More and more companies are now days trying to market and promote their products using emotional advertising. Today we see lot of advertisement in different segments using different relationship or bonding of individuals with others.
For example Insurance companies use lot of emotional branding to sell their different products like insurance cover, pension plans etc.
Take an example of ICICI Prudential, they Successfully used following emotional branding techniques to create there brand and marketed there products
The brand proposition for all the campaigns was reflected in the line: ‘Suraksha: Zindagi ke har kadam par’. The campaign featured a significant competitive advantage, the sound financial backing and credentials of ICICI and Prudential, and showcased products from different segments. The advertising idea was encapsulated in the symbol of protection — the ‘Sindoor’. This campaign contributed extensively to raising brand awareness and creating a distinctive identity for the company.
At the same time the theme of protection was carried forward with ICICI Prudential’s ‘Safe Puja’ contest where Puja Pandals contested to be the ‘Safest’ Puja Pandal. This beautifully tied in the concept of protection with the popular local event of Durga Puja.
The refreshingly different ‘Retire from work, not life’ campaign succeeded in bringing retirement planning into the consideration set of a younger target audience, and won a Silver Effie for its efforts. The media campaign was complemented by seminars to spread awareness about the need for retirement planning.
Very recently, the company launched a new corporate campaign – an extension of the ‘Sindoor’ communication – which aims at reassuring customers that the company is committed to staying with them through all the ups and downs in life, using marriage and the seven vows or ‘Saat Pheras’ as a metaphor for commitment. The campaign aims at strengthening the brand by memorably bringing out the ‘commitment for life’ element.
Maruti
Promotion
MUL strongly believes in attribute-oriented advertising. In an attempt to reposition M800 as a choice for those upgrading from a two-wheeler, MUL's campaign of a child playing with a toy M800 drives home the fuel-efficiency factor: 'the car never stops because the fuel never finishes'. The future communication strategy that MUL has envisioned for M800 is a snap of a typical middle-class family commuting on their two-wheeler. Next to them is another family except that this one is comfortably ensconced in a Maruti 800.
One of MUL's most ambitious television campaigns launched the Zen Predator. Positioning it as 'strong, sleek and sexy,' the commercial showcases the variant's new styling through the theme of predator and prey in the context of 'a modern jungle.' The theme is one of a chase that ends in willing surrender, brought home in the baseline: 'Surrender to the new Zen.'
The Zen Predator is being aggressively promoted in print. MUL bought the entire advertising space on The Week's first issue of 2004. Additionally, MUL is the first Indian automobile corporate to utilise the internet for a complete branding exercise, using 'interactive' and 'page domination' techniques.
Recently, MUL has turned its marketing focus to corporate TV commercials to promote its entire range of vehicles. The company has rolled out a new corporate TV campaign, featuring the 'Maruti Puttar'. The rationale behind a second TVC featuring the same child model as the M800 campaign is to leverage the brand recall of the earlier commercial, driving home the point that 'A Maruti Suzuki family is a happy family'.
MUL is involved in a wide range of sponsorship activities, placing particular emphasis on motor sports. It was the founding sponsor of 'Raid De Himalaya,' and in its fifth year continues to be closely involved with it. The company regularly holds car rallies for amateur drivers and aspiring rallyists. MUL now has plans to host golf and polo events.
Tata Chemicals Used Emotional Wave
http://www.tata.com/tata_chemicals/articles/20021202__brand_salt01.htm
Tata Salt is riding an emotional wave with its latest advertising campaign. The brand’s new communication uses a distinctive take to depict the purity of salt (kharapan) in simple acts of honesty. It also attempts to elevate the brand to the status of a national icon — desh ka namak (the country’s salt). With this positioning, Tata Chemicals, the manufacturers of Tata Salt, hopes to break the brand clutter caused by recent entrants in the salt market.
The pioneer in India’s branded-salt industry, Tata Salt has held the No 1 position in the country since its launch in 1983. It has a 37 per cent share of the branded-salt market and an 18 per cent share of the total salt market.
Tata Chemicals’ salt story began in 1983, when it needed fresh water for the boilers that produced soda ash at its Mithapur plant. Fresh water was scarce, so the company set up a process to generate it by using seawater, a freely available resource. Salt, of high quality and purity, was a by-product.
Says Kapil Mehan, vice president (sales and marketing), Tata Chemicals: "At that time both Unicef and the Indian government were promoting the intake of iodine for health reasons. Salt is the most economical and convenient dietary vehicle for iodine consumption."
The Tata brand advantage
These factors led to Tata Chemicals taking up salt production. "We marketed the product by prefixing the Tata name to it," says Mr Mehan. "Our positioning statement emerged: ‘Namak ho Tata ka, Tata namak’." The line remains an audio mnemonic for the brand. The communication was built around the fact that Tata Salt, India’s first iodised salt, was manufactured by a Tata company.
The first competitive challenge came in the early 1990s with the launch of Captain Cook. Positioned as a free–flowing salt, it helped create awareness about brands in the salt segment. Tata Chemicals responded by releasing ads to counter Captain Cook’s claims. As more consumers moved from non-branded or local products to the national brands, Tata Salt’s inherent superiority and strong distribution network ensured its continuing growth in terms of market share and category expansion.
In 1996, Annapurna, another national salt brand, was launched. It was positioned on the health benefits of iodine. According to Mr Mehan, by that time iodisation had become almost a hygiene factor and consumers did not perceive it as a differentiator.
The rising number of players in the branded-salt segment got Tata Chemicals to think of strategies to combat the possibility of its market share being eroded. In 1998, the company conducted a comprehensive market research study to understand the consumer psyche. The results ranked Tata Salt high on attributes such as iodisation, free flow, purity and whiteness (consumers thought of Tata Salt as a ‘saltier salt’). The next commercial showed Sanjeev Kapoor, the famous chef, endorsing the product for these attributes.
Pressing the purity button
By late 2001 several brands had entered the market. In September, 2001, Tata Salt was relaunched with a new advertisement that talked about its purity, a core property of the brand. The packaging was also changed to a more premium-looking pack, a response to consumer feedback.
Tata Chemicals brought in consultants to track the brand and review its marketing strategy. The results showed that Tata Salt’s brand equity index was 7, which was ahead of the competition. But a study by Quadra Consultancy on the marketing strategy revealed that, though the brand awareness was still strong, the differences between the players was getting cloudy.
"In order to sustain a competitive advantage over a long period of time, what is needed is for the consumer to perceive you to be different from others," adds Mr Mehan. "The best way to differentiate is to connect with the consumer at an emotional level."
The challenge, according to Mr Mehan, was to take purity, a rational product benefit, and create an emotional link with the consumers. A new agency, Bates India, was chosen to work on the communication. Says J. S. Mani, vice president and general manager, Bates India: "A strong fact that emerged from our research was that consumers were troubled about the gradual erosion of our value system. Another factor was that salt is deeply rooted in grassroots values. Putting them together, we linked the product (salt) with integrity of character."
The advertisements, released in August 2002, show ordinary people doing their duties with integrity and commitment. "Integrity should not be seen only in the context of a uniform, or as integral to the occupation," says Mr Mani. Apart from a policeman and an army officer, there is a railway linesman checking the fishplates in spite of heavy rains, and a taxi driver returning a cell phone but refusing the reward.
The emotional link
"Our campaign is a reassurance for Tata Salt users," says Mr Mehan. "By using Tata Salt, a pure salt, he is a pure human being. That’s the emotional link."
The communication route is interesting because Tata Salt’s leadership position is implied, not stated. The commercials end with the consumer stating: "Maine desh ka namak khaya hai." "If everyone is eating the salt, then it suggests that Tata Salt is the leading salt in the market," says Mr Mani.
Additionally, the company decided to contribute 10 paise on every packet of Tata Salt sold between August 15 and September 15, 2002, towards the education of deprived girl children. The ‘Desh Ko Arpan’ programme encouraged ordinary individuals to make a difference. Over Rs 35 lakh was collected and given to Child Relief and You through this initiative.
The new campaign got an enthusiastic response from all Tata Chemicals employees, who signed a specially designed poster reiterating their commitment to the product. "It was a very emotional event, " says Mr Mehan. "They felt very proud to be part of a successful company with a No 1 brand."
Tata Chemicals had taken over the distribution of Tata Salt in December 2001 to make it more efficient. "The selling and logistics functions are now separate entities," says Mr Mehan. "Sales and distribution teams concentrate on developing markets and improving the penetration level of Tata Salt. The team is structured and focused like an FMCG company."
In order to strengthen relations with its channel partners, the company organised a workshop to help them manage business through insights into marketing and strategy skills. The workshop was greatly appreciated by the partners.
Potential to grow
Mr Mehan feels that the brand has tremendous potential to grow, since 70 per cent of the market consists of non-branded salt. "Our focus is on two levels: to retain our core users and bring in new users."
The efforts have been successful. Tata Salt was voted the fourth most trusted brand in a survey conducted recently by The Economic Times. "We were pleasantly surprised by the result, since salt was thus far not considered a product exciting enough to feature in the survey," says Mr Mehan. "We knew that our brand was the best. This is due to a combination of personal experience, the Tata name and product quality, which people have experienced for so many years."
Tata Salt has a strong presence in the northern, western and eastern regions of India. The south is a weak area, but the company is currently evaluating options to tackle this weakness. There are also plans to go global, and discussions for Bangladesh and the Middle East are on the anvil.
"With the current level of activities in the market, we are looking at enhancing Tata Salt’s market share to 38-40 per cent," says Mr Mehan. "But, more than that, we are looking at expanding the base of the category so as to bring in new users."
Archies
Market
If it's in your heart, it's on a greeting card. While India is known for its many festivals, rituals and social occasions, Indians have traditionally fought shy of expressing their emotions through greeting cards. However, rapid globalisation and western influences, particularly in urban India, are bringing about a change in attitudes. Today, gifting and greetings are an integral part of urban interaction among Indians. Archies can justly take credit for fostering these habits and enabling Indians to be mutually more expressive in their emotions.
The biggest boost to the industry has come from the enthusiastic endorsement of Valentine's Day celebrations in India. Apart from cards for traditional occasions such as Birthdays, Anniversaries, New Year's Day and the important festivals - Diwali, Id, Christmas - they are now available for every possible emotion and occasion. Today, Indians are celebrating Mother's Day,
Father's Day, Boss's Day and even Doctor's Day besides, of course, Raksha Bandhan, Independence Day and Bhaiya Dhooj, by sending cards to one another. Companies are now exploring a new market segment through cards in Indian languages, such as Hindi, Marathi, Bangla, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, Punjabi and Assamese. The growth of this segment is being attributed to the rising
popularity of regional language TV and radio channels, music and magazines.
Though still in its infancy - per unit consumption of greeting cards is estimated at a low 0.5 compared to over 50 in the UK and about 40 in the US - the social expressions market is growing at a hectic 15%-20% per annum.
Valued at approximately Rs. 3,000 million, 50% of the Indian industry comprises unorganised players.
Archies, which pioneered the concept in the Indian market, is the leader with over 50% share of the organised sector. One key reason for this leadership position is the effort and investment that Archies has made in its distribution network.
Archies has over 475 exclusive outlets and 10,000 multi-brand stores in 200 cities and six countries. And with more and more Indians wearing their emotions on their sleeves - and cards - growth is a given for this sector.
Achievements
Archies is the first organised sector player to tap the market potential of social expressions and introduce the concept of branded Greet 'N' Gift stores in the country.
The company has state of-the-art facilities that are equipped with the latest printing and fabrication machinery. The company employs over 600 people and releases 7,000/8,000 new designs every year. In 2002/03 sales turnover was Rs. 760 million.
Archies' success has also led other organisations to establish gift-and-greeting enterprises to emulate its business model. In this way, Archies has played the role of a market-creator, as well as a market-leader.
Product
The key to Archies' success is the fact that the company has consistently focussed on emotions and feelings, which is summed up in its marketing strapline: 'The most special way to say you care'. Archies' product portfolio contains all-occasion greeting cards, gift items such as curios, photo albums, photo
frames, soft toys, mugs, quotations, key chains and a wide range of stationery. Emotions are at the heart of the Archies collections.
Archies products are available at a variety of price points - from three inch mini-greeting cards for Rs. 4, to five-and-a half feet teddy bears for Rs. 10,000.
Archies has played a significant role in advancing the social expressions market by creating a special collection of greeting cards and gifts for different occasions.
Friendship Day - which is widely celebrated nationwide on the first Sunday of August every year - is an Archies' creation. The company's strategic tie-up with Paramount Cards way back in 1988 led to the introduction of new lines of everyday cards such as 'Thinking of you', 'Hello', 'Miss you', 'Get well soon', among others. The company has also been responsible for introducing the Western tradition of celebrating St. Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and Father's Day to name a few.
It has also promoted the cause of the elderly by entering into a tie-up with HelpAge India and with CRY (Child Relief and You) for the underpriviledged children to produce and market these voluntary organisations' greeting cards and stationery items.
Recent Developments
Archies focus on its core business has enabled the company to identify emerging customer trends. With its line of vernacular greeting cards, Archies is now expanding its universe of customers, as well as growing the social expressions market. In addition to this, the company's line of Gifts has expanded tenfold over the last three years.
Over the same period, with its core business in
place, the prime focus of the company has been on retail. The end objective is to provide the customer with a better and a more complete, world class gifting and greeting experience.
It is the aim of the company in the next three to four years to be present in every significant shopping real estate in the country. With a view to better control the ultimate experience for the customer, the focus will be on company owned or company managed stores as opposed to the pure franchising route that has been followed so far.
Promotion
In the early years, promotion for Archies was restricted to mail order advertising. Its first press advertisement appeared in1984, for the Great Archies Explosion, an exposition held in a five star hotel. Its first radio spot was aired on All India Radio in 1989 and its first TV commercial was broadcast the following year, being one of the first to use cable & satellite channels for advertising. Since then Archies has evolved with the times, using mass media in a manner that highlights the brands' preoccupation with sentiments, feelings and emotions.
The Archies Best of Both Worlds radio programme, a song-dedication programme, ran successfully on FM for two years making it one of the most popular programmes on FM.
Over time, Archies' promotions have successfully married the medium and the message to reap rich returns. The 'Dil Se' promotion campaign in a leading national daily, pushed the friendship theme, enabling the brand to achieve top-of-mind recall among its key customers. Movie merchandising, too, has
enabled the brand to be associated with hip and happening events. Archies' association with Hindi blockbuster movies, like 'Hum Aapke Hain Kaun', 'Lagaan' and 'Devdas' and Hollywood productions like Speed and Mask has earned the brand tremendous mileage amongst the youth.
Brand Values
Feelings and emotions have been at the heart of the Archies brand for the past 25 years. The company believes that so long as there are human emotions, Archies' brand positioning will remain fresh and fragrant. The brand is committed to providing its customers with opportunities to express their emotions.
Archies is a medium through which they can say to their loved ones, they care.
For example Insurance companies use lot of emotional branding to sell their different products like insurance cover, pension plans etc.
Take an example of ICICI Prudential, they Successfully used following emotional branding techniques to create there brand and marketed there products
The brand proposition for all the campaigns was reflected in the line: ‘Suraksha: Zindagi ke har kadam par’. The campaign featured a significant competitive advantage, the sound financial backing and credentials of ICICI and Prudential, and showcased products from different segments. The advertising idea was encapsulated in the symbol of protection — the ‘Sindoor’. This campaign contributed extensively to raising brand awareness and creating a distinctive identity for the company.
At the same time the theme of protection was carried forward with ICICI Prudential’s ‘Safe Puja’ contest where Puja Pandals contested to be the ‘Safest’ Puja Pandal. This beautifully tied in the concept of protection with the popular local event of Durga Puja.
The refreshingly different ‘Retire from work, not life’ campaign succeeded in bringing retirement planning into the consideration set of a younger target audience, and won a Silver Effie for its efforts. The media campaign was complemented by seminars to spread awareness about the need for retirement planning.
Very recently, the company launched a new corporate campaign – an extension of the ‘Sindoor’ communication – which aims at reassuring customers that the company is committed to staying with them through all the ups and downs in life, using marriage and the seven vows or ‘Saat Pheras’ as a metaphor for commitment. The campaign aims at strengthening the brand by memorably bringing out the ‘commitment for life’ element.
Maruti
Promotion
MUL strongly believes in attribute-oriented advertising. In an attempt to reposition M800 as a choice for those upgrading from a two-wheeler, MUL's campaign of a child playing with a toy M800 drives home the fuel-efficiency factor: 'the car never stops because the fuel never finishes'. The future communication strategy that MUL has envisioned for M800 is a snap of a typical middle-class family commuting on their two-wheeler. Next to them is another family except that this one is comfortably ensconced in a Maruti 800.
One of MUL's most ambitious television campaigns launched the Zen Predator. Positioning it as 'strong, sleek and sexy,' the commercial showcases the variant's new styling through the theme of predator and prey in the context of 'a modern jungle.' The theme is one of a chase that ends in willing surrender, brought home in the baseline: 'Surrender to the new Zen.'
The Zen Predator is being aggressively promoted in print. MUL bought the entire advertising space on The Week's first issue of 2004. Additionally, MUL is the first Indian automobile corporate to utilise the internet for a complete branding exercise, using 'interactive' and 'page domination' techniques.
Recently, MUL has turned its marketing focus to corporate TV commercials to promote its entire range of vehicles. The company has rolled out a new corporate TV campaign, featuring the 'Maruti Puttar'. The rationale behind a second TVC featuring the same child model as the M800 campaign is to leverage the brand recall of the earlier commercial, driving home the point that 'A Maruti Suzuki family is a happy family'.
MUL is involved in a wide range of sponsorship activities, placing particular emphasis on motor sports. It was the founding sponsor of 'Raid De Himalaya,' and in its fifth year continues to be closely involved with it. The company regularly holds car rallies for amateur drivers and aspiring rallyists. MUL now has plans to host golf and polo events.
Tata Chemicals Used Emotional Wave
http://www.tata.com/tata_chemicals/articles/20021202__brand_salt01.htm
Tata Salt is riding an emotional wave with its latest advertising campaign. The brand’s new communication uses a distinctive take to depict the purity of salt (kharapan) in simple acts of honesty. It also attempts to elevate the brand to the status of a national icon — desh ka namak (the country’s salt). With this positioning, Tata Chemicals, the manufacturers of Tata Salt, hopes to break the brand clutter caused by recent entrants in the salt market.
The pioneer in India’s branded-salt industry, Tata Salt has held the No 1 position in the country since its launch in 1983. It has a 37 per cent share of the branded-salt market and an 18 per cent share of the total salt market.
Tata Chemicals’ salt story began in 1983, when it needed fresh water for the boilers that produced soda ash at its Mithapur plant. Fresh water was scarce, so the company set up a process to generate it by using seawater, a freely available resource. Salt, of high quality and purity, was a by-product.
Says Kapil Mehan, vice president (sales and marketing), Tata Chemicals: "At that time both Unicef and the Indian government were promoting the intake of iodine for health reasons. Salt is the most economical and convenient dietary vehicle for iodine consumption."
The Tata brand advantage
These factors led to Tata Chemicals taking up salt production. "We marketed the product by prefixing the Tata name to it," says Mr Mehan. "Our positioning statement emerged: ‘Namak ho Tata ka, Tata namak’." The line remains an audio mnemonic for the brand. The communication was built around the fact that Tata Salt, India’s first iodised salt, was manufactured by a Tata company.
The first competitive challenge came in the early 1990s with the launch of Captain Cook. Positioned as a free–flowing salt, it helped create awareness about brands in the salt segment. Tata Chemicals responded by releasing ads to counter Captain Cook’s claims. As more consumers moved from non-branded or local products to the national brands, Tata Salt’s inherent superiority and strong distribution network ensured its continuing growth in terms of market share and category expansion.
In 1996, Annapurna, another national salt brand, was launched. It was positioned on the health benefits of iodine. According to Mr Mehan, by that time iodisation had become almost a hygiene factor and consumers did not perceive it as a differentiator.
The rising number of players in the branded-salt segment got Tata Chemicals to think of strategies to combat the possibility of its market share being eroded. In 1998, the company conducted a comprehensive market research study to understand the consumer psyche. The results ranked Tata Salt high on attributes such as iodisation, free flow, purity and whiteness (consumers thought of Tata Salt as a ‘saltier salt’). The next commercial showed Sanjeev Kapoor, the famous chef, endorsing the product for these attributes.
Pressing the purity button
By late 2001 several brands had entered the market. In September, 2001, Tata Salt was relaunched with a new advertisement that talked about its purity, a core property of the brand. The packaging was also changed to a more premium-looking pack, a response to consumer feedback.
Tata Chemicals brought in consultants to track the brand and review its marketing strategy. The results showed that Tata Salt’s brand equity index was 7, which was ahead of the competition. But a study by Quadra Consultancy on the marketing strategy revealed that, though the brand awareness was still strong, the differences between the players was getting cloudy.
"In order to sustain a competitive advantage over a long period of time, what is needed is for the consumer to perceive you to be different from others," adds Mr Mehan. "The best way to differentiate is to connect with the consumer at an emotional level."
The challenge, according to Mr Mehan, was to take purity, a rational product benefit, and create an emotional link with the consumers. A new agency, Bates India, was chosen to work on the communication. Says J. S. Mani, vice president and general manager, Bates India: "A strong fact that emerged from our research was that consumers were troubled about the gradual erosion of our value system. Another factor was that salt is deeply rooted in grassroots values. Putting them together, we linked the product (salt) with integrity of character."
The advertisements, released in August 2002, show ordinary people doing their duties with integrity and commitment. "Integrity should not be seen only in the context of a uniform, or as integral to the occupation," says Mr Mani. Apart from a policeman and an army officer, there is a railway linesman checking the fishplates in spite of heavy rains, and a taxi driver returning a cell phone but refusing the reward.
The emotional link
"Our campaign is a reassurance for Tata Salt users," says Mr Mehan. "By using Tata Salt, a pure salt, he is a pure human being. That’s the emotional link."
The communication route is interesting because Tata Salt’s leadership position is implied, not stated. The commercials end with the consumer stating: "Maine desh ka namak khaya hai." "If everyone is eating the salt, then it suggests that Tata Salt is the leading salt in the market," says Mr Mani.
Additionally, the company decided to contribute 10 paise on every packet of Tata Salt sold between August 15 and September 15, 2002, towards the education of deprived girl children. The ‘Desh Ko Arpan’ programme encouraged ordinary individuals to make a difference. Over Rs 35 lakh was collected and given to Child Relief and You through this initiative.
The new campaign got an enthusiastic response from all Tata Chemicals employees, who signed a specially designed poster reiterating their commitment to the product. "It was a very emotional event, " says Mr Mehan. "They felt very proud to be part of a successful company with a No 1 brand."
Tata Chemicals had taken over the distribution of Tata Salt in December 2001 to make it more efficient. "The selling and logistics functions are now separate entities," says Mr Mehan. "Sales and distribution teams concentrate on developing markets and improving the penetration level of Tata Salt. The team is structured and focused like an FMCG company."
In order to strengthen relations with its channel partners, the company organised a workshop to help them manage business through insights into marketing and strategy skills. The workshop was greatly appreciated by the partners.
Potential to grow
Mr Mehan feels that the brand has tremendous potential to grow, since 70 per cent of the market consists of non-branded salt. "Our focus is on two levels: to retain our core users and bring in new users."
The efforts have been successful. Tata Salt was voted the fourth most trusted brand in a survey conducted recently by The Economic Times. "We were pleasantly surprised by the result, since salt was thus far not considered a product exciting enough to feature in the survey," says Mr Mehan. "We knew that our brand was the best. This is due to a combination of personal experience, the Tata name and product quality, which people have experienced for so many years."
Tata Salt has a strong presence in the northern, western and eastern regions of India. The south is a weak area, but the company is currently evaluating options to tackle this weakness. There are also plans to go global, and discussions for Bangladesh and the Middle East are on the anvil.
"With the current level of activities in the market, we are looking at enhancing Tata Salt’s market share to 38-40 per cent," says Mr Mehan. "But, more than that, we are looking at expanding the base of the category so as to bring in new users."
Archies
Market
If it's in your heart, it's on a greeting card. While India is known for its many festivals, rituals and social occasions, Indians have traditionally fought shy of expressing their emotions through greeting cards. However, rapid globalisation and western influences, particularly in urban India, are bringing about a change in attitudes. Today, gifting and greetings are an integral part of urban interaction among Indians. Archies can justly take credit for fostering these habits and enabling Indians to be mutually more expressive in their emotions.
The biggest boost to the industry has come from the enthusiastic endorsement of Valentine's Day celebrations in India. Apart from cards for traditional occasions such as Birthdays, Anniversaries, New Year's Day and the important festivals - Diwali, Id, Christmas - they are now available for every possible emotion and occasion. Today, Indians are celebrating Mother's Day,
Father's Day, Boss's Day and even Doctor's Day besides, of course, Raksha Bandhan, Independence Day and Bhaiya Dhooj, by sending cards to one another. Companies are now exploring a new market segment through cards in Indian languages, such as Hindi, Marathi, Bangla, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, Punjabi and Assamese. The growth of this segment is being attributed to the rising
popularity of regional language TV and radio channels, music and magazines.
Though still in its infancy - per unit consumption of greeting cards is estimated at a low 0.5 compared to over 50 in the UK and about 40 in the US - the social expressions market is growing at a hectic 15%-20% per annum.
Valued at approximately Rs. 3,000 million, 50% of the Indian industry comprises unorganised players.
Archies, which pioneered the concept in the Indian market, is the leader with over 50% share of the organised sector. One key reason for this leadership position is the effort and investment that Archies has made in its distribution network.
Archies has over 475 exclusive outlets and 10,000 multi-brand stores in 200 cities and six countries. And with more and more Indians wearing their emotions on their sleeves - and cards - growth is a given for this sector.
Achievements
Archies is the first organised sector player to tap the market potential of social expressions and introduce the concept of branded Greet 'N' Gift stores in the country.
The company has state of-the-art facilities that are equipped with the latest printing and fabrication machinery. The company employs over 600 people and releases 7,000/8,000 new designs every year. In 2002/03 sales turnover was Rs. 760 million.
Archies' success has also led other organisations to establish gift-and-greeting enterprises to emulate its business model. In this way, Archies has played the role of a market-creator, as well as a market-leader.
Product
The key to Archies' success is the fact that the company has consistently focussed on emotions and feelings, which is summed up in its marketing strapline: 'The most special way to say you care'. Archies' product portfolio contains all-occasion greeting cards, gift items such as curios, photo albums, photo
frames, soft toys, mugs, quotations, key chains and a wide range of stationery. Emotions are at the heart of the Archies collections.
Archies products are available at a variety of price points - from three inch mini-greeting cards for Rs. 4, to five-and-a half feet teddy bears for Rs. 10,000.
Archies has played a significant role in advancing the social expressions market by creating a special collection of greeting cards and gifts for different occasions.
Friendship Day - which is widely celebrated nationwide on the first Sunday of August every year - is an Archies' creation. The company's strategic tie-up with Paramount Cards way back in 1988 led to the introduction of new lines of everyday cards such as 'Thinking of you', 'Hello', 'Miss you', 'Get well soon', among others. The company has also been responsible for introducing the Western tradition of celebrating St. Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and Father's Day to name a few.
It has also promoted the cause of the elderly by entering into a tie-up with HelpAge India and with CRY (Child Relief and You) for the underpriviledged children to produce and market these voluntary organisations' greeting cards and stationery items.
Recent Developments
Archies focus on its core business has enabled the company to identify emerging customer trends. With its line of vernacular greeting cards, Archies is now expanding its universe of customers, as well as growing the social expressions market. In addition to this, the company's line of Gifts has expanded tenfold over the last three years.
Over the same period, with its core business in
place, the prime focus of the company has been on retail. The end objective is to provide the customer with a better and a more complete, world class gifting and greeting experience.
It is the aim of the company in the next three to four years to be present in every significant shopping real estate in the country. With a view to better control the ultimate experience for the customer, the focus will be on company owned or company managed stores as opposed to the pure franchising route that has been followed so far.
Promotion
In the early years, promotion for Archies was restricted to mail order advertising. Its first press advertisement appeared in1984, for the Great Archies Explosion, an exposition held in a five star hotel. Its first radio spot was aired on All India Radio in 1989 and its first TV commercial was broadcast the following year, being one of the first to use cable & satellite channels for advertising. Since then Archies has evolved with the times, using mass media in a manner that highlights the brands' preoccupation with sentiments, feelings and emotions.
The Archies Best of Both Worlds radio programme, a song-dedication programme, ran successfully on FM for two years making it one of the most popular programmes on FM.
Over time, Archies' promotions have successfully married the medium and the message to reap rich returns. The 'Dil Se' promotion campaign in a leading national daily, pushed the friendship theme, enabling the brand to achieve top-of-mind recall among its key customers. Movie merchandising, too, has
enabled the brand to be associated with hip and happening events. Archies' association with Hindi blockbuster movies, like 'Hum Aapke Hain Kaun', 'Lagaan' and 'Devdas' and Hollywood productions like Speed and Mask has earned the brand tremendous mileage amongst the youth.
Brand Values
Feelings and emotions have been at the heart of the Archies brand for the past 25 years. The company believes that so long as there are human emotions, Archies' brand positioning will remain fresh and fragrant. The brand is committed to providing its customers with opportunities to express their emotions.
Archies is a medium through which they can say to their loved ones, they care.
