COLORPLUS: The silent killer!!

Colorplus is a brand thats rated very highly in readymade menswear. It started with a humble beginning and evolved into a superbrand. And whats more interesting is that all this brand builinding is done with the least amount of noise. Colorplus has made the best use of Print media for its brand builinding and use the potential of print media to the fullest. Another thing that helped this brand is the extremely good product quality provided by it. Also because of this good product quality the shirts have a market of its own (the shirts are priced at a premium). When all the shirting brands were spending mega bucks on brand builiding, Colorplus quite silently and surely has created a market for itself with the least amount of noise..........no wonder its a silent killer.

If you take a sneek peek at this brand, ColorPlus pioneered the concept of smart cotton casuals in India. But for this to achieve it was necessary to produce cotton garments of such superior quality that they would transcend the inherent deficiencies of cotton. This was a tall order as it meant acquiring superior raw materials, which in turn meant that the finished product would have to be offered to the consumer at a very steep price. So the challenge before ColorPlus was to source quality raw material, design superior products and then create a market for it while maintaining a competitive price tag. Impediments were numerous and surfaced at every stage of the new endeavour. Indian mills, geared to making quality cotton fabrics only for export, were unwilling to produce short runs for a little known company. ColorPlus, however, persuaded a couple of international suppliers to offer fabric to ColorPlus – at a stiff premium, of course! The next hurdle was to get the product to the consumer, at a price for cottons never before seen in India. Anotherproblem was disinclination of stores to sport expensive cotton garments of an unknown brand from an unknown company. But more disappointing was the absence of outlets that would provide the desired ambience to showcase the ColorPlus range.
Making a virtue out of necessity, ColorPlus decided to open its own retail outlets. To begin with a small outlet was opened at the crossing of Poonamallee High Road and New Avadi Road in Chennai, on November 3rd, 1993. It took anotheret,two years for the first full-blown ColorPlus studio to come up in Bangalore’s fashionable Residency Road on September 7th,1995. A novelty in store design, this retail outlet, besides becoming an instant hit, became a trendsetter in garment retailing. The warm ambience of tungsten lighting and wooden flooring became de rigeur for garment retail. Consumers found ColorPlus stores a welcome relief from the fluorescent lights and ill-stacked shelves they saw elsewhere. Shopping became fun and the brand’s growth hereafter was explosive. With its brand identity firmly established, ColorPlus, with the objective of faster growth and greater market penetration, shifted focus to the franchisee, and the ‘store-in-store’routes, both of which have since become industry features. ColorPlus broke another pattern, that of eliminating the distributor and building its own distribution network of upmarket and financially sound retailers. This way credit period and margins were reduced due to the shorter supply chain and consumers got fresh stock faster. The ColorPlus transition from being an unknown player in the menswear retail to a brand to be emulated had been swift.
When ColorPlus was launched, sceptical industry pundits had predicted a swift demise for the brand. Today ColorPlus is an international brand selling in more than 180 locations across India as well as South and West Asia. Global giants have also taken note of ColorPlus’ pioneering effort. When fabric majors Dupont and 3M decided to bring their wrinkle-free and stain-free fabric to India, they chose ColorPlus to launch the product. They were confident that if ColorPlus took their products, the rest of the market would be sure to follow. And surely all this did work out..smart use of the print media and an extremely good product quality has helped this brand grow stronger day by day..

:::Campaigns of the month:::

Headline: The story of a goddess called Marit.
Subhead:
Bodycopy: Marit knew that she was changing. Suddenly, life was simple, light and airy. She smiled at everyone. And everyone smiled back. Human beings suddenly mattered. Like her driver Shajahan. Who drove her from historic Cochin to misty Munnar, from exotic Tekkady to enchanting Kumarakom, from dreamy Alleppey to sensational Kovalam. All along, he was an unobstrusive guide and a well- meaning friend. Before Marit packed her bags to leave, she decided to give Shajahan a gift - a car worth €9500.Today, Marit sits like a goddess on Shajahan's dashboard. And curious travellers hear the story of how his yees filled with tears when Marit gifted him and his wife the key to a new future. As for Marit, it was just a little act of kindness inspired by God's Own Country.What's your experience? Log on to www.keralatourism.org and record your real-life Kerala experience, which could win you a free holiday. Or plan your first ever holiday in God's Own Country, inspired by an amazing range of true stories like that of Marit Stritburg who lives in Holland, Netherlands.
Baseline: God's Own Country
Agency: Stark
Client: Kerala Tourism

Headline: Rumour has it that Ash and Abhishek will get married next year.
Subhead: We presume you would like to be invited.
Bodycopy: Don't miss out on anything.Renew your annual subscription.
Agency: Rediffusion-DYR
Client: Daily News & Analysis





Headline: My toothpaste fights 10!
Subhead: Fights 10 ten and gum problems.
Baseline: Dus nahi to bas nahi
Agency: Lowe
Client: HLL ( Pepsodent)

Headline: Groom wanted: independent, brave, ambitious & religious. Being famous will be an added advantage.
Subhead: For better search results, log on to SimplyMarry.com
Agency: Mudra Communication
Client: Times Internet (simplymarry.com)

give your ranking...to me best of the campaigns was that of simplymarry.com

<<<< Barista "bean to cup" >>>>

Barista Coffee is, perhaps, India’s fastest growing specialty coffee retail chain. It is focussed around building an experiential lifestyle brand and providing its consumers a comfortable place to relax and spend quality leisure time. Besides witnessing a consistent increase in the footfalls in each of its stores, the brand has, since inception, been able to generate a loyal base 0f consumers.

Market
Coffee was introduced to India back in the 17th century. Despite this long tradition its consumption has been restricted to the South Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh and as a limited urban phenomenon in the rest of the country.With over 400 billion cups consumed each year, coffee is the world’s most popular beverage. In fact ,as a commodity,it is second only to oil.The growth in the specialty coffee segment can be attributed to several factors: the increasing demands for innovative, sophisticated products and more significantly, the demand for specialty cuisine and beverages as opposed to broad-menu foods .Research has revealed that connoisseurs want more than a cup of coffee. They want an entire experience,in an ambience that is friendly, comfortable and warm. Each Barista Espresso Bar is designed keeping all this in mind. The end result is more than just a coffee business – what emerges is a powerful brand called Barista.
The category in which Barista Espresso Bars exist is a vast and diverse category which includes food chains, restaurants and other coffee chains. Research indicated that coffee consumption in India currently stands at 66 gms per head, as compared to 1.2 kgs in the US (Source: Indian Coffee Board). Clearly, there is vast scope and opportunity to develop this huge but very latent market.Barista Coffee Company opened its first espresso bar in New Delhi in February 2000. Today, Barista has 130 outlets in 22 cities. It employs over 500 people, each of whom work seamlessly to make Barista a superbrand in terms of image, quality and consumer satisfaction. Barista caters to more than 1.25 million customers every month.
The company invests a great deal of time in market research and product development and soliciting consumer feedback, evolving product and marketing initiatives based on consumer preferences. This ensures consistent growth and enables the Barista Coffee Company to offer the most desired products to the consumer.

Barista "bean to cup"

Barista traces its roots back to the old coffee houses in Italy. Drawing inspiration from them, Barista has single-handedly taken the challenge to transport the magic of Italian coffee houses to countries across the globe. The cafes are designed to reflect the warmth, culture and romance of Italy. This done, Barista was ready for the next step: turning it all into a brand. A strategic alliance with TATA Coffee in 2001 resulted in backward and forward integration of the entire coffee value chain. Both Barista Coffee Company and TATA Coffee Company take proud ownership of the category from ‘bean to cup’.