mAishwarya Lahiri, Bikash Jyoti Borah, Divya Sarin, Joy Chakravarty,

Anubhav Khandelwal, Harsha Jagasia, Daniel Fernandes, Ananya Mohanty

V ine of the oldest players
V Result of merger between William Hesketh
Lever- England, Margarine Unie- Netherlands
and Lever Brothers- India
V Total size of HLLǯs detergent business: Rs. 2000
crores (nearly 40% of the 5000 crores market)
V =
key brands- Surf, Rin and Wheel, and
smaller brands like Sunlight and 501, and Rin
ALA
V Started with door to door delivery- reached up to
200kgs a day
V Was sold in poly bags, as compared to surf Ǯs
significantly expensive cartons
V Positioned as a cheaper alternative to Surf and as a
superior product compared to inferior washing soaps
V Became a symbol of a low priced, good quality
detergent
V sales grew at a rate of 49%
V Aimed at the unorganized laundry soap market in the
urban and rural areas
V launched Nirma detergent bar, to counter Rin, selling
at one third of the price of Rin.
 a

  






m Creating a jingle that connects to the market

m A new fresh advertising campaign
m Concentrating on cost
m Guerilla advertising
m IMC
m New agency: new ideas, new creative
¢ 


 




r Nirma consumers received Dzacceptabledz quality in lieu of low price

r HLL CiULD possibly follow this way.

V 
   


 
 


r This is what HLL did

r They launched DzWheeldz

V =
  






r Nirma was popular in Gujarat in 1980s

r Was gaining on markets as yet unexplored by Surf (middle to

lower classes, rural)

r Surf could have adopted various measures like price decrease to

appeal to rural markets
Î
   
 



r Some amount extra with pack

r Free items (buckets etc)

r Produce sachets

r Stick sachets in magazines and newspapers

a 
 decided to sell Surf in
polybags as against its previous expensive
cartons
¢


V Earlier, Surfǯs campaign ads were always used

to establish ǮSurf washes whiterǯ.
V In 1985, HLL created a character called
potrayed by TV artist Kavitha
Chowdhary. Lalithaji represented a smart
housewife who knew that good value always
comes at a price.
Î
  



V Then launched a white detergent powder

called 

n 1985

V priced to match Nirma

V targeted the eastern and southern markets

where Nirma was not very strong
4
   
V R&D department of HLL was given the
responsibilty of producing a low-cost detergent,
which gave better performance, at the same
time, without any side-effects like ones caused
by high soda-ash content in Nirma.
V 1986: developed a NSD(non-soap detergent):
 
V launched as a detergent bar too to counter
Swastikǯs Super 777
_ 


V carefully selected the locations for new plants
in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab
and Pondicherry
V HLL supplied the raw materials, the
contractors hired their own labour and
produced the detergent.
V provided HLL with greater flexibility to start
new units faster, thus gaining concessions
and significant cost savings.
å

Î 

 

V Wheel Detergents powder was packed in 30-

gram plastic sachets, instead of usual one-kg
packs. It was priced at Rs. 5.50 as against
Nirmaǯs Rs. 5.25.
ü 





V campaigns emphasized that Wheel provided

Dzextra power, extra lather and was safe on
hands and clothes.dz

V aimed at creating dissonance in the minds of

Nirma buyers about the safety aspects and
the benefits of switching over to Wheel.