Marketing review

Disney and Adlabs launch "Disney's Movie Magic"
The Walt Disney Company (India) and Adlabs Films have launched Disney's Movie Magic at a special charity screening of Disney and Pixar's latest computer animated feature film 'Cars' held at Metro Adlabs in Mumbai.

The line-up of movies include the best of Disney's feature animation and popular live-action hits such as The Incredibles, Cars, Finding Nemo, The Lion King, Aladdin, Tarzan, Chicken Little, The Princess Diaries, 102 Dalmatians and many more.

The 'Disney Movie Magic' experience is focused on delighting and fascinating children before and after the lights go down. Movie tickets will come in a specially designed Disney's Movie Magic branded envelope, which will contain a token gift related to Disney movies.

All Adlabs locations will be dressed-up in the world of Disney and popcorn and beverages will be served in special branded glasses. There will also be monthly in-cinema contests with Disney merchandise as gifts. Disney's Movie Magic is being promoted extensively through a comprehensive marketing campaign including television, in-cinema, print advertising bolstered by innovative on-ground and online initiatives.

Going forward, this initiative will include a loyalty programme, special schemes with schools and many more exciting offerings to add the magic of Disney to special festivals and holidays.

Amul to be sole GCMMF milk brand in Gujarat
Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) has decided to sell all milk collected by their cooperative bodies under a single brand - Amul, from October 1, and phase out other milk brands.

Till now, the district units were selling their own brands in their respective territories, besides providing milk to GCMMF, which marketed the product nationally under the Amul brand. The decision is said to have been taken in the best interests of both the milk producers and the consumers.

FritoLay launches Cheetos Dragonz
FritoLay, a part of the Pepsi stable, has launched a new variant `Cheetos Dragonz', of its brand Cheetos commemorating its tie-up with Toon Disney channel's programme `Dragon Booster' on Jetix.

The new variant priced at Rs10 for a 32-gram pack comes as an orange coloured, dragon-shaped snack and is a limited version edition to be available till November this year.

According to the company, "Cheetos has always stood for fun, naughtiness and adventure and the launch of `Cheetos Dragonz' reinforces the brands core proposition. A 360-degree marketing and promotional initiative are supporting the launch across the country. It also includes a contest during the programme on Jetix for children that will allow the winners to get `Dragon Booster' goodies such as bags, toys and school gear.

HLL launches new Fair & Lovely range
Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) has reentered the ayurveda market with a slew of products under the Fair & Lovely (FAL) ayurvedic range. Earlier HLL was present in the ayurveda segment with the Ayush product range.

HLL has unveiled a facemask, bath paste, cleansing bar and a body lotion under the FAL brand. This range straddles the mass market with its combination of products to cover the skincare regime of consumers while its Ponds International brand addresses the skincare regime at the premium end of the market.

According to officials at HLL, the strategy behind creating the new ayurvedic segment is to create consumer clusters for its portfolio of products.

Castrol enters Hyderabad with BikeZones
Castrol has introduced the Castrol BikeZones in Hyderabad which offer the convenience of servicing bikes in a customer friendly environment. The company expects to reach out to 16 cities nationally by December 2006. According to the company, "Castrol Bike Zone is a part of our vision of touching areas of bike care that go beyond lubricants. This concept allows motorcycle servicing while providing for personalised attention."

The company has opened five Castrol Zones in Hyderabad and plans to commission two more within 30 days. These Castrol BikeZones provide a transparent diagnosis of the bike's problems with the customer fully involved in dialogue with the mechanic in determining the jobs required to be carried out on the bike.

The three-tiered service menu helps the customer choose the right kind of service for his bike.

The pricing is specified so that the customer is not given surprise bills. The Indian Cricket Captain Rahul Dravid, the brand ambassador for Castrol, launched the zone.

The company launched the Bike Zone concept after a successful pilot test in Bangalore and Chennai in August 2004. It currently operates 23 such zones.

GM gives the `Total Peace Of Mind And Protection Offer', on Optra
General Motors is making all out make its Optra into an attractive buy. The company has reduced the ex-showroom price of the Optra by seven per cent and packaged other benefits for the car's buyers as part of a new promotion scheme.

Under the scheme the Chevrolet Optra 1.6 Elite is being offered for a special price of Rs7.24 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) against a normal price of Rs7.81 lakh. In addition to this the company is offering a three-year / 60,000 km warranty coverage plus a free service and maintenance plan for three year / 45,000 km (whichever is earlier).

This offer covers parts — brake pads, wiper blades, spark plugs, etc., — oil and consumables, thereby providing complete peace of mind to customers. This means that consumers need not incur service or maintenance costs on these high replacement parts and components during this period.

GM India is also offering a minimum assured buyback value for the car at the end of the three-year / 45,000-km period resulting in total protection to the consumer. A customer can, at his option, return the car to GM India and receive a minimum assured buyback value for his Optra at the end of the said ownership period. In case the consumer gets a better value outside or wishes to continue using the car after three years, he could do so.

Nike introduces cricket shoe Air Zoom Yorker
Nike has launched its first cricket shoe, called the Air Zoom Yorker and has roped in two international pace bowlers Shane Bond from New Zealand and S. Sreesanth from India as brand ambassadors for the product.

According to the company the shoe weighs about 400 gm in weight compared to the competition brand of cricket shoes that weigh about 600 gm. The company has spent about three years doing research for the product, having roped in Shane Bond and Jeff Wilson from the New Zealand cricket team to help in the research in 2003. Some of the features of the product include increased durability, less water retention, and cushioning at the heel and forefront to reduce cleat pressure and increase responsive cushioning.

The company would also release Air Zoom Opener, a pair of shoes for batsmen, this month along with a range of apparel and accessories including Indian cricket replica jerseys, training gear, kit bags and backpacks exclusively for cricket. The Air Zoom Yorker, a premium brand of cricket shoes, is priced at Rs 8,900.

Britannia launches frozen dessert brand
Britannia has launched frozen dessert brand, DeLuca Gelato Italiano at a Daily Bread outlet in Bangalore. The former recently acquired Café Coffee Day's stake in Daily Bread. The outlet will offer Italian Gelato (a fat-free dessert similar to ice-cream), yoghurt and desserts.

Daily Bread plans to open more DeLuca outlets in major metros which would be a combination of independent outlets, shop-in-shops and also sections within Daily Bread shops. Daily Bread also intends to open `food emporiums' soon, spanning across 1,500 sq. ft each.

Toyota celebrates four decades of global leadership
Toyota is celebrating the Corolla's four decades of global leadership and is commemorating this milestone with the launch of a new 'Executive' variant of the sedan. As a special anniversary offer, in line with the month-long celebrations in September, the Toyota Corolla Executive will be available for Rs 8.85 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

According to the company, the new Executive variant is targeted at the huge segment of corporate customers who were till now shying away from buying the Corolla due to budget constraints.

The Corolla Executive comes with the state-of-art 1.8L VVT-i engine, which has already made a mark for itself with its smooth power delivery and superior torque.
The new Executive variant has no major deviations from the regular technical specifications of the H1 Corolla.

However, though equipped with ABS, the new variant comes without airbags and an audio system. A three-spoke steering wheel (instead of the five-spoke version) and steel wheels (instead of alloys) are the other changes in the new variant.

Toyota has said that the Corolla Executive is in response to a definite market need. Customers keen on buying the Corolla, which is known for its safety and reliability features, can now afford it without compromising on the core strengths of the product.