BEFORE                AFTER

Britannia, one of India’s biggest biscuit manufacturers unveiled a new identity on its 100th anniversary. Designed in ‘close consultation’ with Interbrand, Brittania dons new flavors once again after 20 years.

Ali Harris, Head of Marketing, Britannia Industries said, “We held on to our heritage red, made green a bit more vibrant and added in a new color yellow. The new logo identity also has great shelf throw, which is critical in our cluttered retail environment. As we look to emerge as a ‘Global total foods company, this new logo is crafted to unbox Britannia and open it up to bright new horizons. 

Ashish Mishra, Managing Director, Interbrand India, said, “When good and fun combine, new possibilities arise. The idea was to dispel the belief that what ís good will not be fun and what ís fun will never be good.”

 

The old logo designed 20 years ago – an enclosure within an enclosure, all in two colors perhaps due to limited printing possibilities, was nothing much to talk about. Except, of course, its tagline which many companies would still want to position themselves as, even today.

The new logo extends the green assertion from the old logo into a horizon. It now sports a new enclosure which is better, but thats about it. The type could have been worked upon a bit more, giving it some uniqueness.

“Exciting goodness” tries to capture the old positioning while packing in some excitement into a small phrase. While its not as direct an advice to its customers as a “Eat healthy, think better”, it still holds a promise of some excitement and goodness in eating healthy. 

 

All things put together, the new identity does serve some goodness but lacks in the other half of its positioning – excitement.

 

Strategy : 80%        Creativity : 50%        Execution : 50%

BEFORE                AFTER

The organised beauty salon services market in India is still an emerging one. Lakme (for women only) seems to be the only one to stand out in this segment, while most others provide multiple services along with their salon business. Kaya has established itself as a leading skin pampering company in the country in its 9 years of existence, despite the business having yet to break even. The brand itself has undergone a skin treatment and now wears a new skin in a bid to show itself in a new light.

Official Speak: According to Suvodeep Das, Marketing Head, Kaya Skin Clinic, “the brand is much more than just a problem-solver, it offers the consumer complete beauty transformations. This repositioning exercise is not just about communicating a change in brand identity. There is a new portfolio of services, new service design within the clinics, and a new retail identity at the clinics that is being launched. The new look of Kaya is young and fresh.”

Harish Mariwala owned Marico started Kaya in 2002 with a single clinic in Bandra. Today it boasts of more than 6 lakh customers and more than 100+ completely owned clinics in India and abroad. The company also has its own product range (mostly sold in-house) along with its services offering.

The new visual identity is designed by Salt Brand Solutions while Eureka Moment has created the new retail identity. The new identity chooses to stay in the same type-based logo family as its predecessor, though much bolder and suitably tweaked at different points. The positioning has been set in a new typeface giving it the focus it deserves. The overall look is still clean, but the stem of ‘y’ separating ‘skin’ and ‘clinic’ is particularly disturbing to the eye.

The old identity was completely focused on skin, in color and in positioning, clearly showcasing kaya as a skin expert for skin problems, and not a beauty enhancement salon. The new identity tries to get the company into the beauty salon loop. “skin” & “ clinic” which had equal weights as ‘kaya’ earlier have now been shrunk to dangerously low sizes (in proportion), to shed the old perception. The color has been changed from skin to burgundy –  akin to makeup you might say, like applying a deep cosmetic shade to naturally beautiful lips. The visual transformation has been from healthy beautiful skin to trendy made-up look, so to speak. The positioning has undergone a severe transformation too, from being clearly for the skin to a generic beauty services salon. Perhaps, skin was too restricting a business model.

A very interesting fallout of this change will be on the product packaging and the retail look.  The classy minimalistic look will have to make way for a bolder, louder look.

So let’s wait and see if the change for Kaya is merely skin deep or emanating from the beauty deep inside.

 

Strategy : 60%        Creativity : 40%        Execution : 50%

BEFORE                AFTER

The GEC segment of national Hindi TV channels is a crowded place in India . The top 4 slots belong to StarPlus, Zee, Colors & Sony. Star One, launched 8 years ago, has a viewership of just 10% of the leader and so are its ad revenues. With a future not looking ok , this ‘young channel’ is being replaced by ‘Life OK’ starting mid December, with a new range of programming, shorter viewing patterns and reduced advertising.

Official speak : “Life OK will address a certain mindset and not the age group, according to Ajit Thakur, general manager, Life OK. The channel will serve in the age group of 15 plus and offer mixed programmes, including comedies, thrillers and mythologicals. However, every story will have an underlying value. The name Life OK reflects the philosophy of the new brand. Through our stories we wish to tell people that you are free to seek what you want but in your search for more you must not forget what you already have. The ‘values’ concept will be reinforced by ‘brand philosopher’ Madhuri Dixit, who will play the sutradhar (storyteller) and interpret the values in the stories for the audience.

Star One’s entry then was very exciting, targeted at the young audience and not the adult. It was meant for those looking for interesting, fun, not too serious entertainment. It began well, at least. But somewhere along the way it lost hold of its programming and hence its audience. With Ajit Thakur moving in (from Sony) as CEO this August, a total revamp has spelled the end of StarONE.  Its replacement is not specifically targeted at any particular age group. Being so, it sets out to become what others are, a GENERAL entertainment channel for young and adult alike. It also moves out of conflicting waters with ‘Sahara ONE’ with a change in name.

While the group has boldly left out ‘Star’ from the channel’s name, the new name ‘Life OK’ is a dampener. While typical Indian phrases like ‘Kindly adjust’, ‘Horn OK Please’ are pretty much the way we are, ‘Life OK’ is not. It gives an  impression our lives are not happy or happening, but are just OK. That in itself is a very boring, if not negative, outlook. It seems to be trying too hard to be an alternative for the hugely popular ‘All is well’ from 3 Idiots, or the brilliant ‘Life is Good’ US apparel brand. It is not spontaneous or free-flowing, and therein lies its problem. It does not seem to fare well in living room conversations either. Figure this:

“ Star Plus karo naa”
“ Sony lagaanaa”
“ Colors karo”
“ Life OK karo”

It might soon be trimmed down to just ‘Life’ by the ever-shortening youth of today that will not tolerate anything that inconveniences it, especially a name.

As far as the visual look goes, the simple icon is cool. Reminiscent of the gingerbread man, its full of life and its changing poses give it a lot of energy too. Though the gradients & colour combinations could have done with a lot more effort, the icon or the mascot is bubbly enough to cover up all of that.

 

And yet, its animation playing out  in the brand video is amateurish and lacks zeal. We will have to wait and see how the identity is brought to life in the channel’s video promos.

The current tagline ‘Naya TV channel’ appears transitional, so we will have to wait and see how it wants to position itself in the coming days. For TV channels, success depends heavily on quality of programs and all else is only complimentary. The young may still watch a channel meant for adults and vice versa if the programs are interesting.

So, for Life OK, with programs ranging from ‘Sach ka saamna’ to mythological serials, the future looks just about OK.

 

Strategy : 70%        Creativity : 50%        Execution : 60%