consumerbehaviourproject

Application Exercise – Group -2

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APPLICATION EXERCISE ON

PERCEPTUAL ORGANIZATION

AND

REPOSITIONING

(Watch and Detergent Industry Perspective along with Surveys on Watches, Credit card Industry and Readymade Garments)

As part of elective course on

Consumer Behaviour Quarter – 1 (2009-2010)

Submitted to: Prof. S Ramesh Kumar

Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore on

July 18th, 2009

Submitted By:

(Group 2)

Adarsh Natarajan - 2008003 Alok Shukla - 2008005

Dharmesh Gandhi - 2008019 Narendran Subbaiah - 2008038

Ramanathan G A - 2008XXX Saurabh Jain - 2008105


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Table of Contents

Introduction................................................................................................................................................4

Literature Survey........................................................................................................................................4

1. Watch as a Cultural Icon.......................................................................................................................4

Summary of the article....................................................................................................................................................... 4

Learning from the article.................................................................................................................................................... 5

Application of the learning................................................................................................................................................. 5

2. How Ambiguous Cropped objects in Ad photos can affect product evaluations..................................6




3. Consistency of Information in Positioning Studies...............................................................................7




4. Evaluating alternate product positioning strategies............................................................................ 11

Summary of the article..................................................................................................................................................... 11

Learning from the article.................................................................................................................................................. 12

Application of the learning............................................................................................................................................... 12

5. Cohort Perception of Luxury Goods and Services............................................................................. 13

Summary of the article..................................................................................................................................................... 13

Learning from the article.................................................................................................................................................. 13

Application of the learning............................................................................................................................................... 14

Industry Information................................................................................................................................ 14

Indian Watch industry............................................................................................................................. 14

Major Players........................................................................................................................................... 14


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Major Segments....................................................................................................................................... 14

Major Price Points................................................................................................................................... 14

Relevance and application of journals collected...................................................................................... 15

Usage of Perceptual organization in watch advertisements..................................................................... 17

Indian Detergent Industry........................................................................................................................ 18

Major Players........................................................................................................................................... 19

Imagery from the advertisements............................................................................................................ 19

Recommendations................................................................................................................................... 21

Conclusion............................................................................................................................................... 23

References............................................................................................................................................... 23

Appendix................................................................................................................................................. 23

Appendix –A........................................................................................................................................... 23

Appendix-B............................................................................................................................................. 25

Appendix-C............................................................................................................................................. 26

Survey Questions ..................................................................................................................................... 26

Readymade Garments Preferences...................................................................................................... 26

Readymade Wear Brand Surveys........................................................................................................ 26

Perception of the preferred brand....................................................................................................... 26


Credit Card Category Surveys............................................................................................................. 26

Credit Card Brand Surveys.................................................................................................................. 26

Watch Category Surveys....................................................................................................................... 26


Watch Brands Surveys.......................................................................................................................... 26


Cohorts Perceptions of Luxury -.......................................................................................................... 26


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Introduction In this paper we have analyzed the concept of perceptual Organization and repositioning, keeping in mind the Watch and Detergent Industry. Blah Blah Blah.

Literature Survey

1. Watch as a Cultural Icon

Summary of the article

This article explores the evolution and function of watch as a contemporary cultural icon. Back in time

only the wealthy and powerful owned clocks, which were instruments of power and it, signalled the

authority of the individual. It also had an ornamental value. When wealth bled into the middling class,

ornament gave way to Craftsmanship of Grandfather clock. Post World War II, invention of watches

commoditized time. Then the concept of “spending time”, “Time is money” etc became part of the culture.

While clocks signal control on others, watches signal control on self. Watch depicted the independence of

an innovator, a corporate leader.

The Timex brought a dramatic change in the market. The cost of these reliable quartz movements plunged

to remarkable and nearly threatened the “Fine watches” segment.

As electronically driven quartz technology democratized the watch’s works, the trade beginning in 1980s

aggressively fought back within the signal economy. The advertisements of the expensive watches

signalled this transformation. On the utility function, both the quartz and the fine watches didn’t differ

drastically. Given the ever-diminishing role of utility in watch ownership, expensive watches started

positioning itself as an “expression and extension of wearer’s personality”. Watch now has become less

about time and more about itself as a cluster of cultural signs. Watches now have a special appeal lending

themselves to rituals and express in a non-verbal way something that cannot be expressed in the

controlling conventions of words. A Watch does this work by transforming this relatively comfortable

concrete reality into a resonate image. Many watches are nearly impossible to read but the utility of telling

time is not the point. It is only an alibi for other cultural interests. The entrepreneur does not consult his

watch, rather wears his watch in a signal display just as an eighteenth century gentlemen wore a sword or

a nineteenth century gentlemen carried a stick. A watch remains one of the few jewellery options available

for men. Women as they move from the managerial to the entrepreneurial ranks are opting for these

expensive watches. Until recently watches at the high end for women were swallowed in the category of

jewellery, marking the subordinate status of women to whom men gifted these. But now watches extend

the feminization of men and masculinisation of women extends gender complexity and confusion.


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In summary, watches the high and low even in the face of seeming schizophrenic diversity maintain a

fundamental sameness. Watch as a cultural icon now signals both power and authority.

Learning from the article

Major takeaway from this article is how a marketer through fine research and insights of the changing

culture of the society can keep repositioning the same product category and make it stand the test of times.

Even though the product category’s value as a utilitarian object is diminishing, it can be positioned to

address the cultural and emotional aspects of the consumer. There have been many product categories

which have become obsolete in the market but watches even though commoditized with the invention of

quartz have stood the test of time and still able to command a premium by being a cultural icon.

The challenge in this is that the cultural values of the society can keep on changing and it’s the marketer

responsibility to look for these and make sure that the product category evolves and addresses these

changing values.

Application of the learning

The concepts addressed in the article clearly give an insight into evolution of the Indian watch industry.

The Indian watch industry started with the era of HMTs when watches were purely viewed from a

utilitarian perspective.

Titan instead of taking the central route used the peripheral route and addressed the emotional and cultural

aspects of the Indian society by using the campaign “Gift for all occasions”. Its advertisements in the early

days used varied cultural occasions like Deepavali, marriage and positioned itself as a gift for these

occasions. When the industry evolved, Titan wanted to increase repeat purchase and didn’t want

customers to own only one watch. Thus, the campaign using Aamir Khan and the perplexed assistant. One

watch for each dress. More campaigns clearly addressed the aspects of being individualistic, extension of

oneself etc. Titan Raga ranges were positioned in the jewellery segment targeted at women and made them

view watches as a jewel for occasions.

With the growing women executives in India and liberal views of the society towards women, Unisex

watches are in the fray. Men wear gold and diamond studded watches and flaunt them as jewellery rather

than just a watch. This evolution in the industry is a clear proof point for the statement “Masculinisation of

women and feminization of men” mentioned in the article.


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2. How Ambiguous Cropped objects in Ad photos can affect product evaluations


Visual Ambiguity: the visual depiction of either the consumption object or the product is severely cropped

or ambiguous.

The articles talks about the effects that visual/verbal ambiguity in ads, can have on the perception of the

viewer. This article suggests that product evaluations by motivated viewers of such ads can in fact

generate a lot of positive affect amongst the viewers. However, this positive affect will only come when

the object that is cropped is not directly relevant to the ad while the object that is relevant to the ad

remains largely uncropped and unambiguous.

The explanation given for the positive outcome noted earlier is, that the outcomes are dependent on the

subjects processing motivation, and under high motivation, are mediated by the composite effect of two

processes. The first process is determined by whether an ambiguous object appears in an ad photo. If it

does, this object fosters extensive and affect-intensifying ad processing as well as intensive positive affect

as the ad recipients should attempt to mentally complete the object and thus resolve the ambiguity. The

second process concerns whether the ad photo contains a cropped object that obstructs the subjects’

attempts to substantiate the verbal ad claims. It seems that the ambiguity of a cropped object is likely to

prompt ad viewers to engage in heightened processing and complete the cropped object provided they

possess sufficient motivational resources. This process of resolving the ambiguity evokes intense positive

affect that greatly heightens these viewers’ product evaluations so long as the cropping of the object does

not impair the viewers’ efforts to substantiate or amplify the ad claims.

See the figure given below which explains this phenomenon of two processes.


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When viewers lack sufficient motivation to complete the cropped object, the product evaluation will be

based on some easily applied heuristic. They might end up simply transferring the affect they associated

with the product category to the advertised brand, thereby resulting in an absence of treatment effects on

their product evaluations.

The article notes that the same pattern of outcomes emerged for both function-oriented and image-oriented

ads that contained the same basic pictorial components. The article also suggests that both visual and

verbal ambiguity may operate in similar ways.


The concept of Closure can bring about intense and enhanced positive product evaluations, when a low

relevant object in the ad is severely cropped and the viewers are sufficiently motivated to indulge in

processing of this ad. This brings about an enhanced processing of the ad, which in turn leads to an

extremely positive product evaluation.

However, care has to be taken to ensure that the cropped object should be of a low relevance to the

product being advertised. If the cropped object happens to be of high relevance, then this could invoke

negative reactions as detailed in the summary of the article.


The watch ads targeted at youth, while showing cropped images of youngsters can ensure that the watch

itself is seen prominently can evoke positive product evaluation. This can be applied to any of the

segments that the product is focused on.

The Titan ad where Aamir Khan keeps throwing one watch after another watch to match his entire

wardrobe and hums only the last ending part of the popular Titan jingle. This can act as a cropped verbal

cue requiring the ad viewer to bring about the closure technique to relate to the brand. This, in turn can

bring about an extremely positive product evaluation even in the lifestyle premium segment.

3. Consistency of Information in Positioning Studies


The article talks about how positioning parameters can be important in providing a clear direction as to

how consumers compare brands within a product category. The positioning map describes the position of

each brand in the consumer’s mind. The article presents a method to evaluate the reliability of positioning

parameters. The analytical tool used here is principal components of factor analysis which is a statistical

method used to describe the variability among observed variables in terms of fewer unobserved variables


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called factors. Suppose we have a set of p observable random variables with means

Suppose for some unknown constants lij and k unobserved random variables Fj ,

.

The approach used is to test the consistency of perceptual mapping. 2 waves of surveys were done on the

same population in consecutive months. Consistency of the information between the two surveys was

evaluated by performing exploratory principal component analysis for each dataset. Correlation table is

created from both the surveys and the degree of correlation between the tables itself is checked.

with the following assumptions

Find the factor loadings L from the survey results .2 basic comparison statistics are used, root mean square

and the correlation coefficient. Use them to find the consistency of survey results. Draw the positioning

map.


Generally, the product positioning process involves:

1. Defining the market in which the product or brand will compete (who the relevant buyers are)

2. Identifying the attributes (also called dimensions) that define the product 'space'

3. Collecting information from a sample of customers about their perceptions of each product on the

relevant attributes

4. Determine each product's share of mind

5. Determine each product's current location in the product space

6. Determine the target market's preferred combination of attributes (referred to as an ideal vector)


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7. Examine the fit between:

o The position of your product

o The position of the ideal vector

8. Position

The learning is the importance of the choice of attributes in the design of a positioning map based on

which a marketer takes his decision. Equally important is the validity of the factor analysis done. Good

thing is both objective and subjective attributes can be used. There is flexibility in naming and using the

dimensions.


We take a total of 7 brand attributes including price and rate them according to our perceptions based on

the advertisements, packaging, brand recall, etc. The attributes are Price, Number of benefits claimed, ad

attractiveness, brand recall, humour, celebrity and package attractiveness.

We then run a principal component factor analysis and get a correlation matrix

Correlation Matrix

Attributes Considered Price

No of

benefits

claimed

Ad

attractiveness

Brand

Recall Humor Celebrity

Pkg

Attractiv

ness

Price 1

Number of benefits

claimed 0.162 1

Ad attractiveness 0.21 -0.329 1

Brand Recall 0.267 -0.464 0.227 1

Humor 0.321 -0.442 0.803 0.515 1

Celebrity -0.043 0.795 -0.241

-

0.238 -0.49 1

Package attractiveness 0.153 -0.657 0.811 0.579 0.857 -0.588 1

Mostly the coefficients are sufficiently high to suggest a factorable solution, with a few exceptions of

course. Eigen value analysis suggests 73.5% of the original information is explained by the components.


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The loading matrix is

Variable PC1 PC2 Price 0.123 0.648 Number of benefits claimed -0.383 0.504 Ad attractiveness 0.387 0.283 Brand Recall 0.325 0.106 Humor 0.460 0.232 Celebrity -0.357 0.423 Packaging Attractiveness 0.493 0.026

From these loading matrices we try to name the perceptual map components.

Based on these loading factors we observe that PC1 i.e. the x-axis corresponds mostly to packaging

attractiveness, humour, ad attractiveness which can be combined to term as Brand Communication. PC2

corresponds mostly to Price and Number of benefits claimed (0.648, 0.504).Hence we would term the y-

axis as the extent of Premium-ness of the brand.

Limitations: Usefulness depends on our ability to develop a complete and accurate set of product

attributes. Naming of the factors can be difficult.


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4. Evaluating alternate product positioning strategies


Positioning (repositioning) strategies can be characterized as attempts to move a brand to a particular

location within a perceptual product space. Advertising typically serves as the major vehicle for

positioning a brand on a perceptual dimension. For assessing the impact of advertising in a brand

positioning/repositioning context, four steps are generally suggested:

(1) Obtain a perceptual joint space for the set of existing brands which identifies the perceptual position of

the referent brand

(2) Initiate repositioning advertising campaign on the basis of the dimensions underlying the competitive

nature of the space and the desired position of the referent brand

(3) Obtain a new perceptual joint space after exposure to the advertising campaign and

(4) Evaluate the efficacy of the advertising campaign by the position of the referent brand in relation to its

desired position.

A variety of methodologies are available for constructing perceptual maps (e.g., multidimensional scaling,

factor analysis, discriminant analysis, etc.). In all techniques a group of objects (e.g., brands) is jointly

portrayed in a perceptual space along with the characteristics upon which the objects were rated. When the

objects are brands and the characteristics rated are salient attributes of the brands, the resulting perceptual

map provides the marketer with the perceptual position of the referent brand with respect to the other

brands and the salient attributes of the product class.

Use of standard perceptual joint-space methods produces a post-exposure perceptual map in which all of

the brands are displaced. This is because, given a change in ones bran position, the distance among the

other brands will most likely have to change in order to maintain a satisfactory goodness-of-fit. Large

displacements in the post-exposure position of non referent brands, a simple artefact of the joint space

methodology used, complicate the assessment of the impact of the advertisement campaign.

In cases where the advertising campaign is directed toward changing the perception of the referent brand

along an attribute that defined a prominent perceptual dimension in the initial pre-exposure product joint

space, then the relative positions of the non referent brands in the post-exposure perceptual map should

remain invariant. This paper evaluates this methodology using ASCID (Advertising Strategy and Copy

Information Development), a user-friendly decision support program which can be used in pre-testing or

in a post-evaluation of message effectiveness.


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Similar all methodologies, the experimental group is exposed to the advertising campaign, while a control

group is not. Any changes in the referent brand's position in perceptual space following exposure to the

advertising campaign is determined by comparing the movements in the postexposure configuration of

brands in the experimental group to the "postexposure" configuration of brands in the control group.

In ASCID method since the positions of the other brands in the perceptual map are constrained to be

invariant, the post-exposure map is identical to the pre-exposure map except for the new position of the

referent brand. The reasoning is that if we have not altered the salience of the product attributes, there is

no reason to expect the positions of the nonreferent brands to change with respect to each other.

Advantages of ASCID:

(1) The ASCID decision support program allows the advertiser to specify a desired position in a particular

competitive market, design an advertising campaign to achieve that position, and then test individual pool-

outs to determine the direction and distance of movement that occurs within the perceptual space.

(2) It can also be used in tracking movement of brand positions over time as new positioning strategies are

initiated by competitors.

(3) The ASCID program also allows for the evaluation of different strategies on a test group before the

strategy is actually implemented.


In cases where the repositioning advertising campaign is directed toward changing the perception of the

referent brand along a prominent perceptual attribute in the initial pre-exposure product joint space, using

ASCID method of plotting perceptual joint space, we can expect configural invariance of nonreferant

brands. Hence, the post-exposure map is identical to the pre-exposure map except for the new position of

the referent brand.

Hence ASCID is an effective methodology for evaluating the efficacy of positioning / repositioning

campaigns in situations where configural invariance of the non-referent brands is assumed to hold.


ASCID methodology can be used to create the perceptual map of all the detergent brands in the

competitive space. ASCID methodology gives clear insights to the effectiveness of the repositioning

advertisement campaign along a salient dimension.


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It helps the marketer to specify the desired position of the new brand in the competitive market along each

attributes and helps to test the effectiveness of the proposed advertisement messages one by one.

5. Cohort Perception of Luxury Goods and Services


The article aims to investigate the perception of luxury between cohorts and perceptions of luxury goods

and services.

As per the article “Cohorts are defined as groups of individuals who are born during the same time

period and who experience similar external events during their late adolescent and early adulthood years

(Meredith and Schewe, 1994; Ryder, 1965). “Defining moments”, such as changes in the economy, wars,

politics, technological innovations, and sociological unrest, tend to shape their world view and influence

their values, preferences, attitudes, and buying behaviour that spans their lifetime (Meredith and Schewe,

1994; Ryder, 1965).

As the article states that the entire research is based on the premises that individual are highly influences

by events that have occurred in their coming of age years. It also states “They concluded that different

cohorts recall different events or changes and that these memories come especially from adolescence and

early adulthood”

The cohorts are also important topic to study because as and when the cohorts age and enter new life

stages, they take along them their :-

� Coming-of-age cohort value systems

� Wants and needs

Cohort analysis can aid in tracking and forecasting changes that will take place. Cohorts will impose their

values and preferences on the way they carry out with their lives

The article also talks about the concept of luxury as it has evolved from “being applied to items that were

both rare and scarce and available only to the elite few” to the post 1900’s definition “things you have that

I think you shouldn’t have”


The most important learning for the article is that it is important to understand the elasticity of

luxury goods and services because it sets the upper bounds of price for such goods and services.

If a good is perceived as luxury the marketers have less flexibility in setting prices


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At this point of time, we have tried to observe the behaviour of cohorts in two specific products

brands – wrist watch brands and ready made clothes brands. As credit cards have not been in India since

long, it was not used for cohort behavior understanding.

For watches and readymade garments, each of the respondents was asked himself/herself to

identify themselves with a specific generational identification by pointing out some cultural aspects of a

particular time period. Additionally, they have also been asked to identify the brands that they consider

luxurious for that segment. The inference hence ascertained has been noted after the end of each article.

Industry Information

Indian Watch industry The Indian watch industry began in the year 1961 with the commissioning of the watch division of

HMT.HMT was the leader in the watch market till the Tatas formed Titan watches. They took a major

strategy decision, which changed the face of the Indian watch market, which is to market only quartz

watches. Liberalization in 1992 and the removal of quantitative restrictions due to WTO opened the doors

for many foreign brands.

Major Players Titan Timex HMT

Tag Heuer Longines Omega

Rolex

Major Segments Mens watches Women’s watches Youth watches

Kids Watches Sports watches Omega

Major Price Points Economy (350-600) Popular (600-900) Premium (900-1500)

Super Premium (1500-8000)

Luxury (8000 and above)


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Position Map of Various brands and sub brands in the Indian context

Position Map of Various brands based on Price and Variety

Relevance and application of journals collected Watch as a cultural Icon: The Indian Watch industry has evolved over past four decades. As explained in

Journal 1, leading brands in the market have played a major role in transforming watches from having just

a utility value to having a cultural value. During the HMT days , watches were just remembered as those

sturdy mechanical things which help in knowing the time. Titan pioneered the concept of “watches as a

Traditional

Premiu

Trend

Econom

Raga

Xylys

Timex

Sonat

Regali

Nebul

Edge

Fastrack

Tag Omega Longine

Price

Variety

Titan Classique

Rolex

Longines

Tag Heur

Xylys

Titan Raga

Fastrack

Sonata


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gift” giving a watch a cultural meaning in the society. Early advertisements of Titan clearly communicated

the idea of looking at watches as a gift for various occassions like ‘Diwali’, “Home Coming”, “Marriage”.

This is a key inflection point in the Indian watch industry when watches suddenly carried a cultural

meaning. The sale of watches increased leaps and bounds and everyone started having a Titan watch.

Next inflection point came when Titan realised that customers must be encouraged to own more than one

watch. Another challenge was that everyone owned a Titan and everyone resembled each other. There was

individualization and there was a risk of watches being commoditized. This made Titan to come up with

the “Aamir Campaign” encouraging consumers to buy watches to match their dress and brought in

individualization. Then the “Be more” campaign conveyed the message of owning watches to reflect your

personality and gave watch a meaning of “extension of yourself”, expression of success and power etc.

Titan also unvieled the “Raga” range for women which took watches into the ethnic and jewelery category

giving it a more cultural meaning. Jewels have always been close to Indian culture and this range

encourage women to look at watches as jewels.

Then came the plethora of foreign brands most of them in the luxury segment catering to the emotional

values of consumers. The watches one own reflects the association and status of the individual and the

advertisements campaigns like “What are you made of”, “I do things my way” etc indicates the

transformation of watches as a cultural icon in the indian industry.

Journal 2: How Ambiguous cropped objects in Ad photos can affect product evaluations.

Advertisements of Titan has successfully used this concept to enhance the evaluation of their brands.

The “Marriage Ad” of Titan has distinctively cropped visual images and the faces of the models are not

shown completely. Lacking motivation, consumer might use heuristics to complete these images. But

Titan with its famous jingle has motivated customers to get emotionally engaged to the advertisments and

Price

Utility Value Cultural Value

Rolex

Tag Heur

Omega

Longines

Titan Raga

Titan Classique

Fastrack

Sonata

Xylys

Timex


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have encouraged customers to close these cropped images as a “Bride”, “Bride Groom” and “Father”

respectively. This has made consumers get highly involved with the Titan ads and have closed these

images using their cognitive resources and have made Titan in their consideration set when they think of

gifts for such occassions.

Aamirs Campaign of matching watches for the dress has crossed audio of the Titan jingle. The jingle

which has already become iconic even though cropped encouraged customers to fill in the missing parts

and relate the ad to the brand. These two aspects are excellent examples how using cropped/ambiguous

images/audio can enhance product evaluations when consumers have the motivation to do the closure.

Usage of Perceptual organization in watch advertisements Concept Brand Sub Brand Advertisement Ad Medium

Figure and Ground Titan Fastrack

The Print ad of Fastrack and has a clear contrast of the Brand name and the background. The Object is the Brand name itself and the background is slightly out of focus mountain and outdoors. This gives a very clear projection to the brand name in ad Print

Xylys

The Print ad of Xylys has the watch in the foreground at the brackdrop of new york skyline. With the contrasting colour and image the watch is projected well and allows the consumer to make an association of the watch with the elite and corporate. The choice of colour indicates the poistion of the brand in the luxury segment Print

Longines Longines

The print ad has Celebrity (Aishwarya Rai) on one side and the watch on the other. This signals an association of the watch with success, prestige, Beauty etc Print

Grouping Titan Classic

The Marriage ad of Titan shows the bride, groom and father and allows the consumer to group them and form an perception of emotion, love , value and responsibility. These early ads signalled the positioning of Watch as gift for any occasion TV

"Be More" Campaign of Aamir made the consumer to group all the images of the ad and form a perception of individualism, rebellious, care free, adventure TV


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Raga

Rani Mukherjee Ad has a clear setting of an ethnic Indian house with the jingle remixed with an Indian touch. The Ad shows the model removing her jewels and at the end wearing Titan Raga. Consumers group this with ethnicity, Jewellery and creates a perception of watch as replacement for jewellery TV

Fastrack

Move On ad has a girl and boy exchanging the gifts and finally wearing the fastrack watch. The whole setting creates a perception of care free , rebellious attitude. TV

Closure Titan Classique/Raga

Whenver consumers hear the Titan Jingle , they fill it up with images of the ad whichever appeals to them. This is closure. Titan is one of the few brands who have successfully used the Jingle to its advantage TV/Audio

Fastrack

"Yes Sir" ads does not explicitly convey the message of the ad . Consumers fill in the details and form a perception of trendy, cool , youth etc towards to the fastrack brand TV

Indian Detergent Industry The Indian detergent products market is a highly fragmented one. There is a sizeable unorganized sector. In this study of Indian detergent market, we focus only on the fabric wash synthetic detergent sector and exclude scourers (surface/floor cleaning) and other products.

In 2004, of the 23 lakh ton fabric wash market, laundry soaps and bars made from vegetable oils accounted for around seven lakh tons with synthetic detergents making up the rest 16 lakh tons.

Fabric detergent products are categorized into three segments – Premium Brands, Medium Priced/Regular Brands, and Economic/Janta Brand. The premium and medium priced segments together accounted for 20% of the volume share and 35% of the value share. The economy segment made up the remaining lion's share of the market.

The fabric wash industry in India was characterized by low per capita consumption, especially in rural markets. The major players in the Indian detergent market are HLL, P&G, Nirma and Henkel (through its joint venture with SPIC, a leading petrochemical company based in the south Indian city of Chennai).

Market share (in terms of sales revenue) for various players is depicted in table below (Note: This is only an indicative chart since the data is for Synthetic Detergents & Scourers).

Company wise % market share per year 2002–03

2003–04

2004–05

2005–06

2006–07

2007–08

Hindustan Unilever 42.32 40.01 33.97 35.54 32.93 33.65


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Nirma 21.2 21.17 18.99 17.83 16.05 15.68

Procter & Gamble Home Products 7.09 7.26

Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care 2.65 2.81 4.15 5.44 1.45

Henkel India 0.53 0.42 1.47 2.45 2.26 2.42

Henkel Spic India [Merged] 4.51 4.65 3.89

Source: Economic Intelligent Services – Industry: Market Share & Size (Synthetic Detergents & Scourers)

Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy

P&G and HLL were not the only major players in the Indian fabric detergent market. Henkel and Nirma were also becoming very aggressive in terms of marketing their products.

When Nirma, a small insignificant player, began challenging Surf's dominance in the detergent market in early 1980s, HLL launched various counter measures. The entry of P&G in early 1990s on to the scene further intensified the competition, creating a new market segment - the compacts (compact technology premium detergent brands). HLL has taken retaliatory steps to keep P&G in check and retain its leadership position.

In 2004, P&G India had drastically slashed the prices of its detergents - Ariel and Tide. P&G had reduced the price of a 500 gram pack of Ariel from Rs 70 to Rs 50 - a drop of 28 % and the price of a 500 gram pack of Tide from Rs 43 to Rs 23 - a fall of 45 %. P&G's detergents were expected to reach customers across India within a week of announcement of the price cuts. Within two days, in swift retaliation, HLL slashed the price of its premium brand Surf Excel from Rs 70 to Rs 50 and the price of Surf Excel Blue from Rs 50 to Rs 38 for 500 grams. HLL tried to ensure that the products reached the retail shelves within a day or two of HLL's announcement, thus countering P&G's first mover advantage.

In 2009, the major brands in the detergent (Powder & Bar) markets are SURF EXCEL, WHEEL, RIN from Hindustan Liver, WHEEL and TIDE from Proctor & Gamble, HENKO, Mr. WHITE & CHEK from Henkel and NIRMA SUPREME from Nirma.

Major Players � Surf

� Ariel

� Tide

� Rin

� Nirma

� Henko

Imagery from the advertisements

S.No Brand Name Proposition/Positioning Advertising Imagery*

1 Surf Excel Stain Removal, Less Water, Special offering for Washing Machine, Extra Bright Clothes.

Specific emphasis on school kids .Mothers now have the freedom to let their kids experience life


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Middle and premium segment.

without worrying about stains.

An association with colour BLUE to imply a whitening characteristic, though the new offerings have white color detergent.

2 Wheel

"Best clean with less effort", For heavty duty laundry. Mass market consumers.

Lower & medium-price segment.

Middle class woman going to a bank to send money order to his old father. Clear focus on savings. Economy brand. Empowerment of women.

3 Tide

Whiteness, Value proposition when offering some smaller packs at Rs. 11/- motivating intention to buy aspect, reaching both lower & upper class segment consumers through these introductory packings.

For mid-priced segment

Typical rainy season problems associated with wearing white clothes. Humorous ad.

"White ho to Tide ho” is a nice way to rhyme the word and make it easy to recall.

Trying to create transaction utility by crossing out 43 and promoting the price as Rs. 23/- . Significantly above the JND.

4 Henko

Stain Removal, Oxygen power, Kills germs. washing machine

Middle and premium segment.

Celebrity(Juhi Chawla) is used along with a person in a doctor's apprin - shining WHITE (expert power?).Use of oxygen baloon to attract attention. Trying to portay country of origin (Germany) to highlight quality, but not stated that explicitly. Boring informational ad.

5 Mr White

Whiteness benefit. Lime and indigo ingredient. Mass market consumers.

Shows college going guy and a housewife emphasizing on whiteness of clothes (School/College


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Lower & medium-price segment. formal dress is white, house-wife gives emphasize to whiteness). Monotonous, Boring ad with not much audio video for quick recall.

6 Rin Whiteness, Superior cleaning. Lower price segment

The flash of light is synonymous with the brand Rin

The characters used in a regular day to day environment so that people can relate with them, middle class environment

7 Ariel Stain removal, fragrance, washing machine. medium and premium segment. oxygen-oxyblue, oxyrich

Technology focus.Use sportsmen like Yuvraj Singh.Packaging has Zaheer khan, so celebrity advertising used.No audio video repetition ,jingle etc.

8 Nirma Whiteness.Lower price segment.No special benefits of the powder mentioned.

"Washing powder Nirma" a popular jingle etched in consumer's mind-nostalgia.Audio and visual identity unchanged for many years.Dancing girl imagery. Indian women dancing showing their perfectly clean sarees. Good brand recall. "sabki pasand nirma"- mass market appeal.

*Imagery as perceived by authors from the advertisements

From the perceptual map and the imagery perceived through advertisement, we feel that for Henko the brand recall value is very weak. Their advertisements lack the association elements which reduces the consumer’s intention to buy even at the point of sale.

Recommendations Brand to be repositioned: Henko Stain Champion -> from now on referred to as Henko As seen in the perceptual map earlier it suffers from poor brand communication (i.e.) unattractive advertisements and packaging. On the basis of claimed benefits by the brands and the current positioning of the brand in perceptual map, we feel there is low to medium degree of Anchored perception and low intention to buy.


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In order to make the radical shift, we believe the brand has to undergo changes in terms of

• Re-packaging – To have new brand associations change the existing brand associations. A new brand image (maybe a sub-brand to lend vitality to existing brand) is required. More attractive colours with better material should be used to convey the image of a revamped brand.(E.g.: Surf Excel uses metallised polyster film to provide that glossy finish)

• Benefit based repositioning – The number of brand benefits as claimed by Henko is significantly higher than its competitors. Maybe to get the message across it needs to be more focussed.

• Country of Origin – Since Henko is of German origin, we can explicitly highlight the functional benefits being brought from Germany.

New Mix SCP

Repackage New Imagery

Anchored

Perception

High

Low

Intention to Buy

Low High


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Conclusion On basis of various tradeoffs, we recommend that Henko should come up with new packaging and advertisements that will connect more with the end-users.

References 1. Watch as a cultural Icon 2. Advertisement 3. Consistency of Information in positioning study 4. Re-positioning Article 5. Cohort Perception

Appendix

Appendix –A

Print Ads for various brands

Titan Xylys


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Tag heuer

Longines


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Appendix-B OFFERINGS

Surf-Excel Qty. Price Piece/kg

Surf Excel BLUE 750 93 124

Surf Excel Quick Wash 1000 152 152



Surf Excel Matic Top Load 500 90 180

Surf Excel Matic Front Load 1000 199 199

Surf Excel Matic Top Load 1000 175 175

Ariel

Ariel 24 Fresh Fragrance (2 diff fragrance) 500 84 168

Ariel Oxy Blue 1000 199 199

Ariel Oxy Blue spring clean 1000 146 146

Ariel Matic Front load 1000 199 199

Ariel Oxy Blue top load ultra matic 1000 216 216

Ariel Oxy Rich anti-stain 200 34 170


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Henko

Henko Stain Champion 1000 109 109

Henko Stain Champion Matic 1000 165 165

No. of Variants offered

Avg. Price / Kg. Variety

Surf-Excel 167 4

Ariel 180 6

Henko 137 2

CLAIMED BENEFITS

Surf-Excel Avg. Price/kg. # Benefits Claimed Benefits

Surf Excel BLUE 124 1 stain removal

Surf Excel Quick Wash 152 2 stain removal,water

Surf Excel Matic Top Load 175 2 stain removal,washing machine

Surf Excel Matic Front Load 199 2 stain removal,washing machine

Ariel

Ariel 24 Fresh Fragrance (2 diff fragrance) 168 2 stain removal,fragrance

Ariel Oxy Blue 199 2 stain removal with oxyblue

Ariel Oxy Blue spring clean 146 1 normal stain removal

Ariel Matic Front load 199 2 stain removal,washing machine

Ariel Oxy Blue top load ultra matic 216 3

stain removal,washing machine, oxyblue

Ariel Oxy Rich anti-stain 170 2 stain removal, oxyrich

Henko

Henko Stain Champion 109 3 stain


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removal,oxygen,germs

Henko Stain Champion Matic 165 4

stain removal,oxygen,germs, washing machine

OFFERINGS - Different Packs

Qty. Price Piece/kg

RIN

Rin 1000 70 70.00

Rin 750 50 66.67

Rin Matic 1000 85 85.00

Rin Matic 500 42 84.00

Rin jasmine 1000 70 70.00

Tide

Tide Jasmine & Rose 425 32 75.29



Wheel

Wheel Active Gold 300 15 50.00

Henko

Mr. White 450 30 66.67

Mr. White 800 52 65.00

No. of Variants offered

Avg. Price / Kg. Variety

RIN 77 3

Tide 80 1

Wheel 40 1

Henko 65 1


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CLAIMED BENEFITS

RIN Avg. Price/kg. # Benefits Claimed Benefits

Rin 70 1 whiteness

Rin Matic 85 2 whiteness,washing machine

Rin jasmine 70 2 whiteness,fragrance

Tide

Tide Jasmine & Rose 82 2 whiteness,fragrance

Wheel

Wheel Active Gold 50 2 extra whiteness

Henko

Mr. White 65 1 whiteness

OFFERINGS

Qty. Price Piece/kg

Wheel

Wheel Active 600 20 33.33



Nirma

NIRMA Powder 300 10 33.33

NIRMA Powder 600 20 33.33

No. of Variants offered Avg. Price / Kg. Variety

Wheel 35 1

Nirma 33 1


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CLAIMED BENEFITS

Wheel Avg. Price/kg. # Benefits Claimed Benefits

Wheel Active 33 1 whiteness

Nirma

NIRMA Powder 33 1 whiteness

Appendix-C Perception Data for the detergent industry : as perceived by the authors

Brand Price

Number of benefits claimed

Ad attractiveness

Brand Recall Humor Celebrity

Packaging Attractiveness

Surf Excel BLUE 124 1 3 5 3 2 4 Surf Excel Quick Wash 152 2 4 3 4 2 4 Surf Excel Matic Top Load 175 2 4 5 4 3 4 Surf Excel Matic Front Load 199 2 4 5 4 3 4 Ariel fragrance 168 2 3 3 2 3 3 Ariel Oxy Blue 199 2 2 5 3 2 3 Ariel OxyBlue springclean 146 1 3 4 3 2 3 Ariel Matic Front load 199 2 3 4 3 3 3 Ariel OxyBlue ultramatic 216 3 3 4 3 3 3 Ariel Oxy Rich anti-stain 170 2 3 2 3 2 3 Henko Stain Champion 109 3 2 3 2 4 2 Henko Stain Champion Matic 165 4 2.5 2.5 2 4 2


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Survey Questions

Readymade Garments Preferences

Perception Facets Scores (1 - Important, 5 - Not Important)

Cuts and Styles 1.86

Fitting and Size Availability 1.21

Quality of the Fabric 1.71

Perception Facets Scores (1 – Agree, 5 - Disagree)

I buy from specific stores! 3.07

I buy a particular set of brands! 3.25

I look out for discount offers for buying clothes! 2.11

Key findings

� The most important perceptive elements in readymade garments category are Cuts and Styles, Fitting and size availability and the quality of fabric.

� People tend to notice adverts more in the formal and casual wear sub category.

� People generaly have a low association with brands in this category


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Readymade Wear Brand Surveys Perception of the preferred brand Associate – 1, Do Not Associate - 5

Visual Appeal 1.67

Style and Glamour 1.96

Quality of the Fabric, Fittings 1.78

Celebrity Endorsements 3.22

Perception of the preferred brand Agree – 1, Disagree - 5

It is a part of my complete self 2.15

It is a part of memories of my youthful years 3.52


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Key findings

� The most important perceptive elements for choosing a brand are still the basics – quality of the fabric, cuts and style and size and fittings

� Most of the people have associated their brand image with Entertainment and movies.

Credit Card Category Surveys Questions Agree – 1, Disagree - 5

Do you consider credit card as an important lifestyle accessory? 2.64

Is credit card a luxury or a necessity? (1 – Luxury, 5 – Necessity) 3.94

How important is the look and feel of the card design? 3.45

Do you actively seek information with regards to a credit card? 3.21

Would you recommend your credit card service provider to a friend of yours? 2.20

Who is more important for you? Banks or the Providers (Banks – 1, Providers – 5) 2.45

Key findings

� Credit cards have clearly have moved from luxury items to a necessity item providing


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flexibility for pricing the features

� Feature based descriptions, Values based offerings and Safety and Security seems to be primary associations related advertisements of the credit card

Credit Card Brand Surveys

Key findings

� Interesting Visa is most used credit card brand can also be related to the value of keeping good credit ratings with the bank

� As the need has been established, it is being clearly being associated as a utility tool.


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Watch Category Surveys Perception of the preferred brand Important – 1, Do Not Important - 5

What is importance of owning a wrist watch for you? 2.37

How much the store ambience and after sales service influences your watch purchases?

2.7

Key findings

� Watch category has strong associations with Spectacles/Goggles and the value of feature set in terms of shape variety is huge


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� Visual appeal of the watch is noticed the most and is the single most important criteria for watch purchase

Watch Brands Surveys Perception of the preferred brand

How would you rate the designs of your preferred brand? (Extremely Attractive – Completely Unattractive) (1-5)

1.88

How would you rate the quality of shopping experience of your preferred brand? (Extremely Appealing – Completely Unappealing) (1-5)

2.2

How would you rate the quality of after sales service of your preferred brand? (Extremely Satisfied – Completely Unsatisfied) (1-5)

2.12


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Key findings

� Ad Recall is very strong in the watch segment.

� One of the strongest association is with the medium of Print Ads and Television

� The most sold brands are sold essentially on the basis of attractive designs along with reasonable pricing

Cohorts Perceptions of Luxury -


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Key Points

� Titan Nebula is disproportionately highlighted in 35 – 45 years segment.

� Titan has a recall in 45 and above category as luxury brand.

� Citizen, Tag Heuer, Tissot appear luxury to the recent generations

Key Points

� Provogue, Park Avenue are not considered luxury be the youngest generation.

� Nike is a classic example; there is a stark difference of perception of luxury for 35 – 45 years to who are under 45. Same thing applies to Versace

� Citizen, Tag Heuer, Tissot appeal to the later generation in a major cultural shift which is particular to a generation.

consumerbehaviourproject

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