Brand Update : Vim Expands from Dishwashing to Floor Cleaning

 This has to happen and it happened, after ruling the dishwashing category with around 50% market share, Vim has extended to floor cleaning segment with the launch of Vim Ultra Pro cleaning liquid. Typical to HUL style, the brand has a " technology " to back the positioning based on effectiveness. Earler, marketing academics and practitioners were very cautious in product-line and category extensions. there were many critical academic articles ( even in HBR) on the risks of product extensions. However things have changed, market has become fragmented and competitive and brand managers doesn't have time and patience to build and sustain new brands.

 So it make sense to squeeze the juice out of popular brands and make the most of it in related and sometime unrelated categories. So it makes sense for HUL to use Vim - a brand with terrific equity to a familiar category - floor cleaning. What is surprising is that Vim has not used the ' lemon' based association in the new extension. Rather it chose to use " ultra pro" something it have borrowed from mobile phone ( iPhone) branding - ultra pro, can we expect ultra pro max later ?? The brand extension has lot of promises like cleaning power, fragrance, germ killing but the basic positioning is the cleaning power because that is what customer wants. The brand is entering to a segment which have brands like Lizol, Harpic, Nimyle and whole lot of small brands. But the strength of Vim is definitely going to help in customer trails and rest is all about brand's performance.

The entry of Vim into floor cleaning is more than just another extension—it signals HUL’s intent to transform Vim into a broader home-cleaning masterbrand. With the right mix of equity transfer, consumer trust, and product performance, Vim Ultra Pro could challenge entrenched players like Lizol and Harpic, and reshape the dynamics of India’s ₹8,000 crore floor cleaning market.

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Brand Update : 7Up is riding on celebrity this summer

 7Up this summer has a strategy focused on celebrity influence. A brand which is lagging behind in terms of market share has been on a confused path all along. Launched in 1992, the brand followed the international template of importing its brand mascot- Fido Dido. It was a refreshing campaign during those times and Fido Dido looked uber-cool. However, the brand struggled in the market fighting the likes of Sprite which now has over 20% market share while 7 Up is below 5%. The brand discontinued using Fido Dido for a long period and around 4 years back, it bought back the character. However, the mascot struggled to fit into the Indian context with its Western looks. 

This summer, the brand went into a hyper-promotion mode fueled by celebrity endorsement. First came Rashmika Mandanna, then Anirudh and now Ranbir Kapoor. The brand also tuned its positioning based on freshness. The brand now has the positioning statement of Super Duper Refresher in the campaigns. 

The repositioning started with Rashmika Mandanna featured advertisements. The brand cleverly used the celebrity ambassador's young vibes and communicated the positioning using very- smart mnemonics. To convey the refreshing benefit, the brand used the mnemonic of a blob of water bursting over the celebrity. With Rashmika Mandanna's expressions added more punch to the brand's promise.

The campaign was followed by another featuring the current music sensation Anirudh Ravichander with Rashmika along the same theme.

The brand further pushed the envelope by roping in Ranbir Kapoor for the pan-Indian appeal. 

The brand has done everything right in terms of positioning and execution. The scorching summer of 2024 will add more fuel to most of the soft-drink players in India. By the campaign scale and execution, I think that 7Up has been able to get its promotional strategy right. The positioning on the basic platform of Refreshing benefit coupled with the use of mnemonics and celebrity is a good recipe for success although very expensive to sustain.

Brand Update : Quaker Oats wants to make breakfast unskippable

 In a very thoughtful move, Quaker oats have launched a series of advertisements advising customers not to skip their breakfast. Drawing from consumer insights that in this era of busy life, consumers, especially young consumers, often skip their breakfasts which can, in the long run, become problematic for their health and energy. 

Brands like Kellogg's and Quaker have long been trying to get consumer preference towards their products, replacing traditional breakfasts. The success has been limited. In the new campaign, the brand is again appealing to the convenience factor of its product. 

The product in question is the Quaker Oats Muesli which is a ready-to-eat cereal. The product boasts five grains and comes in two flavors - fruit and nut and berries and seeds. However, the major selling point is the convenience of quick preparation and balanced meal. 

One should appreciate the brands like Quaker and Kelloggs for being tenacious and open to experimenting with product variants. The new campaign will help the brand gain more traction in the breakfast space, which is witnessing a change of sorts. 

Malkist : Can't Resist

Brand: Malkist

Company: Inbisco

Brand Analysis Count: #614

The Indian biscuit market is estimated to be around Rs 37000 crore and is characterized by high penetration and intense competition. The market has all the major brands vying for a share but is dominated by Brittania and Parle. This is also one market that stood its ground even in the Covid-19 pandemic. 

In 2021, a new brand entered the market by the name Malkist which is from Inbisco which is a subsidiary of Indonesia based Mayora group. Inbisco is well known for its confectionery brand Kopiko which has carved a niche for itself in the confectionery market. Malkist is a brand from Indonesia from  Mayora's portfolio.

Malkist is not an ordinary biscuit. It is in the sub-category of crackers which is a biscuit usually preferred by adults who are diabetic or health conscious. Usually, crackers are taken with added toppings to make them consumable. This is where the brand has identified an opportunity. Malkist wants to redefine the cracker category in favour of the larger set of young consumers by making it different and palette friendly. 

Malkist has done this by adding flavours to it. It is a 7 layered crackers that come in flavours such as cheese and chocolate. The brand which was soft-launched a year back is now launched nationally. The brand has also given a big boost to the launch campaign by getting none other than Amitabh Bachchan. Bachchan has brand pull across demographics and getting him to promote the brand was a big plus for Malkist.

The launch campaign featuring Big B is also a delight to watch and the ad makes use of Big B to the fullest. The theme is " can't resist" is one of the most used themes in the food-related ads, but the ad is never boring thanks to the presence of Big B. What is good about the ad is that it persuades the customer for product-trial which is the primary and paramount objective for any new brand in the market. The rest of the success depends on how the product performs. 

Malkist is positioned as a premium cracker and is now pushing the brand solely on the taste factor which cannot be termed as a clear differentiator. However crackers with irresistible taste is a nice value proposition to have at least at the launch phase. The brand will be looking at bringing more flavours to the portfolio in the coming months thus catering to the variety-seeking needs of the target market. The brand is also an example of a competitive strategy of niche marketing where the company aims at carving a niche in a highly crowded market away from the competitors.

Brand Update: Domex launches a direct frontal attack against Harpic

 In a very interesting move, HUL's toilet and surface cleaner brand Domex has launched a direct attack on the market leader Reckitt & Benckiser's Harpic brand this season. According to LiveMint, the Indian hygiene market is worth around Rs 38000 crore and the toilet-cleaning market is alone worth Rs 1600 crore. Harpic is the market leader in this segment. 

Domex has been trying to counter the market leader by positioning itself as a germ-killer. With the pandemic scare in place, the hygiene market is expected to grow because of increased customer perception of cleanliness and hygiene. 

This year, Domex has launched a direct frontal attack on Harpic that too with a direct comparative advertisement. The campaign had both print and television commercials. In the campaign, the brand takes the route of additional benefit of the Domex in terms of removing the bad odour caused by germs. This campaign helps the brand to create a powerful point of difference. The current campaign is made for the Domex Freshguard variant. 

The ad will likely be challenged by Harpic but Domex will be riding on the benefit of the punch delivered by this comparative advertisement until that time.

Research on comparative advertisement effectiveness has suggested that such advertising is effective in generating favourable responses in terms of attitude and brand consideration for the sponsoring brand. Comparative ads can be positive and negative. Positive comparative ads try to convince the customers about the superiority of the sponsor brands while negative comparative ads try to tell the consumers what they lose by using the competing brand. Research suggests that in the case of direct comparative ads, the negative comparison works better. 

For Harpic, the logical next move would be to neutralize the Domex claims quickly rather than wait for the ads to be taken down. 

Brand Update: Crispello New Ad Shows a Subtle Shift in Positioning

 Cadbury's new brand of chocolate-covered wafer finger product- Crispello has launched a new campaign. What is interesting about the campaign is that there is a subtle shift in the positioning of the brand. If you remember the launch ad for the brand, the theme was that five young persons were driving the car and they hatch a plan not to share the chocolate with the fifth person since there are only four Crispello fingers. 

The new ad takes the theme forward with a twist where the three robbers wake up the dude so that Crispello can be shared since the brand says that equal sharing is a must. Not sure whether this positive twist is intended, however positively always helps in branding. However, the creative quality (IMHO) is below par when compared with the usual Cadbury ads. With the market leader KitKat running high decibel campaigns with celebrities, Crispello has to up the game to a different level. 

Brand Update : Oreo does it again with 5Star

In my earlier posts on the brand, I had talked about how the Oreo brand is being used as a platform to launch variants by collaborating with other brands in Modolez's portfolio like Dairy Milk. Oreo is now experimenting with yet another launch this time with the 5Star brand. Recently the company launched a new product Cadbury 5 Star Oreo which combines the caramel of 5 Star with Oreo. Mondolez has rightly realized that their products both in the chocolate and biscuit categories are no longer water-tight compartments but the consumers perceive these as a part of the snacking category which is much broader than chocolates and biscuits. 

This realization has given rise to the new strategy of cross-pollination ( as mentioned in some business news reports) of brands giving rise to new variants. The advantage of such collaboration is that there are instant awareness and motivation for trial. For snacking category success, a trial is a pre-requisite to success. When two familiar brands come together for a new variant, consumers don't have a reason not to try the variant and the product efficacy then will decide the fate of the new variant. For snacking category, consumers look for variety and novelty. So these experiments are a necessity if one wants to succeed. 

Mondolez should be credited for thinking beyond their products. How many brand managers would agree to their iconic brands to be cross-pollinated with other brands within the brand line for creating new variants? 

These experiments will encourage marketers to think beyond the products thus eliminating the occurrence of marketing myopia. It is not about whether the new variants succeed or not. This example also resonates with the advice given by Roberto Goizueta to the Coke executives who were rattled by Pepsi Challenge. Goizueta told the executives to focus on what percentage of fluid intake of an individual can Coke capture rather than be worried about the growing share of Pepsi. This changed the mindset of Coke executives encouraging them to rise up to the Pepsi Challenge. In the same manner, Mondolez is trying to gain a larger share of the whole snacking market rather than being narrowly focused on individual brand share. This probably is encouraging the company to launch this type of products.

Brand Update : Amul puts the butter narrative into its biscuit entry

 Launched in 2019, Amul's foray into the highly competitive and fragmented Rs 37000 biscuit market has become national. The ads for Amul Butter cookies are now streaming across various markets. Although the brand is not yet in stores in Kerala, I guess it is a matter of time that the brand will be in the stores. Amul has been on a roll in the last couple of years with a slew of launches in various categories. The brand has decided to leverage the full potential of the equity and is experimenting with various products and categories. 

Biscuits is a tough market to crack owing to the low entry barrier and fragmentation. The consumers in the category have fleeting brand loyalty and are swayed by new variants and innovative flavours. So it will not be an easy walk even for Amul. Just like what it did with the ice cream market with its " made with cow's milk" proposition, in the biscuit category, the brand is pivoting the market with the proposition of " 25% Amul Butter" ingredient. In a subtle way, the brand is referring to the presence of vegetable oil in the competitor's products creating jitter among the competing brands. The powerful narrative it created in the ice cream market with the education of consumers about ice-cream and frozen dessert made Amul a strong contender in the category. The same narrative is applied in the biscuit category also. For a consumer, the very Amul brand name is enough to enthuse trial and rest will depend on the product efficacy. 

The challenge for Amul will be to create the variants and innovate in the product category. Sunfeast, Parle and the likes are bringing in new flavours, variants and new products and getting into the market quite fast. Amul is known for its distribution prowess and marketing muscle, it will be tested to the fullest in this category. 

Dabur Sanitize : Complete Family Protection

 Brand: Dabur Sanitize

Company: Dabur

Brand Analysis Count: 604

It was a launch that had to happen one day. The Covid pandemic accelerated the product entry into the new hot category- sanitizer. Dabur which is one the respected FMCG and health major in the country did not let the opportunity wasted. In March 2020, the company accelerated the product launch of its range of sanitizers and antiseptic liquid product range into the Indian market.

The corporate brand Dabur is associated with herbal/ayurvedic products and true to its heritage, the new product launch also has herbal ingredients like Turmeric and Aloe vera inside. What is interesting about the new product launch is the brand name. Dabur has decided to use the generic name Sanitize for the product range endorsed by Dabur brand. Under the brand name Dabur Sanitize, the company has launched a range of products like hand sanitizers, antiseptic liquid and soap. Another interesting thing is that it has another variant Dabur Sanitizer Plus which is an antiseptic liquid promoted in South India using the actress Simran. 

Dabur Santize antiseptic liquid is challenging the market leader Dettol. The USP of Dabur Santize is the properties such as antibacterial, antiseptic and no-burning (which takes on the Dettol ) along with natural ingredients like turmeric and Aloe vera. 

The market is currently flooded with products such as santizers, antiseptic liquids, creams, sprays and what not. The market now has the demand owing to the relentless spread of pandemic and fear. So the market is able to contain the supply of these products to a large extent. In that way, Dabur also will ride the wave of this category growth. The buzzword at this point in time is the ability of these products to reach the point of purchase. According to the news reports, Dabur Santize is available initially in online platforms. The brand will benefit from trend once it is available offline at a large scale. 

In a branding perspective, Dabur had chosen not to launch these products under a new brand or even a sub-brand. Rather it has used the generic product descriptor route for the new products. In one way the company has missed the opportunity for a new brand which could've offered more individuality and flexibility in terms of positioning and promotion. 

Brand Update : In 2020 ad, Horlicks subtly reinforces its positioning

 Great ads need not shout its message, the viewers without any effort will understand it. Such an ad was created by Horlicks this season. The new ad of Horlicks featuring mother and daughters very cleverly and powerfully reinforces the brand's message of making you stronger thus confident and empowered. The new ad of Horlicks under the new brand owner HUL takes the campaign to next level of brand laddering. What is beautiful is that the brand comes only at the end credit. The purpose of these kinds of themes is not promoting purchase intention but to reinforce the brand's message and positioning which will have a powerful influence on brand outcomes. In that sense, the current ad of Horlicks ticks all the right boxes. 

Brand Update : Surf Excel takes forward Dirt is Good campaign during pandemic

While all brands are trying to use germ-killing or protection feature in their product in one way or the other, Surf Excel has a different take on the pandemic. In the latest ad, the brand takes the time tested "Dirt is Good" campaign to a different level linking the lockdown effect on the pandemic. In a clever move, the brand has used a family bonding theme to further the brand's positioning. 

A powerful positioning platform helps the brand to mould it to suit various environmental changes. Be it consumer behaviour changes or changes caused by the external environment. Dirt is Good is such a positioning platform which offers excellent creative flexibility to the agency to respond to these changes. The agency has done exactly that with Surf Excel. Surf is in a position where it need not talk about its functional attributes. That is the reason why the brand has taken an emotional position. The current ad brings the brand's relevance in this tested times aiding awareness and salience factors. 

Brand Update : Tide gets Ayushmann Khurrana as the brand ambassador

 P&G's detergent brand has now a brand ambassador- Ayushmann Khurrana. The brand which is pitching for the leadership position in the detergent category is fighting the whiteness battle with Unilever's Rin. Tide cleverly uses " Surprising Whiteness" as the theme while Rin uses the lightening mnemonic to reinforce the brand's promise. 

The new campaign featuring Ayushmann Khuranna follows the time-tested theme. The interesting part is that the brand ambassador plays all the character in the ad including that of the lady. According to reports, Ayushmann is now the hot pick for brands in Bollywood as he has delivered back to back hits and has a next-door person image and is relatable. Around 7 years ago, Rin had roped in none other than Amitabh Bachchan as the brand ambassador. 

With washing machines getting into many homes, detergent brands have launched their own variants for machine use. The current campaign is for Tide Ultra variant which is for the machine wash segment. 

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Brand Update : Thums Up struggling to taste the thunder

 The latest ad of Thums Up featuring the brand ambassador Ranveer Singh is a classic example of (Hyperbole)^2. The stunts make James Bond movies look very realistic. Over the last few years, the brand ( in my opinion) is struggling to find a way to convey the positioning - taste the thunder. The current interpretation of the iconic tagline is coated with unrealism which in a way have diluted the charm of the tagline. 

While the positioning of Thums Up was initially based on the taste, later the brand unnecessarily dropped the tagline and went on experimenting with the positioning and later brought it back. The current positioning is based on the theme of " anything for thums up". The idea was well executed where the celebrity would do anything for the brand. Now also the theme is the same but the focus has shifted to the celebrity rather than the brand.

More and more, the ads have become too unrealistic where consumers will be tempted to discount the brand's message. The same thing happened with Axe with its unrealistic campaigns in the long run took consumers away from believing the brand. Hyperbole or exaggerated advertisements serve the purpose of novelty but should not be at the cost of losing authenticity. Positioning should have some amount of believability and should not be compromised for short-term eyeballs. 

Thums Up now is in a celebrity trap and is not alone. The rival Pepsi now has the erstwhile Thums Up, brand ambassador vouching for it. The brand is now in a position where they cannot afford to think of a campaign sans a celebrity. I think Thums Up, if serious about the survival should reset its current campaign trap and do something different to bring the thunder back. 

Nature Protect : Harness the super power of nature

Brand: Nature Protect
Company: Hindustan Unilever
Brand Analysis Count: #601

After a long time, the market is witnessing a brand launch from HUL. So far, HUL has been playing around with its existing power-brands through brand and line extensions. However, HUL is facing this pandemic rather aggressively with a new brand- Nature Protect. 

The COVID-19 pandemic had a different kind of effect on businesses. While most businesses faced a serious existential crisis, some category showed strength and resilience. One category which had the most advantage during the pandemic was products related to hygiene. Hygiene products raced to take advantage of consumer fear and products were tagged with germ-killing propositions across product-ranges. 

HUL found this time to be ripe for a product launch. Nature Protect, as the brand name suggests, is in the "natural" space of the market. The brand is in the hygiene category with products such as surface disinfectants, sanitizer wipes, vegetable wash etc. 

The basic promise of Nature Protect is its natural ingredients and the USP is the neem content. Nature Protect is heavily banking on the efficacy of the neem ingredient as the selling point. While HUL has similar natural/ayurvedic brand like Ayush, that brand has not taken off as expected. Ayush is now pitched as a fighter brand against Patanjali and the likes. Nature Protect is expected to boost HUL's brand portfolio in the naturals space where there are strong consumer interest and future potential. 

Another advantage of having a natural-based brand is the Unilever's fight with Dettol dominated hygiene category of disinfectants and related products. So far, Unilever has not been able to fight Dettol which is slowly expanding its product range. Lifebuoy is fighting it in multiple categories and Nature Protect is expected to open another flank in the fight for supremacy in this category. 

Nature Protect will help HUL to further expand the hygiene category especially appealing to consumers who are worried about chemical-based hygiene products. Right now, the HUL has been covering the hygiene market with brand extensions and now it has created a focal brand for all products in this category. That gives a lot of freedom for the brand managers to explore new emerging categories like vegetable-wash, laundry sanitizer, sanitizer wipes etc. 

The launch ad ( in my opinion) is a disappointment for such a high-profile launch. There is a trend of using kids in all things related to germs. Nothing worthwhile in the ad to write about. The brand name in a typical textbook-style conveys the brand promise. The USP of neem ingredient is relevant but can be copied by the competitor and thus negate the point-of-difference. 

Although HUL is known for its marketing finesse, it has a tendency to abandon their brands after the initial hype. Hope that will not happen with Nature Protect. 

Zed Black : Prayers Will Be Answered

Brand: Zed Black
Company: Mysore Deep  Perfumery House
Brand Analysis Count: #599

Zed Black is an unusual name for an agarbatti and perhaps that has contributed to this brand's success. Zed Black is the brand of premium agarbattis from Mysore Deep Perfumery House ( MDPH) which is an Indore based company. The location of the firm is relevant because it is reported that the agarbatti market is usually dominated by Karnataka based brands. 

Zed Black was launched in 2000 aimed at creating a space in a market dominated by numerous players both in the organized and unorganised sector. The overall market for agarbatti in India is estimated to be around Rs 2000 crore. 

What made me look at this brand were two things - the brand name and the brand ambassador. Zed Black is a name one would not associate with a traditional product like agarbatti. I searched for the story behind the brand name but no avail. However, in an interview with the directors of the company, they mention that the founder wanted a unique English name for the product that will catch the fancy of the consumer and help the brand stand out from the rest. Most of the agarbatti brands are connected with tradition or god's name. Of course, there are exceptions like the market leader Cycle Agarbatti. The founder wanted to have a name that would also showcase the premium image of the brand. Hence the brand name was chosen. 

MDPH knew that agarbatti was chosen based on the perfume. Consumers smelled the pack before purchasing and often sticked to a brand he liked. Rightly so, the founder travelled across the market to gauge the consumer's tastes and also in search of perfumes that could hook the consumers to the brand. The focus on perfume helped Zed Black gain consumer acceptance quickly.

In 2017, Zed Black roped in Dhoni as the brand ambassador. The company uses a traditional tagline " Prayers will be answered" for the promotions. In regional markets, the brand uses regional celebrities. While the perfume acts as a powerful cue for purchase, the brand drives the consumers towards trying the brand. In that aspect, MDPH has cracked the code for a category like incense sticks which are very cluttered. 

Brand Update : Pond's Brings Back" Googly Woogly Wooksh" Jingle

 In the run-up to the winter season, Pond's has brought back its famous jingle ' Googly Woogly Wooksh" in an emotional pitch featuring a grandfather ailing from memory loss and his beloved granddaughter. The ad touches upon an emotional chord in the viewer at the same time cleverly delivers the core message of the brand in a beautiful way. Pond's always communicated its value proposition of " smooth skin". 

The popular jingle " Googly Woogly Woosh" was first launched in 2009 campaign was the brand's way of communicating the brand's value proposition of soft skin. The brand used the campaign in multiple ways using celebrities and the like. Later, Pond's began aggressive extensions and no longer the brand was focusing on just cold-creams and skin related products. At one time Pond's even launched men's personal care products.  This probably made the jingle out place in the brand's campaigns. I would even say that Pond's was a kind of under-promoted by HUL in the last few years compared to other brands from the company's portfolio. 

The new campaign is well executed and again reminds marketers not to discard their proven brand elements just for the sake of change. 

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Hygienix : Be Super Safe

 Brand: Hygienix

Company: Wipro Consumer Care

Brand Analysis Count: #598

When the coronavirus pandemic struck India this year, during the initial days, there was a huge scarcity of sanitizers in the market. The sanitizer category was nascent at that time with only a few players like Lifebuoy and Godrej Protekt and the product stocks were minimum in the stores. The market size at that time was around Rs 10 crore. The scenario changed drastically after March with the panic over the pandemic grew, so as the demand for products like sanitizers. The market grew four times during the pandemic with around 152 manufacturers producing the product. 

There was a scramble among firms to cash in on this new opportunity. Firms across industries as varied as paints, industrial manufacturers like paint thinners, SMEs all rushed to fill the gap in the market. Not to be left behind, FMCG firms either launched product extensions or new brands into the growing market of personal hygiene fuelled by the pandemic.  One such launch is the new brand Hygienix by Wipro Consumer Care. Wipro had powerful brands like Santoor, Chandrika, Yardley etc which had their own extensions of hygiene products like sanitizers.

Along with these extensions, the company found a space for a pure hygiene brand which can compete with brands like Dettol and Savlon. The brands like Santoor and Chandrika are primarily beauty products and it is risky to stretch the positioning to hygiene.

Hygienix is a brand acquired by Wipro when it bought Philippine's firm Splash Corporation in April 2019. I think Wipro is lucky in the sense that the timing of the purchase was spot on and the pandemic gave the brand a headstart in the market. 

Hygienix is launched with the obvious brand promise of germ protection. The brand as usual promises to kill all but the lone survivor of the germs. What is striking about the brand is the white and blue brand colours in the packaging which gives it a clean mild look. Hygienix launched a range of hygiene products like sanitizers, soaps, handwash, cleaning wipes etc. The brand name also gives the company leverage to launch further hygiene-related products in future. 

Established brands like Lifebuoy, Dettol and Savlon have one more competitor to live with. 

Pee Safe : Your Personal Hygiene Expert

 Brand: Pee Safe 
Company: Red Cliffe Hygiene Private Ltd

Brand Analysis Count: # 597

Pee Safe is a very bold brand. Look at the brand name itself. Its ticks most of the boxes in the theoretical way of looking at the qualities of a good brand name. The brand was launched in 2013 and quickly became a pioneer in the development of a market for branded female hygiene products other than the sanitary napkins.

The Indian personal hygiene market is huge. pegged at around 85000 crore INR ($11 Bn) and growing very fast aided by the recent pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of many hygiene products and created opportunities for many players in this segment. The female hygiene category is small at about Rs 2500 crore and the category is dominated by sanitary napkins which are around 3600 crores.  

Pee Safe entered the market with a unique product - toilet sanitizer. The brand correctly identified a need in among the women who often travel as well as those office goers who have to use common toilets. The unhygienic toilet seats are a common cause of urinary tract infection which is common in India. The brand quickly gained adoption and became the world's largest selling product within a short period of time. 

Buoyed by the success of the seat sanitizer, the brand launched a series of products in the hygiene space like bio-degradable sanitary napkins, menstrual cups, sanitizers, intimate wash, tampons etc. The company uses digital marketing as the main promotion tool. The brand also has television star Anita Hassanandani as the brand ambassador. 

Pee Safe has positioned the brand as a hygiene expert and is aiming to be a one-stop solution for all hygiene needs of women. The brand is trying to cement its positioning through educational and informative videos about hygiene. In line with the current trend of brand laddering, the brand has also taken up cause marketing like women empowerment. 

One aspect that strikes about the brand is the name. The brand name Pee Safe obviously is constrained by the connection to intimate hygiene.  The company has circumvented this issue by following a family brand name brand architecture. The current brand architecture is that all products in female hygiene are named as Pee Safe. Other family brand names are Raho Safe, Palm Safe, Mosquito Safe etc.

 The company has launched other products like mosquito repellent, hand wash and under  Mosquito Safe brand, cleaning products under  Raho Safe brand, hand sanitizer under Palm Safe brand etc.

The smart idea is that " Safe" name is retained to link it to the current famous brand Pee Safe. The only challenge in this brand strategy is the increased cost in developing and nurturing the family brand names. The advantage is that the company is not constrained by the brand name in the launching of new products. 

Lessons of Leverage from Cadbury & Oreo

When you have two very popular brands, how often you think about leveraging the strength of those two brands for mutual advantage? Lessons are to be learned from the two most popular brands from Kraft foods - Cadbury and Oreo. When Cadbury was taken over by Kraft foods, many saw synergy in the business and not brands. However, Kraft foods have very cleverly leveraged the strengths of both the brands by launching variants exploiting the strength of both the brands.

Take the two products - Cadbury Silk Oreo which has Oreo biscuits inside and Oreo biscuits dipped in Cadbury chocolate. Consumers have different tastes, some like their chocolates to be crunchy while others would like creamy chocolates with no interference in between. But more importantly, consumers are craving for more consumption experiences. They are willing to experiment with different combinations and here loyalty seldom matters. 

So when the two brands which have powerful equity decide to collaborate and bring new products together, the experiences multiply manifold. Of course, there will be consumers who don't like these variants, there are original products for them. However, a large set of consumers of this category of foods love new varieties and combinations. 

While many FMCG brands bring out variants and combinations, it's very rare that such brilliant leverage of brand strength has occurred in the Indian market.

Brand Update : Palmolive Relaunched

Palmolive, one of the oldest brand of soaps in the Indian market has not been able to do justice to its existence. Despite its rich heritage, international pedigree and a strong parent, Palmolive has always remained a fringe player in the highly competitive Indian market. At one point in time, Palmolive had a range of products ranging from soaps to shaving cream. The shaving cream featuring Kapil Deva was a huge hit in those days.

Later, however, the company focus shifted from soaps and Palmolive was sidelined in the marketing front. There were sporadic interests in the brand but all those were
half-hearted ones.

This year, the brand is again making a comeback of sorts. The brand has launched a new range of facial bars with the positioning of being Natural.
The brand is currently running the relaunch campaign.
The company is trying to bring in some freshness to the brand in this relaunch. The brand is relaunched in three variants including charcoal variant.
The brand now has the tagline " Glow Naturally" indicating that Palmolive is trying to bank on the current trend towards natural products.

It is good to see some interest in developing this brand. Palmolive have strong awareness in the market but I feel that there is no strong association with the brand which it can develop. One of the task for Palmolive is to rediscover the source of equity and build on that.

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