Center Shock : Hilake Rakh De

Brand : Center Shock

Company: Perfetti Vanmelle
Agency: O&M

Brand Count:207

Center Shock is an interesting brand or rather it is a disruptive brand in the sense

that the brand just makes all marketing theories look funny. Conventional
marketing wisdom says that the product should deliver a promise ,satisfy a need

and blah blah . Here is a confectionery brand tha t

tasted sour making itself a market leader in less than 6 months time.

Center Shock was launched in 2001 and at that time, the chewing gum market
was at cross roads. The market lifecycle was at the decline stage. Although the
market was worth Rs 300 crore, it was declining at a faster rate at 25-30%.
Perfetti then decided to break the category degrowth and make this category
more exciting to the customers.

It still baffles me how a product like Center Shock become successful in the
market. This peculiar gum gave a distinct fruit filled acidic taste to the customer
which really gave the customer a shock. The TG for this brand was SEC ABC and
age 10-19.The brand was an extension of the highly popular Center Fresh known
for its Fruit Gel Center. Center Shock came in two flavors : Peach and Apple.
Center Shock broke into picture through two clutter breaking ads crafted by O&M
. The first ad of the barber ( View Here) created a huge impact in the market. The
ads won lot of accolades for O&M. According to reports, the brand became
market leader within no time with a share of over 35% beating Center Fresh from
the same company.The first tvc was followed by the second one featuring a dude
visiting his girlfriend's home to meet the parents ( View Here) .According to
Agencyfaqs, the creative brief for Center Shock was simple :break the clutter and
make it funny and distinct and really shocking and the ads just did that.

I have no clue how and why the brand became successful. I was tricked into
taking a Center Shock by my friend and I swear I have not taken product again. I
think the company also doesn't have any dreams about repeat customers. But the
brand done the trick with the market. There was a rejuvenation of the category
which grew from 1000 tonnes to 3500 tonnes . The lack of excitement in the
category was corrected by this outrageous product. The brand adopted one of the
most funniest and best taglines " Hilake Rakh De " which translates to " Will
Shake you UP". The brand was positioned as a fun brand and customers liked the
change. The brand had virtually shaken the market. During those days most of
the chewing gum brand were sold on sales promotions and seldom marketers
invested any thing more on ads . Center Shock brought back the trust on
advertising in the category players.

To sustain a brand like Center Shock for longer period of time is a difficult
proposition. After launching the product in 2001, the last ad was aired in
December 2002 and for one year the brand went into silent mode. In 2004 the
company. In 2003 the brand launched a variant Center Shock Mirchi with
another outrageous commercial. But the variant bombed since the novelty was
lost for this brand.The brand had a funny tagline " Pilake Rakh De".After this
launch , Center Shock faded from the scene.Its long time since I saw any
promotion of this brand.
Although this brand had a very short PLC, the brand showed us the power of
advertising. A good advertising can make people eat a sour candy and be happy
about it . Hats Off to Perfetti for taking such bold and outrageous step .

source: O&M,businessline,perfetti website

Chewing Gum Can Lead To Better Academic
Performance In Teenagers According To New Study
Main Category: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Also Included In: Nutrition / Diet; Psychology / Psychiatry
Article Date: 24 Apr 2009 - 1:00 PDT

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WHAT: New research from Baylor College of Medicine indicates a positive effect of chewing gum
on academic performance in teenagers.i The study examined whether chewing Wrigley sugar-
free gum can lead to better academic performance in a "real life" classroom setting. Major
findings include:

• The researchers found that students who chewed gum showed an increase in
standardized math test scores and their final grades were better compared to those who didn't
chew gum.

• Students who chewed gum had a significantly greater increase in their standardized math
test scores after 14 weeks of chewing gum in math class and while doing homework compared
to those who did not chew gum. Chewing gum was associated with a three percent increase in
standardized math test scores, a small but statistically significant change.

• Students who chewed gum had final grades that were significantly better than those who
didn't chew gum.

Today's competitive testing environment has parents and students looking for approaches to
improve academic performance, particularly as standardized test scores have become a
mandatory requirement for assessing academic achievement. Together, these findings can be
meaningful when related to small steps that can lead to better academic performance.

Previous research conducted in a laboratory setting has shown that gum chewing can help
reduce stress, improve alertness and relieve anxiety. The current study builds on this previous
research and for the first time, provides a possible role for chewing gum in helping to improve
academic performance in a "real life" classroom setting.

WHO: Craig A. Johnston, Ph.D., Children's Nutrition Research Center, Baylor College of
Medicine, Houston, Texas, led the research study and can discuss the effect of chewing gum on
improving academic performance in adolescents.
Gilbert Leveille, Ph.D., Executive Director, Wrigley Science Institute, will also be available to
discuss research on the Benefits of Chewing gum related to focus, alertness and concentration in
addition to other areas including weight management and oral health.

WHEN: Study presented in the "Late Breaking" Poster Session, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. CDT on
Wednesday, April 22 at the American Society for Nutrition (ASN) Scientific Sessions and Annual
Meeting at Experimental Biology 2009.

© 2009 Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company. All Rights Reserved. Benefits of Chewing and Wrigley
Science Institute are trademarks of the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company.

i Johnston C A, Tyler C, Stansberry SA, Palcic JL, Foreyt JP: Gum chewing affects academic
performance in adolescents. ASN Scientific Sessions and Annual Meeting at Experimental
Biology 2009, "Late breaking abstract" New Orleans, LA, April 2009.

Centre shock chewing gum Apple

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Ingredients: Sugar,gum base,glucose syrup,stablizers,sorbitol,glycerol,acidifiers,malis
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Why Apple iPhone is a failure in India
Lost Opportunity: How Apple got its strategy wrong

It wasn’t just the pricing that did iPhone in. Apple got everything--starting with
marketing communication to the sales and distribution model--wrong

IPhone’s launch in India has been dubbed the biggest failure of a top-notch brand
from a well regarded company in recent times. Two months after the dust over the
launch and the subsequent wave of disappointment has settled, it’s time to take an
objective look at what actually went wrong with iPhone in India, given that it has
been a runaway success in most other markets it was launched in.

Unlike the initial argument that it was the steep price tag that queered the
pitch for iPhone in India,there is more to the debacle than just the
pricing.Besides a very high price tag, one main reason behind iPhone’s failure in
India is that there was a very weak link as far as consumer confidence was
concerned.

Apple’s rivals in India, industry observers and analysts say that a flawed sales and
distribution model and communication failure were the biggest reasons behind
iPhone’s debacle.The company failed to strike a connect with Indian consumers.

India not a priority market?

Selling huge numbers in India was not even Apple’s game plan, it seems. Around the
time of its launch, the company had said it hoped to sell 10 million units

Not good enough:

While Airtel ran commercials outsourced from Apple for four weeks on a few TV
channels,Vodafone used the envelopes of the mobile phone bills sent to its
customers to apprise them of iPhone’s launch in India.Globally by December,
whereas in India, it would ship 100,000 phones by December 2009. Clearly, Apple
wasn’t expecting big sales from the market.

Yet, what is surprising is that the company didn’t even manage to achieve this
target. Apple had imported around 50,000 phones at the time of the launch
but had only managed to sell around 11,000 units so far.
Analysts argue that by downplaying India, the world’s second largest and fastest
growing telecom and handsets market, Apple may have missed not only a big
opportunity to sell one of its blockbuster brands but also to lay the ground for its
future products. “Around 120 million handsets are sold in India every year and, of
these, almost 4% to 5% are smartphones. Nokia has around 60-70% share of this
market.

Clearly, Apple had a big opportunity to establish itself in this market and, if not break
market leader Nokia India’s monopoly, then at least give it a tough fight. It’s an
opportunity that is now being assiduously chased by rivals such as Samsung
Electronics Co. Ltd and Research in Motion Ltd, or RIM, the makers of BlackBerry.

It’s not about price

IPhone’s comedown in India has been described as a pricing failure by most. But on
the face of it, it doesn’t seem logical. Priced at Rs34,999, Nokia N96 costs around
Rs4,000 more than iPhone’s 8GB handset and Rs1,000 less than its 16GB model.
IPhone’s other rivals, such as Samsung’s Omnia and BlackBerry Bold, are priced
even more steeply . “More than the price, it was the pricing communication that hurt
iPhone in India.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs had made a public announcement that iPhone would be priced
at $199 globally (about Rs9,490).This built a false hope in the minds of those
consumers who wanted to buy it and turned away those who could have actually
bought it.

Quote:

IPhone is being sold at $199 in the US and at similar rates in several other markets,
yet Apple couldn’t have offered Indian consumers the same price because the market
dynamics here are very different.

The US is predominantly a post-paid market where consumers buy the handsets from
service providers under different deals. Carriers such as AT&T Inc. can afford to sell
the phone at $199 because they can recover the real cost by raising call charges or
through some other options. And Apple doesn’t get hit in the process because carriers
give it the actual price.

This, however, is not possible in India because it is mainly a pre-paid market. Here,
most consumers change their handsets, and even service providers, quite frequently
in favour of cheaper options. Also, handsets have never been traditionally sold by
service providers.
Apple had to tag the product with its real price because its licence holders in India,
Bharti Airtel Ltd and Vodafone Essar Ltd, couldn’t have subsidized the price. “The
reason why the price of an iPhone seems so high (in India) is because it is not sold
on a contract. This selling process has not yet caught on here.

The two service providers, however, are providing finance options for as low as
Rs2,600 a month to make it easier for those who want the product. But this hasn’t
helped much.

Some market observers argue that Apple’s distribution and sales strategy in India
was flawed from the word go. To begin with, the company licensed the iPhone to two
service providers (Airtel and Vodafone) who didn’t have any experience in the
retail selling of handsets, which is a complex business in India involving different
strategies for different income groups.

Second, these service providers decided to sell the handset only at their
outlets, thereby limiting its availability. Also, they antagonized the big organized
retailers in the process (the Top 10 organized retailers are estimated to have a 50%
share in total sales). Third, selling not being their core area of expertise, these
companies couldn’t pitch it to the potential consumers aggressively.

The service providers’ strategy to sell it with a lock-in clause may not have
gone down well with consumers. This meant iPhone buyers cannot retain their
handset should they wish to switch operators despite having paid the cost of the
handset upfront. This condition was a big dampener, especially because from next
year, Indian consumers will have the freedom to change service providers without
having to change their number or handset.

The other most evident flaw was its inability to strike a connect with
consumers. Unlike in the US, where a month-long marketing and advertising blitz
preceded the debut of the iPhone, Apple didn’t run any of its own campaigns in India.
All the marketing communication was left to the two licence holders. What
consumers saw was a round of print advertisements on the launch date that
announced the arrival of iPhone and a few billboards in key cities.

While Airtel ran commercials outsourced from Apple for four weeks on a few TV
channels, Vodafone used the envelopes of the mobile phone bills sent to customers
to tell them about iPhone’s entry into India.

Even if you’re selling a niche product, the communication needs to be there on

what’s on offer and to get (make) people curious. Otherwise buyers won’t be
enthused.

People who buy high-end products buy them either for their technological advantage
or to enhance their status. So, marketers promoting a high-end product must bring
out the technology and exclusivity factors in a vibrant manner.

Ambiguous positioning
Some advertisers say iPhone’s positioning in the market was ambiguous. “IPhone
was positioned as a lifestyle product but in India, the company or its licence holders
did nothing to make it seem aspirational.
On the contrary, Nokia did a smart thing by positioning N96 as a convergence
product. It immediately struck a connect with its target consumer for the
communication was focused on its attributes.

Airtel spent only around Rs3-4 crore on iPhone’s advertising. On average, they spend
around Rs14-15 crore on their new launches. The licence holders, however, argue
that they were discreet in advertising for strategic reasons.

Apple’s strategy was not to sell a million phones in India. It only wanted to establish
a presence in the country. Customers who were interested in buying iPhone were
already aware about iPhone’s launch in India.
To be sure, some of iPhone’s rivals also went for a low-key entry into the market at
the time of their launch but now, with the market heating up, they are pulling up
their socks.

Its own failure notwithstanding, iPhone managed to stir the smartphone market in
India quite successfully. To pre-empt its success, Nokia launched its N96 series,
Samsung came out with its own version of the iPhone, and RIM is set to launch its
BlackBerry Storm model soon. Google Inc. has also come out with its Android mobile
phone software that can help Apple’s competitors better many of the iPhone
features.

Apple refused to share its future strategy for India. Analysts, however, say the
company will have to plug many gaps in its distribution and marketing and most
importantly, open a direct communication channel with consumers, if it wants a
meaningful presence in India.