Jet unveils new corporate identity
Air Sahara will soon become a 100-per cent subsidiary of Naresh Goyal''s Jet Airways and be run under the brand name of Jetlite and positioned as a value for money service — in between a full service carrier and a low cost carrier (LCC).

The frequent flier scheme of Jet will be extended to Jetlite, and Air Sahara frequent fliers would be converted to Jetlite frequent fliers very soon according to Goyal, who is the chairman of Jet Airways.

Jet Airways and Jetlite will have two different business models. The former Air Sahara will operate as an independent carrier having its own operating permit with access to available traffic rights for international operations.

According to Goyal, Jetlite''s strategy would be based on successful business models like the South West and Jet Blue. It would have fewer frills with all economy class details.

Goyal said that at present, there was no value carrier in India and airlines such as Paramount Airways and yet-to-be-launched MDLR Airlines have exclusive business class configuration.

Meanwhile Jet Airways has unveiled a new corporate identity that positions it on global scale.

The new corporate identity includes refreshing the brand logo to include a swirl of colour reminiscent of a typical Indian dupatta (scarf). While the golden `flying sun'' and dark blue as a primary colour have been retained, ribbons of yellow and gold have been introduced that make the logo more modern and inclusive.

Finally, the airline has introduced a fresh airline uniform for the cabin crew designed by Italian designer Roberto Capucci.

Airline officials said Jet Airways is being positioned as a global airline with the highest international standards but with a touch of India.

Adani Wilmar forays into coconut oil segment
Edible oil maker Adani Wilmar, with brands like Fortune, Raga and Jubilee, is entering the coconut oil segment with a new brand, Fortune Naturelle.

Adani is positioning Naturelle as edible oil and not hair oil, judging by the packaging and pack sizes available. It is looking to garner at least 8 to 10 per cent share of the coconut oil market. In volume terms, the coconut oil market is estimated at 8,000 tonnes per month.

While, the product has already been launched in the West, South and East India, the company is in the process of launching it in the North. If the product gets a successful response the company would look at a more diversified hair care portfolio and launch value added oils like mustard or amla oils.

While the oil is fit to be used for cooking and is sold in many markets as a cooking medium, most people tend to buy it as hair oil.

Danone pays $1.34mn to use Tiger brand
French dairy player Groupe Danone says it would pay the Wadia Group €1 million ($1.34 million) for using the its Tiger brand in international markets.

According to media reports Danone has also asked for a five-year exclusive licensing agreement in countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Nusli Wadia and Danone have equal stakes in Britannia. The Wadia Group reportedly wants the rights to the Tiger brand returned to Britannia before it negotiates with Danone on the issue. The Britannia intellectual property rights committee is believed to have given Danone a 60-day deadline last month to return the Tiger brand to the company, which ends on April 30.

The Wadia Group and Groupe Danone are equal shareholders in Associated Biscuits International Holdings, the majority shareholder in bakery products company Britannia Industries.

Danone has registered the rights to the Tiger brand in about 70 countries, something Britannia has objected to because Britannia had developed the brand locally.

This also prevents Britannia from exporting it to markets outside India, which the latter is not happy about. On its website, Danone mentions Tiger as its No.1 brand in Asia. This is a possible reason for it asking for continuing rights to use the brand in other markets.

Britannia Industries launched the Tiger brand in 1997 and has since become its largest brand.

Danone jas launched the glucose biscuit brand in other countries in the South-Asian region, too.

Britannia set up an intellectual property rights committee in May 2006 to address all matters concerning Tiger and its other brands, which included Wadia Group chairman Nusli Wadia, Britannia MD Vinita Bali and merchant banker Nimesh Kampani.

Snow Queen to enter India
Snow Queen, a popular super premium vodka brands globally, is entering the Indian market.
Snow Queen is the flagship brand of the Kazakhstan based Wimpex company, which produces above 10 crore bottles of vodka per annum and has about 60 brands.

In India, one litre bottle of Snow Queen is priced at Rs4000, a 700ml bottle for Rs3,300 for a miniature bottle for Rs300. The company has been test-marketing the product through select hotels and outlets in Maharashtra in the last two months.

The exercise has generated sales of over 600 bottles. The company plans to sell an average of 25-75 cases per month initially, mainly through luxury hotels in the country, beginning with Maharashtra, Goa, Bangalore and Delhi.

Arrow to be refurbished
Lalbhai Group''s Arvind Brands is planning to reposition its formalwear brand Arrow as a complete lifestyle brand with greater stress on womens wear and semi-casuals. The company will also increase the focus on denimwear under the Arrow brand. The company is also in talks with the Italian denim wear brand Diesel to launch it in India.

Arrow is owned by US-based Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation and Arvind is a 100 per cent licensee for the brand in India. The brand had a turnover of Rs150 crore in the 2006-07 fiscal.
Arvind Brands is also planning to expand the number of exclusive Arrow stores from the present 50 to 60 by the end of this year and 100 in the next five years. The stores will be both franchisee and company-owned. Arvind will spend about Rs10 crore on advertising and another Rs 10 crore on increasing the number of stores.

Arrow, from the Arvind Brands stable, has given the crossover dressing culture the thumbs up. The brand is all set to make its first-ever television appearance very soon with a commercial on `the crossover look'' for men — which will reiterate that lines between formal and casual wear are blurring and it is acceptable to sport a look that is not `ultra formal'' and at the same time not ludicrous.

Crossover cuts across categories — such as automobile (the SUVs are an example), food and of course fashion. Dressing to work has evolved over a period of time. It is now acceptable to mix formal wear with casual wear and still come across as someone who is serious about his work."

The campaign is not to tout any new collection from the brand but to give a stamp of credibility and acceptance to a consumer trend being witnessed globally and to a lesser extent in India as well.

While most brands have their distinct lines of clothing to demarcate between formal and casual wear, globally, the fad is to "mix and match." This fusion is happening in India too although sporadically, but Dave believes with the right kind of exposure, it could really take off here.

Arrow, through its campaign, wants to dare men to "push the edge" as far as work-wear is concerned.

Crossroads to be positioned as luxury mall
The Future Group, which acquired the Crossroads mall from the Ashok Piramal Group in March 2006 for Rs251 crore, is planning to position it as a high-end luxury mall.

The Piramal Group had sold off the mall since they could not generate enough footfalls and volumes. Some tenants have refused to vacate the mall since they had paid lease for the entire year. Apart from this McDonalds will also not leave as it owns the land.

Banking on the growing affluence and aspirations of the young Indians, global luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Jean Paul Gaultier and Gucci, Tag Heur, Espirit, Armani, Gabbana, Escada, Dunhill are betting big on India. They are either starting stand-alone stores or opening shops in malls.

Analysts are upbeat about the concept of luxury retailing in the country as there is a shortage of space for luxury brands in the country. Foreign tourists always buy these brands here owing to lower prices than elsewhere. Crossroads with high accessibility and affluent crowd is expected to make a good destination for luxury retailing.

Bharti AXA Life experiments with Shopassurance model
Shoppers may soon find they can buy an insurance policy while buying vegetables and groceries if Bharti AXA Life Insurance has it way. The company is negotiating a tie-up with Bharti Retail (a joint venture with Wal-Mart) and Sunil Mittal''s FieldFresh Foods Ltd for this.

FieldFresh is the partnership venture between Bharti Enterprises and ELRo Holdings India Ltd, an investment company of the Rothschild family. FieldFresh provides fresh produce to markets worldwide.

Bharti AXA officials said the company is looking at an integrated sales model with FieldFresh and Bharti Retail and would try to make inroads into the rural markets with FieldFresh.

The idea of vending insurance with retail products dubbed "Shopassurance," began in the UK where retailers like Tesco, Marks & Spencer and the pharmacist Boots have been offering insurance to customers.

The model also appeals to Bharti AXA Life Insurance as it is trying to position itself as a mass market player.

Bharti AXA, which set up nationwide operations in December 2006, is in the process of synergising with Airtel''s telecom subscribers. Around 30 per cent of the company''s business comes from telecom subscribers and the conversion rate of the leads generated by Airtel stands at 10 per cent.

Kent RO shifts from celebrity power to channel push
Bangalore: After using celebrity power with film star Hema Malini and daughters Esha and Ahana to build awareness about reverse osmosis technology and drive home family appeal for the product, water purifier major Kent RO Systems plans to use IOC retailers to push its marketing campaign throughout the country.

Kent RO Systems signed an agreement with IOC in February this year and plans to utilise the Indane LPG distributors'' network to market its RO water purifier.

The company would utilise select petrol pumps of IOC, the channels of IOC retail, IOC retail shelves and direct marketing efforts to step up its marketing campaign to market the RO water purifiers.

Kent RO Systems has already set up a manufacturing plant with annual capacity of 100,000 purifiers.

The strategic tie-up with IOC is expected to provide Kent RO Systems with 25 per cent of its projected turnover of Rs 100 crore for the fiscal.

Godrej Beverages distribution reach attracts Hershey''s
US Chocolate giant Hershey''s recently acquired a majority 51-per cent stake in Godrej Beverages and Foods, a relatively small subsidiary of Godrej Industries which is engaged in marketing of fruit drinks (Jumpin, Xs) and health foods (Sofit).

To many it would seem an unlikely choice for the US chocolate major Hershey''s entry into the Indian market. The stake acquisition however makes imminent sense for the US chocolates major because it enables to acquire Nutrine, one of the leading confectionery brands in the Indian markets.

Nutrine, acquired by Godrej Beverages in June 2006, has annual sales of Rs350 crore - Rs400 crore and a 23-per cent share of the sugar confectionery market, with brands like Maha Lacto, Koka Naka and Milk Eclairs in its portfolio. Hershey also sees significant value in the company''s distribution reach, estimated at about 16 lakh outlets, which can now be used to distribute Hershey''s confectionery and snacks. With Hershey''s acquisition Parle remains the only big homegrown brand in the Indian sugar confectionery market.

Hershey already has a joint venture agreement with Lotte Corporation to manufacture and market chocolates in the Chinese market and may consider exploring a similar arrangement with Lotte in India. If it does, it may end up getting a large share of the Indian sugar confectionery market.