The Case of Glamour Positioning

7/30/2019 The Case of Glamour Positioning

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The Case Of Glamour PositioningShould Lyrix reposition its brand to beat competition? Harsh Chopra of Ray-Ban, Prodipto Roy of KSATechnopak, and Richa Puranesh of DCM Benetton respond.

Lyrix was an acquisition that made MAS limited proud, no doubt. And itsManaging Director, Shrishti Tandon, 44, was rather enjoying the business ofmarketing a 60-year-old brand with such awesome credentials. As a pioneer ofsunglasses designed to block ultraviolet and other harsh rays, the brand hadproven its eyecare expertise before it was adopted as a standard accessory byfilm stars, at first as a shield against glare (their natural defences havingweakened by hours of arclight exposure), and then as part of their offscreenpersona. Slowly but surely, Lyrix became so well associated with glamour andfame that it became a fashion statement. And so it continued.

Of late, however, it was floundering a bit. And Tandon was worried. Marketgrowth was not the issue: it was doing double digits. The trouble was that itwas no longer the only big name around. In just about a year, freshcompetition had lowered Lyrix's marketshare from 55 to 50 per cent. The brandwas doing particularly badly with female buyers. Its classic design, forexample, was seen as rather too masculine, too functional and too under-stylised. The hot new

shades from the Italian fashion houses, on the other hand, were all the rage on collegecampuses.

Uday Agarwal, 34, Marketing Manager, MAS, thought it was time to rethinkthe brand's strategy, starting with the product portfolio. "Fashionable metro

consumers are asking for and willing to pay for the latest international styles," said Agarwal,"Their media exposure to global glamour has risen exponentially, and everyone wants to be 'withit'."

"But we have some of the latest styles," objected Tandon, "and they're being endorsed by someof the coolest celebrities."

Agarwal wasn't impressed. "Our last few promotions, even with cricket celebs, weren't runawaysuccesses though," he countered, aware that Tandon had seen the sales charts. "I think we haveto question our earlier assumption that rising fashion consciousness will work in our favour."

"Don't go just by the upper-crust," said Tandon, "this is a vast country, and we still have half themarket."

"Half, and falling," said Agarwal, gloomily. "Besides, with multiple ownership rising, the upper-endmatters a lot."

Tandon paused for a moment's thought. The days thatthe brand advertised itself as a UV ray filter were longpast, and for most of the 1990s, the thrust had been toraise volumes by expanding distribution (to B and evenC class towns), containing prices within the Rs 1,000-2,000 band, and appealing to the fashion

aspirant. The brand, thus, had been portrayed as an accessory for the cool, confident individualwho was not afraid to be him or her self. The emphasis was on the classic model. Over-styling, itwas reckoned, would've put this consumer off. In the past two years, Lyrix had used an edgy TVcampaign to give itself a more yuppie image. But the product range remained the same, with afew additions here and there. So it was natural, Tandon was willing to concede, that Lyrix wasseen by youngsters as a serious brand for the 35-plus.

"I feel that youngsters want sleek and snazzy designs that stand out," said Agarwal, "the kind thatmake a statement not just by virtue of being sunshades, but by giving a distinct look to the face."

Case Solution

Lyrix was being attacked by foreignbrands on the glamour front, and bythe fakes on its sales volumes
http://archives.digitaltoday.in/businesstoday/20030216/casegame2.htmlhttp://archives.digitaltoday.in/businesstoday/20030216/casegame2.html


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Tandon nodded unconsciously. Was the market changing faster than she'd noticed? It was truethat the entire shopping environment had got spruced up, of late, with glitzy malls opening up.Merchandising standards had risen sharply. Indian film stars had turned trendy even byinternational reckoning. And the typical youngster did not want to be typical any more. Blending inwas out, standing out was in.

And the droolworthy sunshades displayed at the spiffy new superstores, Tandon realised, were

not Lyrix pairs, but a clutch of other imported brands. Yet, volume growth was important to her,and here, a major part of the battle was tackling the unorganised sector-the Lyrix counterfeits thatdamaged people's eyes but continued to attract people with their throwaway prices.

"Uday," said the managing director, "I appreciate your worries about the top-end, but there's abigger picture to work on. Staving off the fakes is our leadership responsibility. And for that, I thinkwe need to re-emphasise the eye-care attributes of the brand."

Agarwal was alarmed. "Abandon the glamour positioning?" he asked, his eyebrows raised high.

"I didn't say that," replied Tandon, aware that the lifestyle motive was still stronger than the ray-protection motive. "And don't give me that Jim Carrey look from 'The Truman Show'-you knowthat the brand has a lot of science behind the starry sex appeal."

"Yeah, sure," admitted Agarwal, "we must do whatever is strategically necessary."

"Good," said Tandon. "Now why don't you work out the potential sales boost we can get fromattacking the fakes? Income levels have risen at lower socio-economic levels as well, and we mayget bigger volumes here, than by worrying about Pavretti, Milano and other highfalutin labels.Besides, we must never alienate the lifelong Lyrix loyalist-who has expectations of the brand onvarious rational and emotional levels."

Agarwal felt his gut churn. Would this spell the end of his new marketing proposal, he wondered.

Tandon continued. "We need to address both the hip and the health market," she said, "that'swhat Lyrix's brand heritage is all about-you know that."

Agarwal sighed. And then spoke. "Oh, I'd thought we could turn our product lines a little morelyrical, go all out for the hip college campuses and then adopt music as a brand theme. I foundthis interesting number by a band called Timbukthree..." He snapped on his pocket player for ademo. 'Am doing alright, gettin' good grades, the future's so bright, gotta wear shades ...' went thechorus, sounding appropriately collegiate. "It's an '80s track, so I think the core consumer wouldalso go for it," he said, hopefully.

Tandon said nothing.

The question: Should MAS adopt Agarwal's plan?.

Don't Chase The Fakes

"Lyrix should


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Should MAS adopt Uday's plan? at the very outset, it is clear that the coreposition of this heritage brand-a combination of high performance and styling-cannot be abandoned because that would result in Lyrix losing its identity. Whilethe brand must evolve with changing lifestyles, a shift to street styles will makeits product range and styling indistinguishable among the multitude of fashionbrands screaming for the consumer's attention.

This is particularly true in the Indian context where a purchase decision involvingLyrix sunglasses would be a big financial commitment by the consumer and arelatively involved decision. A shift to 'flavour of the month' styles from Italianfashion houses would be suicidal for the brand.

With global fashion brands changing their collections every season, consumers are more oftenthan not likely to find their expensive sunglasses going out of fashion every season. As for theargument that the brand should be repositioned with the aim of ensnaring teenagers, they wouldconstitute at best a low margins market and would not be able to afford the higher-end offerings ofMAS.

A strategy that is essentially based on going after cheap imitations of Lyrix through a focus on thetechnical delivery of the product is unlikely to help MAS much either, for the simple reason thatthose who go in for these visibly shoddy fake sunglasses are buyers from a different strata-peoplewho wouldn't buy Lyrix anyway, good or not.

So, the right way forward is for the company's management to focus on the Lyrix brandsuccessfully making the transition from its current 'classical' positioning to a more trendy, elegantand refined look even while retaining its technical superiority and functional image ofguaranteeing protection to the eyes.

The sunglasses brand should offer more than just glamorous styles and be positioned to bring outits legendary heritage. This would be akin to a Mercedes-Benz car-a very high performancemachine that is an evolving brand at the same time. This shift in positioning needs to be started atthe design stage-style, lens colours, frame material and so on-so as to accommodate its coreloyal users while initiating the younger users into its fold.

If such a shared vision could be evolved by MAS' management, it could successfully effect thebrand's transition from its classical positioning. This should be the first step. The next bigchallenge would lie in executing the vision. Communication of this vision to designers andengineers, selection of the right styles and creating a balanced product range that offers

something relevant to all consumers will determine the brand's success in thelong-term.

MAS' problem is akin to that of most premium fashion brands. In its longexistence in this country Lyrix has built a brand equity for itself throughsuccessfully communicating its functional benefits to the consumer. But it hasdone little to bring its product-mix up to date.

Clearly, the two major challengers to Lyrix's dominant position are the foreignbrands that have entered the market with greater glamour appeal and the

fakes that are eating into its market, primarily in the B and C class towns.

There are four stages of evolution that a brand's lifecycle can be divided into.In the initial stages, a new category of products is created that offers specificfunctional value to the customer. This is followed by a process where theoriginal product proposition is altered to offer more value to more people.These two stages belong to the emergent phase of a brand where it is yet tomake it to the big league. The brand enters the mainstream through aprolonged phase of commercialisation and finally establishes itself as a key

reposition itselffrom its'classical' slot toa more trendyand elegantlook, even whileretaining itssuperior valueproposition"Harsh Chopra,ManagingDirector, Ray-BanSun Optics India

"Lyrix needs to

transcend thecategory boundaryof functionalityand differentiateitself as a premiumbrand throughproductinnovation"Prodipto Roy,

Associate Director,KSA Technopak


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player in a particular product category across segments.

In this instance, Lyrix has created the sunglasses market in this country but its communicationfocus remains largely on functionality (protection from ultraviolet rays) even though the markethas moved on to a higher level of sophistication. It now needs to transcend the boundary offunctionality and differentiate itself as a premium brand through innovation.

MAS' Managing Director Shrishti Tandon is correct in her assessment that the Indian consumer ishunting not for cheap, but for 'value' products. There are numerous instances of consumers goingin for a more expensive product once they were convinced that it would prove to be a betterbargain in the long run. Nokia, for instance, is the clear leader in India in mobile phones eventhough the cheapest products in that market are offered by Motorola. Another good example ofthis is the fact that many car buyers are willing to shell out an extra Rs 1 lakh or even more andbe seen driving a Palio, which is considered a better-designed car than its counterparts in the Bsegment.

However, consumers have reached a level of sophistication where the old definition of 'value' hasbeen expanded to include differentiation. The consumer now wants to be able to choose fromamong a range of products, technologies and designs.

MAS has its work cut out. The market is expanding; the B & C class towns are also growing. Theyneed to look beyond the UV filter, come up with different product propositions to cater to eachconsumer segment. Having said that, this is no quick-fix solution, it would require a lot of grind,testing of hypotheses, launches, mass distributions, supply channels, and of course, many suchdiscussions in the future.

A 5 per cent drop in MAS' marketshare over a period of barely a year meansthat the growth of Lyrix as a brand has failed to keep pace with that of thesunglasses market as a whole. It is also a clear signal of the serious shift inthe dynamics of the product segment. While the consumers remain loyal tohigh-end brands longer than they do in the other segments, realignment isinevitable beyond a point. The argument by MAS' marketing head that Lyrix asa brand is at a critical crossroads is absolutely correct.

The sunglasses market that Lyrix dominated for so long has metamorphosedover the years from a simplistic, notionally homogeneous one into asophisticated web of segmentation with all its attendant specificities: agegroups, lifestyles, affiliation choices, trend consciousness, plus a complex lotof swish-shopping environments and brand alternatives. To survive in thisenvironment, Lyrix should evolve.

If MAS has so far failed to stem the tide, it is because its attempts to stay intune with consumers' changing preferences have been half-hearted. WhileMAS' television campaign portrayed Lyrix as a sunglasses brand for cool,confident yuppies, its sales thrust focused on B and C class towns. Thepricing, in turn, was determined by this sales strategy. Further, the models emphasised wereclassic Lyrix oldies.

Lifestyle brands are often born of rational brand promises that then draw upon glamour power togrow their appeal. Even after these brands evolve, they depend on their original rationalassurances of value to lend substance to their fashion gloss. The two are co-dependent andnever contradictory, even though MAS' marketing chief seems to think that there is a choice to bemade between them.

Instead of calling in question Lyrix's carefully nurtured synergy and linkage between hipness andsolid science, a reinterpretation of what glamour and science mean is needed. MAS' ManagingDirector Tandon, on the other hand, needs to realise that tackling fakes is no marketing strategy,but just a bottom-line protection task.

"Rather than

questioning Lyrix'snurtured synergybetween hipnessand solid science,it's necessary toreinterpretglamour andscience"Richa Puranesh,Manager (MarketingServices), DCMBenetton India


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To send Lyrix's positioning skittering from addressing mature 35-plus loyalists to college teeniesseems too much of a knee-jerk reaction on the part of the company. Such a course of actionwould also create the risk of alienating the core franchise and rejection on part of disbelievingteenagers. It would be cannier to isolate the core attitudes that the market seems to be tuning to,which would integrate with and evolve the brand.

The insights obtained thus could also help the company's brand make it big with the image-

conscious 25-plus consumers. The decision on whether to re-orient the brand completely towardsthis segment or to hive off a brand extension would require a fair degree of research and analysison the segment's dynamics and the implications for brand Lyrix's architecture.

Either course of action would give Lyrix a hipper, younger spin, while allowing it to keep its'establishment' credentials intact. Rigorous interpretation and decoding of emerging lifestyleaffiliations are critical to survival of brands in this category. As is re-energising of the brand with aview to creating new loyalists with different socio-economic profiles.

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The Case of Glamour Positioning