1. Vodafone is the world’s largest mobile telecommunications community, employing over 65,000 staff and with over 130 million customers. The business operates in 26 countries worldwide. Vodafone is a public limited company with listings on the London and New York stock exchanges.
To help promote its image worldwide, Vodafone uses leading sports stars from high profile global sports, including David Beckham and Michael Schumacher.
There is considerable growth in sales of mobile handsets, bringing in more competitors. As the competition gets tougher, mobile phone companies are exposing customers to a barrage of different images and messages. Vodafone appeals to new customers and aims to keep its existing ones by emphasizing the uniqueness of the brand.
The ‘Vodafone live!’ a product with many different features provides customers with opportunities to chat, play games, send and receive pictures, change ring tones, receive information about travel and sporting events, obtain billing information. It was later enhanced to view video clips and send video messages. Vodafone live! will soon be further enhanced by picture messaging libraries and video telephony (seeing the person you're calling) and improving download speeds.
Another service is the Vodafone Mobile Connect Card, which enables customers to access their normal business applications on a laptop when out of the office.

2. Chennai based IT Kids is following a clever niche strategy by looking at the concept of education through computers for children in the age group of Its working as IT Kids is growing rapidly, with 8 master franchisees and 74 sub-franchisees in the south and west within a year of launch.
Speed is the essence as industry giants NIIT and Aptech have not yet started focusing on the children segment. Most courses offered by the majors are for children in the age group of and above. With average enrollments of about 200 at each of the IT Kid outlets, others are bound to spot the potential. NIIT is already tying up with schools to customize its existing LEDA program for them. IT Kids is therefore relying on franchising to rollout swiftly and grab the first-mover advantage. A wide distribution reach is an imperative for success, as children of the age group will not go far from home o study something outside school. 
The success of IT will depend on parents and children finding the concept interesting and educative. IT Kids has been researching the mix for the over two years. It says it has found a smart plan to lock into the 4-14 age group. The best way to get children to use computers is letting them learn on it. So It Kids have been researching ways to align its school syllabi. While NIIT and Aptech are positioned as undisputed leaders in computer education, IT Kids is about education through computers. It has made learning fun by introducing modules like Young Adventurer, Junior Doctor, Young Engineer.
They say their curriculum is the crucial differentiator. The curriculum is divided into 1-year modules, covers 42 sessions and costs an affordable Rs This gives the franchisee a good chance of retaining the same customer for many years. The retention at most IT Kids outlets are over 90%. To induce trials IT Kids also plans shorter duration programs that will tie in summer breaks.
The revenue model is as follows: A sub-franchisee gets 80% of the fees generated by him and has to give 15% to IT Kids. A master franchisee gets 5% of the fees generated by his sub-franchisee; this acts as the incentive to recruit more sub-franchisees.

3. Lipton the largest U.S. tea marketer, is spending $100 million this year to change its image. Sir Thomas J. Lipton, a famous yachtsman and business tycoon, popularized tea in America in the 1890s. His likeness-a gentleman with a yachtsman's cap and a prominent mustache, holding a china cup-has been emblazoned on nearly every Lipton tea box since.
Like Pillsbury Doughboy, Marlboro Cowboy, Morton Salt’s girl with an umbrella, his image on the product was part of the brand's image. Unlike Pillsbury Doughboy, Morton Salt’s girl, the image of Thomas J. Lipton has not had a makeover. There is a significant difference between Sir Thomas and the other brand characters: he was a real person.
Marketing research indicates that Lipton tea suffers from his likeness, as it does not appeal to the target market it most wants to attract. Lipton tea is seen as a product for octogenarians. Lipton would like people to consider tea an alternative to soft drinks and other popular beverages.
Lipton is making several changes. Lipton has introduced new products including bottled iced tea and "cold brew" tea bags for iced tea without the hassle of boiling water. Gone is Sir Thomas; Tom is the new cad in the ads. "Tom" is a "Mr. Bean" type of character who is the new Lipton tea spokesperson. "Tom" will appear in ads only; he will not be placed on the label of Lipton products.
Even the package has changed. A new design that would seem appropriate "in the grocery-shopping cart of Cameron Diaz or Brad Pitt" is replacing the predominately red and yellow packages.
Which elements formerly represented the Lipton Brand? How important is packaging and labeling in today’s market? Did Lipton represent a "good" brand name?

4. Mobile Family Services is attempting to combine wireless applications with unique services to help families stay connected, especially with the youngest members, with a device called Leonie. Leonie is targeted at families with children less than 11 years of age.
The Leonie is a mobile phone device that is implanted into a toy such as a teddy bear. By pressing a single button, children can be connected to a special operator. "The operator will know immediately who is calling," Mobile claims.
The operators are trained to handle possible emergencies, problems, or be a friendly voice to listen to a child. "The service would be simple and designed to deal with day-to-day occurrences, such as children missing a bus or forgetting something at home, as well as more threatening situations." The device, with its global positioning antenna, will allow an operator to track the position of a child.
The device can be placed in a number of different objects. It was important to put the device in items with which children would feel comfortable and with which they could develop a relationship. Likewise, the call center encourages the children to call to develop a relationship with the operators. Leonie shouldn't be associated only with fearful situations.
The service is currently being test marketed in Europe and is expected to be tested in the U.S next year. The U.S. is expected to account for about 45 percent of the future market for the device, Germany is expected to account for 10 percent, and the rest will be spread across other markets.
Discuss the elements that would lead to the success of a new product like Leonie ?