Brand Update : Pears

It has been a long time since I wrote anything about Pears. The fact was that there was no big development about the brand for the past two years. The brand is regularly and consistently promoted across various media.

The brand extended itself to kid's category with the launch of Pears Junior and also into personal care segment with products like face wash. Pears also launched variants like Mint, Aloe Vera,Oil control etc during this period. Although the brand launched these variants, the core positioning of the brand remained the same for the original soap.

Recently I saw the new commercial of Pears

Watch it here : Pears

The brand is very consistent about the positioning strategy. Pears is built on the wonderful relationship between the Mother and

Child. All Pears ads captured this emotion quite perfectly. The brand focused on its " Transparency " and is positioned as a " Pure and Gentle " Soap.

This time too, the brand follows the same theme. The significant addition is that now Pears has a tagline - Masoom.

Masoom translates to Innocence . So Pears now celebrates a new brand value - Innocence.

The new campaign is nice but as a Southie I did not quite understood the dialogue. But the cute child and the theme always work the magic.

I am assuming that Pears brand is serious about the Masoom Tagline. Masoom concept works very well for Pears. The concept of innocence fits with the " transparency " and Pure & Gentle positioning.

Pears was one of those brands which did not have a tagline. With out the help of the tagline , the brand was able to communicate its core positioning. The core brand values of Pears was communicated through visual cues .

The tagline of Masoom seems to gel with the brand. Whether and how the brand is going to use this tagline in future is something to watch for.

Related Post

Pears

Brand Update : Santoor

Santoor has launched a new variant : Santoor Glycerine. Through this variant, Santoor is entering the turf of Pears . Glycerin soap market size is estimated to be around Rs 280 crore ( BS dtd 21/11/07). Pears in a sense is owning the market for glycerin soaps.

Santoor Glycerin is being positioned as a moisturizing and nourishing soap. The launch is in line with the winter season when the skin needs moisturizing. The campaigns are already on air .

Watch the TVC here : Santoor Glycerin
The brand is following the same " Younger Skin " positioning. The new variant is trying to differentiate itself with the Sandal + Glycerin formula where as Pears is a pure glycerin soap. Santoor has also not used either Saif or Madhavan in the campaign for this variant.It is interesting to note that Pears is also using the mother- daughter equation.Santoor Glycerin may not hurt the position of Pears but may create a space for itself .

A normal doubt that arises is whether the launch of this variant will hurt the parent brand . Pears was not successful when it launched some variants ( mint blue) because it was strongly associated with glycerin and also the brand element ( color). But in the case of Santoor, the brand is closely associated with Sandal and turmeric. The new variant also has sandal which is in line with the parent brand. The new variant has all the brand elements of original Santoor. The protagonist is same and interestingly the Color is also the same. Hence there is a better chance of this variant adding value to the original Santoor. The variant gives a chance to the loyal customers to experiment new product within the brand portfolio and also encourage new consumers to the brand.

Related Brands
Santoor

Doy : Clear Skin, Healthy Skin

Brand : Doy
Company: VVF Ltd
Agency:Orchard Advertising

Brand Count:231

Doy is an interesting brand because of two reasons , first is that its an example of a contract manufacturer going in for forward integration ,second it was a brand that tapped a new segment in the highly competitive Rs 5000 crore soap market.

VVF is a company that was established in 1939 metamorphosed into a largest player in the Oleo resins and personal care manufacturer. The portfolio of VVF includes the Who is Who of the personal care industry ranging from J&J to Dettol.
Doy was launched in 1998 as a soap targeted at the segment of kids aged 3-11 years. At that time , there was virtually no competition in the category with only a single brand "Kids" from J&J. Interestingly VVF was manufacturing KIDS for J&J.
VVF launched Doy in 1998. The brand was a premium soap positioned as kid's soap. The brand differentiated beautifully from other soaps using Form as its point of differentiation. In Marketing texts we have learned about differentiating based on Form and Doy is a classic example for that. The brand came in shape and form that catch the attention of Kids. According to the brand website, Doy has Five basic variants

Pink Princess
Green Pixie
Samba Lion
Purple Mermaid
Mambo Elephant. Later the brand included more variants like
Lucky Duck
Bathman
Patch Eye
etc.

The unique shape of this soap made the brand very popular among the kids. Although the market share figures are not available, I feel that the brand had a reasonable run.
The brand's success is very much attributable to the right segmentation. When we look at the soap segment, J&J's soap is primarily targeted at infants and kids aged till 3. After that in most households, the kids use the same soap as the elders .Here is the gap that the brand has identified.
Not only that the brand used its form as a differentiator, it had its positioning based on its product qualities. Doy uses Olive oil as a major ingredient. Olive oil has many properties that suits skin care. Doy is positioned as a soap that makes the skin healthy. The brand has a tagline " Clear Skin, Healthy Skin. Initially the brand was promoted using TVC's

Watch the TVC here: Princess

Then the brand did some unthinkable act. It extended itself to an adult brand with the brand name Doy Care. The company launched Doy Care Creme : a cream based premium soap targeted at young women. The brand was aiming at the premium segment of the soap market. The brand also had a unique shape like the kids variants. Later came another variant aimed at the young girl's segment Doy Care Aloevera.

Watch the TVC here : Aloevera

In my experience as a consumer, the aloevera variant was a horrible soap ( I know its not meant for me...) because of its fragrance or lack of it....
As an academic , I feel that extending a Kids brand into adults was somekind of a suicide mission on the part of the brand manager. It is going to confuse both the consumers: Kids and young girls.
Regarding the parent brand Doy, the company is not at all aggressive in the market. Except for some sporadic ad campaigns, the brand is adopting a laid back attitude. There are news reports of many below the line promotions for this brand, but compared to its peers , the share of voice is very low.

With lot of competitors viewing this segment seriously, Doy better start getting more active. One comforting fact for Doy was that J&J 's venture into the Kid's segment with the brand KIDS was a failure despite its heavy campaigning and the backing of the equity of J&J.Now we can see that Johnson & Johnson is now communicating to the mothers that its baby soap can be used for Kids also. Pears is another strong brand eying this segment. The brand had a reasonable success in the TG also.

I personally feel that Doy failed to take advantage of the opportunity it had to create and own the kid segment. Primarily because of the lack of heavy investment in brand building.

source:agencyfaqs,financialexpress,doycare website

Santoor : For a Younger Skin

Brand :Santoor
Company: Wipro
Agency: FCB Ulka

Brand Count : 189

Santoor is the second largest soap brand in the Popular segment in India. This Rs 500 crore brand comes from the Software giant Wipro. The brand was launched in 1985 as an ordinary soap with sandalwood and turmeric as its main ingredients.

The brand was initially test marketed in Bangalore and encouraged by the positive response, the brand became national a year after.The brand was positioned as the beauty + skin care at a reasonable price and the brand derived strength from the efficacy of the ingredients. At that time the brands which had sandal as the main ingredient was Moti and Mysore Sandal Soap.

The brand derived the name from combining Sandal + Turmeric and it is not from the musical instrument that it got the name Santoor.
Although the brand became popular, the company was not satisfied with the results. The customers was not buying the ingredient story : says MG Parameswaran in his book on Brands: FCB Ulka case studies. The research suggested that customers are not correlating the brand with skin care and beauty.

Thus started the brain storming on getting the " WOW " factor to build the brand. The wow factor came in the form of the new positioning " For Younger Looking Skin". The positioning come from the consumer insight that ultimately the customers look for a younger skin which is another smart way of defining beauty. The focus on " Younger Skin" also act as a powerful differentiator because other brands were focusing on "beautiful skin" or "looking beautiful".
The next big idea came in the form of communicating the " Younger Skin " concept using "Mistaken Identity " theme ( source : MG Parameswaran's Book). The brand has consistently developed this theme over these two decades of its existence.

Santoor is a brand has consistently understood the consumers and was not complacent to change. The brand was the first one to use a Mother and her five year old daughter to endorse the brand. Most of the ads showed spinsters in their campaigns while for Santoor, the protagonist were Mothers. But showing Mother as the protagonist had its share of issues also. The customers felt that since this brand is meant for adults, it will not be soft on skin. This made the company to change the size texture and the shape of the product.

In Brand Management , I used to teach that changing consumer values were one of the major forces that affect a brand. The case was true for Santoor also. Indian women's mindset were evolvingand breaking free from the traditional mindset. The Mother-daughter equation and the campaigns set in the supermarkets, wedding and bangle shop did not do well with the achievement oriented customers. That was a message to the marketers that the product communication has to change. The achiever protagonist was introduced in 2004. The campaign showed the mother as a successful fashion designer with the same positioning and theme.The brand also extended itself to a range of beauty products and to talc. Now Santoor have face wash, talc , soap and fairness cream.
2006 saw a big change in the marketing strategy for Santoor. The campaigns showed Saif Ali Khan ( in North ) and Madhavan ( south ) in the TVCs. The TVC's shows these celebrities along with the Mother and child in the usual mistaken identity theme. Many were asking whether the brand is going to appeal to males also. I was also taken by surprise seeing Male celebrities endorsing ( acting ) in the Santoor ad. The following questions remain unanswered:
a. Whether this brand needs celebrity endorsement?
b. Is bringing in a male celebrity going to make this brand less appealing ?
c. Has the equity of the protagonist getting diluted with the introduction of celebrity?

For the first two questions, my personal opinion is that using a celebrity without a change in the overall positioning will have a positive impact to the brand. The use of celebrity will make the ad sticky thus making the campaign more effective. For the question C, I believe that with the celebrity, the power of protagonist will get diluted because she is plays a second role in the campaign( debatable point). But as long as the positioning remains consistent, there are no issues isn't it?
Santoor is a super brand that has build itself to a Rs 500 crore brand with its own strength and not piggy banking on any celebrity. The brand is facing tough competition from heavy weights and is now seeking support from outside to stay as a leading FMCG brand.

Related Brands
Pears, Mysore Sandal Soap, Margo, Lifebuoy,Rexona,Dyna, Johnsons,Fair and lovely, Cinthol,Dove, Ponds

Source: Businessline,wiprowebsite,FCB Ulka on brands.

Ganga Soap : RIP

Brand : Ganga
Company: Godrej Consumer Products

Brand Count: 163

If the Western Media's projection or prejudice about the social and cultural makeup of India was correct, then Ganga soap would have been the most sold soap brand in the world. Those who have been watching India specific programs in BBC and National Geographic may wonder how can such a brand fail in the land of elephants and Sadhus ?

Ganga soap was launched with much fanfare in 1993. The soap was positioned on the religious platform and was claimed to be made of water from the river Ganges. The soap attained salvation in the early 2000.
The brand comes from an accomplished marketer who markets such iconic brands like Cinthol. The brand was promoted heavily and even had the film stars like Govinda endorsing it. Promoted using the tagline " Now bath in Ganga" very directly puts the soap in a religious platform. Reports suggest that the brand's initial sales was encouraging and also there are reports that blame on the P&G and Godrej break up caused the brand to decline.

Ganga had a revitalisation effort in 1997 when Godrej tried to relaunch the brand under the name Doodh Ganga. But those effort went in vain.
The primary reason why the brand failed was that the differentiation was not sustainable over time. Although Hindu's are very religious in nature and revers the tradition but the consumers are discerning when it comes to purchasing products. There is a clear divide between religion and products. Consumers seldom like mixing the two. It is OK if religion and politics are mixed not soups and gods. That may be the reason why the toys of Hindu mythological characters are not popular in India.

The brand when launched was really praised for its innovative thinking. One could see through the logic of the launch. Just looking at the crowd at Kumbh Mela would encourage any marketer to think about launching a product for the devotees of Ganga. But a closer look at the customers could have proved the marketer wrong. Why would a customer buy a product? That is a question that could reveal that Love for Ganga would not rake in sales.

Rather than using Ganga as a differentiator, Godrej could have positioned the product on the basis if Purity and Gentleness like the Pears Soap. The can show the use of Water from Ganga to reinforce the positioning. But the religious platform failed miserably. More over this platform is too old dated for our new generation. Another funny element is that although Hindus revere the Ganges, people are aware that the river is the most polluted one. Hence there were consumer buzz that using a soap made from such water may be dangerous. Sensing this consumer talk, Godrej had to tell that the water was taken from places near the origin of Ganges hence not polluted. Overall it was a messy affair.

Ganga is a brand that could have survived as a small niche. I am still not sure about the exact reasons that brand have failed in the Indian market.The failure of such a brand should inspire a marketer to delve deep into the psyche of Indian consumer before jumping into conclusions.


source:economictimes. Mouthshut .com

Sparsh :Long Lasting Goodness

Brand : Sparsh

Company: Marico
Agency: McCann Erickson

Brand Count : 116

Sparsh is a bold move by Marico in the baby care market dominated by none other than Johnson &Johnson. The brand which was rolled out initially as baby oil has extended itself to Baby Soap.

Indian Baby care market is estimated to be around Rs 3 Billion and in the oil, cream and soap category, the market is dominated by J&J. In the soap category, the Johnson's Baby Soap commands over 68% market share and 100% mind share.

Many companies have in the past tried to break in to this market. Wipro with their Baby Soft tried to break into J&J but is now looking at alternative segment by reducing the price. Wipro is now building the brand in the price conscious segment. Other players like Himalaya,Dabur and HLL is trying to enter the segment which has a huge potential to grow.

Marico entered this segment with the launch of Sparsh Baby Oil. The baby oil category is estimated to be around Rs 350 crore. The brand was launched after a careful market study and prototype testing in Andhrapradesh which is a huge market for baby oil. Buoyed by positive results, the brand was nationally launched this year. Also came in to the market Sparsh Baby soap posing a direct competition to the market leader J&J.

The greatest obstacle for Marico in this segment is the brand equity that Johnson's Baby soap enjoys. For over 59 years, this brand has been the favorite of mothers world over. The brand has already a generic status in this category. This equity is something that is a hard nut to crack. Infact J&J has a virtual monopoly over the Baby Skin care segment. Sensing this difficulty Wipro have changed the segmentation of their Baby Soft by reducing the price to attract the non users rather than directly competing with the leader. Sparsh is directly competing with J&J and Sparsh oil and Soap is priced at par with Johnson's.

Sparsh is initially banking on the equity of highly successful Parachute oil. Sparsh is endorsed by Parachute and the brand value of the Parachute : " Long Lasting Goodness" is extended to Sparsh also. Sparsh is based on the Naturals Platform . The oil is having natural ingredients of turmeric , tulsi and coconut oil . This gives the brand a clear differentiation to Johnson Baby oil which is more synthetic based or Non Natural. The baby massage oil market in India is dominated by Dabur with its Lal Tel with 22% value share. So the fight here is between Dabur and Marico.

Sparsh Baby Soap is also based on the Natural Ingredients like Turmeric and Natural moisturisers . The brand is positioned as India's only " No Tear " baby bath soap. The soap has a unique shape and is transparent and looks like Pears. So through Attribute and Appearance, Sparsh is differentiating itself from the market leader.

To promote Sparsh in South, Marico has roped in the Southern film diva Simran and for their national launch Ms Sonali Bhindre. Both are famous Young Star Mothers. Along with the high profile brand building, Sparsh is trying to influence the " Influencers" of these products like Doctors & Paediatricians through different campaigns.

Marico is an accomplished marketer who knows how to build a brand. Here in this market, this skill will be tested to the maximum.

Source: Marico website, Businessline, Agencyfaqs,

Pears : Pure and Gentle

Brand : Pears
Company : HLL
Agency : Mcann Erickson


Pears is one of the oldest soap brand in the world. Launched in India in 1902, the brand commands a unique position in the mind of the people. There is still virtually no competition for the brand in its segment.

Pears is unique from other ordinary soaps in that the glycerin is retained in the soap. Pears is famous for the transparency and company shows it as the sign of purity. The soap is mellowed under controlled condition and is individually polished and packed in cartons. The traditional Pears is amber coloured and there are two variants.

Pears originally was born in London in 1789. The makers of the soap were A&F Pears London owned by Andrew Pears and Thomas J Barratt( who is considered by some as a pioneer of advertising). They developed the 3 point strategy in promoting pears 1. Spot the gap in the market 2.Develop the product to fill the gap 3. Convince as many to buy the product. These three points are still valid in contemporary marketing. Even during that period, the product was promoted by smart advertising. The makers, co-opting with John Everett 's painting "Bubbles", blurred lines between ads and Art. They even came out with controversial ads at that time to promote the brand.

In 1917 Levers acquired the brand. In India Pears targets the premium segment of the market. Although the brand has a legacy, it is lagging behind Dettol in the category with a market share of around 4-5% in the segment and less than 1% in the overall soap market.

HLL has tried to strengthen the brand with two variants : Blue for Germ fighting and Green for Oil Control.

Of late , the brand is facing competition from Doy Aloe vera which offers similar quality at a reasonable price.

Hll has always supported the brand with careful advertising. The brand is promoted with the positoning as a Pure and Gentle soap. The transparency of the soap acts as the visual cue for purity and the glycerin content as the sign for gentleness. Pears commercials highlight the virtue of the soap using Mother and Child as the central theme . "Pears Mother" is used as the central character to appeal to the emotions of the target market.

Although this brand has been carefully nurtured, the brand remains a niche player in the soap segment.