BRAND MANAGEMENT CASE STUDY SOLUTION:
Savouring mangoes, lazing in the
afternoons and galli cricket – these are some of the happy memories from every
Indian’s childhood summer vacations. Here’s a brand which hopes to refresh
those cherished memories through its range of traditional Indian summer drinks
like ‘Aam Panna’ (sweet & sour raw mango juice) and ‘Jaljeera’ (a tangy,
spicy made of cumin and other ingredients).
Paper Boat is a division of
Delhi-based Hector Beverages which also makes the energy drink, Tzinga. It was started
by Neeraj Kakkar, Suhas Misra, James Nuttal and Neeraj Biyani in the year 2009.
It currently exports its products to countries like Australia, United States of
America (U.S.A), United Kingdom, Nepal, United Arab Emirates (U.A.E) and Canada.
The brand has a distinct visual and
brand identity surrounding typical Indian childhood memories. “Everything which
is unbranded but consumed today, presents an opportunity to start something. At
some stage it will become branded”, said by Neeraj.
Should paper boat stick
to its core positioning or should it reposition itself?
It is well known fact that we carry
a limbic imprint of certain preferences in our brain. Paper boat is a result of
an amazing insight that urban youth crave for something that is simple, delightful
& non-transactional. The success of this brand lies in the combination of
catchy naming, very differentiated packaging & the superb recipes.
Differences from other companies:
- Independent of competition
- Purely based on human insights and had no references in the market.
- Clearly a Blue Ocean Strategy
Paper Boat’s promotional efforts
have been relatively very subdued until now because of the unexpected sales
that the brand has had since inception. The company’s current marketing efforts
are focused largely on advertising in newspapers, digital marketing through
their website, social media and most importantly by positive word of mouth
communication. Its promotional efforts, which include posting images about
childhood memories on their Facebook page and website, are in sync with the
tagline of the product. Because of the smaller market size, this is not
suitable for a company that is small and intends to grow in the current market.
The smaller market makes it difficult to enjoy a larger profit margin in the
market.
Paper Boat has been constantly
innovating its products which are evident from the fact that within two years
they have launched more than 10 flavours. Started with ‘Aam Panna’ and
‘Jaljeera’ back in 2013, they are currently offering 12 flavours to their customers
including ‘Ginger Lemon Tea’, ‘Aamras’, ‘Kokum’, ‘Jamun’ etc. Paper Boat has been
able to build an emotional connect with its customers. Therefore, Paper Boat
drinks are not just another beverage product for the customers but a medium to
express and revive their childhood memories. The company has been smart enough
to convert a utilitarian good to a hedonic good through its marketing and
advertising.
Paper boat has positioned itself as
a brand of traditional Indian juices and drinks. All its variants have
‘Indianness’ and innocence pouring out of them which they have beautifully
portrayed through their marketing campaigns. These people can relate to the
drinks and hence give them a sense of reliving their childhood.
Paper Boat's packaging is really
attractive and serves as a good customer puller.
Recommendations:
Quality is of prime importance when
it comes to beverage products. Paper Boat should ensure that it maintains the
utmost level of cleanliness and quality check standards in its manufacturing
units. In a beverage industry, which is considered to be fragile, a small error
here or there can destroy the brand image of the entire company. Paper Boat
products are well known for their quality and there should be no trade-off
between increasing sales and quality whatsoever the reason may be.
It is of prime importance that a
business evolves with time. Paper Boat should ensure that they are able to
capture the changing customer needs (which can happen only after conducting
market research surveys) and hence evolve their business accordingly.
Henceforth, I would recommend a few
new positioning strategies with the growth of the society and the technological
era.
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