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. 

Brand Update : Colgate Launches Mouth Protection Spray Under Vedsakti Brand

 When consumers are scared, take advantage of the opportunity and offer to help. In this era of COVID-19 where consumers are scared as hell, many opportunities have popped up in the market in the form of health protection. From hand sanitizers to paints, brands are trying to cash in on the opportunity to take advantage of the opportunity to reassure the consumers' health concerns. This is the market which has products like paints, laminated plywood boards and even electric bulbs promising to kill the deadly bacteria and virus with a condition that 0.01 of the germs will be left behind to protect that species. After all, these are the gods' creations. 

In that scenario, how can a toothpaste brand be left behind? Everyone knows that the virus has its entry point through either mouth or nose in most cases. Since the mouth is the domain of the toothpaste, they too have jumped into the bandwagon of saving humanity from the deadly virus. How? Launching of a new product - mouth protection spray. The market leader Colgate has grabbed the first-mover advantage by launching a spray that kills the germs ( sans the 0.01 lone survivor ) at the entry point itself. Mouth sprays have existed in the market but for a different functionality- fresh breath. So although the launch is not an entirely new category creation, the brand is pioneering a new functionality to the mouth spray product-line. I predict that it will not be too long for Close-up brand to launch a mouth protect spray with mouth freshener to counter this launch.

It is also interesting that Colgate chose to launch this product under the Vedsakti sub-brand to take advantage of the Ayurveda tag which has a chemical-free perception to rely on. 

The brand is running a launch campaign for the new product. Unlike the typical Colgate ads featuring dentists, this time, the brand is banking on a child to teach their parents, benefits of using this spray. The brand I think over the last few campaigns is preferring cuteness over authenticity. 

In another similar development, Colgate Vedsakti has come out with a new campaign this time focusing on germ-killing and labelling mouth as the entry point of germs. With the new campaign, the market leader is directly challenging the position of Pepsodent which was focusing on the germ-killing promise attaining point of parity with Pepsodent.

 

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. 

Marketing Lessons From FOGG Deo

 This video explains the lessons in marketing from the success of Fogg beating the market leader Axe in the Rs 3500 crore deodorant market. Unilever is not a small player to beat and a relatively unknown company has changed the market dynamics humbling the market leader is an interesting story to learn. 

Brand Update : Colgate takes laddering to next level

 Colgate is taking the brand laddering to the next level in their 2020 campaign. The brand over time has moved from a functional benefit platform of strong teeth and healthy gums into a higher-level attribute of smile and confidence. The new ad has further strengthened the new higher emotion-based positioning based on the power of a smile. 

The ad strikes the audience with the surprise twist at the end of the commercial and brings a smile to the faces. The brand in a way has taken the risk of bringing emotion into the pool of category benefits. The familiar white coat, chalk and ink theme has given way to a series of the emotion-based campaigns with brand benefits such as confidence, new beginning etc. What it brings for the brand is a sense of freshness because the earlier functional benefit based ads were around for a long-time and a sense of boredom has set in at least in my case as a customer. The new ad helped to bring in a freshness to the brand and the unfamiliar plot brings a twist to the campaign.

Brand Update : HUL acquires VWash

 In an interesting move, the FMCG giant HUL acquired the intimate wash brand VWash from Glenmark pharmaceuticals. VWash is the market leader in the Rs 50 crore female intimate hygiene market which is yet to gather penetration into the mainstream market and has remained a niche. 

VWash is credited with the creation and popularisation of this category through high profile marketing featuring celebrities. The brand is expected to grow fast under HUL owing to the deep market knowledge and distribution strength owned by the FMCG giant. 

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