The article brings to light how some smart companies are able to outpace their close business rivals by simply adding value to their own repertoire of existing products or services.

How do you add value to mundane products like face cream and chewing gum? As a lesson for astute marketers, HLL and Wrigley's are showing the way. They refused to toe the line when it came to branding and marketing their face cream and chewing gum respectively. What did they do?

HLL managed to charge 2.5 times more than the price charged by generic facial creams (such as Boroline or Boro Plus) through relevant value additions. They took a classical marketing approachfind out the need of the segment, create an offer, brand it, promote it and distribute it. Thus, was born Fair & Lovely that flaunted the value proposition of making women fairer. The relevance of this value proposition can be easily gauged by doing a random scan of the matrimonial column of any newspaper in India (check out the number of `fair' brides in demand). Thus, by offering a much sought-after value proposition, HLL has reaped rich dividends. Wrigley's has done the same with its chewing gum that promises to make teeth stronger and fight decaywhat a fantastic way to encourage people of all ages to take to chewing gum! No longer will parents be able to scold their brats for chewing gum, for they can retort back that they are taking care of their teeth by doing so.

The health platform has become a goldmine for marketers when it comes to value additions. Jams now come packed with vitamins (Kissan), atta now comes fortified with iron (Annapurna), cornflakes now come with all the good things that our body needs (Kellogg's). But what makes a brand sell? As per the gospel propounded by Al Ries and Jack Trout, the positioning occupied by a brand in the customer's mind decides the fate of the brand. Therefore, the marketing warfare has to be fought between the customer's ears and not in the marketplace.

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