Tuesday 11 March 2014

Brand Update : 5 Star repositions as the cure for seriousness disease !

Rest in Peace : Ramesh and Suresh

5 Star, it seems, is on a repositioning mode. In the new ad released recently, the brand has found a new disease that is creating havoc in the entire world- Seriousness. And the only solution for this is 5 star !

Watch the campaign here : 5 Star 

5 Star  has been promoted for the last 3 years on the " lost in taste" platform anchored by two characters- Ramesh and Suresh. The brand had the tagline " Jo Khaaye Kho Jaaye ". Ramesh and Suresh ads had mixed reviews from the ad world . Although the characters had recall effect, I personally felt that the theme did not do justice to the brand. The first ad featuring the duo was funny but later these characters became irritating.
Characters that are shown in the advertisements have lot of relevance to the brand's personality. Ramesh and Suresh were depicted as stupid guys and hence that had a rub-off on the brand also. 

Now the brand decided to change the positioning and hence I suppose that Ramesh and Suresh will be taken off the air.
The new  positioning theme is " Anti-Seriousness". The brand is now positioned as a fun brand which cures seriousness . As an idea, I feel that anti-seriousness is a good platform with lot of creative options. The first ad featuring the new positioning is not that great. 

Although the ad theme is good, the question arises as to what  the brand try to convey to the consumers ? Earlier theme of  'lost in taste' had a credible reason or attribute focus. But being a fun-brand is some thing very commonly used by many brands across categories. Example Mirinda. So 5Star , trying to move from a product-based focus to more abstract proposition has taken the risk of being losing focus in future. Further, I have doubt whether positioning 5 Star as a fun-brand  fit into the 5 Star's brand personality.  

Along with the repositioning of 5 Star, Cadburys have also launched a variant 5 Star Chomp in the Indian market. The variant or Product Line Extension is expected to fight the Snickers brand of Mars International. In other markets, Chomp is promoted as a stand-alone brand while in India it is launched as an extension. 

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