Sunlight – Spread the Brightness

Posted on August 12, 2011 by Dr. Angshu

Launched in 1888, Sunlight is Unilever’s oldest brand in India. Initially Sunlight became popular as a laundry cake. But with changing consumer preference – powder detergent became more popular. As a result over the years the importance shifted to other HUL detergent brands like Surf, Rin and Wheel and Sunlight received a step motherly treatment. When HUL faced the competition from Nirma – rather than using Sunlight as a response they launched a new power brand Wheel. Then they launched detergent cakes under brand names of Wheel and Rin causing further sidelining of Sunlight.

After HLL adopted the “power… Continue reading

Dove is not a soap!

Posted on August 12, 2011 by Dr. Angshu

Dove is the HUL soap brand for the ‘Affluent’ or the premium segment. Though internationally it was launched in 1957 – it was available in India for the first time in 1995. Dove stresses on the point that: ‘beauty is not simply about how you look, it is about how you feel’. Technically Dove is pH neutral whereas other soaps are alkaline and hence Dove is mild on skin. From the beginning of its journey Dove was positioned as ‘not just a common soap but one with high content of moisturizing cream’. Consequently, the theme of Dove soap ads still… Continue reading

Pears: Aysi Pears Twacha, Aur Kahan

Posted on July 21, 2011 by Dr. Angshu

Launched in 1902 Pears is positioned as a ‘pure & gentle’ soap which is good for the skin. Please find below some vintage international pears ads.

These indicate the targeting of the brand to be children as well which goes rightly with its mild image. But contrasted to this in India the targeting of the soap was and is mainly limited to women especially middle aged mothers. Consequently in earlier Pears ads soft smooth skin of mother and her child were shown to get the message to… Continue reading

RIN – Bijli giri!

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Dr. Angshu

It is the HUL laundry brand for the ‘Aspiring’ or mid-segment. It was launched in India in 1969. This range provides the benefit of ‘dazzling white cloth’ and ‘at affordable price’. This theme has been propagated through ADs showing self-confident people wearing spotless clean clothes. Recently Rin was also engaged in event sponsorship in the form of sponsoring Kid Reality Show ‘Rin Mera Star Super Star’ in Star Plus.

Following ads of Rin shows that the ‘Whiteness’ remains its key focus:
1970s:

2000s:
Like some… Continue reading

Wheel – freedom from hard work

Posted on April 13, 2011 by Dr. Angshu

Wheel is the HUL detergent brand for the ‘Striving’ segment. It was launched in 1987 to cater to the mass market. Whether Wheel was the result of a reactive strategy from HUL to combat the onslaught of Nirma is a debatable issue. Over the years Wheel has becomes India’s most widely used detergent.

Wheel provides the benefit of ‘heavy-duty laundry’. The color of the brand is greenish yellow and its logo has a sliced lime – both symbolizes the heavy-duty cleaning benefit of the brand.

Wheel was… Continue reading

Rexona – flawless skin or 24 hours protection?

Posted on April 11, 2011 by Dr. Angshu

Launched in 1947, this soap is also for the family and positioned as ‘natural skin care soap to give silky, glowing skin’. The positioning of the brand has not changed over the years. Leftside ad of Rexona soap (‘TNMG’ Print Ad of the day) is from 1980s. So, there is not much difference in current positioning of Hamam and Rexona soaps.
That the Rexona soap contains the goodness of coconut is promoted in its ads and from 2005 the re-launched re-packaged modern avatar of Rexona also contains cucumber. ‘For clear, flawless skin’ is the brand proposition of Rexona soap.

TNMG: The Next Marketing Guru

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