Lifebouy: Leviathan or Legend

HINDUSTAN LEVERS LTD

Indian subsidiary of the Anglo-Dutch Unilever group

Best marketing skills –advertising extensively
Several consumer products categories – soaps,
detergents,personal are products, coffee, tea, ice-cream
and oil also animal feed and specialty chemicals Portfolio
of over 75 brands in India ,mostly market leaders
Products Annual sales turnover is Rs 106 billion and soaps
account for
18% of HLL’s turnover and 58% of market share Balanced
geographically Achieved 88% of rural penetration
Regular launching and fortifying of its premium brands

LIFEBOUY

Introduced in 1895,one of the earliest soaps to enter the

Indian
marketand first brand for any new customer entering
toilet
soap market One of the flagship brands of HLL and
largest selling soap
having annual sales turn over of 110,000 tones Basic
feature – its signature brick red , in soap and packaging
Mostly focused on health of the customers – based on
medical connotation Captured basically rural markets by
lots of rural promotions and advertising thus became a
recruitment brand – Voted as India’s top brand in
advertising and marketing magazine. Has different
segments-Lifebouy , Lifebouy
Active red,Lifebouy plus, Lifebouy Gold Captured almost
all parts of India – (distributed geographically)

Promotional program – “Lifebouy Lifeline Express”and

“Operation Stream line” to rural areas to underscore
health
positioning and awareness respectively
Almost ruled up to 90s ,mid – ninetees touched around
140000 tons

NIRMA
 Parent product- detergent
 Different consumer products like toilet
soap,shampoo, iodized salt, industrial products &
Chemicals
 Priced at one-third the market leader,the HLL
 Tight control over its costs-low cost media and
creative
advertising,high dealer margins
 Value of money brands and winning customers
 Challengedeach and every product of HLL and
leadership
strategy which changed its fortune-primarily Lifebouy
 Grew rapidly to become a Rs. 5 billion detergent
brand at
the expense of all other brands
 Offered 52% margin to the channels
 Launched upmarket versions with a low price-Nirma
beauty
and Nirma premium and imitated packaging and
formulation of HLL’s another brand Lux
  Nirma lime and Nirma rose introduced bet Jai lime
and
breeze of HLL
 Unsuccessful in rural markets-traditionally depended
on
wholesalers to push its product
 To overcome this initiatives like backward integration
projects , debt restructuring, cost cutting
 Most successful in 90s and third biggest toilet soap in
terms
of volumes

COMPETETORS:

•Godrej Soaps Ltd.

–Products
•soaps, hair dye, shaving cream,edible oil,
refrigerator etc.
–Turn Over- Rs. 8 billion
–Alliance with P & G
–Products failed due to confusion in
positioning
–Comeback with Cinthol

P&G
•Procter & Gamble
–Global Player
–Strong Brand(Camay Soap)
•Failure of Camay soap
•Positioning
•Pricing
•Other products
•Ariel
•Pantene
•Head & Shoulders

Long term prospect of Lifebouy

INDIA-2013
Reasons for concerns
•Change in customer profile
•Number of Competitors
•Low differentiation among products
•Availability of different variants
•Confusion in positioning
•Distribution channels
•Decreasing market share

Positioning of Lifebuoy

Mission Statement

‘Make a billion Indians feel safe & secure by

 meeting their health & hygiene needs.’

Brand Positioning

•Down Market Brand

•Efforts To Upscale Product
•Pan-Indian Brand
•Targeted Every Indian Family
•Reposition it self
•Re-established its message ofhealth for consumers
•Future positioning:-Lifebuoy as ‘a family health offering
through germ

Suggestion

•Shut down Life Buoy Active Red

•Try to improve the margin in the distribution system
•Reach out the left 30 % of rural market
•Need to address the economically upgraded people
•Redefine the position of life buoy in premiumsegment
with extra feature. Spread health consciousness
programmes in rural area again
•Create emotional value for it
•New promotions should be lunched
•Differentiation of Lifebuoy for the diversified segmentof
customers
•Should reduce the cost of production to reduce the price
•It can takehelp ofSHG’s to promote
its product
•Reaching out the customer at a lower
price directly