Page 161 - DMGT506_CONSUMER_BEHAVIOUR

Consumer Behaviour

Notes Buoyed by the success of the hair-wash product, Cavinkare extended Meera into shampoos
and soaps.
In 2004, the brand extended itself to the highly lucrative hair-oil market. Indian hair-oil
market is worth around 1800 crores.
In order to differentiate Meera herbal oil , the company relied on a smart packaging
design. The oil bottle had a visibly suspended porous cylinder containing the herbal
ingredients and the consumer can see the oil deriving the nourishing from these herbs on
a continuous basis. The brand virtually put into practice the dictum - "The differentiation
should be observable ".
Meera is a popular brand in South India. Infact in another classic case of localising the
marketing /product strategy, the brand launched Meera Chemparathi Thali in Kerala.
Chemparathi is the regional name for Hibiscus. Hibiscus powder is used by Keralite as a
traditional hair-care solution. Meera cashed in on this and launched the variant.

Meera is a brand which keeps the hope of traditional products alive. The acceptance of this
brand by consumers also gives a proof about the efficacy of traditional solutions.
With regard to the brand, Meera has extended itself to many product categories where the
brand lacked competence. For example in the shampoo segment, Meera does not have a
clear differentiation. In the case of soap also Meera does not have a USP. The brand was
successful in offering some differentiation in oil but there the competition is huge.
It's a tough choice for a marketer to resist the temptation of leveraging a successful niche
brand to mass market categories. But on hindsight, it is always wise to keep niche brand
a niche brand.
Source: www.marketing.blogspot.com

12.2.3 Age Sub-culture

Marketers have attempted to identify age cohorts as sub-cultures because they produce unique
shared values and behaviours. A generation or age cohort is a group of persons who have
experienced a common social, political, historical and economic environment.
Those who are over 55 years of age account for a substantial portion of population in India. They
can be targeted with products like chyawanprash, retirement plans, ointments etc. Charles D
Schewe has recommended a number of guidelines to make communication effective with older
people:
1. Keep the message simple: Don't overload the message with unnecessary information. The
capacity of older people to process information is reduced and they may miss information
if their attention is divided.
2. Make the message familiar: As familiar experiences are easier for older people to process.
They find comfort and security in seeing and hearing events in the usual way. If a message
is complex, repeated exposures reduce the effort needed to interpret the message.
3. Make the message concrete: Older people rely more on concrete than on abstract thinking
as their problem solving abilities generally decline. Emotional appeals in advertising
often tend to be vague and due to this reason they may not be as effective in reaching older
people as hard-hitting rational appeals. Visual aids improve recall for adults.
4. Take it point by point: Spacing the message allows old people to process each piece of
information individually. Old people concentrate on the first part of a message longer
than do younger people. If information is presented too quickly, the earlier cues overpower
the points made later.

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