Brand Failures_ The Truth About the 100 Biggest Branding Mistakes of All Time - Matt Haig [62]
Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola company understood that distribution was the key to building a strong Indian brand. It therefore decided to buy out one of India’s most successful soft drink companies and manufacturers of popular soda brand Thums Up. However, although this gave Coca-Cola an instant distribution network, Thums Up remained more popular than Coke for many years. Most Indians initially thought that the new entry to the market wasn’t fizzy enough.
Whirlpool. When Whirlpool launched its refrigerators on the Indian market, it found the market unwilling to buy larger sizes than the standard 165 litres.
MTV. When MTV India was launched, the aim was to bring Western rock, rap and pop to the sub-continent. Now, however, the music policy has shifted to accommodate Indian genres such as bhangra.
Domino’s Pizza. Initially, Domino’s Pizza transferred its Western offerings direct to the Indian market, but the company eventually realized that it had to bow to local tastes, as Arvind Nair, chief executive officer at Domino’s Pizza India explains. ‘Initially our focus was to stay only in metropolitan areas, but in the last two years we have felt the need to spread ourselves into “mini metros” and B-category towns. We have also experimented with our taste options, especially when we went into smaller towns. We have focused on more regional flavours now,’ he says. As a result of this change of strategy, Domino’s came up with localized toppings such as ‘Peppy Paneer’ and ‘Chicken Chettinad’. This move was greeted with a wry smile from Domino’s main Indian competitor, US Pizza, which was the first to offer local topping. ‘In 1995, when we offered tandoori chicken and paneer toppings, some made fun of us saying, why not offer spaghetti and pasta toppings? The same companies are now offering chole and spicy masala pizzas,’ says Wahid Berenjian, the managing director for US Pizza. He told the Hindu newspaper Business Line that US brands such as Domino’s made the mistake of thinking that US tastes are universal. ‘You cannot change the taste buds that were developed more than a thousand years ago,’ he said.
Citibank. When Citibank entered the Indian market, the firm’s aim was to target only high-income earners. But, in the words of the Business Line newspaper, Citibank soon realized that ‘in India it makes sense to go the mass banking way rather than the class banking way.’
One of the reasons why Kellogg’s and these other brands’ passage to India was not smooth was because they had been blinded by figures. The Indian population may be verging on 1 billion, but its middle class accounts for only a quarter of that figure. However, a survey conducted by the Indian National Council on Applied Economic Research in Delhi found that the sub-continent’s ‘consumer class’ numbers are around 100 million people at the most, and that buying habits and tastes vary greatly between the Indian regions. After all, India has 17 official languages and six major religions spread throughout 25 states.
As a result, only those companies which are in tune with India’s many cultural complexities can stand a chance. One of the companies which has managed to get it right is Unilever. However, the conglomerate has had a head start on those Western companies which entered the market after 1991. Indeed, Unilever’s soap and toothpaste products have been available in India since 1887, when the sub-continent was still the crown jewel of the British Empire. The secret to Unilever’s longevity in India is distribution. Hindustan Lever Limited (Unilever’s Indian arm) has products available in a staggering total of 10 million small