Marketing review

19 Apr 2004

Kinetic Motor announces 'Rewards Month'
Kinetic Motor is celebrating its achievement of having sold 55 lakh vehicles in India last fiscal. The company has planned a nationwide 'Kinetic Rewards Month' for its scooter owners under which the company will offer Kinetic owners exciting benefits like discounts of up to 50 per cent on upgrades for improving performance, fuel efficiency, engine re-hauls, body panel changes and multi-focal reflector headlamps.

Owners bringing their scooters to a Kinetic dealership during the rewards month will be given a free wash, battery check-up and a tune up for their scooter. The company also has a special, easy maintenance contract priced at less than Re1 per day to help the customer manage his lifecycle vehicle servicing needs, in addition to a daily prize for the "best maintained vehicle" that will be handed out with special gifts.

HP will support McDonald's with regard to photographs.
McDonald's India is relaunching its 'Happy Meal' programme with new marketing activities within McDonald's restaurants across the country this month.

McDonald's India has recently entered into a tie-up with Hewlett-Packard (HP), whereby on the purchase of a 'Happy Meal', a mother will be able to get a picture taken with her child, free of cost, to take home. The fun-filled activity involves the mother dressing up her child in a costume in one minute. If the child is a boy, the costume is 'Galidor' and for girls, it is the 'Hello Kitty' costume. The activity will be on at McDonald's restaurants between April 16 and May 27.

New offers and events at McDonald's
As part of the new Happy Meal programme, McDonald's India will provide an option of substituting aerated beverage (Coke) with a small McShake for an additional Rs8. The company has recently begun offering an affordable menu called the 'Happy Price Menu', whereby McDonald's products such as the McAloo Tikki, Chicken McGrill, Pizza McPuff and Softserve small (hot fudge and strawberry) will all be priced at Rs 20 each, all inclusive of taxes.

To support its new marketing activities McDonald's India is planning to launch new TVCs to show that any small excuse is a good enough reason to come to McDonald's. For this purpose, McDonald's India is planning to invest around Rs 4 crore.

IMAX plans 20 theatres in 5 yrs
The Canada-based IMAX Corporation is planning to set up 20 theatres in the next five years in major cities across the country.
While three theatres will come up in New Delhi, the rest will be evenly spread across the metros of Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata.

Coke to offer more products in India
Coca-Cola India is planning to introduce more products to its customers in India. Some of the products under consideration are iced tea in collaboration with Nestle and sports drink, PowerAid, which the company already has in its portfolio. The company recently withdrew Shock, its energy drink launched a while ago.
The company is also coming out with a new 'Thanda Matlab Coca-Cola' ad featuring Aamir Khan.

Capgemini launches new global brand campaign
Capgemini, the management, technology and outsourcing consultancy firm formerly known as Capgemini Ernst & Young, has launched a new 60-million euro branding campaign beginning April 15, 2004.

The campaign reveals both a new positioning and a new identity for the firm and will continue to run until the end of the year.

According to the firm, the world of consultancy has undergone a fundamental change and clients have much greater expectations. Hence the firm has decided to cater to altered expectations. The campaign has been devised to communicate to customers the inherent changes taking place within the firm, moving towards an increasingly collaborative approach.

EURO RSCG Worldwide, with its lead agency EURO RSCG C&O, was selected for the campaign development after an agency pitch including many of the large international networks in 2003.

LG Care launches personal FMCG products
LG Care has made its debut in the Indian FMCG market, introducing consumer products across 8 categories including toothpastes, shampoos, soaps, detergents, diapers, cleaners, cosmetics and hairstyling products. There will be 200 product packs spread over the mentioned categories in various sizes, packs and variants.

The products will be available in the metro markets by next month and in all cities and towns with a population of over 1,00,000 within the next three months.

The company has planned an aggressive marketing, advertising and promotions campaign and is looking at an innovative mix of advertising, direct marketing, events and promotions to establish a close and long-term relationship with the Indian consumer. The products will be sold under the tagline 'Life's Good'.

HLL launches the Lux contest
Hindustan Lever has launched the 'Lux Star Bano, Aish Karo' contest, to run till July 15. According to the company, the first prize includes a dinner date with star and Lux model Aishwarya Rai.

To enter the contest, one has to buy a special promotional pack of the soap, which contains a scratch card. The top 50 winners and their spouses will be flown to Mumbai to live a day like Aishwarya would. Other prizes include gift vouchers worth Rs 50,000 from Shoppers' Stop, an exclusive sari created by Aishwarya's personal designer, Neeta Lulla, and a makeover by make-up artist Michelle Tung.

Gifts for other winners include 100 silk saris by Lulla, 1,000 Tung's beauty kits and 30 lakh Lux mini-bars.

Novartis, Charak Pharma in marketing alliance
Ayurvedic company Charak Pharma has entered into a marketing alliance with multinational pharma major Novartis India for the promotion of three animal healthcare products from the Charak stable.

The products are Hormotone, Livovet and Milchey. The company has signed a royalty and mark-up agreement with Novartis for a five-year period. In this time, Novartis would promote these products and get the revenues from the sales and profits of these products while Charak Pharma would get a royalty payment, besides the mark-up amount.

Hormotone is a poultry-related product used for menstrual modulation, while Livovet and Milchey are cattle-related products used for the liver and in lactation, respectively.

Peter England to come out with suits and blazers
Peter England, a prominent shirt brand from Madura Garments, has launched a new range of readymade suits and blazers and hopes to garner a 35 per cent market share in this segment within two years.

Madura Garments has a major presence in the readymade suits and blazer market through its brands, Louis Phillips and Van Heusen. Peter England's new offerings will complement its range of internationally styled garments.

According to the company, Louis Phillips and Van Heusen command a combined market share of over 20 per cent.
Madura Garments plans to mount a campaign to promote its new products under the Peter England brand, which will include TV commercials in key markets such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Karnataka.

Hyundai launches Elantra in the executive segment
Hyundai Motor India has announced the launch of its sedan, Elantra. The car will compete with similar models from the stables of Toyota (Corolla), General Motors (Chevrolet Optra) and Skoda (Octavia).

The petrol-engine version of the car comes with a 1.8-litre engine and is priced at Rs 8.69 lakh for the base model. The 2-litre diesel, CRDi engine is priced at Rs 10.49 lakh.

The car will carry local content of about 40 per cent by the end of the year. The Elantra is expected to grow 25 per cent this year since (the rate at which the executive segment is growing). The car is equipped with safety features such as the brake assist system, electronic break force distribution, traction control system and anti-lock braking system.

— Compiled by Mohini Bhatnagar