This summer, marketers dare to explore the non-cola territories. And Savreen Gadhoke & Surbhi Chawla dare to forecast the outcomes...

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You must have heard a wiseman say this long back: “Love is to the heart what summer is to cola companies...” Alright, I admit, I was the wiseman, but really, that line does make a world of commercial sense! Summers have set in with its usual severity. Scorching heat, temperature soaring above 40 degrees, horse-like sweat, parched throats – this is perhaps what most Indians associate summers with. And summers being the first love of cola companies, the age-old bloodbath known as cola-wars (of course between titans Coca-Cola India and PepsiCo India) continue this season too. A lot of brouhaha is doing rounds in the Indian cola industry. Ending its 13-year long association with King Khan, PepsiCo recently terminated its contract with the superstar. SRK’s IPL team, Knight Riders too dropped Pepsi from its portfolio of sponsors and signed Coca-Cola India’s Coke brand instead. But this newsy fight is passé and the war has moved a level up. Recently, Coca-Cola’s lemon-flavoured aerated drink, Sprite, zoomed past Pepsi (as per ACNielsen) and sat proud occupying the number two slot with 14.6% market share in soft drink sales in India. With Thums Up already at the top slot, Coca-Cola India reigns over the black cola market with a consolidated market share of 57.8% as compared to PepsiCo, which commands a much lower 35.6%. But, the fight will get more intense this time, as the brawl has moved beyond the obvious & into ‘non-cola’ territories.

Last fortnight, PepsiCo India launched Nimbooz, a non-fizzy lemon juice with no artificial flavours under its 7UP brand. Giving it competition is Parle Agro’s natural lemon juice, LMN. On the other hand, Coca-Cola India too extended its brand Fanta and launched fruit flavoured aerated soft drink, Fanta Apple. Hitherto, Parle Agro’s Appy Fizz was the lone player in this segment with a complete control over the market for fizzy apple drinks. As beverage companies demonstrate their fascination toward lemon and apple drinks, carbonated black cola drinks may take a back seat...

But why a sudden affinity toward fruit-based drinks? The Indian consumers have, over the years, grown to be more health-conscious. With increased awareness about harms caused by the consumption of carbonated cola drinks, the consumers are seemingly wary about their health. And quick to encash on this frenzy of health consciousness, marketers have flooded the market with their fruit-based drinks harping over the health-quotient of the drink. And the one who gets to eat the juicy market share in the end will be the winner of this fruity fight.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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DRAWING COMPARISONS

The Most Revolutionary Concept In Education PLANMAN CHE CENTRE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION, Supported by IIPM India’s Leading B-School

“In the western countries, it is the cable wire that also delivers broadband, and the companies should be looking at making use of the cable wire that is going in every household to make broadband popular,” informs, Sukanta Dey, President (Emerging Business), Tata Teleservices. It does sound as an innovative solution but is a misfit in the Indian context. “The cable broadband would require an integration of the broadband with the cable operators but as of now the cable sector itself is highly unorganised,” explains, Prashant Singhal, Telecommunications Leader, Ernst &Young. There are a great deal of synergies possible between cable and broadband as is seen in several developed markets where IPTV (a combination of these services) has gained much popularity. However, even though cable operators have fired all cylinders for market penetration, strangely broadband operators have remained numb. As a matter of fact even players like Sify and Hathway, which offer both broadband and cable while being around for quite some time, have not been able to do much in this direction. Apart from these there are BSNL and MTNL who are offering triple play services but the lack of awareness of their offerings ensures that there are no takers. The telecom market leader has just entered this arena with the launch of its IPTV (available only in Delhi) and it is expected that it would undertake some form of branding exercise in order to increase awareness. Sagar Mahableshwar, NCD, Redifusion Y&R, (agency for Airtel telecom service) reveals, “We are working on a campaign on broadband and it would be on air shortly.”

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Pawan Chabra throws up a stubbornly interesting claim that airport authorities

and even oil marketing companies – should learn to make money from beyond the promised land, specifically, real estate...

It’s called the Boomerang Karma and it doesn’t need stuporous intellect to fathom. Pretty simple actually, and can be consolidated in my modified karmic conjecture – ‘What goes around, comes around... only if you throw it at the right angle!’ My conjecture centres around airport authorities and oil marketing companies and their ‘boomerang’, that is, the real estate they own; or rather, the investment locked within the huge tracts of real estate. And my hyper intuitive argument goes that to get their true returns on investment, airport authorities and oil marketing companies (OMCs) need to look beyond flying planes and selling oil! And where, dear Watson, should that be? Elementary, dear Holmes, just around the corner!

For the answer, ask yourself – the last time you were waiting in an airport lounge for catching a flight, what were you thinking of purchasing, other than of course cursing the fog for the delay? Bingo! There’s the answer. From selling food, drinks, books, apparel, accessories, shoes, gifts, to even providing for ATMs to get cash, airports are typical captive markets teeming with prospective consumers. And that holds considerably for even petrol pumps that can be exploited in more ways than just by selling fuel!

But what’s the real scene in India? “We make most of the money by our core business i.e. by fuel retailing and not by other activities. The scenario in India is very different as compared to the western countries,” confesses an HP petrol pump owner in Delhi requesting anonymity. It is true that the Indian retail industry is literally burning from the slowdown in the industry; and that’s the case with both low cost retailers like Subhiksha who are struggling to stay alive, and other regional retailers who are suffering a severe problem of cash crunch. But Airport Authority of India (AAI) and OMCs have the potential to make hay even while the sun isn’t shining. The reason is very simple – retail, despite the slowdown, is still one of the largest and fastest growing industries of India and with a contribution of over 10% to the country’s GDP, it accounts for close to 8% of total employment in the country.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
The Most Revolutionary Concept In Education PLANMAN CHE CENTRE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION, Supported by IIPM India’s Leading B-School
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1500-plus IIPM students placed across the country with 44 bagging international offers
IIPM set to beat economic slowdown
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BOLLYWOOD IN ITSY-BITSY MODE

IIPM set to beat economic slowdown

Small has been beautiful for Bollywood in 2008 and as far as 2009 goes, the jam on Bollywood’s slice is all set to match the flavour

Like India Inc., the slowdown sentiment has bitten tinsel town - a place where suited buited corporate types have become the norm rather than an exception. “2009 is likely to see fewer movies and I think actors will see less but more interesting work,” says filmmaker Pritish Nandy, firing the first salvo.

So will 2009 have more small budget movies? “Yes,” if ex-editor of Screen and Filmfare, Rauf Ahmed is to be believed. Says the veteran, “In 2008, movies with a small or moderate budget worked well. We’ll see more of the same this year.” Movies (with budgets upto Rs.12 crore) like Mithya, Aamir, Welcome to Sajjanpur, Jaane Tu..., A Wednesday, Rock on, Fashion, Oye Lucky Lucky Oye, et al made fabulous moolah at the box office. “Jaane Tu is the biggest example of modest budget films working in 2008 and the trend will continue,” offers Shubhoshekhar Bhattacharjee, CEO, Planman Motion Pictures. Movies like Luck By Chance (from Big Pictures and Excel Entertainment) and Dev D (from UTV’s stable ) will be the first few movies in this genre to test the waters in 2009.

In boom time, the major focus is on top lines and attracting big numbers. But in a slowdown, people start focusing on the bottom line because that’s what helps to keep you going when the going gets tough. The risk in a small budget movie is less since a smaller investment is at stake comparatively. Even if the movie does average business, costs are easily recovered. Plus a greater focus on script at least ensures that the multiplex crowd is attracted. “You know that you don’t have a Shahrukh or Akshay to save you, so you work harder on the script,” argues Imtiaz Ali, the maker of Jab We Met. Producer Vipul Shah adds, “This year, the script will be the barometer of the film, not the star cast.” Sanjay Mehta, arguably the biggest film distributor in Delhi adds another dimension, “Multiplexes need small films as they have multiple screens and multiple shows in a single day. One obviously does not have a big film releasing each of the 52 weeks of the year to keep all shows running.”

But some disagree, arguing that big budget movies like Ghajini (which has broken all industry records, raking in over Rs.200 crore) are the face of Bollywood. They are not wrong. In fact, mega bucks and mega starers like Ghajini and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi continue to conquer every movie-goer inhibition viz. terror attacks or tight pockets. But sample this: at least 15 movies (taking a conservative estimate) were released in 2008 with budgets ranging from Rs.20 crore to Rs.50-60 crore. Only three of them (Ghajini, Rab ne and Singh is King) became a rage at Box Office. Movies like Love Story 2050, Drona, Yuvraj, Tashan, God Tussi Great Ho were disasters. Race and Jodha Akbar did well, but they were nowhere near Ghajini or Rab Ne in terms of collections, leaving just the big three (above) balancing the Bollywood balance sheet for big flicks in 2008.

This is not to say that big budget movies won’t be made in 2009. But since liquidity is a concern, they’ll be made with a lot more caution. Movies with swanky Rs.50 crore budgets will certainly not be the popular choice for film makers; if made, every effort will go into keeping spends under control. Nandy agrees, “The industry has to rethink and get into a viable mode. Everyone needs to behave responsibly and make movies at reasonable costs.” Small indeed promises to be beautiful on 70mm screen this year!

Pallavi Srivastava

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
1500-plus IIPM students placed across the country with 44 bagging international offers
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