Case No : 1 VENKYS OF VENKATESHWARA HATCHERIES Venkateshwara Hatcheries which went public recently is one of the most modern plants

in poultry business in Asia. They have 60 p.c. market share of chicken marketed in the country. Dr. B.V. Rao of Venkateshwara Hatcheries expired in 1996. His daughter Anuradha Desai is now the Chairperson and M.D. of VHL. In the beginning they had an Executive Director Gulam Harjanwalla who professionalized chicken marketing. Sajid Peerbhoys Speer ad agency was chosen. The brief given to Speer was to market raw chicken in the form of a full bird. Further, to market legs. To market legs and breast. To market curried pieces. And half-bird. The company also planned to market ready-to-fly pre-spiced chicken and to operate a chain of fast-food outlets serving chicken fast food on the lines of McDonalds. Speer did some marketing research by focus group studies in Mumbai and then in Pune. The qualitative reseaci1 (QR) findings were followed by quantitative research. The following summarises the findings. Occasions to use chicken: (a) On special occasions (b) On Sundays (c) As a special treat (d) Cook it for guests (e) First non-veg food to which vegetay1ans graduated. (f) Each mother cherishes her own special recipe for a chicken dish. She prides herself on it. The ideal chicken was: Freshly chicken. The convenient option was: Frozen chicken. The following are the demerits of the frozen chicken: (a) It does not taste good. (b) It does not cook fast. (c) It requires a lot of water to cook. The Inconveniences in getting fresh chicken were: (a) It is more and more difficult to get it near-by. (b) The search consumes time. (c) It involves transportation cost.

On deep probing, the consumer psychology while buying fresh chicken was one of guilt and disgust. The birds look so cute, as they are young. Just a minute ago, they were alive. It is so awful. Those poor creatures! Imagine them alive one minute, and then being eaten the next. It is so difficult to get used to this process. Advertising Strategy It is not necessary to remind about live chicken. It is not necessary to see and think about raw chicken, dressed or otherwise. The communication strategy should be to treat chicken as a vegetable. They are not to be shown alive or in their ugly raw dressed form. The client was led step-by-step and was supportive. Long-run Objective Though chicken has high standing as a special food, we have to make it an almost twice or thrice a week food item. Positioning It was necessary to overcome the negative barrier to frozen food. In the market, fresh chicken was in fact frozen chicken vulnerable to bacterial contamination. The answer was a fact frozen chicken product. Venkys chickens were chilled by a special process: blast freezing. The position taken was that of technological superiority. Venkys unique freezing process makes it taste better and cook faster and melt quickly. Differentiation It was a special breed of chicken, that was extra delicious to eat. It scores over ordinary frozen chicken and even the freshly killed chicken. Brand Name In spite of the Agencys reservations, the Venkys was chosen as brand name, since it was the name of the M.D.s son. The Agency had considered fifty other optional brand names. Marketing research showed Venkys connoted a South Indian image and was associated with vegetarian food. There were also connections with Lord Venkateshwara. Headlines These worked hard to ward off negatives:

Chicken so fresh, it simply melts in your mouth. Reason: Superior blast freezing process. Chicken so fresh, its only minutes old.

Promotion of Special Parts The special parts were promoted as: The part you want are the parts you get. Execution A simple mnemonic was used. Chicken was shown in a graphic from; one that did not turn off the house wife, and yet looked modern. The colour scheme used was of yellow and red colours, being happy and bright food colours. These colours are appetising too. For quick identification, a common symbol was used on all hoardings. ad material and at POP. Success of the Launch The launch created tremendous demand but the distribution was weak. There was the problem of spurious brands. The company strengthened the distribution network later. However consumer supplies were diverted to institutional buyers leading to non-availability and spurious brands passing off as Venkys. The Agency advised premium pricing and quality policy. Instead, the company lowered the price. So many persons dealt with the Agency. Each questioned and disagreed with the thinking of earlier persons. Gulam, their E.D. left Venkys. The number of out left were increased dramatically. New Ad Agency New agency was selected. It brought chicken again to a commodity position A good chicken that makes tasty chicken dishes). Emphasis on blast freezing was dropped. Emphasis on blast freezing was dropped. Raw chicken again appeared in the ads, contrary to research findings. Brand or product differentiation strategy was dropped. Instead, emphasis was on different recipes. Present Thinking

Venkys is moving closer and closer to a commodity than a brand. It is fine as long as there is no competition. The company perhaps believes that no one has the backing or volume of production to be a threat to them. It is satisfied with a marginal price premium. Being a chicken monopoly, it can afford not to have a marketing cutting edge. The following is their present ad copy:

Questions (A)
(a) Comment on the advertising strategy adopted previously and currently. (b) Comment on branding of food products, and their promotion. (c) Can you think of a different creative strategy for a product like chicken? Lip-sticks with permitted colours can also damage the lips since the stainers are tetra-bromo-fluorosine. When rubbed against the palm, darkness of the stain will indicate the quantity of stainer present. Darkening of lip colour also depends upon the bio-chemistry of individuals lips.

Questions (B)
(a) The complete product knowledge is given in the above write-up. What do you think should be the copy platform for these products? Indicate the theme, the appeal and the buying motives. (b) Indicate a suitable media mix for advertising these products. Give your reasoning.

Case No : 2 ALEMBIC CHEMICAL WORKS LTD. DIRECT MAILINGS OF ALCEPHIN: THE LEGEND AMONG ANTIBIOTICS The pharmaceutical companies have to do direct marketing by necessity as they cannot advertise ethical products in layman's media for him, but are required to promote only to the medical profession. They produce fine visual aids and product literature which could either be sent as direct mailings to the medical profession or can be delivered to them through medical representatives. The Living Legends What does one say about Lata Mangeshkar? That she has dominated the Indian film music scene for almost four decades and promises to do so for atleast another decade? That she became a legend in her own life time? That here is a musical genius which comes about just once in many centuries? One could say all these things and yet be merely repeating what has been said a million times over. And yet there is so much more to

one is capturing one more vital as poet which one did not realize had existed in her. Such is the quality of her singing.

Very few of those who see her at the pinnacle of her success realise the amount of effort, hard work end deprivation that have gone into building the facade which is so enviable. Born In Induce on September 28, 1929. Late Mangeshkar is the eldest in family of four sister, and a brother, all of whom have made a name in the field of music. Daughter of the noted Marathi stage actor-singer Master Dinnanath Mangeshkar, Lata revealed her musical genius at the tender age of five. Her first guru wee her own father and she avidly followed his musical stage plays. Late's mother Mai Mangeshkar ha, one vivid memory of Lata as a child. It would seen that the young Late, one day, was singing a song from one of her father's. plays when she bumped against something. All rushed toward the unconscious child and tried to revive her. When she came to, however, Lata continued with the singing of the song as if nothing had happened. This dedication to music led to her debut on stage. However, her father's productive shadow was not to last for long. On April 24, 1942 Master Dinanath passed away reportedly telling her "Except for the tanpura in the corner and these notebooks filled with classical music and songs and God's blessings. I have nothing elseto give you. "The family'spenury compelled Lata to sign a contract with MasterVinayak's Huna Pictures as an actress-singer. In the same year,1942, she made her debut as a playback singer with Vasant Joglekar's Kia Hasool in Marathi under the baton of shripad Nevrekar .But taking up a career as a playback singer was still impossible. She continued with her acting career, acting in Pahili Mangeshgar (Marathi 42) Chimna Sansar (Marathi43) More Bal (Marathi 43) Gajadhan (Marathi 44) Badi Mao (Hindi 45) and Mandir (Hindi 48) With Mandir Lata seemed to have reached a dead end. Mandir was Master Vinayak's last film, after which he passed away. She was no great shakes as an actress and her career in playback singing had not really taken off. Two Years earlier she had made her debut in Hindi playback singing with Vasant Joglekar's Aap Ki Sewa Afein under the baton of composor Dutta Dawjekar but nothing much had happened. However, stars served more benevolent. Ghulam Haider, who was then acoring the music for Majboor and who had seen and heard lata in the early. Forties, signed her up to sing a song for the film. Within a week of singing this song. Lata became the talk of the music world and was signed up by three other musical giants. Khemchand Prakash for Mahal. The most important thing is to make the mundane promotion outstanding by creative ideas. Promotion of S.S. Oberoi came out with a set of 10 four-page folders for Alcephin based on the theme 'The Living Legends.' The folders are extremely well-executed - well-designed and printed. The graphics and typography and illustrations are appealing. The idea is outstanding. Ten living legends are chosen and include names like Satyajit Ray (since then deceased), Mother Teresa, Baba Ainte, Lata Mangeshkar, Sunil Gavaskar, R.K. Laxman, Abdul Kalain and Shivram Karanth. Each folder deals exclusively with one legend. The selection covers a wide cross-section of interests. Each folder is well-researched. It brings out the circumstances that inspired the magic in each of them. It becomes a collector's series. The centre-spread has the manufacturer's plug. A short write-up on the

characteristics of Alcephin and the line 'The Legend Among Antibiotics.' It is not intrusive at all. Yet it is effective. Questions (a) Which other businesses/products can be suitable candidates for direct marketing? What promotional techniques can be employed? (b) Please do some research of your own on direct mailings of pharmaceutical companies. What are your reactions? (c) Put on your thinking cap. Identify a there for a campaign of one general tonic.