Power of strong positioning...!
December 17, 2008What if you have to launch a toothpaste brand
in a cluttered environment? What you do when market is cluttered with different brands. Brands
like Colgate, Colgate Fresh energy gel, Close-Up, Pepsodent, Babool & Ajanta
are already present with strong market share. In
early 1996, there was a company who wanted to launch its brand in this environment. When I heard what strategy they went ahead
with was simply amazing. They
differentiated themselves with only one line which says 100% Vegetarian
toothpaste, the brand is called Anchor. When
it launched all the multinational companies like Colgate-Palmolive and HUL
dismissed Anchor as low
cost &inferior quality product. But
you know what in 2002 results did, it killed these type of statements, Anchor
was No3 toothpaste brand. In
2006 Anchor displaced Pepsodent from the number 2 spot in
Rajasthan & Gujarat. The
funda over here is Rajasthan & Gujarat are states which have large number of vegetarian population
and they were very responsive to Anchor. The
success of Anchor signifies that ethics is a cutting edge tool. Brand
Anchor has precisely done that and has discovered that the brand has
to be in resonance to the ethical frame of reference in the society where
it operates. Anchor
also ran promotional schemes around vegetarian positioning of the
brand. What
I think, Anchor saw an opportunity in Vegetarian toothpaste market and took a
positioning called 100% Vegetarian toothpaste. By coming out with different
variants & innovative promotional schemes they narrowed their focus and
stood for one thing. Anchor
Brand has created a space in the mind of consumers and it stands for that &
nothing else. Anchor = 100% vegetarian toothpaste is set in
the mind of consumers for years to come. Now
this is power of positioning.... What
you think?
Posted by Punit
