The legend of adman Piyush Pandey

Piyush Pandey, the renowned Indian advertising man, who passed away on 23/10/25, was the Chief Creative Officer Worldwide (2019) as well as the Executive Chairman (India) of Ogilvy. He received the LIA Legend Award in '24, and the Padma Shri in 2016. He was known for his  "indigenous" influence on Indian advertising, a turn away from the influence of western advertising and ideas which did not resonate with the Indian audience. 

This is an article from over 25 years ago; it's a face-off with Nita Jatar Kulkarni – an interview done for A&M magazine, (15th November 1999 issue), the only ad mag at the time. There are

Film techniques used in the Allen Solly ad film

Prasoon Pandey, who made this Allen Solly ad commercial, initially worked with Highlight Films (when this film was made) but later co-founded Corcoise Films, based in Mumbai. In this article, in an interview with Nita Jatar Kulkarni, Prasoon talks about the film techniques used in making the film. The interview was published in A&M magazine, a leading advertising and marketing magazine at the time. It was published in the 30th September issue of the magazine...more than 25 years ago. 

Prasoon is the brother of Piyush Pandey.

When the Allen Solly guy walks into the frame, the pace is slowed down, even as the pace of the music (a techno-track) is increased. This creates a contrast between the bright spark that the Allen Solly man is, as compared to the humdrum world in which he

A Stretch in Time - why brands bomb

Why Brands Bomb 

Peggy und Marco
 Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay

By Nita Jatar Kulkarni

(This article appeared in The Economic Times in the year 2000. The people quoted may have moved and their designations may have changed.)

Why does a brand bomb?

And when it doesn’t, what are the secrets that make it a household name? Sometimes brands are so successful that marketers piggyback on it and launch a slew of new products. And these products are hits as well...and it makes us wonder: How did the marketers get it right? What had they done right the first time? A Sony for example has got everything. Play-stations to Walkmans and digital phones to DVD players. Or take Mitsubishi. It extends to just about everything you can imagine. More examples. Dannon today is selling Dannon water. Brand Virgin is being sold across categories, from airlines to music to even condoms. 

Cut to India. Imagine drinking a Colgate Cola or brushing your

Women CEOs -- Ruling India Inc?

Women CEOs (linked to the article at Business Tdoay)

By Nita Jatar Kulkarni (co-author Paroma Roy Chowdhury) 

Published in Business today in the year 1999 or 2000. 

(This article was written a long time ago and it might appear strange in 2024. But at that time, almost a quarter of a century ago, Indian women were yet to break the ceo glass ceiling. While certain edits have been made in the article as the people interviewed have moved or changed their roles, all changes are not reflected.)

It's the charge of the pink brigade. Riding on the back of changing  societal attitudes, and hiring and promotion policies focussed purely on skills, a clutch of professional women executives could soon stake claim to India Inc's most coveted corporate positions.

"It's a boy, Mrs Walker. It's a boy.'' -–-The Who 

Boy? Ha!
She.
Her.
Ma'am.
Ms.

👆Get used to these pronouns and forms of address tout-de-suite. 

A quiet revolution has been brewing in corporate India. Sometime in the future – it could be a month from now; or a few years – one of the female

Music on the net

The Sound of e-Music

Traditional Music Companies will need to adapt, or music on the net might turn out to be their swan-song 

By Nita Jatar Kulkarni

Published in Business Today in the year 2000.

This is much more than Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Stare hard at your music system. And then glance at your PC, o even your mobile. Doesn't matter if you sing out of key, this is the line you should be humming: the business of music will never be the same again.

Quite simply, the Net presents the greatest technological advancement in the $38.10-billion global music industry since the phonograph. With technology being the driver, the music industry is spearheading an e-Commerce revolution. It all begins with something called MP3--a file format that compresses audio into easy-to-share computer files without sacrificing sound quality. MP3, a public-domain format--along with proprietary formats from Microsoft, Real Networks, Liquid Audio, and Apple Computer--has already begun transforming the way the music industry functions. Now, thanks to the Net, the device that records music also stores and distributes it.

As of now, anyone can use compressor software like MP3 to copy music from a compact disc to a hard drive, and then put it up on a Website. Surfers can download this music, and listen to it using basic audio players, like WinAmp, MusicMatch's Jukebox, Real Networks' Real Jukebox, Microsoft's Media Player, or Sonique by MediaScience, which can also be downloaded for free. This music can then be transferred to a Walkman-like portable digital player. There are already half-a-dozen MP3 players in the US market today.

THE BATTLE FOR SURVIVAL

While the music industry as we know it today cannot fight technology, it is waging a grim battle to protect its raison d'�tre. The Net could mark the beginning of the death of the store-bought, record company-packaged CD or cassette. Copyright protection, then, is the hammer the industry is using to break down the thousands of sites offering illegal downloads of music. Music companies will, per force, recover the investment they have made in developing and marketing artists. However, the very act of downloading music is not illegal: you can download legally if the site has the licence. Globally, there is no universally-recognised standard for intellectual property protection, although a consortium of music companies are working through the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) to create specifications for secure downloads of music on-line. Says Shridhar Subramaniam, 36, Director (Marketing), Sony Music India: "Doomsday predictions of the record companies falling by the wayside will never materialise. The money which the global music industry is making today is going to be made, one way or another."

While that might, indeed, happen, the tune will change for music companies, artists, and the entire value chain that delivers a music product to you: the customer. The extent of this change remains to be seen, but no one's taking any chances. In anticipation, there's consolidation, with the Big 6 music companies already down to 4. In 1998, Universal Music Group took over Polygram Music. Early this year, AOL Time Warner announced plans to merge with the EMI Group.

And then there's Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. The original soundtrack of the movie netted Sony Music India Rs 60 crore in revenues in 1998-99. KKHH was the highest grossing album that year for a Rs 1,700-crore music industry, growing at between 2 and 5 per cent. For a domestic industry where music- cassettes are the norm, piracy abounds, and the hit rate for a break-even success is as low as 10 per cent, the Net seems very far away. What chance does the Net stand if just 5 million CDs were sold in all of 1998-99? Answers Kalyana Sundaram, 35, Director (Programming), MTV India, who has seen 10 years in the music industry: "This latest craze for digital music is just a passing phase in the country."

Well, music does lend itself to the Net, almost naturally. And there are huge advantages for players in the music business, be they artists, music companies, retailers, and even support functions like marketing publicity and information. This is despite the Net being in its infancy in the country--the usual combination of low PC penetration and inadequate regulatory mechanisms to enable e-Commerce. And despite the lack of a sizeable, mature market at home. The Net, remember, destroys boundaries. With an eye on the NRI market--prosperous, Net savvy, and eager to pick up Indian music, be it classical or film--a host of music companies and on-line music stores are selling CDs and cassettes over the Net. If music is fuelling e-Commerce, that's because it makes sense. Music is the third-largest purchase item on the Net, after computers and books. It is also easy. 

"The purchase of music is a personal and informed choice, with people being aware of the genre of music that appeals to them, the artists, and the albums," points out Rohit Varma, 40, Vice-President (Brand Marketing), Rediff. com, which has a hugely successful on-line music shop. The Net facilitates this search. And with many on-line music shops offering discounts and customisation, buyers are being lured to the Net.

That's what attracted the Bangalore-based Fabmart.com, India's first on-line music store. Says V.S. Sudhakar, 40, Managing Director, Fabmart.com: "We already have a strong consumer-base of 10,000 repeat buyers, and 7,000 have already bought. The future looks good." Fabmart, which also has an arrangement with the RPG Group's HMV, is planning to offer exclusive music to its customers through digital downloads. Says Sudhakar: "I feel that Indians in India are as important as those abroad, and they have the money power too. After all, what does it take to buy music?"

The problem is that Fabmart doesn't yet have warehousing facilities or a partner abroad, a necessary pre-condition to selling in global markets. "Once we have the infrastructure in place, as well as the licencing arrangements, we will enter the overseas market, which will always be a big focus area," says K. Vaitheeswaran, 36, Vice-President (Marketing) at Fabmart.

THE FOREIGN SCORES

Rediff is already focusing on the overseas market, and so is Saregama.com, which is run by the London-based Saregama Plc. Incorporated in 1999 as the international music company of the RPG Group, it has a full-fledged warehouse and e- Commerce fulfilment centre at San Jose, California, for servicing the US, Canada, and the Carribean Islands. Saregama is also planning to open a chain of music mega- stores in the UK and the US. Thanks to the huge content of HMV, Saregama has as many as 1,300 audio CD titles with additions on-line.

Finally, there's Music Today--part of the India Today Group which publishes BUSINESS TODAY--which was launched as part of the India Today Group On-line as far back as August, 1997. Soon, Music Today will have its own portal. Says Chander Rai, 56, Executive Director, Music Today: "The potential for a specialised niche label like ours is high as Indian classical music is a fad in Europe. We will be servicing our international orders through C&F arrangements in each country. Indeed, classical music is a big catch with the tradition-hungry NRI market. The lesson here for Fabmart-- and any other Indian on-line music store--is that content, coupled with delivery, will hold the key.

་Sony Music, on the other hand, has content and distribution, but it runs the risk of running foul of the traditional distribution channel. While the global giant, Sony Music, is already into e- Commerce, its Indian counterpart has recently launched an exclusive site. Listening to music--a.k.a. streaming, where a music file is sent rapidly over the Net, and listened to as it arrives, or `streams' from a server--and buying on-line will be possible, but there will be no commercial downloads as of now (except in the case of new artists). 

However, parent Sony Music's site allows downloads. "One has to go on-line, get into e-Commerce, and, ultimately, allow downloads as Net start-ups are getting into it," says Sony's Subramaniam.

Streaming, which doesn't give CD-type quality, is popular with radio sites, which are springing up by the hundreds. All India Radio on the Net offers live audio. There are a host of other multi-lingual, multi-channelled Net radio sites--musicurry.com, indiafm.com, aiir.com, indiaradio.com, radioindia.com--all catering to the Asian Indian community worldwide. By and large, they offer a mix of live broadcast and playback on demand. Not all these sites are into e-Commerce or digital downloads. But this is the route they will inevitably follow, as other Net radio stations are doing it.

Even TV music channels want a piece of the action. MTV Asia On-line sells CDs and offers streaming to surfers. MTV India will go on-line in a few months. The channel is already working with different music labels like TIPS, T-Series, Polygram, and Sony. In the past year, it has also brought out half-a-dozen compilations, like the latest MTV Fantastic Females, and MTV Household, which is a brand extension of the show about Hindi films and music. While Sanjeev Hiremath, 40, MTV's Director (Merchandising), acknowledges that selling these CDs on-line is the next step, he feels that there are still "too many loopholes" before selling on-line becomes a lucrative proposition. As video is the next revolution, TV music channels could well play a major role in the Net Age. Viewing the activity generated by radio sites and TV music channels and Net start-ups, it is no surprise that there's a frenzied scramble of music companies for on-line retailing.

THE DISCORDANT NOTES

There are problems, of course. A group representing thousands of record stores in the US has announced that it was suing Sony Music Entertainment for allegedly forcing retailers to sell CDs that drive customers to Sony's on-line stores. Ironically, global music giants like Sony are finding themselves on both sides of the courtroom--seeking to protect their ownership rights from on-line competition, as well as defending their initiatives to develop on-line music channels!

Ready or not, music companies have to prepare for the implications of the Net as a distribution- and delivery-channel, which will mean a blurring of lines between recording and retailing companies. The good news is that retail stores which sell on-line will have more space and can save on handling and distribution costs. Shops might have their own Net kiosks! The danger: unless the retailers and the music companies adapt, competition from Net start-ups could well pull the rug from under their feet.

Yet, a not so uncommon belief is that the Net boom is yet to happen in India. "We will be waiting and watching to see how the Net develops in India," says Brian Tellis, 40, CEO, Groove, a well-known music shop in South Mumbai. There are no plans to go on-line at present. However, Tellis--who feels it will be at least 3 years before the Net reaches the middle classes--admits that he is looking at options whereby Groove might sell through other sites.

Arch-rival Planet M will be putting up an independent Website within a month. So will Times Music. Both will also be available to consumers at a shopping site to be launched by Bennett, Coleman & Co. to go on-line any day now. "The Web is like a one-stop shop," avers Rini Adhikari, 26, Manager (Direct Marketing), Times Music, "and convenient for those who live in small towns where there aren't many music shops." "These are early days," adds Sunil Rajshekhar, 45, Director, Times Interactive, "India has to go through the experience of shopping malls first."

While the Net presents a dream to artists--of them being able to present their work to a wide, boundaryless audience--some sort of filter is bound to come into place. The sheer amount of free downloaded music available on the Net means searching for quality among the din has become tougher. Sites likes Soundbuzz.com--managed by Sudhanshu Sorronwalaa, former MTV South East Asia Chief, it aims to be one of the first on-line music distributors focusing on South East Asia-- hope to be the filters while offering space to independent labels and unsigned artists. If they hope to discover another star, the Web makes it easier--and tougher.

For now, the new medium is offering convenience to music lovers. The surfer can gather the latest music news, tour dates, and information about artists on-line. There are music chat-rooms too. There are even sites where you can connect a musical instrument to a PC and jam with others around the world!

Almost everything can be personalised. At Musicboulevard.com, customers can make their own CDs by choosing from hundreds of songs. At MTV Interactive, users will soon be able to create personalised radio stations that mix genres, eras, and artists. John Lennon's Imagine might be the opening act for a Ravi Shankar performance. Imagine!

Related Reading: Click any of the labels below this post to check out more Business Articles; Digital Articles; articles transcribed here which were published in Business Today.

Regional channels get set to waltz in the air

Regional Channels (linked to the original article at Business Today)

A story about regional channels published in Business Today in the year 2000. 

By Shamni Pande & Nita Jatar Kulkarni

It's boomtime for vern channels, with television players realising that the vast resources of the country can be effectively tapped only by targeting regional audiences 

Get ready for some more action in the country's television scenario. For, slugging it out for more viewership and ad revenues are not just the likes of Zee and Star Plus but some 38 regional channels. Add another 12 as the market rumours are predicting and one has a hotchpotch of channels jostling for space. All of them hell bent on recreating the magic of Sun TV and Eenadu. And, mind you, now the game is not just about TV rating and profits. 

The stakes are higher as, in the future, television players expect the Net to ride piggy back on their cables. No wonder of late we have been witness to many players doing a Bol Tara Re.

Besides, the sheer economics of trying to tap regional audiences is quite clear. There is money to be made out there. Well, if not now then at least in the future. As Ashish Bhasin, 35, President, Initiative Media, an arm of Lintas India, says: "The growth of income among the middle classes is faster in rural areas? Besides, the transnationals, particularly, have realised that they have to tap the resources of the country which has a huge market, and this can only be tapped through regional channels.'' So, each of these channels is aggressively trying to influence the media plan of advertisers.

Not that the going is too easy, as the channels have to worry not only about rival channels but also ratings and marketshare. "The INTAM data that we get captures the viewing habits of each and every minute of viewer-time and this gives us a lot of data to decide on the channel, and the time an ad should be aired,'' says, L.V. Krishnan, 31, Joint Media Director, Chaitra Leo Burnett. 

The game is not just about TV viewership but also the product that is being advertised. The era of pan-Indian advertising is almost obsolete. A company trying to peddle sanitary napkins, for instance, would be better off targeting regional audiences. After all, those women who view Star Movies would presumably be already using it. 

"If the objective is to convert users to switching to sanitary napkins then one should choose channels that reach the smaller towns. If the southern channels have come up, its because of the Hindi bias in channels like Sony and Zee. In fact, the education system is such that some people may not even know Hindi,'' he adds. Complan is another case in point: 70 per cent of its market is in two states--West Bengal and Karnataka. So, advertising in a mainstream channel would be a waste. 

It is an uphill task anyway. Sun TV has cornered almost 50 per cent of the advertising revenue flowing south of the Vindhyas. Doordarshan has about 21 per cent of the advertising pie. Vijay TV is also growing ambitious: on the slate is a 65 per cent jump in ad revenues, which it hopes to get by selling better quality programmes. 

As Rohit Adya, 42, CEO, Vijay Television Ltd, says, "We want more original content, not mere acquisition of programmes or movies. And we have an annual programming budget of more than 20 crore annually, spread over the next 2 years.'' 

So the channel is trying to offer alternatives to film-based programmes. Fresh genres like teen dramas, science fiction and interactive broadcasting has already caught the fancy of the audience. It feels that its biggest challenge is to get viewers, who did not have any choice earlier. Doordarshan, meanwhile, is also aggressively earmarking Rs 100 crore for content creation. 

"We will be spending at least Rs 2 lakh on each serial. This way we hope to create enough programmes to support our gameplan for 24-hour regional channels,'' says Rajeev Ratan Shah, CEO, Prasar Bharti. The state broadcaster is hoping to cash in on his expertise in showcasing classics. After all, we have all seen at least one episode of Mahabharat and Krishna. As Shah says, "There is a lot of literature in Bengal and Tamil Nadu, which we can tap into and come up with one hour-programmes split over 8 to 10 weeks. This way, an entire novel can be covered in 10 weeks. Besides, Doordarshan has at least 40 studios that are underutilised.'' 

So, who will survive? Can each region take so many players? Low entry-level investment of Rs 5-20 crore has already lead to overcrowding. "Only two strong players can survive in a region. The others will be also rans,'' says Shah. 

Remember, the same thing had happened in the mainstream channels. Channels like TVI and NEPC just disappeared. Tighter programmes, better ratings, and a grip over audiences and advertisers, will matter. Big players who target specific audiences and yet have the potential of having a bouquet of channels will survive. 

After all as Rathikant Basu, 58, CEO, Broadcast Worldwide says, ''The potential to add channels on the transponder is more due to improvement in compression technology.'' 

Also, just an over-the-board comparison of advertising costs may not correctly reflect viability. For instance, the ad rates are different on Sony as compared to SUN TV. It is just a question of the right marketing. As Bhasin says, "If you want to reach a national audience, going through different regional channels will be more expensive. If you want to reach a regional audience, going to Sony would be a waste. In fact, you cannot compare even Doordarshan's regional channels with regional satellite channels as people are not loyal to channels but to programmes. If a programme shifts from a regional channel to one of Doordarshan's regional channels, the audience will also shift.'' 

Not that the thought of sharing the advertising pie has deterred players. Ramoji Rao's Eenadu has already extended its presence beyond Andhra Pradesh. "ETV Bangla is already on air and ETV Marathi will be on air any time now. We are also planning ETV Kannada & ETV Urdu,'' says Rao, 63, Group Chairman, Eenadu.

And Kalanithi Maran plans an initial public offering to raise Rs 2,000 crore to braoadbase its operation. "All this, of course, depends on the market. If the situation continues to remain depressed, we might be forced to postpone the issue,'' says Maran. Rathikant Basu also harbours plans of starting Bengali Talkies, a movie channel, and a local cable channel. 

So, take a break from the idiot box and watch the regional channels do a tango in the air. 

Who gets to hear more jingles?

Tamil Nadu: 

• Sun TV: Rs 110 crore 
• Vijay TV: Rs 20 crore 
• Raj TV: Rs 18 crore 
• DD Podhigai: Rs. 15 cro 

Andhra Pradesh:

• ETV: Rs 60 crore 
• Gemini: Rs 40 crore 
• DD (8): Rs 30 crore 

Karnataka: 

• Udaya TV: Rs 60 crore 
• DD Chandana: Rs 25 crore 

Kerala: 

• Asianet: Rs 35 crore 
• DD (4): Rs 22 crore 
• Surya TV: Rs 13 crore

Related Reading: More Business Articles on this website.

Does Brand Extension or Sub-Branding work?

Sub-Branding – Does it work?

Peggy und Marco
 Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay

By Nita Jatar Kulkarni

Published in the Economic Times in the year 2000. Since then the people interviewed must have moved and may no longer work there.

They do it all the time – it's almost a badge of honour, wearing your family name. It also stands for a set of values, and this lends products more credibility. The Tatas do it all the time, so does Britannia and now even IT training and education companies like NIIT and Aptech do it. It's called sub-branding. ‘In developing markets, it's more common to use the company name as an umbrella brand because family name and heritage are all important,’ says Anand Halve, partner, chlorophyll.

Similar use of company names is common in Korea and Japan too – Sony and Daewoo, for example. The critical difference between a brand and a sub-brand is that the latter never stands on it's own as it has the name of an established company to lean on – like Tata Tea or Britannia Marie. Some marketers prefer to keep the company name low profile. ‘We believe that people buy brands because they stand for a certain set of values and not because of the company,’ says Shailesh Jejurikar, marketing director, P&G.

At times, ‘descriptors’ are used below the brand or sub-brand to distinguish variants.

Branding is a complex business. One single company can have brand systems which can be a combination of family brands, corporate brands, independent brands, and extensions. Whichever route or combination of routes a company chooses depends on factors unique to the company and it's environment. However, marketers can keep asking themselves some basic questions:


1. Will the complete brand system deployed by the company create confusion amongst consumers?

2. Do the present branding strategies pose any limitations on future growth opportunities?

3. Will brand extensions or sub-brands lead to cannibalisation?

4. Will the extensions strengthen the mother brand and/or company name?


If these questions are kept in mind before embarking on an extension, chances are that you’ll get it right.

Related Reading: Why Brands Bomb.

The links below take you away from this site, to my other blog, where I have transcribed some of my published articles.

Related Reading: How the Taj brand entrenched itself in India
Category Creation - HLL's deodorant market strategy
Raymond's brand strategy.

More: The poor quality of after-sales-service in India
Do we really need all those consumer durables?

Advertising Articles: The advantages and disadvantages of advertising on-line
The standards and codes in Indian advertising
other advertising related articles including articles on film-making and successful advertising professionals.

It's Time To Change Tracks at J&J

Time to Change Tracks at J&J (linked to the actual article at Business Today)

By Nita Jatar Kulkarni

(Published in Business Today on 21st July 2000. Please note that this is an old article, almost 25 years old, and circumstances and people would have entirely changed.)

Stagnant growth in its core areas, sagging margins, and increasing competition have forced the company to seek greener pastures. 

There's just one thing that sets apart Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) marketer Johnson & Johnson (J&J) from its ilk. And that's an almost compulsive xenophobic streak that seems to run through the company, its publicly-held US parent and its Indian subsidiary. Where other FMCG players love to crow about even small achievements, J&J keeps its lips sealed Always.

The company's CEO, N.K. Ambwani, rarely meets the Press and, even when he does so, he reveals precious little. Ditto for his colleagues. Like members of a secret cabal, even former employees of J&J don't like talking about the company. When BT approached one of them, she said categorically: "Ask me anything, except about J&J or its products." Yet, it is no secret that rising competition is forcing J&J to change tracks, and change them fast.

The problem that the Mumbai-headquartered company (1998 turnover: Rs 548 crore) is facing is two-pronged. First, the segments where it is a clear leader, like baby-care products, aren't growing as rapidly as J&J would like. Second, with growing competition for its other products, the company is being forced to explore new avenues.

Of course, financially, things aren't terrible yet. To be sure, annual topline growth has been consistently over 15 per cent over the past 5 years. At the same time, J&J has strong brands like Savlon (antiseptic), Stayfree (sanitary napkins), Clean & Clear (skin-care), and J&J baby soap (baby-care). However, forced by competition to increase adspend and marketing-related expenses, and seek volumes by lowering prices in certain product categories, the company's bottomline is hurting.

In fact, while J&J's turnover has gone up from Rs 356 crore in 1994-95 (ending March 31) to Rs 548 crore in 1998 (ending December 31), net margins have declined from 8.70 per cent to 5.16 per cent in the same period. Financial figures for 1999 are not yet available at the Registrar Of Companies office in Mumbai.

Predictably, J&J's managers refused to speak to BT, but discussions with a cross-section of people, including the company's distributors, marketing consultants, and competitors, revealed pointers as to why J&J has lost its edge in the marketplace, and how it is trying to recoup lost ground. We also look at J&J's strategy to target teenagers through brand extensions of its skin-care and baby-care products. Says Anuraag Dabral, 27, Senior Consultant, KPMG: "Since growth in premium segments like baby-care is limited, the best thing for J&J to do is to enter volumes-driven ones." But will that work?

Chasing New Niches 

The answer could well be yes. For instance, look at J&J's entry strategy in the skin-care segment in September, 1998. Leveraging its fastest-growing brand in the Asia-Pacific region, Clean & Clear, which was acquired in 1992, J&J adroitly avoided taking on competitors like Lakme by targeting it at teenagers. Since most of the existing products in that segment were aimed at 20-plus customers, according to org-marg data, J&J was able to carve out a niche for itself in the marketplace and, within 3 months, pip Lakme to the No. 3 slot.

Similarly, while the re-launch of a star-shaped kids' soap variant, that is aimed at children between the age of 5 and 12 years, in the same year was not too successful, J&J has initiated an innovative distribution technique by making the soap available in toy shops, and not just groceries and chemists. Likewise, the de-tangling shampoo for kids, launched in late 1999, gave the company the first-mover advantage although that segment is still in an embryonic stage. Agrees Dabral: "Indian mothers are still not ready to buy a separate shampoo for their children in any significant numbers."

That's a problem area because further consolidation in the Rs 230-crore baby-care segment, in which J&J has a 85 per cent marketshare and accounts for nearly a third of the company's turnover, seems difficult. In fact, the company may lose out due to stagnant growth and Wipro's aggressive foray in that market. Explains Anil Chugh, 36, Marketing Controller, Wipro: "According to our data, there has been de-growth in the premium baby-care market since 1998."

Therefore, Wipro, whose share declined from 16 per cent in 1996 to around 13 per cent in 1999, spent approximately half of its allocated advertising budget to push its baby-care products. Fortunately, for J&J, Wipro's Babysoft has a long way to go before it can make a dent in J&J's stanglehold. "It lacks brand pedigree, which is a must to succeed in the baby-care segment," says Anand Halve, 44, Partner, Chlorophyll Brand & Communications Consultancy. But Wipro is trying its best to make a mark.

Increasing Adspend 

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about J&J's presence in the antiseptic market. After the initial growth, when Savlon chalked up a 14.70 per cent share in 1997, it is losing out to Dettol, and its share has declined to 12.50 per cent in 1999. Agrees Debashis Sarkar, 38, General Manager (Marketing), Reckitt & Colman, the manufacturers of Dettol: "A customer may try out our competitor's product, but she goes back to Dettol."

The solution, according to Dabral, is: "higher expenditure on advertising and marketing." But that's something J&J cannot afford as the incremental increase in volumes may not justify the expenses. Couple that with the fact that playing the volumes game in segments like sanitary napkins has already reduced overall margins. In fact, the company is reportedly incurring losses on one of its sanitary napkins' brands. Stayfree Secure, which was launched in late 1997 at a low price of Rs 20 for a pack of 10, has severely impacted the bottomline.

Moreover, the market needs in this segment have changed, which has been capitalised by competitors like Procter & Gamble (P&G). Last year, P&G launched Whisper's Wrap & Throw, and has now come out with Whisper Ultra. That has dented J&J's marketshare (in terms of value), which went up from 42 per cent in June 1996, to 53 per cent in June 1999. Elaborates Jayesh Ravindranath, 40, Associate Vice-President, Ambience D'Arcy: "Indian customers are increasingly behaving like their counterparts in the mature markets, where superior protection is taken for granted."

To reduce its costs--in a bid to improve margins--J&J has tried in vain to slash the margins of distributors and retailers. Last year, when the company decided to reduce the margins by 3 per cent for its products in the baby-care segment and sanitary napkins, the products were boycotted by distributors in south India. The company finally withdrew its decision, but the gainers in the process were P&G and Wipro. J&J had adopted the same strategy in both 1993 and 1995 when it slashed retailers' margins from 20 to 15 per cent. However, the company had to retract on both occasions.

Perhaps J&J needs to change its pricing and positioning strategy for some of its products, like Savlon and Stayfree. And get a foothold in new high-growth segments. In fact, recently, it launched a new frequent-use anti-dandruff shampoo, Nizral. But given the competition among anti-dandruff shampoo-makers, if J&J wants to take on new segments and new niches, it will first need a Clean & Clear strategy.