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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Brand Update : Dettol Claims No.1 Spot in Indian Soap Category

In an interesting development, Dettol soap has claimed to be the number one soap in the India soap market, beating the long-reigning market leader Lifebuoy. The claim to the throne is helped largely by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

What is interesting is that both Lifebuoy and Dettol share similar positioning centred around health. Dettol is more focused on the health platform concentrating on the germ-killing benefit derived from the parent Dettol Antiseptic lotion. If the claim of Dettol is true, it is largely because of two factors. First, in this fearful era of the pandemic, consumers chose the safe option of germ-killing soap rather than a more generic promise of health. The second factor aiding the Dettol's success is the large number of soap variants launched by the brand. Dettol in the recent past launched many variants like menthol, aloe vera, Dettol with moisturisers. These variants helped attract the consumers who didn't like the original, more clinical parent version. 

To be fair to Lifebuoy, the market leader too did put a fight promoting its soap as a germ-killer but the legacy of Dettol was too strong for Lifebuoy to beat.