• In many product categories these days all functional needs that were there to be discovered, have already been discovered • Insights therefore are no longer so much about discovering new consumer needs...but about exploring well recognised needs to greater depths to uncover a hitherto unused facet or dimension.This means: • looking for a new dimension to the functional brand benefite.g. goes on working despite eating - as a new dimension to the works longer need;e.g. penetrates curtains - as a new dimension to the efficacy need• discovering an executional device like the "brush brush" mnemonic to express this new dimension of the brand benefit.As seen by these 2 case studies the dimensions and the executional device were new - not the basic underlying consumer needs themselves. When you have nothing new to say - as is the case in most cluttered branded packaged goods today - then say it differently. Scope for brand differentiation will rarely lie in addressing a new need, but more and more in presenting a solution to an old need from a new angle. In other words in the world of brand differentiation today the 'How' has become more important than the 'What'. - Ram Mohan J Rao , Exec. Director at Feedback Middle East.

What's in a name

There are umpteen number of national and international brands to which we get attracted, because of their brand names or sometimes only because of their brand names. Some brands are outright straight in conveying 'what the brand stands for' in their brand names itself e.g. Weekender - A casual clothing line for the weekends. There are others which are kinda subtle but very effective in communicating what the brand stands for. Such local brand names which Rooster noticed are:

1. THALAPAKATTU BIRYANI: This is a chain of Budget briyani and fast food restaurant with branches throughout Chennai. The phrase "Oru kattu kattanum [tamil]" means 'gotta have a hearty and sumptuous meal'. And 'Thalapa' is headgear or a turban which is worn during deaths and marriages etc, and normally signifies 'being or getting ready for something'. So, the brand name Thalapakattu essential signifies 'getting ready for sumptuous plate of biryani' and its kinda rugged and appeals to the local sensibilities.

2. APPLE A DAY PROPERTIES: Is a builder in Cochin who is into flats construction and promotion. Its tagline is 'Enabling health....healthy living'. This brand name 'Apple a day' helps greatly in the builders positioning. One look at the brand name is enough to convey what the brand and the organistion stand for. Is the name 'Apple a day' subtle?...Yes, it is. The organisation doesn't have a name like 'Healthy Life properties', 'Greenlife properties' etc which somehow doesn't appeal as caring and an organisation of repute.The name 'Apple a day' is subtle but strong in communication. This name conveys the organisation's standing in a subconcious manner too.

3. DENTISTREE: Ah...'Caught you...this one is not subtle in communicating wht the name stands for' is that what ur thinking? Ya, u r rite. This might not be subtle but the word-play makes it interesting. Dentistree is a chain of specialised dental care centres in Chennai. Its logo 'the banyan tree' makes the name more interesting and also draws an analogy between the strength the banyan tree's roots and the strength the root canals of our teeth ought to have.

What's in a name will continue......as Rooster discovers more such Brandnames.

Rooster Round-up - 25th May

Whatever Rooster spots:

Perfetti's Mentos [Chewy dragees] is now available as Chewing Gums too.

Rooster spotted 'Pepsodents Kids' toothpaste in a retail outlet. There were three variants in the retail outlet, namely Barbie, Superman and Tom n Jerry.

Fiamma Di Willis shampoo is available as a pack of 7 sachets. Since many people buy shampoo sachets instead of bottles and use one sachet per wash, rooster thinks that its a brilliant idea for a Shampoo SKU. This pack of 7 is priced Rs 20, a rupee less than it costs to buy 7 sachets of the shampoo. [But why 7? is it because the pack would become bulky for say 10 sachets and insignificant for say 4 sachets and 7 is the appropriate number? or does it just signify a WEEK's pack - one sachet a day for a week?]

Rooster spotted "Cadbury Lite" - a 'No sugar Added" chocolate bar targeted at the diabetic chocolate lovers. It is said to contain a sugar substitute 'Maltitol'.

Haldirams, the nagpur based snack company also has 'a ready to eat Bhel-puri' and 'sharbat liquid concentrate' in its portofolio.

'Schweppes tonic water' is spotted in the retailer's refrigerators.

[P.S: Rooster is currently in Chennai and these products were spotted in a retail outlet at chennai]

yaar ek bisleri......[a]

A bisleri distributor in Chrompet, Chennai.

Tv commercials are now on air for the HIMALAYA brand of water.

Yaar..ek Bisleri daena [Hey..gimme a bottled water]

When approximately three-fourth of the earth we live in and our body itself is nothing but Water, rooster thinks that water befits as the first topic to be discussed in this blog. So here we go… ‘The bottled drinking water or the packaged drinking water industry’.

Initially the rooster’s little brain was baffled by the various types of water. And it had a hard time understanding differences between various types and the difference of sparkling water with that of seltzer water etc, This is what a Pepsico website says about a bottled water actually is: Water is classified as "bottled water" or "drinking water" if it meets all state standards, is sealed in a sanitary container and sold for human consumption. Bottled water cannot contain sweeteners or additives (other than flavors, extracts or essences) and must be calorie-free and sugar-free. In addition, most bottled waters are sodium-free or include "very low" amounts of sodium.

The different type of bottled waters available in the market, as rooster understands them:

Packaged drinking water: This is nothing but purified plain water. The source of this water could anything, tap water, ground water etc. This water is purified by processes such as reverse osmosis etc. Some companies add a small amount of minerals such as sodium chloride, Magnesium sulphate, potassium bicarbonate etc. [though some minerals are added, these waters are not Mineral waters in the true sense]. This water is also called still water.

Natural Spring water: These waters are spring waters purified naturally through nature’s own aquifers available in mountain tops. This is what is actually called “Mineral water”, as this water has minerals which are imparted in it through nature’s own processes.

Sparkling water: This water is nothing but purified water with low carbonation in it. This carbonation can either occur naturally or added by the bottler. [Take note that, the sparkling water is different from Club soda or seltzer water, which is also carbonated. While the sparkling water comes under Purified packaged water category, the seltzer falls under the soda category, where the carbonation can be stronger and the final product can also have some traces of salt].

Flavoured water: This water is flavoured with flavors, extracts and essences derived from spices, fruits etc. This is not a soft drink but only a water which is flavored. The addition of flavors must comprise less than one percent by weight of the final product.

Nutrient enriched water or enhanced water: As the name suggests this water is enhanced with Vitamins and other nutrients, and is marketed for sporting activities and for people who lead an active lifestyle. This is otherwise called the functional waters.

Bulk water packages: This is water which is typically sold in packs of above 20 liters, used at homes or offices.

Global Vs Indian Bottled water Industry: Globally, the bottled water consumption is about 178 billion litres [47 billion Gallons] per annum and the annual per capita consumption is about 27 liters [7.2 gallon].

India is ranked 9th in the world among countries with maximum bottled water consumption. We, Indians consume about 8 billion litres of bottled water per annum. So, that makes our per capita consumption approximately about 8 liters per annum, which is very low when compared to the per capita topper Italy with about 203l/annum/capita. The US of A is the obvious topper with respect to the total consumption with about 1/6th of the total global consumption. No wonder, why the bottled water is the second largest selling beverage in USA, next only to the aerated drinks.

In India the bottled water industry has grown at a CAGR of 21.7% for last 5 years [2002-07]. The growth rate for 2002-03 was whooping 45.6% over its previous year. And in the following years, the annual growth rates were 32.7 %, 23.8%, 4.9%, 6.5%.

Nestle, Danone, Pepsi and Coca-cola are the four companies which dominate the world bottled water market. These companies, in an acquisition spree, have acquired many regional and best-selling brands of bottled water e.g. Coca-cola’s acquisition of Glaceau. There are many well-know bottled brands globally like Evian, San Pellegrino, and Perrier etc. Most of these brands are from the Europe [which is world’s largest bottled water market] whereas brands like dasani, aquafina are from the house of the CSD majors Pepsi and CCI.

Indian brands and bottling companies:

Bisleri [from Parle Bisleri International], the generic bottled water brand of India is touted to be the leader in this industry. Rooster wasn’t able to find the exact market share of Bisleri in India. In some of the sources, it is said that Bisleri has a market share of 40% and other sources say that it is 60%. Here, we can be sure of, only its leadership.

Kinley and Aquafina [from Coca-cola India and Pepsico] should be the second and third best selling bottled waters respectively, in India. Rooster is only almost sure, as it couldn’t find any concrete data, confirming this.

Ramesh Chauhan, the promotor of Parle Bisleri, ventured into bottled water business when he acquired it in 1967 from the Italian company Felice Bisleri. “You would first be ridiculed, then accepted, and finally you become a success” said Mahatma Gandhi. That’s what exactly happened with Chauhan’s Bisleri, who did not sell this Brand alone when Coca-cola re-entered India in the 90’s [He sold his Other brands Gold Spot, Limca, Thumps-up, Citra, Maaza etc to Coca-cola]. But talks are still around that Bisleri is considering an acquirer or some kind of Joint-venture with the acquiring company.

Pepsico introduced its Global water brand aquafina in India, in 1999. And CCI too introduced the brand ‘Kinley’ in India in the late 90’s, whereas in most other countries [except a few Asian Countries] it sells the water brand ‘Dasani’. And Kinley is said to have toppled bisleri’s leadership position, once, within two years of entry into the Indian Market in 2002.

‘Bailley’ is another good brand of Packaged drinking water from the house of Parle Agro, now managed by sunidhi Chauhan, a niece of Bisleri’s Ramesh Chauhan. Rooster reckons that this brand is growing well in its own right and is finding itself as a favourite among some consumers.

Aquafina, Bailley and kinley are as of now only into the Packaged drinking water [Purified plain water] category, while Bisleri had entered the ‘Natural Mountain spring water’ category in 2006. Bisleri, Kinley and Aquafina are all into the bulk water segment too.

‘Himalayan natural mineral water’ is another brand of Command in the natural spring water category, from the Company Mount Everest Mineral water, whose controlling stake was bought by Tata Tea, after it sold its stake in the foreign water brand ‘Glaceau’ to Coca-cola.

The water brand ‘Catch’ from DS Foods [Famous for its Rajnigandha Gutka and Catch brand of Salt and pepper] is the only brand in Indian Brand which is into Flavoured and sprinkling water category. And the source of its water is spring water too.

The other brands available in the market are either surrogate or local and regional brands. Kingfisher, Manickchand oxyrich, Mcdowell No1 are all surrogate water brands. The Australian beer brand Fosters has also joined this bandwagon. These surrogates do not look serious at all for they are just being used to promote the main beer and alcohol brands. But Manickchand seems a little more serious than others, which can be seen primarily from the fact that it’s been named ‘oxyrich’ and given a positioning that its oxygen rich, rather than just naming it as ‘Manickchand packaged drinking water’.

Nestle India backed out of the bottled water market and removed its ‘Pure life’ from the market. The head of Nestle India had even said in an interview that his company is not looking at introduction it again in India. Royal Challenge and Haywards 5000 brand of packaged water were other surrogates that were available in the market and have disappeared too.

Well, global water brands too are available in India. Narang’s Hospitality Services pvt. Ltd. is the national distribution and marketing partner for ‘Evian Natural Mineral Water’ in India [This company also distributes Red Bull in India].

Distribution: Distribution is the key factor in the bottled water market. The no. of bottling facilities a company has and its distribution strength matters a lot. “Distribution is the bottleneck and our highest cost. We are racking our brains how to deal with this”, said Mr. Chauhan. The CSD majors can leverage their strength in Soft drinks distribution to effect for their bottled water brands too [But CCI is said to have separated the distribution for Kinley and its carbonated beverages]. Bisleri is aid to have about 35 manufacturing centres and 120 distribution centre, which makes it possible for Bisleri to be distributed well throughout the country.

The disadvantage, the MNC and bigger players have is that they have a single plant for an entire State and these units suffer from high overheads and marketing expenses. But smaller and regional players could have smaller plants at different locations that would bring down the distribution cost and give them pricing advantage. Sabol, a regional packaged water brand from Coimbatore is one such Company to exploit this kind of a strategy to its advantage [Sabol, which is also into the bulk water segment claims to have about 25% market share in Tamilnadu]. Rooster found that kinley is not quite being distributed at all in Kerala, where the CCI’s plant in the Palakad district was closed down and opened for production only recently. So, it is clearly evident that not having enough bottling capacities would definitely hamper distribution.

The bottling capacity also does matter and especially during summers, when the sale peaks. So, companies try to juggle through a combination of company-owned plants, franchisee operations and contract packers.

Aquafina, now follows a home-delivery model for its bulk water variant of the home and institutional segment. And it also has an electronic pre-paid card option for this channel. This delivery model is professional and the physical delivery will be done by the ‘Aquaman’, who will sell the dispensers for these jars after explaining about each model of dispenser.

Water brands have to be present in large quantities in the new format retail stores, as in the west. But the problem is that, people who shop in retail stores like Reliance Fresh, shop for their families. And so the bottled waters do not sell, as most Indian families do not consume bottled water at home. So, the companies must at least sell their bulk waters through these outlets. By this way, the doubt about the authenticity of bulk waters that people buy for their homes, will also vanish out of people's minds.

The last word is that it is only because the good brands are not available at the retail points, the consumers are forced to buy the local brands and an extra Rs.3 is not making of a big difference in their purchase decision [While Bisleri, Aquafina, Kinley and Bailley are sold at Rs 13/ litre, most local brands are sold at Rs 10/ litre]. And so it is up to the companies to find out ways to improve its availability across all retail points.

Packaging: Rooster feels that Packaging is what can lure consumers to buy a bottle of water, when there isn’t much of a differentiator between bottled water brands both in terms of the product and price. A hygienic, neat and safe looking bottle which also looks trendy can definitely have a lot of takers.

Bisleri, when it started in 1960’s was sold in glass beer bottle and in 1980’s the bottle changed to PET but the shape remained. Later the company just added some more shapes: conical one-litre bottles, hexagonal half-litre ones and rectangular two-litre bottles. In the 90’s bisleri came up with tamper proof seals and did even a big promotional campaign based on its Safe Tamper Proof ‘Breakaway Seals’. It introduced its ‘breakaway seal’ for the 20 l jar too. 500 ml, one, two, five and 20 litres were the packs that Bisleri had and in 2000, it introduced an unconventional 1.2 litres bottle. This pack, Bada Bisleri, was introduced in order to make the pack sturdier than the 1 litre pack and to earn more margins per crate. In the same year, it also introduced the 300 ml cups targeting large gatherings [Institutional business]. Bisleri, owns even a patent for its Hexagonal shaped bottles. Bisleri felt that this allowed better brand display and the vertical labeling used was easier on flat sleeved packages and made label information visible from all sides of the bottle.

Then came the complete make-over for Bisleri in 2006, when it also introduced its mountain spring waters. It shed the ubiquitous dark-blue colour of the bottled water labels, to don itself in aqua-green. Both the regular bottled water and the mountain water variant are now sold in a streamlined, round shaped bottles. And both the water variants use the same coloured labels and the only difference is that the mountain water variety has the image of mountain on its label and its cap. And Bisleri says its packaging changes have saved costs for them. Sticking labels on bottles which has a tapered neck took a lot of time for Bisleri. But the usage of new wider necked [Alaska necks] bottles meant faster sticking of labels, less plastic usage and therefore more savings. So, in India, Bisleri now uses a uniform design for all bottle sizes. But Bisleri, which announced its entry into the international waters in 2006, is creating new packaging as a differentiator for these international markets. It is finalising the design of a hexagon-shaped bottle in two sizes: one litre and half litre.

While Aquafina seems to use the same package design for both the international markets and India, Kinley has a completely different design when compared to its sister brand Dasani. But both Aquafina and Kinley uses the same dark-blue colours. Kinley, too introduced its 200 ml cups in Gujarat in 2002. But what is not clear is that, has Kinley dropped this package or has it not rolled it out throughout the country. Kinley introduced its 20 litres pack in 2001 whereas Aquafina rolled out the 20 litre variant only in 2003.

Aquafina, in 2008, is up for a new label on its bottles, which will announce that Pepsico is a Positive water balance company. In other words, the company says it will save and replenish more water in its plants and communities than the total water it uses in the country. And this after an external auditor has been mandated to audit its positive water balance process. Aquafina now has a 25 liters pack for which it uses the above discussed home delivery and an electronic pre-paid card model. Pepsi in 2007 also announced that it will print “public water source” on its aquafina bottles after the “think outside the bottle campaign” in US. But nothing of that sort has happened in India yet.

Aquafina now has only ½ l, 1 l, 2l, 25 l packs. Bisleri has 250ml cups, 250ml bottles, 500ml, 1L, 1.5L, 2L which are the non-returnable packs & 5L, 20L which are the returnable packs. Himalayan has only three variant packs 500 ml, 1 l and 1.5 l. Bailley is available in 200 ml, 330 ml, 1 l, 2l and 20 l packs. Bailley has recently gone for a make-over, shedding its conical design for its 1 litre variant and going in for a trendy Alaska-necked bottles with wave like designs on it. Bailley has also changed colours, like Bisleri, and has moved from the old dark-blue colour to a cool light blue shade. Bailley also has a hook on the cap, facilitating carrying around, in its 2 litre variant.

Internationally, there are great new designs of bottles being introduced every year. Evian, for example has the price winning design of nomad sports bottle, French alps bottle and the recent the Evian Palace bottle etc. But India is still infested with bottles which doesn’t look neat and healthy. Even big brands Kinley, Aquafina are prone to such things like improper labeling etc, which makes it extremely difficult for the consumers to find out the original from the spurious.


Rooster feels that at present, Bailley has the best bottle design in India, next only to the design of the erstwhile ‘Pure Life’ brand of water [See the picture].

Advertising and promotions: Currently the advertisements on air for the packaged drinking water are only the surrogate ads for kingfisher packaged drinking water [The ad where one true Kingfisher fan tries to teach the other, how to hum the ‘Ula-lala-lale-o’] and the recent Fosters packaged drinking water ad being aired during the IPL matches. There are no ads on air currently for any of the serious brands Bisleri, Aquafina, Kinley etc.

The serious ad last seen on TV would probably be the ad for ‘Bisleri Mountain Spring natural water’. But the late 90’s and the early years of this decade, saw a lot of mass media activity. The 90’s saw a huge campaign from Bisleri based on its Tamper proof breakaway seals telling consumers that Biseri is the safest Bottled water with its ‘Pure and Safe’ tagline. When it saw that every other player is also focusing on the purity platform, it went with a series of funny 10 second ads, which says ‘where’s the seal’, again focusing on the Tamper proof seals, but with a tagline ‘Play safe’ [moving away from its ‘Pure and safe’].

And in the wake of competition from the MNCs after the year 2000, Bisleri went for the eyeballs catching suggestive ads. In the one of the print ads, a lady in a bikini is shown lying face down, soaking up the sun. A part of the lady's body is shielded by a bottle of Bisleri and the message is: Play Safe. The television version of the ad ran for 45 seconds. The film opens with a couple sitting on a beach in front of a bonfire. The girl suddenly starts running and is followed by the boy. As she collapses on the sand, she whispers something in his ear which sends him back to the bonfire. He rummages through the bags, but can't find what he is looking for. He rushes to the nearest chemist's and picks up a huge carton. Back at the beach, he opens the carton, and finds 500 ml Bisleri bottles inside. The girl quenches her thirst, almost in ecstasy, as the boy watches her with a comical expression on his face. Then comes the message: Play Safe. The ad almost looks like a condom ad and any person who views the ad for the first time would be surprised to find out its water that’s being advertised. These ads looked like the youth were the primary targets, as they are the ones who are more likely to be lured away by the MNC brands. Ambience Publicis [then Ambience D’arcy] is the ad agency for Bisleri for more than 20 years now.

In August 2001, Kinley launched an ad campaign with the tag line Boond boond mein vishwas (Trust in every drop). The ad focussed on trust in relationships. The 40 second commercial opens in a rural setting, showing cracked earth and a young boy waiting for rain. A Kinley truck arrives and sprinkles water all over. The boy's face breaks into a smile. The ad also shows a father running behind his son's school truck to hand over a Kinley bottle. One another Kinley ad shot [by the agency Ogilvy] for the Middle eastern market, shows the mother caressing her babies small fingers and then the elder child being given Kinley to drink. These ads clearly focus on trust arising out of purity, safety and healthy parameters. McCann-Erickson is the ad agency for Kinley in India.

The most exciting ads in this bottled water category, according to Rooster, are the Aquafina ads shot by Manav Menon. These ads, which are in Black and white except for the blue coloured aquafina bottle, are very trendy and very international . The ads show a lot of young people, drinking from, playing with, pouring over their faces etc, a bottle a aquafina water, where the voice over finally says ‘Aquafina from Pepsi, the purest part of you’. One of the ads, which begins with saying ‘70% of your body is water’ has a cool and trendy jingle ‘Water body, water body…’ and the ad is simply superb. These ads position Aquafina cleverly in the purity platform. JWT was the agency behind these ads.

Rooster had also seen a few other print ads for this category: an ad for ‘Catch clear – the sparkling drink with the hint of fruit’ which says the source of the water is spring water drawn 5000 feet Himalayan mountains and asks people to taste the mountain, by the agency Bates and an ad for the erstwhile ‘Pure Life’ which is pretty ordinary with the over-used ‘Pure water pure trust’ concept by the agency Publicis.

When none of the serious brands are advertising these days, Bisleri at least has some plans for its brand building activities. It plans to use water sports as its platform for building brand value. Bisleri is looking to sponsor India's RS:X class windsurfer, the Indian Army's Major Ashutosh Tripathi on his maiden voyage to New Zealand for the 2008 Olympics qualification rounds. By associating itself with water sports, Bisleri tries to establish itself on the healthy lifestyle platform.

Rooster is confused thinking why have all the companies crammed only into the purity platform, when there are lot of other choices like Refreshing, Water- the life giver, and Water is bliss etc. Rooster reckons that only when companies introduce new variants and varieties in the bottled water market space and vie with each other in those particular spaces for the market share, will the advertising activities begin again in full swing for this category. Marketers can also try to find ways to introduce bottled water into Indian homes [which normally uses only tap water, purified bulk water packs, or the water from water purifying devices at home] and how to make bottled water an everyday drink for Indians [who normally buy bottled water only when they go outside or for a trip etc].

Regulations : After the pesticides issue, the BIS has adopted the EU norms for bottled drinking water which has a limit of 0.0001 mg/l for pesticides residue considered individually and 0.0005 mg/l for total pesticide residues.

Though the ISI mark is necessary for all packaged drinking waters and the curbing of the spurious has been happening every now and then, there are still lot spurious and dubious brands in the market. It’s also been said that the BIS is the one to be blamed for this because they do not have enough facilities for testing. Have we not hesitated or at least had some apprehension before buying a bottle of water, ever? The answer is a definite YES. Though ‘Buyer Beware’ is the mantra, the water bottled business itself will be a success only when people can buy a bottle of water from anywhere, without a pinch of doubt [It’s analogous to Gandhi’s version of freedom – women being able to walk without fear all alone in the midnight].

Trends, this, that and last words: It can be seen that the growth rates for bottled water in India for the years 05/06 and 06/07 are in single digits. So, does that mean the bottled water market is stabilizing or getting saturated? The answer is NO. India has enough room for double digit growth provided the companies come up with new variants and also improve their marketing and distribution efforts [China, the country we constantly compare ourselves with has a consistent double digit annual growth rate for all the above mentioned 5 years and has a CAGR of 17.5% for the 5 year period].

Well on that above note, Bisleri plans to launch branded ice, flavoured and enriched or energy waters. It is said to have plans to launch 12 fruit flavours , with variants such as nimbu pani (lemon water), strawberry and orange. Rooster speculates that the new variant could be a fruit flavoured enchanched water[A mix of the two variants]. But it’s not clear as to how soon they will come up with these.

Both Pespico and CCI are also keenly looking at these spaces with its brands like Aquafina Alive and Bonaqua doing well in the other countries. Tata tea is also said to be analyzing the enhanced or functional water space after it acquired the Himalayan brand of water.

In the market abroad, water brands like Highland Spring has even a water variant especially made and marketed for Kids. There, companies have gone a few steps forward by even having their lands or grounds [under which is the source of water] certified organic by Soil associations, water marketed as diuretic water or as digestive aids,water for new born babies etc. And the private label manufacturing on contract by bottlers is a very big business. In India too, bottlers like Blu-mont spring waters from the Nilgris have adopted this route of private label manufacturing.

Overall, rooster feels that Bisleri is the only Indian brand which innovates, fights in the market space, is consistent with its efforts and thus deserves to be the market leader too [the entrepreneur’s passion for the brand is also a main reason for this]. And others could not and did not quite catch up with Bisleri. And now it is up to the companies in this space to innovate quickly, improve distribution and bring in quality variants which are in line with Indian sensibilities. Doing this, is the only way for further growth and to bring back the excitement in this category.

Sources:
Beverage Marketing corporation of New York
Aquafina, Pepsico, Bisleri, Coca-cola India, Himalayan, Evian, DS foods websites.
The Economic Times, The Hindu Business line, Domain B, Rediff, Business Standard, Times Online, Brand Packaging, sify, Financial Express, business world websites.
Icmr casestudies, agencyfaqs.com and Rooster’s collection of ads.

Mark-a-doodle-do....Mark-a-doodle-do

I wasn’t too sure what to start with as the first post in this marketing blog of mine. So..let me first tell you how I named my blog or rather how I chose a brand name for this brand new baby.
The first name I chose was ‘Pambers’. Pambers? ..what does that mean. It means nothing. History has it that names which mean nothing and phrases which mean nothing at all, have become something. And so I thought ‘Pambers..pampers with a B’ could actually become something. Elaborating the above point, I thought I can ‘Pamper the grey marketing cells of fellow enthusiasts with my blog’. Well, I still think the same but only that I figured out that the name I chose was a bad idea.
The next name I choose was “Half-baked cashew-nut” [got inspired by the long names such as ‘Red hot chili-peppers’, ‘Lock, stock and two smoking barrels’etc ;)]. Cashew-nut represents hastiness and the word ‘half-baked’ also means the same. I wanted the name to be kinda cool and also to convey that I am a growing or rather only an aspiring Marketer. The name is definitely cool..but why did I go against choosing it? Well, I am only an amateur Marketer..agreed. But I know I would someday surpass the amateur Marketer tag and become a full grown expert Marketer. And that day, I don’t want myself to feel amateurish about my blog, as I hope to keep this blogging activity throughout my marketing career. So, I went against choosing this second name only on a long-term perspective for my blogging activity.
For a long time, the image of rooster had been crossing my mind every now and then..didn’t know why. I felt that rooster represents ‘Awakening’ and I had always liked the word ‘awakening’ and what the word means partly due to my nature and partly due to the Vivekananda effect. But by Googling, I found out more about ‘The Roosters’. Roosters represent Vigilant wakefulness, Intellectual pride, courage, strength, perseverance, honesty, flamboyance etc, and also of passion, war and light of the world. The olden days Greeks believed that even lions were afraid of cocks [Hey think straight..no pun here ;) ]. And these are the very qualities, I think a marketer should possess. And so..
MARK-A-DOODLE-DO..the rooster begins its journey :).