Unique clutter-breaking positioning
The positioning strategy was based around the consumer insight that experiences are the new wealth in today’s world. Having created a state-of-the-art product with breakthrough pricing, the challenge was to let the consumer connect it with his everyday life. The XUV500 was positioned as an SUV that helps create memorable stories in your life and keeps you asking for more. The sign-off line for the brand: ‘May your life be full of stories’, captured this aptly. The brand used the cheetah as the communication inspiration to help it stand out from the clutter and connect XUV500 with a powerful, agile and aggressive persona.
A sneak-a-peak launch strategy to create curiosity
Work on the market-entry approach began one and a half years before the launch. The team took on the challenge of making the XUV500 the ‘most anticipated, most sought after brand’ with the audacious task of creating a one-year booking pipeline even before the launch. The consumer was engaged at every aspect of the launch—be it the date, the design, the logo or the price— before the vehicle was unveiled in its full glory. M&M crafted an innovative digital media strategy to create a buzz for the brand before and during the launch of the XUV500. The digital medium allowed consumers to share and have conversations around the brand. This helped increase consumer involvement to create exponential launch impact and buzz.
»Building on the curiosity and interest surrounding the XUV500 launch among enthusiasts online and in social media, M&M decided to reveal the XUV500 bit by bit.
»Anand Mahindra himself announced a contest on Twitter, calling for the participants to guess the launch date. And the winner was invited to the launch of the XUV500.
»Consumers were then invited to the first-of-its-kind website to uncover and launch the brand name logo themselves and also share it with their friends. An audio clip with the pronunciation of the brand name was also seeded into the website.
»A pre-launch micro site showed a webcam feed of a covered XUV500 that consumers were given the opportunity of seeing from different angles. More than 4.5 lakh likes were required to reveal parts of the covered XUV500 from different angles.
»Just a few days before the launch an exciting ‘guess the price’ and win an XUV500 contest was announced. An unprecedented 1 lakh consumers started visiting the website daily.
»On the XUV500 launch date M&M gave all fans and enthusiasts the opportunity to watch the live webcast of the media launch online and the momentum resulted in online viewership of more than 1.5 lakh consumers. This was the highest live webcast viewership for any auto launch at the time.
»The buzz generated pre-launch resulted in more than 40,000 test-drive requests and more than 5 lakh website visits.
Once the launch was over, the micro site morphed into an advanced interactive video animation where people could unveil the XUV500 themselves in a very interactive way. And finally, the much-anticipated details, images and videos of the product were released on the product website on the day of launch.
High-end sales and service experience
To create a fitting high-end experience at dealerships, M&M deployed specialized manpower recruited from outside the auto industry from categories like hospitality and retail. These personnel were trained on technical and soft-selling skills and enabled with technology aids like tablets and kiosks for the first time in the auto industry.
Purple Club: XUV500 customers are guaranteed an extraordinary ownership experience filled with personalized services and exceptional privileges through the Purple Club. In an industry-first initiative, XUV500 owners were assigned their very own personal relationship manager who was their main point of contact. Some unique benefits to owners include privileged access to in-house and lifestyle events such as the ‘Mahindra Great Escape’, invitations to popular auto-related events, holidays to exotic locations by Club Mahindra, golf and photography workshops and a host of service-related benefits like a car spa, monsoon wash, etc. Purple Club has redefined the way consumers look at the vehicle ownership experience. Till 2015, four ‘Torque Day’ events had been conducted since launch at Budh International Circuit and Madras Motor Race Track, where the Purple Club owners had a once-in-a-lifetime experience of driving their own XUV500s on a race track.
A successful debut
»XUV500 was completely sold out for sixteen months from its launch in September 2011—with four months of production booked within eight days of launch.
»The XUV500 achieved the 50,000 sales milestone faster than any other premium SUV it its segment.
»In line with the objective, XUV500 successfully managed to create an altogether new niche between the Scorpio and high end SUVs (HSUVs) and lead the HSUV segment with a 56 per cent market share in 2012–13.
»The sales of all premium sedans put together (like Altis, Cruze, Civic and Elantra) in the similar price range dropped by 29 per cent from 4118 (October 2010 to September 2011) to 2934 (October 2011 to September 2012) after the XUV500 launch, as can be seen from Figure 1.
»The exceptional success of the XUV500 can be gauged from the fact that it was the only Indian SUV above ₹10 lakh ex-showroom price, to cross the 1 lakh sales mark within just thirty-four months of its launch. XUV500 has more than 2.1 million fans on Facebook and more than 10.9 million video views on the XUV500 YouTube channel till December 2014, which is a testimony to its popularity amongst customers.
Taken volume away from premium sedans
Figure 1
*HSUV industry share: Before and after launch
Figure 2
*HSUV: High–end sports utility vehicle
Recognitions
»The XUV500 received tremendous response from customers and reviewers alike and was the most awarded car in its year of launch in 2011–12. It received over twenty-five awards from auto experts and numerous other recognitions.
»It was also rated the most reputed auto brand in the Reputation Benchmark Study conducted by Bluebytes with a 74 per cent lead over the second most reputed car brand.
»True success is determined by how customers react to or rate the product. The XUV500 topped in customer satisfaction in the SUV segment, in the TNS Automotive India study 2012.
New stories to sustain the momentum
»M&M continued to engage consumers with more stories of the XUV500 playing an enabling role in fulfilling the brand promise: ‘May your life be full of stories.’
A television commercial based on the incredible experiences of three young friends who embark on a journey to find a cheetah became very popular. The advertisement exhorts the young at heart to seek out memorable experiences for themselves. The XUV500 was seamlessly integrated to showcase its on-road and off-road capabilities. The surprise element of two cheetahs emerging, and one of them jumping on the bonnet of the car towards the end of the film, leaves the viewers thinking of those incredible experiences that make for life’s memorable stories and thus ties in with the positioning of the brand. A two-minute uncut version first premiered on YouTube and has garnered a phenomenal 3.4 million views on YouTube. An award-winning dual navigation website was also launched where consumers could read and share memorable stories of their road trips and journeys.
»To keep feeding the buzz around the brand with more interesting content, a unique ‘XUV500 Memorable Stories Short Film Festival’ contest was launched in 2012 among short film makers to create films around the theme of ‘memorable stories’. This received tremendous response with twenty-two short films featuring XUV500 in different themes. These were launched on the XUV500 YouTube channel and XUV500 Facebook fan page.
The story of creation of the XUV500
The team worked with Discovery Channel to create a ‘Making of the XUV500’ programme on their ‘Inside Out’ show. This film is the story of the XUV500 from its inception till launch. It takes you through the journey of the XUV500’s design evolution and also provides you glimpses of its birthplace, Chakan, where a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility has been
put up.
Association with rallies to reinforce the rugged off/on road capabilities of XUV500:
»XUV500 became the exclusive vehicle partner for the ASEAN India Car Rally 2012. This three-week-long rally saw twenty-eight XUV500s travel through eight ASEAN countries over 8,000 km.
»XUV500 showcased its performance capabilities by winning several rallies like Dakshin Dare, Indian National Rally Championship (INRC-2013), Desert Storm and Indian Rally Championship (IRC-2014).
The road ahead
Having received phenomenal response in India, and also in Australia, South Africa and Italy, the XUV500 is poised to make its mark in other international markets.
More experiences will be created by building value for consumers through upgrades, refreshes, limited editions and new variants of the XUV500 to provide luxury at an affordable price. An entry-level variant W4 was launched below the ₹11 lakh price point to make the XUV500 more accessible to compact SUV and sedan buyers.
The Purple Club programme will continue to create unique experiences for XUV500 owners through exciting lifestyle-enhancing privileges and exclusive service privileges, as well as special events like adventure drives and Torque Days at the Buddh International Circuit.
The new-age XUV500 has been launched recently, which will further enhance the finesse and driving experience while retaining the DNA of the cheetah-inspired XUV500. It is packed with a host of new cutting-edge technology features like an electric sunroof, first-in-class logo projection lamps on ORVMs, six-way power-adjustable driver’s seat, push button start, passive keyless entry, 18-cm (7-inch) touchscreen infotainment system with GPS to name a few.
Advantage mahindra delivered
Crossing the milestone of 1 lakh sales in India, faster than any other premium SUV above the ₹10 lakh ex-showroom price, is a testimony to the phenomenon of the XUV500 and the overwhelming response from consumers.
What was different about the XUV500 success story?
1.A clear vision and an audacious goal with a rallying war cry to enthuse the team (creating a one-year booking pipeline).
2.Built anticipation prior to launch with great intrigue value (teasing with titbits of information before launch).
3.Created disruption. Did the unexpected.
a.What’s in a name? you might say. Most Indian-manufactured automobiles tend to have alphabetical names. Mahindra did the unthinkable with an alpha-numeric name for the XUV500 that lends a lot of exclusivity to the product.
b.Digital and social media were used as effective buzz-generating, cost-effective, lead medium in a launch. Proving that launches need not necessarily lead by traditional media like TV and press.
c.Why does an auto salesman need to be the only one who can sell an automobile? Mahindra hired from outside the auto industry to get people who could sell to a more evolved, high-end target audience.
d.A salesman is a salesman is a salesman. Mahindra created ‘experience executives’!
e.Designer clothing to dress an automobile salesman? Ritu Beri designed the uniforms worn by the XUV500 experience executives.
f.Whoever heard of using digital technology and tablets to detail product information in the auto industry? Mahindra did it successfully.
g.Leveraged loyalty programmes otherwise restricted to airlines, retail, hotels, etc. Mahindra did the unthinkable and created the Purple Club with an exclusive relationship manager, both firsts in the auto industry!
h.Stunned customers, critics and competition by offering a hell of a lot more value in the product at a wow price than can ever be imagined. Static-bending headlamps, six airbags, ESP, hill-hold and hill-descent control, 6-inch touchscreen infotainment system with GPS, voice commands, lounge lighting…all in the XUV500 at significantly lower price than the price of global auto brands in India.
4.Provided the consumer with a world-class surround experience. Dealerships were upgraded with carpeted and leathered customer lounges.
5.Viralized consumer opinions about their product in the early stages of the launch itself via social media.
6.Made consumers a part of their launch such that they feel they are launching the product.
AN ‘ITEM NUMBER IN THE MOUTH’ THAT KEEPS FAMILY FUN TIMES ROLLING
The story of Kurkure is one of a brand that created a completely new segment in the salty snacks category, created value in consumer life and did it all with a sense of humour. And along the way it challenged many beliefs.
How much value can a small crooked piece of a salty something that crunches and melts away in your mouth in no time at all, create? Turns out, plenty—the value of navigating between tradition and modernity, the value of aspiration, and last but not the least, the value of embracing imperfections and loving with a laugh. The belief that families that snack together and laugh together, stay together, will continue to be the bedrock of the Kurkure campaign strategy.
Truth, quirkily told
When it comes to describing the success of the fifteen-year-old brand Kurkure, the ₹1000-crore-plus snack brand of PepsiCo India, old timers often talk of providence. Over the years, Kurkure has come to be identified as a quintessential family brand and has brought joy to many families, consistently highlighting thought-provoking contemporary points of view on the Indian family and its myriad interactions.
‘Tedha fun’ has been at the forefront of product and marketing innovation and the brand has constantly reinvented itself to remain relevant to the Indian ethos and culture. India’s most loved snack brand, since its launch, has been engaging Indian families with its inimitable taste and highly addictive, full-bodied offerings. Right from the beginning, Kurkure has been steering between tradition and modernity: made with familiar kitchen ingredients but in shape and format and flavour delivery, a ‘twist on tradition’. As we will discover, this would go on to become a cornerstone of brand Kurkure. Be it in product, format, flavour or shape, in brand communication and the characters it portrays, Kurkure has followed the ‘twist on tradition’ formula.
Mood, twists and turns
Kurkure was launched in 1999 and has since then transformed the way Indians snack. At its core, Kurkure questioned the existing norm that salty snacks were divided into two large segments, traditional and potato chips. Kurkure introduced a new sub-segment within namkeens, creating a new palate experience for consumers. Armed with its unique product proposition: ‘Familiar taste in an innovative format’, the brand broke category codes and transformed the landscape of snacking in India, both sensorial and visual. It introduced a sub-segment that was not palm food, but finger food—so if namkeen was eaten in a bowl, Kurkure was eaten out of a bag. Kurkure bridged traditional Indian snacks—namkeens—and the modern potato chips. It also substantially modernized the codes of namkeens while still appealing to the spicy Indian palate.
Brandishing a strangely addictive, intense chatpata taste, Kurkure was launched as Lehar Kurkure, a sub-brand under the umbrella of Lehar (which was positioned at that time as an irresistible snack). It used traditional Indian ‘kitchen ingredients’ like rice, lentils, corn and Indian masala seasoning; and the story goes that it took 220 trials to make Kurkure. Consumer testing had people loving the crunchiness and saying it was very ‘kurkura’ (crunchy)—and from there came the name.
When it was launched in Chandigarh, the sales team literally ‘painted the town orange’ with all three-wheelers carrying the packs being painted in that colour. One of the fastest market placements, Kurkure had near 100 per cent coverage in ten days, something that was repeated in many other markets soon after. A significant retail merchandizing innovation that marked the initial years was the ‘rack’, which gave consumers a modern trade experience in traditional trade, today an accepted and ubiquitous sight. The small packs hanging in ‘ladis’ (hangers) outside shops rather like shampoo sachets, was another innovation that became a category norm.
With its zesty, multi-sensorial taste that was energizing and mood transforming, and as a consumer once put it
, an ‘item number in the mouth’, it was launched with the tagline: ‘Kya karen, control nahin hota’ to drive home the addictive taste of the product. Focusing on the value of mood transformation, Kurkure tapped into a variety of flavour buckets, giving its consumers a range of experiences, sometimes coming from regional palates, sometimes emerging as fusion flavours with a hint of the west but always Indian at heart.
The ‘Great Indian Family’ brand
While in the initial years, Kurkure leveraged the product’s irresistible and unusual taste to establish itself and create the category, in 2003 it shifted its fun positioning to encompass the entire family. With this, it also stepped out of the shadow of Lehar, as a brand in its own right.
The brand created a context for itself by appropriating the territory hitherto occupied by namkeens enjoyed as moments of family togetherness over a cup of tea. Kurkure took the battle into namkeens’ own backyard by developing its contemporary perspective on Indian family dynamics.
In a country so rooted in family values, few brands came across as truly ‘family brands’. Kurkure talked to snack-loving, spice-loving, variety-loving, conversation-loving Indian families. Kurkure rooted itself in the family social context and became a commentator on the changing Indian family, always bringing its own insightful observations on quirky truths of the great Indian family.
Kurkure professed that families that snacked together and laughed together, stayed together. In a country where family love was historically deep-rooted in duty and responsibility, obedience and sacrifice and codes of conduct; where Bollywood idealized family love, lump-in-the-throat melodrama, replaying mythology themes of duty, sacrifice, protect and save; where advertising revelled in portraying the perfect mother, the perfect son, the perfect wife; where TV serials paraded the dark side of family life, kitchen politics, conflict, jealousy, manipulation, power, marital violence, and money fights; with its strangely addictive, intense chatapata taste, Kurkure assumed the role of a catalyst. It portrayed a family that was happily, unabashedly idiosyncratic and playfully imperfect, always accepting that ‘we are like this only’ and that ‘in our family it happens like this only’. It loosened stiff, formal relationship hierarchies in Indian families and let in fresh masti-filled air!
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