Gillette Mach 3- Shave India Movement !!!

A survey conducted by Gillette across 8 Indian metros told guys that they might stand a better chance at landing a job, and even a babe, if they are clean-shaven. Men definitely seem to take a cue, with 72% of them preferring a clean-shave to a beard. And they have women's approval, with 90% women across metros admitting to being turned off by a guy's unshaven look. The study didn’t end there for sure and have moved into a movement which they called as Shave India movement which as the name suggests is to make sure that Indians Shave !



Competition and downslide makes people innovative..... The rule is applicable to Brands as well !!! Shaving is a huge industry in India ( no exact size in crores is available because of the uncertainty in terms of Rural vs Urban and organized vs unorganized) but a major chunk of it is left for the crude and unbranded stuff.. Even among the urban dwellers not all of them think of a shave as a priority and even if they do stuff like Gillette mach 3 would stay a bit far from their grocery list for obvious reasons… Now that is tough for a brand in its maturity stage in its existing market space… go back to basics where ,Kotler famously have suggested various options for brands that move up and down in their PLC.. while in their maturity stage do a market modification, product modification or go for a marketing mix modification…

Gillette Mach 3 seemed to have began the modification process quite in right time…some time back they walked into the Cannes festival and came with a gold for the To shave or Not campaign…. Now in an attempt to make more men shave (more users) and more shave per man ( more use per user) it has come out with a bit shocking( positive or negative is the way one sees it) way to reach and communicate to the audience,,, The Shave India Movement ,an off shoot of Women Against Lazy Stubble (W.A.L.S),which is supposedly a serious activity that has research back ups, celebrity parades (Minissha Lamba, Neha Dhupia and Mugdha Godse), and tabular columns to support …and a huge price cut too …..Now, Gillette is offering the Gillette Mach3 at Rs 125 only, so men don't have an excuse any longer for not shaving.

Three things are told to men by this campaign….

1.) Till men don't shave, they will not co-operate with them.
2.) Now that the comfort of Gillette Mach 3 is affordable, there are no more excuses to not be shaving.
3.) If men don't shave, they shouldn't expect women to groom themselves either.

Personally speaking, I for sure wouldn’t buy the 3 rd one… it is nothing but impossible.. I mean women and not grooming...HUH…

There are people who will laugh and smirk at the thought of a shave India movement but from a Marketing communication point of view this is a blitzkrieg of sorts and has reached the people but the impact part is yet to be seen………...

Have they all started shaving?

For that matter have they reached women, whom they want first to be convinced that they in turn can convince/conspire/cajole their men- husbands/brothers/BF’s/ colleagues etc etc to shave or loose whatever in stake…

The idea is simple- the execution is with a big bang, the ads did not look like ads, media influx was ensured , people sat and watched, some with gusto, some with a shriek , some with apathy and many with a disbelief … for a major part of India for whom saving their day to day lives is in question, a shave is the last thing in their priority… The ads but were not talking to them I suppose… not that the campaign hasn’t left a few doubts in my mind… the celebrities ,to be frank and with all due respects to them didn’t evoke any feelings in me.. may be because I am from the south and I DON’T SHAVE ( that seems to be the assumption) but when I talked to my friends and students who are from the North they also seem to be similarly unmoved by the ladies( the celebrities who they feel are unappealing) who says they get turned off by the sight of a lazy stubble…

One guy said who cares?
Another one asked me Minissha who?

But for me off late this “India” thing is enamoring … to look different is the objective and the Lowe directed Walk and Talk campaign and the Small B acted Talk for India (on the 26/11) anniversary did touch me as a TV viewer and I really feel that now Idea is doing a good job but I don’t plan to leave my Vodafone and Airtel for Idea and even if I will do I will move to a Docomo for reasons that every one seem to be moving for……

Gillette and Mach 3 is what I use and may be I am biased but I have to go on record saying that it did impressed me- I mean the idea but the execution could have been better.. it could have covered more areas geographically ( people in the south also shave) trust me!, it could have taken in better and appealing endorsers who when say we hate men who don’t shave, Men really felt depressed, it could have used BTL as well like getting hold of unshaved LAZY guys in malls and supermarkets, multiplexes and beer parlors preferably when they are with their girlfriends and try the trick (I am told that W.A.L.S will be launching a number of interactive forums, film festivals and workshops to spread the core message of the movement - The clean-shaven, confident look over the lazy and scruffy stubbled look)… It is easy to say it could have done this and said that but for what they have done as of now ..three cheers to Gillette and Bates, the agency behind this different campaign !!!!

Tail piece : I hear that Moods condoms is also joining the India bandwagon following Idea and Gillette.. Any guess what would they call their campaign?

Virgin Mobile... Muuaah baby!!!

This week the ad that caught my attention is the new Virgin mobile ad.. free SMS series…Not that they never have got hooked in my eyes before but this time it got hooked a bit longer and stronger…. Right from the launch ads….which in the two-week launch campaign created flutter and a lot of eyeballs to rotate, Virgin aired two commercials where youngsters find ways to win approval in sticky situations.

In one ad, a girl gives a fright to her parents saying she is not interested in men. She cuts a call from a male friend in front of her nervous parents announcing, "I don't want to go to Goa with them," as if to strengthen the point. In a volte-face that takes even them by shock, her parents insist she goes on the trip -- which, obviously, is what the girl had been aiming for, all along.





In the second TVC, a young man who has broken traffic rules wins the compassion of the policeman when his angry father asks for him to be shown no mercy. The 'father' is later shown to be his college mate….. Typical youngistan type ads that made a dent for sure.. ( I am reminded of the Mentos- Dimag ki bati jale de ads..)…

Then the Yo Yo tariff plan ads.. Remember the two young men in a hospital bed…

Well the point is made.. it is for the THINK HATKE TYPES… the young and young at heart… if others (read its as OLD ones) are not liking the ads which smells irreverence and is spiced with arrogance and insensitivity that is simply because they don’t fall in the intended TG that virgin wants to reach.. The TG likes it and that is what matters…

Why the young men and women…? Which Richard Branson jumped from a Mumbai hotel (Drama and Branson are like twin brothers) on March 2008 prelude to the launch of Virgin he would have really know the facts and would have been sure that it is not easy to take the millions of mobile users in India to Jump along with him….The mobile services market in India is already crowded -- operators offering GSM and CDMA services account for about 250 million subscriptions (source: Trai) and the category leaders have had a decade to build their brand equity. High-decibel launches, ad campaigns and lower-than-you tariffs may not be enough to win customers….


Even youngistan customers in India aren’t that easy to be wooed into… Lack of portability is an issue in India and the young chaps whose numbers are there everywhere and who has every one else’s numbers in their SIM would find it difficult to change numbers , even if Virgin is here and comes with sops and pacifiers…

While the bulk of existing operators are all pursuing the same strategy….. to get as many subscribers as quickly as possible Virgin’s strategy is to deliver a more tailored, more relevant offering for a single, distinct segment and that is the young of this country.. with a tie up with Tata Teleservices in place with a brand franchise agreement with Virgin, Virgin has not and need not spend a fortune for establishing networks and hence can afford to cater to a niche which others cannot…There are 215 million Indians aged between 14 and 25 years, of whom 70 million own mobile phones… Mind you this is bigger than many filthy rich European nations….

Over the next three years, this segment may add another 50 million new mobile phone subscribers. Young subscribers may account for less than 30 per cent of the total, but they contributed over 50 per cent of the telecom industry's Rs 50,000 crore (Rs 500 billion) revenues in 2007-08. By 2010, this group is expected to earn the industry over Rs 35,000 crore (Rs 350 billion). Combined with news shall be seen the fact that younger customers are the biggest users of SMS and their handset up gradation cycle too is much more frequent as compared to guys like me…. Now forget all that numbers, the fact is glaring, the segment is not a niche per se at least if we know the definition of NICHE in the dictionary….

How easy was it for virgin? … the segment that they cater to is not that easy… the insights are like a magic wand if properly used… for instance the handset up gradation cycle,,,,, the more the frequency is, the more is the trouble for the CSP particularly if he is into CDMA and not GSM… Tata Tele came with CDMA and Virgin had to wriggle out of this with its new Virgin had to ensure its RUIM (removable user identity module) technology, similar to GSM phones, offering users the convenience of upgrading their phones without having to change their number or re-entering their address book which happens in a CDMA connection and thus dreaded by the YOUNG lads….

Being pocket friendly was the next challenge, which is true both for handsets as well as recharge coupons.. the young man wants COOL sets with looks, features, cutting-edge technology and style and at AFFORDABLE prizes….so came vKewl which retailed at Rs 3,999, while vBling sells for Rs 2,500, which was about half the price at which competitors were selling similar handsets. Allowing free incoming calls, no matter whichever is the service provider, even after you have ran out of validity and talk time was a good move in this direction….

Having said all that it is still debatable as to what Virgin is going to be in the big Indian market where the real big players are sweating it out and where the rules of the game are not yet and fully defined… while it unravels let us see the new ad with which I started this post with… conceived and executed by Bates David enterprise it is simple, precise and right there ,hitting the target……




Muuaaahh baby !!!!

Tail piece:-

The precocious teen-ager returned late from school one afternoon and confessed to his mother that he made love to his girlfriend on the way home.

"I'm disappointed in you," his mother scolded. "But for telling the truth, you may go to the corner for a milk shake."

The next day, the boy came home late again, and this time he confessed to making love to one of the neighbors' wives. "Well, at least you're still honest," he was told, and again he was rewarded with a milk shake.

On the third day, the boy strode into the house and proudly announced to both of his parents that he had stayed after school to make love to his teacher. As his mother began to scold him, the father picked up a frying pan,

"Don't hit him," she pleaded. "At least he told the truth."

"Hit him, hell," his father exclaimed. "I'm going to cook him a steak. How long do you expect him to keep this up on those lousy milk shakes?"

For more of Virgin ads click here….

Fiat Linea- admiration guaranteed!!!

It is a case of love at first sight… this new ad….. which begins with a father and son walking on street with luxury stores ( for a change it is not the same old couple-married or otherwise). The son is attracted by the shop windows with toys and stops by, looking into the stores again and again and the dad pulls him away again and again as if he is in a rush.

Now in the next window it is the dad who gets stuck, awestruck at the beauty of the new fiat Linea and then comes the tag line "Admiration Guaranteed," where the core idea is to showcase the good looks and styling of the new model and it should be said without doubt that the ad does its job… it is simple and yet striking… not anything exceptionally brilliant, neither of the metal type which will walk to glory at Cannes or Abby’s but that wasn’t what ads were conceived as a marketing tool in the first place…..



The mid-sized segment in India (Price ranges between Rs. 3-8 lakh) is heavily fought out by the likes of Ford Fiesta, Honda City, Mahindra – Renault Logan, Hyundai Verna and Maruti SX4 in its category. Heavy competition driven from abnormal growth (automobile market here is growing at 7% per year, but the mid-size car market is growing at the rate of around 20% per year) .The total size of the market is indeed arguable but what is worrisome at this point in time for Fiat, is that after all the brouhaha of its coming for the last two years, especially ever since last year with the Fiat –Tata alliance which came into being, and after letting anticipation run high, with blogs and forums raving on the imminent launch, last month with another C-segment sedan -the new Honda City being launched and which instantly captured the attention of everyone . Now that was hard for fiat… it was like the bridesmaid steeling the groom and yet the bride is late….Worse ,Fiat Linea has kept its lowest price at 8.15 lakhs to the dismay of the ones who waited....

A small family car released in 2007 by the Italian automaker as a world car in Eastern Europe, Latin America and Middle East , the Fiat Linea is now launched in India in several variants, and petrol and diesel options. The petrol version would have a 1.4-litre petrol engine, and the diesel version would have a 1.3 diesel VGT, combined with five-speed transmissions. It will also come in a variant with a 120 bhp 1.4 16v turbo options. Diesel in India for known reasons sells bigger than petrol.

Fiat’s positioning Linea against Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla and Skoda Octavia should be a treat to watch.....Can Linea be easily be positioned between the upper C-segment and the entry D-segment sedans? With Linea’s design cues heavily derived from Audi, it has the potential to match them but the price is a bit difficult to comprehend (9.57 lakhs for high end and 8.15 on road for the lower end!!!) keeping in mind that its 1248 cc engine is the same one that is in the fiat palio multijet . Why would people go for a Linea when we got Skoda on the road with 1.9 TDI engine is a question being asked by reviewers ....Mid segment or upper C or entry D…? let the Indian consumer decide….

Ooof..... that was typically atypical of Adformula….. now getting back to the advertising part… the marketing ,product and positioning issues apart… the first impression is cool… and my kudos goes to the creative team which includes Sonal Dabral, Sanjay Sipahimalani, Kaushik Mitra and Joseph Desouza from Bates in India and the production house - Corcoise Films and its director- Prasoon Panday. Now let us hope that the product will live up to the expectation that its communication has generated.

Tail piece:- "Admiration is a very short-lived passion that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object, unless it be still fed with fresh discoveries, and kept alive by a perpetual succession of miracles rising into view.”