Brand Update : Can Katrina Boost Yardley's Fortunes ?

In November 2009, Wipro acquired the rights for marketing Yardley in Asia , Middle East, Australasia and parts of Africa. That was an important turning point for this 240 year old heritage brand.

The acquisition of a brand like Yardley makes sense for Wipro whose personal care portfolio is having only one major brand - Santoor. Yardley range of personal care products gives Wipro an instant access to the premium segment of the personal care market.

Yardley , though a brand with high recall and recognition, was languishing in the Indian market because of the lack of marketing support. There was seldom any campaign for the brand neither it was promoted at the store level. The new owner in Wipro has a very successful marketing history demonstrated by the success of the brand Santoor.

Wipro has made its first major initiative for Yardley by roping in the current Bollywood Diva Katrina Kaif as the brand ambassador for Yardley. The brand expects to ride in the current sensation's popularity to make a comeback in the Indian personal care market.

The brand is currently running a campaign featuring Katrina

Watch the ad here : Yardley

Before going into the quality of the campaign, its important to understand the tactical significance of such a move. Yardley wants to move fast in terms of reinforcing its brand credentials. It want to announce its resurgence fast and make an impact. For that celebrity endorsement offers a reasonable strategic sense.

But as usual , the execution failed the brand strategy. The ad was poorly made in the sense that there was no creative spark in it. The theme, execution, message everything was so cliche that the ad never made any impact (in me !). At best it reminded about the brand nothing more nothing less. The ad give Yardley a new tagline " My Yardley, My Fragrance ".

The ad wanted to give the message of heritage , London Connection, Signature fragrance , attributes of Yardley.But although these messages were conveyed, the ad failed to create a premium image for the brand.

As an immediate tactical move, the current campaign does achieve its purpose but like Santoor, Wipro needs to find a sustainable positioning platform for Yardley. It should push the creatives working for the brand to do another Santoor.

Lets hope that Yardley achieves its true potential under Wipro.

Related Brand

Yardley

Addiction Body Spray : Lasts Long Really Long

Brand : Addiction Body Spray

Company : Mankind Pharma

Brand Analysis Count : 461

It looks like that Indian marketers will make deodorant/body spray - a commodity. The plethora of the new products that is now flooding the market together with horrible brand campaigns took the charm away from this category.

The latest kid on the block is the Addiction brand from Mankind pharma. Mankind was in recent news for the high profile launch of their condom brand Manforce.

Addiction body spray joins the tribe of brands like Fuel, Denver, Wild Stone taking on the market leader Axe directly by copying its positioning. All these brands have the same positioning, same message and some horrible campaigns to spread the message.

Addiction is no better.

For a change, Addiction brand has roped in the actor Neil Nithin Mukesh as the celebrity endorser . The brand is currently running a campaign featuring the celebrity.

Watch the ad here : Addiction Deo

The campaign talks about the same stuff that of the competing brands. The hunk uses the deo, girls fall for the fragrance,chases the hunk, jealous girlfriend desperately tries to prevent other girls from seducing the hunk...

Yuck !

These ads have become disgusting.

Addiction body spray has taken the attribute of " long lasting fragrance " as the main point of differentiation. The differentiation is meaningful and not many deos have concentrated on that attribute. But " long lasting " is too basic an attribute and can be easily copied by the competitor ( if they really care to). But going by the trend , most of the deo/body spray brands rely on occasional bursts of campaigns and seldom focus on longterm brand building campaigns. What the market will witness will be more hunks and more flesh.

Addiction has taken up the tagline " Lasts long, really long " which is a clean copy of the tagline of Amaron batteries. The creatives should have thought of something better for the brand.

Addiction in their campaign has called itself as a body spray rather than a deo. Deodorant and body sprays serve the same purpose of preventing body odor and smelling good. The basic difference is that Deos are used specifically to prevent body odor hence it is applied directly to the odor producing areas like under-arms . Body Sprays are used for its fragrance . (I am not sure whether Addiction brand is a deodorant body spray or just a perfumed body spray).

I wonder whether Indian consumers need another deo brand like Addiction. Having said that , there is a space for a strong competitor for a brand like Axe. None of these challenger brands have lived up to the hype they created. If you go to any supermarket, you will see the difference. Axe lives up to its position of a market leader with strong visibility in the shelves and these competitors are bundled together and kept aside. It is doubtful that any of these deo brands have managed to create a meaningful differentiation strong enough to compete with Axe.

At the same time, Axe is witnessing an erosion of its core positioning and in future will struggle to excite the consumers with its campaigns. It is a fail-fail situation for the brands in this category.

Addiction could have created an impact if it had tried something different from the theme of seduction. Focusing on a higher aspirational attribute like success, confidence, energy, self esteem etc would have helped the brand break the clutter. Rather than taking the path less traveled, Addiction preferred the path taken by other brands - which will eventually lead this brand to grave.

Sure : No Sweat

Brand : Sure

Company : HUL

Brand Analysis Count : #456

HUL has launched a new brand in the Indian market - Sure . Sure is an antiperspirant brand from Unilever's global product portfolio. The brand is claiming to be the largest selling antiperspirant brand in the world. Sure is sold extensively in UK and Europe.

Sure is an interesting brand for a variety of reasons. The launch of Sure brand marks another era in the deodorant market in India. The deo market is divided into categories like Body Spray, Deo with germ fighting properties and Antiperspirants. The Rs 700 crore Indian deo market is dominated by the body spray categories. The launch of a global brand like Sure is going to develop the antiperspirant market in India.

For the promotion of Sure, HUL has roped in the actress Asin. The brand is currently running the launch campaign across South India featuring the celebrity.

Watch the launch ad here : Sure

Since the antiperspirant category is new to the Indian market, the brand has tried to educate the customer about the product category in the launch phase. The launch ad essentially talks about what the product is and the comparison between ordinary deo spray and antiperspirant.

Another interesting aspect of Sure brand launch is the question mark over the fate of Rexona. The fact is that Sure is Rexona !!!

While Sure is marketed across England and Europe, the same product is marketed as Rexona in other global markets including India. There are rumors that with the launch of Sure in India, HUL may kill Rexona deo brand in near future.

According to newspaper reports , Rexona which created the deo market in India is now a marginal player in the market with hardly 5% share. HUL virtually messed up the Rexona brand (soap) with lot of experiments like migrating to Hamam. Even in the deo category, Rexona was virtually neglected in terms of promotional spend.

Sure is marketed with the same tagline and brand elements as Rexona. Both Rexona and Sure carries the same logo - the Tick mark and the same tagline " It won't Let You Down". Sure is also using the slogan " No Sweat " in the launch campaign to reinforce the product benefit.

It is unlikely event where you see two different brands using the same logo and tagline. It does not make any marketing sense unless there is an underlying thought of migrating one brand to another. It can be assumed that Sure will launch its full range of deos and Rexona will be slowly taken off the shelves.

The deo market is witnessing intense competition these days with n number of launches happening. The trend these days seems that get a good fragrance, outsource production and do high profile marketing.

Even the antiperspirant market has seen new launches with Garnier launching its product in the category recently. By launching Sure , HUL is making sure that it does not leave any part of the category to the competitors.

Brand Update : Santoor

This season, Santoor has launched another brand extension - Santoor Deodorant. The brand now has a wide range of products under its brand portfolio. Now Santoor has soap, talc, face wash and now deodorant.

The brand is slowly but steadily moving in the direction of becoming a personal care brand rather than a soap brand. This 600+ crore brand was on a roll last year becoming one of the largest selling soap brands in India. The brand consistently invested in brand building and never shied away from spending in advertising.

The new extension is to cash in on the opportunity for a deo brand for ladies. Although there are many deo brands for the female segment, the market is growing and opportunity exists for new brands also.

I raise the issue of brand dilution when ever I see brand extensions. Although I am a critic of brand extensions, this strategy is inevitable for many reasons. In the case of Santoor, these extensions are a part of Wipro's strategy to make Santoor a family brand for personal care products. Brands like Pond's , Lakme , Vaseline have successfully metamorphosed into Family Brands.

The talking point about Santoor is the positioning. For over 25 years, the brand has been talking about the concept of " For a Younger Looking Skin". All the campaigns were reinforcing that message consistently and powerfully. When the brand moved into talcum powder, it had to deviate from "younger looking" to "freshness". In the case of deo also, the brand is talking about freshness.

Now if Santoor aspire to be an umbrella brand , it may have to dilute or change the core brand positioning of " Younger looking skin " and include brand value like Freshness . This is relevant for products like Deo and Talc . For other products like facewash or creams , the classic positioning will work for the brand.

Another factor is that Santoor soap derives its strength from Turmeric and Sandal . The brand even derives the name from these two ingredients. The positioning also derives strength from these two ingredients. Now when the brand expands its product portfolio, it has to look beyond these two ingredients. Hence if at all the brand wants to expand its horizon, it may have to find other sources of strength.

Related Post
Santoor

White Ice : Play It Cool

Brand : White Ice
Company : Midas Care Pharmaceuticals.

Brand Analysis Count : 428

The list of deo brands that promises raving girlfriends is endless. We have one more to add to the list - White Ice brand of deos.Like any other brand in this category, White Ice also promises men of girls falling for them and attaining the " Nasal Nirvana".

Frankly I am at loss. Either it is true that girls do get easily seduced by the deo fragrances or men believe that deos work magic with girls. Either way, brands that take on this most "raped" theme of " girls chasing guys" are increasing day by day.

When I wrote a critical post on Denver (another deo with same positioning) , a reader pointed out that the sale of Denver increased many fold after their campaign. In that case , I assume thatthe number of frustrated Indian men is increasing at an alarming rate.

White Ice is a brand from Midas Care pharmaceuticals. Midas Care is a company that specializes on aerosol products and is famous for brands like Climax and Relispray.

White Ice is running a TVC in most of the channels highlighting its positioning as the ultimate women attractor ...

Watch the TVC here : White Ice

The brand joins the bandwagon of Axe, Denver,Setwet and Wildstone in harping on the same promise . I wonder whether there is any relevance in the concept of differentiation ???

It may be true that when a brand advertises, there is going to be a visible spike in the sales. But this may not be sustainable over time if brands doesn't care to differentiate. For example , a consumer may try out this brand after seeing the ad, but if the brand wants him to come back, it should create a distinct place in the consumer's mind. A marketer will not be able to spend huge amount of money in advertising to keep the high brand recall. A highly differentiated brand enable to reduce the advertising expenses over a period of time.

White Ice adopts the tagline " Play it Cool" which is the same tagline of John Players. I wonder if the ad agency ever bothered to check the tagline before making it public.

Most of the challenger brands fail in realizing the importance of investing in the long term. They are happy with the immediate spike in the sales and profits. Brand building can be possible only if the brandowners realize the need for proper differentiation. The more time they spent in identifying or creating differentiation, more sustainable the brand will be.

Bigger is the problem for Axe deo. Its famous and once unique positioning platform is now killed many times. It cannot wish that when other brands use the same positioning, Axe benefits. More than the new entrants, Axe is in a dangerous position and desperately needs to reinvent itself. It will be interesting to see how HUL takes on this ultimate positioning challenge.

Brand Update : Wild Stone

Wild Stone has become milder. It is interesting to see a brand evolving and trying to find the right kind of positioning. Wild Stone which started off as a very very naughty brand is now moving to a mature , approachable platform.

In the last few years Wild Stone has been experimenting with its positioning. The brand looking at the huge potential in the deo market created a stir with its "explicit" controversial ads. But those ads were infact doing lot of negative word of mouth in the media space. Although Wild Stone brand got noticed, the image got entangled in the negative mindset. The brand had the tagline of " Wild By Nature " and its ads were nothing but wild.

Later Wild Stone's marketing was taken up by Future Brands ( source) . Then a shift happened in the brand's approach. The brand became subtle but of course it couldn't let go its " sexual overtones". The brand adopted the new tagline " Barely Legal".

Now the brand is running a new campaign for its variant Wild Stone Aqua.

Watch the tvc here : Wild Stone Aqua

The new ad is a refreshing change from the earlier campaigns of Wild Stone. The ad is nicely made and the brand's positioning theme fits in nicely with the ad. What is more interesting is that Wild Stone has adopted a new tagline " It happens". The new tagline is a far better one than the " Barely Legal " . More over " It happens " gives the agency lot of room to work on. And also it gives a message that Wild Stone man doesn't have to " Try Too Hard". Hopefully the brand will retain the new tagline and explore its possibilities.

The positioning of Wild Stone is not a remarkable one. Almost all the men's deo has adopted the same positioning of " Women Chasing Men". Brands like Axe Fuel,Denver, Set Wet Zatak all have adopted the same theme. The advantage that I see in Wild Stone is that the brand has adopted an Indian theme while all the other brands are going for foreign models and settings. This can prove to be a good advantage for Wild Stone. Although the market leader Axe is going great guns with regular product launches, its ads have become little detached with the Indian market ( my opinion). Axe may face the issue of a consume disconnect if it continues to import ads.

Related Brands

Wild Stone

Axe

Denver

Fuel

Fa

Rexona

Fuel : Ignite the Fire

Brand : Fuel

Company : Elder Pharma

Brand Analysis Count : 405

Here is another men's deo launch. Elder Pharmaceuticals has recently launched its range of deos for men branded as Fuel. The deo is being launched in collaboration with VLCC.

The men's deo market was virtually untouched till recently . Axe was ruling the market with no powerful competitors except for some foreign imports. But the last few months saw a plethora of brands entering this segment.

My earlier blogpost was also about the Fa Xtreme and Denver both targeting the male segment.

Fuel deo is running a tvc across various channels

Watch the tvc here : Fuel Tvc

I have been writing about stereotypes in my post on Fa and Denver and here it is - another brand talking about the same stuff.

A deserted place

A hunk

A sexy lady

Deo

Seduction...

compare this with Denver and Fa or Wildstone commercials.

What difference is there between these brands ? Nothing.

What happened to all agencies and the clients ? Are they not watching televisions ? Are they not aware of differentiation ? Or is it that anything goes with regard to Indian consumers ?

All these brands may be good products with a nice fragrance and quality but how come all these brands talk the same crap ?

Compared to other brands, I think Fuel wants to be more adventurous . The brand wants to be more naughtier than the rest of the crowd. A look at the website ( fuelyourlife.in) will tell you that the brand wants to be the equivalent of Kamasutra in Deos.

The intention is Ok but the execution is pathetic . I don't think that Indian male will always fall for products that show a hunk and a sexy lady. We are living in an era where our ads are regarded as high quality, wins accolades across the globe and still manages to sell the product in the market.

Fuel has taken the tagline " Ignite the Fire " which is best suited for an aphrodisiac rather than the deo . The brand could have treaded some different path rather that toe the line of its counterparts.

Brand Update : Fa

Fa has launched its range of deos for men branded Fa Xtreme. The brand has roped in the hollywood diva Bipasha Basu as the brand ambassador. The brand is running its first tvc across various channels.

Watch the TVC here : Fa Xtreme

Well.. Just like the brand Denver, Fa has also fallen into the stereotype trap. The theme is predictable and the execution is nothing but lousy.I wonder whether the creative and strategy guys of the agency had gone on a vacation entrusting this job to a school kid.

And the way Bipasha embrace the hunk looks as if she is acting in a Kamasutra movie..

Another issue is the core brand proposition of Fa. Fa is positioned on the platform of Freshness. It has the tagline " Feel Good Freshness ".

But look at the positioning of its line extension. Fa Xtreme is not complementing the core brand manthra of Fa . Instead it is moving in the direction of brands like Axe and Setwet . This is the main issue with extensions. If the extension is not in sync with the parent brand, there is bound to be brand dilution.

Fa could have used the same " freshness " platform for its men's range. No deo brand has taken the freshness platform ( except Cinthol ). Hence Fa Xtreme could have easily created a distinct place in the men's grooming category if it had followed its parent brand's positioning.

For a consumer (men) of deo, freshness is an important attribute. Guys use deos not just to seduce girls ( pun intended) but also to feel fresh . Most working guys slog in the field and deo is an absolute must for them to feel and look fresh.
It is a sad to see reputed agencies and brands failing to dig deep into consumer's mind and settling for mediocre insights and work.

Related Brand
Denver

Denver : Ride Your Luck

Brand : Denver
Company : Vanesa

Brand Analysis Count : 404

Denver is a brand from Vanesa - which is a Delhi based company.I presume that this is a new brand launched recently. Not much information is available in the public domain about the history of the brand or the company.

Male grooming market is witnessing a lot of action in the recent past. Most of the cosmetics and personal care majors are eying this segment. The market size for male grooming products is estimated to be around Rs 600- 800 crores ( figures vary from source to source)

Denver is a new brand in this category. The brand has a range of personal care products ranging from Deos , skin care products and perfumes.

The brand has been very active in the media space with regular TVCs and sponsoring programs like Splitsvilla ( MTV)

Denver has many positive aspects going for it. The name "Denver " gives an international image to the brand. The company has done a good job in getting the packaging right although there is a striking resemblance with the Axe packaging. The brand has attractive design elements going for it. The brand is also reasonably priced at Rs 120 per can.

But the greatest let down is its positioning and advertisement campaign. The brand is currently running a tvc in many national channels.

Watch the ad here : Denver

By looking at the positioning of the brand, one can see that the brand has fallen into the stereotyping trap. The theme of girls falling for a man ( who use the deo) is a much "raped " theme. Every brand has used such a theme and for a consumer, watching such a theme based ad is a nauseating experience.

Brands fall into stereotyping because it is the easiest option. You get a girl , little clothes, a dude and a motorcycle and bingo the advertising is ready.

By following the much used path, Denver has forgone a wonderful opportunity to build a space of its own. There is no difference between what Denver, Axe, Wildstone, Setwet are saying. And these brands are spending whole loads of money to bore the consumers to death.

Denver has taken the tagline " Ride Your Luck " but fails to connect the brand with the positioning statement. It takes courage and wisdom to tread the path less traveled. But seldom brands take that big leap.

Brand Update : Wild Stone

Deo brand Wild Stone has come out with another wild commercial. The new ad is in line with the previous themes but the brand has become more subtle.

Watch the new ad here : Wild Stone Guddi

The ad centers around the theme where innocent ( decent) ladies gets automatically attracted to the man who uses this deo. The previous campaign was set during Durga Puja which caused some controversies regarding the decency of the ad.

The new campaign is where a young girl (guddi) being floored by the Wild Stone Man. The ad is leaving many things to the imagination of the audience .

What is interesting about the new campaign is that the brand has a new tagline . Wild Stone has changed its tagline to " Barely Legal". The earlier tagline " Wild By Nature " has been dropped.

Compared to Wild by Nature, Barely Legal is more subtle and is not outright raunchy . I guess that the change is happening because Wild Stone is now managed by Future Brands.

Wild Stone is being developed as a personal care brand for men. The brand has talc ,deos, perfumes and shaving products in its product portfolio.

Related Brands
Wild Stone
Secret Temptations

Fa : Feel Good Freshness

Brand : Fa
Company : Henkel
Agency : Mudra

Brand Analysis Count : 397

Fa is one of the largest deo brand in India. The brand is from the global giant Henkel. I was surprised to know that Fa is one of the largest selling body care brand in Europe.
Fa was launched in India in 2000. The brand has a portfolio of talcs ,deos,bodywash, soap etc. It is a personal care brand endorsing multiple products.

Fa is famous in India for its range of Deos. I used to buy their unique glass bottled roll on deos that comes in various fragrances like Aqua, Lemon etc.

Despite its legacy and its international pedigree, Fa has not got the kind of respect an international brand gets.That is why the brand is still a small brand in the personal care segment compared to the brands like Lux, Ponds etc.

Fa globally is positioned on Freshness. Its global tagline is " Feel Good Freshness".

Regarding the marketing practices of this brand in the Indian market , Fa was never an aggressive player in terms of promotion or brand building. I remember a couple of ads of this brand but no memorable promotional campaigns. How ever the brand was able to create a strong association with freshness which is a strength for this brand.

Watch an ad for Fa here : Pink or Black

Most of the ads of Fa was directly imported from its parent brand's database. The advantage of foreign ads is that it creates an international image . But the biggest disadvantage is that the local connect will be lost. Brands like AXE escaped this danger but Fa failed to create a connect with the Indian consumer.

Why Axe was successful because they were talking to a globally connected younger crowd. But Fa is talking to an older crowd who do not feel connected with the brand. That is why this brand is not able to reach its potential.

Understandably this brand operates on a limited budget. Hence one cannot equate the promotinoal activities of Fa with brands like Axe. But  I have a feeling that the brand undertakes sporadic promotional campaigns rather than an organized contonuous brand campaign. 

As a consumer, it has been a long while since I came across any campaign of Fa either in print or in visual media. Henkel is a global gaint and has the money power to drive reasonable brand promotion. 

Fa had a relaunch in 2004 when the company undertook a rationalization of its product portfolio . Fa was identified as a core brand and its ad spend increased. 

Fa fights with the best brands in one of the hottest segment in the Indian consumer market. It battles the gaints like P&G, HUL and the likes. Fa also has a rich heritage and international pedigree. What the brand needs is the WoW factor and a great campaign. Dove made it to the iconic league through a great campaign - campaign for real beauty.

Fa desperately needs a break-through campaign. Freshness platform is a very relevant positioning for the brand but the brand has to utilize this platform through some clutter breaking campaign. If the brand continues to import its international campaign and continues its unorganized /unfocused media spends, the brand will at best survive in its current position. 

Fa has some good products , what it needs is some breakthrough campaigns.

Brand Update : Spinz

Spinz now has a new brand ambassador. The brand has roped in the new bollywood diva Genelia as the brand ambassador replacing Asin. According to a report in Business Line, the brand had revamped its entire portfolio. Spinz had launched men's deo versions trying to make the brand unisex.

According to BL, Spinz has a market share of 5 % in Rs 450 crore deo market. Axe leads the market with a share of 23 %.The report also pegs the talc market at Rs 800 crore and Spinz has a share of 7 %.

The brand will retain its youth positioning. It came as a surprise to me that Spinz had launched male deos. I don't remember seeing any ads but if it is true, then the brand will have trouble because Spinz will essentially be perceived as a female brand. And Genelia will further reinforce the brand as a girly brand.

Spinz has not been able to leverage the opportunity of an affordable fragrance brand. The new brand ambassador may give some push to the brand but in my personal opinion, rather than depending on a celebrity , the brand should identify and invest in its own USP

Related Brand
Spinz

Secret Temptations : Sorry Boys

Brand : Secret Temptations
Company : McNroe Chemicals
( Marketed by Future Brands)

Agency : Euro Rscg


Brand Analysis Count : 379

After spreading a fire of controversy with the brand Wild Stone, McNroe Chemicals is back with another deodorant brand named " Secret Temptations". The new brand of deo which is targeting the girls is already making noise in the visual media.

Secret Temptations is marketed by Future Brands which is the brand- consultancy division of the Future Group. By associating with India's largest retail company, the brand has already have ensured presence across India. With the backing of this large retail giant, the only thing that Secret Temptations have to concentrate is to build the brand.

According to Exchange4Media website, Secret Temptations is a popular brand in Eastern India. It was in 2009 that the brand have made a national launch.

The launch of a deo targeting the female segment makes sense because there is a potential for a deo brand in this segment. Rexona ,Cuticura, Fa and Spinz are the major players in this category.And none of these players are aggressive in the market interms of brand building and promotions. Rexona is banking on its past glory and other players are silent in the market.

The market is flood with imported brands and I feel that the threat of Indian brands are from these imports rather than the domestic competition.

Secret Temptations is targeting the teens and youngsters. Although the name Secret Temptations can give the brand a sexy connotation, the company has deliberately decided to go decent about this brand compared to the controversies created by WildStone brand.

The launch campaign of Secret Temptations is a good one ,clearly communicating the brand's promise.

Watch the campaign here : Secret Temptations

The idea of guys being " floored" by the fragrance and the girl playing hide & seek gives the brand a sense of 'cool'. The fact that the girl choose not to reveal the identity to the "impressed" guy also makes a point- which will be liked by the target audience. At last there is an ad which breaks the usual pattern .

The brand also has a cool tagline " Sorry Boys" which is inline with the positioning of the brand . While most of the female personal grooming brands are centred around the concept of " impressing guys" theme, it is refreshing to see a brand towing a different path - girls playing " hard to get" .

It will be interesting to see how the market leader Rexona will react to the competition. HUL has been showing some of the foreign ads for Rexona currently rather than developing India-centric campaigns.The leader is complacent and it gives an opportunity for a challenger brand like Secret Temptations to make a place of itself in the Indian market.

According to reports, Secret Temptation is not going to be a pure deo brand but a personal grooming brand for girls.

Related Brand

Wild Stone

Brand Update : Axe

Axe is a marketing phenomenon. This brand knows how to keep excitement ticking in the market. Last year saw the controversial Axe Dark Temptation making headlines . The brand has started 2009 with yet another launch - Axe 3 deo.

This is a unique innovative product where the brand asks the consumer to use two Axe Deos to gether to make a new fragrance. So Axe 3 comes in a combi-pack of two fragrances and the consumer can make a third one by spraying the two deos together.

Watch the ad here : Axe 3

Smart move indeed. Has anybody thought of combining two deos for a new fragrance ? ..

Axe 3 was launched in other markets in 2007 as a limited edition product.
A typical Axe 3 packs contains two deos marked 1 & 2. These cans should be sprayed together for a new fragrance.
The question is why should a consumer spend double the money for deos ? Why should he use two together and blow away double the money ?

The answer is that the brand does not expect every one to do so...

This is a product launched to keep the excitement going. That is the purpose of limited editions. All those Axe fans will try out this new product and competitors will have tough time matching this brand .

Axe has always been an unconventional brand. These seemingly outrageous innovations are in line with the brand's core positioning. And these launches gives enough reasons for Axe to advertise and that keeps the brand on top of the share of mind.

Related Brand

Axe

End Note : Neither the HUL website or the Axe Effect website carry any information about this new product launch. It is sad that a professional company like HUL did not have the common sense of regularly updating its websites.

Brand Update : Kamasutra Condoms

After a long while, Kamasutra has come out with a new campaign. The current campaign is little different from the earlier ones in that the brand has shed the sensual route and has become more subtle.
The last campaign from Kamasutra was revolving around the theme of experimenting which was highlighted by the tagline " who do you want to be tonight ".

The latest ad shows a " button less world' where the guys roaming around with their button-less shirts. The teaser says " get ready to lose your buttons ".

Watch the TVC here : Kamasutra new ad

The brand has the new tagline " Most wanted men ".

This is a serious deviation from the core personality of the brand. KS is always perceived to be an extrovert, on-the face , open and a naughty brand which does not shy away from talking straight.
All through the life of this brand, its known to be controversial, sensual brand. Subtle was never this brand's character . So those who were expecting another set of shocking ads are bound to be disappointed.

The brand has also changed its tagline to " Most wanted men ". This new tagline is also a dampener. The tagline is very similar to that of Moods ( My Man !) . I think that the brand could have chosen some thing different from Mood's tagline.

Its interesting to note that in India, government is taking more initiative in promoting these products rather than the private players. Most of the condom marketers are not aggressive in their spends . One reason is that most of them are minting money by supplying it to the governmental agencies and NGO's . There are also reports that suggest that since government is selling cheap condoms through the same channel, premium condoms are losing the market.


In 2007 , the brand have extended itself to personal care by launching its range of deodorants and aftershaves. So far I have not seen any KS personal care products in super markets. I think it is an opportunity wasted.
KS have an equity which could be easily leveraged by the company in the personal care segment . It would have become a worthy competitor for Axe ,had the company "shamelessly " promoted this brand. How ever the company chose not to aggressively promote the personal care range. It would have filled the gap for a " Adult " personal care brand in the Indian market.

Related Brand

Kamasutra

Wild Stone : Wild by Nature

Brand : Wild Stone
Company : McNroe Chemicals Ltd
Agency : Asian Shopping Club

Brand Analysis Count : 349


Sex Sells or does it ?

Well an ambitious chemicals company in West Bengal thinks that Sex sells . So when they wanted to sell deodorants they put that principle into practice.

The result speaks for itself. Their ad which is available in the youtube is watched more than 8 lakh times. A brand search in the google gives you 100 invitations to see the uncensored ads. So at times sex do sell.

Wild Stone is a market challenger. This brand from an unknown company has been able to make its presence felt in the market thanks to the controversy generated by the ad.

The ad is set in the background of Durga puja. The plot is that a homely bengali lady accidentally bumps into a stud and the Wild Stone perfume takes her into a fantasy involving the stud.
While youtube has the uncensored version, the channels are showing the heavily censored version.

Compared to the raunchy ad of Amul Innerwear, this ad is not of bad taste but ofcourse its highly suggestive ( I am talking about the censored version ).

In a report in Live Mint, the company clarified the heavy use of sex in their ads by saying that the TG which is 15-30 is highly influenced by these type of commercials.

Like in the case of Amul innerwear , these type of commercials helped these brands break the clutter. According to Live Mint, there are about 37000 television ads which are shown on every day. To make the customer discuss about the ad is not a child's play. For a small company with a limited budget, its a jackpot if their commercial is discussed and shared.

I think these controversial ads help these brands get the trial sales very fast. And for a new brand , getting trial sales is of significant importance. Because if the product is good, the customers will come back .

But there is a risk factor also. The risk comes from the regulators and civic society who will definitely cry foul. Recently Government has asked HUL to withdraw the commercial of Axe Dark Temptation.

Another risk is with the execution . The agency has to be very careful not to offend the customers. If the customer is forced to switch the channels because of the ad, its not going to help the brand.

In the case of Wild Stone Deo, the censored version has helped the brand to break the clutter and I bet many have checked out this brand. I am yet to find this in my city hence not able to comment on the price. I feel that is priced at a premium.

But there is another issue. From here to where ?

Amul Innerwear has released the follow up commercial which was again little controversial . For Wild Stone, the challenge is to bring the brand into focus.

The tagline ' Wild by Nature ' will prompt the agency to follow the current route which I feel may not do well with the brand. The brand should aim to build on the current eyeballs into developing a positive association with the brand through the follow up campaigns.

Related Brand
Amul Innerwear

Picture courtsey
Cutting the chai

Brand Update : Rexona RIP ( 1947-2008)

So its official, Rexona will be laid to rest. I recently saw a TVC where the ad says Rexona is now Hamam. First I couldn't believe it. Then I searched for the news but there was no information anywhere about this possible brand migration.

Just now I got an sms from my journalist friend that Rexona soap is going to be migrated to Hamam.

The brand was in the life-support for quite a while. The first attempt to kill the brand was during the power brand strategy where Rexona was planned to migrate to Lux. At that time Rexona was launched with Lux milk cream. But after some time, HLL decided not to migrate Rexona. Then I thought that this brand will be rejuvenated. But now is has been confirmed that Rexona Soap is now history.

As a customer I am sad because it was a nice soap. As a marketer, I am upset because such a good brand is being killed. For HUL , the reasons can be many. In this era of cut throat competition, it does not make sense to have too many brands. So the logic is to put your money into those brands which are powerful. Rexona has never been a volume/revenue contributor for HLL.

Another reason is the existence of Rexona deodorant which had a different image compared to the soap. Its in India that Rexona exists in soap category. Worldover Rexona is famous as a deodorant.

It is more difficult to kill a brand compared to launching a new one. There can be issues of managers getting emotional about the brand . Another difficulty is to handle the existing customers of the brand. HUL is hoping that Rexona customers will migrate to Hamam. As a customer I will not migrate because I have a different perception about Hamam.


Rexona deo will be given more focus by the company now that there is no soap variant. HUL has been using imported International commercials of Rexona in India. Its sloppy marketing to import global campaigns into a diverse market like India. HUL had the resources to do it by itself but its trying the short-cut.

So in the FMCG kurukshethra one more brand has been killed. This time by the own company.

Related Posts

Rexona
Hamam

Brand Update : Rexona

Hindustan Lever Ltd has signed in Hollywood diva Preity Zinta as the brand ambassador for its Deodorant brand Rexona. The company in a press release also mentioned that the brand will be extending itself into health and hygiene rather than limiting itself to fragrance and deo. Preity will be endorsing the Rexona Roll- on range of deos. The move aims at increasing the volume and user base of the brand. I have written last year that the brand needs a celebrity boost and it seems that my reading was correct. Preity is the right choice for the brand and if properly used, she can give a new life to the brand. Preity has proved her might in reviving the fortunes of brands like Perk and Scooty. Rexona is targeting the SEC A and B segment. According to the news reports, the company plans to launch a 360 degree campaign to rev up the brand.Preity Zinta is considered to be a very positive and confident personality and the association will have a positive effect on Rexona. The brand has the tagline of " Be Ready" and the body copy reads " Who will you meet next". Right now the brand is being promoted using foreign ads which may not have the required impact. The new campaign featuring Preity is expected to hit the media soon.
source: allbollywood.com

Related Brands
Rexona

Cuticura: Leaving You Speechless

Brand : Cuticura
Company: Cholayil
Agency:Rediffusion

Brand Count:135

Cuticura is an International brand which has a history of 200years. Once synonymous with talcum powder, this brand was pushed to oblivion because of marketing myopia or marketing laziness.
Cutucura came to India 80 years back.Cutucura was owned in India by Muller&Phipps. Globally this brand was owned by Keyline Brands which was acquired by Godrej Consumer products in 2005. Interestingly the brand is owned in India by Cholayil who are the marketers of Medimix soaps.Cholayil refuses to sell the brand to Godrej. Godrej hence have the rights to the brand outside India. It looks like a typical hindi film story script. Cutucura may be crying " Main kon hu, Main kahan Hu, Mera papa Kaun hai"?

Cholayil acquired the brand from Muller in 2002. The brand was given a make over and the new owners was trying to revive the brand. Cuticura was a leading brand of talcum powders in India in the 80's. Indian talcum powder market is estimated to be around Rs 600 crore. In the late 80's the brand faced competition from HLL and Cuticura was not able to sustain in the market.One major factors was that the Muller underestimated competition. The brand failed to change . Today the talcum poweder market is dominated by HLL's Ponds with 65% share.

Cuticura's stronghold is the southern market where it claims to have a share of 30%. The brand still holds equity in this market. So for Cholayil who markets Medimix, this brand gives a platform to get into personal care business.

Cuticura is known for its fragrance. The classic brand also famous for its orange and white packing which still has a huge recall. Cuticura while retaining its classic product launched a lavender variant in 2003. Reports suggest that the variant failed to make any ripples in the market. But these efforts helped the brand to post a decent turnover thanks to the brand equity. Now this brand is worth Rs 10 crore.

Although the Cholayil group has taken serious steps in reviving the brand, the campaign lacked the punch needed to propel the brand to new heights. The brand still retains the classic positioning based on fragrance. The new tagline talks about the brand leaving you speechless . Although creative idea is OK, the execution is horrible. The hyperbole fails to catch the imagination of new generation.

The biggest challenge that the brand face is that its core users have become old. The customers who liked and used this brand have now become old and the new generation does not know this brand. Hence the brand has to be relevant to the new generation competing with the power brands like Ponds.

2006 saw the brand extending to deodorants. The extension was branded as Cuticura DeO2.The main USP of DeO2 is its ingredient Farnesol. The brand has the tagline " Let your underarms breathe". Although a not thrilling tagline, to some this make sense because this product will help you smell good without inhibiting perspiration which is an important function of the body. Most of the deos inhibits perspiration to control the bad smell.

Unlike the talc ad, the DeO2 campaign is carefully executed to appeal to the newgen. Cuticura DeO2 will be pitted against Rexona, Fa, etc in this segment.

The brand has a potential to be a serious player in the personal care segment. The brand has to exploit its brand equity and strive to be relevant to the new generation who may have forgotten this brand

source: historypages.net, magindia.com, agencyfaqs, cholayil

Rexona : Won't Let You Down.

Brand : Rexona
Company: HLL
Agency: JWT

Rexona soap was launched in India in 1947. It is one of the well known brand in the 4500 crore soap market. Although the brand does not have any significant market share, it has a loyal customer base. Rexona soap was positioned as natural skin care soap for a silky glowing skin. With its excellent quality and good communication, initially the brand was well received by Indian consumer. In 1989, the brand came out with Coconut based ingredient which was one of its kinds at that period.

But over the period this product lost its way and was competing with HLL’s own brand Hamam. In 2003 HLL as a part of the “ Power Brand “ strategy decided to merge this brand with Lux. Thus came the variant “ Rexona with Lux cream”. In 2005 HLL again decided to make Rexona independent. All these measures ensured that a good product like Rexona be battered to pulp in the Indian market. Rexona is an indigenous brand created by HLL to market in India.

Rexona deodorant is a different story altogether. Rexona was originally created in Australia in 1900. Rexona is the largest deo brand in the world and the brand is estimated to be worth around Rs2000 crore and is available in 90 countries. Rexona is the brand that created the deodorant market in India. This brand is a classic case that proves the marketing ability of HLL. Deodorant market was virtually non existent in India till 1995. Some international brands were available but the market was virtually non existent. Indian consumers were not bothered by their own odor. Infact we believed that body odor was the other person’s problem. So HLL had the task of build awareness of the need of the consumers to smell good. For that Rexona ads educated the customers the main source of odor is armpits which generate 90% of odor and only 1% sweat. When the other brands like Baccarose talked in terms of aspirational features, Rexona talked about the rational benefits of the product. It was positioned along the baseline “ har pal sath nibhaye” . Rexona was introduced initially in the form of Roll On and Stick and later to aerosols. The sticks were priced smartly to induce the customers to try the products.The effective campaigns and smart pricing created a category of Deo in India. The deo market zoomed from 0 to 70 crore in less than 3 year’s time.

Rexona faced competition basically from grey market international brands like brut. Rexona was perceived by Indian consumers as an Indian brand because of its presence in the soap category. Ironically, the Rexona soap is available only in India. Because of the low pricing and its local association, Rexona could not be positioned as a premium deo.

There are three type of deos
1. Body spray
2. Alcohol based germ fighters
3. Antiperspirant
Rexona falls into the third category.

Rexona deo introduced lot of variants in order to block competition from entering the category it has created. HLL also introduced AXE and Denim to further consolidate the position.
Rexona Deo is now positioned as a unisex brand with the baseline “ Won’t let you down”. It is highlighting the brand as world’s largest selling deo and the rational benefit of 24 hr protection.

While Rexona deo is enjoying its leadership in the deo, the soap is wandering around in the market like an orphan. Since the soap brand is now disassociated with Lux, I hope that it will get some oxygen.

I personally feel that Rexona should be positioned as a natural soap and variants like cucumber etc will create a niche for it.