Marketing review

Coca-Cola gets high decibel with consumer promotions
Here is a sample Coke's latest ad campaign:
"Get caught drinking Coca-Cola on May 26 in NFC, Lajpat Nagar, Noida, Ashok
Vihar, Model Town, Punjabi Bagh (W), CP.
MAY 27: CP, Ansal Plaza, Khel Gaon Village, Green Park Market, SDA
MAY 28: Gurgaon, GK1, NDSE1, Defence Colony, Khan Market, Basant Lok, Saket, Sunder Nagar.' goes the campaign refrain launched by the company across key markets of India early May."

Launched by Coca Cola India in the third week of May in Delhi, according to the scheme 40 people were spotted having a bottle of Coke at the above locations. They can have lunch with Virender Sehwag nicknamed the Nawab of Najafgarh. .

According to the scheme two Coca- Cola brigades would be on the lookout for Coke drinkers at nearly 60 key locations in and around the city of Delhi and to meet his/her idol. All the consumers need to do is to be spotted quenching their thirst with Coke by the Coca-Cola Spotters on the Fun Brigade.

After this the consumers need to answer some five simple brand related questions and the
lucky ones can have lunch with Virender Sehwag on May 29 in Gurgaon.

Earlier Coke launched the 'Thums Up Hai Dum?' Contest, giving the winner - Parthasarathi Pahi from Bhubaneshwar- an opportunity to gain a lifetime of fame by scaling Mount Everest, taking home a cash prize of Rs10 lakh and a customised bike. The company also undertook the Aish-Cash offer that provided consumers an opportunity to have dinner with Aishwarya Rai and the final winner- Pramod Chaudhuri from Pune- got the opportunity to travel to Cannes with her.

Air Arabia plans franchise ticket sales
To get clients in smaller towns and cities cost-effectively, Air Arabia, UAE's low-cost carrier, is planning to sell its tickets through franchisees.

The airline will thus sell its tickets through franchisees in smaller towns such as Nashik, Baroda, Ahmednagar, Ahmedabad, and Nagpur. This mode of ticketing for airlines is totally new in the country.

According to the airline anyone with a PC and an internet connection can do the work. The airline would give them a login and user name to start booking. The trader would have to put up a certain sum of money with the airline to make reservations. Once he or she had sold tickets for that sum of money, he/she would again have to replenish the amount with the airline to continue to make bookings.

At present the airline sells tickets through its offices and through a network of travel agents spread out across the country. Individual customers can also book tickets by logging on to the airline's Web site for ticket sales.

SilkAir offers attractive packages for its shopping festival
SilkAir, the regional wing of Singapore Airlines, has launched special tour packages from Thiruvananthapuram to Singapore City coincide with the Singapore shopping festival "Great Singapore Sale 2005."

An airline spokeswoman said here that the package includes economy class airfare in the Thiruvananthapuram-Singapore-Thiruvananthapuram sector, three nights' hotel accommodation on twin-sharing basis, daily breakfast, airport and hotel transfers, half-day city tour and free baggage allowance of an additional 20 kg from Singapore.

Valid till July 24, the package costs cost Rs19,399 per person.

BPL Mobile to introduce low-priced handsets.
BPL Mobile is introducing a handset package at a starting price of Rs1,499 in Tamil Nadu. The company plans to extend its network to cover 100 new towns and 780 villages in the state this year and enhance its capacity to cater to one million new users this year.

Toyota launches contest for Corolla customers
Toyota Kirloskar has launched a contest for its Corolla customers according to all those who buy a Corolla in June and July 2005 will get a chance to win a holiday abroad.

According to the company among seven customers of the Corolla stands a chance to win a prize. Winners of this contest will be eligible for a free holiday abroad.

Additionally, four couples will get a chance to fly around the world covering five destinations.

According to the company Corolla is the largest selling car in the world. Launched in 1966, Corolla has so far sold over three crore units. In India, it has a 34 per cent share in its segment with sales of 3,128 units between January and April 2005.

MTV plans Flux from June 30
MTV Networks (MTVN), a unit of Viacom Inc. has launched a new brand — Flux, a new subscription-based service delivering entertainment and music via mobile and online networks to consumers in Japan.

The brand will be initially launched on June 30 as the world's first mobile entertainment community. Flux has secured an exclusive deal with Utada, Japan's biggest female artist, to launch the world's first mobile music video series.

Subscribers will be able to access short videos and music through their mobiles or computers, make recommendations to others and provide feedback, integrating community and content for the first time.

KK Modi group to launch 24/7 convenience stores
The KK Modi Group has launched its first convenience store called `Twenty Four Seven'.

The group is planning at setting up 500 such stores across Delhi and Mumbai over the next five years with an investment of Rs40 crore over the next two years.

According to the company there isn't any well-established convenience store brand in India at present so the opportunity for 'Twenty Four Seven' is immense.

Billed as a store that remains open all 24 hours of the day, Twenty Four Seven will sell FMCG products and food items besides offering other conveniences such as movie tickets and banking via ATM machines.

Besides stocking well-known FMCG brands, these stores will also sell 300 private labels across food items and staples such as pulses and rice in a total of 3,500 SKUs (stock keeping units) of branded FMCG products, another 3,500 SKUs of prescription and over-the-counter drugs besides its own private labels.

Four Twenty Four Seven stores will come up in Delhi by September this year. The first few stores would be company-owned but that later franchisees would be roped in.

Swift gets an exclusive sales team
The Maruti Suzuki Swift is getting special treatment from the company. Apart from the advertising blitzkrieg unleashed by the company prior to its launch the car will now get a 1,000 people, special and exclusive sales team.

The company says it wants to position the car as the choice of the customer who is young and unconventional and so it wants to put into place an exclusive sales team for the Swift.

Maruti has 326 outlets across the country. Each of these dealerships will have two or three sales executives who would deal only with the new car. Maruti had earlier deputed 25 engineers who worked for two years to suit the car to Indian road conditions that require more rugged suspension and powerful air-conditioning.

Swift is said to have notched up over 15, 000 bookings.

Levi's re-launches `never-iron' Dockers
Levi Strauss India has relaunched the Dockers `Never Iron 100 percent Cotton' trousers.

The Dockers Never-Iron trousers are engineered with a proprietary fabric and finish that gives them a "straight from the dry-cleaner" look, including a permanent crease, right out of the dryer.

Dockers holds exclusive rights to never-iron cotton technology in pants through 2006.

Priced at Rs2,199, these pants are currently available at Dockers stores and leading department stores nationwide. The launch will be backed by the release of the "Dress to Live" television commercial that has been recently released in the US.

Blue Dart launches discount scheme for students
Blue Dart Express has launched Student Special, according to which students can avail of a 50 per cent discount on all admission-related documents sent to universities, colleges and educational institutions anywhere in the country through the year.

According to the company students can also track their documents up to delivery.

— Compiled by Mohini Bhatnagar