• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

As for Kellogg’s, it remains to be seen whether its move into other product categories, such as snack food, will be able to help strengthen its brand. The dilemma that it may face is that if it becomes associated with biscuits rather than cereals, core products like Corn Flakes could become a marginal part of the company’s brand identity in India.

‘Kellogg’s is caught in a bind,’ one Indian brand analyst remarked in India’s Business Line newspaper. ‘It realises that cornflakes can make money only in the long haul, so it needs a product which will give it some accelerated growth and the tonnage it is desperately looking for. However, its area of strength worldwide lies in breakfast cereal and not in the snack food category.’

However, other impartial Indian commentators are more optimistic about Kellogg’s future prospects within the sub-continent. Among those who believe Kellogg’s will eventually succeed is Jagdeep Kapoor, the managing director of Indian marketing firm Samiska Marketing Consultants. ‘With every product offering, Kellogg’s chances improve based on its learning in the Indian market,’ he says.

Only time will tell.

Lessons from Kellogg’s

Do your homework. Why did Kellogg’s cereals have a tough ride in India? ‘It was just clumsy cultural homework,’ says Titoo Ahluwalia, chairman of market research company ORG MARG in Bombay.

Don’t underestimate local competitors. Although Indian brands were worried they would struggle against a new wave of foreign competition following the market opening of 1991, they were wrong. ‘Multinational corporations must not start with the assumption that India is a barren field,’ said C K Prahalad, business professor at the University of Michigan, in a Business Week article. ‘The trick is not to be too big.’

Remember that square pegs don’t fit into round holes. When Kellogg’s first launched Corn Flakes in India it was essentially launching a Western product attempting to appeal to Indian tastes. Globalization may be an increasing trend, but regional identities, customs and tastes are as distinct as ever. It may be easy for brand managers of global brands to view the world as homogenous, where consumer demands are all the same, but the reality is rather different. ‘There is a bigger opportunity in localizing your offerings and the smarter companies are realizing this,’ says Ramanujan Sridhar, chief executive officer at Indian marketing and advertising consultancy firm Brand Comm.

Don’t try and make consumers strangers to their culture. ‘The rules are very clear,’ says Wahid Berenjian, the managing director for US Pizza (which has successfully launched a range of pizzas with Indian toppings) in an article for the Hindu newspaper, Business Line. ‘You can alienate me a bit from my culture, but you cannot make me a stranger to my culture. The society is much stronger than any company or product.’ Brands that want to succeed in India and other culturally distinct markets need to remember this.

49 Hallmark in France

Hallmark greeting cards have proven immensely popular in both the UK and the United States. Catering for every special occasion – from birthdays to weddings and from Mother’s Day to passing your driving test – the cards are sent by thousands of people every single day of the year.

The signature (or ‘hallmark’) of Hallmark cards is the ‘special message’. The advantage of buying from Hallmark is that you don’t have to think about what to write – it is usually all written for you. ‘Thank you for being such a special daughter.’ ‘These birthday wishes are especially for you,’ and so on, normally followed by a rather sentimental poem inside.

While this formula may be successful in many countries, it has not proved universal. For instance, when Hallmark tried to introduce their cards in France, no one bought them as people preferred to write in the cards themselves. Furthermore, the syrupy sentiment inherent within the pre-printed messages did not appeal to the Gallic taste. After a few months Hallmark admitted defeat and withdrew