Background Revitalizing a once-popular dormant brand can be a highly profitable strategy under the right circumstances.

Over time, brands build up awareness and name recognition among consumers. People connect emotionally with a brand that reminds them of a specific time, place or experience, and old brands often have a reputation of reliability that new brands cannot match. Bringing back a dormant brand that consumers already recognize and are loyal to can save a lot of money. These savings are in the development, marketing and advertising expenditures that are required to launch a new brand. Making use of pre-existing awareness can also increase a products success rate by helping to cut through the clutter of products in the media. A year after shortage of cash forced Subhiksha Trading Services Ltd to close its nationwide network of 1,600 supermarket stores and default on loans, vendor payments and staff salaries, the Chennai-based discount retailer is trying to get back on its feet. The seller of groceries, fruits, vegetables, medicines and mobile phones is planning to reopen a handful of outlets in Chennai. Subhikshas early success was due to its no frills model it had read the external environment very well and identified deep discount business model which appealed to the middle and lower income strata families which went for the convenience of the location and the price as after all it was mostly the groceries that they bought. It also seemed to have operated on a very low back end and corporate overhead costs. So long, as Subhiksha focused on its core competency and operated with in a small geography the model worked. It was not geared to handle a fast pace of expansion primarily due to increase in costs and availability of funding. The increase in stores and personnel were affecting the financial controls. A classic case of not doing Consolidation before Expansion sealed its fate. Launching a new brand involves enormous costs. Cashing in on an old brand will save a good, if not substantial, amount of the initial costs. Secondly, it results in cost savings for the company in terms of not having to take up any "new brand" building efforts. Launching a new brand involves more cross-

functional co-ordination than any other stage in product development and accounts for more than 90 percent of the total cost of getting a product to market. Changed market conditions imply relaunching of a brand on the same positioning plank. A brand might have failed in previous years because the market would not have been suitable for it at that point of time. The current market situation, having become suitable for the product, could warrant a re-launch of the brand. Factors influencing Brand Rejuvenation

The model suggests the various factors that influence the process of brand rejuvenation. The very creation of a brand is influenced by the purpose or the goal of a brand. The major decisions about a brand would dependent on why the brand was created; the basic idea of a brand or a product would be generated after the need is assessed. A brand audit may be necessary for certain brands in order to get the entire history and perception of a brand. This may give us the cause of under taking brand rejuvenation. In order to make successful brand rejuvenation, we have to bringing in a synergy between the vision, mission statements of the company along with the intents, strategies, facts and analysis. The management plays a critical role in the success of the brand rejuvenation process. 2

As a result of Brand Rejuvenation, the stakeholders of the company now see the company, as it would like to be seen, may be as it was seen before it lost its brand equity. The ensuing goodwill allows goals to be achieved with less resistance, effort and expenditure. Relations between need and the method of brand rejuvenation

The above model tries to relate the various factors that bring about the necessity of brand rejuvenation and the various methods available for brand rejuvenation. If the cause for brand rejuvenation is the product itself, i.e., the product has lost its appeal or usage, and the market is not accepting the brand. The product attributes have to be changed and the company may bring out newer uses of the product so that the product is relaunched in the market. The positioning may have to be changed on the whole. This can be done brand requires establishing more compelling points of difference. This may simply require reminding consumers of the virtues of a brand that they have begun to take for granted. When the cause for brand rejuvenation is the customers, it prompts the company to change the perception in the minds of the consumers. Bringing out new uses will also affect the consumers and thus change the brand image.

Alternative Strategy for Subhiksha Consumer looks for 4 core attributes in a store: its proximity, the quality of groceries, the price of branded groceries, and the availability of products. Subhiksha uses a format that focuses on fast-moving, large-volume items. Subhiksha, therefore should decide to focus on price, and set up a chain of small, but functional, stores during its re-launch Its customer focused retailing format should emulate the neighbourhood kirana store model, with its innate convenience along with the added advantage of consistent and every day discounts and assurance of quality. Subhiksha relaunch should be built on a unique business model with no frill stores in the neighborhood area offering 8%-10% discount on Maximum Retail Price (MRP) on all products sold throughout the year. The company should seek to provide a one stop shop for all daily shopping needs of a consumer and sells FMCG products, food & groceries, pharmacy products and mobiles. Discounting works well in some product-categories, like groceries. Since these products are purchased every month, even a 10 per cent discount adds up to a sizable annual saving for the customer The branding strategy for this retail store should be low-cost and no-frills, i.e., a reliable and trustworthy store that has the lowest prices. The image of the store to be communicated through various media will that be of one who cared for its customers and ensures the best deals and savings. It should focus on building long-term relationships with its customers by giving them a lifetime of value and savings. The ability to do this stemmed from its relentless focus on value delivery rather than transactional relationships. Brand Image and Identity The brand image that Subhiksha should aim at portraying was of a trustworthy, reliable store that cared for the customer and ensures the best deals or lowest prices

for them. It should aim at being perceived as a trusted source of household needs, easily accessible and one that offered great prices and savings. Brand Positioning Discount retail chains like Subhiksha need to position themselves against the neighbourhood stores, which will be their major competition. The latter offer personalized service and have small scale operations. Brand Strategy By opting for smaller outlets, Subhiksha can increase its presence. The aim will be that no one should be further than 2 km away from a Subhiksha outlet. The target obviously will be the masses. To succeed, the discount chain needs to integrate backwards into the supply chain, cut out middlemen and offer better prices to consumers. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bhasker, Vijay. Someplace else, Economic Times, 20 August 2000. Chandran, Rina. Good monsoon doesnt mean more FMCG sales, Business Line Chennai, 20 November 2003. Dey, Mrinal Kanti. Subhiksha plans Rs.150 crore expansion strategy, The Asian Age, 20 November 2003. Doctor, Vikram. Competing on price is the new name of the game, Economic Times, 7 February 2001. Jain, Ajay. Food retailing value addition to up growth, Financial Express, 17 June 2003. Nair, Malini. The great Indian super bazaar, The Telegraph, Calcutta edition, 3 April 1998. Thakur, Ritu. Held to ransom by L&F, The Pioneer, 21 February 2002. Vijayraghavan, Kala. Private labels give FMCG giants a run for their brands, Economic Times, 2 February 2002. 5

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