The product consisted of a
heating unit and a small container of chemicals, which had to be periodically
replaced. It was reportedly doing extremely well in the Japanese market, as it
was much more effective than mats. (The strength of mats reportedly weakened
considerably after a few hours - vaporizers on the other hand could function
consistently throughout the night). However, Earth refused to transfer the
technology for the manufacture of the vaporizer. After much lobbying and
negotiations, a revenue sharing deal was finally signed, wherein KAPL agreed
to invest in manufacturing the components of the product.
KAPL began developing certain key components for the product at its factory at
Baddi in Himachal Pradesh in 1989. Some items such as moulds were imported
from Japan. KAPL then hired a research agency to come up with a brand name for
their product. The agency recommended the name 'Freedom.' 'Choo Mantar' (a
Hindi phrase indicating the 'magical vanishing' of mosquitoes) was another
possibility. However, KAPL rejected the agency's recommendations, and
eventually settled on All Out, a name suggested by the youngest Arya brother,
Naveen. Choo Mantar was dropped as it would not have made sense to non-Hindi
speaking people and the brothers felt that All Out was better than Freedom.
To ensure that the packaging was of high quality, KAPL commissioned a
well-known packaging unit in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. However, due to delays
in the supply of packing material, KAPL was forced to delay the launch of All
Out by about six months. The product was finally launched in April 1990 in
Mumbai.
Sales were slow to pick up, as April was a lean month for the sales of
mosquito repellants - mosquitoes being far more numerous during the rainy
season.
KAPL hired Avenues, reportedly one of the best creative agencies in India, to
handle the advertising for All Out. However, the company was not satisfied
with the advertisements created by the agency, which had the baseline, 'All
Out for modern mosquitoes.' Bimal said, "Six months down the line, we had
holes in our pockets. They kept telling us to have patience as it takes time,
but we lost patience."
The advertisement account was shifted to a bigger advertising firm, HTA, at
the time of the product's launch in Delhi. HTA released a series of six
advertisements, using humor to promote the product. However, the Arya brothers
were not satisfied with HTA either. They felt that they were paying too much
for the advertisements, without adequate results. Anil said, "Humorous and
attention-grabbing they were, but the ads lost out on what the brand wanted to
say."
KAPL then decided to handle the advertising for All Out on its own, surprising
many industry watchers and drawing criticism from some ad agencies. However,
the company surprised everybody with the launch of a campaign featuring an
animated, jumping frog (actually an All Out vaporizer) eating mosquitoes,
which proved to be immensely successful. The ad was based on similar
advertisements made by Earth for the Japanese market. Later on, the
advertisement included a man competing with All Out in a mosquito 'eating'
competition and losing out. The short, funny advertisement cost KAPL just Rs
50,000 to make. Over the next few years, KAPL continued with the same
advertisement, with only minor modifications to suit the launch of new
promotion schemes.
KAPL advertised on videocassettes of Hindi movies in a big way - a move
criticized by many advertising agencies, as these were believed to be 'downmarket.'
Explaining the rationale behind this decision, Anil said, "We went for video
cassettes as they got duplicated 20 times in the grey market. And it cost a
fraction of what it takes to advertise on TV."
KAPL also made use of the evening news program on FM Radio and test cricket
commentary on the state-owned All India Radio (AIR) to communicate in a
cost-effective manner. On television, KAPL preferred to sponsor news programs
rather than costly and more conventional soaps or game shows such as the
hugely popular Kaun Banega Crorepati .
The company also pioneered the concept of sponsoring song/dance and fight
sequences in movies on many satellite television channels (primarily)
SitiCable and Doordarshan. All Out advertisements would appear before each
song/dance and fight sequence in the movie. As Hindi movies typically featured
4-5 songs/dances, the viewers watched the All Out advertisement at least 4-5
times. This resulted in the brand attaining a very high mind-share among
consumers. While All Out had an overall share of
voice (SOV) of 31%, the nearest competitor GoodKnight had just 5% in 2000.
KAPL priced the heating unit of the All Out vaporizer fairly high, to cover
the cost of the relatively expensive components purchased from Matsushita
Electronics. However, reacting to market sentiment, the company lowered its
price over the years, aided in part by increased in-house manufacturing of
components. While All Out was priced at Rs 225 when it was launched, the price
was reduced to Rs 135 for a cord model in 1994. In 1995, KAPL launched the 'Pluggy'
(a small apparatus, in which the refill could be fitted and plugged in
directly) for Rs 90. In 1996, a twin pack (offering the Pluggy and a cord
model) was launched for Rs 135. In 1998, KAPL came out with a Rs 99 pack
consisting of the Pluggy and a refill. The deal, called the 'deadly offer' was
backed by heavy advertising.
By then, it was clear that the company was treating the vaporizer as a loss
leader, to promote the sale of its refill containers. The 'deadly exchange
scheme' launched in 1999, gave customers the chance to exchange a mat machine
of any make for a Pluggy for just Rs 27. The response to this scheme was
phenomenal with the company reportedly selling over half a million pieces in
September 1999 alone.
Meanwhile, GSLL, which had launched its own vaporizer in 1996 under the
GoodKnight brand, was struggling to maintain its market share in the segment
after its initial success. GSLL launched a 60-night refill pack priced at Rs
63, against All Out's 45-night pack at Rs 54. However, the move did not prove
to be very successful and GSLL had to support the launch by introducing
promotion schemes. After KAPL's 'deadly exchange scheme,' GoodKnight's share
decreased by 9.3% in volume terms between September 1999 and February 2000.
GSLL then reduced the price of its vaporizer, but this too had little effect
on sales.
KAPL's distribution network consisted of around 120 distributors across the
country. Of the 900,000 outlets across the country, that sold repellants, KAPL
was available in only 18%. As this was significantly lower than the 55% figure
for R&C and 54% for GSSL, KAPL was working towards increasing its presence.
More Classifications...
