Report on Lifebuoy Brand IIM C presentation

1. Brand Management
Lifebuoy Brand Analysis
By Group A7:
Aditya Raj (0020/48)
AdityaRikhari (0021/48)
AshishAnand (0079/48)
Sanyal C (0104/48)
Siva Sahoo (0353/48)

2. Group A2
Table of Contents
1. Lifebuoy‘s international History: ........................................................................................................ 2
2. Lifebuoy in India................................................................................................................................. 3
3. Lifebuoy brand values......................................................................................................................... 4
4. Brand Articulation: ............................................................................................................................. 5
5. Role of Advertisement: ....................................................................................................................... 7
6. Brand Positioning of Lifebuoy.......................................................................................................... 10
7. Brand Personality Lifebuoy .............................................................................................................. 11
8.Brand Appraisal ................................................................................................................................. 13
9. Brand Extension ................................................................................................................................ 15
10. Future Challenges: .......................................................................................................................... 17
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3. Group A2
1. Lifebuoy’s international History:
Lifebuoy was the world‘s first health soap, one that could be used for both personal hygiene
and household cleaning. Plus it was the first soap to contain a revolutionary ingredient –
Carbolic Acid. Acting as a disinfectant, it was the carbolic acid that gave Lifebuoy Soap its
antibacterial properties and distinctive scent. It was branded as the ―royal disinfectant soap‖
in its initial years in UK. Lever chose the name Lifebuoy due to its life saving associations
and, more importantly, because it was easy for his customers to remember and pronounce.
For many years after its launch it had a lifeguard in its packaging and communication. He
was shown as saving kids and others with the help of a lifebuoy. This imagery was relevant at
that time as no other soap was present in the market with such properties and because of the
industrial revolution and the related hygiene conditions prevailing; it really came out as a life
saver.
Lifebuoy in 1920s, both in UK and USA came with the concept of mother, the health
doctor. As the western world saw the rising importance of the mother as a decision maker in
buying and increased spending power of women, Lifebuoy came with mother, the health
doctor of the family. The idea was to connect with the female audience and portraying her as
the doctor of the family, one who protects and safeguards her family from diseases.
In 1930s, western countries saw a rise in incomes and hence a need of people to
improve their lifestyles arose. Lifebuoy for the first time in history came with the concept of
B.O. In an unorthodox move Lifebuoy developed a campaign which focused not just on its
ability to fight germs and keep clean, but on the prevention of embarrassing body odour or
B.O.
After the 2nd world war, it came with a different toilet soap variant of the brand with a light
coral colour and a softer smell. This was done to stop the women consumers from alienating
the brand.
Over the course of these changes the core value of Lifebuoy never changed. The
concept of cleanliness is godliness allowed the lifebuoy managers to position it as a soap
which ensures a healthy and active lifestyle. This was the value which went with lifebuoy to
whichever market it went in the world. The value was built in the following sequence.
Cleanliness > Hygiene > Health > Healthy and active lifestyle.
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4. Group A2
2. Lifebuoy in India
Lifebuoy in India in 1960s and 1970s promoted health, hygiene and an active lifestyle. This
active lifestyle and health was closely associated with sports and hence Lifebuoy‘s campaigns
revolved around sports and especially cricket as it was the most popular sport in the country.
The proposition was that ―you will remain healthy if you use lifebuoy; you will be able to
play sports.‖ Where there is health, there is lifebuoy was a slogan which was very popular.
Although this worked very well, this was a very male oriented approach to promotion.
Lifebuoy was India's leading toilet soap brand, but in late 1990s and early 2000s Lifebuoy‘s
sales started declining. Lifebuoy‘s sales declined by 15% in 2001.The increasing competition
from other toilet soaps which had better scents and shapes forced Lifebuoy to take a look at
its strategy.
In 2002 Lifebuoy repositioned itself as toilet soap for the whole family. HUL realised that
increasingly women are becoming the decision makers of the family in India too. Hence It
moved to a broader concept of health; health for the whole family. The proposition of the
brand didn't change — health was still the focus — but the advertising did. It changed its
communication from 'You will be healthy if you use Lifebuoy' to 'You will not fall ill if you
use Lifebuoy'. At this point, Ads directed at mothers came on screen, a very popular one
being how kids could get full attendance, because of Lifebuoy.
Lifebuoy in its attempt to be relevant with the current and future consumers also introduced
several variants, catering to specific needs of a herbal solution, body odour, clear skin etc.
Lifebuoy clear skin and skin guard are the expensive sub-brands in the lifebuoy portfolio,
while the red lifebuoy total still remains at the base price. Lifebuoy also changed its shape
from a brick shape to a shape with a better grip.
In 2005 Lifebuoy climbed up the brand ladder and this time it came with little Gandhi
campaign - a life without fear. Rather than concentrating on the risks of not being protected,
it focused on rewarding the protected. Little Gandhi is an ordinary little boy whose world
revolves around his home, dirty street (which is his playground), school and friends. One day
he wakes up and decides he wants to make a difference, so he starts to clean away the rubbish
from the street outside his house. The core value of assuring health and active lifestyle
remained the same but the emotional benefit that it wanted to provide was the fearless
attitude of the children in changing the world because they do not fear about their health as
lifebuoy is there with them. This ad also showed mothers watching with pride and assurance
as their kids start cleaning the streets.
Over the years lifebuoy also did a lot of activities which developed the category in general.
The unbranded educational programs which involved educating children about the necessity
of hand wash and empowering them was one of those activities. Lifebuoy has a range of
liquid hand wash, body wash, shampoo and talc now in the Indian market.
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3. Lifebuoy brand values
The values Lifebuoy promotes are the same values that had guided the brand at birth and the
same global values Lifebuoy holds today: that using Lifebuoy ensures a healthy and active
lifestyle. However the set of functional and emotional benefits have changed all along its life-
cycle.
The value of lifebuoy have been built by this sequence -
Healthy
Cleanliness Hygiene Health and active
lifestyle.
The core brand value of assuring a healthy and active life style has always remained with
Lifebuoy over time and different markets.
Consumer insights which allowed lifebuoy to build its brand -
Hygiene was a very big problem in industrial revolution time in Britain; diarrhoea deaths
were very common. There was a definite need of a simple cost effective solution which
shall help people in a big way in such times. This insight therefore helped lifebuoy build
its brand value of assuring hygiene.
It was believed that ―Cleanliness is Godliness‖. Many a time philosophies are prevalent in
societies which can be related to by a marketer to reap benefits. Lever did just that.
Cleanliness was what society valued and the product, the brand was promising just that.
In fact it was one of brand‘s core values.
Active life style/sports highly associated with health. This insight that sports are highly
associated with health was used to build the core brand value of assuring a healthy and
active lifestyle.
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4. Brand Articulation:
By 2002, the prices of a key soap raw material – vegetable oil, fell to a historic low. This
resulted in growth decline of soaps as a category. Moreover, there was an explosion of
‗discount‘ soaps, which were luring consumers by offering modern forms and good sensorial
experience at affordable prices. The carbolic segment, under which Lifebuoy existed, shrunk
& in the process gave way to an explosive growth in the discount segment. Consumers were
beginning to perceive Lifebuoy as an outdated offering vis-à-vis these discount soaps,
prompting them to switch to other soaps. Rural consumers' questioning `why do I need
Lifebuoy when all soaps clean' highlighted the decline of the brand. From a position of
having no choices and needing a basic cleaning soap, consumers in rural India were
beginning to have more choices. The repositioning of Lifebuoy was necessitated as a result of
these market trends. This prompted HLL to launch Lifebuoy Active and Lifebuoy Extra
Strong in mid 2001. HUL repositioned the Lifebuoy brand in an attempt to make it more
relevant to both new and existing customers. After this revamp, Lifebuoy was no longer just a
carbolic soap with cresylic perfume. It was positioned as toilet soap. Lifebuoy also re-
established its message of health for consumers, from the ‗traditional, male, victorious
concept of health‘ to a more responsible concept of health & hygiene for the entire family.‘
With this launch, the carbolic segment was wiped out as Lifebuoy accounted for 95 per cent
of this segment previously. In this process of change, HLL challenged everything that
Lifebuoy had stood for – formulation, perfume, shape and size. Every element of
communication was changed.
Brand Identity
Name: The name Lifebuoy has been retained throughout the soap‘s 117-year history.
Lifebuoy literally means a life preserver such as an aerated buoyant ring or a jacket. Hence,
the name associates with a life saver/caretaker. In the Indian market, Lifebuoy was initially
targeted at the middle class consumer, where English penetration was not very high. Hence,
the brand name‘s literal meaning as such had limited significance on the masses. However,
due to strong marketing and brand building, today Lifebuoy is a household name in India.
Color: Till 2001, the soap was a brick-red colored bar. After the repositioning in 2002, the
color was made slightly more pinkish. In 2004, Lifebuoy‘s variant was launched in white
color.
Design: Till the 1990‘s, the soap was a coarse chunky brick-shaped bar. Later, Lifebuoy's
classic hard red brick shape has been replaced with a new signature Lifebuoy shape which
was made thinner and curved for better grip and with soft rounded edges.
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Logo:
Till 2002, the soap‘s logo was displayed as simply Lifebuoy on the soap pack. After its
repositioning, the logo was modified – the name was made slimmer and italicized to provide
a modern look. After 2004, the logo was modified and now, the name Lifebuoy was in italics
and encapsulated within a + sign, to emphasize total protection. The + sign not only conveys
good health & connotes with the medical usage, but is considered a symbol of purity,
auspiciousness and holiness in India. The good health symbol + augments the brand promise
of Lifebuoy.
Brand Communication
Packaging: Till 2002, the soap‘s cover pack was simply red and displayed the name. When
the soap was repositioned in 2002 as a toilet soap, the phrase ‗A toilet soap‘ appeared on its
cover pack. But the soap was again repositioned in 2004 as a family health soap. Also,
variations of the soap to target different segments were launched. At the upper end of the
market, Lifebuoy International (Plus and Gold) were launched to protect against germs which
cause body odour and skin problems. Earlier, in 2003, HLL had launched Lifebuoy Family
Talc in two pack sizes, pegged at Rs 28 for 100 gm and Rs 68 for 400 gm. The cover pack of
the new soap carried the tag ‗Care‘, ‗Mildcare‘, ‗Nature‘ etc. as the case may be with the
specific variant. After its re-establishment as the health soap for the whole family, in 2006,
the cover carried the logo ‗Total‘ and provided detailed description of Lifebuoy fought germs
and odor and provided total protection for the body. The packs displayed a picture of a health
& happy family. The rear of the cover pack contained 2 pictures – one showing a lot of germs
on the body before a wash and the second displaying no germs after a wash with Lifebuoy.
After Lifebuoy‘s variants were introduced, the soap packs only differed in terms of colors,
with the conventional Lifebuoy cover pack having red color, Lifebuoy neem cover pack
being green, Lifebuoy Active Gold cover pack being blue and Lifebuoy Active Orange cover
pack being orange.
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5. Role of Advertisement:
The early Lifebuoy ads (1992) had a catchy jingle ―Tandarustiki rakshakartahai
Lifebuoy Lifebuoyhaijahan, tandarustihaiwahan…..Lifebuoy”. The ads showed a young
Indian male emerging victorious in a football match after bathing with Lifebuoy. The idea
was that Lifebuoy‘s thorough cleansing against germs provided you the freedom to go all out
without the burden of germ protection. The ad was a hit amongst consumers and helped
Lifebuoy to position itself as a hygienic product which fights germs.
In 2002, after its repositioning, the Lifebuoy ads featured the jingle ―Koi darrnahin…”
which means ‗no fear‘. The ads conveyed that the consumer could rest assured that the onus
of cleansing and protection against germs fell on Lifebuoy.
The ads in 2004 were built around the concept of showing how high scoring intelligent
school-kids were able to deliver excellent results by bathing with Lifebuoy and letting the
soap take care of their health. The ads, for the first time, showed mothers of kids being
advised by doctors to adopt Lifebuoy for their kids. The advertisements now primarily
centred on the housewives and their kids/families – showing that Lifebuoy provided good
health & hygiene which subsequently resulted in the family enjoying a healthy lifestyle. The
ad was built around the concept of laddering – achieving success by following a healthy &
hygienic lifestyle by bathing with Lifebuoy. These ads also asserted recommendations from
Indian Medical Association to establish a seal of trust. This was necessitated by the fact that
during this time, Dettol was extensively positioning its handwash and soap as providing
100% protection against germs and carried extensive coverage of Indian Medical Association
recommendations in its own ads.
The ad of Lifebuoy liquid handwash featured school kids eating their meals together during
recess. One kid says that his mom recommends washing hands with soap for full one minute
to completely get rid of germs. In reply, one girl says ―Terasaabun slow haikya?‖ meaning
―is your soap slow?‖ and all kids laugh at the boy. Lifebuoy liquid handwash is then
introduced and claims to provide 100% protection against germs in just 15 seconds hand
wash.
In a very smart TV ad campaign, children who used Lifebuoy were shown cleaning a street.
The message put across was that Lifebuoy not only ensured good health and cleanliness for
individuals, but healthy and productive communities as well.
The ads in 2006 showed kids enjoying playing outdoor sports fearlessly. The kids were then
shown bathing with Lifebuoy, resulting in removal of all germs from their body and their
body getting enclosed with a protective shield of Lifebuoy, implying ‗total protection‘.
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SwasthyaChetna (meaning "Health Awakening") campaign
Started in 2002, the aim of the programme is to create awareness about disease causing germs
and to promote basic hygiene practices like washing hands with soap as a preventive
measure. To date, SwasthyaChetna has touched the lives of 70 million Indians across 18,000
villages, with its unique communication tools like flip chart stories, glow germ
demonstrations, germ mask games, health rallies/message stencilling and other community
activities. In 2006, the programme is being extended to an additional 10,000 villages. It is
thus a marketing programme with a strong social cause of improving the health and
hygiene of rural India.
The campaign aimed at educating children and community about the threat of unseen germs
and maintaining good health through practice of basic hygiene. HLL employed innovative
communication and marketing tools at melas, festivals, haats, etc. to spread extensive
awareness about hygiene and health by product demonstrations. HLL was actively engaged in
transforming the hand-washing and bathing habits themselves in rural India. For example,
people in mela were asked to put their hands below a special camera where they could see the
germs on their hands and were asked to wash their hands with Lifebuoy and see the
difference. Hand-carts were also displayed at the company‘s stall for attracting more people.
Ideas like putting stickers on hand pumps, walls of the wells, putting tin plates on trees
surrounding the pond were some of the innovative media utilized by Lifebuoy. The idea was
to actively market the product not only at the point of purchase but also at the time of
consumption. Other media techniques employed were shop-fronts and cinema van operations
which had films and audio cassettes with songs and dance sequences from popular films that
comprised ads of HLL products during breaks. Operation Harvest served as a medium to
augment the role of conventional media in rural India and in the process built relations and
loyalty with consumers. Cross company product mixes were also offered to lure consumers
like packs of tea etc.
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HLL undertook projects to enhance the rural supply chain by a network of sub-stockists and
'Project Shakti' in partnership with the Self-Help Groups of rural women. These Self-Help
Groups acted as direct-to-home dealers. This move took advantage of the fact that in rural
India, women are the catalyst of change. It is they who give Shakti its strength. Project Shakti
proved to be a great marketing venture for HLL since it provided social welfare benefits in
both promotion as well as distribution. The model created a win-win partnership between
HLL and its consumers, some of whom depended on the organization for their livelihood and
helped building a self-sustaining virtuous cycle of growth for all. Another good initiative
taken by HLL under Project Shakti was `I-Shakti', an IT-based rural information facility that
provided solutions to major rural needs such as agriculture, education, vocational training,
health and hygiene. In addition to its TV campaign, HUL also uses other methods and media,
such as direct consumer contact, radio and point-of-sale, in order to reach consumers who do
not have access to a television set.
In India, as a part of a new outreach programme, ‗Khushiyon Ki Doli‘ (Caravan of
Happiness), Lifebuoy took hand washing messages to remote areas, reaching around 30
million people directly in 2010-11.The activity includes a slow-paced educational video from
Lifebuoy which explains the importance of hand washing plus glow-germ demonstrations,
during which UV light is used to show that washing hands with water alone is not sufficient
to remove germs.
On Global Handwash Day, October 15, 2011, over 1100 HUL employees delivered Lifebuoy
hand washing education in schools & orphanages to promote the habit of washing hands with
soap.
By 2015, Lifebuoy soap brand aims to change the hygiene behavior of 1 billion consumers
across Asia, Africa & Latin America by promoting the benefits of hand washing with soap.
Brand Service
Throughout its 117-year history, Lifebuoy has focused on offering security against germs by
its thorough cleansing action. The brand has never deviated from its core offering of
providing hygienic lifestyle to its consumers and a continuous integrated and coherent
marketing and strong brand building process has resulted in its achieving synonymy with
‗protection against germs‘. This instant recognition and recall of the brand‘s value
proposition in the mind of the consumer has been crucial in Lifebuoy‘s huge success.
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6. Brand Positioning of Lifebuoy
Brand positioning is meant to create an image in the mind of customers. Why a customer
should buy one brand over the other. The unique feature which a brand can offer over the
others. It refers to achieving the financial goals of the market along with the suitability to
different geographical markets.
It was initially positioned as powerful germicidal and disinfectant with a strong carbolic
smell. Which was what the nation was looking for at that point of time? The health advantage
withered over time as competitors in the market came out with soaps whose value proposition
was germicidal properties along with being perceived as a beauty bar.
The mainstay of Lifebuoy which had its strong foothold in rural markets, the time had come
for the revamping the ad campaign for the rural markets too as many players had pitched in
the market with the same set of benefits, so a revamp of the entire brand was required to
maintain its market. It later on was more focused on the positioning which emphasized the
fact that Lifebuoy was for rich poor and even the urban population.
It was around 2002 that the Lifebuoy as a soap moved from being a hard soap to a mild soap
that delivered a significantly superior bathing experience. The new soap had a refreshing
fragrance and its overall positioning changed, which was a promise of health in softer, more
versatile and responsible hues - for the entire family. The packaging was also changed: The
rugged red colored packs were soon replaced with a softer pinkish cover. This was followed
by a series of ads highlighting the soap‘s germ fighting benefits.
Lifebuoy had become a family soap with hygiene as its core competency which had been its
ultimate value proposition in the past too.
From a soap which was meant for being used in the toilets the brand had reinvented itself
which got itself new consumers who were not only cleanliness conscious but also beauty
conscious.
The repositioning campaign of Lifebuoy was started at 2008, but which became more
prominent and was effective mostly in 2009, Lifebuoy along with the advertisement as
improved its quality and fragrance, most of the people had shifted from Lifebuoy because it
was perceived as low quality and as mentioned earlier it had a terrible carbolic smell, as
Lifebuoy had improved its quality, it needed to run an effective advertisement campaign to
get the customers attention. The advertisement team of Lifebuoy came up with excellent
theme ―Healthy Hoga Hindustan‖ and it targeted parents, who were their prime hot leads.
This has enabled Lifebuoy to get more and more customers.
The main competitors in the segment in which Lifebuoy was operating was Santoor, Dettol,
Godrej No.1 and internally too it competed with HUL internal products as Rexona and
Breeze.
With Santoor as being the largest selling soap in south India and Reckitt Benckiser‘s Dettol
followed Lifebuoy in terms of product offering. So, in order to move up the pyramid
Lifebuoy had to packaging and promotion schemes and composition in terms of fragrance
ingredients and skin types. So it came in variants as soaps, handwash, sanitizer etc.
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7. Brand Personality Lifebuoy
Brand personality means the set of human characteristics associated with the brand. It is built
over a period of time; this is what the users of a brand perceive from non-users. It is a set of
human characteristics associated with the name of a product, service or company. The
present identity of Lifebuoy soap is perceived as the following:
A healthy soap: This is imparted by a trusted brand quality and most people buy this
soap because ―it keeps your skin healthy‖. It was also a brand which had SKU‘s that
were low priced so customers found it something unusual to go for another brand.
The Red Soap: Since 2000,some critical changes have been incorporated into
Lifebuoy soap bar in order to ensure that it provides improved hygiene protection
and a more refreshing healthy washing experience and to change its image from a
mere carbolic soap for its widespread customer base. It has been repositioned from
carbolic to Total Fatty acid Material soap and been positioned as a family soap with
quite a large number of variants like Lifebouy Gold, Green etc.
but in spite of all this it still catches the imagination of every person ever aware of it
as "the red soap". This red soap proposition is a major source of brand recall for
Indian consumer.
Lifebuoy was placed as a family soap but it had not been endorsed by a celebrity ever
but in 2008 it used a cricketer for endorsing its brand, which had dented its image of a
family soap and it had done no vale add to the brand personality. It also didn‘t bring
about any change in brand positioning of the family soap.
It evolved as a brand symbolising ―complete protection‖, by coming out with variants
of Liquid soap, Hand Sanitizer, Hand Wash etc.
The brand Lifebuoy was initially targeted at men and masculine health. The promise
of Lifebuoy was 'You will remain healthy if you use Lifebuoy. You will be able to
play hockey or football well'. It was sporty. The symbolism of health, at the time,
was the huge, sporty, macho man." The jingle, 'Lifebuoy haijahantandurustihaiwahan'
was catchy and did the trick. But in 80‘s and 90‘s it changed its strategy and targeted
women who were the key decision makers in homes.
A change in Brand Symbolism over time
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The proposition of the brand, instead of targeting customers in a different perspective,
didn't change — health was still the focus — but the advertising did. The message in
advertising changed from ‗You will be healthy if you use Lifebuoy' to 'You will not
fall ill if you use Lifebuoy'." The appearance of the soap too underwent a change.
Though the red bar remains, it is now more perfumed and less carbolic. At this point,
commercials directed at mothers came on screen, a very popular one being how kids
could get full attendance, thanks to Lifebuoy.
Brand identity still remained as it was, it changed to a more attractive logo with a Plus
sign in the background, reinventing the brand logo was to match up with the brand
perception as a family soap.
Look and feel : Which changed from a red cake to a sleek looking soap and the strong
carbolic smell was replaced with a pleasant enjoyable one to make enriching.
Targeted Message: As mentioned earlier it was still focused on the healthy part where
it made no compromises to convey it through the medium of advertisements or
promotional videos. Earlier the message was a masculine brand but later on it changed
to being a family healthcare soap or rather to a role of family doctor, which was what
they communicated through their commercials.
Today the brand provides hygiene and health solutions for families, including a range
of bar soaps, hand wash liquids and liquid shower gels. One of the most recent
Lifebuoy‘s innovations addresses the number one skin hygiene and health concern for
teens and tweens: oily and acne prone skin. Lifebuoy Clear Skin is a bar soap
formulated using radical new technology that is clinically proven to reduce even
severe acne, by 70% in 6 weeks. Regular use, twice a day is proven to prevent and
reduce the recurrence of acne.
Core message: Lifebuoy soap has used the message, ‗protects effectively against
germs‘ for many years and is still continuing with that as a value proposition of the
brand.
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8.Brand Appraisal
Strategic decisions to taken to build the same brand:
Root strength - Lifebuoy's goal is to provide affordable and accessible hygiene and health
solutions that enable people to lead a life without fear of hygiene anxieties and health
consequences, regardless of the boundaries of nationality, religion, social-economic status.
Lifebuoy soap has been proven in laboratories to provide 100% more effective germ
protection than ordinary soaps
Competency Analysis - Unilever's mission is to add Vitality to life by hygiene, and personal
care with brands that help people feel good. Lifebuoy has become more than just a red bar of
soap. The most recent Lifebuoy innovation addresses the number one skin hygiene and health
concern for teens and tweens: oily and acne prone skin. Regular use, twice a day is proven to
prevent and reduce the recurrence of acne
Competitive analysis - The toilet soaps market is estimated at 530,000 tpa including small
imports. HUL is the market leader. The market is littered over with several, leading national
and global brands and a large number of small brands, which have limited markets. The
popular and premium brands include Lifebuoy, Lux, Cinthol, Liril, Rexona, and Nirma.
Toilet soaps, despite their divergent brands, are not well differentiated by the consumers. It is,
therefore, not clear if it is the brand loyalty or experimentation lured by high volume media
campaign, which sustain them. A consequence is that the market is fragmented. It is obvious
that this must lead to a highly competitive market. Toilet soap, once only an urban
phenomenon, has now penetrated practically all areas including remote rural areas. The
incremental demand flows from population increase and rise in usage norm impacted as it is
by a greater concern for hygiene. Increased sales revenues would also expand from up
gradation of quality or per unit value.
Benefits – In 2002 HUL positioned Lifebuoy as toilet soap. After its revamp it was no longer
just a carbolic soap with crystalline perfume. It gives the message of health for consumers
from the ‗traditional, male, victorious concept of health‘ to a more responsible concept of
health for the entire family.‘ Also, it provides benefits in terms of price. Buyers in the rural
market are extremely price sensitive. So, it revamped the pricing strategy targeted to rural
market. It made Lifebuoy available at bargain basement price of Rs 2 at retail level. To date,
70 million people in rural India alone have experienced Lifebuoy's pioneering Health
Education programme – the single largest private hygiene education programme in the world
Discriminator – Lifebuoy is not just an red bar of soap. The brand provides hygiene and
health solutions for families, including a range of bar soaps, hand wash liquids and liquid
shower gels..The new lifebuoy introduced with new curved shape was twice as good as other
soaps in terms of providing germ protection.
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Consumer Analysis – Lifebuoy was targeted to different segments. Variations of soap to
target different segments were launched. Lifebuoy International (Plus and Gold) was targeted
to upper end of the market It was used to protect against germs which cause body odour and
skin problems. Also, new Lifebuoy was targeted at today's discerning housewife with a more
inclusive "family health protection for my family and me" positioning. It was targeted
towards the middle class segment. It was not targeted towards beauty segment.
Consumer Insights - Lifebuoy initially targeted only the low end market specially in small
towns and rural areas where the need of providing a hygienic product which can fight germs
and diseases like diarrhoea was very high. After consistent brand building by HUL, Lifebuoy
was perceived to be red carbolic toilet soap and it had functional benefits of hygiene. Later on
the consumer perception was changed by re-establishing Lifebuoy as health soap. Lifebuoy's
characteristic medicated, carbolic smell has been replaced with a more enjoyable and
contemporary 'health' fragrance.
Brand Essence – It has a brand essence of ―Life without fear‖. The Lifebuoy franchise,
through each of the products, has stayed true to its promise of meeting health and hygiene
concerns. The brand's core promise of protection and a commitment to support life through
unbeatable protection is at the heart of the brand name itself – Lifebuoy, the guarantee of
protection when you are threatened. For example, a 1930's campaign in the US was titled
'Clean hands help guard health', encouraging the use of Lifebuoy soap to kill the germs on
hands that can cause health issues. A similar campaign continues today, with Lifebuoy
hygiene education programmes on-going in countries including India, Bangladesh, Pakistan,
Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Vietnam.
Reasons to believe – Lifebuoy celebrate Global Hand washing Day every year. Global Hand
washing Day has transformed from a one-day opportunity to raise awareness of the
importance of hand washing with soap to a launch pad for large-scale hand washing
promotion initiatives and government-sponsored hand washing policies. Celebrated by
hundreds of local and global organizations, Global Hand washing Day has significant
grassroots momentum; growing each year with little direction from its creator, the Global
Public-Private Partnership for Hand washing (PPPHW). By 2015, Lifebuoy soap brand aims
to change the hygiene behaviour of 1 billion consumers across Asia, Africa, and Latin
America by promoting the benefits of hand washing with soap, at key times.
Customer Engagement - Employees were engaged in securing support from customers for
instore space through negotiation, organise for effective distribution of Point Of Sale (POS)
and hot spots for branding and avail new stock for promotion.
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9. Brand Extension
Yes, the marketer make any brand extension decisions. Lifebuoy is the classic example of
brand extension wherein Lifebuoy the parent brand was extended to target different consumer
segments by the launches of Lifebuoy Plus, Lifebuoy liquid and Lifebuoy Gold. It has Brand
Extension to Lifebuoy bar soap, Lifebuoy body wash, Lifebuoy Hand wash, Lifebuoy for
men‘s range, Lifebuoy clear skin, Lifebuoy hand sanitizer.
Lifebuoy Plus:
In the 1980s, HLL made special attempts to expand the reach of Lifebuoy to urban
consumers. To quote HLL, Lifebuoy was considered down market especially in the urban
areas. So, we had to instill a sense of pride in the user; he should not be ashamed of using
Lifebuoy. So Lifebuoy Plus came; it basically was the old Lifebuoy with a different perfume.
Backed by high budget advertisement, HLL managed to popularize Lifebuoy Plus. Says
HLL, with Lifebuoy Plus we could widen the appeal to new, urban consumers.
Lifebuoy Gold:
One more extension appeared for the urban consumers, Lifebuoy Gold; it broke away from
all traditional red color of lifebuoy; it was pure white, had different fragrance and was higher
priced.
Lifebuoy Liquid:
By this time, Liquid Lifebuoy also staged its entry to strengthen the brand‘s presence in the
urban market. It was a modern product form. In the rural markets, Lifebuoy continued its
dominance in spite of competition; there was the stubborn Lifebuoy user in the rural areas,
who continued to patronize the brand. The line extensions— Lifebuoy Personal, Lifebuoy
Plus, and the campaigns around them helped strengthen the brand name Lifebuoy to a great
extent.
Lifebuoy Bar Soap:
There are 6 variants under Lifebuoy Bar Shop to protect family from the ten infection causing
germs and stay one step ahead of them:
a) Lifebuoy Totalprotect
b) Lifebuoy Mildcare
c) Lifebuoy Naturepure
d) Lifebuoy Activfresh
e) Lifebuoy Vitaprotect
f) Lifebuoy Moistureplus
Lifebuoy body wash:
Lifebuoy body wash provides deep cleansing of pores, protecting against the three root
causes of skin health problems-clogged pores, over drying and germs:
a) Lifebuoy Totalprotect
b) Lifebuoy Mildcare
c) Lifebuoy Naturepure
d) Lifebuoy Activfresh
e) Lifebuoy Vitaprotect
f) Lifebuoy Moistureplus
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17. Group A2
Lifebuoy Hand wash:
Lifebuoy Hadwash offers germ protection, with a unique formulation that generates a rich
lather. This provides an effective and hygienic wash in every corner of the hands and nails, at
the same time leaving your hands pleasantly fragrant. It has 4 variants under it as:
a) Lifebuoy Total
b) Lifebuoy care
c) Lifebuoy Nature
d) Lifebuoy Activfresh
Lifebuoy for men’s range:
Lifebuoy men‘s body washes are especially formulated to wash away excess oil and sweat,
protecting body against odour and other problems caused by germs. It has 2 variants under it:
a) Deodrising – protection from sweat and stickiness
b) Hydrating – helping to moisture skin
Lifebuoy clear skin:
Lifebuoy clear skin provides specialist protection from acne, which results oil, and dirt
coming together. It is proven to reduce acne by up to 70% in 6 weeks, guaranteeing visibly.
Lifebuoy hand sanitizer:
Lifebuoy hand sanitizer effectively disrupts bacteria‘s cell membrane & virus‘s outer coat
thereby kills bacteria & inactivates viruses on your hands. It has moisturizer and vitamin E to
keep your hands soft and smooth. It has 2 variants:
a) Lifebuoy Total
b) Lifebuoy care
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18. Group A2
10. Future Challenges:
India‘s soap penetration stands at nearly 98% where rural area contributes 97% whereas the
urban area contributes 99%. But the per capita soap consumption in India is still very low and
currently is only 450 Gms. Brazil‘s per capita soap consumption is at 1100 Gms which is
more than double the amount of India. Thus there is lot of scope for the soap industry and
also for lifebuoy.
The main task for Lifebuoy is to understand the rural customers. There is not concrete data
available about the rural consumer and to be successful in this category getting the consumer
insights would be very useful. The rural market which has a soap penetration relatively lower
than that of the urban market is likely to be the battle ground for lifebuoy and its competitors.
Also lifebuoy brand has already established itself in the India soap industry most of its future
business is expected to come from the Brand extensions. Lifebuoy is expected to be a family
soap for all the members of the family who want to have a clean and germ free life. But the
extensions in which lifebuoy enters would be of much interest for the market because the
brand has a considerable market share of nearly 15% and the extension which life buoy
chooses would determine the fate of the brand for the coming years .
A lot of consumers also subscribe to the cause of impulse buying which would require
lifebuoy to have innovative and attractive packaging. Constantly improved packaging would
help lifebuoy to maintain its visibility in the market and at the same time lead to greater sales
and build a good brand reputation.
Introduction of smaller SKU‘s especially for the rural markets could also be looked at as it
would surely lead to greater sales but at the same time would make the cost of packaging cost
per product relatively higher. Greater understanding of the Market through primary and
secondary research would surely help Lifebuoy to decide the markets to choose , SKU‘s to
promote and many more thing in the future
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