The Cinthol man will no more charm his way into the hearts of consumers riding a horse or water scooter and jumping off mountains and sky-scrapers.
The creator and owner of Cinthol, the Godrej Group, has decided to drop the iconic symbol for a more unisex appeal. Ads, created by new agency Creativeland Asia (the old one was Orchard, the second agency of Leo Burnett), show young people, both male and female, enjoying themselves while bathing. The tagline says: Alive is Awesome.
Sunil Kataria, executive vice-president, sales & marketing, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL), says there was need to broadbase the appeal of Cinthol rather than restrict it to male deodorancy and freshness alone. “We’ve attempted to connect with the new, young and vibrant India. This consumer is well-heeled and well-travelled. He or she is looking for a refreshing experience, which we’ve attempted to provide with the new Cinthol.”
The new range includes soaps, talcs and deodorants. Shower gels, however, are the new entrants to the list. Kataria says that the current positioning lends itself to more categories such as face washes and body washes, which the company will step into going forward. There is no ruling out categories such as shampoos etc, but Kataria does not give too many details.
“We have moved from the popular to the premium end of the personal-care market. Besides, we’ve also changed product formulations to provide tangible consumer benefits,” he says.
In deos, for instance, the company has attempted to address the issue of skin irritation experienced by users of deodorants in general. In the core soaps category, Godrej has introduced three new variants in addition to the Cinthol Classic (green soap in a red pack) and Lime variants, which remain all-time favourites. Talcs too have new fragrances to rev up a person’s day, while shower gels are non-sticky, a common problem with most other brands in the category. All of this has happened at a premium of about 15-20 per cent in terms of price points. “Yes, we are a bit more expensive than other brands around. This is part of the shift,” he says.
Cinthol’s revamp interestingly comes at a time when archrival Hindustan Unilever (HUL) has extended its male deodorant Axe into soaps. Experts says that the male grooming market, a Rs 3,000-crore category, has become competitive of late with most personal care majors looking at some presence there in the hope of partaking of the growth, which is over 20-25 per cent per annum.
Barring soaps, where Cinthol has a three per cent share, the brand has no meaningful presence in categories such as deos and talcs. By positioning it as a youth brand, Godrej is hoping to get more consumers to try it. But the question is: Will the strategy work?
While the verdict is still out on that one, past experiences, say experts, show that alienating the core may not always work for the brand.
A classic example is Liril. Once a strong brand in HUL’s portfolio with a 14 per cent share, the soap was relaunched in 2009 targeting families rather than confident, young women who had come to symbolise the brand since the 1970s. This was done to arrest falling market share, which was down to one per cent then.
While there was no denying that Liril needed a rejig since the proposition of a confident, young woman who takes on the world seemed outdated at a time when females in general were stepping out of their homes, working and providing for their near and dear ones, the concept of a family soap too didn’t cut ice with consumers. The reason being that the germ-protection soaps such as Dettol and Lifebuoy were already doing that job. Liril then seemed to be neither here or there.
