Set Wet : A cool cool brand

Brand : Set Wet
Company : Paras Pharma

When I first saw the ad of Set Wet hair styling gel, I thought it was an international brand. Then the little" P" at the side of the screen revealed that the brand is from Paras Pharma. Paras is a company that dares to experiment and a smart marketer. Paras clearly identifies unmet needs and satisfies them effectively. Take the case of Moov and Itch guard, the successful brands from Paras which are leaders in their respective niches.

Set Wet is such a bold step . The brand which has already made people look up with its smart advertising aims to establish it self in the Rs400 crore male grooming market which is growing at a fast pace. The fact that 15-34 year old males are now earning big money ( thanks to IT and ITES), it is a market no marketer can discard.

Except for Gillette and HLL & Sara Lee ,there are no serious players in the male grooming market. Gillette while dominates the shaving products market, HLL created and owns the Deo market with AXE and Rexona.There was a brand OldSpice which was synonymous with after shave in India ( what happened to that brand will be dealt with in the coming blogs) The hair grooming market is dominated by Brylcreem from Sara Lee TTK. Set Wet is trying to compete head on with Brylcream which has a market share of 75% in the hair cream market.

Paras wants to have a brand in the male grooming segment and made a perfect start with Set Wet which has also been extended to perfumes. The perfume market is valued at about Rs1800 crore dominated by foreign brands at the upper end of the market.

Perfumes and deos were products that were not popular in India mainly because of cultural factors. We are not much bothered about the odour and bad odour was never considered as a taboo until HLL came and taught us that smelling bad is not good. The deo market saw a jump from 0 to 72 crores in just 24 months.

The void in the Indian perfume market gives tremendous opportunity for a product like Set Wet.The campaigns of Set Wet have an international look since we Indians consider any thing PHOREN as the best. Positioned as a Cool and naughty brand, Set Wet has a lot of potential.

Dettol : 100% protection, Is the brand protected?

Brand :Dettol
Company :Reckitt and Benckiser
Agency: JWT

The brand has been well known for years. Dettol is Rs 300 crore brand of Reckitt and Benckiser formerly Reckitt and Coleman. Dettol is a 70 year old brand . Launched in 1936 as an antiseptic lotion, the brand became a generic name for antiseptic lotion similar to Xerox in Photocopiers.From its launch to 1980's the brand had a dream run with virtually no competitors. Having no competition is a problem, the growth will be stagnant.

During 1980's Dettol found that the sales are remaining stagnant, the reason being that the brand has its presence in most of the households but are seldom used . Hence the repeat purchases are not there.

Dettol had to expand the usage beyond cuts and bruises. Hence Reckitt and Coleman unleashed a campaign aiming to expand the usage of the brand to an all purpose antiseptic that can be used for shaving,rinsing, and as a general disinfectant.
Dettol have always been positioned as a 100% germ fighter with germ fighting and protection as the core value.
Since the antiseptic lotion market was stagnant Reckitt wanted to leverage the brand to other categories . Dettol saw over these years plenty of brand extentions. The first launch was the soap in 1990's. The initial launch was unsuccessful because the brand moved from core value of protection to love and care. Since the brand faltered in its positioning, failure was imminent.
The soap was again relaunched with positioning as " 100 % protection" and now have a reasonable market share of 12% in the premium category.

The next extention was in the form of liquid soap.The liquid soap category is only 12 crore worth but the hand wash category is expected to grow to 100 crore.
The brand also tried to extend to talc, band aid, and shaving gel but failed miserably in those categories.
Even as the brand is extending, Reckitt failed to strengthen the mother brand and faced competition in that category from Savlon.

Now Dettol is trying to make a foothold in the soap market with the launch of Dettol with moisturizer and glycerin variants. It has also launched a body wash recently.

This brand is a classic case for brand extention failures.We can see a brand struggling to find its place in the market. Some time success can be very disturbing. Xerox wanted to extend to computers but failed miserably. Similarly Dettol wants to do some thing with the brand because it was successful . Now after all these failures, still Dettol is trying with variants forgetting the core brand. I am not saying that you should not extend the brand, But don't do it at the expense of the mother brand . When an antiseptic brand tries to extend to a segment which is essentially cosmetic, it cannot compete with the major players on the cosmetic platform , what at best can happen is that the brand can exist as a niche brand extending its core value and creating a niche .

Johnson's baby soap: A trusted brand

Brand: Johnson's Baby soap

Company : Johnson & Johnson

Agency : Lowe

J&J is the market leader in the Rs200 crore Indian Baby Care industry. J&J India, known better for its baby soap is a part of the global health care conglomerate was established in India in 1947. in 1948 J&J launched the first baby powder in India. J&J 's parent company was established in 1886 in New Brunswick in Newjersy USA.

J&J has an impeccable tradition of social responsibility and brand building. The Tylenol case and Johnson's credo is a case study for the Ethics course in MBA programs.

In India, J&J has been the undisputable market leader in the baby care market with its soap, lotion and shampoos having virtually no competitors. The reason: No Indian brands were able to get the trust of the Mothers.Wipro tired its hand with the Wipro baby soft but could not make a significant impact on J&J's market share.

J&J was never complacent about the brand. Although it commanded superior or should I say it owns the entire category of baby care with share of more than 75%, J&J nurtures the brand with careful campaigns. The campaigns are touchy and reinforce the positioning of the brand as a premium baby soap on base of Mother-child relationship. The famous campaigns " papa ko kya malum" emphasis the fact that J&J knows that mothers decides ( know better ) about what is good for the baby.

J&J also have brought out many variants of the soap with different ingredients and scents. The recent Baby Soap with rich milk is an example. The brand is supported with smart advertising . The term "Johnson Baby" is used among the public to denote chubby looking babies -that is the power of this brand

Recently J&J have tried to extend its market not only to the baby but to small kids also. The recent campaign " skin same to same" is an attempt to expand the target market. The reason being since the baby care market is dominated by one player, the market is remaining stagnant. Hence to grow J&J needed to expand the market. So the positioning for this market will be " Skin soft as a baby skin". This brand shows the power of good positioning. Owning the " Mother-child relationship" is the best thing that has happened to this brand.

Not contet with the baby and kids, J&J is now trying to woo mothers to using the baby soap. To what extent this is going to succeed is another issue altogether. As long as J&J do not tamper with the successful "mother-child" relationship platform, any experiments is welcome. Hope Lowe will not bring a Father to the picture or ask Shah Rukh to endorse the baby soap.

Lifebuoy: Thandurusti hain vaham

Brand : Lifebuoy
Company ; HLL
Agency : Lowe


This is a brand that was launched in 1895. Well that is pretty old isn't it? Looking at the life of Lifebuoy is interesting for a marketing person.The brand has reinvented itself and that too successfully.

The brand was initially positioned in the health and value platform. Targeted at the male with a unique jingle " thandurusti ki raksha kartha hai lifebuoy, lifebuoy hai jahan thandurusti hai vaham". The campaigns showed footballer players and athletes using the soap and the jingle followed made it a soap for the male. The soap was brick red and carbolic ingredient with a unique smell (chryselic perfume) that distinguished itself from other feminine brands and making it the largest selling soap brand in the world

In the year 2002 the company changed the positioning and I would say a historic decision. The brand was no longer a masculine brand. The brand was repositioned as a family brand.The brand was no more carbolic, the perfume changed and new ingredient Active B which eliminate harmful germs was introduced. The campaign was " a pretty girl who was teased for having a pimple then after using Lifebuoy Gold, retorts I don't care" was an instant hit among the public. The company maintained the health platform but targeted at the family so that the brand usage goes up. It was a risk that no marketer will take for a brand that was there for 100 years. HLL have to thank god for surviving that repositioning.

2004 also saw another repositioning for the brand. The target was the "discerning housewife" and the positioning was " health protection for family and me".
The new campaign by Lowe was right on target and still does not dilute the age old positioning of Health and freedom from germs.

The brand personality also changed from health to warmer , versatile and socially responsible. Hll have also given this brand a rural thrust through its CSR initiative " Lifebuoy Swasth chetana". UNICEF under its health initiative have found that the habit of using soaps to wash hands can reduce the chance of diarrhea among the kids dramatically. UNICEF needed 150256 soaps and HLL agreed to supply it. Now 70mn families and 18000 villages are covered under this initiative.

This is a unique brand that have survived the test of time and "ideas of marketing professionals". Still when I see lifebuoy, that jingle keeps singing in my mind
" Thandurusti ki raksha kartha hai Lifebuoy,
Lifebuoy hai jaham
Thandursty hai vaham
Lifebuoy........."

Pepsodent : Dishum Dishum

Brand : Pepsodent
Company : HLL
Agency " Lowe

Pepsodent was launched in 1993 by Hll to capture the market from Colgate. Launched in the platform of Germ fighting property, Pepsodent now have a marketshare of 17% in the Rs2200 crore oral care market.

Pepsodent have experimented with its positioning althrough its life. Initially Pepsodent was launched in the highly successful "long lasting protection for hours after brushing" platform. In 1999-2000 Pepsodent tried to fight the market leader Colgate by shifting to Benefits of germ fighting rather than Process of germ fighting. But the positioning failed and Pepsodent had to come back to the old positioning by 2001.

Pepsodent included the germ indicator to its pack in 2002 followed by an innovative Dental Insurance campaign which reinforced the germ fighting position.

HLL was trying hard to break the fort of Colgate which was holding a massive 45- 50% market share in the oral care market.Although Pepsodent and Close Up had together around 32% of the market , it was not enough. Then came the regional brands like Ajanta and Babool which really made a dent in the market share of the leaders.

Hll struck back with the famous Dishum dishum campaign ( that won many accolades for the agency). The insight for this campaign was that Mothers were really worried about the eating habits of their kids. From that insight came the Big Idea " let Pepsodent fight germs for You". The campaign and the smart pricing virtually killed the regional brands in the oral care market.

Pepsodent knew that they should expand the total market of tooth paste and decided to increase the market by increasing the usage of the product. Thus came the Bhoot campaign that is currently on air.
Pepsodent aims to teach the kids to brush at night ( with Pepsodent ofcourse) .Research shows that brushing teeth at night can reduce chances of tooth decay by 30%.
If HLL to be believed, 12 lakhs kids are brushing teeth at night now and mothers are happy

Pepsodent is a brand that has been carefully crafted although it struggled to find its soul, now the brand is all set to take off.

Whisper : shhh....

Brand : Whisper

Company: P&G

Agency : Leo Burnett

The female personal hygiene market in India is in a nascent stage. The market size is estimated at around rs 425 crore , some say$44mn.

The market is dominated by 3-4 players P&G, Johnson & Johnson , Dabur and Gufic. The product comes under low penetration product types. Since Indian women are not used to such products, the penetration is low but potential is high taking into account the increasing literacy and media reach. The segment commands a high brand loyalty.

Majority of the category customers still use home solutions like clothes rather than use an expensive sanitary napkin.

However J&J created this category with the launch of Stayfree during the early 80's. The heavy media investment along with the J&J endorsement opened up a new category. Stayfree was undisputed leader  till the launch of Whisper.

Whisper was launched in 1989 and  now account for 42% share in the sanitary napkin market in India. The brand is positioned as a premium brand. 

During the early years of launch, P&G had two responsibilities 1. educate the ladies about the product 2. Promote the brand.

The marketing of Whisper is a classic case of Brand building .The initial ads were striking ones featuring mother talking about educating the daughter about using sanitary napkins

.The communication was very sensitively planned since this product is something that we Indians seldom discuss in public. The campaigns was successful in erasing the stigma attached with these kind

 of products. Napkins were positioned as a modern hygiene way of protecting your lifestyle even on " those days" the ads said..

P&G has brought out lot of variants in this product trying to expand and create some waves in the market which is otherwise a dull market. Whisper is now giving  stiff competition from Stayfree from J&J. Stayfree is the market leader in this category. It is credited with creating the sanitary market. But the success has made this brand complacent. 

Whisper changed the game by investing lot of money in brand building. It brought the category out of closet and added a sense of  premiumness into the category. 

 Now Stayfree is trying to corner whisper in the price. Whisper is now being forced to bring out less priced variants. Since the market is growing , at present there is lot of room to play around. Recent reports also suggest that the brands were able to penetrate rural market also.

The brands in this category face the issue of low penetration. The customers are still shy about discussing these products that creates lot of hinderance in the category growth. 

Picture/ad source : Afaqs