Brand Failures

156 Brand failures
of the Bombay Stock Exchange. ‘Even if Kellogg’s has only a two percent
market share, at 18 million consumers they will have a larger market than in
the US itself,’ he said at the time.
However, the Indian sub-continent found the whole concept of eating
breakfast cereal a new one. Indeed, the most common way to start the day in
India was with a bowl of hot vegetables. While this meant that Kellogg’s had
few direct competitors it also meant that the company had to promote not
only its product, but also the very idea of eating breakfast cereal in the first
place.
The first sales figures were encouraging, and indicated that breakfast cereal
consumption was on the rise. However, it soon became apparent that many
people had bought Corn Flakes as a one-off, novelty purchase. Even if they
liked the taste, the product was too expensive. A 500-gram box of Corn
Flakes cost a third more than its nearest competitor. However, Kellogg’s
remained unwilling to bow to price pressure and decided to launch other
products in India, without doing any further research of the market. Over
the next few years Indian cereal buyers were introduced to Kellogg’s Wheat
Flakes, Frosties, Rice Flakes, Honey Crunch, All Bran, Special K and Chocos
Chocolate Puffs – none of which have managed to replicate the success they
have encountered in the West.
Furthermore, the company’s attempts to ‘Indianize’ its range have been
disastrous. Its Mazza-branded series of fusion cereals, with flavours such as
mango, coconut and rose, failed to make a lasting impression.
Acknowledging the relative failure of these brands in India, Kellogg’s has
come up with a new strategy to establish the company’s brand equity in the
market. If it can’t sell cereal, it’s going to try and sell biscuits. The news of
this brand extension was covered in depth in the Indian Express newspaper
in 2000:
The company has been looking at alternate product categories to
counter poor off take for its breakfast cereal brands in the Indian
market, say sources. Meanwhile, the Kellogg main stay – breakfast
cereals – has seen frenzied marketing activity from the company’s end.
The idea behind the effort is to establish the Kellogg brand equity in
the market.
‘The company is concentrating on establishing its brand name in the
market irrespective of the off take. The focus is entirely on being present