MM-I INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT NIRAV SAVLA | PGP 35188

Describe “line extension” and “brand extension”. Give two actual examples of each: line extension
strategy and brand extension strategy. (the example of each strategy may be from a different or same
company). How do these extensions help marketers?

What is Line Extension and Brand Extension?

Line Extension and Brand Extension are phenomenon where a firm launches new products under an existing
brand name or trademark. Within Brand Extension, the new product is of similar nature with slight variation in
the features. Whereas in Brand Extension, the same brand name is extended to a new range of products.

Target group

Through line extension, companies provide more options to the customer and in turn try to increase their market
share. Through brand extension, the company is launching a new product and targeting a new market.

Benefits

Line extension helps companies to satisfy custom needs of customers to some extent. The company’s market
share can increase as more customers who have diverse likes and interest can now be satisfied with the product.
Brand extension helps companies to leverage brand image for the sale new product ranges. Also the marketing
expenses would be shared between the product divisions and synergy is established.

Risks

In a line extension, if the variant introduced is introduced without a clear target group it may end up confusing
customers. The number of stock keeping units also increase with line extension and it may increase costs in the
planning and operations. In a brand extension, if the new product is not successful it has a potential to dilute or
even damage image of the brand. It can even lead loss of sales in the current products if magnitude of damage is
large.

Line Extension – Epigamia Yogurt

Epigamia is the flagship yogurt brand of Drums Food. Initially yogurts with various flavours were launched which
included mango, blueberry, mulberry, wild
raspberry, strawberry, honey banana along with
the plain greek yogurt. Later on it launched it
identified lactose intolerant consumers as
potential market and launched artisanal curd
which lactose free and contains more probiotics.
Recently, Epigamia has come up with drinkable
variant of yogurt. It has been launched as
Epigamia Greek Yogurt Smoothies.

As we can observe, Epigamia focused on

conventional yogurt options in the early stage.
Artisanal Curd was launched to cater to lactose
intolerant segment in the market. It helped the preposition of Epigamia as a healthy product. Yogurt is equivalent
to dahi in the palate of Indians. A preparation made out of curd called lassi is also very much enjoyed by the
Indians. The recent launch of smoothies or drinkable yogurt are equivalent to the flavoured lassi. Epigamia
managed to achieve sales of 3 million units per month during the last year.
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Line Extension - Manyavar

Manyavar is the ethnic fashion wear brand of Vedant Fashions Pvt Ltd. When it entered in the market it filled a
gap for presence of organized player in the ethic wear
market. Initially Manyavar just focused on ethnic wedding
wear for men. The tagline mainly used was “Maan dene de
maan milta hai ” which is about earning respect. Recently
Manyavar decided to extend the line of fashion segments to
be covered. Ethnic wear for the purpose of wedding got
extended to festive ethnic wear in general. For this recently,
it has run campaigns around festivals of Diwali, Eid, Raksha
Bandhan, Independence day, etc. with new slogans. “Jab bhi
koi khushi ki baat ho” is the most apt to describe the line
extension by Manyavar. The company has also decided to
enter into segments to serve ethic wear for women and
children. The women ethnic wear has been branded under
the name Mohey. The recent commercials of Manyavar-Mohey by Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma along with
the line extension has helped to push the sales up by 25-30%.

Brand Extension – Pillsbury

Pillsbury is a brand under the parent company General Mills. Pillsbury in one of the early entrants in India for the
packaged flour market. With an initial spike but later facing fierce competition from Ashirwad of ITC it’s market
shares have dropped. Along with flour it also had a few easy to make cake mixes in the portfolio. In 2017 with a
goal of growing Indian business of General Mills by 3x in the coming years, it ventured into ready to eat snack
segment. New products launched were cookie cake, pastry cake and lava cake. They were launched under the same
brand name of Pillsbury which the consumer could associate with. The company achieved double digit growth in
India and also sponsored RCB in IPL as part of the campaign.

Brand Extension – Classmate

The Indian conglomerate ITC entered stationery division in India
under the brand name Classmate. Classmate introduced writing note
books in the year 2003. With high quality pages (thickness and
whiteness) it gave a tough competition to then market dominators like
Navneet, Sundaram eating away significant chunk of their share. Later
in 2009 it entered into writing instruments segment as well. Currently
under the umbrella of Classmate ITC is selling notebooks, writing pads,
writing instruments, geometry instruments, colouring material. A
common theme around all the launches is that it took market by a storm
as the products are of high quality and were offered at very competitive
price to compete with players of the caliber of Navneet, Camlin.
MM-I INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT NIRAV SAVLA | PGP 35188
Please compare the prices of two competitive products. What makes the price difference for example is
it the image, quality, product attributes, or design? Explain.
As a part of this exercise we would look into flavored yogurt yogurts segment and analyze how different the price
is for the two products and what drives that difference. Selection of the product is done as follows:

per 100 g
Brand Price (Rs.) Protein content (gm)
Mother Dairy 25 3.6
Epigamia 47 6.7
Nestle Grekyo 40 5.1
Yo Zone 57 3.5
Milky Mist 30 3

Yogurt as a product is generally seen as a

healthy food item and its frequent
consumer are aware about the protein
content of the serving. Price also vary for
the different brands. On the perceptual
map we see Mother Dairy and Epigamia
diagonally opposite to each other we
would focus on them for our analysis

Price and Packaging

If we observe, the price per 100 g is almost twice for Epigamia yogurt than that for Mother Dairy yogurt. The
packaging for the both the products is of similar build: broad from the top and narrowing slightly towards the
base. Both try to excite the consumer by displaying blueberries on the packaging cup to build a freshness product
perspective in the consumer’s mind.

Product Ingredients and Nutritional Value

Parameter Mother Dairy Epigamia
Fruit Pulp Blueberry fruit (50%) Blueberry (12%), Black Grapes (40%)
Points of

Milk Milk and Milk Solids Milk solids and pasteurized toned milk
Parity

Lactic CultureActive lactic culture used Active lactic culture used

Regulator/Stabilizer
Acidity regulator (330), Stabilizer Acidity regulator (E296), Stabilizer
(440) (E440)
Preservatives Preservative (202) No preservative
Protein 3.6 gm protein 6.68 gm protein
Disparity
Points of

Calcium 165 mg calcium 140.4 mg calcium

Energy and Sugar 149 Kcal with 18 gm added sugar 107 Kcal with 9 gm added sugar
Carbs and Fats 24 gm carbohydrates + 4.3 gm fats 15 gm carbohydrates with 2.1 gm fats
Epigamia wins over Mother Dairy in most nutritional parameters. No preservatives support freshness preposition.
MM-I INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT NIRAV SAVLA | PGP 35188

Promotions and Advertising

The promotional activities of Mother Dairy have centered around ‘Mother Dairy’ as a brand and mainly catered
towards milk and ice cream products. There have been campaigns like #MaaJaisiMaa on Mother’s Day,
#LifeIsRealGood and #ChutkiMeinGayab, with some of them featuring Radhika Apte as brand ambassador. It
lacks a dedicated campaign for the yogurt segment. There is a price discount offered at super-marts like DMart,
where discount of 15-20% is usually offered.
Epigamia, launched by the makers of Hockey-Pokey, is a brand dedicated towards yogurt segment. Also it has
been very active in the media advertisement. Recently they have launched a campaign #YourHappyBalance where
Deepika Padukone is featured in the video ads. It is positioned as a healthy on the go snack to satisfy hunger with
nutrition. Like Mother Dairy, it also offers price discounts at super-marts like DMart in the range of 15-20%.

Distribution Channels
Mother Dairy has manufacturing facilities for dairy products in and around Mumbai, Delhi, Junagadh and Kutch
in Gujarat, Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh and Etawah in Uttar Pradesh. It is a big gun in dairy segment and has high
number of distributors in these regions. But for the yogurt division, its main focus is only Mumbai and Delhi. The
online market space is covered through Big Basket and Amazon, where more regions get covered.
Epigamia entered market in 2015 and has been expanding into cities very rapidly. It is currently operating in more
than 25 cities with 10,000+ outlets today. They plan to cover 50,000+ outlets in next 2 years. Its retailing
touchpoints include Reliance Fresh, Big Bazaar, Big Basket, Amazon and other general traders.

Consumer Feedback and Insights

Based on the consumer reviews on MouthShut.Com, we get a review score on a scale of 1 to 5 and also qualitative
insights based on their comments.
Mother Dairy Epigamia

Trusted brand Name itself is exotic

Tasty and healthy Low in fats and high in protein
Packaging was good Best for acid reflux
Consistency was not proper Needs work and refinement
Smell bad

The comments from the consumers suggest that Mother Dairy yogurt is being sold as it is strongly associated with
the brand Mother Dairy. Lower average of the overall ratings is due to actual quality of the product. Some of them
found it less fresh and lacking consistency which is one of the differentiators for yogurt from curd. On the other
end Epigamia has successfully established itself as a healthy product with great nutritional balance. The name itself
is associated positively and also due to less of probiotics a person suffering from acid reflux found Epigamia
yogurt as an apt product for him.

Conclusion
Though Epigamia is priced higher than Mother Dairy it has been able to justify it on the grounds of nutritional
value and ingredients. Also, yogurt being the core business for Epigamia it has been able to focus on the business
development and expansion, whereas for Mother Dairy it is not the primary source of revenue. Consumers who
are price conscious and not too much bothered about the preservatives and nutritional value will prefer Mother
Dairy yogurt while health conscious consumers would go for Epigamia given that both are available. Here at IIM
Lucknow, Epigamia is the only option available and is doing well.