LMN : Emergency Lemon Refresher

Brand : LMN
Company : Parle Agro
Agency : CreativeLand Asia

Brand Analysis Count : 395

This summer is special . Special because this summer , Indian softdrink/beverages marketers suddenly found that Indians love lemon flavored drinks. They realised that despite Shahrukh, Aamir and host of celebrities endorsing cola brands, large section of Indian consumers quench their thirst with nimbu paani.

And surprisingly the revelations came to Indian marketers all at once and this summer everyone is after NimbuPaani-- our very own lime juice or in malayalam (my native language)- Naaranga vellom .

Ofcourse marketers are forced to go after numbers. Even if their friends and relatives chose lemon juice over bottled drinks, marketers are forced to look at numbers, trends and statistics. This summer statistics have told them that the market for lemon based drinks have a potential.

According to a report in Business Standard, out of the Rs 7500 crore sparkling drinks market,colas comprise of only 38% of the total market while flavors comprise of 54%. The realization came only after Sprite dethroned Pepsi to become the number two selling beverage brand in India.

What marketers did not see was the big picture. Business Standard estimates that out of 120 bn litres of beverages consumed in India, packaged drinks account for only 5%. Marketers failed to look at consumers but too focused on categories and micro segments. It is not this summer, every summer, Indian consumers were taking lots of lemon drinks but marketers failed to see the bigger picture while spending their energy on outsmarting competition.

The fire cracker in the lemon based drink segment was started by Pepsi with the launch of Nimbooz . Soon to follow was the brand LMN.

LMN is from the house of Parle Agro. This summer Parle Agro is in an over drive with new launches like Saint Juice, LMN and Grappo Fizz. It is encouraging to see an Indian company aggressively taking on the Cola majors.

When I first saw the ad of LMN, what striked me was the brand name. It is one of the best brand names I have seen in recent times.Pepsi has done a masterstroke by taking in the generic name Nimbu by launching Nimbooz. I thought Nimbooz will score because of the powerful brand name. But LMN proved to be a equal worthy competitor for Nimbooz.

Having a brand name which is generic has many advantages. It is easy for consumers to understand what the brand promise is and what the product will do for them. The downside is that the generic name restricts further brand extensions. There cannot be an Orange flavored Nimbooz or Orange LMN.

LMN is indeed a powerful brand name and the brand benefits out of that. While Nimbooz is desi LMN is modern. So the brand is aiming more at the younger crowd by the way the packaging is designed and also the way the brand is positioned. Having said that even Kids may like the brand because it is very simple and easy for them to understand what it is.

While Nimbooz is directly taking on the ordinary nimbu paani ( generic lemon drink), LMN is positioned as a refreshing drink little away from being pitched right against the ordinary lemon juice.

LMN is running the launch television commercial across channels. The brand is being positioned as a refreshing lemon drink and has the tagline " Emergency Lemon Refresher ".

Watch the TVC here : LMN

LMN compete with brands like Limca, Sprite, 7 Up and Nimbooz. But the interesting fact is that all these brands represents different categories.The basic difference between LMN and Sprite is that Sprite is a carbonated beverage while LMN is not.
Limca is a cloudy drink while 7 Up and Sprite are clear drinks. LMN and Nimbooz are non carbonated drinks while others are carbonated.

But am not sure whether Indian consumers are aware of these categories . But the situation in the beverage market is that marketers are too much focused on categories and micro categories. We have juices ( 100%,85% 50% ), fruit drink,fruit juice,nectar, artificial,carbonated,non carbonated and what not.. What consumers want is a very simple solution- quench the thirst. Brand that do it with style wins.

LMN has tried to innovate interms of its brandname and also its packaging. It has comeout with a 110ml package that costs only Rs5. This sounds attractive and many consumers would try out this mini tetra provided the quantity satisfies their thirst.

The primary issue for the Indian beverage players is the distribution reach. Pepsi and Coke had built a robust distribution reach. The power of distribution is evident in the case of Kerala. Here Pepsi rules the market with over 80% because of robust distribution strategies. The key to LMN success is how well Parle Agro is able to leverage its distribution reach for this brand.

LMN has a headstart with a good brand name and a cool packaging. The brand has a potential to be a serious player depending on the investment that the company will put in for the brand. To build a brand in the highly competitive beverages market, one should invest continuously and consistently. Hope that LMN will get refreshers from the company interms of brand building investments.

Related Brands

Sprite

Limca

Coke

Appy Fizz

Brand Update : Boomer

Boomer has launched a unique variant Boomer Gumlairs. Gumlairs is the chocolate eclair bubblegum. The company claims that it is a new category which is being created by Gumlairs. The brand is trying to combine the taste of chocolate eclairs and chewing gum together. Eclairs for a large part of the confectionery market and Boomer wants to attract those eclair lovers into chewing gum category.

Chewing gum brands has been experimenting a lot with taste . The brands till now was concentrating more on fruit based flavors. It is the first time that a chewing gum brand is experimenting with chocolate flavor.

It is important for brands in markets like confectionery to constantly bring out new flavors to keep the excitement going. Consumers of this category are very fickle in their choices and they keep on experimenting with new brands and flavors.In that perspective, Gumlairs is a smart move by Wrigley.

I have a mixed opinion about the taste of chocolate in a chewing gum. These are perceived to be two extereme categories and the concept of both the categories coming together is truly unique.Kids are obviously going to be excited since there is something new and they truly love to experiment.
The claim of creating a new category will fully depend on whether kids like the taste or not. My personal take is that Gumlairs will remain as yet another flavor. Nothing more , Nothing less.


Related Brand
Boomer

Orient Fans : More Air, Everywhere

Brand : Orient

Company : Orient Paper Industries Ltd

Agency : Mudra

Brand Analysis Count : 392

Orient is a very interesting marketing case study. This is a brand that shows how to create a sustainable differentiation in a market which is highly commoditized. Orient is a brand which has a long history. The company was started in 1940 

as Calcutta Electrical Manufacturing Co. In 1954, the company was taken over by CK Birla group.

Orient is one of the largest fan brand in India. It is also the largest fan exporter in the country. The Indian fan market is huge with an

 approximate size of 2 crore units being sold every year. But the market is dominated by the small industries which account for about 55% of the total market. 

The organized market is dominated by players like Usha, Crompton, Orient and Khaitan.These players are facing stiff competition from the local players who compete on the basis of price. The organized players try to defend their position banking on their brand equity.

The price competition was so huge that at one point of time all major brands launched a lower priced product range to compete with the local players.

Fan is an important consumer durable. It is one of the largest selling consumer durable category in India . Although the category is the largest selling one , consumers perceive the product more as a commodity with little or no differentiation among the various players.

In a way consumers were indifferent towards the brands. Urban and upper SEC segments preferred brands because of quality but lower SEC segments were more price oriented and preferred the local brands. Local brands had high equity because they advertised heavily in their market, gave more margin to the retailer and was significantly lower priced. As a consumer, one really could not evaluate the difference between a local made fan and a branded one. There was no compelling differentiation among the fan brands.

What Orient did was a masterstroke.

1993-1994 was a bad year for the brand.Faced with dropping sales, Orient had to do something to defend its position. The brand rightly identified the need for a clear differentiation. After a thorough research on the consumer, the advertising agency Mudra suggested that the brand focus on three core areas

Air Delivery

Sweep Area

Electricity Consumption

Thus born the famous acronym PSPO. PSPo stands for Peak Speed Performance Output. 

The brand has a formula for PSPO 

PSPO = [Total Air Delivered /Electricity Consumed] X incremental factor

Increment factor = Significant Air Speed X Specified Sweep Area Plan

In simple terms, this is a design which can deliver more air to a large area . Orient has designed its motor and blades in such a manner that the fan can cover more area and deliver more air.

More than the technology, the brand was smart enough to brand this new feature as PSPO. This is a classic case of Ingredient Branding. The brand had found its differentiation. According to marketing theory, a good differentiator has to be meaningful, sustainable and not easy to copy. PSPO was a meaningful differentiator. By branding it , Orient had made it proprietary and its competitor could not copy that.

Next came the challenge of communicating this proposition to the consumers. Orient used its resources to bombard its consumers with PSPO and its meaning.There were lot of TVC which continuously conveyed the acronym PSPO and its benefits and there was a strong recall and association with Orient & PSPO.

In 2004, Orient Fans was chosen as a supplier for Walmart which gave the brand an entry to the US market.

Despite the success, Orient continued to invest in the brand. In 2006 , the brand roped in the Ace Cricketer MS Dhoni to endorse the brand. A cricketer and a fan have no connection with each other but the purpose of the brand was to reinforce its brand and its association with Dhoni gave some brand recall. The association continues even today and recently there was an ad campaign featuring Dhoni . The new campaign is also focusing on the USP of PSPO. 

The brand has the tagline " More air, Everywhere " and its core proposition has remained the same all these years. This benefit proposition  or More Air, More Area and less Electricity is still relevant for the consumer. 

Orient and its PSPO is one of the most consistent brand campaign India has seen. The theme is running for almost 15 years and the brand managers are intelligent and wise not to tamper with the winning formula. That is the power of the big idea. When you have one , use it to the maximum.

Related Brand 

Khaitan

PS: There is  an interesting case on Orient PSPO by Mudra. Read it here