Thums Up

Goa Institute of Management

Thums Up Up : : Brand Brand History Thums History

Popular carbonated soft drink (cola) and largest selling brand in India Launched in India by Parle Agro Pvt. Ltd, now owned by Coca-Cola. After purchase, half of Coca-Colas sales were on account of Thums Up Thums Up accounts for 50 million of the 550 million cases sold in the carbonated drinks segment in 200

Contd..
Earlier positioned as a Refreshing Cola, with slogans such as Thums Up Makes it Great and Happy Days are here Again Post-1996 , it moved towards a more individualistic, masculine positioning Strategy rooted in Consumer Insight : Indian market where most of soft drink consumption was outdoors and majority of consumers were male Using strong taste of Thums Up product , brand is able to provide value to defined target group

Brand Tracking Brand Tracking

Period 1977-80
Mid 1980s 1988-1993 1993-95 1995-2006 2006- present

Brand Positioning Refreshing drink, happiness

Masculine Masculine Coke ignored the brand Masculine, Confident, Adventurous Masculine, Playful, Humorous, Confident

tag Line Happy days are here again

I am the thunder Taste the thunder

Taste the thunder Taste the thunder

Situational Analysis

Background Background
Thums-up launched in 1977 by the Parle group. Known for its strong taste and high carbonation levels Bought by Coca-cola in 1993 after failed attempts by it to kill the brand. Later re-launched it as a flanker to compete with Pepsi.

Market Share Market Share

In the carbonated drinks category Coca-cola occupies about 58% market share in India. Pepsi comes second with 36% Thums-up is the highest selling brand among carbonated beverages in India with a market share of about 15% of the total CSD market.

Carbonation level High

Thums-up

Masculine

Mountain Dew

Pepsi Coke

Fanta

Feminine

Carbonation level Low

Brand Positioning Positioning Brand

Initially positioned as a refreshing drink The brand was re-positioned as a manly drink, drawing on its strong taste qualities. Thums-Up kick-started an aggressive campaign directly attacking Pepsis TV ads, focusing on the strength of the drink hoping that the depiction of an adult drink would appeal to young consumers. Grow up to Thums-Up was a successful campaign. The brands market share and equity soared. The advertisements struck the minds of many Indians and caught the imagination of youngsters who want to be seen as men.

Brand Positioning Positioning Brand

The latest Thums-Up communication for 2010 takes the whole idea of I Will Do Anything For My Thunder attitude of the Indian male to the next level by adding a layer of fun and playfulness to it. The Thums-Up drinker indulges in adrenalin pumping action to get a bottle of his favourite soft drink Thums Up because he loves to do it and not because he has to. The latest advertisements reflect this with Akshay Kumar performing stunts on bikes and cars to get a bottle of his favorite Soft Drink Thums Up.

 Sharper edges are added to the Thumb in the Thums-Up sign to bring out the core masculine values of brand Thums-Up more prominently.

IS THERE A NEED TO CHANGE THE TARGET CUSTOMER SEGMENT & POSITIONING OF THUMS UP?
NO

Reasons for not changing TG

Between 2010-2030, India will add 241 Million people in working age population (children currently in education system) As of today, 72 % of India's population is below the age of 40, 47% of Indians is under the age of 20 & 10% of the world population is an Indian under 25. This predominance of youth in the population is expected to last until 2050.

Reasons For for continuing current Positioning positioning Reasons Not Changing
Brand Thums Up has done quite well over the years & changing Positioning might affect its sales Customers in the age group of 12 to 35 years associate themselves with the macho image portrayed by Thums Up Very difficult for the customers other than those in 12 to 35 years to associate themselves with the macho image of Thums UP; hence exclusivity for target segment

The Way forward with Current positioning

Routes

Route 1

Increase awareness through campaigns similar to past ones

Route 2 Route 3

Increase customer base, awareness and interest through association with online gaming

Promote consumer brand experience, consumer loyalty

ROUTE 1
Emphasizing the current positioning

Marketing Objective Marketing Objective & TG

Contemporizing the existing theme of campaigns Concentrate on increasing awareness and reach Target group would primarily be males in the age group of 12 35 Click a pic of self doing something adventurous/ daring
Thums up in pic

Creative Strategy
The campaign would be run with multiple themes Each theme would stress on a particular masculine trait
Aggression (gaming) Adventure (cliff hanging) Sport (cycling, horse riding)

Media Planning
The existing spread would be used between TV, Print, outdoor and Radio Social media
blogs, twitter etc. Flickr, Picasa Facebook

Taste the thunder

ROUTE 2
Consumer Promotion Online Gaming

Marketing Objective
Association of brand Thums Up with Online gaming Spread brand awareness among online gamers and gaming lovers in India Thums Up brands association with confidence, adventure and masculinity is maintained

Target Group
Youth interested in virtual reality games in action/adventure genre Typical profile:
A male from the top 8 metros & nearby tier 1,2 cities Average age 22 Belongs to the affluent SEC A 60+% of total gamers play games in Action/adventure genre Youth who follow virtual reality gaming contests

Action & &Reward reward Action

Screening rounds in 8 cities where gamers will compete against each other to progress to the next round Prizes will include gaming devices for finalists and opportunity for winners to participate in CPL Gaming Championship in the US Free sampling of Thums Up at the venues Spot contests for audiences and merchandise given away

Media Planning .
Print Media
Advertisements in National dailies announcing the campaign Advertisements in local dailies where the screening rounds are carried out

Television
An advertisement announcing the campaign

Social Media
Live updates about the progress of the tournament on social networking websites Contests for audience to be announced on social media to increase the traffic of target audience

Online
Videos uploaded of thrilling moments of the game on vide hosting websites Live streaming of finals will be available for viewing Campaign promotion advertisements on ibibo.com

Creative Strategy Strategy Creative

Models in various stages of battle with tech weaponry
Male traits like aggression, strategy depicted Armory/weaponry depicted

ROUTE 3
Consumer Promotion Outdoor

Marketing Objective & TG

Increase awareness and interest among TG Experience the Thums Up promise Consumers will live the brand TG would be pan India youth between 18 35 Promotion would be active in 4 metros, Pune, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Bangalore

Action & Reward

Auditions would be conducted in the aforementioned 8 cities The final 5 get a chance to perform stunts judged by Akshay Kumar The winner gets a chance to act in a Thums Up commercial with Akshay Kumar

Media Planning
Higher proportion of media budget would be allocated to T.V. and Radio Print and Social Media marketing

Creative Strategy
Models doing extremely exaggerated, difficult stunts to reach the Thums Up bottle

Which route do you prefer?

Route 1

Increase awareness through campaigns similar to past ones

Route 2 Route 3

Increase customer base, awareness and interest through association with online gaming

Promote consumer brand experience, consumer loyalty

Think Free recommends #3

Improving the consumer interaction with brand, thus improving brand loyalty Promoting the Thums Up experience and giving the consumer a chance to live the experience A nationwide appeal

References
http://spoonfeedin.blogspot.com/2008/09/business-indiacoca-colaleads-over.html http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-byindustry/services/advertising/Coke-Indias-new-Thums-Up-ad-mostexpensive-ever/articleshow/5421850.cms http://drypen.in/case-studies/case-study-brand-thums-up.html Datamonitor

The Team Presentation Actors

Siddarth Naik Ganesh Iyer Varun Arora Vishwesh Singbal Abhijit Naik Prabhakar Kudchadkar Puneet Sharma Akshay Sharma Ganesh Iyer