Market

They who write last more than overnight".

Perhaps this is what the Sumerians were
thinking when more than 5000 years ago, they
scored their symbols in clay and baked them
for permanence. Eternal
preservation was also the
motive of the Egyptian Pharaohs
in having the adoration of their
Gods carved in stone. Less
demanding scribes contented
themselves with tablets of wood,
coated with wax, on which they
wrote with shards of bone. The
prized writing materials of
antiquity also included the
papyrus and parchment, which
lent themselves well to
inscription with ink flowing from
reed brushes.
Even though writing
instruments crafted to carry
their own supply of ink had
existed for hundreds of years, it
was left to Lewis Waterman to
patent the first practical fountain
pen in 1884. The earlier models,
plagued by ink spills and other
failures left them impractical and
hard to carry.
The fountain pen's modern
design came after a thousand
years of using quill. Waterman
could hardly have realised that
some day his little invention
would balloon into a Rs. 50,000
crore (US$ 10.40 billion) world
market.
It wasn't so long ago that
buying a single pen was a
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SUPERBRANDS

measured decision.
Today, consumers buy
multiple pens in a
single purchase. Even
more remarkable a
transition is the fact
that the contemporary
generation is now
using different inks,
colours and even tips
to express their
moods. It would seem
that the modern pen
is in travel mode,
across the FMCG
space, into a fashion
and individual
personality statement.
Not surprisingly, the
size of the writing
instruments industry in
India has boomed. Much of this growth has
been registered by the organised sector which
now commands over 70% of all purchases made
in this segment (Source: industry data). This
suggests that consumers are responding
favourably to quality and branding.
Ball pens form the biggest chunk 72% of
the market in India with gel pens comprising the
balance (Source: ACNielsen). The domain of the
fountain pen once the only writing instrument
of both the rich and the poor has now almost
completely disappeared. It is confined to only
luxury brands.

Achievements
With dozens of brands and
more dozens of manufacturers, the pen market
in India presents a riot of choices. The jostling
for attention happens at all levels of the
marketing chain and at all levels of consumers.
Cello is a dominant brand. It has strong
vertically integrated manufacturing facilities, inhouse research and product development and a
powerful distribution network that seeps down
to over 800,000 outlets. Over the years, not
only has Cello gained increasing recognition, it
has also added to the market a clear vision of
its own limitless creative possibilities.
The Cello pedigree was a modest plastic
household goods moulding facility that
commenced operations in 1982. In the credit
column was the promise of sustained quality
production. On the debit was a lack of floor
experience. Once this experience had been
gained it was apparent that success in one
sphere of manufacturing could be replicated in
another area. That was the short genesis of
Cello a brand that would go on to garner
over 33% market share of the Rs. 1200 crore
(US$ 250 million) (Source: ACNielsen)
organised domestic writing instruments industry,
in less than fifteen years.
Today, Cello is a market leader manufacturing
4 million pens each day for Indian and world
markets. The company's European operation
provides a surfeit of models especially
developed for small- and large- business and

designed to suit every writing need. Indeed, the

Cello foot print now straddles 62 countries with
the US, the UAE, Latvia, Syria, Thailand, the Far
East, West- and Central Africa, Scandinavia, the
CIS countries and several Baltic nations
increasingly reaching for this popular brand.
Annual revenues from exports touched
US$ 13.85 million (Rs. 66.48 crore) in 2008/09.
In recognition of its fine track record, Cello
was affirmed the Reader's Digest Trusted Brand
winner four years 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009
in a row.

History
When it was started in 1982, Cello was a small
company. What it did have was a founder with
an undisturbed vision of where he saw this
fledgling, several years down the line. Every step
he took brought it closer to that reality. Four
years into production was one such stride.
Founder G D Rathod established a new factory
in Goregaon, a suburb of Mumbai, to
manufacture Cello Thermoware. This gave
the structure a body, and provided it
with the experience that would
hold it in good stead, when it
entered the writing
instruments business
segment.
That year came in 1995
when Cello established its
writing division. From this new
entity emerged a range of
pens with a flourish of the
latest technology. The
company's earliest model was a
moulded ball point the Clear Pen.
Flush with its success the brand virtually
stormed the writing instruments market with
Swiss tips and German inks. A whole new
generation of writing implements was born,
offering clear flow and quality that established
his company as among the best pen crafters in
the world.
In 27 years since inception,
the group has ramped up
turnover to over Rs. 850
crore (US$ 177.10 million).
Cello dominates the writing
instruments market with a
network comprising 40 super
stockists, 4200 distributors
and over 600 highly-trained
and efficient field personnel.
With a distribution system
spread right across the
country it was no longer
possible to manually control
the operations. To infuse the
project with speed and foolproof scheduling a fullycomputerised, satelliteconnected central order
booking system was initiated
to provide the intelligent back
bone. After putting it all
together its factory, carriage
and freight warehouses,
distribution depots, dealer
points and transportation
crews the organisation has
emerged as one of the largest
distribution super-structures in
the FMCG sector in India.

Product
In using a pen, most people
don't realise the extent of
precision engineering that
goes into its manufacture. The
nature of the ink, the size and
smoothness of the ball, the
additives to ensure free-flow
and an extended shelf-life of

over two years, all have a bearing

on the final product. Amongst the
technological advancements
credited to Cello, one stands out
in particular: it innovated the
dispensation of ink flow for 0.5
mm tips, for the first time in the
world. Every Cello 0.5 mm pen
releases between 28 and 30
milligrams of ink fluid per 100
metres of writing to give stronger
colour intensity on paper.
Back in its plant, the company
does other things as well to
ensure that its pens provide a
vastly superior writing
experience. For instance, Cello
employs an in-house developed,
state-of-the-art, low pressurehigh volume technology. This
development allows a uniform
flow of ink to be released
even when applying
less pressure. The
bodies of its
pens are
manufactured
using
advanced
polymers
imported
from Japan
and Korea and
its pens are
designed to
match
international
standards.
The philosophy that keeps Cello going is its
belief that the consumer is evolving so rapidly
that no brand can succeed in the world market
by working on yesterday's concepts. This view
point is reflected in its constant product

development and is manifest in the rigorously

tested products it periodically introduces. In fact,
working alongside quality improvement is a
team of people charged with the responsibility
of reducing the cost of pens. This is best done
by replacing imports with components
manufactured in-house, to the highest world
standards.

Recent Developments
In order to provide new 'pressure-less', smooth
and faster writing experiences to its consumers,
the brand has launched an exciting range of gen
next ball pens with stimulating names. These
include the XS series, Butterflow, Top Ball,
J-Class, Executive and Liquid Express.
The gel pen line now also boasts new
monikers like Pointec and Flogel. An exclusive
range in this category Maxriter, Pinpoint,
Technotip and Technotip XS caters to long
and continuous writing, such as during exams.
Special performance tips and ink have aided
new generation of school-goers to achieve their
dreams. The company has also launched
stationery products like highlighters, whiteboard
markers, permanent markers, mechanical pencils,
CD markers, glue sticks and correction fluid
pens for business and trade-related
requirements.
The company embossed its global imprimatur
on the world market by participating in
Paperworld 2008, Frankfurt, Germany for the
8th consecutive time.

Promotion
One of Cello's primary areas of focus is the
student segment. Since children form the largest
single group of users, researchers and
developers at the Cello Lab of Excellence have
devoted very special attention to creating
writing instruments that would best fulfil their
needs. The trade mark protected writing
technologies using Lubri-Flo and Feather-Flo ink
systems have been developed to diminish strain
on fingers and hands. The company promotes
this vigorously using the electronic, print and
outdoor media.

Brand Values
Cello is an important part of India's developing
story and a proud bearer of the Made in India
label, to nearly a third of the world's countries.
Helping students write the most important
answers of their lives and adults, often, the
futures of their companies, Cello takes its own
life very seriously. The uncompromising quality it
builds into its writing instruments is evidence of
this role.
In reality the brand has actually taken writing
beyond the page and into the territory of
achieving one's dreams.
Its payoff line 'The Joy of Writing' sums up
the manufacturing ethos of Cello.

www.cellowriting.com
Things you didnt know about

Cello
From a single-location, Cello manufactures
4 million pens each day
Cello introduced India to the elasto grip pen;
branded Cello Gripper, this is currently the most
preferred pen model amongst children
The best stationery stores in the world Office
Depot, Office Max, Walgreen's, Wal-Mart and
the Macro chain of stores in Europe all sell
Cello pens
If every Cello pen manufactured today wrote
just one word, a book 10,000 pages long could
be written everyday

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