Marketing

The market for diamonds had virtually vanished by the late 1930s, following nearly ten years of the Great Depression, and prices had plummeted. De Beers had shuttered the majority…

In 85, the chocolate beverage brand, Boost needed a boost. HMM (Smith Kline Beecham in its earlier avatar) decided to focus on the chocolate malt powder. Boost was an also-ran, wi…

To a large extent, the confectionery market, especially at the lower end, is price driven and does not depend on types. For a rupee or two, the person (usually a kid), would like …

In the early 90s, DCW- a chemical company, decided to get into the FMCG business with salt that was named after the 18th-century British explorer, navigator, and cartographer Capt…

Procter & Gamble (P&G) entered the detergent market in 1991, with Ariel at the premium end. Surf quickly reacted with Surf Excel. The 90s also saw the emergence of conc…

Kids were named Rahul after this advertisement. A 10-year-old kid danced to a song in the bathroom. Rather than having a quick shower, he continues until we hear his mother say…

Vicco turmeric cream was aimed at young Indian women. Haldi is an essential part of wedding festivities in North India. This association with the ceremony helped Vicco be brand…

The client was an unheard-of sports shoe brand - Tuff Shoes. They had some export surplus shoes and needed to liquidate them too. Also, a small brand that was trying to counter fo…

Around 2004, a couple of years later after Hutch set foot in India, it wanted to roll out a national film showcasing its pan-India footprint. The brief to the agency was simple: a…

Raymond’s was the most prestigious and largest account for a small and successful agency called Nexus Equity. In 1995, Nexus Equity came to know that Raymond’s (during that per…

The mid-90s were the early days for mobile telephony in India. Everybody who was somebody was trying to get a piece of the pie. Ericsson was one of them, and Nexus Equity was thei…

I was watching Scam 1992 – the web series on Harshad Mehta. Self-anointed Big Bull. What surprised me was that with just a rumour that Mehta was picking up a share, the rest of th…

Charm pricing is an anchoring bias that uses an odd number - usually nine - to show buyers perceived value and persuade them to buy.  For example, at Bata, for a product, …

I saw online that a TV priced at Rs. 60,000. I went shopping at a local electronics store that offered it for Rs 59,000, which I happily accepted. Except that another dealer was s…