Will Hindustan Unilever's sales pitch for Lifebuoy around swine flu prevention work?
Hindustan Unilever’s leading soap brands, Lifebuoy and Lux, have lost market share to Reckitt Benckiser’s Dettol, Wipro’s Santoor and Godrej’s No.1 in the recent past. Together, the two brands still lord over close to a third of the Rs 7,500-crore market for soaps. But rivals have turned on the heat — price warriors have maximised gains from the current economic slowdown.
Naturally, Hindustan Unilever needs to guard its turf. Lifebuoy is the market leader with a share of 16.6 per cent. (Lux comes next with 15.5 per cent.) It is the real money spinner for the company. The fight-back started in May when Hindustan Unilever re-launched the soap with a new design and improved consumer value through better formulation. This was followed by higher advertising and trade support.
Some time back, Hindustan Unilever shaved Re 1 off the price tag of Lifebuoy. Earlier, the country’s largest fast-moving consumer goods company had faced the wrath of consumers after it had hiked soap prices on account of higher palm oil costs. They had dumped the brand and gone for value-for-money propositions like Godrej’s No.1.
Hindustan Unilever’s latest salvo is its new communication centred around swine flu. The “public interest advertisement” opens with the image of a mother washing her child’s hand. An informative voiceover follows about the importance of washing hands before eating, after sneezing, shaking hands or touching shared surfaces which can help prevent swine flu. A print campaign too has been launched.
Flu fighter
The flu, caused by the H1N1 virus, has caused several deaths across the country and has spread panic in households. Schools have been shut in cities across India, while hospitals are struggling to cope with the rush of patients. Its largest victims are children who don’t have a strong immune system.
Hindustan Unilever, as well as investment analysts, say it is too early to see if the campaign has given a boost to Lifebuoy sales, or whether consumers have begun to see it as crass opportunism. But brand consultants and experts feel this will give the brand the much-needed boost. “Surely, the first few who cash in on this will see the best results and I’ll wager a bet Lifebuoy’s sales are up,” says Harish Bijoor of Harish Bijoor Consults. Jagdeep Kapoor of Samsika Marketing Consultants feels that a need (for prevention against the flu) has emerged and if it can be met, sale volumes will doubtless pick up.
Hindustan Unilever, on its part, plays it down and maintains that it has always kept the health proposition in mind. “The current advertising campaign is an extension of our effort to use mass media to effectively communicate to people at large to increase hygiene awareness to combat this health threat,” says a company spokesperson.
Way back in 1985, Lifebuoy’s entry into the Indian market coincided with the outbreak of the plague epidemic. That’s when Lifebuoy became a household name in the country. “Lifebuoy hai jahan, tandroosti hai wahan”, (Where you have lifebuoy, you have good health) ran the long-playing jingle.
Some time in 2002, Hindustan Unilever came up with a health and hygiene programme called the Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna (Lifebuoy Health Awareness) in media-dark villages to spread awareness about the importance of washing hands with soap. Through this initiative, Hindustan Unilever has spread itself across 53,000 villages reaching out to as many as 120 million Indians. The insight here was that regular usage of soap helps reduce illnesses like diarrhoea, respiratory infection, eye infection and so in children. This was underscored by the fact that diarrhoea is a major cause of death in the world today. It is estimated that diarrhoea claims the life of a child every 10 seconds and one-third of these deaths occur in India.
More recently, Lifebouy came out in aid of the victims of the Kosi floods in Bihar and Aila cyclone in West Bengal. “Therefore, the swine flu initiative was a natural extension for us as a brand,” says the spokesperson. “Lifebuoy took on the responsibility to raise awareness about swine flu and how it can be prevented as a social cause campaign to reduce the risk of infection.”
First mover
That may be fine. But that it is a subtle message to push Lifebuoy sales is not contested by anybody. The question is, will it help Hindustan Unilever? “Brand activation gets noticed but it will be a slow and steady journey for Hindustan Unilever,” says Anand Shah, an analyst with Angel Broking.
To be sure, the company has done some ground-level activation as well. It has conducted rallies in three cities where swine flu was detected in the initial stages. “We held these rallies in public places where we could reach the maximum number of people with the message of hand wash,” the spokesperson explained. Giving the campaign a further impetus is its digital avatar. The company has created a micro-site to educate people on how proper hand wash can help people protect themselves from swine flu.
Still, where there is great opportunity, there is a downside as well. “This is a slightly dicey area and marketers will be walking a tight rope to avoid sounding opportunistic,” warns Bijoor. “Luckily for Hindustan Unilever, there’s nothing overtly opportunistic about this advertisement.”
Kapoor of Samsika says that if the brand meets the need, there is no harm in the sales pitch. “Credibility is the key and if Hindustan Unilever can meet the tangible need, it is a win-win situation,” says Kapoor.
Meanwhile, other FMCG companies like Dabur and Reckitt Benckiser too have jumped on the swine flu bandwagon. Dabur’s advertisement is about how Dabur Chyawanprash boosts the body’s immunity at such times and helps protect one’s family. Reckitt Benckiser has created a search engine marketing campaign for its Dettol soap to educate consumers about swine flu. It has used about 25 swine flu related words to promote its campaign. Further, the soap brand is also supporting the Global Hygiene Council which conducts doctors’ conferences on the prevention of swine flu.
Will the first mover’s advantage lie with Lifebuoy?
