Rasna brings back " I Love You Rasna " Tagline

After around 5 years of messing up and experimenting with various taglines and positioning, Rasna has reverted to its original and famous tagline " I Love You Rasna " in 2011. The brand is now running a campaign for Rasna Fruitplus with the original tagline.

Watch the ad here : Rasna 2011 ad



The brand from 2006 has been unnecessarily dabbling with its taglines and positioning. The change in the classic tagline was prompted by increased competition and to attempt to attract youth towards the brand. The tagline of Rasna was first changed to " Relish a Gain ". Then came the tagline " Taste the madness".The campaign theme was also drastically altered. The cute girl child which formed the protagonist was changed. The target segment was also changed to include adults. The brand was totally confused as to how to go about attracting the youth who were hooked to aerated softdrinks. Rasna could have attempted this using a sub-brand rather than changing the parent brand's positioning strategy.
One good thing that the brand did was to focus on the health platform. But the communication during these years were totally below average ( personal opinion ). Another smart marketing practice adopted by Rasna was to launch products at interesting price points like 50 paisa, Rs.5 Rs.10,Rs.15, Rs.20 to Rs 85. The brand came out with smaller packs, Sachets and a packaging innovation like Rasna Sticks at Rs 5. These price points acted as a strong entry barrier for the competing brands.




Rasna is the market leader in the power-segment of Rs 1000 crore Indian prepared beverages market. The powdered beverages segment is valued around Rs 400-450 crore. Source : Business Standard. The market has witnessed lot of competition but these competitors were not able to make a big dent in the market share of Rasna. Even the globally renowned brand like Tang was not able to make its mark in the Indian market.

The brand hold tremendous recall and equity in the market and is the preferred choice to consumers thanks to the earlier brand building efforts. The kids who relished the " I love you Rasna " era has now grown up and the brand needs to establish the same connect with the next generation. Unlike the earlier Rasna generation, the new kids are growing up with Pepsi, Coke and Lays.
In the last few years, the brand was trying to woo the so called " Youth " towards itself and messing up the brand. Afaqs Reports say that the brand earlier desperately wanted to break out of the earlier positioning worrying that it will be perceived as a kid's brand . I don't understand why the brand wanted to breakout from kid's market ( which is sufficiently large). In that process, the brand went into a positioning mess.
How ever, Rasna did many right things in the other marketing mix elements. The brand priced itself smartly, launched many variants including squash and glucose powder , strengthened its distribution reach .
Now the brand got back to the old ways. I am not sure about the reasons for this reversal of positioning strategy. How ever, it brings back the old memories for sure.

Blackberrys wants to Go Sharp

India's premium textile brand- Blackberrys has been relaunched with a new positioning. The brand which earlier expressed itself as 'Sharp, Smooth and Sure ' now decided to be Sharp. Blackberrys is now running a television campaign with the new positioning.

Watch the new ad here : Blackberrys Go Sharp



The brand has not gone for a major repositioning exercise but has attempted to tweak its positioning and focus on one core brand value. The brand Blackberrys had three brand values which formed its positioning strategy. The key attributes were Sharp, Smooth and Sure ( Intelligent, Classy/Fashionable and Confident). Now the brand decided to focus on one attribute ie Sharpness in the brand communication. The tagline of Blackberrys has been changed to " Go Sharp".


Having said that , the brand has not fully removed the other attributes. The new campaign also touches on fashion and confidence attribute but the most visible communication is anchored around ' sharpness'. According to a newsreport , the brand owners feel that the earlier positioning is too lengthy for the consumers to understand. Hence there arouse a need for a shorter positioning statement . Hence from the three attributes , the brand decided to chose to Go Sharp. The thinking is very correct because there is no need for a brand to communicate all its brand values through its positioning statement. The positioning statement would ideally focus on the most important of the brand value ( or attribute).
The current ad went above my head, and I found it difficult to decipher the exact meaning conveyed by the brand through this advertisement. Thankfully this report gave lot of insights into the current campaign. As per the report, the protagonist represent the sharpest mind who is chased by the paparazzi .


" Go Sharp " is a nice tagline and the concept and thinking behind the branding is also good .The ad also aims to be clutter-breaking ( although I couldn't get the idea). The problem now most textile brands face is the clutter. All brands now talk about their protagonists to be the best in the world. Hence Blackberrys ' current pitch will be lost in the sea of celebrities and super-human brand ambassadors.

FIXING TRADE IMBALANCE : Import Curbs on China likely as Deficit Grows

India’s widening trade gap with China has triggered an alarm in the government, forcing it to brood over a host of measures to restrict imports from the country.
The commerce department has hammered out a “China Strategy” that calls for higher tariffs on most Chinese goods while proposing a complete ban on specific items, like power and telecom equipment. It also suggests making it mandatory for Chinese firms to enter into joint ventures with Indian companies before they could import heavy equipment and machinery from the country.
The move comes as India’s trade deficit with China, its biggest trading partner, jumped 160% to $23.9 billion in the five years to 2010-11. Trade deficit is the gap between what is imported and exported and a rise in spread indicates India’s increasing dependence on China.
“China has already taken over our power sector and is ruling the low-end market for mobile phone handsets,” a senior official in the commerce department told ET on condition of anonymity. “If we do not step in now with suitable policy measures, our trade gap with China will rise further.”
While imports of Chinese goods rose to $43.5 billion in 2010-11 from $17.5 billion in 2006-07, exports lagged far behind, up to just $19.6 billion from $8.3 billion over five years.
Indian officials say China acknowledges that trade imbalance is a problem, but it has done little to address it. The commerce department said Beijing has ignored seven specific requests from Delhi to ease imports of Indian goods that could have narrowed the trade gap significantly. These requests, made by Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma during his Beijing visit last year and reiterated during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's New Delhi visit last December, included import relaxation for Indian pharmaceuticals, agricultural produce, IT products and heavy machinery. “China promised us almost two years back that it would work towards helping us bridge the trade deficit, but has not yet taken any significant step,” the official quoted earlier said.
China’s lack of response forced the commerce department to plan measures aimed at restricting imports and boosting exports of value-added products, the official said, adding that the ministries of finance, power, telecom and home would be consulted once the strategy is ready. The department also plans to encourage substitution of Chinese goods with those items from South Korea and Japan that face low tariff barriers. Experts, however, say restricting Chinese imports will not be easy. “Even if we ignore the WTO rules and its ramifications, there is just too much peer pressure,” said Biswajit Dhar, director general of RIS, a Delhi-based think tank for developing countries. Indian Industry may Oppose Curbs
“In the G-20 forums, countries are constantly harping on ways to keep market open and such steps would be frowned upon.” Besides, experts say, such measures could scare off foreign investors from India. “Restriction on Chinese investments could raise concerns that they could be extended to other countries as well,” a trade analyst said. But Indian officials do not agree.
“We are aware of all existing rules and policies and there are ways around everything,” the official said. Opposition is also likely to come from Indian industry, which sources cheap capital and goods from China. Reliance Communications, the telecom firm led by Anil Ambani, signed a deal in March to borrow $1.93 billion from China Development Bank. This included $1.33 billion for refinancing 3G spectrum fee payment and $600 million for equipment import from Chinese vendors. An economist with a Delhi-based think tank said several other Indian companies were similarly involved with China and they would oppose such a move.