the story of a ugly black container-sintex

This black containers company success story started with a decline in its fortunes.The company is SINTEX , where every indian household proudly exhibits black water tanks perched on top of buildings,indeed SINTEX TANKS has become a generic name for WATER TANKS,not only water tanks its product lines includes -1.building products-monoliths,prefabs,storage tanks,containers etc 2.custom mouldings-electrical,automatives aerospace etc..3.textiles.    So how a small local Indian company with declining sales made it an international company with 60% of market share in its category.

TEXTILE CARD CANS WHICH THEY MANUFACTURED INITIALLY

TEXTILE CARD CANS MODIFIED INTO WATER TANKS(PORTABLE WEIGHTLESS AND WIDE OPENED MOUTH FOR EASY CLEAN)

 sintex company started in 1931 , the company over took the bharat vijay mills in 1955 .Initially they manufactured textile card cans which are used to store textile and thread mills .In a long run they found out this business could hardly be a support function and is not sufficient to run the entire operations profitably.They ran into losses but they dint give up,They wanted something in their same line of products which grows exponentially and in large volumes.They wanted to stick to their same business line as they are don't have sufficient enough funds to start entirely new business.

                             This is what they have done.They foresaw the needs of people . they saw something which others cant see , made first move in that category and enjoying market leader position.

                                            The need is storage of water in households.Sticking to the same business line they modified their textile card cans into a wide opened mouth ,weightless , portable ,easily cleaned ,economical plastic water tanks.The problem is scarcity of water and solution is storage of water,so its no wonder people use their water tanks instead of traditional metal and cement containers which are heavy,costly and difficult to clean.

                                 They saw the problem and need of people nearly 8 decades ago when no one thought of a plastic water container,what they have done is so simple .An innovative and simple solution to the upcoming common problem. THEY DIN GIVE UP THEIR OLD BUSINESS ,THEY MODIFIED IT AND LAID A PATH. BECAME CATEGORY CREATORS ,MARKET LEADERS.SO ALWAYS THINK A NEW SIMPLE SOLUTION TO A COMMON PROBLEM ,U FIND IT AND YOU ARE THE LEADER.

metamorphosis of a rural brand into international classy brand

Mahindra a very well known brand in india for utility vehicles(tractor,auto,van,trucks,lorrys) is now a premium car segment brand internationally.Its not so easy to sell a premium car brand to global customers which is a trade mark for utility vehicles which are mostly used by poor man in india.Here is how it made.

                                           Mahindra had a small big plans initially.It is "small big" because it wants to broaden the company with small cars and make it big. As a part of strategy it moved from utility vehicles to luxury vehicle segment.Initially came up with small cars Mahindra verito and Logan.But people couldn't accept because Mahindra brand is known for auto-rickshaws and trucks.If someone says to his neighbor that i bought a mahindra car , the neighbor says "oh that tractor and truck company".It din't work.

MAHINDRA TRACTOR

                                But one should not forget that Mahindra is a trust worthy,dependable,value for money brand in rural india .Mahindra just has to gain the trust of urban market as Mahindra brand name is very weak in urban India.BUT HOW?

                      Answer lies in its problem i.e Mahindra is a weak , not familiar brand in urban India.So they have to work from foundation i.e build a Brand image for Mahindra.Q is HOW ? again."ITS SIMPLE" ALWAYS REMEMBER "WHEN YOUR BRAND IS NOT FAMILIAR OR WEAK IN A PARTICULAR MARKET-A PRODUCT BUILDS AND GIVES AN IMAGE TO YOUR BRAND "-ONCE BRAND IMAGE IS BUILT, THE REST IS DONE BY YOUR BRAND NAME".


                          So MAHINDRA worked from scrap-It followed ENDORSEMENT STRATEGY-introduced a product BOLERO a multi purpose vehicle priced at upper class level without much importance to Brand Mahindra.Bolero product did quite well ,as Bolero is doing well Mahindra came with one more product Scorpio.Scorpio is a value for money at a upper class level and a well performing vehicle.SCORPIO and BOLERO were endorsing Mahindra brand.The variants of SCORPIO  and BOLERO  were gave much emphasis to Mahindra brand.These 2 products build an  Image for Mahindra.

                                                    Now Mahindra has a Brand image.It can carry the products on its own.It beacame a strong brand in urban market.Now the problem is that the next products should be sold only on the name of brand rather than the product name,Q is HOW?

                                                For this Mahindra followed a ALPHA NUMERO STRATEGY-it means the product name will not carry a name ,instead it contains a alphabets and numbers like MAHINDRA XUV 500.If some one asks you which vehicle is that ,you can't say XUV 500 because people wont get it easily.SO u say ITS MAHINDRA XUV .Thats the advantage of alpha numero starategy.It adds credit to your Brand Mahindra rather than product name i.e XUV 500.Its opposite to ENDORSEMENT STRATEGY-where u say its a SCORPIO instead of Mahindra SCORPIO.

MAHINDRA XUV 500

SCORPIO

                                     
                                    

Two same colas(pepsico n coke) with the same product using marketing and operations to differentiate them.

when people use your brand names as generic names and product names ,that brand has reached its heights.BUT the problem araises when they use 2 different brand names for the same product-it becomes a war to prove which brand is the best.

e,g-pepsico n cocacola

                                                          These two different brands have been used all over the world for same product i.e carbonated soft drinks.The weaker the brand means it is out of competition n giving up to the other brand which finally leads to a monopoly.

First let me give u a basic overview and slight differences between two brands-pepsi n coke.

SAME PRODUCT WITH DIFFERENT NAMES.

       COKE-                                                                                                     PEPSI-

                     LESS SWEET                         FLAVOUR                                             MORE SWEET

                     LESS FLUIDY                                                                                        MOREFLUIDY

                     MORE FIZZY                                                                                          LESS FIZZY

                     MORE SMOOTH                                                                                    LESS SMOOTH

                     FIRST COME ADVANTAGE                                                             LATE ARRIVAL

    Given above are the slight differences in the product of two brands.But still we can say it as same product because the blind tests conducted proved that the consumers are not able to find out the differences between 2 products without knowing their brand name,in fact being a dominant brand -cocacola(major market share holder in beverages all around the world),many people who claimed hard core fans of coke preferred pepsi over coke and are not able to differentiate between them.so what makes the difference? 

                       Its branding-

        COKE N PEPSI--

1.COKE enjoys the first come advantage and in majority of countries it is the dominant brand and a generic name for carbonated soft drinks. PEPSI- being a late comer struggled initially to make a difference from coke,finally became successful through a series of ads endorsing michael jackson and many celebrities and more branding.PEPSI successful mantra lies in placing itself as a youth brand.                                                                                  

 2.COKE RED-this means sales,energetic,stimulus initiator and excitement,grabs the attention of more eye balls.PEPSI BLUE- stability inspired with trust ,serene and universally well liked.Initially pepsi came with a combination of red and blue to gain the advantage of red color but later made a smart move to full blue to differentiate itself from its arch rival.(color branding)

             After all this still coke is a dominant brand ,pepsi loosing its market share eventually n slowly.Here are the reasons what is bothering pepsico and what is pushing coke.

      1.cokes first move advantage and its brand position in such a way it became a generic name in majority of countries than pepsi . BRAND POSITION-its majorly done by innovative campaigns,advertisement,operation management and communication channels.            

         E,g- pepsi-change the game                                  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFzQUZTuw5Q
                                                                                    

video 1-pepsi change the game- by playing game in a different,amazing,exciting and innovative way
video2-pepsi change the game campaign by transforming into totally a different game-from cricket to foot ball
                                                                                                                         





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ior6SXL35NY


coke- open happiness campaign
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gPcupJrqig


video 3-coke open happiness campaign











After watching these videos you will get to know what are they trying to do,whom are they targeting ,where are they missing their strategies.
video 1 n 2- pepsi is always strongly associated with cricket .
                   Target- India being a cricket craziest country it targets cricket fans and cricket crazy people.It means it is drawing attention of people who are crazy about and cricket .Its a good strategy ,so why only cricket as there are many others who are not crazy about cricket.
                                                                  Here comes pepsi with a 2nd  TVC ad forecasting ranbir kapoor (BOLLYWOOD YOUTH ICON) which targets  football crazy people as pepsi research found out there is a increasing passion towards football among urban youth in India which slowly gains popularity in future all over the country.
          Transforming cricket into football.Ya its a right n clever move .But i am asking why target only football and cricket?
Answer is given by coke-open happiness  campaign (video 3)- Yes why should one target only to a fewer group of people ,target everyone- target one which everyone is associated i.e FEELINGS-happiness .Yes coke targets happiness i.e everyone all over the world.This is the smartest move,its superlative nothing can beat it.
COKE-Targets beautiful feelings of people, which everyone wish to feel and showing that happiness in a game in which people are crazy about-cricket in india,this has no boundaries and targets everyone.
                           The ad shows a group of kids playing cricket without shoes,goggs,caps and without having cash to toss.people cheering without shelter and everyone having fun together and a great time.It shows deep insights into behavior of Y generation-who prefer to share things,to be together than individually.This indirectly stimulates their inside neurons and helps to develop association with that brand.This is what it real happiness for present generation playing together ,sharing things.At the end the ad shows the God of the cricket-sachin tendulkar saying keep playing and be happy. 
All together it is a perfect blend of reality,happiness and branding.
2.But still pepsico is able to give tough competition to coke without loosing its market and sweating coke .Here are the reasons beyond branding how pepsico is performing.
                      After interviewing several retailers and public all over india - the results showed that majority of people in india use coke and thums up as product name for carbonated soft dinks.

          This happens in majority of retail shops.But people are compromising and accepting pepsi without any complaints.They are not going in search of coke products even its available in the immediate next shop.It doesn't applies all consumers but majority of consumers are accepting pepsi instead of coke.
                             The question is why retailers are taking pepsi instead of coke even when consumers are asking for coke???Here are the answers
1.consumers are compromising with pepsi even though coke is not available and majority of consumers are not insisting they want only a particular brand only.
2.pepsico gives more longer credit to retailers where as coke doesn't.
3.Its easy to get coolers for pepsico than coke as pepsi offers big cooler sizes than coke. 
4.pepsico has got more sale representatives than coke and amazingly my interviews with retailers revealed that they majority of them are taking pepsi because of their friendly relationship with sales representatives of pepsi.
                         After all this Branding,marketing,sales,Operations management it is true that the two colas are never gonna give up .